TVSquad

One of the most integral and interesting characters on Friday Night Lights may be out of the lineup for much of the rest of the season. And he may not be back for next season, either. Taylor Kitsch could be out of Friday Night Lights after the next few episodes. Michael Ausiello is reporting that executive producer Jason Katims confirmed that Taylor's conflicting schedule with a big screen project has mucked up the works.

Taylor's playing the title character in John Carter of Mars, a big screen adaptation of the famous Edgar Rice Burroughs' books, which isn't slated to be released until 2012, but will require extensive filming. It doesn't look like he'll be able to fit more of Friday Night Lights into the mix. And a lot of the predicament could be on the Disney side; will they free up his shooting schedule for John Carter to let him play Tim Riggins.

(S04E04) Life is what happens while you're busy making plans. Matt hasn't exactly been the architect of his future, but the Dillon former quarterback has been plugging along. This week found Saracen in the cross hairs emotionally. The Taylors, meanwhile, continue to struggle through the professional turmoil, and the younger set in Dillon has definite issues -- some good, some not-so-good.

Then there's Buddy Garrity. If he's not a Panther anymore, and he denounced his identity with the West Dillon team last week, what is he? As he told Eric, the beauty of boosterism is that it comes from the heart. Where's Buddy's heart now? More on that and the rest, after the jump.

• At 8, CBS has a new Old Christine, followed by new episodes of Gary Unmarried, Criminal Minds, and CSI: NY.
• NBC has a new Mercy at 8, then new episodes of Law and Order: SVU and The Jay Leno Show.
• FOX has a new So You Think You Can Dance at 8, followed by a new Glee.
• The CW has the season finale of America's Next Top Model at 8, then a new behind the scenes episode of America's Next Top Model.
• Cartoon Network has a new Destroy Build Destroy at 8.
• At 8:30, ABC has a new episode of The Middle, then new episodes of Modern Family, Cougar Town, and In The Spotlight with Robin Roberts.
• At 9, DirecTV 101 has a new Friday Night Lights.
• Discovery has a new Mythbusters at 9.
• History Channel has two new episodes of WWII in HD at 9.
• Syfy has a new Ghost Hunters at 9, followed by a new Ghost Academy.
• Fine Living has a new Whatever, Martha at 9.
• Showtime has a new Inside the NFL at 9.
• At 10, FX has a new Nip/Tuck.
• Comedy Central has the season finale of South Park at 10.
• There's a new Top Chef: Las Vegas on Bravo at 10.
• TBS has two new episodes of Meet the Browns at 10.
• Food Network has a new Dinner: Impossible at 10.
• Current has a new Vanguard at 10.
• Also at 10: Travel Channel has a new Man vs. Food.

Check your local TV listings for more.

After the jump, the late night talk shows.

(S04E03) There's so much that's right about Friday Night Lights this new season that it probably sounds like I'm overdoing it with the positive notices. However, the way they've shaken up Eric and Tami's life together in Dillon has been terrific.

The gerrymandering for the town, sending Eric to coach a poor school with a tattered football squad is inspired storytelling. And Tami's not in a better place back at West Dillon because she sent Luke Cafferty to East Dillon, the school he was supposed to be attending. The Boosters are not happy with Tami. Eric's not sleeping. What's going to happen now?

(S04E02) In case you think the Coach Eric Taylor has all the answers, this episode shows that's not always the way it is. In last week's show, the East Dillon Lions were so awful, Coach couldn't take it. He threw in the towel, which is a boxing term, but by forfeiting the game at half-time, that's what he did in football terms.

Things were hardly better for Tami at Dillon, although by comparison, her school looks like paradise. Eric's on the other side of paradise. More about that and the rest of the players, on field and off, after the jump.

• At 7:30, FOX has Game 1 of The World Series.
• At 8, ABC has It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, followed by new episodes of The Middle, Modern Family, Cougar Town, and Eastwick.
• NBC has Monsters vs. Aliens: Mutant Pumpkins From Outer Space, then new episodes of Law and Order: SVU and The Jay Leno Show.
• The CW has a new America's Next Top Model at 8.
• At 8:30, Disney XD has four new episodes of Naruto: Shippuden.
• At 9, DirecTV has the season premiere of Friday Night Lights.
• Discovery has a new Mythbusters at 9, followed by a new Time Warp.
• Syfy has a new Ghost Hunters at 9, then a new Destination Truth.
• Showtime has a new Inside The NFL at 9.
• At 10, Bravo has a new Top Chef: Las Vegas.
• Comedy Central has a new South Park at 10, then a new Secret Girlfriend.
• FX has a new Nip/Tuck at 10.
• There's a new Dinner: Impossible on Food Network at 10.
• Also at 10: TCM has Harold and Maude.

Check your local TV listings for more.

After the jump, the late night talk shows.

Entering into its fourth season (and second since the NBC/DirecTV deal), Friday Night Lights is a show in transition on numerous levels. The high school football drama returns tonight to DirecTV's 101 Network at 9 p.m. ET (NBC won't air this season until next summer) and for fans of the show, it's an episode they've long been waiting for.

Ever since the season three finale, as Coach Eric Taylor (Kyle Chandler) and his wife Tami (Connie Britton) stepped on to the East Dillon Lions decrepit football field, Eric's new home, the tension has been at an all time high in Dillon, Texas. How can Coach Taylor, a man whom many consider to be a high school football wunderkind, start from scratch with a team that doesn't even exist yet?

With the return of Friday Night Lights right around the corner (it premieres on Wednesday, October 28, at 9PM on DirecTV's 101 Network), there's been a lot of talk about who's returning, who isn't, and just what the heck is gonna happen now that Eric (Kyle Chandler) is coaching the East Dillon Lions and not the Dillon Panthers anymore. There's been plenty of news, too, regarding new characters and how the good-bye arcs for favorites like Matt (Zach Gilford), Tyra (Adrianne Palicki), and Lyla (Minka Kelly) are going to play out

Well, DirecTV has finally released a short promo for the new season and guess what? Despite the fact that it features new footage (as opposed to a recycled season three montage), it gives us absolutely nothing.

But it is pretty damn cool to look at. The set up of a tornado-esque storm ripping apart Dillon and culminating in a rift across the football field while everyone just sort of casually watches and walks away is pretty poetic. You know what else would be poetic? Seeing Eric shove his fist down Joe McCoy's throat in the season four premiere. We can only hope.

If Jim Parsons wins the Emmy tonight for The Big Bang Theory, you better believe he'll be in a position to pick and choose the projects he does in the future. But here's one that I think would be fascinating, to quote Dr. Sheldon Cooper's favorite Vulcan scientist: Jim Parsons would like to appear on Friday Night Lights.

In a recent interview, Jim was asked about his favorite current show -- other than his own -- and he said it was Friday Night Lights. That's right, the NBC drama series about high school football deep in the heart of Texas! Somehow it's hard to imagine Sheldon in pads and a helmet. Maybe he could be the water boy? Or the genius offensive coordinator.

Previewing NBC's fall offerings has been a long process. First I gave you Community and Trauma, then Parenthood. Now, I have NBC's second medical drama that's premiering this year: Mercy. While Trauma follows first responders in San Francisco, Mercy follows nurses in a hospital in New York.

While it's true that I've seen the pilot and should be able to give you some insight into what to expect when it premieres (Wednesday September 23, at 8 PM ), the fact is, every single thing you need to know about Mercy is summed up in its synopsis:

"Nurse Veronica Callahan (Taylor Schilling) has just returned to Mercy Hospital from a tour in Iraq and knows more about medicine than all of the residents combined. Together with fellow nurses Sonia Jimenez (Jaime Lee Kirchner) who turns the heads of everyone at Mercy hospital and Chloe Payne (Michelle Trachtenberg) a naïve newcomer who learns to deal with the difficulties of working in a challenging and sometimes unsettling profession, they navigate the daily traumas and social landmines of life and love both inside the hospital and out."

We just got done with the NBC executive session, where primetime entertainment head Angela Bromstad and alternative programming (read: reality) chief Paul Telegdy took the reporters questions.

Of course, many of the questions had to do with The Jay Leno Show and Ben Silverman's departure. What the gathered reporters got out of the two executives was evasiveness, referrals to other executives, and a general sense that the two of them either don't know or don't want to provide answers about their own network.

When the question of Leno and CBS's Nina Tassler's assertion that NBC would declare victory no matter what numbers they got, Bromstad tried to pass us to the session for Leno's show later in the day. Telegdy did the same. But we wouldn't let them off the hook. An example exchange, for instance, went like this:

Here are the new TV DVDs, in stores tomorrow.

This is a rather confusing week for DVD releases. Besides the sets below, there are many limited edition "combo pack" sets being released this week, including sets for 30 Rock, The Office, Battlestar Galactica, House, Monk, and Psych that include two different seasons each. There are many Taggart sets being released too

• 8 Simple Rules - Season 2
• 24 - Season 7
• 24 - Seasons 1-7 set
• Classic TV Western Collection - Collector's Tin
• Dragon Ball Z - Season 9
• Friday Night Lights - Season 3
• Ice Road Truckers - Most Dangerous Episodes

Taylor Kitsch made the leap from TV to the big screen with a memorable appearance as Gambit in the hit film X-Men Origins: Wolverine. But the Friday Night Lights star isn't ready to forget his TV roots.

Kitsch is reportedly open to returning to Friday Night Lights next season as Dillon bad boy Tim Riggins. Of course, viewers of NBC's low-rated but highly praised drama know that Riggins should be spending most of his time in San Antonio State next year. So how exactly would he fit into season four of FNL, based in the fictional town of Dillon, TX?

• CBS has March Madness all night.
• TV Land has a Third Rock From The Sun marathon.
• At 8, ABC has a new Wife Swap, followed by new episodes of Supernanny and 20/20.
• NBC has a new Howie Do It at 8.
• FOX has new episodes of The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Dollhouse.
• The CW has a new Everybody Hates Chris at 8, followed by a new episode of The Game.
• PBS has a new Washington Week at 8, then new episodes of NOW and Bill Moyers Journal.
• There's a new Smackdown! on MyNetwork TV at 8.
• At 9, NBC has a new Friday Night Lights, then a new Dateline.
• BBC America has a new Mistresses at 9.
• Also at 9: Cartoon Network has a new Ben 10: Alien Force.
• At 10, E! has a new episode of The Soup.
• HBO has a new Real Time with Bill Maher at 10.

Check your local TV listings for more.

After the jump, the late night talk shows.