TVSquad

Yesterday, we wrote about Chris Brown's appearance on Larry King Live, where he tried to ameliorate his image. As Jane pointed out, Chris didn't really say very much. On the other hand, in the new People magazine, Brown has opened up and put his foot directly in his mouth. Chris Brown is ticked off with Oprah Winfrey and thinks she owes him an apology. Or so it seems.

Brown was offended that Oprah did a show last March about domestic violence, based on Brown's public assault on his lover, the singer Rihanna. The incident took place in a car after they had both been to the Grammys. Brown was found guilty, ordered to stay away from Rihanna, sentenced to five years of probation, one year of domestic violence counseling, and six months of community service.

CBS has had a rocky relationship with their new evening news anchor. The move to hire her after journalist Dan Rather went down in flames like a phoenix blasted out of the sky was heralded as a new dawn without realizing that it sets just as quick.

Couric has earned some respect for her work since Sarah Palin let her stick her brain in a Newton's Cradle and knock it back and forth until her "You betchas" became her "Okie dokies". But the news broadcast is still third in the ratings war and the egg hasn't completely been washed from CBS' face.

So until Palin announces her bid to run for head of Alaska's border patrol to keep those pesky Russians at bay, CBS hopes they can keep what little momentum they have going by doing for Couric what NBC just did for Jay Leno.

The best way to recover from a Super Bowl hangover? February sweeps! This week features plenty of guest stars, premieres and the return of heavyweight 'Lost.' Here are AOL Television's top picks for what to watch this week.

Rules of Engagement (Mon., 9:30PM, CBS) series premiere
Is the sitcom dead? Not if CBS has anything to do with it. Consider this: In the battle between heavyweights '24' and 'Heroes,' the winner was none other than 'Two and a Half Men.' Clearly, the audience still wants to see sitcoms, so CBS takes another shot with 'Rules.' It takes elements of the excellent 'How I Met Your Mother (two couples, one Barney-like single guy) and mashes them up with the premise of Fox's 'Til Death' (one new, one longtime couple) to make comedy comfort food.

Gilmore Girls (Tue., 8PM, The CW)
It's started. Yep, the train to Luke-and-Lorelai-ville has left the station and going full speed ahead. First, she wrote a beautiful, heartfelt letter for his custody trial. Now, Luke's there for her and the entire Gilmore family after Richard's classroom collapse. He even runs errands for Emily! And Logan borrows a helicopter to lend Rory his support. And where's Christopher? Nowhere to be seen. Not even a phone call. Choo-choo, folks, choo-choo.

Howard Cohen of MiamiHerald.com seems to think so. In today's post he points out that several AI finalists didn't take top prize, but the show still helped catapult them to success. Jennifer Hudson's Golden Globe win last night certainly puts her on the top of the list for "Most Successful Ex-American Idol Losers," well, at least for the time being.

It's a cross-promotional party over at CBS for Grammy Week '07. In anticipation of the February 11th broadcast of the 49th Annual Grammy Awards, nominees Mary J. Blige and Nelly Furtado will be making special guest appearances on CBS shows. Blige will be playing opposite lackluster recording artist Jennifer Love Hewitt on an episode of Ghost Whisperer, and Nelly Furtado will be playing a dead hooker on CSI: NY. Oops... actually she's not playing a dead hooker. I just saw "network crime procedural" and "attractive woman" so I thought "dead hooker."

Hey, Brigitte here with TV Squad Daily. I'll be covering the TV stories I find interesting each day, Monday through Friday, in this video blog.

Today on TV Squad Daily:

• You could win a chance to sing with Justin Timberlake at the Grammys.
• The organizers of the Acadamy Awards are done with giving $100,000 gift baskets to the stars.
  
• More proof that prison changed Martha Stewart; her radio interview with Howard Stern.

The video's embedded after the jump below, or you can download the file directly (Quicktime required). You can also subscribe to this vodcast via our feed.

Dick Clark caused a bit of a stir earlier this year with his appearance on his New Year's Rockin' Eve show, the first time he appeared on TV after suffering a stroke in late 2004. But he's stayed off the air since. Now comes word that there will be a musical tribute to him at this year's Emmy ceremony, to be broadcast by NBC on August 27.

Barry Manilow is set to perform his version of the American Bandstand theme "Bandstand Boogie", for which he and a co-writer wrote lyrics sometime in the mid-'70s. Of course, Clark hosted and produced Bandstand for over 30 years.

Gotta tell you, the words "musical tribute" sound very final to me. I mean, yeah, Dick's still with us, but it really sounds like the music and TV industries both acknowledge that we're not going to see much of him anymore. That reminds me: anyone find a health update on Dick? We really haven't heard anything since the New Year.

[via The Futon Critic]

In case you've missed it -- perhaps you were busy shoveling out your car (it's snowing like crazy in the Northeast)  --  here are some highlights from the last week at TV Squad:



The Winter Olympics have begun!

• Anna thinks Brian Williams brought too much of the real world to the opening ceremonies.
• Day 3 coverage
• Day 2 coverage
• Local NBC cameraman blogs from Turin (or Torino, depends on your language).
• Viewers get to vote for one Olympic athlete to join The Apprentice.
• The five Olympic sports Anna thinks are worth watching.

Breaking News

• Univision put up for sale.
• Neve Campbell gets engaged.
• Al Franken moves his radio show to Minneapolis; is he running for Senate?
• Elizabeth Vargas of ABC News is pregnant.
• Franklin Cover of The Jeffersons dead at 77.
• Al Michaels traded to NBC for Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
• CBS shelves Love Monkey.
• Oprah signs deal with XM Satellite Radio.
• Rob Corddry to star in a pilot for FOX.
• A Warren Buffett cartoon is in the works.
• Kelly Clarkson wins 2 Grammys, doesn't thank American Idol.
• Andrea Anders of Joey to star in new sitcom.
• Mike Tirico and Tony Kornheiser to join Joe Theismann in MNF booth.
• Worker on Sam Donaldson's ranch convicted of murder.
• Jon Stewart and his wife have a daughter.
• Ricky Gervais to write an episode of the American version of The Office.
• Reuven Frank of NBC News dies at 85.

Discussions

• Listen to the first TV Squad APB podcast!
• Dave Chappelle to appear on Actor's Studio.... yeah, you heard me.
• Bob and the readers discuss Oprah's extensive power.
• What channels would you pick if cable was available a la carte?
• Some odd stuff happened on The Daily Show this week.
• Are there good actors who are annoying celebrities?
• Was Teri Hatcher's Grammy gown more revealing than the one J.Lo. wore a few years ago?
• Bob wonders if the Grammys still matter.

The Five

• Forgotten Sesame Street characters.
  

Opinions

• Kim remembers The Jeffersons.
• I spotlight the work of The Office's Mindy Kaling.
• Ryan likes Stacy Keibler... a lot.
• Kim wonders if it was a good idea for Kelly Clarkson to forget about Idol during the Grammys.
• Adam feels the need to defend Maria Bamford.
• He also thinks that Idol winners being nominated for Grammys is a bad sign.
  

Episode Reviews

• Battlestar Galactica: "Sacrifice"
• The O.C.: "The Heavy Lifting"
• The Office: "Valentine's Day"
• Lost: "The Long Con"
• Veronica Mars: "Ain't No Magic Mountain Hight Enough"
• Scrubs: "My Half-Acre" / "Her Story II"
• American Idol: Boston Auditions
• 24: "1:00 PM - 2:00 PM"
• Surface: Season Finale
• Gray's Anatomy: "It's The End of the World"

It's not entirely unheard of for stars to accidentally omit thanking someone during the heady rush of an awards acceptance speech. Hardly anyone forgets to thank God or Jesus, but accountants, personal assistants,  ex and current spouses, sure. I can totally understand how someone might forget one name out of the long list of names they have to rattle off in 20 seconds. When accepting two Grammy awards Wednesday night, however, Kelly Clarkson neglected to mention the show that gave her big start - American Idol. Clarkson, who won awards for best pop vocal album for "Breakaway" and female pop vocal performance for "Since U Been Gone", thanked pretty much everyone else on the planet, but not Idol or its judges, Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul. Clarkson defended herself afterwards, saying she thanked "the fans" and that's American Idol.

Well, not exactly, Kelly. I mean, don't get me wrong - I think Kelly Clarkson rocks, and she's done very well for herself since she won Idol, beating out Justin Guarini (who, since that godawfulness of the film From Justin to Kelly, seems to have slipped into obscurity). But if you look back at photos of Clarkson before and during her audition, compared to now, she hardly resembles her former self. Without Idol, she might very well still be hawking popcorn at that movie theater job and singing Celine Dion songs in smoky karaoke bars instead of cradling two Grammys. I bet Simon was...displeased...at the lack of love for Idol.

The Grammys airs tonight, but I won't be watching it. I have an annual ritual where instead of watching the awards show I turn off all the lights, stand in a box of broken glass, and spray Windex into my eyes for two hours. As much as I'd love to watch the music industry congratulate itself, this just seems like a better use of my time. However, there is something interesting about tonight's telecast, which is that if either Kelly Clarkson or Fantasia Barrino wins, it will be the first time a made-by-TV performer will have won the coveted award.

What does this mean, exactly? Well, the Mercury News thinks this marks a new era where TV has a greater influence on music. As one promoter states, "TV has created an entirely new audience, beyond the normal concert goers."

I don't think the "new audience" that has formed around American Idol could really be described as "music fans." I'm not making a blanket statement about all AI viewers, I'm saying that the show, despite what it claims to be, doesn't really cater to real music fans. It's about drama and record deals, and while the talent involved may be good (or great, or amazing) singers in their own right, they're merely part of the juggernaut. Television didn't just make people like Clay Aiken popular, it also made William Hung popular, too. It wasn't until some distance was put between Idol and the likes of Clarkson and Aiken that they began to garner a fanbase that wasn't just made up of people wondering what barbed witticism Simon Cowell was going to toss out next. American Idol has been a springboard for many, but ironically, it's those artists who have forged an identity separate from the show that have had the most staying power. Rather than American Idol ushering in some new era of music, I see it becoming less and less relevant.

Singer Pink reportedly tied the knot this weekend with her motocross racing boyfriend Carey Hart, in Costa Rica. I can't say that Pink is one of my fave singers, but dang! I gotta give the girl props for those abs. Hart, as you may recall, was also on the fifth season of Surreal Life (What? You didn't watch it either?). Hopefully the Grammy-winning singer will have sense enough not to allow anyone to talk her into making a reality show of her first year of marriage (she can ask Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey how well that idea worked out).

 

Grammy-winning singer Lou Rawls, whose velvety voice earned him legions of fans, died today of cancer at the age of 72. Rawls was born in Chicago and raised by his grandmother. He started honing his voice at age seven in a Baptist church choir.

 Rawls got his start as a gospel singer, then later transitioned to more secular music, selling over 40 million copies of his 60-plus albums and winning four Grammys . In addition to his long career as a singer, Rawls also appeared in over a dozen films and 16 television series, including Fantasy Island and Fall Guy, and voiceovers for children's cartoons (among other roles, he was the voice of Harvey on Hey, Arnold!) . Rawls was also a humanitarian; he was well known as a huge supporter of the United Negro College Fund, and performed at the fund's telethon last year.