Remember allthose posts we did about former TV Squad writer Wil Wheaton appearing on The Big Bang Theory? Well, the ratings are in and it looks like that episode had a 15% increase in viewership in the sought-after 18-34 demo. While the article attributes the ratings boost to a Twitter campaign by Wheaton and executive producer Bill Prady, we here at TV Squad would like to think that our own promotion of the show contributed in some small way.
Speaking of which, wasn't the show great? Sure we already did a review but it was amazing seeing Wil's screen character win by using the one aspect of playing cards (and, for that matter, reality) that Sheldon can't grasp: the human factor. Sheldon would undoubtedly be great at Blackjack and lousy at Poker.
Week two of the revival of TV Squad's APB podcast has arrived! In this episode, Bob Sassone and Danny Gallagher join me to talk about TV's doings this week:
The cancellation of Southland and the role of The Jay Leno Show in that cancellation,
For those of you who have asked us whether Bob has busted into the TV Squad offices and taken over the blog by force, I'm here to say that nothing of the sort has happened. First of all, we have no offices. And second of all, the short posts Bob has done this week are something new that we're trying out (as I've mentioned in the comment sections of many of his posts this week).
Why are we doing this? Well, why not? There are plenty of occasions when a video or picture -- or even a show we don't cover -- deserves a post, but doesn't need a lot of commentary attached. So, what I've asked Bob to do (actually, it was his idea, and I just said "sure") is to post these things with a few sentences of comment, and then open it up to the readers. Some of the posts have gotten some nice discussion going, which is what we were going for.
But this does not mean that we're substituting these shorties for our normal posts. These are supposed to fill in the spaces between the normal posts we do. More info after the jump.
As a TV Squad contributor who, admittedly, could be considered a "niche viewer" (in that I watch few shows, but never miss an episode), I was naturally hesitant to check out Roommates on ABC Family. A friend guaranteed me that the show was not only as bad as one might expect, but that it was so utterly, bafflingly wretched that investing thirty minutes in it turned out way more entertaining than I'd expected, and not just in the so-bad-it's-funny way, either.
Roommates is so atrocious, its production should be considered a criminal offense, considering that, even as a basic cable program, hundreds of thousands of dollars (at the very least) have surely been invested in the show. And that's money that could have easily gone toward refugees or food banks or, say, into the budget of ABC Family's other critically lauded programming like Greek or Secret Life of The American Teenager.
As several of you have noticed, we had a decrease in the number of posts recently at TV Squad, and we apologize for any concern or confusion that resulted. Part of that slowdown stemmed from some behind-the-scenes issues, which have now been resolved. And part of it came about because Keith and I wanted to take some time to talk about the direction of the blog with our writers and with our hosts at AOL.
During those discussions, we thought about what people like the most about us: the comprehensive episode reviews and the funny, thoughtful commentary about the shows we love. Over time, the site has become very heavy on the former and light on the latter, and we decided that we need to get things back in balance.
You think you know pop culture? Do you watch Jeopardy and think, "I'd clean up on that show!" What about The World Series of Pop Culture on VH-1 -- are you a wiz at that one? Well, you don't have to wait for new episodes. Check out this new web site, Hey, Nielsen, and get going on the quizzes. It's killer.
Experts from all kinds of pop culture web sites -- including our own King of TV Paul Goebel right here on TV Squad -- have contributed to the quizzes. And you can actually win some cool stuff -- iPod nano, one-year subscription to Netflix, $1,000 -- if you're smart enough. I, sadly, am not. I was severely slapped down by the quiz I took. I dare you to try and do better! I'm going back to the books before my next shot!
There's no getting around it -- there's a crapload of reality shows on TV. The writers' strike wreaked havoc on television programming as we knew it this year, so not only did returning reality monsters like American Idol and Dancing with the Stars come back, but we were blindsided with new ones; this is a TV website, so we're not going to ignore this enormous elephant in the room.
We've gotten some requests for a "reality-free" page, where you won't see any posts related to reality television as posted here on TV Squad. Behold, the Reality-Free page! Like other categories, you can subscribe to that category's RSS feed as well. We've just started using it today, but it will continued to feature any non-reality TV posts from now on.
It's been a while since we updated with a roster page of everyone on the TV Squad team, and what better day to do it than today? In case you haven't noticed, over to the right there is a new banner: Meet the TV Squad. Click through there and you'll see the whole lot of us. Click through each image to see our profile pages, links to our posts here on TV Squad, and a place to leave a comment for any one of us.
OK, OK ... Yes, there is a joke in here, which we're turning into a contest. One of the team member pictures is not really that person's picture. For the entire day we'll let everyone comment to this post with their guesses as to who they think has the fake. Everyone who makes a guess will be entered into a random drawing to win one of several DVD sets (we'll send the list you can choose from). Read on below for the rules.
We thought it was time again to point out a few features of TV Squad that have been around for quite some time now, since we have new readers coming to the site every day.
First up, RSS feeds. Most blog readers know what these are and how to subscribe to them, so I'm not going to get into the basics of that now. What you may not know, though, is how many different RSS feeds we actually have here. Sure, you can subscribe to the main feed with all of the posts, but maybe you want to zone in or posts in certain categories?
TV Squad reported this a while back, so consider this a reminder, all you My Name Is Earl devotees. TBS will begin airing back-to-back episodes of the NBC/Emmy-winning sitcom on Mondays at 10:00 and 10:30 starting March 3rd. This is a chance to catch up on all the episodes from the very beginning. If you don't already know all about Earl's list, the true meaning of Karma, and why the Hickey brothers share a bed, this will fill in the blanks.
It seems these days with everyone talking about the WGA strike, and then, as a result, fewer new episodes of our favorite shows airing, there's not a whole lot going on with TV these days. If you just take a quick look back through the last twelve months of the year, you'll find some things you remember fondly, others you wished to never be reminded of.
We went through some of the most talked about and interesting stories of 2007 and put them together, just as we do every year. Some of them are more personal to us than others, but in all cases they certainly kept the TV Squad desks buzzing.
Hit the FF button to check out the Top TV Stories one-by-one:
For the next twelve ten straight days, we here at TV Squad will be performing our own rendition of The Ten Days of Festivus, counting down from Jackie's number ten later today. Be sure to check back every day for the next gift that TV has given us this Festivus season -- you won't want to miss any of them.
Be sure to also check out last year's list if you've got no idea what the heck I'm talking about.
This is just a quick reminder that a week from today is TV Squad's first (of what we hope to be many) meet-up of readers and writers, sponsored by Sling Media. You can read full details on our original post as far as time and location.
Just a quick update: I've got a good amount of TV shows on DVD to give away, thanks to Paramount Home Video and HBO Home Video, as well as some TV Squad T-shirts. We're not sure yet how we're giving it all away, but we'll come up with something. Hope to see you there!
I may not celebrate Thanksgiving today (as Robin from How I Met Your Mother would say, "The real Thanksgiving was in October!") but that doesn't mean I cannot take part of TV Squad thankful post series.
Television is a big part of my life. I've grown with it. I spend hours with it every day. So it's about time, I give thanks for having television in my life!
Your favorite, ever-expanding TV blog (no not that one, TV Squad!) is looking to add to its team of writers. Are you a TV junkie and interested in news of all-things TV? Do you have an RSS feed list for TV news in the double digits? Would you like to be paid to write about TV? Well, this may be your chance!
Read on for a few details about this new opening...
Remember all those posts we did about former TV Squad writer Wil Wheaton appearing on The Big Bang Theory? Well, the ratings are in and it looks like that episode had a 15% increase in viewership in the sought-after 18-34 demo. While the article attributes the ratings boost to a Twitter campaign by Wheaton and executive producer Bill Prady, we here at TV Squad would like to think that our own promotion of the show contributed in some small way.
Week two of the revival of TV Squad's APB podcast has arrived! In this episode, 
As a TV Squad contributor who, admittedly, could be considered a "niche viewer" (in that I watch few shows, but never miss an episode), I was naturally hesitant to check out 
You think you know pop culture? Do you watch Jeopardy and think, "I'd clean up on that show!" What about 
TV Squad 
For the next 
I may not celebrate Thanksgiving today (as Robin from 
Your favorite, ever-expanding TV blog (no not that one, TV Squad!) is looking to add to its team of writers. Are you a TV junkie and interested in news of all-things TV? Do you have an RSS feed list for TV news in the double digits? Would you like to be paid to write about TV? Well, this may be your chance!
TV Squad Ten: Cartoon women who should have Playboy centerfolds
Six Mad Men characters who are in limbo after the finale
Fact or Fiction: Big Bang, Brothers & Sisters and CSI
