TVSquad

I was really bitter towards CW for canceling Veronica Mars, so I was planning on not watching Gossip Girl out of spite. However, as a fan of (at least the first few seasons) of The O.C., the idea of another Josh Schwartz show intrigued me. Okay, that, and the fact that I loved Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (shut up), and the realization that my one-woman boycott wasn't going to bring VM back, all led me to the show.

When I tuned in, I really thought it would be The O.C. East, but Schwartz and the rest of the writers did a good job of making it its own show, I'm sure in no small part due to the fact that they had a series of books to work with. In fact, last night's 90210 premiere reminded me more of The O.C. than Gossip Girl ever has. So when I read that an O.C. alum was making her way to the Upper East Side, I wasn't exactly thrilled.

Casting spoilers ahead.

(S01E01 / S01E02) Wow. So, within the first five minutes it becomes abundantly clear that this is not your momma's 90210. First of all, there are actual non-whites at West Beverly High! Er, well, at least one. But he's a main character! Secondly, kids at West Beverly don't just hang out at the Peach Pit or whatever before class, they perform sexual acts in their big, shiny SUVs!

Other things are the same, however, such as the fact that being a new kid still sucks: even if you're an impossibly skinny girl with perfect teeth and hair like a shiny, pretty labradoodle, like Annie Wilson. People still call you Farm Girl, and Kelly Taylor's sister posts mean blogs about you. Meanwhile, if you're her brother, even being a lacrosse star can end badly, when jealous kids get you kicked off the team.

90210's premiere is a little uneven, but also oddly entertaining. One thing that everyone can agree on though, is that Jessica Walter is still awesome.

The bar mitzvah is a Jewish rite of passage, the time in a boy's life when he becomes a man -- symbolically -- by reading from the Torah. When a girl does the ritual, it's called a bat mitzvah. I mention all this because in TV, the bar/bat mitzvah has been the catalyst for some wonderful episodes, mostly on sitcoms.

The Simpsons celebrated Krusty the Klown's bar mitzvah in the episode "Today I Am A Klown," which was a variation on one of the all-time great sitcom bar mitzvahs of all time: the episode "Buddy Sorrell, Man and Boy," on The Dick Van Dyke Show. Square Pegs shared "Muffy's Bat Mitzvah" with viewers, and this past season, Curb Your Enthusiasm's Larry David used his friend Jeff Greene's daughter Sammi's bat mitzvah to announce that he never put a gerbil up his butt.

Every TV season, there is at least one scripted show in which clothes characters wear almost become as important as the characters themselves. I remember when Sex and the City was still offering fresh episodes and I was writing spoilers about the series, some of my readers emailed me asking for information and set pictures of what the ladies would be wearing in upcoming episodes. I received the same type of emails when The O.C. was on the air: fans wanted to know what Marissa and Summer would be wearing so they could try to find the clothes in stores. That information was almost as critical to them as knowing if Marissa and Ryan would hook/break up!

This year, a few series tried to be fashionable such as Lipstick Jungle, which had a partnership with Maybelline and even offered fashion tips during commercial breaks and on the show's website. However, when I surf the web on general TV websites and boards, the fashion talks seem to be directed more towards one show: Gossip Girl.

Melinda Clarke is one of the best vixens on TV. Last Tuesday, she appeared on The CW's Reaper as the Devil's mistress. This guest starring role had a few of the TV Squad bloggers wonder what her age is (she's 38 in case you were wondering) since she looked so good and young that she could have passed for Sam's girlfriend on the show. TV Squadder Joel even said "She would have topped my 'hot over 40' list if she were just a skosh older." That got me thinking that maybe it was time to put Melinda Clarke in the limelight and let everyone know who she is and of the dominatrix roles she played!

As if we didn't already have some incredible things to giveaway here already, here's one that just passed over the TV Squad desk just the other night, and it couldn't possibly wait until next week. We've got two copies of The OC - The Complete Series on DVD, which is already available in stores today. All you've got to do is submit a comment below before 5PM Eastern, December 6, and mention why you'd like to own the series. We'll randomly choose two winners to receive the DVDs!

Some other details:
Click here for complete Official Rules.

Here are the new TV DVDs, in stores tomorrow.

• 60 Minutes - Here Come The Millenials
• Futurama - Bender's Big Score
• Happy Days - Season 3 and Seasons 1-3 set
• The Land Before Time - Good Times and Good Friends
• Laverne & Shirley - Season 3
• The Man From U.N.C.L.E. - Complete Series
• Mork & Mindy - Season 3
• Naruto - Vol. 18
• The O.C. - Complete Series
• Power Rangers - Operation Overdrive: Vol. 3, Blue Sapphire

One of my favorite characters on The O.C. was Summer Roberts. I liked her humor, naivety, and her spark. When FOX announced the cancellation of the show, I was sad to depart with characters like her, the Cohens and Taylor. So when NBC announced today that she would guest star on a few episodes of Chuck, I was delighted to see the actress return to the small screen!

Bilson will appear in a multi-episode arc on NBC's new action-comedy airing Mondays before Heroes. She is set to play a love interest for the lead character of Chuck, played by Zachary Levi. Her character will be Chuck's first romantic interest since his girlfriend broke up with him a few years ago while in college.

You know you've moved on in the TV critics press tour from CBS to its sister network The CW by the pages -- those helpful young men and women who direct members of the press to where lunch is being served. They also bring handheld microphones to the reporters during the sessions so their questions can be heard.

I'm betting that the CBS pages are wearing the same polyester red jackets that I did way back when Murphy Brown was on the air.

The CW pages wear green coats, and the pages themselves all look like models. Many of them are hotter than the actors on the CW shows themselves. (And the stars on CW shows are pretty hot!) I wonder how many of the pages (actors, too, I'm betting) are thinking, "I should be on a show," as they're running a microphone over to a reporter.

NBC's new lineup continued on day two of its press presentation with Chuck, a one-hour drama by Josh Schwartz and McG, the creative team that brought viewers The O.C. The new series stars Zachary Levi, best known for his four years on Less Than Perfect.

If we're supposed to like Chuck, Levi's well cast in the role. He has a self-effacing way about him, especially when asked if he's bulked up over the last few years. He jokes he's eaten a lot of pizza and doesn't work out as much as he should.

Co-star Adam Baldwin is asked a question pretty much everyone knows the answer to. No, he's not related to the famous acting Baldwin brothers of Long Island. Baldwin jokes he hopes to meet Alec Baldwin (30 Rock) now that they're both on NBC so they can settle this in person.

Early June, I reported in TV Squad's Spoilers Anonymous feature that when Smallville would return in September the Daily Planet would have a new editor. The show was looking for an "extremely hot thirtysomething actor" to play this new character who would be featured in six of the first eight episodes and could become Lois Lane's new love interest.

TV Guide's Michael Ausiello reports that Hidden Palms' Michael Cassidy landed the role.

First I thought this would be a summer filled with possibly watching one or two summer series, and then catching up on the growing stack of books in my "to be read" pile ... but somehow it's morphed into the "DVR + TV shows on DVD Summer of Rock " *fanfare*. It's actually not that dramatic, but I like to stick fanfare in whenever I can. Theme songs are one thing, but fanfare can pepper mundane events with joy. "Here's your latte, sir." *fanfare* See what I mean?

The new fall season isn't etched in stone yet. The networks could still make some changes, especially when it comes to time slots. But also to the casts that were in the pilots for the new shows.

Case in point, Moonlight. The new CBS vampire private eye show is already looking for a new leading lady to play opposite Alex O'Loughlin. Shannon Lucio was his romantic partner in the pilot, but they're getting rid of her and looking for someone else for the role. Lucio was formerly on The O.C.

Moonlight will air on Friday nights at 9 this fall, after the renewed Ghost Whisperer.

Here are the new TV DVDs, in stores tomorrow.

• 24 - Slim sets for seasons 1-4.
• Airwolf - Season 3
• Avatar: The Last Airbender - Book 2: Earth, Vol. 3
• Kitchen Confidential - Complete Series
• The Magnificent Seven - Season 2
• Mythbusters - Collection 1
• The O.C. - Season 4
• Roots - 30th Anniversary Edition
• Scrubs - Season 5
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Season 1, Vol. 1

Welcome to TV Squad Lists (formerly 'The Five'), a feature where each blogger has a chance to list his or her own rundown of things in television that stand out from the rest, both good and bad.

Last week I gave you a pretty big list of popular "drinkeries" from TV, but I think where I went wrong was trying too hard to list every watering hole possible. Since I'm covering eateries this week, I'm certain I'll miss some of your favorites, but I'm going to list what I believe to be the most popular dining spots from television, both past and present. And since there are way too many real spots on TV to mention (Hell's Kitchen, Kitchen Stadium, etc.), I'll stick with fictional spots, even if they're based on real ones.

This time let's go with 14 of them.

1) Arnold's/Al's Drive-In (Happy Days) -- I struggled for a bit with what I would call the number one eatery on TV, but I kept coming back to this spot. Arnold's/Al's was in nearly every episode as far as I can recall, and of course housed The Fonz's office. After it burned down, the signage changed to Al's.