TVSquad

What are the odds that this is the year that How I Met Your Mother makes it into that hallowed circle of Emmy nominations for Outstanding Comedy Series? If it were up to me, I'd rank HIMYM over Two and a Half Men, for instance, but I'm not the one filling out the ballot. One thing working in Mother's favor this year, though, is that on July 16 when the nominations are announced, there will be six nominees in each category instead of five.

The folks behind the HIMYM Emmy campaign must believe they have a good shot. Look at this trade ad that TV Week reprinted. It's a good ad; clever and memorable. The nod to Magritte is unmistakable, and attests to the wit of the show's creators. If this doesn't send a subliminal message to Emmy voters, nothing will.

• WE has a Golden Girls marathon all night.
• At 8, ABC has a new Dancing with the Stars, followed by the season premiere of The Bachelorette.
• CBS has a new Rules of Engagement at 8, then the season finales of How I Met Your Mother, Two and a Half Men, Rules of Engagement, and CSI: Miami.
• NBC has two new episodes of Deal or No Deal at 8, followed by a new Medium.
• FOX has the two-hour season finale of 24.
• The CW has the season finale of Gossip Girl at 8, followed by the season finale of One Tree Hill.
• PBS has a new Antiques Roadshow at 8, then a new American Experience.
• ABC Family has a new Greek at 8.
• MyNetwork TV has a new Masters of Illusion, followed by a new Magic's Biggest Secrets Finally Revealed.
• Food Network has a new Good Eats at 8.
• At 9, USA has a new Monday Night RAW.
• History Channel has two new episodes of Ax Men at 9.
• There's a new Unwrapped on Food Network at 9.
• Also at 9: HBO has three new episodes of In Treatment at 9.
• At 10, MTV has a new episode of The Hills.
• Spike has the season premiere of 4th and Long at 10.

Check your local TV listings for more.

After the jump, the late night talk shows.

Here are the new TV DVDs, in stores tomorrow.

I like Star Trek, but for some odd reason I've never bought any of the various DVD sets (and there have been many, especially for TOS). I usually borrow them from a friend of mine if I want to watch them, or watch them on television. I won't buy these "Best Of" sets, but it does remind me that I have to buy a set of TOS for my very own.

• CSI - Season 1 (Widescreen/Blu-ray)
• Curious George - Curious George Goes Green
• The Dana Carvey Show - Complete Series
• The Jeff Foxworthy Show - Season 2

Mother's Day is Sunday, but we all have to realize that not every mom deserves a box of chocolates, a nice dinner, or a bouquet of flowers. AOL has their picks for the worst TV moms of all time, and a lot of the usual suspects are on the list. I think we can all agree that Marie Barone on Everybody Loves Raymond should be on the list. She clearly loves her kids, but...wow, how manipulative and pushy and meddling can a person get?

Evelyn Harper from Two and a Half Men is on the list, too. She's such a bad mom that it's sometimes easy to forget that she's even Charlie and Alan's mother. She seems more like some older, sexy aunt or something.

• TNT has Basketball Playoffs all night.
• Sci-Fi has a Star Trek: TNG marathon all night.
• At 7, ESPN has the Red Sox/Yankees game.
• Bravo has a new Inside The Actor's Studio (with Denis Leary) at 7.
• At 8, ABC has a new, two-hour Dancing with the Stars, followed by a new Castle.
• CBS has a new Big Bang Theory, then new episodes of How I Met Your Mother, Two and a Half Men, Rules of Engagement, and CSI: Miami.
• NBC has a new Deal or No Deal, followed by a new, two-hour Medium.
• FOX has a new House at 8, then a new 24.
• The CW has a new Gossip Girl at 8, then a new One Tree Hill.
• There's a new Antiques Roadshow on PBS at 8, followed by a new American Experience.
• ABC Family has a new Greek at 8, then four new episodes of Roommates.
• MyNetwork TV has a new Masters of Illusion at 8, then a new Magic's Biggest Secrets Finally Revealed.
• Also at 8: Food Network has a new Good Eats.
• At 9, HBO has three new episodes of In Treatment.
• At 10, Food Network has a new Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.
• History Channel has a new Ax Men at 10.
• A&E has a new Paranormal State at 10.
• MTV has a new episode of The Hills at 10.

Check your local TV listings for more.

After the jump, the late night talk shows.

The thing that gets me about the TV Land Awards is this: they're celebrating the types of TV shows that TV Land will one day not even show anymore.

But before reality shows and movies take over the network, it's kinda fun to see the casts of Magnum, P.I. (too bad John Hillerman wasn't there) and Home Improvement again (but still no Jonathan Taylor Thomas ... guess that tension is still alive all these years later). Neil Patrick Harris was a good host, and the lineup of old and new stars they had is actually quite impressive.

What did you think of it?

When William Petersen left CSI, he left a very, very cushy job. He was making a cool $600,000 per episode, more than Kiefer Sutherland was getting for 24, but not quite as much as Charlie Sheen was taking home for Two and a Half Men ($825,000 per show).

Well, CSI decided not to skimp when they cast Laurence Fishburne to assume the star spot on the crime drama. Fishburne is earning more than $14 million for this season of CSI. (So much for a recession!)

CBS has given renewals to both The Big Bang Theory and Two and a Half Men. Anybody tracking the ratings of either show shouldn't be surprised at this news. In fact, Two and a Half Men was picked up for three more years and The Big Bang Theory for two. I guess CBS' Monday nights are taken care of for the next couple of years.

While I haven't been following Two and a Half Men (I don't think I'm the target demographic), I do catch an episode of The Big Bang Theory time to time and get a good chuckle out of it. A recent favorite of the show involved the guest appearance of the delicious and shiny Summer Glau as herself (video follows after the jump).

How happy is Chuck Lorre this morning? I'd say on a scale of one-to-ten, he's an eleven. According to reports, CBS wants more of its Chuck Lorre sitcoms. In particular, they're talking three years more of Two and a Half Men and at least two for The Big Bang Theory.

While other shows sweat out the word of renewal or cancellation, Mr. Lorre seems to be CBS's prime time player they count on the most. Okay, second-most. Jerry Bruckheimer is numero uno with the CSI franchises, Without A Trace, Cold Case, Eleventh Hour and The Amazing Race.

If you're a regular -- or even an irregular -- Two and a Half Men watcher, you've probably noticed that Charlie Sheen's character, Charlie Harper, has a very distinctive look. You might call it immature, if you're nasty, or eclectic, if you're nice, but it is memorable. I've always thought the look was a reflection of the real Charlie Sheen, and now we're going to find out if I'm right.

Charlie Sheen has created the DaVinci Collection, a clothing line focusing on short-sleeved, button front shirts with a retro flair. The prices will be $59 to $79 each and the description strikes me as very much like Charlie Harper's wardrobe.

• TV Land has an Andy Griffith Show marathon all night.
• At 8, the major networks and the news channels have President Obama's speech to the nation.
• There's a new Antiques Roadshow on PBS at 8, followed by a new American Experience.
• ABC Family has a new Secret Life of the American Teenager at 8, then a new Kyle XY.
• Lifetime has a new Rita Rocks at 8.
• USA has the Westminster Kennel Dog Club Show at 8, then a new Monday Night RAW.
• BBC America has a new Top Gear at 8.
• At 9, ABC has a new, two-hour episode of The Bachelor.
• CBS has a new Two and a Half Men at 9, followed by new episodes of Big Bang Theory and CSI: Miami.
• NBC has a new Heroes at 9, then a new Medium.
• FOX has a new 24 at 9.
• TNT has new episodes of The Closer and Trust Me.
• Also at 9: Food Network has a new Unwrapped, then new episodes of Will Work For Food and Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.
• At 10, Discovery has a new Man vs. Wild.

Check your local TV listings for more.

After the jump, the late night talk shows.

The networks are cold, heartless bastards.They want us to watch their shows in order to grab ratings and ad revenue; yet, they mess around with their schedules so much that it's frustrating. Eventually, it gets hard for us not to pick up the damn television and throw it out the window. Well, more like get a few people to pick it up and throw it out of the front door. Come on, those flat screens are heavy!

You're probably wondering what I'm ranting about, aren't you? Well, it involves tonight's primetime schedule during the 8 pm time slot. On CBS, we have The Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother, while FOX has a new House. The 100th episode of House, to be exact. Now, this wouldn't normally be an issue, since I could watch one network and record the other on my DVR. But, NBC decided to bring back Chuck tonight, as well.

Jay Leno is officially America's BFF.

The late night (soon to be 10pm) talk show host has come in first place in the annual Harris Poll to determine who is America's favorite TV personality. Here is the rest of the top 10 to give you an idea of who he's up against:

2. Hugh Laurie
3. Ellen DeGeneres
4. Oprah Winfrey
5. David Letterman
6. Jon Stewart
7. Charlie Sheen
8. Steve Carell
9. Stephen Colbert
10. Mark Harmon

In a shining example of the sort of litigation that goes on all of the time in Hollywood, Warner Brothers Television has freshly sued CBS over residuals from the show Two and a Half Men. Mind you, this sort of behavior is nothing new in the entertainment industry. Just look at what's happening with the Watchmen movie.

The creative accounting of the entertainment industry never ceases to amaze me. I recall a business class in which I learned that on paper Gone With The Wind was still showing a loss six decades after its initial release.

My favorite part of the article was CBS's response statement: "Wow, I wonder what they got the other networks for Christmas." My sentiments exactly.

It's a shame that the WB (whose own network, The CW, is in dire straits right now) couldn't get into the spirit of the holiday and wait a day to deliver the summons. Bah, humbug.

Do you think when Neil Simon created the character of Felix Unger in The Odd Couple he knew that he was spawning a generation or two (maybe more) of Felix Unger wannabes? Today, over 40 years since Felix became part of our movie/TV collective conscience, there are lots of people and characters that bring to mind Tony Randall's alter ego.

It's Tony's Felix that I think is etched in our minds. He made Felix all he could be, and week in and week out -- opposite Jack Klugman's Oscar Madison -- he typified the ultimate neat freak, persnickety, hypochondriacally, impossible-to-live-with, supercilious know-it-all that made us cackle with laughter.

So, as I was watching TV -- an occupational requirement -- recently, it occurred to me that there are quite a few Felix Ungers on screen right now. Most are fictional, like Two and a Half Men's Alan Harper and, most obviously, Adrian Monk. But there are a couple of Felixes in real life on TV, too, like MSNBC's Keith Olbermann and ESPN's Mike Greenberg.

By my count, there are seven "Felix Ungers" currently on TV.