USA is developing some new series. Here's what's on the menu:

The Negotiator, a show about a hostage negotiator who becomes a relationship counselor, is being developed by film producer Donald De Line (The Stepford Wives, The Italian Job).

Meanwhile, Battlestar Galactica co-executive producer Toni Graphia is developing American Girl, about a Wal-Mart employee whose personality changes after she witnesses a robbery. I was hoping for a show either based on the line of dolls, or possibly the Tom Petty song of the same name, but I guess this works, too.

Continue reading USA developing new shows

Permalink | Email this | | Comments

Hola, mi muchachos and muchachoettes! It is I, Schedule Boy, back from wherever the hell I was. I'm here this time to present a comprehensive list of upcoming season and series premieres and finales for you, my adoptive TV Squad family.

What a crazy season its been! Shows that had so much potential (The Nine, Studio 60) struggled to stay on the air, while others (Ugly Betty, Friday Night Lights, Jericho, 30 Rock) surprised us with their growing fan bases and popularity. Then there were shows like ER that made a sudden comeback and ones like Gilmore Girls and Scrubs that didn't seem to find their way for the first half of the season. Well, at least we could be confident that hits like Grey's Anatomy, American Idol, 24 and Lost would carry us through the season. Then again, maybe not. Like I said, crazy season.

So, sit back, relax, and enjoy this fine presentation, presented in color with limited commercial interruption. You can find the list of premieres and finales (as well shows returning from hiatus) after the jump. Remember, dates are subject to change, so we'll be updating as time moves forward.

Continue reading TV Squad lists your season and series premieres and finales

Permalink | Email this | | Comments

(S01E15) Exactly twenty years later . . . give or take ten minutes.

And so, with heavy heart, we come to the conclusion of the first season of Psych. What at first seemed like a quirky little comedy-mystery hybrid (I call it mysterdy) featuring a Tom Cruise lookalike, the guy from The West Wing, and Arnie Becker, has become an amusing show full of snappy banter, decent character development and references to 227. Yes, Psych has come a long way in a very short time and I'll miss it while it's away on vacation. In the meantime, though, let's take a gander at this week's show.

Pretty strong for a final episode, although a bit different. That's because it was co-written by Shawn Spencer himself, James Roday, and directed by one Mr. John Landis (Animal House, Blues Brothers). The tone of the show was a little less humor, a little more tension. As Roday put it in his blog, it was a "thriller" episode of Psych.

Continue reading Psych: Scary Sherry: Bianca's Toast (season finale)

Permalink | Email this | | Comments

(S01E14) You knew that a moment like this would eventually come up . . . a time where a father needed his son's help. I mean, even though Henry Spencer shows reluctance about his son's detective skills (especially since he masks them with a fake psychic power), inside he is extremely proud of how far his son has come. So, when an old friend of Henry's asks for help in finding his son the senior Spencer happens to drop Shawn's name. Ah, parents.

Shawn doesn't disappoint this client. In fact, he goes over the top in solving the mystery. By 'over the top' I mean going severely psychic in the presence of the father and his client. As I've mentioned in previous posts Shawn has been pretty subdued when using his psychic powers. Not this episode, though. He went whole hog just to put his Dad in an awkward position. Ah, children.

Continue reading Psych: Poker? I Barely Know Her

Permalink | Email this | | Comments

Smell that? It has the aroma of burning leaves. It must be me thinking about something again. Here's the skinny: I've noticed over the last few weeks that Shawn likes to tell people that Gus is his hero, that he looks up to his best friend. I think that most of that is just joking since it is usually preceded or followed by a false statement about Gus' skills. However, deep down, I wonder if Shawn really does look up to Gus. Gus is very intelligent (something we have just started to see), has a steady job, and seems to have his head straight on his shoulders. Meanwhile, until he began his detective agency, Shawn flitted around from job to job and girl to girl. Perhaps the younger Spencer wants to have just a bit of what Gus has. Then again, I could be blowing smoke out of my poopie chute.

I'm actually going to start off this week's review with a mention about Gus. I haven't spoken much about him even though this role on the show has expanded quite a bit over the last few episodes. I put him up top this time around because even though he was kinda, sorta missing in a few scenes this week the ones he was in he made some significant impact. One of the things I noticed is that he is starting to pick up on some of the detective skills that Shawn had drilled into him by his father. There were one or two occasions where Gus actually saw evidence first before Shawn. The other noticeable trait Gus is exhibiting is his intelligence. I couldn't really tell how smart he was in the first half of the season because he always seemed to be whining. In the second half the producers have fleshed Gus out a bit more to show his intelligence and use it in the process of an investigation.

Continue reading Psych: Game Set... Muuurder?

Permalink | Email this | | Comments

(S01E12)

Continue reading Psych: Cloudy...Chance of Murder

Permalink | Email this | | Comments

(S01E11) Yes, the review is late. I'll apologize to each and every one of you individually. That should take a few years, and by that time you'll probably forget what I was apologizing about.

How do you connect speed dating with naked, fat guys found out in the middle of a field? I'm not too sure, but Psych did it and made it work quite well. Gosh, what a funny episode! I can't remember laughing out loud at this show so much as I did this time around.

The second half of Psych has seen a lot of changes. We've seen Shawn mature quite a bit, we've seen Lassiter mellow out, and we've even seen Henry Spencer going out on a date. This week we saw another change. This was probably one of the first episodes where all of the members of the ensemble cast were utilized. We've seen combinations on Gus and Shawn with one or two of the other players, but this week they all participated. Even Kristen Nelson was back as Interim Police Chief Karen Vick. With some of the attention off of Shawn and Gus, the show took on a different feel. The cast is really jelling together as a cohesive team.

Continue reading Psych: He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not, He Loves Me, Oops He's Dead

Permalink | Email this | | Comments

(S01E10) I predict we'll solve it Friday at 10:01pm, then maybe watch some cable. -- Shawn Spencer

This was a very significant episode. Not because of the mystery being solved (which was very weak), but because of the character development we saw in three of the main players -- Carlton Lassiter, Henry Spencer, and our fair-haired boy Shawn Spencer.

Let's begin with Carlton. As I mentioned last week I noticed that Lassiter performance in the second-half of the first season was much more subdued than he was first portrayed. At the beginning he was shown almost like an amalgam of other over-the-top television cops. With this episode we can see he has been considerably toned down and made to be a bit more human.

Continue reading Psych: From the Earth to Starbucks

Permalink | Email this | | Comments

It's been written before, but it's worth repeating: TV Squad does not do episode recaps. We write reviews/opinions of episodes for people who have already seen them in order to spur discussion.

I chose to review Monk because I'm a big fan of the show, but it has become more and more difficult for me not to repeat myself with each review. Five seasons in, I think the show has found a comfortable niche, but I can only write about that niche so many times before I get sick of it. Monk has more or less used the same basic plot since it began, and if it weren't for Tony Shalhoub's ability to embody the character of Adrian Monk so perfectly, myself and other fans would have grown tired of the show a long time ago. Monk is a character-driven series, and that's just fine, but at this point I've said all I can say about it.

If you liked my reviews, thanks for reading. Personally, I never thought they were my best for the reasons mentioned above. Fans of the series can still check out the series' Web site, which has episode recaps and video clips.

Permalink | Email this | | Comments

(S05E11) Tony Shalhoub has garnered a few Emmys for his role as Adrian Monk, and I know some have complained that at this point it's almost as if he's given the award automatically. I don't care whether or not Shaloub "deserves" to be nominated year after year, but I do know that it's Monk that makes Monk worth watching. I don't watch this series because of the complex plots, because they're rarely complex. Clues to the suspect's identity are made more obvious than hints in an Encyclopedia Brown story, especially in this episode when a mysterious man strangles his lover in the opening scene, a man who is clearly Andy Richter even though they try to obscure him.

Continue reading Monk: Mr. Monk Makes a Friend

Permalink | Email this | | Comments

(S01E09) After five long months Psych has returned with all new episodes featuring James Roday as Shawn Spencer and Dule Hill (The West Wing) as his trusty companion Gus. For those of you who watched and enjoyed this show when it aired over the summer on USA I say welcome back. For those of you who aren't familiar with this comedy-mystery hybrid (I call it a mysterdy) let me give you a brief synopsis of the plot . . .

The show follows Shawn in his role as a police psychic, solving crimes that they cannot (which are many). However, he really isn't a true psychic. In reality, he has an extraordinarily keen eye minute details, which he obtained through intense training conducted by his policeman father (Corbin Bernsen).

Got it? There will be a quiz at the end of the review, of course. With that out of the way let's move on to this week's show.

Continue reading Psych: Forget Me Not

Permalink | Email this | | Comments

• Joe Mantegna, on starter wives: "I've been on the same starter wife for 32 years."
• Joe Mantegna: on hearing writer and executive producer Josann McGibbon say that she'd been bitten by a leech in Australia, but that it wouldn't have happened in Los Angeles: "Did you just say there's no leeches in L.A.?!"

Permalink | Email this | | Comments

Read | Permalink | Email this | | Comments

Continue reading The Golden Globes: Best Actor - Musical or Comedy

Permalink | Email this | | Comments

Schedule Boy has returned! Yes, yes, many of you know me as the dashingly attractive Rich Keller, reviewer of such shows as Bones and ER. However, sometimes I need to put on my mask and cape (and nothing else) and take on the guise of Schedule Boy in order to give you, the holiday-exhausted TV Squad readers, a chance to see where season premiere dates will fall or what time your favorite horror movie will air on Halloween night. It's a thankless job, but someone has to do it!

This time around I have been given the task to list the days when your favorite (and not-so favorite) shows will return from the holiday break. Also included in this list will be those shows having late starts to their season, like According to Jim, and those that are coming back from mid-season finales, like Psych. Please be warned that these dates may change, and we will try to adjust the schedule accordingly when we find out about them. So, get your decoder rings out and let's begin . . . right after the jump, that is. Schedule Boy, away!

[Schedule Boy image courtesy of the Hero Machine at UGO.]

Continue reading Look here to find out when your shows will return from holiday break

Permalink | Email this | | Comments

I often wonder why the networks still spend big money to get the rights to run big screen movies. At one time it was a big deal, when there weren't many options for seeing the movies after they had run in the theaters. But in this day of being able to buy DVDs and rent DVDs and the premium cable networks, are movies still a big draw for the networks?

USA and FX must think so. USA just bought the rights to run Casino Royale for 5 years, starting in June 2009. The cost: $20 million. Meanwhile, FX has picked up the rights for four movies for around the same price. The movies are The Departed, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, V For Vendetta, and The Wicker Man.

I say USA got the better deal.

Permalink | Email this | | Comments

God damn it, Monk takes a midseason break and then tosses one new episode out in November and I totally miss it. What's doubly upsetting about that is I'm the one who posted about it in October. This may be a sign that my plan to stop reviewing the show is a good idea. I still love Monk, and I'll keep watching it, but I find I just don't have as much to say about it as I do other shows. Monk is kind of like popcorn to me: it's a lot of fun, and when it's all gone I wish I could have more, but there's just not a lot I have to say about it once it's over.

Now then, before the fifth season finishes off in January, there will be another episode airing on December 22, "Mr. Monk and the Leper." I'll try not to miss that one, though being so close to Christmas, who knows what'll happen? The episode will actually air twice, once in black and white (9 pm) and again in color (10 pm).

The latter half of the fifth season, which kicks off January 19, will feature several guest stars including Sean Astin, Steven Weber, Charles Durning and Andy Richter, among others.

Read | Permalink | Email this | | Comments

USA Network continues its foray into original programming, this time around with Burn Notice. The new drama stars Jeffrey Donovan (Touching Evil) as a CIA operative who was recently given his pink slip, or Burn Notice in spy lingo. Once he is let go he uses his Special Ops skills to help others who, for some reason or another, cannot go to the police.

Actors recently added to the cast are Gabrielle Anwar (The Librarian: Return to King Solomon's Mines), Bruce Campbell (The Adventures of Brisco County Jr., Evil Dead), and Sharon Gless (Queer as Folk, Cagney & Lacey). Production on the show will begin next week. No word at this time when it will premiere on USA.

Permalink | Email this | | Comments

Boo! Did I scare you? Well, if I didn't that's okay. I'm not much into scaring people since I gave Uncle Barry that heart attack at last year's Halloween party by putting a bloody finger into his apple-tini. Eh, Barry deserved it; he was always a putz. And constantly asking for money. I mean, one time . . .

Sorry, wandered off for a bit there. What was I talking about? Oh, yes, scaring people. There's really no need for me to scare anyone this upcoming Halloween since my good old friend television can do it much better. In fact, now that there are so many channels to choose from, you can watch hours of blood and gore and ooze into the wee hours of the morning while noshing on all of the 'good' candy that your children bring back (this would be anything from the Hershey or M&M/Mars family of candies).

So, to make your life a bit easier while you come down from that sugar buzz, we here at TV Squad have provided you with a comprehensive list of Halloween-themed programming that will be airing on from about dinnertime on October 31st into the first of November. It's all there, from the Halloween and Friday the 13th films (and their numerous sequels) to Halloween-themed Roseanne episodes, to classic Vincent Price movies such as House of Wax. We even mention Dark Town, which airs at 3:15 am on Wednesday, November 1st. In Dark Town a lesbian and a gangbanger team up to battle vampires. Gosh, what will the entertainment industry think of next?

The complete (or as near as complete list) can be seen right after the scary jump. Ooh!

Continue reading Here are your television tricks and treats for this Halloween

Permalink | Email this | | Comments

Read | Permalink | Email this | | Comments