TVSquad

There are very few recurring television moments that instantly grab my undivided attention: seeing an undead Billy Mays still pitching Oxy-Clean, Twilight Zone episodes that pwn Nazis, late night Skinemax.

Now you can add Don Rickles to that list. He's become a staple of late night during the early Tonight Show because he's engaging, colorful and damn funny. Every time he stops in at Letterman's Late Show, I have to stop what I'm doing and watch and that includes running a pregnant friend to the hospital, although it does ruin some of the comedy for me. All that screaming.

He's also great at roasts, not because he's a great insult comic but because he can be just as down to Earth and genuine with the people he's skewering. His best roast is one that never made it to television: a roast of Get Smart's Don Adams at the Playboy Mansion.

Apparently, I've gone over to the dark side and have somehow morphed into a person who watches the E! network. I've commented on the Kardashians, Leave it to Lamas, and Chelsea Lately (which I love by the way). I've finally moved to the bottom of the barrel -- The Girls Next Door.

Here's the thing about this show. Who really knows what goes on when the cameras are turned off (or possibly, we don't want to know), but it seems like Hugh Hefner is a really nice guy. All of his girlfriends and ex-girlfriends have only good things to say about him, and they rave about how cool it is to live at the Playboy mansion.

And if you can get past the part where he has several girlfriends at the same time, and is, like, 103 years old creepily having sex with 19-year-old girls (if he can still have sex, that is), he just seems like a nice guy. The kindly grandfather girls have sex with. Oh, and he loves to scrapbook.

Bridget Marquardt is already traveling the world showing us Bridget's Sexiest Beaches on the Travel Channel. Now it's Kendra Wilkinson's turn. Easily the most annoying of The Girls Next Door, Kendra's new E! show will premiere this fall. Now that all the girls have left the mansion, it's time to see what's next for them. And for Kendra, who was only 18 when the show premiered, it's about time she learned how to be an adult who isn't pampered by the staff at the Playboy Mansion.

And that's just what her show, cleverly called Kendra, will do as she prepares for her wedding next month. My wife is a fanatic for The Girls Next Door, so I've seen more than my fair share of them, and the show is actually much sweeter than you'd expect. One of my questions was what they would do with it now that the girls have left the nest. Apparently, the show will continue and presumably feature Hef's new girlfriends, the twins (not those twins, though I'm sure they're featured as well; they really are twins!).

(S12E01) Yes, it's that time already! Despite occasional teams who have irked me to no end, The Amazing Race has always been my favorite reality television show. I love the whirlwind travel around the world and peeking at places I'll probably never be able to visit in my own lifetime.

The pace can be amazing; the countrysides and cityscapes can be amazing, too. I find I learn from this show as I'm always tempted to research a bit after seeing an episode. The season premiere turned out to be no exception to the rule. It's off to a good start and, so far, I enjoy most of the teams. Those teams I don't care for ... heh ...