TV with MeeVee

Monday Morning Coming Down Links

• In 1962, we really, really liked watching westerns on TV. (TV By The Numbers)
• CBS execs decide they don't want Katee Sackhoff to replace Jorja Fox on "CSI." This is our official WTF Item Of The Day®. (TV Guide)
• And speaking of "CSI," is there more (or actually, less) to the Gary Dourdan bust? (E! Online)
• "Men in Trees" is toast. I can't say I care, although the show hardly got a fair shot, given the way ABC moved it around the scheduled. (TV Guide)
• One writer admits he's not all that subversive, no matter how he tries. (Earl Pomerantz)
• People Magazine names the Jonas Brothers among the nation's richest teens. How messed up is it that there's a list? (Buddy TV)
• And speaking of rich teenagers, here's the first dispatch from the set of "High School Musical 3." (E! Online)
• Once again following in the wandering, staggering footsteps of Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan is following up rehab with a TV series appearance, on "Ugly Betty." (AP)

"Men In Trees" Fans Turn To Charity

This is a promising development in fan-based activism: Along the lines of the "Moonlight" blood drive, fans of "Men In Trees" have begun donating money to tree-planting charity Trees For Life in an effort to convince TV execs to keep the show.

It might or might not be enough to save the show, but at the very least they'll have planted some trees.

Ratings Giveth, Taketh Away

That sounds you hear is groaning from the fans of shows that are predicted to be heading for cancellation. We've already talked about "Jericho." Now the Hollywood Reporter says Lifetime has passed on the chance to pick up "Men In Trees" and "October Road" from corporate sister ABC, likely dooming "Road" and maybe "MIT" as well. Meanwhile, TV Decoder says don't get your hopes up for the survival of Julianna Margulies' drama "Canterbury's Law" and "Gilmore Girls" creator Amy Sherman Palladino's sitcom "The Return Of Jezebel James" (right). Both got what are technically referred to as "sucky" ratings over the last week. TV By The Numbers" says the same thing. The bright spot, according to the AP, is "Friday Night Lights," as the executive producer says he's optimistic NBC will renew the beloved but ratings-challenged drama.

Fall TV Night-By-Night: Friday

Three new shows, all at 9 p.m., and one of them premieres tonight. Yet it's a returning show that's about the only thing I can recommend on Friday night. Still, Fridays are better than "random repeat Saturdays."

Beginning on Oct. 12, ABC will air "20/20" at 8 and put on "Men In Trees" at 10 on Fridays. I'm baffled at the endurance of the latter, a shotgun wedding between "Northern Exposure" and "Sex And The City" - She's a writer of romantic advice! She needs it herself! And there are bears! It's not a formula I get, and star Anne Heche just strikes me as weird. But whatever. The one new show bowing that night on the network is "Women's Murder Club," a rote drama based on novels by the serial-killer-novel hack James Patterson. It stars Angie Harmon as a cop who's assisted in solving murders by her circle of friends in other professions. I will not be watching.

CBS rolls out its Friday schedule on Sept. 28, with the inexplicably popular bit of Jennifer Love Hewitt nonsense "Ghost Whisperer" at 8 and the modest procedural success "Numb3rs" at 10. At 9, the eye will offer "Moonlight," a new series with Alex O'Loughlin (pictured) as a vampire private eye. Yup.