TVSquad

This should come as no surprise to even the most casual of TV Squad readers. Mad Men has been picked up for a fourth season, assuring that Matthew Weiner's engrossing and demanding tale of Don Draper and the people at Sterling Cooper will be played out for at least another year.

When a show like Mad Men comes along, not unlike The Sopranos in quality and pop culture appeal, the question usually isn't whether the network will stand behind it for the duration, but whether or not the creative team envisions a long run.

When The CW dropped half-hour comedies from their schedule after this past season, it left The Game out in the cold. The show had been performing respectably for the network, so it was more a victim of changing direction than poor performance.

A little late, but maybe not too late, BET is showing interest in bringing The Game back for a fourth season. The original options on the cast of the show have lapsed, but that's not to say BET couldn't negotiate anew. There's still an audience out there for the show, and I'll bet its more hardcore base felt a little betrayed by The CW's quick dismissal.

BET already airs repeats of both The Game and its parent series Girlfriends, so a continuation there fits well. The network hasn't had much luck in establishing a successful original comedy, so why not take a stab with one that's already established? From there, it'd be easy to grow into wholly unique properties.

Despite a lengthy hiatus in the middle of its third season due to that pesky WGA Strike, and a shift to Friday nights, it was reported at Comic-Con that Syfy has renewed Eureka for a fourth season. And not one of those crappy 12- or 13-episode seasons we usually get on cable. This is a full 22 episodes, for which I say ... well, that would be a bit obvious, wouldn't it?

The good news is that the absence didn't hurt the show at all. It's just as compelling as it ever was. And fun. By fun, of course, I mean for us. Poor Sheriff Carter seems on the verge of a nervous breakdown half the time. Between negotiating a teenage daughter and the geniuses and their dangerously inventive concoctions, it's a wonder Eureka hasn't been blown off the map. Maybe for the series finale.

Even better, if you've yet to add it to your weekly list of stops, you can catch the latest four episodes of Eureka streaming on Hulu, along with tons of other fun clips.

Huh. That's the only thing I can say about the recent announcement that 'Til Death will be returning to the FOX lineup next year with a full season order. Well, I could probably add in a 'Hmm' or an 'Eh?' or even a 'Whaaaaa?', but they would all convey the same emotions.

I mean, who would have thought that the network had so much confidence in the show after it placed it on "hiatus" back in October (it still has 15 episodes left in its compliment)? It's not like the network had anything of importance to fill the time slot other than repeats of House or Fringe. Maybe the network felt bad that 'Til Death is, as of this moment, the only live-action, studio audience sitcom remaining on the network. Or, maybe they have some bigger ideas in the works.

The Daily Mirror newspaper in the UK is claiming that Scottish actor David Tennant has signed a £1million deal to continue playing the lead role in Doctor Who for a fourth season.

Given that the fourth season was only confirmed in the last few days by the show's executive producer, Russell T. Davies, it doesn't seem unlikely that news of Tennant's committment (or abandonment) would soon follow (especially since it helps keep The Doctor in the headlines in the run up to the new series starting on 31 March).

When I was at the CW's "all-star" party tonight, I determined that I was far too old to be a CW watcher, because I recognized very few of the "stars" that were there. I mean, there were a few I recognized: Yanic Truesdale, Matt Czuchry, and Sean Gunn from Gilmore Girls (I called poor Sean "Tim" for some reason), the casts of Everybody Hates Chris and Supernatural, and Stephen Collins from 7th Heaven. But since neither Lauren Graham nor Alexis Bledel decided to show up, the only person I wanted to talk to was Kristen Bell of Veronica Mars.

I saw her walk in, fashionably late. I tried to casually approach her, but when I asked if she had a few seconds, she very politely told me that she wanted to settle in to the party, but would come find me when she's ready to do interviews. I only half-believed her, and, sure enough, she soon got swamped by reporters. Oh, I saw her a few times as I wandered the party (I tend to do that when I have no one to talk to), but she never approached. So, as I was on my way out, I saw her, coat slung over arm, talking to a reporter. I asked if she'd give me a few minutes, and she said yes. The transcript is after the jump. It's not Woodward and Bernstein, but she was just too damned cute to pass up:

Every time we do a post about The 4400 (or even when we don't do a post about, say, a particular episode), we're always surprised at the number of fans who come out of the woodwork to passionately defend and discuss the program. But it looks like USA is fully aware of this fan base, as they've been very satisfied with the show's ratings for the last three years. Because of this, the cable net is renewing the show for a fourth season, with 13 episodes to be broadcast next summer.

When the show premiered in 2004, it received the highest ratings and biggest audience of any basic cable new-series premiere to that point, so the strong ratings it still receives shouldn't be a surprise. But, compared to other shows on the same network, like Monk, Psych, and even The Dead Zone, the show seems to get little media attention -- at least from the non sci-fi crowd. Maybe it'll finally get the attention it deserves in 2007.