HBO stunned by "True Blood's" success, Alan Ball calls it "popcorn television"
"A vampire show? Really?" was the first reaction from HBO execs when they first heard Alan Ball's pitch. "When I first pitched it, I said it's popcorn television," said Ball. "It has a lot going on beneath the surface, and I love the layers because I love to write layered stories. But I love the popcorn part of 'True Blood.' It's just really great fun." Ball says there's a simple reason why "True Blood" works: "Women love the storytelling and the romance, and men love the sex and violence." PLUS: Which gender got the better deal with last night's episode?
Can "Saving Artie Lange" save Artie Lange from his DUI?
The drug-addicted Howard Stern Show star has been in talks to star in his own reality show, reportedly for A&E. If the deal had been signed earlier, cameras could've captured getting arrested on Friday for drunken driving.
Alanis Morisette came up with her "Weeds" character — will she go nude?
"I said, 'I have this idea for a potential female character on the show," the singer recalls of approaching creator Jenji Kohan of a possible guest stint, which begins tonight. Will she get naked? Morisette wouldn't say, but she did reveal her love scene pushes the boundary of intimacy beyond anything she has ever filmed before.
Why is "Entourage" so outdated?
The world "Entourage" lives in is from the past, as revealed in Sunday's episode where Vincent Chase has an appearance on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno," which is no longer on the air, and Ari Gold makes reference to "My Name is Earl," which has been canceled.
The show needs to keep up // Like the new aggressive Lloyd?
Sunday's premiere was dedicated to Kevin Connolly's mom, who died in March
Apparently the 10th anniversary "Survivor" season, which begins filming in Samoa next month, will feature "Survivor" alumni. That's because Hatch, who is finishing up the final days of home confinement in Rhode Island, has asked the court for permission to travel to Samoa for the 10th anniversary season, which will air next spring. Hatch contends that the money he'll make from the cameo will go towards paying his taxes. 
Turns out that growing up comes with consequences: "In the new season, the one-time commitment-phobic boys from Queens act more like single New York women searching for love than they do rich bachelors on the prowl," says Lee Hernandez. "There's a lot of talk about loneliness, growing up, isolation, settling down, and man's inability to commit. I almost vomited." PLUS: "Entourage" creator Doug Ellin says, "
The "Idol" host is closing a deal that would make him among the richest reality hosts, while allowing him to develop TV shows with "Idol' producer 19 Entertainment. According to The Hollywood Reporter, "The pact, which is believed to be for three years, will give Seacrest a major pay raise and make him one of the highest-paid reality hosts on television. He made slightly less than $5 million this season for his work on 'Idol,' which breaks down to about $100,000 per episode."
Thanks to online streaming and its presence on countless TV channels around the world, the Jackson memorial was shown live everywhere from Japan to France to Africa. AEG Live, which organized the memorial service at Staples Center in Los Angeles, said the televised broadcast probably reached about 1 billion people worldwide, though there's no way to determine if that's accurate. PLUS: 
Burnett, who received a Hollywood Walk of Fame star this morning, says the original "Apprentice" could be fitting in our current recession. But, he adds, there are no plans to scrap the celebrity version. "There's certainly a real place there for finding people who've lost jobs but who are really smart and driven — it's just a bad economy — and that would be a good thematic season: giving people another chance," he says. As for the 10th anniversary/20th season of "Survivor," Burnett says, "We'll do something really cool but we certainly won't be making any big format changes." 
With all the gobs of media attention, viewers were likely expecting a bizarre celebrity event, says Troy Patterson. He writes: "Yet—disappointing cynics and reassuring fans of human decency—the tone was congruent with what you'd expect for the funeral of a church deacon in St. Louis. It was perfectly sober, considering the supernormal circumstances. Yes, the pallbearers wore sequined gloves to carry a gilded casket. Sure, the featured images of the deceased included a few Christlike poses. But an incomparable showbiz career deserves a commensurately big finish. Anything less would have been inappropriate."
As of today, the Sci Fi Channel is officially SyFy, a move that SyFy president Dave Howe says was necessary. "This was a two-year exercise," he tells CNN. The new name, he says, needed to be usable all over the world in Internet URLs, brand extensions and merchandising, and "the only way to do that is to create an empty name. "We explored them all," he said. "We wanted a word that was uniquely ours," while not straying too far from the sound of "Sci Fi." 
The "30 Rock" star is seriously considering running for Congress, he 
New York mag offers some interesting tidbits on the Bravo reality show, including the fact that one of its co-creators used to teach at one of the New York prep schools. The ex-teacher used a variety of methods, including Facebook and a "casting mobile," to lure teens to the show. "This is one of the hardest shows to cast that has ever made it on air," says one of the exec producers. In fact, one of the "NYC Prep" stars was brought to the audition by the daughter of "Real Housewives of New York" star Jill Zarin. PLUS: Parents are 
After a one-week hiatus to mourn his passing, Mays' infomercials will return to TV next week after the company behind them consulted with his family and longtime partner Anthony Sullivan. "Will the consumer keep buying the products? No one really knows, because this is brand-new territory for everyone," says Bill McAlister, who runs Media Enterprises, which puts out Media Putty. "I believe Billy is so big and so loved, his brand will go on. But none of us realized, until we got on the telephone, how much he affected our industry. … Ninety percent of my (sales) volume relates to Billy's pitches." 
The actor, who died at age 97, had a face full of character, says A.O. Scott. He explains: "The jutting chin and oft-broken nose curve toward each other as though affixed to a Punch-and-Judy puppet, but Karl Malden's face was not made for comedy. Like his voice, pitched between a honk and a growl, it was an instrument full of gravity and dignity, capable of showing strong measures of menace, passion and hurt." 
The "How I Met Your Mother" star seems like 
