TVSquad

Jimmy Fallon is a geek. I don't mean this as an insult at all, even he would admit it. So I knew he'd be going to Comic-Con. In this funny clip, he tries to convince a bunch of famous people at the convention (including Jon Favreau, Stan Lee, and the cast of Lost) that his new comic book idea is a winner. (Video also here.)

Iconoclasts is one of those shows where I always say, "hey, that sounds kinda cool, I gotta watch that...when is it on again?" and then I promptly forget to watch it or even set my TiVo. But this year's lineup sounds like something that will make me remember.

The Sundance Channel show returns in October with these episodes: Bill Maher and Clive Davis; Jon Favreau and Tony Hawk; Venus Williams and Wyclef Jean; Stella McCartney and artist Edward Ruscha; Cameron Diaz and architect Cameron Sinclair; and Richard Branson and Desmond Tutu.

This is very cool news for fans of Jon Favreau's gone-but-not-forgotten IFC talk show Dinner For Five: every episode is now available at Amazon.com!

The actor made a deal with the Amazon company CustomFlix Labs to make every episode of the show available to fans in a number of ways. You could go the usual route and buy each season (there were four seasons total) or buy the complete set for around $42.99. But the cool part is this: you can actually buy single episode DVDs! They go for around $10.00 each. But wait it doesn't stop there (great, I'm turning into a informercial guy): you can actually customize your DVDs with your favorite episodes. Check out Favreau's.

If you're like me, you go through these phases where you get obsessed with a certain TV show. Maybe it's because you've never seen it before, maybe you haven't seen it in years, or maybe it's summer and you're looking for good things to watch. Below are five shows that I currently cannot get enough of, and why.

1. Lingo (GSN). Like Joel and Rich, I'm a game show geek. And while I watched this one here and there a few years ago, I've been watching it every single night lately. It's not a great show, but I like the simplicity of it, and Chuck Woolery is a quirky host. I still don't get the co-host though (Stacey a couple of years ago, now it's Shandi). Oh, she's hot and friendly, but what exactly is her job? She sits in front with a keyboard and controls the board? I doubt it. Many times you'll see her say something like "let's start with an N..." and she'll press a key, but the letter has already shown up on the board! So what exactly is her purpose? At least Vanna actually turns letters.

I do like the way Shandi says "Lingo balls" though.

Damn, I truly loved this show. Jon Favreau invites four industry pros to a restaurant and they eat and talk about the business and they film it. Simple, brilliant concept.

Sadly, the show has now stopped production. IFC is doing more scripted shows, and Favreau is much too busy with new projects (he's prepping John Carter Of Mars, a TV show, and a new movie, possibly with Vince Vaughn). If you check out the Dinner For Five site, you'll see a note from Jon, and he says he has created his own My Space page so we can keep track of what he's up to. And die-hard D45 fans can still talk about the show on their forums.

The first season of Dinner For Five is available on DVD. Hopefully the other seasons will be coming soon.

Most of last night's episode focused on Disher, the bumbling young lieutenant whose outrageous theories usually afford no help whatsoever to the investigation. When he swears to his colleagues that he saw his dentist (Jon Favreau) murder a man while he was under anesthesia they refuse to believe him. Upset, he turns in his badge and tries to restart the garage band he had in the twelfth grade. He even manages to write seventeen songs in one night.

Last night's episode had some great laugh out loud moments. When the dentist and his assistant become linked to an armored car heist, they drug Monk (who, naturally, hates going to the dentist) and try to do their own rendition of the torture scene from Marathon Man. Before that, however, the sexy dental assistant arrives at Monk's home and tries to place a Kleenex soaked in chloroform on his face by telling him he has a smudge on his lip. Always a slave to his phobias, Monk tries to wipe away the smudge even after he realizes the Kleenex has chloroform on it.

The basic plot of last night's episode was Disher being absolutely correct and no one believing him. That plot has only been used about a million times on a million other shows, but as always, Monk remains a character-driven show and that's why it works and doesn't seem cliche. Given the title of the show, every episode must focus on Monk somehow, but it's always nice when the lives of the other characters are delved into more deeply, even if in the case of Disher we just find more layers of goofiness.

Names like Regina King, Madeleine Stowe, Christine Taylor and Jonathan Silverman should add some clout to all sorts of dramas and comedies being planned by the networks for next fall.

Here is the latest casting news from The Hollywood Reporter: