TVSquad

Wow, is this right? Jesse L. Martin was on Law and Order for nine seasons? How could that be? Where has the last decade gone? I feel really old.

Martin was indeed on the hit NBC drama for that long. He left last season, in a storyline involving a gambling addiction, a murder, and a court trial. But now he might actually be coming back to the same network. Martin is in negotiations to play the James Purefoy's sidekick on the midseason replacement series The Philanthropist, about a rich man who helps people with his dough. The character's name is Philip Maidstone.

Martin must really like NBC. He's also going to be in a new Muppets movie this Christmas season on the network.

It will be interesting to see how big this sidekick role will be, because you would think at this point that Martin would be getting or going for the lead roles, not the buddy ones.

CBS is really promoting Rules of Engagement, the new comedy starring David Spade and Patrick Warburton. It seems like they're running an ad for the show on every other TV show that they have. But will this show be a success, or be just another midseason sitcom that gets pulled quickly?

I haven't seen the show yet, but the cast is funny. Both Spade and Warburton are funny no matter what they're in (I have no opinion of Oliver Hudson - not even sure if I've ever seen him in anything before). Warburton was funny in Seinfeld and The Tick, and Spade...well, a lot of people hate him, but I think he's a riot. Sure, he does one thing (horny, slightly sleazy guy with quirks), but he does it really well. Just Shoot Me wouldn't have been the same without his character, and I actually think that he's the reason 8 Simple Rules lasted so long after John Ritter passed away. The dynamic of the show changed and was actually improved somehow after Spade (and James Garner) were brought on board.

So will Rules of Engagement be a surprise hit, or will be just fade away into oblivion? (I guess there's a third option, the Yes, Dear option, where a show no one seems to watch or talk about somehow stays around for 25 years).