This is crazy enough that I had to look twice, but Amazon is running a $5/season TV Sale for a limited time. There are more details in 21tvcast, but TV shows available at $5 per season include "Battlestar Galactica" seasons one through three, "House" seasons one through four, "Heroes" seasons one and two, and "The Office" season four. That's $5 for a whole season, as opposed to the usual $2 per episode.

I haven't been able to figure out how long this deal lasts, so if you want to catch up on any of these shows, or keep them forever, buy now.

(Sorry for the duplication if you also read my journal directly! And, if you're not already reading 21tvcast, that's where most of my mark_tv-like musings are winding up these days.)

New "Dexter" and new "Californication!" You know where I'll be.

Fox.com is barely working at all today. Clicking the show name in tonight's schedule brings you back to the main page. And clicking one of the shows in the big banner graphic takes you to http://admin.fox.www--sandbox.10-92-189-238.ip.alfrescodemo.net etc. etc. Not so useful.

But it does seem "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" is starting its second season tomorrow night. I'm looking forward to that in much the same way I'm not looking forward to "Hole in the Wall."

TiVo has just introduced the TiVo HD XL, an upgraded version of the TiVo HD DVR that I've got, with much more storage. For $600 compared to the current model's $300, you get 150 hours of HD recording on a 1TB hard drive, compared to 20 hours, plus the Glo Remote and THX certification that came with the (originally) $800 Series3.

If I were looking for a new HD--capable TiVo right now, this is unquestionably the model I'd get. It's got plenty of storage capacity, considerably more even than my TiVo HD plus the Western Digital external My DVR Expander I added to it.

Available "now" (but not yet) at TiVo.com and soon from Amazon and other retailers. (Image swiped from ZNF for now.)

Stargate Atlantis will end after its current fifth season, but will be followed up with a two-hour movie to be aired on Sci Fi next year and then released on DVD. If that one does well, they're planning on making more movies, but the TV series will end after this batch.

http://www.gateworld.net/news/2008/08/istargate_atlantisi_will_end_thi.shtml

I don't remember why I decided to set up a season pass, but I just tried watching the first of five episodes of "Charlie Jade" sitting on my TiVo. It seemed completely disjointed and I had no idea what was going on.

Well, looks like I was starting with the sixth episode of this 2005 one-season series about a detective who finds himself slipping among three parallel universes. I never had a chance.

But Showtime is re-running "Californication" from the beginning, starting with the pilot about a half hour ago. This brilliant series starring David Duchovny as a semi-successful writer having lots of sex is well worth checking out. It's funny, rude, and sexy. Also available on iTunes if you don't get Showtime.

When I turned on the TV at 7:02, I saw Chuck Lorre's name. Since I've been really enjoying "The Big Bang Theory," I decided to give "Two and a Half Men" another try. I'd checked it out early on in its original run, and hadn't been all that impressed, but hey, it's Chuck Lorre! Might as well try again. I rewound two minutes and dove in.

I'm now midway through the second episode in a row (the Syracuse FOX affiliate seems to like showing each stripped sitcom twice a night), and while it's cute enough, I'm not sure I need to watch it too often.

Biggest problem of all? What's with the laugh track!? I realize not everyone can pull off "filmed before a live studio audience," to get real live reactions from a real audience, but those who can't, or choose not to, ought to allow for the possibility that I'll figure out when to laugh on my own.

(Ha. This was the CLP vanity card at the end of the second show.)

just sat down to enjoy some of the contents of my TiVo, and the first two minutes of the latest "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," the magician episode "Vanishing Act," is full of awesome cameos! It's got Paul Shaffer, the Naked Cowboy, and Christopher Lloyd... all before the opening credits!