TVSquad

The FX panels on Tuesday were pretty uneventful, aside from the news from network president John Landgraf. There was supposed to be a panel for It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, but that was mysteriously dropped from the schedule. I'm guessing that the boys figured they'd get too hammered at the FOX party the night before to handle questions from the reporters. Indeed, I witnessed Rob McElhenny and Glenn Howerton try to ride the Tilt-a-Whirl at the Santa Monica pier right after they pounded a couple of beers. Maybe canceling the panel was a smart idea.

Anyway, the three shows that paneled were Damages, Sons of Anarchy, and The Shield. More on what transpired after the jump.

Thanks to the extreme generosity of Fox Home Entertainment, TV Squad has scored an advance copy of the latest direct-to-DVD Futurama release titled The Beast With A Billion Backs. Previously, we directed you to another DVD review of the show, but now this one is ours! All ours! MWA HA HA HA!

A-hem.

The second direct-to-DVD release of Futurama is a fun movie with loads of extras that make the purchase worth it. They include outtakes, deleted scenes, commentary tracks, and an extra I particularly enjoyed: a "Lost Episode" made from a Futurama video game (which was a bit like watching a video game demo, but with jokes). The DVD also comes with a preview of the next Futurama DVD release which looks to be a satire of Lord of the Rings. Guest voices include Brittany Murphy as Fry's new girlfriend, David Cross as the planet-sized Yivo and Professor Stephen Hawking as himself.

Spoilers after the jump...

The CSI/Two and a Half Men writers switch was a very clever promotion for CBS. Fortunately, the writers saw the opportunity to change places as more than just a publicity stunt. They really took the scripting seriously and came up with inventive episodes for each program. If this were a competition to see which team would deliver the better show, who would take on the task of writing winning TV in a genre not their own and succeed beyond expectations, the comedy scribes take the gold. Chuck Lorre and Lee Aronsohn's CSI was pure genius, and if it were up to me, CSI should submit it for an Emmy.

But first there was Two and a Half Men. In an episode called "Fish in a Drawer" (and if somebody could explain what that title means, I'd be most appreciative), the story picked up after Evelyn married Teddy. In the teleplay by CSI regular writers Evan Dunsky and Sarah Goldfinger, Charlie and Courtney check out of the reception for a little romp in his room upstairs only to find Teddy's dead bod on the bed. Talk about spoiling the mood. Teddy wasn't only a corpse, he was a corpse with his pants pulled down around his ankles and lipstick stains on his hoo-ha. The cops were called in, a detective who was a dead ringer for Marg Helgenberger -- played by redhead Jamie Rose -- had the vaguely Bondian name of Jagov, Sloane Jagov. Naturally, Charlie had to make a move on her. He couldn't keep his eyes off her cleavage.

I can't believe this is actually happening. I've told you before how much I hate cross-overs on TV; it's tolerable if it's at least the same genre of show. This is like in-breeding. If CSI and Two And a Half Men were brother and sister, then their deformed, incestual love-child is what's going to air on Monday, May 5th.

We actually reported on this almost a year ago, that the writers of CSI and Two And a Half Men were going to flip-flop and pen an episode of the other show. Well it never happened. Now, according to this press release, it's a go. I would imagine that the Writer's Strike played a role in resuscitating this awkward match-up.

(S01E12) What the hell? Did I really just see what I thought I saw on Eli Stone? The entire episode was predicated on Eli having a vision that if it were to come true, would be catastrophic. He sees the Golden Gate Bridge destroyed when an earthquake hits San Francisco. This isn't the first time he's seen this kind of destruction, but the last time nothing happened. So, then, what are we to make of the fact that this time around, it really does! Like I said, is this really real? Tune in next week for more of the thrilling days of Eli Stone...

Looks like FX is at it again. The new drama pilot Sons of Anarchy from Kurt Sutter (FX gave it the greenlight back in October when it was called Forever Sam Crow) has been scheduled to begin filming on February 14th according to The Hollywood Reporter. The drama will focus on the seedy and often corrupt world of motorcycle clubs and the familial lines that usually run through them.

A boatload of casting news was announced too. Katey Sagal (Married with Children, The Shield), who happens to be Sutter's wife, will star alongside Charlie Hunnam (Undeclared) and Scott Glenn (Backdraft). It gets better though. Allen Coulter, perhaps best known for directing numerous episodes of The Sopranos, has signed on to helm the pilot.

Boston Legal is a unique program. Not in terms of its subject matter, or its cast (although, it does have a pretty star-studded cast), but in the fact that it has such a huge connection to the various incarnations of Star Trek. No, I'm not saying that the show takes place in the legal offices of the United Federation of Planets. What I'm pointing out is the fact that it stars or has featured several actors who have been part of that legacy. Here is a breakdown of the five (plus one) Star Trek actors who have graced the David E. Kelly program.

William Shatner (Denny Crane): Of course, we all know Mr. Shatner as the brave and bold Captain James T. Kirk from the original run of Star Trek. And, in some ways, Shatner's Denny Crane is a future version of the Captain. For instance, Denny is tough, abrasive, direct, and extremely horny. If you have seen the show, you know that Denny will have sex with anything that isn't tied down, including life-like inflatable dolls that have a uncanny likeness to law firm partner Shirley Schmidt. Other than the inflatable doll, how much of what I mentioned describes Kirk?

(S03E06) Ewwwww! If you watched this week's episode of Boston Legal, then you absolutely know what I'm talking about. If you haven't watched it yet, well, let's just say the reaction is from something that happened at the end of Scott Little's trial. I'll reveal it at the end of the post. So, beware the spoiler alert!

Before we continue with Jeffrey Coho and the trial of Scott Little, I want to talk about the subplot of this week's show, which involved Alan Shore's feelings of sexual insecurity with Sally Heep (guest star Lake Bell). It had absolutely, totally no redeeming value to this week's episode. It just seemed to be filler to what the meat of the episode was about. If they had nothing better than that to fill the remaining time on the show, then they should have taken the subplot out and focused on the secondary characters. Being a fan of the show, and a fan of James Spader's Alan Shore, I was disappointed with the whole thing.

Now that I have that out of the way, let's talk about the trial.

(S01E09) In the DVD commentary for this episode, David Cohen, Matt Groening, and writer Eric Kaplan all agree that by this juncture, the writers were comfortable enough with the characters to take them in some far-out directions. What's interesting about this episode, though, is that as far out as Leela, Fry and Bender go here, they barely leave Earth (heck, they don't even leave the Northeast).

Oh, sure they go out to the mob planet Sicily 8, but we just see them go out and come back. But that scene is important, for plot forwarding purposes, and for one hell of a funny visual. More on that in a second.

(S01E07) I'm going to start with Billy West's take on this episode, because he says exactly what I loved about it. I'll just put it in in transcript form (from the interview I did with him a in June):

BW: I loved it, because of the people made out of the water, it just looked so cool. It was a real killer; I loved that one. What a thing to say about an episode: "Well, he drinks the emperor."

JK: Well, that just says to me that with a Sci Fi cartoon, you can go in any direction you want.

BW: Right, but you notice that they have their roots in pure Sci Fi. Like drinking the emperor. That's like Ray Bradbury kind of stuff.

JK: Even though they have the crazy characters, they still try to root themselves in traditional Sci Fi literature.

BW: It just semed endless, what you could do.

"Endless". That's just about the perfect term for it.

(S01E05) Now that we all know that Futurama is coming back, I'm now watching these early episodes with even more zeal than I had before. Don't know why; I think it's the temptation of new episodes that's making me dissect the old ones, trying to catch all the in-jokes and details so I'm completely up to speed in time for the 2008 re-premiere.

This episode is full of little references that brought out the computer geek in me, which, judging by the commentary on the DVD, was what it did for the show's braintrust.

Do not adjust your web browser. You are now entering the Retro Squad, where we are reviewing past episodes of your favorite shows, in order, every week.

(S01E01) First, some good news for Futurama fans: last week, I conducted a lengthy interview with Billy West, where, among other things, I was able to get his thoughts on the vast majority of Season One episodes. What I plan to do is to intersperse those thoughts (some are a sentence or two, others are a bit more in-depth) into my Retro Squad reviews of Season One.

West did have some thoughts about the series pilot, but I think I'll leave those for the general interview, which will likely be posted sometime this week (we spoke for 90 minutes, so I'm not looking forward to transcribing that monster). So I'll just give my thoughts; yes, I know, I'm not Billy, but you'll just have to wait for him. Nyah.

Last month I listed the sexiest TV women over 40, and there were a lot of them; both the Honorable Mentions and the comments indicated that I missed a good number of mature women that would make hearts go aquiver. When I first made the list, I was going to put anyone over 40 on it, but so many sexy women over 50 and over 60 presented themselves, that I decided to make 3 different lists (which also that makes 2 less ideas I have to come up with for The Five column).

So, after the jump, I'll give you a list of sexy women over 50 that have been on TV the last few years. They prove that getting older isn't the end of a career; in fact, many of the women on the list look better than they did when they were younger. Whether they got that way through genetics or through "help" isn't for me to judge, since there is enough terrible plastic surgery around for me to be able to appreciate women whose work is more on the "natural-looking" side.