TVSquad

The cable networks have been very, very good to women over the last few years. Particularly strong, independent women who are on par, or many times above, the men in their lives. This has been exemplified by characters like Brenda Johnson in The Closer, PJ Franklin on My Boys, Nancy Botwin on Weeds, Patty Hewes on Damages, and the ladies from HBO's Sex in the City.

Last year, someone new joined Leigh, PJ, and the rest of the women of cable. Her name was Grace Hanadarko -- the smoking, drinking, and sexually promiscuous Oklahoma City police detective from TNT's Saving Grace. Grace is played by Holly Hunter, the award-winning actress who has appeared in such films as Raising Arizona, The Piano (for which she won an Academy Award) and The Incredibles. Late last week, Holly spoke to members of the press concerning the second season of Saving Grace (premiering tonight at 10 pm) and what's in store for the hard-living detective.

A few days before an advanced copy of Robot Chicken Season Two arrived in the mail, I had been watching my Mission Hill DVD. For those who don't know, Mission Hill was the creation of Simpsons writers Josh Weinstein and Bill Oakley. It focused on a college graduate named Andy French, living the typical slacker existence of an aimless college grad. The series aired when I myself was an aimless, slacking twentysomething, so I found the series funny, poignant, and often heartbreakingly real.

I realized while watching it that Adult Swim hasn't had a series with that kind of substance in a long time. Series like Baby Blues and Home Movies have been replaced by weird post-modern fare like Aqua Teen Hunger Force* and the works of Tim and Eric, with very little programming left with any real emotion.

We like to complain when networks don't give series a fair chance, so it's nice to see NBC getting behind the new season of Friday Night Lights with such enthusiasm. Teaming with HouseParty.com, the network is sending out party kits to 1,000 Friday Night Lights fans, including an advance copy of the season opener. The season officially begins on October 5 at 9:00 p.m. You can apply for a chance to host one of these parties on September 14 on the House Party site. The party kits will include various trinkets and ephemera, as well as episodes from season one and a sneak peek of the new Bionic Woman series.

We knew it was coming back, we just didn't know when. Well, we still don't know officially, but Paul Scheer, one-third of the sketch comedy trio Human Giant along with Aziz Ansari and Rob Huebel, blogged yesterday that the series would likely return in January 2008. Paul's exact words were: "we are looking towards an air date of Jan 2008," which is not the same as "you will definitely see new episodes in January," but I'm not going to complain. It's coming back, that's all that matters.

Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader kicks off its second season next month with four one-hour episodes and a two-hour season premiere.

The premiere airs Thursday, September 6 at 8:00 p.m., followed by a new episode every Thursday, save for one episode airing on Friday, October 5.

I've only watched a few episodes of this series, but I can only take so many minutes of a yammering jackass behaving in a manner that proves he's not only less smart than a fifth grader, he's also vastly more immature.

Remember when I told you Army Wives was worth checking out, despite being on Lifetime? Well, I wasn't the only one who thought it was a good series. It scored record ratings and has now been picked up for a second season. Look for the first of thirteen new episodes to pop up sometime this spring.

VH1's World Series of Pop Culture returns for a second season on July 9 at 9:00 p.m. for a two-week run, airing Monday through Thursday each week. You can also catch episodes from the first season starting this Thursday at 2:00 p.m.

The trivia completion pits teams against one another to see who knows the most about movies, music and television. The grand prize is $250,000.

The series is a lot of fun of you're a trivia and pop culture nut, but what's really cool is VH1's WorldOfPop.com site, where you can play various games to test your knowledge. I'm already addicted to the site, it's like a game of Trivial Pursuit you can play by yourself rather than trying to convince friends and family to play with you who have no interest in the game because they are people who suck.

Sorry, I didn't mean to get upset, but I'm a trivia nut surrounded by people who care not for it. Can I help it if my brain is packed with completely useless information?

It shouldn't come as too much of a surprise to anyone that Human Giant, the new sketch comedy series for MTV, has been granted a second season.

In order to drum up more interest in the show, MTV turned the network over to the Human Giant men: Aziz Ansari, Rob Huebel, Paul Scheer for 24 hours and told them they had to garner one million hits on their Web site if they wanted a second season. Of course, taking into consideration lines from the press release like, "fans can also show up in Times Square to deliver a pizza counting for 80 hits, or carving Paul Scheer's face into Mount Rushmore for the entire million hits" it's obvious the series was going to be renewed all along. Still, it's nice to hear an official announcement.

Fuse has given its musical sketch comedy series The Whitest Kids You Know a second season. The series, which originated as a series of Web videos back in 2000, first hit Fuse last March. Before coming to Fuse, the team of Trevor Moore, Sam Brown, Zach Cregger, Timmy Williams, and Darren Trumeter made a name for themselves around New York City's various comedy venues.

Variety does not specify when the second season will begin, although it does mention the possibility of a DVD release.

If you're like me and don't have Fuse on your cable lineup, you can watch some of the sketches on YouTube, which has a collection of some of their old Web stuff and possibly a few clips from the actual series. The Fuse site used to have clips, too, but those are gone. I watched a few of them not too long ago and found them amusing, but right now I have to say MTV's Human Giant is the better sketch comedy series.

If you haven't seen Talkshow with Spike Feresten, you're not the only one. The Saturday night talk show that airs on FOX after MAD TV hasn't exactly received stellar ratings, but apparently it's attracted enough of that younger demographic the advertisers love, so it's getting a second season.

I've been watching it this season, and while it didn't exactly come out with guns blazing, Feresten is a funny and amicable host, and the half-hour running time is perfect. Can you imagine Conan or Letterman cut down to half an hour? No more filler and long interviews, just funny funny funny and then end the show. Well, maybe that wouldn't work for those guys, but it works in my little fantasy world.

Variety also reports that talks are still underway concerning a new season of MAD TV. There's no word on whether it will or won't be renewed, but it is possible that Talkshow could take over MAD TV's slot if MAD TV show doesn't return.

One of the best bits of programming news to come down the pike recently was the return of Sit Down Comedy with David Steinberg, TV Land's hidden gem that features Canadian comedian, actor, writer and director David Steinberg chatting with big names in comedy from the perspective of someone who actually knows the business. The second season will debut on TV Land on February 21 with guest Jerry Seinfeld, but you can catch it online at TVLand.com on February 19. How cool is that? It's a whole bunch of cool, that's what it is.

If you've never seen the show, I encourage you to check it out. This isn't just comedians doing shtick or plugging their new TV show or movie. You actually learn a little something about the person and the comedic craft.