"Brothers and Sisters" Family Portrait

ABC has released a new high-resolution image of the entire cast of their new Sunday night drama "Brothers and Sisters" (10/9c).

The family portrait (taken from a recent episode) features the entire revised all-star cast including "Ally McBeal" star Calista Flockhart, "Six Feet Under" star Rachel Griffiths, "Alias" stars Ron Rifkin and Balthazar Getty and movie and TV star and veteran actress Sally Field.

The series made headlines last summer with its radical behind-the-scenes changes, unavailability of the pilot for critical previews (due to extensive reshooting) and the departure of its showrunner.

Now, under the helm of "Everwood" mastermind Greg Berlanti, the drama has grown into one of the most compelling character dramas on television.

More NEWS & ARTICLES for "Brothers and Sisters":
VIDEO: Kevin and Scotty Kiss

Lilly and Marshall To Marry?

CBS has announced its November sweeps highlights and "How I Met Your Mother" will keep center stage on Monday nights following this week's rerun of the famous Season 1 Halloween episode "Slutty Pumpkin".

Marshall (Jason Segel) will start dating a new woman sending Lilly (Alyson Hannigan) into jealous frenzy. Although Ted (Josh Radnor) and Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) will try to convince him that the girl is crazy, it is Lilly who'll end up as the crazy one following all the heartache.

Ultimately though, the loving couple will elope to Las Vegas. Will they marry? Later next month, we will discover Robin's (Cobie Smulders) secret and Barney's brother (played by Wayne Brady) makes a special appearance as an equally notorious womanizer as Barney himself.

Bow Wow and Batista Wreak Havoc On 'Smallville'

The CW has released a brand new poster for their first sweeps episode airing this Thursday at 8/7c entitled 'Fallout'. This is the first ad following a series of suggestive posters last month advertising various love triangles on 'Smallville'.


Bow Wow makes a special guest appearance as Baern, a killer who escapes from The Phatom Zone and arrives on Earth to seek revenge for his imprisonment.

Pascale Hutton reprises her role from the season opener as Raya. She visits Clark in Smallville and helps him restore power to The Fortress of Solitude.


For those looking for eye candy called Justin Hartley, the Green Arrow returns next week. He will be taking super-drugs with severe side-effects.

Also next week, Lana Lang will make a shocking discovery about Lex and his cruel experiments with patients.

Finally, on November 16, Friday Night Smackdown wrestling star Batista will make a special appearance as Freak of the Week, the horrifying Phantom.

Monday a Good "Deal" for NBC

The ratings are in and the verdict is clear: the relocation of "Friday Night Lights" has paid off.

Monday has been a great night for NBC so far this season and the only weak link in the line-up was its 10pm drama "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip".

Yesterday, NBC aired an all-new episode of its struggling Tuesday night drama "Friday Night Lights", a darling of critics from across the TV industry. Now it seems NBC may be on to something.

The freshman drama grew as opposed to its last week's installment by over 2 million viewers scoring 8,29 million viewers, a season-high for the series.

The question is: will NBC now keep the drama on Mondays and see if it can keep improving or at least level off for a while? The show also did better than last week's episode of "Studio 60".

Of course, the drama lost a considerable amount of its lead-in audience ('Heroes', 14,74 million) and did not face a new episode of CSI: Miami as CBS's line-up was in repeats. Nevertheless, NBC may want to give the drama another shot, a move that could swing the axe on the almost-cancelled "Studio 60".

The most watched program of the evening was NBC's game-show "Deal or No Deal" (16,84 million) and FOX's 'Justice' (another recently relocated drama) did not benefit from its 'Prison Break' lead-in (8,96 million vs. 6,5 million).

Related NEWS:
"Friday Night Lights" Replaces "Studio 60"
More on "FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS"

Sarah and Kellerman's Final Showdown on 'PRISON BREAK"

Last night on yet another exciting installment of FOX's "Prison Break", Michael Scoffield (Wentworth Miller) realized just how ruthless his nemesis Mahoney (William Fichtner) really was as he uncovered how Tweener (Lane Garrison) died.

Next week, as you may see from these freshly released FOX promo images, Michael reunites with Sara (Sarah Wayne Callies) in Mexico, but their rendezvous is cut short by Mahoney and Kellerman (Paul Adelstein).

The week after, Sara is tortured and as she fights to stay alive, she will battle Kellerman and one of these two (as FOX says in their press release) will be gasping for their final breath.

Although we do not have any confirmation that Kellerman dies, we do know Sara appears on the fall finale episode entitled 'The Killing Box' (November 27), so draw your own conclusions.

Elsewhere, LJ meets his grandfather as Lincoln (Dominic Purcell) introduces his son to his father, Aldo Burrows (Tony Denison).

Meanwhile, Bellick (Wade Williams) and Geary (Matt De Caro) go after T-Bag (the amazing Robert Knepper), but the nasty Southerner is the last one to laugh as one of his two enemies dies and the other one is arrested.

Finally, two of the escapees will be recaptured and sent back to Fox River as the FOX drama closes its fall run on November 27.

More on PRISON BREAK:
Prison Break To Kill Off 2 More
Tweener Shot Dead
Prison Break's Czech Babe
Prison Break stars in Cannes

'Desperate Housewives' Ratings Up

'Desperate Housewives' are fighting back the competition with the highest ratings in four weeks. ABC's prime-time soap went up last night nabbing 21,1 million viewers - that's over 2 million viewers more than last week. The show was once again the most watched TV program in America on Sunday night.

Its lead-out "Brothers and Sisters" also did better than a week ago. The drama improved by almost one million viewers (to 12,7 million), once again beating CBS's 'Without a Trace' in the most important 18-49 demo. The procedural however won the hour in total viewers.

NBC's thriller series "Kidnapped" continued to slaughter the Nielsens scoring less than 4 million viewers on Saturday night. Kudos to NBC for sticking to their promise to air the Dana Delany drama to the end despite its hideous ratings performance.

The new season of NBC's "Las Vegas" opened on a par with its last year's figures (over 9 million viewers). Its lead-out veteran "Law & Order" fared much worse posting a little over 8 million. Perhaps the infamous Mel Gibson-spoofing episode will spike up the ratings.

Finally on Thursday, the night of repeats, ABC's 'Grey's Anatomy' 2nd hour managed to beat both veteran "ER" on NBC and freshman drama "Shark" on CBS. "Six Degrees" was pre-empted for the night.

The CW's fantasy line-up of "Smallville" and "Supernatural" is down year-to-year but posted season-high numbers (4,79 and 3,67 mil viewers respectively). "Ugly Betty" was the top show in the 8pm hour beating "Survivor" on CBS (13,15 vs. 12,61 mil viewers).

'Melrose Place' Finally Out on DVD

Before she was Bree Van De Kamp on 'Desperate Housewives', Marcia Cross was known to audiences as the crazy Kimberly on 'Melrose Place'. Next week (November 7), the signature soap opera of the '90s is finally released on DVD (its somewhat tame season 1) and we are celebrating with this clip taken from a VH-1 Melrose special.

Will Mr. Eko Die This Week on 'LOST'?

The countdown has begun to this week's 'major character death' on ABC's hit mystery drama "LOST" that TV Guide called shocking. The episode is confirmed to be Eko-centric which led many to believe we would be saying goodbye to Mr. Eko as we did last year in November when "Lost" killed off Shannon in an episode that featured a flashback into her and Boone's past.

Actor Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje who plays Mr. Eko has not been with the crew for several weeks (the episodes which will air after the winter hiatus are currently in production) and he is scheduled to appear on Regis' talk show on Thursday morning. Odd timing for a daytime appearance unless something huge is about to happen to his character the night before.

Finally, spoilers have appeared on the Internet today that claim Mr. Eko will be caught in a burning hut seeing the image of his deceased brother. Sayid, Charlie and Hurley will allegedly try to put out the fire with no success. This would of course imply Mr. Eko does not die being stabbed into his neck as it seems in this week's trailer.

On the other hand, this could all be a carefully calculated ploy on the part of the production team to cover up the actual death. Teasers on TV Guide claim the name of the person who dies is not Sawyer. Then again, the name of the person we know as Sawyer is not Sawyer, but James. Hmm...

More on LOST:
Two Islands Revealed
LOST Takes a Break
Locke's Dream
Who is Karl?
Freckles Gets Married

'Friday Night Lights' Replaces 'Studio 60'

"Monday Night Football" may be gone from network television (the franchise was moved to ABC's sister cable channel ESPN this season), but football is nevertheless back on Monday nights. At least tonight, that is.

As reported earlier, NBC will try out its struggling freshman drama about people in a small Texas town and their high school football team in a new timeslot benching Aaron Sorkin's flop "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" for a week.

If the experiment succeeds, the drama will stay on Monday nights. The network may then also try to find a new home for "Studio 60", but that course of action now seems highly unlikely. The drama's all-star cast makes it one of the most expensive shows on television and less than 8 million viewers who tune into it regularly at this point (down almost 50% since the premiere) can not support the high production cost. Also, rumours have spread over the past couple of days that it is only a question of time before NBC cans the show for good.

So, what makes NBC think 'Friday Night Lights' might succeed on Monday nights at 10pm? First of all it is a darn good show, one that has not slipped in quality following its excellent pilot episode (as it seems to be the case with writing on 'Studio 60').

Secondly, the show currently starts off Tuesday nights which is a hard task for a new series, especially when facing blockbuster reality competition "Dancing with the Stars" on ABC or being matched with incompatible "Law & Order".

Finally, the show is already the #3 new show among teens, a group that already adores its tonight's lead-in, the hit sci-fi drama "Heroes" (9/8c). That means "Friday Night Lights" may do a much better job of retaining those 15 million viewers who tune into "Heroes".

On tonight's episode, coach clashes with Voodoo as the team prepares for the big game against Arnett Meade. NBC will repeat the episode in "Friday Night Lights" regular timeslot, tomorrow night at 8/7c.

Pedophile Moving To Wisteria Lane?

There is more scandal on the way to the campiest street on television. Following that shocking supermarket bloodshed in next week's episode "Bang", there may be a pedophile moving to Wisteria Lane in the following weeks on ABC's Sunday night dramedy "Desperate Housewives".

In the episode "Children and Art", Lynette will become suspicious of her new neighbor who may be involved in child pornography. As tensions escalate on TV's most notorious cul-de-sac, a group of women organize protests against pedophiles and Lynette alerts the police.

Matt Roth (Frasier, Grey's Anatomy) plays the suspicious neighbor Art.

The new neighbor whose name is Art will appear for the first time in the episode "Bang" (November 5) where he calms Lynette's nervous son Parker down while his mom is being held up by Carolyn at the supermarket.

More on "Desperate Housewives"
Supermarket Bloodshed

"Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" To Be Cancelled

FOX News reported today that NBC's Monday night drama may get cancelled.

Although one should always take FOX News with a grain of salt, the fact of the matter is that the show which posted 7,7 million viewers last week premiered to over 13 million back in September and went on to lose almost half that audience. The competing "CSI: Miami" on CBS averages 17,5 million.

That is very bad for almost any show on a big network like NBC. And if it is one of the most highly anticipated and the most expensive shows of the new TV season with an all-star cast - it is tragic.

According to the FOX report the cast members have already confided in their friends that the end is near. Although Rupert Murdoch's news channel is very critical of liberal series creator Aaron Sorkin, the report did praise Matthew Perry for immense growth as an actor since his Chandler Bing days on "Friends".

VIDEO: "Brothers and Sisters" Gay Kiss

Last week, ABC's "Brothers and Sisters" took the romance of Kevin and Scotty to a new level in this tender moment between actors Matthew Rhys and Luke MacFarlane. Catch an all-new episode tonight at 10/9c, after "Desperate Housewives".

Ugly Betty Does a Tom Brady Makeover

Tune into ESPN tomorrow night as Americas new icon, Betty Suarez (America Ferrera), her boss, Daniel Meade (Eric Mabius) and nemesis Amanda (Becki Newton) tackle New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick in a segment during ESPNs Monday Night Countdown NFL pre-game show, October 30 at 7:00 p.m., ET.

The team from fashions leading Mode Magazine will sack the coach and give him a photoshop makeover that helps him score, turning him into quarterback Tom Brady.

Later next week, ABC airs an all-new episode of "Ugly Betty" with producer Salma Hayek in a special sweeps guest starring role. Daniel will fall in instant lust with a mysterious beauty he sees in the Mode lobby (Hayek) and ask for Bettys help in finding out her identity. The episode "Trust, Must and Lust" airs November 2 at 8:00 p.m., ET.

VIDEO: Katherine Heigl on Ellen

'Grey's Anatomy' star Katherine Heigl (Izzy Stevens) made an appearance on the Ellen show earlier this week and spoke about the scandalous outburst of testosterone on the set of the mega-popular drama.

"ER" EXTENDED, "TRAVELER" SHORTENED

NBC's veteran medical drama "ER" that entered its 13th season this fall has gotten a new lease on life. Although the network had initially anticipated the ratings for the aging series to continue to slide this season, the show bounced back.

Is it the improved writing following a terrible cliffhanger last season; or is it the addition of the star John Stamos (whom ABC was finally kind enough to release from his pointless "Jake In Progress" contract that prevented him from joining the show last season); or is it simply the weak competition over on ABC and CBS ('Six Degrees' and 'Shark' that lose a significant chunk of lead-in audience)?

Whatever the case the network has ditched plans to interrupt the show for the winter (mid-season drama 'The Black Donnellys' are looking for a new home) and now it ordered another episode on top of the original 24 episode order, bringing the total to 25.

thriller series "Traveler" from 13 to only 8 installments. The series stars Steven (Rex Van De In related news, ABC has decreased the order for their excellent new mid-seasonCulpKamp on "Desperate Housewives") and Logan Marshall Green (Ryan's brother Trey on "The O.C.).

McDREAMY'S SISTER STIRS UP TROUBLE ON 'GREY'S ANATOMY'

"Grey's Anatomy" went into reruns this week and it has already felt like ages since the last all-new installment of ABC's fabulous medical drama. Next Thursday, ABC kicks off a new batch of episodes starting off with "Let The Angels Commit".

In the episode (airing November 2 at 9/8c, ABC) we will meet one of Dr. McDreamy's sisters played by Embeth Davidtz. Derek's sibling will make quite an entrance in his trailer. She makes herself a bit too comfortable in his bed, while her brother is taking a shower. Needless to say, Meredith walks in at the wrong moment to make the assumption her lover is involved in some serious McCheating.

Then the following week, the men of Seattle Grace take a camping trip.

See also:

Isaiah Washington Apologizes
Steamy Couple
McCuddly & His Beau?
And More on Grey's Anatomy:

"STUDIO 60" GETS A NEW SCRIPT ORDER

NBC's "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" as well as three series on ABC ('Men in Trees', "Help Me Help You' and 'The Nine') have all been given additional script orders. NBC has ordered 3 new scripts, while all ABC series got four.

Broadcast networks in the US normally give additional script orders to show faith in quality or potential of a new show which is struggling in the ratings, sending positive signals to their limited fan base and potential new viewers.

With only two new shows officially cancelled (NBC's Kidnapped and CBS' Smith) and several shows on indefinite hiatus (FOX's "Happy Hour" and NBC's "20 Good Years") almost all new shows have either received a new script order or they have been picked up for a full 22-episode season.

"Studio 60" had a solid start back in September (over 13 million viewers), but has lost almost half that audience by now. "Help Me Help You" and "The Nine" scare away half of their lead-in audience ("Dancing with the Stars" and "Lost", respectively).

"Men In Trees" is doing quite poorly on a weak night (Friday, less than 7 million). Some analysts suggest that ABC move the Anne Heche Alaska-based romantic drama to Thursday night after "Grey's Anatomy" as they believe ABC's 10pm drama JJ Abrams' "Six Degrees" may not necessarily be the best fit.

In an apparent lack of confidence for the show, ABC not only failed to give "Six Degrees" a new script order, but also pre-empted the show this week with a "Grey's rerun".

Recently CBS also asked for four additional scripts for its sitcom "The Class".

Although a script order is hardly as good as a full-season pick-up, the networks get to see where the show is headed creatively which helps them make a decision whether they want to continue to support it or not. Also, if the ratings do spike up, the writers are ready to keep the new episodes rolling.

Jensen Ackles on the Megan Mullally Show

Supernatural hunk spills beans on the new season of "Supernatural" and shares his personal secrets including a 'mooning' incident...

WAYNE BRADY BARNEY'S BROTHER ON "MOTHER"

Kudos to Neil Patrick Harris (Barney) who does such superb job on CBS's Monday night sitcom "How I Met Your Mother" injecting likeability into the otherwise hideous, pranksterish, womanizing, insult-laden, cougar-hunting, suited-up yuppie who constantly sets his friends up and laughs into their face and yet, one can not help but adore him.

A recent episode that took us into Barney's bachelor pad designed for one night stands including an illuminated bookcase porn-collection, the tolet seat that won't stay down and a life-sized Storm Trooper may have been the show's best ever, even topping last year's hilarious disclosure how Barney became Barney when a woman broke his heart and he wept into camera.

Now, the sitcom is about to get even funnier when Wayne Brady (Celebrity Duets, Girlfriends) guest stars during November sweeps as Barney's brother. Is one of the brothers adopted? The 'Mother' co-creator and executive producer Carter Bays says the less they reveal the funnier it will be.

In related news, Bryan Cranston who played Malcolm's dad on FOX's "Malcolm in the Middle" for seven years has signed on for several episodes as Ted's boss. Bryan who already appeared on this week's episode returns throughout November sweeps.

"LOST" REVEALS THERE ARE TWO ISLANDS

We learned quite a bit in the stunning last installment of "Lost" ("Every Man For Himself" - Episode 4, Season 3, Original airdate: October 25, 2006):

Sawyer served time in prison and has a daughter named Clementine;
The Others own a submarine called Galaga which they used to enter Jin, Sun and Sayid's boat;
One of The Others has a tumor and it could be Ben.
Coleen did initially survive getting shot by Sun, but dies in the episode after Jack fails to rescue her.
Juliet is a fertility doctor.
The Others do not have all they might want at their disposal (defibrillator in the OR is broken down and they have not been able to replace it).


But the mother of all revelations came at the very end of the episode when following days of psychological torture Ben took Sawyer to the top of a hill on the edge of the island and and explained why it is pointless to attempt to escape, revealing there are actually two islands.

One island is the one where survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 crashed (the original, bigger island with polar bears, the smoke monster and the now-imploded hatch) and then the other smaller one is the one where they keep their prisoners and where the infamous Hydra station is located.

More on LOST:
Lost Takes a Break
Locke Cleans Up Mess
New Old Castaways
Is Sun a Killer?
Who is Karl?
Freckles Gets Married

"DESPERATE" GABY RETURNS TO MODELLING

ABC has released additional promotional images of their upcoming sweeps episodes of Sunday night blockbuster series "Desperate Housewives" and it is clear the show will return to its signature comedy following all that trauma of the grocery store carnage in the "Bang" episode (airs November 5).


Gaby returns to modelling (November 12) and she sets her greedy sight on much more than promoting a new Buick at the Fairview mall (as she did back in those cash-starved times in Season 1). Oh, no... Gaby is talking "Vogue" and "Harper's Bazaar" and "Elle"...


Yet all hell breaks loose when tantrum-prone ego-centric vixen with the most hilarious lines on the show is forced into shooting "mother" roles. And the worst thing of all...? A 14-year old model who plays her daughter takes all the spotlight.

More on "Desperate Housewives":
Solises sex it up again
New Housewives mystery
Marcia Cross expecting twins
New Hunk on Wisteria Lane
Desperate Men photo-shoot

'THE NINE' LOSES HALF 'LOST' AUDIENCE

ABC's freshman drama about survivors of a hostage standoff following a bank robbery gone wrong has sunk to new lows. The drama attracted only a little over 8 million viewers last night (10PM), which is less than half of the 16,8 million who tuned into yet another breathtaking installment of "Lost" at 9PM. Little had ABC known when they cancelled the amazing alien mystery drama "Invasion" last season.

Over on CBS, "Criminal Minds" (9PM) continues to give "Lost" a run for its money (16,59 million) becoming one of the greatest success stories of this TV season.

The highest rated program of the evening was Jerry Springer's exit from the "Dancing with the Stars" competition on ABC (8PM) that nabbed almost 20 million viewers.

Jericho continues to be a steady performer for CBS (8PM, 10,54 million) improving the nets timeslot results over previous seasons.

The losers of the evening were NBC's 8PM comedies. Despite that '30 Rock' will get a post-Scrubs timeslot in Thursday's Must-See TV line-up as of November 30.

SARAH JESSICA PARKER TRICKS AND TREATS FOR UNICEF

"Sex and the City" star Sarah Jessica Parker, 41, who starred in HBO's critically-acclaimed and award-winning series as New York City sex columnist Carrie Bradshaw, continued her Halloween tradition yesterday taking part in the annual UNICEF Trick or Treat Program which has raised over $132 million in the past 56 years.

The program raises funds to help children in the developing countries. The star told the reporters she intends to pass on the tradition to her 3-year old son, James.

WEDNESDAY NIGHT CHANGES

As the broadcast networks announce their scheduling plans for November, a.k.a. the first sweeps month of the television season, it seems Wednseday nights are about to get a little makeover.

ABC will air the 'fall finale' of blockbuster drama "Lost" on November 8 and a week later the network will premiere the new Taye Diggs series "Day Break" which will take over the 9/8c slot for 13 weeks. The same night "Dancing with the Stars" concludes its two-month run with a special season finale at 8/7c. Then on November 22, the brand new William Shatner-hosted game show "Show Me The Money" premieres in the 8pm timeslot.

Over on NBC, a new season of supernatural hit drama "Medium" starring Patricia Arquette opens with a special 2-hour premiere with Patricia's real-life husband Thomas Jane in a guest-starring role. The episode is their first ever collaboration together.

The same night, NBC's reality show "The Biggest Loser" will move to the 8pm slot, pre-empting NBC's comedies "30 Rock" and "20 Good Years" which will only air through November 8.

Then on Thursday, November 16 "30 Rock" moves to its new night with a special super-sized episode at 9:20/8:20c. Two weeks later (a 2-hour Deal or No Deal airs instead of comedies on November 23), the Tina Fey sitcom moves to its new slot 9:30/8:30c as part of a revamped Must-See TV comedy line-up. For more on that story click HERE.

"20 Good Years" has not had a strong run and although NBC claims it is putting the sitcom on an indefinite hiatus following its final airing on November 8, it is now almost certain the John Lithgow comedy has been cancelled.

NEW SMALLVILLE DVD IN HIGH DEFINITION

Warner Home Video is presenting the fifth season of "Smallville" on DVD next month (November 28) and it will be a very special event. The set is the very first High Definition DVD ever released and it is a part of a massive "Superman on DVD" campaign.

In addition to being HD, the five-disc set will contain a number of special features, such as unaired scenes, commentaries and a "Behind the Scenes" documentary. It will be priced at $79.98, about $20 more than the average TV on DVD set.

Warner will also release this year's summer blockbuster "Superman Returns" starring Brandon Routh as well as classics "Superman I" and "Superman II - The Richard Donner Cut". The Donner version of the latter movie is highly anticipated by the fans as the director was forced off the project 30 years ago and his project was entirely changed by the movie studio and a new director, Richard Lester who completed the 1980 motion picture.

The entire 14-disc collection will also be released as "The Ultimate Collector's Edition" on the same date.

A NEW DAY FOR A BEARDED JACK BAUER

Every single day there is more and more evidence how important the Internet has become for the broadcast networks.

New episodes of popular shows are available online for days or even weeks after their on-air premiere, some of them get a special advanced screening before on-air premiere and, of course, there is a bunch of preview clips, trailers and promos, video and audio podcasts, official blogs from TV show writers, TV shows-inspired music videos... the list goes on and on.

Television and the web are merging and the networks know how crucial it is to be at the forefront of change.

Now, FOX has set up a special website that streams nothing but the brand new trailer for their heartpounding thriller series "24" starring Kiefer Sutherland as Special Agent Jack Bauer which returns in January with a 2-night 4-hour season premiere.

casualties in Baltimore and St. Louis as the new President Palmer (that is Wayne Palmer, the brother of the former President Palmer The trailer contains shocking images of the US under attack with over 1000 civilianassassinated in season five) and his advisers played by Jayne Atkinson and Peter MacNicol try to take charge. Obviously it is time to bring back the only man who can salvage the nation and boy, is that an entrance to behold or what!

As the Chinese turn Jack Bauer over to CTU we get the very glimpse of a bearded Grizzly Adams of a Jack Bauer that we had never seen before.

Tortured, scarred and seeing the light of the day for the very first time after months in Chinese captivity, the hero raises to the occasion realizing the day has come to die for a noble cause. Of course. Having said that, the rest of the trailer is quite common over-the-top "24" business, but the image of a bearded Jack Bauer is the one that sticks and will carry through until day six begins on January 14 on FOX for yet another award-winning ratings-smashing non-stop season.

RACHEL BILSON COSMO COVER

As of today you may catch the new season of "The O.C." on MySpace VOD website. The season premiere episode "The Avengers" will be available for a week until its broadcast premiere at which time MySpace will offer the second episode "The Gringos".


In the meantime, Rachel Bilson (Summer) appears on the cover of the November issue of Cosmopolitan. According to the mag, Rachel has a hit show, a cute boyfriend (co-star Adam Brody), a buzzed about movie and zero attitude.

ABC TOPS WORLD SERIES ON FOX

What a difference a year makes. Does anyone still remember Gina Davis as Madam President in Rod Laurie's "Commander In Chief" on ABC?

One year ago, the White House drama was headed for some backstage shuffle and a very disappointing sweeps performance after a very promising start. ABC was losing viewers on weekly basis. This year however ABC's reality sensation "Dancing with the Stars" destroys all competition in its path reaching over 20 million viewers in its last half hour.

The rest of the night was on a par with previous Tuesdays this season. ABC's sitcom "Help Me Help You" continues to lose half of the Dancing audience. "Friday Night Lights" on NBC is still struggling to exceed the 7 million mark. And the World Series game on FOX was slightly off from last year (nabbing over 13 million viewers).

NBC's MUST-SEE TV RETURNS

Following last week's shocking announcement that they would fire 700 people and cut down on scripted comedy and drama by programming only reality shows in the 8pm hour, NBC have come their senses and made the first two steps that may actually bring some much-needed credibility to the troubled network.

Starting November 30, NBC will ditch Thursday night edition of their hit game show "Deal or no Deal" (the lowest rated of 3 weekly editions) going back to two telecasts per week on Monday and Friday nights at 8/7c. The show averages over 15 million viewers on Monday nights, but one third of that audience flocks to either CSI and Grey's Anatomy on Thursday nights.

It gets better. NBC will reinstate their trademark Must-See TV schedule on Thursdays by airing 4 sitcoms back-to-back between 8-10pm ET/PT. The network will launch the sixth season of the award-winning comedy "Scrubs" at 9pm and move Tina Fey's "30 Rock" to accompany it. The revised comedy line-up is as follows:

8pm My Name Is Earl
8:30pm The Office
9pm Scrubs
9:30pm 30 Rock

ISAIAH WASHINGTON APOLOGIZES

Isaiah Washington has apologized to his castmates in an exclusive statement for People Magazine. The actor says: ""I sincerely regret my actions and the unfortunate use of words during the recent incident on-set. Both are beneath my own personal standards. … I have nothing but respect for my coworkers … and have apologized personally to everyone involved."

The magazine reports that the incident did occur and the homophobic slur was used as Washington mouthed off his frustration with co-star T.R. Knight's absence. Knight, who was late to film a scene, was also not present at the time when Washington uttered the slur. Dempsey, who defended the gay actor, had then (according to the magazine) told Washington to "f... off".

US Magazine has gone even further. They are running a cover story about the incident with a special report on Isaiah Washington's previous on-set tantrums and a restraining order filed against the actor in 1997. According to the magazine, people on the "Grey's Anatomy" set are intimidated by the actor and his diva-like behaviour.

More:

Damage control begins
Will they fire Washington?
Egos clash

"LOST" TO TAKE A 13-WEEK BREAK

ABC announced Tuesday the return date for "Lost" which is going on a three-month hiatus following its 'fall finale' on November 8. The network will bring back the mystery drama on February 7 (starting with a Juliet flashback pictured above) and then run the series for 16 weeks uninterrupted. Some analysts believe that if Taye Diggs new series "Day Break" which will fill the Wednesday at 9/8c slot over 13 weeks tanks, ABC may bring the island drama even earlier.

ABC has also said they would cancel Friday night reality series "Extreme Makeover". The original version of the series premiered last Friday, but the ratings were so low that the network made a decision to axe the series after only one airing. Charlie Brown Halloween special will air this week and as of November ABC will bring back "Grey's Anatomy" repeats. They have proved to be a more suitable and stronger lead-in for the struggling Anne Heche series "Men In Trees".

DAMAGE CONTROL BEGINS

The wait is over. "Grey's Anatomy" star Isaiah Washington will go on air to address the accusations that he made homophobic remarks directed at T.R. Knight. And what better place to do so than Ellen Degeneres' talk show. Ellen, who today welcomed Katherine Heigl - yet another "Grey's Anatomy" star - confirmed his appearance on tomorrow's show and said in her trademark tone she was hoping he would not call her any names.

UPDATE (Wed, October 25):

Isaiah Washington cancelled his appearance on the Ellen Degeneres show due to "a change in his production schedule".

Katherine Heigl (Izzy) who did appear on Ellen on Tuesday played down the incident calling it a scuffle and saying she did not even know what it was about, as five minutes after the incident both stars involved were laughing.

Although we have yet to hear from any of the people involved in the backstage drama (Isaiah Washington, Patrick Depsey or T.R. Knight), a spokesperson for the network said on Tuesday ABC has no intention of replacing Washington.

More stories:
McCuddly & his Beau
Will Isaiah Washington get fired?
T.R. Knight is gay

JULIET A DOCTOR?

Elizabeth Mitchell's Juliet is getting a flashback in an upcoming episode of "Lost".

The episode "Not In Portland" is scheduled to be the seventh episode in the current season and it is currently in production. It is not expected to air before February 7, 2007, though.

The Hawaii media have reported that the "Lost" crew are using a local school of medicine for scenes set in a very advanced-looking lab.

According to this exclusive image, Ethan - the very first Other we had met back in season 1, who also appeared in Claire's flashback in season 2 and in the infamous opening five minutes of the third season premiere - will also be a part of Juliet's past. It now seems both characters had been doctors before they ended up on the island.

According to ABC episode synopsis, The Others will ask Jack for medical help in tomorrow's episode. Bear in mind however, an Other will die tomorrow night.

More on LOST:
Lost Takes a Break
Locke Cleans Up Mess
New Old Castaways
Is Sun a Killer?
Who is Karl?
Freckles Gets Married

RARE NBC WIN

Monday is the night when NBC's ratings spike up and yesterday was no exception. The network won the night in the 18-49 category courtesy of its blockbuster game show "Deal or no Deal" (over 15 million viewers) and sci-fi hit drama "Heroes" (14,3 million viewers), the latter matching its highest ratings ever and becoming the top new show of the week.

Then at 10pm the TV industry drama "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" once again managed to lose a great deal of that lead-in audience although it did go up a notch in the 18-49 catagory as opposed to last week's episode. The drama will be pre-empted next week, at which point we may find out if NBC will keep it in the timeslot during the sweeps or move it somewhere else.

CSI: Miami remains the top show of the night.

STEAMY COUPLE

Hot doc Eric Dane of "Grey's Anatomy" and his wife of two years Rebecca Gayheart of FOX's "Vanished" attneded last night's FOX's Fall 2006 Eco-Casino Party in Los Angeles. ABC will air rerun of their red-hot medical drama's 3rd season premiere this Thursday (an all-new episode airs next week), while Gayheart's Vanished (also starring Eddie Cibrian) returns this Friday at 8/7c on FOX, following a mini-hiatus.

THE SIMPSONS SWEEPS STUNT

The Simpsons are returning just in time for November sweeps with all new episodes and it all starts on November 5 with their annual Halloween "Treehouse of Horror XVII" trilogy that turns Homer into a rampaging blob. Dr. Phil McGraw, Richard Lewis (as legendary monster Golem) and Fran Dreschner guest star. The episode will include a spoof of "War of the Worlds".

Then the week after 24's Kiefer Sutherland will be the guest voice in the "GI (Annoyed Grunt)" episode in which Bart gets commitment to join the Army when he turns 18. After Homer tries to help him avoid the military service he ends up as prey to a couple of Army recruiters and lands himself in basic training. Expect references to the war in Iraq.

FOX has already started the promotion of these new episodes of "The Simpsons" via their website offering fans an opportunity to put together their own trailer of the Halloween episode by using video clips, sounds, transitions, music cues, title cards and text related to the episode and available online until 11:59pm, Monday October 30.

The web user who compiles the winning trailer can win all-expenses paid trip to the 400th episode party in Hollywood in May 2007 and their trailer may air on FOX.

FOX will also use the November episodes to promote the upcoming 2007 Simpsons Movie with the premiere of a special 30-second sneak peak.

"24" TRAILER PREMIERES TODAY

Do not panic if you are in New York right now and you will be going to Times Square within an hour as you may see street teams clad in CTU uniforms. They will be giving away 5000 radios that will allow you to hear audio for the brand new "24" trailer (2 minutes and 20 seconds in length).

FOX's action-packed drama starring Kiefer Sutherland returns with two double episodes, airing back to back on two consecutive nights in January. Today however, if you are in New York City, you may see the world premiere of the show's season 6 trailer on News Astrovision screen beginning at 3:00pm ET. The trailer will then be available on the 24trailer.com website and Sprint Power Vision phone until the drama returns in 2007.

The event is sponsored by Toyota which will use it as a promotional platform for its new vehicle the 2007 RAV4 SUV. 30-second snippets of the trailer will also be broadcast tonight during the World Series game on FOX.

"THE O.C." PREMIERES ONLINE IN 48 HOURS

Broadcast networks have really started taking the Internet seriously.

FOX has just announced it will present the fourth season premiere of their hit teen-soap "The O.C." one week prior to its broadcast premiere, that is the day after tomorrow.

On Thursday, October 26 FOX will stream the episode via News Corp's social networking hub MySpace, as well as 24 local owned-and-operated stations websites.

In addition, FOX will also present the second episode via MySpace and these ad-supported streams of both episodes will remain online for a week.

More stories:
Brody & Bilson in Toronto
Season Premiere Promo Pics
Welcome back to The O.C., bitch!
Season 4 Promo Pics

TEENS LOVE "FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS"

NBC's compelling character drama "Friday Night Lights" (Tuesdays, 8/7c) has received a lot of positive critical buzz, but you may have also heard of its ratings troubles. As a matter of fact, the pilot episode which aired on October 4 was one of the lowest rated programs so far this TV season.

For this reason it may come as a surprise that the show about a high school couch leading his team to Texas is also the third most watched new show among teens, just behind "Heroes" and "Ugly Betty".

The reason teens love this show is that its depiction of high school does seem to relate more to them than that of other more 'soapy' teen-focused shows on television, such as "The O.C." and "One Tree Hill".

Also, it did not hurt that NBC, which normally does not market to teens, organized special local screenings for high-school students in over 50 cities across the US and the feedback from teens who are known to be very picky about their TV has been very positive.

On tonight's episode, Taylor (Kyle Chandler) has one week to save his job, prove the distrusting town wrong, bring his team together and produce a much-needed win, unfortunately all while his family is falling apart.

Next week, "Friday Night Lights" airs an all-new episode on Monday night at 10/9c (instead of a "Studio 60" rerun). The episode will be repeated the following day in the drama's regular timeslot.