TVSquad

The other day I posted the DirecTV ad featuring footage of Chris Farley and new footage of David Spade, and I opined that it was a "worst commercial of the year" nominee. I also mentioned that it might be "too soon."

To clarify, when I said "too soon" I didn't mean that it was too soon after Farley's death (he died 12 years ago). I meant that it's odd seeing a young, contemporary celebrity in an ad (which DirecTV also did with Heather O'Rourke - that was worse), especially one where he is interacting with a costar who is doing the scene in the present day. My other point was "how the hell is this going to sell DirecTV to anyone?" (and "boy is this ad unfunny").

I'm not the only one who finds the DirecTV ad odd. Now Spade and Farley's brother Kevin have responded to the criticism.

This week, we're going to take a bit of a departure from the shows we normally cover. It's very rare that a show that puts out 76 episodes could be considered by anyone to be gone too soon, and yet I make the argument that 8 Simple Rules (for Dating My Teenage Daughter) is that show.

I'm also not going to try and convince you that 8 Simple Rules was one of the greatest sitcoms of all time, because it simply wasn't. It was a fairly standard, solid series headlined by a brilliant comic actor... and then it became something else.

They use dead celebs in ads all the time and it doesn't bother me, so why does the new DirecTV commercial with David Spade and Chris Farley irritate and disgust me so much?

For one, it's badly made. Unfunny and not very clever. Plus, it might be too soon, and the way that Farley died... it's just a very strange ad. I wonder why Spade even agreed to do it. (DirecTV has done this before.)

If you live in the Los Angeles area, you know that all you have to do is spit in any random direction and there is a one in five chance that your loogie will hit a celebrity. If it does hit a celebrity, there is a one in three chances that he'll beat you into a bloody pulp and a one in two chance he'll actually face an assault charge for it.

Greg Benson, creator of the viral video empire Mediocre Films, decided to reward the random TV celebrities he ran into with a crisp one dollar bill. That's the difference between Hollywood and the rest of the free world. When we open our wallets for people on the street, we don't necessarily know that they are going to use it for drugs and/or alcohol.

In this age where there seems to be an awards show every three weeks, is the People's Choice Awards relevant anymore (if it ever was)? More than anything else, it seems like an award based only on popularity, which is why you get some really lame nominations and winners every year.

In the Favorite TV Comedy category, Gary Unmarried is nominated along with shows like 30 Rock, The Office, Chuck, and How I Met Your Mother. In the Favorite TV Comedy Actor category, David Spade is nominated.

Radner. Louis-Dreyfus. Poehler. Fey. Shannon.

Suffice it to say, the number of women who became famous on Saturday Night Live before graduating to solo success is few and far between. Sure, Gilda Radner can be considered a pioneer in the art of sketch comedy. And Julia Louis-Dreyfus undoubtedly honed her comedic skills before becoming a sitcom icon on Seinfeld. And, yes, Tina Fey can easily be considered a heroine to comedy nerds everywhere who have witnessed her climb from Weekend Update anchor to Mean Girls scribe to single-handedly decimating the vice presidential chances of one certain gun-wieldin', six-pack-totin' Alaskan governor.

But, sadly, the number of men who left Studio 8 for the superstardom of Planet Hollywood (not the theme restaurant) easily outnumbers the ladies. For every Amy Poehler, there's a Will Ferrell. And a Bill Murray. And a Mike Myers and Eddie Murphy and Adam Sandler (although, to be fair, there's also a David Gary Kroeger, A. Whitney Brown, and Charles Rocket for every Melanie Hutsell, too). (And for the record, no, you shouldn't recognize those names.)

The Emmy Award nominations will be announced a week from this Thursday, and The Hollywood Reporter got a bunch of TV stars (both Emmy winners and nominees) together at a roundtable* to discuss the awards, and it's pretty lively.

While Ted Danson talks about it taking nine times before he won the Emmy for Cheers in 1990, David Spade explains that he was more bummed about not winning a Golden Globe for his role on Just Shoot Me more than not winning the Emmy, because he was beaten by Gregory Peck, who won for a really short cameo. Bryan Cranston reveals how his guest stint on The X-Files many years ago led to his role on Breaking Bad, and Alec Baldwin explains that it's actually OK that he doesn't get to swear on 30 Rock like his friends who have pay cable shows can.

Neil Patrick Harris makes some comments that reality show-haters will love.

* For the sake of journalistic accuracy, I actually have no idea if the table was round or not. It could have been a long rectangle.

(S04E19) It wasn't until I saw George Segal that I realized how much I missed seeing him on TV. It made me long for the days when he and Finch made me laugh out loud and lament the fact that David Spade hasn't done anything funny since.

While the thought of Denny Crane being President of the United States is certainly funny, the idea that he would be chosen for his electability is ludicrous. Aside from the more obvious problems, the Republicans would never nominate a single man with multiple divorces and an embarrassing arrest record. Let's be honest.

I didn't want to like Rules of Engagement. I like The New Adventures of Old Christine, and I thought that if I watched and liked Rules of Engagement (which has pushed Old Christine to the back burner at CBS for now) it would be like endorsing that show over Old Christine. It would almost be like cheating on Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and I did that once before years ago and she has never forgiven me.

But this past Monday I found myself wanting to watch a comedy at 9:30, so I turned it on. You know what? It's actually a good show.

As AOL Television continues their look at the 50 Best TV Comedies -- Ever with numbers 20-11, we here at TV Squad are also looking at television comedy, but with a slightly skewed difference. Last week, we took a look at the Saturday Night Live cast members from 1975-1985 that made it to the big time. This week, we focus on the SNL casts from 1986 to 2006.

Aside from the first season of Lorne Michaels' return to the show he created and the 1994-95 season, this period was a very successful one for SNL, introducing a slew of characters and sketches that fans of the show still talk about today. It also produced a good number of Not Ready for Prime-Time Players who went on to bigger things in television and the movies (and some theater as well). Sometimes those bigger things were movies or television shows based on characters developed on SNL.

• At 8, ABC has a new Fast Cars and Superstars, followed by the NBA finals.
• FOX has a new Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader at 8, then a new So You Think You Can Dance.
• CBS has a new Pirate Master at 8.
• TCM has Mr. Lucky at 8, then The Adventures of Robin Hood.
• At 9, TLC has a new American Chopper.
• USA has a new Starter Wife at 9.
• At 10, NBC has a new Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.
• Food Network has a new Throwdown with Bobby Flay at 10.
• At 10:30, Comedy Central has a new Showbiz Show with David Spade.
• Also at 10: Spike has a new Ultimate Fighter.

Check your local TV listings for more.

When I first saw the email sent to me about this video I thought 'What the hell is John Walsh doing stripping on Comedy Central's The Showbiz Show?' Then, I looked closer and realized it wasn't America's Most Wanted host John Walsh, but Grey's Anatomy star Kate Walsh. Frankly, I think a stripping John Walsh may have been interesting.

However, Kate's appearance on the David Spade program is just as intriguing. In this unedited clip you'll see after the jump (You can view a shorter version of the clip on AOL's Top 5 Television page) Kate talks to David about her placement in Maxim's Hot 100 List (she placed 52) and strikes a chord for women's rights as she lambastes the entire random numbering system. At the end of the interview she decides to show the viewing public why she should be higher on the list than she is.

Hey, I say good for Kate for playing along with David on the show. I think there are plenty of actresses on the Hot 100 List who would be too stuck up to do what she does on the video. If anyone deserved a spin-off from Grey's it was her.

• At 8, CBS has a new Pirate Master.
• ABC has the special Fast Cars & Superstars at 8, followed by the Cavaliers/Spurs game.
• FOX has a new Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader? at 8, then a new So You Think You Can Dance.
• TBS has four excellent episodes of Friends starting at 8, including the one where Ross dates the girl with the messy apartment and Chandler falls for Joey's girlfriend.
• At 9, TLC has a new American Chopper.
• USA has a new episode of The Starter Wife at 9.
• At 9:30, HBO2 has a making-of special about John From Cincinnati, then the movie Brick.
• At 9:45, HBO has a first look at Evan Almighty.
• At 10, NBC has a new Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.
• There's a new Ultimate Fighter on Spike at 10.
• At 10:30, Comedy Central has a new Showbiz Show with David Spade.

Check your local TV listings for more.

• At 8, ABC has the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
• CBS has the premiere of Pirate Master at 8.
• FOX has a new Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader? and a new So You Think You Can Dance.
• Four more great Friends episodes at 8 on TBS.
• TCM has two hostage dramas starting at 8: The Desperate Hours, with Humphery Bogart, and The Night Holds Terror, with Jack Kelly.
• At 9, USA has the premiere of the mini-series The Starter Wife.
• TLC has a new American Chopper at 9.
• HBO Zone has the high school noir drama Brick at 9.
• At 10, NBC has a new Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.
• Food Network has a new Throwdown with Bobby Flay at 10.
• Also at 10: Spike has a new Ultimate Fighter.
• At 10:30, Comedy Central has a new Showbiz Show with David Spade.

Check your local TV listings for more.

• At 8, ABC has the season finale of Ugly Betty, then the season finale of Grey's Anatomy and a special Lost (a clip show that supposedly has "the answers").
• CBS has Bob Barker: A Celebration of 50 Years On Television at 8, followed by the season finale of CSI.
• It's all season finales on NBC starting at 8: The Office, Scrubs, and ER.
• The CW has the season finales of Smallville and Supernatural.
• TBS has four good Friends repeats at 8.
• BBC America has two new episodes of Innocent starting at 8.
• Also at 8: ESPN has two NBA playoff games.
• At 9, HGTV has a new Divine Design.
• The Travel Channel has a new 1000 Places To See Before You Die at 9.
• At 10, Spike has a new Ultimate Fighter.
• There's a new Penn & Teller's Bullshit at 10 on Showtime.
• At 10:30, Comedy Central has a new Showbiz Show with David Spade.

Check your local TV listings for more.