TVSquad

• Bravo has a Law and Order: CI marathon all night.
• At 7:30, ABC has a new Just For Laughs.
• At 8, NBC has a new Merlin.
• FOX repeats the Michael Jackson episode of The Simpsons at 8.
• There's a new Hannah Montana on Disney at 8, then new episodes of Sonny with a Chance and Jonas.
• At 9, PBS has a new Masterpiece Mystery!
• History Channel has a new Ice Road Truckers at 9, followed by a new Expedition Africa.
• Food Network has a new Next Food Network Star at 9, then a new Iron Chef America.
• G4 has a new Web Soup at 9.
• At 10, Lifetime has a new Army Wives.
• At midnight, Cartoon Network has a new Squidbillies.
• At 1AM, Cartoon Network has a new Mighty Boosh.

Check your local TV listings for more.

For my daughter's twelfth birthday, she decided to have four of her friends sleep over, and it turned out to be the same night that The Secret Life of the American Teenager season two was premiering. OK, she actually sort of planned it that way. All but one of her friends is allowed to watch the show, and she managed to talk her mom into it "just this once." I totally respect that. I write a family movie column and have kids of my own, so I'm fairly in tune with what is and isn't appropriate for various age groups.

I watched a few episodes of Secret Life last season, and while the subject matter isn't geared for little kids, it seemed OK for kids twelve and older. But this season, it seems like the show has really kicked the sex talk up several notches. Yes, I know it's a show about a teenager who gets pregnant and is forced to deal with the consequences. I'm ok with that. It shows kids that there are consequences, and that sex shouldn't be taken lightly.

• Discovery's Deadliest Catch marathon continues all night.
• USA's James Bond movie marathon continues.
• Sci-Fi's Twilight Zone continues all weekend.
• Military Channel has a marathon of The Revolutionary War.
• At 7, ESPN Classic has the 2009 Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest.
• At 8, NBC has a new Kings, then Macy's 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular.
• PBS has A Capitol Fourth at 8.
• Cartoon Network has a new BrainRush at 8, followed by a new Destroy Build Destroy.
• At 9, CNBC has a new Suze Orman Show.
• At 10, ABC has a new Eli Stone.
  
• CBS has the Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular at 10.
  
• At 10:15, TCM has 1776.
• At 12:30AM, Cartoon Network has a new Bleach.

Check your local TV listings for more.

I'm not a big Fourth of July person. You'll pretty much see me in front of the television as much as you'll see me in front of the television on July 3. I'm not a big cookout/parades/fireworks/beach type of guy.

Are you that way too? There are some marathons on TV tomorrow that you might like. A sampling:

• Sci-Fi will continue their Twilight Zone marathon.
• TCM has Fourth of July/historical movies all day long.
• USA will have James Bond movies all day long starting at 9AM.
• Discovery has a Deadliest Catch marathon at 9AM.
• TV Land will have a Leave It To Beaver marathon starting at 11AM.
• At noon, HGTV has a marathon of HGTV's $250,000 Challenge.

• Sci-Fi has more of their Twilight Zone marathon all night.
• Animal Planet has a Whale Wars marathon all night.
• At 8, NBC has a new Chopping Block, then a new, two-hour Dateline.
• FOX has a new Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader at 8, followed by a new Mental.
• PBS has a new Washington Week at 8, then new episodes of NOW and Bill Moyers Journal.
• ESPN has the Winn Dixie 250 race at 8.
• ESPN2 has The Complete Wimbledon at 8.
• The N has a new Degrassi: The Next Generation.
• Also at 8: BBC America has a new Friday Night with Jonathan Ross.
• At 8:30, ABC has a new episode of The Goode Family.
• At 9, Travel Channel has two new episodes of Ghost Adventures.
• At 10, E! has a new episode of The Soup.

Check your local TV listings for more.

After the jump, the late night talk shows.

"Stark Raving Dad," the season three opener of The Simpsons, is a hilarious and heartwarming half-hour. It reminds me of the show's best days when it delivered that perfect blend of bizarre humor, social commentary and unexpected sweetness. I'll be one of the millions tuning in this Sunday when Fox re-airs the ep as a tribute to uncredited guest star Michael Jackson.

Like Joel reminded us last week, the King of Pop provided the voice for Leon Kompowsky, a large and loveable brick layer who says he is Michael Jackson. In the episode, Homer is charmed by Leon and brings him home from a mental institution, where the rest of the family eventually falls in love with him. The sweetest moment comes at the end when Leon and Bart perform a birthday song for Lisa.

Since programming anything new is probably a waste on a holiday weekend, Comedy Central is programming roughly 4,000 previously aired stand-up specials (okay, just 40, but that's a lot) from some of the biggest names on its rosters, including Dane Cook, Jeff Dunham, Katt Williams, Louis C.K., Lewis Black, Brian Regan, Demetri Martin, Ron White, Lisa Lampanelli, and Jim Gaffigan. They'll also sprinkle in some of their Comedy Central Presents half-hour showcases. It's called the Stand-Up Blowout Weekend.

The first special is at 3 PM - Aisha Tyler is Lit: Live at the Fillmore and end, officially, with Drew Hastings: Irked and Miffed at 3 AM Monday morning. Sunday at 10PM is the network premiere of Dave Attell: Captain Miserable, which originally aired on HBO on December 8, 2007.

• USA has a Burn Notice marathon all night (but no new episode).
• Sci-Fi has a Twilight Zone marathon all night.
• At 8, ABC has a new Samantha Who?, followed by a new In The Motherhood.
• TCM has The Wizard of Oz at 8.
• G4 has a new X-Play at 8.
• At 9, FOX has a new So You Think You Can Dance.
• Larry King Live broadcasts from inside Neverland Ranch on CNN at 9.
• Spike has a new TNA Impact at 9.
• At 10, NBC has a new episode of The Listener.
• Showtime has a new Penn & Teller: Bullshit at 10.

Check your local TV listings for more.

After the jump, the late night talk shows.

Generally speaking, CBS had a strong 2008, developing one bona fide hit drama -- The Mentalist -- even though shows like The Ex-List never found an audience or a critical plaudit. Ironically, I liked The Ex-List based on the screener I reviewed last summer, so go figure. Sometimes a preview can inform you about a show's potential and sometimes it's just the best it'll ever be.

CBS has shared previews for the new season and we've had a chance to take a look. There are star vehicles for Jenna Elfman, Alex O'Loughlin and Julianna Margulies, which would seem logical based on the success of Simon Baker as The Mentalist. CBS is counting on familiar, popular TV stars to win over audiences. Will the strategy work? It's probably too soon to tell.

This news is a few days old, but just this morning I found it buried in Ausiello's Twitter feed and I haven't seen it reported anywhere else yet.

The final season of Lost is going to be 18 hours instead of 17, meaning a double episode for the premiere and finale. So figure on an extra 45-ish minutes of head-scratching, "what the hell just happened" moments once January 2010 rolls around.

You may recall that at the end season three, ABC, Damon Lindelof, and Carlton Cuse agreed on the final three seasons of Lost being 16 hours each. But after the WGA strike cut season four back to 14 episodes, those last two hours got dispersed between seasons five and six, bumping them to 17 eps each.

I guess it just goes to show you that even the most well thought out plan can be tweaked, but it makes me wonder ... was this ABC's demand to get a longer season or Lindelof and Cuse's creative decision? I guess we'll know for sure if midway through the season we get "Stranger in a Strange Land, Part 2."

Usually I'm not a fan of reality television, but this new series has potential. ABC has ordered a new show called The Fast & the Funniest from two of the producers of Last Comic Standing.

This comedian competition would be different than Last Comic Standing because it would involve more travel and improvisation. It's easier to be funny when one is in a set location doing pre-rehearsed material. It's much harder when it's not known where the performance is and for whom.

Mind you, the description of the show is somewhat vague in the article. For all that is known, the show could be less like Last Comic Standing and more like Fear Factor. The competition could involve having the comedians eat bugs in the middle of the woods in Arkansas. Or possibly having them fight to the death with machetes. Or not.

Is there any comedian you'd like to see on this show? I vote for Jay Black.

This is the TV Squad game where we show you a picture of something and you have to guess what the heck it is. This week we have a scene from a popular TV show. It's actually a TV episode set on the Fourth of July, appropriately enough. The watch is a big clue. Answer later this afternoon.

Yesterday FX announced their fall premiere dates along with the news that an untitled new half-hour comedy would be launched and paired with It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Nothing else was announced about this yet-to-be-named series, but thanks to our reader Jared, we now have an idea of what it may be:

The Norm MacDonald Reality Show.

Nothing has come down from FX regarding this in terms of a pilot greenlight or series pick up, but according to Norm himself? He seems to think it's a go.

• At 8, ABC has a new Wipeout, followed by new episodes of I Survived a Japanese Game Show and Primetime: Crime.
• FOX has a new, two-hour So You Think You Can Dance at 8.
• PBS has a new American Masters at 8.
• At 9, NBC has a new America's Got Talent, then a new episode of The Philanthropist.
• BBC America has a new episode of Gordon Ramsay's The F Word at 9.
• At 10, Discovery has the season finale of Pitchmen.
• A&E has two new episodes of Tattoo Highway at 10.
• TBS has two new episodes of Tyler Perry's Meet The Browns at 10.
• There's a new episode of The Fashion Show on Bravo at 10.
• Also at 10: MTV has a new Real World.
• At 10:30, Comedy Central has a new Reno 911!

Check your local TV listings for more.

After the jump, the late night talk shows.

Later this afternoon I'll have my What's On Tonight picks posted, but I did want to give Top Chef Masters fans a heads up about tonight's episode: there isn't one.

For some reason, Bravo is replacing this week's episode of the cooking competition show with a special episode of The Fashion Show. And this isn't one of those deals where one show is put in place of another show but that other show is rescheduled to another night during the week, maybe in the slot of the first show. No, Top Chef Masters won't be seen at all this week (except for reruns of previous episodes, of course).

Fans will have to wait until next week for the next new episode. (And if you're wondering what's on tomorrow night at 10 in the regular time slot for The Fashion Show, it's a repeat of tonight's episode.)

Oh well. I'm not watching The Fashion Show so I guess I'll catch The Philanthropist.