Critics tend to rave about dramas like 'Boardwalk Empire,' 'Game of Thrones,' 'The Good Wife,' 'Mad Men' and 'Justified,' so it was no surprise to learn that all those awards picked up multiple nominations from the Television Critics Association, which announced its TCA Awards nominees Monday.

The Television Critics Association is an organization of more than 200 television critics and journalists, and this year, the group made some pretty unimpeachable choices.

On the comedy side, 'Parks and Recreation,' 'Louie,' 'Modern Family' and 'Community' picked up multiple nominations.

There was plenty of action last season on 'HawthoRNe,' as Elisabeth Hasselbeck pointed out Monday on 'The View' (weekdays, syndicated on ABC). There were explosions and pregnancies, and 'HawthoRNe' star Jada Pinkett-Smith said the new season will pick up right where it left off -- starting with a wedding, an attack, a love triangle and a guest star.

First up is the wedding, after which Hawthorne is attacked in a parking lot. The investigating detective is Marc Anthony. "It starts off the best day of her life, and unfortunately ends as the worst day of her life," said Pinkett-Smith. "There's an interesting love triangle that occurs for the rest of the season."

By a show of hands, who among you thinks it's a good idea to get Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb together with some killer whales for a training session? We can't see you, but we're guessing anyone with their hand up is not a "safety first" kind of person. Friday on 'Today' (weekdays, 7AM on NBC), Gifford and Kotb got to train killer whales, but they did it remotely by TV.

With their images hovering above a whale tank and a little help from an actual whale trainer, Gifford and Kotb got four killer whales to do a few tricks. They spun in a circle and got them to splash and turn. Gifford got a little distracted looking at an image of herself on the screen. "Gee, I need to lose some weight," she said.

The big finale was a touchdown signal that sent the whales swimming in formation before they lept up out of the water together. It's good to know that just like us, whales will do anything they see on TV.

I know I have a problem. I don't need anyone to tell me that I was a child of television and it's been in my life all my life. Yes, I read. Yes, I listen to music. And, obviously I write.

But most of my writing these days is about television!

I recall the last writers strike. It was during that time that I wrote a really horrible horror novel to occupy my time outside of my day job. I'm not doing that again this time. I refuse to spend weeks writing dreck just because the television and film writers are on strike.

Following this spring's upfronts presentation and lackluster response from advertisers, NBC Universal president Jeff Zucker fired entertainment president Kevin Reilly. But, it appears Reilly will not be out of work for long. Various reports today say that he is in final negotiations to join Fox, under his former FX boss Peter Liguori.

This is a smart pairing for Fox. Liguori and Reilly brought mega-hits to FX including The Shield and Nip/Tuck. And, judging from this spring's upfronts presentation from Fox, the network could use some edgier programming. There's no doubt that Reilly has an eye for quality programming (Friday Night Lights), but his downfall with NBC was his inability to bring the network out of fourth place.

Are you a teenager? Do you like choosing things? Okay, good, because Teen Choice 2007 airs on FOX August 26 at 8:00 p.m., and we need to make sure you're at home that evening to see what series, celebrities and movies your contemporaries have chosen.

Teens have been choosing things for years. I myself have chosen my own adventure, Chosen or Losened (I'll check the dictionary to see if that's a real word later), and I've spoken to choosy moms who choose Jif. I've also had choice cuts of meat, and chosen Pikachu on numerous occasions.

Nominees and hosts for Teen Choice 2007 will be announced soon, but that's not important. What's important is that all you hula-hoopin', Charleston-dancin', domino-playin' teens out there start using your God-given right to choose. Or, more importantly, let your peers decide for you what's cool. Otherwise, you'll show up at your next ice cream social without a poodle skirt and then you'll look really stupid.

Martin Scorsese is developing a new series for HBO along with Mark Wahlberg about the development of Atlantic City. The new series will based on the book Boardwalk Empire: The Birth, High Times, and Corruption of Atlantic City by Nelson Johnson, which was optioned by HBO.

Scorsese has been getting into television more and more, and it will be interesting to see what he and Wahlberg (who will both serve as executive producers) will come up with for this new series, but if it has to do with gambling, power struggles, and back stabbing, I can't think of anyone better suited to helming the project than Scorsese.

Wahlberg is also developing an English language version of the Israeli drama In Treatment for HBO.

As expected, Katie Couric didn't drastically change how the networks do the nightly news, though there were a few interesting tweaks and one major scoop.

Couric has been saying that she wants to go deeper into the news headlines, and she seems to be doing that, by having more than one guest come on during a story about the war. At the same time, there seems to be less stories covered in the half hour than there used to be. And, of course, the web is going to play a big part in the program. The broadcast is the very first to be simulcast on the web live, and Couric is keeping a blog. Well, she started it. Looks like "CBS & Co." will be contributing, which probably means that Couric won't do much at all and other staff members and reporters will do most of the blogging.

Donald Trump announced on the morning program Imus In The Morning, er, this morning, that his wife has given birth to a boy, though no name seems to have been chosen yet. This is the first child Trump and Melania have together, though this is not the first for Donald.

The question now is, would Trump date him?

Tonight was the premiere of Simon Cowell's newest invention, American Invention, and so far I'm liking the possibilities. I like the judges and I like their reasoning. The one question I have is, why are we seeing British judges on these "American" shows? Must be a buddy of Simon's.

Tonight's open casting calls includes New York and Los Angeles, where things got off to a pretty bleak start, complete with a public peeing tent and a "space beetle utopia" (i.e., a blastic bubble with a bunch of roaches running around in it.)

There were a few gems, and even some inspiring stories to accompany them. Here's what we saw make it tonight:

Every Tuesday here on TV Squad , we will highlight the week's TV-on-DVD releases. Some noteworthy releases today, March 7, 2006:

• Andromeda - Vol 5.4
• Baby Looney Tunes - Volume 1: Playday Pals; Volume 2: Let's Play Pretend
• The Brady Bunch - The Complete 5th Season
• The Cosby Show - Season 2
• The Electric Company - The Best of The Best of The Electric Company
• The Flintstones - Season 5
• Hogan's Heroes - The Complete 3rd Season
• Lily the Witch - Volume 1; Volume 2
• Multiple Shows - Star Trek: The Borg Fan Collective
• Police Woman - The Complete 1st Season
• The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour - The Complete Series
• Three's Company - Season 6
• Underdog - The Best of Go-Go Gophers; The Best of Tennessee Tuxedo
• Walking Tall - The Complete Series
• Wild 'N Out - Season 1

Wow, I was able to pull off three consecutive weeks in a row without a missed show. Will it last? Who knows. Joel Keller joins me this week to go over a few TV related things, including some audio clips of his recent interview with Lisa Loeb. Other topics we discuss:

• What's with all the Maxim coverage lately?
• Rupert Murdoch is an old man
• Jon Stewart's a natural for hosting the Oscars
• Do ET and Access Hollywood really know what "breaking news" is anyway?
• Lisa Loeb loves Joel food
• Spoilers, of course
• And, once again, an update on the TV Squad Live project

Grab the file directly (link), subscribe to our podcast RSS feed (link), or visit the iTunes music store (link).  (Running time: 38:07)

Want to contact us about the podcast and maybe have your email read next time? Make sure you contact us at tvsquad@gmail.com.

(UPDATE: This podcast now has its own iTunes feed. The link above now points to the new feed for just this podcast, though the old one will still contain all TV Squad podcasts.)

There was a lot of way-paving in this episode, especially with regards to the future of the presidency. Baltar sneaks in for some significant lines, ones that finally, once and for all, show that his name will be on the election ballot when the time comes, right there next to the madam.

Another thing to consider is the new law put into effect regarding abortions. My first thought is that this will likely affect the Cylon baby, once it's born. Will they try to apply this new law to that case, as it'll be a hybrid child?

Last week's winners:

1 star to Ashley Boyd: Creature: "Hmm, I can't decide what looks worse. His blue screen, or my crappy CGI?"
2 stars to Kevbo: "What? This storm doesn't rate a standup from Anderson Cooper? I'm crawling back into the sea."
3 stars to Jason: "Many people don't realize that it was young Godzilla's habit of watching too much violent TV that led to his blatent social problems later in life."

All stars from past contests have finally been awarded. See, I wasn't holding out on you!

This week, a familiar and, um, frightening sight for Arrested Development fans:

You may remember Lucy Lawless playing fleet reporter D'Anna Biers earlier in the series, the episode ending with the surprising revelation that she is a Cylon. Reporter Biers will be returning not only for the February 24th episode of the show, but she'll also be appearing in ten episodes next season. The really great news here is that they're already lining up people for the third season, which is always good news for a show's continued lifespan.