(ALL TIMES ET)

9PM, SUN | AMC – 2ND SEASON PREMIERE
The Walking Dead – So. Good. We’ve waited quite a while for the follow up to those first six episodes, and the show doesn’t lose a step with the season two premiere, full of tension, drama, thrills, gore, the continuing love triangle and one of the grossest, by which I mean cool, scenes you will ever see on TV (you’ll know which one I’m talking about when you see it). Also not to be missed: the premiere of Talking Dead (11:59 p.m.), the new Chris Hardwick-hosted aftershow that will air each week after the new Walking Dead eps, and Walking Dead A to Z, the alphabetical guide to all things Dead I wrote this week at TheWrap.com.

11:30PM, SAT | NBC
Saturday Night Live – What’s Your Number? star Anna Faris hosts, and Degrassi alum/rapper Drake makes his first appearance as musical guest.

8PM, SUN | DISCOVERY
iGenius: How Steve Jobs Changed the World – MythBusters hosts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman host this special that pays homage to the many innovations of the late Apple co-founder and how they have impacted the world.

9PM, SUN | ABC
Desperate Housewives – Lynette thinks Tom may be dating, and Bree thinks Danielle’s new business may not be as wholesome as she’s hoped.

9PM, SUN | SHOWTIME
Dexter – Dexter comes face to face with someone he idolized as a teen. Just think about the kind of person Dexter would idolize as a young, aspiring serial killer …

9PM, SUN | CBS
The Good Wife – Alicia volunteers for a case, but one of her witnesses turns out to be the prime suspect.

9PM, SUN | TV GUIDE
TV Guide: 100 Moments That Changed TV, Part 4 – The Real World and The Simpsons episodes are among the shows that provided seminal TV moments in this penultimate installment of the TV Guide miniseries.

10PM, SUN | FOOD NETWORK
Chopped – A special Halloween-themed episode finds candy, chicken feet and some, ahem, unusual meats, in the mystery baskets.

10PM, SUN | SHOWTIME
Homeland – Carrie and her team investigate a potential Al Qaeda attach on American soil.

10PM, SUN | BRAVO
Real Housewives of New Jersey Reunion, Part 1 – Finally. After three seasons of watching Teresa act like a creep, the women call her on her nonsense. The Teresa vs. Caroline showdown: not to be missed.

10:30PM, SUN | E!
Dirty Soap – Galen and Jenna argue about having another baby, while Nadia and Brandon attend Fashion Week in New York, where he walks in one of the shows.

Worth flipping to during commercials:
– Puppies vs. Babies: Cutest of the Cute (Sat., 10PM, Animal Planet): Perhaps the most brilliant idea for a reality show ever, right?;
– On The Amazing Race (Sun., 8PM, CBS), the teams compete in underwater and rock-climbing;
– The gang re-does the home of a family whose child with dwarfism will be able to use everything in the new home on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (Sun., 8PM, ABC);
– Gayle considers selling the Gatsby on the season finale of Jerseylicious (Sun., 8PM, Style);
– The remaining contestants visit their mentors’ homes on The X-Factor (Sun., 8PM, Fox);
– On Boardwalk Empire (Sun., 9PM, HBO);
– A fistfight breaks out during a bachelorette party on Bridezillas (Sun., 9PM, WE);
– Tim takes his first trip on the Death Road on IRT: Deadliest Roads (Sun., 9PM, History);
– 24 alum Carlos Bernard (Tony!) guest stars as Horatio’s new nemesis on CSI: Miami (Sun., 10PM, CBS);
– Ray worries his new client may be his old student on Hung (Sun., 10PM, HBO).

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• Filed in Dexter, Real Housewives, Saturday Night Live, TV Picks, Walking Dead
• Tags: Dexter, Dirty Soap, Real Housewives of New Jersey reunion, Walking Dead season 2

Whuuuut? Thought nothing could be crazier than the second part of the Real Housewives of New Jersey reunion Thursday night? Think again.

According to PolitickerNJ.com, Danielle Staub, the most controversial of the N.J. Housewives – or of any other season, for that matter – is reportedly not ruling out a run for congress. Yes, you read that correctly … Congresswoman Danielle Staub. It’s a nutty idea, but before you say it could never happen, think back to pretty much any time before 2003 and ask yourself how you would have reacted if someone had told you Arnold Schwarzenegger would one day be elected the governor of California. Right?

PS – About that reunion … how great was it when Andy Cohen told Dina that Grandma Wrinkles creeps him out? Me too, Andy, me too, and hearing that the little freak show of a feline smells like French fries didn’t help.

What was your favorite moment from the first season of the Real Housewives of New Jersey?

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• Filed in Reality
• Tags: Andy Cohen, Danielle Staub, Danielle Staub congress, Grandma Wrinkles, Real Housewives of New Jersey, Real Housewives of New Jersey reunion, Real Housewives of NJ, Real Housewives of NJ reunion

All the tube news that’s fit to surf …

– CBS has announced its fall premiere dates, which will kick off with the 19th season of Survivor, set in Samoa, on Sept. 17 ().

– The I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here winner: Lou Diamond Phillips. Wonder if it’ll have any impact on his career? He does have a role in the upcoming Stargate Universe series.

– Third Watch star Eddie Cibrian, in the news most recently for his alleged fling with LeAnn Rimes, has joined the cast of CSI: Miami for the new season. He’ll play a Los Angeles cop who moves to Miami.

– Rosie O’Donnell is returning to share her many opinions with fans, but the former, controversial, co-host of The View will do it via radio instead of TV this time. In the fall, O’Donnell will host her own Sirius XM radio show every day.

– Deadline Hollywood Daily reports that there may be some big changes afoot at NBC, which may include the departure of Ben Silverman, the man who brought The Office to the network.

– The rundown of the top 15 cable shows from last week suggests one thing: viewers love their wrestling and NCIS.

– Remember when The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air pulled a switcheroo in season four, and Janet Hubert was out as Aunt Viv and Daphne Reid was in, with no explanation? It wasn’t a happy ending for Hubert, who’s written a tell-all book about what she claims was bad behavior by star Will Smith. And though the book won’t be released until 2010, Hubert isn’t being shy about giving previews of her Smith-bashing material.

– And tonight in primetime:

– It’s part two of the Real Housewives of New Jersey reunion on Bravo (9PM), and since the preview shows Caroline crying, this promises to be the more dramatic installment of the reunion special
– The Tragic Side of Comedy on the Bio Channel (10PM ET) details the sad stories of comedians like Chris Farley, John Belushi and Phil Hartman
– Duran Duran bass player John Taylor guest stars on Samantha Who? (8PM, ABC)
– Penn & Teller: Bulls**t open their seventh season with an exploration of orgasms (10PM, Showtime)
– There are new eps of USA’s hot summer series Burn Notice (9PM) and Royal Pains (10PM)
– There’s a new episode of MTV’s great docudrama 16 & Pregnant (10PM)
– And Emily takes a local radio job to make her dad pipe down on Southern Belles: Louisville (10PM, SoapNet)

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• Filed in TV News
• Tags: CBS fall premiere dates, CBS: Miami, Eddie Cibrian, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here winner, Janet Hubert, Janet Hubert book, Lou Diamond Phillips, NCIS, Real Housewives of New Jersey reunion, Rosie O'Donnell

Now that the reality train wreck that is the Real Housewives of New Jersey has gone down the shore for the summer (well, except for the second part of the reunion special that airs June 25 at 9PM ET and that new US Weekly cover), we thought it’d be fun to see how well you were paying attention while these gems sprang forth from the Housewives’ Restylane-enhanced lips …

[QUIZZIN 4]

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• Filed in Quiz
• Tags: Real Housewives of New Jersey, Real Housewives of New Jersey reunion, Real Housewives of New Jersey quotes, Real Housewives of NJ, Real Housewives of NJ quotes, Real Housewives of NJ reunion

All the tube news that’s fit to surf …

– Ed McMahon, TV land’s greatest sidekick as Johnny Carson‘s announcer on The Tonight Show, has died at age 86. The Hollywood veteran had reportedly been battling bone cancer, among other illnesses.

– Yes, it’s true, we sadly haven’t seen the last of Jessica Simpson on reality TV. Simpson will star in The Price of Beauty for VH-1, where she’ll travel around the world and “study the local fashions, dietary fads and beauty regimes and even participate in some of the extreme practices she discovers.”

– Jon and Kate Gosselin confirmed that they’re separating on last night’s Jon & Kate Plus 8 (as if People.com’s confirmation that they’d filed divorce papers earlier in the day didn’t make their announcement moot), and now the speculation is already starting about a possible custody battle.

– Producer/writer Bryan Fuller has left Heroes again, which means there’s little chance of the tired show returning to its first-season glory.

– The View co-host, and Celiac disease book author, Elisabeth Hasselbeck is being sued by another Celiac disease book author, who claims E.H. stole her idea.

– Bravo is launching a new series in which host Andy Cohen will talk about … other Bravo series.

– And tonight in primetime:

– The fourth season premiere of America’s Got Talent (9PM ET, NBC), with newbie host Nick Cannon
– The series premiere of NYC Prep (10PM, Bravo)
– The Real Housewives of New Jersey Watch What Happens Reunion (9PM, Bravo)
– The second season premiere of The Cleaner (10PM, A&E)
– The premiere of the Battle of the Network Stars-ish The Superstars (8PM, ABC)
– Cloris Leachman and Theo Huxtable, a.k.a. Malcolm-Jamal Warner guest star on HawthoRNe (9PM, TNT)
– The finale of Life After People on History Channel (10PM)
– Rescue Me‘s creative resurgence continues on FX (10PM)
– And Ted learns about Phil and Lem’s fight club – make that a medieval fight club, in the Veridian basement – in a hilarious new episode of Better Off Ted (9:30PM, ABC)

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• Filed in TV News
• Tags: America's Got Talent, Andy Cohen, Better Off Ted, Bravo, Bryan Fuller, Cloris Leachman, Ed McMahon, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Hawthorne, Heroes, Jessica Simpson, Jon and Kate Gosselin divorce, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Nick Cannon, NYC Prep, Real Housewives of New Jersey reunion, Rescue Me, The Cleaner, The Price of Beauty