I had so much fun making this list last year that I decided to update it for 2006. Here's how it goes: I choose the five television characters I'd like to meet the mistletoe, if you get my drift. Several fellas have fallen off the list since last year, while new ones have been added. I learned a lot about myself while making this list: I basically go for guys who are emotionally injured or bad asses-- but only slightly bad ass, like Sawyer on Lost and not totally wacko like Tommy on Rescue Me.

Once again, my list is limited to male characters who are currently on television shows. So, for example, Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Pacey Witter (Joshua Jackson) cannot be included. Leave your own list in comments!

5. Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni) Law & Order SVU How huggably soft is Elliot this season? He ended last season by practically falling head-over-heels in love with his partner, Olivia. When things started to get weird, she disappeared and he was left with a broken heart. Then, Dani came in and gave him hope. The barely got to make out before she left, too. Now he's nursing a broken heart and Olivia is back and everything is weird again. This guy definitely needs a little snuggle time under the mistletoe-- plus, did you notice his smokin' hot body in "Confrontation" earlier this season? Yowza.

It's Friday. Let's talk about hot guys.

Nine out of 15 male actors on People magazine's list of Sexiest Men are on television. The one I'm most excited about seeing on the list is John Krasinski, of The Office. He has that sweet guy thing going on, whereas some of the finalists are just smoldering sexpots (see: Jake Gyllenhaal).

Also in the Top 15 Sexiest: Taye Diggs (Day Break), Patrick Dempsey (Grey's Anatomy), Omar Epps (House), Josh Duhamel (Las Vegas), Enrique Murciano (Without a Trace), Rodrigo Santoro (Lost), Eric Mabius (Ugly Betty) and John Cho (The Singles Table- NBC midseason).

Who's missing from this list?

Clearly, George Clooney and Brad Pitt are more important than the writers over at Without A Trace.

Defamer reports that the air conditioning for the writer's offices at the CBS show has been turned off, because they are filming Ocean's 13 right next door and they don't want the sound of the air conditioners to ruin the sound recording of the movie sequel. Says someone on the scene:

"As a result, the staff is sweltering in heat equivalent to the surface of the sun (this is the Valley, after all) and it doesn't seem as though the injustice will end any time soon. The writers are calling on all of their brethren in the television realm to rise up in solidarity, pelting those responsible with (possibly killer) tomatoes until this grave situation is resolved."

Ha. I like it when they reference killer tomatoes.

There are a handful of shows that I gave up this year, including The O.C., The New Adventures of Old Christine, Saturday Night Live, and CSI. It's not because of time constraints, it's because those shows are stupid. Looking at my television schedule, I see that my Mondays are super light and my Wednesdays are incredibly packed. I only have two TiVos, so we'll have to catch Mythbusters and South Park when they replay later in the week.

Sundays

7 pm America's Funniest Home Videos (ABC)
8 pm The Simpsons (FOX)
8:30 pm The Amazing Race (CBS)
9 pm Family Guy (FOX)
10 pm Without a Trace (CBS)

Well, folks, it's time to start arranging your calendars; the networks are beginning to announce the premiere dates for both their new shows and their returning shows. So, if you've been hankering to find out what happened to Lilly and Marshall on How I Met Your Mother, what the new show Jericho is going to be like, or how many new ways CSI is going to show a person's pancreas, then look below and make note of these dates:

9/14: Survivor: Cook Islands
9/17: The Amazing Race 10
9/18: The Class, How I Met Your Mother, Two and a Half Men, The New Adventures of Old Christine, CSI: Miami
9/19: NCIS, The Unit, Smith
9/20: Jericho, Criminal Minds, CSI: NY
9/21: CSI, Shark
9/22: Ghost Whisperer, Close to Home, Numb3rs
9/23: Crimetime Saturday, Crimetime Saturday, 48 Hours Mystery
9/24: 60 Minutes, The Amazing Race 10, Cold Case, Without a Trace

[via Cynopsis]

Responding to a fine of $3.3 million from the Federal Communications Commission, CBS has said that none of the complaints regarding a recent episode of Without A Trace came from actual viewers. The network says that all of the 4,200-plus complaints labeling the episode as "indecent" came from the Parents Television Council and American Family Association, two socially conservative advocacy groups. CBS claims in its appeal that to be valid a complaint must come from an actual viewer of th show. Ironically, the broadcast of the episode that drew the complaints was a repeat. When the episode was originally aired no complaints were filed. The appeal from CBS seeks to rescind the fine, the largest ever doled out by the FCC over an indecency issue. A PTC spokesperson says that this is just legal manuvering and that the will of the people must be recognized. That might be true but the complaints are hardly valid if they didn't watch the show, are they? And where were the complaints the first time around?

Roselyn Sanchez is new to Without a Trace this season but she's just been in the background the whole time. She apparently has some sort of a past with Danny Taylor (Enrique Murciano)... I think they used to date. And she was brought over to the FBI from the NYPD vice squad. Initially, there were some fireworks between her and Sam Spade (Poppy Montgomery). But, all of this happened in her inaugural episode and she has just disappeared into the background since then. Her bio on the show's webpage says she's a beauty queen and has only had a few acting roles. Everybody else got a storyline this season. Maybe she's just eye candy?

Here we go again. The FCC just handed down a big, fat, steaming pile of fines to the big four networks for indecency. Surprisingly, the biggest fine of all was against Without a Trace. CBS and 111 of its affiliates might have to pay a whopping $3.63 million fine. To put that in perspective, Howard Stern only racked up $3.5 million in fines for the CBS network. What was so offensive? A scene in a December 2004 episode that depicted teen-agers in an orgy. CBS strongly disagrees with the fine. The FCC also refused to reduce the fine for the Janet Jackson Super Bowl boobage, which stands at $550,000. Also for CBS.

This is the second time that I've watched this show and done a review. It's not that I don't like it - I do, but it's nothing spectacular... I can't for the life of me figure out why it does so well. I don't know, maybe I've just caught some of the lesser episodes and missed out on the great ones. While some of my fellow TV Squadders have been diligently writing "convince me to watch it" posts, I've just skipped that step and taken my chances. So far it hasn't been that bad.

NBC can't exactly claim victory for its first attempt at re-launching Must See TV Thursday nights. Not only did CSI kick the butts of Earl and The Office, but NBC also had fewer viewers than ABC's launch of Dancing with the Stars. The ratings hold good and bad news for NBC. The comedy bloc, which included Will & Grace, Four Kings, My Name is Earl, and The Office, averaged 9.2 million viewers, which is about half of what ABC and CBS each got. NBC not only trailed way behind the other networks in ratings, it also trailed in the coveted 18-49 age group. Earl's ratings weren't as high as they had been when it aired on Tuesday nights, but The Office hit a season high.

I guess I'm part of the minority. I checked out Four Kings and I gave up CSI in favor of Earl and The Office. CSI is getting boring, anyway. What do you choose on Thursday nights?

I don't watch this show that often. Usually only when everything else is a repeat like this past week. But when I do catch it, it's always good and last night was no exception. I always laugh when I see Anthony LaPaglia because I can still picture him far skinnier and wearing that purple fedora in So I Married an Axe Murderer. Beyond that, this episode dealt with a woman who was missing, but not in the traditional sense - she was an amnesiac. By far though, the secondary plot was the highlight because Martin Landau returned as Jack's father, Frank.

I know we don't usually recap this show, but I happen to think that tonight's episode was exceptional. I tend to be hot and cold on Without a Trace and I only watch if I'm not too tired once CSI is over. Tonight, I'm glad I watched because the show came from a totally different angle. Instead of the usual storyline of following the different investigators as they put together leads to find their missing person, the entire show was done from the perspective of the parents of a missing child, played by Laurie Metcalf and Matt Craven. As a viewer of Without a Trace, I am usually in on all the twists and turns a case takes, but this time I was on the outside with the parents and I wasn't receiving any information about what the FBI was doing to find the missing kid.

NBC can finally claim to be Number One at something. And, boy oh boy, is NBC waaaay in front of the pack when it comes to product placement. According to Nielsen Media Research, NBC upped its product placement in primetime programming from 11,684 in 2003-04 to 21,286 in 2004-05. Wow. That's a lot. Especially considering the number two network for primetime product placement, CBS, had 12,294 placements last season.

Here are some placements, did you notice them?

If you're a fan of Without a Trace, you'll be glad to know its creator will be helming new projects in the coming years. Hank Steinberg, the man behind Without A Trace, has signed a deal with Warner Brother's television to develop new shows for the next three years. Steinberg says he'd like to focus on more character-driven shows. He plans to remain with Without a Trace, at least in some capacity, but will gradually be shifting more and more focus to his new ventures.

When President Bush held his press conference on the first night of sweeps (and a Thursday to boot), many shows were knocked off the air for the night. CBS decided to go with pushing back Survivor: Palau and CSI (which meant Without A Trace didn't air), and NBC skipped Joey and Will and Grace and went right to The Apprentice at 9. So, the shows that got pre-empted will now air as follows: Without A Trace will air the episode tomorrow night (Weds) at 9, right after that you've-got-to-be-kidding-me Dr. Phil special with Pat O'Brien (hey, is it really a good thing to air that in the 8 pm hour?). At NBC, they'll air the Joey and Will and Grace eps this Thursday, and the episode of Joey that was supposed to air this Thursday will air after another new episode on May 12. The Will and Grace episode that was supposed to air this Thursday will now air on Tuesday, May 10, at 9:30? Got that? I don't think Joey would have all that straight. How you doin?