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.