TVSquad

Michael Ausiello is reporting that the role of Pam's mom has been cast on The Office. The name Linda Purl may not sound familiar to you, unless of course, you're a huge Matlock fan, but the woman best known for playing Matlock's daughter has snagged the role of Mrs. Beesly.

Some fans may be disappointed that the role didn't go to a bigger name, but if you think about it, that's just kind of the way of The Office. As BJ Novak says, "it is supposed to be real average Joes, and casting a famous actor takes away from that." So casting Glen Close, for instance, would be a bit of a distraction. However, this news still disappoints me-- but for a different reason.

Here are the new TV DVDs, in stores tomorrow.

How can there be so many DVDs released in one day and there not be one that I want to buy? I never got into Stargate, I don't want to own Dallas on DVD, ditto Reba, and I refuse to buy Walker Texas Ranger because a.) it's not very good, and b.) it replaced a show that I really loved in the early 90s. I enjoyed Benny Hill, but I don't know if I enjoyed it enough to own it. So it looks like I'm going to save some money this week.

Yeah, right. Like I won't find something to buy that was released a while ago.

• Alvin & The Chipmunks - The Chipettes
• Ben 10 Alien Force - Season 1, Vol. 2
• The Benny Hill Show - Best of the Early Years
• Captain and the Kings - Miniseries
• Dallas - Season 10
• House of Payne - Vol. 3

So what did you do yesterday? I spent the entire Sunday watching detective movies on The Hallmark Channel. Of course, when I say "detective movies" it sounds like I was watching old film noir flicks from the 40s and 50s. Actually, I was watching Murder, She Wrote, Perry Mason movies, and Matlock.

Yes, I have the social life of a 70 year-old woman.

I've always been a sucker for these shows, going back to the NBC Mystery Movie and Columbo and McMillan and Wife. Those shows were probably better produced and written than the stuff you see on Hallmark Channel, but I think the new shows are quite entertaining and fun, and it's good to see favorite familiar faces on TV again: the McBride movies with John Larroquette, the Murder 101 movies with Dick Van Dyke, and the TV movie series I'd like to talk about, Jane Doe.

To put it simply, I'm worried about Jane Doe.

Here are the new TV DVDs, in stores tomorrow.

• The Cosby Show - Seasons 7 and 8
• Deadliest Catch - Season 3
• Def Poetry Jam - Season 3
• Fortysomething - Complete Series
• Hell's Kitchen - Season 1
• The Last Detective - Series 4
• Living with Ed - Season 1
• Matlock - Season 1
• Meerkat Manor - Season 2
• Mythbusters - Collection 3
• Nanny 911 - Season 1
• Perry Mason - 50th Anniversary Set
• Rock of Love with Bret Michaels - Season 1
• Sense & Sensibility - Miniseries
• Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtles - Season 6

(S04E10) "OK, Jerry, why are you under my desk" - Carl Sack

So as the show begins we see one of Boston Legal's causes of the week. The only saving grace of the environmental storyline is that this week, Crane, Poole & Schmidt are the bad guys. It's almost as if someone held up a mirror to the show and said, "you know, you guys aren't perfect." I just wish it hadn't felt like a leftover from NBC's green week.

Still, we had to have the "other side of the story" shoved down our throats. I've heard all the "data" that Katie was spewing from other sources and, frankly, I think it's crap. Anyone who thinks tap water is just as good as bottled water should move into my building and see how long the can stomach the sewage that comes out of the pipes. Correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't Boston have an awesome mass transit system? Why would an environmentalist need a car in the first place?

Looks like the Hallmark Channel is making a bid to play with the bigger networks.

The cable network has gone on a Christmas shopping spree and bought several shows from CBS Television Distribution, including I Love Lucy, Cheers, 7th Heaven, 12 holiday movies, and more episodes of Touched By An Angel and Matlock. 7th Heaven starts in January, Cheers later next year, and then I Love Lucy will start in early 2009.

This is good news for fans who like the channel but are overdosing on reruns of Murder, She Wrote and those mystery movies that star John Larroquette and Lea Thompson.

It's amazing that even in this day an age where information is easily searchable, TV writers still think we're morons that will accept whatever's on the screen as what can happen in real life. Take, for example, the tried-and-true TV convention of lawyers and doctors visiting another state to ply their trade. A friend of a cousin of a golfing buddy is up on murder charges in Chicago? No problem; Ben Matlock will fly out from Atlanta to defend him. Your husband's boss' dogwalker's cousin from Seattle has bony tumors in his head that make him look like a lion? Simple; recruit the plastic surgeon from New York who just happens to be there that day to perform the procedure to make him look normal.

Does the last scenario sound ridiculous? It sure does, but it was also a major plot point on the last episode of Grey's Anatomy. "McSteamy" was all ready to perfrom the facial surgery on Sheppard's patient, but the kid died before that part of the operation could start.