This year's Emmys will be a rerun of last year's
With no suspense this year — "Mad Men" and "30 Rock" are winning big! — CBS is counting on the element of surprise to keep viewers from switching to NBC to watch the Dallas Cowboys play for the first regular game in their $1.2 billion new stadium. Says Lisa de Moraes: "The trophy show that loves redundancy is expected to really knock itself out this year. Practically everyone who has weighed in on the subject — online bookies, television industry navel gazers, TV critics, you name it — expects this year's ceremony to play like a rerun of last year's. Which is not to say this year's Emmy broadcast won't be worth watching. It'll be a doozy."
Why won't HBO and AMC bench their shows on Emmy night?
Neil Patrick Harris asks Ryan Seacrest for some advice // Hosting is tricky
Justin Timberlake will present // Handicapping the Emmys
"Weekend Update Thursday" starts off bumpy — Darrell Hammond is back!
Lorne Michaels used "bumpy" to describe last night's return, though the Joe Wilson sketch and a "WU" glitch turned out to bolster the show. Meanwhile, Darrell Hammond — whom cast members bade farewell to during last season's finale — is back for likely the rest of the season. "I like having him here and I think he's great on the show," says Michaels, who adds that he is "not very good at goodbyes."
Kate Gosselin tells Kathy Griffin: Your impersonation of me was "awesome"
On this morning's "View," Kate "didn't rise to the bait" of Griffin's Jimmy Kimmel sketch, says Lisa de Moraes, but the episode wasn't without fireworks. PLUS: Kathy wears Tyra's weave.
Kate Gosselin's talk show tapes Sunday with Paula Deen, Rene Syler, Bob Woodruff's wife
Gosselin will join the trio on Sunday to tape a pilot for a "View"-like talk show from the perspective of working moms. PLUS: Why Kate will fail as a talk show host.
Paula Abdul mocks Ellen DeGeneres
Check her out in a blonde wig at the "VH1 Divas Live" concert. PLUS: Ellen calls Paula "hilarious. You’ve left me some big shoes to fill."
Jay Leno drops to 8.5 million, "Community" retains "Office" viewers
The 4th outing of "The Jay Leno Show" sank to to its lowest numbers Thursday, with a repeat of "The Mentalist" edging it out in the ratings. "Survivor" brought in 11.5 million, but "SNL" disappointed with only 5.7 million viewers.
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"Survivor's" Russell may be evil, but he's also tiresome and unwatchable
Russell might prove to be so loathsome he could be a detriment to the this season of "Survivor," says Leslie Gray Street. "I blame (Richard) Hatch, and Jonny Fairplay, and stupid crazy Coach, for what we’re stuck with this year – Russell, who apparently has set out to be the meanest, baddest “Survivor” EVER. He might be the meanest, but his intention, as he put it, to show how easy it is to win the game by turning everyone against each other, is tiresome because it’s going to be hard to watch the game without focusing on his shenanigans."
Russell is so vile he actually takes away from the show
Jeff Probst on Russell: "A new star has most definitely been born"
Cliffhanging "FlashForward" has become extremely secretive
As the Wall Street Journal reports, "FlashForward" is making full use of cliffhangers. But to do that, everything has to be secretive. As The journal notes, "To guard plot secrets, each "FlashForward" script has a made-up title and is watermarked so that if a page gets into the wrong hands producers can trace it to the source. Actors, cast members and producers are referred to by code names that can change weekly." PLUS: Watch the first 18 minutes of "FlashForward" on Hulu.
Rachael Ray teaches Jimmy Kimmel how to shoplift
It's "Cooking on a Budget with Rachael Ray."
Bob Saget will return to co-host "America's Funniest Home Videos" for 1 night
He and Tom Bergeron will look back at the best home videos of the past two decades.
Lisa Ling returning to "The View" as guest co-host
She'll fill in for Elisabeth Hasselbeck on October 5 and 6.
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It's the end of the line for "Guiding Light"
After 57 years, TV's longest-running TV soap ends its run today. "It's heartbreaking," says one fan, a teacher who has been watching for 30 years. "Come Monday morning, there is going to be this enormous void." Another "Guiding Light" fan adds: “It’s just a little piece of being back in my grandmother’s living room."
Ira Glass: "This American Life" is finished on Showtime
"I don't know if I can say this yet, but we've asked to be taken off of television," says the public radio host.
"Dancing" Tom DeLay has to constantly ice his foot, which is "about to break"
The pre-stress fracture DeLay described means, basically, that "the bone is about to break" says DeLay. So he has to ice his foot for 20 minutes after each hour of rehearsal, then ice it again all evening.
Man arrested for assault after trying to break into Ryan Seacrest's car
Seacrest was in the midst of a visit to the Children's Hospital of Orange County when Chidi Benjamin Uzomah Jr., 25, allegedly tried to break into Seacrest's car. A security guard who tried to stop him was allegedly choked and nearly became unconscious.
Why "Fringe" is better than "The X-Files"
Listing 10 reasons, Raina Kelley contends that "already 'Fringe' is 10 million times better than 'The X-Files." Why? Because "there’s a lot more racial diversity in 'Fringe" and "because 'Fringe' actually knows where it’s storylines are going, it doesn’t rely on filler episodes to distract you from the fact that you’re being sold a bag of nothing."
"Fringe" gives shout-out to "X-Files" // "Fringe" misrepresented head trauma
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"Curb Your Enthusiasm" kicks off its best — and most offensive — season yet
"The more people I can offend, the better," Larry David likes to say. "If that is the standard," says David Zurawik, "then Sunday's premiere of the seventh season of this HBO comedy is the best. Right out of the box, David is absolutely pushing the limits of TV comedy on issues of race, gender, coarse language, mental illness and physical disease. You don't realize how incredibly edgy David's work on HBO is until you try to write about it in a family newspaper and suddenly discover that you can barely start to describe situations and setups, let alone dialogue and punch lines."
"Seinfeld" reunion somehow works // Jeff Garlin: We got to film on the "Seinfeld" set
Cheryl Hines: We'll see a different Cheryl // Other "Seinfeld" characters will return
"Bored to Death" lives up to its name
Ted Danson and Zach Galifianakis are wasted in this HBO series that is "so clearly pleased with itself," says Robert Bianco. "Sure, you could make the easy pun on 'Bored to Death's' name, but that would be as indolent, indulgent and humor-free as the show itself," he says.
It's a really satisfying hour of Comic Neurosis TV // The fall's best new show
Ted Danson on "Death" // "I love that we do silly things"
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