TVSquad

For CBS, tradition and consistency are the keystones for success. So while CBS Corp. president and CEO Leslie Moonves talked about a few new projects in an interview with TV Week, he also shared the news that the network will be booking more Survivor and The Amazing Race editions in the seasons to come.

To this I say, hooray! Especially for The Amazing Race. There's a reason this show has won the Emmy so many times. The current race has been terrific. Survivor seems to be having a bounce back season, as well.

I was turned off to the last couple of seasons -- China was a drag -- but I'm enjoying the current contest. Anytime an antagonist like Ace emerges, that's good TV to me.

It seems like CBS is really trying to get on board with this whole Internet thing. In a keynote address to the Consumer Electronics Show, President and CEO Leslie Moonves told the crowd that old and new media are pretty much the same thing now, and that networks and other content producers should embrace the newer forms of media rather than fight them, like the music industry did.

To that end, Moonves and Sling Media CEO Blake Krikorian introduced a new product, called the Clip + Sling, which will get loaded into Slingboxes starting in the second quarter. What the software will allow users to do is grab clips from CBS shows and then e-mail them to friends. You may eventually be able to "mash" clips together for your friend's amusement, though I'm not sure what purpose that serves. Anyway, it seems like Moonves really likes these new-fangled video thingies -- he brought one of the YouTube guys on stage during the speech -- but I just have one question: why the hell doesn't inntertube ever freakin' work right?

Leslie Moonves, the head of CBS and favorite telephone guest of David Letterman, says the network is considering financing some movies. He says they don't plan on doing anything big like Superman, but that he'd like to see the network finance a handful of smaller-budget movies each year. Smaller budget, by the way, means $20-$30 million a flick. CBS lost its connection to movies when when it split with Viacom last year. Viacom retained Paramount Pictures.

Aquaman, as Anna reported, is still moving forward despite the merger of UPN and the WB into the new CW.  However, there has been a change in casting, and Will Toale will no longer be playing the moist super hero who likes to converse with all the little fishies. Instead, the role is being given to Justin Hartley. Apparently the producers have a thing for actors who were in soap operas. Toale was on Guiding Light and Hartley was seen most recently on Passions. The decision to recast was the result of the merger between the two networks, and Leslie Moonves, CEO of CBS (which owns UPN) made the recommendation to give the role to Hartley.

Thanks to Toby for the tip.