TVSquad

President Barack Obama wants to make another primetime address to the nation, but the networks are puking in their soup over it.

The White House has another address scheduled for Tuesday, and the networks are raising holy hell over having to shift their schedules to make room for him.

Tuesday is a prime choice cut for the four major networks (five if you count the CW) and shows like American Idol, Bones and The Biggest Loser are having to play musical chairs because of his address.

Time for an impromptu poll, boys and girls. Something that will shake you out of those holiday blahs that the egg nog, Christmas cookies, and constant replays of Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer have caused. Something that will get your brain working again and make you think about your television viewing habits.

I want to know where you are watching most of your shows. Are you still one of those people who focus their attention on the major 'over the air networks' of ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX and, on occasions when the month ends in a capital 'A', CW? Or, are you one of those new-fangled hippies who do nothing but watch everything and anything on cable? Or, perhaps, it's a bit of both.

Now that the Democratic party has decided to present the final night of their convention from Invesco Field at Mile High Stadium in Denver before as many as 80,000 enthusiastic voters -- a venue that will underscore Senator Barack Obama's skill as a speaker -- the networks are deciding how they want to cover the event. Will the big three give the Democrats the entire night? One hour, two hours?

Will ABC and CBS be compelled to cover the night, when NBC and Fox have the option of using their cable outlets and keep entertainment on the broadcast side?

Or Chuck, or Pushing Daisies, or Private Practice for that matter. With the announcement that FOX was going to offer a marathon of The Sarah Connor Chronicles starting on August 10th I got to wondering about the other freshman shows that made an impression on viewers before the Writers Strike abruptly ended their seasons. Many of these shows haven't been seen since the end of last year.

For Life, the last original episode to air was December 5th. With the second season premiere slated to air during the first week of October, it will be nearly a year since viewers had a chance to bond with Detectives Charlie Crews and Dani Reese. That's a bit of a concern when it comes to this show. On the surface Life is a criminal procedural. However, underneath there has been an second story about Charlie's quest to clear his good name for a murder he didn't commit. While the first arc of this story was completed in its "season finale," there is plenty of story to tell.

The Hollywood Reporter reports that The Thick of It, a new pilot from Arrested Development creator Mitchell Hurwitz that was rejected by ABC, may still have a fighting chance.

The Thick of It is based on a British series about folks working for a low-level congressman. The series boasts some amazing comedic talent, including John Michael Higgins, Oliver Platt, Alex Borstein, and Michael McKean. The pilot was also directed by Christopher Guest.

You know, one of the great/sad things about satire is that sometimes it's almost too close to real life. Take this Onion headline:

CBS To Release Own Version Of NBC's The Office

Funny, yes, but given a television landscape riddled with unoriginal concepts, the idea of one network doing it's own version of another network's show (which, in turn, is based on another show) doesn't seem that unrealistic.

When YouTube was first launched, there was no way its founders could have predicted how popular it would become, or that TV networks and cable channels would use the service to provide clips to the masses. But, what of those independent and unknown filmmakers and aspiring comic actors who make their own videos with their friends? It's bad enough those uploaded videos are so easily lost in the shuffle among the millions of other videos, but the presence of NBC and CBS don't exactly help, either.

That is, unless you're sneaky.

Oliver Platt, last seen in the Showtime series Huff, will star in the ABC comedy pilot The Thick of It, about workers for a low-level congressman. The show is executive produced by Arrested Development creator Mitchell Hurwitz and based on the British comedy of the same name.

Chris Lowell (Veronica Mars) will join previously cast Tim Daly and Taye Diggs in the two-hour Grey's Anatomy episode meant to serve as a springboard to a possible Grey's Anatomy spinoff.

Steve Howey of Reba has been cast in The Beast, about a womanizing veterinarian who hates animals. Tucker Cawley, a writer and executive producer for Everybody Loves Raymond, will also write and executive produce the comedy pilot for FOX. The series is based on the British comedy Beast.

VH1 and BET, both Viacom-owned channels, are splitting production costs and sharing airtime for a new series called Wifey, a drama set inside the hip-hop business. Queen Latifah is on board as a producer through her company Flavor Unit (which would also be a cool name for a restaurant, but I digress). Production on the series kicks off next month.

A pilot for the series has been ordered, and if it gets picked up for a full season the episodes will air simultaneously on both VH1 and BET, presumably to woo people interested in black culture and people interested in how comedians feel about ALF and the Rubik's Cube.

As the Hollywood Reporter points out, the obvious risk is that one network will be watched by a majority while the other one will be left high and dry. The people behind the new series also admit it's a gamble.

NBC, FOX and ABC have each ordered up new pilots.

The pilot for M.O.N.Y., a new NBC drama about an average joe who becomes Mayor of New York, will be directed by Spike Lee, who also directed the pilot for the CBS series Shark and has a development deal with NBC.

Other pilot orders include Philadelphia General for FOX, directed by P.J. Hogan (My Best Friend's Wedding, 2003's Peter Pan) a comedy/drama focusing on a team of nurses; and Lipstick Jungle (NBC) and Cashmere Mafia (ABC), both of which Anna wrote about here.

Reading over the brief description of all these new shows, I can't help but notice there are a lot of series these days labeled as "comedic dramas" or something similar. It makes me wonder if perhaps it would be better to do away with such labels all together and let the audience decide for themselves whether a show is worth checking out. I understand networks and studios have to give people some idea what's on tap, but I think more and more genres are starting to meld together, and there are very few "straight comedies" or "straight dramas" left. These days it seems the effort is put toward just making an entertaining show, and not trying to remain within the confines of a "drama" or "comedy."

When a cellphone-created video of Saddam Hussein's execution started rocketing around the Internet, news directors were torn as to whether to show it or not, according to The Hollywood Reporter. In the video, which we showed here, we not only see images of the hanging itself but also a contentiousness between Hussein and the people in the chamber, audio of which was conveniently left out of the Iraqi government's official video of the event.

Most networks decided to show the yelling between Saddam and the executioners and witnesses, judging that the audio gave additional context to the event, but they decided not to show his body actually falling through the gallows, deciding to stop at the point where the noose gets put around his neck. However, CNN.com showed a little bit more, stopping right before the hanging itself, and FoxNews.com showed the entire thing. Only MSNBC stayed consistent between its network and web site, just showing the first few seconds.

I never thought I'd see the day when the words "Saddam" and "tasteful" were in the same sentence, but that day has arrived. Word is coming from the Iraqi government that Saddam Hussein will be executed by hanging by Saturday at the latest, and they will tape the entire thing. If that happens, the networks are saying that the coverage of the execution will be tasteful, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Now, they're not doing it out of respect to Saddam, of course; they're doing it out of respect for their audience. They won't air the full video if the Iraqi government makes it available for broadcast. "We're very aware that we're coming into people's living rooms and that there could be children watching," Linda Mason, a senior VP for CBS News, told THR. Since the war started, network news executives have considered using graphic video footage on a case-by-case basis, often editing it down to make it more palatable to audiences.

(Update: Embedded below is reportedly a video of Saddam's hanging.)

Ever watch a steamy or somewhat violent network promo during the 8:00 hour, or see something particularly risqué at that time and wonder "didn't there used to be a family hour?" Well, Steven Spielberg is wondering the same thing. He told an audience at the International Emmys board of directors meeting that networks need to be more mindful of what they show during times when children may be watching, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

During his on-stage interview, he cited promos for CSI that showed a lot of blood and dissections. Even his favorite new show of the season, Heroes, showed a scene of someone being cut in half. And, since it was during the 9 PM time period, his kids were still awake; he had to send them out of the room.

Newsweek's November 13th issue features a story on what television taught baby boomers. Apparently, it first taught them how to buy a Davy Crockett cap and shotgun. Then, however, things got more complicated. All in the Family. M*A*S*H. Good Times. The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Roots. "What boomers ultimately took from early TV was a collective sense of irony." The article isn't entirely convincing in this argument, but it does level a pointed criticism about television today.

Modern TV, according to Newsweek, has lost its edge. "The most popular shows are still crime procedurals (CSI) or soaps (Grey's Anatomy) - slick and sexy, but not about much. The reality shows American Idol and Dancing with the Stars are so retro, they're practically The Lawrence Welk Show. When The Unit or 24 does dare to focus on something like the war on terror, their take is uncritically gung-ho - no network today would risk satire on the level of M*A*S*H."

Reader Rod wrote to us recently asking for a comprehensive list of all the television programs that can be downloaded or streamed online. That's a pretty tall order, and I'm sure I'll forget a few, which is why I'm asking our faithful readers to fill in any gaps left due to my ignorance or plain forgetfulness. I'm going to focus purely on legitimate downloads and not such things as peer-to-peer downloads or torrents. I'm not going to list specific shows, because obviously as the television schedule changes, so do the programs.

I encourage you to add this post to your Favorites, as I'll be updating it every now and then.

(Last updated on 01/21/07)