TVSquad

The world of primetime TV are primarily set in the real world. The real world based on the fiction they create. So, Law and Order -- in all its incarnations -- is set in New York City, but it's not the real five boroughs. The newspapers they read are not The New York Times, the Post or the Daily News. For contemporary TV fiction, reality is on the margins of the storytelling because you can't really set those characters in a real world. However, when the two worlds intersect, the results can be magic. Here's 8 big-time, primetime examples:

1) Cowboy Up Time
Remember the episode of Lost when Ben wanted to convince Jack that he was in communication with the world outside the island? To prove that he was telling the truth, he showed Jack a video of the Boston Red Sox winning the world series in 2004. You can't get more real than that, right? And yet it was used in one of the most out of this world shows on the air. In fact, using Lost's own terminology, the Red Sox video is a constant truth in a universe that's a complete fiction.

If you haven't entered our latest giveaways yet, here's a reminder that some are ending today. You've got until 5PM Eastern today to enter The X-Files Complete Series Collectors Edition DVD giveaway, the Boston Red Sox 2007 World Series Collectors Edition giveaway and the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles volume one DVD giveaway. Just head on over to the post linked above, read through the rules and make the applicable comment there (not here!) We'll notify the winners next week.

Good luck!

Yes, we've got yet another giveaway today. This one borders on the TV/sports line that we usually don't cross, but I think the readers won't mind. This giveaway is for three copies of The Boston Red Sox: 2007 World Series Collector's Edition DVD, which is available on November 13. In fact, order before November 19 here and get 30% off plus $1 shipping.

All you've got to do is submit a comment below before 5PM Eastern, November 16, and mention your favorite professional baseball player of all time. We'll randomly choose three winners to receive the DVDs!

Some other details:

• To enter, leave a confirmed comment below stating your favorite professional baseball player of all time.
• The comment must be left before November 16, 2007 at 5:00PM Eastern Time.
  
• You may enter only once.
• Three winners will be selected in a random drawing.
  
• Three winners will receive a copy of The Boston Red Sox: 2007 World Series Collector's Edition DVD (valued at $79.95).
  

Click here for complete Official Rules.

Summertime and TV in my house means three things: Watching new summer programming, catching up on TV shows I missed during the conventional September-through-May TV season and baseball, specifically Boston Red Sox baseball.

In fact, on summer evenings, my TV is most likely tuned in to a baseball game. But when the Sox are not playing -- or when they're getting clobbered or if they're playing a really late west coast game -- I turn on other shows such as:

1. Entourage. Yes, they're spoiled adolescents. They're narcissistic. They play video games all day and party all night as if they're entitled to live lives of luxury. But the guys from Entourage greatly amuse me and I love hating Jeremy Piven's Ari Gold.

Retired athletes used to get jobs as managers or coaches or a job in the announcer's booth or even retire. Now they make a living doing reality shows.

First ex-baseball player Jose Canseco did The Surreal Life and now he's pushing a new reality show (scroll down) titled A Day With Jose. Basically, you go to the web site and tell Canseco what you would do with him if you got to spend the whole day with him. Maybe you'd like to go to a Giants game with him and taunt Barry Bonds! Maybe you'd like to see him as a Chippendale's dancer! Maybe you'd just like to see Jose sit around the house watching television!

OK readers, it's your turn. In the comments, tell us what you'd do if you could hang out with Canseco for a whole day.

Remember that episode of Queer Eye For The Straight Guy that had the Fab Five making over Johnny Damon, Kevin Millar, and other members of the team? The creators of the show are about to start looking for contestants to be in another reality show that will involve the team, entitled Sox Appeal.

Here's the pitch: a woman will be paired up with a date for two innings of a game, then another date for another two innings. Then, in the 7th inning stretch, she'll decide which one she wants to stay with for the rest of the game (and maybe beyond). Not sure how they'll film a TV show during regular season games. That could be a pain in the ass for the players.

The article says that there will probably be a lot of use of the terms "scoring" and "strike out" during the series, and I predict they'll also use the terms "balls," "pine tar" and "hitting the showers."

ESPN.com's Bill Simmons is one of my favorite columnists, and he's got a good one up at the site right now. He picks the best videos you can find on YouTube. He calls it the YouTube Hall of Fame, and while it leans heavily towards TV, media, and pop culture, he has a lot of it right.

He picks some great TV-oriented videos, including Vanilla Ice's meltdown on MTV (I watched this when it first aired - bizarre!); Roddy Piper and Superfly Snuka with a coconut; Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley and that MTV "kiss;" Band-Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?" (his commentary about this is more entertaining than the video, an odd choice on this list); William Shatner singing "Rocket Man," and David Letterman's Late Show speech after the 9/11 attacks.

It's not just the list that he picks, it's the column itself. Simmons is a very good writer, and the column is just as entertaining as the videos themselves.

This is just hands down a great idea. Due to recent drops in ticket sales at movie theatre chains across the country, cineplex operators are being forced to find new alternative ways to get people in their seats. Granted, most places allow the rental of their theatres for birthday parties and corporate presentations but infrequent events such as those certainly don't make up for the loss of sales that have been encountered.

So what's the solution? How about airing 3-D sporting events. Live. Sound like a great idea? You bet it is.