The folks at our sister site Cinematical are working hard to give you news and reviews of the best -- and worst -- the silver screen has to offer. Here are some of their musings on the latest blockbusters, indies, and everything in between:

• Around this time of year, it's always good to get the kids out of the house. But is taking them to go see Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel a worthwhile family adventure?
• If chipmunks aren't up your alley, Cinematical talks about the best family films of the decade.
• I love going to see a movie over the holidays, but this year I'm in the Outer banks with the family and the local movie theater has actually closed for the season. So while I would really like to see Sherlock Holmes, I can't. I can, however, read Cinematical's Sherlock Holmes review here.
• We have been watching a lot of DVDs though, including The Hangover, which is on Cinematical's Blu-Ray/DVD shopping guide.
• One of the movies I'm looking forward to the most is Cop Out, the Tracy Morgan/ Bruce Willis cop movie, directed by Kevin Smith. It was originally supposed to be called, A Couple of Dicks, but in any case, it finally has a trailer.

Merry Christmas! In this pre-holiday podcast, Brad Trechak and Jason Hughes join me to talk about our favorite holiday episodes (think Festivus, folks), as well as the following:

• Brittany Murphy's death and how it caused NBC to pull a SNL Weekend Update bit from a few weeks ago,
• It's David Tennant's last days as Doctor Who, and we talk about his popular run and what's in store for his successor, Matt Smith,
• What TV-related items you can buy with the handful of gift cards you received during the holidays,
• How we might be watching TV during the next decade. Will the 30th season of The Simpsons be available telekinetically?
• Ask TV Squad, Comment of the Week, our picks of the week, and more!

Run time is 1:14:14.

You can listen to the podcast below, or download from here or by subscribing to our RSS podcast feed. It is also available via iTunes. Feel free to leave us feedback in the comments or drop us a line at tvsquadpodcast [at] gmail [dot] com.

As usual, the music at the beginning and end of the podcast is "Life" by Justin Trawick. Note that we recorded the podcast on Monday, and my pick of the week -- Jay Thomas on Letterman -- has already aired. Huh. I figured they'd wait until at least Christmas Eve for that one.

Since the end of September, the "Ask TV Squad" column offers you answers to your TV-related questions such as information about actors, titles of songs played in episodes, DVD availability, status of shows, returning dates, props, etc. Anything goes as long as it's related to television or to TVSquad.com.

There will be no columns today and next week due to the Holidays. However, look for a fresh "Ask TV Squad" on January 6.

In the meantime, I invite you to send us all your TV questions at asktvsquad@gmail.com or by leaving a comment to the present post. We will do our best to find the answers you seek and provide the info in an upcoming column or in a TV Squad podcast. So don't be shy and ask away!

If you need inspiration, here is a collection of the questions we've answered so far.

The folks at our sister site Cinematical are working hard to give you news and reviews of the best -- and worst -- the silver screen has to offer. Here are some of their musings on the latest blockbusters, indies, and everything in between:

• I love this: Cinematical Seven names the Best Mayhem of 2009. Happy Holidays!
• I'm so confused. I've seen trailers and extended previews for Avatar, and they all look kind of horrendous. Yet everyone who's seen it seems to think it's amazing-- to the tune of $27 million on Friday alone. Is this honestly that good?
• Call me crazy, but I'm not in love with the Spider Man franchise. The Batman franchise, on the other hand, is an entirely different story. Cinematical lists the best Comic Book Flicks of the Decade.
• The highest-grossing female star of the decade is younger than you, so what the hell have you been doing for the past ten years?
• If everyone was jailed for not returning movies on time, then my baby would grow up without a mother. Here's hoping that this Iowa woman doesn't have kids.

As a holiday bonus, we have a super-sized podcast this week. The reason? Rich Sommer of Mad Men called in and gave us a solid half-hour of talk about the season just past, what he thinks is in store for his character of Harry Crane, how people used to yell at him for almost breaking up Pam and Jim on The Office, and how he loves doing commercials.

Rich's interview starts around the 37-minute mark. Besides the interview, Jason Hughes, Bob Sassone and I talk about the following:

• The insane TV coverage of the Tiger Woods story,
• A discussion of shows that are returning in January (24, Idol, Lost) as well as those that are taking a break until spring (Glee, V, FlashForward),
• Our Comment of the Week! This is where listeners find out that we do not represent everyone in the TV industry,
• Our picks for the week, and much more.

Run time is 1:31:26.

You can listen to the podcast below, or download from here or by subscribing to our RSS podcast feed. It is also available via iTunes. Feel free to leave us feedback in the comments or drop us a line at tvsquadpodcast [at] gmail [dot] com.

As usual, the music at the beginning and end of the podcast is "Life" by Justin Trawick.

It's that time of year again... time to break out the metal pole, commence with the airing of grievances, and get limber in preparation to demonstrate the feats of strength. Yes, folks, Festivus is upon us once again!

Starting today, we'll be presenting what has become a yearly tradition for us: our own version of The Twelve Days of Festivus. We're going to start with Brad's list of twelve shows that... well, you'll have to tune in later today to find out why those shows make our list. Each day, we'll have a list of things about TV that annoyed or enthralled us this past year, culminating on December 23 (the official day of Festivus, according to Frank Costanza), when we list the best TV moment of the year.

If you're new here and don't know what the heck we're talking about, here are the lists from 2006, 2007, and 2008.

The folks at our sister site Cinematical are working hard to give you news and reviews of the best -- and worst -- the silver screen has to offer. Here are some of their musings on the latest blockbusters, indies, and everything in between:

• I'll probably end up seeing it on DVD, but Everybody's Fine isn't really making me rush out to the theater in the way I feel a De Niro movie should. You can read Cinematical's review of it here.
• I like Michelle Williams well enough, but I have nearly no desire to see her play Marilyn Monroe.
• Tobey Maguire looks positively terrifying in Brothers. I can't decide if that makes me want to see it more or less. You can read Cinematical's review of Brothers here.
• In Up in the Air, George Clooney plays a man who basically fires people for a living. In his honor, Cinematical Seven has seven ways to leave your employer.
• Speaking of Up in the Air, it's the movie I'm most excited about this weekend. Cinematical reviews it here.

As an early Christmas present to loyal TV Squad Podcast listeners, we will be having Rich Sommer on to talk about the fantastic third season of Mad Men. Sommer plays media analyst Harry Crane, and at the end of season three, he somehow managed to get his character in a very good place.

But you never know what's in Matthew Weiner's head for season four: Will we advance in time? Will everyone be working where they did at the end of season three? Who's coming back? Who isn't?

We'll have some fun with Rich as we make our guesses about it (he likely doesn't know any more than we do), and we'll talk to him about some of his other roles (like when he almost broke up Pam and Jim on The Office a couple of years ago).

Have questions for Rich, about Mad Men or anything else? Leave them in the comments and we'll relay them to Sommer during the podcast. We'll even give you credit for any question we use. So, ask away below. Any question we get in before we record the podcast on Tuesday at around 2 PM ET will be eligible.

It's our first four-way panel this week, as Jason Hughes, Kona Gallagher and Allison Waldman join me to talk about some of the goings on in TV this week:

• We talk about the shows that have surprised us so far this season, including The Middle and White Collar,
• It's the end of the '00s as we know it, and we feel fine: we talk about the inevitable end-of-decade lists that will drip out this month (including ours!) and what we expect to see on them,
• A new feature: Our Commenter of the Week! Knowing our commenters, you can be pretty sure we didn't pick one that said how much they loved us.
• Our picks for the week -- including the last episode of Monk -- and much more.

Run time is 1:01:38

You can listen to the podcast below, or download from here or by subscribing to our RSS podcast feed. It is also available via iTunes. Feel free to leave us feedback in the comments or drop us a line at tvsquadpodcast [at] gmail [dot] com.

As usual, the music at the beginning and end of the podcast is "Life" by Justin Trawick. Though I had so much fun adding the George Takei ID to the mix, I added another small surprise at the top of this 'cast, a call-back to an interview I did a few years ago. Hope you enjoy it.

The folks at our sister site Cinematical are working hard to give you news and reviews of the best -- and worst -- the silver screen has to offer. Here are some of their musings on the latest blockbusters, indies, and everything in between:

• There's a new website called Glyde that lets you buy and sell DVDs quite easily. Now you can get rid of all of those ill-advised Zac Efron purchases that you're hanging on to.
• Viggo Mortensen is getting ready to star in The Road, the adaptation of the Cormac McCarthey novel. He has some crazy eyes in that movie, which could either be a big plus or a big minus, depending on your stance on the hotness level of dudes with crazy eyes. In any case, Cinematical has an interview with him.
• I actually had no idea that there was going to be a fourth Shrek movie, but apparently it is, and it's titled Shrek Forever After. It's supposed to be the last film in the series... for now, at least.
• I was never going to see Old Dogs, but the fact that I was forced to sit through billions of trailers for it while watching ABC On Demand makes me want to find every print and make a giant bonfire. A brave soul at Cinematical reviews it.
• Fight Club is the film that finally made me love Brad Pitt. Cinematical rewatches it to see how it holds up after ten years.

The folks at our sister site Cinematical are working hard to give you news and reviews of the best -- and worst -- the silver screen has to offer. Here are some of their musings on the latest blockbusters, indies, and everything in between:

• Live Free or Die Hard on Blu-Ray for $7.99? I'm there. Check out that and other Best Buy Black Friday movie deals.
• I know Funny People didn't exactly kill at the box office, but I loved it. It's coming out on Blu-Ray soon, and Cinematical scored an interview with writer/director Judd Apatow to talk about it.
• Forbes came out with a list of the 10 most overpaid actors in Hollywood, and number 1 may surprise you.
• Cinematical wants this clip of Kevin Smith talking about the Twilight saga to be the last word on the matter. I agree.
• What do you think about Bones becoming a giant Avatar promo?

If you haven't seen The Prisoner yet, you may want to skip the first fifteen or so minutes of this podcast, because we talk about the whole damn thing this week. Jason Hughes and Allison Waldman join me to talk about the AMC remake of the British cult classic, as well as these topics:

• After the deaths of Edward Woodward and Ken Ober, why '80s TV suddenly seems so old,
• Soap news, mainly a discussion of James Franco's guest stint on General Hospital,
• Another dip into our Ask TV Squad mailbag, where we discuss the use of laugh tracks and why multi-camera shows are written differently than single-camera shows,
• Our picks for the week, and much more.

Run time is 1:02:55.

You can listen to the podcast below, or download from here or by subscribing to our RSS podcast feed. It is also available via iTunes. Feel free to leave us feedback in the comments or drop us a line at tvsquadpodcast [at] gmail [dot] com.

As usual, the music at the beginning and end of the podcast is "Life" by Justin Trawick. Though I decided to add a small surprise at the beginning, a call-back to an interview I did a few years ago. Hope you enjoy it.

Spoilers are a hot topic here on TV Squad. Nary a day goes by when we don't hear something -- good or bad -- from readers about spoilers. And it's been going on a while; Isabelle wrote this post on spoilers back in 2007.

What is a spoiler? Should they be included in titles? Should we always put them after the jump? Are casting announcements spoilers? What about short posts that only fit on the front page? What if the info is common knowledge?

Let's take a closer look at spoilers, what they are, and how we can run a great web site and all live together with these precarious bits of info known as spoilers.

It was an eventful week in TV, especially for fans of Mad Men. This week, Jason Hughes and Bob Sassone join me to talk about the show's finale and what may be in store for next season. We also talk about:

• Why November sweeps don't mean as much as they used to,
• Another dip into our Ask TV Squad mailbag, where we discuss why we promote SlashControl and other AOL-related ventures,
• Our picks for the week, and much more.

Run time is 57:28.

You can listen to the podcast below, or download from here or by subscribing to our RSS podcast feed. It is also available via iTunes. Feel free to leave us feedback in the comments or drop us a line at tvsquadpodcast [at] gmail [dot] com.

By the way, the music at the beginning and end of the podcast is "Life" by Justin Trawick.

The folks at our sister site Cinematical are working hard to give you news and reviews of the best -- and worst -- the silver screen has to offer. Here are some of their musings on the latest blockbusters, indies, and everything in between:

• Con: Another vampire movie. Pro: It involves Clueless director Amy Heckerling and Krysten Ritter from Veronica Mars and Breaking Bad. I'm so conflicted!
• Good thing Ian McKellen is so graceful, otherwise, he probably would have drop-kicked Elisabeth Hasselbeck during his recent appearance on The View.
• Is it just me, or does The Men Who Stare at Goats look amazing? See if it lives up to the hype by reading Cinematical's review.
• Cinematical takes a look at some of the best and worst biopics, and I really enjoy the ones on the "best" list. Of course, I also love a few on the worst list, like Evita.
• I really want to see Precious, but I'm also terrified of it. Oprah told me I need to go see it though, and I don't like to defy Oprah. You can read Cinematical's review of Precious here.