Gail: Hi, everybody. Hot outside (OK, it's July in St. Louis), but I got the AC back in my car, which is very good news. Also, the laptop is out of the hospital after having a transplant of its "O" key, which mysteriously stopped working yesterday. Plus, there's day baseball, so I'm three for three and all ready to chat.

Janice: Gail, I had to ditch my little old 4" TV that sat on my kitchen counter. I watched the local morning news to see what's what. Has there been a down-turn in viewing because of the switch? When you see the CBS people in LA tell them canceling "Without a Trace" and "The Unit" was a stinky thing to do. Be polite, of course.

Gail: I had to throw away a little, pink battery-operated TV, too. I only used it in power outages, but it was nice to have. As of late last month, Nielsen reported that more than 2 million homes hadn't made the digital switch. But I'm gussing most of those weren't Nielsen homes in the first place, so there absence won't matter in the ratings. And little TVs like yours wouldn't have been hooked up to a Nielsen People Meter anyway, so their viewership wasn't being measured. The arrival of People Meters in St. Louis last spring already skewed the ratings so much, it's hard to make valid comparisons anyway.
CBS knew viewers would be mad about those cancellations. Ratings for "The Unit" were low, and the audience skewed older. (Ooh: bad.) "Without a Trace" completely had to do with coming to a time when license fees would go up, thus it would cost a lot more for the network. "Trace" was one of my favorite shows, and I'll miss it, although I'm glad they broke Sam and Jack up at the end -- I loved them as a couple, and now I don't have to wonder what would have become of them.

kymba_o: Please! Tell what you know about "Curb Your Enthusiasm". Hope you are saying it is returning soon!

Gail: As far as I know, HBO hasn't made this official. But when I got the schedule for cable's portion of the TCA press tour, which I'll be attending next month in Los Angeles, I noticed that HBO has a "Curb Your Enthusiasm" session with Larry David -- and the schedule said "Curb" returns ... are you ready? ... Sept. 20!

Mary Anne Wilson: Hi Gail,

Last week, last answer regarding sets you will visit, you mention NCIS: LA.
Maybe it was mentioned before and I skipped over the LA part but is this a spin off of NCIS?

Gail: Yes: "NCIS: LA" is a spin-off of "NCIS." It stars LL Cool J and Chris O'Donnell, and Rocky Carroll will cross over between both shows.

Steve M.: I noticed that Fox-2 news had some pretty dramatic video of a police chase that lead to a fatal "accident".Do you know if that video was actually film by a Fox-2 news crew,or did they used video from a free lance video photoghapher like some of the TV stations in Los Angeles and other cities use?

Gail: I don't know, but I do know Channel 2 still flies its helicopter, in contrast to other stations who have dropped their helicopters for cost saving.

April: Hey Gail, how's it goin'?

Whatever happened to Trust Me on TNT? I actually liked that show, but heard it was canceled. They didn't give it a chance! Did you ever watch? Yes there was a lot of unnecessary bantering and yes it wasn't always believable, but it was fun to watch.

Gail: "Trust Me" was canceled. Everyone to her own taste, but I thought it was unwatchable! And you have to think TNT did give it a chance, a full season of 13 episodes. It takes a lot to get a high-profile cable show like this canceled, and ratings were very low. "It just didn't find an audience," the network said.

Stevie B: Hi Gail,
I was hoping to come up with a great question but it's just not happening. So; I'll confess this. I am a straight guy that watches Kathy Griffin religiously. I find her brand of humor and approach to entertaining refreshing. At times I am oddly attracted to her, what's wrong with me?

For my POGO; I don't get the Scifi, SyFy thing. So in homage to Mel Brooks I'm going to pronounce it SeeFee as in that's Fronkensteen.

OK, maybe I'll do better next week. Have a great weekend.

Gail: You don't have to be one of her gays to like Kathy Griffin. Her "D-List" show is indeed strangely entertaining, and she really made me laugh last week when she created her mom's "bucket list" and introduced her to Don Rickles. Just don't show up at the Fox Saturday night in drag, OK?

Don't put yourself down. Your POGO (post one, get one half off) comment is so good, I'm answering it free. I finally saw Sci Fi explain SyFy, which I call Siffy. They are going worldwide and can't copyright/trademark "Sci Fi," since it's a generic term. However, they can make SyFy their trademark. I still might have gone with something else, like Geektastic. But I'm just being siffy.

Matt B: GP;

I believe last week you stated that Drea DeMateo (the newest Desperate Housewife) played Meadow Soprano. Oh, how soon we forget!! Out-sight-out-of-mind-itis. Drea played the ill fated Adriana. Jamie Lynn Siegler played the oft-annoying, whiny Meadow.

MB

Gail: You are right, but I do this fast, and as soon as I post an answer, I unfortunately can't correct it. I did fix it on the transcript I posted, striking through "Meadow" and adding "Adriana." It was just a slip of the keyboard, since I'd just seen Jamie-Lynn Sigler on "Entourage."

Christina: What do you think of Rasing the Bar on TNT? Is this the first or second season? Has it be renewed?

Gail: The second season of "Raising the Bar" just started. I think this is a good show that people who enjoyed, say, "Boston Legal" should like. It's from Steven Bochco ("NYPD Blue"), not David E. Kelly, so it has oddball court cases but not completely insane ones. I like it a lot better since Mark-Paul Gosselaar cut his hair, but I'm not inclined to watch every week. Just because there's so much TV.

Matt B: GP;

Any local connections for the contestants in the upcoming Big Brother?

MB

Gail: Very excited for the return of "Big Brother" tonight. By next week, I'll be like, "Is that on again?" But I enjoy the reliability of having something on several times a week in summer. That's probably why (there couldn't possibly be another explanation) I kept up with "I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here."

I put the list of contestants up on Tube Talk and didn't see any local connection. Are you watching Drew, the St. Louis lawyer, on "I Survived a Japanese Game Show"? He seems to be having a showmance with another contestant. So far, he hasn't embarrassed us, though.

Mentok: Are you still enjoying Top Chef: Masters? I like it, but it seems like more than half of the show is spent on introductions and judging. These are master chefs and I would like to see more of them working in the kitchen actually cooking.

Also, do you know what the format will be once they finish with the preliminary rounds?

Gail: I do like "Top Chef: Masters." It's no "Top Chef: Original," but it's still enjoyable. I like the high level of the cooking on "Masters," and also like it when the great chefs flop. I'm still chuckling over the famous Wylie Dufresne's meltdown last week. I believe they're narrowing it down to six, who'll then compete in the finals. I'm not sure of the specifics of that (three and three, then two? Six at once?) but I'll be rooting for Hubert "Burger Bar" Keller.

Matt B: GP;

NBC seems to be running repeats of The Office and 30 Rock on Thursday nights this summer (if they ain't being pre-empted). Since they dumped Earl, does that mean they won't show the repeats? Does a broadcaster lose rights to the shows of a just finished season if the decided to drop a show? If there were episodes that haven't aired, wouldn't they be allowed to air those?

Just curious to how it works.

MB

Gail: NBC doesn't have any episodes of "My Name Is Earl" scheduled. I think it's less having the rights to a show you've canceled than not wanting to waste space on it, and also not wanting to give it a boost going over to a new network.

evanbenn: Good afternoon, Gail! Been hearing some buzz about "Beyond Twisted," the new late-night show from TMZ loudmouth Harvey Levin that's set to preview soon in several markets. Is St. Louis one of them?

Gail: I hadn't heard of that show! But will you be impressed if I tell you I've hung out with Harvey in the TMZ newsroom? He is shorter than I am. And I noticed the other day that he's still the street reporter on some court show that airs here. I digress, however. The stations should be sending me their fall syndication schedules soon, and I'll keep an eye out for "Twisted."

John: I was wondering if you have seen any episodes of the upcoming season of "Entourage" and what you thought. I am looking forward to Sunday night.

Gail: I've seen the first two episodes, and they're fine -- they're "Entourage," after all -- but a little disappointing. Not much happens. I'm sure what doesn't happen is setting up the rest of the season, of course. We find E. contemplating getting his own place, and getting back together with Sloane. Everyone else is pretty settled. My favorite plot has Lloyd demanding a promotion from Ari.

srs1: What do you make of Top Chef Masters? (didn't see it last night yet, so no spoilers here). It seems to have its moments, but lacks some of the zing of the original. Also it seemed like the episode 2 weeks ago was meant for Rick Bayless to win. While i wouldn't go as far as to claim that is rigged, it does seem that the producers have their favorites. thoughts?

Gail: Call me naive, but I don't see how they could rig that show. Explain more what you mean about the producers having favorites -- they're deliberately sprinkling one especially famous chef into each show, and Rick Bayless was the one that week. Wylie Dufresne was the one before, and he lost in a big way. "Masters" will never replace "Top Chef," but I like seeing the big guys do their thing.

Matt B: GP:

With the recent spate of high profile deaths, I think Lou Diamond Phillips victory in IACGMOH has been lost in the shuffle. When Joan Rivers won the Apprentice, she made some talk show rounds. Lou didn't get anything.

Poor Lou.

MB

Gail: Are you sure Lou wasn't on "GMA"? Or Kimmel? His biggest reward, though, was that he came shining through that awful show, appearing to be a fine person.

Elizabeth: I was out of town last week, but I saw two or so chats back that you enjoy House Hunters on HGTV. Me too – it’s addictive! Anyway, is Samantha Who a done deal? I have seen a few episodes saved on my TIVO from recently, but it looks like they are just burning them off. It was a decent show but the network moved it all around the schedule and aired it at random times. Did this treatment ultimate kill its chances?

Gail: I can even watch a "House Hunters" I've seen before, especially if I don't remember which house the person picked. It's great TV filler.

There are a couple of "Samantha Whos" on tonight, at least one supposedly new. There have been so many preemptions on every network recently that listings are all pretty off. ABC really did give it a pretty good chance; sometimes moving a show around is an attempt to save it, not kill it. It was just OK, and everybody wants something great, but comedy is hard.

brr055: Hi Gail -

I read your transcript from last week and and pleased to see that I'm not the only one looking forward to season 2 of Sons of Anarchy! Hooray for Sept. 9th!

In honor of your love of reality TV, I will shamefully admit that I watched two episodes of "Bridezilla" with my 16 year old daughter. Those are some seriously evil women. Evil! And their doormats called fiances...they're doomed I tell you.

And finally, since over the many months of this chat you've entertained COUNTLESS "when is Jericho coming back" questions, I'd appreciate it you could quickly summarize the whole NBC "Leno is leaving no he isn't" saga. I just don't get NBC at all.

Sincerely,
Leonardo Da Vinci

Gail: I hope you presented "Bridezillas" to your daughter as a cautionary tale. Maybe she'll get married (in like 20 years) on the beach, barefoot, and save you a bundle.

As I understand the Leno saga, and it's a complicated one, NBC wanted to lock up Conan, whose audience is young and thus desirable. Jay might have been talking retirement. So they picked a date WAY down the road and promised Conan, with Jay's blessing, "The Tonight Show." Time flew, and workaholic Jay wasn't ready to leave after all. Maybe he flirted with ABC and Fox. "Tonight" was kicking Dave's butt in the ratings, so NBC didn't want to lose Jay to a rival, and the geniuses over there cooked up the prime time show. NBC is a desperate network. Maybe this will work for them, and maybe it won't be the end of prime time as we know it.

Jeez, thanks for the softball question. And btw, it's "Judging Amy," not "Jericho"!

Gail: That's it for today, guys. See you back here next Thursday, when I hope to have watched some fall pilots, if there are any you're interested in.