07/28/05 - Every now and again, when we venture out of our T.A.G. offices, we have people whisper little secrets in our ears. Granted, this is usually when the staff heads over to Lil' Darlins for a lap dance, but that's not the point. The point is that from time to time people pass along industry secrets to TVadviceguy. And then we pass it right on to you, because we keep secrets like we keep our box wine: Refrigerated. Okay, that makes no sense. I'm just going to get to the point...

Word has it that the NBC dud "Joey" is going through the world famous "re-tooling" stages. Which is industry slang for "starting from the ground up because the show stunk worse than than three day old Indian food." And one piece of the re-tooling we've learned is that they are planning on giving Joey a best friend! Wait a minute. I thought Chandler was Joey's best friend?! Well I guess this will be his West Coast Best Friend.

The big question is, who will play the role of this new friend? Well, we can't tell you just yet, but let's just say they might be adding a little color to the show next season... We'll keep you posted as we learn more.

07/22/05 - It's been a while since we've heard any good dirt, but today we came across a little news in the "Everything I Know About Men" camp. What show is that, you ask? That's the Jenna Elfman mid-season sitcom for CBS. Now is it ringing any bells? No? Well, whatever. It's loosely based on a BBC comedy, but that's not the dirt we got. What we have heard is that like two or three of the supporting cast have been let go. Not only that, but they aren't even sure if they will keep the characters those actors played in the show. The show is in total disarray as the writers try to figure out how the hell to turn in scripts, outlines, and story ideas if they don't even know which characters are still in the show! Not to mention they might have to re-shoot the pilot. Be prepared for a possible turd come February!

05/13/05 - All week the T.A.G. offices have been swamped with rumors and news of pilots & network schedules for next season. It's also been swamped with cockroaches, but that's because we rent a creepy office in a bad neighborhood.

In any event, we are updating our Pilot Buzz section with the latest "Dirt" that has been forwarded to us. It's all still considered "Rumor" but some of these are so heavily rumored as pick ups that they are being called "Official" in some circles. Those that are thought to be "Official" will be marked with an asterisk (*).

ABC Dramas
Commander In Chief (*)
What About Brian? (*)
Evidence (*)
Invasion (*)
Nightstalker (*)
In Justice (*)

ABC Comedies
Crumbs (*)
Emily's Reasons Why Not (*)
Freddie Prinze Jr. (*)
Hot Properties (*)
Sons & Daughters(*)
In addition to those pilots, George Lopez and Jake in Progress have been renewed.

NBC Dramas
E-Ring (*)
Fathom (*)
Inconcievable (*)

NBC Comedies
Four Kings (*)
Thick & Thin (*)
My Name Is Earl (*)
FOX Dramas
Prison (*)
Renuion (*)
Head Cases aka Crazy Lawyers (*)

FOX Comedies
The War at Home is heavily rumored to be picked up, but word is that Bernie Mac is officially coming back.

WB Dramas
Charmed will be renewed.
Supernatural

UPN Comedies
Everybody Hates Chris

So that's the latest as reported to T.A.G. Once again, who the hell knows how accurate any of this is. But with upfronts starting on Monday, you can be as certain as the non-pickup of "Listen Up" that a lot of the creators of these new pilots must have hints as to whether they should be flying to New York soon. Meanwhile, speaking of "Listen Up," CBS remains very silent, leaving us with no idea what they have up their sleeve.

05/12/05 - With the network upfronts just around the corner, there has been a disturbing amount of silence surrounding pilot pickups. Usually by this time there are leaks of which new pilots are outstanding and which stink like the inside of Star Jones' Payless shoes. But not this year. Why? Maybe it's because all the pilots this year were terrible, and therefore there's nothing positive to report. Or maybe it's because there has been a huge crackdown on leaking tapes & DVDs of the pilots, so no one can really comment. It's probably the latter.

But, we here at T.A.G are breaking the silence. Our team of Television Insiders have been giving us updates and hints as to which pilots look good for pick ups, and those that might be left behind like that dude who's bride ran away.

So here we go! Here is a list of shows and the "Buzz Factor" they have, as reported to Tvadviceguy.

We'll start with ABC:

Shows That look Good For Pickup:
"Freddie Prinze Project" - Buzz is that Freddie Prinze tested really high.
"Sons & Daughters"
"Bobby Cannon"
"Crumbs"

Don't Count Them Out:
"Testing Bob"
"Play Dates"
"Love Life"
"Neighbors"

Looks Bleak:
"Chris Kattan Project" - Buzz is that Chris Kattan did not test well.
"Adopted"
"Holly Hester"
"Emily's Reasons Why Not"
"Joint Custody"

FOX Dramas That Look Good:
"Bones"
"Head Cases"
"Deviant Behavior"
"Reunion"
"Wedding Chapel"
"Amy Coyne"

FOX Comedies that Look Likely for Pick Up:
"War at Home"
"Kitchen Confidential"
"Freebirds"
"Dirt Bags"
"The Loop"

FOX comedies that didn't suck, but aren't quite as good:
"Queen B"
"Don’t Ask"

NBC Dramas that look good:
"E-Ring"
"Fathom"

NBC Comedies that could be worthy of pickups:
"My Name is Earl"
"Thick & Thin"
"The Office"

WB Dramas leaning toward Fall pickups:
"Just Legal"
"Supernatural"
"Halley’s Comet"
"Bedford Diaries"

Possible WB Mid-season shows:
"Pepper Dennis"

So there you have it. We report what we know. If it's accurate, we kick ass. If it doesn't, well, we still kick ass but we were wrong. We'll know soon enough.

03/22/05 - Some big time dirt here folks, as T.A.G. has learned that Gail Berman, FOX Entertainment President, will be leaving FOX to go to Paramount Pictures! She will take the top creative post under chairman Brad Grey.

This is hot off the presses folks. In fact T.A.G. had this info before it was posted at places like Variety & Hollywood Reporter, but we couldn't get to the computer before them to update this! Anyway rumored replacements include Dana Walden, Peter Liguori and Angela Shapiro.

So we might not be quite as timely as the trades, due to our being a dog & pony show, but where else can you find breaking news as it happens and paintings of nude celebrities?

02/16/05 - Have you been watching "CSI" this year? I mean the good one, the real one, the original "CSI?" Well if you have, have you noticed it seems like William Peterson's Gil Grissom hasn't been in the show as much as previous seasons? In fact the Gil character has even been moved to the "graveyard shift" this season.

Anyway, T.A.G. might have the answer. A friend of a friend who tolerates T.A.G. has let us in on a little dirt, but since we haven't heard it it from the actual horse's mouth, we will state this as a RUMOR. But word is that William Peterson has been suffering from a heart condition! And that could explain why his work load is a bit less this season. A spokesman for CBS did not return our calls. Well, to be honest, we didn't make any calls, but they probably wouldn't return anyway.

So if it comes out as truth later on, just remember you heard it at TVadviceguy.com first! And if it is never confirmed, forget you ever read any of this.

1/20/05 - Wow, we have really had a drought of "dirt" here at T.A.G. It's been three months since our last post. But today we got some interesting info! We received an email from a T.A.G. fan that informed us that there was a rumor going around... It seems that many "Hollywood" "Insider" "Industry" "Types" received an email today that claimed actor John Goodman had died! We here at TVadviceguy got a lead on this story at about 5:00pm today. In case it was true, we rushed out a "Rumor" post at our MySpace site. Click that to see our post.

Anyway, the email that was sent to these "Connected" type, read: "Actor John Goodman, star of such hits as Monsters Inc and Beyond the Sea, found dead today in his home. Cause of death is not known. Recently seen in the Kevin Spacey epik Beyond the Sea, Goodman was deemed in fine health by his doctor just three days ago. Cause of death is not yet known, but it is suspected natural causes...A native of St. Louis, MO, Goodman went to Southwestern Missouri University on a football scholarship. An injury compelled his to seek out a less strenuous major, however. He chose the university's drama department and graduated as a drama major.He is survived by his wife Annabeth and his daughter Molly."

About 20 minutes later, we recieved word that another email was sent out to clarify that John Goodman was in fact ALIVE AND WELL and that the previous email of his death was INCORRECT.

It seems obvious now that it was bogus, considering the email spelled the word epic as "epik." But anyway...

So, we here at T.A.G. are happy to report that (A) Had John Goodman died, we had the scoop! And that (B) It was all bullshit. We don't want John Goodman dead. Even if we'd like to see "Center of the Universe" die an early death.