TVSquad

(S07E08) "Some guy told me to go 'f*ck my face' once. He went to jail." - Officer Krupke

With the Seinfeld reunion coming up quickly (next week's episode is "The Table Read") things kicked into high gear last night on Curb -- especially when it came to the role of Amanda, George Costanza's ex-wife.

It came down to Cheryl and a busy, very popular actress named Virgina Sloane (played by Elisabeth Shue). Right off the bat, that creates a huge conflict since Larry assured Cheryl that she had the role. But beyond that, there were a lot of issues with how "Officer Krupke" played out in terms of conflict. Curb works best when the laughs are organic and too much of this episode felt forced and manufactured.

How do you pump up the viewership for a music award show on a network that used to be all about music but lately has been all about reality TV and nasty scandals? Well, apparently MTV has decided to go retro and keep it funny. To promote the upcoming 2009 Video Awards, MTV has created a West Side Story parody, not too different from the brilliant solo turn by Neil Patrick Harris at last June's Tony Awards.

The commercial is a mixed bag. Taylor Swift proves that she has the real goods as a singer, doing the toughest part of the "Tonight" quintet. Ne-Yo's dance turn is more of a salute to Michael Jackson than an homage to composers Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim. And Katy Perry's rooftop bit reinforces the fact that she's funny and playful.

• At 8, ABC has the two-hour season finale of Ugly Betty.
• FOX has the two-hour season premiere of So You Think You Can Dance at 8.
  
• GAC has a new GAC Nights at 8.
• At 9, TLC has a new American Chopper.
• Spike has a new, two-hour TNA Wrestling at 9.
• Also at 9: ESPN has the Lakers/Nuggets game.
• At 9:30, TCM has West Side Story.
• At 10, NBC has the season finale of Southland.
• Bravo has a new episode of The Fashion Show at 10.

Check your local TV listings for more.

After the jump, the late night talk shows.

(S01E05) "Have you died and gone to moron heaven?" - Gene Hunt

What we had here, my friends, was a real theological episode. There were lots of references to angels, miracles, prayer and the question of whether or not Sam is dead. If so, is he in purgatory or hell or heaven? Does that explain his predicament? And is the old gray beard a vagrant or a heavenly messenger?

Overall, what I really thought made the show percolate was the teaming up of Sam and Clams. "Clams" we learn is Fletcher Bellow, Sam's mentor, and he pops up in the middle of a potentially explosive riot, with African-Americans going after Puerto Ricans when a little girl plummets from a rooftop at the hands -- or so it seems -- of Angel Ramirez.

(S01E22) Before we get started, I need to get something out of the way.

"A boy like that. He'll kill your brother."

Who wants to live in America? Rita Moreno does! I'm just one big fag haggis experiencing her inner theater queen. We all know that there's a Betty musical episode in the works, but I think we might be in for a preview next week. The episode is called "East Side Story," guest stars Kristin Chenoweth and is timed perfectly for Justin to save the day for middle school-aged thespians everywhere. Until then, let us reflect on tonight's mystical Mexico tour.

(S04E01) Here we are with the fourth season of the improvisational cop comedy Reno 911!, and if you've been watching the series up to this point you know that any cliff hangers from last season are going to be dealt with hastily so we can get to what the show is really about: police officers behaving life buffoons.

Nevertheless, let's revisit what happened at the end of season three: Trudy's boyfriend, a convicted serial killer, has been sentenced to death by lethal injection. At the last minute, however, the phone rings in the execution chamber. Could this be the call that will save his life? No, as it turns out it was just someone who called the wrong number. So he's dead, or so we assume. Also, Dangle and Garcia have become trapped inside their cruiser during a violent snow storm, but they find themselves rescued by the fire department at the start of this episode. Also, they're both naked inside the car, which they both claim was because they read something once about body heat, or something ... okay, no one knows why they were naked.