TVSquad

• 3rd Rock From The Sun - Season Five
• The Flying Nun - Second Season
• Full House - Fourth Season
• Hardcastle and McCormack - Second Season (Canada)
• Hogan's Heroes - Fourth Season
• Hong Kong Phooey - Complete Series
• The Jeffersons - Fifth Season
• Magilla Gorilla - Complete Series
• Masters of Horror - Jenifer (Dario Argento)
• Remington Steele - Seasons Four and Five
• Rome - First Season
• The Simpsons - Eighth Season (Maggie box and regular box)
• Surface - Complete Series
• The Weird Al Show - Complete Series

With the announcement that the unaired pilot of Aquaman would become a downloadable video courtesy of iTunes I began to ponder all of the television shows that took place, or featured characters that lived, under the sea. After some extensive research (about five minutes) I discovered that there weren't many. So, as a public service to you, the dedicated TV Squad reader, I present the following list of underwater shows. Please put on your wet suits.

Surface: This on the list first because it was the most recent show telecast that featured underwater creatures. Only lasting one season on NBC (despite a strong fan base) the show starred Lake Bell as an oceanographer who is attacked by an unknown life-form in the Pacific Ocean. After that initial encounter, things go a little bonkers on planet Earth, including stars falling from the sky into the water, and unknown creatures washing up on public beaches. A cliffhanger episode was aired at the end of the first season, but was left up in the air due to the show's cancellation.

I came home this weekend to see my folks for Memorial Day (which coincidentally means that I've eaten an unhealthy amount of food and it's only Sunday afternoon) and we got into a pretty interesting conversation about TV. For starters, neither of them knew what "the upfronts" were and I suppose it makes sense. If I didn't follow television as much as I do, I probably wouldn't know what the upfronts were either. Moreover, I would most likely have had the same question my mother had: "Why do they call it the upfronts?" I'm not 100% sure, but I think it has something to do with the fact that ad-space is being presented to advertisers "up front" and if they sit on it, they may not be able to get the spots they want at a later date.

Yeah, I love TV and I write about it...but boy, sometimes I just hate it.

Case in point: last week sucked for television. You can have your Olympics, but it's also the week that we saw the last episode of Arrested Development, the cancellation of Love Monkey, and the (probable) cancellation of Surface. Ugh.

• "The guy's a conversational cul-de-sac." - Tom, about Bran's boring boss, on Love Monkey.
• "I will not be karma's bitch." - Earl, trying to take a little time off from helping people on his list, on My Name Is Earl. 
• "What the hell is that?!" - Rich, to Miles about Nim in the back seat of the car, on Surface.
• "On Monday, customs agents confiscated hundreds of pounds of cocaine and two pouds of Ecstasy aboard a Haitian freighter. But tonight's Grammy Awards still went on." - Jay Leno
• "I ask myself that every day." - Stephen Colbert, asking an expert "Why can't people smoke where they want?" and getting the answer "Why can't people masturbate where they want?" as a reply, on The Daily Show.  

I like a show that doesn't BS around with dull scenes in its season finale. Right off the bat we're given the scenario: Miles and his family are packing up to escape town before the tsunami hits, Caitlin's Vespa is stolen when she arrives too late to find Miles, and she's knocked out when the crook pushes her, and Laura steals a rental car from the airport and blows by a road block to find Rich, who has been locked in a room at the mysterious lab. (And what is Jackson's name and pic doing on the lab's computers? Section Chief?!?)

Here we go!

• NBC has a new Surface (check out my interview with Carter Jenkins) at 8pm, followed by repeats of Las Vegas and Medium.
• ABC has a new Wife Swap, followed by In Style Celebrity Weddings and a new The Bachelor.
• CBS has a mix of repeats and new: a repeat King of Queens at 8, followed by a repeat How I Met Your Mother, a repeat Two and a Half Men, and then new eps of Courting Alex and CSI: Miami.
• FOX has a new Skating With Celebrities, followed by a new 24.
• 7th Heaven is new on the WB at 8, followed by a new Related.
• Still more repeats from UPN: One on One, All of Us, Girlfriends, and Half & Half.
• Also at 8: a new Wildfire on ABC Family, and AMC has National Lampoon's Animal House. 
• At 9, a new Unwrapped on Food Network, "Fiery Foods."  
• Hallmark has the movie A Simple Twist of Fate, with Steve Martin, Gabriel Byrne, and Laura Linney. It's on at 9 too. 
• Also at 9: the debut of the A&E movie Flight 93.  
• At 10, Discovery has a new American Chopper, followed by a new Roush Racing: Driver X. 
• Also at 10: HBO2 has Phantom of the Opera.
• Do you miss the short-lived Law and Order spinoff, Trial By Jury? Catch a repeat on Court TV at 11.
• PBS has a new Tavis Smiley, with guest Newt Gingrich. Check local listings.
• At midnight, the Travel Channel has a Winter Olympics special, Torino 2006: The Traveler's Guide.  

So we've already told you that Surface is the best new show of the season, and why you should be watching it. I recently talked with Carter Jenkins, who plays Miles, the shy, curious, lizard-loving teen who started the whole thing when he brought an egg he found in the water into his home and now might be turning into a lizard thing himself. He called from California, after wrapping up filming on the NBC show for the season.

Carter Jenkins: Bob!
Bob Sassone: Hey man, how's it going?