I can totally see Pete Campbell going whole-hog for something like this.

"Mad Men" players Vincent Kartheiser (Pete), Aaron Staton (Ken Cosgrove) and Alison Brie took (Trudy Campbell) took part in TBS' Comedy Festival festivities at Caesars Palace this weekend.

Specifically they were contestants in Friday's "Celebrity Bagging Contest," held to promote the wacky TBS latenighter "10 Items or Less," a semi-improv skein set in a supermarket.

The "Mad Men" trio didn't win, but from the looks of these pics they had fun, and I'm guessing they all got to spend a weekend in Vegas on Time Warner's tab.

For the record, the winning team was John Lehr, Kim Coles, Robert Valderrama and Greg Davis Jr. from "10 Items." Sound fishy? Nah. The grand prize was a donation of $500 for DoSomething.org, a non-profit outfit that aims to encourage young folks to take action on causes they believe in. And all the food used in the bagging competish went to a Vegas food bank.

Fresh segs of "10 Items or Less," produced by Sony Pictures TV, bow Jan. 6 on TBS.

(Pictured above from left, Aaron Staton, Alison Brie and Vincent Kartheiser)

Bob Clark had a perplexing career in film.

The multihyphenate made one timeless, flawless picture that will run forever -- 1983's "A Christmas Story."

He also made a whole lot of other movies. Some were successful ("Porky's," "Porky's II"), some became notorious over time ("Black Christmas," "Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things"), and some were just plain stinkers ("Rhinestone," "Baby Geniuses," "The Karate Dog").

How could the same guy who gave us a contemporary classic, a perennial holiday fave, also be responsible for talking tots and a Dolly Parton-Sylvester Stallone romance? Well, that was the peculiar, strangely endearing genius of Clark, friends and colleagues say in a new docu on the helmer.

"ClarkWorld," produced and directed by Deren Abram, is set to bow Nov. 29 in Cleveland as part of a two-day, 25th anniversary salute to "A Christmas Story," which was shot in and around Cleveland back when areas of the city could reasonably pass for the 1940 time period of the pic with only a little bit of dressing.

The movie about a 9-year-old Ralphie Parker's determination to secure the Christmas present of his dreams -- a Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle (aka a BB gun) -- is so beloved that the house used as the boy's home in the pic is now a tourist attraction and Cleveland is home to an annual "Christmas Story" celebration.

What makes "Christmas Story" so special? It starts with the source material, a story penned by radio humorist Jean Shepherd that so deftly captures the spirit of the season for a kid -- the good and the bad, the crass and the commercial, the sweet and the saccharine, the nobody-understands-me angst and the nervous excitement that borders on madness as the Big Morning approaches.

Clark's movie captures every bit of the sweetness and the edge in Shepherd's story. Thanks to a stellar cast --anchored by Peter Billingsley as Ralphie and Darren McGavin and Melinda Dillon as his parents -- the movie can completely transport you back in time, not merely to an America on the cusp of World War II but to a time and a place that exists entirely out of time, but in our collective subconscious under the rough heading of "childhood."

It works as a sentimental journey even if you didn't grow up in the Midwest at a time when Dec. 25 was the day "around which the whole kid year revolved," as the narrator puts it in the movie.

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."

It's that wonderful time of year, time for repeated viewings of the holiday pic that never, ever gets old, 1983's "A Christmas Story."

TBS is obliging with its annual 24-hour marathon of the pic, starting Monday, Christmas Eve, at 8 p.m. ET. My family's "Christmas Story" DVD is well-worn  -- no matter how many times we've seen it, we crack up at the scene where Darren McGavin unpacks his "fra-gi-le" major award. We can pretty much recite this movie from start to "you'll shoot your eye out" finish.

But this year the fun of the pic that perfectly balances the sweet 'n' sour 'n' silly of the season comes with a tinge of sadness for the memory of "Christmas Story" helmer Bob Clark, who died tragically in April along with his 22-year-old son Ariel following a head-on collision with a drunk driver along Pacific Coast Highway. The driver pleaded no contest to two counts of gross vehicular manslaughter in August. "Senseless" doesn't even begin to describe this crime.

Clark, who was 67, delivered his share of other movies during his lengthy career -- most notably the raunchy "Porkys" comedies of the early 1980s -- but nothing that deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as "Christmas Story."

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

TBS sitcom “My Boys” has always seemed to have former HBO perennial “Sex in the City” in its blood – the key difference being that instead of surrounding its romance-challenged female protagonist with women, “My Boys” envelops Jordana Spiro mostly in the less fair sex.

Monday night, “Boys” made the comparison much more overt with an episode entitled “Douchebag in the City” – and in doing so, showed the increasing struggle the show is having in living up to its ancestor. The episode had P.J.visited by a long-lost college pal and her three travel companions – all of whom were obnoxious, nuance-free imitations of the “Sex” characters portrayed by Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon.

The theme was that, sometimes, old friends grow so far apart that essentially, you need to fire them. Perhaps, on a meta-level, this was an attempt by “Boys” to pry itself free from “Sex” comparisons.

Instead, the show might want to try harder to emulate “Sex,” before it’s too late. Rather then nurture any meaningful character development out of P.J. and friends, “Boys” has settled for thrusting situations upon them – some of them as unrewardingly bizarre as this most recent attempt to turn the “Sex” characters into idiotic caricatures: one- dimensional tools to illustrate a theme. If you’re as clever as “The Simpsons” was at its best, no harm done if you return your characters to status quo at the end of each episode.

Suffice it to say, the jokes on “Boys” don’t come flying one after another. So, for a show that at its heart is an urban survival guide for singles, like “Sex,” the last thing “Boys” should be doing is turning actors into cartoons.With Parker’s omnipresent voiceover, “Sex” made no secret of its attempt to explore themes in its own stories, but it didn’t sacrifice character in the process.

“My Boys” began its life on TBS with potential based on its premise and good chemistry among its cast, reaching a high point with a joyride of a first-season finale. However, season two has left TBS with a series that has lost sight of what works and what doesn’t.

Having plateaued in the ratings with about 1 million viewers a week, “Boys” could do worse than embrace “Sex” rather than running away from it.

— Jon Weisman