TVSquad

With our ever expanding channel lineups it is getting harder and harder for a new show, especially one tucked away on cable with no big name stars attached, to get noticed. Seeing a network release a show online before the premiere isn't new, but seeing one release a pilot on P2P networks with no DRM is a bit more original. And that is just what the folks over at Spike have done with their new show, Factory.

The network has made the show available on its website, at downloadable video stores like iTunes, and in working with the Jun group, on P2P networks. Although my first reaction at the mention of Limewire was surprise that people are still using Limewire, I do agree with their thinking behind the move. Todd Ames, marketing VP at Spike, said they went with the P2P as an acknowledgment of "what people are really doing, and the way consumers are really looking for content." He also notes that there are no plans to make any additional episodes available that way, but it's a step in the right direction that they are paying attention to the viewers.

Hey, check it out! A show got renewed for another season. The Hollywood Reporter says Spike TV gave the go-ahead for another ten episode batch of its fun MANswers late-night series. The show answers those questions that men think about but that may not be socially acceptable to actually ask around real live people. Then through re-enactments, one-on-one interviews and other methods they find the answers. It's slickly produced and actually does answer some interesting questions, but I'm a guy. Maybe women think all the questions are stupid. They probably are. They're GUY questions!

I know, I know: 69% of you are saying, "what the heck is The Kill Point?" (50% of you might even be saying, "what the heck is Spike?" I call those people "women.")

Spike has canceled the Donnie Wahlberg drama after only one season. The show actually got decent ratings, especially among guys of a certain age, but the network has decided to go crazy on reality shows instead of investing in original, scripted programming. A spokesman for the network gave this quote: "We are out of the serialized one-hour business. We need programming that we can repeat." Oh, I'm sure TV fans are gritting their teeth over that one.

If you're still jonesing for more shark action after the end of the most recent "Shark Week" on the Discovery Channel, Spike TV might be able to whet (and wet) your appetite with The Hunt For: Monster Sharks, a one-hour special airing September 3 at 10:00 p.m.

The special covers the annual Oak Bluffs Monster Shark Tournament in which over 200 boats and 1,000 fishermen compete to see who can capture the largest shark in the waters off Martha's Vineyard.

Frankly, I find the whole thing cruel. Everybody knows sharks, like people, often vacation in Martha's Vineyard. While there, they don't bother people at all, they just drink wine and play cribbage:

You might not recognize the name Mitch Rouse, but if you're a fan of Reno 911! and Strangers with Candy, you'd probably recognize his face. He's appeared on Reno 911! as the handsome lead firefighter in a few episodes, and has also shown up on Strangers with Candy playing a cop (he's also a co-creator fo the show along with Amy Sedaris, Paul Dinello and Stephen Colbert). In fact, his character has the first speaking role in the very first Strangers episode. Also, he's written a couple episodes for the series.

Strangers with Candy is one of my top three favorite shows of all time, and Reno 911! ain't too shabby, either, so I'm intrigued about The Factory, a new comedy Rouse is developing for Spike. The series has not been picked up yet, but Variety reports that it's close.

MANswers, a new game show for Spike centering on the kind of questions men want to ask but don't find "socially acceptable" will be given a nine-episode run and will debut sometime this fall. The show will pit contestants against one another and include re-enactments and interviews with experts.

Variety reports that some of these so-called "socially unacceptable" questions include "how long can a man survive on just beer?" and "what's the best organ to eat if you're a cannibal?"

The sketch I've placed below is from The Mike Douglas Show and features Douglas, Soupy Sales and Moe Howard. The sketch is amusing, though not laugh-out-loud funny, but you may like it more than I did. Really, my main reason for posting it is that I'm a Three Stooges fan and I've never seen any of the Stooges outside of their old movie shorts. Seeing Moe in thick glasses and gray hair is both kind of cool and kind of weird. It's "cweridool," if you will. Will you? Thank you.

In the sketch, which according to Mark Evanier is based on an old Stooges bit, Moe serves as a translator for the "Maharjah." Hilarity ensues.

Speaking of The Three Stooges, Spike TV airs episodes in the wee hours of the morning. They're always worth an occasional Tivoing if I do say so myself. I especially like the one where Moe gets upset and hits Larry and Curly.

• Why I don't think Victoria Beckham will be replacing Paula Abdul as a judge on American Idol.
• Seattle is pretty well represented in the American Idol finals, considering how talentless the judges said the city was after initial auditions.
  
• First professional eating, and now making reality TV out of real-life murders. I'm not a man, so maybe that's why I can't figure out what they're thinking over at Spike "for men" TV.
  

• Placing odds on American Idol contestants is the latest big thing in gambling around the world.
  
• Michael Jackson will not be a guest on American Idol. (No... really. Seriously.)
  
• Spike TV is proud to be expanding their coverage of the "sport" of competitive eating.