TV Tango

If you enjoyed trivialTV, check out TV Tango. The Ultimate TV Database. Your Link to All Things TV.

TVTango.com is the most comprehensive compilation of TV information. What makes this database truly unique?

• Aggregated External Links: Looking for information on other sites? TVTango.com has nearly 75,000 links to title pages at IMDb, TV Guide, Wikipedia, tv.com, British Film Institute, and Zap2It. All links load on the TV series home pages — just click the tabs to quickly switch from site-to-site. The TV web is at your fingertips.

• Breadth: More than 30,500 TV series and 4,200 TV Movies & Miniseries.

• Broadcast Grids: Type in a date and see what aired on TV that day. To generate these grids, TVTango.com uses a table of ~918,000 shows, including series episodes, TV movies, miniseries, theatrical films, specials, awards, and sporting events.

• Media Links: Looking for a TV show on DVD or online? Media links are provided for individual episodes and TV movies! Not just a single link for the entire series or season. TVTango.com has more than 150,000 links to shows so users can watch or buy video.

• Search Capability: Want a list of people who wrote TV movies about true crime for CBS? Need a list of military sitcoms on ABC that premiered in the '70s? Unparalleled advanced search capability.

• Ratings: Wonder which TV movie had the highest rating in 1990? Looking for ratings data for a specific episode of "Friends"? TVTango.com has household ratings data for all shows since June 1, 1983 and viewer/share data for shows since September 25, 2000.

• Discovery: Users will find new shows and be reminded about old favorites with these features:

• Today in TV History: Find out which TV series, Movies, and Miniseries premiered on this date in the past. See what TV characters had life-changing events (births, deaths, weddings). Learn about firsts and lasts in TV history.

• Maps of TV Land: Navigate real maps to see where TV characters lived and worked.

• Simple (and Intuitive) Navigation: We have put a great deal of time and effort in developing a very intuitive system of navigating through our site. From any page on our website you are just one click away from finding the information you want. Every piece of information we enter into our database is confirmed or verified by an in-house researcher.

Combining real-time information updates with a sophisticated user interface, TVTango.com is the web's most powerful and reliable informational tool. In short, you are in control of your search. Since we search the top TV databases, you now have to search only one: TVTango.

Primetime for the Planet

Sundance Channel will continue its green programming.

Way back on April 17, 2007, Sundance unveiled a programming block called Green, which was comprised of three ecoprograms:

• "Big Ideas for a Small Planet"
• "Ecoists"
• "Eco Biz"

Just last week Sundance filed a trademark app to protect Primetime for the Planet for "television programming services." I'm guessing that "Primetime for the Planet" will be a programming block, like Green, since the application did not specifically call it a series. (If you look at the apps for the three programs listed above, the goods and services descriptions include "on-going documentary television series." Quite specific. Sundance did not trademark Green.)

Maui Chopper

A reality show about police helicopters in Maui? Or maybe highway patrol on motorcycles?

Regardless, you'll be able to watch the show on TruTV. Courtroom Television Network filed a trademark app on November 20, 2007 to protect Maui Chopper for use as the title of a TV series. And we all know, by the time it airs Court TV will be TruTV.

Hole in the Wall

Have you seen this Japanese game show? It's often called Human Tetris, and if you watch this clip you'll know why. The show is so popular in Japan, that FremantleMedia recently signed deals with broadcasters in multiple countries.

Turns out, there may even be an American version of this wacky show. FremantleMedia North America, Inc. filed a trademark app on November 21, 2007 to protect Hole in the Wall for "entertainment services in the nature of a television game show."

I'm not a huge fan of celebrity shows, but "Celebrity Hole in the Wall" would rule. Can you imagine watching Britney get knocked on her butt into a small pool of water?

Too Many Eps Spoil the Broth

I was in a meeting yesterday and somebody uttered an idiom I hadn't heard in ages — too many chefs spoil the broth. That sounds like the perfect phrase for TV writers of old to have fun for the typical sitcom and for TV writers today to honor for cooking-related shows. Here's the short list of eps:

• The Many Robots Spoil the Broth (''Daigunder,'' 11/8/2003)
• Too Many Cooks Are Murder (''Hart to Hart,'' 5/6/1980)
• Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen (''The Party Planner with David Tutera'')
• Too Many Cooks Spoil the Troop (''F Troop,'' 3/29/1966)
• Too Many Greens Spoil the Bath (''Bad, Bad Bath,'' 5/16/2006)
• Too Many Kooks Spoil the Broth (''The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis,'' 1/9/1963)
• Too Many Limburgers Spoil the Cheese (''Biker Mice from Mars,'' 11/11/1995)
• Too Many Waiters Spoil the Bistro (''Robin's Nest,'' 3/15/1979)

New Eps Online: November, Week 4

New series and seasons (full eps only) released online since 20 November 2007:

• ''Combat Zone'' (Military; iTunes): season 1
• ''Dress My Nest'' (style; iTunes): current season (2)
• ''Jacob Two-Two'' (YTV; Unbox): season 3, 4 & 5
• ''My War Diary'' (Military; iTunes): season 1
• ''October Road'' (ABC; iTunes): current season (2)
• ''The Standard Snowboard Show'' (FuelTV; iTunes, Unbox): current season (4)
• ''Top Ten'' (Military; iTunes): season 1
• ''Weaponology'' (Military; iTunes): current season (2)

Speed Racer: The Next Generation

That's it. That's the new logo.

I have to say I'm a little disappointed. Not sure what I expected, but it wasn't that.

I found the image in the USPTO Trademark Database. Speed Racer Enterprises, Inc. filed a trademark app on November 14, 2007 to protect that image with the main focus on the "lines depicting speed, propulsion, heat or wind."

Dance 'Til You Drop Weight

What happens if you cross "Dancing with the Stars" with "The Biggest Loser" and throw in a dash of typical "American Idol"/"Next Great American Band" production qualities? I know. I know. The obvious answer is "Dancing with America's Biggest Loser." But that's not quite the answer I was looking for.

FremantleMedia North America, Inc. filed a trademark app on November 16, 2007 to protect Dance 'Til You Drop Weight for "entertainment services in the nature of a television game show."

Personally, I hope a show like this one becomes highly interactive in the near future. Have each viewer play DDR on Xbox Live so that s/he can compete against others in a regional competition — these regions should based on time zones, just like "Deal or No Deal" has regional contests.

Double Jumble

If you enjoy your daily Jumble online or in the newspaper, then you'll love this item. "Double Jumble" may be coming to your small screen soon.

Tribune Media Services filed a trademark app on November 15 to protect Double Jumble for a few items, including "production of television game show." Plus, this type of a show fits the current model — a show that can be produced on a shoestring budget, without writers and that will probably follow the successful formula of "Merv Griffin's Crosswords."

I couldn't find anything else about this show, but I'd love to know how the game play will be different from previous Jumble-like game shows.

Big Girls Don't Cry in the Jailhouse Rock

Let's turn on the music wayback machine. Twice. First 1962 and then 1957.

On today's date in 1962, The Four Seasons hit, Big Girls Don't Cry, just started it's five-week run at #1 on the Billboard charts. The song permeated pop culture enough that even "The Sopranos" had an ep named after the song. Of course, there's the obvious take-off, Big Boys Don't Cry, which a few series used for ep titles. Some series were more creative though:

• Big Bird Don't Fly (''Animal Atlas'')
• Big Girls Don't Fly (''Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman,'' 5/12/1996)
• Big Gumps Don't Cry (''Little Wizards'')

Just five years earlier, Elvis dominated the charts for most of the year. On this date in 1957, "Jailhouse Rock" continued it's run at #1. What an easy target for TV scribes. Popular song. Easy word to rhyme. Here's how writers honored this song through ep titles:

• Jail House Flock (''Captain Planet and the Planeteers,'' 3/26/1994)
• Jailhouse Crock (''Captain Butler,'' 2/7/1997)
• Jailhouse Dick (''3rd Rock from the Sun,'' 12/17/1997)
• Jailhouse Doc (''House Calls,'' 11/14/1980)
• Jailhouse Notch (Part 2 of 3) (''Son of the Beach,'' 9/24/2002)
• Jailhouse Shock (''Timon & Pumbaa'')
• Jailhouse Shock (''The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat'')