2009 June 15 — TV Tattle

It's official: "The Beast" canceled
A&E has finally pulled the plug on the Patrick Swayze drama, which averaged 1.3 million viewers in its first season.

Watch HBO's "Joe Buck Live" trainwreck
Raunchy comedian Artie Lange hijacked Buck's HBO premiere tonight from Brett Favre, ripping the host repeatedly, insulting "SNL"-er Jason Sudeikis and tossing out a bunch of homophobic slurs. "Sorry to ruin your f—ing great show," Lange told Buck, who later responded: "You're going to pull me into a dark place in about one more minute, and it's not going to be good." Scroll down to "JB AL." (Watch Part 2)

Letterman apologizes to Sarah Palin — for real this time
"I told a bad joke," Dave said on tonight's "Late Show." "I told a joke that was beyond flawed, and my intent is completely meaningless compared to the perception. And since it was a joke I told, I feel that I need to do the right thing here and apologize for having told that joke. It’s not your fault that it was misunderstood, it’s my fault. That it was misunderstood." (Watch the video)

Exec who transformed MTV into a reality TV destination is leaving
MTV entertainment president Brian Graden, who in 12 years has overseen MTV, VH1, CMT and Logo, is, according to Nikki Finke, "the guy who took MTV from all music videos to crappy reality programming. He shepherded TRL, Jackass, The Osbournes, The Hills, and America's Best Dance Crew, and led a turnaround at VH1, more than doubling that cabler's ratings over the last 5 years."

"Psych" nabs "Heroes" star Sendhil Ramamurthy
He'll guest on an episode titled "Bollyhood Homicide."

Danny Gokey not affiliated with charity selling his glasses DannyGokeyGear.com, it turns out, has nothing to do with the "Idol" star.

Janice Dickinson rushed to the "I'm a Celeb" hospital
An ambulance had to take Dickinson to the reality show's on-site medical facility for an undisclosed illness.

Katie Holmes does "SYTYCD"
The actress was spotted this morning at CBS' Television City, where the Fox show tapes.

Advertiser pulls CBS ads over Letterman uproar
Embassy Suites, part of the Hilton Hotel chain, opted to take its ads down from the CBS Web site after receiving"lots of e-mails from concerned guests." .

Whoopi scolds Speidi
Whoopi Goldberg told the "I'm a Celeb" pair this morning on "The View": "You're gonna have to take responsibility. You're too old now. See, last year was cute. Now, you're adults." (Watch the video)

Steven Spielberg wants Noah Wyle for TNT's alien invasion series
The project would mark a reunion for the two "ER" vets.

Could Sarah Palin become Letterman's Hugh Grant? Last week's hubbub just might be the defining moment that makes David Letterman the Late-Night King 14 years after Hugh Grant infamously appeared on Leno's "Tonight Show." PLUS: "Fire David Letterman" rally planned for Tuesday.

Craig Ferguson: I contemplated suicide In his new memoir, "American on Purpose," the "Late Late" host reveals that he nearly killed himself years ago one Christmas morning in London: "I felt worse than I ever had. … I was a drunk, a loser and a disaster as a human being. … The shame was immense. It pushed down on me like a terrible weight." But, he writes, he bumped into a pal who, it turned out, saved his life. PLUS: Watch "Late Night King" Ferguson.

Fans of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are getting too old Forget college kids: Comedy Central, which aims to attract younger viewers, must be worried that the median age of "The Daily Show's" audience has gone up five years to 41.4, while "The Colbert Report's" viewership has also aged five years to a 38.3.

Fox announces fall premiere dates
"House" returns Sept. 21, "The Wanda Sykes Show" premieres Nov. 7.

"Hannah Montana" ending after Season 4
Billy Ray Cyrus says it was Miley's decision to stay for another year: "She wanted there to be an official ending to 'Hannah Montana.'"

Check out "The Jay Leno Show's" new 10 o'clock promos
Introducing the superhero "Leno Man."

"Survivor" will spend the next 3 1/2 months filming 2 seasons back to back
That means in 3 1/2 months, Jeff Probst will be done with "Survivor," or at least the final two seasons left on his contract. The next two seasons are filming back to back to save CBS money. Probst hasn't decided if he'll return, but Mark Burnett says it could survive without him: "'America's Most Wanted' has gone on for 20 years, so I think we could only be halfway through."

Did Showtime screen "Nurse Jackie" for nurses to generate controversy?
While some nurses liked what they saw at three special Showtime screenings, the portrayal was bad enough that the New York State Nurses Association objected to the show, which gave "Nurse Jackie" some free publicity.

ABC is tops with online viewing
"Lost" was No. 1, "Grey's Anatomy" No. 2 and "Desperate Housewives" No. 3, followed by "The Office" and "Dancing with the Stars."

50 Cent does "Entourage"
The rapper filmed scenes with the "Entourage" crew last Friday.

CBS' prison-like "Block Party" builds a 20-foot wall around 8 houses
To film the reality show, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that "the network built 2,000 feet of stark 20-foot tall walls around eight homes in a Kennesaw subdivision, walls that resemble the outside of a maximum-security penitentiary — minus the barbed wire. There are even off-duty Kennesaw police stationed on the road to keep traffic moving."

Digital TV transition wasn't much of a hassle
There weren't any major hitches reported over the weekend.

R.I.P., TV snow
The digital TV transition means the end of snowy broadcasts. As "futurist" Paul Saffo puts it, "That snow you saw wasn't noise; it was the universe whispering it's secrets to you while you dozed in it's gentle glow."

MGM presents "This TV"
Cash-strapped TV stations could be low-cost TV and movie fare from MGM with "This TV," which includes everything from "Patty Duke Show" to "The Addams Family."

VH1 picks up "OCD Project"
"OCD" is the latest obsession-related reality show, following in the footsteps of A&E's "Obsessed." The "Project" will take a "Celebrity Rehab"-style approach to obsessive compulsive disorder.

"SNL" vs. "The Daily Show": Which show has more currently successful alumni?
While Will Ferrell and Eddie Murphy are tanking at the box office, it's a good time to note that Stephen Colbert, Rob Riggle, Ed Helms and other "Daily Show" alumni seem to be thriving.

Heidi Montag: Al Roker made me cry!
The "I'm a Celeb" star didn't appreciate this morning's "Today" interview: "I really would advise women especially to be careful around him because I feel like he definitely came and attacked me and I did not appreciate that at all."

Will ABC put a sports or music show before Jimmy Kimmel? There are apparently rumors that ABC may replace "Nightline" at 11:30.

Triumph the Insult Comic Dog goes to Bonnaroo for his first "Tonight" remote
"They've got more stages than syphilis," Triumph said at one point.

Conan vs. Letterman is a marathon, not a sprint All those stories last week about NBC panicking over Conan must be wrong. "While Letterman's early win made for great headlines, the battle for 11:35 supremacy is going to go on for a long time," says Ben Grossman. "I'm talking Minnesota Senate race long Letterman may end up winning every night until Jon Stewart takes his place when Dave's new deal expires in 2012. But there are plenty of factors that can and probably will shape this race," including Leno's move to 10 o'clock and the possible ascension of Jimmy Kimmel.

TV Book roundup
Which television book is worth reading, Bob Barker's, Tori Spelling's or Tom Bergeron's?

Alexa Chung: MTV didn't hire me because "I'm the best Twitterer"
The 25-year-old British model/presenter debuts her "TRL" replacement today "It's On with Alexa Chung," which will rely heavily on Facebook and Twitter for a completely new interactive experience. "I have not seen a show integrate social networking as deeply," says Facebook's creative marketing director. But social networking won't be the end all and be all of her show. "All the shows I'd worked on in the U.K. were usually quite tongue-in-cheek or irreverent, so I think MTV chose me because they wanted to inject that kind of freshness in the show," says Chung. "Hopefully, they wanted me because they thought I'd be quite fun."
Watch Chung interview Fergie // Host "PopWorld" // "Big Brother's Big Mouth"