gilmoregirls

The CW's mid-season drama, 'Life UneXpected,' will debut on Monday, Jan. 18 as a temporary replacement for 'Gossip Girl,' in an effort to combat the ratings slump 'GG' suffers during its cycle of post-sweeps repeats.

According to The Futon Critic, the freshman series will moonlight for 'Gossip Girl' for a number of episodes before moving to the 8 PM ET Monday slot, currently occupied by 'One Tree Hill,' to complete its run in the spring.

Recently, I spent a couple of hours watching Gilmore Girls on SoapNet. The experience put a smile on my face and reminded me that I miss the kind of dramedy that Amy Sherman-Palladino created on that show.

The show remains a near perfect blend of character, comedy, drama and emotion to me. So, when I read this morning that Amy Sherman-Palladino is doing aproject at HBO about a mother-daughter relationship, I let out a "yeah."

True, true, true, Amy's last show was the disappointing sitcom -- hell, call it like it was, dreadful -- The Return of Jezebel James at Fox. No excuses. It was a mess. Still, I'm more than willing to give this writer another chance to soar again.

Lorelai and Rory have ridden off into the TV sunset, but 'Gilmore Girls' creator Amy Sherman-Palladino is bringing another mother-daughter series to the tube.

Sherman-Palladino will write and produce a still-untitled HBO drama about three writer sisters (who live in the same building) and their "literary lioness" mother who pays more attention to their hapless brother.

"It's a story of love, hate, family -- and finding the perfect opening line," Sherman-Palladino says, suggesting that fans can expect more of the witty, rapid-fire dialogue that was a trademark of 'Gilmore Girls.'

It's official. As of today, Lauren Graham will replace Maura Tierney in Parenthood, the NBC mid-season family drama. After the talk of Helen Hunt getting the role of a divorce mom struggling to get by, the former star of Gilmore Girls has landed the role... just like Bob wrote.

Hip-hip-hooray! Don't get me wrong. My heart goes out to Maura Tierney who had to drop out because she was diagnosed with breast cancer. I wish her a speed recovery and a great role in another series after her treatments are successful. And Helen Hunt might have been a lovely choice, too. But I am a major Gilmore Girls fan. I'm thrilled to pieces that Lauren is coming back to series TV.

Frequent TV Squad readers know about my undying love for Gilmore Girls. Newbies, you're about to get a taste (and you can thank ABC Family's endless slate of GG reruns for this post).

Since the show ended its seven-year run in 2007, I've been following the careers of stars Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel very closely. Graham won raves earlier this year for her Broadway debut as a nightclub singer in a revival of Guys & Dolls. Things were looking up for the talented actress until ABC recently decided not to pick up her new sitcom, but Graham continues to show up in supporting roles on the big screen.

I've been pretty hard on NBC of late, like calling for Jeff Zucker's head when NBC announced it will present Jay Leno every weeknight in prime time next fall, but I think I'm going to have to tip my cap to the network for how ER is coming to an end.

Not only have the producers lured George Clooney and Juliana Margulies back for a last go-round, they've also cast Oscar-winner Susan Sarandon for a guest turn. George, Julianna and Susan will all appear on ER on March 12.

I'm curious to see their appearances, but here's the casting that will have me definitely tuning in: Alexis Bledel is booked for ER two-hour finale on April 2.

When TV shows have made the leap to the big screen, the results have not always been great, except when they keep the same cast and come up with a good story that builds on the series, like Sex and the City and Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan. The same is true of some TV movies that have built on a show's lingering appeal even after it's been canceled. James Garner came back for a couple of Rockford Files movies, for instance, and The Return of The Man from UNCLE with David McCallum and Robert Vaughn was excellent. Of course, it doesn't always work -- the Rhoda and Mary reunion was painful to watch -- but I'm still a fan of the follow-up TV movie.

Here's my ideas for ten TV shows I'd like to see as TV movies.

Oh, Festivus, Oh, Festivus, the holiday for TV fans. How exciting that once a year we can close our eyes, click our heels and make our wishes for the magical ways television can be made better in the year to come. Still, there are more than a few changes that I think need to be made to make TV better ... not to say that it's bad. It just that everything can be better.

This is a great opportunity to get a little Scrooge-y and vent about what I want to see corrected/improved/altered in TV in 2009. Is it wrong that I hope the bigwigs at the networks and cable companies are surfing the net and take my grievances to heart? Is it wrong that I still believe they care about what viewers think? Yeah, probably, but here's my wish list anyway:

I used to get a lot of flak from my friends simply for being a dude who watched Gilmore Girls. The jabs about my ever-fading manliness would stop whenever I forced one of these Gilmore bashers to actually sit and watch the show. If they weren't drawn in by the witty dialogue, its amazingly sap-free wholesomeness, or its addictive plot lines, they were always impressed with star Lauren Graham's performance as Lorelai Gilmore.

If we lived in a perfect world, Graham would have a bookshelf full of awards for her seven-year run as Lorelai. When the show ended in 2007, Graham headed to the movies, usually landing small roles that failed to fully display her talent. Now, she's returning to TV.

Guest stars can be good and guest stars can be not-so-good, but this one sounds like a winner to me. EW's Michael Ausiello has an exclusive report that Florence Henderson will be on Samantha Who?

And if you think Christina Applegate kind of looks like she could be related to Florence, you're not alone. The Brady Bunch veteran has been cast as Samantha Newly's grandmother, Jean Smart's mama. And if that's not blonde goodness and potential hilarity for you, TVGuide.com has another exclusive; Christine Ebersole will play Sammy's aunt. In the very same storyline!

Island-dwelling heroes, martini-swilling Ivy Leaguers and autobiography-penning sitcom actors ... we're talking, of course, about TV land's most beloved canine cohorts.

How much do you know about the most memorable prime-time pooches?

Take our quiz and find out! Be warned: it's "ruff" stuff.

Last fall, Gilmore Girls' David Sutcliffe appeared in two episodes of ABC's Private Practice, the Grey's Anatomy spin-off. His guest starring stint as a potential love interest for lead character Addison (played by Kate Walsh) was set to last a few episodes but was cut short due to the writers strike.

Since the last episode of PP's short season aired, it was unknown if the actor would return as Officer Kevin Nelson, a cop that caught Addison's interest. The actor's schedule could have changed, the writers could have decided to bench his character, who knows?

Sutcliffe fans, fear not! In the latest edition of the "Ausiello Report Vodcast Scoop," Michael Ausiello interviewed Sutcliffe (the interview starts at the 1:17 mark in the video below) and was able to get confirmation that the actor will return to Private Practice.

What's the name of the bowling instructor who almost wooed Marge Simpson away from her family?

Let's face it ... everybody can acknowledge that it's mother who knows best.

Beloved TV moms from Carol Brady to Claire Huxtable to Lorelai Gilmore have given sage advice, fixed boo-boos and given tongue-lashings for decades.

How well do you know these magnificent mamas? Take our TV moms quiz now and find out.

The name Melissa McCarthy doesn't ring a bell? No, she's not Jenny McCarthy's sister (she's her cousin). You probably know Melissa under the name Sookie St.James, Lorelai's best friend on Gilmore Girls.

This gifted actress has appeared in over 20 different TV and movie projects in the past 10 years but mostly devoted her time to Gilmore, appearing in more than 150 episodes of the series.

The 37-year-old actress from Plainfield, Illinois, first performed on stage. She started her acting career by doing stand up and improv in New York. She attended The Actors Studio, where she studied drama. This led to a bunch of acting gigs in stage productions. When she moved to Los Angeles, the actress joined The Groundlings as a main cast member of this improv and sketch troupe.