I think someone could probably write a graduate thesis on how HBO figured out how to schedule its latest series, which premieres in January.

HBO announced this week that a totally logistically complex series, In Treatment, stars Gabriel Byrne as a psychotherapist and premieres Jan. 28 at 9:30 p.m.

This is how it’ll go: New episodes air each night, Monday through Friday, at 9:30 p.m. The same patient returns on the same day each week; Byrne’s patients will be played by Josh Charles and Embeth Davidtz (a couple, Jake and Amy), Melissa George (Laura), Blair Underwood (Alex) and Mia Wasikowska (Sophie).

HBO describes Byrne’s character, Paul, as “a taciturn but effective psychotherapist who isn’t quite the level-headed source of wisdom his patients think he is.”

Barry Sonnenfeld’s a hot television commodity these days.

He directed the “Pie-lette” for the ABC fantasy dramedy Pushing Daisies and may direct future episodes.

It was announced this week that he’s directing an untitled drama pilot for NBC, which’ll star Alan Tudyk and Andrew Lincoln. Here’s what The Hollywood Reporter had to say about the show:

The legal thriller from Universal Media Studios revolves around unapologetic lawyers at a prestigious New York civil firm, who will do whatever it takes to win their high-profile cases and outmaneuver one another.

Tudyk, by the by, is late of Firefly and its spinoff film, Serenity, where he played the hotshot pilot Wash. Lincoln might be most recognizable to American audiences as Mark in the Hugh Grant film Love Actually. (Mark was the bloke in love with his best friend’s new wife.) Tudyk’s lawyer is “slick” and “gregarious” and “will work all the angles” to make it to the top. Lincoln’s character is “soulful” and has “a true sense of justice.” Oh, “and a hidden past.” Plus, they’re in love with the same woman.

The nameless show is supposed to begin production Oct. 22.

But that’s only the tip of the Sonnenfeld TV iceberg.

News of “Deadwood” star Ian McShane declaring the series and its concluding movies dead yesterday makes me feel like running into a muddy thoroughfare and wrestling anyone responsible for its demise until an eye is unceremoniously dislodged.

McShane (pictured), who deserved his Golden Globe and far better fates for his portrayal of lead Al Swearengen, told Cinematical’s Ryan Stewart the following:

“I just got a call (Sept. 28) from … a dear friend of mine, who told me that they’re packing up the ranch. They’re dismantling the ranch and taking the stuff out. That ship is gonna sail. Bonsoir, Deadwood. … We all (feel cheated). It was one of those one-off jobs that you do which has got an extraordinary creative brain behind it, and it kept getting better, and the actors were great. … But everything has to come to an end, babe.”

Anger doesn’t encapsulate the swirling emotion I’m feeling; it’s closer to fury. I also feel disappointed, hurt, sad and betrayed by the way this situation was handled. And, perhaps most alarmingly, I feel a level of acceptance—as if I knew all along that HBO and anyone else responsible for the death of “Deadwood” would disappoint me as a viewer, fan and paying subscriber.

The series lasted three seasons. Even the wildest fans were realistic enough to hope for just one more to tie up the loose ends. After all, “Six Feet Under” got that privilege the year before it went off the air. Most “Deadwood” fans begrudgingly accepted when HBO pledged two, two-hour movies to achieve that goal. A single spray of Pledge has made more progress on dead wood.

The LoHud area will be well-represented at tonight’s Emmy Awards (8 p.m., FOX), with no less than a half-dozen actors with local ties nominated for TV’s biggest honor.

But just keep scrolling to check out the list of locals to root for when those envelopes are opened…

How can Hollywood pick Emmy winners with so many quality shows out there—and “Two and a Half Men”?

Well, leave that to the staff of Remote Access. We spent hours (read: minutes) poring over every show (read: title of every show) in every category (read: major categories), trying not only to predict Emmy winners, but also the Emmys winners we want to see. Again, we might not have seen every show, but we’re using our best judgment at all times. Brief commentary from some of the Remote Access staffers, whom I call Accessories, is in parentheses.

Play along and post your opinions in the comments section. And check back in Sunday night to keep up with my live-blog of the Emmy telecast!

Drama Series: “Boston Legal,” ABC; “Grey’s Anatomy,” ABC; “Heroes,” NBC; “House,” Fox; “The Sopranos,” HBO.

•Amy is predicting “The Sopranos” but is rooting for “Heroes.â€?
•Brian is predicting “The Sopranos” and is rooting for “The Sopranos.”
•Chris is predicting “The Sopranos” and is rooting for “The Sopranos.”
•Georgette is predicting “The Sopranos” but is rooting for “House.”
•Heather is predicting “The Sopranos” and is rooting for “The Sopranos.”
•Jenny is predicting “The Sopranos” but is rooting for “House.”

Comedy Series: “Entourage,” HBO; “The Office,” NBC; “30 Rock, NBC; “Two and a Half Men,” CBS; “Ugly Betty,” ABC.

•Amy is predicting “Ugly Betty” but is rooting for “30 Rock/The Office.” (“Sue me, this is a tough one.”)
•Brian is predicting “Ugly Betty” but is rooting for “The Office.”
•Chris is predicting “Ugly Betty” but is rooting for “30 Rock.” (“I love ‘The Office’ equally, but ‘30 Rock’ needs the Emmy more to survive.”)
•Georgette is predicting “30 Rock” and is rooting for “30 Rock.” (“And ‘Two and a Half Men.’”)
•Heather is predicting “Ugly Betty” but is rooting for “The Office.”
•Jenny is predicting “The Office” but is rooting for “Entourage.”

Awesome. Do you watch HBO’s “Entourage”? If you do, you’re gonna love the news that Rhys Coiro, who plays the totally nutso indie director Billy Walsh, is joining the cast of “24” next season.

According to an interview with Janeane Garofalo in the Ottowa Sun, she and Coiro will work “closely together on a counter-terrorism task force.”

Will they be good guys or bad guys? Garofalo tells the Sun:

They don’t tell you in the long term, because they don’t want it to affect how you might behave.

Now that summer’s rapidly drawing to a close (yeah, yeah, it doesn’t officially end until late September, but find me anyone who doesn’t consider Labor Day weekend to be the end of summer), I’ve finally caught up on some of my summertime DVR selections and, well, let’s just say I’ve freed up a lot of space without having to watch an awful lot of it.

That’s not to say there hasn’t been some highlights and even some spectacular shows. Read more of this entry »

So the hubby and I finally sat down last night to watch Sunday’s episode of “Entourage.� That show is like our TV cotton candy – fluffy and fun. And any episode that focuses on “LLOYD!� is a favorite in our book.

But there was an extra sweet surprise included in this installment: The show featured Alador & Smith, a graphic T-shirt line founded by two Rockland natives.

I wrote about these two entrepreneurs – Pascal Alouidor and Derek Smith – back in May for “the Journal News’ Life & Style section.”::http://www.nyjournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070524/LIFESTYLE01/705240320

Tony Soprano always had a way of getting what was coming to him, The Sopranos series finale notwithstanding.

And so it is with this morning’s announcement of Emmy nominees as the HBO crime-family drama walked away with a leading 15 nods, including Best Drama, Best Actor (James Gandolfini), Best Actress (Edie Falco), Best Supporting Actor (Michael Imperioli) and Best Supporting Actress (Aida Turturro and Lorraine Bracco).

Some highlights: Read more of this entry »

Think you don’t care whether TV critics share your passion for your favorite shows? Yeah, that’s what I thought too.

Until I found out they agree with me. Mostly, anyway.

As Amy Vernon wrote about here a few days ago, TVWeek.com asked a bunch of critics, including TV Guide’s Michael Ausiello and Matt Roush and Gannett News’s Mike Hughs, to list their most favorite and least favorite shows.

They came so close, ranking the best show on television at number four and the funniest show on television at seven. Read more of this entry »

So, thanks to The Jack Sack, I found out that TV Guide blogger Michael Ausiello has reported (I was under the weather and off the computer yesterday) that the folks who brought us the totally crappy Season 6 of 24 have scrapped virtually their entire storyline for Season 7. And the day hasn’t even started yet.

They considered filming part of the season in Africa, but Fox said that was too expensive. After not being able to find suitable locations in LA that could sub for Africa, the powers that be scrapped it all and decided to start over.

Hello, CTU? We need a new plot, copy? — Photo courtesy of FOX Television.

More after the break.

According to my handy-dandy Office calendar, today’s Diversity Day.

That means Mr. Brown will be dropping by to tell us all about how we can be H.E.R.O.s. Is there another word for H.E.R.O., something less offensive? Nah, probably not. But while we’re waiting for the seminar, NBC and Arby’s have devised a way to keep us amused. (photo: NBC Universal) Read more of this entry »

Yeah, yeah, yeah, the hit HBO show is already on for its third season, I hear you saying. But TVGuide.com reports that Entourage’s fourth season will start June 17.

Yeah, that’s just two weeks after season 3 ends. Go figure. But good news, nonetheless.
Other news: “John from Cincinnati” (from David Milch, “Deadwood’s” creator), “Flight of the Conchords” also both premiere that night.

And “Big Love” moves to Mondays on June 11.

What does it say about the Screen Actors Guild that their awards show Sunday on TNT and TBS has more categories for TV than movies?

(The movie-acting nominees mirror the Oscar ballot exactly, btw.)

This show sometimes flies below the radar and I don’t want you to miss a chance to argue about yet another set of honors. Here, then, is the TV ballot:

COMEDY ENSEMBLE:
Desperate Housewives
Entourage
The Office
Ugly Betty
Weeds

DRAMA ENSEMBLE:
24
Boston Legal
Deadwood
Grey’s Anatomy
The Sopranos

FEMALE ACTOR/COMEDY:
America Ferrera
Felicity Huffman
Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Megan Mullally
Mary-Louise Parker
Jaime Pressly

MALE ACTOR/COMEDY:
Alec Baldwin
Steve Carell
Jason Lee
Jeremy Piven
Tony Shalhoub

FEMALE ACTOR/DRAMA:
Patricia Arquette
Edie Falco
Mariska Hargitay
Kyra Sedgwick
Chandra Wilson

MALE ACTOR/DRAMA:
James Gandolfini
Michael C. Hall
Hugh Laurie
James Spader
Kiefer Sutherland

FEMALE ACTOR, MOVIE OR MINISERIES:
Annette Bening, “Mrs. Harris”
Shirley Jones, “Hidden Places”
Cloris Leachman, “Mrs. Harris”
Helen Mirren, “Elizabeth I”
Greta Scacchi, “Broken Trail:

MALE ACTOR, MOVIE OR MINISERIES
Thomas Haden Church, “Broken Trail”
Robert Duvall, “Broken Trail”
Jeremy Irons, “Elizabeth I”
William H. Macy “Nightmares & Dreamscapes”
Matthew Perry, “The Ron Clark Story”

My picks: Entourage, Grey’s Anatomy, Parker, Carell, Wilson, Laurie, Mirren, Irons—just to see what he wears. But I could be wrong.

And found out when “The Sopranos” is back—April 8—yay!

HBO finally “announced”:http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=televisionNews&storyID=2007-01-16T050458Z_01_N15249590_RTRIDST_0_TELEVISION-HBO-DC.XML that the mob hit will make its long-anticipated return with the show’s final episodes.

Series creator David Chase—who was raised in Jersey, but born in Mount Vernon—will write and direct the series finale. There will be nine new episodes in this last mini-season, which means the finale will air sometime in June.

(And FYI: “Entourage” is back on the same night, too, with 8 new episodes kicking off right after “The Sopranos.”)

It’s been a long time since we last saw our favorite mobsters, and “HBO”:http://www.hbo.com/sopranos/?ntrack_para1=leftnav_category0_show0 is all too aware of that. So the cable network will run Season 6 in its entirety, starting tonight at 9 p.m.

Hands-down favorite line from tonight’s episode? Comes from Christopher (or, as the dearly-departed Adrianna would say, Chris-tah-fah), played by Mount Vernon and Brewster native Michael Imperioli.

Says Chris: “You ever think what a coincidence it is that Lou Gehrig dies of Lou Gehrig’s disease?”

So here’s the big whopping question of the day: How do you think “The Sopranos” will end?