TVSquad

During the pilot episode of the new FOX drama Mental, Annabella Sciorra's Dr. Nora Skoff tells Chris Vance's Dr. Jack Gallagher that his recent decision to strip down butt-naked to help a patient deserves some of her Harvard business school advice - ask for royalties because the video of it is sure to be more popular than Paris Hilton's sex tape. To that, I offer some insight from a Syracuse University TV production graduate - there's a reason FOX held off on premiering Mental until the summer. It's not very good.

There will be some major star power in the new season of Eli Stone. No, I'm not referring to Katie Holmes' stunt casting. I'm talking big-time star wattage. Sigourney Weaver will guest on Eli Stone as a psychologist. Eli, who is in desperate need of figuring out what he's been experiencing is the result of the brain ailment he's suffering from or something else.

Since he had brain surgery -- or so we think -- at season's end, will Eli still have the visions? Will he fulfill the imperative to Live Brave and become a leader -- prophet -- or was that not a look at the future but something else?

It's all very mysterious, and just the fact that he's going to see a shrink is positive development. Casting Sigourney Weaver is a positive as well. She's a three-time Oscar nominee and carries with her innate integrity and class.

(S01E10) "All right, let's go fix this family."

Oh, if only it were as simple as a family vacation to repair the damage to the Millers. It's clear by now that something's missing between Bruce and Susan because she can't stop thinking of Roger.

And Laurie is going through teenage rebellion -- I recognize the symptoms -- and Bruce's answer is to threaten her boyfriend and rip the phone cord out of the wall. Of all the characters, Bruce needs the most work for the writers. He's way too predictable.

While the Millers are struggling, so too are the Thompsons. Janet made an appointment with a psychiatrist -- for Roger. The truth is that they both need counseling, as the therapist realized when she spoke with them. Janet is so much a woman of that time, unsure about getting a job because it may emasculate Roger and struggling with the attention she's received -- and enjoyed -- from Tom.

I have to admit that I judged Jeff Goldblum's new show, Raines, before I even saw it. When I heard the plot description that was scattered about on the web several months ago, I think I actually sighed. Another show about an investigator who speaks to ghosts? Why had this become such a hot genre, like westerns or sitcoms many years ago? Did we really need another one, no matter what big name they had for the lead?

Well, I have to eat my words.

Steve Coogan, creator of enduring BBC comedy character Alan Partridge and director Michael Winterbottom's apparent muse, is joining the cast of Larry David's Curb Your Enthusiasm as a psychiatrist. According to the ever reliable and always tasteful Sun, Coogan is a huge fan of the show and jumped at the chance to play opposite David.

If you haven't seen Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story or Knowing Me, Knowing You... Alan Partridge, I must insist that you leave TV Squad immediately, join Netflix and get started on your own personal Coogan marathon. It's rare that I say this about anyone media-related other than Joss Whedon, but the man is a genius. My fandom cannot be stopped.

I loves myself some Ron Livingston. It's mostly due to his laid back lead role in Office Space, but I'm always impressed by that "everyman" thing he does so well. Alas, I've never seen Relative Strangers, the 2006 comedy starring Livingston, but I and everyone else will have a chance to catch it on Comedy Central on March 17 at 10:00 p.m.

Livingston plays a psychiatrist named Richard Clayton who sets out to find his birth parents, only to find out they're trailer trash with the surname "Manure" (played by Danny DeVito and Kathy Bates). I'm liking this movie already based on the talent alone, and as The Waterboy demonstrated, Bates knows how to play a hick.

UPDATE: An early draft of this post mistakenly identified the movie as a new Comedy Central series. That was my mistake, a result of misreading the press release. Thanks to those who pointed that out. I promise to report with greater care in the future.

The absolutely stunning (seriously, she's beautiful!) Jennifer Esposito has signed on for a leading role in a FOX comedy pilot. She'll replace actress Alicia Witt, who dropped out of the project last week due to "creative differences". The comedy is called More, Patience and it's about a New York (where else?) psychiatrist who can't handle her own life. Ah, the irony.

Esposito is also on the WB's Related, which is currently fighting for a time slot on the new The CW network. Does that mean she'll be doing both shows? Busy lady.

I have to give props to Reuters for its headline for this story, ABC Matches Heche with "Men". As Mandy Moore would say, "that's funny."

Heche will play a shrink who moves to Alaska when she learns her husband has been cheating on her, only to discover Alaska is full of single men (it is?). Also cast in the pilot are Derek Richardson, from the movie Hostel, and Emily Bergl, who played Francie Jarvis on Gilmore Girls. We last saw Anne during an arc on Nip/Tuck where she played a woman in the witness protection program.