there’s always next year . . .

So shoot me.

I haven’t seen Iron Man yet. I know, I know. It’s inexcusable. And if I hear one more person tell me how great it is and how much I HAVE to see it, I’m gonna stick my head in an oven.

Hey, this is a busy time for me, OK? It’s TV finale time!

Not much going on with the finale watch since Sunday. But tonight, My Name Is Earl, The Office and ER all wrap up their seasons. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m probably most looking forward to ER. I’m not happy with the direction of Earl since the end of the strike (and for most of the year) and I know what’s going to happen on Office (Jim proposing to Pam, duh), but I’m pretty interested to see what happens in ER. There have been rumors of major cast shakeups, so we could see some departures tonight. I wouldn’t mind if Morris is one of them, he gets more grating every week.

Plus, I really need to know why Buscemi is dressed up in his Mr. Pink garb! I mean, there has to be some kind of joke to go along with that, right? There’s no way he can be dressed in his exact black tie and suit with the white shirt without some kind of mention of Reservoir Dogs. And he’s in a hospital, no less! You can soooooo easily cover him in blood.

Other season finales include CSI, Smallville, Supernatural and Without a Trace. All have been renewed for next season.

But even with the biggest shows (Grey’s Anatomy, American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, Gossip Girl, Bones, House) bowing out for the season next week, we’re already talking about next season. Most networks are unveiling their Fall 2008 schedules this week, and I’m proud to say I’ve made it through a TV season relatively unscaved. Only one show I watch (K-Ville) and none I care about became victims of the dreaded cancelation this year.

Some of the newsmaking highlights this week:

–If you need to keep up, here’s TV Guide’s viewing lineup.

–It’s a rarity that another network will pick up a show after it fails on a different network. It’s even rarer still when it succeeds on the second net (JAG is the only example I can think of). But ABC picking up Scrubs was the right thing to do. NBC net prez Ben Silverman should be made to watch 24 hours of his own company’s Parental Control as punishment for the Peacock’s treatment of the show. Zac Braff finally broke the news on his MySpace page that last week’s “finale” wasn’t really a finale at all. Well, duh. Let’s hope it gets even 10% better treatment on ABC.

–New shows: FOX is where the action is at. Joss Whedon (Dollhouse) and JJ Abrams (Fringe) both have new series lined up for the fall. And there’s this little thing over at the CW that I don’t know whether it should make me ecstatic or make me wanna poke my eyes out before I could ever see it — the 90210 spin-off/sequel. I’m not even ready to talk about it yet. I’ll only say one thing: Tread lightly with a classic people. I graduated high school in 1993 with the 90210 characters and the Saved by the Bell people. They both hold a special place in my heart because of that, so for the love of all that is TV scared, TREAD LIGHTLY!!!

–ABC only announces two new shows to its schedule. Yeesh. Is this going to be the legacy of the strike, that it was so damaging that ABC could only get one new scripted show? That doesn’t bode well for the SAG in its negotiations.

–As for canceled shows, there were about as much shock and excitement in the announcements as in an Andy Reid press conference. No surprises on NBC at all, Men in Trees being canceled on ABC was pretty much a given the way its been treated, Moonlight on CBS had so much internal trouble it probably couldn’t survive another year, Aliens in America on the CW couldn’t keep up with Everybody Loves Chris and Back to You on FOX likely will be revealed as too expensive for its own good. My condolences to fans of these shows, but it doesn’t look like there were many of you to start with.

–We’ll finally be getting 24 back. Even better, we’re getting a 24 TV movie to be a bridge to the seventh season. More details keep coming out about it, including, yes, Tony Almeda will be involved. Apparently, FOX never received my heartfelt, 16-page letter detailing all the hundreds of reasons why this is a historically bad idea. You know, the one I never really wrote but is in my head. I’ll give the writers the benefit of the doubt and hope they can make sense of bringing Tony back.