I am – Hercules!!

Too much is being made of HBO moving “Six Feet Under” away from Sundays. Monday’s season premiere, “A Coat of White Primer” will also be cablecast this coming Sunday, right after “Entourage” and “The Comeback.” The show also turns up Wednesday and Friday. If you get HBO2, you can catch “Under” any day except Thursday.

This fifth season is said to be the last for Nate, Michael, Claire, et al, and the premiere is rife with familiar faces, including Brenda’s mother, Nate’s dead wife, and even the insane movie exec assayed by Catherine O’Hara. Word is Nate and Brenda are about to marry, Ruth is fretting about the end of her psycho husband’s hospitalization, Claire continues to crush on Brenda’s incest-craving brother, and the gay guys do a lot of exciting gay stuff.

I also encourage Republicans and Republican-haters alike to revisit The Sundance Channel’s revival of “The Al Franken Show,” which returns with all-new episodes. I thought the TV version dead following John Kerry’s November defeat, but apparently the super-liberal blue-state channel realized Franken was too funny to abandon to radio. There are repeats at 7 a.m. ET / 4 a.m. PT, which makes it very TiVo-friendly.

“Six Feet Under”: 9 p.m. Monday. HBO.
“The Al Franken Show’: 11:30 p.m., 2:30 a.m., 7 a.m. ET, 8:30 p.m., 11:30 p.m., 4 a.m. PT. Sundance

I am – Hercules!!

One of the most fascinating books Herc has ever read: Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live, as Told By Its Stars, Writers and Guests

Were Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader two different people in the early drafts of “The Empire Strikes Back”? All is revealed in The Annotated Screenplays (Star Wars, Episodes IV-VI)

Look! A new book co-edited by big-deal "Buffy"-"Firefly"-"Gilmore Girls"-“The Inside” TV writer Jane Espenson. She introduces each of the essays, and the whole book besides: Finding Serenity : Anti-Heroes, Lost Shepherds and Space Hookers in Joss Whedon's Firefly