TVSquad

• At 8, ABC has a new Wipeout, followed by new episodes of I Survived a Japanese Game Show and Primetime: Crime.
• FOX has a new, two-hour So You Think You Can Dance at 8.
• PBS has a new American Masters at 8.
• At 9, NBC has a new America's Got Talent, then a new episode of The Philanthropist.
• BBC America has a new episode of Gordon Ramsay's The F Word at 9.
• At 10, Discovery has the season finale of Pitchmen.
• A&E has two new episodes of Tattoo Highway at 10.
• TBS has two new episodes of Tyler Perry's Meet The Browns at 10.
• There's a new episode of The Fashion Show on Bravo at 10.
• Also at 10: MTV has a new Real World.
• At 10:30, Comedy Central has a new Reno 911!

Check your local TV listings for more.

After the jump, the late night talk shows.

• At 8, ABC has a new Wipeout, followed by a new I Survived A Japanese Game Show and Primetime: Questions for the President: A Prescription for America.
• NBC has the season finale of I'm A Celebrity... at 8, then a new America's Got Talent and the series premiere of The Philanthropist.
• FOX has a new, two-hour So You Think You Can Dance.
• Discovery has a new Time Warp at 8.
• Also at 8: Cartoon Network has a new episode of The Othersiders.
• At 9, A&E has a new Dog The Bounty Hunter, followed by two new episodes of Tattoo Highway.
• History Channel has a new MonsterQuest at 9
• There's a new Throwdown with Bobby Flay on Food Network at 9.
• At 10, TBS has two new episodes of Tyler Perry's Meet The Browns.
• Bravo has a new Top Chef Masters at 10.
• MTV has the season premiere of Real World: Cancun at 10.
• Discovery has a new Pitchmen at 10.
• At 10:30, Comedy Central has a new Reno 911!
• TCM has Dr. Strangelove at 10:30.
  

Check your local TV listings for more.

After the jump, the late night talk shows.

NBC has been promoting the crap out of their new summer adventure series, The Philanthropist, for weeks now. Starring James Purefoy as Teddy Rist, a billionaire playboy who decides to save the world, The previews held absolutely no interest for me. Now, after having seen the pilot, I realize that my first impression was the correct one.

Premiering tonight at 10 PM, The Philanthropist is basically an hour of an insufferable rich dude talking about how awesome he is. We watch the premise of the show unfold through the eyes of Rist himself, as he tells his tale of heroism (saving a Nigerian boy from drowning; surviving a shoot-out and a snake bite in order to deliver some Cholera vaccines to a village) to a bored bartender.

When I first heard that there was a show coming up called The Philanthropist (which isn't an easy word to type out, by the way), I thought it was another reality show. Maybe something where a contestants compete to see who wins more money for charity or something. But it actually stars James Purefoy as a rich guy who goes around the world helping people. It also stars Jesse L. Martin and Neve Campbell. Here's a scene from the pilot. It starts June 24.

It's amazing how many new shows are on during the summer now. Who needs the outdoors? Let us know which show you're most looking forward to watching this summer (I didn't include shows that have already premiered, such as Burn Notice, So You Think You Can Dance, and The Listener). A poll can only be so long, so if you're show isn't listed let us know in the comments.

Wow, is this right? Jesse L. Martin was on Law and Order for nine seasons? How could that be? Where has the last decade gone? I feel really old.

Martin was indeed on the hit NBC drama for that long. He left last season, in a storyline involving a gambling addiction, a murder, and a court trial. But now he might actually be coming back to the same network. Martin is in negotiations to play the James Purefoy's sidekick on the midseason replacement series The Philanthropist, about a rich man who helps people with his dough. The character's name is Philip Maidstone.

Martin must really like NBC. He's also going to be in a new Muppets movie this Christmas season on the network.

It will be interesting to see how big this sidekick role will be, because you would think at this point that Martin would be getting or going for the lead roles, not the buddy ones.

Here's something I didn't know: it's cheaper to film in England and Africa than it is to film in Hollywood.

NBC has announced that their new midseason drama The Philanthropist (a real pain to spell, by the way) won't be filmed in the U.S. at all. Instead, the production will save money by setting the show and filming the show in London, with some filming also being done in Africa and the Czech Republic. Executive producer and writer David Eick, however, will stay in Los Angeles. The first episode will be directed by Peter Horton.

Actually, NBC already had its upfront over a month ago. This is a "spotlight event," a Part 2, if you will (a walk-thru set up at 30 Rock for advertisers and the media), but they did make some interesting announcements today.

This biggest announcement (though hardly a surprise at this point) was that Jimmy Fallon will take over on Late Night when Conan O'Brien takes over for Jay Leno. This will happen next year.

Here are some of the other announcements made at today's even and a recap of the new shows and the shows that have been canceled. And in this post, I promise not to fail you, rainbow chicken.

In case you haven't heard, there is the possibility of a writers strike in early 2008, and TV networks have started to buy more and more scripts ahead of time just in case.

ABC has Section 8, which is described as being about "everyday people with exceptional neurological abilities recruited to work for a secret branch of a government agency" (again? *sigh*). NBC passed on the show because it was too much like another show they have about ordinary folks with powers (hmmm...The Biggest Loser?)