spirit awards

Here's tonight's TV lineup (all times Eastern).

• At 8, ABC has a new 'Supernanny,' followed by a new, two-hour '20/20.'
• CBS has a new 'Ghost Whisperer' at 8, then new episodes of 'Medium' and 'Numb3rs.'
• NBC has 'Who Do You Think You Are?' at 8, followed by a new, two-hour 'Dateline.'
• PBS has a new 'Washington Week' at 8, then new episodes of 'NOW' and 'Bill Moyers Journal.'
• MyNetwork TV has a new 'Smackdown' at 8.
• TCM has 'The Crowded Sky' at 8, followed by 'Airplane!'
• At 9, Syfy has a new 'Caprica.'
• HBO has a new 'Ricky Gervais Show' at 9, then a new 'Life and Times of Tim.'
• At 10, HBO has a new 'Real Time with Bill Maher,' with Sean Penn, Arianna Huffington, Michael Moore, and Andrew Ross Sorkin.
• STARZ has a new 'Spartacus: Blood & Sand' at 10.
• Food Network has a new 'Best Thing I Ever Ate' at 10.
• There's a new episode of 'The Soup' on E! at 10.
• Also at 10: BBC America has a new 'Friday Night with Jonathan Ross.'
• At 11, IFC has The Spirit Awards.
• At midnight, HBO has a new 'Funny or Die Presents.'

In a reversal of their stance on most of the major awards shows this season, Variety tells us the WGA is not only allowing Guild member Rainn Wilson to host the 2008 Spirit Awards, but he has received a waiver to write gags for it as well. The awards ceremony will be held February 23, a day before the Oscars (which did not receive a waiver), on the Santa Monica beach in a tent.

Broadcast live and uncensored on IFC at 5/4pm Central, the Spirit Awards honors the best in independent filmmaking and tends to feature a lot of off-color humor and remarks. Hell, last year's host Sarah Silverman opened the ceremony with a long discussion of her Mommy parts! Hopefully Wilson won't feel the need to discuss his Daddy parts, but if he wants to tell any off-color stories about Jenna Fischer, I'm all ears. Pam Beesly is my Office crush (Shh! don't tell HR) and now that Jenna's as "single" as Pam is, I can fantasize about both of them without feeling guilty! It's a win-win ... win!

Sarah Silverman is returning for her second year as host of the Spirit Awards, which is the award show I watch instead of the Academy Awards. I understand that just because a film is independent doesn't mean it's any good, but I prefer the laidback atmosphere and free spirit of this broadcast over the stuffy, surgically-altered humanoids who give golden idols to whoever made the least crappiest mainstream film that year.

The award ceremony for the Spirit Awards will air on IFC on February 24, 2007, and nominees will be announced on November 28. The Spirit Awards have been around since 1984, and they've been a great way for me to find out about movies I hadn't heard of. It was because of them I found out about Donnie Darko, which quickly became one of my favorite movies.