Trick or Ep Title

Trick. Treat. Trick. Treat.

Treat, please!

I can't wait for tomorrow when Halloween candy goes on sale. It's my second favorite candy day of the year. The Monday after Easter is my favorite candy day.

Since it's Halloween, I thought I'd present ep titles that reference the words you'll hear all night on your front step — "Trick or Treat."

• Trick and Treat (''Soul Man,'' 10/28/1997)
• Trick or Cheat (''Dinosaucers'')
• Trick or Retreat (''Roland and Rattfink'')
• Trick or Retreat (''Murphy Brown,'' 2/26/1996)
• Trick or Techrat (''Jem,'' 10/30/1987)
• Trick or Treachery (''Spider-Man'')
• Trick or Treason (''The Dupont Show of the Week,'' 12/17/1961)
• Trick or Treat Me Right (''George Lopez,'' 10/26/2005)
• Trick or Treatment (''Fearless Fly'')
• Trick or Treatment (''M*A*S*H,'' 11/1/1982)
• Trick or Trust (''Living Single,'' 10/27/1994)
• Tricks and Treats (''Hokey Wolf'')
• Tricks and Treats (''Freaks & Geeks,'' 10/30/1999)
• Tricks and Treats (''Lincoln Heights,'' 3/19/2007)
• Trip or Treat (''Downtown,'' 11/8/1999)

New Eps Online: October, Week 5

New series and seasons (full eps only) released online since 23 October 2007:

• ''College Hill: Interns'' (BET; iTunes): current season (1)
• ''The Electric Company'' (PBS; iTunes): volume 2
• ''Handy Manny'' (Disney; iTunes): current season (2)
• ''Jupiter Moon'' (Galaxy; Unbox): volume 1
• ''Phenomenon'' (NBC; Unbox): current season (1)
• ''Run's House'' (MTV; iTunes, Unbox): current season (4)
• ''A Pup Named Scooby-Doo'' (ABC; iTunes): season 1

Country Keynotes

"American Idol" gone country? I thought we already had that, seeing how Carrie Underwood won AI4 and everything. Maybe "Country Keynotes" will be more classic country than pop country.

Why do I say "Country Keynotes" might be "AI: Country Edition"?

FremantleMedia North America filed a trademark application on October 16, 2007 to protect Country Keynotes for "entertainment services in the nature of a television game show."

Earth Bears

A new production from DIC Entertainment. But don't look for details on the website yet. Nothing's been officially announced.

On October 17, 2007 DIC Entertainment Corporation filed paperwork to protect Earth Bears for "a series of television programs in the field of entertainment for children." And a lot more, including CDs, action figures, and clothes.

I have no other info about the show, but I'm going to take a wild guess anyways. Maybe "Earth Bears" will be this generation's Smokey the Bear. Maybe instead of speaking out against forest fires, these animated bears will promote awareness of environmental issues — water conservation, fuel conservation, global warming — all ways to help save the Earth.

I could be wrong, but Hollywood now has a deep affection for all things green.

An Actor Called Kline

Happy 60th birthday, Kevin Kline.

What better way to celebrate his birthday than to honor one of his films, A Fish Called Wanda (1988), with an ep title extravaganza.

• A Dog Called Wonga (''All About Me,'' 10/15/2004)
• A Fish Called Buddy (''Charles in Charge'')
• A Fish Called Gregg (''Can't Hurry Love,'' 10/9/1995)
• A Fish Called Kine (''Kirby: Right Back at Ya!,'' 11/2/2002)
• A Fish Called Martin (''Full House,'' 2/1/1991)
• A Fish Called Raven (''That's So Raven,'' 1/24/2003)
• A Fish Called Rhondda (''Dirty Work,'' 3/16/2000)
• A Fish Called Selma (''The Simpsons,'' 3/24/1996)
• A Fish Called Snappy (''The Smurfs,'' 9/30/1989)
• A Frick Called Wanda (''The Nutt House,'' 10/11/1989)
• A Stitch Called Wanda (''Doogie Howser, M.D.,'' 9/27/1989)

Viva Laughlin Quickly Dead

I'm sure you already heard the news that CBS pulled "Viva Laughlin" from the airwaves after only two eps. Critics were afraid that "Craps Rock" would suffer the same fate as "Cop Rock." How wrong they were! "Cop Rock" lasted an eternity — 11 eps — compared to "Viva Laughlin."

Since I'm all about fast failures at this site, I thought I'd remind you about the other shows that only aired twice before being yanked by the nets.

• ''AFP: American Fighter Pilot'' (CBS, 2002)
• ''Aliens in the Family'' (ABC, 1996)
• ''America.01'' (ABC, 2001)
• ''Apple Pie'' (ABC, 1978)
• ''Backspin'' (Bravo, 2004)
• ''Big Shamus, Little Shamus'' (CBS, 1979)
• ''Charlie Lawrence'' (CBS, 2003)
• ''Clerks'' (ABC, 2000)
• ''Confessions'' (CourtTV, 2000)
• ''Danny'' (CBS, 2001)
• ''ElimiDATE Deluxe'' (WB, 2001)
• ''The Fifth Corner'' (NBC, 1992)
• ''Flash Gordon'' (Dumont, 1951)
• ''Four Corners'' (CBS, 1998)
• ''girls club'' (Fox, 2002)
• ''Going Hollywood'' (TLC, 2005)
• ''The Great American Dream Vote'' (ABC, 2007)
• ''Guess Again'' (CBS, 1951)
• ''Head Cases'' (Fox, 2005)
• ''Imagine That'' (NBC, 2002)
• ''Inconceivable'' (NBC, 2005)
• ''Joey Faye's Frolics'' (CBS, 1950)
• ''Little Muppet Monsters'' (CBS, 1985)
• ''Love and Marriage'' (Fox, 1996)
• ''The Mike O'Malley Show'' (NBC, 1999)
• ''My Guys'' (CBS, 1996)
• ''One Ocean View'' (ABC, 2006)
• ''The Paula Poundstone Show'' (ABC, 1993)
• ''Prince Street'' (NBC, 1997)
• ''The Princes of Malibu'' (Fox, 2005)
• ''The Real Roseanne Show'' (ABC, 2003)
• ''Roxie'' (CBS, 1987)
• ''Ryan Caulfield: Year One'' (Fox, 1999)
• ''Sammy'' (NBC, 2000)
• ''Sleepwalkers'' (NBC, 1997)
• ''Sunset Beat'' (ABC, 1990)
• ''Tag the Gag'' (NBC, 1951)
• ''Take Five'' (CBS, 1987)
• ''That Was Then'' (ABC, 2002)
• ''Tuesday Night Book Club'' (CBS, 2006)
• ''Viva Laughlin'' (CBS, 2007)
• ''Wind on Water'' (NBC, 1998)
• ''Wonderland'' (ABC, 2000)
• ''You're the One'' (WB, 1998)

New Eps Online: October, Week 4

New series and seasons (full eps only) released online since 16 October 2007:

• ''Camp Lazlo'' (Cartoon Network; iTunes): season 3
• ''Dennis the Menace'' (CBS; in2tv)
• ''Gotti's Way'' (VH1; iTunes): current season (1)
• ''Growing Up Creepie'' (Discovery Kids; iTunes): volume 1
• ''Inside the Actors Studio'' (Bravo; Unbox): seasons 11 & 12
• ''Keeping Up with the Kardashians'' (E!; iTunes): current season (1)
• ''King Leonardo and His Short Subjects'' (NBC; in2tv)
• ''Little People, Big World'' (TLC; iTunes): current season (4)
• ''Medabots'' (Fox; Unbox): complete series
• ''Punky Brewster'' (NBC/Syn; Unbox): seasons 1, 2 & 3

Spike TV's Parolees at Large

That title doesn't really leave much doubt about the focus of Spike's new show, does it?

Network Enterprises protected the word mark, Spike TV Parolees at Large, on October 11, 2007 for a television series.

A&E's Parking Wars

Fly-on-the-wall documentaries of people at work. They're still all the rage, and we'll never run out of new jobs to watch.

A&E is developing a new show called "Parking Wars." On October 11, 2007 A&E Television Networks filed a trademark app for an "on-going series of reality based television programs and television programs featuring the lives and work of parking authority employees and drivers who receive motor vehicle violations."

'nuff said.

Martha Stewart's Everyday Baking

If you love baking like I do, then you'll be happy to hear this TV news.

Martha Stewart will have a new show called ''Everyday Baking.''

On October 11, 2007 Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. filed a trademark application for Everyday Baking. Of course, the word mark will be used for "Ongoing radio programs and television programs, online information, internet and mobile distribution of digital audio or audio-visual media." But you can also expect a line of bakeware and household utensils having this brand name.

Need more evidence?

Just ten days earlier on October 1, 2007, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. registered the domain names, everdaybaking.com and everdaybaking.tv. Nothing's there yet; so don't bother clicking through.

Still not convinced?

You can read last week's post at the New York Journals blog, which describes the five-week shoot.

Michael McKean Turns 60

Michael McKean, of Lenny & Squiggy fame, celebrates his 60th birthday today.

I looked at his TV/filmography to decide how best to honor him with ep titles. I definitely thought the mockumentary, This Is Spinal Tap, would've been the right choice, but I couldn't really find any TV episodes that referenced this film title. After a few more dead ends (Young Doctors in Love, Earth Girls Are Easy), I was stuck using his back-to-back head films — Coneheads (1993) and Airheads (1994) — for inspiration.

None of these ep titles pay homage to these two specific films, but it's still an interesting list:

• Avocado Heads (''The New Gidget'')
• Balloon Heads (''Little Bear'')
• Boneheads (''Paleoworld'')
• Bowling Pinheads (''The New Three Stooges'')
• Bubbleheads (''O'Grady,'' 12/31/2004)
• Bucketheads (''The Oblongs,'' 4/22/2001)
• Cement Heads (''Aaahh!!! Real Monsters,'' 9/14/1996)
• Chicken Noodle Heads (''7th Heaven,'' 11/14/2005)
• Eggheads (''Sliders,'' 4/26/1995)
• Flat Heads (''Three Stooges Cartoon Comedies'')
• Foreign Legion Air-Heads (''Meatballs and Spaghetti'')
• Hard Hats and Hard Heads (''Eight Is Enough,'' 2/1/1978)
• Horror Heads (''Craft Lab'')
• Jarheads (''The Blue Angels,'' 10/3/1960)
• Kettleheads (''Jubilee'')
• Loggerheads (''Death Valley Days'')
• Loggerheads (''Here Come the Brides,'' 3/26/1969)
• Loggerheads (''Liars & Legends'')
• Motor Heads (''Toonheads'')
• Pinheads (''The X's,'' 2/3/2006)
• Radio Heads (''That's So Raven,'' 6/25/2004)
• Schnitheads (''Rocko's Modern Life,'' 10/29/1995)
• Skinheads (''Forty Minutes,'' 10/14/1982)
• The Flatheads (''The New Three Stooges'')
• The Metalheads (''My Coolest Years'')
• The Redheads (''Official Detective'')

New Eps Online: October, Week 3

New series and seasons (full eps only) released online since 9 October 2007:

• ''About a Girl'' (The N; iTunes): current season (1)
• ''Kaya'' (MTV; iTunes, Unbox): current season (1)
• ''Latino Laugh Festival: The Show'' (Si; iTunes): volume 3
• ''Lonesome Dove'' (CBS; iTunes): complete miniseries
• ''Pageant Place'' (MTV; iTunes, Unbox): current season (1)
• ''Return to Lonesome Dove'' (CBS; iTunes): complete miniseries
• ''Scooby-Doo'' (ABC; iTunes): season 3
• ''Stargate SG-1'' (Showtime/SciFi; iTunes): season 2
• ''Uncorked with Billy Merritt'' (MOJO; Unbox): season 1
• ''Wall Street Warriors'' (MOJO; Unbox): season 1

Moblogic

Or maybe moBLOGic.

Regardless of how the letters are capitalized, CBS Interactive is having Wallstrip start a companion news and entertainment series.

On October 2, 2007 CBS Interactive, Inc. filed a trademark application to protect Moblogic for "entertainment services, namely, an entertainment and news series."

Just prior to that, on September 20, 2007 Wallstrip registered the domain, moblogic.tv. Don't bother clicking through yet. The domain is still just parked for now.

Want more evidence? On the domain registration, Jeff Marks is listed as the administrative contact. If you don't know his name, you can read Jeff's Blogger profile and find out he's the co-exec producer for Wallstrip. But if you read a cached version of Jeff's blogger profile, you'll see a link to one of his blogs, moBLOGic, which is no longer active.

Potpourri Ep Titles

This week a few series are running eps with titles that I thought would be a big hit, but they all ended up with short lists. Instead of giving you one long list today, I present a few shorter lists — each list headlined by this week's ep:

• No Man Is an Island (''Aliens in America,'' 10/8/2007)
• No Man Is an Atoll (''The Brian Keith Show,'' 3/8/1974)
• No Man Is Manhattan Island (''That Girl,'' 10/16/1970)
• Laird of the Ring (''Carpoolers,'' 10/9/2007)
• Lord of the Bling (''Veronica Mars,'' 2/8/2005)
• Lord of the Wings (''Eat, Shrink and Be Merry'')
• The Chicken and the Leg (''Boston Legal,'' 10/9/2007)
• Caroline and the Egg (''Caroline in the City,'' 11/3/1997)
• The King and the Egg (''Anna and the King,'' 12/17/1972)
• You Only Die Once (''CSI: NY,'' 10/10/2007)
• You Only Come Once (''Son of the Beach,'' 7/30/2002)
• You Only Lick Twice (''Stripperella,'' 7/24/2003)
• You Only Live Once (''American High'')
• You Only Love Twice (''The Centurions,'' 11/13/1986)
• You Only Move Twice (''The Simpsons,'' 11/3/1996)
• You Only Run Once (''Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater,'' 10/5/1956)
• You Only Run Once (''Frontier Justice,'' 7/13/1959)
• You Only Scare Twice (''Aaahh!!! Real Monsters,'' 10/26/1996)
• You Only Sneeze Twice (''The X's,'' 2/24/2006)

New Eps Online: October, Week 2

New series and seasons (full eps only) released online since 2 October 2007:

• ''After Hours with Daniel'' (MOJO; Unbox): season 1
• ''Aliens in America'' (CW; iTunes): current season (1)
• ''America's Psychic Challenge'' (Lifetime; iTunes): current season (1)
• ''American Chopper'' (Discovery; iTunes): seasons 3 & 4
• ''American Dad'' (Fox; iTunes, Unbox): current season (3)
• ''American Gangster'' (BET; iTunes): current season (2)
• ''American Gothic'' (CBS; Unbox): season 1
• ''Back at the Barnyard'' (Nick; iTunes): current season (1)
• ''Better Half'' (Bravo; Unbox): current season (1)
• ''Degrassi: The Next Generation'' (The N; iTunes): current season (7)
• ''Dr. Danger'' (MOJO; Unbox): season 1
• ''Everybody Hates Chris'' (CW; iTunes): current season (3)
• ''48 Hours Mystery'' (CBS; iTunes): volume 2
• ''Ghost Hunters'' (SciFi; Unbox): current season (3)
• ''Girlfriends'' (CW; iTunes): current season (8)
• ''Hogan Knows Best'' (VH1; iTunes, Unbox): season 3
• ''How It's Made'' (Discovery; iTunes): seasons 1 & 2
• ''I Love New York'' (VH1; Unbox): current season (2)
• ''The King of Miami'' (MOJO; Unbox): season 1
• ''Life Is Wild'' (CW; iTunes): current season (1)
• ''Queer Eye for the Straight Guy'' (Bravo; Unbox): current season (5)
• ''The Sarah Silverman Program'' (Comedy Central; Unbox): current season (2)
• ''The Search for the Next Elvira'' (Fox Reality; iTunes): current season (1)
• ''A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila'' (MTV; iTunes): current season (1)
• ''Supernatural'' (CW; iTunes, Unbox): current season (3)
• ''Three Sheets'' (MOJO; Unbox): season 1
• ''The Wizards of Waverly Place'' (Disney; iTunes): current season (1)

Genre Mosaic View

Imagine this. You're sitting at home and decide you want to watch a sporting event. You're not sure what sport, but you just want to find something good.

How would you find those shows on your telly?

Right now? Not so easy. You can hit the 'Guide' button on your remote. Then you can scroll through the electronic programming guide, channel-by-channel, looking for sports you recognize. Or you can browse by theme, such as 'Sports Misc,' looking for the sport you want.

If you search by either method, you get a title and a short description. That's it.

What if you could see video of six different sporting events at the same time before you make your selection? Plus, that'd be a really sweet way to watch multiple college football games on any given Saturday in October. That's what Cox Communications would like to offer you some day.

Yesterday the USPTO published a patent application (20070234388) from Cox Communications for "Generating a genre-based video mosaic in a cable services network."

Cartoon Network Gone Wild

The Cartoon Network had a wild month of September with multiple trademark applications. CN filed apps to protect the following titles:

• Big Baby
• The Bremen Avenue Experience
• Calling Cat 22
• Lawn Patrol - Unit 42
• Nacho Bear
• Nutrient Rich
• Roller Squirrels
• The Talented Mr. Bixby

I have to say that "Nacho Bear" doesn't quite sound like he fits with CN's new rules about healthy eating — maybe CN will show a bear getting sick and fat after eating too many nachos.

I'm guessing "Nutrient Rich" will be an advertising slogan for a block of programming that depicts healthy eating.

The Big Straight Sketch Show

You read that correctly.

Logo airs "The Big Gay Sketch Show," and, as you know, Logo is part of the Viacom family.

On September 25, 2007 Viacom filed a trademark app to protect the phrase The Big Straight Sketch Show. Wonder if it will be a web-based show or end up on Comedy Central?

Pros vs. Joes: Last Joe Standing

Maybe you heard about the recent casting call for Pros vs. Joes 3? If not, you're too late. Entries had to be received by September 17. Maybe next time.

But that's not why we're here.

"Pros vs. Joes 3" will be likely be called "Pros vs. Joes: Last Joe Standing." Network Enterprises (Spike TV) filed a trademark app on September 21 to protect the phrase Pros vs. Joes: Last Joe Standing.

The Eps Are Always Greener

This Friday's ep of "Las Vegas" is called The Glass Is Cleaner, an homage to the famous idiom. So famous that book titles, such as Erma Bombeck's "The Grass Is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank", also honor this old saying.

I reckoned a ton of shows would have had fun with this phrase. "Leave It to Beaver" and "The Brady Bunch" (plus four other series) each used the phrase word-for-word for an ep title. Suprisingly few shows. Plus, those titles aren't so fun. But here's a list of the more interesting episode titles that reference "The grass is always greener":

• The Bluegrass Is Always Greener (''King of the Hill,'' 2/24/2002)
• The Glass Is Always Cleaner (''Las Vegas,'' 10/5/2007)
• The Grass Is Always Finer (''Sister, Sister,'' 10/11/1998)
• The Grass Is Greener Than You Think (''Summerland,'' 6/22/2004)
• The Grass Is Sometimes Greener (''Julia,'' 11/25/1969)
• The Lass Is Always Greener (''One of the Boys,'' 3/6/1982)
• Your Grass Is Greener (''Bingo & Molly'')

New Eps Online: October, Week 1

New series and seasons (full eps only) released online since 25 September 2007:

• ''America's Most Smartest Model'' (VH1; iTunes): current season (1)
• ''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'' (CBS; iTunes): current season (8)
• ''CSI: Miami'' (CBS; iTunes): current season (6)
• ''CSI: NY'' (CBS; iTunes): current season (4)
• ''The Captain and Casey Show'' (Unbox): seasons 4 & 5
• ''Chumong'' (Unbox)
• ''The Crocodile Hunter'' (Discovery; iTunes): volume 1
• ''Deadliest Catch'' (Discovery; iTunes): season 3
• ''Desperate Housewives'' (ABC; iTunes): current season (4)
• ''Dr. Steve-O'' (USA; Unbox): current season (1)
• ''The 808'' (FuelTV; iTunes, Unbox): season 1
• ''Exes & Ohs'' (Logo; iTunes, Unbox): current season (1)
• ''Extreme Machines'' (Discovery; iTunes): volume 1
• ''Family Guy'' (Fox; iTunes, Unbox): current season (6)
• ''Fantasy Island'' (ABC; AOL): season 1
• ''Grey's Anatomy'' (ABC; iTunes): current season (4)
• ''In the Heat of the Night'' (NBC; iTunes): season 1
• ''Johnny Sokko'' (iTunes): complete series
• ''M80'' (FuelTV; Unbox): current season (4)
• ''Moonlight'' (CBS; iTunes): current season (1)
• ''My Name Is Earl'' (NBC; iTunes): current season (3)
• ''NCIS'' (CBS; iTunes): current season (5)
• ''Prehistoric Planet'' (Discovery; iTunes): volume 1
• ''Stargate: Atlantis'' (SciFi; iTunes, Unbox): current season (4)
• ''Swamp Thing'' (USA; Unbox): season 1
• ''Ugly Betty'' (ABC; iTunes): current season (2)
• ''The Unit'' (CBS; iTunes): current season (3)