Oscar producers: We're just fans — "not fancy-pants guys"
"So as fans," says Adam Shankman, "we've really been focusing on making a show that is for fans as opposed to just trying to cater to the people in the room. Those people in the room are getting honored no matter what. … The telecast is for the fans."
"Idol" fans are booting the most boring singers — not the worst ones
That's according to Eric Deggans: "Case in point: ejected singer John Park. There's no way his treacly, trying-to-be-soulful version of John Mayer's Gravity was the week's worst male performance (that goes to Zac Efron clone Tim Urban, who must be surviving by the good grace of the Vote for the Worst Web site). It was, however, one of the most boring — and idiotic, given the judges had already warned him about tossing off gooey ballads."
Did the elimination of 4 minorities amount to a "racial purge"?
Madonna's brother wants to replace Simon // Listen to Scott MacIntryre's single
"The Office" baby could be a turning point for Jim & Pam
With last night's two-parter, James Poniewozik says, "I hope it'll mean the show will break out of its rut, by looking at how Jim and Pam's work lives and career crises are now complicated by responsibility for a third party. It could be depressing, yes. But on The Office, depressing can be a wonderful thing." PLUS: Tonally, the episode was all over the place.
Jenna Fisccher lobbied to name the baby after her newborn niece, Cecelia
Why is Lisa Kudrow returning to network TV with "Who Do You Think You Are?"
"I'm not trying to stay out of the mainstream, honestly," she says. "I loved 'Friends,' and I saw how fun that was for people. I just thought this was a fantastic show." PLUS: Kudrow's reality show is unintentionally funny — stars influence the journey.
"America's Most Wanted" turns 1,000 after surviving cancelation
John Walsh recalls the time in 1996 when Fox opted to cancel "AMW" in favor of sitcoms. But thanks to public outcry, the groundbreaking show was resurrected.
MTV sued over "Jersey Shore" fight editing
The couple who fought with Ronnie and Sami claim that producers edited the fight "in a manner that was completely inconsistent with what really took place" — and they have the video to prove it.
Pilot season: Minorities are hot, UK remakes are not
Minorities are headlining shows at rates unseen in years. Meanwhile, for the first time in a decade, there isn't a British remake slated for this pilot season.
"Big Love" ends one big mess of a 4th season
Everything about this nine-episode season revolved around sensationalism, rather than family.
She and Mark Burnett are teaming up once again for a reality show in which Stewart shocks people by helping them plan for a special event, like a wedding or a big meal. According to Variety, the show will revolve around Stewart and a 
The "Real Housewives" stars are sophisticated enough to know that this is there one chance to shine, and establish their brand to a mass audience. The result: fake bickering. As Heather Havrilesky points out, "While most viewers might tend to look at this subtext, burgeoning in the show's third season, as proof that 'the whole thing is fake,' such a perspective fails to acknowledge the many complex layers of said "fakeness," which amount to carefully considered marketing choices informed by an unseen wealth of data ('Am I the 'angry' one, the 'innocent' one, or the 'straight-talking' one? Should I appear confused and hurt or above it all? Which emotional response best matches my multi-tiered international product line?')." PLUS: 
"Girlfriend has lived some crazy-ass Loretta Lynn story somewhere along the line – in this life or one previously," Kirkland Hamill says of the now-healthy Bowersox. "We all know it. We feel it every time she sings. This week she sang "As Long As I Can See the Light" by CCR – and unlike the genuflecting McAltar Boys from the night before, I believe she's somebody who really has access to it. Take note future contestants: She was smart enough not to have handed all her pain away to God before having a fantastic moment on the Idol stage."
The arrival of a baby is supposed to be a sitcom-killer. But tonight's episode is actually a good one, especially in a disappointing season, according to Alan Sepinwall. Tonight’s one-hour special, he says, "offers us a rare glimpse of Jim and Pam acting off their rockers, as Pam insists on delaying the trip to the hospital to get around the limitations of their HMO and Jim finds himself powerless to change her mind. Frantic isn’t a note that either Krasinski or Fischer is asked to play very often, but both play it well when called on to do so."
Producer Palin? The former Alaska governor — who spent Tuesday at NBC's Leno taping, CBS' Television City and Fox's "American Idol" — visited ABC today to shop a "planet-Earth type look" at her home state. The former Alaska governor isn't done making the TV rounds. Palin, who also met with Fox reality guru Mike Darnell and CBS execs today, plans to meet with NBC on Thursday.
Ellen DeGeneres has been too shy as a judge, says Mary McNamara. "Far from taking on the famously raven-harsh Cowell, as she promised to do," she says, "DeGeneres seemed at times in danger of disappearing almost entirely, dwindling to nothing beyond those unblinking baby blues and that Ryan Seacrest cowlick. Did it leave us missing Paula Abdul? No, Kara DioGuardi, with her embarrassing lust for Casey James, seems to be perfectly happy playing the nutty card."
Ryan Murphy's once-shocking series comes to an end tonight, past its prime. From 2004 to 2007, before the economic collapse, Murphy says that "'Nip/Tuck' perfectly mirrored the time we were in. What's interesting for me as a writer is that I wasn't trying to make a commentary about social mores in the country. I always thought the show was a satire about the country." Media analyst Brad Adgate, meanwhile, points out: "It's the end of the first generation of cable originals that really made in-roads in television programming. There are very few shows that have helped identify a network and that strike a chord on a lot of different fronts. 'Nip/Tuck' really hit the zeitgeist because it was so topical. It has a very secure place as one of the most impactful shows of the past decade of television."
Vanity Fair does an extensive probe of the David Letterman extortion scandal, and finds one former Letterman staffer who says working for Dave is like working for Jesus Christ. "The women usually speak only under the cloak of anonymity," writes Mark Seal, "or through intermediaries, perhaps for fear of retribution. They say the show is sort of a secret society, where staff members often become lifers, typically stuck in one job, never daring to leave, but whose bragging rights—'I work for Letterman'—are considered incalculable currency. Friends say (Stephanie) Birkitt wanted more."
"Anyone," says Robert Bianco, "who thought Leno might have learned any great lesson from his prime-time debacle 'The Jay Leno Show'— a show that failed in large part because Leno was too hidebound to improve, or even tweak, his act for prime time — was quickly disabused of that notion. Instead, what he's done is sort of solder the two shows together. It's the old Tonight format, complete with that new Tonight desk, all done on the super-sized new Jay Leno stage, with its inlaid test pattern and its eager crew of worshipful audience greeters."
"If the two episodes NBC made available are any indication of the quality going forward, 'Parenthood' would rocket to the top tier of family dramas on network television," says Tim Goodman. "That's because it does the near impossible for any extended-family drama: It manages to be poignant and funny without becoming ridiculously soapy and larded with cliches. Better yet, it deftly touches on an impressive array of emotions that families go through – from the grandparents to the grandkids – and the writing, acting and directing in those scenes are stellar."
