Nothing says TCA like stars in awkward situations. (See pic at left of "House" star Hugh Laurie in a bumper car at Fox's TCA party on the Santa Monica pier last summer.)

Yep, the Television Critics Assn. summer press tour is upon us, starting Tuesday at the Beverly Hilton hotel. The January TCA gathering was scuttled by the writers strike, so undoubtedly there will be pent-up excitement (agitation? irritation? ultra-obnoxious lines of questioning?) than usual among the scribes, execs and stars who make TCA go 'round.

As we did last year, On the Air will offer team coverage of this fortnight of frothing about shows to come and the strike-interrupted season that just was, and any other issues that crop up between Tuesday and July 22. Variety's Stuart Levine plans to park himself at the BevHilton for the duration, while our TV leader, Michael Schneider, reporter Daniel Frankel and myself will also be availing ourselves of the hotel's free Wi-Fi to cover the events...and drink. I'm guessing it's a safe bet that the tradition of TCA bingo (in which attendees track the over-use of buzz words by panelists) will include the phrase "writers strike" this year.

It all starts Tuesday with a heavy rotation of cable presentations, including Hallmark Channel, HD Net, BBC America and E! nets.

Wednesday's lineup includes: AMC and WE; MTV Networks; A&E Networks

Thursday: Discovery Networks; ESPN; Sundance Channel; HBO

Friday: Turner Broadcasting; Fox Reality Channel; Starz; Lifetime

Saturday-Sunday: PBS -- whose talent roster includes none other than Sir George Martin, plugging his series "On Record: The Soundtrack of Our Lives."

Hot off the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences nomination vote-tallying machine, here are the top 10 finalists for Emmy noms in the comedy and drama series heats. The final noms will be announced on Thursday, July 17.

(My 2 cents on the list follows after the jump)

COMEDY

Curb Your Enthusiasm
Entourage
Family Guy
Flight of the Conchords
The Office
Pushing Daisies
30 Rock
Two and a Half Men
Ugly Betty
Weeds

DRAMA

Boston Legal
Damages
Dexter
Friday Night Lights
Grey’s Anatomy
House
Lost
Mad Men
The Tudors
The Wire

Turner Entertainment boss Steve Koonin has caught the industry's attention this week by storming into broadcasters' upfront week with its programming presentation this ayem at Gotham's Hammerstein ballroom.

Now the Turner cablers have really caught the creative community's attention by unveiling a slew of new projects in development with such notables as George Clooney and Grant Heslov, Joel Surnow and Jon Avnet.

TNT has upped the ante in the cable vs. broadcast race by promising Madison Avenue that it will be all original in primetime Monday-Wednesday by 2010. Guided by Koonin (pictured right) and Michael Wright (pictured below right), programming chief for TNT, TBS and TCM, TNT already has three new skeins set to preem later this year and early next  -- Steven Bochco's "Raising the Bar," Dean Devlin's "Leverage" and Madison  Avenue drama "Truth in Advertising," starring Eric McCormack and Tom Cavanagh (pictured above) -- to augment its existing hits "The Closer" and "Saving Grace."

Here's the proof that TNT has a formidable development slate for next year and beyond.

DELTA BLUES (working title) tells the tale of an outstanding but unusual Memphis cop: an Elvis impersonator who lives at home with his mother. Delta Blues comes to TNT from Warner Horizon Television and SmokeHouse and is executive-produced by George Clooney (Michael Clayton), Grant Heslov (Good Night, and Good Luck), Abby Wolf-Weiss, Liz Garcia and Josh Horto. The series is written by Garcia and Horto.

MORSE CODE (working title) is a crime drama about a young war hero/Drug Enforcement Administration officer who works in his hometown of Boston.  The pilot is from Warner Horizon Television and is expected to star Donnie Wahlberg (Boomtown).  It will be produced by Wahlberg, Jon Avnet (Boomtown, The Starter Wife) and Walon Green (Law & Order, ER), with Green writing and Avnet anticipated to direct.

UNTITLED JOEL SURNOW PROJECT is a fast-paced, gritty drama about the life of an agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. The pilot is being executive-produced and written by Joel Surnow (co-creator of 24) and Todd Robinson.

ANGEL CITY (working title) features six cops in three cars during one shift, in the spirit of such classic dramas as Adam-12 and Hill Street Blues. The show, conceived by Los Angeles police officer Will Beall, will be written by Beall and Barry Schindel (Law & Order) and directed by Steve Schill (Dexter). ANGEL CITY comes to TNT from Mandalay Television.

TOUGH TRADE is a dramatic but humorous look at the Nashville music scene. The show, which focuses on a family of country stars who live like the lyrics to a country song, comes to TNT from Lionsgate Television. It is written by novelist Chris Offutt and executive-produced by Offutt, Sean Furst and Bryan Furst.

UNTITLED ROB ULIN PROJECT is a quirky yet authentic family drama in the mold of Little Miss Sunshine. It is is executive-produced by Rob Ulin (Roseanne, Malcolm in the Middle).

TBS, meanwhile, announced a bunch of new comedy projects in the hopper:

UNTITLED WILLIAM H. MACY/STEVEN SCHACHTER PROJECT is a single-camera, half-hour comedy series that comes to TBS from Sony Pictures Television.  It is written and executive-produced by William H. Macy (Fargo, TNT’s Door to Door) and Steven Schachter (Door to Door).  Schachter will direct the pilot, while Macy will star.

UNTITLED HERVEY/SIMMONS PROJECT is a primetime, scripted comedy pilot, executive-produced by Russell Simmons (co-founder of Def Jam Recordings), Stan Lathan (The Steve Harvey Show) and Winifred Hervey (The Steve Harvey Show).  The series stars Joey “Run” Simmons (of Run-DMC), who also serves as a producer, and is written by Hervey.

NATIONAL BANANA ALREADY IN PROGRESS (working title) is a late-night comedy sketch show being executive-produced by Jerry Zucker (Airplane!, My Best Friend’s Wedding).

And for latenight on TBS:

UNTITLED BUNIM/MURRAY PROJECT is a late-night comedy/reality show that takes a group of middle-aged men back to their fraternity days.  It is executive-produced by Jonathan Murray (The Real World) and Gil Goldschein.

UNTITLED JAMIE FOXX/MARCUS KING PROJECT is a late-night sketch and improvisational show executive-produced by Jamie Foxx (Ray, The Jamie Foxx Show) and his longtime collaborator, Marcus King.

TOP TEN (working title) is a late-night show that pits comedians against each other.  The show is executive-produced by Mad Cow Productions and Madeleine Smithberg (co-creator of The Daily Show).

POSTED BY STUART LEVINE

David Chase answered one of life's most enduring questions Tuesday night. One that has baffled the greatest minds of the last decade.

No, not what came first, the chicken or the egg? Or if a tree falls in a forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound? The real question everyone has been asking, of course, is the one that has eluded the most elite television scholars since May 6, 2001: What happened to the Russian in the woods?

Chase, the creator and voice of "The Sopranos," spoke to a crowd of a few hundred gathered at the Writers' Guild to discuss all things "Sopranos." The event was an homage to Chase, this year's recipient of the Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award for Television.

POSTED BY STUART LEVINE

After thoroughly enjoying the Turner Classic Movies special last night, "Role Model: Gene Wilder," I have to say it was as good as advertised.

Those firmly camped in middle age like me will remember Wilder as the comic foil in two of the funniest films of the 1970s, if not ever, with "Young Frankenstein" and "Blazing Saddles," both from the bizarro mind of Mel Brooks. Both pics remain indelibly etched in my brain, with scenes from each making me laugh louder than the next.

From the opening shot with Wilder, as the good doctor, sticking a scalpel in his leg, to trying to delicately discuss Marty Feldman's humps, to asking Teri Garr to "put the candle back!," Wilder was wildly underrated in "Frankenstein" and other comedic gems. He played the straight man with Zero Mostel in "The Producers," moved on to "Frankenstein" and "Saddles," where he developed a huge following, and then, only a few years later, co-starred with Richard Pryor in "Silver Streak" and "Stir Crazy." It was quite a run, indeed.

Alec Baldwin did a nice job of setting a pleasant tone and getting Wilder to recall how he felt working on those films, his initial meeting with Brooks, his on-set relationship with Pryor (and how drugs affected Pryor's performances) and his comfort zone in front of the camera compared to being on stage.

When Wilder chatted about his relationship with comedy icon Gilda Radner, it was hard to believe that it's been 19 years since she passed away and that he's been married to his second wife for 16 years now.

Anyway, there's certainly no shortage of celebrity interviews on the air these days -- "Inside the Actors Studio" is still probably the best at it -- but it felt good to see Wilder, who's pretty much retired from showbiz and lives in Connecticut, far away from the hubbub of L.A., to get his due in an interview that felt not too fawning or personal.

In an era where some actors don't know when to step away, Wilder's virtual disappearance from film and TV (he last appeared in "Will and Grace" about five years ago) has worked to his benefit.

The cable newsers cleaned up, but Super Tuesday coverage was a snore for the broadcast webs, as Variety's chief Nielsen pollster, Rick Kissell, reports. The drama of Clinton vs. Obama and McCain vs. Romney vs. Huckabee was no match for the "American Idol" and "House."

I spent most of my time on the upper end of the dial, have to admit, though it was nice to see Tom "silver fox" Brokaw back on NBC News. I flipped around quite a bit, and for money the best news delivery mixed with insta analysis came from the MSNBC team led by Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann (pictured left).

As others have noted, CNN's John King was impressive with his mastery of the county-by-county combat in various states. And CNN gets the win for grooviest interactive graphics with the touch screen states that King and Wolf Blitzer were all over last night.

All told, a big night of news for the Democratic race translated into a win for Dem-leaning CNN, with an average of 3.64 million viewers for its primetime coverage. FNC was a close second with 3.49 million average, followed by MSNBC with 2.11 million.

Yes, the season finale of this underrated dramatic gem is Tuesday night. The bigger question now is will this episode in which all answers are revealed also mark the series finale?

It's tough to say. Ratings have been disappointing, no question. Yet, that's no fault of the writers, cast or FX, which marketed the show extremely well before the July 24 launch, splattering L.A. with numerous billboards of star Glenn Close. And there were also plenty of print ads in everything from a full page in the L.A. Times to consumer-friendly Entertainment Weekly.

The numbers have gotten better in recent weeks. Series got its highest 18-49 demo last week in over a month and it's currently beating "The Shield" and "Dirt" in total household viewers. The 18-49 numbers over the full season, however — the ones that really count — is not what the network had hoped for.

FX topper John Landgraf said Monday morning he was "modestly hopeful" for a renewal. Not a ringing endorsement by any means, but there's little doubt that, if he can align the stars and make it financially viable for both his network and producer Sony, Landgraf wants to make it happen.

With reviews for the most part being fairly strong, it's difficult to pinpoint why this one hasn't been a breakout hit. And it's not just "Damages" that has failed to excite the masses. AMC's masterful "Mad Men," which just ended last week, was far from a ratings smash. The basic cabler announced a few weeks back that the series will return. Despite the small viewer turnout, a cancellation would've been wrong on so many levels it's not even worth discussing.

One reason "Damages" has made for compelling TV has been the work of Ted Danson, who seems a million miles away from his days as Beantown barkeep Sam Malone. Danson got to sink his teeth into being a baddie — one of the few times his characters have been on the wrong side of the law.

"I have to say it's been liberating to play this part because it's so well written," Danson said. "He's so human, so complicated. He loves his family but is so narcissistic. He did something wrong and has been scrambling ever since, hoping not to get devoured by Glenn Close.

"He's fully human, just making the wrong choices. He's totally understandable to me."

While there was reason to believe Danson's Arthur Frobisher was being unfairly bullied by Close and her firm early on in the series, Frobisher showed his true colors as the series progressed. While he hasn't directly put the hit out on antagonists, his complicity in allowing heinous crimes to be committed is a solid indicator of his moral compass.

The New York ambience is also integral. Close, who lives on the East Coast, signed on with the contigency that the show be shot in Gotham, and it's tough to say if the series would've worked as well being set anywhere else.

Danson believes the New York backdrop makes a difference not only for the storytelling but the actors as well.

"There's an emotional rush of being back in New York. I studied and lived there for six or seven years. I'm not knocking L.A., but when your show is supposed to be set in N.Y. and you're not, you know it. It's a great city to shoot in. It's not Toronto and it's not downtown L.A.," he said.

Credit must also be paid to brothers Todd and Glenn Kessler, and Daniel Zelman, who co-created the series and oversaw production all the way through. Todd worked under the tutelage of David Chase on "The Sopranos" in 2000-01 and certainly the trio will attach itself to another project in the near future if "Damages" is done.

All the praise is not to say the show is perfect. There were times when the story seemed to drag a bit and while a more than professional Rose Byrne filled the bill as lawyer Ellen Parsons, I never felt all that sympathetic to her ordeal,  sometimes not caring all that much if her career and marriage were falling apart.

On the other hand, Zeljko Ivanek — dating back to his days on "Homicide" — might be one of the most underrated actors working today and Close was everything advertised, though even she seemed a bit too stifled at times. It would've been nice to see her leave the office a bit more.

That being said, it would be a shame to bid adieu, a goodbye that would seem premature. FX has already given renewals to "Dirt," which doesn't have a fraction of the smarts of "Damages" and "The Riches" is a fine show but one that doesn't feel as relevant.

And with ratings hit "Nip/Tuck" about to come back for season five, one in which the network will certainly again make a nice profit, one would hope an arrangement could be made to make sure "Damages" could find a place in next season's FX lineup.

Sure, money and ratings matters most, but it can't always be the deciding factor — especially for a network known for taking risks.

— Stuart Levine

There are all types of drama to be found this fall on TV.

Dr. House choosing a new team, the Dillon Panthers dealing with a new coach and the Bachelor find a new Mrs., but my favorite white-knuckle ride involves a turn of the cards. Literally.

I'm a poker junkie and ESPN's Tuesday night "World Series of Poker" coverage of the main event from Las Vegas has kept me riveted for months. I was up at 5:30 this morning watching the two hours I had Tivo'd last night.

The cabler's poker producer, Jamie Horowitz, says you needn't be a fan to enjoy, which is true … to a point. It's tough for someone who doesn't know the difference between a flush and full house to appreciate the skill of these pros and amateurs, but if they do, and they can understand the ramifications — millions of dollars won or lost with a single card — they'll quickly realize the tension here is the equivalent of a "Lost" fan (which I am one) wondering who's going to make it off the island alive.

"Poker lends itself to great television," Horowitz says. "The key is good storytelling."

As the field winds down in the main event, ESPN does a nice job of profiling the players who remain: what makes them tick, their life history, how they got here, etc.

Folks such as Phil Hellmuth, Mike Matasow and Daniel Negreanu  -- all of whom have been eliminated from winning -- are all world-class talkative players who try to get under their opponents skin with constant chatter. It's often a winning strategy.

"We see this in a lot of sports," Horowitz says. "There are certain players who believe they can get inside people's heads."

And then there are players who are just plain annoying, like Hevad Khan, who does a cringe-inducing dance every time he wins a hand.

Meanwhile, I'm happy just watching players play — their strategy, the bluffs, when they go all in, on what hands do they fold — and absorb and learn for my own home-game purposes.

ESPN, which is contracted with the WSOP until 2010, upped their main event coverage this year to 16 hours. Ratings are down significantly -- 19% down in total households from last year -- but certainly not because the event is less entertaining than in years past.

Credit should to be paid to the top-notch announcing team of Lon McEachern and Norman Chad (pictured above; McEachern's on the left). McEachern plays Chad's straight man and the two are the Al Michaels and John Madden of poker. (Disclaimer: I'm Norman's cousin by marriage).

Like anything else, there's an ebb and flow to poker, which saw a huge rise in popularity in 2003 when amateur Chris Moneymaker (how's that for a great name) won the World Series and a few million bucks that goes along with it.

Granted, poker isn't for everyone and the ratings downtrend might indicate the phenomenon might be on the wane. For me, though, it's still pocket aces.

— Stuart Levine

That rumble you might've heard earlier this week eminating from the Westside wasn't the screams of youngsters on the Ferris Wheel at the pier but the folks at HBO's Santa Monica headquarters.

With less than 1 million voyeurs tuning in to the premiere episode of "Tell Me You Love Me," the folks at the pay cabler couldn't have been pleased. Shocked may be a better description.

That's a shame, considering "Tell Me" is a smart and introspective look at four couples (including therapist Jane Alexander and her husband) in the midst of relationship turmoil. And, oh yeah, there's lots of sex, too.

There's lots of ways to interpret the numbers. HBO has always said it's more interested in cumulative viewer totals over the week of repeated viewings than what happens on opening night. And the network also previewed "Tell Me" before Sunday, which means some caught a sneak peak.

But even with all that into account, the numbers have to be disheartening. It was a major drop from the "John From Cincinnati" premiere in June, and that one was considered low. The 5.7 million who tuned in for the first-ever "Deadwood," which preemed in March 2004, seems like a "Seinfeld"-like number now.

Maybe some were turned off by all the explicit sex they had read about in reviews. Who knows?

Adding to the cabler's woes was the lowest-ever premiere for "Curb Your Enthusiasm," which obviously got no help from "Tell Me."

So where does HBO go from here? All they or any network can do is continue to make programs that rise above the common denominator and hope that folks give these shows a chance.

But it's undoubtedly been a tough year over there and hard to keep a stiff upper lip, with the sudden departure of Chris Albrecht and the end of "The Sopranos."

Where HBO once ruled the cable universe, those days are long gone now. Showtime has made huge strides with shows such as "Weeds" and "Dexter," while FX has established itself as the gritty basic cable alternative with skeins like "The Shield," "Damages" and "Nip/Tuck." Even networks that didn't have original drama programming just a few years ago, such as AMC and TBS, are now in the game.

This weekend should help, however. "Sopranos" and James Gandolfini could certainly be coming home with Emmys and "Longford" was a stellar piece of work, as was its star, Jim Broadbent.

HBO's closets are filled with Emmys but what it needs now, more than statues, are hits.

— Stuart Levine

Congrats to Michele Ganeless, who's been upped to prexy of Comedy Central, making her the first femme prexy in the cabler's illustrious 16-year history. Like every other exec in TV, Ganeless has a mandate to expand Comedy Central's footprint in the digital realm, per her boss, MTV Networks Entertainment Group prexy Doug Herzog.

Ganeless is on her third tour of duty at the channel, having worked there in the early 1990s, just after its merger with HBO's erstwhile Ha channel, and again from 1996-2001 when she helped shepherd two of Comedy Central's most enduring franchises, "The Daily Show" (remember Craig Kilborn?) and "South Park." She spent the early part of this decade at USA Network, where her path crossed again with Herzog, who had been her boss at Comedy Central, and then again in 2004 when Herzog returned to the Viacom/Comedy Central orbit and so did Ganeless, this time as exec veepee and general manager. Got it? There'll be a quiz later.

POSTED BY STUART LEVINE

Everywhere I turn, I keep bumping into John Slattery.

Well, not literally, but turn on the TV and or head to the movies and there he is … again and again.

He's doing a stellar job as Roger Sterling, one of the partners of the Sterling Cooper ad agency in AMC's pitch-perfect original series "Mad Men." He's also appeared in recent episodes of "Desperate Housewives," played a Republican in the WB's short-lived "Jack & Bobby" and just yesterday I saw a screening of the new film "Reservation Road," where he was an attorney in a small, tony Connecticut town.

And he'll be appearing in the upcoming Aaron Sorkin-written/Michael Nichols-directed film "Charlie Wilson's War," starring Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts. So, obviously, they'll be little to no fanfare about that one.

If the man doesn't have a publicist, he needs one. Pronto.

I probably first noticed Slattery in NBC's Tom Cavanagh series "Ed," which he followed up with a role in the HBO George Clooney-produced "K Street." Throw in last year's Clint Eastwood pic "Flags of Our Fathers" and you've got a guy who knows how to get around.

But back to "Mad Men," where all the actors — starting from Jon Hamm as the mysterious Don Draper — bring 1960 to life like few other series ever have.

If there's an actor whose career may skyrocket now that "Mad Men" is receiving raves, it's Hamm, who, with long hair, looks extremely un-Draper-like in the LA Film Fest Audience Award winning indie film "Ira and Abby" that stars his girlfriend, Jennifer Westfeldt.

Elizabeth Moss, finally, gets a chance to show her chops as Don's secretary, Peggy. Moss was most recognizable in recent years as Martin Sheen's daughter on "The West Wing," but the role was never fleshed out, and now she finally has a character which makes us wish she was used more on the Peacock's Emmy-winning series.

I interviewed Rosemarie DeWitt last year, thinking she was an actor to keep an eye, as she was starring in the Fox series "Standoff," with Ron Livingston. The show didn't make it, but not because of her. Nice to see her land a plum role here as Midge Daniels, Draper's mistress. There scenes are on the short side, so it would be great if creator Matthew Weiner could give us a bit more depth on what makes her tick.

And then there's Christina Hendricks, left, who supplies the va-voom to shapely redhead Joan Holloway. Joan knows all about the blatant sexism in the office … and works it beautifully to her advantage. Which brings us back to Slattery's Roger Sterling, the boss with whom she's having an affair.

I'm glad "Mad Men" launched in summer, where it wasn't forced to compete for attention with the onslaught of fall shows, and was allowed to find an audience that demands something more substantial than the reality glut we get every time of the year temperatures rise.

"Mad Men" and FX's "Damages" give us reason to turn the AC on and plant ourselves on the couch, with clicker in hand.

TV guilty pleasures come in different packages.

As a critic, watching the ESPN original series "The Bronx Is Burning" would've made me cringe.

Seemingly half of the last episode was ABC's footage of the sixth game of the 1977 World Series between the Yankees, or should I say, my Yankees, and the Dodgers. The dialogue was choppy, the production values less than stellar and don't even get me started on the prosthetic ears John Turturro was forced to endure in playing Yankees manager Billy Martin.

But as a kid who grew up on Long Island in the 1970s and whose highlight every summer was a trip to Yankee Stadium, I loved it. (Except the game vs. the Red Sox in 1976 when my Dad wanted to beat the traffic and we left before Chris Chambliss hit a game-winning grand slam that we missed. But I don't hold a grudge. Really.)

I remember everything about those Yankees. The consistency and professionalism of captain Thurman Munson, slick glove of third baseman Graig Nettles, speed of Mickey Rivers and crafty Louisiana Lightning, pitcher Ron Guidry, who compiled a 25-3 record in 1978, while striking out 248.

I thought all the actors did terrific jobs with material that sometimes didn't do them justice. Turturro captured Martin's insecurities and demons, Oliver Platt's bluster as George Steinbrenner seemed authentic (though, since the Boss and I haven't had many conversations, I can't be too sure) and special shout outs to Daniel Sunjata (Reggie Jackson) and Erik Jensen (Munson), who felt like reincarnations of their characters.

Having a full-time job and family, of course, makes it more difficult to be as zealous a fan I was back when I was 14 in 1977, but the trip back in time to the South Bronx and Reggie's three homers vs. the Dodgers makes me want to break out the uniform I have sitting in my closet.

— Stuart Levine

Watching the season finale of "Big Love" last night and seeing Bill Paxton making out with his wannabe girlfriend/fourth wife to be Branka Katic (Ana the waitress), I wondered why it's OK for him to be unfaithful in his marriage and not anyone else who tires for old and wants something new and fresh?

Being polygamists, the Henricksons don't have to abide by normal laws of matrimony: one wife at a time. But under the guidelines of his religion, Bill Henrickson can, without discussion, announce to his three wives — all wonderfully portrayed by Jeanne Tripplehorn, Chloe Sevigny and Ginnifer Goodwin — that he's received a calling for a fourth woman to share his bed.

Suddenly, when Bill locked lips with Katic, my first and only wife turned around to me and said, "He's just a cheater." Can't really argue with that.

The episode was a strong, if not stellar, conclusion to "Big Love," the series that HBO moved to Mondays in order to allow "John From Cincinnati" to gather post-"Sopranos" momentum. Yeah, how'd that work out for "John"? "Love" often feels like it's traveling under that radar at HBO, which sees much bigger buzz on "Entourage" and even the low-watched but geek-friendly "Flight of the Conchords."

Even at Emmy time, "Love" seems, well, unloved. Granted, it wasn't eligible this Emmy season but in its first campaign it didn't receive a series or any acting nominations. And Paxton and his three ladies — or at least one of them — are certainly worthy of awards attention. Even Sevigny, who's so good that she makes me hate her Nicolette Grant.

With "Sopranos" gone and HBO looking for a drama series that might be able to capture some of that watercooler talk that Tony and the gang seemed to create week after week, "Big Love" is as good a candidate as anything they've got.

Certainly, the upcoming "Tell Me You Love Me," about three couples who go to therapy and reveal intimate details about their love life, will get plenty of publicity for all the sex that takes place. And it would be a shame if this addictive series is dismissed as exploitive and not given credit for the terrific dialogue and intricate interplay between characters, as created by Cynthia Mort.

But "Big Love" is the better long-term candidate for keeping viewers subscribed to their HBO. Though the network will rightly say that it counts its audience on a cumulative scale — adding up the different broadcasts during the week, including video on demand, rather than just on the premiere night — moving it to Mondays didn't seem right.

It's earned a move back to Sunday for season three. Polygamists, whether you agree with their philosophy or not, seem a better fit than surfers, no matter who they're sleeping with.

— Stuart Levine

We knew going in that Disney Channel's "High School Musical 2" was going to be the Super Bowl for kids this year. And in landing as the most-watched single telecast in the history of the medium among kids 6-11, it's fair to say that Troy, Gabriella, Sharpay and the rest of the East High gang didn't disappoint.

This time around, there were were nearly 10% more boys and a whole lot more adults tuning in to the tuner. Among the 6.1 million kids in the 6-11 age range, the gender breakdown for the Friday premiere airing was 62% girls, 38% boys, compared to a 70-30 split for "High School Musical," which became a not-so-sleeper hit early last year. This past Friday night, two out of three kids who were watching TV were tuned to "HSM2." In the girls 6-11, the audience share was an astounding 80, translating to four out of five girls in the vicinity of a TV set, as Variety's Rick Kissell reports in his detailed look at "HSM2's" perf. (And just wait until the Live-Plus-7 numbers accounting for a week's worth of DVR playback viewing roll in next week...)

But of all the impressive stats generated by the sequel, the sweetest number for Disney Channel stewards may be the fact that one-third of the telepic's aud was comprised of adults 18 and over. The number of young adults (18-34s) and older-younger adults (18-49s) who watched stand as empirical evidence for Disney Channel programming execs that their master plan is working. For a network oriented around grade-schoolers, engaging the attention of voting-age viewers is a coup. Getting kids and moms and dads to all sit still at the same time and gather round the electronic hearth as in the days of yesteryear and three networks (NBC, CBS and DuMont) is an absolute slam dunk in our frantically fragmented age, even even for a commercial-free cabler that isn't worried about selling soap.

Spoiler alert for those who haven't seen "His Visit, Day Eight" (episode 9) of HBO's "John from Cincinnati"

OK, so I know these "John from Cincinnati" faux PSAs featuring Bruce Greenwood's moody Mitch Yost (pictured right) pitching for a San Diego County coastal cleanup initiative have been around for a while. But I just found a link to one of them while reading Steve Hawk's insightful blog on the "John" home page on the HBO.com site.

Mitch references his past experience in doing the "PSAs for the Tijuana Sloughs" very briefly amid the big Mitch-and-Cissy reconciliation brawl scene as they come to grips with the realization that Shaunie ain't in his room anymore. And like everything else with "John," these PSAs are full of clues, of course. It's hard to tell exactly where these purported PSAs fall in the Yost family time line, but by the looks of Mitch in them they can't be more than five to eight years old, max. And in them Mitch clearly states that he sees the ocean as "my church" -- which explains a lot of things, right? Maybe? Kinda? Sorta? Oh, but what about those darn stick figures!!

"You wouldn't want somebody dumping sewage in your church...would you?" Mitch intones in the PSAs. Hawk's blog links to one posted in all sincerity on the web page of the enviro-centric nonprofit group Wildcoast (See for yourself by clicking here.)

Wildcoast is based in Imperial Beach and smartly forged a partnership with "John" once David Milch, Kem Nunn and their merry band of drama-pranksters hit town to begin shooting one of the strangest TV series ever to grace the mainstream smallscreen. There are at least two more PSAs to be found on our national bulletin board, YouTube:

We "John from Cincinnati" acolytes may be a small group but we're....devoted. As of this writing (Monday, shortly after 6 p.m. PT), there are 144 hours and counting until the "John" season (series?) finale.

I wanted to like IFC's half-hour skein "The Business" much more than I actually did. I love inside-showbiz stories, going all the way back to "What Price Hollywood" and "Merton of the Movies" and on up through up through Fox's short-lived (but fondly remembered) "Action" and of course, HBO's "Entourage."

But "Business" felt very flat to me. It seemed to leave no industry cliche unused in the 22-minute season opener. (I wasn't even aware the show had a first season.) Kathleen Robertson is pretty good as the determined, corporate speak-spouting producer-executive Julia Sullivan who's determined to flog her five-year Power Point business plan hard enough to turn the erstwhile girlie flick shingle, Vic's Flicks, into a respectable Gotham-based indie. The company has one moderate hit title ("House of Fear") under its belt and plans for a zillion sequels and "ancillary exploitation strategies."

(Pictured from left: Matt Silver, Ron deLeeuw, Trevor Hayes and Kathleen Robertson of IFC's "The Business.)

What is it about Mary-Louise Parker? What is that hoo-doo she does so well? The third-season opener of Showtime's "Weeds" is a Mary-Louise tour de force of sidelong glances, mischievous grins, heavy sighs and "oh fucks" that bespeaks the weariness of working moms everywhere. Who wouldn't get tired chasing a teenager and a pre-teen boy around all day, keeping tabs on them and trying to make a living all at the same time.

What's always been fun about "Weeds" is that it's a crazy suburban fairy-tale about a sexy-sweet pot-dealing soccer mom. Series creator-exec producer Jenji Kohan was smart to ground "Weeds" from the get-go in the heart-breaking story of a woman who was truly living the dream with a husband she loved madly and two beautiful sons, and then wakes up one day (in the pilot) finding herself a widow and forced to make her own way in the world, and to make enough of a living to maintain the comfortable lifestyle that her family has become accustomed to, or more accurately, the only way of life they've ever known. In the dealing with this smack-in-the-face wakeup call, Parker's Nancy Botwin discovers a very real world far removed from the neatly trimmed lawns and tract houses of planned suburbia.

Let's all hoist a colortini toast tonight to Tom Snyder; may he rest in peace after what had to have been a tough battle with leukemia.

The man was born to be a broadcaster, born to talk on TV, without a net, without a script, and without needing much help from other people to tell him what to think. Snyder, who died Sunday in San Francisco at the age of 71, was smart, sharp, fast on his feet and funny, sometimes too funny with jokes that were an acquired taste. At least he had the brains and .... confidence to speak freely on live TV.

Or as Peter Lassally, who was exec producer of CBS' "The Late Late Show with Tom Snyder" and now exec produces the successor show with Craig Ferguson, put it:

"Tom was a true broadcaster, a rare thing. When he was on the air, he made the camera disappear. It was just you and him, in a room together, having a talk."

Snyder had a reputation for being cantankerous, or "prickly," as the AP put it in its obit, but he was way-way nicer than he needed to be during a down phase of his career when a green reporter called his production office one day to ask if she could sit in on a taping of his show.

What Emmy didn't giveth on Thursday morning, the TCA Awards bestowed on Saturday night at the Beverly Hilton.

NBC's "Friday Night Lights," conspicuously snubbed by Emmy voters, got its due in nabbing best new program. Michael C. Hall of Showtime's "Dexter," another near no-show in the Emmy derby, was deemed best drama actor at the ceremony hosted by "Daily Show's" John Oliver.

Overall the Peacock swept the Television Critics Assn. kudofest with four trophies, including best comedy for "The Office," natch, and Alec Baldwin of "30 Rock" for top dog among comedy actors.TCA-ers didn't overlook NBC's other big frosh drama of last season, picking  "Heroes" the program of the year.

(Pictured: Connie Britton and Kyle Chandler of "Friday Night Lights")

POSTED BY MICHAEL LEARMONTH

MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann carried the flag for NBC News at TCA on Tuesday, but as usual, Fox News wasn’t far from his mind, or anyone else's, for that matter.

Posted in the lobby was a bit of guerilla marketing that had all the hallmarks of a Fox News stunt. Someone hung a poster with the faces of all of cable news’ 8p.m. anchors PhotoShopped onto horses with the headline, “Fourth in a four-horse race,” pointing out that since June Olbermann has been finishing fourth in the 25-54 demo 24% of the time.

A sign, perhaps, of respect, and the fact that the 8 p.m. time slot is the most competitive in cable news. Fox News' Bill O’Reilly dominates, but Olbermann is up 67% in the second quarter over the same period last year, gains he freely attributes to his on-air feud with O’Reilly and his anti-Bush commentary. (Olbermann called for the resignation of President Bush and Veep Cheney the week of July 4.)

MSNBC is hoping to take his recent gains to the next level by associating him with the Campaign '08, despite his partisan rantings. Olbermann co-anchored MSNBC's election night coverage with Chris Matthews last fall, and the network announced he would be moderating a Democratic candidate’s forum for the AFL-CIO in Chicago on Aug. 7. Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards, Bill Richardson, Joe Biden are among the candidates who have RSVP'd for the jawboning sesh with more than 5,000 union members and their families.

Despite his animus for Fox News, Olbermann defended that network for scheduling a Democratic debate, to which Clinton, Obama and Edwards have thus far failed to commit.

“I don’t think I would be advising any of the candidates to turn down free TV time, whether its on Fox News or Al Jazeera,” he quipped.

-- Michael Learmonth

POSTED BY STEVEN ZEITCHIK

Star Jones has aggressively remade her look for her new Court (um, tru) TV talker that begins in August. But after a contentious panel Sunday at TCA, it's her image that may need a little bit of a makeover.

A chorus of critics shouted that she was doing "publicity damage" and "being coy" when she first hinted at, abut then refused to reveal, to whom she would give her first TV sitdown about her weight-loss.
She made matters worse when she eventually revealed it would in fact not be a television interview at all but a column for Glamour magazine. Exchange revealed the tricky dynamic between critics and stars at TCA: speak too freely and a star get hammered by critics in print, spin too much and get hammered by them in the room.

New NBC co-topper Marc Graboff ran into the same problem with reporters Monday when in response to a question about Kevin Reilly, he tried to spin the ankling as something other than an ouster. "Thanks for that clarification," the questioner replied, and the room burst into laughter.

Jones wasn't helping her cause by generally not giving reporters what they want--a soundbite on any of her former co-workers. She declined to criticize showrunners because she "didn't want to ruin the warm fuzzy feeling" she had from doing the show.


- Steven Zeitchik

To your Web battle stations, "Battlestar Galactica" fans. Sci Fi Channel confirmed Sunday during its TCA sesh that it will launch an eight-week series of Web mini-sodes leading in to the rest of the series' fourth and final season. The two-to-three minute shorts are set to bow in October as a preamble to the Nov. 24 debut of "Battlestar Galactica: Razor," described as a special extended seg that will lay the foundation for the events that take place in the second half of mothership "Galactica" season. Can't say I'm a rabid fan of the new-model "Galactica" (one of these days I will catch up with it on DVD and see what all the buzz is about, if for no other reason than I've always loved Edward James Olmos) so I'm gonna defer to the Sci Fi press verbiage describe what exactly goes on in the minisodes and "Razor":

These shorts will provide a sneak peek into the original Cylon War, when a young pilot named William Adama (Nico Cortez) discovers a dangerous Cylon weapon that will come back to haunt him and his crew 40 years later. Filmed as part of the extended episode, the mini-sodes will be included in the unrated Universal Home Video release of Razor. They will also be available on SCIFI.COM after their on-air debuts. Battlestar Galactica: Razor will tell the story of Lee Adama's (Jamie Bamber, pictured above left) first mission as commander of the Battlestar Pegasus and will reveal the story of how Admiral Cain (Michelle Forbes, pictured right) served her ship during the original Cylon attack on the Colonies.

Sounds like good fun for the fans.

You loved her in "Roswell" -- now she's all grown up and has intimacy issues to boot. USA Network confirmed during its TCA presentation Sunday that it has given a 12-seg order to the Shiri Appleby starrer "To Love & Die" from Lorne Michael's Broadway Video Entertainment and Universal Media Studios. Series is set to bow next year. Revolves around Appleby (pictured) as a young woman, Hildy, who becomes convinced her misadventures in dating will never end until she makes peace with the father she's never really known. Tim Matheson plays that AWOL dad; Frances Fisher plays Hildy's overbearing mother who's on husband No. 7 at the time her daughter begins her quest for dad, who happens to be a professional hit man. USA Network programming guru Jeff Wachtel bills it as a light-touch drama about a "high concept character with a slightly twisted soul." "Love and Die" hails from tyro creator/exec producer Sara Goodman (Fox's short-lived "Reunion.")

POSTED BY MICHAEL SCHNEIDER

Now that headline-grabbing celebutant Paris Hilton has spent 23 days doing "The Hard Life," viewers apparently have been less interested in watching her navigate "The Simple Life."

Ratings are down for the reality staple, which returned for a fifth season (its second on E!, after a three-year journey on Fox) at the end of May. That came as a surprise to E!, which at first glance thought Hilton's legal problems -- coming right as "The Simple Life" returned -- might bolster interest in the show.

And even without Paris' Big Lynwood Adventure, E! expected that viewers would be interested in gawking at the reunion of Hilton and former B.F.F. Nicole Richie. The two party girls once again appear together in the show's new edition, "The Simple Life Goes to Camp," in which they work as counselors at a summer camp. (Season four was shot with the two separately prepping for marriage, after they stopped being B.F.F. amid a bitter feud.)

Now, E! execs believe Paris' jail stint actually hurt the show. The saga of Paris' jail time (featuring Sheriff Lee Baca in a co-starring role!) play out 24/7 on every channel for much of the summer -- giving auds a much more up-to-date and "real" take on Hilton than the pre-shot and semi-scripted "The Simple Life" could. Paris fatigue could also be setting in, they say.

Nonetheless, "The Simple Life" still performs decently enough for the cabler, and season six is still a very real possibility -- but no, even though the idea was (humorously) floated, it won't take place in an abandoned jail.

-- Michael Schneider

He grew up yearning to write for “Playhouse 90” and “The Twilight Zone.”

Unfortunately for Matthew Weiner, he was born about 35 years too late, and as it happened, his break as a TV writer came in sitcoms, not high-end dramas.But Weiner was nevertheless determined to pursue his vision for a series that would capture all of his fascination with American culture in the finger-snapping era of Camelot and the Cuban Missile Crisis, of skinny ties and steel-tipped bras, of the Rat Pack and Sputnik.

By day, Weiner was working on the CBS sitcom “Becker.” By night, with the added motivation of the approach of 35th birthday, he poured himself into penning the pilot of his period-dreams. That was seven years ago. On Thursday, after many a twist and turn his Weiner’s life and that of his pilot script, his baby is set to make a splashy entrance on the heels of effusive reviews and a big marketing push from AMC. The film-centric basic cabler picked Weiner’s “Mad Men,” from Lionsgate TV, last year as the show to lead  the channel into the scripted series realm.

“No network quite got this show until AMC,” Weiner says, and that’s in keeping with the spirit of the show. “This show is all about misconceptions, and our contemporary culture’s misunderstanding of this period in American history and how it influenced who we are today,” Weiner says.

CONTINUE READING TO WATCH A VIDEO CLIP OF "MAD MEN" CREATOR MATTHEW WEINER DISCUSSING THE PERIOD SETTING OF THE SHOW.

POSTED BY STUART LEVINE

Few celebrities faze grizzled TV critics but it was genuinely weird to see Mary-Kate Olsen on stage as part of the "Weeds" panel during Showtime's three-hour TCA session on Saturday.

The actress, who just turned 21, fielded more questions than star Mary-Louise Parker, though her answers left something to be desired, in most cases. (It didn't go unnoticed by the scribes when Olsen misidentified "Weeds'" fictional setting as "Majestic" sted "Agrestic.") Olsen plays Tara Lindman, whom she described as "a good Christian girl with a twist" and a Bible-loving love interest for Nancy Botwin's older son. When pressed about exactly what kind of Christian she would play (campy, evangelistic, goodie-two-shoes, etc.), "Weeds" creator/exec producer Jenji Kohan filled in the details and confirmed that yes, the character will be seen tugging on the chronic.

"She's comfortable in her Christianity and her drug use," Kohan said.

"Weeds" makes the most mature series by far for Olsen, who reached stardom by starring with her sister, Ashely, in "Full House" from 1987-95. She's also become a film producer and extremely successful businesswoman.

Olsen learned of the role from her agent, auditioned and met with Kohan, who initially had a bit of trepidation about the actress.

"We might have been nervous about her reputation but her performance was wonderful," Kohan said. "We wanted someone good for the part, and we got it."

"I've spent the last year going on auditions, acting and working hard," said Olsen, who seemed a bit stunned by the criics' interest in her being part of the cast. On the difficulty of getting more grown-up roles after a career as a child star, she added: "There will always be my celebrity, but my work speaks for itself."

"Weeds" marks Olsen's first on-screen appearance without Ashley. She was recently cast in Sienna Miller's "Factory Girl," but her part was cut.

The series launches its third season on Aug. 13, and will air 15 episodes, up three from season two.

-- Stuart Levine

POSTED BY STEVEN ZEITCHIK

Showtime is a step closer to airing a series from Steven Spielberg.

POSTED BY STEVEN ZEITCHIK

Disney Channel took the wraps off the sequel to its money-minting--er, extraordinarily monetizable-- "High School Musical" at TCA Saturday morning.

The franchise has become a machine for the Mouse, between the various television/album/homevideo/legit/flamethrower extensions. How the net will position and promote the August 17 sequel--with cozy star-studded backyard barbecue (telecast, of course), pre-debut debuts of music videos online, and even a parent-aimed docu from Barbara Kopple (!) centering on a high-school stage production of the original--is the more fundamental question.

After all, the phenom was one of the biggest factors on Disney's bottom line in 2005 and 2006. And a sequel--especially for a television movie--is a notoriously tricky thing. Will the tens of millions of teens from Tuscon to Tuscaloosa (not to mention Brazil and Australia) go for a whole new set of numbers and storylines when they're so attached to the old ones? (Writer Peter Barsocchini said in an interview that he and other creators were especially careful not to "remake a single one of the elements" from HSM1.)

But most journos at the session were interested in the stars, lobbing fungo balls to the group about its projects and personal lives. The post-session chitchat offered the odd specter of dozens of, um, out-of-the-demo critics mobbing the cast; at least twenty crushed in on lead Zac Efron (pictured with HSM2 costar Vanessa Hudgens), shoving their tape recorders in his face the way a teenage girl might her camera-phone.

Execs, for their part, were coy about a potential theatrical, saying that a script was being written and that there was negotiation with the stars and...they couldn't say anything else. A movie based on a blockbuster property owned by the company? From Disney? The HSM cast wouldn't even need to say duh.

--Steven Zeitchik

POSTED BY STEVEN ZEITCHIK

Now debuting on U.S. cable--either the vanguard of 21st century diversity or another weapon in the arsenal of overbearing parents.

That would Nick Jr.'s bilingual animated show "Ni Hao, Kai-lan," which the net unwrapped during Friday morning's cavalcade of TCA announcements and sessions from the many channels in the MTV Networks family.

"Ni Hao" aims to do for Mandarin what "Dora the Explorer" did for Spanish -- that is, give parents another language to fret that their children are (or aren't) learning. Nick execs said that the net chose Chinese because they were trying to reach out to diverse creators. Another unspoken reason might be a desire to appeal to a certain breed of ultra-ambitious, upscale parents who read statistics about the ascendancy of Mandarin as a global language.

The sesh that immediately followed the Nick stuff may have been an education in a more commonly spoken language, and probably a whole lot more intriguing to the overwhelmingly white male demo of TCA-ers. To tubthumb the next season of "Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team," CMT trotted out a clutch of the show's white-booted, high-kicking, smile-wearing stars.

Setting aside the eye candy factor, the clips and interviews for "Cheerleaders" underscored (as did CMT's follow-up presentation for "Ty Murray's Celebrity Bull Riding Challenge) how strong a genre nonscripted can be when it's done straight-up, docu style with the right subject.

"Cheerleaders" will offer no contrived contests or made-for-TV eliminations, just a video-verite peek into how a thousand dancer-athletes go through the rigorous paces of making an elite squad.
And not to avoid the obvious, but they're cheerleaders, fer chrissakes. What's not to like?

--Steven Zeitchik

It was such a "John from Cincinnati" moment.

Moments after I strolled into HBO's poolside party at the W hotel in Westwood on Thursday, I meandered aimlessly (or so I thought?) by a small group of people conversing in a cocktail party circle. I was still scanning the crowd and overall scene when I heard a familiar voice say "...and it was printed on Variety.com that the show is good..." and then the cocktail-party huddle opens up and whaddya know! it's Willie Garson (pictured far left with Ed O'Neill), aka lawyer Dickstein of "John from Cincinnati," and no kidding (I couldn't make this up), he's talking about this week's On the Air column about taking a second look at "John" and how the cast is so damn good. I was stunned -- so much so I almost kept meandering on, but I couldn't. (What writer could?) The timing was just too perfect, the entree too good to pass up.

POSTED BY STUART LEVINE

For those waiting for the "Deadwood" two-hour movies, don't hold your breath.

After the show ended amid a PR mess last year with George Hearst leaving town, HBO said it would bring the Western back to satisfy fans who felt there was little closure. But now network exec Michael Lombardo told critics at TCA Thursday that the movies were "doable but daunting."

Creator David Milch has just finished up "John From Cincinnati," which is the series that took his attention away from "Deadwood." To get "Deadwood" back up and running, Milch would have to recharge his batteries and assuming he's interested in going back to the Black Hills, the actors would have to be rounded up again.

That's no easy task. Many of the thesps have moved on to other shows and films. Plus, it might not be a financially wise decision to bring back the entire production.

"We've had no conversations with David yet," Lombardo said. "We're still interested but it may not happen."

-- Stuart Levine

POSTED BY STUART LEVINE and STEVEN ZEITCHIK

So what's the difference between between real-life Larry David and "Curb Your Enthusiasm" character Larry David?

Whatever it is, the difference is becoming less and less every year.

"I really love the guy who's on that show" he said to critics at TCA. "He's everything that I'm thinking and feeling and who doesn't have to behave the way society wants everyone to behave. I'm getting closer to that guy every day."

Many viewers weren't expecting a sixth season of "Curb," which starts up Sept. 9. Season five ended with Larry going to heaven, a seemingly perfect way to say goodbye.

But soon after that, back in his production office with nothing to do, David felt miserable. So he started thinking ideas for another season. And, as he told critics in his condescending but hysterical way, the process of thinking up new ideas also made him miserable.

So either way -- working or not working -- he wasn't a happy man.

So who's smiling now? Probably HBO, which is currently restocking its series pipeline, yet needs popular long-running skeins to placate auds who want something new while clinging to the old favorites.

Pressed on whether the cult-comedy would come back for a seventh season (after a long hiatus before the upcoming sixth), David said that show has shot an ending that "could be the last-show ending - or it might be the last-show ending."

David has famously equivocated about a new season for the past couple years; he quipped that he did that because knowing there might not be another season was the only way he could get through the current one.

If series does return, David took a cue from a reporter about how to advance the arc: by emulating his real life (in which he has formally separated from his wife, enviro-activist and producer Laurie David) and getting divorced from onscreen wife Cheryl Hines. "Sorry," he said, turning to Hines.

"You're off the show," David deadpanned, as only he can.

-- Stuart Levine and Steven Zeitchik

POSTED BY STUART LEVINE

HBO may have lost "Sex and the City," but its still feeling frisky.

Cable will launch "Tell Me You Love Me" on Sept. 9, a nine-episode Sunday night series that focuses on the relationship of three couples -- in their 20s, 30s and 40s. From creator Cynthia Mort, skein moves from the therapist office to the bedroom, and doesn't shy away from showing the inner sanctum of each.

In other words, there's lots of screaming, crying and sex.

"We're not porn stars, we're actors," said actress Michelle Borth to the TCA throngs who were definitely more interested in the authenticity and realism of the sex scenes than they were on the credentials of Jane Alexander, who plays the show's therapist.

Added actress Sonya Walger: "It's uncomfortable. These scenes have no dialogue but each has a lot to say."

"Our decision wasn't to push the envelope but be honest about the intimacy," said HBO programming topper Carolyn Strauss. You can't tell the story about intimacy without having sex in your tool kit. If you want to do it honestly, you have to tell that story."

-- Stuart Levine

POSTED BY STEVEN ZEITCHIK

HBO's new programming topper Richard Plepler had a similar reaction to the end of "The Sopranos" as the rest of the country.

"I called ('Sopranos' exec producer) Ilene Landress and (HBO Entertainment chief) Carolyn Strauss thinking they had withheld the last fifteen seconds from me," he told reporters at TCA. Plepler quickly added that he thought many viewers "grew more comfortable with the ending as they sat with it" -- and that he was one of those viewers.

Plepler and HBO's west coast chief Michael Lombardo said they weren't involved in a rumored decision to cut the infamous black screen from thirty seconds to eight seconds. As for a potential movie -- rumors of which have taken the form of a prequel involving Tony Soprano's ancestors -- execs suggested the talk was as fictitious as, well, Christopher Moltisanti's "Cleaver."

"We haven't had that conversation with David (Chase)," Lombardo said. Plepler then piped in: "I don't think David has had that conversation with himself."

-- Steven Zeitchik

POSTED BY STUART LEVINE

Vic Mackey would get along very well with Patty Hewes.

Hewes, as played by veteran actress Glenn Close, is FX's latest anti-hero. In "Damages," which preems July 24, Close plays a calculating and manipulative attorney who feels no remorse breaking the law to win a case. The series will have a 13-episode run.

Close has had an astonishing film careeer and only dabbled in television. She's been nominated for five Oscars but her one-season appearance on "The Shield" made such an impression that when given the chance to come back to TV, she jumped at the chance. That, and the fact there are very few movie scripts that interest her.

"I turn down more scripts that I accept," Close said at the show's TCA panel Thursday at the Beverly Hilton. And the fact that "Damages" was filmed back east, and she could be with her family, was instrumental in her decision as well. "It was very important that it was shot in New York."

The through line of "Damages" details on Close trying to convict a corporate powerbroker (Ted Danson) who has allegedly defrauded his employers.

FX is throwing plenty of marketing muscle behind the show, hoping it connects in the way that the network's other signature shows -- "Nip/Tuck" and "The Shield" -- have. The pilot, which hints at how  Hewes' personal and professional relationships have shaped her career, asks viewers to go along for the season-long ride. Writers use as storytelling device that looks ahead, and where we see a Hewes employee (Rose Byrne) running nearly naked and bloodied through the streets of Manhattan sometime in the not-to-distant future.

Questions will be answered. Maybe not in episode two but certainly by No. 13, and then, promises writers Daniel Zelman, Todd Kessler and Glenn Kessler, new mysteries will be added if the show sees a season two.

For Danson, "Damages" represents a nice dramatic change. The actor who became an icon in "Cheers"  has struggled the last few years in sitcoms and began to, professionally, go through the motions.

"I feel excited about acting again, rather than going into another comedy," Danson said.

"Damages" seems to be a perfect fit for FX, which has worked hard at establishing and earning its hard-edged brand. The network has been extremely successful launching dramas of late. Both "Dirt" and "The Riches" are coming back for a second season.

Early positive reaction to "Damages" would indicate Close might be making a long-term transition to TV, with the series possibly going a few seasons long if viewers find themselves agreeing with the buzz at TCA.

With examples such as Holly Hunter, who's starring in TNT's upcoming  "Saving Grace," there's little argument that thesps looking for quality projects often wind up on the small screen.

"I have always been seduced by good writing," she said. "Early in my career I decided to go where the writing is."

Call it destination fulfilled.

-- Stuart Levine

POSTED BY STEVEN ZEITCHIK:

The FX plastic-surgery drama "Nip/Tuck" has always felt like it was set in Beverly Hills, but it took five seasons to actually get it there.

The series about doctors in their own operating room and other people's beds is relocating this season from South Florida to Hollywood. In one episode, Julian McMahon's bad-boy doctor Christian Troy questions "Where's the glamor I used to read about?" And rest assured, Troy hasn't lost any of his swagger in the cross-country move: "This town needs me," he declares.

Why the move? Creator Ryan Murphy (pictured)told a panel at TCA Thursday morning at the Beverly Hilton that he set the show in Bev Hills when he first pitched it but then changed the venue because he wanted the series to go a little darker. Once the docs got successful, however, he wanted them swimming in a bigger pond.

Murphy (who also said he "would love to" bring the show back for a sixth season but is still negotiating with the net) says despite the move, audiences shouldn't expect the predictable L.A. plot turns. "We don't have a lot of the starlets coming in for surgeries. We still have a lot of the cases that are more exotic and odd," Murphy said.

Actually, the strongest Hollywood touch may involve the biz. When the new season debuts, the two docs will make a career move of sorts: They'll consult on a "Nip/Tuck"-like show-within-a-show starring Bradley Cooper. Said Murphy: "It's kind of the worst medical show ever made." -- Steven Zeitchik

Here we go again. The summer Television Critics Assn. tour is upon is. Ken Burns is the big draw at the Beverly Hilton today, talking up his 14-hour mini "The War," which looks at World War II from the homefront perspective of four American hamlets: Waterbury, Conn.; Mobile, Ala.; Sacramento, Calif.; and the tiny farming community of Luverne, Minn. "The War," produced and directed by Burns and Lynn Novick, has been six years in the making. It's also been the project that put Burns in the unfamiliar position of fielding some pretty harsh criticism for his take on history, from Hispanic and Native American advocacy groups who claimed his mini overlooked their contributions to the war effort. (According to the AP, Burns addressed this issue during his TCA sesh, saying he's added nearly a half-hour of material featuring Hispanic and Native American stories to the doc.) I just got my screener copy on Monday and am eager to set aside some time to watch it. If nothing else, Burns is meticulous about his research and has surely turned up some amazing images to tell this tale, like the one at left from somewhere in the South Pacific in 1944. PBS is bolding going to "War" during the thick of fall premiere week, rolling out the series in seven parts across two weeks beginning Sept. 23.

After PBS wraps up today, the wired-world takes over on Thursday for four days of cable-iscious fun. The presentation sked to the best of my knowledge is:

THURSDAY: Lifetime; FX, National Geographic Channel; Hallmark Channel; HBO, which outta be very intriguing given that it's the first major public event for the post-Albrecht regime.

FRIDAY: MTV Networks; BBC America; Discovery Networks; E! and G4

SATURDAY: Disney-ABC Cable; ESPN; GSN; Sundance Channel; Showtime

SUNDAY: Turner nets; BET; Rainbow Networks; History Channel; NBC Universal Cable

As of MONDAY, the broadcasters take over starting with two days of NBC, which also outta be interesting with the new Ben Silverman-Marc Graboff regime taking the stage for the first time.

WEDNESDAY-THURSDAY is all about CBS, which as usual is coming off another season of stability, making it hard for the scribe tribe to find much to grill entertainment prexy Nina Tassler about, other her love for musical theater and how it led to the pickup of "Viva Laughlin."

FRIDAY belongs to the CW. Co-toppers Dawn Ostroff and John Maatta probably have a bet going as to how quickly the "so why didn't you grow by leaps and bounds in your first year?" question is lobbed.

SATURDAY is a day of rest and awards, as the TCA's annual honors will be handed out to worthy programs ("Friday Night Lights," anyone?) and individuals, no doubt. (Click here for noms.)

SUNDAY-MONDAY ought to be good too as Fox, not to be outdone with NBC, brings out its new regime of ex-NBC-er Kevin Reilly and newly promoted Peter Liguori. Those two probably have a bet going as to who gets the first "how long can 'American Idol' keep it up?" question.

And finally, after a day of rest on Tuesday (July 24), the network that comes first alphabetically heads up the final two days of the tour, WEDNESDAY-THURSDAY (July 25-26), a cruel slot that no network with a show as good as "Lost" and a pilot as charming as "Pushing Daisies" should have to endure. But if anyone's got the spine to fend off back whatever a group of cranky critics have to throw at him, it's ABC Entertainment prexy Stephen McPherson.

So let 'er rip! Look for a steady stream of TCA dispatches here from yours truly plus my talented TV colleagues at Variety, including two, Mssrs. Zeitchik and Learmonth, who have winged in from Gotham just for the occasion.

And please, oh gods of auto-congestion, let the self-park garage at the Hilton not be too clogged...There's nothing like inching your way down those steep ramps when all you really wanna do is get back to the real world.

For all the advance hot air, it seemed like "Live Earth" drew modest crowds, linear or online. NBC Universal says that 19 million viewers tuned in to at least some part of its "Live Earth: The Concerts for a Climate in Crisis" coverage across eight outlets: NBC, Telemundo, Mun2, Bravo, Sundance Channel, Universal HD, CNBC and MSNBC.

Per NBC U, that figure includes viewers who watched at least six minutes or more of the Saturday-Sunday telecasts that served up a cavalcade of contempo music makers, including Madonna, the Police, Bon Jovi, Sheryl Crow, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Roger Waters, Kanye West, Kelly Clarkson and John Mayer (pictured left).

Despite the star power, the Peacock's primetime coverage on its mothership broadcast network drew a 2.8 million viewers with three hours of taped highlights. It's a woeful sign of the times for the state of live (or live on tape) music on the smallscreen; the Live Earth concert block came in dead last on the weakest night of the week (Saturday). It was beaten by repeats of "Cold Case" and "America's Funniest Home Videos." So to get to 19 million, a whole lotta people must've checked out at least six minutes on Bravo's 18-hour telecast that began 8 a.m. ET on Saturday and Sundance's 22-hour Earth-cast that kicked off before the sun rose at 4 a.m. ET Saturday.

Meanwhile, MSN is claiming  10 million video streams (and counting) for its coverage. MSN declared it a record for an online concert; execs there were breathless about "history" being made, etc. etc. But somehow, it just felt a little tepid after all the pre-show hype about 24 hours and seven continents and on and on. Then again, I've been a little more conscientious about what goes into the trash can versus the recycling bin during the past few  weeks so maybe the multi-media-marketing-stunt-is-the-message after all...

More than any TV series in recent memory, “John from Cincinnati” seemed to be nearly done in by bad buzz long before it premiered.

“Why would HBO think people would want to watch this?” one blog poster opined on AOL’s TV Squad site nearly a month before the show premiered June 10, on the coattails of “The Sopranos’” finale.
“One department has a pool going as to when HBO is going to pull the plug and not complete the season at all,” read a post on the popular TelevisionWithoutPity.com site way back in February. (The author of the missive claimed to be someone who worked on the “John” set.)

Sure, all shows endure a fair amount of post-pickup/pre-premiere drama and “oh boy is it in big trouble” rumor-mongering. But “John” endured a surprising amount of early carping, especially for an HBO skein with a solid pedigree as the creation of revered dramatist David Milch and cult-fave novelist Kem Nunn. Milch took a beating from many fans of his previous HBO creation “Deadwood,” who felt that he and HBO decided to drive a stake in “Deadwood” prematurely in order to free Milch up to work on “John.” (Given the tone of “Deadwood,” Milch surely couldn’t have been surprised when its hard-core fans were quick to express their hostile, profanity-laden revenge fantasies.)

The cast that Milch and Nunn put together last fall and winter for “John” was undeniably strong: Rebecca De Mornay (pictured above left), Bruce Greenwood (pictured right), Ed O’Neill, Matt Winston, Luke Perry, Luis Guzman, Willie Garson, and up and comers Brian Van Holt and Austin Nichols. But when the pilot script started to make the rounds, there was a lot of head scratching.

If “Deadwood” was a surrealistic Western, then “John from Cincinnati” was a psycho surf-themed family drama, as inter-preted via a bad acid trip. The talk was that it was not just unconventional, it was unbound, merely an indulgent exercise in how obtuse (with curse words) two talented writers could be if given the chance. The consensus opinion seemed to be that HBO had come to the crossroads and was at a loss at where to go next after its storied run of success.

It was those first strains of "Little Boxes" that made me sit up and take notice the first time I popped in the screener disc for "Weeds" a few years back. On that first viewing, however, I would've gone down for the count on final "Jeopardy" betting that it was a recording by Odetta sted Malvina Reynolds.
"Weeds" had fun with its distinctive theme last season by lining up a roster of intriguing artists to put their spin on it, and in the upcoming third season they're doing the same, cuing a different artist for each of the 15 segs that unspool as of Aug. 13. The roster includes Joan Baez, Donovan, the Individuals, Angelique Kidjo, Latin rockers Kinky, Man Man, Billy Bob Thornton, the Shins and Persephone’s Bees. Randy Newman (pictured above), an artist seasoned enough to remember the folk scene that produced Reynold's original 1962 recording, kicks it off with the Aug. 13 premiere. It'll be fun to catch up with Nancy and the Agrestic gang next month.

Good piece today by the Associated Press' Lynn Elber on this week's relaunch of Ovation TV. It bodes well for the channel that former Bravo and Trio exec Kris Slava is running the ship. He was intimately involved in Trio's "Brilliant but Canceled" series and thus knows and thing or two about too-cool TV. Ovation is sticking with its arts and culture milieu, but instead of a string of short clips of opera and classical music performances, there'll be much more of a cohesive programming flow to the primetime sked. Weeknights will be skedded according to broad themes, with Mondays devoted to performance, particularly dance and theater; Tuesdays is all about artistes, with profiles, docs and features about painters, sculptors and the like; etc. etc., as laid out in Elber's story. This week's relaunch is anchored by a series dubbed "American Revolutionaries," a look at mavericks and trailblazers ranging from Frank Lloyd Wright to Kurt Cobain.

Wow. I know some broadcast networks that would like to have these numbers right about now. Disney Channel's earnest "Hannah Montana" is on fire, drawing its highest-ever number on Friday at 7.4 million viewers. That powered Disney Channel to its most-watched day of all time on Friday. Can a "Hannah Montana" theme park be far behind? Somewhere south of Billings, perhaps? It's also a sure bet that by next development season the sitcom offers will be flying fast and furious for "Hannah" star Miley Cyrus, who overcame the "gee, she's Billy Ray Cyrus' daughter" curiosity factor to prove that she's got acting chops all on her own.

The return of "Monk" is always one of the highlights of summer, and this season's opener, "Mr. Monk's Biggest Fan," is particularly entertaining thanks to a good guest-star turn by Sarah Silverman. She reprises her role as the crazed fan Marci Maven from 2004's "Mr. Monk and the TV Star," only this time around it's Adrian Monk who is the focus of her obsessive fandom. Silverman steals the episode from star Tony Shalhoub (which is hard to do) with a role that pushes her beyond the general Sarah Silverman-ish character that she usually plays. She even gets to show off her guitar strumming skills with a folksy ditty she's penned for her beloved:

There's a man in California/
if you're ever in a funk./
He may not be F. Murray Abraham/
but I think he's a hunk./
And his name is Aaaayaaaadddrreeeeiannnnn

The seg, penned by "Monk" creator-exec producer Andy Breckman and directed by Randy Zisk, is packed with in-jokes for "Monk" freaks and other goofy delights. Bows July 13 on USA Network.

Interesting that Variety's Peter Bart and the New York Times' David Carr (Carpetbagger no more) had much the same take on the recent restructuring at HBO that saw five executives expand their domains in the wake of Chris Albrecht's hasty departure as CEO.

Says Carr:

Still, the co-presidency seems far more like a Hollywood sort of solution, where titles are handed out like bonbons, than an effort to maintain a network’s reputation for artistic and commercial decisiveness. In a telephone interview on Friday afternoon, Mr. Bewkes seemed amazed that people who watch the company would assign so much meaning to titles.

Says Bart:

I have nothing against teamwork, but I worry about the consequences of group-think in businesses that are dependent on risk-taking. Tastes are changing, technology is shifting and the gambles on movies and TV shows are becoming exponentially more expensive. Doesn't that suggest that bold leaders are needed to make tough decisions? Or does it suggest the exact opposite: The only way to survive in corporate Hollywood is to hunker down amid a thicket of committees so that no single individual takes the heat for bad decisions? Or, more probably, for indecision.

I have yet to succumb to, or even sample, the whole Second Life thing, which seemed to be all the rage about three months ago. But it would seem the Jump the Shark moment has already arrived. Yes, there was much dither a few months ago about Second Life iterations becoming a "new revenue stream" and product-placement promo platform for nets and studios, yada yada yada. But you know that all of the cool has rushed out of a thing when it's being adapted purely for corporate-branding branding purposes. "Comcastic Island" (pictured above) as a Second Life prospect!?! Good grief. Per the press release heralding this example of cable biz marketing savvy: "Comcastic Island extends Comcast's award-winning marketing initiatives to the rapidly expanding virtual-world environment. The island features a collection of 'speed'-themed entertainment experiences designed to illustrate the benefits of Comcast's high-speed Internet service. Second Life residents can compete against their friends-or their own best times-in several venues" such as a custom race track, jet ski track, etc. I don't know for sure but I'm guessing you can go suit up with the (Comcast-owned) Philadelphia 76ers, perhaps even rap (or scrap?) a bit with Allen Iverson. With apologies to the Roberts clan and Comcast, a company well-regarded as best-of-breed in the cable biz, it's all over when the Next Big Thing goes "Comcastic!"

It's only fitting that "Sopranos" creator David Chase would give his first post-finale remarks to TV scribe Alan Sepinwall of the Newark Star-Ledger. In a nutshell, Chase (pictured left) says he'd never say never regarding a "Sopranos" movie, but don't hold your breath. And as far as the clincher scene that has stirred such ire among some viewers, Chase offers: "I have no interest in explaining, defending, reinterpreting, or adding to what is there...No one was trying to be audacious, honest to God." Chase adds: "We did what we thought we had to do. No one was trying to blow people's minds or thinking, 'Wow, this'll (tick) them off.'"

Meanwhile, the numbers are in and Sunday's finale drew about 11.9 million viewers. A little surprising that the closer didn't generate a bigger bounce, given all the breathless anticipation leading up to it last week. But you can be sure that number will spike, if not double, after HBO runs the sprockets out of the finale during the next week or so.

Journey!?!

Not Tony Bennett? Not The Voice? Not Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons? Not Bruce Springsteen, or even Bon Jovi? Journey!?!

Oh well, maybe that was the point. Mundane. Typical. Pedestrian, even. Maybe it's just right that the series that was so often over-hyped as the best thing television has ever produced would go out on a this-could-be-anyone's-family-gathering-at-a-neighborhood-joint note.

David Chase clearly had fun messing with our minds in building all of the Hitchcock-ian tension into the final scene in the restaurant, as we waited for any one of the suspicious-looking characters that seemed to be circling Tony Soprano's nuclear family (remember what they looked like in season one, as pictured below) to erupt with violence or something that felt finale-ish and fate-sealing. But no, it was a typical family scene, typical, that is, if dad's a New Jersey crime boss on the downside of his career and mom's an overprotective but ruthless enabler. And let's face it, parallel parking is a bitch, no matter who your daddy is.

The instant chatter in the blogosphere on the (not so) fateful episode No. 86 of "The Sopranos" seemed to tilt toward the negative, with many remarking that the abruptly cut-to-black ending first made them think their cable/satellite had gone out just at the money-moment. But perhaps those who were angered or unhappy with the closer were just more motivated to run to their computers to blast away at David Chase, HBO, and anyone else they could think of. There was a lot of insta-speculation that the deliberately-vague ending was motivated by a greedy desire to tee up a "Sopranos" feature film down the road. (Some were even pegging the release date as spring 2009! Everybody wants to play Exhibitor Relations these days.) I've got to believe that David Chase has more creativity integrity than that. If not, somebody show him "The X-Files" feature, quick.

It may sound a stretch but perhaps Chase came to something like the same conclusion that Phil Rosenthal did two years ago with the "Everybody Loves Raymond" finale. The best way to honor a beloved series and the fans who made it so is not with pyrotechnics or gimmicks beyond belief but a tribute to the core character relationships that make or break any TV series. (Then again, there's the "Newhart" ending to beat all endings, which could be called gimmicky, but c'mon...) Appropriately enough, nobody has ever gotten "The Sopranos" better than Alan Sepinwall, the hard-working, hell-of-a-nice-guy TV critic from the Newark Star-Ledger, and he had a smart take on the finale posted barely an hour after it aired. Variety's Phil Gallo also did a good job of sizing up the finale, from a reasoned, not fanboy, perspective.

Furthermore, as On the Air's significant other astutely pointed out, it could have been a whole lot worse. David Chase was at the helm of "Northern Exposure" when that once-great series bowed out in mid-1995 with a finale episode, co-written by future "Sopranos" soldiers Robin Green and Mitchell Burgess (along with Jeff Melvoin). We'll never forgive any of them for the worst-plot-twist-ever in having Janine Turner's Maggie and John Corbett's Chris "suddenly" discover that they're soul mates and destined to be together....yeeecchh! (Having that happen is worse than the public-domain music NBC Universal has put in the modern-day DVD sets of NoEx seasons to save money on licensing.)

So aside from the use of "Don't Stop Believin'" in the closing moments, Chase redeemed himself tonight with this finale that he wrote and directed. Despite the level of over-praising that "The Sopranos" has endured during its eight-year run (give or take a few loooong hiatuses), there's no denying the impact it has had, on pop culture, on television, on writers and on what networks and studios are willing to accept in the way of anti-heroes, less than tidy endings, etc. etc. I'll never forget attending an HBO-sponsored screening of the first two episodes (either it was the first two segs or it was a two from early in the first season) at the DGA theater in Hollywood. When the screening was over and the DGA lobby filled with industry cognizati, the buzz was positively electric. People literally could not stop talking about how good -- how different -- the show was.

No one can claim more credit for this than David Chase, for sticking to his vision and his derring-do, and for assembling the company of talented scribes, directors, actors and producers he enlisted to tell his tales. There aren't enough adjectives in the dictionary to express how well James Gandolfini and Edie Falco (oh boy, did she shine this season?!) embodied their alter-egos in a way that ....well, again, not enough superlatives or time to give them their proper due....

By now, the story of how Chase struggled for years to get his baby on the air is well documented. But it bears repeating the names of a few of the suits and such who helped the show along before it found a welcoming home at HBO -- particularly one exec in particular who just faced his own real-life whacking (albeit with no lethal consequences), Kevin Reilly, late of NBC who was a "Sopranos" booster during his time as head of Brillstein-Grey Television. Lloyd Braun, late of ABC, Yahoo and now of NBC Universal-based BermanBraun, was also pivotal in the series' development during his tenure at Brillstein-Grey. Also meriting a shout-out are Robert Greenblatt and Danielle Gelber, now of Showtime but formerly with Fox Broadcasting Co. during "The Sopranos'" time in development-hell there, and of course, Peter Benedek, Chase's loyal rep at United Talent Agency.

Salute.

Oh, it's getting good.
Last night's penultimate "Sopranos" installment laid down more unraveling threads for what will undoubtedly expected to be a monster of a finale this Sunday. "Sopranos" capo David Chase is indicating that he's going to spare no fan favorites. Bobby Bacala, Tony's brother-in-law (played by Steven Schirripa, pictured left), survived actually punching Tony out at the start of this season but couldn't escape Phil Leotardo's wrath in last night's episode. But the most dramatic moment came when Tony's lifeline to sanity, Dr. Melfi, sternly decided to cut him loose. Tony's so desperate at this point he can't even hang on to a truly professional shrink-client relationship. He sounded beyond pathetic in citing the "progress" he feels he's making. Melfi seemed to speak for viewers in pointing out the obvious: It's been seven years, and he's still a sociopath. Yet as always, you couldn't help feel sorry for him in the last shot after he's sent his family off into hiding and he's left to curl up with a gun. Now we've only got about 150 hours to ponder what will be Tony's ultimate fate, coming this Sunday night.

If it's the post-season, it must be executive shuffle time in TV land. This year the turnstiles are moving faster than ever with a host of gigs open and/or up in the air at major webs.
For starters, there's NBC where the new regime of Ben Silverman and Marc Graboff might make major changes -- or they might not. The situation with NBC Entertainment exec veep Katherine Pope (pictured), who served as No. 2 to the now-departed entertainment prexy Kevin Reilly, is said to be fluid, though the new regime has made it clear they'd like her to stay.

The Memorial Day weekend timing of the premiere of HBO’s “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee” is entirely appropriate. The massacre of about 300 members of the Lakota Sioux tribe at a camp near the banks of Wounded Knee creek in South Dakota occurred on Dec. 29, 1890. Memorial Day is, of course, the federal holiday designated to honor the memory of our nation’s war dead. The men, women and children killed at Wounded Knee that day inhabited their own sovereign nation, but they are most definitely “our” war dead. They were slaughtered by U.S. Army soldiers, without direct provocation and without much in the way to defend themselves. They are war victims that we as a nation should never forget.

pictured above, "Wounded Knee" producer Dick Wolf, left, and actor August Schellenberg, who plays Sitting Bull.