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TV Squad lists your season and series premieres and finales
Hola, mi muchachos and muchachoettes! It is I, Schedule Boy, back from wherever the hell I was. I'm here this time to present a comprehensive list of upcoming season and series premieres and finales for you, my adoptive TV Squad family.
What a crazy season its been! Shows that had so much potential (The Nine, Studio 60) struggled to stay on the air, while others (Ugly Betty, Friday Night Lights, Jericho, 30 Rock) surprised us with their growing fan bases and popularity. Then there were shows like ER that made a sudden comeback and ones like Gilmore Girls and Scrubs that didn't seem to find their way for the first half of the season. Well, at least we could be confident that hits like Grey's Anatomy, American Idol, 24 and Lost would carry us through the season. Then again, maybe not. Like I said, crazy season.
So, sit back, relax, and enjoy this fine presentation, presented in color with limited commercial interruption. You can find the list of premieres and finales (as well shows returning from hiatus) after the jump. Remember, dates are subject to change, so we'll be updating as time moves forward.
Talisman could become a regular series
As we all know, the Stephen King / Peter Straub novel The Talisman is being made into a six-part miniseries for TNT for the 2008 season.
Now TNT has told advertisers that the Stephen Spielberg-produced miniseries could also become a regular series in 2009.
The original novel, the first collaboration between King and Straub, focused on a young boy named Jack Sawyer who flips back and forth between two worlds: our world and a mystical but malevolent world known as the Territories as he attempts to secure the titular talisman that may save his dying mother. A sequel, Black House, followed many years later. Both stories also tie into King's larger Dark Tower series, which may also be developed for television.
TNT adds miniseries and two new series
As Brett mentioned last December, TNT has two new series planned: Heartland, starring Treat Williams; and Saving Grace, starring Holly Hunter (the series was originally called Grace). In Heartland, Williams plays a brilliant heart transplant surgeon who struggles with his family life. Hunter plays a police detective who's visited by an angel.
Men change: Regis Philbin and Donald Trump
When a man gets older and he finds himself vulnerable to mortality, and that which affects his heart and his mental health, there are no proper words to describe the fear and anticipation. By now, the news has been announced that Regis will be leaving the show to undergo bypass surgery. Although you might have read articles about the situation, there really isn't anything like watching the exact moment he describes it. Something about the delicate nature and his soft spoken voice that reminds you of how fragile life is, it really tugs at your soul. No one ever wants to see anything bad happen to Regis.
On a completely opposite spectrum...
SAG Awards to feature Mary Tyler Moore Show reunion
A classic sitcom with have a reunion of sorts when cast members of The Mary Tyler Moore Show gather at the Screen Actor's Guild Awards this Sunday night.
Mary Tyler Moore, Ed Asner, Betty White, Gavin MacLeod, Valerie Harper, Cloris Leachman, and Georgia Engel will give out the Best Ensemble In A Comedy Series award. Ted Knight died in 1986. Chuckles the Clown died in 1975.
The show airs on TNT at 8pm. Julie Andrews will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at the show, and Dick Van Dyke will be a presenter as well.
[via TV Tattle]
The Golden Globes: Best Actress -- Drama
The species known as television viewers (scientific name blearyeyeus videoboxus) are an odd sort. When it comes to comedies we tend to converge on the same watering hole . . . in other words, we all like to laugh and we watch many of the same shows as our friends do. When it comes to dramas, though, the species can be a bit picky. Take me, for example. I'm a big fan of shows like ER and Bones, but have never watched an episode of Grey's Anatomy or Lost. There are others who are big fans of those two shows, but can't stand ER or Bones.
Why do I bring this up? Well, when it came time to write the post on the Golden Globe nominees for best actress in a drama the pickiness surfaced. That's why, rather than me writing 'Never watched the show' in my analysis of the five nominees, I decided to turn this post over to some of the other members of the TV Squad staff to give their opinions of the actresses and who should win.
So, thanks in advance to Anna, Jen, Brett, and Jay, and let's begin after the jump.
Screen Actors Guild nominees announced
The nominees for the 13th annual Screen Actors Guild awards were announced earlier this morning. Like the Golden Globes, the SAG awards focus on both movies and television. We don't give a darn about the movie nominees (that's what our sister site Cinematical is for), but we very much care for the television nominations. That's because we are, you know, TV Squad. So, here they are:
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
James Gandolfini, The Sopranos
Michael C. Hall, Dexter
Hugh Laurie, House
James Spader, Boston Legal
Kiefer Sutherland, 24 / 24 – Jack Bauer - FOX
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series
Patricia Arquette, Medium
Edie Falco, The Sopranos
Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Kyra Sedgwick,The Closer
Chandra Wilson, Grey's Anatomy
Things I Hate About TV: Workaholics in Christmas specials
I had trouble sleeping the other night (there were sugar plums dancing through my head – angry, murderous sugar plums), so I turned to the best TV option I had available to me: TNT HD's replay of A Perfect Day starring Rob Lowe.Here's the plot: lower middle class guy writes a book that becomes a best seller. As he climbs the economic ladder, he becomes a workaholic and is thus estranged from his family. A mysterious stranger then appears and helps him to realize that true happiness doesn't come from work and success, but rather from spending time with his wife and his improbably named daughter, Carson.
I watched the whole thing for the same reason I play with hangnails and follow Philadelphia sports teams – I secretly hate myself.
TNT dumps Saved, adds two new shows
While Saved garnered quite a few good reviews, and some respectable ratings, it's no The Closer. And apparently the press and numbers weren't enough to convince TNT that there should be a second season of the Tom Everett Scott drama. Instead, the network is looking to bring two different pilots to series. Holly Hunter stars in Grace as an Oklahoma City police detective who is visited by an angel and given a chance to redeem her life. It also stars Tom Irwin (Related), and Laura San Giacomo (Just Shoot Me). I'll watch anything with Holly Hunter, or Laura San Giacomo, in it at least once, so I plan to tune in when this show takes off. But based just on the tag line, my expectations are low.
Also on the schedule is Heartland. This one stars Treat Williams as the brilliant surgeon, Nathaniel Grant. His dedication to his work causes problems with his health and his relationships. Now, if you are thinking, "Hey, that sounds a whole lot like Everwood." then you and I are on the same page. The show even stars Gage Golightly as his daughter Thea, who doesn't seem so far removed from Delia. Still, Treat Williams is always worth a look. And it has the bonus of Morena Baccarin (Firefly) as well. The show is currently planned to follow The Closer.
TNT will air entire Lord of the Rings trilogy
Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King will make its network television debut on December 15th on TNT. The cable network has already aired the first two movies, The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers over the last two years. The Return of the King, for those of you living under a rock, wraps up the series. TNT is airing it in HD. It'll be available on VOD beginning Dec. 24th.As is customary with TNT, The Return of the King will air for three nights in a row. And, on Sunday December 17th, it will be preceded by the first two movies. With commercials, that's more than eleven hours of programming. I pity the fool who sits down to watch that. I mean, yes, Viggo Mortenson and Orlando Bloom are super hot in all three movies, but if you're going to spend that much time watching television, why not just buy the DVDs?
The Talisman hits TNT in 2008
Rumors about Steven Spielberg helming an adaptation of The Talisman, the novel by Stephen King and Peter Straub, have been circulating for almost as long as the book itself has been in print, almost three decades. Last year reports began to pop up again that a film adaptation was in the works, but still nothing. Now, however, it's official: Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy will be executive producing the six-hour adaptation for DreamWorks Television, set to air on TNT in the summer of 2008. Ehren Krueger (Arlington Road, The Ring, The Brothers Grimm) is penning the script.
The novel focuses on Jack Sawyer, a young boy who sets out on a quest to find the titular talisman, a magic artifact that may save his mother, who is dying of cancer. Jack flips back and forth between parallel worlds, his own reality and another called "the Territories." This novel, along with its sequel, 2001's Black House, also ties into King's seven-part Dark Tower series, as does a large portion of his other works.
The Closer: Serving the King (Pt. 1 & 2)
(S02E14&15) I decided to sleep on it before writing this review, and I'm still confused as hell. This episode of The Closer required intense concentration. There were a lot of names -- Russian, Arabic, American -- thrown at us, as well as a lot of terrorist scenarios.The story/investigation was so complicated that we only got to see hints of Dep. Chief Johnson's unusual personality. I enjoyed the little tidbits in the first hour that showed her restless at her house as she waited for the investigation to conclude about the shooting in her murder room. Like you would imagine, she attempted gardening, but appeared to have killed all the plants. And she tried to go for a jog but ended up at the pastry shop "that I hate!" down the street.
Reminder: The Closer returns tonight!
Brenda Leigh Johnson is back for just one night! TNT is airing a special, BRAND NEW episode of The Closer tonight at 8 pm. The Closer wrapped its second season at the end of the summer, but it was so successful that TNT decided to tease us with one more mystery before bringing back season three next summer.Tonight features back-to-back episodes that have Brenda going off the books. While on paid leave after the season finale's shoot-out in the murder room, Brenda is asked by an "old friend" to solve the murder of an Arab teenager who is connected to terrorists. She'll be in a race to solve the case and protect her team from the divisive Commander Taylor. The second hour is directed by star Kyra Sedgwick's husband, Kevin Bacon.
The Librarian: Return to King Solomon's Mines -- an early look

Well, not that early, considering it premieres tonight on TNT. But it is early enough to let you know that if you are fan of the first Librarian film you will probably like the second installment as well. And, even if you never saw the first one you'll still enjoy it.
For those who are unfamiliar with the film series, The Librarian stars Noah Wyle (ER's Doctor John Carter) as Flynn Carson, holder of 22 college degrees and 'librarian' of the Metropolitan Public Library. Actually, Flynn's job is to find and protect historical and sometime magical items that are stored in the special section of the library. His position of librarian takes him around the world in search of said items, and it sometimes leads to situations no normal librarian would be involved with. I mean, librarians usually aren't held at gunpoint by villains whose books are overdue.
Comprehensive holiday television schedule
Okay. Now that I've eaten turkey and pumpkin pie, bring on the holiday TV! Already, we've been subjected to Christmas commercials, but now the good holiday television really begins. USA Today was kind enough to put together a comprehensive list of holiday specials (new and traditional) that air between now and Christmas Day.Here are some of the notables:
- A Charlie Brown Christmas, ABC, Tuesday Nov. 28 at 8 pm;
- Polar Express, ABC, Friday December 1 at 8 pm;
- Santa Claus is Comin' to Town, ABC, Tuesday December 5 at 8 pm;
- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, CBS, Friday December 8 at 8 pm;
- Frosty the Snowman, CBS, Friday December 8 at 9 pm;
- Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Jim Carrey version), ABC, Saturday December 9 at 9 pm;
- Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas (animated version), ABC, Tuesday December 12 at 8 pm;
- It's a Wonderful Life, NBC, Saturday December 16 at 8 pm;
- National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, TBS, Sunday December 17 at 8 pm;
- A Christmas Carol (Patrick Stewart version), TNT, Wednesday December 20 at 8 pm;
- A Christmas Story (24-hour marathon), TBS, Sunday December 24 at 8 pm;
- Yule Log, INHD, Monday December 25 at 7 am.
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