TVSquad

Thank you Associated Press, not just for making the most sound choice for Entertainer of the Year since Stephen Colbert, but for giving me another excuse to do a Google image search of Tina Fey cheesecake photos. And I didn't even get them anything for Christmas.

Broadcast producers and newspaper editors -- who weren't busy safeguarding their pensions and 401Ks by burying what's left of them in the desert -- cast their votes in the AP's annual Entertainer of the Year Poll. The honors went to 30 Rock star and SNL lifeguard Tina Fey.

It's really the no-brainer choice. Sharon Eberson, entertainment editor for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, told the wire service, "She gave us funny when we really needed it and, in a year when women in politics were making huge strides, Fey stood out in the world of entertainment."

I bet you won't guess this.

In a year that saw news about everyone from Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan to Don Imus and Paris Hilton controlling the airwaves, newspaper editors and broadcast producers have chosen someone quite different for their annual "Celebrity of the Year" award (and it's a TV celebrity). The Pensacola News calls this person "a force of nature." This person beat out J.K. Rowling, Kanye West, and Kenny Chesney.

Read on for the answer...

Creators of 24 met late last year with human rights advocates, the dean of West Point's military academy and experienced interrogators to discuss torture and how the torture scenes on 24 affect how people are questioned by authorities in real life, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The panel of torture experts wanted to persuade 24 writers to "show torture subjects taking weeks or months to break, spitting out false or unreliable intelligence, and even dying. As they do in the real world," the article said.

The Associated Press is protesting a ban put in place by FOX that would keep photographers from snapping pictures at the Television Critics Association press tour. The network wants the AP to use photos that FOX hands out, rather than have actual photgraphers come in and take the pictures themselves. The AP says it will not assign any journalists to the event at all unless FOX allows their photographers into the event. David Ake, deputy director of photography for the AP, says, "The problem for the AP is that, just as we wouldn't let Fox write our stories, we can't have them shooting our pictures." This seems to me like a pretty clear cut example of a violation of journalistic rights. What do the rest of you think?

Since CBS no longer needs his services, Dan Rather is reportedly mulling over an offer to host a weekly news program for HDNet. The network is owned by Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. The deal would establish Rather as the host and producer of a one-hour news program. Rather told The New York Times that he also has offers from two other networks but he's leaning toward the HD thing.

I don't have HDTV so I've never seen the network but, I have to wonder, does 74-year-old old-fashioned newsman Dan Rather match with the network?

I tuned in to watch Stephen Colbert provide the entertainment at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner (Fun Fact: Teenage fangirls will watch C-SPAN for hot fake-pundits). Colbert looked just as handsome as ever, and his wife looked beautiful (there go my chances of stealing the man away). When President Bush and Laura Bush walked in, Colbert was already situated at the head table (just five seats away from Bush and right next to Helen Thomas!) but stood up to shake hands. I couldn't help but wonder if Bush had ever seen The Colbert Report before, but I guess he knows about the jokes, because Bush gave Colbert a knowing look while greeting him.

Since the first black-and-white image appeared on the first television, the local network affiliate has been a pretty important part of our daily lives. Not only did it provide the news and programming that the network delivered, but it also provided us with local information and personalities that we brought into our family as one of our own. In addition, many of the network talent we watch today came from those same local stations.

Now, as the networks place more and more of their content on the Internet for pay-per-view or free download, local broadcasters fear that they are being left in the dust to fend for themselves. That is why, this week, local broadcasters will be meeting at the annual National Association of Broadcasters conference in Las Vegas to determine how to hang on to their audience and their money.