TV Squad

Move over, screechy ladies of 'The View' -- there's a new talk show in daytime. CBS used their TCA presentation to unveil the imaginatively titled 'The Talk,' a show dedicated to discussing "news, pop culture, mom culture and our culture," according to the preview presentation.

CBS mega-host Julie Chen and executive producer/actress Sara Gilbert will be joined by Sharon Osbourne, Holly Robinson Peete, Leah Remini and Marissa Jaret Winokur on the show, which they insist will not just be a 'View' clone, comparing the similarity to that of Leno and Letterman "it's just another talk show format," Gilbert pointed out.

Thankfully, creator Mark Roberts and executive producer Chuck Lorre were here to dispel that notion. "This isn't a show about weight," Lorre insisted. It's about real people with real issues trying to have a relationship -- [I know] TV would have cast Chris O'Donnell and Courtney Cox as two members of Overeaters Anonymous ... but [Mike and Molly] are just people trying to make their lives better and find love."

Despite this early clarification, the assembled journalists were like a dog with a bone, continuing to prod stars Melissa McCarthy and Billy Gardell on their weight.

Gardell heroically introduced some much-needed levity to the proceedings, admitting, "I broke a chair before I came out here." At some nervous titters from the audience, he insisted, "I'm not kidding, I'm heavy; you can laugh -- I've caught a mirror."

Logo, no stranger to Canadian programs, has picked up another with '1 Girl 5 Gays,' a talk show that features -- you guessed it -- one girl and a panel of gay men.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Aliya-Jasmine Sovani and her panel will discuss sex and relationships starting in October. '1 Girl 5 Gays' has been on MTV Canada since October 2009.

Logo currently has Canadian shows 'The After Show' and 'Peak Season.'

In other TV news ...

It's interesting how things change quickly at the press tour. Not that long ago, the cast of 'The Big Bang Theory' came to the tour eager to convince the critics that their show was worth watching.

Now, three years later and with ratings that put them on par with 'Two and a Half Men' as the most popular comedy on TV, the group that sat before the critics this morning displayed a new degree of confidence.

Not cockiness, mind you; this is a group that knows it has a good thing going. Co-creator Chuck Lorre, despite the fact that the show has had four different timeslots in four years, called last season and its ratings surge "remarkable."

Nina Tassler kicked off CBS's day at the summer press tour saluting the season that just passed, and not just the shows on her own network. She praised the strongest set of new series in years, singling out praise for 'Modern Family' and 'Glee' in particular.

But the rest of the press conference was fairly tame by exec session standards; Tassler didn't really give out a ton of new info. She did get a flurry of questions about the reboot of 'Hawaii Five-O,' said she was "disappointed" in how few gay and lesbian roles were on last year's schedule, and defended Julie Chen, who was named one of the co-hosts of the Eye network's new daytime talk show, 'The Talk.'

This fall, a new set of masochists will descend upon the jungle to compete on the 21st season of CBS's 'Survivor.' This year, however, it won't just be a match of wits that will weed them out. CBS announced Wednesday that the show will divide the contestants by age, creating one tribe of competitors over age 40, and another tribe of those under age 30 for a face-off called 'Young vs. Old.'

"The Espada Tribe, made up of individuals over the age of 40, must prove they have the life experience and knowledge that will ultimately help them outwit and outlast their younger competitors," the network said in a statement. "The La Flor Tribe, consisting of individuals 30 years of age and younger, will have to use their youth and vitality to outplay and ultimately outlast their elders."

'Survivor: Nicaragua' won't be first the time that the series has split its cast along age lines. In season 12, 'Survivor: Panama' divided its cast into four tribes, but split them by both gender and age.

Last week on vacation, I read the book 'Soccernomics' by Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski. It's a kind of 'Freakonomics' for soccer, but they mention the NFL enough that none of the bullies at the beach beat me up too badly for reading it.

One of the many points that the authors make is that sports teams that actually try to turn a profit inevitably begin to death-spiral. The best teams are those that operate like a non-profit charitable trust, where every penny is put back into improving the team. This is why teams are owned by crazy rich people (George Steinbrenner) tend to do better than teams that owned by just regular rich people.

At the same time I was reading 'Soccernomics', I was living vicariously through my nerd brothers who were blogging about attending Comic-Con (because that's what you do at the beach). So, of course, it didn't take long for me to reach the obvious conclusion: TV needs a Steinbrenner.

Don't believe the spin: Longtime 'The Price Is Right' host Bob Barker said comments he made to a TMZ.com paparazzo on Monday were not meant to disparage the performance of current 'TPIR' host Drew Carey.

Barker's proof: Dissing Drew would mean putting a dent in his own future earnings.

(S06E05) All season long, we've been waiting for Tommy to hit rock bottom with his drinking so we can finally start to see him begin a redemptive journey toward sobriety, and perhaps get his life back together. I say that with the anticipation that we're actually going to have a "happy" ending for 'Rescue Me.' Given the tone of the show throughout the years, it just wouldn't feel right to end on a tragic note.

I'm not sure if the events of this week constitute Tommy's personal all-time low, but they are certainly in the running. When your family gets pulled into your debauchery, it's got to make you finally stop for a moment and think about what you've been doing with your life. Especially now that it's starting to negatively affect others.

Perhaps because of the strong nature of the content, the episode was framed and presented a little differently than we're used to. Gone for the most part were moments of levity, though you can always count on Sean and Mike lighten the mood. Gone was a lot of the animosity within Tommy's sphere of influence, but that's probably going to change really quickly now.

Since SomethingPitchy host Andy Scott got called out yesterday for his red cheeks during his Tim Urban interview, it's fitting that SP correspondent Gaby Dunn's flustered face is exposed today.

The 'American Idol' experts went backstage with the season 9 Idols at the Newark 'Idols Live' tour last week and filmed interviews with the Top 10.

First up today, Gaby was charmed by the country etiquette of 17-year-old Aaron Kelly. The two talked dental hygiene and tried to write a country song together. (Key word: Tried.)

If it weren't for SA, we wouldn't have Snooki, The Situation and Pauly D.

And who is SA?

SA is also known as SallyAnn Salsano. But the creator and executive producer of 'Jersey Shore' calls herself SA for short. In fact, she left a message on my cell phone referring to herself as SA in regards to this interview, and I almost didn't call her back until I put two and two together and realized SA was Salsano's nickname.

Anyway, Salsano, er SA, who has also produced reality shows ranging from 'A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila' to 'Tool Academy,' recently spoke with TV Squad about MTV's controversial pop culture phenomenon, which kicks off another summer of GTL -- that's gym, tanning, laundry -- and more on Thursday.

After three years as a recurring character on Nickelodeon's 'iCarly,' 14-year-old Noah Munck has been promoted to series regular.

As Carly's strange friend Gibby, Munck has perfected his character's odd trademark move: a shirtless dance. The actor, who has been shedding his clothing for Nickelodeon's tweens since age 11, told TV Guide that tearing his shirt off is not a skill that came naturally.

"I was weirded out by it at first, and I was really nervous about doing it," he said. "But then it became a regular daily activity ... I can't go anywhere now without people yelling 'Gibby! Take your shirt off!'"

While fans are still recovering from the onslaught of television news that came out of Comic-Con over the weekend -- William Shatner on 'Human Target!' 'Glee's' 'Rocky Horror Picture Show' tribute! 'The Event' is a must-see! -- Disney and ABC slipped in a short announcement last night about a back office move involving someone most fans have never heard of. But before you shrug your shoulders over the news that ABC Entertainment President Steve McPherson has quit, we have a few reasons why you might care after all: 'Lost,' 'Desperate Housewives,' 'Grey's Anatomy,' 'Dancing With the Stars' and 'Modern Family.'

That's because McPherson, who abruptly announced his departure last night in a series of bland press releases -- ABC's particularly emotionless comments simply stated that "Steve McPherson today submitted his resignation as President, ABC Entertainment Group, and the Company accepted" -- was responsible for bringing all those fan favorite shows to the small screen over the last six years.

AMC has done so well with its period drama 'Mad Men' that the network has decided to go back even further in history. According to Deadline Hollywood, AMC has chosen the two leads for its drama pilot 'Hell on Wheels,' a Western set during the building of the Transcontinental Railroad. Anson Mount will star opposite female lead Dominique McElligott.

Cullen is described as a fearless character with a dark past. But his baggage is much darker, and his cold stare is sure to make Don Draper look like he's wearing a pink, frilly dress.

A former slave owner and a Confederate soldier, Cullen is on a mission to kill the Union soldiers who raped and murdered his wife. Will this be the next feel-good hit of the year? Only if you're David Simon.

Here's tonight's lineup of new shows and events (all times Eastern). Check your local TV listings for additional information.

* = Series/Season Premiere
** = Series/Season Finale

8:00 to 9:00
CBS: 'Big Brother'
FOX: 'So You Think You Can Dance' -- Two hours
NBC: 'Minute to Win It'
PBS: 'In Performance at the White House' -- Paul McCartney sings and accepts the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song; 90 minutes
DisneyXD: 'Naruto: Shippuden'
NatGeo WILD: 'Rebel Monkeys' -- Two episodes

The rest of the lineup, and the late night talk shows, after the jump.