Can you believe it? MTV is celebrating its 25th anniversary today (Aug. 1). Where does the time go? But the channel isn’t making a big deal out of it. When you’re as youth-obsessed as MTV is, you apparently don’t want to spend a lot of time reminiscing and/or showing your age spots. On the other hand, to mark the occasion, MTV’s sister station, VH1 Classic, began re-airing the entire first day of MTV programming at midnight last night. (I checked some of it out with my teen boy, who, of course, laughed riotously).

Any talk of a major MTV anniversary immediately sends my mind racing back to a summer night in 1981. I was in college back then and my wife-to-be and I went over to a friend’s house in San Jose, where he introduced us to MTV for the first time. (Our cable systems didn’t have the channel yet). One after another, these odd little bits of footage called “music videos” — many of them featuring the crude production values of my dad’s home movies — flashed before our eyes.

And we sat there, absolutely mesmerized, for hours.

In Tuesday’s TimeOut, I have a column about the modern MTV, which of course has de-emphasized music mainly in favor of cheap-thrill reality shows. For the article, I decided to re-acquaint myself with MTV by watching over 12 hours of its programming. I hope you’ll check it out. We’re also running a fun list of MTV highlights over the years.

Ah, you gotta love the Fox network. Not so much for their shows (although they do have some good ones), but for the all-out effort they put into the press tour.

Fox’s spot on the tour schedule was a case of perfect timing. Just as most of us were dragging and everything was starting to become a boring blur, they arrived to shake things up with their offbeat presentations, and a DJ (named The Angel), great snacks and, yes, a special happy hour (at 9:45 in the morning!).

The creativity continued through the network’s two-day tour stop, culminating with a party out on the expansive lawn behind the Ritz, complete with white tent cabanas, misters and big fans (to ward off the heat). Then there was the ice cream bar from Stone Cold Creamery and a team of masseuses offering chair massages. (Of course I had one, are you kidding?).

Even the final press conference of the Fox tour was a breath of fresh air. Actually, it was presented by Fox’s sibling, FX, to promote the upcoming fourth season of “Nip/Tuck.” Now, toward the end of the tour, most press conferences start to take on that Charlie Brown ‘blah-blah-blah” sound. But with “Nip/Tuck,” you just know you’re going to get something offbeat and peculiar.

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One of the great things about a TCA press pass is that it gives you a license (and an excuse) to go up and talk to beautiful women. It’s a privilege that shouldn’t be squandered. And so that’s why a fellow critic and I found ourselves sharing some time with Courteney Cox-Arquette during the Fox party Tuesday night.

Cox-Arquette is about to begin shooting her new FX dramedy “Dirt,” which was created by Walnut Creek native Matthew Carnahan (”He’s a genius,” she says). The former “Friends” star will play the editor of a tabloid magazine, which is an interesting twist for her because she often has been a target of the tabloids.

She recalled a scary run-in with the paparazzi while she was pregnant with her and husband David Arquette’s daughter, Coco. “I was being tailgated in my car. I had one in front of me and two on the other side,” she said. “I was caught off guard and I suddenly went into this crazy, ridiculous protective mode, trying to outrun them. In retrospect, was not a very smart thing to do.”

Although she’ll be busy with “Dirt,” Cox-Arquette is certainly not opposed to doing some kind of “Friends” reunion project in the future. “You hear people talking about that all the time,” she says. “I think it sounds like a lot of fun.”

Oh Lord, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. The press tour — or so-called “Death March with Cocktails” — only has three days to go. Then we’re outta here.

Actually, I shouldn’t gripe. I haven’t been here as long as some critics, having lopped off three days (out of four) of cable at the top of the tour and one day (out of two) of PBS at the back end. Still, my tank is running low on snarkiness — a problem that even multiple shots of Matcha green tea from Jamba Juice have failed to remedy.

Some critics are already in the process of sneaking away. And you can tell who they are. They stroll the halls of the Ritz-Carlton with big smiles on their faces and FedEx packing boxes in their hands (to mail home transcripts and press binders). They have a sense of uplift about them — as if they’ve just broken out of prison.

Speaking of “Prison Break,” in Wednesday’s Times we’ll have a rundown of the jail-house thriller, which opens its second season on Aug. 21 (Just 4 weeks away!). Shows like “Prison Break” and “24″ have touched off a serial-drama rampage. This fall, the TV lineup will be studded with ambitious, sprawling shows featuring large casts of characters and continuing storylines that will severely test their viewers’ attention spans.

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It’s Fox’s first day of the press tour and the network announced that the following stars will be providing guest voices for the upcoming 18th season of “The Simpsons”: Joe Mantegna, Joe Pantoliano, Michael Imperioli, the White Stripes, Dr. Phil, Fran Drescher, Richard Lewis, Kiefer Sutherland, Natalie Portman, Jon Lovitz, Harry Hamlin, Eric Idle, and authors Tom Wolfe, Gore Vidal, Michael Chabon and Jonathan Franzen.

Fox entertainment chief Pete Liguori said he’s believes the upcoming “Simpsons” feature film could bring an influx of younger viewers to the show. Asked how much staying power the animated series still has in, Liguori replied, “I think I’m going to be dead and buried before “The Simpsons” leaves our air.”

What do you think? Is “The Simpsons” still as funny as it used to be? How much longer should it last?

We critics handed out our TCA Awards last night at the Ritz. Unlike the Emmys, we didn’t overlook “Lost” and Hugh Laurie. Here’s a rundown:

PROGRAM OF THE YEAR: “Grey’s Anatomy” (ABC)
OUTSTANDING NEW PROGRAM: “MY Name is Earl” (NBC)
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN DRAMA: “Lost” (ABC)
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN COMEDY: “The Office” (NBC)
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN NEWS/INFORMATION: “Frontline” (PBS)
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN CHILDREN’S PROGRAMMING: “High School Musical” (Disney Channel)
INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN COMEDY: Steve Carell, “The Office” (NBC)
INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN DRAMA: Hugh Laurie, “House” (Fox)
HERITAGE AWARD: “The West Wing” (NBC)
CAREER ACHIEVEMENT: Carol Burnett

Tonight we hand out the TCA Awards. You can tell it’s a special event because all the critics actually don nice duds and try to behave ourselves. And the gala is extra special this year because it’s our chance to thumb our noses at the Emmy nominations, which were so hideous. (Something tells me we’re not going to ignore “Lost”). I’ll provide the rundown in a later entry.

Last night was NBC’s all-star party, which was held on an expansive stretch of lawn behind the Ritz and was pushed back an hour to 7 p.m. because of the brutal heat. It’s weird: During past press tours, I’ve been able to call home every night and brag about the lovely weather to my wife and kids, who are typically basting like hams. But now, we’re all in the same roasting pan.

Still, there was a decent turnout of NBC stars for the party and we managed to sweat it out together. I was most eager to talk to the stars of “The Office,” which has developed into my favorite comedy. And I was pleased to discover that Rainn Wilson, who plays Dwight, remembered me from a phone interview I did with him earlier this year about his hilarious blog on ‘The Office” website.

And speaking of hot, fans of “The Office” will be anxiously wondering what’s goping to happen with Jim (John Krasinski) and Pam (Jenna Fischer), those star-crossed lovers who had a stunning liplock at the end of last season. Here’s what Krasinski had to say about it:

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It will be interesting to see how Fox’s “Prison BreaK,” which launches its second season Aug. 21, plans to handle the defection of two actors who have moved on to other shows.

Both Patricia Wettig, who played the evil vice president on “Break,” and John Billingsley, who played her brother, have taken jobs with ABC. (”Brothers & Sisters” and “The Nine,” respectively). Wetting’s new series is being produced by her husband, Ken Olin.

Billingsley told us that his role was being recast, but Wettig said she didn’t know exactly what the producers are doing about her role and storyline.

“I don’t know how they are going to deal with it,” she said. “I had to make a choice. And it was kind of hard for me to choose against my husband and his good writing. So I’ll be on this one instead.”

We’ll check in with the “Prison Break” gang during Fox’s portion of the tour next Monday.

I would love to tell you that I got “Lost” executive producer Carlton Cuse in a headlock at the ABC party Wednesday and forced him to spill the beans about that blasted island, the Others, Desmond, Walt, those dudes in the Arctic, and all the rest of it.

Didn’t happen.

What did happen is that I got Cuse alone for a while over dinner and prodded him to chat — in vague generalities — about Season 3, which launches on Oct. 4. Here’s some of what he said:

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At the bustling ABC stars party Wednesday night, we just had to corner “Desperate Housewives” creator Marc Cherry to get his reaction to all the flak his show took from critics last season and glean some insights into where it’s headed. Fortunately, Cherry, one of the nicest men you’ll ever meet in Hollywood, was forthcoming on both fronts.

“I thought some of the criticism was legitimate and some of it was a bit unfair. I think we did some really amazing stuff, but not consistently enough,” said Cherry, who pointed out that the show lost a “little of its sense of humor” and didn’t do a “sufficient enough job of integrating the main characters into each others’ lives.”

Now here are some things you can expect to see early on this season. Don’t peek if you don’t want to know:

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