TVSquad

I had forgotten about J-Stache. It's been several months since we first heard about it. But now FunnyorDie.com has the trailer for the web show. It's about Hall & Oates' John Oates and his mustache (yes, you heard me right). They team up to battle evil and score chicks. It's all done like a 70s cartoon. I think the part that had me laughing out loud in this trailer below is when Geraldo Rivera shows up.

(slightly NSFW, but funny.)

The new fall season isn't etched in stone yet. The networks could still make some changes, especially when it comes to time slots. But also to the casts that were in the pilots for the new shows.

Case in point, Moonlight. The new CBS vampire private eye show is already looking for a new leading lady to play opposite Alex O'Loughlin. Shannon Lucio was his romantic partner in the pilot, but they're getting rid of her and looking for someone else for the role. Lucio was formerly on The O.C.

Moonlight will air on Friday nights at 9 this fall, after the renewed Ghost Whisperer.

Lifetime - is it still "television for women?" - has ordered nine more episodes of the Canadian-made horror-romance series Blood Ties. The network will air the last nine episodes of this current order in October (though new episodes continue to air now, Sundays at 10). The big hiatus is so the network can premiere new shows.

How is this show? I watch Entourage at that time, and I always forget to set the TiVo for this. Is it worth it? The premise sounds a bit like Forever Knight, though I know this isn't about a vampire cop but a private eye that gets involved with vampires. Looks more romantic/dramatic than the Geraint Wyn Davies show. Is there action too, and maybe some scares?

[via TV Tattle]

Welcome to TV Squad Lists (formerly 'The Five'), a feature where each blogger has a chance to list his or her own rundown of things in television that stand out from the rest, both good and bad.

OK, so yesterday I gave my list of the Five Greatest Police Detectives, and several readers gave their lists. Today I thought I'd do the other end of the invesitgation spectrum, private eyes, amateur sleuths and other investigators. This list was even hard to do. So many great characters.

1. Spenser (Robert Urich): I picked this Boston-based private eye because he seemed to be a great mix of brain and brawn. The type of guy who could go to the ratty gym and knock around some boxer and then go off to a fancy Beacon Hill cafe and have coffee with his girlfriend and talk about politics or literature. He was smart, clever, caring, a wiseass, and ridiculously moral. What else do you want in a private eye?

Finally, after having to deal with lesser Stephen J. Cannell shows being released (Renegade?!), one of my favorite shows is coming to DVD: Riptide!

Riptide starred Perry King and Joe Penny as Cody Allen and Nick Ryder, two private eyes who lived and worked off a boat in California. They were helped on cases by the third member of the team, the nerdy brainiac Boz, played by Thom Bray. This was a highly enjoyable 80s adventure-drama, and I've been waiting for it to come out on DVD for quite some time.

Interestingly, there might be two versions being released: a Canadian version is coming out, and insiders tell TVshowsonDVD that an American version is in the works too.

For some reason I never watched Simon & Simon. Oh, I saw the crossover with Magnum, P.I., and it seems like the type of show I'd like, but for some reason I never paid much attention to it in the 80s. I guess I was too busy watching something else at the time, and keeping track of Magnum, Riptide, Moonlighting, and other private eye shows.

But now I can buy the DVDs this September ( and yes, and so can you!). The first season set will have 13 episodes, and since it's Universal the extras will probably be shoddy or non-existent. Still, I love it when these 80s shows come to DVD. I'm still waiting for more.

TV Squad reader Teri asks:

"Whatever happened to the ABC show Eyes?"

Thanks, Teri, for opening up an old, painful wound. I thought I had forgotten all about Eyes, the fantastic, quirky private eye series starring Tim Daly that ABC ran for a few episodes last year. And now you've gone and reminded all of us that it's gone. It's like an acid flashback.