TVSquad

Every year at this time there are a few shows that take the cancellation bullet, much to the dismay of fans. There are petitions, mass mailings, and declarations of never watching that network again. On the other hand ... every year there are also those shows that meet the TV reaper that really had it coming. We've had enough of their bad TV and we're not going to take it anymore.

The good riddance award is for those shows. Not only will you not miss them, you'll gladly cheer as the funeral procession passes you by. There is no shortage of contenders as we rap up the '07/'08 season. The first to ping my radar included Next Great American Band. Good grief, so much was wrong about that show. And while we're looking at that ill-fated Fox Friday, let's throw Nashville on the pile as well. CBS has a couple contenders in Secret Talents of the Stars and Viva Laughlin. How do you screw up getting frickin' Wolverine on your network? Of course, we'd be remiss if we didn't offer a tip of the cap to ABC and the Cavemen as well. Those are just a few from my perspective. Add your contenders in the comments and we'll boil it all down to a really great list, of really bad TV.

A roundup of TV people from in front of the camera and behind the scenes who have passed away.

• Robert DoQui: He was a veteran character actor who appeared in a ton of TV shows over the years, including ER, The Outer Limits, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Party of Five, The Practice, NYPD Blue, Picket Fences, Happy Days, I Dream of Jeannie, Gunsmoke, Cagney and Lacey, Hill Street Blues, Knot's Landing, and others. He was also in three of the Robocop movies and also the films Nashville, Short Cuts, and Cloak and Dagger. He died at age 74 in Los Angeles.

Another fall, another new fall season. Not all of the new shows can survive, of course, and it usually takes a few weeks to figure out what shows are in trouble of being canceled (or, as they say in network-speak, "on hiatus"). We'd like to see new shows get more time to catch on, but thems the breaks. One show has already been pulled from the schedule, FOX's Nashville, but what about other new shows?

There's something to be said for being first out of the gate. Unfortunately for Fox and the folks over at Nashville, there are also things to be said for airing on the Fox Friday night, and for trying to copy a reasonably successful MTV show and move it to one of the big networks. And those latter two, those aren't good things.

Nashville kicked off the new season with its debut on Friday night, in case you didn't know, and our old friend the law of averages suggests that you didn't, because nobody watched. The premiere episode placed fifth in its time slot, failing to best Smackdown (CW) and repeats of America's Funniest Home Videos (ABC), Las Vegas (NBC), and Jericho (CBS). It also managed to drag the network into last place for the night as it dropped almost half of its 5th Grader lead-in.

FOX is giving The CW pages a run for their money -- the network's hired a bunch of, dare I say it, "Fox-y" microphone runners for the tour.

Like yesterday, they all dress in a theme of whatever panel is going on. On Sunday, they were TV reporters for Back to You; today, they're in commando fatigues for The Sarah Connor Chronicles. You get the idea.

One of pages, Cal, who used to be a cashier (and aspiring actor) at my local health food store, says hi during a break. I got a feeling back then that I'd end up seeing him at TCA one day, but I always thought he'd be on a panel for a new series.

I can't get the theme out of my head: "Bad boys, bad boys ... whatcha gonna do when they come for you? Bad boys, bad boys..."

Fox kicks off its second day of the press tour with a look at Cops, which is turning 20 years old. That's a lot of torn, white tank tops and name-calling, isn't it?

After a historical look back at the real-life crime show that was ahead of its time, when you think about the amount of reality TV that's out there today, Fox will present the rest of its lineup. Bonus: a table read of the 100th episode of Family Guy!

Trekkies aren't the only group who gather together to celebrate their favorite show: this year in Nashville fans of The Dukes of Hazzard, often described as "The Star Trek of the American South*," will come together along with the entire surviving cast of the popular CBS series which ran from 1979 to 1985.

Ben "Cooter" Jones, who started the event back in 2001 will be in attendance at CMT Dukesfest 2007 along with cast members John Schneider (Bo Duke), Tom Wopat (Luke Duke), Catherine Bach (Daisy Duke), James Best (Rosco P. Coltrane), Sonny Shroyer (Deputy Enos) and Rick Hurst (Deputy Cletus).