TVSquad

... Eleven babes worth watchin'

Oh sure, there may be 12 shows a stinkin', but there's still reason to tune in. See just like advertisers, show-runners and TV executives know that sex sells. And hot chicks sell. And hot chicks selling their sexuality sell like hotcakes ... or chicks ... I never can get that right. But just being hot and sexy isn't enough. To really sell it, they need to be as close to naked as legally allowed on the airwaves. We're talking "Oops, sorry to barge in on you standing there in your underwear bending over the bed pulling on your fishnet stockings. Nice rack."

Sometimes near-nudity, and even nudity, legitimately serves the plot. Let's face it, Anna Paquin had to bang that vampire on True Blood so she was going to have to get naked. It's a necessity. But Yvonne Strahovski on Chuck? Does she have to be in her underwear that often to protect the Intersect? Was it required by Simon Elder that Karen Darling be in her underwear in order to talk to him? Of course not. But it's hot and that's the way we like it. Hell, they made Catalina a stripper on My Name is Earl.

There hasn't been a new episode of Ugly Betty since January. Can you believe it? If you're like me, and need a refresher course on all things Meade and Suarez, ABC.com has a few options available. Fashion TV's rhyming reporter, Suzuki St. Pierre, summarizes the first two seasons in a four-minute video. I had forgotten how much had happened in the last few Betty episodes.

Even more entertaining is the show's first video podcast, led by co-stars Michael Urie and Becki Newton (Marc and Amanda). In addition to recording a hilarious song about season two's storylines, the actors interviewed Jeff Beal, the show's composer. Beal discussed his professional background and told some of the stories behind fans' favorite original Betty songs. The podcast can also be downloaded for free on iTunes.

Acting is a funny business; one day, you're anonymously playing a waiter or waitress in a silly commercial, and the next day, you have a major supporting role in a new hit series. The interesting part is when the struggling and non-struggling phases of that actor's life collide on the screen, and you begin to recognize the actors in those previously-anonymous bit parts.

Many people have already noticed that Becki Newton, who plays the mean-but-vulnerable receptionist Amanda on Ugly Betty, plays a waitress on an Olive Garden commercial that's currently in pretty heavy rotation across the dial (heck, the ad was shown during a Betty episode where Newton played both Amanda and a Betty look-alike). But, did you know that Michael Urie, who plays Marc, Amanda's partner in cattiness, also played a waiter in an ad?

An explanation, and the video of Becki's Olive Garden ad, is after the jump.