The late night underground cavalcade of evil teddy bears and talking inanimate objects with a predisposition towards drug, substance and sexual addiction is moving deeper into prime time.

Cartoon Network will extend their crazy popular Adult Swim block into 9 p.m. Eastern time starting next year, January 2011.

Turner Animation president Stu Snyder said the decision to expand the block is "100 percent a reflection on the success of Adult Swim as a brand."

[via Pop Candy]

If you read Brad's take on The Hollywood Reporter list of endangered TV shows, you might be surprised that the 'experts' have some weak rated shows coming back for another season.

THR puts 'Community' in the safe category, giving it a 90% chance of renewal. It also put 'Chuck' in the 90% category.

Joe Adalian wrote about bubble shows on The Wrap, and he has 'Chuck' slam-dunking another renewal out of NBC. The surprises on his list was a death blow for 'Gary Unmarried' and 'Rules of Engagement.'

Really? That's not a certainty considering that 'Rules' hasn't even aired yet. It did well in the ratings last spring, enough to be a midseason renewal. And 'Gary' has performed on par with 'The New Adventures of Old Christine,' which has a good shot at being renewed.

You gotta love the feisty attitude of former 'M*A*S*H' stars Alan Alda and Wayne Rogers about Sunday's Super Bowl broadcast being a record-breaker. Alda was gracious about the 'M*A*S*H' finale being topped by the Super Bowl broadcast. The New Orleans Saints victory over the Indianapolis Colts had more total viewers than the 1983 'M*A*S*H' finale. But Alda and Rogers both added a shot of vinegar to their honey coated responses.

Alda said in a statement to the L.A. Times, "If they broke our record, I'm happy for New Orleans and I hope it gives even more to cheer about to a city I love." However, he did wonder about how Nielsen measured the audience. It's a good question and one many people ask.

It looks like a lot of people were curious to see if the New Orleans Saints could beat the Indianapolis Colts in their first Super Bowl appearance (spoiler: they did). Or maybe they just wanted to see if Abe Vigoda was still alive or what a bunch of guys walking around in their underwear looked like. Either way, the CBS broadcast of the game got the best household numbers in 23 years, up 10% from last year's game that...well, no one really remembers who played last year.

That's pretty good considering there wasn't a nipple in this year's game.

It's not hard to see great ratings for the game most years though. TV networks usually don't air much opposite them. Last night, for example, ABC and FOX ran repeats of their comedies while NBC had repeats of 'The Biggest Loser.'

What is going on with Jack Bauer? Have you been watching '24' this season, the first time set in New York City? There were high expectations that this might be the best season yet for '24' because we'd be seeing a lean, mean, older Jack who has been through the wringer and knows all the tricks and turns of the business. Comparisons were made to Jason Bourne, but with the Bauer edge.

Unfortunately, we're not seeing the vim and vigor of 'The Bourne Identity' or any of the other Bourne pictures. We're not even seeing the quality of '24' from seasons past. Instead, '24' has turned into something else entirely -- an empty shell of its former self. It's time to call it a day for '24.' The show has definitely jumped the you-know-what.

Fox and MSNBC have been attacking each other with more frequency (but probably less violently) than the Black Spy and the White Spy, and one of their main forms of ammunition have been their respective ratings.

So naturally 'Countdown', hosted by the rather large (both in stature and physical size) talking head Keith Olbermann, had to respond to a report that appeared in the New York Post's "Page Six" column claiming that his show is one baboon hair away from cancellation hell.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

The good news is that NBC's Thursday night line-up has increased in the ratings, particularly for the Amy Poehler vehicle 'Parks and Recreation' which has just hit a season high. The bad news is that they're still in fourth place for that night.

Remember the good old days when NBC on Thursday nights was "Must See TV"? NBC is probably yearning for those days, or possibly any day that isn't right now. There are still regulatory hurdles to jump through before the sale to Comcast is truly finalized; what are the network executives telling their future potential bosses? "Yes, we suck but we're doing better."

Back to 'Parks and Recreation': Amy Poehler is one talented lady (which is evident even from way back in her 'Saturday Night Live' and 'Upright Citizens Brigade' days)and it is a good thing that she is getting the recognition that she deserves.

Just how historic and awesome was the New Orleans Saints' first NFC championship? It not only toppled what could be the final chapter of legendary quarterback Brett Favre's NFL history, but it also toppled one of the most epic and legendary final chapters in television's history.

Last Sunday's squeaker between the Saints and the Minnesota Vikings on Fox garnered 57.9 million viewers, which tops the Seinfeld finale in 1998.

One can only imagine what the viewership would be if the Saints beat the Indianapolis Colts and take home the Vince Lombardi trophy at Super Bowl XLIV. I mean, other than a special post-game appearance of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (I say that, of course, as a long time and beloved hometown fan of the Black and Gold. Who dat!).

If you have ever worried that How I Met Your Mother might be canceled by CBS before the identity of "mother" is revealed, this bit of news should bring you great relief. CBS has renewed How I Met Your Mother for a sixth season. I give all fans of the comedy permission to join me now in a hearty "Hooray!"

In all seriousness, this is great news. Two years ago, a renewal for HIMYM wasn't a sure thing. The decision wasn't made until well into the spring. So, clearly, CBS has a new attitude about the Carter Bays-Craig Thomas creation, not to mention liking their work enough to give Bays-Thomas a rich new contract and the opportunity to make another sitcom.

A couple of weeks ago, Kona wrote about the campaign to convince ABC to save Better Off Ted. Despite these grassroots efforts, the rating for Ted continue to be dismal and ABC probably has "cancel Better Off Ted" on the corporate to-do list.

That's a shame, because the more I watch of Better Off Ted, the better I think it is. Smart, funny, observant and surreal, Ted is an office comedy that makes deserves to survive. If more people gave it a shot, I think it would be a success. Maybe not a monster hit, but there aren't many of those in the sitcom field right now. Emmy winner 30 Rock is anything but a ratings hit.

We all know about the NBC late-night issues going on right now. David Letterman is having a field day with them. What we suspected but didn't know is that apparently, like the Cylons, NBC had a plan.

The plan was that in the event Conan's ratings for The Tonight Show didn't work out, they would replace him with Jay Leno. That's why they wanted to keep Jay Leno around. Now, the actual reason for the switch back was that Leno's 10 P.M. ratings tanked and Conan didn't want to start The Tonight Show at a time that even fewer people would watch, but the end result is the same.

Comparing the executives of a network to a fictional cybernetic race bent on the destruction of humanity isn't completely fair, but it's close enough. A closer analogy would be if the Cylons were being led by the WWE's Vince McMahon. And like Vince McMahon before him, Jeff Zucker can turn around and say (based on their offer of a post-midnight Tonight Show): "NBC didn't screw Conan. Conan screwed Conan."

The "I'm with Coco" campaign to honor Conan O'Brien and ravage NBC's treatment of him over The Tonight Show is selling a t-shirt to show support for Conan and to send much-needed relief funding to earthquake victims in Haiti.

Obviously, the shirt's logo is a take-off on the proliferating "Hope" poster stamped on President Obama's campaign. According to the t-shirt's sales page, a portion of the proceeds will go to Haitian earthquake relief services.

That sounds like a great idea, but there's word published about what percentage of sales -- or what dollar amount -- will go to Haiti. I'm not saying it's a scam at all. With more than 111,000 Facebook folks following the cause, there's plenty of eyes watching this effort. I just can't report the financial details on the shirt.

Meanwhile, on the "Save Conan O'Brien" front, there's a rally to show support for the current Tonight Show set for Universal Studios (the current home of Conan) this Friday at noon.

Jericho became famous for becoming the first show to really be saved from cancellation by an internet fan campaign. While it did get its second season, the online fervor failed to translate into ratings, and Jericho never saw a season three. Now the NBC comedy Chuck is back for its third season after being similarly saved by devoted fans. So the big question is, did they actually watch?

According to The Hollywood Reporter, you bet they did. Last night's season three premiere of Chuck scored its highest ratings since its special 3-D episode that aired after the Super Bowl. If you're just looking at the ratings of Chuck's non-gimmicky episodes, it hasn't performed this well since 2007. Chuck fans are celebrating today, and NBC execs at least have one bright spot in what has been a difficult week for them.

Good news for Patrick Warburton fans; disappointing news for Jenna Elfman fans. And if you have a deep affection for Jeremy Northam, this should make you happy, too. Confused? Don't be. I'm just laying out the essence of the CBS midseason juggle.

On Mondays, beginning February 1, Accidentally on Purpose will be shelved... but only for a few weeks. Taking the 8:30 Monday slot will be the return of Patrick Warburton, the best thing in Rules of Engagement.

That's not all. On March 31, the 8:30 slot in which Gary Unmarried airs, will be assumed by Accidentally. That's not because Gary's being canceled; it will have completed its season order by then.