TVSquad

When the Super Bowl first began, halftime shows consisted of marching bands and the occasional big name performer for a song or two. Carol Channing actually did two halftimes -- 1970 and 1972! Well, times have changed and so have the expectations.

The 2009 Super Bowl in Tampa reportedly has landed Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band to anchor the Super Bowl halftime show. It'll be The Boss's first time performing for the NFL's biggest show.

One thing we can count on with Springsteen, there'll be no wardrobe malfunctions. Even if Little Steven whips off his bandana, the censors won't care. Ever since Justin Timberlake ripped the top off Janet Jackson and got a chunk of bra to go with it, revealing her breast to the ogling TV audience, the networks have been careful to keep the halftime shows purely musical.

Lifetime is going to honor Estelle Getty, who died yesterday at the age of 84, with a marathon of Golden Girls episodes.

The 10 episode marathon will start at noon this Friday with the pilot episode (the Sophia character looked a lot different in the first few episodes, if I remember correctly). The episodes have been picked because they focus on Sophia.

Fans will get a chance to vote on which episode ends the marathon, the episode they think shows Getty and Sophia the best. MyLifetime.com has narrowed down it down to five episodes: "It's A Miserable Life," "Sisters," "Old Friends," "My Brother, My Father," and "Old Boyfriends." And if you don't know the plots by the episode titles (you'd have to be a Golden Girls fanatic for that), the site gives you a quick synopsis of each one.

(S04E09) Mia cried. Mary kept relatively quiet (Thank God!). Nigel lectured. Cat wore a green dress. And we eliminated another two dancers last night on So You Think You Can Dance. Off we go!

Opening Performance
"Elevator" by Flo Rida featuring Timbaland (choreographer: Shane Sparks)

What a great hip-hop performance! And I'm so glad that Shane Sparks is lending his expertise to the show again. I was worried he'd be totally wrapped up in America's Best Dance Crew this summer. The girls part on the floor was great but a few of them messed up the arm movements. The best part of the piece was Comfort with the three guys. It was near perfect. My eyes never left Comfort. I wasn't impressed with her krumping on Wednesday but this opener proved to me why she's there.

In a case of reality television going too far, a director has been arrested in Florida for locking half his contestants in the house they were occupying. The show was called Pauper to Princess and its concept was to build eight women's self-esteem and help them grow physically, mentally and spiritually.

The part that I really find amusing is that the excuse the director Marc Brilleman gave for locking the women in the house was "they could not leave because they were being disciplined". Um, disciplined? Is this some sort of sadomasochistic fantasy going on behind these doors? Admittedly I haven't read the contracts, but if they broke the contract by leaving the house, couldn't you just fire and/or not pay them?

Eric Deggans, the TV and Media critic for the St. Petersburg Times has an interesting article up discussing the death of the TV theme song and also providing a list of his top-ten theme songs of all time.

Deggans points out the obvious -- that TV producers, ever wary of viewers flipping channels, have tried to keep the start of the show as peppy as possible -- but he also ventures a theory that is in desperate need of further explanation....

Last April I told you Sydney Pollack was attached to direct HBO's "dramatic re-imagining" of the 2000 election kerfuffle in Florida.

Pollack has stepped away from the director's chair for personal reasons, and Austin Powers director Jay Roach has stepped in. Pollack will remain as an executive producer, however.

After avoiding jail time for a drunk driving arrest back in November, actor Tracy Morgan (30 Rock) is apparently having a bit o' trouble. The actor/comedian allegedly engaged in a bit of bad touching at a Southern Florida radio station on Friday.

Radio host Yuleika De Castro (who goes by the radio name "Sandy Domingo") claims Morgan smelled of alcohol and kissed the back of her head and touched her shoulders and arms.

Wait, he smelled of alcohol? I thought he had to wear an ankle bracelet that could detect alcohol in his system? Perhaps he hasn't been fitted for the bracelet yet? Or maybe he's trying out a new cologne that smells like Pabst?

Morgan's local comedy club dates in the area were canceled, though it's not known if the cancellations had any connections to the incident at the radio station.

If you don't remember the presidential election debacle in Florida in 2000, here's a brief summary of what happened:

First, networks declared Gore the winner, then they declared Bush the winner, then they decided it was too close to call, then they decided no one was the winner, then they decided Bush and Gore were figments of our imagination, then James K. Polk was posthumously re-elected and immediately impeached within a six-minute time frame, and then after that it just got really confusing.

Wow, here's something that was COMPLETELY UNEXPECTED.

Judge Larry Seidlin, who presided over the Anna Nicole hearing/circus last week, might get a regular spot on CBS' Saturday Early Show. One of the show's producers, Michael Rosen, sent Judge Seidlin a letter the other day (obtained by The Sun-Sentinel), saying that they want to hire him for a new segment on the show:

"I have been extremely impressed by your compassion in the Anna Nicole case and I would love to discuss with you the idea of being our judge on a new segment, `Morning Justice.' It would be a semi-regular segment in which you would resolve the ethical and legal questions of our viewers who send in the issues troubling them."

Well, this is going to take up a little while this afternoon.

The Game Show Network has a new game on their site called Astronaut Moonstalker, and though it sounds like one of those cheesy movie you always see on The Sci-Fi Channel, it's actually a space game based on the female astronaut who put on a diaper to drive 900 miles and kidnap a romantic rival.

It's a fun, well-designed game. Using the arrow keys on your keyboard, you pilot a spacecraft around rocks, monsters, and space debris to land next to the happy couple and break them up (by telling the woman bad things about the guy). You also get bonus points if you collect the red hearts that are floating through space, and your progress is tracked by a "diaper meter." Play the game after the jump (or play the bigger version at the link above).

I'd just like to take this opportunity to confront Adam Finley about the comments he has made about me on this very blog. Just last week he told you that I had lied when I said that Flipper was coming out on DVD. Well, Mr. Finley, Flipper is coming out on DVD, and here's the proof.

The set will contain all 30 episodes from the first season, on four discs. No word yet on commentaries or other extras. Though it would be cool to see what the Ricks kids are up to these days (Brian Kelly, who played the dad, died in 2005).

I'm not quite sure why Adam doubted my original story. He just doesn't seem to understand the special mind bond I have with dolphins around the globe. Then again, nobody does. It's something I've had to put up with my whole life. Nobody understands.

VH1's popular reality series Hogan Knows Best returns for a third season on Sunday, October 22 at 9pm. The new season will see the family make the move from Clearwater to Miami as daughter Brooke prepares to release her first album and son Nick continues to delve into the sport of drift racing and make a name for himself in the sport. A special online series "Hogans Revealed" will debut on VH1's VSPOT site the same time the episodes air, and a special sneak peek of the episodes will also air on the site four days before they air on television. If you're thinking of having a family of your own some day and think the only way you can learn how it's done is to watch an aging wrestler with lots of money do it in front of a camera crew, then by cracky, this show was made just for you. Personally, I take all my child rearing advice from Randy "Macho Man" Savage, but to each his own.

Oh God, here we go.

Dustin Diamond, aka Screech from Saved By The Bell, told a Florida radio station that a woman mugged him in his hotel room. He says the woman busted into his hotel room with mace, grabbed some PSP games, then ran out. He had her for a few seconds against the hotel room door (she cried "rape"), but then she got away.

Luckily, his T-shirts are fine.

(S01E06) The very fact that you were willing to set a monkey on fire for us, that means a lot. - Kevin Beekin

This episode begins with the team talking to an image consultant about making Kevin look better when he's on camera. It seems most viewers don't find him very attractive and one even sent an e-mail saying his skin was so pock marked it looked like a Band-Aid. The consultant, like everyone else on the show, has no idea the news team is really a bunch of comedians, but she does manage to maintain her cool even when Marty tells her everything she's saying is wrong.

Tillie gets a call during the meeting about a girl who has been kidnapped in Florida, and the team begin to cheer and high five each other since this could be a story that gets them national exposure. It's also good news that she's a young, pretty white girl and not some Mexican grandfather, because no one tunes into the news for that sort of thing. Marty adds that the girl must be either found or killed before a certain date if it's to work into Kevin's schedule. It's a funny scene made even funnier by the fact that there's a woman in the room who has no idea it's all a gag.

CBS is the only network that has opted not to interrupt its programming tomorrow afternoon to cover the launch of Space Shuttle Discovery (FOX is in local access at that time). NBC and ABC will both cut in with reporters stationed in Florida and space shuttle experts on hand. NBC is planning to have NBC Sports break away from the U.S. Women's Open Championship to news anchor John Seigenthaler just before the launch, which is scheduled for 3:39 pm ET. CBS says it will have reporters at the event but will wait until the evening news to air its coverage. MSNBC, CNN, and FOX Newschannel will no doubt be going whole hog with their coverage, constantly reminding us of the shuttle tragedy in February 2003 when Columbia broke up as it entered the earth's atmosphere. Sadly, that tragedy is the reason the news networks even care about this launch, which is delivering two tons of supplies to the International Space Station. It took the deaths of seven brave astronauts for the mass media to remember that America even has a space program.