TVSquad

It's coming. The table is set, the players are on the field, the sails are raised, and the pretty maids are all in a row. Of course, I speak of the 2008-09 television schedule. In just a few short weeks viewers will be able to dine on a number of favorite and new dishes that are being served by the networks as well as the increasing number of cable channels who are delving into original programming.

While other fall seasons have come and gone with nary a whimper, this season may be different. Due to the prolonged Writers Strike many shows ended their seasons quite early. Programs like Life, Private Practice, Pushing Daisies, and Heroes haven't aired original episodes since the end of 2007. Heck, there hasn't been a new episode of The Shield since June of last year! So, the beginning of the 2008-09 season will be a second chance for some of these shows, particularly the ones that premiered last season, to show their worth to fans and the networks.

There are only so many hours of television I can fit in a day, so I'm picky and particular about what I watch. Chuck is one of those shows that I watched early last season, I liked it, but for reasons I can't think of, it didn't make the cut. Seeing as it was good enough and is clearly popular enough to have a second season, with the first season DVDs out in a couple of months, I may have to do some catching up and find a way to fit it in.

This session was great for fans of the show, as the first five minutes or so were filled with a video montage of scenes from next season. I'll describe some of those scenes in my summary below, but I'll start them off with SPOILER in case you don't want to know.

Today was the very last day of the press tour here in Beverly Hills. It was "TCA Day," with members of the association (including me) going to the Warner Brothers lot to visit the sets of ER, Pushing Daisies, and Chuck, where we spoke to cast members and producers (Oh, we went to the set of America's Best Dance Crew, but let's just forget I mentioned that one). Then we bused it over to the Fox lot, where Joss Whedon showed us around the set of Dollhouse, and the entire cast of King of the Hill gave a table read of their 250th episode. All this fun will be in upcoming posts later this summer.

Despite some of the griping you may have seen from me, it's been lots of fun. It's just a very tiring experience. Case in point: On Monday, NBC decided to close out the press conference portion of the tour by having us sit through ten panels, five of them after lunch. Here's a wrap-up post that goes over some of what went on yesterday that I haven't already covered.

No, it's not another lamentation about those overlooked shows that really do deserve a DVD set, but just can't seem to get them. I've grown accustomed to having Bob's weekly DVD release post arrive like a slap in the face as Beggars and Choosers is not on it, again. Instead, this is about those shows that do get their DVD set, but are late for no good reason at all. At least, not one that I can come up with.

I started thinking about it last week as I was talking with a friend and we were watching the Hellboy/Chuck promo. She commented that she really should start watching Chuck. In full agreement, I quickly pointed her to the Chuck page on Hulu. But wait, there are only three episodes available on Hulu. I guessed that it must be because they don't want streaming to cannibalize DVD sales. So I headed to Amazon. Chuck isn't out on DVD until September 16th. What the hell?

Saturday -- a time of rest and relaxation. A time to put your feet up, grab a lemonade, open a book, and let the cool, summer breezes gently rock your hammock as a lazy July day passes. Of course, that's if you aren't attending the San Diego Comic-Con. Then, it's out of your bed, quick shower (if any), breakfast-on-the-go, and right back into the queues to see your particular favorites talking about their television shows.

Like Friday, Saturday at Comic-Con will be packed with television goodness. This is the day that many of the big guns come to play. Shows like The Office, Lost, Battlestar Galactica will be making appearances. They will be joined by newcomers Chuck, Dollhouse, and Pushing Daisies. There will even be an appearance by the recently single Sarah Silverman. There's also a good bit of television animation being featured, particularly by Nicktoons and B.E.T. Animation.

In order to make sure you get the most out of the money you paid to get into the convention, we here at TV Squad are providing you with a complete list of television-related panels for that day. If you are interested in seeing what else is going on July 25th you can review the official full schedule at the Comic-Con website. Remember, times and appearances are subject to change and seating in all event rooms is on a first-come, first-serve basis.

It looks like the television show Chuck has scored another famous guest-star. Jordana Brewster will be appearing on the show for a minimum of three episodes in a pivotal role for the main character.

Brewster will play Jill, the college girlfriend who broke Chuck's heart by sleeping with his best friend Bryce Larkin. Bryce later went on to send Chuck an e-mail that put a lot of sensitive data in his head which became the show's premise.

Anyone who's followed the NFL over the last fifteen years knew what Michael Strahan's plans were going to be after retirement: TV, TV and more TV. It was a given; during most of his career with the Giants, Strahan loved to be in front of the camera, and often did commentary and studio gigs on his off-weeks or during the playoffs.

Now, with a Super Bowl ring in-hand, the newly-retired defensive end is making his move. Not only has he joined the FOX NFL pregame show, but he also just completed filming a cameo on the NBC geek adventure comedy Chuck. He plays Mitt, the manager of the sporting goods store that's in the same shopping center as Buy More, the store where Chuck works. He and his crew take over the home theater portion of the store during lunchtimes, playing Madden '09 and making a mess. My guess is that we'll set up a geeks vs. jocks scenario with retail being the venue, instead of the locker room.

This fall Special Agent Sarah Walker will get a blast from the past as she attends her ten-year high school reunion and comes face-to-face with her old nemesis. Nicole Richie will play a spiteful and sarcastic character who tortured the special agent for years. Sarah Walker has to go to the reunion for a mission; her date, of course, is Chuck.

Executive producer Josh Schwartz says Nicole Richie is actually quite funny: "Nicole auditioned for the part and was very funny. This role is a great opportunity for her to show off her comedic skills and be diabolically evil and kick some butt."

Or Chuck, or Pushing Daisies, or Private Practice for that matter. With the announcement that FOX was going to offer a marathon of The Sarah Connor Chronicles starting on August 10th I got to wondering about the other freshman shows that made an impression on viewers before the Writers Strike abruptly ended their seasons. Many of these shows haven't been seen since the end of last year.

For Life, the last original episode to air was December 5th. With the second season premiere slated to air during the first week of October, it will be nearly a year since viewers had a chance to bond with Detectives Charlie Crews and Dani Reese. That's a bit of a concern when it comes to this show. On the surface Life is a criminal procedural. However, underneath there has been an second story about Charlie's quest to clear his good name for a murder he didn't commit. While the first arc of this story was completed in its "season finale," there is plenty of story to tell.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Tony Hale, who played Buster on Arrested Development, has signed on to two second-year series to play recurring roles. On Chuck, Hale will play Emmett, an efficiency expert sent in by Buy More who stays on as the store's assistant manager after he sees how poorly the store is being run (which is going to happen when one of your techs and one of your salespeople work for government agencies). On Samantha Who?, Hale will play Samantha's new doctor, Andy Adams.

I'm pretty sure neither role will be as funny as Hale's turn as Buster, the hook-handed soldier / mama's boy that was always one of my favorite AD characters. But, hey, an actor's gotta work, and Hale picked two pretty good shows to work on. By the way, right at the top of Hale's IMDb profile are some of the sweetest words I've read all month: "Arrested Development (2009) (announced) .... Byron 'Buster' Bluth"

[via Pop Candy]

As we told you last week, RedEye is in the middle of their annual Best Character on Television tournament, and now we're into the second round. It looks like some strong favorites have emerged, while some fan favorites have been voted off the island.

That wouldn't include Don Draper from Mad Men (who lost to Jermaine and Bret from from Flight of the Conchords), Morgan Grimes from Chuck (who lost to Michael Scott from The Office), or Captain Jack Harkness from Torchwood. He actually lost to Herbert from Family Guy. That has to be embarrassing.

As part of yesterday's fall schedule announcement, NBC also debuted its plans for online content. Beginning this summer, NBC will produce short, original episodes -- webisodes -- of The Office, Chuck, and Heroes. NBC isn't saying much about what these webisodes will entail, but NBC Universal co-chair Ben Silverman promises they'll be meaty. He said the new WGA contract allows NBC writers to go all-out with the work, without wondering whether they're being fairly compensated.

You may remember The Office did a series of webisodes in 2006 called The Accountants, where several of the co-stars investigated missing account money. It even won a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Broadband. This July's webisodes are essentially a renewal of that series.

Battlestar Galactica has one. So does Supernatural, Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, and Angel. Even the newest incarnation of Doctor Who has one as of January. What do these shows have, besides a huge fan following? They all have their own comic books which take place during the current run of the series or continue the story where shows ended their run. And now, NBC's action-comedy Chuck will be joining the ranks of the small screen in small print.

The Chuck comic book, which will be created by DC Comics imprint WildStorm, will follow Mr. Bartowski and his Nerd Herd and secret agent pals in a series of worldwide adventures that producers of the television show just don't have the budget for. Being a comic book you can probably expect some cliffhanger endings, bigger special effects, and Chuck to gain some mutant powers.

The comic book series will be available starting June 11th.

[via PopCandy]

When I posted about CBS's post strike announcement, I said it would be great if the other networks followed the Eye's lead. Well, almost as soon as I hit "Publish" on that post, NBC came out with two press releases discussing some of their post-strike plans.

The first release confirms what we had been guessing at since we got the news of the settlement: Chuck, Life and Heroes have all been picked up for 2008-09, but none of the shows will return until the fall. The second release discusses the return dates of several shows (list after the jump). It's not as helpful as CBS's release because it doesn't tell us how many episodes are left (so, for all we know, we'll see the Scrubs conclusion on DVD, as Bill Lawrence told Mike Ausiello). But at least we know when all of these shows are coming back -- April 10 seems to be the big day for fans of 30 Rock and The Office, for example.

Now we have FOX, CW, and ABC left. Think they're going to step up to the plate soon?

(S01E13) Breast. Opening. Ever! Okay seriously, I was a little surprised at how blatantly they were just staring, and recording, close-ups of cleavage in the opening. Isn't this American television? The home of the prude boob(less) tube? But leave it to those crafty Chuck writers to make this seeming incongruous, and gratuitous, scene an integral part of the plot later on.

The NBC promo machine, while not only splicing in cute little ad-libbed (I'm guessing here) bits with the actors, promised more new episodes of Chuck "Coming Soon." Well, I don't know how they define soon, but considering there are no more episodes written and the writers are still on strike as of this writing, it looks like their soon is my later.