TVSquad

When you're a ratings-challenged fledgling network like the CW, you're going to do anything you can to get a leg up on the competition. Releasing sex-filled advertisements for your most high-profile show is a good start, but that alone won't get the job done. To that end, the CW has just announced that it's moving its fall premiere dates up to September 1st, well ahead of the beginning of the traditional broadcast season.

The idea behind the move is that you're already going to be hooked on Gossip Girl and Top Model by the time the other networks get around to premiering their fall shows, sometime around mid-to-late September. The season isn't the only thing the CW is starting early, however. Starting in November, they're also extending prime time, with original programming beginning at 6:30 on Sunday nights.

Check out CW's full premiere schedule after the jump.

As I said in my post about the 90210 panel, CW entertainment president Dawn Ostroff doesn't like to give us definitive answers. For some reason, she doesn't feel she has to. Problem is, that doesn't make the critics very happy. We don't like it when someone isn't being forthright with us, and we can sense it.

In her executive session, Ostroff avoided saying anything definitive on two major topics: the lack of "urban" shows on the schedule and the mechanics of the network's deal with Media Rights Capital to produce the network's entire Sunday block of shows.

• At 7, ABC has two new episodes of Extreme Makeover, followed by the two hour season finale of Desperate Housewives.
• CBS has a new 60 Minutes at 7, then The Country Music Awards.
• NBC has a new Dateline at 7, followed by a marathon of The Office.
• At 8, The CW has the season finale of Everybody Hates Chris, then the series finale of Aliens in America and the season finale of The Game.
• FOX has the season finales of The Simpsons and King of the Hill at 8.
• History Channel has the special Indiana Jones and the Ultimate Quest at 8.
• TV Land has the M*A*S*H series finale at 8.
• Also at 8: Food Network has a new Challenge.
• At 8:55: Sci-Fi has the Indiana Jones-related documentary The Mystery of the Crystal Skulls.
• At 9, PBS has a new Masterpiece.
• There's a new episode of The Tudors on Showtime at 9, then a new This American Life.
• At 9:30, FOX has the season finale of American Dad.
• At midnight, Cartoon Network has a new Metalocalypse, followed by new episodes of Squidbillies and Assy McGee.

Check your local TV listings for more.

Ok, it is after midnight here in the Jet City, and as I sit down to bang this post out on my beloved Model M it would appear that my tasty glass of juice is half empty. Maybe I'm just not in the right frame of mind to spin this news in a positive direction that will lead to a 2009 full of Dollhouse win.

Tucked away in a report on various network goings on over at Hollywood Reporter is a little line that says "Dollhouse is expected to launch mid-season." This is me shaking my fist in the general direction of Fox and screaming "Khaaaaan!" Just, because. Doesn't this seem like a road that has been traveled before? It's one that usually leads to a pretty disappointing destination. We haven't seen the finished fall schedule yet, but I would wager that most of us could easily find three or four hours where the network would be better served by inserting Dollhouse. Highlights of what the networks have planned are available after the jump.

Sweeps period is not only important for networks but also for TV viewers. Sweeps periods are when some of the biggest events in a TV series happen: deaths, explosions, extra special guest stars, etc.

To prepare you for November sweeps, I've combed through the networks' sweeps press releases and official episode descriptions and extracted what seems to be the juicy information for almost all scripted series on the five major networks.

All spoilers listed after the jump are actually spoilers the networks want you to know!

(S01E01) "I am pretty sure a lot of us are going to crash and burn pretty horribly." - Fred, the 45-year-old virgin

Okay, let me start by saying I won't follow this show on a consistent basis unless you guys beg me to. Really there is not much of a point. There isn't a whole lot to analyze here, nothing to obsess over, nothing to make this an addictive reality competition on par with your So You Think You Can Dances and those Dancing with the Starses.

(S01E15) The plot of The Game sounded kind of cheesy at first. The idea of a civilization style game that actually controls a world initially put me off a bit. I had a hard time getting into the show because of it. Once the situation escalated a bit, it was much easier to get into things.

• At 8, ABC has a new Dancing with the Stars, then a new episode of The Bachelor.
• CBS has a new How I Met Your Mother at 8, followed by new episodes of Old Christine, Two and a Half Men, King of Queens, and CSI: Miami.
• NBC has new episodes of Deal Or No Deal, Heroes, and The Real Wedding Crashers.
• There's a new Everybody Hates Chris at 8 on The CW, then new episodes of All Of Us, Girlfriends, and The Game.
• TLC has two new eps of Little People, Big World at 8.
• At 9, FOX has a new 24.
• Larry King Week starts on CNN at 9.
• USA has a new Monday Night RAW at 9.
• At 10, FX has a new episode of The Riches.
• Also at 10: Food Network has a new Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, followed by a new The Secret Life Of...

Check your local TV listings for more.

• At 8, ABC has a new Dancing with the Stars, then a new Bachelor.
• NBC has a new Deal Or No Deal at 8, followed by new episodes of Heroes and The Real Wedding Crashers.
• FOX has a new Drive at 8, then a new 24.
• The CW has a new Everybody Hates Chris at 8, then new episodes of All Of Us, Girlfriends, and The Game.
• Also at 8: Food Network has a new Emeril Live, then a new Unwrapped.
• At 8:30, CBS has a new Old Christine, then new episodes of Two and a Half Men, King of Queens, and CSI: Miami.
• At 9, PBS has a new American Experience.
• Lifetime has a new movie at 9, A Life Interrupted.
• At 10, Discovery has a new Stunt Junkies.
• There's a new ep of The Riches on FX at 10.
• At 10:30, Food Network has a new The Secret Life Of...

Check your local TV listings for more.

Hey, Brigitte here with TV Squad Daily. I'll be covering the TV stories I find interesting each day, Monday through Friday, in this video blog.

Today on TV Squad Daily:

• Forgotten boy band members may be joining together to form a new pop group for a VH1 reality series in spring 2007.
  
• Rapper "The Game" challenged WWE wrestler "The Game" to a fight (a real one) over their shared name.
  
• A letter writing campaign is convincing stores to stop selling Drinko, a drinking game inspired by The Price is Right's game Plinko.
  

The video's embedded below, or you can download the file directly (Quicktime required). You can also subscribe to this vodcast via our feed.

How's this for a hip-hop feud? 50 Cent vs. Oprah. In the January issue of Elle magazine, 50 Cent states that Winfrey "started out with black women's views but has been catering to middle-aged white American women for so long that she's become one herself." The old Oreo accusation - white on the inside, black on the outside.

It's bad enough that 50 has dissed every rapper in the game - Ja Rule, Nas, Fat Joe, Shyne, Jadakiss, D-Block and The Game. Now, he has to go and diss one of the most important black public figures of the past twenty years. I don't see 50 using his fortune to open schools for girls in South Africa or getting America to read Toni Morrison novels. There's a great deal you can take down Oprah for, but questioning the integrity of her "blackness" is ridiculous - particularly when done by a rapper who owes much of his success to industry mentor and white boy Eminem. Seriously, 50, stick to telling us how to party like it's our birthday instead of picking fights with the big O.

I may get a little pissy along the way, so please forgive me in advance.

The CW Network, a amalgamation of the old WB and UPN networks, has ordered full seasons for two of its shows. The first is the Kelsey Grammer-produced comedy The Game. Network executives have been impressed with the 95% retention rate of this show from its lead-in Girlfriends, which is also produced by Kelsey Grammer. According to the press release, The Game centers on the lives and relationships among NFL wives, girlfriends and mom/managers who use their best to help their men stay on the field and on their arm.

In a move that's a bit of a head scratcher, The CW has decided to flip-flop its Sunday and Monday night schedules. That means the oddly paired 7th Heaven and Runaway will be on Sundays, while Everybody Hates Chris, All of Us, Girlfriends and The Game will move to Monday nights. The switcharoo puts The CW's comedy block up against CBS' Monday night comedy block, which includes How I Met Your Mother and The New Adventures of Old Christine. The schedule change begins Monday, Oct. 9 for the comedies and Sunday, Oct. 15th for the dramas.

Names like Regina King, Madeleine Stowe, Christine Taylor and Jonathan Silverman should add some clout to all sorts of dramas and comedies being planned by the networks for next fall.

Here is the latest casting news from The Hollywood Reporter: