I Am A TV Junkie, A Blog For The Clicker Jockey

I Am Jim Clancy. Which Ghost Whisperer Character Are You?

Click this link and find out. Season finale is this Friday.

I'm just glad I didn't end up being the one that used to date Carson Daly. Ewww.

Craig Ferguson Interviewed at Broadcasting & Cable

Ah, Craig. Lovin' ya more and more with each passing day and every time I think about Conan crossing his own picket line to go to work.

Yes, I'm still pissed. I think I'll be pissed for a while. And I'll write about that at some point, but my problem is that the "stars" of the Guild didn't do the right thing for the rank and file and that sucks.

And that's you and your buddy Colbert, too, Jon Stewart. And Leno? Well, if you can call that writing, I guess he's on my list as well.

(Yeah, I'm not a fan of Leno at all. He's really not funny, or what I should say is that he's funny in the annoying way that the guy in your office who thinks he's funny is funny.)

Back to Craig, he talked to Ben Grossman from B&C and said, among other things that he was friendly with Maureen Dowd. Now that's a dinner table that I would enjoy sitting at.

More, including excerpts and a clip after the jump.

Carson Daly Trolling for Scabs, But Will Any Decent Writer Ever Work That Show Again?

Well, it's not like it matters. Daly's show only airs in some alternative reality where people either stay up all the time (tweak much?) or still imagine he's the host of TRL and scream greetings to the Backstreet Boys into their own camcorders that they later edit into the show to make it feel more like their wasted youths.

But seriously Carson, do you think you'll ever get anyone with any talent to write for you again after this scam?

The Smoking Gun:

In an e-mail, Daly asked a small group of contacts to call in "suggested jokes" to a telephone hotline, noting that he would "play some, most, or all of your jokes on the air." The bit, Daly stressed, was not meant to "make fun" of his striking writers. He added that his goal was to just "play a fun collage of random people trying to 'help me out.'"

Call it whatever you want, anyone who submits material, even his family members, is a scab and should be treated as such. But you know, everyone thinks they can write, everyone thinks they are funny. The sad fact is that very few are and even fewer can be funny on demand, when necessary, like on the floor of a sitcom with the cameras rolling when a joke isn't working in front of a live audience.

In other news, showrunners are returning to their non-writing TV duties, and doing it on the sly as much as possible.

Variety's Michael Schneider:

With those negotiations back on, several showrunners were itching to return to work to finish off already written and produced episodes that nonetheless needed some supervision before completion. Also convincing some showrunners to return: The round of legal letters sent out to many showrunners warning them that by withholding their producing duties, they were in breach of contract.

Some exec producers had already returned to work to oversee non-writing production, including "Lost's" Carlton Cuse. Many more hit the office following the Thanksgiving holiday. But most of the returning showrunners are hoping to stay under the radar to avoid the appearance of picket crossing.

"I wouldn't disagree with your statement," said one showrunner -- who we'll keep anonymous -- when asked if they'd returned to work. "Generally I'm trying to keep a low profile."

As I am quite the militant collective bargaining type of guy, this really bothers me.

I just can't imagine that this group from within the Guild have caved so quickly. It's only three weeks, isn't it?

I think this group of people might not ever have the balls to do what it takes to get what they want, and if they don't have those balls, it's entirely their own fault if they don't get it.

They remind me of the "take impeachment off the table" Congress we have.

I'm pretty disappointed today. Of course, I can't be disappointed in Carson Daly, I would have had to have been previously impressed by him in some way to be disappointed now.

UPDATE: I forgot to thank Liz in ABQ for this. Thanks, Liz.

LA Times' Ann Powers and NBC's Carson Daly on Britney at the VMAs (w/Video Link)

She says:

Never more than a passable singer, Spears was once a shockingly charismatic physical presence: she was youthful freedom personified, her gorgeous form and defiant beauty absolutely Nabokovian.

But the fire has apparently gone out of her loins.

Watch it for yourself. Click here and MTV's new window will open for you. If you just let it keep playing, you'll eventually get to see Sarah Silverman's comments as well.

And then, you'll have seen just about all the important stuff from the VMAs, so you're done.

Oh, here's what Carson thought.

LINK

Carson Daly Will Be Pissed: Will Fallon's Holding Deal Take Him to Late Night?

Well, one needs only to look at Jimmy Fallon's imdb.com page to see that the movie career just didn't pan out. The only thing pending is a rumored casting as Major Nelson in a movie remake of I Dream of Jeannie, and after "Bewitched," the worst movie based on a TV show ever, that probably will go into turnaround somewhere and eventually fall off the schedule.

So Jimmy has a talent holding deal with NBC, which immediately means that there will be guest shots on NBC shows, hopefully. But more than that, the NY Times reports today that it may mean filling the slot left when Conan moves to 11:35 PM:

Executives aware of the negotiations said NBC had been in talks with Mr. Fallon and his representatives for a deal that would make his television services exclusive to the network. One of those executives, who did not want to be identified because the deal has not yet been signed, said the deal could include a crack at the “Late Night” host role, though it was by no means guaranteed.

As with all job openings in the late-night arena, names emerge as stars (and their agents) begin positioning themselves. NBC already has an in-house candidate, Carson Daly, who since 2002 has been the host of another successful late night show, “Last Call,” which follows “Late Night,” at 1:35 a.m. Mr. Daly has said he would like to be considered for that show.

I just don't see Carson Daly as the long-term answer to the 12:35 slot. I guess he can be pissed at me, too, but for me he is just not an engaging host.

Fallon, who Seth MacFarlane reminded you in an ep of Family Guy is someone who has a habit of looking at the camera during his SNL sketches, wouldn't have to worry about that as the host of a late night show.

UPDATE: How interesting and coincidental that Fallon is on Conan tonight?