TV Squad

• TV Guide picks the best pilots (and gets it wrong)
  

  Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Other Comedy Shows, Programming, Reality-Free

  
  I'm sorry, but while I think that everyone is entitled to their opinion about "best this" and "best that" (not to be confused with "favorite this" and "favorite that"), sometimes such a list has some entries that just make you scratch your head so much that you have to throw the whole list away and start over. Case in point, this list of the 10 Best TV Pilots from the new issue of TV Guide.
  
  While I'm not going to sit here and argue about shows on the list like Lost, The Sopranos,...
  



• Leisha Hailey cast in The L Word spinoff
  

  Filed under: Other Drama Shows, TCA Press Tour, Casting, Reality-Free

  The L Word will kick off its sixth, and final, season in January, with Elizabeth Berkley in tow. That's a pretty nice run for any show, cable or network. If you're experiencing preemptive disappointment over the thought of losing the show, rest easy. As we heard at the TCAs, Ilene Chaiken, creator and executive producer of the show, has been signed to write and produce a pilot for an L Word spinoff.

  Even better, we now know that Leisha Hailey has been brought in to star. She plays Alice, and...
  




• If you like Swingtown, you might like BiCoastal
  

  Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Programming, Reality-Free

  So Mike Kelley, the creator of CBS' Swingtown, has a new show in the works called BiCoastal. From that title, can you guess what the show is about?
  
  Exactly.
  
  BiCoastal will air on Showtime, and is about a husband and father in Los Angeles who finds himself falling in love with a man who lives in New York City. Something tells me that the Parents Television Council is already making picket signs even as I type this. Or maybe they're just using the old ones, crossing out NYPD Blue and replacing it with BiCoastal.

  Continue...
  




• Sons of Anarchy: Pilot (series premiere)
  

  Filed under: Other Drama Shows, OpEd, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free

  
  (S01E01) "Just pretend it's carve-your-own steak night at Sizzler." - Jax

  FX is taking a fairly big gamble with Sons of Anarchy. With their trademark drama The Shieldending its seven season run this fall and their other two big hits (Damages and Rescue Me) pushed to 2009 because of the WGA Strike, the network is in dire need of some fresh buzz. The one thing they have going for them? Even FX's previous flops (Dirt, Starved, Over There, Thief) were better than a lot of other things on TV and...
  




• Sure, 90210 was terrible ... but it's not made for me
  

  Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Reality-Free

  I decided to bite the bullet and watched the two-hour (!) premiere of 90210 last night. Because the CW decided to not bother sending screeners of either episode to critics, I was girding myself for a show that made me want to wince every thirty seconds or so.
  
  In that regard, it didn't do as badly as I thought. I only winced about once per minute.
  
  Of course, that wasn't a good thing. My fellow Squadder Kona gave the show a "liked it but it needs work" review, and I agree with her about the "needs work" part. I...
  



• 90210: We're Not in Kansas Anymore; The Jet Set (series premiere)
  

  Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free

  (S01E01 / S01E02) Wow. So, within the first five minutes it becomes abundantly clear that this is not your momma's 90210. First of all, there are actual non-whites at West Beverly High! Er, well, at least one. But he's a main character! Secondly, kids at West Beverly don't just hang out at the Peach Pit or whatever before class, they perform sexual acts in their big, shiny SUVs!
  
  Other things are the same, however, such as the fact that being a new kid still sucks: even if you're an impossibly skinny girl...
  



• CBS to rule People magazine
  

  Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Other Comedy Shows, Industry, OpEd, CSI, NCIS, Reality-Free

  A CBS press release landed in my inbox today with this earth-shattering news: CBS's fall programming ads (20 total) will be featured exclusively in People's Sept. 22 issue.
  
  From the release: "In a special arrangement with the magazine, CBS will be the exclusive broadcast advertiser in the issue, on stands Sept. 12." Of course, that's right before the launch of CBS's new fall lineup.
  
  And it sounds like this might be a first. George Schweitzer, president of CBS...
  



• The CW and FOX get a head start, TNT is all new
  

  Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Programming, Prison Break, Gossip Girl, The Middleman

  It's kind of nice when the networks spread out their premieres, ensuring me a fighting chance at sampling most of the new shows. Call me crazy, and you definitely wouldn't be the first, but I have this weird obsession with trying to catch at least one episode of virtually every new major show that premieres and, if at all possible making that the pilot episode. It's allowed me to see a lot of great shows, and a lot of stinkers. But it makes this time of year a busy blast,...
  



• Samurai Girl -- An early look
  

  Filed under: Other Drama Shows, OpEd, Early Looks, Reality-Free

  
  It's good to be ABC Family right about now. The Secret Life Of The American Teenager has been knocking the ratings ball out of the park all summer. GREEK just returned to great numbers of its own. And, while it hasn't had those same numbers, The Middleman is outstanding. Looking to continue riding that wave of success, the network is ready to debut their next big project next weekend. Samurai Girl is based on a series of young-adult novels. The six hour mini-series will play out with two hours a night on Friday,...
  




• Swingtown: Surprise
  

  Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free

  (S01E12) "Do you think we closed Pandora's box?" -- Tom to Trina, after Janet's birthday party
  
  You knew this was going to be an episode fraught with revelations when the strains of Carly Simon singing "No Secrets" played over the opening scene. Perfect song to comment on the surprises to come, as Swingtown climbs toward the big season one climax next week.
  
  The show is getting tantalizing terrific. It's not that I'm enamored with all the characters, but they've all become interesting to me. Even Ricky's struggle to come to terms with his best friend falling...