Notes after the jump …

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It's time for the seventh season. Malcolm X Abram and I recently collected some thoughts about the show, which you can find here.

The season begins with four weeks of auditions.(You can find a schedule here.), followed by the Hollywood round on Feb. 12-13.

Viewers start voting after performance shows featuring the top 24 contestants (12 men, 12 women) on Feb. 19-20, with the first results show on Feb. 21. The Top 12 total will be announced on March 6.

I expect to be blogging on a regular basis starting with tonight's show. Malcolm and I are also discussing podcasts but haven't scheduled anything yet.

This from NBC today (and it ties in nicely with the previous post re CBS, network plans and the strike).

NBC has picked up a second season of the hit competition series "American Gladiators" (Mondays, 8-9 p.m. ET) it was announced today by Craig Plestis, Executive Vice President, Alternative Programming, Development and Specials, NBC Entertainment.

"Reveille and MGM are so thrilled that America has responded to our reinvention of American Gladiators," said executive producer Howard T. Owens, managing director of Reveille LLC. He adds, "The next cycle will allow us to tell more stories, create bigger drama, introduce new challenges and further create the most fun-filled, action-packed hour of television."

One thing that may come with the new season: More about the professional gladiators as personalities. At least, Valerie "Siren" Waugaman indicated to me that was something the gladiators were preparing for. More with Siren here.

An announcement today from CBS:

CBS has ordered three new alternative/reality series for broadcast later this year — the biweekly celebrity talent contest SECRET TALENTS OF THE STARS, the hidden camera game show GAME SHOW IN MY HEAD and the search for AMERICA'S TOP DOG. The series were announced by Ghen Maynard, Executive Vice President, Alternative Programming & Entertainment Content for New Media, CBS Paramount Network Television Entertainment Group.

AMERICA'S TOP DOG (working title) is a new one hour-long series where "man's best friend" can help its owner win big money! Owners and their pets — from "pageant dogs" to those dogs simply trained at home — will live together and battle it out in a dog competition that puts the dog's relationship with the person who has raised and trained it to the test. In the end, only one team of loving owner and faithful dog will emerge the winner in this dog-eat-dog competition!

Now, in any given year, networks are going to order unscripted stuff. But the ongoing strike makes that kind of thing all the more likely. And with something like "Secret Talents of the Stars," you can get celebs on the air in a format that shouldn't invite picket lines. CBS hopes.

Well, the Golden Globes have come and gone, almost in a blink, and it tells us something very important about awards shows …

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Notes, results and some "Tai" food, after the jump. …

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Wasn't the best "CSI." Loaded with stunt casting — Jewel, Ty Murray, Shooter Jennings — and odd, comedic casting — Nicole Sullivan, Julie "Earth Girls Are Easy" Brown. Seemed less reliant on science and more on suspects talking than a lot of shows, although some of the talk was fun. (I now know infinitely more about what's done to bulls than I ever asked for.)

Still, it was nice to have a new one, even if it was thrown into ratings combat against a new "Grey's Anatomy." (If the networks really cared about their viewers — oh, stop laughing — they wouldn't be burning off so many of their few remaining hit episodes on a single night.) And even a so-so "CSI" can come up with a nifty moment. This one had the cowboy poetry conversation, with Grissom's almost wistful acknowledgment of his coping with Sara's departure.

I believe that there is no idea so bizarre that someone won't put my money behind it. Witness the item from "Extra!" after the jump …

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Well, I have now watched the "30 Rock" version three or four times, and it's making me laugh even harder every time I see it. But, just so we don't forget Miss Gladys Knight, here's a performance of "Midnight Train" with the Pips from YouTube:

Here's the audio of the Knight original:

And, if only because it is weird on so many levels, Jessica Simpson in duet with Gladys Knight:

Miss Simpson should just forget it …

One of the advantages of shows going into summer reruns, or even long hiatuses, is that it is easy to remember the things you like about a show while either forgetting or forgiving the worst flaws and the irritating little tics.

Which brings me to "Grey's Anatomy" tonight. …

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This is a rare night with lots of new episodes of scripted shows, and I have the DVRs running at full blast. Unfortunately, since this is a Thursday, I am also trying to work my way through some DVDs for my DVD column. Still, I managed to catch a chunk of "30 Rock," including the hilarious "Midnight Train to Georgia" sequence. Genius. BRING THE WRITERS BACK! NEGOTIATE! LISTEN TO TOM HANKS!

A Spears family rep chewed him up on "Today" today. Here's the network's brief:

In a live exclusive interview, the Spears family spokesperson, Lou Taylor, talked to Meredith Vieira about Dr. Phil's hospital visit with Britney Spears and his actions and statement thereafter. Taylor said, "This is just another example of trust really being betrayed, and being inappropriate." Taylor also said the Spears family was never going to appear on Dr. Phil's television show. She said that the family felt Dr. Phil acted "self-serving" and that he "compromised" their relationship with Britney. Taylor, who serves as the business manager for Britney Spears' father, mother, and younger sister, Jamie Lynn, talked to Vieira live this morning on NBC News' "Today."

You can find the entire, 8-minute segment here:

(If that doesn't work, you can also go here.)

I especially like this line: "What's wrong with Dr. Phil's statement is that he made a
statement."

From NBC today:

NBC will broadcast two original episodes of "Chuck" (8-9 p.m. ET Mondays) on Thursday, January 24, 8-9 p.m. ET and again at 10-11 p.m. ET — sandwiched around an original episode of "The Celebrity Apprentice" from 9-10 p.m. ET. From executive producer, Josh Schwartz ("The O.C.") and executive producer-director McG ("Charlie's Angels," "We Are Marshall"), "Chuck" is an action-comedy series starring Zachary Levi ("Less Than Perfect") as a computer geek who is catapulted into a new career as the government's most vital secret agent.

I know, he's dead. But I'm thinking about what his philosophy of television might bring to the writer-struck medium right now, especially for the late-night talk-show hosts who are Allen's heirs.

Then again, I saw Jon Stewart back on his game Tuesday night, and wondered if this whole idea was really "Naah." More after the jump …

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Official release from FX:

The second season of Dirt, starring Courteney Cox, will premiere on FX
Sunday, March 2, 2008 at 10 PM ET/PT.

Ian Hart, Josh Stewart and Alexandra Breckenridge also return as series regulars. Guest stars include Julian Acosta, Tom Arnold, Laura Allen, Ryan Eggold, Rick Fox, Ashley Johnson, Richard Karn, Sharon Lawrence, Will McCormack, Larry Miller, Jeffrey Nordling, Pablo Schreiber
and Kevin Wheatley. Rosanna Arquette is a special guest star in episode 6.

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