TVSquad

• TNT has NBA Playoffs all night.
• At 8, ABC has a new Wife Swap, followed by new episodes of Supernanny and Boston Legal.
• CBS has a new Price Is Right Million Dollar Spectacular at 8, then new episodes of Criminal Minds and CSI: NY.
• FOX has new episodes of 'Til Death, Back To You, and American Idol.
• NBC has a new, two hour Deal Or No Deal at 8, followed by a new Law and Order.
• The CW has a new America's Next Top Model at 8, then a new Farmer Wants A Wife.
• There's a new Secrets of the Dead on PBS at 8.
• Also at 8: TCM has Frank Sinatra movies, including The Tender Trap and Marriage on the Rocks.
• At 10, Bravo has a new Top Chef.
• At 11, TV Land has a new Big 4-0.

Check your local TV listings for more.

• TNT has NBA Playoffs all night.
• At 8, ABC has a new Wife Swap, followed by a new Supernanny and a new special about Barbara Walters new memoir, Audition.
• CBS has a new Price Is Right Million Dollar Spectacular at 8, then new episodes of Criminal Minds and CSI: NY.
• NBC has a new, two hour Deal Or No Deal at 8, then a new Law and Order.
• FOX has new episodes of 'Til Death, Back to You, and American Idol.
• There's a new America's Next Top Model at 8 on The CW, followed by a new Farmer Wants A Wife.
• PBS has a new Secrets of the Dead at 8, then a new American Experience.
• Also at 8: TCM has From Here To Eternity.
• At 10, Bravo has a new Top Chef.
• MTV has a new episode of The Real World at 10.
• Spike has a new Ultimate Fighter at 10.

Check your local TV listings for more.

• TLC has a Little People, Big World marathon all night.
• TNT has the NBA Playoffs all night.
• At 8, ABC has a new Wife Swap, then new episodes of Supernanny and Boston Legal.
• CBS has a new Price Is Right Million Dollar Spectacular at 8, followed by new episodes of Criminal Minds and CSI: NY.
• NBC has a new, two hour Deal Or No Deal at 8, then a new Law and Order.
• FOX has new episodes of 'Til Death, Back to You, and American Idol.
• The CW has a new America's Next Top Model at 8, then the series premiere of Farmer Wants A Wife.
• PBS has a new Secrets of the Dead at 8, followed by a new installment of Carrier.
• At 9, Rachael Ray guests on a new Larry King Live, on CNN.
• Sci-Fi has a new Ghost Hunters at 9.
• Also at 9: Oxygen has the new movie Husband For Hire.
• At 10, Bravo has a new Top Chef.
• Food Network has a new Dinner: Impossible at 10.
• There's a new Real World on MTV at 10.

Check your local TV listings for more.

Here are the weekly TV ratings, by number of viewers.

OK, can someone explain to me why Lost, which returned after several weeks away with an important (and great) episode, only came in #15 in viewers this week? This season it has been showing up in the top 10 a lot, sometimes even in the top 5 or 6, and now it slips to 15? Gah.

In other news, I finally watched Rules of Engagement this week. It's actually a funny show.

1. American Idol - Tues (FOX)
2. American Idol - Weds (FOX)
3. Dancing with the Stars - Mon (ABC)
4. Dancing with the Stars - Tues (ABC)

I really wish Tom Everett Scott would find a great role he could sink his teeth into for a few years. He's so talented, and yet he keeps ending up in short-lived and dead-end roles.

The actor has signed for a two-episode guest stint on NBC's Law & Order, playing Governor Shalvoy, according to a Hollywood Reporter story. He'll be joined in one of the episodes by Alison Elliott, playing his wife, Rita Shalvoy.

Since breaking onto the Hollywood scene in 1996's That Thing You Do, Scott has floundered in short-lived series like 2002's Philly, playing Kim Delaney's love interest, and 2006's Saved, where he played a troubled paramedic. Most recently, he played Lucy Liu's estranged fiance on Cashmere Mafia.

What's happening on other blogs via the interweb.

• So how did Jesse L. Martin leave Law and Order the other night?
• I reviewed the Stingray DVD recently, and Jaime Weinman has some interesting facts about the show.
• Former NBC reporter Arthur Kent is suing Universal Pictures and the makers of Charlie Wilson's War.
• Cablevision might be buying The Sundance Channel.
• PBS' Jim Lehrer is recovering from heart surgery.
• Gary Coleman is going to appear on another daytime court show, this time with his wife.
• What were the best seasons of ER?

Here are the weekly ratings, by number of viewers.

If you were to pick a random TV fan off the street (The Street of TV Fans, I guess it would be called) and you asked them, "what is the #1 scripted show on television right now?," I would assume that not everyone would guess the answer to that question. A third of them would probably answer one of the CSI shows, a third would probably say one of the Law and Order shows (or maybe House), and the other third would probably say "what's a scripted show?"

But the answer this week is Desperate Housewives, followed very closely by NCIS. And I would bet no one would guess how high NCIS finishes every week.

1. American Idol - Tues (FOX)
2. American Idol - Weds (FOX)

• At 8, ABC has a new Wife Swap, followed by new episodes of Supernanny and Men in Trees.
• CBS has a new Big Brother at 8.
• NBC has a new, two hour Deal Or No Deal at 8, then a new Law and Order.
• FOX has a new 'Til Death at 8, followed by new episodes of Back To You and American Idol.
• There's a new America's Next Top Model on The CW at 8, then the season finale of Pussycat Dolls.
• PBS has a new Secrets of the Dead and a new National Geographic's Strange Days on Planet Earth.
• At 9, Discovery has a new Mythbusters.
• Sci-Fi has a new Ghost Hunters at 9.
• Travel Channel has two new episodes of John Ratzenberger's Made in America at 9.
• At 9:30, HGTV has a new Design on a Dime.
• At 10, TBS has two new episodes of Taylor Perry's House of Payne.
• Comedy Central has a new South Park at 10.
• Bravo has a new Top Chef at 10.
• Food Network has a new Dinner: Impossible at 10.
• Also at 10: MTV has a new episode of The Real World.

Check your local TV listings for more.

• At 8, ABC has a new According To Jim.
• CBS has a new NCIS at 8, then a new Big Brother.
• FOX has new episodes of American Idol and Hell's Kitchen.
• The CW has a new Beauty and the Geek at 8, followed by a new Reaper.
• There's a new Nova on PBS at 8.
• At 9, ABC has a new Dancing with the Stars, then a new Boston Legal.
• Discovery has a new Deadliest Catch at 9.
• Lifetime has the new movie Queen Sized at 9.
• Bravo has a new Real Housewives of New York City at 9, followed by the season premiere of Work Out.
• Sundance has Big Ideas For A Small Planet at 9.
• MTV has the season premiere of Tila Tequila: A Shot At Love 2 at 9.
• Also at 9: BBC America has a new Last Restaurant Standing.
• At 10, NBC has a new Law and Order: SVU.
• FX has a new episode of The Riches at 10.

Check your local TV listings for more.

A roundup of TV people from in front of the camera and behind the scenes who have passed away.

• Hazel Court: She was the actress known as the "Scream Queen." Besides appearing in such classic horror flicks as The Masque of the Red Death, The Raven, and The Curse of Frankenstein, she also did a lot of TV, including episodes of The Twilight Zone, Mannix, Mission: Impossible, Burke's Law, The Wild, Wild West, Gidget, Thriller, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Rawhide, McMillan & Wife, and many other shows. She died of a heart attack at age 82.

If you saw the previews of this week's episode of Law & Order, you know that it's Jesse L. Martin's last show. The NBC promo implies that Detective Ed Green has gotten into major trouble and will be brought up on charges for his actions, perhaps lose his badge. That would be a very dramatic way to wrap up his nine years on Law and Order, and unlike the near-fatal shooting his character survived a couple of years ago, it leaves open the door for a guest stint down the road. But not too soon. Jesse L. Martin is in talks to star in a Broadway version of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, taking on the Sidney Poitier role.

I think that at some point, all TV fans imagine what would happen if we mashed two shows together. I came across this video for a mash-up between Lost and Magnum, P.I. It asks the question, what would happen if Thomas Magnum was one of the survivors of Oceanic flight 815? It's really clever and really funny.

And then I got an e-mail from the folks at Cut Up TV (not associated with the video above). Fans of shows like Mystery Science Theater 3000 will love it. What they do is take footage from TV shows and movies and...well, you can see for yourself after the jump, where I've placed a video montage of their content (the site has individual videos for each show). What if the Tom Hanks film Cast Away was a sitcom, complete with laugh track? What if Survivor was mixed with Dances with Wolves? What if there was a new drama on NBC titled Law and Order: High School Musical? Well, a lot more tweens would be watching NBC, that's for sure.

I love the internet!

Last night, USA Network invited some of their favorite advertisers -- and a few reporters -- to their upfront presentation, held at The Modern, a sleek restaurant and lounge located at New York's Museum of Modern Art. It was an opportunity for USA and NBC Universal executives to crow about the network's continued success as well as let advertisers know what's coming up in 2008 and how they can combine their advertising message with the unique "characters" that USA offers.

All that's well and good -- be ready for more product placement and ad pods that other networks have recently adopted -- but the best part about an upfront presentation are the stars that the network drags out to schmooze and booze with those advertisers. And USA brought the big guns, including Tony Shalhoub from Monk, Debra Messing from The Starter Wife, Jeffrey Donovan and Bruce Campbell from Burn Notice, Dulé Hill, James Roday, and Corbin Bernsen from Psych, Kathryn Erbe and Chris Noth from Law & Order: Criminal Intent, the WWE's Triple H and Shawn Michaels, and Mary McCormack from the network's new show In Plain Sight. I got to speak to a few of them; audio of those interviews is after the jump.

Here are the weekly ratings, by number of viewers.

Nothing too different in the ratings this week, except for the temporary invasion from the NCAA Basketball games on CBS. American Idol is still on top, Dancing with the Stars trails right behind, and usual suspects such as 60 Minutes, Lost, Survivor, NCIS, and CSI: Miami are in the top 20.

1. American Idol - Tues (FOX)
2. American Idol - Weds (FOX)

The world of primetime TV are primarily set in the real world. The real world based on the fiction they create. So, Law and Order -- in all its incarnations -- is set in New York City, but it's not the real five boroughs. The newspapers they read are not The New York Times, the Post or the Daily News. For contemporary TV fiction, reality is on the margins of the storytelling because you can't really set those characters in a real world. However, when the two worlds intersect, the results can be magic. Here's 8 big-time, primetime examples:

1) Cowboy Up Time
Remember the episode of Lost when Ben wanted to convince Jack that he was in communication with the world outside the island? To prove that he was telling the truth, he showed Jack a video of the Boston Red Sox winning the world series in 2004. You can't get more real than that, right? And yet it was used in one of the most out of this world shows on the air. In fact, using Lost's own terminology, the Red Sox video is a constant truth in a universe that's a complete fiction.