TVSquad

While Amy Poehler has had steady work both on and off the stage of Saturday Night Live over the last few years it looks like she may be moving up to "big time" status along with former SNL cast mate Tina Fey. And, it might all begin this weekend. Not only is she starring with Fey in the movie Baby Mama, which is being released today (and is expected to be the box office champ, despite mixed reviews), Poehler also has a new cartoon premiering on Nickelodeon.

The Mighty B, which premieres Saturday at 10:30 AM, features Amy as the voice of Bessie Higgenbottom. Bessie is world's most ambitious Honeybee scout in the known universe. She wears her uniform all of the time, leads her troop with a military-like zeal, and has the most badges than any other Honeybee in history. But, she wants to earn all of the Honeybee badges, and she's determined to earn them. Sometimes she imagines herself as the superheroine The Mighty B, to help her through the tasks that will earn her another badge.

For all you Andy Richter fans who are still waiting for that one show that will actually last a while on the schedule, this might be good news: the former Conan O'Brien sidekick has a new show in development at Comedy Central, for the 2008-09 season. The show is still untitled, but it is described as a comedy/sketch show.

That's just one of many shows in development at Comedy Central.

Every Christmas I look forward to the new slate of holiday episodes. Since I have seen most holiday specials more than enough times, I always enjoy a new holiday themed episode of a current show.

Last year, it was The Office. Michael's hilarious trip to Benihana was a delightful addition to the collection of classic episodes that TV Land will eventually show every year at this time. While I was also happy to see it repeated again this year, the feelings were bittersweet because I knew that if it weren't for the current WGA strike, there would have probably been another great one.

(S02E09) "That's not a Christmas tree. It's a way to lure tourists into the basement for $20 salads." - Kenneth, about the Rockefeller Center tree

I'm a sucker for Christmas episodes. The plots, the lessons learned, the music. And it doesn't matter if it's a corny, traditional type of holiday episode or a modern, irreverent look at the holiday. This 30 Rock episode is more the latter, but it doesn't mean that there isn't some crazy traditional aspects to it too. These characters - even the ones who get on each others nerves - care about each other in their own way. When Jenna sings "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" and you see a montage of people arguing and Guatemalan kids destroying their Christmas gifts, that's a nice mix of the old and the odd, and the capper of having Jack and his pain in the ass mom wish each other a Merry Christmas just fits so perfectly.

Here's yet another funny video from Will Ferrell and Adam McKay's video site, FunnyOrDie.com. This short piece was written and directed by Adam McKay (Anchorman, Talladega Nights) and features Willem Dafoe, Andy Richter and Will Ferrell as office workers who have a special procedure performed on themselves that initially seems like a good idea, with major regrets occurring later. I can't go into too much detail without ruining the video for you, so skip to the bottom of this post and watch it.

Richter and Ferrell are always funny, but it's also nice to see a "serious" actor like Dafoe really putting himself into something this silly. Even though he's the only non-comedian in the whole short, he's by far the best part. Someone should give that man more comedic roles, like in The Last Temptation of Christ. That movie was hilarious.

• Charlie Rose: artist Richard Serra
• The Daily Show: Paul Rudd
• The Colbert Report: Jessica Valenti
• The Late Show With David Letterman: Chevy Chase, Amanda Beard, and Satellite Party
• Jay Leno: George Clooney, The Zimmers, and Rihanna
• Jimmy Kimmel Live: Carmen Electra and Peter Jones
• Tavis Smiley: Nancy Wilson
• Late Night With Conan O'Brien: Brian Williams, Leslie Mann, and Los Straightjackets
• The Late, Late Show With Craig Ferguson: David Milch, Rosie Perez, and Patti Smith
• Last Call With Carson Daly: Andy Richter and Gary Jules

You've come a long way, Conan. It's tough to believe you stepped in as host of NBC's late night almost fifteen years ago, but you did, and you know what, for a first timer I think you did okay.

Conan is so comfortable in his role as host now that it's somewhat endearing to watch his first show after all these years. He's not nearly as animated and spring-loaded as he is now. In fact, he appears downright humbled to be stepping into Letterman's timeslot. Of course, after a few years I don't think many of us even look at Late Night as Dave's old show anymore. It's all Conan's game, now, baby.

• At 8, ABC has a new Ugly Betty, followed by a new Grey's Anatomy and the premiere of October Road.
• CBS has March Madness all night.
• NBC has a "newpeat" of The Office and a new Scrubs, then the premieres of both Andy Barker, P.I. and Raines.
• There's a new Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader? at 8 on FOX.
• The CW has a new Smallville at 8, then a new Supernatural.
• At 9, ESPN has a new U.S. Poker Championships, followed by coverage of the Pacific Life Open tennis tournament.
• History Channel has a new Decoding The Past at 9.
• Also at 9: HBO has the Addiction special.
• At 10, Food Network has a new Throwdown with Bobby Flay, then a new Ace of Cakes.
• Comedy Central has a new Showbiz Show with David Spade at 10:30.

Check your local TV listings for more.

30 Rock, the Tina Fey/Alec Baldwin Thursday night comedy on NBC, was supposed to leave the air for a month to make room for Andy Richter's new sitcom, Andy Barker, P.I. But NBC has just announced that the show is actually coming back a little early, on April 5, to be part of a new "Super-Size" night of comedies on the network. It also announced that starting March April 12, 30 Rock will switch places with Scrubs, airing at 9 with Scrubs moving to 9:30.

Hmmm...the first six episodes of Andy Barker, P.I. are already online, and that might be all that we'll see from the show. As TV Barn notes, one of the episodes is an "online only" episode, which means that only five episodes will be shown on TV. I think that all of this news, plus the fact that Andy Richter's shows never seem to last long, means that we won't see much of the show after these five episodes are shown.

It seems to me that NBC is kinda messed up right now and aren't sure what the hell to do with a lot of their shows.