I Am A TV Junkie

Video -- Andrea Boccelli Sings Elmo to Sleep

This is very cute and I couldn't resist.

LINK

Boomer Blast From the Past -- Scott Baio & Kristy McNichol on The Love Boat

I miss Kristy McNichol. Have you ever seen the Neil Simon movie Only When I Laugh or Just The Way You Are with Michael Ontkean? Great films and she's just wonderful.

Here's a clip that CBS posted this week at YouTube, a Love Boat clip with Maude's Mrs. Naugatuck, Hermoine Baddeley. And per Family Guy season two episode two, Holy Crap, Seth MacFarlane and I both agree that Kristy should come back.

LINK

NGTV's Carrie and Shark & The Cast of Street Fighter, in Theatres NOW!!!

Hey, and I even found a decent review of it online at the Detroit Free Press:

Kristin Kreuk, from TV's "Smallville," plays Chun Li, concert pianist-martial artist. When she was a child, her dad, a fellow mixed up with mobsters, disappeared. Now the adult Chun Li must go to Bangkok and face her destiny and the baddie who took Daddy.

That would be Neal McDonough, blue-eyed, white-haired heavy for our times. This outing, he tries a wee Irish accent in playing this ruthless mob boss. The accent, alas, comes and goes.

Michael Clarke Duncan is the chief henchman, and Chris Klein, taking a shot at showing us some edge, is an Interpol agent on the bad guys' trail.

The violence is neck-snapping, take-a-man's-gun-and-shoot-him-in-the-ear graphic, and did I mention the lesbian bar pickup scene? Nice.

Kristin Kreuk, Chris Klein and Taboo from the Black-Eyed Peas join Carrie and Shark in the red velvet pit of raunch. Part I after the jump, and links to parts II and III after that.

While you're doing that, I'll be writing the second act of Ms. Pac-Man's Guide to Dating and Ghosts, in theatres next Valentine's Day.

PBS Schedules BBC Little Dorrit, Starts Sunday March 29

The UK Guardian says, "The BBC has dramatised a fable for our times."

Of course, they got a little lucky with that. This series started in Britain not long after the begin of our economic meltdown and both the financial and entertainment press noticed that congruence.

Here's the trailer for Little Dorrit, based on the Dickens novel, starting March 29 on PBS, though you should check your own TV listings as there are occasionally variations.

The cast is major, MAJOR indeed, and readers of this blog will recognize Eve Myles from Torchwood, Ruth Jones (how I love me some Ruth Jones) from Gavin & Stacy, Freema Agyeman from Doctor Who, Russell Tovey from Being Human (soon on BBC America), Judy Parfitt, Matthew Macfayden and Tom Courtney, among others.

Click here for full cast. Clip after the jump. Behind the scenes image above from BBC.com.

EW's Ausiello Was Right, Brittany Snow Heading the Gossip Girl Spinoff

He called it, you gotta give him the props.

THR.com:

Brittany Snow is set to topline the project, a prequel chronicling the wild teen years of Lily van der Woodsen (Kelly Rutherford) in Los Angeles during the 1980s.

Also cast in the spinoff is Shiloh Fernandez ("Jericho"). The two would be joining previously cast Krysten Ritter.

The spinoff centers on then-Lily Rhodes (Snow), who, after a falling-out with her parents, is forced to move in with her sister, Carol (Ritter), the black sheep of the family.

Overnight, Lily has to transition from a life of luxury and education at a wealthy Montecito boarding school to living deep in the San Fernando Valley she once made fun of and going to public school. Caught between two worlds, Lily dives into the fast-paced Sunset Strip and the Hollywood lifestyle of the '80s, journeying over the hill to a world of wealth and excess that used to be her own.

You'll meet young Lily in a flashback episode of Gossip Girl (backdoor pilot -- allegedly invented by Ben Silverman - HA!) on May 11th.

Where do you know her from? Click here. Because most of my readers did not see John Tucker Must Die or Prom Night, they were busy watching Battlestar Galactica reruns frame by frame to find hidden clues about the history of organic memory transfer. Because we geek out like that.

Clippage from, say, an episode of American Dreams? Not a chance, the clips at YouTube are all fanvids with loving sweeps across the visage of Milo Ventimiglia, which is not what you're looking for, at least not right now. But they're there, go look if you must.

How about a clip from the film she was in at Sundance, called The Vicious Kind? 'Cause I totally have one of those and it's after the jump.

Maddow Video -- Mitt Romney's Wife Has a Jewelry Consultant?

Really? We could have had a President of the United States whose wife has so much jewelry that she has a consultant that knows her jewelry collection better than she does?

Really? And we were kind of close to having this guy be the President? With his wife owning so much jewelry that she needs staff to look after the collection?

Really? Stolen from one of their many homes, this one in Park City, home of the Sundance Film Festival and the mega-elite? And Mormons?

I gotta wonder what Joseph Smith would think about a member of his flock that showered his wife with so many riches that she needed to hire someone to keep stock of the stuff. Do you think he'd like that? Isn't greed something frowned upon in most religions?

How do the mega-rich justify their wealth in this age of so much hardship and suffering?

BTW, it's not like she wears the stuff in public, at least not as far as a websearch of images of her go, all I ever see is this double-strand of pearls.

Unless she has a bunch of piercing jewelry that we can't see because, well, you know where people get pierced.

Probably not, I don't think Mormons do the piercing thing.

Clip after the jump.

Rita Rocks/Mad TV Star Nicole Sullivan on Anytime With Bob Kushell

Nicole is no longer friends with her breasts. Bob doesn't like his balls.

Personally, I have a love/hate relationship with my taint.

How do you feel about your genderiffic body parts? And how much do you think you would be worth to kidnappers? How about your loved ones?

This interview takes a weird turn, indeed.

You gotta wonder what Bob's balls did to him.

Bob?

I gotta put the clip after the jump, unfortunately, I can't get the autostart to autostop.

Video -- Maxim.com Reebok Challenge Includes a Familiar Face (for me, and you, if you have a good memory)

Because it's my cousin Joe's wife, Anne-Marie Amatulli, member of the NY Jets Flight Crew putting Maxim Magazine staffer Michael through his paces at the gym.

After that, she tries to teach this guy how to do one of the Flight Crew's routines. And the hilarity begins.

Note to my industry friends reading and watching: Anne-Marie can act, dance, she works damn hard, she is of course stunning and I am ready to relay all of your pilot season opportunities to her.

So, get to work on that, okay?

We last visited Anne-Marie when she was auditioning for the Jets' dance team.

Obviously that went well for her.

Clip after the jump.

The Simpsons Two-Year Renewal Makes It the Longest-Running Primetime Series

Just remarkable. And it never gets old.

Well, it never gets old because cartoon characters don't age, they just adjust their timelines accordingly. As the Hulu clip after the jump demonstrates.

Coming up this week (new episode):

Bart is informed that he and a select group of students have received perfect scores on a practice test for the upcoming Vice President's Assessment Test. As a result, he will be exempt from taking the real exam and will be transported by helicopter to a pizza party. However, Bart and the others soon realize their trip is not what it seems, and their day turns into an adventure all its own.

Clip after the jump. And remember that this clip is a flashback to 1994 and is of course not at all what Marge and Homer were doing in 1994, the sixth season of the show.

They're allowed, it's a cartoon. You don't really think that Scooby and Scrappy Doo can breathe in the vacuum that is in outer space in Scooby Saves the World, did you?

Well, did you?

Video -- BBC Kids' Show Host Cerrie Burnell is Fine, It's the Stupid Parents That Suck

Cerrie Burnell was born with one hand. Should she not be allowed to host a kid's show on the BBC?

Well of course, she should be allowed, but there are some parents that think her birth defect will scare the kids.

I would like to think that parents will use the opportunity to have a talk with the kiddies about how some people can be born different than others and that it's okay. I think the complaining parents just don't think it is okay.

Thus the "stupid parents" headline.

She talks about the situation on a British talk show in a clip after the jump.

How do you feel about this? Leave a comment.

More from the Guardian at this link.

Jimmy Fallon Video -- Piyush "Bobby" Jindal, the Republican Frontrunner (for about five seconds, "death" by pop culture)

Not actual death. I'm just saying his time came, and then it went. And it was fast.

Faster than you can say viral video. This is from a Late Night with Jimmy Fallon test show from last night with 30 Rock's Jack McBrayer, his voice double.

LINK

Start your late night career with a viral video clip watched by many? Fallon show, you just might get on my DVR series manager after all.

Funny Or Die Video -- Literal Video, Billy Idol's White Wedding

More explanation: What if the people singing the song in the music video were actually singing lyrics that explained what was going on onscreen?

Ladies and Gentleman, Mr. Billy Idol.

LINK

Video -- The IT Crowd: "Jen, This Is The Internet"

This is the single funniest three minutes (just under) of TV comedy I have seen this year.

30 Rock? No. Scrubs? Nah-ah.

This. Below.

Jen has just won employee of the month at Reynholm Industries. As winner, she will be charged with making a speech to the board of directors about the area of her expertise.

Problem is, she's the Relationship Manager in IT, but she knows nothing about computers. Moss promises to write her speech.

As the action begins, Moss presents her with her visual aids and her speech.

Now click after the jump and watch this.

Then set your damn DVR to record The IT Crowd on IFC here in the US or Channel 4 in the UK or wait until the end of March and buy the first series DVD, which will finally, FINALLY be available here.

And for you Chris O'Dowd fans (he plays Roy), he premiered in an ITV2 comedy last night called FM, and you can read about that at this Wikipedia link.

I Am Reloading My Computer, Back Tomorrow

I now have a brand spankin' new 500 gb hard drive and an extra gig of memory.

And they saved all my data, but man, did it cost.

I'm spending the rest of the day reloading software, see ya!

Do not, I repeat, do not download anything that claims to be Norton Anti-Virus 2009 or you may meet the same fate. The second I did my hard drive was fried. Fried!!!

I'm now using Kapersky Internet Security.

Don't download Norton 2009!!!

Video -- Tech Support in the Medieval Age, in Danish?

This is so funny that I'm flouting my rules about reading and watching TV at the same time.

I believe this is in Danish, with English subtitles. And it's a riot.

Who says comedy isn't universal?

Thank you, Carol Moore, for sending this to me.

LINK

Per Gawker, And To Salute Piyush "Bobby" Jindal's Response to Obama Last Night ...

... I have the latest Kenneth the Web Page clip from NBC and 30 Rock.

Click over to this Gawker post for more on the opposition response to the President's speech and the remarkable comparison.

But watch this below first. You need some reference material.

Piyush? That's his real name. Hey, I had to listen to Barack Hussein Obama from the other side for two years, I'm calling this guy Piyush Jindal.

LINK

Doctor #6, Meet Pamela Anderson, Simpsons Fan

Another story that begs the question, "Why aren't there ever cameras following around celebrities when you actually want cameras to be there?"

So, Colin Baker was here for the Gallifrey One con last week and was walking through Santa Monica (probably looking for one of those Santa Monica British pubs that Kai Owen and Gareth David-Lloyd were visiting to watch rugby and drink) and we pick up the action as they walk past a chocolate shop.

Hello Magazine Canada:

"As we passed a Belgian chocolate shop, one of my companions uttered the word 'chocolate' in the same tones Homer Simpson intones 'beer!'," the 65-year-old English actor explains. "As we waited for the lights to change to Walk to allow us the escape the temptations of confectionary, I intoned Homer's actual words."

"An American woman standing at the curbside said, 'Now you're talking!' and laughed. We chatted, and as she walked away I said to my companions, 'You know she looked a bit like Pamela Anderson. 'That,' replied one of them 'was because she was Pamela Anderson'."

Pam, a native Canadian, did not let on that she knew Baker, but certainly the geekier of her high school classmates at Highland Secondary School would recognize the sixth Doctor from his run during her teen years.

Of course, Pam was probably dating football players, senior football players, at the time.

And they weren't watching Doctor Who. Except maybe the kicker or punter.

You know, because of their soccer background.

Are You a New Yorker With A Hundred Bucks and Nothing to Do Tonight?

Have I got a deal for you!

The New York Gay Men's Chorus is having a fundraiser tonight called Laugh Out Loud, hosted by style maven Robert Verdi and featuring standup from friend of the blog Ant, comic Judy Gold who once called me an obnoxious queen in a room full of obnoxious queens (a feather in my cap) and Jessica Kurson, who I don't know but I'm sure I could get her to insult me comically as well.

So, break the piggy and take a friend with you. The Chorus needs the money.

Do it, do it, do it!

Ant clip from 2006 after the jump. Funny stuff!

Watch the Leverage Season One Finale Preview Here, Now!

It looks to be the ballsiest heist of the season. It's after the jump, but first ...

John Rogers and Chris Downey, show creators, talked to iFMagazine.com about the two part season ender:

iF: Are you relieved the season is coming to an end?

DOWNEY: We’re a little happy and we’re going to be a little sad. I’m getting that feeling from everybody. People from the crew are coming up to me now and saying, “I can’t believe there’s four days left.” But the short answer is “yes, we’re pretty tired.”

ROGERS:  Right after the strike, when the show got picked up, Chris and I started reading scripts and breaking stories. We read 210 scripts for four jobs. We hired the tiniest writing staff in Hollywood, a grand total of four writing entities, most who have not worked in television before. We did the scripts and moved into production. Actually, because our writers were staff writers, their contracts couldn’t be extended. So it was myself, Chris and co-producer Amy Berg who were on for the last five episodes. A lot of them had been written by the other writers, unfortunately they couldn’t work on them. One of us would be on set, one of us would be writing the next one and the other one would be breaking the episode after that.

And of course, we will always love Amy for her Doctor Who references during this season. How about some Torchwood next time, Amy?

Clip after the jump. Show tonight at 10 eastern on TNT.

Melrose Place Reboot Director is Oscar Winning An Inconvenient Truth's Davis Guggenheim?

Sure, sure ... and Steve Jobs is loading my iPod with his playlist right here next to ...

Oh, this is true? Really?

Yeah, that's what the Hollywood Reporter says.

Did he lose a bet?

Well, he is Elisabeth Shue's husband. And Andrew Shue is a Melrose legacy. But I still don't get it. I'd be pitching great scripts to Fox Searchlight right now if I were him, they are flush with Slumdog money.

Or, maybe every Fox division is holding on their cash as the guard changes with Peter Chernin leaving in June. I dunno.

What's going on with the casting is another story, I hear lots about Heather Locklear and Grant Show (who was very good in Swingtown) and Lisa Rinna (who my 74-year-old father always asks, "Did someone just smack her in the mouth?") but nothing concrete except for the fact that Jennie Garth absolutely will not once again be the link between Melrose and 90210.

I have to ask, because I wasn't much of a fan of the original ... was Lisa Rinna a critical cast member? Didn't she show up in season five or six?

And, will her lips demand a trailer of their own?

Daily Show Video -- Louisiana Unemployed, Your Governor Doesn't Give a Damn (about anything but his political future)

Ah, Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, it's your first big major mistake on the national stage, you twerp.

Are you learning how to make that mistake by talking to the guy in the pic above with you? 'Cause he's just the definition of walking talking wrongness.

And just in time for him to provide the Rethuglican response to tonight's address to Congress by Obama (which btw, is NOT a SOTU address, they don't call it that for a just elected president, Jindal, and you should change your personal website because it's wrong.

His office released a statement to Marc Ambinder at the Atlantic, among others:

"Today, Governor Bobby Jindal announced that the state will not change its law to use a part of the $787 billion federal stimulus bill that would result in an unemployment insurance tax increase on Louisiana businesses. The Governor also announced that the state will use a provision in the legislation to increase state unemployment benefits for recipients by an extra $25 per week, and reaffirmed his acceptance of the transportation funds included in the bill to fund shovel-ready transportation priorities in the state."

According to the National Employment Law Project, via Think Progress, that funding would have provided additional aid to 24,981 residents of the state. Which would have been spent in the state on basics and would have been a gift that gave again and again.

Now, click after the jump and watch Jon Stewart amke fun of him for being a tool. That's the easy part. The pre-clip homework? Just makes the funny funnier.

Oh, and you might wanna read this about Jindal, the story about how he, a Catholic, helped exorcise the demons from a woman in college.

Seriously, he says he did.

LA Times-Fueled Furor Over Oscar Broadcast Continues into Day 2

Mary McNamara, what have you wrought?

The TV critic at the Times had some uncomplimentary things to say yesterday about the Academy Awards broadcast. And then the email came. And I guess she was surprised, very surprised:

Somewhere in New York, a huge weight has been lifted from David Letterman's shoulders. As Sunday night's Academy Awards began, Hugh Jackman's opening number (pardon me, but did he sing the words "pubic hair"? At the Oscars?) has surely obliterated all memory of the Uma-Oprah thing. Not to mention taking years off the lives of the poor folks preparing to launch publicity for "X-Men Origins: Wolverine." They can only hope those teenage boys were too miffed that "Iron Man" wasn't nominated to watch.

Interpreting all the best picture nominees in a way that seemed way more Broadway than Hollywood, Jackman wound up on Frank Langella's lap, which was just as weird as it sounds. Yes, Anne Hathaway acquitted herself quite well, but dancers in Sprocket-like body suits? We knew that with Jackman involved, metallic lamé was a real possibility, but to make fun of the Nazi-war-crimes/pedophilia-themed "The Reader"? A choice indeed.

Oh, Mary. He wasn't making fun of the Holocaust, he was making fun that he didn't have time to see a movie. Think about all the ads you've seen between December and now for The Reader, if you collected up all those minutes you could have seen the movie a bunch of times.

(I'd rather have the money Harvey spent, though.)

And you know what? The vast, vast, vast majority of all of us out here haven't seen the nominated films.

I didn't see one of 'em. I'll see them, eventually, on cable.

Wanna see the emails the Times got after this article ran yesterday? Click this and read. Or taste this little bit below, from LA Times reader Susan Osborne of Arcadia, who said:

To say they were "lackluster" sounds like a bit of sour grapes to me. I don't know what Mr. Jackman has ever done to either of you, but everyone I've spoken with raved about his amazing talent -- both in singing and dancing -- plus his charm at the microphone. He was marvelous, one of the best emcees (except for Billy Crystal, of course), and to write what you did was uncalled for, cruel and simply out of touch with most peoples' tastes.

So what did Mary and colleague Patrick Goldstein have to say about the flood of email that came protesting their comments?

Goldstein's blog in a post titled "Oscar Shocker, The Ratings are Up":

We're still waiting for the final numbers, but my paper is reporting that the Academy Awards' ratings were up perhaps as much as 6% over last year, which had set a record low for Oscar ratings. The show is likely to remain one of the three least-watched Oscars of all time, but still--how did such a lackluster show get any kind of ratings bounce at all?

Maybe not so lackluster, Patrick? Maybe you're opinion is just way outside the norm? And Mary's? Even though you get paid to criticize things?

And McNamara actually got column inches in the paper today because she became the story, being mentioned in papers nation- and world-wide (Australian Associated Press):

Most negative reviews from TV critics pointed to Jackman's use of the words "excrement" and "pubic hair" and other lines they considered low grade humour.

"We knew that with Jackman involved, metallic lame was a real possibility, but to make fun of the Nazi-war-crimes/pedophilia-themed The Reader?" Los Angeles Times critic Mary McNamara, who voiced her complaints about Jackman when it was announced last year, wrote.

What she said today?

I was certainly prepared to be labeled “a hater” by the die-hard Jackman fans, but I must admit I did not anticipate that so many of you would consider this the best Oscars ever. Of course in hindsight, this makes perfect sense. The producers of the Oscars always promise big changes, but Laurence Mark and Bill Condon actually delivered. The show was nothing if not over-the-top, and over-the-top tends to divide people into loud, passionate and highly opinionated groups.

Which is marvelous. I would much rather our flatscreens be filled with discussion-worthy shows than their opposite, and the poor Oscar telecast has been such an overly whipped horse for so long, it’s nice to see people rallying to its defense. If nothing else, the 81st version proved that the Oscars are important after all, that in this digitally splintered world where everyone can find something better to do every single second of the day, there remain media and entertainment experiences we long to share with one another.

Doesn't it kind of still sound like Mary McNamara and Patrick Goldstein think they're right and we're wrong.

I don't know about you guys, but I even liked the guys in the shiny onesies (pictured above).

Joel McHale Pilot News!!! And, I Have My Tix For His Long Beach Show

Great Joel news today from the Hollywood Reporter, he's cast in the lead of a Sony/NBC-Uni project called Community where he plays an attorney who finds out his degree is bogus and needs to go through the whole deal again, and evidently can only afford community college.

It was written by Dan Harmon (The Sarah Silverman Program, that VH1 sketch show with the voting gimmick from a couple years back and other stuff I've enjoyed).

And, I've got my tix for Joel's March 13 show in Long Beach.

Anyone else?

After the jump, Joel from this past weekend on The Soup, the Miley clip.

Downloaded Norton Anti-Virus 2009 and It Crashed My Machine

And, just to let you know, I am not using Zone Alarm, though I know that there are issues between the two.

But seriously, Symantec, you guys just blow. Every time I have to deal with Norton, every single time, I have problems.

It is so time for another computer security company to make their move directly against Norton.

I'm taking that machine to someone with a higher level of geekitude than I possess.

In the meantime, keep talking with the people in your office about the Oscars and I'll be back later.

Watch The IT Crowd Pilot Right Now (before it disappears) and Learn French Simultaneously

It's Sunday, you got nothin' else to do, and this is a great series from Channel 4 in the UK that for some reason is on Google Video with French subtitles.

Okay, you might not actually learn French, but you'll laugh.

I realized when watching the show this past week on IFC (its US home) that it is one comedy that I have access to these days that actually makes me laugh out loud. I was watching the episode where Roy and Moss (the IT guys) find a website that can give them just enough football (soccer) info that they can talk to other guys at the pub. Truly brilliant!

(Some of us actually have to pay attention to the Sports page to glean this info, it's something I do before going to, say, a wedding or some event that's very straight-guy intensive.)

What I love about this show is the economy of it. Only really four main characters at any one time and the writers led by creator Graham Linehan always manage to find lots of funny.

This is a show to set your DVR to record. Click this link to find the schedule, set the machine, enjoy the show.

And try not to think too much about how NBC could have had a big hit with this and bailed.

Duh.

Full episode video after the jump. You'll wanna be seeing the rest of them, trust me.

ABC News Story on Ad Tricks During Down Times Misses the Big One, the Under-the-Radar Cell Ring

Don't get me wrong, they were pretty thorough. And I wouldn't really call them ad tricks, I suggest all this stuff falls under the umbrella of innovation.

The first thing mentioned is the Super Bowl weekend MacGruber-fest on NBC's Saturday Night Live and the next day during the game. I am so hoping that the addition of Richard Dean Anderson in this latest series is a sign that the sketch series is over and they decided to burn it out with a bang.

ABCNews.com:

In each of the three versions of the ad -- which is a spoof on the 1980s' special agent McGyver -- "SNL" actor Will Forte constantly touts Pepsi products as he and two friends (one of them played by original "McGyver" actor Richard Dean Anderson) try to escape from a building that is about to explode. In the third version of the ad, Forte's obsession with Pepsi has grown and he is no longer making sense when he speaks. He just repeats "Pepsi" over and over again.

"Everyone does product placement, but this was way over the top," said Hall. "The ads illustrated how insanely insane product placement has become."

"This is definitely a result of the poor economy," he said. "Advertisers are finding ways to hold up their products and say their names as much as possible."

Like I said, I'm hoping this is the last time. It was way over the top, I'm not the only one who said so.

The other stuff, all interesting ideas ... those Vegas ads with the entire population of that small Texas town visiting, McDonalds and Starbucks in a coffee price war, Spirit Airlines plastering ads on their flight attendants ... all interesting, all of it seen before.

The thing they don't mention? The "lets put a cell phone ringing in the middle of this ad so that you look up from your TV advertising distraction," whether it be your TV listings or your sandwich or martini or the paper or your screaming child.

Have you noticed this? It's the most evil insidious thing. Usually hidden in a musical section of a commercial and for products that have nothing to do with electronics.

Now that's an ad trick. Tricky little bastards.

Think I'm crazy? Listen to some commercials today on the tube, tell me it's not happening.

"I'm onto you people!"

I love my DVR, sometimes I don't have to see more than the last five seconds of any commercial.

And you know what I also hate? Even when I adjust all the settings on the TV and the cable box, the commercials are still way frickin' louder than the show I'm watching.

They claim this isn't true. They lie.

Video -- Someone at Family Guy Obsessed with Eye Floaters (as I was for years)

This is not the first time that they've done a riff on eye floaters. In The Tan Aquatic With Steve Zissou, as Stewie dictates his last will and testament during his skin cancer scare, Stewie goes off on the topic.

And we visit Peter's eye floater, who sounds just like a comic from the 50s, name escapes me, after the jump.

No new episode this week, so I would suggest any one of these episodes that you can see online to fill in:

Play It Again Brian

Former Life of Brian

Long John Peter

Or, just buy the DVDs and pop one in.

I was convinced when I was a kid that I was the only person on the planet who experienced the phenomenon of eye floaters.

Didn't tell anyone about it for years, 'cause I thought people would think I was crazy.

Seriously.

It was a strange time.

Fox's Fringe Packing Up, Moving From NYC to Vancouver

Wow, does this suck for NYC, and America.

Crain's New York Business is saying that Warner Bros. started looking for new locations about two months ago when the NY state tax incentive program that brought Ugly Betty to NYC from Los Angeles ran out of money way way before anyone thought it would. And they're working on getting more money for the program, but there's just nothing concrete yet, so it surprises me that WB has made this decision before all the cards are on the table.

It really sucks immeasurably for all the below the line people who are gonna lose their jobs, like this set decorator named Beth Kushnick, who told Crain's NY Business:

"We’re all fighting for our livelihood and nobody understands the rational ... Why is there collateral damage when they don’t even have the word about the tax credit?""

There are about 100 employees that this will affect. The publication states that the show brings about $4 million into the NYC economy for each episode shot.

Project Runway in Limbo? Bravo Ramping Up Another Fashion Series? WTF, Girlfriend?

Yeah, see, even in print I can't pull off that "girlfriend" thing. Never could.

Maybe that's why I don't watch Project Runway, I'm just not preternaturally disposed in that way. If I have to choose between people sewing and, say ... World's Strongest Man on ESPN, I'll go with the latter.

But many of you are probably reading the Heidi Klum quotes from Fashion Week, which apparently is over now (right?), and wondering once again what's going on with your perennially Emmy-nominated fashionfest (Variety):

Because of a legal battle, three unknown designers sent their collections down the runway at the tents in Bryant Park on the final day of New York Fashion Week. Since the cast has not been announced, the finalists stayed hidden backstage.

Host Heidi Klum told the audience that she was "a little bit sad" the finalists couldn't have their moment in the spotlight after working so hard to get there.

"This year is gonna be a little bit different for us, for all of you, for our designers backstage. ... We're all in a bit of a limbo and we hope that everything gets sorted out very soon," Klum said.

And at the same time, Variety is reporting that Bravo is getting ready to go forward with their replacement for Runway, the Isaac Mizrahi - Kelly Rowland (yes, Kelly from Destiny's Child) starring series that is simply called The Fashion Show:

The designer and the former Destiny's Child member will lead a panel of judges charged with assessing the work of professional fashion designers.

Judges will include Fern Mallis, who is widely credited with creating New York's Fashion Week.

Of course, last year's winner, Christian Siriano was there, saying "I don't think it blew me away at all, but I think it was really strong and consistent. I don't think there was, like, a BAD collection - where last season, there was some rough ones."

Yeah, isn't that the year Siriano won the thing? You would think he wouldn't diss his competition ... if they were rough what does it say about the winner, which was him?

Whatev. He's just a kid.

Watch Isaac feel up Scarlett Johansson in a clip after the jump.

Are You Interested in a Glen Larson-Written Battlestar Galactica Movie?

Are you?

Because I'm just not interested in ...

a) Moving backward instead of forward, the series by Moore and Eick has set the bar so high Larson could never reboot his take into something I'd find relevant

b) Be confused by some many copies (no pun intended) of a show's characters and themes

c) Supporting the work of any member of the LDS Church after they stole my California marriage rights

THR.com:

The Sci Fi series, under the direction of executive producer Ronald Moore, took the premise and ran with it, incorporating the politics of war, religion, torture and destiny, becoming the channel's signature series.

The movie effort would have no connection to the series and would relaunch the story in a new medium. However, staples such as the characters Adama, Starbuck, and Baltar will remain.

Larson was one of the biggest names in 1970s and '80s TV and creator of shows like "Switch" and "Magnum P.I."

This would be a complete waste of time and resources for Universal. Which means they'll probably go forward with it.

But I won't be there.

Conan Video -- "Bush" Stops By to Say Goodbye and Diss Will Ferrell

And slap Conan's ass. And pick up the latest Larry the Cable Guy movie.

See ya later, Conie.

LINK

Video -- Pro Wrestling Legend Verne Gagne Implicated in Nursing Home Death

This is just strange and sad, and at the same time quite a remarkable story. Not remarkably good, but remarkable still.

Above pictured is Vince McMahon, WWE honcho and Gagne, on the occasion of Gagne's induction into the Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2006.

St. Paul Pioneer-Press:

Gagne, 82, threw his roommate, Helmut R. Gutmann, 97, to the floor on Jan. 26, breaking his hip and injuring his head, according to Gutmann's family and KMSP-TV. Gutmann, an accomplished cancer researcher and violinist who fled Nazi Germany in 1936, was treated for his injuries, but was later rehospitalized.

He died Saturday.

Gutmann's daughter, Ruth Hennig, told the Pioneer Press that the two men had been in a public lobby of the Friendship Village memory loss unit, by the nurse's station, when Gagne grabbed her father.

"I don't know what precipitated the attack, if anything," Hennig said. "All I know is that Verne Gagne lifted my father off the floor and then threw him down to the ground, and that caused him to crack his hip."

Gagne suffered from Alzheimer's and Gutmann, who could recognize his wife and children but not his grandchildren, suffered from dementia and short-term memory loss, said Hennig, the executive director of a charitable trust in Boston.

BTW, I seriously doubt, though I don't know, that the Hennig family mentioned has no connection to the Hennig family from the pro wrestling business.

 I am quite sure we haven't heard the end of this. I have to wonder why a man with Alzheimer's Disease who still had the strength to throw a men to the ground (and in fact did it for a living for so many years) was left unsupervised, especially when the two had already had a confrontation earlier in the facility.

At the same time, I am amazed that Verne Gagne can still pick up a guy and throw him to the ground. I'm not saying it was a good thing, but it's pretty remarkable.

He's 82, after all.

This picture to the left is of Gagne the way I remember him from my days as a kid pro wrestling fan. By the time I was working at Pro Wrestling Illustrated Gagne had already retired from the ring.

A report from KMSP-TV Twin Cities after the jump.

Smart Move, Brits Ban Westboro Baptist Church Leader, Sister, From the Whole Country

Thank  you, Britain, but can you do this for me, too?

Great decision. You didn't grow these people and you shouldn't have to put up with them. I wish I could ban them, from everything, short maybe breathing and eating.

I said maybe.

TimesOnline.co.uk:

The Home Secretary has banned two extremist anti-gay preachers from entering Britain, a move that follows a decision to refuse entry to Geert Wilders, the Dutch anti-Muslim MP.

Fred Phelps and his daughter Shirley Phelps-Roper, who belong to the US Westboro Baptist Church, were planning to come to the UK to protest outside a performance of a youth play called The Laramie Project, which recounts the death of gay university student Matthew Shepard who was killed in Laramie, Wyoming, in October 1998.

It was due to be performed at Queen Mary's College in Basingstoke, Hampshire, tomorrow.

The pair have been known to picket US soldiers’ funerals, holding up banners with phrases such as "God Hates Fags" because they believe that their deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan are punishment for America’s tolerance of gays.

Kansas City Star:

“You just have to wonder why they did it,” said Phelps-Roper, who on Thursday was in Topeka, where the family’s Westboro Baptist Church is located. “We’re going to picket a second-rate play, put on by a third-, fourth-rate college. What the heck?”

Why? Because you and your brother are first rate scumbags. And twisted pieces of evil. So fuck off.

I like calling the people who contort the word of God to divide the world nasty things.

Showtime's Tara Renewed, "Marshall" Interviewed at AfterElton.com

Of course, Marshall is Keir Gilchrist, the youngest Gregson and maybe the most self-aware gay teen every seen on television. He's pictured above with Toni Collette as Alice, the Douglas Sirk-inspired alter of Tara's.

I'm pretty sure this character is the most uncomplicatedly gay teen you've ever seen; his family is cool with him (even his dad the landscaper), he doesn't seem to have issue pursuing this very cute young man he has a crush on, the "born again" Jason (Andrew Lawrence, image right), brother of Joe and Matthew) and even though the Doctor Who poster on his wall disappeared between the pilot and the second episode (for shame!) he's a sci fi geek so what's not to like?

Gilchrist talked to Michael Jensen at AfterElton.com and shared the story about how co-star John Corbett found out that Marshall (his character's son) was gay:

As for Max his dad and Kate his sister, Gilchrist says, “Other characters like, I think Max – it was funny, John in real life didn’t realize my character was gay until we had already shot the pilot and we got it and he went, ‘Marshall’s gay?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, it says so!’ He’s like, ‘Oh, really, I didn’t even know.’ So that was kind of funny. So I guess his character sort of just kind of shrugs the shoulders and I think there is actually a really nice moment in one of the episodes in which he does sit down with Marshall and it’s kind of – not come out, but it’s like, lay it on the table, ‘I’m gay.’"

If you recognize Gilchrist, it's maybe because you saw him in the sadly short-lived Fox comedy The Winner with Rob Corddry.

The second season will start shooting this Summer for early 2010, but we have a long way to go before that. Coming up, Tara's parents, played by Fred Ward and Pamela Reed, come to visit but will set in motion something that I'm pretty sure (just speculation) will bring out some more of Tara's alters. At least the one that ruined her mural should show up.

And I think we'll get some answers about what happened to Tara that led to this. In fact, I think we already see why Tara's Dissociative Disorder reared its head when we watch this clip after the jump. Listen to what her dad has to say to Max.

Sunday, 10, Showtime.

(And, you know, it says at the Showtime site that you can watch the upcoming episode at Sho on Demand, but not on my cable system. How about yours?)

... and Jay Leno as Marlon Brando?

New York Magazine's Vulture blog on the changing of the guard (kind of) at NBC, which as you know is really just a realignment and addition:

(D)espite the continued reassurances from the network, even Conan O'Brien himself seems to be fairly downbeat about the move. "I’ve spent my fair share of time at 3 in the morning,” he tells the Times, “lying awake like Martin Sheen in the movie, staring at the ceiling fan, thinking about my trip up river — and we all know how that turned out.”

Jay Leno as Colonel Kurtz? Now that's a metaphor we can get behind.

Actually, Jeff Zucker looks more the part.

Is Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe Hiding Doctor Who Hartnell Episodes From 1963?

Oh, c'mon, is this real?

The Sun (oh okay, it's the Sun, but you gotta click over for the Mugabe/Davros mashup graphic, worth the price of admission alone, which is free):

Long-lost Doctor Who episodes thought to be hidden away in Zimbabwe may never be recovered because despot Robert Mugabe hates the UK.

BBC investigators believe the troubled nation holds some of the early episodes of the cult series which are still missing.

But tyrant President Mugabe has banned the Beeb from setting foot in his country. And diplomatic relations are also extremely tense — meaning researchers are unable to get into the nation’s TV vaults.

Weirdest news story of the day. But just by the law of averages, doesn't the Sun have to get something right sometimes? I mean, don't they even luck into the facts every now and then?

Who are these BBC investigators? Do they wear bagdes and uniforms? And why hasn't Auntie Beeb turned the hunt for missing Doctor Who episodes into a reality series? Betcha people would watch and they're doing the work already, they just need to train some cameras on these people.

If you can turn casting the lead in a musical into a TV series, this should be easy. And about that series, which is called Any Dream Will Do and it picks a Joseph for the lead in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat I have to tell you immediately not to go to the BBC.co.uk site for the show. It'll ruin it for you.

I found out the hard way that this is already completed and a winner picked. Of course I've already forgotten -- the age thing has it's benefits sometimes.

No BBC America page for the show yet.

My Classic TV Hulu Queue, Just For You, Because I'm Care

I was sitting in front of Hulu just now and thought I would make up a queue of some classic TV hits, including Buffy, Arrested, and then further back to stuff like the Vietnam vet episode of Lou Grant and the episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show

where Rhoda won the beauty contest.

Also, three great Barney Miller episodes, four episodes of NewsRadio including both remarkably bizarre eps Space and Sinking Ship (the series finale), a Bewitched (with Paul Lynde), the Muffy's Bat Mitzvah episode of Square Pegs, One Day At A Time's Father David ep, a Partridge Family and a Bob Newhart Show with guest Henry Winkler.

That should be enough to fill up a workday. Of course, as some eps expire off the site they won't be viewable, so check your date against the date I posted this.

And, after the widget, just in case you didn't see it already, the Alec Baldwin Hulu commercial.

That's all after the jump.

Video -- That Family Guy Christian Bale Clip You're Lookin' For Is Right Here

Quick turnaround on this for animation. I know, it's just a tape recorder -- a tape recorder that we might have seen in an earlier episode, perhaps?  

I think I remember seeing it before. Anyone?

Clip after the jump.

Video -- 10 Items' ... John Lehr on Anytime With Bob Kushell

And, once again, as a favor to me (but mostly a favor to Bob and Russell Arch, show's producer) go over to Crackle.com and register and rate the episode.

Okay, rate every episode. Since you're there.

Rate them all a five, since you're registering.

And you might want that registration at Crackle.com when the Breaking Bad pre-season webisodes start gettting posted there.

The new season of your favorite chemistry teacher becomes meth cooker comic drama starts on March 8 on AMC with Emmy winner Bryan Cranston.

Oh, wait, that's totally right now that that's happening with the webisodes! Click here!

See, I can multi-task, even inside the same post.

Clip after the jump.

American Idol Truth Tour Video -- WGA Prez Verrone, Former Hell's Kitchen Producer Calhoun

The Guild was out in force yesterday outside TV City in Hollywood protesting Fremantle USA, who produce the number one show in all of teevee (by a pretty wide margin) but can't find their way to paying actual union salaries to their writers that they don't even call writers because then they'd have to pay them better and not work them 20 hours a day, reportedly.

And it's just not the writers. This event combined the Writers Guild and the Teamsters.

First up is Patric Verrone, WGA President (and former Futurama writer, pictured above) and after that a former co-producer on that damned Gordon Ramsay expletive-fest called Hell's Kitchen, current Life story editor and NYU grad Wendy Calhoun.

And it's after the jump.

Pic above courtesy The Truth About Fremantle website by David Bacon. Video courtesy The Hollywood Reporter.

Fallon's First Late Night Guests are Robert DeNiro and Van Morrison?

So says Variety. And Sara at Jimmy's blog, where you can see the first week guests.

Because the DeNiro fan is a match with the Fallon crowd?

Because the kids love their Moondance?

Because when you think slacker comic with a guitar you think of the stars of the 20th century?

NBC, here is your preferred first night guests ...

• Tina Fey (move her to premiere day)
• Demetri Martin (HOT HOT HOT comic right now!)
• Death Cab for Cutie (or plug in some other band of its ilk)

Must I do everything for you?

Because my friends at 360i will love me for it, after the jump you can watch Jimmy's latest online clip from NBC, it's after the jump.

Did I mention it's after the jump? Do you know what the jump is? It's that clickable link below this sentence that will take you to the rest of the post, which in this case is the clip.

Jump. There, I said it again.

Torchwood Comics Everywhere, In Torchwood Magazine, Online at UKTV's Watch Channel Site

First, there's the beautifully rendered comic that Torchwood Magazine will have from John and sister Carole Barrowman. That's a sample image above.

Click on the images for full size.

From their press release:

The story, featuring in the first 100-page issue of the bi-monthly magazine, sees Captain Jack facing a deadly threat on a remote Scottish island, where people are disappearing one by one... To his horror, Jack starts to suspect he may know who – or perhaps more specifically what – is responsible...

Artwork for the comic strip is provided by Tommy Lee Edwards and Trevor Goring. Tommy Lee Edwards is the acclaimed artist behind several stunning comic projects including Marvel’s current smash hit ‘1985’, plus the acclaimed ‘Bullet Points’, DC’s ‘The Question’, and several more.

Speaking about the project, Torchwood comic editor Martin Eden said: “I’m so excited to be working on this story – John and Carole are an absolute pleasure to work with. And Tommy Lee Edwards is one of my favourite artists. I’ve seen the thumbnails that Tommy and Trevor have worked on – and, believe me, the readers are in for a treat!”

And the other project is a web comic for the UKTV (satellite?) channel Watch, and it appears on their website. Brian Minchin, who was the script editor on series four of Doctor Who and series two of Torchwood is writing it.

Not as beautiful graphically, but it does have the advantage of a decent yet short story and ... it's free. 

And we like free.

While I have your attention, there's a piece of the Torchwood panel at NY Comic-Con at the BBC America Anglophenia blog, and that's at this link.

Video -- This Is the Stuff I'm Considering Buying From My Morning Email

First, Important Shirt with Demetri Martin. Doesn't actually come with Demetri Martin, but it comes with the show logo where I would prefer a pocket (and a show logo).

See? (Look up.)

But I won't buy it. Know why? It's an American Apparel T-shirt (despite the image above, so they say at the website in detail) and they are not flattering to older lumpy people like me.

We prefer a thicker 100% cotton t-shirt.

What I will buy?

Best TV on DVD news of the day, huh? Andy Richter Control the Universe will be available on DVD come March 24.

Two great clips from the episode Grief Counselor after the jump. And thank you, YouTube user SgtFluffyMcFay (seriously) for the clips.

Video -- That New Thing That You Wanted to Buy, See It NOW!!!

But don't watch this at work, and you kids, you shouldn't be reading my blog anyway, now stay off my lawn!!!

My pal Jim DeForest sent me this. Thanks!

I have to put it after the jump. You'll figure out why when you get there.

New Doctor Who Companion Lindsay Duncan is 32 Years Older Than Matt Smith

Now this is really changing the dynamic of the show. What is Steve Moffat up to, anyway?

Daily Record (Scotland):

Duncan, who is starring as Baroness Thatcher in the BBC2 drama Margaret, will play Adelaide - the Doctor's cleverest and most strong-minded companion yet.

She will join David Tennant, who continues his role as the Doctor in the second instalment of four specials to be screened throughout 2009.

The second special will follow Planet Of The Dead, due to air this Easter on BBC1.

Duncan said: "I'm thrilled to be involved in Doctor Who. I've never done anything like this before and I'm really looking forward to working with David Tennant and the Doctor Who team."

Russell T. Davies called her, "... the Doctor's most strong-minded companion yet" at the end of the piece. Well sure, she's hanging with someone who could technically (with some bad planning) be her grandson.

I would be very strong-willed if I were traveling through time and space with a kid.

I just don't get why they're breaking something that doesn't need fixed, so to speak. But I will sit here and remind myself to have some faith.

Paley Festival Premium Package Tix Prohibitively Expensive, This is Not For Fans

And if it's not for fans, who is it for?

Get this (from their website):

PaleyFest 09 Festival Packages Benefits

• Two guaranteed ticket to four star-studded PaleyFest09 panels
• Premium seating within the Cinerama Dome for each package event
• Early admission to the Cinerama Dome for each package event
• Exclusive invitation for two people to attend 1 private after-party with surprise guests in attendance
• Free parking for one vehicle at the ArcLight for each package event
• Voucher for Cinerama Dome concessions for each package event
• Limited Edition PaleyFest09 Premium Package Souvenir lanyard
• Deluxe PaleyFest09 souvenir program
• Price: $750 ea.

A souvenir lanyard? Really? Well, then of course it's worth it.

NOT.

So exactly who are these events for? I would love to attend the all of the package B events, which includes Dr. Horrible, Fringe, BSG/Caprica and Dollhouse, but the only thing I'm doing with $750.00 is buying myself two Blue-Ray players and a couple of discs. I'm certainly not buying my way into a chance to ask Joss a question about Bad Horse.

And I betcha the whole thing sells out before single tix for events become available, per the image from their website at the top of the page.

Seven hundred and fifty bucks? Am I buying a night of TV-based live eventing or am I hiring a call boy?

And, if you've got $1200 to throw away, you can buy yourself a pass to every event, all twelve of 'em.

Hey, buddy, you got a spare twenty? How about 60 of 'em?

I guess I'll be watching this stuff much later on at Hulu.

Full Episode Heroes Video -- Rob Fresco Writes the Best Ep In a Looooong Time

Okay, the show is back. At least for me it is.

Great episode, lots of stuff going on for our favorites, a newbie pops up again (this one's another comic book store employee -- really? -- that can breathe under water -- let's see him in a Speedo, producers! Or at least shirtless, his charcter is a swimmer!) there's actually some acting going on.

(More on the shirtless thing? Just look at two images to the left there of Justin Baldoni. I'd like a little more beefcake on this show. We never see Peter less dressed anymore, I miss that. BTW, click the image and it gets bigger. No, not "it," just the photo.)

(Note the Gray family resemblance, btw, with swimboy. Both he and Gabriel have the same shaped face, and surprise, so does John Glover, who as you might know will be playing the elder parental Gray in upcoming episodes, probably starting with the episode in two weeks at this moment called Shades of Gray.)

This hour of the show was written by Rob Fresco, who's been with the show since the beginning of this season and wrote the Villians episode that aired originally in November.

Rob worked on the final short season of Jericho before this.

So, there was actually some acting going on in the episode, which lately has been hard to come by on this show, because there's usually not time made for it, not because they don't have people who can act.

Finally, Zach Quinto gets a scene partner. I like the kid, his name is Dan Byrd (image right) and you might have seen him last TV season in a delightful show that didn't make it on The CW called Aliens in America (not space aliens, the other country variety).

I agree with Jason at TV Squad, I think the texting Rebel is Noah Bennet. I also think we find out more about that next week when they come back with this year's version of Company Man from season one. It's called Cold War and I find myself looking forward to it.

Been a long time since I've been looking forward to an episode of Heroes. Thank you, people who work there.

Other things I liked? The whole Tracey piece of business, with the addition of Moira Kelly as the DHS person that gets duped by the Hunter's little scheme (unlocked door, faulty hardware, been three, done that!).

If you haven't watched it yet, the full episode is after the jump from Hulu.

HBO's Eastbound & Down Has Two More Weeks to Make Me Like It, Then ...

... I'm going out and buying an old tube TV, plugging the cable into the back of it, waiting for Sunday at 10:30 (while I'm DVRing Billie in Secret Diary on Showtime) and sticking my foot into the screen and so far up Danny McBride that he'll will be able to draw the sole of my New Balance sneakers from memory.

Because there was nothing in that first episode that was worth my time.

There is just nothing so far to like. I would have liked to find something about Kenny Powers that I thought was worth salvation, but I just don't. There's nothing. And things that Ferrell could get away with because he's Will Ferrell just don't work with Danny McBride playing the lead here.

I don't agree with my pal Ray Richmond at the Reporter that Powers is, "somehow likable -- lewd-crude hubris and all." And I don't really care about the lewd and crude, so I guess it's all that hubris, I guess.

The gang at Entertainment Weekly loved it.

Ginia Bellafante at the NY Times seemed to enjoy it.

Me, more than "not so much."

Honestly, the only reason I'll give it three eps is because it's Will and Adam. Otherwise I'd be ditching this right now.

Full Episode Video -- Current Vanguard: Blood Roses and Deadly Diamonds

There are two Current shows on my DVR Series Manager. One is InfoMania, because I'm watching the career trajectory of Conor Knighton.

(He should have a talk show in ... wait, I'm looking at my watch ...)

And it's not just Knighton, I like the group of twenty-somethings that they've grouped with him to make the show. Especially the music guy, Sergio, who is just the right combination of fun, self-referential and self-loathing.

These Current "pods" (at least some of them) used to run willy-nilly throughout the day but now that they're grouped into this very tight li'l half hour. I can record just the one show and see it all.

The other show is Current Vanguard. And honestly I did start watching it the week they had an Adam Yamaguchi (below) story about robots. Robots? Adam Yamaguchi? I'm in!

After that I set the DVR to record the show and I haven't been disappointed since.

They go places where the rest of the TV press don't really care to go and they report on stuff like the conflict diamonds issue in Sierra Leone that you probably won't see from a TV network that runs those "A Diamond is Forever" ads constantly before Valentine's Day.

I didn't know about the situation in Colombia, however, where the chemicals that they're using to on the flowers that they import to the US and other nations are destroying the health of the women who handle them and the health of their potential children. They're only granting the flower handling jobs to women who have tubal ligation (fallopian tubes tied).

Don't get me wrong, it's great that Colombia is growing something other than Coca plants, but they gotta get with the green thing and the human rights thing. This is the problem with signing trade agreements that don't protect workers. Just because it's a Colombian 19-year-old woman and not a freshman at Emory doesn't mean I care less.

This is why Mariana Van Zeller calls the episode after the jump your Valentine's Day buzzkill.

Really worth watching either online or on the tube. The episode after the jump will be running on Current, or cable and satellite, for the rest of the week.

Video -- American Idol Truth Tour Protests Continue Tonight in Hollywood Outside CBS Fairfax

The Writers Guild of America continues to pressure Fremantle USA and American Idol to treat writers like writers and to stop overworking everyone else.

From website The Truth About Fremantle, a website collaboration between the WGA and the Teamsters (which you can always click to from my left hand column, btw:

In April 2008, eight former employees of Fremantle, the majority from American Idol, filed more than $250,000 in wage and hour claims with the California Department of Labor Standards Enforcement alleging failure to pay overtime. Some employees reported working as much as 15-20 hour days, 7 days a week.

"When I was hired I expected long hours. I was told to expect 10-12 hour days, 5-6 days a week. I was not told that the job is actually 14-20 hour days 6-7 days a week for months without lunches or breaks. I was not allowed to leave my position at any point during the day. When I asked to be paid for all the hours I was working, I was ignored, and then I was fired." --Patricia Clark, Craft Service, American Idol

According to Harsh Reality, a study released last fall by the Writers Guild of America, West, reality TV workers report widespread violations of wage and hour laws, including the failure of production companies to pay overtime, provide meal breaks and maintain accurate payroll records. The study found that 88 percent of reality writers work more than 40 hours a week, yet 91% receive no overtime pay. The study also revealed that 73% of respondents work through their meal break at least once a week. Most of the workers polled did not receive any form of health care or pension benefits.

That study can be accessed at the WGA website at this link (.pdf).

Because TV's Ryan Seacrest is not making it up as he goes along. If might seem like that sometimes, but that just might be a reading problem.

So, WGA and other entertainment union represented friends, I hope you'll all be outside of CBS Fairfax today at 3:30 sharp.

And, others, go show your support if you're in the area.

I guess I'm not getting invited to the Idol finale. That's okay, I probably wouldn't have been anyway.

Wanna see what you'll be attending? Check out the clip from August last year from outside Fremantle's New York offices, it's after the jump.