When Principal Skinner gets fed up with Bart’s constant pranks, he reveals to him that there is a former Springfield Elementary student who is hailed as the best prankster ever. Enter Andy Hamilton (guest voice Jonah Hill), who at 19-years-old still hasn’t grown out of his pranking days in THE SIMPSONS November 22 episode entitled “Pranks and Greens.”

Because threesomes are, like you know so last week, leave it to creator Ryan Murphy to up the ante by putting the entire McKinley High gang in bed together…. when New Directions performs in a local commercial in the December 2nd episode of GLEE entitled “Mattress.”

What’s the only thing more shocking than BATTELSTAR GALACTICA star Katee Sackhoff showing up as a vision in Wolowtiz’s bathtub to offer up relationship advice? How about Wolowitz in a relationship! Which is the situation he finds himself in on the Monday November 23 episode of THE BIG BANG THEORY entitled “The Vengeance Formulations.”

On the December 9th episode of COUGAR TOWN, Bill Lawrence repertory player Scott Foley strolls into town to play a very wealthy potential home buyer who feigns interest in an overpriced home in order to (successfully, by the looks of it) get Jules’ attention.

When BETTER OFF TED returns for an unexpected (albeit very welcome) second season, so to does the evil (albeit unintentionally hilarious) corporation that is Veridian Dynamics. A corporation that on December 8th will attempt to curb the cost of employee health benefits by genetically matching employees. A program we should mention the usually skeptical Linda will find herself, well digging, upon learning that her match is none other than Greg (played by special guest star Taye Diggs)

Good News: FOX has signed a deal with publisher Deep Silver to give PRISON BREAK the video game treatment. Bad News: Like the series itself, expect the game to start off on a high note, only to quickly fizzle out and frustrate viewers thanks to various implausible plot twists and a ridiculous story-line. [Source]

Good News: Tonight’s BETTER OFF TED season finale features a guest appearance by Twilight’s Rachel Lefevre. Bad News: Somebody forgot to alert ABC’s marketing department, who in turn neglected to inform the millions of Twihards. [Source]

Good News: You can watch the second-funniest new comedy of the Fall — COMMUNITY on facebook right now! Bad News: Unless of course you live outside of the US, and not before you’re prompted to spam your friends with an invitation to ‘Become a Fan’ of COMMUNITY. [Source]

NEW & NOTABLE:
AMERICA’S GOT TALENT (9PM NBC)
America may have talent, but do they have their very own version of Britain’s Susan Boyle? Tune in to tonight’s two-hour premiere and find out.

HAWTHORNE (9PM TNT)
Two episodes in and the Jada Pinkett-Smith vehicle is already pulling out the big guns. No, husband Will Smith isn’t dropping by, rather COSBY SHOW alum Malcolm-Jamal Warner guests as a brain-aneurysm patient who spirals into dementia.

NYC PREP (10PM Bravo)
Think GOSSIP GIRL unscripted when Bravo unveils a reality series revolving around Manhattan’s privileged prep-school elite. Who, we should probably warn you, are just as obnoxious, self-involved and unaware with regards to the world around them that they might as well be actual actors on a hit TV show.

HUGE UNBELIEVABLE BREAKING NEWS! Michael Ausiello (@EWAusielloFiles) just gave theTVaddict.com a huge shout-out on twitter by including us in his #followfriday alongside the unbelievably awesome @tvweek_joe @sepinwall @LATshowtracker and @tvguide.

What’s that? You were expecting actual television news, not ridiculous self-indulgent non-TV related announcements? Well, how’s this for must-read-TV: According to our new “Twitter-BFF” Ausiello, ABC has taken a page from FOX’s welcome new “Quality over Quantity” playbook (as demonstrated by their surprising DOLLHOUSE second season pick from earlier in the day) by renewing rating challenged fan favorites such as CASTLE, BETTER OFF TED and SCRUBS.

Also making headlines was the Alphabet’s pick up of Courteney Cox’s much buzzed about Bill Lawrence comedy COUGAR TOWN, the drama HAPPY TOWN (from the brains behind OCTOBER ROAD and LIFE ON MARS), the re-imagination of the 80’s Sci-Fi classic V, EASTWICK (an adaptation of the The Witches of Eastwick ) and the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced FORGOTTEN.

Don’t forget to stick with theTVaddict.com (@theTVaddict on twitter) for the latest up-to-date renewals, pickups, cancellations and scheduling announcements from next week’s 2009 Up Fronts. It’s gonna be one helluva exciting week. Stay tuned…

Apparently this TV Addict isn’t the only one who is slightly perturbed by President Obama’s continued insistence on interrupting our regularly scheduled programming for long and meandering speeches that could have easily been summed up like so, “America has tough times ahead.”

Meet Victor Fresco, creator of ABC’s BETTER OFF TED. Who in response to his critically acclaimed, yet ratings anemic series, has dedicated the latest Veridian Dynamics commercial to his thoughts on the matter (Veridian Dynamics being BETTER OFF TED’s fictional and morally bankrupt megacorporation that serves as the source of much of TED’s humor.)

Thanks to Deadline Hollywood Daily for the Tip!

BETTER OFF TED (8PM ABC, City in Canada)
What’s worse than Ted inadvertently deleting himself from Veridian’s system? How about ABC purposely deleted BETTER OF TED from their schedule.

AMERICAN IDOL (9PM FOX, CTV in Canada)
In between commercials, pointless banter, more commercials and the results (Lil’ Round, Anoop we hardly knew ye) Season 7 contestant David Archuleta performs.

NEW & NOTABLE:
LIE TO ME (8PM FOX, Global in Canada)
Proving that some actresses just can’t get let go of the L word, or at least shows that start with the letter “L”, Jennifer BEals drops by LIE TO ME as Cal’s ex-wife, an assistant U.S. attorney who hires him to get to the bottom of an arson case in which the victim accuses a childhood friend, who’s now a famous TV reporter, of burning down his house.

LOST (8PM FOX, “A” in Canada)
Even in repeats LOST manages to raise interesting questions. Questions like the mystery that has us wondering why we still get repeats of LOST when we were under the impression that the purpose of ABC holding off on LOST’s premiere until January was to avoid such pesky retrospectives (read: clip shows). We’re just sayin’

BETTER OFF TED (8:30PM ABC, CityTV in Canada)
If you’re a fan of this off-beat comedy, tune in while you can. Rumors are circulating that Ted will soon be dead (read: not better off) This week, Linda winds up accidentally ingesting an experimental drug that gives her a whole lotta energy… and comes with a few unexpected side effects.

AMERICAN IDOL (9PM FOX, CTV in Canada)
Can’t we just name Adam the winner and call it a day?

LOST (9PM ABC, “A” in Canada)
Ben is kidnapped from the Dharma village’s infirmary, which seems to indicate that the hostiles have paid the townies a visit. Frankly, I’m just glad that we’ve stopped hop-scotching through time, at least for the moment.

NEW & NOTABLE:
AMERICA’S NEXT TOP MODEL (8PM CW)
Dying to know where this year’s overseas location is? Tyra makes the big announcement at tonight’s judging session.

BONES (8PM FOX)
A bride-to-be winds up in the recycling bin, so Bones and Booth go digging through her dating history to find out who did her in.

THE UNUSUALS (10PM ABC)
In an action-packed outting, a notorious crime family stirs up all kinds of trouble, Shraeger digs into Walsh’s past and Cole’s former partner-in-crime pops up.

CSI: NY (10PM CBS, CTV in Canada)
Special Guest Star alert! Craig T. Nelson — you know, COACH! — plays a newspaper tycoon who may or may not have killed someone. The problem? The body is gone, forcing the CSI team to treat the investigation like a missing-person case as opposed to a murder.

SCRUBS (8PM ABC, CityTV in Canada)
Dr. Cox… wait, are we reading this right? Dr. Cox actually praises J.D.? Isn’t that a sign of the apocalypse?

BETTER OFF TED (8:30PM ABC, CityTV in Canada)
The company tries to create meatless beef in the laboratory. Quick, someone get us that “Where’s The Beef?” lady from the Wendy’s commercials on the line! She’s dead? Oh. Um, never mind.

LOST (9PM ABC, “A” in Canada)
Someone goes rogue and causes a whole lotta trouble for the others on the island. Based on the commercials that have been airing all week, I’m going with Sayid. He’s got “rogue troublemaker” written all over him.

NEW & NOTABLE:
SURVIVOR (8PM CBS)
Tonight’s episode is either a not-as-new-as-they’d-have-you-believe clipfest covering the first 15 days or a brand new episode. Commercials say one thing, listings say another. Guess you’ll have to tune in and find out!

AMERICA’S NEXT TOP MODEL (8PM CW)
Cycle 3’s Tocarra hosts a sleepover for this cycle’s contestants. Oh brother. Then, the ladies take part in a posing challenge before doing a shoot in which they go to Ellis Island and pretend to be immigrants. “Give us your poor, your tired, your super hot…”

CHOPPING BLOCK (8PM NBC)
I was just asking someone yesterday if this show had been cancelled. Apparently, the answer is “no.” Or at least “not yet.” Tonight, the chefs incorporate “natural foods” into their menus.

CRIMINAL MINDS (9PM CBS)
A serial arsonist terrorizes a small town. Wouldn’t it be cool if they did so while singing “City on fire!” ala the crazy woman in Sweeney Todd?

LIFE (9PM NBC)
A coroner’s death becomes particularly troublesome when the team realizes that a whole lot of other cases could be comprimised by the outcome of this particular one.

CSI: NY (10PM CBS)
Okay, when our pals over at howrudeareyou.com kevetched about people who live in America but don’t speak English, some thought they were out of line. But on tonight’s CSI, the investigation into a subway shooting is complicated by the fact none of the witnesses speak the language. So take that, naysayers!

LAW & ORDER (10PM NBC)
The investigation into the murder of a television reporter digs up dirty details about a messy love triangle. Anybody else notice how many of tonight’s shows involve murders? No wonder I’m depressed by the time I finish the Wednesday-night listings!

After a ringing endorsement from one of the country’s preeminent television critics, praise from one of my daily-must-read television blogs, not to mention an effusive tweet or two, you may be surprised to discover that this TV Addict’s initial reaction to last night’s series premiere of BETTER OFF TED can be summed up in one sentence: I would have been better off watching GARY UNMARRIED. 

Don’t get me wrong, TED has potential, After-all, it comes from the mind of Victor Fresco, the man who brought us the brilliant-but-cancelled ANDY RICHTER CONTROLS THE UNIVERSE. Unfortunately, the pilot lacked that one essential ingredient that not even the incredibly likable combo of stars Jay Harrington and Portia de Rossi could help overcome. That ingredient: The funny. 

Perhaps it’s as a result of the current economic crisis, where greedy and corrupt corporations simply aren’t nearly funny as they used to be. Or, that I spent the better portion of the show’s opening minutes debating in my mind how Ted’s employer Veridian Dynamics stacks up to that of FRINGE’s Massive Dynamics in the ‘evil’ department. But either way, I didn’t find the show nearly as funny as I thought I would. Did you?

As if this week’s years-in-development-million-dollar rebrand of NBC Universal’s Sci-Fi Channel to SyFy (a name that was coincidentally coined by friend of theTVaddict.com Michael Hinman over a decade ago) wasn’t evidence enough that Hollywood has officially run out of original ideas, check out these two eerily similar marketing campaigns for ABC’s new comedy BETTER OFF TED and ABC Family’s signature series GREEK. I can’t see the difference, can you?

Now that Lily has successfully eviscerated another one of Ted’s relationships on HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER, it’s time we asked special guest star Laura Prepon, “What were you thinking?” Your two episode stint as Karen, Ted’s snobby and pretentious college girlfriend was the very definition of a thankless role. In fact, outside of looking remarkably svelte next to co-stars Alyson Hannigan and Colby Smulders, both of whom are having one helluva time hiding their ever-expanding baby-bumps, we’re still scratching our head as to what exactly attracted you to the role.

And finally, with Entertainment Weekly reporting that Heather Locklear has done the expected and turned down the CW’s much-publicized plea offer to return to MELROSE PLACE, can the producers please move on, come to their senses and offer Laura Leighton the starring role Sydney so richly deserves.