TVSquad

Stanley Kamel, who played Dr. Charles Kroger on the USA hit series Monk, was found dead in his Hollywood house earlier today. No cause of death has been announced yet. He was 65.

Kamel has had an incredibly long career in TV and the movies. He was a regular on such series as Beverly Hills, 90210, Melrose Place, Murder One, L.A. Law, and Cagney and Lacey, and appeared in dozens of TV shows over the years, including The West Wing, MacGyver, The Golden Girls, Hunter, Star Trek: TNG, Murder, She Wrote, Reba, The Guardian, General Hospital, NYPD Blue, 7th Heaven, The Mod Squad, Mannix, The Rookies, Three's Company, Emergency, Kojak, and many more. Besides episodes of Monk, he was also filming a feature film titled For Better Or Worse, and a new movie, The Urn, which will be released later this year.

We'll update this post once we found out what exactly happened. Access Hollywood and the other shows will have more later today.

Update: Kamel died of a heart attack.

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.

Monk will be back for a seventh season. It isn't an even number, a fact that would irritate the OCD detective to no end, but it is a lucky one. USA Network has ordered 16 new episodes of the idiosyncratic mystery series which has turned character actor Tony Shalhoub into an Emmy-winning star. USA has plans to run eight of the new episodes in July and August; then the other eight in January and February.

Before then, you can catch up with Monk, and USA's other whimsical detective series, Psych, when they air on NBC in March. Although it has not be announced as yet, USA will likely pick up Psych, too, and they will continue running in tandem.

Many of us expected to see the names of a few cable series when the major networks released their updated winter schedules because not only would it help fill the void but also give those series a chance at getting a new audience. Sadly, it wasn't the case. However, NBC announced today that the upcoming seasons of USA Network's Psych and Monk would air on NBC in March.

Looking at the Emmy nominations announced this morning, one word comes to mind: BORING.

Or maybe two words, if you add "safe." I mean, come on. I don't usually watch Friday Night Lights, Dexter, or Battlestar Galactica, but even I know that those shows should have been nominated for something (beyond technical and writing awards). Instead we get...Tony Shalhoub again? He's fine, but there has to be someone else who they can plug in there. Grey's Anatomy and House for Best Drama? That's not to say that the shows nominated aren't good and solid, but when you take a look at the dramas that were left out...gah.

Beyond the major nominations (Best Comedy, Best Drama, Lead Actor and Actress, etc), there are other nominations where a lot of your favorite shows actually show up. After the jump, I'll highlight several.

It's been written before, but it's worth repeating: TV Squad does not do episode recaps. We write reviews/opinions of episodes for people who have already seen them in order to spur discussion.

I chose to review Monk because I'm a big fan of the show, but it has become more and more difficult for me not to repeat myself with each review. Five seasons in, I think the show has found a comfortable niche, but I can only write about that niche so many times before I get sick of it. Monk has more or less used the same basic plot since it began, and if it weren't for Tony Shalhoub's ability to embody the character of Adrian Monk so perfectly, myself and other fans would have grown tired of the show a long time ago. Monk is a character-driven series, and that's just fine, but at this point I've said all I can say about it.

If you liked my reviews, thanks for reading. Personally, I never thought they were my best for the reasons mentioned above. Fans of the series can still check out the series' Web site, which has episode recaps and video clips.

The Golden Globes were very kind to NBC this year, weren't they? Each nominee in the Best Actor - Musical or Comedy category this year is part of the Peacock family; the male leads from each of the network's Thursday comedies is joined by an old favorite, who happens to be in a show produced by NBC Universal that airs on an NBC-owned network. It was all kind of a surprise, since one might expect to see Charlie Sheen or Neil Patrick Harris here. But it's an NBC party and everyone is invited, and it's hard to argue with any of these choices.

So... who will win? Who should win? I'll let you know after the jump.

The nominees for the 64th Annual Golden Globe Awards were announced this morning. Here are the nominees in the major television categories:

Best TV Series - Drama
24
Big Love
Grey's Anatomy
Heroes
Lost

Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series - Drama
Patricia Arquette, Medium
Edie Falco, The Sopranos
Evangeline Lilly, Lost
Ellen Pompeo, Grey's Anatomy
Kyra Sedgewick, The Closer

Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series - Drama
Patrick Dempsey, Grey's Anatomy
Michael C. Hall, Dexter
Hugh Laurie, House
Bill Paxton, Big Love
Kiefer Sutherland, 24

Best Television Series - Musical Or Comedy
Desperate Housewives
Entourage
The Office
Ugly Betty
Weeds

Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series - Musical Or Comedy
Marcia Cross, Desperate Housewives
America Ferrera, Ugly Betty
Felicity Huffman, Desperate Housewives
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, The New Adventures of Old Christine
Mary-Louise Parker, Weeds

Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series - Musical Or Comedy
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Zach Braff, Scrubs
Steve Carell, The Office
Jason Lee, My Name Is Earl
Tony Shalhoub, Monk

(UPDATE: One of our readers, Zachary, was kind enough to look up the miniseries nominees -- they weren't announced during this morning's ceremony. He posted them here.)

(SECOND UPDATE: Our sister site Cinematical is covering the movie nominations, if you're curious.)

Can someone tell me how this happened?

The Family Friendly Programming Forum is an organization made of up advertisers, and the other day they gave out awards to the shows that "promote the development of and airing of family-oriented television programs during prime-time hours." But doesn't Numb3rs have plots about murderers and bombers and other nasty people? And it's on at 10pm Fridays. Prime time, sure, but you don't see many 10pm shows get a family award, especially crime shows that kids can watch (because it's the weekend and they're more likely to be up at that hour). Did they get the award because the show promotes the use of math?

I don't think Numb3rs is a violent or sexual show, but I just think it's interesting that this family group would choose it.

Other shows that got awards from the organization: Dancing with the Stars, Ugly Betty, The Ron Clark Story, and Everybody Hates Chris. Jennifer Love Hewitt (Ghost Whisperer) and Tony Shalhoub (Monk) got acting awards. Howie Mandel won an award for Deal Or No Deal.

1. Monday Night Football (ESPN)
2. Monday Night RAW - 10pm (USA)
3. Monday Night RAW - 9pm (USA)
4. SpongeBob SquarePants - Sat, 9:30am (Nickelodeon)
5. Hannah Montana (Disney)
6. Fairly Odd Parents (Nickelodeon)
7. The Suite Life of Zack & Cody (Disney)
8. College Football - Thurs (ESPN)
9. SpongeBob SquarePants - Sat, 9am (Nickelodeon)
10. Monk (USA)

USA Network is so proud of its new comedy Psych that it has decided to order up three more episodes for its freshman season. Including the 90-minute pilot that would make a total of 15 episodes for the series. In addition, AOL Entertainment News reports that the show is expected to be picked up for a second season in the near future.

The premiere of Psych drew 6.1 million viewers, a record for a cable series debut this year. Since then it has retained most of the audience of its lead-in program Monk. That series, which stars Tony Shalhoub as a compulsively obsessive detective, is averaging about four million viewers a week. Psych is averaging about 3.9 million per week.

Psych, which stars James Roday as a detective who dupes the police and the public into believing his keen observation skills are actually psychic powers, will most likely follow the split-season pattern of Monk. This means that new shows will run until month's end and then return with new episodes back in January.

(S05E01) This episode of Monk reflects back to this episode from last season where Monk figured out how an astronaut managed to kill a woman, despite being in deep space at the time of the alleged suicide. The case was such a home run that Hollywood has decided to make a movie about it, and famous actor David Rushkin (Stanley Tucci) has been chosen to play Monk.

Rushkin decides to follow Monk around as he helps investigators figure out how the same man could be involved in two crimes that seem to have no connection to one another: the murder of a woman in her apartment, and the murder of another man at a jewelry store. Monk becomes extremely awkward around the actor, and tries not to let his obsessive compulsive nature show through too much. So much of this show is dependent on Monk's subtle mannerisms, but he exaggerates them to an absurd degree as he tries to impress the actor who's playing him. He all but dances around the crime scene, and even shakes Rushkin's hand without cleaning his own hands clean with a sanitary wipe. He does almost lose it when he gets glitter on his suit, though.

I've always considered Wings the quiet classic. It never got much respect, and it wasn't a juggernaut hit like Seinfeld or a cult favorite like Arrested Development, but it was actually a nice, funny show and lasted several seasons.  The first two seasons have just been released in a DVD set by from Paramount.

There are no extras on the set (what, no commentaries or bloopers? This show would be perfect for stuff like that), but the 28 episodes themselves are fun. From the very first episode, where estranged brother Brian (the goofy, devil-may-care one) comes back home to Nantucket to catch up with brother Joe (the straightlaced, ambitious one) after their father leaves them something in his will that says "you're rich," you can see a fine ensemble cast working well together and really defining their characters. This show was by the people who brought you Cheers, and the similarities are obvious but never get in the way. And, like Cheers, this one had a really cool set, the small airport that housed Joe's Sandpiper Air and jerk Roy's Aeromass.

Video quality isn't the greatest. They should have done a better transfer.

Monk's Tony Shalhoub joined the cast in the third season (after a minor role in the last ep of the second season), so I don't know why he's on the cover of the box (other than the fact that he's a star now on Monk). As for me, I was an extra in season 6, but I guess that story will have to wait til they release that season.

If you're going to pitch a pilot to television network execs in L.A., one key word is 'patience'. Another is 'persistence'. Here is an interesting article about a handful of pilots that are finally getting picked up by the networks, after their creators have re-worked and re-tooled them for years. One example is Numb3rs, which didn't make the cut the first time around. The creators went back to the drawing board, pitched it the next year, and now it's a successful series. Another example is Monk, which was originally created for ABC but never got off the ground. A network exec moved from ABC to USA, where Monk found a following.

One of the most extreme cases comes this year. For eight years, writer Paul Haggis (Crash & Million Dollar Baby) has been trying to get the series, The Truth About Joey Ice Cream on the air. It's a show about four Irish brothers who keep finding themselves tangled up in the mob. Sound familiar? It should. We reported on it last month, when NBC finally picked it up as The Black Donnellys. I actually kind-of prefer the original title because it's quirky. Did the show really change that much or is it just because Haggis is hot right now? Probably the latter. It's the same for Shonda Rhimes, the creator of the very-hot-right-now Grey's Anatomy. She developed a journalism-themed series one year before Grey's and now has been asked to re-develop it.

Monk and Natalie find themselves financially strapped due to a lack of cases. They ask that Monk be put on retainer, but while trying to negotiate Monk's deal they catch wind of a stolen diamond and a one million dollar reward for it's return. Seeing this as the answer to their problems, Natalie convinces Monk to try and solve the case.