TVSquad

Here are the weekly TV ratings, by number of viewers.

NBC must be really happy that it's summer. With their reality shows and reality competitions, it's the only way they can get the top spot in the ratings. ABC's Wipeout continues to be strong, though I Survived A Japanese Game Show must be losing a lot of viewers. I'm really surprised that repeats of shows like Criminal Minds, 60 Minutes, and all of the CSIs continue to do so well in the summer.

1. America's Got Talent (NBC)
2. Wipeout (ABC)

Drew Carey and company recently wrapped up shooting Season 36 of The Price is Right -- Drew had pizzas delivered to the studio from his favorite place in Cleveland -- but when the crew comes back to tape Season 37 in a few weeks, they're going to be faced with a number of changes.

The first change is that Roger Dobkowitz, who's been the producer of the show since it started its run, won't be there. According to Golden-Road.net, a TPiR message board, Fremantle Media let Dobkowitz go after Season 36 wrapped up; a replacement has yet to be named.

But there may be other changes afoot, namely with the look and format of the show, whose ratings declined 15% in the first season after Bob Barker's retirement. Rumors are swirling that the changes will include new pricing games and a video wall, all the way up to a rumor -- published on a TVGuide.com fan blog but later pulled -- that the show will be completely overhauled to make it look more like Fremantle's money-making machine, American Idol (or their new money-making machine, Million Dollar Password).

• At 7:45, Showtime2 has David Duchovny in The TV Set.
• At 8, CBS has a new Million Dollar Password.
• Disney has a new Hannah Montana at 8, then a new Wizards of Waverly Place.
• At 9, NBC has a new Dateline.
• PBS has a new Masterpiece Theatre at 9.
• There's a new Law and Order: CI on USA at 9, followed by a new In Plain Sight.
• TLC has a new Singing Office at 9.
• HGTV has a new Design Star at 9.
• Food Network has a new Iron Chef America at 9, then a new Next Food Network Star.
• HBO has The Simpsons Movie at 9.
• Also at 9: Nickelodeon has a new Nick News Special.
• At 10, Lifetime has a new Army Wives.
• Spike has a new episode of Factory at 10.
• At 11:30, Showtime has a new I Can't Believe I'm Still Single.

Check your local TV listings for more.

CBS has ordered six more episodes of Million Dollar Password. This is probably because the show, hosted by Regis Philbin, has become extremely popular. Over four broadcasts, Million Dollar Password placed first in ratings in its time period. It also placed first among adults 18-49 and adults 25-54. The show is averaging 9.46 million viewers. Looks like CBS has the right idea with ordering up some more.

A few weeks ago, Joel talked about the appeal of Password. Perhaps, it's the celebrities they secured to come play: Neil Patrick Harris, Rachel Ray, Betty White, Tony Hawk and Rosie O'Donnell. But I think it's the power of the Regis. Everything that man touches turns to gold. Remember the craze that accompanied Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? I can't hear that theme music and envision the dramatic lights even now as I write this.

Million Dollar Password airs Sundays at 8 p.m. on CBS. Are you hooked enough to watch six more episodes?

• At 7, NBC has the U.S. Olympic Trials, followed by a new Dateline.
• At 8, CBS has a new Million Dollar Password.
• At 9, PBS has a new Masterpiece.
• Discovery has the finale of When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions at 9.
• A&E has two new episodes of Gene Simmons' Family Jewels at 9, followed by two new episodes of The Two Coreys.
• There's a new Ice Road Truckers on History Channel at 9.
• HGTV has a new Design Star at 9, then a new Rate My Space.
• USA has a new Law and Order: CI at 9, followed by a new In Plain Sight.
• At 10, Lifetime has a new Army Wives.
• Also at 10: Food Network has a new Next Food Network Star at 9, then a new Throwdown with Bobby Flay.
• E! has a new Denise Richards: It's Complicated, then a new Living Lohan.
• At 11:30, Cartoon Network has a new Venture Brothers, followed by a new Metalocalypse.
• At 12:30am, Cartoon Network has a new Assy McGee.

Check your local TV listings for more.

Here are the weekly TV ratings, by number of viewers.

Summer is a funny time for TV ratings. You're not quite sure what's going to be in the mix, just that's it's going to be a mix of new shows and repeats. This isn't a big surprise, but it which repeats that make the list. CBS seems to be dominating the summer, with repeats of CSI, CSI: Miami, CSI: NY, Two and a Half Men, Without a Trace, Criminal Minds, Rules of Engagement, and 60 Minutes taking up many spots in the top 20. The top show with new episodes is also a CBS show, Million Dollar Password.

1. NBA Finals - Game 5 (ABC)
2. NBA Finals - Game 3 (ABC)
3. NBA Finals - Game 4 (ABC)

Here are the weekly TV ratings, by number of viewers.

While ABC is probably happy with the NBA Finals games (predictably) grabbing the top slots, CBS has to be happy with the way two of their new shows fared. Million Dollar Password was number 6 this week (number three last week) and the debut of Swingtown hit number 12. Actually, CBS has to be happy in general, as they grabbed 13 of the top 20 shows, though I'm kinda surprised that 60 Minutes continues to do so well in the off season, considering the episodes are all repeat segments.

1. NBA Finals - Game 1 (ABC)
2. NBA Finals - Game 2 (ABC)

• At 8, CBS has a new Million Dollar Password.
• ABC has the second Celtics/Lakers NBA Finals Game at 8.
• TCM has 20 Million Miles To Earth at 8, then First Men in the Moon.
• At 9, NBC has a new, two-hour Dateline.
• Lifetime has the season premiere of Army Wives at 9.
• USA has the season premiere of Law and Order: CI at 9, then a new In Plain Sight.
• The season premiere of Ice Road Truckers airs on History Channel at 9.
• Food Network has a new Iron Chef America at 9, followed by a new Next Food Network Star.
• HGTV has a new Design Star at 9.
• Spike has the movie Backwoods at 9.
• At 10, E! has a new Denise Richards: It's Complicated, then a new Living Lohan.
• Showtime has a new This American Life at 10.
• At 11:30, Cartoon Network has a new Venture Brothers, followed by new episodes of Metalocalypse, Squidbillies, and Assy McGee.

Check your local TV listings for more.

It's no secret that the country is in severe financial straits, especially people who are caught in the real estate merry-go-round where they find themselves unable to pay their monthly mortgage. Amazingly, someone as seemingly well-heeled and secure as Ed McMahon is one of those people struggling. Johnny Carson's sidekick on The Tonight Show is on the verge of losing his Beverly Hills home through foreclosure.

Published reports claim that Ed McMahon's home on Mulholland Drive, part of the gated hilltop development called The Summit, has been on the market for sale since 2006. Unfortunately, moving real estate in a depressed market is very tough. Complicating matters for McMahon is the neighborhood, in particular, one neighbor: Britney Spears.

• At 7, CBS has a new 60 Minutes, then the series premiere of Million Dollar Password.
• G4 has the season premiere of Code Monkeys at 7, followed by the movie The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters.
• At 8, Food Network has a new Challenge, followed by new episodes of Iron Chef America and The Next Food Network Star.
• MTV has the 2008 MTV Movie Awards at 8.
• At 9, NBC has a new Dateline.
• History Channel has a new Ice Road Truckers at 9.
• Also at 9: Showtime has the season finale of The Tudors, then a new This American Life.
• At 10, USA has the series premiere of In Plain Sight.
• There's a new Denise Richards: It's Complicated at 10, then a new Living Lohan. Both are on E!
• At 11:30, Cartoon Network has the season premiere of The Venture Brothers, followed by new episodes Metalocalypse, Squidbillies, and Assy McGee.

Check your local TV listings for more.

Here's the thing about game show revivals: you have to satisfy people on two levels. For fans of the old show, you have to make the gameplay of the new show familiar enough to keep them happy and coming back. And, in order to attract new fans, you have to modernize and add touches that will suck in viewers and help build drama. That's one of the reasons why most new game shows have Who Wants to Be a Millionaire-style darkened sets with swirling lights, and depend on ominous music and tight camera angles to create drama.

Million Dollar Password, premiering Sunday at 8 PM ET, has all of that. They even nabbed Millionaire's original American host, Regis Philbin, to give it that extra bit of primetime oomph. But does it work? Well... sorta. Fans of the Allen Ludden / Tom Kennedy / Bert Convy incarnations might be dissatisfied with what they've done to their old favorite, but even an objective observer can see that the gameplay has some flaws that are going to need to be worked out for the show to succeed.

In an announcement that most who remember the older versions of Password would consider a no-brainer, it has been revealed that Betty White will be returning as a guest panelist on CBS' new Million Dollar Password series. And, really, if she wasn't even being considered would it even be Password?

White, who is 86-years-young, was a staple of the original version of Password when it started back in 1961 as well as the revived 70s and 80s versions of the show. Much of that connection came from her marriage to original Password host Allen Ludden. White and Ludden were married in 1963 and remained together until his death from stomach cancer in 1981.

Like many of its network companions, CBS is using the lazy days of summer to roll out a schedule light on original scripted fare and heavy on unscripted programming. Unlike many of its network companions, CBS is going a different route with some of its original material.

Out of the two original dramas Swingtown is probably the one readers of TV Squad will remember as it was introduced to us during the network's upfronts last year. The show will cover the social and sexual revolutions of the 1970s -- a time when gas was in short supply, inflation was skyrocketing, and the world was in political upheaval. You know, nothing like it is now in the 2000s. The other scripted show will be Flashpoint. This cop drama will follow the adventures of SRU, a task force that is sent out to diffuse emergency situations.

A day hasn't gone by where we haven't received some sort of tip or email asking us, the TV Squad, how to get on [insert reality show here]. Unfortunately no, Simon Cowell does not work for us, and Donald Trump isn't my BFF, so we really can't help all that much.

The folks at RealityWanted.com often send us a list of new and existing reality shows that are looking for new, er, talent, and they've given us permission to make mention of them here. We'll try to make this a regular feature as often as we get a new list.

This time we have Million Dollar Password, Dress My Nest, Grill It!, Divorce Court, Whose Wedding is it Anyway? and several new shows.

Ah, the world of TV, where everything old is new again. Failed sitcoms become cartoons, Adam West gets reimagined as a doddering cartoon mayor, and every old game show is remade into a new, more sparkly version.

Now the twirling-light, ominous music treatment has reached an old favorite: Password. According to Variety, CBS and Fremantle Media are teaming up to produce a new version of the word-association game show, redubbing it Million Dollar Password. And, not only will the old show will be recycled, so will an old host: Regis Philbin has been tapped to host his first prime-time game show since the ABC version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire breathed its last a few years ago.