Two of the biggest daytime court TV shows, Judge Joe Brown and Judge Judy, are holding the line in the new season. Few changes were made to either program for the 2005-2006 season.Judge Joe Brown saw the most significant change, with his audience now voting on cases before he rules on them. The results are shown on the TV monitor behind the judge that was introduced last year. Until now, it's ...

Fox entered the daytime small-claims court show market today with Judge Alex, a 30-minute show that offers little more than similar programs. Judge Alex's good looks might keep his show alive, but there's nothing especially compelling about it. I watched two episodes today. They contained the usual small-claims cases. There's a court bailiff who provides the appropriate smiles and laughs on cue, ...

For the first time ever (as far as I know), Jerry Lewis will devote a portion of his marathon show for the Muscular Dystrophy Association this weekend to also helping another worthy cause. He'll be devoting the first four hours and the last four hours of the telethon to raising money for Hurricane Katrina victims through celebrity appeals.It's not clear whether there will be two giant signs ...

An ABC/ESPN experiment for its Indy auto racing coverage that provides a split screen during national commercials is a success, at least from the perspective of this TiVo user and commercial skipper.Called "Side-By-Side," the technique splits the screen into parts, with the commercial itself taking the majority of the right side of the screen, as well as the audio. The live, albeit ...

The FCC has sped up the process for some TV sets to include built-in digital tuners. Mid-sized TV sets must have digital TV (DTV) tuners by next March 1, four months earlier than originally required.FCC rules already require all TV sets larger than 36 inches to have built-in DTV tuners by this July 1. In addition, half of all mid-sized TV sets -- those with 25- to 36-inch screens -- must have DTV ...

Do you have an HDTV set yet? We're taking an informal poll to find out how many TV Squad readers are interested in high-definition and digital TV coverage.A weekly column on upcoming HDTV programming is just around the corner. And there's a ton of news out there about network plans for future HDTV programming, regulatory actions in Washington, and emerging digital TV technologies (including ...

I've been watching Cops on Fox for about 15 years, last night being the latest time. Every time I watch the program, I have the same question: Why do so few people (suspects, witnesses, etc.) comment on the fact that a camera operator and a sound person are following these cops around?I'd say that 99 percent of the people are never heard saying anything about this. Maybe all the comments are ...