TVSquad

Who's ready for a Sugar Ray reunion? Anybody? Hello?

Well, ready or not, you're going to get one. Mark McGrath, the Sugar Ray frontman-turned-entertainment-reporter is leaving Extra. Some reports say he's been fired, but The Hollywood Reporter is claiming that he really just wanted to get back to the band.

McGrath has been on hiatus from Sugar Ray for the past three years as he hosted Extra, but now the band is heading back to the studio and Mario Lopez is stepping up to take his spot behind the anchor desk. Lopez's much lauded muscles are apparently too big to share the stage, though. McGrath's co-host, Dayna Devon, has been demoted to Special Correspondent and backup host for Lopez.

I will always look at Lopez as A.C. Slater, so the idea of him becoming a "journalist" kind of makes me laugh. But then again, it's not like Mark McGrath was exactly the second coming of Cronkite. Besides, anyone who could stand 6 inches away from Miss Teen South Carolina as she rambled on about "The Iraq" without completely losing it obviously has some talent.

I'm not a big fan of reality shows, but I really did enjoy The Mole. It lasted two seasons on ABC (not counting the truly stupid Celebrity Mole that came later) and was hosted by Anderson Cooper. Cooper, as you know, is busy over on CNN with his own nightly show, Anderson Cooper 360, so ABC needed a new host for the revival that's coming up later in May. And now they've named him.

Jon Kelley will be the new host of The Mole, the man in charge of guiding contestants (and one spy) through an international game of searches, stunts, and elimination. Kelley used to be an anchor for the syndicated celebrity news show Extra and an anchor for Fox Sports Network.

I have no evidence that any of the strikes I'm about to mention will actually occur (nor do I have an exact definition of what some of them actually do). It is simply a hypothesis of the effects of such strikes.

One issue with being a television writer is that a writer's contributions are not as tangible as certain other creative roles. Only slightly more visible is the director's role. The most tangible and visible is the actor, who is immediately seen on camera.

Currently, the television writers are on strike. There is a good possibility that the actors will strike next year. But what if other people that work in the television studios went on strike, the ones who are even less visible to the public. I think those would also create problems for the industry in different ways. For example...

It's not even December, and American Idol's seventh season is still a month and a half away -- but the hype has already begun. According to an interview with Extra, the American Idol judges - Simon, Paula, and Randy -- are in agreement: This is going to be the BEST SEASON EVER!!

Last year, as you may recall, season six was often slammed by fans and critics as the WORST SEASON EVER. Who could forget Sanjaya? Oh wait, we did. His 15 minutes of fame only lasted 12.5 minutes. But for all of our Sanjaya-bashing, at least he kept things interesting in an otherwise bland and uninspiring year. Seriously, does anyone even care that Jordin Sparks just released her debut album?

Sure, Simon threatened to quit American Idol if Sanjaya won, but that seemed unlikely to ever happen. Look, even if Sanj did win by some miracle, Simon would have had to fulfill his contract with the show for the next three years. So Simon was never going anywhere. But that doesn't mean he won't quit -- eventually.

In fact, Simon recently announced that after his contract is up he will be moving on from the show that helped make him a super-rich celebrity.

It seems that Extra has done the leg work and taken heed to Jennifer Hudson's suggestion that someone rewind the American Idol tapes, to see all the nasty comments that Simon Cowell had said during her tenure on the show.

So a diligent production assistant in Los Angeles, had collected some footage that seems to show the more supportive side of Simon in this TV's Top 5! moment.

American Idol runner-up Katharine McPhee disclosed on Extra last night that she got a message from Steven Spielberg before the season finale, and he wants to meet with her. She even said (and I find this interesting) that since he was calling, she wasn't sure if winning would be best for her.

Now, what could Spielberg possibly want to meet with Katharine McPhee about? Is he doing a remake of The Wizard of Oz and he wants her to sing the theme song?

Both TMZ.com and Ryan Seacrest are reporting (warning: audio starts right away) that a very famous band will make Chris Daughtry an offer tonight to join their band as lead singer. The offer will be made on Extra.

TMZ says that the band is Fuel, but Seacrest (on his morning radio show, where he interviewed Daughtry today) hints that it might be another band, one that has something to do with Idol and has major hits and is a "household name."

Any guesses?

[UPDATE: Yes, it was Fuel]

No, you haven't tuned into the alternate universe version of TV Squad. What you are seeing here is true blue. According to Extra, Rosie O'Donnell has been named as the replacement for Meredith Riviera on ABC's The View. Meredith is replacing Katie Couric on NBC's Today show when Katie moves to anchor the CBS Evening News this summer. Rosie was on the short list of candidates that included Connie Chung, Patricia Heaton from Everybody Loves Raymond and current CNN American Morning anchor Soledad O'Brien.

ABC will make the official announcement on Friday, April 28th. From 1996-2001 O'Donnell hosted her own syndicated daytime talk show that was a critical and popular success. She is currently executive producer of The Big Gay Show, a comedy sketch show that will appear on the Logo network.

[via Zap2It -- thanks Anthony!]

It's unfortunate what has happened to some word these days. "Genius," and "cool" have all gotten twisted in the past couple of decades. Now add to that list the word "exclusive."

You ever notice the tabloid shows (ET, Access Hollywood, The Insider, Extra) will all say they have an "exclusive" interview with a celeb, but then you turn on another show and they'll have an interview with the same celeb, often in the very same chairs that the other interview had? What's up with that? Larry King does it a lot too. These shows honestly think that just because they interview a celeb on their show at a certain time in a certain way, that this qualifies as an "exclusive." Didn't exclusive once mean that no one else had the interview?

Yes, it was! Brian Unger, former correspondent on The Daily Show, actor, comedian, essayist on NPR, and co-host of Extra and O2Be, filled in for Keith Olbermann tonight on Countdown. I didn't recognize him at first, except I had an "oh, that guy has been anchoring in the afternoons on MSNBC too" moment. And then one of his guests called him "Brian" and then I slapped my head and said "doh!"

Anyway, interesting to see a Daily Show alum anchoring a news program, even if it is one that's not just a straight news show but an all-around news show that mixes humor with the hard-hitting questions. (The show is repeated at midnight, Eastern time, if you want to catch it.)

Hey, Walter, it's been awhile, hasn't it? In fact, I think it's been longer than a fortnight since I led you on a wild toboggan ride through the crazy world of celebrities and infotainment. If you'll strap yourself in, we'll careen down that hill yet again. The ride is brief, but the memories last a lifetime.*