TVSquad

The daytime segment of cable's first day concluded with four Turner-related panels: Joy Behar on her new HLN talk show; a CNN panel with John King, Christiance Amanpour, and Soledad O'Brien; a panel with Jerry Bruckheimer and the cast and producers of TNT's Dark Blue; and George Lopez, who is starting a new late night talk show on TBS.

Behar and Lopez bookended the session, and they were an interesting contrast. Two comedians, both opinionated, both with things to say about current events. But while Behar's gentle jabs played to mostly silence among the cranky writers in attendance, Lopez got more than a few of us to laugh. I've never been the biggest Lopez fan, but I have to admit, he was ready for us: he made most of us stand up to talk to him, he jostled us on our reluctance to be enthusiastic, and he was able to make pretty quick comebacks with ease. Must be the years of dealing with hecklers.

Anyway, after the jump, some details of Turner's day in Pasadena, including audio of an interview with O'Brien that I started with the word "cankles."

Andy Warhol's comment about everyone getting fifteen minutes of fame has apparently morphed into everyone getting fifteen minutes as a talk show host. George Lopez is the latest, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Lopez will start a 34-week test run in November on TBS, in the 11 p.m., Monday through Thursday timeslot.

Lopez seems like a personable guy, and if his ABC sitcom was any indication, he should have a pretty good mainstream appeal. But this will be an experiment for Lopez and TBS. The network has only dabbled in late night programming, and many a comedian and comic actor (Joan Rivers, Chevy Chase, Dennis Miller) have found late night talk shows to be a quagmire. The success of the show may depend on how much leeway Lopez has for trial and error (a la Conan, who hit a great stride after a rough start).

Even before this morning's presentation of the 2007-08 ABC fall schedule, George Lopez knew that his show wasn't going to be on it. That's because ABC Entertainment president Steve McPherson, gave him the bad news over the weekend. Apparently, McPherson and ABC thought George Lopez was going to be a money loser if it got picked it up for another season. Lopez isn't buying it, as he told the LA Times today.

He not only told the newspaper that he should have gotten one more season to tie up some loose threads, but that his show outperformed other shows, like Notes from the Underbelly, that got renewed. "TV just became really, really white again," he told the Times.

(S04E11) ABC brought George Lopez back out of mothballs this week, so there was no 8:00 recap show. Instead, Tom and Samantha ran through the performances quickly at the beginning of the show. The best part of that was seeing Ian's reaction to the judge's comments last night. Much like many of the readers here, Ian didn't really understand where they were coming from.

It's a good point, and something that seems to happen every season. For whatever reason, the judges get a burr under their saddle and just go after one of the better contestants, while soft-pedaling some of the lesser routines. His best course of action is to move along and know that he's in good company.

Jay Leno took one on the chin (pun intended) last week, when TV comic George Lopez verbally attacked the late night host on an Orlando, Fla. radio show. The ABC star called Leno "two-faced" and "the worst interviewer" on TV.

But Brad Dickson, a former staff writer for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, thinks Lopez may be onto something -- at least about those interviews.

"I don't think Leno's 'interviewing skills' are particularly important to him," the 13-year Tonight Show vet told AOL Television. "The skits on the show don't seem to matter much either, nor does the music."

George Lopez (8PM, ABC)
What, "'George Lopez' is still on?," you ask. Yes, indeed. Ol' George is back, and it's nice to see him again. For all the hoo-ha over single-camera comedies like 'The Office' and '30 Rock,' a well-made traditional family sitcom is a valuable thing. Tonight, George and Angie discover they might not be empty-nesters when Carmen leaves for college after all.

A lot of people have been asking what is to become of Day Break now that ABC has pulled it from the air. The word was that the remaining episodes were to be shown on the network's video site. If you were wondering why ABC hasn't made good on putting the new Day Break episodes up yet, TV Guide has an answer. But be warned, it's a pretty stupid one. According to an ABC rep, there are "unforeseen music clearance issues."

As John McEnroe would say, "You cannot be serious." I could understand the holdup with something like the WKRP DVD set because of music clearance issues. When Johnny and Venus were spinning records, nobody had dreamed of what the home video market would become. But given the fact that ABC has been putting a whole mess of their shows, including Day Break, online, how were these issues unforeseen? That's like your car breaking down because of unforeseen cars burn gas issues.

I have no idea what ABC is doing at this point. If the best they have to offer instead of Day Break is repeats of According to Jim and George Lopez, what's the point? The slight gain in ratings still landed them in fourth place, and isn't worth the ill will they are garnering from viewers.

Sadly, that's the case over at ABC. Try as they might, and for reasons I don't quite get, people just don't want to watch this show. I've posted about the slide in the ratings before, and it continued this week. After garnering their lowest 18-49 numbers yet, ABC has pulled the show, with plans for the remaining episodes to be shown on ABC.com. Or, on DVD for those of you that are going to be screwed by that whole geography thing. To add insult to injury, the Wednesday schedule will be filled with repeats of George Lopez and According to Jim until the new schedule starts in January.

I think this has to signal a change at the networks. The big serial drama experiment is now officially a failure. With Surface and Invasion failing to get a second season, and now Smith, Kidnapped, The Nine, Six Degrees, and Day Break all failing to finish one, I think we can look for the networks to try something different next season. And hey, if Diggs really wants to be on a hit show, they're still casting for the next Dancing with the Stars, right?... Too soon?

George Lopez just signed on to executive produce a new sitcom for ABC starring the Vidal sisters, Lisa, Christina and Tanya. I don't know who these women are or what it is about their lives that makes them so funny. Lopez met Lisa Vidal when she played his wife in the 2004 television Christmas movie, Naughty or Nice. They got to talking and decided Lisa's stories about her family and her sisters would make a good sitcom. All three sisters are actresses. Lisa Vidal is currently on Boston Legal, Christina Vidal just finished a horror movie, See No Evil, and Tanya Vidal has a recurring role on The Division. Laura Kightlinger, head writer for Will and Grace, will executive produce and write the new sitcom. Lopez's wife, Ann, will be credited as a producer since she's the one who came up with the idea in the first place.