
Rules of Engagement
The last time Tom Hertz looked forward to the Super Bowl ending was 2007. His show Rules of Engagement premiered the next day to what remains its best numbers ever. Six years later, Hertz found himself in a similar position. Rules' seventh — and perhaps final — season premieres Monday (8:30/7:30c, CBS).
"I am shocked we didn't get [the post-Super Bowl slot]," Hertz jokes to TVGuide.com. "But if this it, then I guess we've come full circle. It's been a long, windy road."
Winter TV: Get the scoop on your favorite returning shows
Or more like bumpy. The well-rated sitcom has lived a topsy-turvy existence, between its schedule-hopping, bubble status and lack of a permanent timeslot. Even its 13-episode Season 7, which will bring the show to 100 episodes, was hard ...
read more

Adam Harrington, Currie Graham
Adam Harrington and Currie Graham will guest-star on Drop Dead Diva this season, TVGuide.com has learned exclusively.
Harrington (The Secret Circle) will appear in the ninth episode as...
read more

Rules of Engagement
It's on, it's off, it's on again. Rules of Engagement has served as a true utility player for CBS, but that means it never has a permanent place on the schedule — and is forever teetering on the bubble.
read more

Patrick Warburton and Megyn Price
Every now and then, Rules of Engagement creator Tom Hertz visits the show's message board on CBS.com. Outside of the requisite "Who's hotter?" polls, there are always a dozen or so threads about the same topic.
Spring TV: Returning shows — where we left off
"'This is still on?' 'Was it canceled?' 'Is it coming back?' and so on and so forth," he tells TVGuide.com. "It's usually positive. I mean, if you take the ...
read more

Brooke Elliott
Jane Bingham will find herself in hot water in the new season of Drop Dead Diva with a slew of new clients from her past.
TVGuide.com has learned exclusively that Megyn Price, Patty Duke and Emily Rutherford will all guest-star as clients while Valerie Harper will reprise her role as Judge Leslie Singer.
Exclusive: Cheers' John Ratzenberger joins Drop Dead Diva
Price (Rules of Engagement) will appear in the season premiere as Emily Horn, an intelligent but manipulative socialite who was a former law school classmate of...
read more

Patrick Warburton
It wouldn't be a Rules of Engagement season without more bumps in the road.
Just when things were looking up for the sitcom — moving to Thursdays after being scheduled on Saturdays — it was dealt a blow this week: CBS will pull it off the schedule at midseason to make way for Rob Schneider's new comedy and has cut its episode order down to 15.
CBS replaces Rules with ¡ROB!; sets return date for Undercover Boss
The news is just another chapter in the topsy-turvy life of the show, which has been shuffled around the schedule since its midseason premiere in 2007, and it comes as no surprise to star Patrick Warburton.
"If they're going to pull one show for midseason, they're ...
read more

David Spade, Wendi McLendon-Covey
Tom Hertz was waiting for the call, like he usually does.
After CBS pushed his Rules of Engagement's dreaded Saturday premiere one week to Oct. 15 (which was already punted from Sept. 24), he knew it would get called up to the plate for a prime weekday slot soon. How to Be a Gentleman had premiered in the coveted post-Big Bang Theory Thursday berth to weak numbers and didn't seem long for this world (measured against CBS' high standards). "They told us we would not be premiering on the 8th, but instead the 15th, and I figured that meant they were going to give How to Be a Gentleman one more shot airing to see if it went up, and if not, then we would jump in at some point," Hertz tells TVGuide.com. "But yeah, I didn't believe we would air on the 15th."
CBS moves How to Be a Gentleman to Saturdays; Rules takes Thursdays slot
The call came Friday, Oct. 7 after Gentleman posted an even worse ratings erosion. The shows will swap time slots, though CBS has since pulled Gentleman from Saturdays as well.
"For all the buzz about 'the first scripted show on Saturdays in 10 years' and 'could they take Saturday nights?' it just didn't happen. And it's better that ...
read more

Archie Panjabi, The Good Wife
CBS will introduce more gay characters on its scripted programs in response to recently receiving a failing grade from GLAAD, CBS President Nina Tassler said Wednesday.
"I'm very disappointed in our track record so far," Tassler said at the Telvision Critics Association fall previews. "We know and we will do better."
MTV, CW tops GLAAD's gay-friendly programming survey; CBS fails again
Tassler said The Good Wife will introduce the gay brother of Julianna Margulies' Alicia in the new season. She also added that there would be a recurring gay character on S#*! My Dad Saysand that Jeff and Audrey (Patrick Warburton and Megyn Price) will choose a ...
read more

Patrick Warburton, Rules of Engagement
Rules of Engagement's recurring status as a midseason show is sort of like being a second-string player.
"I feel like we've been discounted quite a bit," Patrick Warburton tells TVGuide.com of his CBS sitcom, which kicks off its fourth season Monday (8:30/7:30c).
The show, which debuted at midseason in 2007, performed well enough to earn a full Season 2 pickup. But the writers strike cut short its season after it began in the fall — a bit like being yanked from the lineup before getting a chance to shine. Then for Season 3 and this season, CBS ordered just 13 episodes to debut this deep into the TV year.
So does the show deserve a starting position? Its ratings have remained consistent at various places on CBS' schedule, and its third-season viewership numbers are stronger than the averages of new comedy Accidentally on Purpose, whose timeslot Rules is taking over.
Warburton acknowledges the show had difficulties as it's developed...
read more

Jaime Pressly
Jaime Pressly is about to brush up on her Rules of Engagement.
The Emmy winner will guest-star on an upcoming episode of the CBS comedy, TVGuide.com has confirmed. Pressly, 32, will play...
read more