What's working for me this week...

1. FCC appeals to Supreme Court. Thirty years after the George Carlin-Pacifica Radio case, the Supremes have a chance to reverse their horrible mistake: letting a government agency decide what's decent to listen to.

2. "A Colbert Christmas" on iTunes. The DVD of this satirical special is a no-brainer for someone's stocking. But the songs are also keepers: Feist's "Please Be Patient" (sung to "Angels We Have Heard on High"), Toby Keith's "War on Christmas" and the instant classic "There Are Much Worse Things To Believe In."

3. KSHB. The station that took home this year's Emmy for best newscast landed the scoop of sweeps so far with Russ Ptacek's icky exploration of bodies willed to science that somehow wound up as crash test dummies.

... AND WHAT'S NOT

1. "Arrested Development: The Movie." I'm with Zap2It's Dan Fienberg on this -- loved the show but ... whaaaat?

2. "Private Practice" lives but "Pushing Daisies" dies. ABC is giving the "Grey's Anatomy" spinoff a cushy spot on Thursdays after "Grey's" starting in January. Not since "Caroline in the City" has a terrible show been so lucky.

3. "Monty Python" reissues another DVD megaset three years after the last megaset. Loved the show but .... why?

Comments

[Joel]

Personally, I can't WAIT for the Arrested Development movie

[matt stechel]

not since caroline in the city??? it was only a year later that Suddenly Susan debuted in the very same timeslot...and even worse----it was only a year later that Veronicas Closet debuted in that timeslot and stayed there for two years. come on now....both shows worse then Caroline no???

Also did you not honestly think ABC would keep Private Practice alive somehow?
Pushing Daisies---you at least saw coming---as much as I wished they could have at least let it run side by side with Lost if only for a couple of weeks to see if the aud level could go up even slightly.

The thing that pisses me off quite a bit tho is Eli Stone's demise. That show had enormous potential as a sleeper word of mouth show. What's galling in particular is that its getting a highly compatitble lead-in with Scrubs being moved to Tuesdays at 9 30 starting in January. Could the two shows be on anymore of a smilar wavelength???

What's ABC even planning on filling that Tuesday at 10 hour with? All the reports I read--nothing has been mentioned as a potential replacement.

[VG]

> Not since "Caroline in the City" has a terrible show been so lucky.

You're giving Private Practice way too much credit. Compared to PP, Caroline in the City was Seinfeldian.

Private Practice is the dumbest, worst waste of talent and money I think I've ever seen. Truly abysmal; and it's shame ABC is wasting a great time slot on it.

[Mark Jeffries]

ABC has to keep Shonda Rimes happy, since "Grey's" is still one of their biggest shows. Obviously, they didn't care that much about keeping Greg Berlanti happy, even if he did save "Brothers and Sisters."

And "Daisies" would going to be odd man out all along, because it's not produced by Disney. Gotta have that corporate synergy (notice last week that Bolt the Dog--only in theaters in Disney Digital 3-D--was appearing last week in the ABC Studios logo?).

[Biggles]

How was the two films included with the boxed set that has not been seen in the US. Did you get a chance to see them?

[Jeff]

Pushing Daisies is the only show on network or basic cable that I give a damn about. The beatings will continue until all original thought is eliminated and reality, spin offs, shows stolen from foreigners and zombie legacy shows (Scrubs anyone) reign supreme. Only when pixar starts releasing straight to dvd sequels will the punishment end. A flaming q-tip up the nose straight to the brain is the only thing that will convince me to continue to watch anything that is on tv. I quite frankly despair.