TVSquad

• At 8, ABC has a new Ugly Betty, followed by a new Grey's Anatomy and Michael J. Fox: Adventures of an Incurable Optimist.
• CBS has a new Survivor at 8, then a new CSI.
• NBC has new episodes of My Name Is Earl, Parks and Recreation, The Office, 30 Rock, and Southland.
• FOX has new episodes of Bones and Hell's Kitchen.
• The CW has a new Smallville at 8, then a new Supernatural.
• Also at 8: TNT has the Hawks/Cavaliers game.
• At 9, TLC has a new American Chopper.
• Spike has TNA Wrestling at 9.
• HBO has the movie Grey Gardens at 9.
• At 10, Bravo has the series premiere of The Fashion Show.
• Comedy Central has a new Krod Mandoon at 10.

Check your local TV listings for more.

After the jump, the late night talk shows.

FOX's second day on TCA was given over to FX, and network president John Landgraf had some news:

• They are ordering an additional 19 episodes of Nip/Tuck. The show will be end its run in early 2011 with an even 100 episodes. Show-runner Ryan Murphy wil stay through the end of the run.
• Michael J. Fox will appear on a four episode arc of Rescue Me next season. He'll play Janet Gavin's new boyfriend, who is confined to a wheelchair.
• Oscar-winner Marcia Gay Harden will be a regular on second season of Damages.
• The network has ordered 39 more episodes of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. This is in addition to 13 currently being produced for the upcoming season.
• They are ordering 13 episode of new comedy series Testees, created by Kenny Hotz (South Park - Kenny vs Spenny). Its about two friends in their early 30's who earn living as medical guinea pigs.

Give Justine Bateman credit: She could have been typecast after playing the dippy, fashion-obsessed Mallory Keaton on Family Ties, but she's been able to build a nice career for herself over the last twenty years by playing interesting supporting roles in movies like The TV Set and series like Desperate Housewives. But she's also been -- just like 75% of the people in Hollywood -- an aspiring writer, struggling to get her scripts produced (and you think having connections helps ... she knows Michael J. Fox and her brother is Jason Bateman, and she still couldn't get her scripts produced).

But now she can add "sitcom writer" to her credits; she just wrote an episode of The Disney Channel's hit Wizards of Waverly Place, according to the New York Daily News. Apparently, she's a friend of executive producer Peter Murrieta, and she got to know some of the show's writers during the writers' strike. So, when the strike ended, she was invited to write an episode for the show.

How can a woman play one gorgeous, mature, intelligent and down-to-earth woman after another for so long and not get more attention?

That's what I keep thinking any time I see Connie Britton on screen. On Friday Night Lights, Britton plays the Tami Taylor, the sexy, no-nonsense wife of Dillon Panthers coach Eric Taylor. In episode after episode, she showed that she is not only a loving mother and a caring school counselor, but that after years of marriage, she still has passion for her husband. But she also knew that she owns her life; in the next-to-last episode of the season, she told Eric that she wasn't going to follow him to a new job in Austin because she liked her job in Dillon.

Of course, this isn't the first time Britton's played the strong, willowy type. Remember Spin City?

Note that other sites have categorized this as merely a rumor since I first posted this. Update at end of post.

Like most people who wish for dumb things, I've been patiently waiting for someone to remake the 1985 Michael J. Fox movie Teen Wolf, or to at least film my script that re-imagines Beowulf with Scott Baio in the lead role (I call it BaioWolf). Yes, I know Beowulf has nothing to do with werewolves, but in BaioWolf, everyone is a werewolf, something I believe the original epic poem lacked.

Well, apparently it's happening, and Smallville's Tom Welling has signed on for the Teen Wolf remake, but not as the titular werewolf. In this remake, the werewolf will be female. No word yet on who will play the lead, and apparently the filmmakers are still scouting locations.

The first season of Family Ties will be available on DVD on February 20 of next year. For those of you who didn't grow up watching this series like I did, it focused on two hippies (Michael Gross and Meredith Baxter-Birney) from the '60s raising a family in the Reagan era. Michael J. Fox starred as Alex, their Republican son, and their two daughters were played by Justine Bateman and Tina Yothers. The set will include all twenty-two episodes of the first season, including a two-parter featuring Tom Hanks as Elyse Keaton's secretive brother.

The series, which managed to be very smart and funny while also dealing with series subjects, aired on NBC for seven seasons. While it struggled during its first season, the show soon became part of NBC's sitcom domination when it was placed right next to The Cosby Show. I have to say, though, I always thought Family Ties was the better series. It would sometimes cross the line between funny and preachy, but never to the degree that The Cosby Show did. Both shows had lessons to teach, but Cosby sometimes felt more like a half-hour lecture on good behavior.

Our sister sites Cinematical and Ad Jab --that's me who wrote the Ad Jab post, but when I write for Ad Jab I wear a mustache so as not to confuse me with myself-- have been all over this, so forgive us for being a bit behind, but as many of you probably know, Michael J. Fox has been appearing in campaign commercials for people who are running for senate and who support stem cell research. He's appeared in ads for Maryland's Ben Cardin and for Missouri's Claire McCaskill (clip after the jump).

To drive the point home, Fox appears in these ads, sans medication and with the involuntary tremors and shakes that are a part of his Parkinson's made obvious.* Other celebs from television, however, don't share Fox's view, and one of them is Patricia Heaton, who appears in an ad (also after the jump) that opposes the measure in Missouri. I'll let you folks watch both ads and duke it out in the comments, though my friendly advice to anyone is to not get caught up in the politics of this debate and instead read up on the actual science behind it and then make an informed decision. You may not come to the same conclusion I have, but at least you'll be well-informed and not persuaded by actors, or Rush Limbaugh for that matter.

*Fox's tremors are actually a side effect of being on his medication, not off it. Apologies for my assumption.

NBC Universal continues to believe in the power of iTunes by putting some of Bravo's most popular programming on the web. Starting on February 28th, you will be able to download this entire season of Project Runway episodes, plus you can see the reunion special before it even airs. iTunes will also have the most popular episodes of Inside the Actor's Studio, including the recent episode with Dave Chappelle and big-time actors like Angelina Jolie and Michael J. Fox. As usual, each episode is $1.99.