Hot Off The Press: The Latest TV News and Information - Page 2131

Tonight's TV Hot List:
Saturday, January 15, 2011


by TV Guide News


Miss America Pageant - 9/8c ABC
As we settle into the new year, it's time to crown a new Miss America. What began as a quaint beauty contest on the beaches of Atlantic City is now a huge pageant that is being hosted by Las Vegas' Planet Hollywood Hotel & Casino. Brooke Burke and Chris Harrison host, and the judges include Joy Behar, Dancing with the Stars pro Tony Dovolani, Desperate Housewives creator Marc Cherry and country crooner Marc Wills. The lucky young woman who walks off with the title will be the 90th winner. Jennifer Sankowski

NFL Playoff - 4:30/3:30c CBS
A divisional doubleheader begins with the year's third meeting of the Ravens and the Steelers in an AFC war in Pittsburgh. Baltimore already has a win this season at Heinz Field, but the Steelers also have a win in Baltimore. Don't expect anyone to come out of this one with a clean uniform. Game 2, which airs in prime time on Fox, is an NFC matchup of the very hot Packers and the top seed Falcons in Atlanta. The Pack stopped Michael Vick and the Eagles last week 21-16, adding a new dimension to their offensive repertoire with the running of rookie back James Starks, who gashed the Birds for 123 yards. Dave Roeder

Saturday Night Live - 11:29/10:29c NBC
Gwyneth Paltrow tries to hit all the right notes when she hosts the second live episode of 2011. The Oscar-winning star of 1998's Shakespeare in Love, who's already showcased her singing chops in 2000's Duets, gets in tune again in the recently released Country Strong, in which she portrays a damaged country-music star trying to resurrect her career. Tonight Paltrow joins forces with the super troupers of SNL to rip today's headlines and newsmakers. She also welcomes music guest Cee Lo Green, with whom she shares a connection: Paltrow covered a Cee Lo song in a November guest appearance on Glee, and the two have reportedly sparked a friendship. Will they team up for a duet tonight? Dean Maurer

Behemoth - 9/8c Syfy
Attention Eureka fans who have been missing that Nathan Stark guy: Ed Quinn, who reprised the role for a lone fourth-season episode last year, stars in this made-for-TV flick about a group of scientists who investigate volcanic activity only to discover a subterranean monster that becomes bent on wreaking havoc in a small town. William B. Davis (The X-Files) also appears. Michael Chant

Pit Bulls and Parolees - 10/9c Animal Planet
Wildfires threaten the Villalobos ranch while owner Tia Torres is in San Diego learning about special-needs pet care in preparation for the adoption of a deaf dog. Nearly 200 dogs are evacuated from the ranch by the parolees who help Tia rehabilitate and place pit bulls. With its vulnerability fresh in her mind, Tia starts to consider relocating her operation to another property. Rhoda Charles

An Education - 9/8c Starz
Best Actress nominee Carey Mulligan gives a moving, bravura performance in this Oscar-nominated Best Picture from an Oscar-nominated script by Nick Hornby. Set in 1960s London, she plays teenage Jenny, a scholarly, mature-for-her-years enchantress who comes under the spell of David (Peter Sarsgaard), a flashy, thirtysomething charmer. He proves to be her entrée to the finer things in life and a glittery world of class, sophistication and promise. But with a price. The 2008 coming-of-age drama is rated PG-13 for adult themes and sexual situations. Ray Stackhouse

Valentine's Day - 8/7c HBO
Cupid's arrows won't fly for another month or so, so why not get a jump on the holiday for lovebirds with this 2010 romantic comedy? And since it wouldn't be the same without (eye) candy, director Garry Marshall assembles a who's who of Hollywood heartthrobs, including Jessica Alba, Patrick Dempsey, Jamie Foxx, Anne Hathaway, Queen Latifah and Julia Roberts, to tell an interlocking story of (mostly) hopeless romantics in Los Angeles over the course of one Valentine's Day. Rated PG-13. Joe Friedrich

http://www.tvguide.com/News/Tonights...t-1027634.aspx

Do you mean I can have free cell phone service, free wifi service?

It is interesting to me that with all these media scholars on this thread, no one has stated the obvious.

Isn't it interesting that everything is going "pay" wireless as fast as they can and the original "free" wireless service is being "forced" to go wired where it will not be "free" anymore with the up and comers replacing them doing the same thing as the old service, but charging for it? The bottom line is COMPETITION. With broadcast TV out of the way, the pie (spectrum, as well as dollars) for the remaining players get larger. All you anti-big corporate believers who see this as a good thing, you have been sucked in by the very players you complain about. Congratulations. You have been had.

The wireless companies fought very hard for broadcast stations to NOT be able to datacast in the beginning. They lost. They are still afraid that TV datacasting of ANY form will cut down on their bottom line. That is who is really scared of all this, not Congress. Congress is scared of the blue hairs who will complain when their free TV goes away. CEA is full of crap. It doesn't matter to them which side wins. They get to make the gear, and the money, either way. So why are they even in this debate then? HHMM?

If the FCC goes through with its plan, and at this point, it is still an IF, you will see stations not broadcast HD OTA, not because it isn't feasible, but because viewers will have to get NEW TV's with MPEG4 receivers (CEA wins again!), the rules would also need to be changed to allow single stream of information other than MPEG2 which is the minimum requirement allowed at this time. And if that rule doesn't change, there WILL BE no HD OTA. Why? MPEG2 HD at the bitrates that would have to be used at the reduced bandwidth will make the stuff you guys complain about now seem pristine.

CEA has the most to gain if all this goes through. They get to make the gear and the money no matter which way it goes. Does any of this begin to seep in?

More simulated sex. Simulated sex is not porn. Porn is quite explicit.

Eh, yeah better explain that one.


Point being?

So where's the NAB in all of this? How come they're not out there shouting from the rooftops? Where are all the PSAs warning about the what may be in store for OTA in the future?

I agree with this, the cellular companies are not using the spectrum they already have and are squatting themselves. I think the big players are spooked over cord cutting and want squash the alternatives. Sell off spectrum used by a free tv service and give it to a cell company for a 5GB data plan with stiff overage charges. Look at the cable and phone companies drooling all over adding data caps and overage fees to their services. To me its a big push to keep people paying for "cable" tv.

Take a look at the internet situation in Canada, they have similar lack of competition that we do and the major ISPs have been successful in implementing low data caps with high overage fees. Want to cut the cord and go Netflix? Probably not going to save you anything in Canada once you hit data overage fees.

Finally I don't think the 10% figure gives the full picture, OTA usage varies by market. I'd be curios on the LA market, they have as many channels OTA as you used to get with basic cable in the 90s. Look how successful Freeview is in the UK. With the slow economy some people are reaching the breaking point with these annual pay tv rate hikes.

If there ever was a guy who could make a case that his sex scenes aren't meant to titillate, it's this guy:

Reading that article made me think that the CONSUMER Electronics Association is
anti-consumer. "Let's take away their free service and give it to a company that
will overcharge them for the same service."

Walt

But all the "porn" on Showtime, HBO, and Cinemax is simulated/softcore (except on HBO's Real Sex). That was my point. Is Californication different from hardcore Internet pornography? Of course. Is it different from, say, Life on Top on Cinemax? Not particularly. Just has better acting and is slightly less gratuitous.

The article explains that the charge/criticism is that Californication is softcore pornography. They're not trying to compare it to the more extreme stuff on the internet. So his distinction is not just hollow; it's not a distinction at all.

There are PSA out there. Many stations are running them (mine included). They tout what TV does. It never says the spectrum is under attack. IMHO, BIG MISTAKE on NAB's part.

FRIDAY's fast affiliate overnight prime-time ratings – along with Media Week Analyst Marc Berman’s view of what they mean -- have been posted on his blog: http://pifeedback.com/eve/forums/a/t...51/m/907100643

TCA Winter Tour Notes
FX's John Landgraf Not Discouraged By 'Lights Out', 'Terriers' Ratings Woes
By The Deadline.com Team - January 15th, 2011

From Ray Richmond, who is contributing to Deadline Hollywood's TCA coverage:

In the final executive session of the TCA confab in Pasadena on Saturday morning, FX president and GM John Landgraf acknowledged that he's disappointed in the ratings for the premiere last week of the network's latest drama series -- the boxing-themed Lights Out -- and continued to do post-mortems on the demise of Terriers but he remains undaunted going forward, stressing, "We've had six critically acclaimed shows and four ratings successes, one failure and one unknown. You can't bat .1000 in this business. That's just the way it is."

Landgraf cautioned that it's far too early to dismiss Lights Out as a failure after just a single airing. "It was tremendously acclaimed. We're disappointed by the premiere ratings, but we'll be running it as planned. There's (rarely) been a scripted series on television about boxing, and this is a very good one...(But) no matter how good the show is, the question is, 'Are they somebody's first choice? Are they good enough to overcome massive competition in the marketplace?' I can't tell you what will happen over he next 12 weeks. Premieres are very important, but shows also find audiences over time. We'll just have to wait and see."

"Maybe we should have made a show about a zombie or a sexy vampire trying to regain the heavyweight title of the world," he quipped, referring to the runaway ratings success of two other cable series, AMC's Walking Dead and HBO's True Blood.

What went wrong? Landgraf pointed to the ever-increasing competition that makes it tougher and tougher for a new series to get sampled, much less bust out from the pack. "I looked at the tracking data. In January and February, there are 18 new original series premiering on cable. There are another 18 returning series launching on cable, and 16 new and returning series launching on broadcast networks. That's 52 original series premiering in January and February in all. It's an intensely crowded field. You have to think about that competitive environment...On the night Lights Out premiered, The Game on BET did an absolutely historic number...Getting traction with something new and something different has gotten devilishly hard."

In the case of Terriers, Landgraf said he's spent a lot of money doing elaborate studies of why the show didn't catch on. Some suspected it had something to do with a marketing and promo campaign that misidentified the show's tone, featuring a snarling dog. "Did we fail from a marketing standpoint? We just don't know. But it's become tougher and tougher to find a slot to wiggle through if you're trying to make something competitively excellent, and different, that isn't just designed to be noisy and shocking."

In other news, Landgraf noted that the new comedy Wilfred starring Elijah Wood will launch Thursdays this summer in the slot following the second season of the Louis C.K. comedy Louie, and that a drama based on the indie superhero comic Powers is still alive, with a third writer having been brought in to take a crack at the script. He also pointed out in his opening remarks that the sports comedy The League had shown "improved and excellent ratings" in its second season and that a third season will get picked up "if negotiations prove successful. And I'm confident they will."

Despite the ratings challenges for FX's last pair of original series, Landgraf isn't discouraged. "I'm actually excited," he said. "It's like, OK, it's a tougher environment, we've got to jump higher, jump farther, have more commercial noisy-ness. Let's go to it. I think with our next batch of projects we put on, we'll have some big successes. We're coming up now on 10 years (since FX premiered its first original drama The Shield). We can't win 'em all but we've got a pretty good batting average. We've learned to absorb the lessons of failure and continue to drive forward and grow...We have to try to continue to take big creative risks."

http://www.deadline.com/2011/01/tca-...-ratings-woes/

TCA Winter Tour Notes
Time Warner Cable, Sinclair Reach Retrans Agreement In Principle
By Mike Reynolds, Multichannel News - January 15th, 2011

Following a second extension of their retransmission-consent negotiations on Friday, Time Warner Cable reached an agreement in principle with Sinclair Broadcasting on Saturday afternoon for continued carriage of 28 stations within the operator's footprint.

The No. 2 cable operator said it expects to work toward a final agreement in the next seven days. Despite some rhetoric, there was never any service disruption.

Sinclair also reached a tenative pact with Bright House Networks on Jan. 14 covering five stations. Associated Press reports that the parties have an additional week to finalize the deal. Typically, Time Warner Cable handles programming negotiations for Bright House.

Sinclair declined any further comment.

The retransmission-consent contract between Sinclair and Time Warner originally was set to expire at 11:59 p.m. on Dec. 31, but the parties that evening extended the negotiating period through Jan. 14.

On Friday, the parties pushed that deadline back until Jan. 15 at 11:59 p.m., before announcing the agreement in principle today.

"We're pleased to reach an agreement with Sinclair Broadcasting without any interruption in service for our customers," said Rob Marcus, president and COO of Time Warner Cable in a statement. "We appreciate our customers' patience and support throughout this negotiation, and thank them for their patronage."

http://www.multichannel.com/article/..._Principle.php

Basic deal has been reached. They are going to hammer out the final details over the coming week.

And so ends another bout of PR posturing. Until next time! Next week or month probably.

Meanwhile, your cable TV rates go up...

They already did, just this month in fact.

TWC have an entire year to think of more reasons to increase them for 2012. Maybe they have to charge everyone extra for reinforcing the network for Mayan Doomsday.

I would argue that the term "softcore pornography" is a misnomer. Nudity with simulated sex is not pornography, hardcore or softcore. Edited versions of real sex (edited hardcore pornography) films are what softcore pornography is.

The CEA is nothing more than it's own profit center. Thank goodness someone gets it. And Mr. Shapiro, my Internet is already too expensive. At least give me one thing to watch free (I do not pay for satellite or cable),
that I don't have to pay oodles of dollars for.

BTW, the article on Comcast losing out to OTA viewers and AntennasDirect (and I'm guessing others) doing very well on antenna sales pretty much shoots down Mr. Shapiro's argument, doesn't it?

It looks like HBO was beat to the punch, if they had any "Hard Knocks" style plans for baseball.

I suppose HBO could still do one. I think one of their greatest advantages is the narration of Liev Schreiber.

Clearly you should pay more attention.

Or should you have to pay for your AM/FM radio service?

On Tonight: Globes and Some Future Winners


By Roger Catlin -- Hartford Courant’s “TV Eye” -- Jan 16

[All times are Eastern.]

Ricky Gervais returns to host the "2011 Golden Globe Awards" (NBC, 8 p.m.), the event that despite its spotty pedigree, kickstarts the awards season in earnest. Odd to think the event is still the biggest platform for the comedian, creator of "The Office" and occasional movie star.

Among TV shows up for the award are the usual suspects, with "Glee" topping all titles with five nominations; followed by three each for "Mad Men," "Dexter," "Modern Family" the newcomer "Boardwalk Empire" and "The Good Wife."

For some, its all about the arrivals, so there's the "Golden Globe Awards Red Carpet Special" (NBC, 7 p.m.) and the even longer "Live on the Red Carpet: Golden Globes" (E!, 6 p.m.) and

Instead of watching the stars of TV and movies get their awards, get a glimpse at shows that may be picking up trophies at next year's event.

The second episode of "Shameless" (Showtime, 9 p.m.) defines the show starring William H. Macy better than the first one did; and the second, feature-length chapter of the beautiful-looking "Downton Abbey" on "Masterpiece Classic" (CPTV, 9 p.m.) is more riveting than last week's premiere as well.

The show that makes fun of the process of remaking British series in to American shows, "Episodes" (Showtime, today, 9:30 p.m.) hits its stride with its second episode.

And the fifth season of "Big Love" (HBO, 9 p.m.) begins, with a focus and pace that final seasons can bring. It starts in the aftermath of last year's finale, with Bill winning a seat in the statehouse, but living with the aftermath of admitting his family's polygamous ways. It's tough on everyone in the house, and at the workplace. But Bill is determined to use his new role to bring the practices of the compound into the open (though they're not so happy about that either).

The first few episodes of the new season are so good, you may start to miss it prematurely.

Divisional games today include Jets at New England (CBS, 3:30 p.m.) in the AFC and Seattle at Chicago (Fox, noon) in the NFC.

Smithers remodels Moe's into a gay bar on a new episode of "The Simpsons" (Fox, 8 p.m.). "Glee" cast members and Wilmer Valderrama guest on "The Cleveland Show" (Fox, 9:30 p.m.).

Larry Hagman guest stars as a suitor of Lynette on "Desperate Housewives" (ABC, 9 p.m.). Bahthazar Getty returns to "Brothers & Sister" (Comedy Central, 10 p.m.).

The animated "Bob's Burgers" (Fox, 8:30 p.m.) was the biggest premiere for a new show all year, Fox boasts

In the standup special "Denis Leary and Friends Present: Douchebags and Donuts" (Comedy Central, 10 p.m.) includes bits from Whitney Cummings and two "Rescue Me" costars Lenny Clarke and Adam Ferrara.

A double feature of southern justice features "In the Heat of the Night" (TCM, 8 p.m.) and "The Liberation of L.B. Jones" (TCM, 10 p.m.)

Sunday Talk
ABC: Town Hall on Tuscon shooting.
CBS: Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Jeff Flake, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell.
NBC: Sens. Gillibrand, Chuck Schumer and Tom Coburn.
CNN: Reps. Tim Murphy and Grace Napolitano.
Fox News: Fovs. Chris Christie and Tim Pawlenty.

http://blogs.courant.com/roger_catli...-fut.html#more

10 Things You Need to Know About the Golden Globe Awards


by Bill Higgins, Bryan Alexander - The Hollywood Reporter - Jan 15

Before you attend remember to eat well and head to the smoking area. With the red-carpet ready for Sunday's big show, some insider pointers:

1. The room is full of hungry stars. Waiters remove all the food before 5 pm regardless of whether the stars make it to their tables to eat. The production does not want the sound of knives and forks clacking in the background of the show or people with potatoes hanging out of their mouth on camera. Consequently stars in 'the pit' -- the front area most coveted and packed with A-listers -- is full of people trying to get small plates of foods from the back delivered to them discreetly during the show.

2. It's really, really loud inside the ballroom. That's the one thing everyone mentions when they leave -- how the crowd talks throughout the telecast – commercial breaks, during presentations and acceptances. The loudest is in the back of the room where guests get up, mingle and stand against the wall. Security guards are posted in the back to "shush" people but its a full time job and they aren't very successful. The sound engineer who manages to keep the extraneous noise out of the telecast deserves an Emmy.

3. The Golden Globes has an annual Hollywood debutante moment thanks to its Miss Golden Globe honoree -- usually the offspring of a famous celebrity. Their task is to assist onstage during the awards show. Many honorees have gone onto great things such as Linda Evans (1964), Anne Archer (1971), Melanie Griffith (1975), Laura Dern (1982). Rumer Willis was 2009. This year, it's Joe Mantegna's daughter Gia Mantegna.

4. There are very few agents in the ballroom. The Foreign Press cares only about having stars in the room. "Stars giving stars awards" is their bottom-line for the show – no technical awards, no singing, no dancing. Their attitude is, "If the stars want their agents to be there, they can give them one of their own tickets." You can imagine the joy this brings to the world of representation.

5. The ballroom has what every other award show desperately (for some) lacks: an easily accessible smoking area. It's out the multi-door fire exits in the back overlooking the pool. This is where they should have a camera. It's the loosest scene of the night. Anyone who's restless, bored, or just needs a breath of air, hangs out. It's also "the" place to network during the show.

6. Nobody says the Globes are more prestigious, or voted upon by a more qualified electorate, than the Oscars. But there's one area where the HFPA might outshine AMPAS: best foreign- language film. Chalk it up to their being foreigners themselves, but they make consistently intelligent choices in this category. There's no The Tourist in these nominees.

7. The awards is steeped in a rowdy tradition. The awards were handed out by journalists in the HFPA up until 1958, when Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis Jr. famously stormed the stage with whiskeys and cigarettes and took over the show, distributing the awards. Since then, stars have ruled the show.

8. The show patrons continue to enjoy their drink. It is the most spirited of the major award shows. Some 9000 glasses of Moet & Chandon champagne will be drunk Sunday. One thousand Moet minis will be served on the red carpet and leading into the ballroom. In the ballroom, all magnums are pre-prepped so that they are popped and chilled in ice buckets on the table.

9. The restrooms loom large at the Globes (see previous item). In 1998 Christine Lahti of Chicago Hope almost missed accepting her award because she was in the loo (see the clip here). The ladies room has a complete room with L'Oreal makeup artists to give everyone touch-ups and offer makeup samples -- even the A-list stars grab handfuls of lip gloss, etc. The men just have a bathroom attendant with cologne top-ups.

10. The show generally does not have a host, getting rid of the concept in the mid-90s because they felt it was already star-studded enough. Ricky Gervais was the first host since 1995 last year. And he will continue his duties once again this year. (NBC, 8/7c)

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/new...n-globes-72173

Piers Morgan confident he can lift CNN's flagging prime-time ratings


by Rodney Ho - Access Atlanta - Radio & TV Talk - Jan 15

Set to replace Larry King on CNN Monday at 9 p.m., Piers Morgan is in both a good and bad position. Good because expectations are modest. CNN's prime-time ratings are in the gutter. Morgan can't do much worse.

Bad because his lead-ins John King, USA and Parker/Spitzer are doing so poorly, he's going to have to draw new viewers in from the outside. That's a challenge during prime time competing against the likes of Grey's Anatomy, CSI and Fox News' Sean Hannity.

We need the ratings to go up, Morgan said in a phone interview from New York Thursday. It's as simple as that. It's at around 600,000 at the moment. I've got to produce compelling interviews and the ratings will come.

Indeed, he knew how important it was to nab a major A list celebrity for Monday. And he got it: Oprah Winfrey.

You have to send out a message that you mean business, he said. There's no question the first week of guests is spectacular. (The rest of the week will feature radio host Howard Stern, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, comedian Ricky Gervais and actor George Clooney.)

Morgan is taping most of his interviews ahead of time rather than running them live as King did. You can get a huge buzz before it airs, he said. You can have fun promoting them. That's a great advantage, especially if you have something juicy and tantalizing.

Indeed, Morgan has gotten oodles of advance press from his Winfrey interview when CNN released a teaser in which she said she was so depressed after her 1998 film Beloved flopped, she consumed 30 pounds of macaroni and cheese.

It's not even in the show, he mused. We actually thought that was one of the weaker lines in context of the material we had.

Morgan, a former newspaper editor who also has a chat-style show in the U.K., is best known stateside as a judge on NBC's America's Got Talent and winner of the first Celebrity Apprentice in 2008. While some critics wonder if being a reality show judge stunts his ability to be taken seriously as a journalist, Morgan scoffed.

Anyone who thinks that has a pea brain, said Morgan, whose British bluntness is part of his charm. America's Got Talent' is the most popular show in the summer. I have no worries that it would have any negative impact on my reputation or career.

He sure knows how to make headlines when need be. He told TV critics last week that he would not allow Madonna on his show unless she apologized for lying to him in the past and other sundry confrontations. It worked, didn't it? he said. And she made a fateful error by saying she never heard of me.

Actor Harrison Ford this week, promoting his latest movie in the U.K., threw out Morgan's name without Morgan's prompting, saying he would never go on the show because Morgan's goal is to dig deep and Ford has no intention of revealing anything deep about himself.

I'm not interested in the truth, Ford said. I'm interested in selling product. You want the truth? Go someplace else. Not my business. Morgan was actually bemused by this. I liked that, he said. He's being refreshingly honest!

Morgan knows replacing an icon like King is akin to taking over for Frank Sinatra at the Sands. I love challenges, he said. I always remember my mother giving me a postcard. It was a hippopotamus flying with a flock of seagulls with the words, Ambition has no bounds.' I think if you get offered these opportunities, you have to go for it.

Stern, after his interview with Morgan yesterday, told CNN in the green room he was impressed. Piers was very good. Piers understood the medium. He had the little blue cards. He asked questions. It was amazing.I didn't even know Piers knew how to talk. I only thought he knew how to press a buzzer and say you suck.

http://blogs.ajc.com/radio-tv-talk/2...-time-ratings/

Tonight's TV Hot List:
Sunday, Jan. 16, 2011


by TV Guide News

Big Love - 9/8c HBO
If you thought Bill Henrickson had problems before — before he pronounced his polygamy — wait until you see the trouble that awaits him in the premiere of the fifth and final season. He encounters open revolt at Home Plus, his family is ostracized, even attacked, in public, and his soon-to-be fellow state senators can't bear to be in the same room with him. Sure, he's faced uphill battles in the past, but the ones ahead will test his mettle, and threaten to pull his family apart at the seams. — Joe

NFL Playoff - 1/Noon c Fox
Day 2 of the divisional battles begins with the high-flying Seahawks visiting the Bears in Chicago. The Bears are certainly the favorites in this game, but the Seahawks, behind rejuvenated QB Matt Hasselbeck, stunned the Saints last weekend 41-36, and if they can beat the Saints...Later in the day on CBS, it's another AFC divisional rivalry, with the Jets visiting the Patriots. Each team has a win over the other this year; but in addition to the normal problems of dealing with Tom Brady, the Jets will need to mentally shake off a 45-3 drubbing the Pats handed them in early December in Foxboro, Mass. — Dave Roeder

Australian Open - 6:30/5:30c ESPN2
After dramatically volleying the men's world No. 1 ranking back and forth for a few years, Spain's Rafael Nadal has a firm hold on the honor over Swiss star Roger Federer. Winning the last three majors of 2010 will do that, though Nadal enters two weeks of heat in Melbourne feeling dual pressures from the talk of a "Rafa Slam" as well as a resurgent Federer, who has won 26 of his last 28 matches, including the season opener in Qatar. With Serena Williams injured, the women's bracket Down Under promises a new champion, with Caroline Wozniacki and Vera Zvonareva among the hungriest as they try to add a major win to their lofty rankings. — Roger Leister

Hannah Montana Forever - 7/6c Disney
Despite the show's title, Hannah Montana isn't going on forever. In fact, tonight is the series last original episode. In it, Miley is faced with a tough decision. Should she go off to college with Lilly, as she originally planned, or accept a lucrative movie role she is dying to play? Of course, Lilly feels betrayed that Miley would even consider delaying college to be in a movie, but Miley is growing up and must make her own way. If only she could have the best of both worlds. — Tim Holland

Golden Globe Awards - 8/7c NBC
Dig that gold. A galaxy of stars will be mining for golden honors at the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's 68th annual soiree, which recognizes achievement in 25 movie and TV categories. Ricky Gervais returns to host for the second time, and the colorful Brit funnyman will likely add his zesty brand of wit to the proceedings, which include a tribute to Robert De Niro, who receives the Cecil B. DeMille Award. Slated presenters include Kevin Bacon, Helen Mirren, Kevin Spacey, Sandra Bullock, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr. and Bruce Willis. The ceremony is broadcast from the Beverly Hilton Hotel in the land of 90210. — Dean Maurer

The Simpsons - 8/7c Fox
Smithers spruces up Moe's tavern with a trendy makeover, and it instantly becomes a gay hangout. Elsewhere, Principal Skinner has a crush on the new music teacher (voice of Kristen Wiig), whose daughter (voice of Alyson Hannigan) has a thing for Bart, leading Skinner to enlist the rascally rapscallion as the unlikeliest of allies. Scott Thompson (Kids in the Hall) has a voice cameo. — Fred Mitchell

Desperate Housewives - 9/8c ABC
Last week it was Susan who had to deal with her mother; now it's Lynette, whose mom (Polly Bergen) is about to marry a guy (Larry Hagman) who seems to have only one thing going for him: He's rich. At least Lynette's Renee problem was resolved last week, but now it seems that Bob and Lee have a Renee problem after they hire her to decorate their soon-to-be adopted daughter's bedroom. She can't stand kids. Meanwhile, Bree runs into Keith's ex-girlfriend (Rochelle Aytes), and that won't be good for Keith. And Paul Young's back on his feet, and that can't be good for anybody. — Paul Droesch

Ted Haggard: Scandalous - 10/9c TLC
As anyone who's seen Alexandra Pelosi's 2009 doc The Trials of Ted Haggard can attest, New Life Church founder and onetime National Association of Evangelicals president Ted Haggard, who fell from the graces of both due to a 2006 gay-sex-and-drugs scandal, is a fascinating and flawed fellow. Scandalous details his effort to rebuild his life, which includes founding a new church "for people like me, people who know that everyone needs a break at one time or another in their lives." — Jeff Gemmill

http://www.tvguide.com/News/Tonights...s=breakingnews

true, but there's a difference since Californication actually has a good plot and script.

SATURDAY's fast affiliate overnight prime-time ratings - along with Media Week Analyst Marc Berman's view of what they mean -- have been posted on his blog: http://pifeedback.com/eve/forums/a/t...51/m/246106643

And better actors. Duchovny, that army of gorgeous women he gets laid with regularly are a far cry from the people you see in pornography... or so I'm told, ahem!