TVSquad

Here are the new TV DVDs, in stores tomorrow.

• The All-New Popeye Hour - Popeye and Friends
• Burn Notice - Season 1
• Californication - Season 1
• Dynasty - Season 3, Vol. 1
• ER - Season 9
• Galaxy High School - The Collection
• The Hudson Brothers Razzle Dazzle - Complete Series
• Jericho - Season 2 and Complete Series
• Meerkat Manor - Season 3
• The Naked Brothers Band - Polar Bears
• Popeye - Vol. 2: 1938-40
• The Real McCoys - Season 3
• Sabrina The Teenage Witch - Season 4
• The Suite Life of Zack and Cody - Lip Synchin in the Rain
• Transformers: Animated - Tranform and Roll Out
• Wanted: Dead or Alive - Best Of

Here are the new TV DVDs, in stores tomorrow.

• American Gangster - Season 2
• The Andromeda Strain - Complete Mini-Series
• CHiPs - Season 2
• Dante's Cove - Season 3
• The Dead Zone - Season 6
• Doctor Who - Beneath The Surface, Doctor Who and the Silurians, The Sea Devils, and Warriors of the Deep
• Fearless Planet
• Flavor of Love - Season 3
• Get Smart - Complete Series (1995 version)
• I Love New York - Season 2
• Mannix - Season 1
• Meerkat Manor - Best Of, Season 2
• Rescue Me - Season 4
• Storm Chasers - Perfect Disaster
• Weeds - Season 3

• At 8, ABC has The Scripps National Spelling Bee, then a new 20/20.
• The CW has a new Smackdown! at 8.
• PBS has a new Washington Week at 8, followed by new episodes of NOW and Bill Moyers Journal.
• At 8:30, Sci-Fi has a new Sarah Jane Adventures, then new episodes of Doctor Who and Battlestar Galactica.
• ESPN has the Celtics/Pistons NBA Playoff Game at 8:30.
• At 9, NBC has a new Dateline.
• There's a new Man vs. Wild on Discovery at 9.
• Also at 9: VH-1 has a new Best Week Ever.
• At 9:30, Animal Planet has a new Meerkat Manor.
• At 10, Food Network has a new Paula's Party.
• E! has a new episode of The Soup at 10.

Check your local TV listings for more.

Here are the new TV DVDs, in stores tomorrow.

• The Cosby Show - Seasons 7 and 8
• Deadliest Catch - Season 3
• Def Poetry Jam - Season 3
• Fortysomething - Complete Series
• Hell's Kitchen - Season 1
• The Last Detective - Series 4
• Living with Ed - Season 1
• Matlock - Season 1
• Meerkat Manor - Season 2
• Mythbusters - Collection 3
• Nanny 911 - Season 1
• Perry Mason - 50th Anniversary Set
• Rock of Love with Bret Michaels - Season 1
• Sense & Sensibility - Miniseries
• Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtles - Season 6

Growing up as a child of the television generation, I was always mesmerized by any shows having to do with nature or animals. I'd glue myself to the set as Marlin Perkins and Jacques Cousteau took me on fantastic adventures far removed from my own life of domesticated animals.

But I always loved the domestic animals as well. Dogs and cats have always been a part of my life and I'm enriched by their presence in our world. What I didn't have when I was growing up was an Animal Planet exploring the world of animals from pets to deadly predators. From sentimental to educational to outright odd and scary, Animal Planet explores both the worlds of the wilds and the inner cities -- as long as there are animals involved. And, it's not just for kids.

Would you play a Meerkat Manor video game? I sure would--I would love to play as Flower leading her massive group of offspring around. I'm sure the fight scenes would be good too. Those meerkats have some pretty sweet moves.

Well, if you love Meerkat Manor and you love video games, you're in luck because Activision (the same people who brought you the immensely-popular Guitar Hero 3) has teamed up with Discovery Communications. The two companies are in talks to produce a series of video games based on cable network's shows.

They decided on Meerkat Manor for the first game (it is Animal Planet's highest-rated show) and more titles will be released in early 2008. I wonder what other shows they will turn into video games? Discovery Communications has several cable networks so they have a wide array of shows to serve as the basis for a multi-media project (i.e. Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, Travel Channel). I have a few suggestions: Man vs. Wild (or Survivorman if you like him better), Orangutan Island and Deadliest Catch.

Here are the new TV DVDs, in stores tomorrow.

• Alfred Hitchcock Presents - Season 3
• CSI: NY - Season 3
• The Captain and Tennille - In Hawaii, In New Orleans, Songbook, and Christmas Show sets
• Creature Comforts - Season 1
• Degrassi Junior High - Complete Collection
• Everybody Hates Chris - Season 2
• Family Ties - Season 2
• Ghost Hunters - Season 3, Part 1 and Shining Hotel sets
• Girlfriends - Season 2
• Hannah Montana - Vol. 3
• Meerkat Manor - Season 1
• Michael Palin Pole To Pole
• Murder, She Wrote - Season 7
• Robin of Sherwood - Set 2
• Roots - Complete Collection
• Roots - The Next Generation
• Stargate: SG-1 - Complete Series
• The Vicar of Dibley - A Holy Wholly Happy Ending and The Immaculate Collection

Breathtaking vistas? Wild animals? Vibrant culture? Life Is Wild, the new fish-out-of-water drama on the CW promises all these things, and yet, doesn't quite deliver. It's more of a "Life Is Mild" -- a generic family drama set in a lush South African locale -- that strips all the color out of the scenery by weighing down its story with bland characters played by nondescript actors stuck in unoriginal situations.

For real excitement and back-stabbing familial drama in the South African wild, check out the spectacular Meerkat Manor on Animal Planet. My family may be late to the game (Meerkat Manor is now in its third season), but those meerkats have us absolutely riveted. And maybe that's why I had a hard time getting excited by Life Is Wild. There's no real sense of danger. Unfortunately, this fictionalized African drama just can't compete with the real life-and-death struggles of those photogenic meerkats.

• At 8, FOX has a new Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader, then a new Nashville.
• The CW has a new Smackdown! at 8.
• PBS has a new NOW at 8, followed by new episodes of Washington Week, Bill Moyers Journal, and Expose.
• There's a new Cory in the House on Disney at 8, then a new Hannah Montana.
• The N has a new South of Nowhere at 8.
• Also at 8: Sci-Fi has a new Doctor Who, then a new Flash Gordon and the series finale of Painkiller Jane.
• At 8:30, Nickelodeon has a new Avatar: The Last Airbender.
• Animal Planet has a new Meerkat Manor at 8:30, followed by a new It's Me Or The Dog.
• At 9, Discovery has a new Survivorman.
• VH-1 has a new Best Week Ever at 9.
• At 10, E! has a new episode of The Soup.
• At 11, HBO has a new Real Time with Bill Maher.

Check your local TV listings for more.

• At 7, Cartoon Network has a new episode of their first live-action show, Out of Jimmy's Head (repeated at 8:30).
• 8, FOX has a new Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader, then the premiere of Nashville.
• PBS has a new NOW at 8, followed by new episodes of Washington Week, Bill Moyers Journal, and Expose America.
• The CW has a new Smackdown! at 8.
• Animal Planet has a new Meerkat Manor at 8:30.
• At 9, USA has the season finale of Monk, then the season finale of Psych.
• Sci-Fi has a new Doctor Who at 9, then new episodes of Flash Gordon and Painkiller Jane.
• Food Network has a new Paula's Party at 9
• There's a new Survivorman at 9 on Discovery.
• Also at 9: VH-1 has a new Best Week Ever.
• At 10, ABC has a new 20/20.
• E! has a new episode of The Soup at 10.
• At 11, HBO has a new Real Time with Bill Maher, with guests Drew Carey, Carl Bernstein, and Rep. Jan Schakowsky.

Check your local TV listings for more.

• At 7, ESPN has the Navy/Rutgers football game.
• At 8, PBS has a new NOW, then new episodes of Washington Week, Bill Moyers Journal, and Expose: America.
• The CW has a new Friday Night Smackdown! at 8.
• Noggin has a new South of Nowhere at 8.
• At 8:30, Animal Planet has a new Meerkat Manor.
• At 9, ABC has the special Fashion Rocks.
• USA has new episodes of Monk and Psych starting at 9.
• Discovery has a new Survivorman at 9.
• There's a new Paula's Party at 9 on Food Network.
• Also at 9: Sci-Fi has a new Flash Gordon, followed by a new Painkiller Jane.
• At 10, ABC's 20/20 investigates Dateline's "To Catch A Predator" series.
• TV Land is showing Twilight Zone: The Movie at 10.
• At 11, HBO has a new Real Time with Bill Maher, with guests Ralph Nader, Cornell West, Mos Def, and Rep. Rahm Emanuel

Check your local TV listings for more.

• At 7, USA has coverage of the U.S. Open.
• At 8, ABC has a new Set For Life.
• The CW has a new Smackdown! at 8.
• Noggin has a new South of Nowhere at 8.
• At 8:30, Animal Planet has a new Meerkat Manor.
• Also at 8:30: Cartoon Network has a new My Gym Partner's A Monkey.
• At 9, NBC has a new Dateline.
• There's a new Survivorman on Discovery at 9.
• At 10, ABC has a new 20/20.
• Sci-Fi has a new Painkiller Jane at 10.
• Nicktoons has a new Nicktoons Film Festival at 10.
• E! has a new episode of The Soup at 10.

Check your local TV listings for more.

• At 7:30, ESPN2 has coverage of the Rogers Cup tennis tournament.
• At 8, CBS has the Bills vs. the Saints preseason football game.
• ABC has a new Set For Life at 8 (Boston area viewers will see a preseason game between the Patriots and Bucs).
• The CW has a Smackdown! at 8.
• PBS has a new NOW at 8, followed by new episodes of Washington Week and Bill Moyers Journal.
• Sci-Fi has a new Doctor Who at 8, then the series premiere of Flash Gordon.
• At 8, ESPN has coverage of the Little League World Series.
• At 8:30, Animal Planet has a new Meerkat Manor.
• At 9, Discovery has a new Survivorman.
• There's a new Monk on USA at 9, then a new Psych.
• At 10, E! has a new episode of The Soup.

Check your local TV listings for more.

If you haven't seen the new Animal Planet series Meerkat Manor, I encourage you to check it out. It's being promoted as a kind of mix between a soap opera and a nature documentary, but it's really not all that different than a normal nature documentary where they personalize the animals by giving them names and making them seem more "human" than they actual are. And, quite frankly, Meerkats are adorable creatures, so it works better than say, something like House of Maggots. Actually, that's not a bad idea for a show, either. Wait, it's not? Oh, okay. It also differs from a soap opera in that, unlike human soap operas, I actually care what happens to these animals. The series is narrated by Sean Astin. You can watch clips from the series here.

Sean Astin is lending his voice to an intriguing new series from Animal Planet. It's called Meerkat Manor, and it's part documentary, part soap opera. I'm not sure how exactly they're going to pull this off, but Astin will narrate thirteen episodes that follow the life and times of a meerkat family. The press release promises all the goodies we've come to expect from soap operas: from backstabbing to love affairs to family feuds. Apparently meerkats are quite the dramatic bunch. The writers even gave all the little fellas names like Zaphod (Beeblebrox?) and Shakespeare, and they're all part of the 'Whiskers' family.

The series begins Friday, June 9 at 8 pm (ET) on Animal Planet.