Welcome to CraveOnline's Idiot Box Updates, where we run down all the latest TV news and separate the facts from the rumors and nonsense on and about the small screen.
Here's a list of the top 20 prime-time network shows by viewership numbers, compiled by Nielsen Media Research for November 9-15:
1. "NBC Sunday Night Football: New England at Indianapolis," NBC, 22.39 million viewers.
2. "NCIS," CBS, 20.96 million viewers.
3. "Dancing With the Stars," ABC, 17.62 million viewers.
4. "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 17.38 million viewers.
5. "CMA Awards," ABC, 17.18 million viewers.
6. "Sunday Night NFL Pre-Kick," NBC, 17.02 million viewers.
7. "NCIS: Los Angeles," CBS, 16.23 million viewers.
8. "Dancing With the Stars Results," ABC, 16.23 million viewers.
9. "The Mentalist," CBS, 16.17 million viewers.
10. "Grey's Anatomy," ABC, 14.87 million viewers.
11. "Desperate Housewives," ABC, 14.72 million viewers.
12. "CSI: New York," CBS, 14.51 million viewers.
13. "Two And a Half Men," CBS, 14.44 million viewers.
14. "CSI: Miami," CBS, 14.38 million viewers.
15. "The Good Wife," CBS, 13.35 million viewers.
16. "House," Fox, 13.31 million viewers.
17. "60 Minutes," CBS, 13.08 million viewers.
18. "Survivor: Samoa," CBS, 12.94 million viewers.
19. "The Big Bang Theory," CBS, 12.8 million viewers.
20. "Criminal Minds," CBS, 12.77 million viewers.
Peggy Black, 52, of Orange, CT won a contest to create a character for Fox's long-running animated series "The Simpsons," beating out more than 25,000 submissions with her character: ladies' man Ricardo Bomba. The new character will be introduced in the Jan. 31 episode featuring guest star Chris Martin of Coldplay.
"Rrrri-carrr-do Bomba," Black said, extravagantly rolling the "R's". "He's someone that all the women love and all the men want to be."
In "Million Dollar Maybe," Homer Simpson is rushing to meet Marge for a date when he encounters Bomba in the episode that centers on a winning lottery ticket. It's possible Bomba could appear again, said executive producer Al Jean, who helped judge the contest, which served as a thank you of sorts to loyal fans.
"Daily Show" correspondent John Oliver, who also occasionally appears on NBC's "Community," is getting his own Comedy Central series. He will host the new stand-up comedy show starting in January under the title of "John Oliver's New York Stand-Up Show," which will feature performances by Oliver's favorite comedians (including Janeane Garofalo, Brian Posehn, Paul F. Tompkins and Marc Maron). Each hour will feature four stand-up performers.
"It's the most worthwhile way you could spend an hour each week that doesn't involve getting Mount Rushmore gradually tattooed across your stomach," Oliver said.
HBO is slated to debut "The Pacific" next March, a WWII story based on the memoirs of Eugene Sledge and Robert Leckie, both of whom were Marines that served in the Pacific Theater of Operations. Produced by Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman, the miniseries follows Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, specifically three U.S. Marines – Robert Leckie (played by James Badge Dale), Eugene Sledge (played by Joe Mazzello) and John Basilone (played by Jon Seda) – across the vast space of the Pacific ocean, from the first clash with the Japanese in the haunted jungles of Guadalcanal, through the impenetrable rain forests of Cape Gloucester and many more historical locales.
Here’s the trailer for "The Pacific":
Can "The Pacific" can match up to "Band of Brothers" without retreading familiar ground? Given HBO's track record, I'd say it's likely.
TV Guide got the first look at what Michael Shanks will look like as Hawkman on an upcoming pair of episodes of "Smallville," and through the magical power of internets, we've got it here for you:
The CW Network is calling Hawkman's appearance a “movie” event, with a meeting of the Justice Society taking place. Tom Welling will direct the second hour of the mini-movie. As for the look of Hawkman himself, it looks pretty true to original, but I can't say it's very visually appealing when fleshed out.
The special "Smallville" event hits the air on February 5th, 2010.
VH1 is renewing its horror-themed reality series "Scream Queens" for a second season, with the winner guaranteed a role in the next Saw film, of which there are now approximately 5,928.
"Scream Queens 2" features 10 aspiring actresses competing to win a role in Saw 3D, the next movie in Lionsgate's horror franchise. It follows in the footsteps of season one, the winner of which was featured in Saw VI" The showis slated to return next year with actress Jamie King serving as host and judge along with director Tim Sullivan and acting coach John Homa.
"Real opportunities to break into feature films are rare in acting competitions and it's great to be able to deliver on that promise," said Kevin Beggs, Lionsgate's president of TV programming and production. "We've enjoyed a terrific collaboration with VH1 on 'Scream Queens,' and look forward to building on the success of the series with even more exciting challenges in Season 2."
TLC's parasitic nightmare reality show "Jon & Kate Plus 8" will end its sensationalistic run Monday, ending a very dark saga in the integrity of television history.
Each newly single parent will reflect on what the past has meant and what the future might hold, according to TLC. The parents will spend time with their children reflecting on what they've experienced, and that's that. The show's exiting direction is quite a change from 2007, when the series debuted touting a "heartwarming" look at a devoted couple and the challenges they faced rearing eight young children.
"My Name Is Earl" star Jason Lee has been cast as the lead in "Delta Blues," a pilot for cable network TNT that's executive produced by George Clooney. In addition to a live-action project in the works at Cartoon Network's Adult Swim and signing on to direct the indie film "Get Back," Lee will star in the hourlong series about Dwight Hendricks, a Memphis police officer who lives with his mother and moonlights as an Elvis impersonator. After NBC canceled "My Name Is Earl," TBS tried - and failed - to continue production of the show this year.
