TVSquad

No, it's not another lamentation about those overlooked shows that really do deserve a DVD set, but just can't seem to get them. I've grown accustomed to having Bob's weekly DVD release post arrive like a slap in the face as Beggars and Choosers is not on it, again. Instead, this is about those shows that do get their DVD set, but are late for no good reason at all. At least, not one that I can come up with.

I started thinking about it last week as I was talking with a friend and we were watching the Hellboy/Chuck promo. She commented that she really should start watching Chuck. In full agreement, I quickly pointed her to the Chuck page on Hulu. But wait, there are only three episodes available on Hulu. I guessed that it must be because they don't want streaming to cannibalize DVD sales. So I headed to Amazon. Chuck isn't out on DVD until September 16th. What the hell?

The 21st annual Shark Week is coming this summer to Discovery. Les Stroud (Survivorman) and Mike Rowe (Dirty Jobs) will join Adam Savage and Jamie Hyman (MythBusters) and many more experts on excursions to Bahamas, South Africa, the Arctic, Australia and a whole lot of places in between. This year they will spotlight lesser-known and unusual sharks, address myths about sharks, and educate the public on the conservation of sharks.

Shark Week will air July 27 to August 2nd. Sunday through Friday programming will run from 7 p.m. till midnight ET/PT. And on Saturday programming will run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. ET/PT.

Find out what show I'm looking forward to and what other shows Discovery has planned after the jump.

It looks like MTV is making an effort (albeit a small one) to show music videos again. Tomorrow a new show called FNMTV will premiere at 8 p.m. The show, hosted by Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy, is a 24/7 non-stop music celebration combining the best music experiences from the TV and the web. Each week MTV will premiere new music videos from established or up-and-coming artists. Also, Fans will be able to create their own music experiences on MTV.com and choose which ones will be aired on the show.

Confirmed talent for the this summer includes Panic! at the Disco, Snoop Dogg, The Pussycat Dolls, Flo-Rida, The Ting Tings, Lil' Wayne, Duffy, Boys Like Girls, and Vampire Weekend. These artists are set for either special guest appearances or live stage performances.

According to Time magazine, there are various organizational problems occurring that could lead to the Olympics not being broadcast on television. A series of unworkable conditions are being created for networks including limits on live coverage in Tiananmen Square and allegations that freight shipments of TV broadcasting equipment are being held up in Chinese ports.

The 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing are scheduled to begin on August 8th. According to the minutes of a May 29th meeting, procedures which have been used by broadcasters in other Olympics are conflicting with China's authoritarian government. Some plans are months behind schedule, which could force broadcasters to compromise coverage plans.

The Mole will be back for its new season on Monday June 2nd at 10 p.m. ET on ABC. The show, based on the Belgian hit and hosted by Jon Kelley, follows a group of competitors as they try to uncover who is the saboteur among them. Each week contestants have to learn as much as they can about "the mole" and whoever knows the least is "executed" at the end of the hour. During the season finale, the mole is revealed and one of the final two competitors wins a cash prize. This summer, the series will feature all new missions, locations and music as well as online and mobile interactivity.

ABC announced the final four cast members on Friday:

Liz: Age 60, Retired, from Whitefish, MT
Marcie: Age 31, Stay-at-home mom, from Corona, CA (pictured to the left)
Alex: Age 31, Musician, from Haverford, PA
Craig: Age 30, Graphic Designer, San Diego, CA

Click here for a full list of The Mole's cast.

Way back in July 2007, TV Squad wrote about a bunch of shows CBS previewed and were slating for the upcoming season, including Swingtown. It was supposed to premiere in mid-season, but then mid-season came and it was nowhere to be found. The network will announce today their plans for the serial drama; it's going to run this summer. Instead of taking that move as a lack of faith in the show, executive producer Carol Barbee told The Hollywood Reporter that a summer run creatively suits the project. "A summer launch is perfect for Swingtown since the pilot takes place on the Bicentennial Fourth of July," Barbee said. Barbee has most recently been working on Jericho.

Monk will be back for a seventh season. It isn't an even number, a fact that would irritate the OCD detective to no end, but it is a lucky one. USA Network has ordered 16 new episodes of the idiosyncratic mystery series which has turned character actor Tony Shalhoub into an Emmy-winning star. USA has plans to run eight of the new episodes in July and August; then the other eight in January and February.

Before then, you can catch up with Monk, and USA's other whimsical detective series, Psych, when they air on NBC in March. Although it has not be announced as yet, USA will likely pick up Psych, too, and they will continue running in tandem.

In April, I told you about NBC's The Great American Singing Bee, a new competition series in which contestants are challenged to sing the correct lyrics to a song. Then, recently, I told you about Don't Forget the Lyrics, a show on FOX with pretty much the exact same concept.

The Great American Singing Bee was supposed to air this fall, but NBC isn't about to let FOX steal its thunder by releasing Don't Forget the Lyrics next month. What does that mean for you, the home viewer? It means that this summer, with The Great American Spelling Bee's debut bumped up to July 10 at 9:30 (and Lyrics debuting the next day), you'll have two chances to catch a premise no one really found that interesting in the first place.

Forgive me, that was presumptuous, but I maintain a show centering on strangers butchering songs is a concept that will get old rather quickly.

Hey gang, here's a few shows I plan on checking out this summer. Some are old, some are new.

Creature Comforts [Mondays at 8:00 p.m. on CBS]: What can I say that I haven't said already? It's a charming little animated show that pipes the everyday conversation of normal human beings through animated animals. It's such a simple idea, but at the same time it demonstrates how we probably have more in common with one another than we realize.

Ice Road Truckers [begins June 17 at 10:00 p.m. on the History Channel]: This new series focuses on truck drivers who risk injury and death while driving their big rigs across frozen lakes. It's one of the world's most dangerous occupations, and one I wasn't even aware existed until hearing about this new series a few months ago.

If you love The Soup on E!, then you're not me, because I don't.

Nevertheless, the weekly funny round-up of all things reality TV-ish and talk show-y will be expanding to two nights a week starting June 18.

In addition to its usually spot on Friday nights at 10:00, six special episodes will air on Monday nights at the same time. These special episodes will offer a look back on some of the best moments from the past year, complete with new commentary from host Joel McHale. Here's what's on tap:

TNT and TBS will offer all seven of their original summer series for free online. New episodes will appear on Turner websites about about 3 am the morning following their debut, and the episodes will be available for viewing for about a month each.

Believe it or not, Turner is one of the first cable networks to do the streaming episodes thing, following in the footsteps of the big four networks, ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX. Last summer, only ABC Family offered its original programming for free online. Other networks, such as FX, Sci Fi, USA, and E! have streamed occasional episodes (mostly premieres and finales) but not entire seasons. As Broadcasting and Cable points out, it's probably because the cable networks can't demand a ton of money from carriers if their content is also available for free online.

Beginning next month, The Closer, Heartland, Saving Grace, and The Company will be on TNT.tv, while House of Payne, The Bill Engvall Show, My Boys, and The Frank Show will be on TBS.com. Episodes of The Closer, Bill Engvall, My Boys and The Frank Show will also be available on iTunes.

Via the Futon Critic, here's what's on tap on the Sci Fi Channel:

First of all, here's what's returning:

Eureka comes back for a second season July 10 (as mentioned before). I only caught a couple episodes of the first season, but I liked what I saw. If you tend to avoid Sci Fi because you think it's all deep, dark and profound stuff like Battlestar Galactica, you should give Eureka a try. It's quirky and fun without being trite.

Matthew Fox of Lost has joined the cast of the upcoming Speed Racer movie as Racer X.

FOX joins previously cast Christina Ricci (Trixie); Emile Hirsch (Speed); and John Goodman and Susan Sarandon (Speed's parents). The new movie will be helmed by the Wachowski brothers (The Matrix), and will begin shooting this summer (while Lost is on break) for a May 2008 release.

I'll admit I don't pay as much attention to movie scuttlebutt as I do television, but based on the rumblings about this movie I've caught here and there, it sounds like it could be pretty cool: an amplified, effects-laden version of the '60s cartoon. I imagine that, not unlike the Matrix movies, it'll be something that needs to be seen on the bigscreen.

(S04E16) Does this count as the end of an era? I'm not sure. When The OC first began, it sure felt like the beginning of an era. Now that it's over, I'm not exactly sure what it's the end of. Other than something that I'm really, really going to miss.

I have to be honest. The first twenty or so minutes of this episode fell pretty flat for me. I really wasn't enjoying the six-month jump, only to find out that everything we thought we knew was no more. Julie was engaged to Bullit, Taylor was back in France, and Seth and Summer had become "comfortable." Nothing was right, and despite the fact that we all knew how this was going to end, I was a little put off by the way it started. But it picked up steam and by the episode's end, I was completely satisfied with the way it all turned out.