TVSquad

We've been hearing rumblings, published and otherwise, that TV Guide was in trouble, especially the venerable print edition. Earlier this month, for instance, the title's new owner, Macrovision, took over and immediately announced its plans to keep the online version of the magazine and either sell or shutter the print version, which has been published since 1953.

So the following news might not be much of a surprise: Michael Ausiello, TVG's scoop and spoiler maven, is taking his perky writing style and massive Rolodex to Entertainment Weekly, where he'll write for the TV sections of both the magazine and website starting July 2.

Oh, and how did we find this out? Mike sent us (and probably hundreds of others) the press release announcing his arrival. Never said the guy wasn't good at self-promotion.

Apparently, the executives over at the CW network like to pull the chains of the collective viewer. Last year they did it when they said 7th Heaven and Reba weren't coming back, then they turned around and renewed them anyway. In 2007 they seem to be doing it again. This time with fan favorite Veronica Mars.

For months rumors have been flying about the apparent cancellation of VM. Now it seems that those rumors may not have as much merit as previously thought. According to Mike Ausiello over at TV Guide network executives over at the CW are taking a second look at the show, or at least the character of Veronica Mars in particular. Why the sudden change of heart? Well, there are a few reasons.

Our favorite TV Guide scribe, Mike Ausiello, must have his moles working overtime this week (he should at least provide those moles with a free pizza or something; I'm sure they're all quite hungry); this week's "Ask Ausiello" has the usual set of scoops and spoilers (even one or two with those annoying asterisks he uses), but he also has this one tidbit about the best show no one's watching, Kidnapped:

According to Ausiello (look near the bottom of the page), the producers of the NBC serialized drama have been told to stop production after finishing the 13th episode. Considering they were shooting episode seven when I visited the set six weeks ago, that would mean that they are going to wrap up right... about... now. Anyway, there is an "early cancellation" contingency in place that will show the conclusion to the kidnapping mystery, so the writers won't leave whatever viewers they have left hanging like Reunion did last year. It's too bad; from everything I've seen, the show was one of the best of the fall season. But lack of promotion and a crappy time slot -- people didn't want to get started with this show when The Nine was coming two weeks later -- doomed Kidnapped from the start. Maybe NBC should just hold the show now and air all 13 episodes over the summer; I bet they'd get pretty good ratings then.

(UPDATE 10/5/06: Looks like the show is indeed done. Thanks for the link, dinges!)