TVSquad

Sam Briggs is a schlemiel. Everything that can go wrong in his life, every dumb thing a guy can do while trying to do the right thing, happens to Sam.

The preview of Worst Week (premiering Monday at 9:30 PM ET on CBS) has not changed dramatically from this ready-to-go pilot. The premise is simply this: can a good guy like Sam overcome all the stupid things he does and find happiness with the girl he loves and her family that loathes him?

For the pilot, Worst Week works really well as broad farce. The situation of this situation comedy goes from bad to worse to worse still. It's funny. It's over the top. It's very, very outrageous. Whether or not they can sustain this level of silliness and maintain some semblance of believability week in and week out is the big question for Worst Week.

(S04E12) I had all but forgotten about Kurtwood Smith. I've been a big fan ever since Robocop and this character is really fun to watch. I only wish the writers had given his character a different name. Every time someone calls him Agent Cooper, I flashback to Twin Peaks and I feel like I'm betraying Medium by wishing that Peaks was still on the air.

One of the best things about Smith is how he can be so menacing while still keeping a smile on his face. In fact, I find him scarier when he smiles. I felt the same way when Red would actually say something nice to a member of his family on That 70's Show.

(S01E09) After five long months Psych has returned with all new episodes featuring James Roday as Shawn Spencer and Dule Hill (The West Wing) as his trusty companion Gus. For those of you who watched and enjoyed this show when it aired over the summer on USA I say welcome back. For those of you who aren't familiar with this comedy-mystery hybrid (I call it a mysterdy) let me give you a brief synopsis of the plot . . .

The show follows Shawn in his role as a police psychic, solving crimes that they cannot (which are many). However, he really isn't a true psychic. In reality, he has an extraordinarily keen eye minute details, which he obtained through intense training conducted by his policeman father (Corbin Bernsen).

Got it? There will be a quiz at the end of the review, of course. With that out of the way let's move on to this week's show.

(S03E06) I think that most people probably thought of Red Foreman when they saw Kurtwood Smith in the previews for this episode. Any actor that does a role for that long is going to be tied to it to some degree. Especially if it is something like That 70's Show which is in syndication so you are constantly stumbling over it. But it is a credit to Kurtwood that while I was secretly hoping for him to call someone a dumb-ass the whole time, he made Edward Cooper something completely different.

Cooper is an interesting character. At once the hero, and the villain. I suspected going in that there would be some butting of the heads as his clinical studying of the evidence clashed with Allison's visions. And we did get some of that. It was made even better with the first round going to Cooper. He was so smarmy and confident as he shot Allison down again and again. It seemed to set up perfectly for Allison to eventually be proven right and get the "I told you so" moment that she wanted so badly.

Perhaps it's a move that will open up the 8 o'clock hour for American Idol during late February and early March, since FOX is airing the results shows for the semi-finals on Thursday nights. FOX is moving The O.C. to the 9 o'clock hour, from the 8 o'clock slot its held since the first season. That time slot is now open, thanks to the cancellation of Reunion. The move happens on January 12, when new episodes of The O.C. return. FOX's announcement also gives a hint of what's to come in the second half of this season on The O.C. Ryan, Summer, and Seth launch a plan to get Marissa back into Harbor in time for graduation. One of the upcoming episodes, called "The Safe Harbor", is a tribute to an episode of Beverly Hills 90210 where the gang fought to get Donna to graduate. Plus, there's that whole college thing that still needs to be figured out. Where will they all go so we can continue to watch The O.C.?

Sliding into The O.C.'s old time slot are back-to-back episodes of That 70s Show. At least, until Idol takes over.