TVSquad

(S01E04) One thing that really pleases me about The Middleman is how the show walks the line between outrageous fantasy and realistic technology. While Lacey was rattling off all the places on the internet where Wendy's breakup could be seen, I was trying to catch something that sounded made up but it all seemed very reasonable, especially the girlfriend revenge site.

On the other hand, I wasn't too crazy about Dr. Gil. Clint Culp is a guy who I see quite often at auditions and he's very talented, but why would the writers do something as lame as a Dr. Phil parody? If the show were being produced 20 years ago would the character be named Alfredo Riviero or Horton Downer Sr?

Gallery: Middleman

Here's an update on the massive fire that hit Universal Studios yesterday morning. The only TV show affected by the fire is CBS' Ghost Whisperer, which had two of its many sets damaged in the blaze (the fall season will not be delayed, however).

The Wisteria Lane set used on ABC's Desperate Housewives didn't receive any damage at all.

The courthouse set used in Back to the Future (and dozens of other films, including To Kill A Mockingbird) was destroyed, and the clock tower building seen in BTTF was heavily damaged. A set used as a New York City street (seen in everything from the first Dirty Harry film to Seinfeld) was destroyed, as was a set used as a New England street. The King Kong exhibit was destroyed as were many videos in the vault (luckily there are backups for those).

400 firefighters were involved in fighting the blaze, and the cause is still under investigation. The studio/theme park opened for business this morning.

This news will leave a hole in the gut of movie and TV fans.

A giant fire broke out at Universal Studios in Los Angeles early this morning, destroying the courthouse square from the Back to the Future movies and damaging the famous clock tower. The King Kong attraction was destroyed, along with over 40,000 videos that were housed in a vault, including footage from I Love Lucy and Miami Vice. Not sure why videos aren't stored in a fireproof vault, maybe underground or some other safe area, but luckily there are copies of the videos in another office.

There have also been a few sets that have been destroyed, including fake New York City and New England street sets that have been used in various TV shows, commercials, and movies. No word on how the fire started but officials say that it has now been contained. One firefighter and two other have been hurt (the latter in an explosion at the vault after the fire was out), but the MTV Movie Awards will go on as scheduled tonight.

If you stop to try to figure out time travel plots from TV shows and movies - whether it's Back to the Future, Star Trek, or Frequency - it can really give you a headache. So many things about time travel just don't make sense, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't make for a fantastic plot device.

I've been thinking about that since Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles started. The show is supposed to take place after T2, though it's been a while since I've seen that flick (or the original for that matter) and I'm not sure if everything goes together and makes sense or not (T3 seems to be ignored, at least for now). But Todd Seavey is doing an extensive examination of the show and has come up with some interesting observations.

(S02E18) This wasn't the funniest episode of Everybody Hates Chris, but I did like how it explored the dynamic between Chris and his father.

Kurt Vonnegut once told McSweeneys that a male writer should never write about his father: "you learn about life by the accidents you have, over and over again, and your father is always in your head when that stuff happens."

• At 7, FOX has more baseball playoff action.
• At 8, ABC has college football, Oregon vs. California.
• CBS has a repeat Criminal Minds at 8, followed by a repeat CSI: Miami and a new 48 Hours.
• NBC has a new, two-hour Dateline at 8, followed by a repeat Law and Order: SVU.
• TLC has two new episodes of Little People, Big World at 8, followed by two new episodes of Flip That House, then a new Trading Spaces.
• Bravo has Back to the Future at 8.
• At 9, Cartoon Network has a new Naruto.
• At 10, HGTV has a new Design on a Dime.
• At 11:30, NBC has a new Saturday Night Live, with Jaime Pressley and Corinne Bailey Rae
• There's a new Talk Show With Spike Feresten at 11:30 on FOX.