TVSquad

Bravo's resident house flipper, real estate guru and OCD interior designer, Jeff Lewis, is a very complicated guy. When I spoke to him recently, I was actually a little concerned. If you've seen Jeff on Bravo's Flipping Out, you've seen him lose it on occasion. Would he yell at me on the phone if I asked the wrong question?

In fact, Jeff Lewis was extremely friendly and funny. We had a great talk and he couldn't have been nicer. He was also really forthcoming about the past seasons of Flipping Out, including this one that's concluding tonight.

What has it been like to be turned into a reality TV star?
Because of the reaction of the show, some people see me as a villain and that could be the way I do business. I handle my employees in a rather non-traditional way. I was concerned about how people would react in public, but it's actually been pretty positive. Overall, it's been a very positive experience. Many people are very nice and complimentary and supportive.

(S02E01) I watched the first season of Flipping Out on Bravo last summer based on a teaser I saw during Top Chef 3. The show is about a real estate "flipper" who buys properties, fixes them up and then resells them for a profit. You might say, "Yawn, that's just like a bunch of other shows on TLC, Discovery, et al." Well, yes, that's true.

But Flipping Out isn't really about the flipping, it's about the flipper -- Jeff Lewis. This guy Lewis is not normal. I mean it, he's not. He says he's not. He's obsessive compulsive and it comes out in everything he does. It makes him a better flipper, because of his attention to detail, but it also makes him really hard to take if you're his employee, partner or contractor. But, boy, is it fun to watch Jeff Lewis's life! That's what Flipping Out is really all about and it's back.

It's one of the eternal questions in life: what do you call your remote?

Tim Dowling over at The Guardian has a story about all of the different names that TV viewers have for that little device that saves us from having to walk across the room and has probably contributed to the onslaught of ADD we have. All of the names we've all heard are on the list, such as "clicker" (my mom used to call it that), "flipper" (which was popular with Frank on Everybody Loves Raymond), "wand," and "changer." Of course, The Guardian is a British paper so you're going to get some words that Americans really aren't familiar with, such as "tellychanger," "podger," and "hoofer-doofer." Most people I know just call it "the remote." We should come up with a different name for it. "Binky" is good, but that's already taken for pacifiers. How about "the glooptron?"

I call mine "Jessica."

[via TV Tattle]

Here are the new TV DVDs, in stores tomorrow.

• Are You Afraid of the Dark? - Season 3
• Columbo - Mystery Movie Collection 1989
• The Drew Carey Show - Season 1
• Ed, Edd, 'n Eddy - Season 2
• Flipper - Season 1
• Ironside - Season 1
• Kidnapped - Complete Series
• Morel Orel - Vol. 1
• NCIS - Season 3
• The Odd Couple - Season 1
• Planet Earth - The Complete Collection
• WKRP in Cincinnati - Season 1

Remember back in June when Bob told you Flipper was coming out on DVD? Well, it's a lie, A DAMN LIE!

Sorry about that -- but seriously, the TV show will not be coming out on DVD as previously thought. TVShowsonDVD reports that kaBOOM Entertainment, the company that was supposed to release the sets, has said it will not be releasing Flipper on DVD at all. No explanation has been given as to why the set was canceled. I imagine Flipper himself wasn't promised an adequate share of the money from the releases and now everything's tied up because of it. He's probably sitting in his rocking chair in the Old Dolphins Home right now watching The Price is Right and mumbling about how everyone is trying to cheat him: "I gave them the best years of my life!"

Lee Goldberg blames William Simon for turning him on to YouTube, and now I'm blaming Lee Goldberg for ruining the rest of my work day.

Goldberg has started a new blog, Main Title Heaven. It's a blog filled with clips of the opening titles to various TV shows, both old and new. Not just the most popular, famous ones (though he has stuff like Magnum, P.I., I Dream of Jeannie, and the original Battlestar Galactica), but also little gems you might not think of, like Banacek, Raven, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Man From Atlantis, The Magician, Seaquest, It Takes A Thief, and Mannix. He's gotta get that other version of the Flipper theme up though.

This site will suck up all of your time today and bring back a lot of memories. Hey, remember when TV shows actually had theme songs and openings?