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Why is it that these NFL pre-game shows always have to be so painful to watch? NBC aired their NFL Kickoff Special on Thursday and it was chock-full of all the standard crap.

• Shaky performance by current pop star - Kelly Clarkson warbled her way through her new single in front of an outdoor crowd.

• Even shakier performance by a washed up musician trying to stay relevant - John Cougar Mellencamp sang “Small Town” for the six millionth time in front of a bunch of paid extras jumping around like they actually give a shit.

• Obligatory country singer to appeal to the rednecks who love them some beer and football - Faith Hill sang her #1 hit song, “This Kiss.” The song is almost ten years old.

• Nearly unrecognizable singing of the National Anthem – Sung by an unrecognizable artist named Keisha Cole. Who the hell is this broad?

You would think that would be enough “entertainment” but, not quite. Before the kick off, we were treated to a terribly produced sketch with Peyton Manning and Reggie Bush that explained exactly why the Dick Ebersol years of “Saturday Night Live” were absolutely insufferable.

Are you ready for some football? Yes. Please!

In an effort to keep my promise of updating www.tvadviceguy.com somewhat regularly, I have decided to dust off the old blog page. Every once in a while I feel the need to put something on this thing to justify having it, so here we go…

With the summer TV season upon us, there really isn’t much to talk about. So I thought I’d give my two cents on the Rosie O’Donnell Leaves The View debacle.

Good Riddance.

I am by no means a regular viewer of “The View.” I am, however, very regular in other ways. But that’s for a different blog. I digress…

The few times I caught “The View” during Rosie’s dictatorship, I could barely tell the difference between her and Star Jones. Both fat. Both ugly. Both won’t shut their pie-holes.

But thanks to Rosie’s miserable demeanor, she and the show would make “headlines” on a regular basis. Well, “headlines” if the only publications you read are rag mags like “US Weekly,” “In Touch,” or TMZ.com.

Rosie was a blessing and a curse for “The View.” She added a spark that undeniably helped the ratings for the show, but she’s also a total cancer. Her “view” is totally toxic, as she is only capable of spitting venom. This is the woman who was once dubbed “The Queen of Nice.” Meanwhile anyone who has ever worked with her in the industry will tell you that she is one of the nastiest, most rotten people you can have the displeasure to share a studio set with.

Not to mention the bitch is a total two-faced hypocrite. Lest we forget this is the woman who talked all sorts of shit to NRA member Tom Selleck about gun control, meanwhile she was the spokesperson for Kmart - a store that sold guns to anyone who wanted one. Sure, she finally stopped working with Kmart, but only after she put her foot in her over sized mouth time and time again.

Oh and don’t even get me started on her bullshit crush on lunatic matinée idol Tom Cruise. Never mentioning that she was gay, as it would likely affect her talk show ratings, Rosie would gush over Tom Cruise as if she wasn’t a full time carpet muncher. Only when she had decided to stop doing her talk show did she feel safe to announce that she was actually a full on ‘bo.

And before you send me hate mail or some shit accusing me of being anti-gay or whatever, let me say that I am not. I don’t give a rat’s ass that Rosie digs the chicks. Good for her. I just don’t much care for Rosie the person.

Now as for her remarks that led to her departure on “The View,” I can’t understand how Rosie is confused as to why people think she called American Troops “terrorists.” Her quote on “The View,” as taken from Rosie’s own site, was,

O’DONNELL: I just want to say something. 655,000 Iraqi civilians are dead. Who are the terrorists?
HASSELBECK: Who are the terrorists?
O’DONNELL: 655,000 Iraqis — I’m saying you have to look, we invaded –
HASSELBECK: Wait, who are you calling terrorists now? Americans?
O’DONNELL: I’m saying if you were in Iraq, and the other country, the United States, the richest in the world, invaded your country and killed 655,000 of your citizens, what would you call us?

Did Rosie use the words “troops” and “terrorists” in that dialogue? No.

Is it totally clear what she meant, though? I think so.

Rosie has a great history of giving to charities, and supporting some wonderful causes, and for that she should be recognized.

But, unfortunately, she also has a great history of being a total snatch and rubbing a lot of people the wrong way. And now that she’s left “The View,” the show will never be the same. For better, and for worse.

The State of Network “News” By TAG

When CBS kicked Dan Rather to the curb last year, people began wondering who would replace the legendary anchorman. Well CBS finally announced this week what everybody already knew, the new CBS anchorman will actually be an anchorwoman and her name is Katie Couric.

Katie Couric has been the co-host of NBC’s “Today” show for the past fifteen years where she’s tackled hard hitting subjects such as solving “Da Vinci Code” style anagrams, in depth interviews with the likes of Joan Rivers, and of course trying to answer the real tough questions like, “Where in the World is Matt Lauer?” Yep, she’s a real news woman alright.

The state of network “news” is a joke. “Dinosaur” Dan Rather, Tom “Mush Mouth” Brokaw, and Peter “R.I.P.” Jennings were journalists. Katie Couric is a television personality. There’s a difference, and CBS is putting a lot of money into this new talking head, so it will be interesting to see if the gamble pays off.

Once upon a time, CBS news anchor Walter Cronkite was the “most trusted man in America.” American’s tuned into “Uncle Walter” to get their news from someone who actually lived, ate, and crapped news. Katie Couric? She does cooking segments with Emeril. Good luck, CBS.

Meanwhile, the other big “news” is that Meredith Vieira, from ABC’s “The View,” will be taking over for Katie Couric on “Today.” What’s so ironic is that Meredith Vieira is more qualified to anchor the “CBS Evening News” since, you know, she actually used to be a real journalist before she settled in her role as “that one chick from that morning show on ABC with all the chicks and Barbara Walters.”

So I guess the next question is, “who will replace Meredith” on “The View?” And the answer, of course, is “Who cares?”

While we patiently wait for a couple of Baker’s Dozen participants to send in their answers, we thought we’d peruse through some recent TV news headlines and see what’s up. Plus we haven’t done anything on this “blog” deal for a while, so, here now is our take on current TV news!

Well of course the year’s first big TV event is the Super Bowl XL on ABC. This is America’s own made up holiday of sorts. Americans go out and buy food, sodas and beer as if they were stockpiling supplies for the end of the world, only to actually consume all the pizza bites, meatballs, and tiny sausages in a single afternoon. Oh, and of course guzzling beer after beer. How very appropriate that this Super Bowl is an XL, just like the size of most of the game’s audience.

Let’s see, what else is going on in the TV world? Oh, right, ABC’s new Nightly News anchorman Bob Woodruff was nearly blown to pieces in Iraq when the vehicle he was in was attacked. Now we here at TVadviceguy have been known for our tastelessness, but we’re not going to make any jokes about this because obviously there’s not too much humor in people being blown to smithereens. But, we can still comment on the absurdity of ABC sending it’s brand new Nightly News anchorman, the guy who just replaced the great Peter Jennings, into war-torn Iraq. Peter Jennings at least took over 20 years to be killed, but ABC threw poor Woodruff literally into the line of fire just months after naming him co-anchor of their Nightly News program. Pretty damn stupid. Anyway, we here at TVadviceguy.com hope Woodruff makes a speedy recovery.

Alright, let’s move on to less depressing headlines… Oh, how ‘bout this – Lunatic comedian Dave Chappelle went on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” to tell us why he disappeared off the face of the earth after taking Comedy Central’s $50 million. Chappelle claims he was “Stressed” and that’s why he had to flee from his “Chappelle’s Show” before Comedy Central could get a third season out of him. Stress?? The way I see it, there’s about 50 million ways you can relieve that so-called stress! Dave told Oprah, “I felt like some kind of prostitute or something.” Yeah, and?! The best paid hooker in Hollywood. He can call it whatever he wants, but to sign a contract and then just bolt is total bullshit. Comedy Central calls Dave a “comedic genius.” Well maybe so, but he’s total dullard when it comes to common sense. Dave mentioned to Oprah, “I don’t want the money.” Well isn’t that nice? Hey Dave, you might not care about the money, but did you ever think about all those people on your staff and crew that were suddenly looking for work when you decided you had “too much stress?” Shiiiit.

Here’s a headline that grabbed our attention: “Comic Jay Mohr, Actress Nikki Cox Engaged.” Now there’s a real power couple, huh? Jay Mohr, who ditched his wife of six years, decided to settle down with Nikki Cox, who seems to go through men like we go through boxes of wine. Maybe we’re just being cynical, but I say this relationship lasts, oh, say just a little longer than “Last Comic Standing,” but shorter than “Unhappily Ever After.”

Well that’s about all I have for now. Gotta’ go cut open the bag that’s inside the box wine and get every last drop.

Oh, in case you can’t quite figure out how to get back to the main page, click here!

TAG goes cable… because the networks go rerun and reality. So, we’re going to run through some recent headlines in the world of cable TV.

Comedy Central has ordered a new series, THE COMEDIANS OF COMEDY. The series is set to premiere sometime in early 2006. The series follows comedians on the road, featuring on and off stage antics. The show stars comedians Maria Bamford, Zach Galifianakis, Patton Oswalt and Brian Posehn.

Comedy Central has also removed WEEKENDS AT THE DL, starring DL Hughley, from its Sunday night schedule temporarily for some creative retooling. This lemon should be up on cinderblocks in someone’s front yard for a while.

FX has given a third season, 13 episode order for RESCUE ME. Yet another show to look for in early 2006.

SIX FEET UNDER’s series finale on Aug. 21st drew almost 3.9 million viewers. The most for any soap opera ever. This show has long been an addiction for some of the TAG staffers, even though it degenerated into a melodrama fit to be broken up by Tide commercials.

TBS has ordered a pilot from Sean Hayes and Sean Milliner’s Hazy Mills called BROKEN NEWS, a part scripted, part improvised comedy series which is a fictional parody newscast for a small town. And we all know how much TV audiences love improv…

VH1 plans to invade your living room…

MY FAIR BRADY — PREMIERES SEPTEMBER 11, 2005 at 9:30 PM ET/PT

Christopher Knight, aka Peter Brady and Adrianne Curry the first-ever, “America’s Next Top Model” turned “America’s Next Top Do Anything for Money if it Means I’m on TV Girl” caught each other’s eye during VH1’s “Surreal Life 4.” Now, almost a year later they are still madly twitterpated and cohabitating. But like any great story, there’s a twist…twice-married Chris “loves” Adrianne yet is reluctant to marry her. Adrianne, on the other hand, is stampeding down the aisle. Will Adrianne get to register for useless serving platters and gravy boats? Or will her dreams of settling down with a twice wed washed up sitcom actor be dashed to bits? Only time and a special appearance by Florence Henderson will tell.

Yes, we know the T.A.G. website isn’t being updated quite as often as we’d like it to be. But, c’mon, it’s freakin’ summer! A time for barbecues! A time for going to the beach! A time for getting really drunk and getting arrested for public displays of nudity.

But, in a futile effort to keep the T.A.G. ship afloat, I am updating the T.A.G. B.L.O.G. with some more random nonsense. We’ll get back to reviewing pilots and trying to get people to play along with our Baker’s Dozen questions very soon – Don’t worry your pretty little head. Until then….

Let’s see, what’s going on in the world of TV? Oh, well apparently ABC pulled the plug on its new reality show “Welcome to the Neighborhood” before any episodes even aired! Too bad they didn’t think of that when they subjected us to “The Benefactor” last year. But anyway, I don’t know much about this show, but from what I read it was about seven “diverse” families who all compete to live in a fancy neighborhood in Austin, Texas. The potential new neighbors included a gay couple with an adopted son, a black couple, and even some Wiccans! Then the existing residents in the neighborhood got to decide who would win the ultimate prize – a new house in their Texas neighborhood. But anybody who has been to Texas will tell you, that aint much of a prize!

But the show was scrapped because a few “watchdog” groups got all bent out of shape and started stomping their feet. The television airwaves are littered with absolute crap reality programming, but I guess this one really upset groups like GLAAD – no not the trash bag company that Tom Bosley was a spokesman for - GLAAD is the “Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation” and apparently they were afraid that the show would be “unnecessarily cruel and insensitive.” Have these people seen “Will & Grace?”

The Family Research Council also got in on the bitch-fest by claiming the neighbors would be ridiculed for their conservative, Christian beliefs. I guess the numb-nuts at the Family Research Council are a paranoid bunch of folk, who have no faith that the American viewing public can watch mindless television without passing judgment on the right winged Texas families in the program.

Bottom line: Who cares?! This show would have come & gone without a second thought. This is not life altering stuff folks, its television. All these ridiculous “watchdog” groups need to calm down and relax. Some people are just dying to be offended it seems. Why isn’t there a “watchdog” group called CRAP – Crappy Reality As Programming. Where we just make sure stupid shows like “The Bachelor” don’t stay on the air after one or two painful seasons?

Moving right along, I see that David Spade has found life after “8 Simple Rules.” Good for him. The comedian with the comb over will host “The Showbiz Show with David Spade” on Comedy Central. Describing the show to New York Daily News, David said, “It will be a little bit of ‘Weekend Update,’ a little bit of ‘The Daily Show’ and a little bit of ‘Entertainment Tonight’” Seems like an awful lot of shows that we don’t need doubles of, but Spade is pretty funny when he lets his snide light shine so it might be worth a shot.

David Spade - looking a bit like a wax figure.

Well, I guess that’s it for now. I want to thank our loyal 13 visitors to tvadviceguy.com Without you guys, well, I guess I wouldn’t have a website to update. So thanks a friggin’ lot for making me work. Sheesh.

Since it’s gotten kind of slow at TVadviceguy.com, we’ve gotten desperate for content. So in a pathetic attempt to keep the site updated, here is a new Blog entry. What we’re gonna do this time is take an interview with Damon Wayans and add our two cents. Why? I told you, because we’re desperate. Try to keep up, huh?

Damon Wayans Has Plan to Stay Funny
Well, I had planned on pitching a perfect game in the World Series, but instead I’m sitting here typing this. Shit doesn’t always work out.

By JUSTIN LEONARD, For The Associated Press

NEW YORK - Damon Wayans has ditched the wife and kids for life on the road.

After five long years on the air, his sitcom “My Wife and Kids” was canceled by ABC last month. Wayans felt it coming, Yeah, well, it doesn’t take Nostradamus to predict that a sitcom that’s not funny, and whose ratings were sinking faster than Star Jones gone overboard would be cancelled! so the second-oldest brother of the comedic clan that includes Keenen, Marlon and Shawn is on a standup comedy tour, preparing to film his show at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. He spoke to The Associated Press about censorship, grandmother groupies and who’s the funniest Wayans.

AP: What happened with your sitcom?

Wayans: American Idol (was) killing us. Not to mention the scripts were terrible. So I’m starting a new project on my own. That will likely go completely unnoticed. It’s called ‘The Underground.’ It’s a sketch comedy. I’m going to do it on my own, with my own money. It’s going to be reminiscent of ‘In Living Color.’ Since that’s the last decent thing you were involved in. I’m going to be doing a bunch of different characters. It’s going to be super sexy. I have about 30 sketches we’re ready to shoot. I got Iraq’s funniest home videos, dope sick cops, a gang of funny commercial parodies, viagrid, valtrex, herpes. The streets will be talking about it for sure. What does that mean? Hookers and drug dealers will be talking about it? I think we might go straight to DVD. I don’t think you’re going to have another option. People want something they can’t get on TV. I have 500 channels of nothing. DVDs give you the option to watch what you want when you want. I hope “My Wife & Kids” comes out on DVD, so I can have the option of never watching it, whenever I don’t want to watch it, which is always.

AP: What’s the difference between telling jokes on stage and on a TV set?

Wayans: With a sitcom you have keepers of the gate, and censors. You are protecting Mickey Mouse ears. They don’t want you to say anything that can make them liable for a suit, And, as proven by the “My Wife & Kids” scripts, they didn’t want anything funny either. and it’s 8 o’clock prime-time. People don’t want irreverence at that time a night anyway. They just want to sit down and enjoy a meal and smile. And you couldn’t even deliver on the smile. It took me two seasons to figure that out. So you just decided to throw in the towel for the next 3 seasons? I was frustrated because you can’t say anything at 8 o’clock on ABC anyway. It’s like, ‘Wow, I can’t say hump. They actually told me I couldn’t say hump. And I was like, ‘Isn’t this the same network that brings you wife swap?’ Oh hump off!

Damon holds up two fingers to indicate how many decent seasons there were of “My Wife & Kids.”

AP: What’s up with your boy Dave Chappelle? Is it really appropriate to call him “boy?”

Wayans: I don’t know. I just heard he checked himself into a mental institution in South Africa. That’s not the place for a brother to rehab.

AP: Why not?

Wayans: Have you ever heard of apartheid? He must have lost his mind, he needs to go down to Miami or something. I don’t know what happened. He must have smoked some bad weed or something. But I’ve been meaning to call him And beg for work? and tell him to take all that pressure off himself. Now that he has the $50 million he has all this self-imposed pressure. There really is no pressure. You just have to go out there and do what you do.

Good advice! We’re going to go do what we do, whatever the hell that is. See ya!

Well today was the first day of the Network Upfronts, and the first to reveal their 2005 Fall schedule was the National Broadcasting Company. After looking over this new schedule, in a word, NBC’s 2005 Fall lineup: Sucks.

But just for shits & giggles, let’s just read along with NBC’s press release, shall we?

“NEW YORK - May 16, 2005 - NBC is emphasizing originality and big ideas in its 2005-06 Fall primetime schedule with a lineup of three new drama series, one new comedy and two unscripted series - continuing its tradition of fresh faces and innovative concepts built on a strong foundation of quality returning series. “

What’s the “big idea?” Three new dramas? One new comedy? ONE new comedy? And two unscripted series? Thank God they have those fresh faces to rely on.

The annual program announcement was made today by Jeff Zucker, President, NBC Universal Television Group and Kevin Reilly, President, NBC Entertainment

Did they have the nerve to announce it with a straight face?

“We’re very excited and encouraged by the lineup we’re presenting today,” said Zucker. “I’m confident that we have addressed our schedule needs and will continue to excel in drawing the advertiser-friendly, upscale viewers who have come to appreciate NBC’s quality brand of programming.”

He went on to say, “You know, the same viewers who fled NBC by the millions last season to other networks.”

Meanwhile we here at TVadviceguy are confident that NBC hasn’t addressed squat as far as fixing their schedule needs, but we’ll address that later.

“NBC viewers will see fresh talent and bold, original concepts in our new series next year,” said Reilly,

Damn, you mean no “Whoopie” or “Emeril” this season?!

“Our goal is to create real excitement, especially at 8 p.m., which will pay dividends throughout each night. We’re eager to be number one again, and this freshman class, combined with NBC’s powerful core schedule and recent successes like “Medium,” “The Biggest Loser” and “The Office,” represent a major step toward getting there.”

Your eagerness to be number one again will clearly have to wait till the 2006-2007 season. Oh, and here’s a little heads up - “The Office” was not technically much of a “success.” It was recent though, we’ll give you that.

Let’s quickly breeze through the lineup:

MONDAY
8-9 p.m. “FATHOM”
9-10 p.m. “Las Vegas”
10-11 p.m. “Medium”

“FATHOM” — Ever wonder what life would be like if a new form of sea life began to appear in locales all over the earth?

No. Not once. Never. No one has. Ever. This show stinks worse than rotting fish on a hot summer day.

TUESDAY
8-9 p.m. “The Biggest Loser”
9-9:30 p.m. “MY NAME IS EARL”
9:30-10 p.m. “The Office”
10-11 p.m. “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”

“EARL” - Earl,(Jason Lee) a bully and a low-rent crook, wins a lottery and after an epiphany, he is determined to turn his good fortune into a life-changing event as he sets out to right all the wrongs from his past.

Not sure what to make of this comedy. I like Jason Lee, and it sounds like it could have potential, but the show was written and Exec Produced by a dude who has “Yes, Dear” on his resume, so it already has a strike against it.

As for the rest of Tuesday night, NBC is starting the evening off with a reality show about obese people trying to drop their pant size. A perfect way to lead into an hour of comedies. Not.

WEDNESDAY
8-9 p.m. “THE APPRENTICE: MARTHA STEWART”
9-10 p.m. “E-RING”
10-11 p.m. “Law & Order”

“THE APPRENTICE: MARTHA STEWART” — will retain the general format of the original alternative series. The tasks will be centered around Stewart’s areas of expertise: media, home renovation, entertaining, design…

…obstructing justice, corporate greed, all around bitch…

“E-RING” — Benjamin Bratt and Dennis Hopper join forces in this pulsating drama set inside the nation’s ultimate fortress: the Pentagon. The number-one mission is survival of the state - an often-delicate balance between protecting the homeland and protecting either all of mankind or the life of a lone soldier.

NBC starts another night off with a reality show, this time a rip-off of one of their very own. It’s come to that? The original “Apprentice” has already run it’s course, but that won’t stop NBC from milking the concept to death. Good job NBC!

As for “E-Ring,” I have no idea what to make of this show. I’ll have to check it out when it airs, but it sounds like it has the potential to be a major yawn-fest.

THURSDAY
8-8:30 p.m. “Joey”
8:30-9 p.m. “Will & Grace”
9-10 p.m. “The Apprentice”
10-11 p.m. “ER”

NBC’s Thursday night has been crumbling like a sand castle in a tsunami for the past couple of seasons, so what bold move did they make to revitalize the night? Nothing. They kept it totally in tact.

I hear that “Joey” has a new show runner, which they obviously had to do, so it just might get the shot in the arm it has needed all year. But I won’t hold my breath. “Will & Grace” is on life support, and will no doubt have the plug pulled after this season anyway. “The Apprentice” has jumped the shark & then some already. And then of course “ER,” which I have never seen an entire episode in it’s entire 38 season run.

FRIDAY
8-9 p.m. “THREE WISHES”
9-10 p.m. “Dateline NBC”
10-11 p.m. “INCONCEIVABLE”

“THREE WISHES” — Five-time Grammy-winning recording artist Amy Grant stars in this hour-long, unscripted series in which she leads a team of experts to a small town to “grant” wishes to help make the hopes and unbelievable dreams of deserving people come true. “

For those of us in Los Angeles, New York, or Chicago, I guess we’re screwed. No dreams for us. So I’m packing up the futon and moving to a “small town” so Amy can make my dream of becoming a world champion figure skater come true!! Get the box of tissues ready, NBC plans to pull on your heart strings until it hurts.

“INCONCEIVABLE” — Come inside the world of the doctors of the Family Options Fertility Clinic in this ensemble drama, where one of the most complicated questions is to conceive — or not to conceive.”

This pilot should have never been conceived. I can’t imagine how they can keep the stories fresh with this concept, but then again, I don’t care since I will likely be searching for other programming options, like, say, a test pattern.

SATURDAY
8-11 p.m. “NBC SATURDAY NIGHT MOVIE

For those of you who love your movies censored, abbreviated, and interrupted by commercials. Enjoy!

SUNDAY
7-8 p.m. “Dateline NBC”
8-9 p.m. “The West Wing” (new day and time)
9-10 p.m. “Law & Order: Criminal Intent”
10-11 p.m. “Crossing Jordan”

Here’s where NBC is putting the rest of their returning series, seemingly to die. Assuming ABC keeps their Sunday night juggernaut lineup in tact, NBC is pretty much screwed. But that’s they way they seem to like it.
NBC was first out of the gate for the upfronts presentation, and that sound you heard was the rest of the networks sighing with relief that NBC has pulled themselves out of the competition early.

This schedule was not nearly aggressive enough. Maybe the rest of their pilots just plain stunk up the joint, but I think NBC needed to take some bigger risks than some show about mysterious sea life. I predict that with this schedule, NBC will find itself belly up.

It’s been a while since our last update here at T.A.G. So I decided to dust off the ol’ Blog and start some random babbling. How do you like that?

The end of the 2004-2005 TV season is upon us, so I guess it’s time to reflect on the hits & misses. That’s a good place to start babbling. So, here goes:

NBC learned the hard way that sinking millions of dollars into an animated comedy about sex craved lions that work for the recently maimed Roy, and his buddy Siegfried (or is it the other way around?), doesn’t have mass appeal. What’s even more sad is that the lame “Father of the Pride” was, overall, funnier than the “Friends” spin off “Joey.” Here’s to some serious off season re-tooling of the Matt LeBlanc dud. I guess there’s always that movie career of his to fall back on…

ABC found itself happier than Star Jones at an all you can eat buffet this season with the huge surprise hits “Desperate Housewives,” “Lost,” and “Blind Justice.” Okay, just seeing if you were paying attention. But, seriously, in addition to those runaway hits, they also lucked out with “Boston Legal” and “Grey’s Anatomy.” I can’t wait to see how they mess it all up next season!

CBS kind of just rolled along and continued to ride the success of their Thursday night lineup, which rightfully is showing NBC who’s boss on that night. But for 2005-2006 it should be interesting to see if they keep some of the shows that are getting stale. Oh, and, I think it’s worth mentioning that CBS should get some kind of award for “Center of the Universe.” Best sitcom cast imaginable, 2nd worst sitcom on TV (the winner of absolute worst goes to fellow CBS clunker “Listen Up.”)

Over at the WB, I was so pleased to find “Jack & Bobby.” As I’ve said all season, like a broken record, this is the most refreshing, smart, and original program I have seen in quite a while. Which means, no doubt, it will be left off the schedule next season.

Even UPN rolled out “Veronica Mars,” which I have only seen a handful of episodes, but I enjoyed them all. And that’s a first for me & a UPN show. So, they should be ecstatic.

How about FOX? Well, they should thank God for “American Idol,” that’s for sure. If it wasn’t for the talent show juggernaut, their only other success story of the season, “House,” would have been marked with a Do Not Resuscitate label long ago. But, I will say that the Pam Anderson comedy “Stacked” has been a pleasant surprise.

Of course the most exciting story of the 2004-2005 TV season wasn’t even something you could find on your TV dial. But then again, if you actually have a dial on your TV, maybe you should look into getting a new set. Which begs the question why it’s called a TV set when you only get one, but now I am rambling more than I wanted to. The point is that www.tvadviceguy.com is the best thing to happen to TV this season. Why? Because I am the one writing this Blog entry, that’s why.

So, to those of you who actually check in to TVadviceguy.com - thanks! For those of you who don’t, well what the hell are you doing here?!

So NBC debuted the “Next Great Human Drama” last night in the form of the boxing reality show, “The Contender.” According to the ratings, I think there’s probably more drama in the NBC offices than there was on the show. Those execs must be shitting themselves after seeing the overnights. “The Contender” couldn’t contend with the competition, and is a bona fide flop. As T.A.G. predicted.

I haven’t actually watched it yet, but a 90 minute premiere for a program I don’t think I want to get into is a bit much to ask, so we’ll see if I get around to it. I just wanted an excuse to put up my lame Photoshopped picture of Sly.