TVSquad

You know how sometimes you see an actor or actress and they look so familiar, but you can't remember where you saw him or her, or what the TV show was? That's how I've been with the little boy who plays Brick on The Middle. His name is Atticus Shaffer, and since the ABC sitcom began this fall, I've been scratching my head over him. Where did I see him before?

Turns out that it was on a commercial for AIG. Yes, AIG, that huge insurance company that was a big part of the economic collapse. The company that was too big for America to let fail.

Like a stray dog that works his way into your heart, I think I've fallen in love with The Middle. I didn't want to get so attached, because -- quite frankly -- ABC's track record for sticking with quality shows isn't so great. I'm still mourning Pushing Daisies. But The Middle is nothing like Pushing Daisies, nor does it fall into the quirky, clever mode of other shows that ABC has been promulgating for years. Ugly Betty is quirky. Better off Ted is quirky. Dirty Sexy Money was quirky. Quirky's the word.

• At 8, CBS has a new Pirate Master.
• ABC has the special Fast Cars & Superstars at 8, followed by the Cavaliers/Spurs game.
• FOX has a new Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader? at 8, then a new So You Think You Can Dance.
• TBS has four excellent episodes of Friends starting at 8, including the one where Ross dates the girl with the messy apartment and Chandler falls for Joey's girlfriend.
• At 9, TLC has a new American Chopper.
• USA has a new episode of The Starter Wife at 9.
• At 9:30, HBO2 has a making-of special about John From Cincinnati, then the movie Brick.
• At 9:45, HBO has a first look at Evan Almighty.
• At 10, NBC has a new Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.
• There's a new Ultimate Fighter on Spike at 10.
• At 10:30, Comedy Central has a new Showbiz Show with David Spade.

Check your local TV listings for more.

• At 8, ABC has the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
• CBS has the premiere of Pirate Master at 8.
• FOX has a new Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader? and a new So You Think You Can Dance.
• Four more great Friends episodes at 8 on TBS.
• TCM has two hostage dramas starting at 8: The Desperate Hours, with Humphery Bogart, and The Night Holds Terror, with Jack Kelly.
• At 9, USA has the premiere of the mini-series The Starter Wife.
• TLC has a new American Chopper at 9.
• HBO Zone has the high school noir drama Brick at 9.
• At 10, NBC has a new Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.
• Food Network has a new Throwdown with Bobby Flay at 10.
• Also at 10: Spike has a new Ultimate Fighter.
• At 10:30, Comedy Central has a new Showbiz Show with David Spade.

Check your local TV listings for more.

There's a scene in Woody Allen's Manhattan in which he makes a list of all the things worth living for -- the Jupiter Symphony, Groucho Marx, his ex-girlfriend's face, etc. Whenever I make my list of reasons not to end it all, hard-boiled detective fiction always makes the list - books by Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett and Patricia Highsmith; films like The Crack-Up, Detour and The Big Sleep. So, I reacted with a mixture of excitement and trepidation when I read that ABC will be reviving Chandler's most famous creation - Philip Marlowe - for TV.