TVSquad

The other day was actor James Roday's birthday; on April 4, he turned 32. For the Texas born star of Psych, life is quite nice right now. Psych is coming back for a third season on USA this summer, and starting the other night, episodes from season two will be showcased on NBC. Oh, and he's dating Maggie Lawson, a.k.a. O'Hara, his co-star on the show.

There's a fine line between charming and obnoxious, amusing and annoying, cute and cloying, funny and trying too hard. James Roday veers close to the line. He's a daredevil of a comic actor, daring to be almost too much to take. But like other actors of his ilk, he succeeds in flying close to the sun, but never burning his wings. Like Jim Carrey or Robin Williams, James Roday is willing to push the comic envelope. So far, he's proved to me that watching him is always interesting, arresting and fun. While he may never reach the box office glory of Carrey or cop an Oscar like Williams, he's definitely going to be a TV star for today, tomorrow and down the road.

If online video service Joost were to fall in a forest and nobody was watching, would it make a sound? Wait, no, that's not right. What I meant to ask is, if Joost stops streaming videos outside of the US, will anybody care? It looks like we're about to find out, because that's exactly what Joost plans to do.

The streaming video platform that was supposed to change the way we watch television really hasn't. While more and more people are watching videos online, it's not particularly clear that many of them are using Joost to do it. In the UK, the BBC iPlayer has gotten a lot of attention for providing residents with the ability to watch any program that's been broadcast in the past seven days. And in the US, Hulu provides viewers with a chance to watch many TV shows and movies from Fox, NBC, and other content partners.

Apparently Joost has decided to pull out of the international market and focus solely on the US, because that's where the majority of its users are at the moment. But with a lackluster content library, and few high profile content partners, I think it might just be a matter of time before Joost folds completely. To make matters worse, I think Joost overestimated the consumer demand for a non-browser based online video solution. Flash and Silverlight have made it easy to not only embed videos in web pages, but to allow users to click a button and watch those videos full screen.

When all is said and done, I think that people like to watch TV on their TV sets, not their computers. While there's a growing number of ways to watch full length TV shows and movies online, I really wish it was easier to make those existing services work with Windows Media Center and other media center applications designed to bridge the gap between computer and television. If Joost had focused on media center integration or set top box software, maybe the company would have had a chance. But if I can't watch my videos from 10 feet away with a remote control, I'd rather visit Hulu in a web browser than launch a standalone application that gives me access to hundred of videos I don't really want to watch.

Update: It looks like a spokesperson for Joost denies that the company has any plans to layoff employees or go US-only.

[via Mashable]

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.

They dominate the cable ratings almost every week, and now USA is adding more shows to its lineup.

The network of Monday Night RAW has four new projects in the works, including The Nanny Files, which is about a nanny who solves crimes (looks like they're adding another quirky detective show to go along with Monk and Psych); White Collar, about a con captured by the FBI who goes on to help them catch other crooks (sounds a lot like Catch Me If You Can); Royal Pains, about an ER doctor who becomes a doctor to the rich in the Hamptons (?); and Shirleyville, about a war veteran who comes home and becomes mayor of his small town.

One thing that gets me about the USA Network's "seasons" is that they barely begin, and then they are over. I am not even sure we got eight episodes of Psych, and now it is gone again, just as I was getting comfortable with my weekly dose of hokey. Hokey, says I? Then why do I miss it?

1. Corbin Bernsen -- You know you loved him in L.A. Law, heck, you even loved him in Major League II. But Psych uses Bernsen's talents to the fullest, in creating one of TV's most obnoxious dads with a true tender side (from bubble baths to believing in his son, even though it is usually somewhat veiled). So, so glad they use him more each season.

2. The mysteries -- Yes, a grand part of the hoke, and sometimes painfully predictable. But I love a mystery, even of the lamest kind, and for me, a show that has some secrets not revealed until the end carries some clout.

In the wake of reports that The 4400 had been axed, Ausiello over at TVGuide.com is reporting that The Dead Zone was struck a killing blow in that same swing. Two good shows gone just like that. And just before the holidays. Man, that's gotta suck. So it looks like just as Johnny Smith sees that he's still going to have to address that impending Armageddon, the series ends. I always thought the ratings were pretty good on these shows; were they starting to show their age? Losing viewers?

I hate it when a show is canceled between seasons like this, especially when they don't resolve everything in the Season/Series Finale. It leaves a bad taste in the mouths of viewers, and makes them more and more jaded to new shows. Why do you think the serialized drama glut of last season failed so miserably. Because everyone knew we'd never see the end of The Nine.

Monday, WWE Raw will be celebrating 15 years with a special three-hour episode. On the eve of this celebration, Reuters tells us that the wrestling program's contract has been extended another two years, guaranteeing more chair smashing, smack talking through 2010. The overall deal includes a continuation of the twice yearly NBC Saturday night specials, the A.M. Raw weekend USA show, as well as a Spanish-language edition for the growing Telemundo networks.

After fifteen years, Raw remains one of cable's strongest programs, currently averaging 5.1 million viewers weekly. And since it doesn't go into reruns, that's strong programming year-round, which at this time has to look pretty enticing to the network. If things continue with the strike, we might even see more WWE programming come to NBC proper.

Used to be, the summer season was where cable channels could air their shows without the staggering competition of network fare. But more and more they've been pushing their series into the fall and spring sessions. So it only seems fair that, considering the current strike, the broadcast networks are considering pushing the current season into the summer months. According to this TV Week article, executives are open to the idea, on a case-by-case basis.

Factors to determine if it is worth doing include how many episodes have already aired, how long it takes to produce new episodes and how much it might push production into the start of the 2008-2009 production schedule. Also they seem more willing to push a serial show (like Lost) into the summer months than a procedural (like House), as avid viewers of serials feel they must watch every episode while it is not as important with procedurals, and besides they play better in reruns.

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

1. The Closer (TNT)
2. College Football: Florida State vs. Clemson (ESPN)
3. 2007 Video Music Awards (MTV)
4. WWE Monday Night RAW - 10pm (USA)
5. Saving Grace (TNT)
6. High School Musical 2 (Disney)
7. College Football: Notre Dame vs. Penn State (ESPN)
8. Monk (USA)
9. WWE Monday Night RAW - 9pm (USA)
10. 2007 Video Music Awards Post Show (MTV)

Ron Moore, he of the super-stupendous remake of Battlestar Galactica, will be sticking around the television universe for a few more years. According to press reports Moore has signed a two-year, seven-figure deal with Universal Media Studios, which is part of NBC Universal.

This deal means that he will continue to work with partner David Eick on BSG, which ends its run after this season (the fourth). He'll also work on other projects for the studio. This means that you could see something from Ron on NBC, USA, or SciFi Channel in the near future. There's even talk that Moore could have a new series on the air as early as fall 2008.

And, who knows? If Bionic Woman, which Eick is heading up, needs a bit of help perhaps Moore will stop in to give him a hand.

In addition to the recent renewals and new episode orders for TNT's Saving Grace and The Closer, the USA Network has ordered up thirteen new episodes of Burn Notice.

Burn Notice is great summer fare: a series that doesn't exactly break new ground but is still fun to watch. USA's motivation in picking new shows has been to focus on strong characters, and that's exactly what keeps Burn Notice from being just another crime/detective/mystery series (even though it is just another crime/detective/mystery series). It's also what keeps me tuning into Monk after all these years, even though every episode is pretty much the same. The lead players, Jeffrey Donovan, Sharon Gless, Bruce Campbell and Gabrielle Anwar, work well within the sometimes cookie-cutter self-contained plots, elevating the series to something worth checking out each week. It's not the plots so much, it's the people.

Early next year NBC Universal will launch Didja.com, a YouTube-like video site made just for advertisers. The site will feature TV spots both old and new, movie trailers and other brand-related stuff. Advertisers will also include special offers and promotions to coincide with their specific channel.

The idea was concocted by executives at the NBC Universal-owned USA cable network, so expect lots of ads for that particular network when the site launches. Eventually, other NBC Universal properties will show up on the site, as well.

The basic networks used to be the kings of theater to TV imports. When I was a kid I used to get genuinely excited about Saturday night's Wonderful World of Disney movie.

Since the turn of the new millennium -- been a while since you heard that phrase, huh? -- cable networks have been playing the movie game. TBS, HBO and others have all brought big name movies to television at a very slow pace.

USA Network has made a 11-movie deal with Universal Studios to bring films such as The Bourne Ultimatum and Children of Men to the NBC-owned channel.

I'm combining Sunday's panel reports because neither the Women in Sci-Fi panel nor The 4400 panel was brimming with revelations unless you count as a revelation the fact that Lucy Lawless' fans bear a striking resemblance to the core audience of the WNBA, but you shouldn't.

Here's what USA has in development for 2008:

• Halo will center on a man who wakes up one morning to find a halo over his head. Brilliant! I mean, the halo will be "brilliant," as in: "luminous" -- the show itself doesn't sound brilliant at all. The man tries to get rid of the halo but finds himself doing good deeds in the meantime. Actually, I'm being a smartass, and if it weren't a USA series I'd probably be rolling my eyes at the idea, but something tells me there might be something more substantive here than what the synopsis implies.