TVSquad

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.

(S03E15) I'm pinch-hitting for Kona this week due to technical difficulties at the Gallagher homestead. Not sure if I can be the quote machine she is, but you can always add your favorite quotes from the episode into the comments.

You know, I've never been one to take Sheldon's side a lot of the time. As much as I love the character and how Jim Parsons plays him, the fact that a guy who's such a pill can have four people in his life who like him and tolerate his weird, Aspberger-like selfishness should be enough for me to connect to as a viewer. Most of the time, when Sheldon is wreaking havoc over his friends' lives, I'm usually feeling bad for whoever it is -- usually Leonard -- that's getting the brunt of Sheldon's utter Sheldonness.

But this week, I was on Team Sheldon. Why? Because Leonard knows Sheldon would appreciate a trip to the CERN super collider a whole lot more than Penny would, even if the lure of Penny in a snow bunny outfit is a strong one to resist.

(S05E15) I've noticed that the last few episodes of 'HIMYM' have largely taken place in the "home booth" at MacLaren's. I know it's the 21st century version of the couch at Central Perk, but the world of 'Mother' is a lot bigger than that these days. And, besides, Cobie Smulders and Alyson Hannigan aren't pregnant anymore; there's no need to hide their baby bumps under the table anymore.

That being said, it's a great place for two of this show's signature "bits" to start: 1) Absurd arguments, and 2) Incessant ball-busting. We saw both of these this week, with Ranjit thrown into the mix to make things more interesting. What really made this episode wasn't just the Rabbit/Duck argument, though; it was the subtle direction shifts that made loyal viewers think Ted was going in one not so good direction, when he was really going in a worse -- but more fun! -- direction.

On last week's 'Parks and Recreation' we saw Ron Swanson prove to Leslie how much of a tolerance he has for alcohol: he finished building a small harp in his woodshop while downing a bunch of whiskey. Power tools, precise measurements, minute tuning, the whole works. He even showed her photographic evidence (above).

When I spoke to Nick Offerman at the press tour, he told me that the show would be getting a look inside Swanson's woodshop. When he talked about the prospect, his eyes lit up and said, "I'm very excited about it." Well, now we know why: Offerman owns his own woodshop, and has a website full of examples of his and his crew's work. They make some very nice furniture, and they also build small structures and canoes.

Last week, when Annie posted about the series HBO is developing the comedy 'Tilda,' about the life of "a powerful female online showbiz journalist with a no-holds-barred style," the first person I thought of was Nikki Finke, who writes the blog Deadline Hollywood.

In fact, pretty much everyone who works in entertainment journalism thought of Finke; she's reclusive, opinionated, confrontational, litigious, and likes to punctuate news that corroborates with her inside info with a big fat "TOLDJA!" in all caps. So it's not a surprise to think that more than one person had to wonder if Finke was involved in this show, and if she wasn't, would she sic her lawyers after HBO and anyone else within subpoena-shot.

Gawker called Finke, who, in between threats to sue the site's writer and corporate parent, said she'd talk about her involvement (or lack therof) with the project soon. But The Hollywood Reporter managed to find out that Finke wasn't involved, leading to their wondering if Finke has the right to sue over this series.

When I was working the TCA beat on the west coast last month, I had a bit of cognitive dissonance when NBC aired the Golden Globes live at 5 PM. I watched it with a bunch of critics in a conference room we reserved for the purpose, then watched the rest in my room. After Ricky Gervais bid everyone goodnight, I started stretching and thinking it was time for bed, like I do at the end of every grueling award-show watching experience I ever had.

Then I turned and saw the clock: It was 8 PM. I could have gone for dinner and come back and still had time to work before calling it a night. It was disconcerting and refreshing all at once.

NBC is hoping people have that same experience with the Emmys on August 29, as they're toying with the idea of dumping the west coast tape delay and broadcasting the ceremony live across the country, according to Broadcasting & Cable.

The other day Questlove, drummer of The Roots, was taking a break from the grueling day of being the house band at 'Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.' He goes to the commissary at NBC's 30 Rock headquarters and notices that they have a special menu that celebrates Black History Month.

Great, right? Well, judging by the menu above, it wasn't all that great. Questlove snapped that picture and posted it to Twitter with the caption, "Hmm HR?"

What's funny is that how, in this ultra-connected society, this has become a real story, and not just a strange, not-meant-to-be-offensive-but-is-anyway occurrence. According to Mediaite, not only did the NBC corporate folks respond with a tweet (under a little-used @NBCU account) that the sign was taken down, but NBC's own African-American issues web site The Grio interviewed the cook who made up the menu. That interview is after the jump.

(S01E15) Why has this season of 'The Office' been so off-kilter? There have been promising episodes but very few that hit the mark. In fact, the only episode that can hold its own with classic 'Office' episodes is the Pam-Jim wedding, and I'm starting to fear that the show really is trying to figure out where to go from that high point.

And Jam may be the big problem here. They're not interesting anymore. But I'll get to them later.

So Dunder Mifflin is now owned by a company called Sabre. We don't quite know what they're all about except that they sell printers and they have a feisty CEO played by Kathy Bates. And in exchange for saving the branch's ass, they've asked for a few very reasonable changes. You'd think that even Michael Scott would embrace those changes. You'd be wrong.

Bill O'Reilly has been on top of the cable news heap for fourteen years now, and for a good reason: whether you agree or not with his politics or his interview style, the man does a great job of putting his interview subjects on the spot and making them squirm. And, let's face it: squirmy interviews make for compelling TV.

One thing O'Reilly doesn't have is a sense of humor. At all. He's just too intense of a personality who takes himself too seriously to be funny. But, for some reason, whenever he gets in Jon Stewart's presence either on 'The Daily Show' or his own 'The O'Reilly Factor,' he spends half the interview belittling 'TDS' and its audience and trying to keep up with Stewart joke-for-joke instead of interviewing him on substance. And it never, ever works.

Here's the first half of the first part of his interview with Stewart, which aired on the 'Factor' last night. The second half is after the jump.

(S01E14) Ever watch an episode and think the writers wrote it just to address the gripes of its fans? That's the way I felt while watching this one. It was an episode that had more chuckles than laughs, but it addressed the stories of two characters who have probably gotten the shortest end of the character development stick so far: Ellie and Laurie. So, for that, the episode stood out.

Let's start with Laurie. For most of this first season, we've seen her as nothing more than a West-Central Florida wannabe version of Lindsay Lohan. So it was refreshing to see that she's actually grown a conscience, and is willing to admit to it. It's a good thing, because a caricature-heavy Laurie would be tough to take in the show's already-secured second season.