TVSquad

Apparently it's just me, but I actually like Paul F. Tompkins as the host of Best Week Ever. And probably because I like him on there, VH1 is yanking BWE for SIX MONTHS (?!) and when it comes back, Tompkins and his crew aren't expected to be there. Which makes sense. That's a hell of a long time for a supposedly topical show to disappear. It's also sad because Best Week Ever is one of the few shows on VH1 worth watching.

Before Tompkins took over last fall, the show was more of a typical VH1 clip show with the narrator running the clips interspersed with commentary from various comedians, including Tompkins. In reading online reactions about the format change, I realized that I actually missed some of the variety we had in commentators on the show. I'm certainly not seeing some of those comedians anywhere else (I am intentionally not seeing Frangelina on I'm a Celebrity...).

You're used to seeing Christian Finnegan being funny in short bursts on Best Week Ever. Tonight at 11 PM, you'll get to see him for a full hour on Comedy Central for the debut of his special, Au Contraire!.

A full hour of sarcasm and snark, Best Week Ever's main weapons, would probably be pretty grating. Thankfully, Finnegan has more to offer than that. You won't hear any celebrity names during Au Contraire! (unless you count American Idol contestant "Temptress"). You also won't get a physical comic flying around the stage or a bomb-throwing satirist.

If you tune in to the premiere of the new Comedy Central Presents... stand-up shows tonight, you'll see a couple of familiar faces in John Mulaney (11PM) and Kristen Schaal (11:30PM).

Schaal might be the easier face to place - her role as Mel, the lone groupie on Flight of the Conchords expanded this season, to the point where Bret and Jemaine were actually living at her apartment for a while. Mulaney has done more work behinds the scenes writing for Saturday Night Live (he's been on camera once or twice, in the fine tradition of writers like Conan O'Brien). But he's also been on shows like Important Things with Demetri Martin and Best Week Ever.

Both are worth catching for their stand-up acts. Schaal brings some of the quirkiness of her Conchords character, without the creepiness. She's got a great, vivid imagination, which is easy to see in this clip about her dreaming of George Washington.

I've always had this theory that even the worst songs in the world can sound better if you play them on an acoustic guitar. You can take the most insipid sitcom theme song or the most bombastic heavy metal tune, and when you play the song on an acoustic guitar, it suddenly becomes more profound, more deep, just better somehow.

The folks over at Best Week Ever have complied a great set of videos that show people doing the theme songs to various TV shows on various instruments. Some of them are pretty straightforward with normal instruments (for example, a small orchestra doing the Muppet Show theme and Family Matters done on piano), while others are rather odd and unexpected, like the parrot doing the Andy Griffith Show theme or The Love Boat performed on a theremin. After the jump, one of my favorites: the theme to Baywatch performed by a guy on an acoustic guitar. He even has his shirt off like a lifeguard and shows pics from the show.

I still don't get that MacGyver theme on the ruler though.

Andy Rooney is 90 years old, and has spent the greater half of the twentieth century (and well into the twenty-first) providing political and cultural insight to the masses through op-eds in both print and on CBS newsmagazine staple 60 Minutes. Despite remaining America's favorite most recognizable curmudgeon, Rooney's weekly diatribes have grown increasingly stale, and significantly more bizarre with each episode.

Any semblance of lucidity Rooney may have employed in ... I guess (?) what was once considered clever or funny or - at the very least - entertaining material has most assuredly fallen to the wayside. The scraps with which we've been left are, indeed, entertaining, but not for the reasons Rooney (or the producers of 60 Minutes) probably intended.

• At 8, ABC has a new Wife Swap, followed by new episodes of Supernanny and 20/20.
• CBS has a new Ghost Whisperer at 8, then new episodes of Flashpoint and Numb3rs.
• FOX has new episodes of Sarah Connor Chronicles and Dollhouse.
• PBS has a new Washington Week at 8, followed by new episodes of NOW and Bill Moyers Journal.
• MyNetwork TV has a new Friday Night Smackdown! at 8.
• TCM has Mr. Smith Goes To Washington at 8, then All The King's Men.
• At 9, NBC has a new Friday Night Lights.
• At 10, Sci-Fi has a new Battlestar Galactica.
• HBO has a new Real Time with Bill Maher at 10.
• E! has a new episode of The Soup.
• Comedy Central has two new episodes of Comedy Central Presents at 10.
• Travel Channel has a new Most Haunted at 10.
• Also at 10: VH-1 has a new Best Week Ever.

Check your local TV listings for more.

After the jump, the late night talk shows.

A lot of us over here at the Squad are fans of VH1's Best Week Ever. We're either fans of the comedians who are asked to be pop-culture wise-asses, or we just like the format in general. Heck, we even like the website, mainly because it has the same attitude as the show.

However, the network has decided that the multiple talking-head format needs a change, so they've named Paul F. Tompkins as the show's sole host. Tompkins (aka "That comedian in the suits"), of course, was one of the best of those talking heads, and his surreal takes on pop culture's funnier bits were always among each episode's highlights. So it's not like the producers are going "outside the family" in order to find a host.

If it were me, if I were the guy (or gal) sitting up in my solid gold throne at MTV tower in charge of programming at sister station VH1, I'd have thrown myself from the roof by now. I mean, I've already given Brooke Hogan her own show, I'm responsible for both Rock of Love and Flavor of Love and their bastard progeny I Love Money (which is really what this channel is all about now).

How can I possibly live with myself? Sure, I also brought the genuinely entertaining Best Week Ever to fruition, and I keep sub-par comedians in regular work with all my stupid list shows, but haven't I done enough to the world? Isn't it enough that I took a channel named "Video Hits One" and turned it into a circus side show of money-grubbing whores and E-List celebrities trying to recapture what little glory they never really had? Apparently not, because VH1 is going to air a show in which they follow Antonio Sabato Jr. around while he tries to find true love.

• At 8, PBS has a new Washington Week, then new episodes of NOW and Bill Moyers Journal.
• The CW has a new Smackdown! at 8.
• At 9, ABC has a new Duel, followed by a new 20/20.
• NBC has a new Dateline at 9.
• There's a new Monk on USA at 9, then a new Psych.
• TLC has a new What Not To Wear at 9, followed by two new episodes of something called Ashley Paige: Bikini or Bust.
• VH-1 has a new Best Week Ever at 9.
• Sci-Fi has a new Doctor Who at 9, then a new Stargate Atlantis.
• Also at 9: HGTV has a special Design on a Dime: 35 Top Secrets, sort of a greatest hits of tips from the show.
• At 9:30, Toon Disney has a new Digimon.
• At 10, CBS has a new Swingtown (new night).
• History Channel has a new Shockwave at 10.
• Comedy Central has a new Live at Gotham at 10.
• E! has a new episode of The Soup at 10.

Check your local TV listings for more.

What's happening on other blogs via the interweb.

• Best Week Ever lists the 10 Emmy nominations you should be psyched about.
• Nikki Finke has the latest on a possible strike, here and here.
• TV stars wear glasses and try to look smart.
• Hey kids, it's the trailer for High School Musical 3!
• Could Fringe be the big new hit of the fall?
• Remember those "what would you do for a Klondike Bar" commercials? They're holding a contest!
• Jimmy Fallon answers a bunch of odd questions.
• Too Much Free Time has been redesigned.
• An interview with Smallville executive producer Darren Swimmer about season eight.

• At 8, ABC has a new Dance Machine, followed by a new Duel.
• The CW has a new Smackdown! at 8.
• PBS has a new Washington Week at 8, then new episodes of NOW and Bill Moyers Journal.
• TCM has Paper Lion at 8.
• At 9, NBC has a new, two hour Dateline.
• Sci-Fi has a new Doctor Who at 9, then a new Stargate Atlantis.
• Nickelodeon has something called Queen Bees at 9, followed by something called The N's Student Body.
• VH-1 has a new Best Week Ever at 9.
• At 10, CBS has the premiere of Flashpoint.
• There's a new Shockwave on History Channel at 10.
• Comedy Central has a new Live at Gotham at 10.
• Also at 10: E! has a new episode of The Soup.

Check your local TV listings for more.

• Sci-Fi has a Twilight Zone marathon all night.
• At 8, ABC has a new Dance Machine, followed by new episodes of Duel and 20/20.
• NBC has more U.S. Olympic Trials at 8, then the Macy's 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular and a new Dateline.
• PBS has A Capitol Fourth at 8.
• The CW has a new Smackdown! at 8.
• At 9, VH-1 has a new Best Week Ever.
• At 10, CBS has the Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular.
• E! has a new episode of The Soup at 10.

Check your local TV listings for more.

• At 8, ABC has the Daytime Emmy Awards.
• The CW has a new Smackdown! at 8.
• PBS has a new Washington Week at 8, followed by new episodes of NOW and Bill Moyers Journal.
• Also at 8: Disney has The Jonas Brothers in the movie Camp Rock.
• At 8:30, Food Network has a new Rachael Ray's Tasty Travels.
• At 9, NBC has a new Dateline.
• Sci-Fi has a new Doctor Who at 9.
• VH-1 has a new Best Week Ever at 9.
• At 10, History Channel has a new Shockwave.
• There's a new episode of The Soup on E! at 10.

Check your local TV listings for more.

• At 8, PBS has a new Washington Week, then new episodes of NOW and Bill Moyers Journal.
• The CW has a new Smackdown! at 8.
• There's a new iCarly on Nickelodeon at 8.
• At 8:30, Food Network has a new Rachael Ray's Tasty Travels.
• At 9, Sci-Fi has a new Doctor Who, then the summer finale of Battlestar Galactica.
• At 9:30, VH-1 has a new Best Week Ever.
• At 10, ABC has a new 20/20.
• E! has a new episode of The Soup at 10.
• History Channel has a new Shockwave at 10.
• Travel Channel has a new Ecoluxe at 10.
• Also at 10: Comedy Central has a new Live at Gotham.

Check your local TV listings for more.

• At 8, ABC has The Scripps National Spelling Bee, then a new 20/20.
• The CW has a new Smackdown! at 8.
• PBS has a new Washington Week at 8, followed by new episodes of NOW and Bill Moyers Journal.
• At 8:30, Sci-Fi has a new Sarah Jane Adventures, then new episodes of Doctor Who and Battlestar Galactica.
• ESPN has the Celtics/Pistons NBA Playoff Game at 8:30.
• At 9, NBC has a new Dateline.
• There's a new Man vs. Wild on Discovery at 9.
• Also at 9: VH-1 has a new Best Week Ever.
• At 9:30, Animal Planet has a new Meerkat Manor.
• At 10, Food Network has a new Paula's Party.
• E! has a new episode of The Soup at 10.

Check your local TV listings for more.