Dear "Entourage": Please kill off Vincent Chase!
"Entourage's" writers, says Hank Stuever, "are too afraid to make a real television show," settling instead "for making the world's longest documentary adaptation of 'Entertainment Tonight.'" "Which," Stuever adds, "is why loyal viewers should double-dog dare creator Doug Ellin to remove Vince from the picture entirely — tragically — so that we can see what happens to the entourage then. Take us on an uncharted journey into Hollywood grief rituals, with the Forest Lawn funeral and estate squabbles and everything. Show us how each of these men face life After Vince."
"Entourage" is still on fire in Season 7 // When will they run out of cameos?
"Hung" returns for Season 2 having wasted its potential
What seemed like a promising series hasn't lived up to expectations. "It's not that the new episodes are appreciably worse, or even different, from the 10 that aired a summer ago," says Alan Sepinwall. "I'm certainly familiar with shows I like in year one just falling off a cliff in year two. No, 'Hung' season two is doing roughly the same things as season one, and about as well – and that's a big problem." PLUS: Thomas Jane says: "I (expletive) deserve it because I am a (expletive) good actor.
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Al Gore's Current TV is getting shaken up, abandoning its identity
The former VP couldn't sell Current, so he's turning it into just another cable network with unscripted shows — with the help of former MTV mastermind Brian Graden, the man responsible for "South Park" and "The Osbournes."
BET Awards will kick off with a "Glee"-like muiscal number
"This is the biggest show we've ever done," says BET exec Stephen Hill of the event, which includes Justin Bieber and a Prince tribute. "All I can say is you're going to want to tune in for Queen Latifah's opening."
Chris Rock: "Leno did not f*ck over Conan"
"You know what's so white about this," Rock tells Howard Stern. "…Everybody acts like when your boss asks you to do something, he's asking you." They didn't ask Leno to step down, says Rock, NBC "f*cking fired him."
"Entourage" considered Seth Rogen to play Turtle
That was long before their feud, as exec producer Doug Ellin recalls: "I had seen him in 'Undeclared,' and I said to our casting director, 'There's a Midwestern kind of guy who I think would be funny for this show.' But then we found Jerry (Ferrara, who plays Turtle), so we went that way."
Cyndi Lauper reality show to be produced by Mark Burnett
It's a "Celebrity Apprentice" reunion as Burnett will document the lives of the pop singing sensation, her husband and their 12-year-old son.
Adam Scott: Leaving "Party Down" for "Parks and Rec" was "agonizing"
Scott says he can't wait to return for three episodes next season.
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"Futurama" hasn't skipped a beat in tonight's return, but is it too stuck in the past?
"The good news," says Joshua Gillin, "is that tonight's two premiere episodes, 'Rebirth' and 'In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela,' show the same wit and sense of humor of the series that was given short shrift in 2003. It is the Futurama that never was, a continuation of the pop smarts and pointed cultural sendups that made it a sleeper hit. The bad news is that while the show hasn't changed much, its audience probably has, and that will make this return to the airwaves a rough ride — initially, at least."
So what if jokes aren't contemporary? // Matt Groening: "Futurama" an underdog
Billy West: My fave show // David X. Cohen: Why we brought in Seth MacFarlane
ABC's "Rookie Blue" is a harmless diversion that's unremarkable
Don't expect "Southland," says Alex Strachan. "The acting is uneven; the writing and directing aren't particularly stylish or inspired; and you've seen it countless times before," says Strachan. "Even so, 'Rookie Blue,' the new Toronto-made police drama about half a dozen rookie police officers working the inner streets of Canada's biggest city, is a harmless enough diversion on an otherwise lazy summer TV night."
Gregory Smith: From "Everwood" to "Blue" // Missy Peregrym: "It’s not a procedural"
Smith and Peregrym deserve better // "Grey's" comparisons are unavoidable
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Jamie Foxx working on a mafia drama of his own
Foxx recently shot a trailer for "Tommy’s Little Girl," a proposed project he'll shop to the cable networks starring "Sopranos" alum Tony Sirico and Paul Sorvino as old mobsters, and Selma Blair as Sorvino's "Little Girl."
Watch a preview of Jimmy Kimmel's Webcam episode
Kimmel says of the impromptu Webcam shooting, following a power outage: "I suppose, if I’d thought it out better, I could have taken a video camera and done the same thing."
Fox scraps "Glee" reality show
Ryan Murphy was too busy for the reality project, which would've cast three new roles via MySpace.
"Vampire Diaries" to pit Nina Dobrev vs. Nina Dobrev
Dobrev will have to beef up her acting skills when Elena fights Katherine next season.
"Weeds" bringing back Jennifer Jason Leigh and Alanis Morissette
Leigh will return for one episode, Morissette for two.
"Bachelor's" Vienna: I dumped Jake — we haven't had sex in months
"We haven't been intimate in months now," Vienna tells Star magazine. "More than four months. At first his excuse was that he was fasting. The second excuse was that he didn’t feel like it. And the third excuse was that he said that he felt that I wouldn’t understand that he wants to wait until marriage, even though I told him I’d support him."
ABC will take back Vienna's $42,000 "Bachelor" ring
Vienna was wearing the ring just yesterday. But since Jake Pavelka didn't actually pay for it, "The ring will go to production," an ABC spokeswoman said.
Conan has fun with Lance Armstrong, on Twitter
"Yesterday was the longest day of the year, unless you count the time I interviewed Lance Armstrong," tweeted Conan this morning. Read Armstrong's response and Conan's response to Lance's response.
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"Bachelor" accusations fly: Jake a "fame whore," cheating Vienna "stalkerish"
According to TMZ, it was Jake who ended their romance last night because he thought she was cheating — something Vienna vehemently denies. Meanwhile, sources close to Vienna tell TMZ that he was always abandoning her for media events, while a "Dancing" staffer claims "she was kind of stalkerish" on set. PLUS: Ali doesn't want Jake.
As he neared death, "Deadliest Catch" Capt. Phil wrote, "Keep filming"
"It was my dad's want and will to have all this filmed and aired," his son, Josh Harris, says as Discovery prepares to show Phil Harris' final days. "The show is a story about our lives. And nine or 10 months out of the year, we're up north in Alaska on a boat together, and it's just what we've done. My dad couldn't speak so he wrote on a piece of paper and those were his wishes and he wanted the story to be told. It's going to be really hard because I don't remember any of the last two days. I blocked it out. So I know it's going to be extremely hard to go back and watch this, but at the same time I'll get to see what I said to my dad, the last little bit."
Which "Big Bang"-er has the most negotiating power, Jim Parsons or Kaley Cuoco?
Parsons is the breakout star, but Cuoco could leave the sitcom for a movie career. Meanwhile, Parsons is expected to negotiate his new deal separately from Johnny Galecki and Cuoco.
After do-good D.C., "Real World" is going back to "sluts and nuts" for New Orleans
The aspirational but low-rated Washington, D.C. season prompted producers to go in a different direction. "What our audience wants is. . . . stories that relate to them. They don't want esoteric discussions," says "Real World" boss Jon Murray.
"Glee" stars banned from having sex in their trailers
Says Ryan Murphy: "I have a rule: don't do it in your trailer! They've broken that rule on many occasions. I'm like, 'I know you guys are young and hormonal, but don't do it in your trailer.'"
Why "Idol" is making a mistake by adding 15-year-olds
Sixteen-year-olds have trouble handling criticism, and it's only going to get worse for 15-year-olds.
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Power outage forces Jimmy Kimmel to tape his show with a MacBook
An hour before Monday's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" was set to start, a power outage shut down the control room, broadcast transmission center and tape operations area. So Kimmel grabbed his MacBook and taped the show using his webcam (check out pics here and here). Monday's show will now air tonight.
Gary Coleman was granted a restaraining order against his ex-wife in February
Coleman, in a message to the court, wrote that Shannon Price "has shown a tendency to damage, destroy and steal my property and I believe she will continue to do so in my absence and while she is trespassing in my home."
Jay-Z and Eminem perform together on Letterman's roof
Their concert won't air until Friday night on "The Late Show," but you can watch a preview here.
Syfy is letting fans create a Saturday night movie
Fans will be able to create all aspects of a film. Says a Syfy exec: "We constantly have fans e-mailing with compliments, complaints and questions about our movies, and this is a way of involving the fans in a new way."
"I love nepotism!" Kathie Lee says of hiring son Cody for "Today"
USC film student Cody Gifford, 20, has been reviewing films for the 4th hour of "Today" for the summer.
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"Bachelor" Jake & Vienna: Is it over!?
It looks like it is, according to OK! magazine and "Greek" actor Gregory Michael, who learned of the break-up on Saturday night at a charity event. "We hit it off and hung out and danced the night away," said Gregory. "She made it very clear that it was over with Jake." UPDATE: Yup, it's over.
"NCIS" signs its final cast member: Sean Murray
Murray is the last of five actors to sign a multi-year contract with the CBS drama.
Starz plans to remake "Underbelly," Australia's "Sopranos"
The Aussie gangster drama (check it out) is notable because it's a based on real-life events that took place during "The Sopranos'" run — Season 1 follows Melbourne's 1995-2004 gangland war. It was so recent, in fact, that the show was banned from airing in Melbourne to avoid tainting juries when it premiered in spring 2008. DirecTV is currently airing "Underbelly" out of order, starting with the '70s-set Season 2. "Underbelly" is currently in its 3rd season, which focuses on late 80s/'90s Sydney police corruption.
"Desperate Housewives" recasts 1 role, casts 2
Tom and Lynette's daughter Penny will get a new actress, a younger Mike Delfini is joining the cast and Paul Young has a new wife.
Crystal Bowersox's record deal is signed
She'll record with 19 Recordings/Jive Records, which will release her new album later this year.
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"The Bachelor" bachelor says he couldn't do it in person because his thinking of the relationship was interfering with his Lifetime role. "One of the keys to acting is you have to get out of your head," he says. "This (show) didn't hire me to be Jake, they hired me to play Toby Davlin. I can't be Jake and sell this character." PLUS: 
Who cares if "Cougar Town" is no longer about a cougar? "Two and a Half Men" didn't change its name last season when it had a major change in direction, as Lisa de Moraes points out. She adds: "The name 'Cougar Town' is snappy and distinctive. And you remember it, which is no small feat in this age of TV programming overload — unlike lame show names like 'Better Together,' the new ABC comedy joining 'Cougar Town' on Wednesday nights in the fall — and which we have already forgotten."
The Jason Lee TNT drama is the latest incarnation of Slow Television, says Alessandra Stanley. "This series is to Memphis what the HBO series 'Treme' is to New Orleans and 'Justified' on FX is to Harlan County in Kentucky — timeless indigenous music is set against the exoticism of temporal subcultures. Atmosphere is the real hero of all these shows and music is the sidekick, be it R&B, jazz, or as is the case in 'Justified,' bluegrass tinged with rap."
