It seems that even when the big four networks are scraping the bottom for programming, they still have no patience.

The latest one-and-done casualty was the internet-spawned "Quarterlife". Sure, I missed its only airing on NBC last Tuesday but was curious why it got axed due to mediocre ratings (the lowest in its time slot in 17 years).

When I get curious about something, I read about it and having seen a few commercials for what is being billed as the second coming of the former HBO series "Sex and the City", I just had to know what people were saying about NBC's "Lipstick Jungle".

Lipstick Jungle premieres tonight (Thursday, February 7) in the ultra-plush post-Apprentice timeslot formerly occupied by the "it-needs-to-go-away" hit of yesteryear E.R.

Golly gee, TV just continues to sink further into the depths of mediocrity this year. Whether it's the fact that people actually tune in to the mindless drivel geared towards unemployed teens living vicariously through the unemployed college-age folks who all seem to get the fifteen minutes of fame on the "reality" fare that MTV programs ad-nauseum or the fact that CBS's summertime "juggernaut" "Big Brother" is making a much needed winter appearance, we are in a period I will coin as "The Dark Times".

Next week begins the typical pre-Christmas dark times for television viewing and that, for the uneducated, means the viewing selections will be even worse than they already were. Of course if you are a fan of watching a competition about choirs, you are in luck!

I can now say it without feeling dirty -- the Christmas season hath arrived. Along with the obvious long lines at stores, rude shoppers willing to run over thier own grandmas for the opportunity at grabbing a poorly made and destined to break in 8 weeks DVD player that would be better used as a doorstop; this means that the inevitable slew of Christmas specials are upon us.

Tonight, NBC brings back the long-suffering sitcom that has had more timeslots than any show on FOX with the debut of its final season.

Scrubs, the medical sitcom that seems to have started the trend of sitcoms having no laughtrack, seems to have run its course and it is leaving the air before it turns into a clone of "Friends".

Earlier this television season, I made the wild speculation that nothing much appealed to me on the networks' new fall schedules. I decided out of fear of trying anything new -- ever again -- that I would stick to the tried and true options.

Lucky for me, I have little to no willpower.

As the evenings have become dark earlier and earlier lately, I decided one evening to check out NBC's rehashed drama, "Bionic Woman".

The fall premiere week for all of the couch potatoes in the world roars forward tonight. It's really about the only night where comedy gets even a gasping breath to be seen by viewers and it's good comedy, not the garbage passed off as funny by other networks with that awful laugh track prodding us and reminding us that this part is supposed to be funny so could ya' at least muster up a chuckle?

No, despite the title this is not about "pro" wrestling. It is instead about one of those tough entertainment choices forced upon the average viewer by network television- which of your favorite shows to watch when they are both on at the same time. I know what you're saying. Well, I don't have a TiVo. And sometimes my VCR is unreliable as it's the first one my family ever bought which means it's at least twenty years old. Like a lot of things that age it is not always reliable.