TVSquad

Recently, when I shared my view about a certain Dell computer commercial, some of you thought I was a moron. Okay, we'll call it a difference of opinion. However, just to show you that I'm not a grumpster, allow me to extol the virtues of the Macy's commercial that celebrates this iconic American department story that's been around for over 150 years.

What makes The Magic of Macy's so much fun is that it doesn't tell you why the place is legendary, it shows you why. All those film clips from movies and television, years before anyone was using mentions like these for commercial purposes, underscore how much a part of pop culture Macy's was.

(It still is, to some extent, but the days of one brick and mortar store dominating the business landscape are long gone.)

Pop culture lists that have 100 or more entries, whether it's a list for television, film, music, books, advertising, whatever - are too long. When you list 100 of anything, you're not really getting down to the "best" (or "worst," if that's the theme of the list), you're just giving a list of 100.

Supertremendous.com has their list of the 100 most iconic TV show intros. You can read the first 90, but I wanted to concentrate on the top ten. That list includes The Brady Bunch, The Simpsons, M*A*S*H, Knight Rider (???), and The Twilight Zone, along with the number one pick after the jump. Can you guess it before you click?

Stamp collecting is something I just never got into (don't worry, I have plenty of other obsessions), but this might be the first time I actually go to my local post office and get a sheet.

Yesterday, 20 new classic TV stamps were unveiled: I Love Lucy, The Twilight Zone, The Ed Sullivan Show, The Tonight Show, The Honeymooners, Texaco Star Theater, Perry Mason, The Lone Ranger, Burns and Allen, Ozzie and Harriet, Hopalong Cassidy, Lassie, Dragnet, You Bet Your Life, The Dinah Shore Show, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Phil Silvers Show, Howdy Doody, The Red Skelton Show, and Kukla, Fran, and Ollie,

How many people remember Dragnet? Or maybe I should say how many people remember actually watching Dragnet, the "just the facts" police show starring the iconic Jack Webb? The reason I ask is because the U.S. Postal Service is immortalizing Dragnet with a postage stamp tomorrow.

In light of the fact that letter writing and postal service are dramatically in decline, my guess is that there will be an older crowd nodding appreciatively when Dragnet is honored. You see, the younger generation (did I really say that?) doesn't have much use for stamps and won't be buying the Dragnet first class stamp.

... not what you think it is, probably. Last night NBC had The 50 Funniest Phrases of All-Time special, and here are the top ten phrases. For the whole list, click here.

The top 50 list is pretty good, but this top ten has several lame entries, eh?

1. "Yada, yada, yada" (Seinfeld)
2. "Doh!" (The Simpsons)
3. "How you doin'?" (Friends)
4. "Ayyyyy" (Happy Days)
5. "We are two wild and crazy guys!" (Saturday Night Live)
6. "Burn" (That 70s Show)
7. "Oh my God, they killed Kenny!" (South Park)
8. "Lucy, you've got some 'splainin to do" (I Love Lucy)
9. "Excuuuuuuuse Me" (Saturday Night Live)
10. "Homey don't play dat" (In Living Color)

• Disney has a Phineas & Ferb marathon all night.
• TV Land is showing I Love Lucy all night.
• At 6, NBC has The Super Bowl, followed by a new episode of The Office.
  
• At 7, CBS has a new CBS Reports: Road To The White House.
• Animal Planet has Puppy Bowl V at 7.
• At 8, VH-1 has a new Confessions of a Teen Idol.
• ESPN has two new episodes of The World Series of Poker: Europe at 8.
• At 9, HBO has a new Big Love, then a new Flight of the Conchords.
• Showtime has a new episode of The L Word at 9, followed by new episodes of United States of Tara and Secret Diary of a Call Girl.
• At 10, ABC has Wipeout Bowl 1: Cheerleaders vs. Couch Potatoes.
• At 11:30, Cartoon Network has a new Robot Chicken.
• At 12:15am, Cartoon Network reruns the Drinky Crow Show pilot.
  

Check your local TV listings for more.

If you're like me (you have my deepest sympathy), you don't have a dog in this Sunday's hunt.

Thanks to the Arizona Cardinals' first appearance this weekend, my hometown team, the New Orleans Saints, will now be one of only five left in the NFL that have never made a Super Bowl appearance. Three if you don't count the expansion clubs.

So if you're a Cardinals fan and don't have the stomach to endure their slow, agonizing and inevitable defeat at the hands of the Pittsburgh Steelers, here are some alternative shows you can watch instead of the Super Bowl.

For all you television fans (and I suspect at least one or two read this site) who are also stamp collectors, there is good news. The United States Postal Service is releasing a set of stamps in 2009 commemorating classic American television shows.

I do like the retro design of the stamps and how each looks like an old picture tube. I see a lot of familiar faces in there, including Phil Silvers, Howdy Doody, Rod Serling, Alfred Hitchcock, The Honeymooners, I Love Lucy and many others. Did they miss anybody?

I think the Postal Service isn't going far enough with this. They should release stamps commemorating television shows for each year, or perhaps more appropriately each television era. For the 70's they could include M*A*S*H and All In The Family. For the 80's they could include Knight Rider and The A Team. At least, they would be included if I designed the stamps.

So Mike has already given you a heads up on what's on TV Thanksgiving, on the geek end of the spectrum, so I thought I'd do a companion piece for the viewers who are wondering what channel the Macy's Parade is on and what time each football game starts. There are also some great marathons on as well.

• Food Network has Thanksgiving shows all day.
• At 7am, ABC's Good Morning, America, CBS's The Early Show, and NBC's Today will have various Thanksgiving segments, including cooking tips (kind of last minute, but every tip helps).
• ABC Family has the movie The Christmas Secret at 7.
• At 8, USA has a House marathon.

We're used to reading all of the lists that rank the best and worst TV shows of all-time, now ABC is getting even more specific than that. What are the top moments in television history?

You can vote for them at the ABC site and your answers will be revealed on the 60th Primetime Emmy Awards, which will be broadcast on Sunday, September 21. There are two categories, comedy and drama (sorry fans of game shows and reality shows). No, you can't write in your own vote, you have to pick from the finalists that they've already chosen for you, so right off the bat you know there's going to be a lot of "but what about..." and "why did they include..." talk.

So, did you hear that they did a poll they did to determine which presidential candidate people would like to hang out with at a barbecue? Obama won 52 to 45 percent over McCain, which may not mean very much in the long run, but the day before July 4th it made news.

The thought of barbecues and July 4th parties got me thinking about which TV characters with whom I'd like to spend Independence Day. I wouldn't want them here at my place, though, I want to go to their places. I have high expectations, too, and a vivid imagination.

Here's the six TV characters who could expect me to join them to watch the rockets red glare -- if only they were real live folks and not just my fictional faves.

It's another holiday, and that means more TV marathons and specials! Here's a handy guide to the 4th (and the 5th and 6th).

July 4

• AMC has Planet of the Apes movies all morning, then the Jaws movies starting at 10:30am.
• At 6am, USA has a Walker, Texas Ranger marathon.
• TMC has episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents (80s version) at 6, then Hitchcock movies all day.
• At 7, ESPN2 has coverage of Wimbledon Tennis.
• At 8, A&E has a marathon of Paranormal State.
• Biography has a City Confidential marathon starting at 8.
• There's a Twilight Zone marathon starting at 8 on Sci-Fi.
• At 9, TruTV has a Beach Patrol marathon.
• FX has a King of the Hill marathon at 9.
• At noon, NBC has more Wimbledon.
• At 2pm, TV Land has an I Love Lucy marathon.
• At 3, HGTV has a Design Star marathon.
• At 8, PBS has A Capitol Fourth.
• At 9, NBC has the Macy's 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular.
• At 10, CBS has the Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular.

• At 8, ABC has the first game of the Celtics/Lakers NBA Finals.
• FOX has a new, two hour So You Think You Can Dance at 8.
• HGTV has a new Designed To Sell at 8, then new episodes of Myles of Style and Divine Design.
• At 8:30, NBC has a new Last Comic Standing, then the premiere of Fear Itself.
• Also at 8:30: Cartoon Network has a new Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack.
• At 9, TV Land has four episodes of I Love Lucy.
• TLC has a new Miami Ink at 10.
• At 10, CBS has the premiere of Swingtown.
• NFLNet has a new NFL Total Access at 10.
• At 10:30, Comedy Central has a new Reno 911.

Check your local TV listings for more.

• At 8, PBS has a new NOW, then new episodes of Washington Week and Bill Moyers Journal.
• The CW has a new Smackdown! at 8.
• Sci-Fi has a new Sarah Jane Adventures at 8, followed by the season premiere of Doctor Who and a new Battlestar Galactica.
• TV Land has an I Love Lucy marathon starting at 8.
• At 9, ABC has a new Duel, followed by a new 20/20.
• NBC has a new, two hour Dateline at 9.
• There's a new Canterbury's Law at 9 on FOX.
• Cartoon Network has a new Ben 10: Alien Force at 9.
• At 10, E! has a new episode of The Soup.
• Spike has a new UFC Fight Night at 10.
• At 11, HBO has a new Real Time with Bill Maher, with guests Cornel West, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Markos Moulitsas, and Jeremy Scahill.

Check your local TV listings for more.

AOL Television has compiled a list of the 50 Best TV Comedies -- Ever, this week revealing numbers 50-41. Inspired by what they did, I've decided to list my favorite sitcom sidekicks, those funny foils that oftentimes make the star shine even brighter than you might have thought. Coming up with just a ten-pack hasn't been so easy. Many times, I'd look at a show and think, "No, it's more of an ensemble. There isn't one sidekick." Falling into that category were B.J. and Trapper John on M*A*S*H. Neither were Hawkeye's sidekick, really (any more than Radar was). Same thing with Friends -- they were all each other's sidekicks. Also, on The Odd Couple, Oscar and Felix were equal; neither was a sidekick. Ditto Two and a Half Men and Laverne & Shirley. Also, because it's my list, I decided not to include married couples -- sorry Rob and Laura, Ricky and Lucy, Archie and Edith.

Whew, after all that, here, in alphabetical order, are the ten I love -- within my own parameters! Feel free to comment with your choices, if your favorite isn't on my list.