TVSquad

Last night, USA Network invited some of their favorite advertisers -- and a few reporters -- to their upfront presentation, held at The Modern, a sleek restaurant and lounge located at New York's Museum of Modern Art. It was an opportunity for USA and NBC Universal executives to crow about the network's continued success as well as let advertisers know what's coming up in 2008 and how they can combine their advertising message with the unique "characters" that USA offers.

All that's well and good -- be ready for more product placement and ad pods that other networks have recently adopted -- but the best part about an upfront presentation are the stars that the network drags out to schmooze and booze with those advertisers. And USA brought the big guns, including Tony Shalhoub from Monk, Debra Messing from The Starter Wife, Jeffrey Donovan and Bruce Campbell from Burn Notice, Dulé Hill, James Roday, and Corbin Bernsen from Psych, Kathryn Erbe and Chris Noth from Law & Order: Criminal Intent, the WWE's Triple H and Shawn Michaels, and Mary McCormack from the network's new show In Plain Sight. I got to speak to a few of them; audio of those interviews is after the jump.

Good news for Debra Messing and all of the others involved in the miniseries The Starter Wife. After garnering some pretty decent ratings and several Emmy nominations, USA Networks has given a full series order to the comedy-drama based on the successful novel by Gigi Levangie Grazer.

Former Will & Grace star Messing will return as Molly Kagan, the former Hollywood wife who is now experiencing a second chance at life after her recent divorce. Also returning will be the executive production team of Grazer, Josann McGibbon and Sara Parriott. There is no information as to when filming will begin for the premiere season of The Starter Wife or when the first episode will air.

Here are the new TV DVDs, in stores tomorrow.

• The Addams Family - Vol. 3
• Avatar: The Last Airbender - Complete Book 2
• Bones - Season 2
• Charmed - Season 8
• Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends - Season 2
• Fraggle Rock - Season 3
• Goosebumps - Say Cheese and Die, It Came From Beneath The Sink, and Night of the Living Dummy
• Grey's Anatomy - Season 3 (Extended)
• I Dream of Jeannie - Season 4
• Jericho - Set 2
• Judge Judy - Justice Served
• Las Vegas - Season 4
• Masada - Complete Miniseries
• McHale's Navy - Season 2
• Prime Suspect - Prime Suspect 7
• The Starter Wife - Complete Miniseries
• Supernatural - Season 2
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Fast Forward, Vol. 2
• Tom and Jerry - Spotlight Collection, Vol. 3
• Two and a Half Men - Season 1

It's not going to be Harvey Keitel or Geena Davis or Michael Keaton or even Rosie O'Donnell. The new person in charge on Criminal Minds is Joe Mantegna.

The CBS show hired Mantegna over the weekend, ending speculation over who would replace Mandy Patinkin, who has already left the show and will not be making anymore appearances. Besides classic movies such as House of Games and Bugsy, Mantegna costarred on the USA series The Starter Wife earlier this summer, was on the gone-but-not-forgotten drama Joan of Arcadia, does the voice of Fat Tony on The Simpsons, and made a poor substitute for Robert Urich when they made those Spenser movies on cable (nothing against Mantegna, he was quite good, it just wasn't Spenser, you know?).

No word yet on how they'll write out Patinkin or how Mantegna's character will join the team, though some episodes are already done and Patinkin's abscence will be explained in the season premiere.

Summertime and TV in my house means three things: Watching new summer programming, catching up on TV shows I missed during the conventional September-through-May TV season and baseball, specifically Boston Red Sox baseball.

In fact, on summer evenings, my TV is most likely tuned in to a baseball game. But when the Sox are not playing -- or when they're getting clobbered or if they're playing a really late west coast game -- I turn on other shows such as:

1. Entourage. Yes, they're spoiled adolescents. They're narcissistic. They play video games all day and party all night as if they're entitled to live lives of luxury. But the guys from Entourage greatly amuse me and I love hating Jeremy Piven's Ari Gold.

Here are the weekly cable ratings, by number of viewers.

1. The Sopranos* (HBO)
2. WWE Monday Night RAW - 10pm (USA)
3. House of Payne (TBS)
4. Nextel Cup Racing (TNT)
5. WWE Monday Night RAW - 9pm (USA)
6. The Starter Wife (USA)
7. SpongeBob SquarePants (Nickelodeon)
8. Shrek (TBS)
9. SpongeBob SquarePants (Nickelodeon)
10. Ned's Declassified (Nickelodeon)

* After America's Got Talent, The Sopranos was the most watched show on TV last week, network or cable.

Here are the weekly cable ratings, by number of viewers.

1. NBA Playoffs - Cavaliers/Pistons (TNT)
2. The Sopranos (HBO)
3. NBA Playoffs - Cavaliers/Pistons (TNT)
4. NBA Playoffs - Cavaliers/Pistons (TNT)
5. The Starter Wife (USA)
6. Yankees/Red Sox (ESPN)
7. NBA Playoffs - Cavaliers/Pistons (TNT)
8. NBA Playoffs - Cavaliers/Pistons (TNT)
9. NBA Playoffs - Spurs/Jazz (ESPN)
10. WWE Monday Night RAW (USA)

Debra Messing will star in The Starter Wife mini-series on USA Network this spring and summer. She'll play the "newly single and utterly fabulous" Molly Kagan. The series is based on the novel by the same name, about how the 40-something Kagan redefines herself after getting a divorce.

The whole thing is part of Ponds' anti-aging campaign, as Ponds is co-producing the flick. The organization is hosting a contest in advance of The Starter Wife to find the five 40-something women "who best embody the Pond's brand of grown-up beauty."

The six-hour event premieres May 31 and runs through June 28.