TVSquad

• At 7, ABC has a new Jimmy Kimmel Live, followed by the Lakers/Magic game.
• NBC has a new Dateline at 7.
• At 8, CBS has a new Million Dollar Password.
• The CW has the original version of The Taking of Pelham 123 at 8.
• Food Network has a new Challenge at 8, followed by new episodes of Next Food Network Star and Chopped.
• Also at 8: TCM has To Have and Have Not, then The Big Sleep.
• At 9, USA has a new Law and Order: CI, then a new In Plain Sight.
• HBO has the season premiere of True Blood at 9.
• History Channel has a new Ice Road Truckers at 9, followed by a new Expedition Africa.
• A&E has two new episodes of Gene Simmons' Family Jewels at 9, followed by the series premiere of Hammertime (followed by another new episode).
• Retro Television Network has two episodes of the 50s Mike Hammer show at 9, followed by The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.
  
• At 10, Lifetime has a new Army Wives.
• There's a new HGTV's $250,000 Challenge on HGTV at 10.
• At midnight, Cartoon Network has a new Squidbillies.

Check your local TV listings for more.

• At 7, ABC has a new Jimmy Kimmel Live, followed by the Lakers/Magic game.
• NBC has a new, two-hour Dateline at 7.
• At 8, CBS has The 63rd Annual Tony Awards.
• Food Network has a new Challenge at 8, followed by the season premiere of Next Food Network Star and Iron Chef America.
• Disney has a new Sonny with a Chance at 9, then a new Jonas.
• At 9, Retro Television Network has two episodes of the original Mike Hammer, with Darren McGavin.
• USA has a new Law and Order: CI at 9, then a new In Plain Sight.
• History Channel has a new Ice Road Truckers at 9, followed by a new Expedition Africa.
• G4 has the series premiere of Web Soup at 9.
• WE has a new Bridezillas at 9.
• Also at 9: Nickelodeon has a new Nick News Special Edition.
• At 10, Lifetime has the season premiere of Army Wives.
• HGTV has a new HGTV's $250,000 Challenge at 10.
• At 11, E! has the season premiere of Denise Richards: It's Complicated.
• A&E has the season premiere of Gene Simmons' Family Jewels at 11.
• At midnight, Cartoon Network has a new Squidbillies.

Check your local TV listings for more.

One of television's longest and hardest working actors is in the hospital.

Stage, screen and television actor Stacy Keach suffered a stroke and has been admitted to a Los Angeles hospital for observation.

Fortunately, it doesn't appear to be life threatening or extremely serious. His reps characterized the stroke as "very mild" and said it has not impaired or affected his speech "whatsoever." That's good news since he's still working on the stage and screen.

I don't get RTN (Retro Television Network) where I live. If you go to their web site and scroll down, you'll see that the network isn't in every state yet. But it's something I'd like to see on my local cable system.

RTN is a channel that shows a lot of old TV shows. It's sort of what TV Land used to be, a long time ago, before they started to get into reality shows, movies, and Extreme Makeover.

The channel is still at a time in their history where they have the freedom to not only air cult-yet-mainstream shows like the original Battlestar Galactica, The Incredible Hulk, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Leave It To Beaver, and Magnum, P.i., they're also airing such shows as Delvecchio (!), It Takes A Thief (!), Kate and Allie (!), the original 50s version of Mike Hammer (!), Run For Your Life (!), and The Bold Ones (!). As you can see, this is one eclectic network. They also have original programming such as talk shows, RTN Mystery Theater, and Offbeat Cinema. Robin Leach is going to host a show on the network, too.

Mystery writer Mickey Spillane has died in Murrell's Inlet, South Carolina.

Spillane was the creator of tough guy private eye Mike Hammer, played on television by Darren McGavin in the 1950s and by Stacey Keach in the 1980s and 90s.

A lot of people look down on Spillane's Hammer novels, saying they are just cheap, blunt pulp novels full of sex and violence. And to that I say "hell yeah!" Spillane was an underrated writer. He also starred in a famous series of commercials for Miller Beer, and appeared in many of the Mike Hammer movies and on Columbo and other shows.

Following on the news that Don Knotts passed away comes word that another TV veteran has died. Darren McGavin, who played roles from private eye Mike Hammer and Jerry Lewis' Delicate Delinquet cop buddy in the 50s to the original Carl Kolchak in The Night Stalker (let's forget about the awful remake this past season, shall we), died this morning in California.

Besides all the real-life writers I read when I was a kid, I was also inspired by two TV scribes: Rob Petrie on The Dick Van Dyke Show and Kolchak, who fought monsters and demons and tried to write stories about them, but no one would believe him. 

Wow, Knotts and McGavin die within the same 24 hours. We've lost two classic stars.