All the tube news that’s fit to surf …

- I’m bummed that The A-Team movie finished a distant second to The Karate Kid remake at the movie box office last weekend. The A-Team is such a fun flick, easily one of the best TV-to-movie makeovers in a long time, and with an opening sequence that is more action-packed and entertaining than the entire runtime of most movies. If you were a fan of the TV show, check it out. Even if you weren’t, it holds up as a good summer popcorn movie. Everyone in it is fantastic (even Jessica Biel!), though District 9 star Sharlto Copley steals the whole movie as H.M. Murdock.

- It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia fans who actually live in Philly, prepare to stalk The Gang. Kidding, but the cast will be in town to shoot scenes for the upcoming sixth season next week, and will hang out to help co-stars (and soon-to-be new parents) Rob McElhenney and Kaitlin Olson open a new bar they’re investing in.

- Awesome: Ricky Gervais will guest star on the upcoming eighth season of Curb Your Enthusiasm.

- Does the winner of America’s Got Talent really get $1 million prize? Yes, but it’s doled out over the course of 40 (!) years, and that’s not the only fine print in reality TV prize contracts, as The Daily Beast details in an interesting new feature.

- This seems like a casting coup: Ed Asner has signed on to play Tom Arnold’s grumpy dad in the CMT comedy pilot Regular Joe.

- More TV daddy news: Brian Cox will play Laura Linney’s father in the upcoming Showtime dramedy The Big C, which also co-stars Precious Oscar nominee Gabourey Sidibe and The Wire star Idris Elba.

- And one more bit of fun casting news: 7th Heaven papa Stephen Collins will be back in primetime next season, as a series regular on the Michael Chiklis superhero family drama No Ordinary Family. The former Rev. Eric Camden will play the boss of Chiklis’ character’s wife, played by Dexter’s Julie Benz.

- Oh, and speaking of Dexter …The death of Benz’ Rita will necessitate the hiring of a nanny by Dexter, and that nanny will be played by The Tudors alum Maria Doyle Kennedy. Also joining the Dexter gang for season five: Southland star Shawn Hatosy.

- What’s the most-watched TV series in the world? Make a guess and then click here to see if you were right.

- Wanna bid on a weekend with the stars of History Channel’s addictive Pawn Stars, uh, stars? Check out the eBay charity auction, which opens tonight at 10PM ET, for a shot at a weekend in Vegas, which includes accommodations at the Palms, dinner with the Harrison clan and Chumlee at the Palms, playing in a poker tournament with the show’s stars and an internship at the Gold and Silver Pan Shop.

- MTV is giving up on VJs … now the network is looking for a “TJ,” a Twitter jockey, to bridge the network’s TV presence with its social media presence.

- And, when the Real Housewives women started singing, you knew this wouldn’t be far behind: The Situation has recorded a rap song.

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• Filed in Boob Tube to Big Screen, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Reality, TV News
• Tags: The A-Team movie

Just because I’m really missing It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia today …

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• Filed in It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Ya Gotta See This!
• Tags: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

All the tube news that’s fit to surf …

- The best new TV drama since Sons of Anarchy premieres tonight: Justified, starring Deadwood’s Timothy Olyphant as a Kentucky marshal. Check out my mini-review here, or better yet. just check out the show (10PM ET, FX).

- Mac and Sweet Dee are having a baby! Actually, it’s It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia stars – and real-life marrieds – Rob McElhenney and Kaitlin Olson, who are expecting their first child in August.

- What will the American Idol contestants sing for tonight’s Rolling Stones-themed performances? Here are my suggestions.

- Most TV types have been assuming that ex-American Idol judge Paula Abdul will reunite with Simon Cowell at the judge’s table of his upcoming U.S. version of The X Factor, but rumors leaked earlier this week that she was being wooed by ABC to host yet another revamp of Star Search. Now, The Daily Beast reports that loopy Paula actually passed on gobs of cash from ABC and may be holding out to work with Simon again after all.

- Seems like every day brings a new Betty White story, and there’s nothing wrong with that! Today, we learn that the Golden Girls alum will not only star in the pilot episode of TV Land’s summer sitcom Hot in Cleveland, but that she’s now been made a regular cast member.

- Happy Victor Garber Day! Why? Why not?

- Chuck fans, you might want to prepare for more trips to Subway: Monday night’s episode was the show’s lowest-rated. Ever. Sigh.

- It’s looking good for an eighth season of Curb Your Enthusiasm, says Larry David.

- Check out a first look at Al Pacino as Dr. Jack Kevorkian in HBO’s “Dr. Death” movie You Don’t Know Jack. The made-for-TV flick, directed by Barry Levinson, premieres on HBO in April.

- I know lots of TV fans hate the big-screen makeovers of boob tube classics, but the premiere of the upcoming MacGruber movie was met with a very positive response from fans at the SXSW festival.

- 24 moving from Fox to NBC? Eh, I guess there have been worse ideas. I guess.

- This is certainly a contender for the weirdest show ever: Mike Tyson – yes, that Mike Tyson – is going to star in an Animal Planet reality series called Taking on Tyson, which will find the former boxing champ raising and racing pigeons. Wow.

- And wanna co-star with As the World Turns diva Eileen Fulton before the soap sadly bites the dust next fall? Here’s your chance.

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• Filed in American Idol, Boob Tube to Big Screen, Chuck, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Justified, TV News
• Tags: 24 NBC, American Idol Rolling Stones, Betty White Hot in Cleveland, Curb Your Enthusiasm season 8, Justified, Paula Abdul Star Search, Paula Abdul X Factor, Timothy Olyphant

All the tube news that’s fit to surf …

- The Dexter season four finale earned the show its best ratings ever (up a whopping 71 percent versus the season three finale), but season five will carry on without longtime Dexter showrunner Clyde Phillips, who quit the show to spend more time with his family.

- More good ratings news: It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’s fifth season, which wrapped last Thursday, was the show’s highest-rated season ever.

- The New York Times has scoop on the ninth season of The Biggest Loser, which premieres on NBC on Jan. 5 and will include the first contestant who’ll start the show weighing more than 500 pounds.

- We’re all sick of hearing about Tiger Woods and his ever-growing list of dalliances, but Yahoo! Sports has a fun round-up of video clips of some of the best late-night TV humor related to the scandal. You have to love Jon Stewart’s “Newzak.”

- Could self-adhesive gift wrap (SUCH a good idea!) be the next big product from the company that gave us the As Seen on TV classic, the PedEgg?

- Tough Love mother-and-son matchmakers JoAnn and Steven Ward are starring in a VH1 spin-off series, where they’ll put couples who are about to get engaged through a boot camp to see if they’re really right for each other.

- Side effect of the recession: Not surprisingly, more people are staying home and watching TV.

- Nickelodeon has ordered 26 new episodes of SpongeBob SquarePants.

- Showtime will debut the final season of The Tudors in April, and they’ll follow it up with another family saga, about shipping and railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt and his wealthy relatives. PS – Check out the new Tudors videogame.

- NBC has announced its midseason sked, which includes a premiere date for the new season of Celebrity Apprentice: March 14.

- Is this enough reason to tune in to the painfully boring 90210 remake: Gilmore Girls‘ Luke, a.k.a. Scott Patterson will guest star? Hmmmm … Pretty much any GG alum is tops in my book, but 90210 is a really lame show.

- Two sad cancelations: Flight of the Conchords and On the Air with Alexa Chung.

- Gossip Girl, the comic book? Uh huh, and it actually sounds kinda cool.

- And tonight in primetime: It’s part one of the So You Think You Can Dance season finale at 8PM ET on Fox; The Waltons papa Ralph Waite pops in as Gibbs’ daddy on NCIS (8PM, CBS); ABC replays A Charlie Brown Christmas (8PM); Cookalong live with Gordon Ramsay: Cookalong Live (9PM, Fox), in which the grumpy chef cooks a meal, live, and invites the home audience to cook along with him (recipes and shopping list are at the show’s Website); Kelso says goodbye to Ted and Gooch on Scrubs (9PM, ABC); Linda sells a children’s cook on Better Off Ted (9:30PM, ABC); Natalie continues to be a bee-otch-y hot mess on The Bad Girls Club (10PM, Oxygen); Alicia Keys celebrates the release of her new CD with a concert on Fuse (10PM); New episode of Teen Mom on MTV (10PM); TBS debuts its annual Funniest Commercials of the Year special (10PM), hosted by Weeds star Kevin Nealon; and on The Good Wife (10PM, CBS), has Alicia run into a racist judge?

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• Filed in It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, TV News
• Tags: Celebrity Apprentice, Dexter, Dexter season 4 finale, Dexter season 5, Flight of the Conchords canceled, Gossip Girl comic book, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, PedEgg, SpongeBob SquarePants new episodes, The Tudors videogame, Tough Love spin-off

HOORAY! We have our winner:

Rachel! Congrats, Rachel, and thanks for entering. Your awesome DVD package  will be on its way to your mailboxes shortly. Enjoy, and thanks again for checking us out at TV Screener.com!

And everyone, keep entering in our TVScreener.com Christmas giveaway section … we’ve got several more TV goodies to give away!

It should be no secret to regular TVScreener.com readers: It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia is one of our favorite shows.

So, what better way to say thank you to our readers than to give one of you the chance to win the complete It’s Always Sunny DVD collection, seasons 1, 2, 3 and 4, plus the new It’s a Very Sunny Christmas special? If you’ve never seen the show, here’s your chance to catch up with what is, hands down, one of the funniest shows on TV. If you already love the show, these DVDs should be in your collection. And if you already own ‘em all, here’s your chance to re-gift them and make a new Sunny fan.

And now, to enter for a chance to win this complete collection of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia DVDs, remember:
- Leave a comment on this post, with your name, your favorite It’s Always Sunny episode and an e-mail address where we can reach you
- Deadline to enter to win the It’s Always Sunny DVDs is December 14 at 8PM ET (according to recorded comment time)
- The winner will be chosen by random, using Random.org’s Random Number Generator
- The winner will be announced on the evening of December 14, as an update to this post

Good luck, Sunny fans, and stay tuned for the rest of our It’s a Very TVScreener.com Christmas 25-Day Giveaway!

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• Filed in It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, WIN THIS!
• Tags: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Christmas, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia DVDs