TVSquad

• At 8, ABC has It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, followed by new episodes of Dancing with the Stars and The Forgotten.
• NBC has a new, two-hour The Biggest Loser at 8, then a new The Jay Leno Show.
• FOX has a new, two-hour So You Think You Can Dance.
• ESPN has a new 30 For 30 at 8, followed by two new episodes of The World Series of Poker.
• TCM has Poltergeist at 8.
• At 9, PBS has a new Frontline.
• Discovery has a new Dirty Jobs at 9, then a new Ghost Lab.
• There's a new episode of The Universe on History Channel at 9.
• At 10, FX has a new Sons of Anarchy.
• Food Network has a new Chopped at 10.
• Bravo has a new Flipping Out at 10.
• A&E has two new episodes of Parking Wars at 10.
• Syfy has a new ECW at 10.
• Spike has the Spike 2009 Awards at 10.
• Travel Channel has a new Bizarre World at 10.
• HBO has a new Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel at 10.
• Also at 10: MTV has a new episode of The Hills, followed by a new episode of The City.

Check your local TV listings for more.

After the jump, the late night talk shows.

In what must be a major slap in the face to Kelsey Grammer and the creators behind Hank, ABC is pre-empting the show on October 28th with the Halloween classic It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Wait, it gets worse. It's pre-empting the show with a repeat of It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown from the night before. Granted, the previous night will be the expanded, hour-long version, but still...

Admittedly, opinions of Hank haven't exactly been stellar. Quite the opposite, in fact. While the show has not actually been canceled, it does not seem long for this world. Its only consolation is that it lasted longer than The Beautiful Life.

Kelsey Grammer will never be able to get away from Frasier Crane, much like Carroll O'Connor was never able to get away from Archie Bunker. It's a shame since Grammer is a better actor than that.

Like most people in the known universe, I grew up with Charlie Brown. In addition to watching all the TV specials, my family amassed a fairly large collection of the paperback Peanuts books and even a few nice hardcovers. Family friendly graphic novels, you might call them.

So I was pretty excited to learn that Warner Home Video was releasing a lot of the TV specials, both individually and in collections. On Oct. 20, the Peanuts 1970's Collection, Vol. 1 will hit store and cyber shelves in a 2-disc set. A nice publicist sent me an advance copy, so I'm happy to devote this week's Jane After Dark to this lovely set.

I'm always harping on all the sex and violence on TV right now -- often in shows that bill themselves as family friendly -- so it's really nice to have something you can watch with your kids that you know won't contain anything offensive or off-color. Not only that, the stories usually have a moral lesson, but they don't whack you over the head with it. It's more subtle, wrapped up in the humor and innocence of the stories and characters.

Some say the most important job in the world is that of a teacher. And, really, we've all been placed under the tutelage of someone who was literally paid to provide education. But yet, so often, kids find themselves inspired by - and often in worship of - these individuals, young and old alike, who can play an integral role in shaping one's childhood and, some might argue, the rest of their lives.

Of course, that isn't always the case. Teachers can also be awful monsters whom we never forget for their ability to patronize, degrade, or humiliate us, often leaving one wondering if the man or woman in question took the job merely to torture students. This, naturally, can lead a kid to fantasize about how cool it would be to fall under the instruction of one of the following actors who, despite likely not possessing any type of teaching certification in real life, would probably be a blast to spend 40-or-so minutes on a daily basis.

• At 8, ABC has Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown.
• FOX has a new Cops at 8.
• HGTV has a new Divine Design at 8, followed by new episodes of Design on a Dime and Color Splash.
• At 9, FOX has a new America's Most Wanted.
• Hallmark has the movie Before You Say I Do at 9.
• Also at 9: CNBC has a new Suze Orman Show.
• At 10, Food Network has a Valentine's Unwrapped.
• At 11, FOX has a new Talk Show with Spike Feresten, with Seth MacFarlane and Andy Richter.
• At 11:30, NBC has a new Saturday Night Live, with Alec Baldwin and The Jonas Brothers.
• At 1am, Cartoon Network has a new Bleach, then a new Code Geass.

Check your local TV listings for more.

• At 8, ABC has Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown, followed by two new episodes of Scrubs and True Beauty.
• CBS has a new NCIS at 8, then new episodes of The Mentalist and Without A Trace.
• FOX has new episodes of American Idol and Fringe.
• NBC has a new, two-hour of The Biggest Loser at 8, followed by a new Dateline.
• The CW has a new 90210 at 8, then a new Privileged.
• At 9, Food Network has a new Food Detectives.
• Sci-Fi has a new ECW at 9.
• At 10, TNT has a new Leverage.
• FX has a new Nip/Tuck at 10.
• There's a new Chopped on Food Network at 10.
• Travel Channel has a new Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern at 10.
• Also at 10: Bravo has a new Real Housewives of Orange County.

Check your local TV listings for more.

After the jump, the late night talk shows.

If there's one universal among TV Christmas specials it's this: they all seem to want to tell you what the "true" meaning of Christmas is. There are so many specials trying to explain the true meaning of Christmas, it actually makes you wonder if the power of TV to influence has been exaggerated. I mean, you'd think after watching approximately eleventy-five billion hours of holiday programming, we'd have gotten the point already.

Perhaps the reason why America continues to view Christmas less as a time for spiritual reflection than as one for reindeer sweaters, crass consumerism, and suicide contemplation is because our Christmas specials aren't really sending the messages that they claim to be. Sure, on the surface we're told about "peace on earth and goodwill to men, blah blah blah", but there's a bubbling subtext in these specials if you only look hard enough.

I've decided to put my New Jersey state college English degree to good use and break down what Christmas specials are really saying...

It was only a matter of time. What was once the ultimate convenience for TV fans has now been labeled as an affliction. Brad Berens of iMedia, a company that analyzes the way advances in media impact people's lives, had identified the responsibility we feel when we TiVo or DVR a show or series and then don't get around to watching it in a timely fashion as "TiVo guilt."

I can't disagree. I don't know about you, but I'm always checking my DVR list to see what's stacked up that I still have to watch. It's not that I feel like I have to watch these shows -- after all I recorded them because I want to see them -- but there is a burden attached.

According to Berens, what I'm experiencing is called "opportunity costs," and my TiVo viewing has become -- believe it or not -- homework!

Here we are in the time of year of the holiday specials. And many of them are Peanuts specials. We've already seen It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, and coming soon are A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (next Tuesday on ABC) and A Charlie Brown Christmas. Those are the good ones. What you're about to see if a bad one.

Whenever there is some hot, hip pop culture trend, you see everyone adopting it. That's why James Bond went into freakin' space in Moonraker. The damn success of Star Wars and other space films. It happened to Snoopy too, in It's Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown. Yup, Snoopy and Franklin and others donned sweats and break danced in this special from the 80s, as you can see in the video after the jump.

• At 8, ABC has It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, followed by new episodes of Dancing with the Stars and Eli Stone.
• CBS has a new NCIS at 8, then new episodes of The Mentalist and Without A Trace.
• NBC has new episodes of The Biggest Loser and Law and Order: SVU.
• FOX has a new House at 8.
• The CW has a new 90210 at 8, followed by a new Privileged.
• There's a new Lincoln Heights at 8, then the midseason finale of Greek.
• TCM has Sunset Boulevard at 8.
• At 9, Sci-Fi has a new ECW, followed by two new episodes of Scare Tactics.
• ESPN has two new episodes of The World Series of Poker starting at 9.
• Fine Living has a new Whatever, Martha at 9.
• Discovery has a new Dirty Jobs at 9.
• At 10, FX has a new episode of The Shield.
• Bravo has a new Real Housewives of Atlanta at 10.
• MTV has a new Paris Hilton: My New BFF at 10.
• VH-1 has the series premiere of Coolio's Rules at 10.
• At 11, TBS has a new Frank TV.

Check your local TV listings for more.

After the jump, the late night talk show listings.

Hasn't The Simpsons already spoofed It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown on one of its many "Treehouse of Horror" episodes? You would think it would be a natural for them and it would have been done years ago.

The classic Peanuts show is one of the segments spoofed (it's called "It's The Great Pumpkin, Milhouse") on the annual Halloween episode of the show. The other segments include a Transformers spoof (the robots try to destroy Springfield, of course), and the segment I'm most looking forward to, a Mad Men takeoff. Seems that advertising agencies hire Homer to kill celebrities so they can make a bunch of money off of their likenesses. It's called "How To Get Ahead In Deadvertising." We'll see Homer falling off of a building a la Mad Men's opening credits.

As is often the case, the Simpsons "Treehouse of Horror" episode will actually air after Halloween, on November 2. After the jump, a video retrospective of the show's Halloween episodes and a sneak peek at one of the scenes from the new one.

We have a TV Royalty category here at TV Squad, and if there's anyone who worked in television and deserved the honor it's Bill Melendez.

Melendez was an animator for Walt Disney Studios in the 1930 and 40s, working on such classic movies as Fantasia and Pinocchio and Mickey Mouse shorts, then went on to make tons of movies, cartoons and commercials (he worked on many Bugs Bunny shorts and other famous cartoons) for well-known companies such as United Productions of America (where he was an animator on Gerald McBoing McBoing) and Playhouse Pictures. He then met Charles Schulz in 1959 and went on to animate (and often direct and produce) most of the Peanuts TV specials, including A Charlie Brown Christmas, A Boy Named Charlie Brown, It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, and many, many others. Many people don't know this but he was also the voice of both Snoopy and Woodstock (they didn't talk, of course, but he did all of the howls and other noises). He worked on TV versions of Cathy and Garfield too.

Here are the new TV DVDs, in stores tomorrow.

Wait a second: Honey West is out on DVD?! And it's not even one of those lame "Season 1, Volume 2" deals it's an actual complete series? I never thought this show would come out on DVD (Quark I thought might because of its cult status), but I find myself saying that less and less these days, and that's a good thing.

As for It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, that's not one of my favorite animated holiday specials, but I think I'll get it so I can say I have them all.

• Arthur - Season 11
• Big Bang Theory - Season 1
• Charlie Brown - It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
• Cheers - Season 10
• Desperate Housewives - Season 4
• Doctor Who - The Invisible Enemy with K9 and Company: A Girl's Best Friend and The Invasion of Time
• Eli Stone - Season 1
• Faerie Tale Theatre - Complete Series
• Ghost Hunters - Live
• Ghost Whisperer - Season 3
• Honey West - Complete Series
• Life - Season 1
• Little People, Big World - Season 2, Vol. 1
• Living with Ed - Season 2
• The Office - Season 4
• Quark - Complete Series
• Supernatural - Season 3

Do not adjust your web browser. You are now entering the Retro Squad, where we are reviewing past episodes of classic TV shows.

If you are a devoted Arrested Development fan like me, you probably watched all episodes at least five times each if not more. But have you noticed all the Easter eggs featured on the show? They take the shape of props in the background, allusions to other TV series or movies, expressions, etc. If not, you may be interested in the post below where I list some of the Easter eggs featured on the show and where to find them.

If you recently got addicted to this gem of a show, you may want to print this article out and spot the eggs the second time you watch the series. Because, let's face it, you'll want to watch it again! And again! Oh, and again!

• At 7, CNN has Election Coverage of the Louisiana Primary.
• At 8, FOX has the Budweiser Shootout auto race.
• ABC has A Charlie Brown Valentine at 8.
• TLC has two new episodes of Flip That House at 8, then a new Trading Spaces.
• Also at 8: Nickelodeon has a new iCarly, followed by a new Naked Brothers Band.
• At 9, CBS has a new 48 Hours Mystery.
• CNBC has a new Suze Orman Show at 9.
• Lifetime has the new movie Making Mr. Right at 9.
• Cartoon Network has two new episodes of Naruto at 9, then a new One Piece.
• At 11, FOX has a new Mad TV, followed by a new Talk Show with Spike Feresten.

Check your local TV listings for more.