We’ve got some fresh meat … er, new Guest Clacking coming at you today. Cameron Archer is a freelance writer from Ontario.  He writes for his site at URBMN and has also contributed to blogcritics.org.

I didn’t enjoy The Goode Family’s pilot episode. As a longtime King of the Hill fan, The Goode Family felt like a weaker King of the Hill with political leanings reversed. Ubuntu came across as an idiot savant, while Gerald and Helen Goode were ciphers. The pilot had a subplot about purity rings, something South Park covered to greater comedic effect in its thirteenth-season premiere.

Having followed the show since the pilot, I have a higher opinion of The Goode Family. Ubuntu is more an awkward enigma at this point. Gerald is more competent than his employer, the Hank Hill of academia. The Goode Family is starting to feel like King of the Hill without being its blown-up negative. It’s just too bad no one watches the show.

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Tonight’s big TV news is that the new season of Burn Notice is premiering on USA. However, if you still need to catch up on that show like I do, there are plenty of delightful reruns on TV tonight to keep you busy.

• Miss the first season of True Blood? HBO2 is airing the first three episodes of season 1 starting at 8:00.
• At 9:00, the Will Ferrell episode of Man Vs. Wild is airing on Discovery.
• If you can’t get enough of Patrick Jane and The Mentalist, at 10:00, CBS is rerunning the episode where someone hypnotizes people into committing murder.
• Also at 10, you can catch an episode of King of the Hill on The Cartoon Network, and follow it up with an episode of Ace of Cakes at 10:30 on The Food Network, in which Duff and the gang work on the cake for King of the Hill’s series finale.

Yes, the 2008-2009 network television season’s in the bag. But, you know what? It’s not all tears and depression. Let’s be honest; most nights, the networks air a pretty stinky lineup of shows. Apparently, it’s really hard to put on three straight hours of quality programming, and some networks even struggle to put on two (and when that’s hour-long shows, it’s only two series per night. Why so tough, FOX and The CW?)

But even more true is the fact that today is no exception. The networks have rarely managed to keep us satisfied all night (this is a family post, perverts!), so enough with our lamenting the good old days. Instead, I propose an alternative: a build your own strongest lineup for each night of the week from each one of the big four networks (never will The CW have enough good to qualify. Although we might be able to mine something from The WB and/or UPN….)

A few months back, we discussed the ultimate in nights of television, NBC’s Must See Thursdays. But, plenty of other nights, and other networks, have storied histories (both good and bad). So, with a little suggestion from Peter Lynn, and a little chronological order, what say we visit Sundays on FOX, first. Read the rest of this entry »

We’re on the verge of it now. Over the next two weeks all of our favorite shows are going to be ending, and some of those tough decisions will have to be made by the networks. These final few ratings numbers will play heavily in those decisions. With that in mind, the week brought good news for a couple of bubble shows (Castle, Lie To Me), and bad news for others (Better Off Ted, Cupid, The Unusuals, Dollhouse, Reaper, My Name Is Earl). Read the rest of this entry »

The FOX network is known for many things. Shuffling their schedule around on a yearly basis to squeeze out 500 weekly viewing hours of American Idol is one. Another is canceling new shows right after their very first commercial break. Jerking around Joss Whedon is yet a third. But the one thing that FOX has never, ever been is hypocritical.

Okay, they’ve been hypocritical hundreds of times. For the sake of this post let’s pretend this never happened. Deal?

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7:00p/6:00 Central

• Saudi officials aren’t worried that we’re going to spend less on their oil. That’s what they’re telling CBS’s 60 Minutes. ABC offers a special look behind the scenes with Ty Pennington on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.
• NBC says It’s Football Night in America, in case you weren’t sure. Meanwhile, the new CW Sunday continues with the second installment of Jericho.
• The first two of three King of the Hill repeats kicks off the night. These are for the West Coast as the rest of us will be dealing with the NFL. TLC is offering up a look at Superhuman Strength.

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6:00p/5:00 Central

• Who knew? A new reality competition show! This time it’s E! getting in on the fun with Party Monsters: Cabo. This new show, premiering on a special night and time to ensure no one can find its regular time slot (Tuesdays at 10/9), features nine party planners competing to throw the ultimate A-list shindig.

7:00p/6:00 Central

• While NBC kicks off another Football Night in America and ABC settles down with some more of America’s Funniest Home Videos, CNN’s Anderson Cooper sits down with Olympic medalist Michael Phelps before goldfish America forgets who he is on CBS’s 60 Minutes.

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