TVSquad

(S01E03) Consider this episode of Swingtown a case of being betwixt and between. The Millers have been in their new home all of two weeks and so much has happened to shake their foundation; Susan especially seems like the song "caught in the middle with you." Does she want to be the good wife going to church and being satisfied with the way they were, her and Bruce, back in the old neighborhood? Or is she ready to embrace swinging?

She's at first drawn back to Janet and Roger and the old ways. Because she's still perturbed by the business card she found in Bruce's pants from the Playboy Club, the one from Sylvia suggesting a get together, Susan drags her family to Sunday services for a little God-time. Impulsively, when chatting with Janet, Susan announces that she's having a housewarming and wants Janet's help. It's like she's clinging to a simpler past.

OK, maybe I'm stretching here, considering that we are TV Squad, but it's Sunday, and the bar is lowered, right? Anyway, the "Subterranean Homesick Blues" scene from D.A. Pennebaker's documentary, Don't Look Back, is one of the most iconic pieces of music video ever created. To promote the upcoming release of Dylan, a greatest hits album, the marketing team has the clip set up so you can insert your own words on Bob's famous cue cards.

Someone called Antonio had the thought to insert the opening from Battlestar Galactica. Unfortunately, they stopped short of letting you embed the video somewhere else, so you'll have to run over to dylanmessaging.com to see the video. It's short though, so you have plenty of time to do that, and then get back here for Jay Black's liveblogging of the Emmys. And if that's still not enough TV-ness for a post, let me add some obscure trivia. Long before Juliet did the Dylan cards on Lost, the second episode of Law & Order was titled "Subterranean Homeboy Blues." As a side note, I still think Law & Order was at its best all those years ago when it was Logan & Greevey.

[via BoingBoing]

Sanjaya Malakar might not be American Idol's best vocalist -- but he is the one receiving all the press. He is also fodder for countless parodies (including this one with bunnies and Bob Dylan), and has caused desperate people to embark on ridiculous hunger strikes .

However, Sanjaya doesn't just have his haters. He is loved by J.Lo, and backed by Howard Stern. And this week, even Simon Cowell didn't completely hate him.

While America may be split on Sanjaya, his hometown friends and family still love and support him.

Sanjaya's aunt, Christi Recchi, recently defended him against his critics, saying, "There are better ways to spend your time and energy [besides] bashing some 17-year-old kid who has been swept up in this whole thing."

In a recent interview with Playboy, outspoken American Idol judge, Simon Cowell, bashed musical icon, Bob Dylan, saying he "bores me to tears." Cowell often berates the young unknowns vying for Idol-status on the hit reality show, causing some of them to dissolve into tears or lash out in angry tirades. I'm pretty sure, however, that Dylan isn't going to be shedding any tears over Cowell's disapproval. The man, while not my cup of tea, is a musical legend, past needing praise and approval from the snippy, British TV-judge in order to sell CDs.

Also in the Playboy interview, Cowell praised Idol's very own Kelly Clarkson, comparing her to "a young Aretha Franklin". Not surprisingly, Cowell said he preferred Clarkson's music to that of Dylan's. Meanwhile, millions of Dylan fans everywhere are asking themselves "Who the hell is Kelly Clarkson?"

How's this for a meeting of the minds? Bob Dylan has invited Ricky Gervais to appear on his XM Radio program Theme Time Radio Hour. Gervais accepted the invitation with this message on his website - "An invitation from Bob Dylan. Yes, Bob Dylan." The show will be taped in New York and is slated to make the airwaves in early 2007.

Granted, this is a TV blog, but I've got to take a moment and thank the media gods for radio and printed matter. This kind of interview - two great artists from different fields meeting - doesn't happen as much as it should on television. In print, there's always BOMB Magazine. The entire premise behind the mag is to have two brilliant folks who may or may not have ever met get together for a sit-down interview.

Movin' Out, choreographer Twyla Tharp's take on the music of Billy Joel, is coming to television, thanks to PBS warhorse Great Performances.

Movin' Out received mixed, leaning towards favorable, reviews during its Broadway and out-of-town runs. Tharp won a Tony for her choreography, and Joel shared a Tony for its orchestration. This Joel-inspired outing hasn't been nearly as panned as Tharp's most recent take on Bob Dylan's catalog - The Times They are A-Changin'.

While the show has yet to be filmed by PBS, we can expect to see it on the air in the late winter or early spring of 2007.

The lead singer for the Wallflowers (and son of Bob) is writing music for the new ABC show, Six Degrees. More specifically, it's J.J. Abrams' newest show about six random people whose lives cross paths. Dylan performed the show's theme song, "Here Comes Now", and you can hear it this Thursday when episode two of Six Degrees airs on ABC at 10pm. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Dylan is hard at work writing more music to fit with the overall tone of the show.

In a world where music is becoming increasingly important on television shows, this could put the Wallflowers back on the map. They had a couple big hits a few years ago but haven't seen much mainstream attention for a while. Then again, he's a Dylan so maybe he's just doing what he likes and, right now, that happens to be Six Degrees.