All of Your Favorite Shows Are Renewed

...Your favorite series about an extra-smart, observant guy who helps solve mysteries the authorities can't isn't going anywhere soon. Oh, no, not The Mentalist. And, um, no, not Psych either. I'm talking about Lie To Me, that other show about that exact same thing. It's been picked up for a full season, though it only does OK in the ratings. Man, I gotta go finish that spec script for my new show, The Face Reader. [THR]

...Aha, another renewal for a show that sometimes involves guns! USA's hottest property, Burn Notice, has been approved for a fourth season. Gabrielle Anwar must have seen her shadow this morning. [Variety]

...Fox has announced their mid-season schedule, which is always an exercise in navigating the edges of the firmly-placed behemoth that is American Idol. Sadly, Glee will be disappearing until April, when it will come back and benefit, hopefully, from a big Idol lead-in. Other new shows like the actioner Human Target and the twee-sounding game show Our Little Genius are being positioned behind Idol in the hopes of catching some ratings runoff, like rain barrels. Man oh man, what is Fox gonna do when Idol ends? [THR]

...Hah. An Italian-American group is protesting the upcoming MTV horrorshow Jersey Shore, saying that it makes Eyetalians look bad. The amazing-looking show follows a bunch of "guidos" as they navigate love and loss during a summer spent in a Jersey Shore timeshare. Funny that an Italian-American society is up in arms about that and feeling all persecuted, and nobody from the African-American community is railing against something like For the Love of Ray J. You know why not? They've figured out you can't fight city hall reality television. There's no such thing as decency there, so it's a fool's errand to even bother trying to get the industry to have standards. You'll get it soon enough, Eyetalians. For now you'll just have to cringe and rage at something that, if the show's successful, is only going to get worse. [THR]

...Oh look. The first three minutes of an episode of House, which is apparently everyone's favorite show. The opening scenes deal with hunting, nicknames, and "Faith" by George Michael. I don't get it, but I'm sure you will! [E!]