TVSquad

Sometimes when I'm watching USA Network, I'm as tickled with the promotions for the shows as I am the shows themselves. That's saying a lot, because as a rule, networks are not very clever about commercials hawking their shows. However, USA is the exception to the rule. Just yesterday, Kona wrote about the Psych promo that took a shot at The Mentalist -- completely justified, too -- and here's another that caught my eye. It's a tribute to Monk.

This is the last season for Monk, so USA gathered some of the stars -- in character -- from its other programs to give a little tribute to Adrian Monk. What a stroke of genius!

A few weeks ago, I wrote about Jeff Goldblum's disappointing start on Law and Order: Criminal Intent. My basic point was that he hadn't really found his character yet - that he hadn't gelled with the series - and he wasn't getting any help from poorly written episodes like the atrocious "rock star" opener.

After watching this week's episode, I have to say, everything was much improved, all around. Granted, the poetry was just as bad as the rock music from Goldblum's debut episode; they managed to force Goldblum playing piano into the plot yet again, and the ending confessional was overly dramatic.

But the bad poetry wasn't quite as distracting as the music in the first episode, the piano playing was at least tangentially related to the plot (although still a stretch), and fans of the series in all its forms must have learned to forgive the dramatic confessions years ago as part of the show's style.

Keith Olbermann! Come on down! You're the next TV celebrity whose death has been falsely reported on the Internet!

The MSNBC Countdown's Wikipedia page reported he had died earlier this morning, possibly due to complications from celiac disease.

I sent emails to two networks officials to confirm this jarring claim. Jeremy Gaines, MSNBC's vice president of communications, responded that he is certain the entry is a "hoax" and that he and other network officials were working to correct it. The section on Olbermann's death has since been removed from the page.

When Chris Noth left Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Jeff Goldblum was announced as his replacement, I was kind of excited. I'm a fan of Goldblum's, and he's always entertaining, whether he's a guest on a talk show or doing something decidedly strange like his guest spot on Tim and Eric: Awesome Show, Great Job!

So far, not so good. Last night's episode, which tried to weave together the stories of a washed-up celebrity chef, a hip hop mogul, and a flighty socialite, still didn't provide the punch I was hoping for. It was better than most of his episodes so far - and a good deal better than his first episode. And there are some elements I like; Goldblum's Detective Zach Nichols can't seem to keep from correcting his co-workers, seemingly with no ill will, but irritating them in the process.

The folks at our sister site Cinematical are working hard to give you news and reviews of the best -- and worst -- the silver screen has to offer. Here are some of their latest musings on the latest blockbusters, indies, and everything in between:

• You guys, I cannot take Valkyrie seriously. Seriously, who thought that making a movie in 2008 about Nazis starring Tom Cruise in an eye patch was a good idea? Anyway, Cinematical reviews Valkyrie here.
  
• Don't you love year-end list time? Movies, actors and trends; Cinematical examines the hottest of 2008.
• Okay, don't freak out yet. Warner Bros. is still planning on releasing The Watchmen in March, but a judge has ruled that FOX has at least distribution rights. Read the latest on the battle for Watchmen here.
• If you have to take out classics like Psycho and the original Friday the 13th and only choose movies from 1990 to the present, what would you put as the best horror movies? Cinematical has the top 25.
• Because it's the day after Christmas, I present to you without further comment, drunk Jeff Goldblum. Happy holidays!

I have to admit that I judged Jeff Goldblum's new show, Raines, before I even saw it. When I heard the plot description that was scattered about on the web several months ago, I think I actually sighed. Another show about an investigator who speaks to ghosts? Why had this become such a hot genre, like westerns or sitcoms many years ago? Did we really need another one, no matter what big name they had for the lead?

Well, I have to eat my words.

NBC has announced that they plan to stream their mid-season shows, The Black Donnellys, Andy Barker, P.I., and Raines on NBC.com. The network is also set to stream all produced episodes of Andy Barker and the pilot of Raines before their premiere dates. There will also be web exclusive content for both The Black Donnellys and Andy Barker.

In addition to all that, Medium and Identity will also begin streaming full episodes in March. That brings NBC's total of full episode streaming series to 13 when added to The Apprentice, Heroes, 30 Rock, Las Vegas, Friday Night Lights, Passions, Studio 60, and My Name Is Earl. The network also plans to make the full seasons of Heroes and Friday Night Lights available, starting with the pilots, beginning in the spring.

Raines is the new quirky detective drama starring Jeff Goldblum. It's going to premiere in the Thursday at 10pm slot that ER currently occupies (side note: why was last night's ER a repeat when the rest of NBC's lineup was brand new?). The two episodes will air on March 15th and 30th. The show then goes into its regular time slot, Friday nights at 9pm.

Goldblum plays a detective that "sees" the victims of murder and they help him solve the crime. Now, contrary to earlier reports, these aren't ghosts a la Ghost Whisperer or Medium. These are actually hallucinations that the detective is seeing, but they help him piece together the puzzle of the crime. Yes, it sounds like the guy is legally insane, but he solves crimes.

The show will co-star Matt Craven, Linda Park, Madeleine Stowe, and Remi Boyer.

It appears that NBC's experiment with Netflix last summer was a success. Back then, the network made DVDs of the pilots of Studio 60 and Kidnapped for Netflix members to preview before the shows premiered on the network in September. This winter, NBC is giving that gimmick another shot. This time the NBC DVD has a Heroes recap, a preview of the pilot for The Black Donnellys and a sneak peek at Raines. The DVD is available to rent only through Netflix from now until January 15th.

The Black Donnellys is a crime drama based in New York and it's being produced by Crash and Million Dollar Baby writer Paul Haggis. It's about a group of brothers, some of whom are wrapped up in crime, who will do anything to protect each other. Raines stars Jeff Goldblum as a cop who has visions of crime victims. Donnellys doesn't have a premiere date yet but Raines is set to take over Las Vegas' timeslot in March. Although, NBC recently reduced its episode order for Raines-- not a good sign.

I'm reminded of the great American poet Dave Mustaine who said, "Hindsight is always 20/20, but looking back it's still a bit fuzzy." You may recall that before it became Knights of Prosperity, that show was called Let's Rob Mick Jagger. And before that, it was reported to be I Want To Rob Jeff Goldblum. Unfortunately, that didn't work out because Goldblum already had a gig set up at NBC called Raines. It's about a detective that sees dead people. I like to think of it as The Ghost Whisperer minus the boobs.

Adam mentioned a couple weeks ago that Raines would be starting in March. That's still the plan, but Cynopsis is reporting that they have cut the episode order from 13 to 7, which is never a good sign. Maybe things would have been better for Goldblum had he jumped ship to get robbed over at ABC. On the other hand, given the state of the rest of the ABC midseason shows, I wouldn't bet on that one either.

ABC gave the greenlight to two new comedies, including Let's Rob Mick Jagger, which is a single-camera comedy about a janitor and his friends who plan to rob Mick Jagger. It's executive produced by David Letterman. The original plan for the show was to rob Jeff Goldblum, but he's already busy with NBC. Jagger just recently signed on to appear in several episodes of the show that is all about robbing him.

ABC also picked up A Day in the Life, which has different views of a couple's wedding day. How are they going to get an entire season out of this premise? I dunno, either. The network also renewed What About Brian? for a second season.

And, part-improv/part-scripted comedy Sons & Daughters did not get renewed for a second season. Creator Fred Goss (interviewed earlier this year by Joel) confirms cancellation on his website.