The May ratings period started last Thursday and, so far, CBS is in the lead. The network is a ratings powerhouse on Thursdays with Survivor, CSI, and Without a Trace. Numb3rs is keeping it on top on Fridays. Of course, FOX is going to take over the lead early this week with 24, American Idol, and House.

Of all the networks, I think I watch CBS the least (okay, if we're including all the networks, I watch The Home Shopping Network the least). I still find myself watching a lot of NBC (Scrubs, Earl, The Office). Because of all those years of great programming in the 1990s, I think I may subconsciously be loyal to the NBC brand.

What do you think is the best network (cable included)? Why?

(S05E20) Now, I know you guys miss me, but this is just a temporary thing; Lacy had some technical difficulties and I'm just stepping in to help her out for this episode. We'll be returning you to your regularly scheduled reviewer next week. I think I somehow missed an episode somewhere along the way the past couple of weeks, because I was just as shocked as Clark to find that Lana and Lex were now an item. I knew that they would end up together, but I thought they would tease the issue a while ala Clark and Lana. I know they share some traits and bonding moments, but how gullible and lame is Lana to just jump together with Lex? I had more faith in her than that, apparently, so did Clark. On with the show!

There are some cartoon characters that have a permanent shield of double-thick steel around them. When you think they're finally gone, they come back in a new form.

Take our pal Scooby-Doo, for example. Scooby and his Mystery Inc. friends have been with us since 1969. That's 37 years, kids; 259 in dog years (you knew I had to throw in that joke, didn't ya?). Since then he's been paired with Fred, Daphne, and Velma, the Scooby-Doobies (From Laff-a-Lympics), Dynomutt, Vincent Price and, ahem, Scrappy-Doo. After leaving Saturday mornings in the late '80s, he returned with the entire Mystery Inc in What's New Scooby-Doo for the Kids WB.

Now he's back again in this fall's 'Kids WB on the CW' (catchy, ain't it?) in Shaggy and Scooby-Doo Get a Clue. In this show... well, perhaps you should jump to find out what it's all about, and also see some of the other new series premiering next fall on Kids WB.

We don't cover The Bedford Diaries that much here at TV Squad. I guess it just doesn't look that interesting to anyone. And Tee Vee agrees with us. But I'm glad that Nathan Alderman wrote this review of the show. Not only does he point out that the WB show makes sex seem boring, he also mentions Paul Haggis and two of my all-time favorite TV shows, Due South and EZ Streets (it makes sense in the context of the article). Here's what he says about The Bedford Diaries, in a nutshell:

"The whole thing feels like it's been focus grouped to death. Hmm ... what would the WB want? A show about attractive college students? Having lots of sex? And talking about their sex lives? And making videotapes of themselves talking about their sex lives? Sounds like a surefire sell!

Except it's not. It's downright boring ..."

Nikki Finke at the L.A. Weekly investigates the new CW Network and the control that CBS President and CEO Les Moonves has over the new combo of UPN and the WB.

Supposedly, every single programming decision and every single business decision has to go through Moonves first, as if he has "sole custody" of the network, according to Finke. She says that under Moonves, Charmed will be gone, 7th Heaven will be back, and shows like Pepper Dennis, Everwood, One Tree Hill, and The Bedford Diaries are on the fence.

(S06E20) After I read the awesome interview Mike Ausiello of TVGuide.com conducted with Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino, I began to understand the TV business a little better. First of all, it seems like what the Palladinos were seeking from Warner Brothers was a) a little security, hence the request for 2 years, even if the show was only going to last just one, and b) a little help, because they didn't seem to have the extensive writing and producing staff that other hit shows seem to have. They got neither, so they walked.

What also struck me about the interview is how fiercely they defended their creative vision of the show (something they won't at all be involved with in Season 7, by the way... no pay, no guidance) despite what many feel has been a down season for Gilmore Girls. To them, the characters need to develop and grow, and everything isn't going to be hunky-dory all the time, especially with Luke and Lorelai.

But that's still not an excuse for... this.

If you've shut off your TV for TV Turnoff Week -- and really, why would you? -- you're missing a lot, especially if you're a Gilmore Girls fan. Why? Because the show's going to give its loyal fans a "sneak preview" this week, one that they didn't even know they were going to get after watching the last episode.

What do I mean by that? Well, Tuesday's episode, named "Super Cool Party People", was written by Dave Rosenthal, who just happened to be named the new executive producer of the show, effective next season. It also, if the TV listing for it on the WB's website is any indication, will advance one of the more annoying storylines of the season in a way that the fans may actually enjoy.

So if you want to get an idea of what GG is going to be like without the Palladinos, pay close attention to tomorrow's episode. Even though it'll still have AS-P's fingerprints all over it (she and her husband rewrtie scripts they don't write themselves), it might still provide some clues.

So the news is that The WB's 7th Heaven has been asked to come back for another year when the new CW network launches. But where can they possibly go with the storylines? They've done sex and drugs and religion and school violence and sex and pregnancies and gangs and sex and domestic issues and everything else (sex). So what can they do to get people to come back?

• Satan takes over the city, and Rev. Camden must battle for the soul of everyone in Glen Oak (cross-over episode with Supernatural?)
• In a very special episode, the Camden family stages an intervention with Matt, to get him to leave What About Brian? and come back to the show.
  
• The family finds out that Ruthie is a robot.

TV Guide's Michael Ausiello has the scoop. NBC isn't confirming yet, but Ausiello reports that Scrubs will indeed see a 6th season.

As for 7th Heaven, he's also reporting that this will be one of the shows that survives the move to The CW (are they really going to still use that name?)

That's great. Now we'll able to see Ruthie become a grandmother.

(S05E19) If you ignore the blatant Saw rip-off, then this episode was super fantastic. But any episode that centers around Lionel is a winner in my book. This ep was a total incubator for cliffhangers. In this episode, Lionel is kidnapped by a masked tormentor who forces him to endure all kinds of riddles and physical challenges in order to live. Of course, Martha gets thrown into the mix, and several amazing things happen...

Bob beat me to the punch with the news that Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino are going to leave Gilmore Girls at the end of the year, so I didn't get to post my reaction to the story. Well, I've read Mike Ausiello's story, digested the comments, and slept on it. After all that -- and I'm sure you're all on the edge of your seats -- here is what I think of the move:

Eh.

Amy Sherman-Palladino and her husband Dan have left the WB show because they couldn't come to an agreement on their contracts with the studio. They are going to leave at the end of this season.

It looks like the show will go on though. Dave Rosenthal, a producer and writer on the show already, will take over when the show returns next year (?) on the new CW.

[via Lee Goldberg]

Maybe no one realized this yet. Or, maybe no one really cared. During the 2005-06 television season, seven alumni of FOX's Beverly Hills, 90210 have appeared or will appear in a regular series.

Do you doubt me? Do you think it isn't true? Do you think I have way too much time on my hands? Well, the last may be true, but that's not the point.

Click on, dear reader, for the proof that you seek.

(S06E19) While I was watching this episode, I noticed something weird. Every one of the main female characters in this episode (well, except for Mrs. Kim) looked absolutely radiant. Keiko Agena looked beautiful. Alexis Bledel looked beautiful. Lauren Graham looked especially beautiful.

Was it the way the episode was shot? Different make-up artists and hair stylists? Nope, it wasn't any of that stuff. Know why everyone looked so good?

They were all smiling.

(S05E18) About half-way through last night's Smallville, my roommate suddenly proclaimed, "This is the gayest Smallville ever!" I don't know about gayest, but it was pretty lame. It was one of your typical freak-of-the-week episodes that I wish would've disappeared by the 5th season. But nope. In this (not so) special episode, Clark and Martha take in a foster girl who has the ability to control glass, i.e. shatter glass, i.e. accidentally kill her previous foster mom. 

This episode marked Tom Welling's directorial debut. It's sort of hard for me to judge Tom's directing chops when the writing was so lame. There really wasn't a lot going on here in terms of plot, and I don't think that Tom helped things out in terms of direction. The scenes between him and the young girl went on foooooorever. Chemistry, they do not have.