A bunch of DVDs were released this week that only super-fans of the shows will probably care about, but that non-fans should probably check out anyway, just so they can see what they're missing.

Tags: becker, ER, Fame, Jon and Kate Plus 8, Kathy Griffin, make it or break it, The Simpsons, Top Gear, Transformers

It's a British invasion! A ton of Brit shows make their way here this week, plus an American show that the British somehow already have. Outrage! Let's storm their ships and throw their DVDs in the harbor!

Tags: DVD, ER, Life on Mars, Project Runway, Touching Evil

Happy Monday, all! We're currently snowed in here at TWoP's Manhattan headquarters, even though it's March. LOL, end of the world, I guess! Anyway, if you're trying to forget about the impending apocalypse, read on for a nudie mature TV star, Shannen Doherty's ridiculous new gig, Alexis Bledel's sad new gig, and yes, even more Melissa George hatred. As Diddy used to say, "I thought I told you that we won't stop!"

Tags: Alexis Bledel, Ed McMahon, ER, Lisa Rinna, Melissa George, Shannen Doherty, Taylor Swift, U.S. Attorney

In an attempt to become more like Grey's Anatomy (but with more bloody bodies) ER has cast four hot young things as regulars for next season (which, if there is a god, is supposedly the final season ... though they've said that like the last two years). Two guys who I don't recognize, Julian Morris and Victor Rasuk, will join Emily Rose (of Jericho fame) and the formerly famous Roswell starlet Shiri Appleby as new interns. Hmm... didn't House try adding a bunch of whipsmart new docs last season? Look how well that turned out. Anyway, given that the show has become increasingly reliant on having everyone hook up with each other (yeah, we get it, John Stamos and Linda Cardellini are attractive... does that mean they need to sleep with everyone?) we're sure these four newbies will fall victim to the charms of the dreamy Gates or Neela's pretty innocent seeming glare. Though the gals will probably also be subjected to some inappropriate comments and leering from Morris as well.

Tags: emily rose, er, julian morris, shiri appleby, victor Rasuk

Michael Crichton passed away yesterday (read our full obit in Moviefile) and while the well-rounded Crichton was better known for his work in books and the film world, he also made an impact on the TV world by creating the long-running series ER.

Tags: er, michael crichton

I recently got back from the swanky Rainbow Room, where reporters and advertisers were treated to an upfront, or as NBC liked to call it, an Infront. Same difference, six weeks earlier. Some good stuff, not a lot of new news per se, but some potentially promising stuff. Most of the talk was about how they were "resting" shows (aka giving viewers time to miss them), creating a 52 week schedule, hyping the Olympics and their other big events and debuting their summer 2009 schedule. Yup. Summer 2009. I can't even plan a vacation for Summer 2008 and they've already got that all mapped out. That's some planning ahead, they "believe in it," but whether they stick to it or not is another thing entirely.

Tags: er, friday night lights, heroes, NBC, scrubs, the office, upfronts

Anyone else watch Cool As Ice on HBO2 yesterday?  Show of hands.  ...Nobody else?  Not even a few minutes, just to see if it's as bad as you've always suspected?

I don't blame y'all for not admitting it even if you did watch it, but...I sat through the last half hour, just to see if it's as bad as I'd always suspected.  And it absolutely is.  It's terrible.  What's surprising is how apparently not terrible the script must have seemed, because in addition to non-master non-thespian Vanilla Ice, the cast features such TV luminaries as Deezer D (Malik from ER), Kristin Minter as the love interest (also an ER alum -- she played cranky desk clerk Randi, and she's unrecognizable as such in CAI, to the point where I thought it was actually Jennifer Connelly), Jack McGee (late of Rescue Me), and Michael "Steven Keaton" Gross.  Who also had an ER turn, now that I think of it, as Carter pere, but is cast here as Minter's father, and I have to give him credit -- it must have dawned on him relatively early in the filming that he'd signed onto a complete stinker, but he gives a hundred percent in all his scenes.

But spotting TV's lesser lights trying to make the mortgage is just about the only amusement offered by the movie, ostensibly a remake of/homage to Rebel Without A Cause that showcases the nadir of high-waisted-denim/floofy perm fashion, as the shoulder-pads-and-neon late '80s transitioned into the equally hideous rayon-pirate-shirts-and-flannel early '90s.  Vanilla himself is attired in the worst the era had to offer -- hugely oversized leather jacket with custom appliqués; checkerboard shaved into the back of his head; douchily angled baseball cap; ska shorts -- and cannot act even a little, but in some shots, you can see how he put his whole deal over, because even though he's dressed like a David Silver Edition Ken Doll and accessorized with a bright-yellow crotch rocket, he's still handsome.  Cheesy, but handsome.

And he seemed like an okay guy on Celebrity Bull Riding, at least compared to that asshat Nitro.

Tags: celebrity bull riding, er, family ties, rescue me, vanilla ice

Happy Thursday, everybody! Gosh, remember when Thursday was Must See TV night on NBC? Yeah... it was a while ago. But guess what, nostalgia-cravers? George Clooney's (supposedly) back on ER tonight, so from the hours of 10-11PM you can pretend it's 1997 again and the world had never heard of such things as Survivor or American Idol or Celebrity Circus! Man, what did anyone watch before the year 2000?

Tags: Ashley Jensen, Dancing with the Stars, ER, George Clooney, Jason Dohring, Jericho, john stamos, Minka Kelly, Skeet Ulrich, True Blood