TVSquad

Earlier today I did a first take on the Primetime Emmy nominations, sharing with you my first impressions and noting a few surprises. Now, I'm going to finish what I started. Please, share your comments and your opinions about the nominations.

• ESPN has the NBA Draft all night.
• At 8, NBC has a new, two hour Last Comic Standing, then a new Fear Itself.
• FOX has a new Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader? at 8, followed by a new So You Think You Can Dance.
• More George Carlin on HBO2 starting at 8: What Am I Doin' In New Jersey?, Doin' It Again, Jammin' in New York, Back in Town, You Are All Diseased, and It's Bad For Ya.
• At 9, TBS has a new Bill Engvall Show, then a new My Boys.
• There's a new American Chopper on TLC at 9.
• HGTV has a new Rate My Space at 9.
• At 10, CBS has a new Swingtown.
• ABC has the premiere of Hopkins at 10.
• History Channel has a new Surviving History at 10.
• Spike has a new TNA Impact at 10.
• Also at 10: Bravo has a new My Life on the D-List.
• At 10:30, Comedy Central has a new Reno 911.

Check your local TV listings for more.

For most, memories of George Carlin on television come from his many HBO specials starting from the 1970s and continuing up until the present day. For others, it was his appearance during the very first Saturday Night Live back in 1975. But, there was another George Carlin that many don't remember. That is the very young George Carlin from the 1960s.

Before the beard, and the long hair, and the swearing and his "the world is doomed" attitude, George Carlin was a traditional suit-and-tie stand-up comic. He began by teaming up with comedian Jack Burns in the late 1950s, then eventually went his own way. During that time he came up with a number of famous routines including "The Indian Sergeant," "The Hippy-Dippy Weatherman," and "Wonderful WINO." Many of these routines would be performed on shows like The Tonight Show (both the Jack Paar and Johnny Carson versions) and the Ed Sullivan Show.

After the jump you'll see two examples of his mid-60s television appearances.

• At 8, FOX has a new So You Think You Can Dance.
• ABC has a new Wife Swap at 8, followed by new episodes of Supernanny and Primetime: Crime.
• NBC has a new Deal Or No Deal at 8, then the series premiere of The Baby Borrowers and a new Celebrity Circus.
• HBO2 has On Location: George Carlin at USC at 8, followed by George Carlin Again!, George Carlin at Carnegie Hall, George Carlin: On Campus, and George Carlin: Playin' With Your Head.
• At 9, PBS has a new Nova scienceNOW.
• History Channel has a new MonsterQuest at 9.
• Hallmark has the movie Charlie & Me at 9.
• 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 Shear Genius at 10.
• Also at 10: MTV has a new episode of The Real World.
• At 10:30, Comedy Central has a new Mind of Mencia.

Check your local TV listings for more.

When I posted about George Carlin's death early Monday morning, I made a couple of mistakes, mainly due to a combination of shock and tiredness:

1) I said that Carlin "passed away." Anyone who's listened to Carlin's comedy knows that he hated euphemisms like "he passed away." So, let me correct things right now: George didn't pass away or leave this earth. He died.

2) I really didn't convey how ingenious his comedy was. His observations of even the smallest of human foibles and his examinations of how we use the English language were always among the funniest routines he would do, even funnier than the ones about politics or religion or anything else that happened to chap his ass that year.

I knew about Carlin mostly through his albums, because I didn't have HBO (Occupation: Foole was the first Carlin album I ever heard, and I still think it's the best). But, thanks to HBO and YouTube, I can give you -- in no particular order -- my five favorite Carlin routines ... well, at least the ones that aired on TV:

Of the many achievements George Carlin had in his long career, one that gets underplayed a bit is that he was the guest host on the first-ever episode of Saturday Night Live -- then called NBC's Saturday Night, thanks to Howard Cosell -- in 1975. Not a bad choice, I'd have to say; since the "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" were only a part of that first episode (there was a lot of music and odd Muppets about ... the show took some time to find itself), they needed Carlin to carry a lot of the comedic load. And that he did, giving the audience a number of his best routines from that time period.

As a tribute to the recently-deceased comedy legend, NBC will air the entire premiere episode of SNL this Saturday night. For those who have never seen the premiere before (it's on a DVD set of the complete first season), it'll be interesting to see how different the first episode is from the SNL format they know and hate-love today. I'll be DVRing it; will you?

To give you a taste, the opening monologue -- an early version of Carlin's classic "Baseball and Football" routine -- is after the jump.

"Indecision 2008": The Daily Show hasn't really mocked Barack Obama quite as heavily as the likes of John McCain or Hillary Clinton. In fact, they have made fun of the media's wild, paranoid speculation about Obama more than Obama himself. It was good to see them pick on him a bit for his rather presumptuous faux-Presidential seal, which was quickly pulled and called a "one-time" thing. I loved how most of the audience was too nervous to mock their man. "You know... You're allowed to laugh at him." Also, Barack Obama seems to have made a bit of a flip-flop recently, turning his back on public finance and calling it corrupt, despite showing his support earlier in the race. I hope he flip-flops more if it means seeing John Oliver as Matthew Lesko again.

The unexpected death of Tim Russert two weeks ago prompted numerous tributes and memorials from NBC and MSNBC, but because Russert was a news personality, they really couldn't re-air Meet the Press episodes or the night of the 2000 election to really show Tim Russert's substantive work.

The death of comedian George Carlin on Sunday was just as shocking -- and also attributed to a heart ailment -- but for Mr. Carlin there are many hours of his work available and relevant to rebroadcast. It'll give audiences a chance to re-appreciate his unique brand of comedy. In his long tenure with HBO, George starred in 14 comedy specials. Now, you'll be able to see a few of them one more time.

HBO is presenting a series of encore presentations, including his last concert, George Carlin: It's Bad for You, on Friday, June 27, at 9 o'clock (ET) on HBO (the main channel). The show debuted in March. But that's not all.

Wow. I just got in from a very, very late flight from Denver, and the early-morning newscasts hit me with this wallop: my favorite comedian, George Carlin, passed away last night. On Sunday, he admitted himself into a local Santa Monica hospital, complaining of chest pains, and ended up dying that evening of heart failure. He was 71.

Carlin, of course, is most famous for the 1970s comedy routine "Seven Words You Can Never Say on TV." It was a bit which not only got radio stations that played it in trouble with the FCC, leading to landmark First Amendment and decency rulings by the Supreme Court, but he was also arrested in Milwaukee on indecency charges after doing the routine on stage there.

• At 8, CBS has another Price Is Right Million Dollar Spectacular.
• NBC has a new Amnesia at 8, followed by a new, two hour Dateline.
• PBS has new episodes of NOW and Washington Week.
• The CW has a new Smackdown! at 8.
• At 9, ABC has a new, two hour 20/20.
• VH-1 has a new Best Week Ever at 9.
• At 9:30, HBO has a new In Treatment.
• At 10, E! has a new episode of The Soup.
• Sci-Fi has a new Stargate Atlantis at 10.
• Also at 10: HBO Comedy repeats the George Carlin It's Bad For Ya special. It's followed by a new Real Time with Bill Maher, with guests Joe Scarborough, Terry McAuliffe, Adam Goldberg and Jeremy Scahill.

Check your local TV listings for more.

• At 8, FOX has a new Cops.
• Food Network has a Dinner: Impossible marathon at 8 (looks like a send-off for the recently fired Robert Irvine).
• Nickelodeon has a new iCarly at 8.
• At 9, FOX has a new America's Most Wanted.
• CNBC has a new Suze Orman Show at 9.
• Lifetime has a new movie at 9, The Love of Her Life.
• BBC America has a new Torchwood at 9.
• Also at 9: Cartoon Network has two new episodes of Naruto, then a new One Piece.
• At 10, ABC has Jimmy Kimmel Live's All-Star Salute to Jimmy Kimmel Live!
• HBO has a new George Carlin special at 10, It's Bad For Ya.
• At 11:30, NBC has a new Saturday Night Live, with guests Ellen Page and Wilco.

Check your local TV listings for more.

Someone out there has taken the time to compose a list of the weirdest celebrities to appear on a kid's show. The guests include Amy Sedaris, Quentin Tarantino, Larry David and George Carlin.

The common theme of the list is that actors who usually appear in adult shows or using adult humor are appearing on children's television where it is unlikely they will be recognized by the average viewer. Frankly, I doubt most kids recognize most celebrities when presented in front of them no matter what they've appeared in unless it's on The Disney Channel or Nickelodeon.

I think the point of appearing on these shows is greater visibility for the actor. That way, the kids might recognize them when they're older and discover comic gold like Strangers With Candy or Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Do you like comedy? Sure, we all do. If you especially like your comedy in written and audio form, these two news items should have you clapping your hands and doing the happy dance:

First, that Comedy Death Ray CD I mentioned earlier will be out on September 12. The 150-minute CD, comprised of sets recorded during the all-night fourth anniversary Comedy Death Ray show at the UCB theater and sets from the SF Sketchfest, will feature such comedians as Patton Oswalt (King of Queens, Comedians of Comedy), Maria Bamford (Comedians of Comedy), David Cross (Mr. Show, Arrested Development), Paul F. Tompkins (Mr. Show, Best Week Ever), Doug Benson (Best Week Ever, Last Comic Standing), Brian Posehn (Mr. Show, Comedians of Comedy, Just Shoot Me, The Sarah Silverman Program), Neil Hamburger (Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job), and many more.

George Carlin's "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television" routine famously landed him in jail. He was charged for obscenity in 1972 after performing the bit at Milwaukee's Summerfest. When it was broadcast the following year on a New York City radio station, the FCC got in on the act. The radio station challenged the fine, and the case went all the way to the Supreme Court.

Now, I intend on using every one of Carlin's "dirty words" after the jump so consider yourself warned. Be prepared to wash your computer's mouth out with soap. It may look like a saint, but it swears like sailor.

(S02E20) Up to this point, we've seen how his upbringing, home life, and troubles at school helped to shape Chris' worldview, but this is the first episode where we caught a glimpse of what made Chris want to be a comedian.

Since this series is a somewhat fictional take on Chris' life as a kid, we don't know if the real Chris Rock sneaked downstairs to eavesdrop on his parents listening to Redd Foxx albums, but one assumes young Chris was probably exposed to the legendary comedian at some point, not to mention the likes of Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy and George Carlin.