TVSquad

Bill Engvall is slowly but surely taking over your television.

Brett already told you about the annoying commercial-within-a-show ads for The Bill Engvall Show that TBS is running, and now comes word that the show will air this Monday night on CBS. The second season of the show starts on TBS June 12 and the cable network is trying to get the show some attention. In return, CBS can plug their shows on TBS.

I'm afraid The Bill Engvall Show is one of those shows that has escaped my radar, though I did see one clip from an episode that was actually pretty funny. I don't think that running an episode on CBS is going to make me watch the show that night, but I have to admit that this news did at least remind me that I should check out the show this summer and see how it is.

In today's Washington Post, Saturday Night Live kingpin Lorne Michaels defended his choice of Fred Armisen to play Barack Obama, starting with last week's episode. After the much-publicized search for an Obama impersonator (or Fauxbama, as some are calling it), Michaels decided on Armisen, who is of white and Asian origin. Armisen, who's talented enough to do excellent imitations of people ranging from Prince to Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, did a credible job playing Obama, a man who is somewhat hard to pin down, imitation-wise.

But some critics, including the Chicago Tribune's Maureen Ryan, have very bluntly wondered why an African-American didn't play Obama. "They couldn't find an African-American performer who was funny enough to play the junior senator from Illinois? They couldn't find one in New York? Not anywhere in the country? Really?" wrote Ryan on her Tribune blog.

(S06E06) "I can't pause toast!" - Leon

Best episode of the season thus far. Hands down. Plus, and I know people have been harping on me in the comments for constantly bringing this up, but Larry finally dropped the morbid themes. I'm not saying previous episodes this season have been bad because of their tone, but when they're similar to this one it's better. Larry's trademark jovial obscene and sexual humor always makes for the best episodes and this one was chock full of it.

Look, a family sitcom that's NOT on Disney or Nickelodeon which been renewed for another season! How unique!

TBS has ordered up a second season of 10 episodes of The Bill Engvall Show. The comedy, which entered the television landscape back in July, premiered with fairly strong ratings and remained the number two sitcom among adults 18-49 on ad-supported cable (fancy talk for basic cable) for the rest of its freshman season.

Former SNL'er Tim Meadows has taken a co-starring role in The Bill Engvall Show. As Adam reported earlier this month, Engvall plays a family counselor whose family could (ironically and typically) use some counseling of its own. Nancy Travis will play Engvall's wife who is trying to raise their three children right. Meadows will play Engvall's friend, who is also a doctor. The sitcom will air on TBS.

Where has Tim Meadows been since leaving SNL in 2000? Well, most recently he had some guest-starring roles in The Office, Everybody Hates Chris, Help Me Help You and According to Jim.

After he ended his long run on Saturday Night Live in 2000, it seemed like Tim Meadows followed the career path most former SNLers go down; in other words, he faded into the background.

Now it looks like Meadows has come back, but stealthily so. He's been all over TV over the last year or so, but in small supporting or guest roles. For instance, last year, he was in a great episode of The Office, playing a client that Michael Scott schmoozes over drinks at the local Chili's. He's also has been a few episodes of Help Me Help You, playing a character named Petey. He also made a reality push this past summer, as a contestant on Gameshow Marathon and a judge during the early rounds of Last Comic Standing.

(S01E04) It could be my imagination, but I could swear that the remaining three celebrities vying for the last seat of Game Show Marathon semi-finals were having a good time. Maybe they were finally warming up to each other after four games, maybe it was a 'I don't care what happens, I'm going to have fun' belief. Or, maybe it's the fact they were playing Press Your Luck and, dammit, they really had a competition going on.

The original Press Your Luck, which aired on CBS from 1983 until 1986 was such a cool concept that the show is still a favorite to this day. So, it was great to see it in all it's glory on Game Show Marathon. Other than the late Peter Tomarken all of the elements were there, the spinning set, the big board, the theme music, and, of course, the Whammys. In addition, it was probably the best episode of the series so far.

(S01E03) Much better! After the awkwardness of The Price is Right and the emotionally robotic Let's Make a Deal, CBS's Game Show Marathon finally came up with a game that was fairly enjoyable:  Beat the Clock. There were two reasons for that. First, it's always good to watch celebrities knowingly make fools of themselves in front of an audience. Second, they didn't have to guess the friggin price of Aspercreme to win a prize!

Add to that the fact that Beat the Clock is one of those quietly classic game shows that has endured since it first premiered on television in the 1950's. In this game there's no getting close to the actual dollar amount, no pressure to choose what was in the box or what was behind door number three. It's basically a game of teamwork. And, if the team works really well then riches abound. The concept has been used other shows such as Double Dare and, Lord help us, Fear Factor.

There also one more reason why I could tolerate this episode a bit more than the last two:  Paige Davis is just so spunky!

(S04E02) Ever since Season Two, I've taken a bit of a cynical view of the first rounds of Last Comic Standing. During that year, Drew Carey and Brett Butler went to the press complaining that Ant was chosen by the producers to go to the house over their objections. It seems that it doesn't matter what the celebrity judges say, the producers are going to pick who they want to pick to go to the house, whether it's because they have a good story, they'll cause trouble, or that they just owe the comic's agent a favor.

This first "semi-final", in which five comics were chosen to go to the house, didn't make me any less cynical. The choices really did smack of compelling story over comedic ability, at least in a couple of cases.