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).
What You Missed Last Night: Leno on That Super Bowl Ad with Dave & Oprah
Jorge Garcia's New 'Lost' Podcast Just Melted My Brain
Jorge Garcia, the dude who plays Hurley on 'Lost', has launched a new weekly podcast about the show's final season, lovingly titled "Geronimo Jack's Beard." You can download the first episode now, which features Jorge and co-host Beth Shady discussing the script for last week's premiere 'LA X Parts 1 & 2'. It's a fun listen, but don't expect to hear any plot spoilers from Jorge, who clearly states that he's "not the answer guy."
While listening to "GJB," I honestly wasn't expecting to get any definitive answers to the four million questions I have about the premiere. (I doubt Jorge could get away with sneaking spoilers into the recording.) Still, I was hoping to get a few clues about the strange new "flash sideways" storyline.
But the podcast left me even more confused about the premiere than I was before.
Continue reading Jorge Garcia's New 'Lost' Podcast Just Melted My Brain
Letterman Wanted Conan for Super Bowl Promo
If you've seen the by-now-infamous David Letterman/Oprah Winfrey/Jay Leno Super Bowl promo, then you are probably left with a lot of unanswered questions. "Were they really in the same room together?" "Did this happen before the Second Late Night Wars started?" "What about Conan?"
Well, the answer to the first two questions can be found in this New York Times article on the spot, which was shot last Tuesday. The short answer: Letterman just thought it would be funny. What would have been even funnier though, is if there had been four people on the couch. Because if there's anything more awkward than Leno and Letterman in a promo together, it would be throwing Conan into the mix. It turns out, that was exactly Letterman's original plan.
Continue reading Letterman Wanted Conan for Super Bowl Promo
The Super Bowl Commercials: The Best
Look, I knew as soon as I saw the promo for 'The Late Show with David Letterman' that featured Letterman, Oprah and Jay Leno, that nothing was going to top that. There was just no way anything could be better than that 15-second ad. While I was correct, there were some commercials for non-CBS products that put a smile on my face. Of course there were many others that made me groan, wince or sigh, but Bob's handling those.The videos below are from Hulu, because they were the first ones available. If you can't view them due to location restrictions, they will all be up at Fanhouse.
Continue reading The Super Bowl Commercials: The Best
The most surreal ad I've ever seen: Letterman, Oprah, and ... Leno?
The first big Super Bowl shocker came early tonight, in a CBS promo, no less. The Super Bowl is on CBS, so it's no surprise we get a shot of David Letterman on a couch in his Colts jersey, but here's where things get weird: he's at a Super Bowl party with Oprah, and he's complaining about how it's the worst Super Bowl party ever. We then see Jay freakin' Leno, who says that Letterman is only saying that because he's there. Letterman then mocks Leno, and then we see that this whole thing is a promo for 'The Late Show with David Letterman.'
How in the hell did this happen?
Continue reading The most surreal ad I've ever seen: Letterman, Oprah, and ... Leno?
What You Missed Last Night: Jimmy Fallon's TV Mash-Ups
One of the things I love about "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon' is Fallon's enthusiasm. When he laughs hard at something, it's real, sincere goofiness, not a fake showbiz laugh. Like last night when he introduced TV Mash-Ups, NBC's big plan to get back on top.
Of course, there's no way in hell I'd watch shows called 'Hard Nips' and 'Front Butt.'
Of course, there's no way in hell I'd watch shows called 'Hard Nips' and 'Front Butt.'
Continue reading What You Missed Last Night: Jimmy Fallon's TV Mash-Ups
Will ABC Let Adam Lambert Into the Oscars?
The Adam Lambert/ABC controversy is one of those things that makes zero sense to me. If you recall, after Lambert kissed a dude and briefly simulated oral sex with someone in his band on the American Music Awards, ABC freaked out and started banning him from their shows. The network canceled appearances on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' and 'Good Morning America,' apparently fearing that the 'American Idol' runner-up wouldn't be able to refrain from nibbling George Stephanopoulos' ear at 7:30 AM. What I don't get is why this is such a big deal: it's as if ABC is operating in a world in which Lady Gaga and her antics don't exist.
Now the big Lambert news is that he may be attending the Oscars, which is airing March 7 on ABC. As Lambert isn't in the film industry, this makes little sense-- except that he may be attending the ceremony with longtime friend Anna Kendrick, who is nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her turn in the George Clooney film, 'Up In The Air.'
Continue reading Will ABC Let Adam Lambert Into the Oscars?
What You Missed Last Night: 'Lost' producers explain things to Jimmy Kimmel
So you watched last night's season premiere of 'Lost,' hopefully with a bottle of Advil by your side. I think I know what's going on (translation: not really). But Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof were on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' last night and actually answered some questions from Jimmy about the plot (and spoiled some of it for the studio audience - the episode was taped before anyone in the audience had seen the episode).
The interview is in two parts, the second is after the jump.
The interview is in two parts, the second is after the jump.
Continue reading What You Missed Last Night: 'Lost' producers explain things to Jimmy Kimmel
What You Missed Last Night: Colbert Got His iPad!
Last week I told you about Stephen Colbert making a plea on his show for Apple's new iPad (which he called the Tablet because it hadn't been released yet). Well, it looks like he got his iPad a lot sooner than the rest of us are going to get them. He whipped it out last night at 'The Grammys' and even taunted some of the stars who haven't gotten one yet.
What You Missed Last Night: Kimmel on Leno's Oprah interview
Joel told you about Jay Leno's appearance on Oprah yesterday. Last night, Jimmy Kimmel explained exactly what happened when he went on The Jay Leno Show and joked about Leno.
After the jump, Kimmel shows all the best parts of Leno's interview, with help from REM.
After the jump, Kimmel shows all the best parts of Leno's interview, with help from REM.
Continue reading What You Missed Last Night: Kimmel on Leno's Oprah interview
Chris Matthews: still on MSNBC, still won't shut up
Last night during MSNBC's coverage of the State of the Union Address, Chris Matthews said about President Obama, "I forgot that he was black tonight, for an hour." Now, even if you give him the benefit of the doubt about this statement (a dumb statement for many reasons - what, he does remember that he's black all the other times of the day? What exactly does it mean?), it's still an odd statement to say out loud. He "clarified" the statement on Rachel Maddow's show.
Don't think what he said was odd? Imagine if someone on FOX News had said it.
Don't think what he said was odd? Imagine if someone on FOX News had said it.
What You Missed Last Night: Democrats are just like Kevin on The Wonder Years
Ah, The Wonder Years. Kevin's older brother used to tease and bully him all the time. Last night on The Daily Show, Jon Stewart used a clip from the show to illustrate what Republicans are supposedly doing to Democrats right now on healthcare, tax cuts, and many other issues.
He also makes a football analogy that no one in the audience gets.
He also makes a football analogy that no one in the audience gets.
[Watch clips and episodes of The Daily Show and other shows at SlashControl.]
What You Missed Last Night: Stephen Colbert wants Apple's tablet
In case you haven't heard, Apple is probably going to release some sort of tablet/pad today that is GOING TO CHANGE THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT. Actually, I'm pretty excited about it myself. So is Stephen Colbert. In this clip from last night, he talks about a new iPhone app and pleads for the new device too.
[Watch clips and episodes of The Colbert Report and other shows at SlashControl.]
What You Missed Last Night: Bill Gates talks about his foundation (and robots that love)
This is an interesting Daily Show interview with Bill Gates where he talks about the work of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, but I'm posting it because of a funny question that Jon Stewart asks him about a certain Microsoft competitor.
[Watch clips and episodes of The Daily Show and other shows at SlashControl.]
Hulu users are not big Jay Leno fans
I was on Hulu this morning looking for a clip from The Jay Leno Show for another post I'm doing, and I quickly found out that Hulu users are not on Team Jay. I let my cursor rest on one of the episodes (his January 19th one featuring Chelsea Handler), and some information about the show popped up, including user-generated tags. The above picture is a screenshot from Hulu, and if you can't read it, the tags say, "hack," "thief," "unfunny," "has been," and "backstabber."
If you scroll all the way down on the Jay Leno Show page on Hulu, in addition to a pretty nasty comment thread about how he stole The Tonight Show from Conan, you'll see a place where you can tag videos. Currently Leno has 51 tags, and the ones I mentioned above aren't even the worst ones. They're ranked by order of use, and "hack" is number 1, having been used 66 times. However, "nicest guy in tv" has been used four times, so that's something, right?
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. on 'Faces of America' and the Beer Summit
Six Reasons Why '24' Has Jumped the You-Know-What
The Super Bowl Commercials: The Best
