TV

Two solid shows of "SNL"...back to back? Say it ain't so!

Nevertheless, the impossible has happened, and this reporter couldn't be happier. This week's excellence had to do a lot with host Gwyneth Paltrow having great timing and experience (as this is her third time hosting) coupled with refreshingly smart writing. Be sure to watch it in its entirety - most of it is worth your time.

On this week's Talking TV, Tom and I discuss Showtime's Episodes and Shameless. We also review Comedy Central's Onion Sports Dome before offering a brief preview of the Golden Globes.

Listen here or download on iTunes so you can listen on-the-go.

01:14 Episodes
07:44 Shameless
14:48 Onion Sports Dome
19:25 Golden Globes preview

The great Alan Sepinwall at HitFix is reporting that showrunner Paul Lieberstein (who also plays everyone's favorite sad sack, Toby) says that Steve Carell, who has already announced his departure from The Office this year, will depart the show with four episodes left to go in the season.

Other tidbits:

- Holly (Amy Ryan) will leave the show an episode or two before Michael.
- The final four episodes will focus on who will replace Michael. The only internal candidates the writers are considering are Dwight (Rainn Wilson), Darryl (Craig Robinson) and Andy (Ed Helms).
- The show will take more of an ensemble approach to storylines in the future, rather than ensuring that Michael always has a storyline.
- Todd Packer (David Koechner) will ask to come off the road and work in the Dunder Mifflin building again in an upcoming episode.

More at HitFix.

What do you think? Are you sad to see Carell go? Do you think the show should go on without him? Who would make a good replacement as regional manager?

The new family adventure-drama series from executive producer Steven Spielberg, Terra Nova, will benefit from a strong American Idol lead-in on its two-night premiere on May 23 and 24.

According to Fox:

The series centers on the Shannon family as they join the Tenth Pilgrimage of settlers to Terra Nova, the first colony established in this beautiful yet forbidding land led by its founder Commander Nathaniel Taylor (Stephen Lang, Avatar). Jim Shannon (Jason O'Mara, Life on Mars), a devoted father with a checkered past, guides his family - wife Elisabeth (Shelley Conn, Mistresses); and children Josh (Landon Liboiron, Degrassi: The Next Generation), Maddy (Naomi Scott, Life Bites) and Zoe (newcomer Alana Mansour) - through this new land of limitless beauty, mystery and terror. These adventurers soon discover that this healthy, vibrant world is not as idyllic as it initially appears. The areas surrounding Terra Nova are teeming with danger - and not just of the man-eating dinosaur variety. The Shannons will come to suspect that not everyone on this mission has the same idea of how to best save mankind; in fact, there may be forces intent on destroying this new world before it even begins.

I am a little embarrassed to tell you that the item that most excited me about that press release was the presence of Landon Liboiron of Degrassi. I love that guy. But, you know, the dinosaur part sounds cool, too.

What about you? Will you tune in for this possibly-epic series? Or are you content to let it go the way of the dinosaurs?

Here's our first experiment in animation and visual punctuation, courtesy of the latest latest thing on the Web, xtranormal.com. You've seen the Geico commercial; now check out the guidelive short.

Several new shows premiered last night: Bob's Burgers on Fox, The Cape on NBC and Episodes and Shameless on Showtime.

Read what Tom Maurstad had to say on the new programming and then tell us what you thought of the shows if you watched them.

Photo by Fox

SNL is always best when they bring an actual comedian on rather than just some actor trying to endorse a movie (see: the Jane Lynch episode). And even though Jim Carrey was technically promoting I Love You, Phillip Morris, he didn't let in stand in the way of his comedic talent.

It was, in short, a great way to start off the new year.

Happy New Year! On this week's Talking TV, Tom and I discuss the new shows premiering this month, including The Chicago Code, The Cape and Bob's Burgers.

We chat about a few returning shows, including Southland and V, before talking about this week's new TV on DVD releases.

Don't forget to leave your comments below. (And enjoy the new theme music!)

Listen here or download on iTunes so you can listen on-the-go.

01:18 The Glee Project
06:14 New shows: The Cape, The Chicago Code, Bob's Burgers
18:22 Returning shows: Southland, V
24:50 TV on DVD: The Ricky Gervais Show, Big Love

Usually I'm not a fan of PETA commercials, but I'd never thought about this issue before. What about you? Would you think twice before riding a horse-drawn carriage? Is working with PETA a good choice for Lea Michele? Share your thoughts in the comments section.

More at EW.com.

My new favorite site: JamesVanDerMemes.com.

I've long been a user of the Dawson Crying GIF (pictured above). I'm sure you've seen it: the few seconds from an episode of Dawson's Creek in which Joey (Katie Holmes) breaks up with Dawson (James Van Der Beek) for Pacey (Joshua Jackson) and Dawson delivers the ugliest cry in the history of mankind.

Well, James Van Der Beek has partnered with Funny Or Die and is finally ready to capitalize on his face's ability to capture emotion.

I think this is one of the best examples of "going along with the joke" I've ever seen from a celebrity. I've been chuckling about it since I saw it on EW yesterday. Enjoy the many faces of Dawson, everyone!

Dallas resident Fran Harris, whose resume includes everything from WNBA champion to TV host to Fortune 100 sales executive, is among the top seven finalists in Good Morning America's search for an advice guru. It's an impressive feat; the pool started with 15,000 hopefuls.
Tomorrow, Harris will go head-to-head online (www.abcnews.go.com/GMA) with finalist Amy Kean of New York City. They'll be given a randomly-selected question from a viewer and will answer it in video and essay form. The winner, who will be announced at the end of the day, moves on to the next round.
Viewer input counts; vote online if you think Harris has the chops for the job. Her initial essay includes the following quip: "I guarantee that with me as your Advice Guru, we'll not only have a blast but also plenty of interactive tracking tools to measure my effectiveness, you know, so ABC can be sure that my million dollar salary is well-deserved."

NBC has announced that Gwyneth Paltrow will be hosting Saturday Night Live on Jan. 15 with musical guest Cee Lo Green.

It sounds like a good show, but my question is this: Since Gwyneth Paltrow sang a fantastic version of Cee Lo's "F*** You" on Glee this season, is there a chance the two will sing it together?

I think it would be pretty cool. Share your thoughts in the comments section.

We can all breathe a huge sigh of relief now. EW reports that Jersey Shore's Snooki will no longer celebrate New Year's Eve on MTV from inside a ball descending at midnight in Times Square.

Note how the statement says "a ball" and not "the ball." Apparently, it was never intended for Snooki to be in the well-known Times Square ball. Instead she would have been in "a separate ball on a set-back roof."

Either way, it's probably for the best.

There are loads of new shows airing in early 2011 to shake up your spring viewing schedule - don't be overwhelmed, we boiled down a few of the most promising picks. What are you looking forward to?

"Shameless": January 9 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on Showtime

"Shameless" tells the story of a family of Chicago misfits, the biggest of them all being Frank, the alcoholic father. The British version of the show with the same name has won multiple awards and honors, giving the U.S. adaptation a lot to live up to. William H. Macy and Emmy Rossum bring stardom to the show and, hopefully, strong performances.

"Episodes": January 9 at 9:30 p.m. ET/PT on Showtime

Speaking of British shows being adapted into U.S. releases, that's essentially what the new Showtime series "Episodes" is all about. It promises fresh comedy (at Hollywood's expense) as well as the return of former "Friend" Matt LeBlanc. As the Brits would say, it looks "bloody brilliant".

"The Cape": January 9 at 9/8 p.m. central on NBC

I've already gushed a bit over my excitement of this superhero show -- I'm hoping it will help me unleash a bit of my inner nerd and a lot of my inner ninja.

"Portlandia": January 21 at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT on IFC

Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein team up to write and act in this 6-part sketch/improv comedy series about life in Portland, Oregon. One of the previews shows Armisen going around town declaring things to be "over", much like Andy Sanberg "threw it to the ground" on SNL. Hilarity is sure to ensue.

In this special two-part episode of Talking TV, Tom and I discuss the best and worst of television in 2010.

We debate our picks for the best and worst commercials, performances, episodes, comedies and dramas. We even lament shows we lost this year. (I'll never forget you, Party Down.)

Listen here: Part One and Part Two

Or listen to the show on the go by subscribing to the podcast on iTunes!

Follow us on Twitter @dmntalkingtv.

Leave your thoughts in the comments section! See you next year!

Entertainment Weekly has a list of the marathons presented by networks during Dec. 24 and 25.

Christmas Eve

AMC - Miracle on 34th Street and White Christmas
FX - Horton Hears a Who
Animal Planet - Planet Earth
A&E - Criminal Minds
Investigation Discovery - Who The (Bleep) Did I Marry?
History - UFO Hunters
Syfy - Star Trek: The Next Generation

Christmas

AMC - Scrooged
TBS - A Christmas Story
VH1 - I Love The New Millenium
IFC - Freaks and Geeks
BBC America - Doctor Who
Discovery - Mythbusters
Travel - Man v. Food
Bravo - The Real Housewives of New Jersey

Check our listings for start times and channel numbers. More marathon info at EW.com.

Photo by MGM/Warner Brothers/TBS

Perfect Couples, the sixth addition to the Thursday NBC comedy lineup, had its special sneak preview last night after The Sing-Off.

According to NBC, Perfect Couples depicts the "misadventures of three engaging couples as they struggle to find out what makes the ideal relationship -- and how to maintain it through humorous trial-and-error. The series explores their heroic journey in search of the perfect relationship without destroying each other in the process."

So... did you watch the episode? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section.

Photo by NBC

Lynette Rice of Entertainment Weekly reports that Tracy Morgan underwent a kidney transplant this month. The operation was successful and the 30 Rock staff is giving him time to recuperate.

As such, Morgan will be absent from a few 30 Rock episodes that will air in March.

For the last episode before the Christmas holidays, this week's SNL felt strangely Christmas-deprived. Maybe it's because the holiday humor was so discretely placed that you forgot to think about it until a second viewing - but, overall, a very, very weak episode. The writers obviously had too much eggnog while they were coming up with this week's sketches, because very little of it was funny.