TVSquad

• At 8, NBC has new, supersized episodes of The Office and 30 Rock, then new episodes of Scrubs and Andy Barker, P.I.
• CBS has a new Survivor at 8, then new episodes of CSI and Shark.
• FOX has a new Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader? at 8.
• TBS has four good Friends repeats starting at 8.
• USA has the first round of the Masters golf tournament at 8.
• At 9, TLC has a new American Chopper.
• HGTV has a new Divine Design at 9.
• At 10, ABC has a new October Road.
• Food Network has a new Throwdown with Bobby Flay at 10.
• Also at 10: Bravo has the special The World According To Whoopi.
• At 10:30, Comedy Central has a new Showbiz Show with David Spade.

Check your local TV listings for more.

I thought Jon Stewart did a fine job as Oscar host, but I can understand them wanting to go with a more "traditional" choice. And with Ellen, I think the mainstream people get someone who they can enjoy (her daytime talk show is a hit) and the people who want their humor a little more wiseass will get their way too (people forget Ellen can be quite clever).

In this interview with TV Guide, DeGeneres promises not to suck, and also says that she's not going to copy what people in the past have done. Meaning, she's not going to put on the dance shows and dance a la Billy Crystal. She does say that it's going to be a little more fun and casual than most years.

And her favorite Oscars host was Johnny Carson, so that's a good sign.

Whoopi Goldberg's new series about an all-girl soccer team in New York City will premiere this Sunday on Nickelodeon at 7 p.m. Goldberg developed Just for Kicks as a way of exploring the double standard that surrounds girls in sports, and to show how these young ladies can participate in rough sports and still be "girls" without having labels applied to them like "butch" and "tomboy" (though in my experience it's always the "tomboys" who wind up as total hotties when they get older). If nothing else, I admire the spirit of the show, and its message of female empowerment. The first episode will focus on a team of cheerleaders, one of which tries to convince her friends that soccer is a cool sport. You know, if they really wanted to cover everything they'd have a bunch of boys join the cheerleading squad, too. I'm just saying.