Never shy to remake or reboot past projects, I think we’ve finally reached a tipping point in Hollywood. Tonight on ABC “Cupid” debuts. Interesting premise, solid cast, good creative staff…but it’s a remake/boot of a show that aired in the late 90’s. That failed. Simply put, we now have a remake of a show that is based on a failure.

Wow.
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Hiya readers and listeners, our newest podcast is now LIVE. You can view it below in our old-school Podomatic-way of doing things, and hopefully it will be in the iTunes feed very shortly.

In this edition of the Watchers Podcast, I go it alone and take a look at five television shows premiering in the next few weeks. Shows discussed: “Southland,” “Cupid,” “Harper’s Island,” “Parks and Recreation” and “The Unusuals.”

Enjoy!

If you weren’t aware, the new “90210″ has a new showrunner, Rebecca Rand Kirshner Sinclair of “Gilmore Girls” fame. Though you expect the normal changes when this occurs, you never expect this.

And by this I mean cutting half of the show’s “power couple,” actor Dustin Milligan.

According to Ausiello, Milligan will not return as a series regular next season, but will probably be around just long enough to wrap up his character arc. Insiders tell Ausiello that “the character has run its course.” In one season?

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Monday. Yay. Eh.

ABC has greenlit a Mark Burnett’s produced reality show called “Shark Tank,” which will give entrepreneurs the opportunity to pitch great ideas to five major business tycoons. The show, an adaption of the U.K. “Dragon’s Den,” will feature self-contained episodes and not be a competition-style program. I like this idea, it’s current and newsworthy and doesn’t include bad celebs. [Live Feed]

In other reality TV news, Fox just had to prove that they’re still able to make really poor creative decisions and ordered a dating series that will feature only people that are overweight. Now, I see the debate now: Fox says they’re doing this so that “normal” people get their time in the spotlight, but instead the program becomes a vehicle for American to laugh at the obese folks. Nice Fox. Nice. [Hollywood Reporter]

Good news for NBCU, as “The Office” is now in 93% of the syndication markets around the United States, including all of the major markets. So weird to see shows in syndi without making to the 100th episode yet. [Variety]

Another solid piece of work here from TV Week and Josef Adalian: Check out his mini retrospective on “ER” and what the show has done to television since it’s debut all those years ago. I’ve heard so many “that show is still on?” gags from people lately, but “ER” is so obviously one of the most influential shows of all time, glad to see it going out on top. [TV Week]

Rumors abound that Disney might join with News Corp and NBCU to provide content for the ever-growing Hulu. ABC was the first network to offer solid video streaming, surprising to see them possibly giving in and joining with two other networks that were late to the party. Or maybe just Disney films will make the cut on Hulu? Who knows. [/Film]

Make sure you begin to follow this on a regular basis: CHUD has begun another great list, “Children of Acorn,” that will discuss the best plants in film history. I never know half of the films in their lists, but I’m not sure many other web sites do lists better than CHUD. [CHUD]

Today is the day.

After weeks of positive buzz followed by last week’s horrible news that DirecTV and NBCU were fighting over money, Monday is supposed to be the day we find out if “Friday Night Lights” survives or not.

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One of the most prominent themes during this season has been Jack’s battle with middle age. Last night, that mid-life crisis came to a head when Jack started preparing for his 50th birthday and discovered he’d never be as happy as he was when he was a kid. Meanwhile, Tracy rediscovered his own childhood dream of going into space, and Liz found out that Jenna once slept with Dennis Duffy.

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Ratings report from last night: “American Idol” dominated yet again [25.6 million viewers, 9.1 18-49 rating], even more so than usual actually. The second place ratings grabber happened to be “Lost” [8.8 million, 4.0], which aired its lowest-rated new offering of all time. Yikes. “Life on Mars” was actually up again [5.7 million, 2.1] though it has only one more episode to go, ever. [The Live Feed]

The NY Times Company announced that they will lay off 100 employees on the business side of things and cut pay 5 percent across the board. Ouch. [Variety]

A recent research study by the Ball State Center for Media Design and Sequent Partners for the Nielsen-funded Council for Research Excellence found that even in this time of increased online video viewing, 99 percent of our watching still takes place on the television. Even young people, supposedly obsessed with the computer and online watching, still watch video on TV 98 percent. People age 45-54 watch the most television, almost 10 hours a day. Didn’t they hear it can rot your brain? [TV Week]

Rumors abound that Michel might be starting his own paper company on “The Office” instead of coming back to Dunder Mifflin. I actually love this idea; I think the last few episodes of the show have been stellar and this could be an extension of that. [Ausiello Files]

Scope this solid interview with “Star Trek” scribes Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, who give tidbits about the upcoming film and say why they don’t think it’s quite a “reboot” per say. [Sci Fi Wire]

A number of news items related to pilot casting were released today, among them Donald Sutherland joining a CBS show “The Eastmans,” about a dysfunctional family…which sounds exactly like Sutherland’s previous show, “Dirty Sexy Money.” In other pilot news, Ian Somerhalder has been cast in the CW’s “Vampire Diaries” program. Either the show features people older than high school or Somerhalder couldn’t get a better job; to go from “Lost” to this is…eh. [Hollywood Reporter]

After set backs, re-shoots, re-edits and release date changes, we finally get to see a great trailer for Spike Jonze’s “Where the Wild Things Are.”

And I love it. I haven’t read the book it ages, but the trailer makes me want to again. I love the tone Jonze has taken and the special effects look surprisingly solid as well. The film hits theaters this October, and I’m sure this is just the beginning of the marketing campaign.

If you want to feel like a youngin’ again, watch this trailer.

If you haven’t heard, there have been some interesting rumors swirling around the set of “House” in recent weeks, most of which deal with a member of the current team leaving. Going back as far as January, the creative staff of the show has been hinting that someone is going to leave by season’s end, signaling that Cameron and/or Chase would get back into the fold a bit more in season six.

Now, in the last few weeks, all the talk has ramped up to a feverish pace. Kristin over at E! reported that the leaving cast member would actually see their character DIE and that no one would really see it coming – i.e. it’s not 13 -in the finale. Then Ausiello posted a blind item about a major character of a major show offing him/herself before season’s end.

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“Worst Week” is clearly canceled even though it hasn’t been announced, as evidenced by the show’s star, Kyle Bornheimer, being cast in a lead role alongside Eric Christian Olsen in an untitled comedy. In other pilot casting news, Jeffery Tambor has joined the Mitchell Hurwitz-scripted comedy, “The Bridget Show.” [TV Guide]

Always a sucker for a list like this; check out EW’s 26 “Great TV Shows That Got a Quick Hook.” I think when “Life on Mars” says goodbye next week, we’ll do something quite like this here on Watchers. Maybe the top 10 of the last 5 years? I’m young, remember. [EW]

I don’t see this as a shocker, but whatever: Rob Thomas has more or less admitted that the “Veronica Mars” film project is dead, or at best, dormant for the time being. Listen, I appreciate and respect “Mars” just as much as the next quasi fanboy and critic, but a film? Even with DVD sales, online viewership included, how many folks watched the show on a regular basis? 5 million? It’s not like the film was ever going to be a big hit, so I’m not surprised WB nixed it. [NY Post, via /Film]

Hahahaha, this is so perfect. MSNBC has compiled a little list of pointers for those adults trying to get into the Facebook culture. Anyone over the age of 30-35 should read this. Older people on Facebook just creep me out, not quite sure why. It’s not an ownership thing, it’s just…weird. [MSNBC]

James Cameron takes a trip down memory road to his days filming the first “Terminator” film. It’s hard to believe that “T1″ is pushing 30 years old really. If only Cameron would have been back for films 3 and 4; I guess he had money to burn, so it’s excusable. [Wired]

Finally today, check out the trailer for the new Todd Phillips ["Old School"] comedy, “The Hangover,” starring Ed Helms, Bradley Cooper and Zach Galifianakis. Phillips went nowhere after “Old School” but I like the cast and this seems like it could be mildly entertaining.