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.

(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...

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.