TVSquad

This is the time of year when kids go back to school (maybe it happened a couple of weeks ago where you live or this week in other parts of the country), and Staples has pulled their classic "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" ad out of storage. This is one of my favorite commercials.

By the way, this was first run in 1994. Which means that the kids in the ad are probably out of college by now. You are old.

When I was a kid, watching The Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon on Labor Day was a must. It was just fun to have this all day, all night, live event happening every September. One year I even stayed up all night watching it (the next morning I knew it wasn't worth it).

The show isn't looked at as "hip" anymore (if it ever was), but along with the older showbiz vets we always see there are some new acts mixed in too. Are you going to watch it?

While this off-network summer season has reached a fevered pitch after last with the return of Mad Men, not to be overlooked is that other cable shows have also been delivering the goods. Shows like Burn Notice and Leverage, for instance. Regarding Leverage, there's good news to report. TNT will air two extra Leverage episodes in the weeks ahead.

You think Bobby Cannavale has felt the sting when all those episodes of the failed second go-round of Cupid have been burned off by ABC this past few weeks? It's got to be a shot to the ego, even for an established, successful Emmy-winning actor. Well, here's some news that should puff him back up again. Cold Case is bringing Bobby Cannavale back for the new season.

Cannavale appeared last season on Cold Case as Detective Eddie Saccardo, an undercover narcotics cop -- think Serpico with a sense of humor -- who had a brief romantic fling with Lily. It was one of the only happy things in Detective Rush's life last season, so the return of Eddie could be just what the doctor ordered for Kathryn Morris's character.

Very early on, it seemed to me that Danny Gokey was a lock to be in the finals for American Idol. He has a great voice, a compelling story, a nice personality that comes across the TV screen, and unless he completely screws it up, Danny is going to be there for the really big finale shows. However, after last night's tepid performance of "September" -- or as Kona put it, he's the "best wedding singer ever" -- I have real concerns about Danny.

Handicapping the finals now, which is a risky endeavor since I'm not a Vegas oddsmaker, I see Adam Lambert and Kris Allen singing it out for American Idol supremacy. Danny Gokey has sung himself out of the top two. He simply hasn't been interesting or creative or dynamic in the past few weeks. Kris and Adam are leaving him in the dust.

The die was cast today. CBS canceled Guiding Light, the longest running TV program still on the air. The soap opera will cease broadcasting on Friday, September 18, 2009.

As I wrote the other day, the prospects looked grim for Guiding Light, and apparently my idea of letting the show continue until it reached its 75th anniversary (three years from now) was only popular with fans. I heard from many the past couple of days. They, like me, are sorry to see Guiding Light come to an end.

Sitcoms Online is reporting some cool news for fans of the 80s series Bosom Buddies, which chronicled the lives of two men (Tom Hanks and Peter Scolari) who worked for an ad agency and had to dress in drag in order to stay in an apartment meant for women only. The show also featured the lovely Donna Dixon and the late Wendy Jo Sperber. TBS will be airing reruns of the series on Saturday mornings from 6 to 7 a.m. starting in September. Speaking of Tom Hanks, whatever happened to him? Last I heard he was doing movies or something.

When I was doing some research for my interview with Adam de la Pena of Minoriteam, I stumbled upon this IMDb page for an alleged Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie. I say "alleged" because there seemed to be some question as to the page's veracity, which is common on IMDb where movies are sometimes listed that don't actually  exist.

Well, this movie, according to Adult Swim's site, does in fact exist, and it will be in theaters by this September. No official date, however, has been announced. The movie, in true Aqua Teen style, is being called The Aqua Teen Hunger Force Movie Film for Theatres. Here's Adult Swim's synopsis:

"The Aqua Teen Hunger Force Movie Film for Theatres is an action-adventure epic that tackles the mysterious circumstances that brought Meatwad, Frylock and Master Shake together. An immortal piece of exercise equipment threatens the balance of galactic peace, and it is up to the Aqua Teen Hunger Force to run away from it. Complicating matters, the Plutonians team up with the Cybernetic Ghost of Christmas Past for ultimate control of the deadly device."

I was slightly concerned about how they were going to stretch a fifteen minute cartoon into a feature film, but it sounds like they've found a way to do it. I'm stoked, how about the rest of you?