TVSquad

We're about a week away from the upfronts, the annual back-patting festivals the broadcast networks hold to introduce their new fall schedules. TV Squad will be ready, providing you, the loyal reader, with coverage of who's in, who's out, and what's new on the five broadcast networks (yes, I'm counting the CW as a full broadcast network, even though it's looking like it'll air mostly reality shows next year).

So, it seems to be a good time to look back at our coverage of last year's upfronts, to see what was considered news, which shows became hits, which shows never aired, and which pilots looked promising but mostly ended up causing each network piles of money, bad press, and misery.

Click on the network name to see to our coverage of that network's 2006 upfront:

Hot on the heels of The Onion's list of title sequences that are perfectly meshed with their shows comes this story from the Christian Science Monitor, detailing what goes into creating the all-too-brief title sequences you see on today's shows. Believe it or not, there are still some shows that have title sequences, even though most of them are a minute or less. This article goes into detail about the creation of title sequences for two shows: the new David E. Kelley dramedy The Wedding Bells and Marc Cherry's hit Desperate Housewives.

The detail Garson Yu, who designed the Housewives sequence, goes into about how he created the mini-movie for the opening makes for an interesting read. It is filled with desperate women through the centruies, makes for an interesting read. He took inspiration from Terry Gilliam's animation from Monty Python's Flying Circus, among other influences, and wanted to tell a story about these desperate women. The results, as millions of you see every week, are in the video after the jump.

(S01E01) I was all ready to dislike The Wedding Bells, even though it was created by David E. Kelly and Jason Katims. I mean, it looked like a 'chick show' and the promos for the just didn't seem that interesting. Add to that the fact that it was on, you know, FOX, which is notorious for taking shows off the air during a commercial break.

However, after watching the pilot episode I found that I didn't dislike the show. Heck, I actually found it quite charming and a bit amusing. Granted, being it is a pilot there was some unevenness (which I will mention later). Yet, for the most part I enjoyed the hour that I spent watching the program.

Heroes (Mon., 9PM ET, NBC)
Last week's Heroes? Best episode of any TV series all year. And prepare for another explosive installment before the show goes into rerun hell for several weeks. We return to Isaac's studio, where an accidentally-shot Simone lays dying. Or is she? Hiro continues his quest for the samurai sword, while Mr. Bennet gets to know his new partner, Candice. And in a scene we've all been waiting for, Nathan goes to meet the elusive, mysterious Mr. Linderman.

Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search for the Next Doll (Tue., 9PM ET, The CW) series premiere
Don't you wish your girlfriend were hot like the Pussycat Dolls? If she already is, maybe she should've tried out for this new reality competition. Eighteen hopefuls sing, dance and shake their booties for the judges, but only nine will get chosen to be finalists. No doubt the claws will come out as they live together, rehearse together and compete against each other to be the new, seventh member of the hit group.

American Idol appears to be the "show-that-can't-be-stopped." At last week's Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour, executives referred to it as the "Death Star" because it consistently destroys the competiton. And few expected that Amercan Idol, now in its six season, would not only maintain its monstrous ratings -- but continue to grow.

It's no wonder then that Fox executives are planning on scheduling at least 45 hours of Idol -- and possibly more -- to take full advantage of their ratings powerhouse.