TVSquad

When I was a kid, maybe around 10 or 11 years old, a friend and I brought some "near beer" with us during a trip to the Museum of Science in Boston. We were so proud of that feat, even if the drink itself was rather lame.

I thought of that after watching this video clip (after the jump) from Kid Nation, which premiere's tonight at 8 on CBS. I don't know if this is from tonight's episode or a later one, but it shows the kids all gathering at the town saloon and sucking down drinks after a hard week's work. Now, I'm assuming that it's just soda and not alcohol they happened to find in the town, but let me ask all of the kids who are reading this: is it cool nowadays to gulp down down soda like this and pretend you're "getting drunk?" Eleven year-olds getting sloshed and learning how to hang out at some cheap bar - it's so adorable! It's like Charles Bukowski - The Early Years.

And for the record, when I was a kid, we called it "tonic," not soda.

A roundup of TV people from in front of the camera and behind the scenes who have passed away.

• Donna King Conkling: She was one of the original members of the King Sisters singing group and one of the stars of the ABC show The King Family in the 60s. She also appeared in several movies, including Meet The People, Cuban Pete, and Sing Your Worries Away. She died in Texas at age 88.

While critics may heap criticism on the torture-heavy Fox thriller 24, a former commander in chief -- and spouse of a current Democratic presidential candidate -- is a fan of watching Jack Bauer hunt down terrorists.

Former President Bill Clinton said even though 24 is run by "an uber right-wing guy" (referring to producer Joel Surnow), he thinks the show is fair in making both Democrats and Republicans look equally evil, according to a Reuters article.

Of other contemporary programs, Clinton said he's fond of Boston Legal and that his McFavorite is Grey's Anatomy. (Wonder where he stands on the Callie-Izzie contretemps?)

The Hollywood Reporter also said Clinton likes watching TV Land -- I Love Lucy, All in the Family and Bonanza -- because his wife, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, is frequently away campaigning and it gives "me something to do at night."

Barney Fife, Herman Munster, James T. Kirk...and President Bill Clinton?

Yup, the former President is going to be the keynote speaker at TV Land's March 23 event to announce their lineup and programming future. It's the ultimate Baby Boomer talking about the ultimate Baby Boomer network. To quote TV Land spokesman Paul Ward, about the speech: "You better believe it's going to be about the economic and cultural and social influence of Baby Boomers (I don't know why I keep capitalizing "Baby Boomers" but it just looks right).

The event is being held to announce new shows that TV Land is going to air this year. It will be held at Jazz at Lincoln Center in Manhattan.

[via TV Tattle]

Veteran character actor Jeremy Slate - you might not know the name but you definitely know the face - died of complications from throat surgery last week in Los Angeles.

Slate was known for his movie roles in Girls! Girls! Girls!, Lawnmower Man, and Hell's Angels '69, but he was even more known for the massive amount of work he did on the small screen, starting in the late '50s. Slate was a regular on the 1960 series The Aquanauts, and had guest roles on many shows, including Route 66, Perry Mason, Dr. Kildare, Naked City, Have Gun, Will Travel, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Mr. Lucky, The Untouchables, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Bewitched, Combat, Tarzan, Bonanza, Ironside, Mission: Impossible, Mannix, Wonder Woman, The Wonderful World of Disney, and many others. Most recently he guest-starred on an episode of My Name Is Earl.

I remember him most from his two soap roles: he played Chuck Wilson, Asa's assistant, on One Life To Live for many years, and had a short-lived role as songwriter Locke Walls on Guiding Light in the mid-80s (he was involved with Alexandra Spaulding and her son Nick, if I'm not mistaken).

Filmmaker and iconoclast Robert Altman died Monday evening in Los Angeles at the age of 81. While his legacy is firmly rooted in the cinematic realm with films like Nashville, MASH and The Player to his credit, television wouldn't be the same with him.

Altman's career actually started in television in the early 1950s. He directed dozens of television episodes for shows like Combat! and Bonanza, as well as the short-lived, but critically-acclaimed 1997 series Gun, which followed the history of a single gun as it passed through different owners and scenarios. The mini-series Tanner '88 is still the guidepost for political satire in film and television. His film MASH, of course, became a revolutionary television series of the same name.

When I learned about the Seinfeld tidbit that they tried to add nonsense lyrics to the theme but failed, I started thinking about theme songs over the years that stick in your head despite the fact that they're presented without lyrics. There are more shows than you think that fit into that category, and they're not all one-hour dramas (where most lyric-less theme songs can be found). Adam put up a list of them in December. But there are particular ones that have adhered themselves to my cerebral cortex to the point where I probably hum them in my sleep:

(Click on the name of the show to hear a sound clip from each theme)

iWatchNow, a new Web-based video-on-demand service, launched recently. Normally I don't get too excited about these things because I don't enjoy watching shows on my computer and I don't own a Video iPod. However, the company is offering some cool classic shows, including Dragnet, Bonanza, Jack Benny, and others. What I found personally appealing was the offering of classic cartoons like Popeye and Felix the Cat. Of course, most of these shows you can catch on cable anyway, but then you wouldn't be paying $0.99 to watch them, would you? See what I mean? Because I sure don't?