Bobby G: Adventure Capitalist

iN DEMAND recently protected Bobby G: Adventure Capitalist as a word mark for an "on-going documentary cable television program." Here's the latest from Nick Davis Productions (NDP):

NDP is beginning pre-production on an 8-part verite series about the high-flying Canadian businessman Bobby Genovese and his exploits in trying to turn around the struggling beverage company, Clearly Canadian. For MOJO on INHD. To air first quarter, 2008.

New Jersey Tigers

No, I'm not confused. I know it's the Detroit Tigers. But you're assuming I'm going to talk baseball.

I'm not.

World Combat League is Chuck Norris' mixed martial arts competition. Right now the League has eight teams. None in New Jersey.

That may change soon.

Carlos Ray Norris filed documents with the USPTO on May 22, 2007 to protect the team name New Jersey Tigers for "entertainment in the nature of martial arts competitions and exhibitions."

Didja

Didja ever think that you'd be able to use your cell phone to view, rate and discuss commercials and movie trailers?

Didja know that a major cable network plans to develop/brand this service?

Didja hear anything about Didja? Well, didja?

On May 21, 2007 Universal City Studios filed trademark documents to protect the word mark Didja for "online video archives of television commercials and movie trailers for registered users to participate in social networking such as voting, commenting, rating, and sharing with each other comments and discussion related to or generated by the archived television commercials and movie trailers."

But that's not all. On March 15, 2007 USA Network registered two websites — didja.tv and didja.mobi. Both sites are simply parked right now; so they provide no additional details.

My e-mail requesting additional information went unanswered, as usual.

Common Threads #14

What do these TV things have in common?

• The Bandit
• The Whammy
• The Devil
• a red ball

For extra credit, name the show associated with each item.

(+/-)answer

The Bandit, The Whammy, The Devil and a red ball are all things you try to avoid on gameshows!

• The Bandit on ''Strick It Rich''
• The Whammy on ''Press Your Luck''
• The Devil on ''Joker's Wild''
• a red ball on ''Lingo''

Of course, there are many other gameshow items you want to avoid. Bankrupt on ''Wheel of Fortune.'' The Zonk on ''Let's Make a Deal.'' The stopper on ''Scrabble.'' The list just goes on and on.

I'm really interested to see how Merv Griffin is going to make "Lets Play Crosswords" watchable. I'm assuming he'll use a mechanism like the stopper on ''Scrabble'' to inject some luck into the gameplay. But I have to admit something — I must not too interested since I didn't even try to search for info about the gameplay for the new "Crosswords" show.

Don’t Hide Your Title Under a Bushel Basket

"Hidden Palms" premieres tonight on The CW.

Maybe you'll watch it. Maybe you'll TIVO it. If you forget to do both and you still want to watch it, try Yahoo! or The CW website.

I wonder whether 1616 Hidden Lane Road is located in the hidden part of Palm Springs? Don't know the address? Not surprised. It was an ep title for ''Craig Kennedy, Criminologist.''

You can see where this post is going today. Ep titles that creatively use the word hidden.

Of course you have ep titles that play off the feature film, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon:

• Crouching Actor, Hidden Chicken (''Taina,'' 1/19/2002)


• Crouching Bonome, Hidden Virus (''ReBoot,'' 11/30/2001)


• Crouching Edi, Hidden Waffle (''Animal Jam'')


• Crouching Father, Hidden Husband (''Will & Grace,'' 10/11/2001)


• Crouching Jimmy, Hidden Sheen (''The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius,'' 11/18/2005)


• Crouching Lion, Hidden Tiger (''Beyblade,'' 8/11/2002)


• Crouching Mother, Hidden Father (''My Wife and Kids,'' 10/30/2002)


• Crouching Tiger, Hidden Val (''VIP,'' 11/24/2001)


• Crouching Trudy, Hidden Penny (''The Proud Family,'' 3/7/2003)


• Squatting Tiger, Hidden Dog (''Courage the Cowardly Dog,'' 10/25/2002)

And then you have crime shows that used titles like "The Case of the Hidden...":

• The Case of the Hidden Clue (''Mark Saber,'' 2/22/1952)


• The Case of the Hidden Heart (''The Adventures of Shirley Holmes,'' 4/23/2000)


• The Case of the Hidden Profile (''Treasury Men in Action,'' 4/24/1952)

The rest? Not so exciting.

New Eps Online: May, Week 4

New series and seasons (full eps only) released online since 22 May 2007:

• 3rd Rock from the Sun (NBC; Unbox): seasons 1, 2 & 5


• The Art of the Party (Fine Living; Unbox)


• Cities of the Underworld (History; iTunes): current season


• God the Devil and Bob (NBC; Unbox): entire series


• Grounded for Life (Fox/WB; Unbox): seasons 1, 2, 3 & 4


• Men Behaving Badly (NBC; Unbox): entire series


• Reunited: The Real World (MTV; Unbox, iTunes): current season


• Roseanne (ABC; Unbox): seasons 3, 5 & 6

Awards Update: May

Over the past month I added another 1,000 records or so to the trivialTV Awards Database. Now you search more than 57,500 records each time you select a show from the pulldown menu.

Here's the list of awards that I recently updated:

• Asian Excellence Award: 2007 noms & winners
  
• BAFTA TV Award: 2007 International & Pioneer winners
  
• Cable Positive’s POP Award: 2007 noms
  
• Carl Sagan Award: 1997, 1998, 1999, 2003 winners
  
• Deadline Club Award: 2002 - 2006 finalists & winners; 2007 finalists
  
• Edgar Allen Poe Award: 2007 winners, - 1971 noms & winners
  
• EDGE Award: 2006 winners
  
• Guy's Choice Awards: 2007 noms
  
• James Beard Foundation Award: 2007 noms & winners
  
• Nebula Award: 2007 winner
  
• Phoenix Rising Award: 2007 winner
  
• PRISM Award: 2007 winners
  
• Rave Award: 2007 winner
  
• Rose d’Or Award: 2007 winners
  
• Saturn Award: 2007 winners
  
• Soap Opera Digest Award: 1984 - 2005 winners
  
• Soap Opera Update Award: 1993, 1997 noms & winners
  
• Soapy Awards: 1977 - 1983 winners
  
• TelevisionWeek’s Best of the Past 25: broadcast, cable, syndie
  
• Ursa Major Award: 2007 noms & winners
  
• Wilbur Award: 2007 winners

Enjoy!

Out of Sight, Outline for Mind

Did this ever happen to you?

You hang out with your co-workers for happy hour. Grab a bite to eat. Maybe have a beer. You get home at 8:23PM.

So far, so good.

But you wanted to watch the season finale of Smallville. It started 23 minutes ago. You don't usually watch it; so you don't have a season pass on your TIVO. Your DVR didn't record any part of the show. You can't watch it anywhere online. You don't really want to wait for a repeat.

What do you do?

If IBM has its way, you'll have another option in the future.

On May 10, 2007 the US Patent & Trademark Office published an IBM patent, Method and apparatus for providing summaries of missed portions of television programs. The premise is simple. It would provide

a television viewer with a summary of a portion of a program that he or she has missed, after switching to the program at some time after the program has begun.

Think of the possibilities. A highlight reel. A written summary. Some combination of those items. Both the highlights and the summaries can be repurposed too.

• highlight reel: Think "The Sopranos" in seven minutes. Think about Sony's Minisode Network, where you'll be able to watch self-contained synopses of full episodes of "TJ Hooker" or "Charlie's Angels" in three minutes. If the nets provide these highlights as part of the feed, they exist and people will watch them online too. What a great way to quickly get a new viewer brought up to speed.
• written summaries: We've all read episode summaries at various sites. Some are well-written. Some are, well, amateurish. (There's a reason why I don't write ep guides. You've read my writing.) Imagine if the show writers wrote ep summaries? Now those would be good reading.

So you see the possibilities? I love this idea!

SuperAmerica TV

Looks like Gas Station TV (GSTV) is catching on.

Just about a year ago Murphy Oil USA signed a deal with GSTV to bring TV to your gas pump. You can even watch ESPN and maybe follow your fantasy baseball team even when you're pumping gas.

Now it looks like SuperAmerica/Speedway gas stations are following suit with their own brand. Speedway SuperAmerica LLC filed patent applications on May 17, 2007 to protect the word marks, SuperAmerica TV and Speedway TV

Cosmo Sense Was Not So Common

Helen Gurley Brown. Writer. Early advocate of the liberated single woman. Editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan.

Sure Cosmo is her legacy, but her book, Sex and the Single Girl, really put her on the map. It finished #9 on the annual best seller list for non-fiction works in 1962.

Did S&tSG make a lasting impression? You bet. Just watch any ep of "Sex and the City." But we all know the real test is simple. How many TV series ep titles refer specifically to Brown's work?

• Sex and the Single Cop (''Lobo,'' 2/17/1981)


• Sex and the Single Father (''Dream On,'' 7/22/1990)


• Sex and the Single Girls (''What I Like About You,'' 2/4/2005)


• Sex and the Single Mother (''Judging Amy,'' 12/16/2003)


• Sex and the Single Parent (''Archie Bunker's Place,'' 2/21/1982)


• Sex and the Single Spy (''Jack of All Trades,'' 1/29/2000)


• Sex and the Single Surgeon (''House Calls'')


• Sex and the Single Woman (''Designing Women,'' 10/2/1992)

Forty-five years later and still making an impression.

Screenplay

No, I'm not writing a feature film. Don't worry.

Looks like Screenplay is going to be part Comcast's cable service some day. According to Comcast's trademark filing on May 17, 2007, Screenplay will provide:

"non-downloadable films and TV programs via a video-on-demand service";

"promotional, informational, and interactive television programmiing via television and cable television";

"television, cable television and video-on-demand listings, programming and scheduling information."

New Eps Online: May, Week 3

New series and seasons (full eps only) released online since 15 May 2007:

• 3rd Rock from the Sun (NBC; Unbox): seasons 3, 4 & 6


• The Academy (Fox Reality; iTunes, Unbox): current season


• The Ben Stiller Show (Fox; in2tv): complete series


• Flight of the Conchords (HBO; HBO Online): pilot


• Indianapolis 500 (ABC; iTunes): select races


• Just Shoot Me! (NBC; Unbox): seasons 1 & 2


• Roots (ABC; iTunes): complete miniseries


• Roseanne (ABC; Unbox): season 4

From now on I'll include links that take you directly to the new content in a pop-up window.

Just a reminder that I only highlight series and seasons that weren't previously available anywhere. For instance, "Paradise City" (E!; current season) and "Starsky and Hutch" (ABC; 1st season) are now available at Unbox, but they're not listed since they were previously available at iTunes.

Enjoy!

WiiNetworkTV

Forget about MyNetworkTV. Telenovellas didn't work. IFL and raunchy specials aren't doing much better. MyNet needs to do something radically different. Unique. Totally off-the-wall. It really has to create some buzz.

Why not make shows that integrate with people's Wii at home?

OK. Hear me out.

ABC is unveiling ''National Bingo Night'' tonight, allowing viewers to play along at home. If you want to play, you have to go to ABC.com. Print a game card. Watch the show. If you get bingo before the in-studio audience, you win. To claim your prize, just go back to ABC.com before 6PM EDT the following Monday.

Just a side note:

You can actually print as many bingo cards as you want without signing in. ABC doesn't care. You only have to register to claim a prize. I first imagined college students breaking this game until I read the rules. ABC limits the total number of prizes for each game — for instance, it will give away no more than 10,000 K-Mart Gift Card with a value of Five Dollars ($5) each. The net is limiting its total expenditures for prizes. Plus it's limiting each registered user to three wins per week to try to spread the wealth.

ABC considers this to be cutting-edge, interactive TV?

There's definitely a niche to fill.

What if WiiNetworkTV had Friday Night Golf? Viewers register their gaming units with the show and receive new hole layouts at various points in the show. Each viewer can play each hole only once, and viewers with scores higher than a selected member of the studio audience are eliminated from winning the main prize. Sort of like a sudden-death skins game.

The main prize? A trip to be in the small studio audience, and about ten home viewers will win the main prize. Why is this a main prize? Someone from the audience is chosen to play against the field (home viewers) on live TV. If nobody at home beats the selected in-studio contestant, that person wins $100,000.

If a home viewer is eliminated from the main prize contest, s/he can still compete for smaller prizes based on total score for the show. Maybe something like free online gaming minutes or free games.

The Golden Tee coin-operated arcade game is pretty popular at bars; so why not try to make it popular at home?

WiiNetworkTV. Play a different sport at home every night with the chance to win $100,000.

Wave Chasers

It looks like Warren Miller's four-part series about tow-in surfing found a home. The Discovery Channel.

Never heard of "Wave Chasers"? According to an item on sonicbids,

"Wave Chasers" is a new four-part series currently being produced for a major cable network. In its first season, each episode follows professional, tow-in surf teams around the world as they seek out the biggest waves on the planet to ride. The show is scheduled to start in late 2007 and run through early 2008.

The show will mostly consist of reality scenes with surfers, high-action surfing montages, scenes about location and The Wave.

That snippet only says 'major cable network.'

Then why can I say it's going to air on the Discovery Channel? Last Friday (11 May), Discovery Communications filed a trademark application with the USPTO to protect the phrase, Wave Chasers; so that narrows it down to the stable of Discovery-owned channels. Since he's a big name — at least to me because of the 15 ski films I've enjoyed — Warren Miller's TV programs previously aired on Discovery and Travel Channels. "Wave Chasers" seems a bit too extreme for the Travel Channel and perfectly suited for the Discovery Channel.

Simple as that.

Death Is the Grand Opener

Did you watch ''Traveler'' last Thursday? Do you really think Will is dead?

I don't. I reckon we'll learn that the dead body just happens to be somebody else who wore a similar blue track jacket.

But the fact the Will could have died reminded me how series premieres use death as a hook or plot device. Think about. How many shows can you name where somebody died in the first ep and:

• returned as a ghost or in visions
• caused a crisis amongst family, friends or co-workers
• was the subject of a multi-episode mystery
• pushed a character to avenge the death

Well, how many shows?

After a bit of research, here's a list of characters who died or were found dead in the first episode:

• Berta Gonzalez on ''American Family'' (PBS, 1/23/2002)
• Peggy on ''The Avengers (BBC, 1/7/1961)
• Sharon Fowler on ''Baretta'' (ABC, 1/17/1975)
• William Walker on ''Brothers and Sisters'' (ABC, 9/24/2006)
• Damon South on ''City Life'' (TVNZ, 7/15/1996)
• Georgia 'George' Lass on ''Dead Like Me'' (Showtime, 6/27/2003)
• Mary Alice Young on ''Desperate Housewives'' (ABC, 10/3/2004)
• Kate Boone on ''Earth: Final Conflict'' (Syn, 10/11/1997)
• Reg Cox on ''EastEnders'' (BBC1, 2/19/1985)
• Julia Brown on ''Everwood'' (WB, 9/16/2002)
• Jason Gioberti on ''Falcon Crest'' (CBS, 12/4/1981)
• Thelma on ''Hex'' (Sky One, 10/17/2004)
• Eddie Rivera on ''Miami Vice'' (NBC, 9/16/1984)
• Tommy Ferguson on ''Miracles'' (ABC, 1/27/2003)
• Silvio Perez on ''Nip/Tuck'' (FX, 7/22/2003)
• Michael Wiseman on ''Now and Again'' (CBS, 9/24/1999)
• Sonia Kingsley on ''Pacific Drive'' (Nine, 1/29/1996)
• Marie Cartwright on ''Ponderosa'' (Pax, 9/9/2001)
• Lynda Hansen on ''Providence'' (NBC, 1/8/1999)
• Gabe Capshaw on ''Saints & Sinners'' (MyNetworkTV, 3/14/2007)
• Det. Terry Crowley on ''The Shield'' (FX, 3/12/2002)
• Nathaniel Fisher Sr. on ''Six Feet Under'' (HBO, 6/3/2001)
• Karen & Bob Westerly on ''Summerland'' (WB, 6/1/2004)
• Bastian's Mother on ''Tales from the Neverending Story'' (10/14/2001)
• Mary Frost on ''A Touch of Frost'' (ITV, 12/6/1992)
• Laura Palmer on ''Twin Peaks'' (ABC, 4/8/1990)
• Beck McKaye on ''Whistler'' (The N, 6/30/2006)

If you know of others, please leave a comment. I know the list isn't complete, but it's a reasonable start. I'll continue to update the list.

Which death was most shocking to you? I'd have to say I was shocked when Jimmy Smits' character, Eddie Rivera, was killed.

I was also surprised when Brenda Strong was cast as Mary Alice Young. Talk about being type-cast. In a two-year period she portrayed characters who died in the first episode on two different series — ''Everwood'' and ''Desperate Housewives.''

New Eps Online: May, Week 2

New series and seasons (full eps only) released online since 8 May 2007:

• The Art of the Party (Unbox)
  
• D.I.Y. to the Rescue (season 4; Unbox)
  
• The Galaxy Railways (iTunes)
  
• Greatest Escapes (Unbox)
  
• Greatest Romances of the 20th Century (season 3; Unbox)
  
• MTV Juvies (iTunes & Unbox)
  
• The L Word (season 3; Unbox & MovieLink)
  
• Pitbull's La Esquina (iTunes)
  
• Rob & Big (season 2; iTunes & Unbox)
  
• Silk Stalkings (season 6; Unbox)
  
• Tech Out My House (Unbox)
  
• Trinity Blood (iTunes)

Just a reminder that I only highlight series and seasons that weren't previously available anywhere. iTunes released many others shows (Star Trek: Voyager, Martin, Hanna-Barbera shows) recently, but they were already available from other services.

Enjoy!

TV-a-Twitter

If you truly want your friends to always know what you're doing, the information flow has to be automated. People are only willing to type so much.

GPS-enabled Twitter clients for cell phones allow your friends to geolocate you — or at least your phone — so automated data delivery is definitely possible.

But that function just tells your friends where you're at. Not what you're doing.

What if you're just having a quiet night at home watching the telly and you want to tell your friends what you're watching? Right now you have to type in the name of a new program every time you change the channel. Imagine having a Twitter client for your TV that automatically updates your viewing activities.

Rapping with the Stars

Dancing ("Dancing with the Stars"). Ice Dancing ("Skating with Celebrities"). Singing solo ("But Can They Sing"). Singing with somebody else ("Celebrity Duets"). The next skill for a celebreality talent show? Rapping.

Sure, there were jokes, but it was really only a matter of time. Really. But Viacom didn't need to fill the void.

Yes, it's true. Viacom is developing "Rapping with the Stars." It filed docs with the USPTO on May 1, 2007 to protect that word mark for a TV show.

I have a feeling that some of the celebs from these other shows might try rapping. I found an audition tape for Jerry Rice from his early rapping years. (Jerry's rap starts at the 1:30 mark in the video.)

Welcome Cynopsis: DIGITAL Readers!

If you're looking for the trivialTV directory of online eps, you should start here.

Thanks for visiting!

Time and Bride Wait for No Man

Did you watch "How I Met Your Mother" on Monday? Yeah? Quick. What's Lily's last name? Marshall's? OK. Maybe you know the names of the "HIMYM" newlyweds today, but what about five years from now? Do you think you'll still remember?

Let's put you to the test. I selected 12 couples who got married on sitcoms since 1990. Match the bride and groom with their series.

Series Name		Bride		Groom
1.	"Boy Meets World"	A.	Darlene Conner	a.	Woody Boyd
2.	"Cheers"	B.	Rebecca Donaldson	b.	Martin Crane
3.	"A Different World"	C.	Carla Espinosa	c.	Elliott DiMauro
4.	"Frasier"	D.	Fran Fine	d.	David Healy
5.	"Full House"	E.	Kelly Gaines	e.	Jesse Katsoplis
6.	"The Jamie Foxx Show"	F.	Maya Gallo	f.	Doug Kelly
7.	"Just Shoot Me"	G.	Whitley Gilbert	g.	Jamie King
8.	"Kelly, Kelly"	H.	Phyllis Lapin	h.	Cory Matthews
9.	"The Nanny"	I.	Ronee Lawrence	i.	Maxwell Sheffield
10.	"The Office"	J.	Topanga Lawrence	j.	Christopher Turk
11.	"Roseanne"	K.	Francesca Monroe	k.	Bob Vance
12.	"Scrubs"	L.	Kelly Novack	l.	Dwayne Wayne

(+/-)answers

1-J-h, 2-E-a, 3-G-l, 4-I-b, 5-B-e, 6-K-g,
7-F-c, 8-L-f, 9-D-i, 10-H-k, 11-A-d, 12-C-j

Title, Title, Who's Got the Title

Whenever I teach people about Texas Hold 'em, I always end up saying "Button, Button, Who's Got the Button?" All because of a children's game I learned so many moons ago.

I get really strange looks though when I utter those words — apparently that phrase isn't part of everybody's vernacular.

I was determined to demonstrate that it's a common phrase; so I decided to use this week's Fun with Ep Titles feature to prove my point. From the list of ep titles that follows, you'll find I proved only one thing. The phrase was pretty common — about forty years ago.

• Barrel, Barrel ... Who's Got the Barrel (''Donkey Kong Country'')


• Bomb, Bomb, Who's Got the Bomb? (''Hawaii Five-O,'' 10/8/1974)


• Bubi, Bubi, Who's Got the Ruby? (''Batman'')


• Budget, Budget, Who's Got the Budget? (''Nancy,'' 12/31/1970)


• Dobie, Dobie, Who's Got Dobie? (''The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis,'' 10/17/1961)


• Furniture, Furniture, Who's Got the Furniture? (''Green Acres,'' 10/20/1965)


• Genie, Genie, Who's Got the Genie? (''I Dream of Jeannie,'' 1/16/1968)


• Guns, Guns, Who's Got the Guns? (''F Troop,'' 3/2/1967)


• Money, Money, Who's Got the Money? (''Pete and Gladys,'' 10/23/1961)


• Money, Money. Who's Got the Money (''Hank,'' 1/14/1966)


• Painting, Painting. Who's Got the Painting? (''Bridget Loves Bernie,'' 2/10/1973)


• Party, Party, Who's Got the Party? (''I'm Dickens, He's Fenster,'' 11/23/1962)


• Planet - Planet - Who's Got the Planet? (''Rocket Robin Hood'')


• Vino, Vino, Who's Got the Vino? (''McHale's Navy,'' 11/16/1965)

Power Rangers Jungle Fury

Let the threads and conversations continue!

BVS Entertainment, Inc. filed multiple documents with the US Patent & Trademark Office to protect Power Rangers Jungle Fury on May 1, 2007. On April 17, 2007 Disney Enterprises, Inc. registered the domains www.powerrangersjunglefury.com, www.junglefury.com and www.powerrangersjungleforce.com. All domains redirect to the Jetix front page.

Interesting that BVS did not also protect Power Rangers Jungle Force with a trademark application even though Disney registered the domain. Read into that what you will.

New Eps Online: May, Week 1

Trying to keep track of online releases of full-length eps of TV shows? Then you've come to the right place.

Every Tuesday morning I'll list the series and seasons that were newly released online during the past week. I'll then add individual links to these shows in the Ep Vid Finder at a later date. This way you'll always know what's new and where to look without having to wait for (and search through) an update.

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

• "Churchill's Bodyguard" (Unbox)
  
• "Emperor of the Sea" (season 1 on Unbox)
  
• "Great Mysteries and Myths of the 20th Century" (Unbox)
  
• "House" (seasons 2 & 3 on iTunes)
  
• "A Love To Kill" (season 1 on Unbox)
  
• "Punk'd" (season 8 on iTunes & Unbox)
  
• "Scrubs" (season 3 on iTunes)
  
• "World War I in Color" (Unbox)

I just want to clarify which shows will make this weekly list. I'll only highlight series and seasons that weren't previously available anywhere. I'm not listing series and seasons that are new for each service. For instance, Unbox released season 2 of "Weeds" in the past week, but it's been available on iTunes for a while; so I didn't list "Weeds" (season 2) in the above list.

trivialTV Ep Vid Finder Update

It's been a while since I last updated the trivialTV Ep Vid Finder. I just added more than 9,330 links and 5,500 eps.

The trivialTV Ep Vid Finder now has 35,880 links to 22,080 eps for 1,118 series. I updated links for the following services:

• ABC


• ABC Family


• ADV Films


• Adult Swim Fix


• AOL Video


• CBS Innertube


• CinemaNow


• CW


• Disney


• Fox/MySpace


• Google Video


• GUBA


• Hanna Barbera


• iFilm


• in2tv


• iTunes


• iWatchNow: removed from list (transitioning to v2)


• MovieLink


• MSN


• NBC Rewind


• Nick Turbo


• Outdoor Action


• OutZone


• peer impact: removed from list (purchased)


• ReelTime


• Toonami Jetstream


• tbs


• TV Land


• Unbox (Amazon)


• Vongo


• Wal-Mart

I'll add even more services with my next update.

Enjoy!

SAG's 75th Anniversary Logo Mod

You may not realize it, but the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) is celebrating its 75th anniversary next year. Most orgs take the opportunity to commemorate such milestones by selling merchandise with a slightly modified logo.

And SAG is no different.

Here's a sneak peek at SAG's modified logo (in b/w) for its diamond anniversary:

You can compare it to SAG's current logo:

Orders in the Court TV

Court TV is developing two new shows — "Lived to Tell" and "Pirate Repo" — but has not made any announcements about them. Since I received no reply for my requests for additional information, I'm going to make some educated guesses about the shows.

• "Lived to Tell": Court TV registered this word mark on April 18, 2007 and registered the domain, livedtotell.tv, just two days later. The website isn't live yet. The trademark filing is for "a continuing television program series featuring crime, criminal justice, law enforcement and criminal investigations." Based solely on the name, I reckon that the series will focus on crimes that the victims survived and that we'll hear the story from the victim's perspective. Probably like a docudrama with some dramatizations.
• "Pirate Repo": Obviously, Court TV is trying to ride the pirate fad with this one. Court TV's April 27th filing provided little new information for this word mark. Just a day before filing the trademark app, Court TV registered the domain, piraterepo.tv. This website isn't live yet either. I hope "Pirate Repo" isn't just a reality series about a company called Pirate Auto Recovery. It could be so much more. Hopefully 'pirate' is used in the general sense to describe the style of the repo men being featured. After all, Repo Pirates was the title of an episode of the 2001 TLC series, "Repo Men: Stealing for a Living." BTW: You can watch the Repo Pirates ep on Discovery Times this Sunday at 10AM EDT.

Update at 1:27AM PDT on 3 May 2007: I just found out about a third Court TV show. "Thrill Junkies." Just like the other skeins, Court TV recently filed a trademark app and registered the parked domain, thrilljunkies.tv. No chance to domain squat here.

A Marrying Man Will Clutch at a Vow

Since "ER" has its big wedding tomorrow night, I thought I'd go with a wedding theme for this week's fun with ep titles.

Some grooms write their own vows; others go with the more traditional words. You know. The whole "til death do us part" line. Seems like an obvious choice for ep titles since many series paid homage to this line:

• "Til Death" (Fox)
• "Til Death Do Us Part" (Court TV)
• "Til Death Do Us Part: Carmen + Dave" (MTV)
• "Til Debt Do U$ Part" (American Life)

And now for the ep titles.

What happens til death?

• 'Til Death Do Us Part, and Make It Soon (''The Parkers,'' 9/15/2003)
• 'Til Death Duel Us Part (''The Highwayman,'' 3/18/1988)
• Till Death Do Us Apartment (''Family Matters,'' 10/7/1994)
• Till Death Do Us Part - Maybe (''The Love Boat,'' 11/11/1978)
• Till Death Do Us Start (''Extreme Ghostbusters,'' 11/14/1997)
• Till Death Do We Part (''Tales from the Crypt,'' 12/8/1993)
• Till Death Do We Volley (''The Golden Girls,'' 3/18/1989)
• Till Death Do You Part (''Drexell's Class,'' 2/13/1992)
• Till Death or Next Thursday Do We Part (''Murphy Brown,'' 12/7/1992)

And when might the happy couple part?

• 'til Nephews Do Us Part (''DuckTales,'' 10/30/1987)
• Til Theft Do Us Part (''Harry and the Hendersons,'' 2/2/1992)
• Till Dad Do Us Part (''Turnabout,'' 3/9/1979)
• Till Debt Do Us Part (''WKRP in Cincinnati,'' 4/4/1981)
• Till Debt Do Us Part (''Civil Wars,'' 4/28/1992)
• Till Depth Do Us Part (''Newhart,'' 11/9/1987)
• Till Doom Do Us Part (''Duck Dodgers,'' 3/11/2005)
• 'Till Life Us Do Part (''Trapper John, M.D.,'' 2/10/1980)
• Till Marriage Do Us Part (''The Facts of Life,'' 2/27/1988)
• 'Till Tomorrow Do Us Part (''9 to 5,'' 10/27/1983)

Common Threads #13

What do these TV couples have in common? (Be very specific.)

• Joanie Louise Cunningham & Charles 'Chachi' Arcola on ''Joanie Loves Chachi''
• Becky Conner and Mark Healy on ''Roseanne''
• Daphne Moon and Niles Crane on ''Frasier''
• Sarah Glass and Matt Camden on ''7th Heaven''
• Noel David Crane and Natalie on ''Felicity''
• Samantha Micelli and Hank Thomopolous on ''Who's the Boss?''

(+/-)answer

Yes, they were all married. More specifically, they eloped.

Interested in some other couples who eloped to tie the knot in TV land? Here's the list I've compiled so far:

• Karen Cooper Fairgate and 'Mack' MacKenzie on ''Knots Landing'' (1/21/1983)


• Joanie Louise Cunningham & Charles 'Chachi' Arcola on ''Joanie Loves Chachi'' (5/24/1983)


• Val and Danny on ''Knots Landing'' (1/25/1990)


• Samantha Micelli and Hank Thomopolous on ''Who's the Boss?'' (2/22/1992)


• Becky Conner and Mark Healy on ''Roseanne'' (9/15/1992)


• Colleen Monahan and Charlie Gallagher on ''Brooklyn Bridge'' (9/26/1992)


• Beatrice Reed and Truman Ventnor on ''Sisters'' (9/26/1992)


• Earvin Rodman and Lisa on ''Hangin' with Mr. Cooper'' (2/24/1995)


• Gina Waters and Martin Payne on ''Martin'' (5/18/1995)


• Corky Sherwood and Miles Silverberg on ''Murphy Brown'' (summer 1995)


• Kim Parker and Jerel Goodrich on ''The Parkers'' (9/4/2000)


• Noel David Crane and Natalie on ''Felicity'' (10/4/2000)


• Plum Wilkinson and Paulie DeLucca on ''That's Life'' (10/5/2001)


• Sarah Glass and Matt Camden on ''7th Heaven'' (2/25/2002)


• Daphne Moon and Niles Crane on ''Frasier'' (9/24/2002)


• Karen Walker and Lyle Finster on ''Will & Grace'' (4/29/2004)


• Faith and The Gooch on ''Hope & Faith'' (9/30/2005)


• Lorelai Gilmore and Christopher Hayden on ''Gilmore Girls'' (10/14/2006)

If you know of any that I missed, feel free to leave a note in the comments!