Here’s what to expect until then:

MONDAY: 8 p.m. House; 9 p.m. Lie To Me

TUESDAY: 8-10 p.m. So You Think You Can Dance

WEDNESDAY: 8 p.m. So You Think You Can Dance Results Show; 9 p.m. Glee

THURSDAY 8 p.m. Bones; 9 p.m. Fringe

FRIDAY: 8 p.m. Brothers; 8:30 p.m. ‘Til Death; 9 p.m. Dollhouse

SATURDAY: 8 p.m. Cops; 8:30 p.m. Cops; 9 p.m. America’s Most Wanted

SUNDAY: 7 p.m. The OT (NFL postgame); 8 p.m. The Simpsons; 8:30 p.m. The Cleveland Show; 9 p.m. Family Guy; 9:30 p.m. American Dad

What’s next for Allen? The history of Idol winners has been a mixed bag, with some going on to professional success while others faded from the scene.

Earlier this year, to celebrate the opening of Disney’s Hollywood Studios’ “American Idol Experience” attraction in Orlando, Fla., the previous seven winners of the Fox reality show gathered together in the same location for the first time. Each was presented with a new Idol trophy shaped like the microphone used in the show’s introduction. For some, it was a chance to promote projects and reflect on the moment that jump-started their careers. For others, it was a reminder of how fleeting fame can be.

Here’s the list, with updates on how things have gone since their glory days with Simon and Co.:

At least some of the answers are in. While many a series awaits placement on the schedule, a fair number already have had their fates decided.

Here’s a list of who’s coming back so far, courtesy of TV Guide.

24, FOX
30 Rock, NBC
90210, CW
The Amazing Race, CBS
American Dad, FOX
American Idol, FOX
America’s Funniest Home Videos, ABC
America’s Next Top Model, CW
The Bachelor, ABC
The Big Bang Theory, CBS
The Biggest Loser, NBC
Brothers & Sisters, ABC
The Celebrity Apprentice, NBC
Dancing with the Stars, ABC
Desperate Housewives, ABC
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, ABC
Family Guy, FOX
Friday Night Lights, NBC/DirecTV
Fringe, FOX
Gossip Girl, CW
Grey’s Anatomy, ABC
Heroes, NBC
Kitchen Nightmares, FOX
Law & Order: SVU, NBC
Lost, ABC
The Office, NBC
One Tree Hill, CW
Parks and Recreation, NBC
Private Practice, ABC
The Simpsons, FOX
Smallville, CW
Southland, NBC (for 13 episodes)
Supernanny, ABC
Supernatural, CW
Survivor, CBS
‘Til Death, FOX
Two and a Half Men, CBS
Ugly Betty, ABC
Wife Swap, ABC

To keep up with who else is coming or going, visit TVGuide.

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Thankless as the job might seem, the New York Post decided to name its “35 Best Shows on TV – Ever.”

Why 35? Why these 35?

Why not?

Here’s their Top 10:

  1. The Sopranos

  2. All in the Family

  3. The Oprah Winfrey Show

  4. American Idol

  5. The West Wing

  6. Mary Tyler Moore

  7. Dallas

  8. 24

  9. Twin Peaks

10. Sesame Street

To find out the rationale behind these selections, and to see the rest of the list, visit the New York Post.

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• iTunes 25 New Releases
• Top songs
• Top TV episodes
• Top video rentals
• Top free applications

Here are the songs on Jennifer Hudson’s Jennifer Hudson:

1. Spotlight

2. If This Isn’t Love

3. Pocketbook (featuring Ludacris)

4. Giving Myself

5. What’s Wrong (Go Away) (featuring T-Pain)

6. My Heart

7. You Pulled Me Through

8. I’m His Only Woman (featuring Fantasia)

9. Can’t Stop The Rain

10. We Gon’ Fight

11. Invisible

12. And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going (Highlights Version) Dreamgirls (Motion Picture Soundtrack)

13. Jesus Promised Me A Home Over There

Source: Arista

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The spotlight is on Hollywood this year as Guinness World Records reveals some record-breaking news about some of the biggest players in “Tinseltown” with the latest installment of its bestselling book — Guinness World Records 2009 Edition. Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and Britney Spears lead the pack of superstar celebs honored with some eye-popping accolades that are sure to get people talking. Some of the record holders:

• Most Powerful Actress — Angelina Jolie
• Most Powerful Actor — Brad Pitt
• Most Searched Person on the Internet — Britney Spears
• Highest Grossing Movie of a Music Tour — Miley Cyrus (Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of
• Both Worlds Concert Tour earned a record $53.4 million in just two weeks)
• Highest Annual Earnings by a TV Talk Show Host — Oprah Winfrey ($225 million)
• Most Watched Current TV Show in the USA — American Idol
• Most Downloaded TV Show — Heroes (2,439,154 downloads)

For more information, go to the Guinness World Records 2009 web site.

Source: Guinness World Records

Available at:

Amazon.com

TV networks, particularly the Big Four broadcasters, typically don’t put too much stock in the summer. Instead they fill the hot-weather months with throwaways and in later years, scads of brainless reality competitions.

Still, some of prime-time’s biggest enduring hits got their starts while many potential viewers were vacationing or enjoying the elongated daylight hours by getting outdoors instead of vegging on the couch. All of these heavy-hitters were launched in June, July or August, which technically leaves out CBS’ Survivor and its May 31, 2000 premiere. Sorry about that. (Start dates are in parentheses.)

10. Northern Exposure (July 12, 1990, CBS) — This critically acclaimed fish-out-water dramedy made fictional Cicely, Alaska a quirky playground for townies and incoming Dr. Joel Fleischmann (Rob Morrow). Its five-season run included four nominations as best drama series. Executive producer David Chase went on to do a little thing called The Sopranos.

9. Fear Factor (June 11, 2001, NBC) — It uniformly repulsed TV critics but found an almost fanatic audience among younger, presumably less-discriminating viewers who enjoyed the sights and sounds of contestants gagging and eating pig rectums. Guffawing host Joe Rogan was a perfect fit for a series that NBC plugged in with Deal Or No Deal zeal for five stomach-turning seasons.

8. The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour (Aug. 1, 1971, CBS) — She vamped, he camped and audiences flocked to their day-glo variety series for six on-off-on again years. The duo’s divorce prompted each to do their own unsuccessful shows before they reunited as ex-husband and wife for two more seasons of somewhat forced hilarity.

Of the Top 10-rated programs in the 2007-08 season, six of those slots are occupied by manifestations of either Idol or Dancing. Meanwhile, the sitcom — long a staple of network programming — has all but disappeared from the face of the Nielsen ratings, with Two and a Half Men carrying the banner at No. 17 overall.

Here’s a look at the Top 10, with network and average weekly viewership in millions:

1. American Idol , Tuesdays, Fox: 28.75.

2. American Idol, Wednesdays, Fox: 27.78

3. Dancing with the Stars, Mondays, ABC: 21.67.

4. Dancing with the Stars, ABC, 19.58.

5. Dancing with the Stars, Tuesdays results show, ABC: 19.56

6. Desperate Housewives, ABC, 18.21

7. Dancing with the Stars, results shows, ABC: 18.03

8. House, Fox: 17.64

9. CSI, CBS: 16.89

10. Grey’s Anatomy, ABC: 15.62

Source: New York Times

Networks make shows to make money — now more than ever. So this list isn’t based on quality, although most of the chosen few are Emmy caliber series as well. What we’re mainly looking at is the financial impact of these shows on both their networks and the overall prime-time terrain. In some cases they made rival networks richer as well, because good ideas are bound to be imitated. This list will be limited to the broadcast networks, with a collection of cable’s elite coming later.

10. Deal Or No Deal (NBC, 2005-Present) — Sometimes you just need a show to keep the lights on, particularly if you’re GE-owned NBC. In otherwise dismal times for the Peacock, Howie Mandel’s open-and-shut cases continue to be reliable ratings-getters no matter where they’re plugged in. Deal also is perfectly suited to an increasingly dumbed-down America. Never has a game show made brain power so beside the point. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist, though, to know that the Peacock would be plucked without germ-phobic Howie and his 26 angels.

9. Gunsmoke (CBS, 1955-75) — The longest-running prime-drama in TV history also put the western genre on the map. There were next to no cowboy hats in prime-time when a then unknown James Arness first rode into view as Marshal Matt Dillon. But two seasons later, Gunsmoke had plenty of company when it began its four-year run as TV’s most popular series. Four other Westerns joined Gunsmoke in the 1957-58 season’s Top 10. By the following year, there were an astonishing 12 horse operas among prime-time’s 25 most popular series, including six of the top seven. But no western series or star have ever been taller in the saddle than Gunsmoke and Arness.

8. Dallas (CBS, 1978-91) — Prime-time serial soaps had fared poorly until the filthy rich Ewings came along. Dallas kept much of the nation home on Friday nights, with Larry Hagman’s oily J.R. Ewing vying with sportscaster Howard Cosell for the title of TV’s preeminent love-to-hate character. Dallas spawned two other like-minded hits, Knots Landing and Falcon Crest, on CBS. It also was slavishly imitated by ABC’s Dynasty. But 1980’s “Who Shot J.R.?” Dallas cliffhanger remains a legend unto itself. Without benefit of cable news networks or entertainment rag mags, it sparked an international guessing game that’s never been surpassed.

7. Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (ABC, 2000-02) — The godfather of modern-day, big-money game shows hoisted downtrodden ABC on its back and carried the network for two seasons before quickly burning out from too many airings and gimmicks. But no show is every likely to equal Millionaire’s all-powerful clout in the prime-time ratings. In the 1999-2000 season, its Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday editions respectively ranked one, two, three among all network shows. And in the following season, Millionaire held down the third, fourth, eighth and 11th spots. Host Regis Philbin’s catchphrase — “Is that your final answer?” — continues to reverberate while Millionaire endures on a smaller daytime stage with Meredith Vieira in charge.

6. Monday Night Football (ABC, 1970 -Present) — Few except ABC sports president Roone Arledge thought the country was ready for this. But it was, and Monday nights were never the same after Howard Cosell and Don Meredith mixed it up in the booth during Monday Night Football’s key formative years. ABC opened every fall season with MNF entrenched until finally punting it in 2006 to sister cable network ESPN, where it’s continued to thrive despite the presence of some less than scintillating announcing teams. NBC also is prospering with its new Sunday Night Football series, which MNF preordained by packaging the pro game as both an entertainment spectacle and what’s turned out to be prime-time’s longest-running reality series.

5. 60 Minutes (CBS, 1968 -Present) — Turning 40 on Sept. 24th, it keeps tick, tick ticking as the longest-running prime-time series of any kind in network TV’s 62-year history. For better and often for worse, every subsequent “news magazine” series owes its existence to CBS’ longstanding hour of power. 60 Minutes proved that news could draw both big audiences and make even bigger piles of money. Its grand inquisitor, Mike Wallace, remains with the show as a part-time contributor after establishing himself as TV’s unlikeliest of leading men. Without him on the prowl, 60 Minutes might well have had a far shorter life span. It’s now impossible to imagine CBS without its Sunday night timepiece.

4. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (CBS, 2000 -Present) — Initially slotted on Friday nights, CSI simmered on CBS’ back burner during a fall season launch in which far more promotional muscle was devoted to a new version of The Fugitive and the Bette Midler sitcom Bette. We know how that went. Seven seasons later, CSI defines the CBS schedule. It has two hit spinoffs set in Miami and New York. And its “procedural,” mostly close-ended crimesolving also is a template for like-minded CBS series such as Without A Trace, Cold Case, NCIS, Criminal Minds and Numb3rs. In tandem with the Suvivor franchise, CSI also built Thursdays into a ratings powerhouse for CBS, dethroning the long-dominant NBC. Not only that, its reruns play exceedingly well, too. What more could a network want?

3. I Love Lucy (CBS, 1951-61) — Every funny, high-caliber sitcom in TV history, from All In the Family to Seinfeld and beyond, owes a debt to the genre’s architect. I Love Lucy, premiering in the medium’s dawning days, spent five seasons as the nation’s most popular prime-time show. In the 1952-53 season, a staggering 67.3 percent of all TV sets were tuned to Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz at their appointed hour. Her physical comedy and his patented blowups led most episodes to their climactic soft, gooey centers. It never got old, and hasn’t to this day. Lucy is television’s undisputed rerun queen, still turning a profit for whatever network is smart enough to play along.

2. The Cosby Show (NBC, 1984-92) — The sitcom was deemed nearly dead when a then last-place NBC sent The Cosby Show into the teeth of CBS’ hugely popular Magnum, P.I. in fall 1984. But the veteran comic slew the mighty Tom Selleck, knocking his show from 6th to 16th place and soon off the air entirely. The Cosby Show also saved the bacon of two ratings-starved comedies — Family Ties and Cheers — that likewise were part of the Peacock’s previously little-seen Thursday night lineup. Bill Cosby and company ranked No. 3 in their show’s first year before going on a five-season run at the top of the prime-time Nielsens. Their comedy crossed color lines while also building a Thursday night NBC stronghold that endured for 20 seasons. The network made untold millions off a show that initially was seen as cannon fodder before the boom times kicked in.

1. American Idol (Fox, 2002 -Present) — Never has a network been more dependent on a single show and its big finishing kick. Fox’s prime-time ratings annually assume the fetal position for much of the fall. Then comes American Idol, decimating all in its path on multiple night runs that win their time slots among viewers of all ages, races and genders. This is the biggest cash cow in TV history, making wheelbarrows of money and also extending lifelines to struggling shows such as House. The latter was a virtual goner before Fox put the not-so-good doctor behind Idol. Talk about your mega-strength Vitamin B shots, with House now more than strong enough to be out on its own. American Idol, which shows little if any sign of flagging, will keep Fox in clover for many seasons to come. It’s the ultimate nightmare for rival networks, but a soothing lullaby for the one that made it its own.

For more television coverage, go to unclebarky.com