TVSquad

Judging by the Nielsen ratings Lifetime is raking in for Army Wives in its second season, this show has found its audience. It actually started last spring when Army Wives was a national surprise -- to everyone in the business outside of Lifetime, which picked up the show when ABC passed.

It's still amazing to think that ABC had a chance to put this show in their schedule and let it get away. Their loss is Lifetime's gain -- and they're feasting on it.

If you missed the first season of Army Wives, and didn't get into the show until the fifth episode -- like me -- then you'll be glad to know that Army Wives: The Complete First Season is now available on DVD. It's a great set, too, with some very nice bonus features and quality commentaries.

Isn't it interesting how in the days of waning network ratings year after year we keep getting reports of basic cable shows setting new ratings records. This time, Army Wives second season premiere set a new series high with 4.5 million viewers. I'll give kudos to Lifetime for really knowing how to support a season premiere; major networks take notes. The day before the premiere, which was this past Sunday, they marathoned the last ten episodes of the first season. They've also made the entire season available online, with ad support.

Is it because more and more of us have these channels than ever before? Or maybe we're just spreading out across the dial more than ever before? At the same time, though, there's more freedom off the network channels to show more edgy fare. Shows like The Shield and Mad Men are a bit too strong in content for the likes of ABC, and sometimes the sheer intensity and quality of the storytelling eclipses much of free TV fare. Or maybe it's just because Catherine Bell is so freaking hot ... sometimes. Seriously, sometimes she looks like that up there, and other times she looks like a boy who's been lost in the woods for a few weeks. Still, at even a 50/50 shot I think it'd be worth the chance.

Cynopsis reports that now that the writers' strike is over -- hallelujah! -- Lifetime Television will soon begin production on the second season of Army Wives with episodes scheduled to air in early summer. This is great news for fans of the Lifetime original drama series that was a ratings juggernaut when it premiered last summer. In fact, Army Wives was the most successful series in Lifetime's 23-year history! During its 13-episode run, Army Wives was the highest rated drama on cable among women, establishing new Lifetime marks for an original scripted series. The soapy-drama was scheduled to return in April, but then the writers struck and the show has been in hibernation -- I mean, hiatus -- ever since.

The Lifetime cable television network has ordered 13 episodes of Army Wives, a drama about spouses living on a military base in South Carolina. The ensemble cast includes Kim Delaney (NYPD Blue) and Catherine Bell (JAG), who have both had recent guest appearances on popular shows including The O.C. and Law & Order: SVU.

The series is based on the book, Under the Sabers: The Unwritten Code of Army Wives, by Tanya Biank. Like the book, the series will be about the pressures on military spouses (there's one man in the mix) and the traditions they are expected to uphold.

Army Wives is set to premiere in March 2007.

(S08E09) I can't decide what I liked better about this episode-- Bob Saget or the return of Mariska Hargitay. Det. Olivia Benson comfortably slipped back in to being Det. Elliot Stabler's partner without much fanfare. No fanfare, really. She barely got a "Welcome Back" from Elliot. Casey was cold toward her, even though Olivia came back in time to help her get a conviction on a rape case. I think Det. Munch gave her the warmest reception. All these police types: bottling up their emotions! Sheesh!

NBC has announced a whole list of special guests for one upcoming episode of Law & Order: SVU. Bob Saget, Chris Sarandon, Catherine Bell and Bernadette Peters will all appear in the November 28th episode of SVU, called "Choreographed".

The case is about a woman found dead in Central Park. Sarandon plays her husband, Saget and Bell play the victims' friends, and Peters plays the defense attorney. There is a new episode of SVU tonight, and I believe it is Connie Nielsen's last episode.

Too bad for Brent Spiner. CBS canceled Threshold before he got the chance to make out with Catherine Bell. That's just one of many revelations in this TV Guide article by Threshold creator Brannon Braga. Only 8 episodes of Threshold aired before CBS pulled the plug on the sci fi show last season. Fans will get to see all 12 episodes on the DVD, including the finale that Braga admits was thrown together to at least give the audience some closure. In it, Dr. Molly Cafferty (Carla Gugino) dreams about the first alien-human child, who tells her that her plan will work but she will not live to see it.

Other tidbits about how season one of Threshold was supposed to end after the jump.

A lot of people who started watch JAG a little later in the show's run might not realize that the first season of the show was on NBC, not CBS. NBC canceled it after the first season, and in a rare move, another network (CBS) picked it up. But at the end of the first season, there was an episode titled "Skeleton Crew." NBC never showed the episode because they canceled the show. And when the second season started, CBS decided not to show the episode either, because Catherine Bell played David James Elliott's girlfriend in the episode, and she would later be on the show as Mac. Certain scenes of the episode were shown later, however, in another episode.

But fans, there's good news: the episode will finally be seen when the first season DVD set hits stores! The set will be released on July 25.

JAG was one of the great mysteries of modern television. I watched the first season, and kinda liked it, but then stopped watching it. It lasted for another 27 years, even though I've never spoken to anyone who ever watched it, and it wasn't really talked about that much.

Anyway, the first season of the show is finally coming out on DVD. It will be six DVDS, and these will be episodes from when it was on NBC (it later went to CBS when NBC canceled it - fools!). Paramount will release the set on July 25, complete with a couple of featurettes on the making of the show, plus a commentary from creator Donald Bellisario on the pilot ep.

[via TV Tattle]

Catherine Bell (JAG) and Gary Cole (aka 'Lumbergh' on Office Space) have joined the cast of the CBS pilot Company Town, a drama about government agents who live in the same neighborhood. Already on board for the pilot are Sherry Stringfield (ER) and Blair Underwood (LA Law). You don't have to wait for next fall to see Cole on television, he'll reappear on some of the final episodes of The West Wing.

Mercedes Ruehl has joined the untitled Paul Reiser comedy pilot for CBS, about a man who takes over the family car dealership in Queens, NY. In 1991, Ruehl won an Academy award for her supporting role in The Fisher King. Ruehl joins castmates Bobby Cannavale (Will & Grace) and Hector Elizondo (Chicago Hope).