Thanks to some nice reaction to this week's earlier post, TV's top one-season wonders from the '00s, I'm back with another top-20 list of single-season sensations, this time from the 1990s.

I'll repeat my disclaimer from the last compilation: It's not a comprehensive list, but rather one based on what I watched (which wasn't inconsiderable) and meant something to me in some way. But again, it's surprising to me how many shows I found that fit the criteria.

In the tradition I recently established, I'll list 21 shows in my top 20. And after you're done reading, you can tell me what I forgot.

21) "All-American Girl" (ABC, 1994-95): A troubled show more remembered for the damage it inflicted upon lead performer Margaret Cho, but it had a fun cast (Clyde Kusatsu, Amy Hill, Jody Long, Maddie Corman, Diedrich Bader, B.D. Wong and more) and some worthwhile moments, even if it was destined never to hit its stride. 

20) "L.A. Doctors" (CBS, 1998-99): Solid effort from CBS with some serialized elements and a cast including Ken Olin, Matt Craven and Sheryl Lee.

19) "Nowhere Man" (UPN, 1995-96): There was decent suspense in this drama that starred Bruce Greenwood. I'm not sure I can think of any other broadcast network one-season show in this era that got 25 episodes in before hitting the road.

18) "Cop Rock" (ABC, 1990): Not as bad as you might think but certainly not as good as you'd want it to be ... though at this point I might very well prefer it to "Smash."

17) "Madman of the People" (NBC, 1994-95): It starred Dabney Coleman but didn't recapture the magic of his great 1980s sitcom "Buffalo Bill." I suppose others might make an argument for Coleman's single-season Fox comedy from 1991-92, "Drexel's Class." In a way, they belong together.

16) "Action" (Fox, 1999): Didn't end up being my cup of tea, but this tart comedy starring Jay Mohr and Illeana Douglas definitely earned its cult love.

15) "WIOU" (CBS, 1990-91): It's possible this drama is better than I'm giving credit for, but I don't have specific memories of it, other than it wasn't bad but didn't seem to demand viewing. John Shea starred in a cast that also included Helen Shaver, Harris Yulin, Mariette Hartley, Phil Morris, Jayne Brook, Wallace Langham and Dick Van Patten.

14) "George & Leo" (CBS, 1997-98): Look, it wasn't great comedy, but teaming up Bob Newhart and Judd Hirsch (with Jason Bateman in a supporting role) virtually guaranteed that "George & Leo" would be a pleasant way to spend 30 minutes. 

13) "704 Hauser" (CBS, 1994): Norman Lear revived "All in the Family" by essentially reversing the white and African-American roles. What was bold in the '70s became heavy-handed in the '90s, but it had the right idea casting John Amos in the lead and Maura Tierney in one of her earliest roles. 

12) "Hyperion Bay" (WB, 1998-99): Created by former Humanitas-winning "Thirtysomething" writer Joseph Dougherty, "Hyperion" was an underrated drama, especially at its outset, featuring Mark-Paul Gosselaar near the beginning of his post-"Saved by the Bell" career, Sydney Penny, Christina Moore and later, to jack up ratings, Carmen Electra.

11) "Relativity" (ABC, 1996-97): At times too earnest for its own good, the Jason Katims-created "Relativity" still was mainly a creative success. Kimberly Williams starred in a cast that also included Lisa Edelstein, Adam Goldberg, Richard Schiff, Poppy Montgomery and "My So-Called Life" alum Devon Gummersall.

10) "Sydney" (CBS, 1990): Valerie Bertinelli was charming (no surprise to her "One Day at a Time" groupies fans) as a low-stakes private detective, with Craig Bierko and a 21-year-old Matthew Perry co-starring.

9) "Bakersfield P.D." (Fox, 1993-94): Giancarlo Esposito, Ron Eldard, Chris Mulkey, Tony Plana and Brian Doyle-Murray were the principal cast in a clever single-cam comedy that was before its time.

8) "If Not for You" (CBS, 1995): Hank Azaria and Elizabeth McGovern were the leads in a cast that also featured early career roles for Peter Krause, Sandra Oh and Reno Wilson, not to mention Debra Jo Rupp, Jim Turner, Caroline Aaron and Kelly Coffield. It was not a great fit for CBS, but it meant well (and I have an undeniable soft spot for it since I got to write a bit for it while serving as a writers' assistant).

7) "The Good Life" (NBC, 1994): A very underrated multicam comedy that ran for 13 episodes and featured comedian John Caponera along with a relatively unknown Drew Carey in a supporting role and Eve Gordon. (Check out Paul Feig as the waiter in the clip below.)

6) "Cracker" (ABC, 1997-98): Adapted from the brilliant British drama about a highly troubled detective played by Robbie Coltrane, this version with Robert Pastorelli (and a young Josh Hartnett) didn't match the intensity of its ancestor but still was worth watching.

5) "Nothing Sacred" (ABC, 1997-98): Perhaps more famous in its time for its level of controversy than its level of excellence, "Sacred" starred Kevin Anderson as a very human Catholic priest and became one of the best serialized dramas of the decade of any length. Bruce Altman, Ann Dowd, Tamara Mello, Brad Sullivan and Jose Zuniga were among the supporting cast.

4) "The Ben Stiller Show" (Fox, 1992-93): Even listed this high, I might be underrating this filmed sketch-comedy series with Stiller, Andy Dick, Janeane Garofalo and Bob Odenkirk, a show that had one brilliant sketch after another.  It holds the distinction of winning a writing Emmy after being axed by Fox.

3) "EZ Streets" (CBS, 1996-97): A series that came before its time and that would have absolutely thrived on cable. Ken Olin, Joe Pantoliano, Jason Gedrick, Sarah Trigger, Debrah Farentino, Carl Lumbly and Mike Starr were members of an ensemble cast in a tremendous serialized tale. It's quite possible that karma gave series creator Paul Haggis the Oscar for "Crash" because it allowed  "EZ" only nine episodes.

2) "Cupid" (ABC, 1998-99): Genius creation from Rob Thomas impeccably executed with leads Paula Marshall and Jeremy Piven. First-rate storytelling and chemistry, that Thomas was unable to recapture a decade later with Sarah Paulson and Bobby Carnivale. Someone needed to shoot an arrow of love at more viewers.

1) "My So-Called Life" (ABC, 1994-95): As sure as "Freaks and Geeks" was going to top the list from the 2000s, "My So-Called Life" trumps all comers in the 1990s. Claire Danes was a revelation in the lead role but supported by a great ensemble and tremendously sensitive, pointed writing. I could go on, but if you're a TV fan, you already know, right?

With HBO's "Luck" bidding a sudden farewell to the airwaves after one season, this is as good a time as any to ponder which freshman shows most deserved a sophomore year but never got one.

Here's my list of the top 20 one-and-done TV shows of the 2000s. It's not a comprehensive list, but rather one based on what I watched (which wasn't inconsiderable) and meant something to me in some way. To fans of "Firefly" — that show serves as an example of a program that others would include on a similar list but just won't happen to be on mine. No doubt, I'm also probably forgetting something I should remember.

Still, I found plenty to choose from. And I'm readying a spot, however regretfully, for "Bent" if NBC doesn't figure out what it has with this new, clever and ignored comedy.

Prelude) "John From Cincinnati" (HBO, 2007): Didn't make the cut, but I wanted to include it for the opening credits, which were awesome.

21) "Over There" (FX, 2005): Co-created by Steven Bochco, "Over There" was one of the first TV efforts to deal with American involvement in Iraq. It wasn't up to Bochco's "Hill Street Blues" gold standard, but it was solid. (Oh, and when I wrote all my capsules, I miscounted. So, there's 21 on this top 20.)

20) "Gideon's Crossing" (ABC, 2000-01): A promising post-"Homicide" vehicle for Andre Braugher in which he portrayed a doctor dealing with challenges in and out of the teaching hostpital, but it never took off.

19) "The Nine" (ABC, 2006-07): It had trouble matching the excitement of its bank-robbery pilot, but this drama about the witnesses of that robbery (including Tim Daly, Chi McBride, Scott Wolf, Kim Raver, Camille Guaty, Lourdes Benedicto, Jessica Collins, John Billingsley and Dana Davis) wasn't bad. 

18) "Swingtown" (CBS, 2008): Airing in the summer, the show was deemed risque by CBS standards but really was more quaint than anything when you consider what other networks, especially on cable, were airing. With Molly Parker, Jack Davenport, Lana Parilla, Grant Show, Miriam Shor, Josh Hopkins and Brittany Robertson, the show strained under its premise at times but nevertheless told some interesting stories.

17) "Life on Mars" (ABC, 2008-09): Jason O'Mara, Harvey Keitel and Gretchen Mol headed the cast of this adaptation of a British series. It didn't completely work, but it remained grounded while executing a high concept.

16) "Lone Star" (Fox, 2010): No, we don't know whether its initial quality would have held up had it not been canceled after two episodes, but the point is, many of us are still wondering — even as creator Kyle Killen has moved on to "Awake."

15) "Kitchen Confidential" (Fox, 2005): A sharp comedy based on the Anthony Bourdain book and featuring a pre-"Hangover" Bradley Cooper, along with "Buffy" alum Nicholas Brendon, Owain Yeoman, Jamie King, Bonnie Somerville and a much taller "Freaks and Geeks" grad John Francis Daley.

14) "The Knights of Prosperity" (ABC, 2007): Ridiculed in some parts for its premise, which involved an attempt by a group of misfits to rob a celebrity, the show was wildly inconsistent but nevertheless clicked in a weird way, thanks in no small part to a cast that included Donal Logue, Sofia Vergara and Kevin Michael Richardson.

13) "Andy Barker, P.I." (NBC, 2007): The second starring sitcom vehicle for Andy Richter after he first left Conan O'Brien's right side wasn't quite as magical as "Andy Richter Controls the Universe," which ran for 19 episodes over two seasons on Fox, but it was still an entertaining halfhour. Tony Hale, Harve Presnell and Clea Lewis co-starred. 

12) "Carpoolers" (ABC, 2007-08): Created by "Kids in the Hall" alum Bruce McCulloch, "Carpoolers" was unassuming but fun. The only thing it lacked was a feeling that it was indispensable.

11) "Luck" (HBO, 2012): The pacing was too slow for some (OK, most) and some storylines and characters worked better than others, but there was an elegiac beauty to "Luck" that most programs lack.

10) "Thief" (FX, 2006): Featuring another starring fole for Braugher, the well-scripted "Thief" ended up in the miniseries category (with Braugher winning an Emmy), but my understanding is that it was conceived originally as a drama series, so I'm including it.  Six episodes ran on FX.

9) "The Tick" (Fox, 2001-02): Kooky but clever and definitely likeable, "The Tick" starred Patrick Warburton, Nestor Carbonell and Liz Vassey and David Burke in a romp that needed a better chance to survive than it got on Fox.

8) "Tell Me You Love Me" (HBO, 2007): Never let it be said that a show with sex on its mind can't be morose. But this rare first-season HBO cancelation, which featured Adam Scott before he reached super comedies "Party Down" and "Parks and Recreation," along with Jane Alexander, Michelle Borth, Tim DeKay, Sonya Walger and Ally Walker, explored some worthwhile territory, and for the most part did so effectively. 

7) "Traffic Light" (Fox, 2011): It got lost in the shuffle of a number of shows featuring couples last year, perhaps due to the lack of a star and an utterly unalluring title, but there was good chemistry and scripting throughout its 13-episode life.

6) "Six Degrees" (ABC, 2006-07): Every time this show comes up in conversation (say, once a year or so), I joke about how I wish I had sent thermometers to ABC in an effort to keep it on the air. It was pushed as something of a high-concept show about the connections between random people, but at its heart it was an earnest drama about navigating life in the big city. Jay Hernandez, Erika Christensen, Hope Davis, Bridget Moynahan, Campbell Scott and Shiri Appleby were among the ensemble's highlights. What can I say - I just liked it.

5) "Rubicon" (AMC, 2010): Methodically paced, "Rubicon" improved over time and gave those who went along an edge-of-your-seat conspiracy tale, while also yielding one of TV's best-named villains ever: Truxton Spangler.

4) "Undeclared" (Fox, 2001-02): The heir to "Freaks and Geeks" has such a great pedigree of writers and performers that it's almost amazing it wasn't given a second season just from the force of its talent.

3) "Terriers" (FX, 2010): Creatively, this Shawn Ryan series starring Logue and Michael Raymond-James was on a par with the first season of fellow FX drama "Justified," with superb characterizations on top of intriguing season-long stories. But it lacked a matinee-idol star and lost in the one-word title sweepstakes.

2) "Aliens in America" (CW, 2007-08): The CW abandoned halfhour comedy not long after "Aliens" premiered, an inexplicable decision at least in the sense that the network hasn't done anything better than this show, which was not only clever and sensitive but dealt with a challenging topic expertly. "Freaks and Geeks" fans should have loved it, if they saw it. Dan Byrd, Adhir Kalyan, Amy Pietz, Lindsay Shaw and Scott Patterson starred.

1) "Freaks and Geeks" (NBC, 1999-2000): The king of brilliant-but-canceled freshmen. Technically, the premiere date of "Freaks" puts it out of bounds, but most of its 18 episodes aired in 2000, so we're counting it. "Freaks" was, quite simply, a treasure.

(Want more? Chat about last night's season preem with Team TV.)

As we return to Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce at last after a much-too-long break, "Mad Men's" two-hour season five opener is a study in contrasts, and parallels.

The contrasts painted in "A Little Kiss" -- penned by the main man himself, Matthew Weiner, and directed by Jennifet Getzinger -- are most glaring in Mr. and Mrs. Draper. Megan is bathed in day-glo colors of the minute -- June 1966 -- while Don is still in the black-and-white world of gray suits and tan (London Fog?) overcoats. His one concession to the impending psychedelic era seems to be the occassional stripe on his tie. His neckwear might not be quite as skinny as when the series opened (1960), but it's still pretty stiff against that starched white shirt.

Don simply looks out of step with the times, and tired from his effort to keep up with, and make sense of, his beguiling new wife. He says he loves her, but the honeymoon is definitely over if he's already scolding her about wasting money, and he's too pooped (or uptight) to pop after her "burlesque," as Layne Price called it, that stirred the flames of plenty of other men in the room. He's also clearly distracted from the job, which is very out of character for Don.

Peggy Olson is a little more hip to the times than her boss, but seemingly only a little. I noticed it particularly during the party scene (which appeared to take some visual cues from that goofy 1968 Peter Sellers movie "The Party") by the dress she wore.

The style was pure 1950s -- pretty and flattering, but nothing like the micro-mini that Megan wore, nor even the loud prints that Trudy Campbell and Jane Sterling sported. She's a proto-feminist role model in many ways -- the secretary who fought hard to move up the ranks -- but there remains an air of insecurity about her that chips away at her confidence.

Joan Harris is a big jumble of conflicting emotions as we catch up with her shortly after she's added "mother" to her resume. She wanted that baby so badly she opted not to end the pregnancy, even against the threat of her husband discovering her infidelity with Roger Sterling. But bouncing baby Kevin is an obstacle to resuming her previous life as the queen bee of SCDP -- as illustrated by her struggle just to get in the door of the lobby with the baby carriage, and by the fact that there's a new receptionist who barely knows who she is.

I'm rusty after a 17-month hiatus but I'm rarin' to get back to weekly musings on "Mad Men" episodes.

Check back here tonight around 11:15 (ish) p.m. PT. Can't wait to see the old gang in action. I've seen the season preem, but I'm still figuring it out and primed for a third viewing tonight.

The words that I've been using to describe the season opener of Mad Men are "jarring and fascinating." The show has constantly evolved in character and look, but you'll never notice it more than in the leap forward it has taken between its last season, which ended 17 months ago, and tonight's season-five premiere (whose pace I found more engaging than Variety critic Brian Lowry in his review). So some of it comes as a shock to the system, but at the same time, you'll see the logic behind every move of the many pieces on showrunner Matthew Weiner's chessboard, while feeling a great deal of anticipation for what's to come. There's also some pretty sly humor mixed in with the darkness and tumult, I will say.

Meanwhile, a less successful but still intriguing show wraps up its first and last season tonight. The final episode of Luck lays out all its strengths and weaknesses. Some of the characters are extremely compelling –- Kevin Dunn as Marcus particularly shines in the finale –- but others are a mixed bag, including Dustin Hoffman's Ace, who is played almost like what might have happened if his Rain Man character had gotten, say, 65 percent of the social skills he'd ideally have. Above all, though, the cinematography of the final race is beyond spectacular. Of course, the reliance on horses is what ultimately sowed the seeds of the show's demise, but you'd be hard-pressed to find any program that had more appreciation for the artistry of the animals. Luck will occupy a place in the middle range of HBO shows of the past several years for me, but I don't regret watching it.

My Variety colleagues and I will be talking Mad Men and other TV in a live chat Monday starting at approximately 9:45 a.m. I'll post a link when I have it – join us then, but feel free to have any initial discussion here tonight.

CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus is anxiously awaiting the next two weeks as a pair of high-profile events get ready for their Eye treatment: The Final Four and the Masters.

McManus had an exclusive chat with Variety’s Stuart Levine about a range of subjects, including the slate of events that make up the CBS sports calendar, the dilemma of increasingly expensive rights fees, the important of Tiger Woods to ratings and whether Major League Baseball might ever return to the network.

Variety: So how would you assess your current sports slate?

McManus: “To be honest, I’m very happy with our lineup of programming. It covers 12 months a year and we’ve got some of the highest profile and highest-rated events on the calendar. If I just took them in order, obviously our NFL package has been tremendously successful. We’re doing the Super Bowl next February in New Orleans and our college football with the SEC — even though we only do one game a week — has been the highest-rated college football package the last couple of years. College basketball and the NCAA basketball tournament speaks for itself. We’re dominant in the area of golf; the only network with two major championships — Masters and the PGA — and the best PGA tour schedule. And on top of that, we have U.S. Open (in tennis). That ends the first weekend of football, which times out perfectly. I couldn’t be happier with our lineup of events. What I’m particularly pleased with is that all of them are responsible and good financial deals that make money for the CBS Corporation.”

Variety: Do you feel you got the NFL at a fair price?

McManus: “I think when you look at the value the NFL delivers to a television network — not just in terms of programming but in terms of the promotional value — you understand how important it is to bring a huge audience to CBS for almost six months a year. I think it was a very fair deal for both CBS and for NFL. And as important as the NFL is to CBS, Leslie Moonves would not have done the deal if it didn’t make sense for the corporation from a financial standpoint.”

Variety: Even though you’re paying about a $1 billion per season, are you making a profit on the NFL?

McManus: Yes, when we did the first deal back in 1998, we obviously paid a premium for the NFL. We made money every year on the deal back then, and we’ve made money on the NFL every year since then. People like Dick (Ebersol, chieftan NBC Sports at the time) were surprised that we thought the NFL was worth what it was back in 1998, but we had a plan and we had an aggressive revenue target and we pretty much hit that target every single year. It’s been a good deal financially for us, but more importantly it has brought the most important programming a network can have to CBS.

Variety: The BCS championship game has moved to ESPN. Do you ever see the Super Bowl moving to cable, and can Super Bowl ratings increase beyond the huge numbers it has done the last couple of years? 

McManus: “Well, the primary audience for the foreseeable future is going to be on network television. That’s where the value is. That’s where the revenue is. Somebody said to me the other day, and I think this is correct, that the Super Bowl audience has increased seven years in a row, which gave me kind of an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of my stomach thinking. At some point you’re going to get a game that is less than stellar. … Also, all the other forms of media — whether it be social media or streaming of the game — certainly adds attention and viewership, but the biggest concern we have, the highest priority we have, is in that broadcast on CBS.”

Variety: How has Tiger’s recent play reflected golf ratings? (His win Sunday at Bay Hill came after this interview.)

McManus: “I can’t predict how well Tiger is going to play in the future, but the Tiger factor is still very much in play. You saw it at Pebble Beach this year, where in the final round he lost to Phil Mickelson. He didn’t win the tournament and he didn’t play well in that final round, but the rating was almost double the previous year. There’s no question that when Tiger is on the leader board, there is an enormous ratings bump. Having said that, in the most recent PGA tour deal we did, we did not assume that Tiger was going to be as dominant as he has been in the past. We did a very conservative projection on ratings. If Tiger finds his groove and plays a number of PGA tour events, that’s all upside for us, but when you look at Rory McIlroy or Luke Donald, and put Phil Mickelson in that group, there is still an awful lot of really appealing golfers on the PGA tour, but the Tiger factor is still very much in play.”

Variety: On the tennis front, are you concerned about the lack of an American presence?

McManus: “Unfortunately, I’ve kind of gotten used to it. I think the game needs some top-flight men and women from America. Obviously that helps build the audience. Having said that, this is in many ways a golden era for tennis. You’ve got the big three men — Federer, Nadal and Djokovic — and look at the kind of tennis the three of them have provided recently. It’s a terrific time for tennis, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say I’m rooting for an American to emerge as someone who can fit into that group.”

Variety: Were you surprised that ESPN got the rights to Wimbledon and it had been on NBC for so long?

McManus: “Yeah, I was, quite frankly, a little surprised. I have great respect for what ESPN does. They’re a remarkably successful franchise. Having said that, I still believe firmly that there are some events that serve the public better being on network television, and I would put the Super Bowl, the Masters, and a lot of other events in that category. ESPN was successful in convincing the All England Club — just like it did with the R&A a number years before for the British Open — that they could achieve the audience desired and the presence in the U.S. that they desired by being in ESPN. I applaud them for convincing the All England Club of that, and I wish them luck. When a franchise has been on a network for that long, as Wimbledon had been on NBC, it’s always surprising to see it go elsewhere, but this is a business, and the people at the All England Club thought that their business was better served by being on ESPN. I imagine they made the right decision for themselves at the right time. I was personally a little disappointed because Wimbledon was one of the events I was very involved in both at NBC and at IMG. I think I went to 10 or 11 Wimbledons in a row and enjoyed the event, have great affection for the event. I’m a traditionalist and had it stayed on NBC I would have been perfectly satisfied, but things change, priorities change and the business has changed.”

Variety: Speaking of surprises, what were your thoughts on NBC getting the Olympics package and the World Cup going to Fox?

McManus: “We were not involved in the bidding for either of those two events. The Olympics, in many ways, has become synonymous with NBC. They’ve done a terrific job in wrapping the Olympics around NBC, and wrapping NBC around the Olympics. I think it was a critical event for them to keep. I think it’s probably worth a lot more money to NBC and Comcast then it would be to any other network just because of the way they’ve integrated it so well into their business. I think they went over to Lausanne, Switzerland, and had every intention of not coming home unless they had the event. They paid what they thought was a fair price. Just because that’s a fair price for Comcast and the right number for Comcast, however, doesn’t mean it’s the right number for CBS or ESPN or anyone else. When an event is that important, you figure out a way to keep it on your network, and that’s exactly what NBC did. The Olympics don’t fit into our programming schedule well. When you’re as dominant as CBS is in primetime, the Olympics are less valuable for us. With respect to World Cup soccer, I would like to think that in five or six years when the CBS Sports Network is fully distributed across America, that might be an event that we would have interest in. The World Cup, to a large extent, is a network and cable package, and right now the presence that we have with our sports cable network probably eliminated us from the competition this time around.

Variety: Speaking of CBS Sports Network, how do you see its progress?

McManus: “I think it is a long process and Leslie Moonves has been very patient. The distribution is growing at a very good pace. The programming is not as high profile as I would like it to be. The addition of Jim Rome will give us a daily relevant presence on the network and some of the other programming we have acquired, like Major League Lacrosse, is growing. We are trying to approach it from a very responsible standpoint financially. Right now we are not in the market for $100 million rights fees but right now we should not be. We want to build it. We want to distribute it. The programming will continue to get better and better. The No. 1 priority right now of our sports division is to take advantage of the great events that we have and integrate CBS Sports Network into those events. You will see a round-the-clock presence at the Super Bowl for the CBS Sports Network and I think you will see some presence at the Masters and Final Four this year. We are doing a much better job and are going to be much more aggressive in associating these events with CBS Sports Network. I feel good about where the network is. I think it will be competitive in the sports cable landscape and right now it has got exactly the kind of high-profile programming that makes sense for it.”

Variety: Those kind of sports networks really need to rely on the live programming because, while I think getting Jim is a great coup for your guys, studio shows on ESPN is so dominant. So it would seem live events are what is going to make CBS Sports Network, and NBC Sports Network, more viable.

McManus: “I think that is a very good observation. In the end it is, maybe, the live events that draw an audience to a two-year-old network. Jim Rome is a bit of an aberration because he does have the 2 million radio listeners every day, and almost 800,000 people are following him on Twitter. He makes a lot of news and to have that kind of presence everyday on the network is important to us and a first step in building the kind of presence ESPN has ever afternoon with “Around the Horn” and “Pardon the Interruption.” Even though those shows don’t have the kind of presence that live sports do, they still play a very important role in making the network a destination, whether it is Tuesday afternoon or Saturday afternoon. You are right what will ultimately distinguish our network is the high-quality live events. “

Variety: Major League Baseball might be renegotiating its deal toward the end of the season. Is that something that CBS might be interested in?

McManus: “I think we would certainly take a look at it. Again, I would go back to what Leslie Moonves has done with CBS in primetime. The World Series is a great event, but you have to ask yourself whether it is worth pre-empting the most successful primetime lineup in the business with the World Series. That is a different equation for us than it would be for NBC and the other networks just because of the success we are having in primetime. We will take a look at it, but we are not actively pursuing any baseball presence at the moment.

Variety: Fox has that dilemma every year. If you have a World Series with either the Yankees or the Red Sox, it would be a great ratings draw, but if you have the Colorado Rockies versus the Detroit Tigers, it’s a different scenario.

McManus: “If Major League Baseball would guarantee us that either the Yankees or the Red Sox were in the World Series every year, our interest would increase significantly.”

Variety: Does the prospect of a college football national playoff interest you from a television prospective?

McManus: “It certainly could depending on the price. The BCS championship has gotten to a price right now where it works for ESPN. At that level I’m not sure it works for CBS. If the format was attractive enough, certainly we would analyze it to see if it fit into our plans. Right now, though, the SEC package — culminating in the SEC championship game — is just so successful for CBS, I wouldn’t want to do anything in the area of college football that might make it less of a good deal for the corporation.”

Variety: I know the last year was your first year with the NCAA basketball tournament and your partnership with Turner. How would you assess that first year and where do you see it going from here?

McManus: “In some ways it was surprisingly successful. The fact that a game on TruTV looked exactly the same, and had the same quality of production, as the game on CBS is a tribute to the team that worked on this. I think the rating exceeded even our optimistic projections. The advertisers were also incredibly satisfied. The goal now is to keep our feet to the fire and keep the pressure on because the bar has been set so high.. We need to continue to do the job that we have done in terms of production, sales, marketing, interactive and promotion. We did a very sophisticated and expansive survey after the tournament last year and 91% of the people who we surveyed said they like this format better than the previous format. If you would tell one of the candidates vying for the presidency they would get a 91% approval rating, I would think they would believe they have done a really good job.”

Variety: People that have never watched TruTV were watching TruTv for the first time, and I think it helped them brand their network. And, of course, it helped you because all the games were available.

McManus: “I was one of the more skeptical ones. I was having some issues concerning whether the fans looking to find their game would know if it was on TruTV, CBS or TNT. That, apparently, was not a factor. We got almost no complaints and all the announcers and production teams were guiding people to the best game wherever it was. It was very successful and we made the decision from Day One that every step we took would be taken with what was best for the viewer as our guiding direction. That really paid off and viewers really appreciated it. They love the tournament and we were able to take an event that was already successful and make it more successful.”

Variety: It must have been overwhelming when you were running both the news and sports divisions at CBS. Now that you are back just in sports, does it feel like a better fit now?

McManus: “Definitely. I enjoyed very much my years at CBS News and am proud of what we accomplished, but those were two very big job and two very complicated jobs. I think for me to be able to focus just on sports right now is best for CBS Sports and best for CBS News. The amount of attention and the amount of effort required to run both those divisions — especially as the media world is getting more and more complicated — probably required two separate executives. Having said that, I cherish what I did at CBS News and have enormous respect for what they are doing right now. I think they are moving the news division further and further in the right direction. It was a great learning experience, but right now I am doing what I was meant to do, which is run CBS Sports as a full-time job.

Now that “Luck” is off HBO’s schedule going forward, the pay cabler may have to rethink its 2013 programming slate.

The horseracing drama, which was given a second-season renewal almost immediately after the first season began earlier this year, would have likely returned next January if the show had not been canceled. In the new paradigm, however, HBO execs will probably have to fill that first quarter drama slot rather than have a gaping hole that could last months if “Luck” is not replaced.

Though nothing has been officially greenlit, of the five dramas that HBO currently has in rotation, there is a high certainty that “True Blood,” “Boardwalk Empire” and “Game of Thrones” will be back in 2013.

“Game of Thrones,” set to make its season debut April 1, was a huge hit for the pay cabler in 2011 and looks to be a longterm player. “Boardwalk Empire” has both ratings and cachet, and vampire fave “True Blood” — although showrunner Alan Ball won’t be actively involved on the show at that point — has always drawn a big audience.

That currently leaves two other dramas that are set to go this year: a third season of David Simon’s New Orleans saga “Treme” and Aaron Sorkin’s freshman series “The Newsroom.”

“Treme” has never been a ratings grabber, but neither was Simon’s Baltimore epic “The Wire,” and that ran for five seasons. And, including miniseries “Generation Kill,” HBO has proven that it enjoys being in the David Simon business.

With Sorkin in charge, “The Newsroom” has plenty going for it. Series, about the beind-the-scenes workings of a cable news network, stars Jeff Daniels, who rarely ventures to the TV side, and fans of Sorkin’s NBC staple “The West Wing” may sample the show as well.

If “Boardwalk Empire” repeats its 2011 sked dates — when it ended on Dec. 11 — HBO might be without a drama for three or four months, from mid-December through late March or early April.

That could be difficult to swallow for the pay cabler, which consistently needs top-quality original programming to give viewers the impetus to write their monthly subscription check. Especially at HBO, comedies rarely generate as much audience enthusiasm and chatter as dramas, and being without a drama on the air for that long could ultimately hurt the bottom line.

The unexpected “Luck” departure — HBO made the decision to cancel the show Wednesday after a third horse had died and there was no assurance, despite the best safety precautions, that it wouldn’t happen again — could work to the benefit of both “Treme” and pilot “The Corrections.”

Though a decision has not been made on “The Corrections,” which is based on the Jonathan Franzen bestseller and is being adapted by writer Noah Baumbach, HBO might want to greenlight the series and get the production up and running as soon as possible. If it couldn’t duplicate the schedule of “Luck” and be on the air starting in January, HBO could shift another series to January and make room for “The Corrections” at some point in 2013.

HBO wouldn’t greenlight a series just to fill space on the calendar, of course, yet it's fascinating to wonder if Spike Lee's pilot "Da Brick," which was recently passed over as a possible series, would have had a better chance to be greenlit if the "Luck" decision was made before the "Da Brick" decision was made.

As for "The Corrections," HBO will naturally need to be satisfied with the creative aspects of the project before giving it a series order, but the loss of “Luck” may ultimately accelerate the pipeline at a network that has rarely had to rush shows into production.

With Tony Ressler a principal member of one of the final four groups currently in the running to buy the Dodgers, that leaves open the possibility that the franchise could have a new first lady from the world of television: Ressler's wife, actress Jami Gertz.

Gertz has spent three decades in show business, but for me, she is famous for two particularly square roles: as one of the stars of early 1980s TV series "Square Pegs" (with Sarah Jessica Parker) and from the memorable "Seinfeld" episode, "The Stall," as the girlfriend of Jerry's (and phone sex operator on the sly) who couldn't spare a square of toilet paper for Elaine.

Gertz is already connected to baseball, thanks to Ressler's position as a minority owner of the Milwaukee Brewers (partnered with another Hollywood connection, Mark Attanasio, brother of "Homicide: Life on the Street" creator Paul Attanasio). She has been cast in a 2012 pilot for ABC, an untitled project from "Crazy, Stupid, Love" writer Dan Fogelman about a family "that "moves into a beautiful, surprisingly affordable gated community in New Jersey only to discover that all the neighbors are literally from another planet."

It's not clear that the Ressler-Michael Heisley group can beat out the others — for one thing, Hollywood producer Peter Guber has just beefed up the Magic Johnson-Stan Kasten contenders, while Steven Cohen seems to have the deepest pockets. St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke is the other remaining major bidder. But if the other groups don't meet the approval of, yes, outgoing Dodger owner Frank McCourt, the Dodgers' next Jami could be Gertz.

By DAN DOPERALSKI

The audience was audibly disappointed at PaleyFest on Tuesday when “Mad Men” showrunner Matthew Weiner announced he would be showing the season-four finale and not a clip from the skein’s upcoming fifth season, as most had hoped.

Series lead Jon Hamm, who plays the mercurial Don Draper, only further teased the audience when discussing his character’s engagement to his secretary last season.

“He got engaged, but he doesn’t necessarily get married,” Hamm told the crowd who cheered with giddy anticipation.

When pressed, Weiner refused to say whether Don would be wearing a wedding ring in season five and deflected the question by pointing to Don’s history of infidelity, telling the crowd that “Don has never worn a wedding ring.”

The decision to keep the long-awaited fifth season (premiering March 25) under wraps was a logical move for the showrunner after a spate of spoilers leaked prior to the season-four premiere and given Weiner’s recent impassioned letter to critics urging discretion this time around.

For his part, Hamm said he bought into the Weiner’s vision for Don in the first season and stopped worrying about his character fate.

 “I made a decision a long time ago to trust that this is the man that runs the show,” Hamm said. “I put my trust in his ability to tell a story.”

As the series marches further into the 1960s, many expect civil rights to figure into the plot, similar to the show’s handing of the Cuban missile crisis and the assassination of JFK. Weiner gave his take on the whitewashed world of Don Draper’s Madison Avenue:

“I am not trying to be a revisionist. I am trying to do my best to show segregated New York in the 1960s,” Weiner said. “Civil rights in particular, I want them to experience it like they really did, first through the television and then in their living room.”

A particularly anachronistic moment in season three, when Don’s business partner Roger Sterling sang “My Old Kentucky Home” in blackface, was a point of contention for actor John Slattery, though he pointed to a different scene and reasoned he couldn’t parse his characters sometimes offensive actions.

“You can’t ride the girl in her underwear singing cowboy songs and then say, ‘No, I don’t want to do blackface.’” Slattery said.

* * * 

Other info:

--  Hamm still held out hope Don and Betty would reunite, even after his character proposed to his secretary.  “Is this some kind of freakout?” he wondered at the time. “Is this going to be a dream sequence where they cut it, and I am in bed with Betty and everyone is in the house the next day?”

-- It has become a bit of a game for the writers to give Slattery tongue-twisting lines such as “Do you know what nuts mean to Utz and Utz means to us?” from season two.

-- Resident Brit Jared Harris, who plays the penny-pinching Lane Pryce, had a similar trajectory to his character’s pond-hopping story line. “I wanted to come to America for similar reasons. I wanted to find out who I was,” Harris said. “He really embraces America as a place of mobility and I like that story.”

-- A school friend gave Weiner a journal his father had written in 1965 while going through a similar personal crisis as Don Draper. Weiner used some of those insights as material for the character.

By RICK KISSELL
Its rookie-season ratings and buzz would suggest a renewal is a lock, but the folks at “Revenge” aren’t taking any chances.

Speaking at the Paley Festival event for the show on Sunday, series creator Mike Kelley took a rather humbled and unassuming posture when discussing the drama’s life beyond May’s finale. Either way, the show — as would be expected of any sudser in the “Dallas” mold — will end the season on a cliffhanger.

“We want a second season, but it’s not a guarantee,” said Kelley, who did broadly outline where key plot points and reveals would happen going forward, including the resolution of some key plot points this spring and the introduction of new revenge possibilities. “We’ve got a lot to wrap up, and we’ve got a lot more story if we’re able to get into season two.”

Actor Josh Bowman, whose character Daniel was assumed to be the victim of a deadly spray of bullets only to survive in a twist revealed last month, hoped for the best, but he wasn’t counting his chickens.

“It was nerve-racking,” said the young thesp in his native British tongue. “I didn’t know for sure (that he’d survive) until the table read.”

Of course, as Ashley Madekwe, who plays Ashley Davenport, put it: “On a show like this, everyone thinks they’re dying … all the time.”

Kelley was strategically situated between series leads Madeleine Stowe and Emily Van Camp, who were joined on stage by the show’s other seven regular castmembers.

Film actress Stowe, in her first major smallscreen series role, said she’s having “a ball” playing matriarch Victoria Grayson.

“It’s really great to be heinous and twisted and loving and compulsive,” said Stowe. “I’ve never seen a woman like this on television. I love that she is a mess.”

VanCamp said her biggest fear upon taking the role was that her character wouldn’t be likable.

“People want to see the takedowns, but we’re also trying to maintain a moral code with this character even through she’s doing these horrendous things,” she said. “There’s definitely a line that she won’t cross.”

The young actress said Emily and Victoria identify with each other, including their upbringing and love for the same men.

“We have this bizarre competition for Daniel, but come at it from different places,” said VanCamp.

Kelley said the contemporary pace of the show means “we rocket through story,” adding that he had been personally frustrated by the slow reveal in other serialized series over the years. “This is the trickiest show I’ve ever had to do.”

Other tidbits from the panel session, which followed a presentation of the opening two acts of the show’s next episode, slated for April:

-- An entire episode airing this spring will flash back to 2002, showing where Emily first came into contact with many of the victims of her revenge.

-- Kelley said he enjoys reading feedback online and having viewers taking guesses about what’s going to happen next.

“It inspires me. … I love it when you’re right exactly half the time,” he said.

“It feels like you guys are participating in the fun of the show and engaging on a level that I haven’t had the privilege of sharing with an audience before.”

-- Asked how her character might alter her revenge plans if the show had only five episodes remaining, VanCamp said: “I’d take them all out Dexter-style.”

-- Henry Czerny, who plays patriarch Conrad Grayson, likened his character’s love-hate relationship with Victoria to George and Martha of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf.” “This could go on for years,” he said.

-- Kelley said the relationship between misfits Emily and Nolan (Gabriel Mann) brings a “warm, beating heart to a show that otherwise has a lot of nastiness.” Added Mann: “Our friendship (in real life between Mann and VanCamp) informs some of what you see onscreen. There’s a comfort level.”

-- Mann, who gets to deliver some of the show’s funniest one-liners and phrases, said he’s most fond of “Fauxmanda,” “revengenda” and getting to describe the character of fake Amanda as “the homicidal stripper version of Whack-a-Mole.”

-- When an audience member asked if a certain character — presumed dead — might appear at some point, Kelley didn’t rule it out. “We love to disappoint and titillate. Our rule is that if it’s realistically possible, we would do it.”

By DENISE SMALDINO
Fans of the CW drama “The Vampire Diaries” could barely contain their excitement Saturday night at Paleyfest when exec producer Julie Plec introduced a sneak peek of this week’s episode.

That viewing, of course, came on the condition of being in the show’s “circle of trust” and not revealing any secrets. With the audience obliged, the episode was well received by the loyalists who attended the gathering at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills.

It was following the unspooling, however, when fans were able to vocally let loose. Plec introduced the cast and dished on favorite moments and upcoming twists that will arrive before season three comes to end later this spring.

“I think I need to go abroad, maybe Europe, and meet some new boys,” said star Nina Dobrev (Elena Gilbert) about her character’s love triangle with the two Salvatore brothers, played by Paul Wesley (Stefan) and Ian Somerhalder (Damon).

“‘Gossip Girl’ went to Paris, so maybe we can go to Italy,” she added. Surprising both the crowd and the cast, Plec responded by revealing that at the end of this season, Elena has a choice to make. “It's going to come to a head, maybe not the head, but a head.”

When recalling other top moments this season, Candice Accola (Caroline Forbes) couldn't help but mention the kiss (insert screaming fans here) between real-life couple Dobrev and Somerhalder. “It has been a heck of a season, and there is so much more to come,” Accola said.

Putting spoilers aside, the cast was in a joking mood. Topics ranged from on-set fan fiction by Matt Davis (Alaric Saltzman) to Wesley’s real-life wife, Torrey DeVitto (Dr. Meredith Fell) being cast this season's as Alaric’s love interest.

“I've done scenes with her and she’s amazing,” Somerhalder gushed. “She's better than Paul, actually.”

On a more serious note, Somerhalder shared his experience of auditioning for the role, detailing how he “choked” for the initial network screen test and went through “10 days of virtual hell” when waiting for the retest.

“I knew this was my role,” he said, reminding the audience to always believe in themselves.

By JERRY CROWE
For a show that routinely traffics in murder, mayhem and manipulation, “Sons of Anarchy” sparked much talk Wednesday night about heart, warmth and brotherhood.

At the Paleyfest sesh at the Saban Theatre in BevHills, exec producer Kurt Sutter and assorted cast members of the FX drama repeatedly mentioned the familial bond uniting the characters that make up the outlaw motorcycle club (and its cohorts) that rides roughshod over the fictional town of Charming, Calif.

“They’re so enmeshed in their love for each other,” noted actress Katey Sagal, who plays the scheming Gemma Teller Morrow, “old lady” of club president Clay Morrow (Ron Perlman) and mother of VP Jackson “Jax” Teller (Charlie Hunnam).

Neither Perlman nor Hunnam was on hand — both are in Toronto shooting Guillermo del Toro’s “Pacific Rim” — but that didn’t stop the others from ribbing Perlman for his inability to convincingly maneuver a motorcycle.

“He’s completely given up,” quipped Sutter before noting, “He’s definitely improved, but Ron would cop to the fact that it’s not his favorite thing.”

Cracked Tommy Flanagan, who plays “Chibs” Telford: “His top speed is 11 mph.”

Also providing comic relief Wednesday was Dayton Callie, who plays Police Chief Wayne Unser and noted that a common occurrence among cast members in a show marked by violence is to anxiously tear through new scripts in an effort to find, “Am I alive?”

Sutter also remarked that he would be interested in doing a prequel to “Sons of Anarchy,” a show that would examine the original nine members of the motorcycle club in which the show is based. No current cast members would be involved.

“I see it as a different show. Not a continuation or another version of ‘Sons of Anarchy,’ but a more political and socially historical sort of show. I definitely have some interest in doing it. I’d like to explore it in some capacity,” Sutter said.   

Bob Odenkirk, the "Mr. Show" co-creator most recently known for his role as Saul on "Breaking Bad," is the centerpiece of a new Web short that premiered on AdultSwim.com today, "Let's Do This."

Odenkirk plays Cal Mackenzie-Goldberg, a has-been/never-was movie mogul trying to rebuild his pseudo-empire.

“In 'Mr. Show,' 'Larry Sanders' and other cult hit shows I've played many a funny sleazeball, I've impersonated the great Robert Evans, and it's all been building to this," Odenkirk said. "Cal MacKenzie-Goldberg and his come-from-behind underdog gang of sweet losers somehow find a way to succeed, even if they end up getting paid in yams.”

One possible film idea mentioned in the episode: "'Ex-Terminator' - it's about a terminator, he retires about his job as a terminator and then becomes an exterminator."

Odenkirk, Jim Freeman and Brian Jarvis created "Let's Do This," which co-stars Lauren Lapkus, Jerry Minor and Brian Posehn, with guests including Natasha Legerro, Paul Rust, John Ennis, Jill Bartlett, Jim Freeman, Brian Jarvis, Andre Hyland, Bruce Green, and Fortune Feimster.

The "Parks and Recreation" cast and exec producer Michael Schur chatted up insight of what goes into the making of their NBC series Tuesday night at Paleyfest, but it was an imaginary series that might've gotten the most laughs.

Schur explained that Adam Scott has been leading an underground charge to have thesps involved in the 2003 imaginary series “Philly Justice" (with accompanying photo).

Scott, when not in front of the camera as Amy Poehler’s love interest and campaign manager Ben Wyatt, spends much of his time trying to figure out the call sheet of the make-believe show about the Philadelphia legal justice system. In addition to Scott and Poehler, other "Parks" thesps to topline "Justice" are Paul Rudd, Kathryn Hahn and Rashida Jones.

But let’s get back to reality. Audience at the Saban Theatre in BevHills got treated to this week's episode, the Nick Offerman-written "Lucky," about an ill-fated interview Leslie Knope does with a vermin-like TV reporter, played by Sean Hayes.

Other tidbits:

-- Schur is "cautiously optimistic" the show will be renewed by NBC for next season, but is still waiting to hear.

-- Two endings have been shot to see if Leslie wins or loses the election for city council. One reason was to give the writers options and the other was to baffle bloggers who might want to give away the scoop.

Said Poehler: "I won’t tell you because I know. It was really touching and moving to do both the acceptance and concession speeches as Leslie. Acceptance and concession speeches are the same until the end."

-- Retta is an obsessed "Twilight" fan.

-- Chris Pratt wanted to be a stuntman growing up and enjoys the physicality of the role, often to the point of possibly hurting himself.

A Reuters report Tuesday suggesting Netflix is already in negotiations with cable operators about becoming a part of the cable bundle goosed the company's stock Wednesday. But maybe investors should consider a caveat issued Wednesday morning Janney Capital Markets analyst Tony Wible that might temper the excitement.

As Wible sees it, there's a good reason Netflix can't make the transition: It has the potential to unleash a Pandora's box that would unravel the cable business model that keeps other pay-TV nets like HBO in check:

 "If MVPDs started to see NFLX as a Pay TV alternative and allow NFLX to continue to sell its service directly to end subs, than it may trigger a response from existing Pay TV platform that could demand to do the same thing. Essentially, Pay TV networks like HBO could rationalize a dual structure platform whereby they sell directly and through the MVPD ecosystem. This would essentially ratchet up the pressure on NFLX in its core acquisition channel."

Wible's point is well taken: HBO has amply proven through its brilliant deployment of HBO Go that it has the ability to go directly to the consumer over digital platforms without having to splits its profits with cable operators. The only reason HBO hasn't broken away is that the Comcasts of the world are paying billions to keep the channel in its exclusive domain--a lot more money than HBO could hope to make on its own anytime soon.

But if HBO wants an excuse to test those water--a long-term inevitability--all it would need to do is cry foul if Netflix were allowed to be both fish and fowl: a freestanding SVOD service and a bundled channel. HBO--nor Showtime or Starz, for that matter--would stand idly by while Netflix got its cake and ate it, too.

As Wible warns, Netflix could see its own lunch eaten in that scenario, too. Just imagine what the company's already cluttered competitive landscape would be like if HBO Go were loosed on the world as a standalone product? Suddenly Hulu Plus, Amazon Prime and Verizon/Redbox wouldn't seem all that scary.

By TODD KUSHIGEMACHI
Chances are nobody was asking “Who’s that girl?” at Monday’s night’s “New Girl” panel at Paleyfest.

Star Zooey Deschanel was joined onstage at the Saban Theatre by fellow thesps Max Greenfield, Jake Johnson, Lamorne Morris and Hannah Simone. Exec producers Brett Baer, Dave Finkel, Jake Kasdan, Katherine Pope and creator Elizabeth Meriwether were also engaged in the discussion.

Moderator Rob Moynihan of TV Guide started the festivities by presenting a “douchebag jar,” as often seen in the skein. When Greenfield talked up his character Schmidt’s luck with the ladies, an audience member yelled, “Douchebag!” Thesp honored the shout-out and emptied his cash in the jar.

In describing her character, Deschanel said Jess is “13-year-old version of myself plus a 13-year-old version of Liz.” Throughout the night, the actress pawed in fascination at her image on the large screen behind her.

Greenfield laughed when talking about Johnson’s awful dancing for the interactive music video “Hey Girl.” Johnson, who plays Nick, demonstrated the moves that had brought his co-star to tears of laughter at rehearsal.

Other talking points included Greenfield’s “tiny nipples,” romantic tension among the characters and the organic creative process. Although Meriwether and the cast teased scenes of upcoming episodes, including a guest spot by Dermot Mulroney, Johnson mocked the vague and unenticing hints.

And as for Morris, who plays Winston, he had only one request.

“I just don’t want them to kill my character,” he joked.

You might think it says something about "Luck" that it doesn't appear to be even as popular as its little-seen HBO counterpart "Treme" and might not quite measure up from a critical standpoint either.

At the same time, the past two episodes, the fifth and sixth out of nine in the first season of "Luck," showed off the increasingly lyrical beauty of the latest David Milch creation, eliminating what few doubts remained about this being a show worth watching.

Examples of its bright but slow-burning fire can be found involving many of the characters, but I'll point to merely two: The almost romantic connection between Ace (Dustin Hoffman) and his horse in the stables at the end of episode five, and the small arc in Sunday's episode six that saw Joey (Richard Kind) briefly gain control over his stammer following a brush with suicide, only to lose control again in a quiet, heartbreaking twist.

These moments, so well-earned and so beautifully played, were pleasures in and of themselves. They're also an indication that Milch and his writers have, not surprisingly, gained mastery over many of the characters, too many of whom sounded too much like Andy Sipowicz of "NYPD Blue" in the show's early episodes.

Some have scoffed at "Luck" for its creative inaccessibility and at HBO for greenlighting a second season of it. I honestly can't think why. HBO's business model is clearly built to allow for prestige, patiently developing series that don't draw big numbers — the wild success of "Game of Thrones" is one enabler of these differently paced efforts.

Though neither "Luck" nor its cousin "Treme" popped for HBO's broader audience, they still serve a purpose if for no other reason than branding. Even if you're not a fan of the shows, they speak to HBO's ambition and the promise of its next projects.

In other words, HBO has created a universe where even its supposed failures speak to the network's strengths. "Work It," this show is not.

HBO is hanging art on its walls, folks. Yeah, it's not necessarily art for everyone — though I think that's to a great extent a function of an audience that largely demands instant or near-instant gratification. (Put another way, it helps if you don't expect to understand and appreciate everything that's going on the second that it's happening, but rather have faith that the value will be revealed.) In a TV world where so many have given up on art for the sake of commerce, let's be thankful for programmers who can and do consistently aspire toward it.

Variety TV critic Brian Lowry has permitted me to sneak in an early word about Amanda Peet starrer "Bent," the Tad Quill comedy that NBC is premiering — and seemingly burning off — beginning March 21.  That word: charming.

Having seen the first four episodes, I can say briefly that "Bent," centered on folks whose lives are in need of repair, starts off mildly promising and then only grows more appealing with each ensuing installment. The trailer above doesn't really do the program justice. 

Its winning ensemble includes some great talent: Peet, David Walton (in shorthand, something of a cross between Mark Ruffalo and Timothy Olyphant), Jeffrey Tambor ("Arrested Development"), J.B. Smoove ("Curb Your Enthusiasm"), Margo Harshman (grown up from "Even Stevens"), Joey King ("Ramona and Beezus") and "Friday Night Lights" graduate Jesse Plemons.

In what seems like a surrender, NBC is launching "Bent" opposite hit ABC comedy "Modern Family" and planning to run its six episodes over three weeks in back-to-back airings Wednesdays at 9 and 9:30 p.m. My advice: find a spot on your DVR for "Bent" and enjoy it while it lasts.

A nearly packed house of "Oncers," "Charmers" and others hoping that fairy tales do, indeed, come true enjoyed their Sunday afternoon with the cast and creators of ABC's "Once Upon a Time" as PaleyFest continued at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills.

Participants included thesps Jennifer Morrison, Ginnifer Goodwin, Josh Dallas, Lana Parrilla and Robert Carlyle,  as well as co-creators Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis, and producer Steve Pearlman.

Getting a head start on the at-home viewing audience, the crowd was first treated to Sunday's episode (an explanation of why Grumpy is so grumpy) followed by a 10-minute sneak peek of next week's episode where Horowitz and Kitsis promise to reveal the identity of the Big Bad Wolf.

Among the series tidbits released during the panel:

-- Carlyle said a part of his Rumplestiltskin voice is based on his young son.

--When the question is asked, "When will we begin to learn how the curse can be broken,"  Kitsis responded with, "How do we know they haven't been dropping hints already?" Ginnifer Goodwin added: "What breaks the curse makes perfect sense."

-- Jiminy Cricket will be leading an intervention.

-- There will be more frank conversations between Regina and Mr. Gold.

-- Viewers will learn the identity of the stranger — currently referred to as August — before the season wraps.  Kitis and Horowitz admitted someone on one of the fan boards has already figured it out.  

-- Why the Evil Queen hates Snow White so much is a plot point to be examined over the next few weeks.

-- Horowitz and Kitsis — the exec producers who honed their writing skills on "Lost" for six seasons — admit Jamie Dornan's character in Story Book Land is still alive. However, his Storybrooke, Maine character (Sheriff Graham) was killed, so there is a chance he may reappear.

The loudest ovation of the afternoon came after a woman from the audience thanked Dallas for helping her 12-year-old granddaughter find someone other than Justin Bieber to adore.

By TODD KUSHIGEMACHI

Fans of NBC's college-set comedy staple "Community," which is set to make its return to the Peacock lineup March 15, showed their Human Being spirit at the Saturday night Paleyfest sesh at the Saban Theater in BevHIlls.

Following a screening of that same unseen upcoming episode, "Community" creator Dan Harmon and much of the cast chatted about the show''s somewhat tenuous future and on-set shenanigans.

Harmon was quick to note that the 8 p.m. Thursday timeslot was "a hazardous environment" and actress Gillian Jacobs said the network had "Britta'd it," in reference to how her character is always messing up.

One of the biggest rounds of applause was given to Jim Rash, who plays Greendale's Dean Pelton, as Rash came on stage with his Oscar. Rash, also a screenwriter, just picked up the trophy last week when he won the Academy Award for his adapted screenplay of "The Descendants."

During the audience Q&A at the end of the evening, Jacobs honored a request to re-enact her "pizza, pizza in my tummy" dance. Then, engaging with his fans, literally, Danny Pudi ran into the crowd to give a woman a hug, much to her delight.

"We'd do anything for you guys," Jacobs said.

Et tu, Madison Avenue?

It takes a lot for pop culture to truly shock me these days. But the week delivered an honest-to-goodness jolt in the form of not one but two new commercials featuring an unlikely pitchman: Charlie Sheen.

Given the bad-boy actor has already secured a comeback vehicle in the form of his own FX comedy series bowing this summer, perhaps it should come as no surprise that both DirecTV and Fiat saw fit to employ his services. But it's one thing for a TV show to implicitly condone the contemptible actions of a wayward celebrity by rewarding him or her with work; it's quite another when the employer is a marketer.

The advertising world has always been something of a moral backstop to the excesses of the TV industry. Should a network take things too far as far as its programming was concerned, corporate America could always be counted on to exert a countervailing force by withdrawing its support. An advertiser would get the faintest whiff of consumer backlash, and a finger would get wagged in a naughty network's direction.

I get it. Madison Avenue ultimately has to play the same game as Hollywood: get attention for its content by any means necessary. But there seemed to be a time not too long ago when a blue-chip marketer like DirecTV would avoid anything improper in fear of a boycott.

The DirecTV ad feels the more egregious of the two because Sheen's inclusion in the satcaster's usual cable-bashing absurdist riff feels random and disconnected from the product. As far as Fiat goes, the ad at least makes sense: As Ad Age points out, the car he's shilling is all about getting in touch with your inner rebel.

The litany of Sheen's misdeeds are by no so well-documented that they don't need rehashing here. If anything, his lenghty rap sheet has helped bombard Americans with so much celebrity contretemps that Madison Avenue probably assumes the public has become too jaded to be outraged anymore.

My disgust isn't really about Sheen per se anyway. What sticks in the craw here is my fear they are taking us on a slippery-slope slide that lasts a few too many millimeters. Will the window of time continue to close between a public figure's seemingly unforgivable infraction and the sickening moment when he or she can capitalize on the notoriety it brings them?

TMZ is reporting a former star of MTV's "16 and Pregnant" was just arrested for shoplifting a pregnancy kit from her local Wal-mart...how quickly can First Response produce a commercial featuring their most passionate customer?

Uptight as Madison Avenue might often seem, there's something reassuring about its schoolmarm-ish sense of morality. And though it's been eroding for quite some time, the double blast of Sheen feels like an unwelcome acceleration of that trend, and a bridge too far.

Considering that it doesn't hit the air until March 10, "Game Change" is getting a level of advance publicity that might be as high as it comes for an HBO movie, which is saying something. With Sarah Palin is its centerpiece, that was predictable, as is the fact that Palin defenders are shooting down the movie sight unseen.

Having seen "Game Change," which adapts a 50-page section from a 450-page book into a 120-minute movie, I can promise that the controversy isn't likely to end once the movie goes public, though I think the most incendiary aspect of it hasn't been the focal point of many advance stories.

The issue is not Palin's intellectual qualifications to be a heartbeat from the presidency. The degree of her ignorance might be debatable — did she really think that Queen Elizabeth runs British government, did she really not know whom the U.S. fought in World War II — but it's not as if the counter-argument is that she were some sort of stealth "Jeopardy" champion. And frankly, intellectual qualifications mattered little to a good chunk of the electorate then and seem to matter even less now.

However, the real bombshell in the book, and in turn the movie, is its speculation that Palin revealed herself to be mentally unstable. "Game Change" makes a pretty strong case for it, but among the dozens of sources interviewed by authors Mark Halperin and John Heilemann, screenwriter Danny Strong and director Jay Roach, none, as far as I know, was a mental health expert with primary access to Palin.

That Palin might be "on the verge of a complete nervous breakdown," as Woody Harrelson's Steve Schmidt says in the trailer above, is thusly expressed as a fear based on layman observations, not professional analysis. However reasonable that fear might be, the door is left open for Palin supporters to argue that the film is manipulating its audience with cheap shots. (Of course, I suppose that would happen even if a team of psychiatrists and psychologists offered the same conclusion.)

"Game Change" holds off from making any emphatic conclusions, instead letting the anecdotes speak for themselves. Still, that's not likely to stop Palin detractors who haven't read the book from being even more horrified by the idea of her in the Oval Office, nor stop Team Palin from thinking that "Game Change" is a bridge to nowhere in reality.

In other words, as far as ending the controversy surrounding Sarah Palin, a "Game Change" this isn't, no matter how reliable it is.