All the tube news that’s fit to surf …

– At least Ryan Seacrest warned viewers last night to put extra time at the end of their TiVos for tonight’s American Idol season finale, but isn’t it still ridiculous that an episode that really boils down to one 30-second announcement of who the winner is, is instead so bloated that it can’t even be contained into a two-hour block?

– By the way, DiaIdol.com predicts last night’s Adam vs. Kris showdown is too close to call. People, did you not hear Adam sing “A Change Is Gonna Come”? It really should not be this close.

– The New York Times jokes, I think, that Jimmy Kimmel might not have a job today after the naughty, but hilarious, riffs on NBC, Fox and his own network at yesterday’s ABC Upfront presentation.

– And Kimmel’s remarks about the new Jay Leno primetime series apparently weren’t that far off from what some at NBC might have thought. Leno, it turns out, was NBC’s third choice to host a nightly primetime show, after Oprah and David Letterman.

– Can’t wait for the remake of Footloose with Gossip Girl star Chace Crawford as Ren McCormack.

– In case you missed the premiere of Glee last night, you can catch the episode at Hulu today.

– Lifetime.com, pegged to the June 7 season three premiere of Army Wives, has produced more than a dozen videos, collected as Homecoming: Real Army Wives, that pay homage to real-life Army wives, whose husbands have been deployed for 15 months or more in Iraq.

– Check out clips from ABC’s new comedies, including Modern Family, the mockumentary-ish family comedy starring Ed “Al Bundy” O’Neill.

– Even the most devoted Trekkies may find the new “video-based encyclopedia” of behind-the-scenes Star Trek info a bit daunting.

– Next up: The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.

– My Name Is Earl star Ethan Suplee is taking it to Twitter to try to rally fans for a save-the-show campaign. To get onboard, follow the “EarlTwitition.”

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• Filed in American Idol, Comedy, Drama, TV News
• Tags: A Change Is Gonna Come, Adam Lambert, American Idol, Army Wives, Chace Crawford, David Letterman, Ed O'Neill, Ethan Suplee, finale, Footloose, Glee, Gossip Girl, Jay Leno, Jimmy Kimmel, Kris Allen, Lifetime, My Name Is Earl, Oprah, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Star Trek, Upfront

Here’s the official line-up from ABC, followed by the network’s description of its new series:

ABC PRIMETIME SCHEDULE: FALL 2009
(All Times ET)

MONDAY
8PM – Dancing With the Stars
10PM – Castle

TUESDAY
8PM – Shark Tank
9PM – Dancing With the Stars results show
10PM – The Forgotten

WEDNESDAY
8PM – Hank
8:30PM – The Middle
9PM – Modern Family
9:30PM – Cougar Town
10PM – Eastwick

THURSDAY
8PM – Flash Forward
9PM – Grey’s Anatomy
10PM – Private Practice

FRIDAY
8PM – Supernanny
9PM – Ugly Betty
10PM – 20/20

SATURDAY
8PM – Saturday Night College Football

SUNDAY
7PM – America’s Funniest Home Videos
8PM – Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
9PM – Desperate Housewives
10PM – Brothers & Sisters

…Read more

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• Filed in Comedy, Drama, TV News
• Tags: ABC, Cougar Town, Courteney Cox, Eastwick, Ed O'Neill, Elizabeth Mitchell, Flash Forward, Hank, Happy Town, Jerry Bruckheimer, Julie Bowen, Kelsey Grammer, Mark Burnett, Modern Family, Neil Flynn, New fall schedule, New fall season, Patricia Heaton, Rebecca Romijn, Shark Tank, The Deep End, The Forgotten, The Middle, Upfront, V

A rundown of what is/isn’t/might be popping up on the 2009-10 primetime schedule at ABC during this week’s Upfront presentation …

ABC (Upfront presentation: Tuesday, May 19)
Returning series: America’s Funniest Home Videos, The Bachelor, Better Off Ted, Brothers & Sisters, Castle, Dancing with the Stars, Desperate Housewives, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Grey’s Anatomy, Lost, Private Practice, Scrubs, Supernanny, True Beauty, Ugly Betty, Wife Swap
On the bubble series: Surviving Suburbia
New series:

– Cougar Town (Comedy)
Plot: The dating adventures of a newly-single mom and her teen son
It stars: Courteney Cox, Busy Philipps, Brian Van Holt, Christa Miller, Josh Hopkins and Ian Gomez, created by Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence
It’s like: Janice Dickinson‘s life

– The Deep End (Dramedy)
Plot: Newbie attorneys at a prestigious law firm
It stars: Billy Zane and Tina Majorino
It’s like: Scrubs or Grey’s Anatomy in a law firm

– Eastwick (Drama)
Plot: Three witches come into their powers when a mysterious fellow arrives in town
It stars: Rebecca Romijn, Lindsay Price, Matt Dallas and Sara Rue
It’s like: The John Updike novel and big-screen movie The Witches of Eastwick, on which it’s based

– Flash Forward (Drama)
Plot: Sci-fi-ish story about what happens when the world blacks out for two minutes and everyone has visions of the future
It stars: Joseph Fiennes, Sonya Walger, John Cho and Courtney Vance
It’s like: Every show that has employed the unfortunately ubiquitous time travel gimmick on TV recently (i.e. the network hopes it’ll catch on just as Lost unrolls its final season)

…Read more

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• Filed in Comedy, Drama, Lost, TV News
• Tags: ABC, Alyssa Milano, Better Off Ted, Billy Zane, Castle, Cedric the Entertainer, Cougar Town, Courteney Cox, Eastwick, Ed O'Neill, Elizabeth Mitchell, Empire State, Fall TV season, Flash Forward, Geoff Stults, Hank, Happy Town, Inside the Box, Kelsey Grammer, Kim Raver, Lost, Matt Dallas, Modern Family, Morris Chestnut, Patricia Heaton, Rebecca Romijn, Reiko Aylesworth, Romantically Challenged, Scott Wolf, Scrubs, Shonda Rhimes, The Deep End, The Forgotten, The Law, The Middle, Twin Peaks, Upfront, V

All the tube news that’s fit to surf …

– Did Joan Rivers really deserve to be named Celebrity Apprentice instead of Annie Duke, who raised three times as much cash for her charity? Cast your vote at AOL TV. I think Annie should have won, though Rivers’ dedication to and affection for her charity, God’s Love We Deliver, was touching.

– Chef Jamie Oliver and Ryan Seacrest are teaming for an ABC reality series in which they’ll give the citizens of America’s unhealthiest towns nutrition and exercise makeovers. Hmmm … Maybe Seacrest isn’t aspiring to be the next Dick Clark; he’s trying to be the Dude Oprah.

– The ratings for Dollhouse‘s season finale suggests the Joss Whedon series probably won’t return to Fox next season.

– Tonight’s episode of Gossip Girl sets up what could be a spin-off series, following the life of young Lily, Serena’s wild child mama.

– More spin-off news: G4 is doing its own take on E!’s The Soup, called Web Soup, a weekly round-up of the best of/worst of viral videos.

– Loooooove 30 Rock and Tina Fey, but have to call BS on the story that last Thursday’s Mamma Mia mentions didn’t amount to a plug. It was a very, very clever tie-in, but both the show and the movie are NBC Universal properties … coincidence? I think not.

– Jon Stewart‘s producing a special on the U.S. naturalization process for the History Channel.

– Alex and Hugh are back for the third season of Ice Road Truckers on the History Channel (May 31), and they’ll be joined by the first female driver to be a full-time driver on the show.

– What a great idea: Editing Lost into a “dummies” version that would have events unfold chronologically.

– Al Bundy’s back to be a TV papa again. Ed O’Neill (a fellow alum of Ohio University – go Bobcats!) will play a dad in ABC’s fall 2009 mockumentary-ish sitcom Modern Family.

– And Chuck star Yvonne Strahovksi is certainly keeping busy while she awaits news on whether or not the show will get a third season go from NBC.

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• Filed in 30 Rock, Celebreality, Chuck, Comedy, Drama, Lost, Reality, TV News
• Tags: 30 Rock, Annie Duke, Celebrity Apprentice, Chuck, Dollhouse, Ed O'Neill, Gossip Girl, Ice Road Truckers, Jamie Oliver, Joan Rivers, Jon Stewart, Joss Whedon, Lost, Mamma Mia, Oprah, Ryan Seacrest, The Soup, Tina Fey, Yvonne Strahovski