TVSquad

The buttoned down mind of Bob Newhart is coming back to TV. In August, Hallmark Channel will present Newhart in Herb's Murders, a two-hour original TV movie. And that's not all. Hallmark, which yesterday announced Jane Seymour in a detective movie called Dear Prudence, has other old TV favorites slated for original telefilms.

There's former 7th Heaven star Stephen Collins will star in The Ride of Her Life; Jacqueline Bisset has a holiday pic in the works called Thanksgiving Reunion, which will air in November; and Pam Grier, Florence Henderson (The Brady Bunch) and Donna Mills (Knots Landings) will headline Ladies of the House, about three women from the same church who team up on a home renovation project.

When the Billy Bob Thornton movie The Astronaut Farmer came out, a lot of us were amazed how the plot sounded similar to Salvage 1, a TV movie and later short-lived series on ABC that starred Andy Griffith as the owner of a scrap and salvage company who builds a spaceship and goes to the moon. I don't think this show has been seen that much since the late 70s, but TVShowsOnDVD is hearing from a source that Sony is going to release the show (the pilot movie and all the episodes, including 4 never shown on ABC) some time in 2008.

But that's not the only DVD news that TV fans are going to be interested in...

(S03E03) Say goodbye to Anne Archer. Unless she comes back as a ghost.

In this episode, Rob, Glenn, and Charlie have decided to kill off Barbara Reynolds, who is Dennis and Dee's mother and the "whore" ex-wife of Frank. Not such a bad idea; Archer didn't really fit well into the mix last year, so having her kick the bucket is probably the best for the show's chemistry.

Stephen Collins comes back as Bruce Mathis, Dennis and Dee's real dad and a peach of a guy. Unlike Archer, Collins did do a good job last year, and he does a good job here. The rest of the episode? It's OK... a little sitcommy, but OK.

It looks like The Show That Would Not Die has actually died. For real this time.

As Isabelle mentioned last week, there was a rumor going around that the cast and crew of The CW's long-running drama 7th Heaven were told that the show had been canceled. And now the network confirms it. The show will air its last episode on May 13 at 8pm.

Last season it looked like the show was canceled, but the new CW network decided to give the show another season, suprising not just fans and other networks but I'm sure the cast and crew as well. No one really knows why the show was given another season, and I would have liked to have been in on the meeting where execs said "another year for 7th Heaven? Sure, what the hell."

So, for you fans who are still watching the show, how should it end?

(S11E01) I am about to incur a wrath. I have just watched the 11th season premiere of 7th Heaven. I have just one question: why was there an 11th season of 7th Heaven?

Before you start beating me up let me say that I have been a huge fan of the series since it premiered on the WB ten years ago. I loved the writing and the humor, and enjoyed watching the Camden kids grow up. I even liked the show during the seasons where they focused more on the secondary characters than the Camdens themselves (around the 7th or 8th season). With that said, the show I watched on Monday night was not the 7th Heaven I remember from even a season ago. In fact, you could actually call it an updated version of I Love Lucy, because it looks like the main focus of the show is going to be on Lucy Kinkirk (originally Camden) and husband Kevin. Well, there is another couple that will get some focus, but I'll talk about them later in this post.

So, if you dare, jump ahead to read on.

All right everybody, get those crappy ties and self-made cards ready. It's time once again for the forgotten holiday known as Father's Day. Yes, the bastard cousin to the extremely popular Mother's Day. The one that people forget is the third Sunday in the month of June, not the second. The holiday where your loving family wants to fill your day with special events when all you really want to do is have some privacy to write your damn TV Squad articles!

Ahem. So, in the fine tradition of tomorrow's holiday, where you usually pay for your own dinner out, we present the five television dads who would be grateful if they received a wallet made out of dried macaroni.

There have been several rumors floating around that 7th Heaven, which had its series finale last week, might come back to the new CW network. Now it looks like it's true. The network made a deal with creator Brenda Hampton this weekend to have the show come back for another year. Supposedly, the network made the deal on the provision that key cast members take pay cuts.

Now all the 7th Heaven can sleep tight tonight, knowing that more Camden adventures are on the way in the fall.

Variety is reporting that Monday night's episode is in fact the series finale for 7th Heaven. I guess all those rumors that the show was getting an 11th season were really just rumors. WB had previously announced that this season was the final one but when WB and UPN caved, things weren't so clear with new network The CW.

The show will wrap up with the return of Jessica Biel and Barry Watson, just in time for Simon Camden's marriage to Rose. "We think it will be pretty satisfying to people," said Stephen Collins, who plays Eric Camden.

So the news is that The WB's 7th Heaven has been asked to come back for another year when the new CW network launches. But where can they possibly go with the storylines? They've done sex and drugs and religion and school violence and sex and pregnancies and gangs and sex and domestic issues and everything else (sex). So what can they do to get people to come back?

• Satan takes over the city, and Rev. Camden must battle for the soul of everyone in Glen Oak (cross-over episode with Supernatural?)
• In a very special episode, the Camden family stages an intervention with Matt, to get him to leave What About Brian? and come back to the show.
  
• The family finds out that Ruthie is a robot.

TV Guide's Michael Ausiello has the scoop. NBC isn't confirming yet, but Ausiello reports that Scrubs will indeed see a 6th season.

As for 7th Heaven, he's also reporting that this will be one of the shows that survives the move to The CW (are they really going to still use that name?)

That's great. Now we'll able to see Ruthie become a grandmother.

The CW is reportedly thinking about giving 7th Heaven an eleventh season, even though The WB announced its cancellation back in November. According to the Los Angeles Times industry blog, called Channel Island, talks are underway to keep the family-friendly soap on the air for at least one more season.

The big question is why The CW would want to do this? When it canceled 7th Heaven, The WB said it's because the show will lose $16 million this year. I doubt these actors would agree to bump down their salaries for one last go.