You know how sometimes you see an actor or actress and they look so familiar, but you can't remember where you saw him or her, or what the TV show was? That's how I've been with the little boy who plays Brick on The Middle. His name is Atticus Shaffer, and since the ABC sitcom began this fall, I've been scratching my head over him. Where did I see him before?
Turns out that it was on a commercial for AIG. Yes, AIG, that huge insurance company that was a big part of the economic collapse. The company that was too big for America to let fail.
With the holidays fast approaching, it's good to know that Adult Swim is thinking of you. According to their online schedule, Aqua Teen Hunger Force will return on December 13th at 11:45 p.m. ET with an episode elusively referred to as "ATHF Xmas."
In true Adult Swim fashion, there's been absolutely no indication as to what this episode might be about, however it's likely that it somehow ties into the recently released Aqua Teen Hunger Force Christmas CD, Have Yourself a Meaty Little Christmas. If you haven't bought it yet, do yourself a favor and get it now. Trust me when I say that you haven't lived until you've heard Meatwad croon his own version of "Silent Night" or Carl cackle his way through "I'll Be Home for Christmas."
Anyway, regarding the episode, it's the only one listed on the schedule, so it's probably not the new season premiere, but it'll hopefully have some sort of performance aspect with songs from the album. That and maybe The Cybernetic Ghost of Christmas Past from the Future will show up. Please let the robot turkey be there.
(S05E08) Ah, Dave Foley. His sad sack Tom has been good for a laugh more than a few times, and he was used to good comic effect again this week. In the double blind-date scenario with Christine and Richard, his counterpart was the lovely Jennifer Grey, real-life wife to Clark Gregg.
The New Adventures of Old Christine is a rare comedy in that it can work in guest stars like this without it detracting from either the ongoing character moments, or taking the spotlight away from the main cast. Too often when a show gets deeper into its run, like Will & Grace in its final years, it becomes a cavalcade of celebrity guest-stars, as if the writers have run out of ways to keep things fresh with their own core group.
Christine has mixed things up just this season by breaking up Richard and New Christine and having Matthew move in with Richard in a swinging bachelor pad. And they shook it up again this week.
When you think of Brooke Shields, you think glamor and fashion and high style... Well, I do anyway. She's Suddenly Susan and one of the hot ladies on Lipstick Jungle. I do not think of her as a suburban mother of four in Orson, Indiana. However, that's exactly what she's going to be on an upcoming episode of ABC's sitcom The Middle.
As oxymoronic as it seems, I love the idea of Brooke on The Middle. She'll be going deep into the heart of the heartland to play a character who's supposed to be like Fran Heck, Patricia Heaton's character on The Middle. There's nothing as liberating for an actor as the chance to let loose and break the mold.
If all you know of Steve Coogan is Alan Partridge, the new Steve Coogan Collection might be a bit overwhelming for you. It's thirteen discs with eight different series, including Knowing Me, Knowing You, which introduced the character to television audiences, Knowing Me, Knowing Yule, the Christmas special, and two series of I'm Alan Partridge. That's five discs of Alan Partridge, which is always good news.
But there is plenty of good stuff on the other eight discs, a lot to discover for the Partridge-only crowd. Coogan has a wonderful talent for characters, and this Collection is full of them. There are three discs of the Saxondale series, in which Coogan plays Tommy Saxondale, an ex-roadie who has cleaned up and started an exterminator business.
The second funniest guy on The Daily Show named John is finally getting his own corner of Comedy Central's airspace.
John Oliver has been tapped by the network to do a six part stand-up series cleverly titled John Oliver's New York Stand-Up Show. The specials will feature Oliver's signature stand-up as well as performances from his personal favorite comedians including Janeane Garofalo, Brian Posehn, Paul F. Tompkins and fellow Daily Show correspondent Kristen Schaal.
This is bound to be a real treat. If you haven't seen Oliver's stand-up either in person or from the comfort of your living room, you are missing out on some quality, edgy satire. His first special, Terrifying Times, was a real eye opener on American culture, politics and media. It should have been by the CIA as evidence to put Domino's on the "no fly" list (if you saw his special, that makes more sense, sort of).
But I'd give a month's pay from TV Squad (so, like $6.50) if I could build a time machine, change myself into a fly, stick myself to a wall in the network offices of CBS, and hear the pitch meeting for this show. I know it's not likely to happen, but there's no harm in dreaming.
Hey there gentle TV Squad reader! Have you got nothing but time on your hands right now? Do you need a healthy activity to occupy your time? Have you completely lost the will to go on living? Then put down that suicide cocktail and pick a pen or pencil for this "Kramer Counting" challenge!
Someone at Funnyordie.com has compiled all of Cosmo Kramer's entrances from all 174 episodes of Seinfeld into one viral video. I've tried counting them and got three different totals on three different tries. See if you can count the number of entrances. As an added challenge, the only rule I made for myself is that they must include the actual Kramer played by Michael Richards coming through the door, not the guy playing Kramer on Jerry's show-within-a-show, Jerry. I also counted scenes where someone is opening the door for Kramer but not the final scene were Kramer is running out the door.
I gave up during the fourth try since my eyes completely melted out of their sockets, a sign that I should really stop doing something. The same thing happened when I tried to do a review of Michael Strahan's Brothers.
The sudden and shocking of passing of TV writer, producer and host Ken Ober turned a lot of heads. Here's one of Ober's head (ahem) getting turned, for a change.
Collin Quinn, Ober's longtime friend and Remote Controlco-host, posted a hilarious picture on his Twitter page of himself, Ober and the uber-cute Kari Wuhrer on the set of their equally hilarious game show.
I'm tempted to let Bob use this for our weekly Subtle Subtitles post, but am worried the funniest of the comments will get us banned from every library in the country assuming, of course, that reading is still going on in America's libraries.
So this is the 9,327th article that has been written about a possible Friends reunion. A lot of fans would like to see one but it seems that there have always been one or two holdouts that are preventing a reunion from taking place. But those holdouts might not be the actors themselves.
Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe) tells US that a reunion, whether on TV or on the big-screen, will probably never happen because the creators (Marta Kauffmann and David Crane) don't think it's a good idea. Kudrow isn't sure how a reunion would work anyway, but she seems to be up for it if they can do something interesting.
Would you want to see a reunion? Friends is one of my favorite shows, but I'm wondering how they could do a reunion. Would it be the same without the old set (Monica and Chandler bought a house and Joey moved out to L.A. to...well...star in a short-lived sitcom)? They'd have to get Central Perk in there somehow.
Before The Simpsons begat Futurama, current executive producer of The Simspons Al Jean, along with Mike Reiss, created a short-lived animated series about a film critic who hated almost every film he ever saw.
Starring Jon Lovitz in some brilliant voice work, The Critic ran through two networks in two seasons. Like Futurama and Family Guy, it found some success with reruns on cable -- in this case, Comedy Central -- and a subsequent DVD release. But unlike those series, The Critic remains but a distant memory.
(S07E08) Last week, I wasn't thrilled with the CBS Monday night sitcom schedule. In fact, I thought all four shows were a bit off, and more than a few readers thought I was off the rails for speaking my mind. Fortunately -- for me -- this week's shows were back on track and I have only good things to say. That's especially true about Two and a Half Men. Seven years into the show, an episode like this one stands out as very original and really funny.
This was also the episode in which Battlestar Galactica's Tricia Helfer guested as Chelsea's old college roommate. That's not a spoiler; that's in the picture. More about the show -- including spoilers -- after the jump.
Chris Rock has the kind of status as a comedian that allows him to work on any project he wants. He produced the documentary Good Hair, he's writing a book, and he has been working on back-to-back film shoots.
Tuesday at 8 PM on NBC, you'll hear his voice in Merry Madagascar, playing Marty the zebra for the third time, along with returning regulars Ben Stiller, David Schwimmer, and Jada Pinkett Smith. He's confident it's not the last time he'll voice Marty, either, with Madagascar 3 in the works.
So why does a guy who can do anything he wants spend time in front of a microphone pretending to be a cartoon animal?
"Money," he says jokingly, speaking on a conference call on Wednesday. "No, no they're good. You realize as you get longer in this business, the only thing that keeps you working is doing good stuff. You know, I mean the box office is great, too, but if people don't like what you do the moment the box office isn't fair, they don't want to work with you anymore."
(S0308) "For someone who loves women so much, you sure don't understand them very well." - Jackie to Hank
Hank makes for an interesting character because there is never one single, solitary way of looking at him. Some people see this alcoholic horndog as a success while others look at his cavalier exterior and think of him as an utter failure. He's certainly one of the most complex characters on television for a guy who has one thing on his mind, two depending on how much booze is in the house.
So naturally all of his bad decisions and mistakes will come back to haunt him, and this week, he got hit with them all at once in a bizarre clusterf#$% of sheer craziness. It's as if a tornado of tail just leveled Hank's house and life in the process.
Are you still losing sleep over FOX's unsurprising yet tragic cancellation of Josh Joss Whedon's Dollhouse? This may be the melatonin you need.
CollegeHumor has uncovered the true reason FOX nixed the action drama from its airwaves. It needed more room for more Seth MacFarlane cartoons about pop-culture spewing families with anthropomorphic pets and American Idol. I never thought I'd long for the good ol' days was Fox was known for quality programming like Bad Orderlies Caught on Tape 2 and When Lawn Equipment Goes Screwy 4.
You know how sometimes you see an actor or actress and they look so familiar, but you can't remember where you saw him or her, or what the TV show was? That's how I've been with the little boy who plays Brick on The Middle. His name is Atticus Shaffer, and since the ABC sitcom began this fall, I've been scratching my head over him. Where did I see him before? 
With the holidays fast approaching, it's good to know that Adult Swim is thinking of you. According to their online schedule, 
(S05E08) Ah, Dave Foley. His sad sack Tom has been good for a laugh more than a few times, and he was used to good comic effect again this week. In the double blind-date scenario with Christine and Richard, his counterpart was the lovely Jennifer Grey, real-life wife to Clark Gregg.
When you think of 
If all you know of Steve Coogan is Alan Partridge, the new Steve Coogan Collection might be a bit overwhelming for you. It's thirteen discs with eight different series, including Knowing Me, Knowing You, which introduced the character to television audiences, Knowing Me, Knowing Yule, the Christmas special, and two series of I'm Alan Partridge. That's five discs of Alan Partridge, which is always good news. 
The second funniest guy on The Daily Show named John is finally getting his own corner of Comedy Central's airspace. 
I admit there's nothing topical about a post on Hogan's Heroes, but any day is a good day to sit and wonder how this show got on the air.
The sudden and shocking of passing of TV writer, producer and host 
So this is the 9,327th article that has been written about a possible Friends reunion. A lot of fans would like to see one but it seems that there have always been one or two holdouts that are preventing a reunion from taking place. But those holdouts might not be the actors themselves.
Chris Rock has the kind of status as a comedian that allows him to work on any project he wants. He produced the documentary Good Hair, he's writing a book, and he has been working on back-to-back film shoots. 
Mike Henry and Daryl Hall on a Cleveland Show Thanksgiving
The TV Squad Podcast: The Prisoner, '80s TV, soap news and more
Let's talk about spoilers ...
