TVSquad

In this age where there seems to be an awards show every three weeks, is the People's Choice Awards relevant anymore (if it ever was)? More than anything else, it seems like an award based only on popularity, which is why you get some really lame nominations and winners every year.

In the Favorite TV Comedy category, Gary Unmarried is nominated along with shows like 30 Rock, The Office, Chuck, and How I Met Your Mother. In the Favorite TV Comedy Actor category, David Spade is nominated.

• At 8, NBC has a new Knight Rider.
• PBS has a new Great Performances at 8.
• The CW has the series premiere of 13: Fear Is Real at 8.
• At 9, ABC has a new 20/20, followed by Barbara Walters Special: Patrick Swayze.
  
• CBS has The People's Choice Awards at 9.
• Sci-Fi has a new Ghost Hunters International at 9.
• Fine Living has a new Whatever, Martha at 9.
• Showtime has a new Inside the NFL at 9.
• Also at 9: Sundance has a new Spectacle.
• At 10, NBC has a new Law and Order.
• TBS has the series premiere of Tyler Perry's Meet The Browns at 10 (two episodes).
• FX has the season premiere of Damages at 10.
• There's a new Top Chef on Bravo at 10.
• MTV has the season premiere of Real World: Brooklyn at 10.

Check your local TV listings for more.

After the jump, the late night talk shows.

Sometimes it's hard to denote sarcasm in a post headline, but please note: sarcasm!

The People's Choice Award nominees have been announced, and the list is the very definition of unexciting. The nominees for Best Drama are Grey's Anatomy, CSI, and House. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz. No Mad Men, Dexter, or Lost? The nominees for Favorite Comedy are Two and a Half Men, Samantha Who?, and Ugly Betty. No 30 Rock? No Office? Sally Field and Mariska Hargitay are up for Favorite Female TV Star (really?). In the Favorite Game Show category, Jeopardy! is up against Deal Or No Deal and Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader and I know it's not going to win.

Last month we told you about a contest being held by The New York Television Festival and The People's Choice Awards. They wanted you to come up with spinoffs for your favorite shows. Well, they've narrowed it down to three finalists, and it's time for you to vote at the PCA site.

Contestants had one minute to give a video pitch for their spinoff. The first finalist is The Halftime Show, a spinoff of Friday Night Lights that focuses on the people who play in the school bands that perform at football halftime shows. Married...with Children, 10 Years Later (I think that's the name of it anyway) has Al no longer married but becoming rich and starting to date again. The East Wing is a spinoff of The West Wing, and centers on the goings-on with The First Lady (estranged from her husband) and her staff.

Lots of spinoffs sputter and die (Joanie Loves Chachi, anyone?) while some actually go on to long, healthy careers (Frasier).

Now The People's Choice Awards and the New York Television Festival want to hear your ideas for spinoff shows. You could win an all-expenses paid trip to New York City and be the official "People's Choice Ambassador" at the 2008 NYTF. The winner will also get to pitch his spinoff idea to a New York talent agency -- so make it good.

The contest (you have to send a video pitch to the site above) starts on July 21 and ends on August 8.