TVSquad

This morning, Brad told you about the possibility of Howard Stern eventually replacing Simon Cowell on 'American Idol.' Stern didn't exactly do anything to shoot down those rumors, but producers of 'Idol' are. Richard Rushfield at The Daily Beast says that not only have there been no talks with Stern about replacing Cowell, it has never even been a consideration.

Stern did talk about it a little on his SIRIUS show, but he never said "yes, I'm talking to the producers" or anything like that. He could be just talking about it to get people talking about him.

Howard Stern on 'American Idol?' That would hurt Stern, actually. His diehard fans would expect him to do something outrageous to sabotage the show, and 'Idol' devotees would instantly say "I'm never watching that show again!" Why not have him judge one of the early audition episodes next season? That might be kinda fun.

Late Sunday, Anderson Cooper and fellow part-time hero / full-time correspondent Sanjay Gupta tweeted that they were going back to Haiti. Almost a month after a major quake destroyed the capital, most news crews and their high profile reporters have long since packed up and left. Haiti is no longer front page news and that makes Cooper's return all the more interesting.

It's no secret that CNN sees a spike in viewing during disasters, so is the network just milking the tragedy for ratings? Is it a genuine plea for a people forgotten by the news cycle? Or is it just good journalism?

(S02E15) First of all, those stilettos Beckett had on were awesome. I'm not saying that so much as a girl crush, but as more of a 'Sex and the City' sort of style thing. Her mullet seems to have calmed down a little, and overall, I'm liking her style (though I'm still on the fence about her jacket pictured above). Girlfriends, what say you about the jacket?!

The second episode of 'Lost's' final season airs tonight, but they're actually done filming over a dozen episodes this season, so they only have a few more to film before the cast says goodbye to the show forever. One cast member says that his survival at the end of the show is "unlikely." Spoilerish info after the jump.

Minka Kelly might not be on 'Friday Night Lights' anymore but she is keeping busy. She has just signed on to star in the pilot for a new CBS comedy, 'True Love.' It comes from Matt Tarses of 'Scrubs.' It's about four close friends in New York City and their relationships.

I know, I know, everyone is going to say "hey, that sounds a lot like 'Friends,' doesn't it?" But is that really fair? There are just so many plots that a TV show can have before it starts to seem like they're copying it. I remember when a lot of 'Friends' clones popped up after that show became a hit, but that was more about the timing of those new shows. It's all about the writing and the cast and the direction and all of those elements, not that it's about single people living in Manhattan.

Besides, 'Friends' ended years ago. How much longer will we compare new shows to it?

When 'Survivor' host Jeff Probst renews his contract, it's usually for two years (which comes out to be four seasons of the show). But when he renewed his contract with CBS and the show last week, he only renewed it for one year (two seasons). I'm not sure if this is because he doesn't want to commit to several seasons of the show or if it's a negotiating/contract thing. Could 'Survivor' continue without Probst as host? Or is he too big a part of the show?

'Survivor: Heroes & Villains' debuts on Thursday.

At one point in history, MTV was known for being on the cutting edge of young programming and was quick to pick up on change. However, the network seemed unusually reluctant to stray from its original Music Television name, despite the fact the rest of the world was well-aware that their "music" programming was virtually non-existent. This reluctance was even more weird when MTV's final bastion of music videos, 'Total Request Live,' had the afternoon spot wrenched from its weakened hands.

Well, MTV has finally caught up, making a visually minor but symbolically huge change to its logo: No more "music television."

While I was in Pasadena for the TCAs, I got a chance to have a very interesting talk with Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. He was at the press tour to promote his new PBS series 'Faces of America,' which debuts on Wednesday, February 10.

In the four-part follow-up to his 'African-American Lives' series, Gates traces the lineages of a number of celebrity guests via the use of both old-fashioned digging -- documents, genealogical investigations -- and cutting-edge genome research. Some of the guests include Eva Longoria, Yo Yo Ma, Stephen Colbert, Malcolm Gladwell, Dr. Oz and Meryl Streep.

Professor Gates and I talked mostly about what he found surprising about his research, and what guests were most surprised by their lineages. Of course, I also asked him about the aftermath of the "beer summit" with President Obama and James Crowley, the Cambridge police officer who arrested him for breaking into his own house last summer. You'd be surprised what the officer gave Professor Gates as a keepsake of the incident.

I don't think there's anyone who has been harder on Jay Leno over the years than me. I'm a Letterman guy all the way, but there's something oddly...comforting about having Jay back at 11:35. And you know what? Seeing Jay talk about how that Super Bowl ad with David Letterman and Oprah came about is almost touching. It seems like Jay was truly moved by Letterman asking him to be in the ad, even if it was mostly just to do something funny and surprising.

Jay talked about it on the show last night. (For the record, Dave talked about it too, but just made a few jokes, including one about how the people who played Jay and Oprah in the ad did a great job).

I'm not talking about a TV movie a la '24: Redemption,' I'm talking about an adventure that Jack Bauer will have on the big screen. TV Guide is reporting that a screenwriter has been hired to write the '24' movie. Billy Ray, who wrote the movies 'Shattered Glass,' 'State of Play,' the remake of 'Westworld' as well as many episodes of the mid-90s sci-fi series 'Earth 2,' is going to do the screenplay for the movie.

Of course, since this is a big screen movie of a small screen show, they have to do something a little "larger," so Jack won't be saving Los Angeles or New York or even Ottumwa, Iowa. This movie will be set in London, which means Jack will have to get used to saving the world in 24 hours several hours ahead of when he did it here in the United States. Also, any car chases or car explosions will now take place on the other side of the road.

[Watch '24' and other shows at SlashControl.]