The resurgence of PARKS AND RECREATION continued last night with a hilarious Halloween themed instalment that had Amy Poehler’s Leslie Knope matching wits with 15-year old teenage hooligan named Greg Pikitis. Not only did Pikitis — or as we’re calling him, the most diabolical teenaged vandal since the heydays of one Bart Simpson — provide for an eerily perfect foil for Knope, his shenanigans managed to give hilarious co-stars Louis CK and Chris Pratt some much deserved time in the spotlight. So much so that we’re really hoping this little trick-or-treat-battle-of-wits becomes a PARKS AND RECREATION annual tradition.

Putting aside the fact that this TV Addict is fairly confident I’m the only person in North America who didn’t know who Jeff Dunham was until last night, nobody does road trips like 30 ROCK. Be it a plane trip with hallucinogenic Oprah, Liz’s High School reunion or last night’s talent search that had Liz and Jack travelling to Kenneth’s home-town of ‘Small Town USA,’ last night’s 30 ROCK was a barrel of laughs. With bonus points for an always hilarious Jenna spoiling five season of LOST mythology mere months before all will be revealed, “You know, I met J.J. Abrams once. And I don’t know what this means, but he said the island is just Hurley’s dream.”

And speaking of LOST, if it’s wrong to be this excited for a fifteen second trailer featuring absolutely no new footage, I don’t want to be right.

Thank to yet another stellar outing, this TV Addict is officially ready to crown 90210 the season’s most improved player. But in lieu of a crown — which alas, this little-blog-that-could most definitely can’t afford — we hope the CW and new showrunner Rebecca Rand Kirshner Sinclair will accept something far more valuable: A mea culpa. After-all, when we’re wrong, we’re wrong. Which is why we’re willing to admit that in-spite of stars Annalynne McCord and Trevor Donovan looking like they’re 17 going on 30, we currently find ourselves growing surprisingly attached to them both. Particularly McCord, whose desperate attempt to weasel her way into California University last night by morphing from Naomi Clark into Naomi Klein had us in stitches. Meanwhile, Shenae Grimes’ Annie Mills is not only far less annoying this season, she has us genuinely concerned for her safety. And by that we mean, is it possible for new friend Jasper to give off anymore of a creepy Beaver Cassidy Casablancas Neptune High circa 2006 vibe? (RIP: VERONICA MARS) Call us crazy, but we’re starting to wonder if Jasper’s Uncle may have been dead before Annie drove away from her personal prom nightmare!

And while we’re on the subject of killing, it’s killing this TV Addict that more of you aren’t jumping on the MELROSE PLACE bandwagon. Do you know how embarrassed Ella must feel knowing that a mere 1.6 million of you showed up to her birthday last night. What’s worse, only 900,000 advertiser friendly good-looking 18-49 years old bothered to attend? Which means the millions of you that weren’t nodding off to NCIS: LOS ANGELES missed: A very revealing flashback that had a thoughtful and caring Sydney Andrews take a young and naive Ella Simms under her wing (Or as Syd put it, from Uggs to Manolos!), an increasingly adorable Riley and Jonah and most exciting of all, med student/lady-of-the-night Lauren Yang get in bed (Not literally of course, that desperate storyline has already been reserved for HEROES) with Hollywood Madame Wendi (Played by who else.. NIP/TUCK’s Kelly Carlson). It was a hoot (and kinda hawt), so why not drop by next Tuesday at 9PM on the CW (10PM on GlobalTV in Canada)

And finally, in this world of Lindsays, Britneys and that freaky youngest brother from HOME IMPROVEMENT, it’s nice to know that not all child stars go bad. Which is why it was such a treat to see Spencer Treat Clark (Gladiator, Unbreakable, Mystic River) doing a fine job playing a murder suspect on last night’s GOOD WIFE. Take note young cast members of MODERN FAMILY and THE MIDDLE. Not all roads have to lead to VH1’s CELEBRITY REHAB.

Question: Which show made better use of yours (okay, our) iTunes collection? Cameron’s over-the-top presentation of adoptive baby Lily to his ‘Modern Family’ with a little help from The Lion King’s “Circle of Life” or Kurt’s GLEE-ful game-winning field goal to the tune of Beyonce’s ‘Single Ladies?’

And speaking of ‘Sophie’s Choice,’ can Congress not put aside the whole pesky health-care thing and get their act together crafting a bill that really matters. You know, like the one that we’d like to propose, banning networks (Yes, we’re talking to you ABC and FOX) from putting their two strongest offerings (MODERN FAMILY and GLEE) on the same night at the exact time. I mean seriously, WTF?! (Which we learned yesterday thanks to our new favorite clueless hipster dad Phil (MODERN FAMILY’s Ty Burrell) means, “Why the Face?!”)

Having not had the chance to check in with MERCY yet, now’s your chance to be the critic. Was it as the promos would have us believe, GREY’S ANATOMY with nurses. Or should it mercifully be put down, having arrived D.O.A?

And finally, have you pieced together which fictional small Connecticut town EASTWICK takes place in? (Hint: The town square’s magical water-fountain is your first clue.)

Having seen tonight’s GLEE in advance, all I will say is this: Watch it. You will laugh. You will cry. You’ll thank me.

 
There is something so wonderfully cheesy about MY ANTONIO that I can’t look away… and I’ve tried. Oh, how I’ve tried. For one thing, it has to be the most gorgeously filmed reality show in history, making the most of its lush Hawaiian setting not to mention the chiseled landscape of the hunk around whom it revolves, model-turned-actor Antonio Sabato Jr. Better still, it’s cheese on a stick with not a single moment feeling at all real thanks in large part to the star’s ex-wife, Tully, being “unexpectedly” thrown into the mix and the number of women apparently cast for no reason other than their unbalanced natures and potential for drama. Weirdly, what makes the whole thing work is the seeming sincerity of the man around whom all this drama swirls. Sure, he’s an actor… but he was never this good of one! And besides, anyone who doesn’t melt the second he flashes those gorgeous dimples is probably dead inside.

While Robert Knepper’s ‘King of the Carnival’ certainly piqued our interest, and Claire giving it the ol’ college try had us intrigued, Hiro and Ando’s ‘Dial a Hero’ had us dialing another channel… RIP HEROES.

Neil Patrick Harris was robbed! Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, there really isn’t that much else to say about last night’s HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER season premiere. After-all, it comes as little surprise that Barney has a ‘whip guy,’ or that we’re already in love with Robin and Barney together. Which is why, we’ll leave you with the following. A message if you will, to all those shows (*cough*cough*HOUSE*cough*BONES*cough*) who are terrified of putting their will-they-or-won’t-they couples together for fear that it will destroy their show and/or possibly cause a rift in some sort of time and space continuum… Allow us to present an argument for doing so: Marshall and Lilly, happily married remain one of television’s best twosomes. Oh yeah… you’ve been lawyered!

When it comes to THE BIG BANG THEORY we’re willing to accept a whole lotta crazy. Sheldon running off to his Mom upon discovering that his North Pole possé completely duped him into thinking he had discovered some sort of Nobel-winning-paradigm-shift makes total sense. Wolowitz donning a red cowboy hat to better fit into his southern Texas surrounding and to match his red turtleneck, ditto. But Penny and Leonard together, in the biblical sense? Sorry, not buying it. Seriously. Creators Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady can keep trying, but we will never buy into your bizarro version of Ross and Rachel because deep down inside, you know the truth: Penny is meant to be with Sheldon. (Exhibit A: Did you see how quickly she rushed to his bedside (again!) to console him?)

Geez, EARTH 2100 — the two hour special ABC aired last night — was a major downer, huh? Sure, they offered up a little hope toward the end… but by then, most viewers were probably begging for mercy!
 
THE BIG BANG THEORY is one of the few currently-airing comedies that I find myself watching in reruns, even if the episode being shown aired only a month or two ago. And not only do I watch, but I laugh just as hard as the first time.

First, to Showtime president of entertainment Bob Greenblatt. I know you’re real excited about that spin-off of THE L-WORD that may or may not get the go-ahead (the pilot is only now being edited). But agreeing with reporters that it sounds like “a female OZ” why not give credit where credit is due and admit that it sounds like a PRISONER CELL BLOCK H ripoff… er, homage.

iFMAGAZINE.COM is reporting that former JERICHO executive producer Jon Turteltaub is developing a big-screen flick around the twice-failed series. I don’t want to call the man delusional, but he thinks if reruns of the series on the CW are “like this remarkable success”, it might get another shot at life on a network. And did we mention he’s developing a feature film? Dude, give it up.

New York’s Daily News says that by adding judge Kara Dioguardia, AMERICAN IDOL has “finally found its mean girl.” Yeah, cause that’s what the show needed. To be meaner.

PRISON BREAK’s executive producer told Entertainment Weekly that they were ending the show because nobody wanted it to “become a parody of itself.” Um, too late.

Word has it Michael Cera is holding up the ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT movie. Seriously? I see a fatal corn-baller accident in George Michael’s future.

To the folks at ABC who filled last night’s LOST-fest with such “fascinating” tidbits as “This is Claire.” or my personal favorite, which told us who the Oceanic Six were… as they were on screen, as if we weren’t smart enough to put the pieces together… there’s mentoring and then there’s treating us like short-bus riders.

In the least shocking news ever, CBS president Nina Tassler told reporters this week that SWINGTOWN is, in the words of those famous munchkins, really, most sincerely dead. “The show was well executed, it was well received, the performances were great, the writing was great,” she said to the gathered journalists as reported by Entertainment Weekly’s Michael Ausiello. And given all those facts, gee, we can see why they cancelled the show. Nina, next time people take shots at your network for airing 15 procedurals, know that this is why. Oh, and know that when we say “people” we mean us, your friends at thetvaddict.com.

I’d like to get excited about the fact that ONE TREE HILL creator Mark Schwahn is in negotiations to head up the new incarnation of MELROSE PLACE… but let’s not forget that it wasn’t all that long ago that VERONICA MARS mastermind Rob Thomas was being talked about as the man who would update 90210. Wonder if that show would be better if he’d actually stuck around that zip code? In any case, I’m of two minds where the Schwahn/MP talk is concerned. On the one hand, TREE HILL is one of my favorite guilty pleasures, which is pretty much all I want out of a new versionof MELROSE PLACE. On the other hand, um, doesn’t the fact that TREE HILL is so great kind of negate the need for MELROSE? Especially since Schwahn would, like Thomas, only have him penning the initial script before handing the whole thing over to someone else. And by “someone else” we mean people far less talented. Like those writing 90210 now.

So AMERICAN IDOL is pulling the plug on IDOL GIVES BACK because the economy is in the toilet? Isn’t that rather like not feeding a bulimic because they’ll just vomit it up anyway? Oh, and don’t worry about those pesky rumors that the judges will be nicer this season. Executive producer Ken Warwick tells USA TODAY the comments of the judges (read: Simon) won’t be softened. “If they’re mean, they’re mean.” When the producer says he will “do his best to offset” the drop in ratings, why do I hear, “Simon will be meaner, we’ll feature more folks who can’t sing and don’t be surprised if we do a special tribute to Paula’s dead stalker!”

To the people getting their panties in a wad about SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE making fun of New York’s (blind) Governor Patterson: Lighten up! Then again, I was probably the only person laughing back in 1991, when GOOD & EVIL — a not-particularly funny sitcom from Susan Harris (of SOAP and GOLDEN GIRLS fame) starring Terri Garr and margaret Whitton — featured a blind character who broke, fell on or felt up every object he came into contact with.

I was a little disturbed by his week’s episode of THE OFFICE, in which the staff had an intervention for Meredith after she accidentally lit her hair on fire during the annual Christmas bash. Not because I thought it was over the top and uncomfortable… heck, that’s what THE OFFICE does on a weekly basis. But more importantly, it just wasn’t very funny. There were moments, but most didn’t involve the actual intervention. (Although Kevin pointing out how Meredith’s drinking had impacted him in a positive way was pretty fantastic.)

NBC has decided to dispense with original programming in the 10 p.m. slot five nights a week in favor of a Jay Leno-hosted chatfest. Many nights, you’re more likely to find a reality show than a scripted program on at least two of the five major nets. Same-week reruns liter the schedule. And quality programming — think DAMAGES, TRUE BLOOD or RESCUE ME — are more likely to be found on cable.

Worse, many of their upcoming offerings stink of flop-sweat. Take MOMMA’S BOYS. Please. Take it, and don’t come back. Or the latest incarnation of THE BACHELOR, in which a single dad seems ready to turn his son’s future well-being into fodder for a reality show on which past contestants have exhibited truly attrocious behavior.

Across the board, network numbers are down. But perhaps they have only themselves to blame. After all, they’re making it easier and easier for us to watch the shows they’re offering at our leisure. We can watch on-line, or wait until the end of the season and purchase the shows on DVD. We can cruise on over to iTunes, or Hulu.com or AOLvideo.com or… well, you get the picture. Suddenly, Must-See TV has morphed into Will-See-When-I-Get-Around-To-It TV. And of course, the current ratings system is tragically flawed, perhaps broken beyond repair.

In this struggling economy, when more people are staying close to home and turning to their televisions for cheap entertainment, shouldn’t the networks be responding with original programming as opposed to reruns and reality? Are we really going to settle for BAD GIRLS CLUB and A DOUBLE SHOT OF LOVE, or will we instead use our televisions to play the latest Wii game?

In the end, that’s up to the networks. If they show it — and “it” is worthwhile programming — we will watch. Heck, if ACCORDING TO JIM proves anything, it’s that we’re not necessarly even going to hold the networks to the whole “worthwhile” thing.

Is there anything worse than seeing a show you love go down the tubes? Last season, I became disapointed in UGLY BETTY, which seemed to have lost its way and, even worse, its heart. But if Thursday night’s third-season premiere was any indication, I may eventually look fondly back on BETTY’s sophomore slump. Why? Because once again, our heroine — who during the sublime debut season was the voice of reason in a world gone mad — is back to acting like… well, the lead in a very bad sitcom. In one episode, she bought an apartment sight-unseen, engaged in a childish food fight and somehow wound up riding a motorcycle into a pool of bikini-glad women. Worse, she wasn’t the only one to act completely out of character. Sorry, but Hilda has far too much respect for her father and son to have sex on the living room couch… even if it is with uber-hot Eddie Cibrian. Heck, even Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa were possessed by behavior-modifying pod people as they always fawning hosts trash-talked the Meade family and their new publication. Yeah, that’d happen. As the hour came to a close, I looked forward to one of the cliffhangers the show was once known for… only to get Betty dancing ala every female on GREY’S ANATOMY after meeting her cute neighbor… who, I’m guessing, is supposed to make me forget about Henry and Gino. Apparently, investing in that whole triangle was a big ol’ waste of my time. If this episode was a sign of things to come, I’m not hopeful about the new season.(Although i would urge them to sign Lindsay Lohan to more episodes, as she was a surprisingly delightful bright spot as Betty’s high-school nemesis, Kimberly.)

I’ll admit that last season, LIPSTICK JUNGLE somehow became something of a guilty pleasure for me. I hated myself for liking it because, well, frankly, I couldn’t explain exactly what I liked about it. Looks like I came to my senses over the summer, because I can freely admit that this week’s season two premiere was pure crap. Looks Like I have a free hour on my schedule. Any suggestions for a replacement?

I was instant messaging with a friend last night when she reminded me it was time for ER. “So you’re the person who they’re still making that show for!” I responded before reluctantly agreeing to tune into the medical drama I hadn’t actually watched in years. Nothing much has changed in my absence… which is both a good thing and a bad thing. Like the various LAW & ORDER offerings, ER is obviously a show that keeps on truckin’ no matter which actors come and go. But rather like what one gets when cloning something (at least in bad sci-fi flicks), the further you get from the original the more flaws begin showing. In this case, it’s just all sort of… well, to use hospital terminology, antiseptic. Everyone is going through the motions, but they’re not doing anything we haven’t seen a thousand times before. Even the gory demise of Mekhi Phifer’s Pratt had a “been there, done that” feel. But that could be the result of an emotional distance brought about by my years away from the show. I kept waiting for familiar faces from the past to walk across the screen, and when it did… it was Sam Jones III of SMALLVILLE fame. I assume that I’ll check back into County General for the final episode next May, but it’ll be more out of curiosity than anything else.

Just so you don’t think I hate absolutely everything being broadcast across the airwaves, I have two new favorites… one of which just got an early second-season pick-up, the other of which is being predicted in some quarters as the fall’s first cancellation. HBO’s vampire series TRUE BLOOD appeals to me on every level… the leads have the kind of chemistry that gets the blood pumping, the cast is spot-on (with Lois Smith a standout as our heroine’s grandmother, Adel), and the whole thing nails southern gothic so well that you half expect to find moss hanging from your television after each episode ends. And then there’s my other new fav, WORST WEEK. Although I was ready to boycott the show based on nothing more than the fact that I was sick and tired of seeing the star’s diaper-clad ass everywhere I looked, a friend claimed it was the best pilot of the season. From what I’ve seen of the competition so far, they were right: Newcomer Kyle Bornheimer’s Sam is the perfect combination of goofy and charming, and anyone who has ever seen THAT 70′S SHOW knows that nobody does stern disapproval better than Kurtwood Smith, who plays Sam’s soon-to-be father-in-law. This is flat-out farce, which ain’t easy to pull off… but this show does it beautifully. Here’s hoping that like TRUE BLOOD, which debuted to awful numbers but saw a 25 percent increase in week two (which bought it that previously mentioned second season), WORST WEEK will see a major boost for its next episode.