TVSquad

Our Monday morning roundup of a half dozen things TV Squad readers - and TV fans in general - will be talking about this week.

1. Emmy Awards. Fingers crossed that 'Til Death wins a special award. Oh please oh please oh please oh please. (Sunday at 7 on ABC - we'll have live blog coverage!)

2. House season premiere. I'm just guessing, but I bet there's some mystery illness and House figures it out. (Tuesday at 8 on FOX.)

3. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia season premiere. I haven't seen this show but the new commercials actually make me want to check it out. (Thursday at 10 on FX.)

4. Burn Notice season finale. Doesn't it seem like the season just started? (Thursday at 10 on USA.)

5. Supernatural season premiere. Yes, Dean is alive and well (?). (Thursday at 9 on The CW.)

6. The Closer season finale. Actually, maybe that should say The The Closer season finale. (Tonight at 9 on TNT.)

You'd have thought that after 32 episodes of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (premieres on FX, next Thursday, 9/18 at 10PM) that Mac, Dennis, Dee, Charlie, and Frank would have tackled just about anything you can think of that's offensive. They've hit on underage drinking, Nazis, sex offenders, dumpster babies, religion, retardation, homosexuality, and homeless people. Well I'm here to tell you that it's far from over. There's still plenty of off-color material for these five fools to rape (considering the context... I think that is the right word) and it isn't stopping with this season, which will run for 13 episodes. FX president John Landgraf has confirmed that 39 more episodes will follow. But I'm getting ahead of myself. My thoughts on the season four premiere are after jump.

Here are the new TV DVDs, in stores tomorrow.

Every week I hope and pray that I don't have to spend a lot of money on DVDs - or anything else, really - and each week there's something new I need to have. This week there are three DVD sets I'm going to order. How about you?

• The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog - Animated Christmas Blast
• Alvin & The Chipmunks - Daytona Jones and The Pearls of Wisdom
• CSI: Miami - Season 6
• Casper - Spooktacular New Adventures: Vol. 2
• Grey's Anatomy - Season 4
• Gulliver's Travels - Miniseries
• A Haunting - Season 4 and Seasons 1-4 set
• It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia - Season 3
• Judge Judy - Second to None
• Kate & Allie - Season 5 (Canada only)
• Keeping Up Appearances - Life Lessons From Onslow and The Full Bouquet
• Medium - Season 4
• Riptide - Complete Series
• Smallville - Season 7
• The Spectacular Spider-Man - Attack of the Lizard
• The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries - Season 1
• To The Manor Born - Silver Wedding Anniversary and Complete Series
• Ugly Betty - Season 2
• Wings - Season 7

This is Spoilers Anonymous, a weekly column here at TV Squad where we'll supply you with the dirt on some of the more popular shows on the air. We'll never put spoilers up here on the main page in order to help the reformed stay unspoiled. If you have anything to add to the group, feel free to step up and let yourself be heard, either with our tips form or by emailing us at tvsquad at gmail dot com or call and leave a message at (775) 640-8479 - your anonymity is guaranteed, if you wish to remain as such.

Starting next week, Spoilers Anonymous will be published every Thursday. Because I was unable to publish the column in the past weeks due to vacation and a faulty Internet connection, this special edition of the column is slightly longer than usual and filled with spoilers released since the last column was published.

This week we have: 24, Big Love, Bones, Brothers & Sisters, CSI, Desperate Housewives, Friday Night Lights, Gossip Girl, Grey's Anatomy, Heroes, House, How I Met Your Mother, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Lost, NCIS, Prison Break, Private Practice, Smallville and The Office. (SPOILERS FOLLOW!)

File this one under awesome. To help promote the upcoming fourth season of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, FX is launching a traveling game show where fans can test their Sunny wits in a trivia challenge. The tour kicks off today at the University of Colorado and spans the country making stops at other campuses like UC Berkeley and Hofstra University.

The contest will feature five rounds of questions as well as a bonus spin wheel where fans can walk away with DVD sets, apparel, and yes - the grand prize - The Golden Dumpster Baby. Everyone remembers that episode, right?

I suppose this is a pretty good idea. For the most part, the audience FX is targeting (college males who like fart and boob jokes) probably already know the show returns on September 18th. So for a lot of people, this is just a really cool bonus.

It's coming. The return of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. With the season three DVD set to be released on September 9th, FX has lined up season four to premiere on Thursday, September 18th. I've gotta say - between this, The Shield, and Sons of Anarchy, FX has one helluva fall schedule. No word on whether or not the first few weeks will be double episodes as they did the past few seasons, but I would imagine they will be.

To prep for the season, FX has been airing promos like crazy (I embedded a great one featuring "Day Man" at the end of this post), but if you haven't been poking around the It's Always Sunny... website, you probably missed this: they made a music video.

Fans of drug-related jokes, unapologetic ignorance, and illiteracy rejoice! The season three DVD set of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia will hit store shelves on Tuesday, September 9th according to TV Shows on DVD.

Unlike the massive wait we all had to endure before the double release for seasons one and two, this time it isn't so bad. Season three really advanced the show in my opinion, as it featured some of the series' best episodes to date and covered such diverse topics as dumpster babies, retards, and setting people on fire. Not to mention Charlie's superb Pacino as Serpico impersonation. Endless classic moments and infinite replay value.

Though, if you ask me, that's not the best news. There's still no air date yet for the upcoming 13-episode fourth season. Could this be an indication? Typically, DVD releases coincide with the return of new episodes. With The Shield returning on Tuesday, Sept. 2nd, FX would have a nice one-two punch airing It's Always Sunny later in the week. That would make sense too. If I recall, the last season held off its premiere until the fall in the hopes that viewership from the back-on-campus college crowd would help to bolster numbers.

The writers' strike forced some of my favorite shows into an unexpected, summer-long hiatus and delayed the return of others. I'm grateful that shows like Lost still have new episodes, but the second half of this TV season hasn't felt the same. I especially miss the promising new series that were cut short.

It feels like other shows have been on hiatus forever. Flight of the Conchords was supposed to return this year, but had its premiere pushed back until 2009. I miss Bret, Jemaine, and their strange circle of friends. I've been wondering about the fates of several absent characters lately. So many storylines were left unresolved.

Here's a short list of some of the faces I can't wait to see again:

(S03E15) "Your illiteracy has screwed us again Charlie!" - Mac

1:15 PM. On a Saturday. Philadelphia, PA. Last call at Paddy's bar for the season... and possibly forever. Why you ask? Because thanks to Charlie's pea-sized brain, a bum now owns Paddy's. Of course, Charlie isn't entirely to blame. Add in Frank's sedative brownies and Rickety Cricket beating in Dee's legs, and it becomes hard to say where the ultimate blame should rest. While this wasn't the best episode, the ending made for a good cliffhanger. In the past year, FX has rewarded Nip/Tuck, Rescue Me, and Damages with meaty renewals. Here's to hoping that It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is extended the same courtesy.

(S03E12 / S03E13) "Hold on. Nobody's gonna get whacked off today!" - Dee

Every sitcom does it and it was only a matter of time until It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia hopped on the "hour long episode" bandwagon. Sometimes it's a finale or a premiere, but in this case it was FX taking advantage of the first day of November sweeps. Often it works and sometimes it doesn't. As much as I love this show (and the same goes for The Office and the four hour-longs its season started with), I just can't endorse more double-length installments like this. The uneven balance between the good and the bad is just far too obvious. At times during this episode, I felt like I was watching a bunch of mediocre deleted scenes that I'd normally expect to see as a bonus on a DVD set.

(S03E11) "Yeah, that's right. A maid. A maid I can bang." - Frank

You know, they say that somewhere in the world, everyone has a double. Or at least someone that looks awfully close to them. Dennis definitely got the short end of the stick. Nobody wants to look like a convicted child molester. However, only Dennis would be stupid enough to try and prove that he's not the portly guy depicted in the fliers all over the neighborhood.

For the most part though, Dennis' look-alike issues took a backseat to the rest of the episode which focused on a lot of little plotlines from previous episodes that came together. It was great to see some of that stuff. Then again, it was also great to see Dennis try and prove he's not a child molester by donning a fake moustache and trying to teach kids some exercise techniques with no shirt on. So smart.

(S03E08) "We've been throwing rocks at cats for years Dennis." - Charlie

Well... this was funny, but it didn't quite do it for me after how good last night's earlier episode was. One thing I did like was how it took some hints from Curb Your Enthusiasm by introducing something early on in the show ("Diaper Time" on the public access station) and then brought it back right at the end of the episode for the punchline.

The theme for the majority of the installment was fame and how you achieve it. Obviously, that led to some disastrous results including just what the title says. Frank set Dee on fire. Twice, actually.

(S03E07) "Of course we sing! We're a gang!" - Frank

Wow. Brilliant. I'm honestly not sure where to begin because this episode was fantastic. Joel and myself have both talked about how It's Always Sunny... is trying some new things season and that trend continued in this episode with winning results.

Jumping on a theme that's just ripe for laughter, the episode tackled Corporate America. Throw in some Oldies music theme restaurants, a 1950s Doo-Wop biker group, helipads, and secret tunnels and you've got a bunch of things that don't have appear to have anything in common. Leave it to this show to tie that list together.

Welcome to Subtle Subtitles. For those of you who are uninitiated to the purpose of this feature, we're asking you to come up with your funniest quote or description for what's going on in the screen grab we choose for the week. Winners are announced in the following Friday's contest.

1st place to Tele-Toby:


2nd place to Parasail Pete: "Breaking with the long-standing trailer park tradition of pink flamingos in the yard, Bille-Bob and Edna make a bold and risky statement by decorating with the stylish new green ninja mannequin."
3rd place to ac: "Even as adults Michael Jackson's children must hide their identity."

This week, a scene from the season premiere episode of Prison Break ...