MONDAY, NOVEMBER 28

'Gossip Girl' (8PM ET, The CW)
Lily, Charlie and Serena eagerly anticipate the Studio 54 party being thrown in CeCe's (guest star Caroline Lagerfelt) honor. Nate takes on a new role at the Spectator, but his first big story turns out to be about someone he knows all too well. Blair turns to an unlikely person for help.

'House' (9PM ET, Fox) midseason finale
In the fall finale, a prosecutor suffers from what he believes to be cardiac arrest during an interrogation at the witness stand. The team's preliminary diagnosis is hyper-anxiety, but when Adams and Park investigate the patient's home and find a hidden arsenal of firearms, they uncover a more alarming and deep-seated psychological disorder. Also, Wilson becomes obsessed with proving that House is hiding something in his home, Park slowly comes out of her social shell and Foreman's lack of romantic relationships piques the interest of Taub and Chase.

It's been a wild ride for Julie Benz lately. Her character Rita Morgan was tragically killed off in the season four finale of 'Dexter,' and now she's playing a stripper taken in by Susan on 'Desperate Housewives.' Her run on that show has just been extended.

She also has a Hallmark Channel movie, 'Uncorked,' airing March 6. She plays a high-powered executive who's not looking to fall in love, but fate has a different plan when a business conference takes her to wine country.

We caught up with Benz and got the scoop on all her upcoming projects, including several feature films.

One thing I can't stand is an illogical commercial. I'm not sure why I seem to notice inconsistency or silliness in commercials as I get older, but it bothers me a lot more than it did when I was a kid. For example, the new Valentine's Day commercial from Hallmark. It shows a couple in a car going somewhere, and the woman gives her hubby one of those talking greeting cards. The card plays "I Can't Fight This Feeling" by REO Speedwagon, and the tune makes the couple think of the first time they met at a concert in the 80s.

But their meeting doesn't make any sense, as you'll see in the video after the jump (sorry for the the little piece of another commercial which airs at the start of the video).

There's a long-running joke around our house about the Hallmark channel. Whenever anyone surfs by it long enough to hear a wispy theme song, someone will invariably drop to their knees, lightly press the back of their hand to their forehead, and feign a woman in emotional turmoil. Let's face it, that pretty much describes a lot of Hallmark movies.

So when I read in Variety that Hallmark has 30 movies in the pipeline -- and would be announcing them at the Television Critics Association confab (I guess that's what they call it when it's not the real deal?) -- I knew that a good portion of them would probably have the word "love" in the title.

Yep, sure enough. They've picked up the rights to the next two installments in the Love Comes Softly franchise, based on Janette Oke's series of eight novels set in the Old West.

The seventh title, Love Takes Wing, is in production and will air in the first quarter of 2009, starring Cloris Leachman and Hayley Duff. The final title, Love Finds a Home, is still in the script stage and hasn't been cast.

The buttoned down mind of Bob Newhart is coming back to TV. In August, Hallmark Channel will present Newhart in Herb's Murders, a two-hour original TV movie. And that's not all. Hallmark, which yesterday announced Jane Seymour in a detective movie called Dear Prudence, has other old TV favorites slated for original telefilms.

There's former 7th Heaven star Stephen Collins will star in The Ride of Her Life; Jacqueline Bisset has a holiday pic in the works called Thanksgiving Reunion, which will air in November; and Pam Grier, Florence Henderson (The Brady Bunch) and Donna Mills (Knots Landings) will headline Ladies of the House, about three women from the same church who team up on a home renovation project.

She's been a vamp, a vixen, a medicine woman, royalty and she's even tried Dancing with the Stars. Now she will solve crimes. The Hallmark Channel has greenlit Dear Prudence, a Jane Seymour crime-solving Martha Stewart-type celebrity. They're calling this a backdoor pilot because Hallmark doesn't do series TV; however, if the movie were to be successful, it could become one of a rotation of star-driven mystery movies that Hallmark currently presents.

All of you Jericho fans out there writing letters, sending emails, and signing petitions can give yourself a pat on the back. The show hasn't been brought back from cancellation yet, but getting the President of CBS Entertainment to post an update is no small feat.

That President, Nina Tassler, posted an update to all of the fans on the Jericho Wiki over the weekend. You can read the full statement at the CBS site. In a nutshell, she says it was a hard decision, thanks the fans for their support, and teases that in the coming weeks they hope to develop a way to provide closure to the Jericho story.

That's the sticky wicket right there. "Develop" seems to imply the possibility of a tv movie, or maybe even a mini-series, to wrap things up. But we have been down this road before, where the closure came in the form of notes from the producers regarding what was planned. I think a movie or mini-series could work really well. There is already a built in audience, and it couldn't do any worse than whatever touchy-feely Hallmark movie event starring Valerie Bertinelli is already on the drawing board. Obviously, bringing the series back is the main goal for the fans, but what would you settle for?

[ thanks Jonathon ]

American Greetings has announced a licensing deal with daytime talk show host and comedian Ellen DeGeneres. Called "the ellen collection," the 32 cards will feature illustrations of the benevolent, pant-suited wonder along with one of her trademark witticisms. Ellen had this to say about the venture, "I look at having a line of cards as another extension of being a host; helping you wish your loved ones well, piggy-backing on your birthday greetings. I like to be up in the middle of everything and doing it this way is much easier than crashing parties."

Cards will start turning up in grocery stores and drug stores as early as this summer. So, watch your back crotchety old Shoebox Greetings lady, Ellen's coming. And, if we're lucky, other television personalities will follow suit. "Get well soon so I don't have to look at your whiny face" cards from Dr. House. "I'd wish you a Happy Birthday if I didn't think I was stuck in Purgatory" cards from the cast of Lost. The possibilities are limitless.

Hey, Brigitte here with TV Squad Daily. I'll be covering the TV stories I find interesting each day, Monday through Friday, in this video blog.

Today on TV Squad Daily:

• Don't want to watch the Superbowl? How do you feel about afghans? Check out your Super Sunday alternatives.
  
• Jesse James of Discovery Channel's Monster Garage is paying hefty fines after his custom-made bikes failed to meet California's emission standards.
• Cashing in on the recent rehab fad, the creators of UK's Big Brother are reportedly working on a new reality show called Rockstars in Rehab.
  

The video's embedded below, or you can download the file directly (Quicktime required). You can also subscribe to this vodcast via our feed.

The DIY network has created its own programming as an alternative to Super Bowl Sunday, which is one week from today. The cable network will air a knit-a-thon, called Super Knit Sunday, which is just a marathon of the series Knitty Gritty. The event is in conjunction with the charity, Wake Up America! It starts at 5 pm, so get your needles ready, people!

Other counter programming is also pretty creative. Howard Stern is planning an "all-wardrobe function all-the-time transvestite flag football game" for Halftime and the Hallmark Channel is offering a "tear-jerking Commercial-a-thon".

Yeah. I think I'll stick with the Super Bowl.

I know that we already have a 'Ask TV Squad' category to answer questions from our beautiful and intelligent readers, but that is usually meant for one question at a time. In this episode of 'The Five' I'd like to reply to a number of questions that have come to us over the last few weeks. So, without further ado . . .

1. Steph writes 'Please help! Is Psych canceled? I just discovered it and I've only seen reruns.'

Fear not, dear Steph. Psych is just taking a mid-season break, which is normal for cable shows to do. The USA Network comedy, which stars James Roday, Dule Hill and Corbin Bernsen, returns with new episodes in January of 2007.