TVSquad

The Daytime Emmys have rendered their verdict: court TV shows will compete in their own Emmy award category. On April 30th, when the nominations are announced, legal shows will vie against each other in a new category meant to honor the best in court television. That means for the first time ever, Judge Judy can go up against the likes of The People's Court, Judge Alex, Divorce Court and the rest of the justice-driven syndicated real drama series currently on the air.

It's the law of television: when one talk show comes to life, one must die.

Star Jones has lost her Court TV (sorry, TruTv) show, The Star Jones Show. The program only lasted about six months, but the powers that be have decided that because the network has changed its brand and focus (from legal/court shows to shows about car chases and lifeguards), the show no longer fits in. A note from TruTV VP Marc Juris says that Jones will stay with the network as a contributor, which sounds similar to Mario Batali's role at Food Network: his show ended but you'll see him on Iron Chef America once in a great while.

Hey, Brigitte here with TV Squad Daily. I'll be covering the TV stories I find interesting each day, Monday through Friday, in this video blog.

Today on TV Squad Daily:

• Don't worry, says NBC. Jay Leno will be out, Conan will be in, in 2009.
  
• The pending writer's strike could mean a surge in demand for reality tv. That is the only reason I can think of why they might be giving Coolio his own reality show.
  
• Kid Rock won't be charged for that "brawl" he was in at the VMA's.
  
• Ellen DeGeneres will be the first celebrity "briefcase babe" on Deal or No Deal.
  
• Court TV will change its name January 1st.
  

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We told you it was going to happen. Court TV has changed its name, and it will no longer answer to "Court TV." From now on when you call you must ask for TruTV, the brand new name that also symbolizes a new direction for the channel when it re-launches with its new sexy look January 1, 2008.

Look, at this point I no longer care about networks sticking to programming that adheres to the name of the network. Cartoon Network is airing live-action stuff, AMC is focusing more on original series and less on movies, and I'm pretty sure Animal Planet is starting to give equal time to series about fruits and vegetables. All I care about is good programming, I don't really care what channel it's on. Hell, one of my favorite new shows, Ice Road Truckers, is on the History Channel. It has nothing to do with history, but I don't care.

If you needed yet another reason not to watch The View, this might be it.

Sources inside Court TV are saying that one of the reasons why Nancy Grace has decided to leave Court TV (besides the fact that they are changing their name and what they cover) is that she really wants to host the ABC morning show, and couldn't seriously discuss terms with ABC while she was still under contract.

Um...wow. Nancy Grace hosting The View. How could that happen? Does she even have a light touch that she can use on the show? Can she even interview anyone about something non-controversial without making them feel bad?

Imagine the field day SNL could have with this.

If you haven't heard, Catherine Crier's show has not been renewed by Court TV, so she is leaving the network. But not before getting in a few digs.

In a speech to lawyers in Florida, Crier says she is sad to hear that Court TV (which is changing its name, by the way) is no longer going to cover trials on TV. It will be a web-only feature. Instead, the network is changing its entire lineup, and Crier says it will be "a lot of explosions, a lot of car chases, a lot of cops, a lot of beach babes."

I'm surprised that the network is getting rid of their trial coverage, since it was one of the features that really made their network stand out from anyone else.

Here's something from the "I'd take that job as only a last resort" category: Star Jones is looking for an executive producer for her Court TV show.

While the position has all of the usual requirements for an executive producer gig, including the management of talent and staff, several years experience, and a big list of contacts, it also says that whoever gets the job will have to "oversee administrative functions like human resource issues, deal with Turner's legal department when necessary, and supervise budget allocations." Wow, doesn't that sound like fun?

But you're going to be working with Star Jones, which basically means puppies and rainbows all day, so if you want to apply for the job click on the link above.

[via Gawker]

Court TV is not only changing its name, it's going to change the programming as well.

The network has announced that the network will have a new name starting on January 1, 2008. No decision has been reached yet on what the new name will be, but the network will introduce a ton of new reality shows. Oh, sorry, they're not "reality" shows, they're "real-life series" watched by "engagers."

Among the new shows: Tiger Team, about security experts; The Real Hustle, about con artists and scams, and The Room, which will focus on police interrogations. They are also developing a series of shows with The Smoking Gun web site. As for Nancy Grace (she's the one smiling on the right), she'll be part of the new daytime lineup, but her show will be shortened a bit to make room for the new show from Star Jones.

Wow, Nancy Grace and Star Jones on the same channel during the day. Enjoy!

It's amazing how people's careers can develop. Think about it: did anyone who saw Meredith Vieira on 60 Minutes seventeen years ago think she was going to end up hosting Today and Millionaire? Exactly. So, post-9/11, when men were drooling over NBC's Ashleigh Banfield and her glasses as she paraded around Afghanistan, did anyone think she'd be hosting a show discussing the cross between celebrity and the justice system?

Probably not. But that's what's happening, as she has signed up to host CourtTV's Hollywood Heat, taking over for Lynne White. She joined the network in July 2005, after her profile at NBC was reduced during 2003 and 2004. She will still co-host Banfield & Ford: Courtside with Jack Ford. But, don't worry, librarian-lovers: she'll still be wearing those signature horn-rimmed frames. That alone might get me to watch.

BET and Court TV have both recently added a few series to the iTunes store. BET is offering episodes of American Gangster; Lil' Kim: Countdown to Lockdown; DMX: Soul of a Man; Beef the Series; The Christies: Committed; and Comic View. Court TV also has episodes available: Psychic Detectives; Murder by the Book; Beach Patrol; Body of Evidence; and The Investigators. These shows have been available since late November/early December, so forgive me for not reporting this sooner, or don't forgive me, I guess it doesn't really matter either way. More than a few people know of BET's presence on iTunes, seeing as how American Gangster is one of the top ten TV downloads. All of these episodes, as usual, are $1.99 per episode. Court TV episodes are $1.99 plus time served.

Court TV has begun production on its first original scripted series 'Til Death Do Us Part. Each episode will dramatize bizarre cases of happily married couples whose relationships take a turn for the murderous worse. Hosting each episode will be Mr. Bizarre himself - John Waters.

The director of such trash classics Pink Flamingos and Female Trouble will star as the "Groom Reaper," guiding us through the grizzly murders that resulted from these most unholy of matrimonies. The show will debut in 2007.

I'd be slightly more excited if Waters were directing the series, but its subject matter is right up his alley -- if only it were set in Baltimore.

And you can add other Turner networks to that list too, including TNT and CourtTV.

Nielsen is going to start announcing ratings for commercials, but the above networks don't want to accept them. But they're not the only ones. NBC Universal (well, it's cable nets like USA, Sci-Fi, CNBC, MSNBC, Bravo) is also waiting to see if they'll participate, as is ESPN. Cable networks are afraid too many mistakes will be made with the numbers, so they're waiting to see what happens.

Nielsen has tracked the ratings of TV shows for years, of course, but now with DVRs so popular, they're also going to start tracking who's watching what during commercials. They were supposed to start on Nov. 18 but it will now start in December.

Like all Adult Swim news, information is a bit scarce on this, but here's what I've pieced together: The Court TV series Smoking Gun, based on the popular Web site The Smoking Gun is getting a trial run on Adult Swim starting on October 23 at midnight. It looks like the series will run for eight consecutive days to begin with, and will be yet another fifteen minute series. I never watched the series on Court TV, but apparently it did have one special which was done entirely with puppets and animation, and occasional episodes would also be produced in a similar manner. It seems reasonable that the Adult Swim version would be pretty much the same. Right now, other than having the show listed on their schedule, I see no other information about it, not even on The Smoking Gun's site. If any of you know anything, and by "know anything" I mean you have links to reputable sources that verify your claim, let me know in the comments. Otherwise, I guess we'll keep watching Adult Swim to see what the heck this is all about.

[via Adult Swim HQ]

The FCC just released a report that says Americans would save up to 13% on their cable bills if the cable companies would just let us buy channels individually. That can't be making the cable companies happy, which insist on not only pushing channel packages on us, but also on raising their rates as much as 6% each year.

Channels I'd dump if I could buy cable a la carte: