Gail: Hi, everybody. Thanks for joining me today, although we should all be at home, taking the day off and watching TV, because there’s WAY too much on this week to get to in prime time. In fact, I’m leaving now — no, maybe I’ll wait an hour and answer some questions.

mike: is smallvill comming back?

Gail: Yes, and big news — “Smallville” has added an “e” to its name this year. The season premiere is 8 p.m. Friday on the CW (Channel 11).

darcy: I am curious about the changed schedule for KPLR late night programming. What happened to Sex and the City? Why are most of the programs aimed at guys? Such as Family Guy shown multiple times (which I absolutely loathe), That 70s Show, South Park, King of Queens, Two and Half Men, and on weekends Dave Chappelle.

Sex and the City was the one highlight–sophisticated, witty and adult. I am so tired of Friends and Everybody Loves Raymond, but at least they are watchable compared to the above list of unfunny and/or crude shows. Malcolm in the Middle is the one exception–a fine show that deserves a better time slot than the wee hours. In fact I’d be glad if it moved back to afternoons when my husband can watch. He loved the show.
I hope you can shed some light on KPLR’s choices and also explain what the afternoon line up will be when Earl comes to town.
Thanks!

Gail: Most late-night TV is aimed at young men. They are the hardest-to-attract TV demographic, and late night is one time they’re known to be watching TV. KPLR tells me that their contract with “Sex and the City” was up. Apparently it either didn’t do well or was especially expensive, and they didn’t renew it. I assume you don’t have cable? Because if you do, there are a zillion choices, many aimed at women, after 10:30 p.m. If not, two thoughts: Isn’t “Frasier” still on KDNL? I’m not a huge watcher of sitcom reruns, but I can watch every “Frasier” a hundred times. Also, “The Office” just started in syndication at 11:05 p.m. weeknights on KTVI, followed by “Seinfeld.”

suzyjax: Excellent job by NPH hosting this years Primetime Emmys. Now, the inevitable question—will he become a semi-permanent host? (Or, possibly just host all the award shows?)

Gail: I vote for Neil Patrick Harris (agreed, he was excellent) to host every awards show except those on MTV, because he’s too good for that. Also, give him a talk show. He’s the best. And who’d have thought little Doogie Howser would grow up so great?

Terry: Hi Gail, wanted to get your input on the TV program Supernatural. I’m a really big fan. I enjoy the concept, writing and actors. But, I also know it’s broadcasted on the floundering CW network. What have you hear in regards to its future. Will it go the wayside of a “Angel” after its fifth season or linger on forever like Smallville?

Gail: “Supernatural” isn’t suffering from being on the CW. It’s a really good fit for the network. The creator had said he intended Season 5 to be the last. Whether that’s true won’t be known for awhile.

Stephanie: Hey Gail,
Is it just me or is Mad Men moving rather slow this season? We haven’t had anything happen to make us gasp and grab our pearls since the premiere. Well, the ***spoiler deleted*** but does he really count? Maybe I’m feeling that way because the stories from last season haven’t been elaborated on. Okay, I’ll shut up now.

Gail: I’m really shocked when I hear anybody say they think “Mad Men” is too slow. It’s not “CSI: Miami,” folks. Every minute of every episode counts, and if you think it doesn’t, you’ll find out later that it did. And if you didn’t swoon and beg someone to fan you after the shocking incident (which you skirted nicely, but I still felt the need to delete) last week, I’m worried about you.

wgmartin: Regarding the comments last chat on the over-the-air digital sub-channels:
Now that KMOV has dropped KNLC’s signal from digital 4.2 and is running
the weather-radar image along with NOAA weather audio most of the time
(they actually had their own “At the Zoo” program on over the weekend
on that channel), I’ve written them to request that they add a crawl during
the weekday business day and for a few hours later during the evening that
would have business data (DOW, NASDAQ, S&P, gold, silver, etc.). You can
get that all day long on cable business channels but there is nothing like
it for over-the-air viewers. I ask that all you other over-the-air viewers
do the same (just go to KMOV’s website and pick the “DTV” selection from
their comments menu). Gail, please add this request to an upcoming printed
column, so paper readers can see it and be encouraged to add their voices
too.

And a question: How do the networks decide on which programs to repeat
during otherwise-open hours, like on Friday or Saturday evenings? I’m
seeing some repeats of pilots and initial episodes listed in the TV-guide
info, but what we really need are repeats from the really densely-packed
evenings like Monday, when the silly decision to air House, Heroes, *and*
the CBS comedies all opposite each other forces us to miss things we
would want to see. Nobody is paying attention to the fact that this is
the first all-digital-broadcast mew season, which has killed off the vast
majority of over-the-air VCR recording capability, except for the few
people who have gone thru the hassle of setting up a converter box with
their existing analog VCR. This has got to have forced some noticeable
percentage loss of viewers. (There can’t be *that* many people with
digital-tuning recorders yet.)

Will

Gail: You guys are on your own with that first part — except I don’t think the business crawl is necessarily a good idea. Depending on what programming they end up putting on the extra channel, it would be really annoying.

The networks usually choose to repeat either shows they’re very proud of and want to give an extra push, ones they think people will like if they sample them, or ones they think will do well in repeats to temporarily fill a time slot. Friday night’s repeat of “Modern Family” — which did great in last night’s premiere, by the way — comes under the “very proud” category. But repeats are never intended just to give audiences a second viewing opportunity. They aren’t going to run something that won’t perform well just for your convenience. I expected many people to complain about losing full use of their VCRs after the digital switch, and not ONE PERSON has mentioned it to me. Maybe all those people with old analog TVs and crippled VCRs are watching on Hulu? You think?

Anne: It seems the “Discussions” link under “Home” has disappeared. I found this page by pure luck. Can you tell me how to find the link to posting questions for Discussions now?

Thanks!

Gail: Thank you, Anne, for finding me. I noticed early this week that the “Opinion” segment had disappeared and chats were nowhere to be found. Eventually, TPTB added “Chats” under the main bar, Home, which comes up when you go to STLtoday.com. You can also just type in “stltoday.com/discussions”.

L. Martens: Could you please explain to us mid-westerners who live in fly-over country, how 80 Rock and Alec Baldwin are funny, why they are always nominated and always win? I haven’t talked to anyone yet who understands. Thank you.

Gail: I think “30 Rock” and Alec Baldwin are hilarious and deserve every win — and I’m not only a Midwesterner, I grew up in Arkansas. Not every show’s for everyone, but I wonder how much you’ve watched “30 Rock” given that you think its title is “80 Rock.”

david: What a great week this has been for television. Sunday’s Mad Men was fairly epic, Glee was great, and Modern Family was unexpectedly (to me at least) great. What’s been the highlight of the week for you?

Gail: Yes, yes, yes. You’re a great mind, David. That was my favorite episode of “Glee” since the pilot, and I’m a huge fan of “Modern Family.” But since I’d already seen much of what aired this week, I have to say the highlight was “Mad Men” — especially that incident, if you know what I mean.

J: Talk to us about Glee - it’s my favorite new show! Is it doing well in the ratings and when will we know if it looks like it’s going to make it?

Gail: “Glee” is doing really well, even with all the competition now, and has already been picked up for a FULL season of 22 episodes. Keep an eye on Tube Talk (www.stltoday.com/tubetalk) for news like this.

jrc: I have to say, from someone who had given up on Heroes, I loved the two-hour season opener.

Gail: Did you? I wanted to like it, because although I’ve also given up “Heroes,” I’m still willing to return. I was still mostly bored, though. I did like some of the Claire-at-college stuff, and I’m crazy about Robert Knepper, who plays the carnival guy. He was the crazy T-Bag on “Prison Break.”
As for “Heroes,” I may watch just for him.

Elizabeth: Two questions – with Wednesday’s being loaded with a number of good shows at 8 pm Central – Glee and Law and Order: SVU – will Modern Family which also airs at that time continue to air repeats on Friday nights, or is that just a one time thing to replay the premier? Also about Law and Order, I hear that Vincent D’Onfornio and Kathryn Erbe will hardly be on the next season of Law and Order: Criminal Intent. Any truth to those rumors?

Gail: Don’t count on “Modern Family” reruns; it’s probably just a one-time thing. ABC wants to compete at 8 p.m. Wednesday with everybody else, and “MF” is their best shot. “Criminal Minds” is also in the time slot, and the show that really took a hit last night was “SVU.”

I don’t have any “Criminal Intent” scoop; sorry. I think it’s best not to get too attached to “Law & Order” characters.

Jen: Hi Gail,

I just watched the first episode of Mercy, what is the buzz on this? Acting is kind of not so good and I am trying to figure the premis of it. Thanks.

Jen

Gail: I warned you about “Mercy,” didn’t I??? Bad writing, bad acting, bad plotting — ewww. Don’t figure; just run.

PamE: DWTS is going to be so fun this season! LOVED the tribute to Patrick Swayze last night, too. Ok, Prediction time. Since we have seen everyone dance now. Who is your pick to win? I am going with Donny Osmond.

Gail: I’d have kept that cute Ashley Hamilton — shouldn’t a year and a half in a wheelchair get him so slack? I mean, Tom Delay was ridiculous.

But here’s my shocking pick: Kelly Osbourne. I think Donny is too easy. Viewers like improvement.

evanbenn: Hi, Gail,
Any word if Bravo execs have come to their senses and canceled/chosen not to renew the ridiculousness that is “Miami Social”? That had to be the worst excuse for a “reality” show since “The Hills,” which actually seems like good TV next to “Social.” Surely the good peeps at Bravo can find something more socially redeeming to air than that piece of garbage. Right?

Gail: Do you really think it’s worse than the “Real Housewives” franchise? Those are Bravo’s most popular shows, and I worry that they’ll force out the good stuff like “Top Chef.” I haven’t heard any buzz either way about more “Miami Social” — which I somehow never saw a minute of — but Bravo is pretty tight with info about what’s coming up. I’ll bet they’d air actual garbage if it was popular, but on the other hand, your garbage is somebody else’s must-see.

Joan: I have a couple questions I hope you can answer.

What is the CW in CW11?

Also I watch the Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives on the Food Network and Man vs Food on the Travel Channel. All I see is reruns. Are these programs going to have a new season?

I’m glad Castle is back. My husband and I watched it last season. I like seeing the mystery authors on the show. Most of them I’ve read their books.

Can anything be done about how fast most people talk on TV? We have closed caption because of hearing problems, but it’s still very difficult sometimes to follow the talking. Most of the time we use the DVR and then we can go back and listen again.

Gail: I copied Joan’s questions over from email to introduce her to the chat concept. Next, I’ll talk her into splitting up her questions into individual posts.

* The CW doesn’t stand for anything, really. The “C” is kind of CBS. The “W” is kind of Warner Bros.

* Food Network series make a lot of episodes a year, but each is repeated dozens of times. I think “Diners … Dives” is still in production, but I don’t know when a new season starts. Ditto for “Man Vs. Food.”

* “Castle” is nice TV that I never watch because it has no hook for me, but I’m glad you enjoy it.

* TV is made for young people — that is, people 49 or younger. Young people like lots going on (blame MTV) and will tune out anything that isn’t fast-paced. Or so TV thinks. They’re not going to slow down. You’ve already made a good start with the closed-captioning.

Grey: What do you think will be the first show cancelled this fall? Should we have a pool?

Gail: There’s a pretty good chance the first show canceled will be the CW’s “The Beautiful Life: TBL.” Sunk, apparently, by that extraneous acronym tacked onto the title. Nobody’s watching.

perfectplanner: With NBC keeping 9:00 for Leno, how do you think that will impact the dramas usually shown in that time slot? Will they “clean up” language & plot lines, dumb down for a younger audience, or perhaps go for more action/violence to draw a younger audience?

Gail: NBC has no plans to make any of its 7 and 8 p.m. shows more family-friendly. In fact, they hadn’t really slotted cleaned-up or dumbed-down shows at 7 and 8 (8 and 9 in the East) before this season. “Heroes,” for example, has never been a 9 p.m. show.

doc the old guy: I’m sure I am probly alone here but why does Leno do that rate 5 days of this junk he does. If this is the future of TV, we are getting worse instead of better. I know a lot of you folks like this junk and the reality show junk will not go away soon but why can’t we get TV that does not pander to the 3 year old mind and the 5 year old intellect? Even when TV first stated, it wasn’t this bad. They didn’t know better, now they should.

Gail: It’s not just you who thinks Leno is a waste of time.
But don’t trash all reality TV — some of it’s good. Some is terrible. Just like scripted TV.
And as a whole, I think there’s lots of good TV on now — more than I have time to watch. You just have to be picky. And have cable.

maryliz: Hi Gail,

My favorite show this week, even more than “Glee,” was “House.” I thought it was absolutely fantastic and was hoping House would be stuck in the mental institution the entire season. Any idea if House carries this momentum into the rest of the season? For that matter, I could ask the same about “Glee.” I guess I’m really wondering if you get to see advance episodes all year or just at the beginning of the season? Thanks.

I also wanted to say thanks for your story on “Guiding Light.” Great story, and I’m sure all of us GL fans appreciated the tribute. It’s very weird not having it around this week.

Gail: I haven’t seen any more “House” after this week’s, and “Glee” was the last one of those I previewed. Mainly, on network shows, I only see the season premiere and “very special” episodes.

I was thrilled the “Guiding Light” story made it onto the front page — after 72 years, it was deserved.

goodmaj: Thoughts on Bored to Death? I have to say I watched it last night and was, in fact, bored to death.

Gail: I’ve seen three. Quirky, not for everybody, but I think it does get better.

david: Since Law & Order was brought up, any word on what’s in store for us with this new season of the original series?

Gail: Nope, not a clue that Season 20 will be any different from Season 19.

Jonna: Gail,

I really want to watch FlashForward tonight - looks interesting! But I also watch Survivor, so one will be DVR’d. I was worried at first as I have also been watching Vampire Diaries, but I am giving up on that one…just another CW show. Thoughts about all of these shows?

Thanks!

Gail: DVR “FlashForward” because you might want to watch parts of it twice. Since “Vampire Diaries” is on at 8 in St. Louis, that won’t be a problem. (It’s a hit, but not with me.) The 8 p.m. hour is the really tough one. “CSI” season premiere, two-hour “Grey’s Anatomy” season premiere,” “Fringe” and “The Office”/”Community.”

J: What is up with Thursday nights? There is so much to watch I can’t even DVR-it! Is the new NBC line up - with Community added worth it?

Gail: I know; really tough. I like “Community” a lot, and wouldn’t miss “The Office,” but wow, that 8 p.m. logjam is a hard one. “Parks & Recreation” has improved, but probably not enough for me to watch it.

Jen: How is Fringe doing in the ratings? I’m hoping this show makes it long enough for us to find out what the heck is going on!

Gail: “Fringe” did well enough last week, but the test will be tonight with all the HUGE competition. PS: Think you’ll ever really know what the heck is going on? I’m doubtful.

Gail: That’s it for today, guys. Thanks for playing, and remember to always have your pets spayed and neutered. Back at you next week.