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.

(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.

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.