'Horrible' Is Terrific

When "Buffy" creator Joss Whedon writes out his grocery list, it's news, at least for me.

So when I hear that Whedon created a one-hour musical online called "Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog," you know I'm going to be logging in.

The problem is, so is the rest of the planet. So many people logged in to the DrHorrible.com Web site Tuesday night when it debuted that the server crashed, making it difficult to see what the fuss was about.

Eventually, though, I did, and it's brilliant. Whedon (along with his brothers) creates a love story revolved around the not-very-evil Dr. Horrible (Neal Patrick Harris), who longs to join the Evil Society of Evil and win the heart of the pretty redhead (Felicia Day, one of the slayers on "Buffy") who does laundry at the same laundrymat he does. Unfortunately, he's thwarted time and again by the city's big jerk of a superhero, Capt. Hammer (Nathan Fillion).

Whedon, who created one of the most memorable hours of TV ever with the "Buffy" musical episode, "Once More, With Feeling" shines again mixing comedy and music, and has a cast worthy of his efforts. Harris is pitch perfect as lovelorn title villain, and Fillion relishes his role as the pompous superhero. Day has a breakout role as the love interest.

"Dr. Horrible" is being shown in three, 15-minute parts. Part 2 airs Thursday and Part 3 debuts Saturday. The special, which was created during the strike and financed entirely out of Whedon's and his partners' pockets, will be free to watch this week. Afterwards, it will cost money to download it from platforms like iTunes, but it's definitely worth $1.99 if you miss it this week.

AROUND THE DIAL: William L. Petersen announced he will be leaving "CSI" — sort of. According to several sources, Petersen will depart midway through the season as a regular, but return to the show for guest spots. He will also remain on as a producer for the series. ...

In other casting news, Amy Poehler of "Saturday Night Live" will be the new lead in "The Office" spinoff for NBC this fall. ... FX announced a couple of big guest star roles for its series. Michael J. Fox will guest star on "Rescue Me" in 2009 as Janet's (Andrea Roth) new boyfriend. Fox, who suffers from Parkinson's Disease, will use a wheelchair on the show, which should be a great touch for the politically incorrect Tommy (Denis Leary). Meanwhile, Oscar winner Marcia Gay Harden has signed on for "Damages" as an attorney who takes on Patti (Glenn Close). ...

The Home Run Derby on Monday set a record for such events with a 6.4 rating, meaning 6.2 million viewers tuned in to watch Josh Hamilton's sizzling performance and Justin Morneau's victory. Last year's Derby clocked in with a 5.1 rating. This Derby was the highest-rated non-NFL related programming on ESPN since the Miami-Florida State football game in 2006. ...

Stratford alum Jon Allen, a pianist who has performed with the likes of Dolly Parton, Rod Stewart and Stevie Wonder, will appear on "The Today Show" Thursday morning.

WEDNESDAY'S BEST BETS: With so-called reality shows dominating the airwaves tonight ("Big Brother," "So You Think You Can Dance," "The Baby Borrowers" and "Celebrity Circus"), my advice is to check out "Dr. Horrible."

The one reality show worth noting is the season premiere of "Project Runway" (Bravo, 9 p.m.), making its last appearance on the network before moving to Lifetime next year.

Finally, as a wrap-up for All-Star weekend, ESPN is running a special on the history of Yankee Stadium at 6 p.m. as well as the Triple-A All-Star Game at 7 p.m. on ESPN2.

I Have No Secret Talent

Some might say I have no overt talent, either, but I sure don't have any secret ones.

I suppose if that bothered me, I could live vicariously through celebrities, who will be competing tonight (CBS, 10 p.m.) in the latest so-called reality offering.

Kicking things off is country singer's Clint Black's attempt at standup comedy; contortionism from Olympic skater Sasha Cohen; and tap dancing from Mya. I guess my personal favorite, though, is "Star Trek's" George Takei, who will be performing country music. (I could totally see him doing Johnny Cash).

From the old-school "Battle of the Network Stars" to "Celebrity Apprentice," we seem to love our celebrities competing for something, so this should be fitting right in with the American viewing public.

'RUNWAY' ON THE MOVE?: NBC/Bravo is in litigation with The Weinstein Co. over the mega-reality hit "Project Runway." The show, one of the mainstays for the Bravo network, signed a new five-year deal with Lifetime that is set to begin in the fall, but NBC (which owns Bravo) is suing to block the move over contractual issues. Considering how huge a property "Runway" is, this is a suit that won't be going away quietly.

TUESDAY'S BEST BETS: "NCIS" (CBS, 8 p.m.) returns with its first new post-strike episode. TVGuide.com's Michael Ausiello is reporting one member of the cast is leaving at the end of the season in a plot twist, but doesn't say who. Well, I know it's not Gibbs (Mark Harmon), and the show would suck if they lost Tony, Ziva, Abby or McGee or even Ducky, so I'm hoping it means Jenny.

"Boston Legal" (ABC, 10 p.m.) also returns with its first post-strike new episode.

On cable, "The Riches" (FX, 10 p.m.) is brand-new, while HBO is showing the documentary "The Greatest Silence: Rape In The Congo" at 10 p.m.

DVD Pick: Justice League - New Frontier

One of the best graphic novels of the past decade was writer/illustrator Darwyn Cooke's "Justice League: New Frontier," which re-imagined the classic superheroes during the 1950s-60s era - the beginning of the Silver Age of comics.

Notable for its distinctive, retro-style artwork, the miniseries introduced several familiar characters - Green Lantern, Flash, Martian Manhunter - through their diverse backgrounds, gradually bringing them together as they encountered an ancient, supernatural entity called The Center.

As great as the novel was, I didn't think it would be possible to recapture it onscreen when I heard Warner Brothers was doing a straight-to-DVD project. But I was wrong - sort of.

I was a big fan of the WB's "Justice League" cartoons, created by the same people who did "Batman: The Animated Series," "Superman," "Batman Beyond," etc. All of them, plus Cooke, are involved with "New Frontier."

The DVD truncates Cooke's graphic novel, streamlining it to a huge degree. On the one hand, it makes the movie more manageable, particularly if you don't have 60-plus years of DC Comics characters committed to memory. On the other hand, some of the flavor of the novel is lost a little bit.

The DVD focuses mainly on two characters: Hal Jordan (David Boreanaz), who eventually becomes Green Lantern, and the Martian Manhunter (Miguel Ferrer), an alien accidently brought to a McCarthy-era Earth where masked heroes like Batman (Jeremy Sisto) and the Flash (Neil Patrick Harris) are not trusted, while unmasked heroes such as Superman (Kyle MacLachlan) and Wonder Woman (Lucy Lawless) work for the government.

Gradually, each of the heroes becomes aware of the threat of the Center (Keith David), which threatens the entire world. The heroes must unite as one force to save the day.

This is not a kids-oriented film, to be sure. People get killed in New Frontier. Some of the language is not what you'd expect in a cartoon.

But the story, as voiced by an exceptional cast, is extremely fast-paced. Maybe a little too fast-paced, since I would have liked to have seen some more character development. And non-comic book fans may get lost.

If you do rent "New Frontier," watch the extra that gives a history of the Justice League first. It will give you some good background on a lot of the characters that will help when watching the movie.

With a live-action "Justice League" movie headed to the big screen in 2009, these are characters that will be in the public eye for a long time to come. "New Frontier" is a good way to introduce (or re-introduce) them.

WEDNESDAY'S BEST BETS: The Anne Heche dramedy, "Men In Trees" (ABC, 10 p.m.) returns to the air tonight, one of the few new things that aren't reality. It will go opposite a new "Law & Order" (NBC, 10 p.m.)

Of the reality fare, "American Idol" (Fox, 8 p.m.) turns it over to the ladies, once again, while "Project Runway" (Bravo, 10 p.m.) begins Part 1 of its two-part finale.

TV's Best New Star

There's an old adage in Hollywood: Never work with children or animals.

Whoever came up with the adage obviously has never seen "Pushing Daisies," (ABC, 8 p.m.) because that person obviously hasn't seen Ned's (Lee Pace) dog Digby in action.

In my opinion, the single best-shot scene on TV this year was the song-and-dance routine between Digby and Broadway veteran Kristin Chenowith, who performed Olivia Newton-John's "Hopelessly Devoted To You" in the series' second episode. And you had the Lassie-inspired sequence a couple of weeks' ago, in which the young Digby pulled the fire alarm en route to tracking down the young Ned at boarding school.

How the producers of "Pushing Daisies" get the facial expressions and perfect timing out of Digby is certainly a question for the ages, but the closest scene-stealing animal to Digby on TV that I can think of is Moose, the Jack Russell Terrier who played Eddie for 11 seasons on "Frasier."

But Digby is even better, and one of the best elements on TV's best new series. Tonight's episode centers around a murdered dog breeder, so I'm hoping that means a big role for Digby.

AROUND THE DIAL: For those interested, Newsday has a very good interview with "30 Rock" star and Maconite Jack McBrayer, who plays Kenneth the page. You can view it here: http://www.newsday.com/services/newspaper/printedition/sunday/fanfare/ny-fffast5451095nov11,0,1362365.story

Good news this New Year's Eve. Dick Clark is officially back on ABC's "Rockin' Eve," sharing hosting duties with Ryan Secrest. Clark, 77 years young, missed the 2004 edition because of a stroke, and it always seems that he's a year away from hanging up his microphone permanently. ...

Just a week ago, "Damages" was 50-50 as to whether FX would give the show a second season. But the network announced this week that it was not only bringing the Glenn Close series back, it was doing so with both a second and a third season. ...

Finally, a reminder that the Galleria Cinemas in Centerville will show "The Menagerie," a digitally remastered version of the original "Star Trek" episode tonight at 7:30 p.m. It's one of the select few theaters around the country that is doing so. I was going to go last night, but got sidetracked (Thanks, Oprah!)

WEDNESDAY'S BEST BETS: What has become a TV event returns tonight as "Project Runway" (Bravo, 10 p.m.) begins a new season. (Don't worry, Mom and Dad, I've set the VCR). Of course, if the WGA strike lasts a while, it wouldn't be much of a surprise at all if parent company NBC starts re-running the series on the main network, since "Runway" is one of the highest-rated cable series on the air.

Speaking of NBC, I got a preview DVD of tonight's "Life" (NBC, 10 p.m.) and it's one of the cleverest installments of the series as the detectives investigate the death of a Walter Mittyish bigamist while Crews is the prime suspect in the murder of the cop who put him away. We pick up some major clues tonight in the story arc about the conspiracy that sent Crews (Damian Lewis) to prison, but they bring about more questions than answers. It's preceded by a new "Phenomenon" at 8 p.m. and "Bionic Woman" at 9 p.m.

ABC is running new episodes of "Private Practice" and "Dirty Sexy Money" after "Pushing Daisies."

Enjoy "Back To You" (Fox, 8 p.m.) and "Til Death" (Fox, 8:30 p.m.) while you can. Both series stopped shooting last week because of the strike, so I'm fairly certain this is the last week of new episodes. "Kitchen Nightmares" (Fox, 9 p.m.) should continue for a while, since it's a reality show.

CBS is all new with "Kids Nation," "Criminal Minds," and "CSI:NY," while the CW's "Gossip Girl" is also new at 9 p.m.