While I can't say I've been thrilled about it, the idea of a live-action Aquaman series intrigues me. I always felt the character of Aquaman had much more potential than we ever saw in the comic books or Saturday morning cartoons. He commanded the creatures of the sea, for crying out loud. He could have corralled some sharks and done some real damage, had he wanted. Anyway, the WB has finally picked someone to play the lead role in the upcoming Aquaman series, and it's Will Toale, whoever that is. Toale, apparently, is an actor/model who has appeared on Guiding Light and not too much else.

 

There really isn't any hard and fast rule for the way that I came up with my list. There aren't a whole lot of new shows coming out during the mid-season that I want to watch. I'm tired of law shows and there are way too many 'Single in the City' sitcoms coming out (although I do include just one of them on my list). I may give Skating with Celebrities a chance out of morbid curiosity, but there's no way I'm resolving to watch it. Here are the shows that I plan to watch faithfully in 2006:

5. Veronica Mars If Joss Whedon says this is the "Best. Show. Ever." I believe him. I really missed the boat on this one and now that we're halfway through season two, I've got a lot of catching up to do. Most of that catching up with be done on DVD. And hopefully I can catch this season's reruns during the summer so I'll be ready for season three in the fall.

According to a poll taken in England by the Home Media Networks, Star Trek tops a list of shows that are most missed by the viewers. There's been a couple of different iterations of Star Trek and it didn't really specify which one, so they've got a leg up. Head on across the pond to the BBC's site and check out the entire list. After reading this list however, it got me thinking about my most missed shows, and I'm not talking about the "painfully short" shows that we've talked about numerous times in the past here at TV Squad, just overall shows that I miss the most. So here we go, the shows that I miss the most.

 

Even as a child, I fascinated myself with the story of A Christmas Carol. There were so many possibilities about what could happen, but my favorite was "what if Scrooge would have stayed Scrooge." What if, after visiting his future, he thought "eh," and remained the miserable bastard that he was. Well, Lex is faced with that future tonight, and I guess we'll have to watch the show to see what he decides, but I think we all know that he'll remain a bastard what he'll decide.On with the show!

Remember the show Moesha? If so, can you tell me what it was about? I never watched it. Anyway, Brandy, who starred as the titular character in Moesha, is stepping back into the world of sitcoms with a currently unnamed series on the WB in which she moves from New York City to Los Angeles to work as an entertainment editor. Mara Brock Akil, creator of Girlfriends, is writing the pilot. Akil also started as a writer on Moesha. No word yet on when the show will debut.

Not sure how much I believe this item, but I figured I'd throw it out there and see if anyone can tell me differently: According to E! Online's Kristin Veitch, the couple behind Gilmore Girls, Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino, are going to end the WB series this year, mainly because they will be working on a new show that will be shot in New York. Veitch mentions this in response to the second question in this chat transcript.

It seems like Veitch is making a leap in logic here. Just because the Palladinos won't be working on the show on a regular basis doesn't mean that the show is over. It can continue with other writers and show runners.  Just look at The West Wing.  It went on after Aaron Sorkin left, and it's just as good as it used to be... uh, well, maybe that's a bad example. But read Veitch's transcript with a big grain of salt by your side. I'll believe GG is over when I see it's over.

It appears Nick Lachey may be able to get his mind off his divorce, by working. He's developing a sitcom for WB, in which he will play a newlywed who also happens to be a famous baseball player. The co-creator of the project is Danny Jacobson, who also created one of my all-time favorite sitcoms, Mad About You. Lachey is no stranger to acting as he appeared in several episodes of Charmed last season. Plus, look how cute he is in that photo!

I'm really rooting for Nick on this one. On Newlyweds, it was obvious he was on his own when it came to his career and he really, really worked hard for it. Remember when he scraped together money to re-shoot a music video because the original version looked stupid? He strikes me as a hard-working, honest guy who got roped into the crazy Simpson family agenda. Go, Nick!

I love non sequitur humor and obscure pop cultural references. While both may seem easy, it takes a special kind of touch to really make them work. I've always been impressed with how The Simpsons works subtle references into the show, and even Family Guy does it in a much less refined, often more jarring manner. It's not enough, though, to just toss out items from the pop culture grab bag or rattle off detached phrases. There has to be a method to the madness. This begins to explain why on one hand I absolutely adored Freakazoid!, but on the other hand I sometimes found it wanting.

I miss this show and am truly thankful that they released the full series on DVD. It only lasted around a dozen episodes on The WB and was later picked up by Cartoon Network, but it certainly didn't get the run is deserved. It starred Will Ferrell as Bob Oblong: a legless, armless everyman who smoked a pipe. Jean Smart (who recently joined the cast of 24) voiced his wife Pickles. The show was just pure madness. They lived in one big nuclear waste pile and just about everyone was screwed up in some way, shape, or form (just look at the picture). But what I really enjoyed was it's social commentary ("nuclear" family was an obvious pun). The highlight was The Debbies - a squad of look-a-like high school blondes who were attached at the hip. They talked alike, they dressed alike, and they reminded me of someone I knew so it just made it all that more special. Highly recommended, some of Ferrell's funniest stuff. Check it out on Cartoon Network if they still play the reruns.

I never realized this, but explaining Gilmore Girls to some one who's never watched it before is almost as exhausting as trying to explain Arrested Development. I found this out the hard way, as I tried to explain everything that went on in this episode to a visiting friend of mine, who was a newbie to the show. Think about it for a second: Rory's back! But why did she leave? Why is she doing community service? Who is Christopher, and why does Lorelai always have issues whenever he's around? This guy Luke, with the backwards hat... he has a daughter? And he never knew about it? Why is Sebastian Bach in a band with people half his age? And why is there a dog named Paul Anka that likes to lick sugar off people's toes? Thank goodness I taped the episode, because if I had to squeeze all that explanation in during the commercials, I would have hyperventilated worse than Sookie.

Well, you folks know all about the background, so I don't have to go into it here. Suffice to say, this was the first episode all year that felt like the good ol' days, like a nice comfortable old shoe. But, of course, nothing is comfortable in Stars Hollow, as the foreshadowing is thick, my friend... thick as pea soup after a day in the refrigerator.

Wow, the one-liners were coming so fast and furious tonight that I couldn't keep track of them all. My favorite, Dean saying to Sam: "So, who do you think's a hotter psychic? Patricia Arquette, Jennifer Love Hewitt, or you?"

The team gets a text message from their dad (who is either sending them these assignments because people really need their help or he's one cruel bastard), about "incidents" happening in an old asylum in Rockford, Illinois. The boys hit the road again...

Can someone tell me why 7th Heaven keeps getting praise and awards from family and religious groups? Almost every episode of the show seems to be about drugs, sex, vandalism, or lying. Seriously. Everybody is getting pregnant on the show, whether they are married or not. Simon had an STD worry earlier this season, and lies in just about every episode. I think Mary was rumored to be pregnant one season. Now someone is spreading a rumor around the school that Ruthie (Ruthie!) is pregnant!

Yeah, I know, they "handle the issues responsibly" or some other bullshit. But how good can the Camden parents be at raising their kids if they're all having unprotected, pre-marital sex and lying and everything else? If he wasn't a reverend, I think Child Services would have a permanent stakeout in front of the house.

Call it "family viewing" if you want. I think it's more subversive than South Park.

Apparently, we're all a bunch of sick cookies when it comes to watching television. Watchdog groups like Parents Television Council campaign primarily against sexual content, but so far there's free reign on violence and gore. An article today by the Associated Press compares the body count (that's the number of dead bodies shown) on primetime television during the same week in September of 2004 and 2005. It found that, in 2004, there were 27 bodies. In 2005, there were 63. Holy smokes! That's quite an increase. What's more disturbing, is that I didn't even notice. The article places most of the blame on the popularity of CSI, its spin-offs and imitators. It's funny, the way certain television executives spin their response to the increasing amount of violence in primetime. The WB exec says viewers have an appetite for sex, fear, and violence. The FOX exec says the gore is all part of an effort of "accurate storytelling".

According to TV.com, Michael Rosenbaum, best known as Lex Luthor on Smallville,  is taking a step towards the other side of the camera. He's written a semi-autobiographical show (think Everybody Hates Chris) called Welcome to Paradise. It follows a young man and his family, as they move from New York City to a small Indiana town. Right now, the show only has a script commitment from Fox, but anyone who has seen Michael Rosenbaum in just about any other medium than Smallville knows he has a good handle on comedy. We wish him the best, and if it's half as good as Smallville or Everybody Hates Chris, we've probably got a winner on our hands.

Word of warning all my faithful Smallville followers; love on your favorite character as much as you can while you still have the chance. Tonight's episode was not Jor-El's endgame, as some might suspect. A cast member is still going to die in exchange for Clark regaining his powers, and they will not be returning to Smallville. This action is going to go down during the February sweeps and I've heard from a good source just who bites the big Kryptonite bullet. Let me tell you, this one's going to sting. But enough with the ominous foreshadowing. On with the show!