TVSquad

• At 8, ABC has a new Wife Swap, followed by a repeat of the season finale of Lost, with new on-screen info.
• FOX has a new American Idol at 8, then a new Moment of Truth.
• The CW has a new Crowned at 8.
• There's a new America's Ballroom Challenge at 8 on PBS.
• CNN has a Republican Presidential Debate at 8.
• Also at 8: G4 has a new X-Play.
• At 9, Sci-Fi has a new Ghost Hunters International.
• At 9:30, Food Network has a new Good Eats.
• HBO has a new In Treatment at 9:30, then a new Inside the NFL.
• At 10, NBC has a new Law and Order.
• TBS has two new episodes of Tyler Perry's House of Payne at 10.

Check your local TV listings for more.

• At 8, ABC has a new Wife Swap, followed by new episodes of Supernanny and Cashmere Mafia.
• CBS has a new Power of 10, then new episodes of Criminal Minds and CSI: NY.
• NBC has a new Deal Or No Deal at 8.
• FOX has a new American Idol and the premiere of The Moment of Truth.
• There's a new Crowned on The CW at 8.
• PBS has a new Pioneers of Television at 8, followed by a new episode of The Jewish Americans.
• At 9, Discovery has a new Mythbusters.
• Rudy Giuliani is the guest on Larry King Live at 9 on CNN.
• HGTV has a new Deserving Design at 9, then new episodes of Design on a Dime, House Hunters, and Sleep on It.
• At 9:30, ESPN2 has more coverage of The Australian Open.
• At 10, NBC has a new Law and Order.
• TBS has two new episodes of Tyler Perry's House of Payne at 10.
• Bravo has a new Project Runway at 10.
• Also at 10: HGTV has a new Dinner: Impossible.
• At 10:30, Comedy Central has a new Reno 911.

Check your local TV listings for more.

• At 8, FOX has a new, two hour American Idol.
• ABC has a new Wife Swap at 8, followed by new episodes of Supernanny and Cashmere Mafia.
• CBS has a new Power of 10 at 8, then the finale of Comanche Moon.
• NBC has a new Deal or No Deal at 8.
• There's a new Crowned at 8.
• PBS has a new Pioneers of Television at 8, then a new episode of The Jewish Americans.
• At 9, Discovery has a new Mythbusters.
• HGTV has a new Deserving Design at 9, followed by a new Design on a Dime.
• Sci-Fi has a new Ghost Hunters International at 9.
• At 10, NBC has a new Law and Order.
• TBS has two new episodes of Tyler Perry's House of Payne at 10.
• Bravo has a new Project Runway at 10.
• Food Network has a new Dinner: Impossible.
• Also at 10: HBO has a new Inside the NFL.
• At 10:30, Comedy Central has the season premiere of Reno 911!

Check your local TV listings for more.

• At 8, CBS has a new Power of 10, then new episodes of Criminal Minds and CSI: NY.
• ABC has a new Wife Swap at 8, followed by new episodes of Supernanny and Cashmere Mafia.
• There's a new Deal Or No Deal at 8 on NBC.
• PBS has a new installment of Pioneers of Television at 8, focusing on late night talk shows.
• The CW has new episodes of Crowned and Gossip Girl.
• At 9, Sci-Fi has a new Ghost Hunters International.
• At 9:30, HGTV has a new Design on a Dime, then new episodes of House Hunters and Sleep On It.
• At 10, NBC has a new Law and Order.
• Bravo has a new Project Runway at 10.
• HBO has a new Inside the NFL at 10.

Check your local TV listings for more.

• At 8, FOX has the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, which also sounds like something you could eat. "Yes, I'll have the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl and a large Pepsi."
• ABC has a new Wife Swap at 8, then two new episodes of Supernanny.
• CBS has a new Power of 10 at 8.
• NBC has a new Deal Or No Deal, then a new, two-hour Law and Order.
• There's a new Crowned on The CW at 8, followed by a new Gossip Girl.
• PBS has a new installment of Pioneers of Television at 8, focusing on sitcoms.
• At 9:30, HGTV has a new Design on a Dime.
• At 10, TBS has two new episodes of Tyler Perry's House of Payne.
• Bravo has a new Project Runway at 10.
• Also at 10: HBO has a new Inside The NFL.

Check your local TV listings for more.

As I was surfing the web this morning, I came upon a casting call for The CW's Crowned: The Mother of All Pageants. Even if this reality competition is not the best reality TV show on the block, it seems that The CW thinks it did good enough to potentially grant Crowned a second season. Then again, maybe the pageant show will get a second chance only because The CW is running out of new episodes for its scripted shows.

• At 8, PBS has a new Wired Science, followed by the American Masters tribute to Bob Newhart.
• The CW has a new Crowned at 8.
• G4 has a new X-Play at 8.
• Lifetime Movie Network has the movie Under the Misletoe at 8.
• At 9, CBS has The 30th Annual Kennedy Center Honors, with honorees Steve Martin, Martin Scorcese, Diana Ross, Brian Wilson, and Leon Fleischer.
• TBS has the Funniest Commercials of the Year: 2007 at 9, followed by new episodes of Tyler Perry's House of Payne.
• Also at 9: HBO has Real Sports with Bryant Gumbal, then a new Inside the NFL.
• At 9:30, HGTV has a new Design on a Dime.

Check your local TV listings for more.

• At 8, CBS has Frosty the Snowman, followed by Frosty Returns.
• NBC has a new Clash of the Choirs at 8, then season (series?) finale of Journeyman.
• ABC has a new Duel at 8.
• There's a new Crowned on The CW at 8, then a new Gossip Girl.
• PBS has a new Wired Science at 8.
• ABC Family has Year Without A Santa Claus at 8 (Heat Miser!), then Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer and the Island of Misfit Toys.
• Also at 8: Food Network has Rachael Ray's Holiday Entertaining in 60, then Sandra Lee's Semi-Homemade Holiday.
• At 9, CBS has a new Criminal Minds, then a new CSI: NY.
• Hallmark has A Grandpa For Christmas at 9.
• At 10, ABC has A Holiday Celebration at Ford's Theater.
• TBS has two new episodes of Tyler Perry's House of Payne at 10.
• HBO has Inside the NFL at 10.

Check your local TV listings for more.

In the latest twist on reality competitions, The CW presents Crowned: The Mother of All Pageants, in which mothers and daughters compete as pairs for a top prize of $100,000. The show premieres Wednesday, December 12, 9/8c. Let me preface by saying that I have enjoyed such twisted programming as Joe Millionaire and The Swan, so was hopeful that I could find something to appreciate here. While it has potential, and I do have favorite contestants already, this first episode has some serious problems.

I can only hope that more editing will be done before the final cut makes it to air as there was a likely unintentional but glaringly racial imbalance in the introduction of the teams. Not to mention painfully obvious attempts to fake tension and drama where there really isn't any. Things might grow more intense as egos clash, but for now things are fairly bland. Even the first challenge was boring. They really needed to step it up to try and encourage viewers to stick around for the entire eight week run, and I don't think they did. More and minor spoilers after the jump.

This idea is either profoundly sick or profoundly brilliant. I haven't decided which. The CW has announced an eight-episode reality competition focused on mother-daughter teams working to win a beauty pageant. Now, from what I understand, this is a "mother-daughter" pageant not a "stage mom who wishes to live vicariously through the daughter who robbed her of her youth" pageant. The teams on Crowned will have their relationships tested through clothing, swimwear, interview and dance competitions.

The CW decided to go for the funny in its TCA press tour executive session this morning. They played a video clip of an over-eager Adult Swim-style Chyron screen (instead of white on black, though, it was yellow on the ubiquitous CW green), apologizing for technical difficulties and making some interesting jokes. They even name checked Tim Goodman of the San Francisco Chronicle, who in an ironic twist, wasn't there to see it.

The message of all this? "We're The CW! Watch us! We're doing something different!" And that was also the theme of the presentation from the network's president of entertainment, Dawn Ostroff.