POSTED BY STUART LEVINE

Clearly, there have been great dramatic moments on TV this year — the finale of “Mad Men,” John Locke ending up in the casket in “Lost” and Vic Mackey’s confrontations with Shane throughout the last season of “The Shield” — but for my money, it’s tough to beat what ESPN is offering up Tuesday night.

For the first time ever, the sports cabler is broadcasting the final table at the World Series of Poker on the same day a winner is declared.

Ever since the poker boom took off in 2003 when amateur Chris Moneymaker took home the title, the tournament has ended several months before ESPN aired it. Meaning that the vast majority of people tuning in already knew who won.

This year, the tournament ended in July as it always has, but Harrah’s Corp. (which owns the Rio Hotel and Casino, where the WSOP takes place) decided that, to build excitement, it would take the nine players remaining and give them a 117-day layoff to think about the $9.1 million that goes to the champ.

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."

ESPN 2 has a series coming up that sounds a whole lot like a real-life spin on "Friday Night Lights." Judging by this promo (click here and enter the password: heespn07), "Varsity Inc." is even shot like "FNL." Six-part skein follows the 2007 pigskin season of the West Monroe Rebels, the high school football heroes of West Monroe High School in football-crazy West Monroe, La., where the Friday night games pack the high school stadium with more people than there are in all of West Monroe, according to ESPN.

Rebels are among top-ranked high school squads in the country, having won six state championships ("State!") and two national titles since 1993. Series promises to follow the team's exploits on the gridiron, as well as the players and coaches' personal trials and tribulations. (Sound familiar, Coach Taylor?)

Series, the first from ESPN's Content Development unit, hails from producer Jason Sciavicco and his Horizon Entertainment banner, and is penciled in to preem Nov. 29 at 11 p.m. ET, with repeats on the ESPN U channel. ESPN's also promising more content on its ESPN360.com web platform that fans may want to follow, should the Rebels saga prove as compelling as the fictional drama of "FNL's" Dillon Panthers.

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

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