"Pants on the Ground" man, a civil rights veteran, liked his "Idol" cameo
"It played real real good," Larry Platt said of his much talked-about appearance on last night's show. “I liked it. I loved it." Platt calls himself "General" because he says he marched with Martin Luther King Jr. As for the song itself, Platt was inspired to write it after seeing a man on the street with a baby on his arm and pants slipping below his waist. “He was being disrespectful so I wanted to embarrass him," says Platt. “He rolled his eyes and pulled his pants up a little bit.”
"Pants" fever sweeps the nation // "Pants" remixed
"Idol" Night 2 ratings drop 14% // What's up with the 27th floor?
Elton John as Simon Cowell's replacement? How 'bout Nigel Lythgoe?
TMZ is floating Elton's name as the next "Idol" judge, while the UK's Daily Star claims Lythgoe is the favorite for the job. UPDATE: Elton's rep says he won't replace Simon.
VH1 Classic to put musicians through "Rock 'N' Roll Fantasy Camp"
The Mark Burnett reality show will transform 15 musicians into "rock stars."
George Clooney to host MTV telethon for Haiti
All his celeb friends are expected to appear on the telethon, airing Friday, January 22.
"Glee" star Matthew Morrison's debut album will sound like "classier Justin Timberlake"
Dropping this fall, the album will sound like Timberlake meets Michael Buble.
Food Network used "stunt double vegetables" for White House "Iron Chef"
Turns out the food picked from Michelle Obama's garden wasn't the actual vegetables used for the special.
"Law & Order" rips Letterman affair with Samantha Bee playing "Dave"
Friday's episode will revolve around a female talk show host who is blackmailed.
Elisabeth & Tim Hasselbeck to swap jobs their ABC/ESPN jobs for a day
Tim will co-host "The View" while Elisabeth will analyze the NFL on "NFL Live."
"It’s a conversation we have a lot," says co-creator Steve Levitan. "Is it a true documentary, or is it a family show done documentary-style? I prefer the latter because I don’t like those families who let cameras in their houses in real life. I just can’t stand those shows. So it makes me — it would make me question them a little bit. Who would allow all of this to be filmed by a crew? So I like the idea that it’s just our style of storytelling." PLUS: 
"Will the challenges, which notably lacked creativity in Season 6, be more inspiring and surprising this time around?" asks Maureen Ryan. "The first challenge of Season 7 is not reassuring on this front. Will the contestants have not just interesting personalities but design aesthetics worth paying attention to? There are a few interesting garments on the runway Thursday, but all in all, whether the contestants or their clothes will be compelling remains to be seen."
He also said in Wednesday's monologue: "Hosting 'The Tonight Show' has been the fulfillment of a lifelong dream for me – and I just want to say to the kids out there watching: You can do anything you want in life. Unless Jay Leno wants to do it too." PLUS: 
The actor was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma, a highly treatable form of the disease. In fact, the cancer is in remission. "I feel fortunate to have been diagnosed with an imminently treatable and curable condition, and I thank my doctors and nurses for their expertise and care," the 38-year-old Hall said in a statement.
NBC boss Zucker was president of the Harvard Crimson and Conan O'Brien was head of the Harvard Lampoon in the mid-80s, when the future "Tonight Show" host hijacked a shipment of Crimson issues. "My first meeting with Jeff Zucker was in handcuffs, with a Cambridge police officer reading me my rights," Conan recalled years later. So, is this Leno debacle Zucker's way of getting revenge?
"That splashing noise you hear is the sound of sharks being jumped on 'American Idol' as it kicks off its ninth season," says Lisa de Moraes. She notes that, "Seeing Simon on the taped season debut of 'Idol,' he already looks like a ghost haunting the joint. It's hard to get invested in watching Simon critique the wannabe Idolettes, knowing he is simultaneously plotting his exit from the show."
Kimmel did his entire show Tuesday in full-on Leno mode, chin and all. Kimmel told bad jokes in Leno's lispy style and even had his band leader, Cleto, laugh at his jokes and perform Kevin Eubanks' signature riffs. "Hey Cleto, you know what ABC stands for?" he said at the beginning of his monologue. "Always bump Conan." Later, however, he scolded Cleto for not laughing at his jokes. "You know, on my show, everybody applauds when I tell a joke. Kimmel as Leno proceeded to do a "Headlines" segment and had guest Chevy Chase come on with a Conan O'Brien wig.
"The fact is," says music critic Ann Powers, "Cowell helped change the way Americans think about popular music. Embodying the role of the music snob while voicing opinions distinctly different from what that character usually expresses, he helped make room for a wider vision of what great American music can be. Or a degraded one. For many serious music fans, "Idol" has long represented the triumph of puffery and schmaltz over sincerity and real skill." PLUS: 
"I cannot participate in what I honestly believe is its destruction," Conan O'Brien said this afternoon in a statement released to "People of Earth" that, according to his rep, he sat up all night drafting. "Some people will make the argument that with DVRs and the Internet a time slot doesn’t matter. But with the 'Tonight Show,' I believe nothing could matter more. There has been speculation about my going to another network but, to set the record straight, I currently have no other offer and honestly have no idea what happens next. My hope is that NBC and I can resolve this quickly so that my staff, crew, and I can do a show we can be proud of, for a company that values our work." PLUS: 
Al Jean says the end-of-show joke — "Thanks for 20 wonderful years. Now stay tuned for three Seth MacFarlane shows" — didn't make sense because only one Seth MacFarlane show was actually following "The Simpsons," thanks to the one-hour Morgan Spurlock "Simpsons" documentary. But Jean promised that not only will the MacFarlane joke be returned for summer reruns, but that Wednesday's repeat of that episode will end with another message.
The departure of the biggest star of TV's biggest show will have widespread ramifications. As the L.A. Times points out, "For the last eight years, 'Idol' has proved the great exception to otherwise confident predictions that broadcasting is in decline. Although its ratings have eroded steadily if slightly since 2006, 'Idol' still amasses gigantic audiences by current standards, averaging nearly 27 million viewers for its Wednesday results shows last year, according to the Nielsen Co."
