TVSquad

• At 7, CBS has a new 60 Minutes, then a new Cold Case and two episodes of Dexter.
• ABC has a new America's Funniest Home Videos, followed by new episodes of Extreme Makeover, Desperate Housewives, and Brothers & Sisters.
• NBC has a new Dateline at 7, then episodes of Monk and Psych.
• At 8, FOX has a new Simpsons, followed by a new King of the Hill, the season finale of Family Guy, and a new American Dad.
• There's a new Everybody Hates Chris on The CW at 8, then new episodes of Aliens in America and The Game.
• PBS has a new Nature at 8, followed by a new Masterpiece.
• Also at 8: TCM has the 1965 special Frank Sinatra: A Man and His Music.
• At 9, Showtime has a new episode of The Tudors, then the season premiere of This American Life.
• At 12:15am, Cartoon Network has a new Squidbillies, then a new Assy McGee.

Check your local TV listings for more.

• At 7, CBS has a new 60 Minutes, then a new Shark and the movie The Russell Girl.
• ABC has a new America's Funniest Home Videos at 7, then a new, two hour Extreme Makeover.
• NBC has Figure Skating at 7, then Guinness World Records: Top 100.
• At 8, FOX has a new Simpsons.
• The CW has a new Life is Wild at 8.
• TNT and TBS have The Screen Actor's Guild Awards at 8.
• At 9, PBS has a new Masterpiece.
• ESPN has coverage of the Winter X Games at 9.
• HBO has a new episode of The Wire at 9, followed by a new Russell Simmons' Def Comedy Jam.
• Also at 9: Showtime has a new The L Word.
• At 9:30, FOX has a new American Dad.
• At 10, Food Network has a new Throwdown with Bobby Flay.
• At 11:45, Cartoon Network has a new Aqua Teen Hunger Force, followed by new episodes of Squidbillies and Tim and Eric's Awesome Show, Great Job.

Check your local TV listings for more.

What are you going to do? The Office, How I Met Your Mother, and even new shows like Pushing Daisies and Chuck are either out of fresh episodes or quickly running out. Well, you don't need to spend the "strike season" curled up in the corner of your bedroom crying through a pile of TV Guides, remembering the good old days when you didn't already know what was going to happen this week on House.

Television is alive and well, and even growing ... just somewhere else. Want to know what happened to Jack Bauer before Season One of 24? How about Buffy and the Scooby Gang after the series finale of Buffy the Vampire Slayer? More and more shows are expanding their horizons by telling prequels, sequels and even in-between-quels in comic books, or graphic novels.

• TV Land has an Andy Griffith Show marathon all night.
• At 7, CBS has a new 60 Minutes, then new episodes of The Amazing Race, Cold Case, and Shark.
• ABC has two new episodes of Extreme Makeover starting at 7, then new episodes of Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters.
• NBC has a new Football Night in America at 7, followed by the Eagles/Patriots game.
• FOX has a new King of the Hill at 7.
• There's a new CW Now on The CW at 7.
• At 8, FOX has a new Simpsons.
• ABC Family has a new holiday movie at 8, Christmas Caper.
• TNT has one of their 700 showings of A Christmas Story at 8.
• AMC has Santa Claus: The Movie at 8, followed by the excellent 1984 TV version of A Christmas Carol.
• Food Network has a new Challenge at 8, then a Christmas dessert battle on a new Iron Chef America.
• At 8:30, PBS has The Best of Masterpiece Theatre.
• At 9, FOX has a new Family Guy.
• At midnight, Cartoon Network has a new Xavier: Renegade Angel, then a new Tim and Eric's Awesome Show, Great Job.

Check your local TV listings for more.

• To enter, leave a confirmed comment below stating what platform you want The Simpsons Game for (Xbox 360, Nintendo DS or Nintendo Wii).
• The comment must be left before November 14, 2007 at 5:00PM Eastern Time.
  
• You may enter only once.
• Three winners will be selected in a random drawing, one for each platform (Xbox 360, Nintendo DS Lite or Nintendo Wii).
• One winner will receive a copy of The Simpsons Game for Xbox 360 (valued at $59.99), one winner will receive a copy of The Simpsons Game for Nintendo DS (valued at $29.99) and one winner will receive a copy of The Simpsons Game for Nintendo Wii (valued at $49.99).
  

• At 7, NBC has a new Football Night In America, then the Bears/Packers game.
• The CW has a new episode of The CW Now, then a new Online Nation.
• At 7:30 (or after football), CBS has a new, 90 minute 60 Minutes, followed by new episodes of Cold Case and Shark.
• At 8, FOX has new episodes of The Simpsons, King of the Hill, Family Guy, and American Dad.
• ABC has a new Extreme Makeover at 8, then new episodes of Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters.
• At 9, PBS has a new Mystery!
• Food Network has a the series premiere of The Next Iron Chef at 9, followed by a new Iron Chef America.
• Showtime has a new Dexter at 9, followed by a new Brotherhood.
• Also at 9: HBO has a new Tell Me You Love Me.

Check your local TV listings for more.

That's the Oxford Dictionary of Modern Quotations, to be exact.

The latest edition of the book includes the following lines from The Simpsons:

Homer: Kids, you tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is never try.

and

Groundskeeper Willie: Bonjour, you cheese-eating surrender monkeys.

• At 8, ABC has a new The Next Best Thing, followed by a new American Inventor.
• NBC has a new Most Outrageous Moments at 8, then new episodes of Last Comic Standing and Dateline.
• FOX has a new So You Think You Can Dance at 8, then a new Don't Forget The Lyrics.
• Discovery has a new Really Big Things at 8.
• At 9, CNBC has Big Mac: Inside The McDonald's Empire.
• There are two new episodes of Tyler Perry's House of Payne on TBS at 9.
• On a new Challenge, cooks try to make the ultimate Simpsons cake. It's on Food Network at 9.
• At 10, PBS has a new American Masters.
• FX has a new Rescue Me at 10.
• Discovery has two new eps of Cash Cab starting at 10.
• Also at 10: HBO repeats Bill Maher's live special from last weekend.

Check your local TV listings for more.

So, back in May I told you about a limited number of Simpsons-style XBoxes being given away at promotional events in anticipation of the upcoming movie. If you weren't lucky enough to snag one of the yellow consoles with Homer's visage at one of these events, you can try bidding on one that recently popped up on eBay. Just bring a lot of cash, 'cause the bidding, as I type this sentence, is at $1,900.

I'm a huge Simpsons fan, and have been ever since they first appeared on the Tracey Ullman Show. Still, even a fanatic like myself can get sick of all the news and merchandising leading up to the Friday premiere of the Simpsons Movie. In my daily perusal of the Web I come across no less than seventy-five million bits of information pertaining to the new movie or the TV series itself, and most of it isn't really worth mentioning.

However, I did find this via Cartoon Brew, and thought it was pretty cool. A new set of Simpsons Qee figures from Toy2r will be launched next year, but you can see some hand-painted versions from the likes of Matt Sharp, Attaboy, Loungecat, Triclops, Sasha Huber and Matt Groening himself next month. The figures are currently on a world tour and will be on display in Los Angeles August 1 at Meltdown Comics. I probably should have clarified that you need to be in Los Angeles to see them.

Qee figures are little toy figures that come in pieces you can assemble. Apparently they're popular among collectors and folks like me who just learned what the hell they were about five seconds ago.

Albert Brooks turns 60 today.

Brooks is mostly known for his films (Defending Your Life, Modern Romance), but he was also a favorite guest of folks like Carson and Letterman back in the '80s. He never quite gained the notoriety of some of his contemporaries, but his reputation as a "comedian's comedian" and a little something called "actual talent" has kept him out of obscurity -- and deservedly so, because he's one of the smartest and funniest people working today, even if he is a few steps outside the limelight.

Younger folks know him best for his various guest roles on The Simpsons, one of which I've posted below along with an appearance on Late Night with David Letterman (in two parts).

• Is ABC's Dean Reynolds going over to CBS?
• There's a Mad Men blog over at AMC's web site.
• Best Week Ever picks the 10 Best Simpsons endings of all time.
• Speaking of The Simpsons, here's an interview with Matt Groening.
• Was Lost really snubbed when it comes to Emmy nominations?
• I saw this commercial last night and I thought it was odd: why is Naomi Campbell suddenly a spokesperson for Dunkin' Donuts?
• Five sitcom dances you can do at your next party.