TVSquad

This clip from The Soup will bring a smile to the face of every reader who thinks that TV coverage of Michael Jackson has gone too far. I guess that would be all readers. Joel McHale introduces montages about how the gossip shows and news channels reveal too much info about his death, wonder where his body is, and speculate wildly. The funeral is tomorrow, so we can imagine what coverage is still to come. (Video also here.)

NBC has a fake tour of the new Tonight Show set up on the show's site (it features Conan, Andy, and Max doing the show in a giant warehouse with just a school desk and a bucket to bang on), but Access Hollywood's Maria Menounos got a real tour of the set from Conan himself. Spoiler warning: it features a desk, a mug, a couch, and curtains! (Video is also here.)

Conan takes over next Monday.

BEST

1. Mad Men. The best show on TV.
2. 30 Rock. The funniest show on TV.
3. Lost. Just when I started to drift away from this show they pull off an amazing year.
4. Chuck. I really hope NBC sticks with this show. One of the more entertaining hours on television.
5. The Colbert Report. Both Colbert and Jon Stewart handled the election well this year, but Colbert did something special.
6. The Mentalist. My favorite new show and one that deserves all the ratings.
7. Burn Notice. With 30 Rock and The Office, Thursday is a great night of TV again.
8. The Late Show with David Letterman. Dave is always great, but he got involved in the election too and really shined.
9, Tina Fey as Sarah Palin. Sure, she may look like Palin, but that doesn't mean her impression would be automatic. Fey became a pop culture phenom this year.
10. Whatever, Martha. Really odd idea for a show, but it works.

There's a famous scene in The Godfather: Part III -- the only really memorable one -- where Michael Corleone says, "Just when I thought I was out... they pull me back in." I thought of that when I read that Oprah Winfrey may not be ending her talk show in 2011 after all. What? I thought it was a done deal, but no. Every time I think she's done, she's back again.

When asked by Access Hollywood about The Oprah Winfrey Show ending in 2011, Ms. W said, "I'm not done." Well, you sure could have knocked me over with a feather. I mean, really, I understand that it's a woman's prerogative to change her mind, but I really thought Oprah had other worlds to conquer, other fish to fry.

Father's Day is this Sunday, June 15, and in celebration TiVo conducted a poll to find out which TV shows that dads say they hate but they secretly love. This is like looking into the secret diaries (you know, the ones with those flimsy little locks on them?) of dads around the country, but here are the results:

1. Dancing with the Stars
2. Grey's Anatomy
3. Desperate Housewives
4. Access Hollywood
5. TMZ

I think this poll has revealed one thing: most dads in the United States are...women?

Planet Green and Access Hollywood are rolling out the red, er, green carpet for Hollywood Green. The show, hosted by Access Hollywood and Today Show correspondent Maria Menounos will kick off tomorrow in a special timeslot at 6 p.m. The show will follow Menounos as she talks with her celebrity friends who are champions of environmentally-friendly living. The host will highlight green fashion trends, cover gala events, and put "fans and viewers in the know as to what she and the rest of Hollywood are doing to support the green movement."

Menounos is also a reporter for NBC Nightly News and can be seen in the summer comedy Tropic Thunder.

Planet Green is a property of Discovery Communications. It is a 24-hour eco-lifestyle network that focuses on conversation and meeting the challenge of protecting our earth.

Hollywood Green with Maria Menounos will air tomorrow at 6 p.m. on Planet Green then move to its regular time at 9 p.m. next week.

I've written many times here about how much I hate the tabloid shows, whether it's Access Hollywood, TMZ, or Entertainment Tonight. One of the worst is ET's sister show, The Insider. Besides having a despicable host (Pat O'Brien -- what's with that little fake laugh he does all the time?) and the lamest writing this side of a junior high student newspaper, it's also evil and dumb.

Take last night's episode. I don't watch the show, but I didn't get to my remote quick enough to change the channel after the news ended and I caught the teaser opening. They showed singer John Mayer with a gun to his head, a rather raw photograph that looked like it was taken across the street from a bank. Was Mayer being held hostage in a holdup? Was one of Jennifer Aniston's exes there telling him not to see her anymore? OMG! Stay tuned to this breaking news!

So Billy Bush and Nancy O'Dell got promoted from commenting in the Golden Globe post-show to hosting the entire show and presenting all the awards (actually recapping the winners since apparently the Hollywood Foreign Press Association did so earlier in a press conference covered by E! and TV Guide Channel). So not only does NBC not have an awards show, but they don't even get first dibs on announcing the winners.

First of all, does Billy Bush always wear his hair like that or did he leave his roof down in the convertible with his hair wet and gelled? It looks like a slicked back mullet, and that's not a look just anyone can pull off. In fact, no one can pull off that look. But it may have actually been a better choice than the brown suit. Sadly, though, the suit and hair was the least of the problems with last night's one hour Golden Globe "extravaganza."

Several months ago I made a promise that I was never going to watch the daily tabloid shows again. And I held on to that promise for a long time, and didn't watch Entertainment Tonight, The Insider, Access Hollywood or the other shows. Until last night, that is. I wanted to see if there was any news on the Owen Wilson story (though these shows claiming they have "breaking news" is truly laughable in this day of the web and instant info). I just want to report that these shows are still disgusting, ridiculous, and sleazy.

Example: On The Insider, Pat O'Brien showed clips of the hospital, with Samuel L. Jackson arriving and also Owen Wilson's brothers driving in a car to or from the place. And then they show "last known photos of the actor" (taken, um, August 8), and O'Brien describes Wilson as "running his hand through his hair," and you see Wilson with a serious look on his face. O'Brien is clearly implying that they can decipher something from a quick photo taken weeks ago on some street. Give me a break.

Okay, so, a few months ago Rich gave y'all the skinny on a proposed half-hour syndicated version of Deal or No Deal. Well, Variety, citing "sources" but nothing more solid than that, says NBC Universal and Endemol USA will be moving ahead with plans for a syndicated Deal or No Deal, and that Howie Mandel will likely be hosting this version, as well. The syndicated version would appear sometime in 2008. Again, it's worth noting that neither NBC nor Endemol have confirmed any of this.

Since it's part of the same article, I should probably also mention that Access Hollywood and Yahoo have teamed up to create "omg!," a celeb-centric site featuring clips from Access Hollywood. The site, which is supposed to launch today, will serve as a direct competitor to AOL's TMZ.com (AOL also owns TV Squad). I just hope whoever supplies the alcohol and drugs to today's Hollywood stars keeps the supply coming so folks like me can sit back and watch these two portals fight for the best footage.

If you've been watching the 24 hour news channels today, you may have heard that Paris Hilton is heading back to jail. There was a media frenzy outside the L.A. courthouse this morning to rival anything that happened with O.J. or Michael Jackson. And many people in L.A. noticed a plane flying a banner overhead that read "We Love Paris - The Darling Family." It's part of a promotion for ABC's new fall show Dirty Sexy Money.

But ABC is saying that the banner didn't refer to Paris Hilton, it refers to Paris, France, because the Darling family (the family in the show) owns property in many exotic locales, including France.

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight. And this post doesn't really refer to Paris Hilton, it refers to the Hilton Hotel in Paris, France.

Who knew that even people in China want to know who Anna Nicole Smith's baby daddy is?

TV Week is reporting that NBC Universal Television Distribution has licensed the format of Access Hollywood to a Chinese television network. It is the first time a foreign studio show has been licensed to show in the People's Republic. The show will be called Access Hollywood China; it will be shot and produced in Beijing, and the local content-to-U.S. content ratio will be 70-30. So yes, that means the Chinese might be seeing Billy Bush annoy the hell out of celebrities, but dubbed into Mandarin (or Cantonese if it's being shown in the southern part of the country). The show's big local star? Asian actor and supermodel Hu Bing, whom I was very disappointed to find out was a guy when I Googled his name.

By now you would have heard about the exclusive interview that Howard K. Stern has granted to Entertainment Tonight. If you had a chance to catch the interview, I have one thing to ask you.

Is he fake crying?

My gut instinct is to say that he is in fact being genuine with his tears, and that he's been put through the emotional ringer for the last six months. There is no doubt in my mind that witnessing deaths and births around him is an extremely trying time since he's taken on the roles as Anna's legal advisor, father, husband and now widow.

Yet...

I was going to say that this is the best news I've heard today, but then I remembered that I don't watch this show (or Entertainment Tonight or Access Hollywood) anymore, so I don't really give a crap. But any news that makes sure someone like Pat O'Brien is seen on television less is probably a good thing.

Inside sources are saying that O'Brien's contract with The Insider will not be renewed when his current contract is up in June. O'Brien's current salary is $4 million.

Now the question is whether or not O'Brien will go back to sports full-time. I was crushed when I saw him on CBS' tennis coverage last summer and I hope he doesn't return to that. Come on readers, help Pat out. What's the best job for the soon-to-be former Insider host?

[via TV Tattle]

I saw that Michelle Rodriguez was back playing Ana Lucia and my first thought was "What the hell? Have they finally made good on all that zombie talk?" Alas, it doesn't appear so. According to the Access Hollywood piece, she is appearing in a flashback. The article is spoiler free, for those of you that dodge the dirty details. The only thing it gives away is her wardrobe.

How her return is received will, of course, depend on the story they are telling, but I am surprised that they are bringing her back at all. I was under the impression that most people were ok with being done with Ana Lucia. Are there Lost fans with burning Ana Lucia questions that have to be cleared up?

No word on whether or not the producers popped for a full time driver this time, but one can hope. Lost is scheduled to return from its mid-season break on February 7, but I wouldn't rule out the possibility of that getting bumped up. Week after week of fourth place finishes has a way of shuffling schedules and changing plans.

[via tvtattle ]

*UPDATE* Reader A points to the news on the Official Michelle Rodriguez site that says the Acess Hollywood pics are not of her, and she is not currently in Hawaii.