TVSquad

(S01E01) "I think Jughead's a real hoot." - Wendy Watson

From the beginning, I can tell this show is going to be pretty campy. That always tends to make me nervous. There are very few shows that can do camp and still be truly entertaining. I consider Batman to be one of those shows, although I know there are many who disagree. The corny looking mutant, the cheap special effects, the conversation about dating; all these things point straight towards camptown, but it's only the first three minutes.

Generally, I am not a fan of shows with quickly spoken dialog. It reminds me of how great Bruce and Cybill did it on Moonlighting. However, when it's done right, it not only sets a tone for the show but also gives the characters more freedom to have fun with the script. In the case of Middleman, I think it really works. Matt Keeslar and Natalie Morales have a nice rapport and their serious tone is a nice juxtaposition to the outrageous situations. One more point for the show.

A roundup of TV people from in front of the camera and behind the scenes who have passed away.

• Lonny Chapman: He was a veteran stage and screen actor/director who appeared on several TV shows over the years, including Murder, She Wrote, NYPD Blue, Matlock, Jake and the Fatman, Riptide, Hotel, Knight Rider, Trapper John, M.D., Simon & Simon, Vegas, Quincy, M.E., Charlies Angels, Kojak, McCloud, and many, many others. He also starred in several Broadway plays, including Come Back Little Sheba, and served in World War II. He died of heart disease at age 87.

And I second that. I'd love to see a Moonlighting reunion movie. Now all Cybill Shepherd has to do is convince Bruce Willis.

Shepherd tells Entertainment Tonight that she still thinks Willis is "hot" and that she would be up for doing Moonlighting again. Of course, Willis is really busy doing movies these days and who knows if he wants to look back like that, especially since the two had a lot of tension on the set (though I think Willis would be more up for it now than, say, 10 years ago).

Medium has become the Yes, Dear of "psychic who sees ghost genre and helps people," a show that not too many seem to talk about but gets pretty good ratings and gets renewed every year. See also: JAG.

NBC has given the Patricia Arquette show a fourth season, a week before the official fall 2007 lineup is announced at the network's upfront presentation. NBC President Kevin Reilly praised the show as only a network executive can (and while you read the praise, replace the title Medium with any show that NBC has canceled in the past 6 months).

For a while there, Moonlighting was great, wasn't it? It's a show that truly defines the 80s (the clothes, the attitude), it was really fun and clever, and made Bruce Willis an A list star. Sometimes it's easy to forget how SCREWED UP the show got there for a while. Almost every episode had some problem (script delays, fighting between cast members), and there were whole episodes that were affected by a writers strike and episodes where costars Allyce Beasley and Curtis Armstrong had to take over. It was a rather up and down show, especially in the last couple of years. But it was always entertaining and even joked about these delays and problems in a good, wink-wink sort of way.

Here are the new TV DVDs, in stores tomorrow.

• Doctor Who - The Invasion and The Sontaran Experiment
• Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends - Season 1
• Hawaii Five-0 - Season 1
• The Loop - Season 1
• Moonlighting - The Final Season (review coming tomorrow)
• Northern Exposure - Season 6
• Sabrina, The Teenage Witch - Season 1
• South Park - Season 9
• Stargate: Atlantis - Season 2

Since TV is in everyone's home, it's one of the pop culture things we can all talk about. Entertainment Weekly lists their 10 Big Watercooler Moments, those moments on TV shows that we were all talking about the next day at work (or school).

While some of their choices are obvious and deserving to be on the list (Lucy going into labor on I Love Lucy, Ellen DeGeneres coming out on Ellen, Maddie and David finally doing it on Moonlighting, the "Who Shot J.R." ep of Dallas), are they really serious when they list the episode that Michael J. Fox left Spin City? Really? Hey, I like Fox, but was his character (or even the show) that important and talked about? I think that Fox announcing he was ill was certainly something we all talked about, but I don't think that it should be on this list. Especially considering what EW left off the list: the finales of M*A*S*H*, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and Friends; several Seinfeld moments (that was the topic of discussion every morning after where I worked), and the final episode of Newhart with Suzanne Pleshette.

I mean, Felicity cutting her hair? Gah.

[via TV Filter]

• Avatar: The Last Airbender -Book 1
• The Batman - Season 2
• Black. White - Complete Series
• Diagnosis: Murder - Season 1
• Grey's Anatomy - Season 2
• Las Vegas - Season 3
• Moonlighting - Season 4
• The Office - Season 2
• Roseanne - Season 5
• Smallville - Season 5
• SpongeBob SquarePants - Season 4, Volume 1
• Stella - Season 1
• The Swan - Seasons 1 and 2
• Teen Titans - Season 2
• Wildboyz - Seasons 3 and 4

The name might not be familiar to you, but you will instantly recognize the face. The character actor died of lung cancer today in Italy at age 57.

Wow. That's young.

Schiavelli was in a ton of movies, from Ghost to One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest to Tomorrow Never Dies. He was also in the films Amadeus, Fast Times At Ridgemont High, Batman Returns, Valmont, and Man on the Moon. He was also in several TV series, including Buffy, The Vampire Slayer, The X-Files, Family Guy, Dharma and Greg, Miami Vice, MacGyver, Melrose Place, Who's The Boss, Trapper John, M.D., Night Court, Taxi, and Moonlighting (he was once married to Allyce Beasley, who played Miss DiPesto). 

Nick at Nite has given us yet another reason to rev up our Tivos and VCRs.

It turns 20 on July 1, and all this week they are celebrating by showing episodes of shows that they've had on the schedule over the years. Some of the shows:

• Kate and Allie (damn, I wish this show was on DVD)
• Moonlighting
• Who's The Boss
• Family Ties
• Night Court
• Dragnet
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents
• Growing Pains
• Get Smart

Great shows all, but it illustrates a point: why aren't these shows on the network right now? As Noel Holston says in the Detroit News/Newsday piece below, "...while Nick at Nite - and TV Land, for that matter - have never been more successful, it's nostalgia isn't what it used to be."