TVSquad

(S10E01) We were spoiled this year with Big Brother. The winter season of BB was arguably the only good thing to come out of the WGA strike (if you're a sucker for low-brow television like me). And now it's back again in its regular summer schedule.

Speaking of schedules, Jackie and I will be covering the show this summer. I'll be doing Sunday episodes with Jackie covering Tuesday and Wednesday. You can also count of TV Squad for Jackie's Live Feed Reports and I might post a few updates from Big Brother After Dark which airs on ShoToo (I knew there was a reason I added Showtime to my cable bill. And I thought I was just getting The Tudors and Secret Diary of a Call Girl.)

Okay, let's get to what happened last night.

Do not adjust your web browser. You are now entering the Retro Squad, where we are reviewing past episodes of classic TV shows.

(S02E01) Here's the rundown. Michael and his son leave for Phoenix. Well, not really. Michael needs money so he ends up going back to his old life at the model home in order to track down the company check book.

While Michael tries to do something productive, the rest of the siblings are into the usual mischief. When she and Tobias decide to explore an open relationship, Lindsay falls for a real estate agent. Tobias readies himself to join the Blue Man Group, excited at this new acting opportunity. GOB, who has been put in charge of the company, finds the contracts with Saddam Hussein but inadvertently gives them to his father who is dressed up like Oscar, George Sr.'s twin brother. Buster reconnects with Uncle Oscar but gets enlisted in the army by Lucille.

And at the end of the day, the Bluths realize they all need each other. If they didn't, it wouldn't be Arrested Development.

(S02E01) The season finale for Army Wives last summer was a cliffhanger. It was an explosive, shocking and dramatic conclusion to a season filled with the characters' ups and downs, the good times and the bad, the yin and the yang of the lives of military families on Fort Marshall in Charleston, South Carolina.

This season two opener is no less stunning. It was a powerful episode, as the tribe, as the Army spouses like to call themselves, deal with the aftermath of a suicide bomber walking into the Hump Bar determined to fulfill his mission and take all of them with him. The watering hole was filled with patrons, and the question fans wondered since then has been, who survived the blast?

(S04E01) It's back! *sings terribly* "Oh, I wanna dance with somebody. With somebody who loves me!" I am psyched for So You Think You Can Dance. We kicked off tonight with the L.A. auditions and a two-hour season premiere. There were a lot of Russians, a lot of pelvic thrusts, a lot of repeat dancers, and a lot of Mary Murphy's infectious/irritating laugh. I can't decide about that one. Some times I can't stand her and some times I want to sit next to her at the judges table. What about you?

But enough about Mary, let's get to the good stuff ... the auditions!

(S04E12) I swear, if I hear Tim Gunn say that this group is the most talented season yet one more time, I will jump up and scream, "Lies! All lies!" and then flip over a table to kick-start my violent rampage. Sure, there are some super-talented individuals, as always, but I still don't believe that this is anywhere near the strongest group of designers yet.

Watching this Reunion didn't manage to convince me that this was the most exciting season either.

(S05E01) "The bigger the lie, the more they believe." - Bunk

The beginning of the end. But how do you put it into words? The Wire leaves you breathless at the end of every episode. Every season features such a slow and deliberate pacing as it starts off as well as a new focus. It's not hard to figure out why so many people never stuck with it after McNulty's fateful meeting with Judge Phelan. But the real fans, the ones who have watched each season countless times and dissected every tiny detail (there's an infinite list), truly know that it's worth it every time. This show is art. In the streets. Down at the port. In City Hall. In the schools. And now in the newsroom. Every season is a puzzle piece and we're finally lucky enough to see the last one. I'm completely ripping off HBO with this next line, but there really isn't a better way to say this: it's all connected.

How many of us wish we could just blur past four years of our lives as if they never happened? I know a couple people from college who did just that and aren't sure to this day if they ever attended college or not.

When the gang from One Tree Hill left us last year, they were finally graduating high school and heading off for college, with new babies and careers on the horizon for some. These are some pretty important and pivotal times in a young person's life, but when the CW drama returns with its two-hour premiere on January 8, 2008 according to Zap2It.com, it'll be four years later and these moments have passed.

(S04E01) As one of those annoying artsy designer-types, I have been super-excited about the new season of Project Runway. The buzz among my social circles is palpable. Plus, I saw Tim Gunn at the Baltimore Book Festival and he assured the crowd that this cycle would feature the most talented bunch yet.

To quote Michael Kors, if I may, I found myself underwhelmed. Maybe it was because the challenge, to run to a tent full of lovely fabrics and make whatever the hell the designers wanted, wasn't as intense as previous first episode's. It's probably still too early to judge, so I'm going to wait for one or two more episodes before I decide how I feel about this cycle's designers.

(S07E01) One thing I can say about the season premiere of Scrubs' seventh and last season: It wasn't as lurchingly awkward as last year's season premiere. Or most of the first half of last season, for that matter. But that doesn't mean it was good.

There were a few laugh-out-loud moments, but most of the jokes fell pretty flat. And none of the flatness had anything to do with the conclusion of last year's cliffhanger, where J.D. and Elliot, trying to escape some big life changes, lie next to each other, and kinda sorta lean in for a kiss...

(S36E01)*

*It's not like we're going to review every episode this season. Do you think we're insane?

Drew Carey's new career should be hosting the premiere of any new network game show that comes down the pike. That's because he has the Luck of the Irish on these shows. On the premiere of his primetime game show Power of 10 the first contestant on the first show won one million dollars. On the 36th season premiere of The Price is Right, which Drew Carey is now hosting after the retirement of legendary host Bob Barker, everyone won.

(S04E01) Man, I'm having a hard time finding an opening for this review. I want to say that the season premiere of Atlantis was so much better than any episode of SG-1 that aired in its final season. However, that will probably piss off the SG-1 fans who say that Atlantis doesn't hold a candle to the original series. I want to say that, despite the standard science-fiction storyline that was the plot of this episode, the writers and producers did a great job of making it different, interesting, and a bit suspenseful. Yet, fans of science-fiction might get angry and say its all been done before and better.

(S04E01) "Because I hate owing you." - Colby

Yeah, yeah... I know. Here it is, the end of the the fall premiere week and I'm blogging about a show that only seven months ago I said I was done with. "It's bland" I decried, and it's lost the spark that originally drew me in. So what am I doing here? Well, despite the fact that I stopped writing about Numb3rs, I'm a sucker for pretty much anything on TV. (Case in point? I reviewed the entire first season of Dirt!) That's right. I put my pen down and I watched Don and Charlie's antics for the whole rest of the third season anyway. And you know what? I sort of got sucked back in. Last season's finale was right up there but I still bit my tongue when I considered throwing up a post. I knew I'd end up being negative despite the fact that I enjoyed it. So I here I am, starting from scratch, attempting once again to remember why I liked this show in the first place.

(S14E01) So, here we are.

After 13 years, numerous cast changes, various relationships, and a number of staff deaths, we come to what will probably be the final season of NBC's medical drama ER. This show has come a long way since Doctors Greene, Lewis, Benton, Carter, and Ross (and Nurse Hathaway) entered our Thursday nights. Some of the journey has been rocky (Season 7 was one of the rockiest, in my honest opinion). But, for the most part the trip has been a very good one.

(S01E01) "My mom and dad sold my soul to the Devil and now I'm his indentured servant. How crazy is that?"

Reaper is a show that would be easy for the casual fan to dismiss. To start, it's on The CW. While the network has been responsible for a lot of good television, just being on the network is a strike against a show for many viewers. Adding to that is the premise. When you try and tell somebody, "It's about a guy who finds out on his 21st birthday that his parents sold his soul to the devil." you can see their interest start to wane right before your eyes. "Wait, wait, there's more..." All in all, it's a tough sell. And that's a unfortunate, because it just might be the best new show of the season.

(S04E01) Look to your left. Now, look to your right. By the end of the six weeks one of you will be gone . . . as well as 28 more of you. Wear a cup. -- Dr. Gregory House

With that ominous statement I welcome you to House 2.0, otherwise known as season four of the medical drama. As you all know by now there was a bit of, er, housecleaning (wait for groans to subside) during the season three finale. That's when Doctors Foreman and Cameron resigned and Dr. Chase was fired (don't worry, they begin to return in other roles as the new season progresses). This has left House quite alone. And, while he's quite content about it the rest of the administrative staff at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital wants to see old Greg establish a new team.