It's not really possible that every summer premiere on the great American broadcast TV schedule crashed and burned, is it?

But, out of all the original programs that premiered on the major networks after the completion of the fall 2008 season, not a single one got traction.

According to analysis reports, you can take your pick from any of the following shows: Defying Gravity, The Superstars, The Listener, Mental, The Philanthropist, Hitched or Ditched, Merlin and Great American Road Trip. All of them bombed -- each hovering just above a one market share.

In fact, you don't need numbers to prove that the fall crop crapped out. Ask your friend what his/her favorite summer replacement show was. You'll be waiting awhile.

About a month ago, I mentioned my television summer project. The West Wing was such an excellent series that I stampeded by way through the episodes and am done already. In fact, if you summed up the quality of every reality show on television, it wouldn't come close to the quality of The West Wing (thus furthering the argument that writers are mandatory for good television).

I agree with most of the critics that the series took a drop in quality in Season 5. With the departure of Sorkin, the characters began to make decisions that seemed inconsistent with the first four seasons (I'll write more about that in a separate article). Seasons 6 and 7 saw an upswing in quality, mostly due to the change in the whole premise of the show (making it about the Presidential Election rather than the Presidency).

The West Wing was a very deep and intelligent program and probably better than we deserve. Next up: Aaron Sorkin's other television contributions, Sports Night and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.

I'm not gonna lie: 'NYC Prep,' Bravo's reality take on 'Gossip Girl' in which a bunch of teenagers battle real-life Upper East Side drama, is my most-anticipated show of the summer -- especially now that I've seen the preview clip floating around the internet.

Watch it after the jump ...

Kyra Sedgwick was once best known for playing Julia Roberts' sister in 'Let's Give Them Something to Talk About.' But that was before Sedgwick found 'The Closer' (new season starts Mon., June 8, 9PM), the hit TNT crime drama in which she stars as Brenda Leigh Johnson, an Atlanta transplant heading up a special crimes task force in L.A. Think Columbo, with a much nicer trench coat and a desk drawer full of sugary treats.

We caught up with Sedgwick to discuss the new season, the secret to her long and happy union with Kevin Bacon ... and which stripper role she desperately wanted to play.

Yes, summer's guilty pleasure voyeur television is just around the corner! CBS has announced that Big Brother 11 will premiere on Thursday, July 9 at 8 PM ET/PT. In addition to the Thursday night show, BB11 will also air at 8 PM ET/PT on Sundays and 9 PM ET/PT on Tuesdays. Phew ... no Wednesday show this season. That never worked out last season -- rush, rush, rush, then bored hamsters for four days.

The casting for the show is in its final stages according to Kasting Inc.'s recent twitter. The finalists have been notified and the process should be finished within a few weeks. Of course, once news on the new hamsters is known, we'll let you know right here on TV Squad.

I didn't watch the first season of Saving Grace, but over the weekend, I had an opportunity to screen the second season premiere, titled 'Have a Seat, Earl.' The show is gritty and heartbreaking, and it's shooting to the top of my Must-Watch List.

First of all, let's get this out of the way: I want Holly Hunter's body. The girl just turned 50 in March, and her body is as fit and toned as a 20-year-old triathlete. Only better, because she's got all the wisdom of a 50-year-old soul.

OK, on to the story. I won't give a blow-by-blow of the episode, which premieres July 14, 10/9c on TNT, but I will talk about key plot-points, so if you're averse to spoilers, you'd best quit reading here. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Well, folks ... it's countdown time! Big Brother 10 premieres on Sunday, July 13 at 8 PM ET/PT. As I write this, casting has been completed but no formal announcements have been made. I will assure you that I won't be in the house this season although I'll be your fly on the wall. You can get your live feed reports here at TV Squad. So, in a way, I'll be in the house. But not in a way that the folks on the internet can rip me apart!

Despite the show being just two weeks away, there is little concrete news. But there are plenty of rumors and speculations floating about. Read on past the jump for scheduling news and lots of rumors.

The 21st annual Shark Week is coming this summer to Discovery. Les Stroud (Survivorman) and Mike Rowe (Dirty Jobs) will join Adam Savage and Jamie Hyman (MythBusters) and many more experts on excursions to Bahamas, South Africa, the Arctic, Australia and a whole lot of places in between. This year they will spotlight lesser-known and unusual sharks, address myths about sharks, and educate the public on the conservation of sharks.

Shark Week will air July 27 to August 2nd. Sunday through Friday programming will run from 7 p.m. till midnight ET/PT. And on Saturday programming will run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. ET/PT.

Find out what show I'm looking forward to and what other shows Discovery has planned after the jump.

"We wanted to show all of the fun of Fear Factor, but none of the gross," says executive producer Matt Kunitz of WipeOut. ABC's new summer reality series will feature 24 contestants who race on the world's largest extreme obstacle course. Now, this isn't like American Gladiators. WipeOut, hosted by John Henson (Talk Soup) and John Anderson (SportsCenter), wanted average people to compete on their show. Kunitz says that he specifically didn't want any extreme athletes. Somewhere Bam Margera and Steve-O are crying.

Mahalo Daily took a trip to the gigantic set of ABC's new summer show. That day, they were testing the storm simulator. It costs $100,000 just to turn on. Mahalo Daily also talked to the casting director (for those of you who are interested in trying out for season two). The video is after the jump.

WipeOut premieres tonight at 8:00 p.m. ET / PT on ABC. Will you be tuning in?

There's a fantastic story in yesterday's New York Times Magazine about AMC's Mad Men. It's actually the cover story (you don't see many cover stories in the NYT Mag about a TV show) and is one of the best articles I've read about a TV show in a very long time.

Besides interviewing creator/producer/writer Matthew Weiner at length, writer Alex Witchel also sits in on auditioning sessions and script meetings for the second season, interviews advertising icons (George Lois, Jerry Della Femina, William Bernbach) about the show, and gets choice quotes from cast members such as Jon Hamm, John Slattery, Elisabeth Moss, and January Jones. It's a beautifully written piece, really getting behind the scenes of the show, and includes this great paragraph to explain the show quite nicely.

NBC has a new reality series called The Baby Borrowers. When I attended NBC / Universal's Summer Press Event, I got to hear about it and meet some of the cast (two of whom are pictured to the right, Alicea and Cory). I also picked up the few first episodes and watched them this week.

The show is a social experiment where teens are put on the fast track to adulthood as they have to run a household and care for children in different stages of life.

There'll be another big name soap star on the second season of SOAPnet's General Hospital: Night Shift. In addition to Antonio Sabato, Jr. returning as Jagger Cates, Tristan Rogers will join Night Shift, reprising his role as secret agent Robert Scorpio, the Australian spy and former Port Charles police commissioner. His younger brother, Mac, is the current top cop in PC, so expect them to cross paths.

However, it's as the father of Dr. Robin Scorpio, played by Kimberly McCullough. Robin, who is HIV-positive, that Robert will mainly drive story. She is currently in the midst of her first pregnancy. You would imagine that Robert's back to check in on his daughter, but there's more to his Night Shift stay.

Michael Logan in TV Guide reports that a rep for Night Shift said that Robert is suffering from "a major health issue that'll have him grappling with his mortality." Instead of Robert caring for Robin -- to trying to -- the situation will be reversed. Dr. Robin will have to treat her father.

"This'll be a real departure wherever it's headed," says Mr. Rogers. "Robert and Robin will finally get a chance to connect as adults."

Did you watch the finale of Top Chef on Bravo last night? It wasn't as exciting as the previous three seasons, but what it lacked in drama, it made up for in history. For the first time ever, a woman was crowned Top Chef. Chicago chef Stephanie Izard beat out Richard Blais and Lisa Fernandes by preparing a four-course meal -- including dessert -- that wowed the judges and outshone her competitors.

I was rooting for Stephanie because all through the Top Chef challenges, she showed talent, temperment, taste and modesty (with regard to her chef skills). She consistently produced great food and even though the win last night was not based on the entire season, it could have been because she again came through.

Just to be clear, Stephanie didn't win because she's a woman and it was time for Top Chef to give the prize to the female of the species. This isn't a Hillary thing, so don't go there!

(S02E01) The season finale for Army Wives last summer was a cliffhanger. It was an explosive, shocking and dramatic conclusion to a season filled with the characters' ups and downs, the good times and the bad, the yin and the yang of the lives of military families on Fort Marshall in Charleston, South Carolina.

This season two opener is no less stunning. It was a powerful episode, as the tribe, as the Army spouses like to call themselves, deal with the aftermath of a suicide bomber walking into the Hump Bar determined to fulfill his mission and take all of them with him. The watering hole was filled with patrons, and the question fans wondered since then has been, who survived the blast?
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(S03E01) "All you need to be a coal miner is a weak mind and a strong back." James

One thing I love about 30 Days is that in every episode there is a wealth of information. In the first five minutes of this season's premiere episode, I more than doubled the amount of information I knew about the coal mining industry. More importantly, I was ready to learn even more.

This season's premiere, like the past premieres, stars Spurlock himself as the episode's guinea pig and just like the other times he has put himself in harm's way, Spurlock's wife Alex expresses her concerns. What I found funny is that her knowledge of the perils of your average coal miner was pretty equal to my own. It really doesn't go too far past cave-ins and black lung.