Reporter-types are always a presence at the upfronts, but the events of the week are never really about us. We are not, after all, the ones spending billions of dollars on their programming.

It's been a busier-than-usual week here at Zap2it -- thank goodness for the end of the WGA strike. Between all the announcements of shows returning and American Idol starting for real, a couple things slipped through the cracks.

Once upon a time, Survivor host Jeff Probst liked to be cagey about how long he'd stick with the reality franchise. On the eve of Wednesday's (Feb. 7) premiere of Survivor: Micronesia - Fans vs. Favorites, Probst sounds like you'd have to pry his Tribal Council torch snuffer from his cold, dead hands.

Were it not for the writers' strike, Blair Underwood would be appearing on three prime-time series in the next week. Instead, he'll have to settle for just two.

One year ago, I had only just joined the Zap2it team. "Veronica Mars" was still around, "Lost" seemed like a lost cause and the idea of year-round television was iffy enough that I started plotting the Great American Novel. As for the fall season, well gosh, good thing we had the writers merrily crafting established blockbusters to make up for what would surely be a crop of weak new offerings.

Wednesday night brings the heaviest influx of series premieres of the young season, with four new shows debuting on ABC and NBC, along with the returns of two CBS crime dramas and a much tougher test for FOX's lineup.

"The road is long
With many a winding turn
That leads us to who knows where
Who knows where
But I'm strong
Strong enough to carry him
He ain't heavy, he's my... father"

The summer is coming to a close, and so is Big Brother. There are only 2 people left in the house and we've seen a lot of backstabbing, emotional breakdowns, hate speech and verbal abuse, and if that's not entertainment, I don't know what is.

It's been a long and traumatic season for Big Brother fans, yet here we are in the final throes of the grand psychodrama. There are only 3 HGs left in the house, but I feel certain we can manage at least a little more backstabbing. Please? Well, we aren't going to find out here in the opener, so let's get to the goods! We start as we always start, with a whole lot of previouslys.

It’s been a long haul on Big Brother 8, but we’re nearly down to the end.  Someone has finally flexed enough to put Dick and Daniele on the block, but is it too little, too late?  Must we really be subjected to the spectacle of those two competing for the win?  Is there no relief in sight?

Our last episode had a double eviction that kept the show fast paced, engaging and while not surprising, at least it got us through the foregone conclusions with as little pain as possible. Which means that going back to the standard Big Brother show format this evening will be disagreeable to say the least.

Tonight promises to be a busy one in the Big Brother house, and not just because Daniele has a lot of whining to do, Dick has a lot of verbal abuse to accomplish, Eric and Jessica have kissing to catch up on, Jameka has praying to get out of the way and Zach has ... well, whatever. Tonight is also a double eviction night!

And so Crying Amber has left our lives, leaving a tiny hole in the household and a vast gulf in the repertoire of easy jokes to make about Big Brother 8. With Zach finally acting as the wild card and Jessica nominated for eviction, things finally promise to break wide open on the way to the endgame.

It's Sunday, and that means that it's time for another Big Brother episode! We start with our previouslys, showing Jessica nominating Zach and Amber, while Dick and Daniele doubt her loyalty to their alliance. For no apparent reason. But, in quid quo pro, Jessica and Eric are wondering about Dick and Daniele too.

Happy Thursday, Big Brother fans! I can hardly wait to see who gets the boot this week! Jessica is HoH, which made everyone quite jovial, until it came time to nominate people for eviction. Now it's down to either Zach (the ogre) or Amber (the hate-monger), because Eric won the PoV last Tuesday and decided not to use it. Which went over GREAT! And by "great", I mean not!

It's time for your Tuesday dose of Big Brother, one of the nights where the contests mean something! Previously on Big Brother: Eric stalls with Jessica (still); Dick and Daniele bicker (more); Jameka and Zach try to sink Dick and Daniele (as usual); America's Player manages to swing the vote (again), and persuades his way into getting Amber nominated for eviction alongside Zach.

Welcome to Sunday's Big Brother!  The house is getting smaller, the alliances are getting trickier, and the back stabbing is becoming more frequent.

We started the week with Jameka and Amber on the block. Amber received visions from God that she would win the PoV, but she lost and she cried. Daniele took the PoV instead, but used it to save Amber and I cried. So tonight, it's down to Jen or Jameka. Who's going to leave the Big Brother house? Will Amber cry? Will the squirrels finally leave their nest in Julie Chen's hair? Let's find out!

Deals have been made with the devil (a.k.a. Evil Dick), Dustin got the boot, and Jameka and Amber are out in the cold. Jen is trying to stay off the radar, Eric and Jessica may be flirting a little too much and no one knows who Zach is. The Big Brother house is getting stranger, folks! Let's watch it devolve further.

Dustin gets the axe? Eric turns coat and allies with Evil Dick? It’s been another shocking week on Big Brother 8, and we come roaring into an all-talking, not-much-happening Sunday to try digesting it all. 

The Big Brother 8 house is divided, the LNC is dead, Nerd Herd (the second coming) is kicking,  and Jessica is the HoH! She nominated Dick and Daniele for eviction and Dick made it his purpose in life to make everyone hate him to take the heat of hid daughter. Which was unnecessary in the end, because he won the PoV and took her off the block himself. Dustin had volunteered to go up and Jessica took him up on it. Who will be evicted? Let's find out!

It's Tuesday and things are still heating up in the Big Brother 8 house. We start this show as we start all shows: with more previouslys than we need. The LNC split in two when Dustin, Amber, Jameka and Jessica vote to keep Eric, leaving only Dick, Daniele and Zach voting for his departure ... which was quite a shock to them. Jessica won the HoH and put Dick and Daniele on the block. Let's see how long it takes before Dick's head explodes!

Yikes!  I go away for one week and Big Brother 8 gets so angry!  People yelling everywhere, Eric getting nominated for eviction, and Kail finally getting the boot?  I can’t leave these people alone for a second.

It's getting and heated and hateful in the Big Brother house, so let's just jump into the funk tub, shall we? We start with a load of previouslys about how Dick and Daniele have suddenly come up with a theory that Eric voted to keep Kail last week while simultaneously believing he is the one who masterminded Nick's eviction, also last week. How those things are not mutually exclusive, I don't know.

So, it seems Sunday had some tumultuous moments as covered by our own Big Brother 8 pinch hitter, Andy. Just in case you missed it, Daniele won HoH after swearing to Kail that she would not evict her - and then immediately put her on the block with Jen. Additionally, someone with wealth and too much free time on their hands hired a plane to fly overhead with a banner, screaming love for Nick, pegging Eric and Amber as liars and dissing the LNC as the "nerd herd".  What will that mean for this week's PoV?

If it's Sunday, that means time for another Big Brother 8, though I bet you're used to Mike or, in a pinch, Jessi recapping the episode. Well, I've watched the early ends of Drive and Pirate Master, so let's see how I do on a cancel-proof show. Thanks to Mike and Jessi for letting me fill in tonight and risk both their livelihoods.

I'd like to begin by thanking Jericho fans for the peanuts that were sitting on my chair in advance of Thursday (July 19) morning's TCA panel for the resurrected show.

NBC's sessions conclude with Chuck, changes to Bionic Woman and Tin Man, a Sci-Fi channel miniseries starring Zooey Deschanel, Neal McDonough and Alan Cumming.

Two rules to live by if you want to avoid hidden razor blades in your lollipops and factual inaccuracies in your industry gossip: Never take candy from strangers and don't believe everything you read on the Internet.

CBS' morning TCA executive session gave Entertainment President Nina Tassler the opportunity to address her network's most pressing issues, most particularly Jericho, Mandy Patinkin, Jericho, Moonlight, Jericho, Mandy Patinkin, Drew Carey and Jericho.

My fellow ruffians, can a twist be called a twist when the network's promotions shill it as soon as the end of the previous episode? They spoiled it almost immediately.

Even though I have barely recovered from Tuesday's exciting episode, CBS is already tossing another hour of non-stop thrills and chills at me. And by thrills and chills I really mean soul crushingly vapid conversation and meaningless gossip. And that's entertainment!

Me hearties, I thought a lot about mutiny this week. Not against the gentle crew of the SS Zap2it, but on Pirate Master. Here's how it works: Not only must the entire crew mutiny, but the officers must as well. Who thought up that latter bit? Why would the officers (who are in a nice spot) ever mutiny? Without it, I am almost positive we'd have had a mutiny this week. If you really want to hark back to pressgangs of old plus add some fun to this show, make the mutiny reliant only on the crew. And on that note...

You, a functional human being like me, probably don't find the rules to Pirate Master very complex. After all, we've been through rather a few of these episodes, you and I, and each has been liberally padded with exposition. I have to say, it's annoying. Especially on episodes like this one, where the challenge is physically rigorous and takes place in a breathtaking environment worth more a quick jump-cut.

It's a British Science Fiction Invasion as we review the third season premiere of  Doctor Who and two new shows: the much-anticipated spinoff Torchwood and a superb modernization of a classic Robert Louis Stevenson tale, Jekyll.

Bound by pilot preview resrtrictions, we say as little as possible about CBS' Viva Laughlin. Brill retracts most of the mean things she said in May about this fall's "beauty and the geeks" comedy, The Big Bang Theory, while Eric makes comparisons to Weird Science.
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Buckle your swashes and tighten that corset, because it's time for Pirate Master. I was pleasantly surprised this week, because the producers have apparently lightened up on begging our lads and lasses to explain the rules. Instead, Cheryl reminds us something like 23 times that she's a deputy district attorney. Honestly, these Pirate Master producers make the On the Lot contestants look like masters of subtle foreshadowing.

This is a bad week for my childhood. Already verging on a milestone birthday, I've had to deal with the death of Mr. Wizard, the science teacher of my youth. And Friday (June 15), Bob Barker says good-bye to The Price Is Right.

It's time for another voyage on the good ship Pirate Master, and if you missed the first episode, don't panic: We get a full three minutes of introduction. Not unreasonable, except that the scurvy dogs will once again explain every bit of the game during this episode.