TVSquad

Actor and comedian Jim Gaffigan has come a long way from driving down the stock price for Hot Pockets.

He landed his own short-lived sitcom on CBS, thanks to David Letterman, called Welcome to New York and a co-starring role on the hit TBS' dramedy My Boys, which returns for a third season on March 31.

He also racked up a long resume of funny and dramatic roles on hit shows like Sex and the City, Flight of the Conchords, and That 70's Show. He is also one of the few actors to score appearances on all of the Law & Order series if you don't count the spinoff that hardcore L&O cultists are forbidden to say out loud.

Damn, I wish I had thought of this.

Artist and writer Dan Meth has created a series of cool pop culture charts at his web site, and the one on the right is a handy guide to sitcom homes. Sense a pattern? The shows in the top half all have kitchens on the left and living rooms on the right (how we see them via the camera angle), and the ones on the bottom have the living room on the left and the kitchen on the right.

I guess there are only so many things you can do on a sitcom, especially if it's filmed in front of an audience as many of these were.

Here are the new TV DVDs, in stores tomorrow.

Lots of complete series sets this week, including two you probably thought you'd never see, Quark and Ultraman. I have no nostalgic memories of Ultraman, but Quark was a show I enjoyed. It's also neat to see shows like The Shari Lewis Show or DVD.

I wonder why the Back To You set isn't a complete series set instead of just Season 1? Maybe it was already in production before the show was canceled.

• Back To You - Season 1
• CSI - Season 8
• Charlie and Lola - Vol. 1-8
• The Deputy - Best Of
• Life with Derek - Season 1
• Lil' Bush - Season 2
• Lovejoy - Christmas Specials
• Nash Bridges - Season 1
• The Partridge Family - Season 3
• Quark - Complete Series
• Rules of Engagement - Season 2
• The Sarah Silverman Program - Season 2, Vol. 1
• Scott Baio is 45... - Seasons 1 and 2
• The Shari Lewis Show - A Shari Lewis Christmas
• SpongeBob SquarePants - Who Bob What Pants
• Survivorman - Season 2
• That 70s Show - Complete Series
• Ultraman - Complete Series
• The Unit - Season 3
• The Universe - Complete Series

More giveaways today! We've got a copy of That '70s Show - The Complete Series Stash on DVD for one lucky, random commenter. The DVD set is available in stores starting tomorrow.

To enter, leave a comment below before 5:00PM Eastern, Friday, October 17 simply telling us why you'd like to own this DVD set. As always, we'll randomly choose one winner amongst the eligible entries. Some other details:
Click here for complete Official Rules.

"This is the first script I've read that made me excited to come back to TV," said the actor about his latest project. The actor is Wilmer Valderrama; the project is a Fox comedy pilot called The Emancipation of Ernesto.

Wilmer, who is best-known from his eight seasons on That '70s Show -- a supporting player on the Fox mainstay -- will be front and center on this new one-hour, single camera comedy. He's Ernesto, and Ernesto is a quirky character.

The show is citing two 1979 films -- for starters -- as reminiscent of The Emancipation of Ernesto: Steve Martin's The Jerk, as well as Chauncey Gardiner, the Peter Seller's character in Being There. Why? Well, it's the Ernesto character.

MTV is hooking up with That '70s Show's Fez (Wilmer Valderrama) to develop a scripted comedy that takes a look at celebrity worship. The series, titled Baby Dolls, which will be filmed in documentary style, is told from the point of view of "a naive and jaded personal assistant to a young actress." Naive and jaded? So this person has a lack of experience, judgment or knowledge about the world but is hardworking and completely worn out by all the energy he or she puts into the job? Sounds like a job for Kenneth the Page from 30 Rock!

Or I guess Valderrama could play the role himself. He certainly played the role of "naive" to a T in That '70s Show and hasn't been doing much TV work outside of getting Punk'd by fellow '70s co-star Ashton Kutcher from time to time. Doesn't he know that there's a legion of Fez-natics out here just waiting for him to grace our screens again. Hell, keep it the same character ... Fez twenty years later working as a personal assistanta. "Would you like me to powder your breasts with my nose?"

• TCM has classic war/military movies all day and night.
• At 6am, USA has an NCIS marathon.
• At 8, A&E has a marathon of City Confidential episodes.
• History Channel has a MonsterQuest marathon at 8.
• Sci-Fi has a Star Trek: Enterprise marathon at 8.
• Also at 8: TV One has a Day Break marathon.
• At 9, BBC America has a Monty Python's Flying Circus marathon.
• FX has a That 70s Show marathon starting at 9.
• GSN has a Match Game marathon at 9.
• Spike has a CSI marathon starting at 9.
• At 10, TNT has a Law and Order marathon.
• At 11, G4 has a Cops marathon.
• Lifetime has a bunch of "sex" movies starting at 11.
• At noon, GSN will have a special GSN Live from Iraq, featuring ex-game show contestants who are stationed there.
• There's a Top Chef marathon on Bravo starting at 2:30.
• At 4, Discovery has a Deadliest Catch marathon.

(Thanks to Interesting Pile)

(S04E12) I had all but forgotten about Kurtwood Smith. I've been a big fan ever since Robocop and this character is really fun to watch. I only wish the writers had given his character a different name. Every time someone calls him Agent Cooper, I flashback to Twin Peaks and I feel like I'm betraying Medium by wishing that Peaks was still on the air.

One of the best things about Smith is how he can be so menacing while still keeping a smile on his face. In fact, I find him scarier when he smiles. I felt the same way when Red would actually say something nice to a member of his family on That 70's Show.

Here are the new TV DVDs, in stores tomorrow.

• Alvin & The Chipmunks - Funny, We Shrunk The Adults
• Becker - Season 1
• Doctor Who - The Time Warrior and Timelash
• Father Knows Best - Season 1
• John From Cincinnati - Complete Series
• Law and Order: SVU - Season 6
• Martin - Season 4
• Murder, She Wrote - Season 8
• Stingray - Complete Series
• That 70's Show - Season 8
• Tomorrow - John, Paul, Tom, and Ringo

(S01E01) I'm not quite sure what to make of this show. It's hard to decide what I like and don't like considering that the show is really not that unique. For example, I've always been a fan of Chris Parnell but his work on Miss Guided pales in comparison to the stuff he does on 30 Rock. The same goes for Brooke Burns but if I had to choose, I'd rather see her in those jeans she wore on Dog Eat Dog.

Judy Greer is super funny. Her guest spot on Two and a half Men was brilliant in my opinion. So when she got her own show, I was interested to say the least.

Here are the new TV DVDs, in stores tomorrow.

• Absolutely Fabulous - The White Box
• Charlie and Lola - Vol. 6
• The Christmas Blessing (TV movie)
• The House Without A Christmas Tree (TV movie)
• Ironside - Season 2
• MacGyver - The Complete Series
• Masters of Horror - Season 1, Vol. 2 and The Damned Thing
• Medium - Season 3
• Mythbusters - Collection 2
• Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares (UK) - Vol. 1
• Roseanne - Season 9
• Squidbillies - Vol. 1
• Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip - The Complete Series
• That 70s Show - Season 7
• Wanted: Dead or Alive - Season 3

Remember everyone, you've got until 5:00 PM Eastern today to enter our giveaway of five copies of That '70 Show Season Six on DVD! Any comments we get after 5PM won't be counted, and only enter once or we'll have to disqualify you. Make sure you comment on the original post -- no comments on this one.

We'll contact the winners later in the week. Good luck!

Here are the new TV DVDs, in stores tomorrow.

• The 4400 - Season 3
• Cagney & Lacey - Season 1
• Daniel Boone - Season 3
• Everybody Loves Raymond - Season 8
• Jason of Star Command - Complete Series
• McLeod's Daughters - Season 2
• That 70s Show - Season 6
• Voltron: Defender of the Universe: Collection 3: Green Lion
• The Waltons - Season 5

Congratulations to Anita, Andrew, Terry, Rob and Sam on each winning a copy of the Highlander: The Ultimate Collection DVD set in our last giveaway.

For our next giveaway, we're giving out five copies of the That '70s Show Season Six DVD set! We'll give one copy away to five randomly chosen commenters to this post. Just post a comment below stating your favorite episode of the entire series. We'll randomly choose five winning entries from all eligible comments.

Some basic rules and clarifications:

- To enter, leave a confirmed comment below stating what your favorite episode of That '70s Show is. What episode you mention makes absolutely no difference, as long as it's a true one.
- The comment must be left before May 11, 2007 at 5:00 PM Eastern Time.
- You can only enter once.
- The winning entry will be chosen completely at random.

And now we present you with the legalities of the contest. (Read them. Please.)

Tom Poston, one of the classic veterans of TV comedy, died earlier today at his home in Los Angeles. He appeared on The Steve Allen Show in the 1950s and Newhart in the 1980s.

Poston played handyman George Utley on Newhart, and was also a regular on another Bob Newhart series, Bob. And to keep the connection to Newhart going, he played Cliff "The Peeper" Murdock on The Bob Newhart Show in the 70s. Poston also appeared on Grace Under Fire, Mork & Mindy, The Simpsons, Will & Grace, Home Improvement, Murphy Brown, Get Smart, Coach, The Love Boat, Studio One, The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, Just Shoot Me, That 70s Show, and dozens of other shows over the years.

Poston was married to actress Suzanne Pleshette, who played Newhart's wife Emily on The Bob Newhart Show.