TVSquad

It's no secret that the country is in severe financial straits, especially people who are caught in the real estate merry-go-round where they find themselves unable to pay their monthly mortgage. Amazingly, someone as seemingly well-heeled and secure as Ed McMahon is one of those people struggling. Johnny Carson's sidekick on The Tonight Show is on the verge of losing his Beverly Hills home through foreclosure.

Published reports claim that Ed McMahon's home on Mulholland Drive, part of the gated hilltop development called The Summit, has been on the market for sale since 2006. Unfortunately, moving real estate in a depressed market is very tough. Complicating matters for McMahon is the neighborhood, in particular, one neighbor: Britney Spears.

As AOL Television continues their look at the 50 Best TV Comedies -- Ever with their Top 10, we here at TV Squad are also looking at television comedy, but with a slightly skewed difference. Last week, we took a look at the Saturday Night Live cast members from 1996 to 2006 that made it to the big time. This week, we get a bit more serious.

There are those in the industry who say that it is easier to go from acting in a drama to acting in a comedy than it is the other way around. Yet, as you will see from the list we've compiled after the jump, there are plenty of comedic actors who have jumped from the world of comedy films, stand-up comedy, and television sitcoms into the more serious world of drama. In many cases they have had even greater success than they did on the other side of the tracks. There have even been instances where they stayed in the drama genre and never went back to being funny.

Just when you thought awards shows couldn't get any longer, The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences announced that reality show hosts are eligible to receive Emmys. This year's 60th Annual Emmy Awards will include a category called Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program.

The academy named popular hosts like Ryan Seacrest, Tom Bergeron, Samantha Harris, and Howie Mandel as possible nominees. Ty Pennington, Tyra Banks, and Jeff Foxworthy are also eligible. I'm not surprised that reality hosts are getting this opportunity. The Emmys have had categories for Outstanding Reality Program and Reality-Competition Program since 2001 and 2003, respectively.

President George W. Bush will make a surprise appearance on the NBC game show Deal Or No Deal to thank an Iraqi war veteran contestant for his service to his country. The episode will be airing this coming Monday (Bob breifly mentioned this in his Blogosphere post).

The President's segment was pre-taped at the White House. The contestant, Captain Joseph Kobes, was on the program to try and win enough money to pay off his parents' home. He is a Purple Heart and Bronze Start recipient who completed three tours of duty in Iraq.

Did you get money for Christmas? I don't get money for Christmas anymore. Gift cards have become the money substitute now, for both adults and kids. But if you did get cash for Christmas, or maybe you got a Christmas bonus or maybe you got cash back for that ugly sweater Aunt Sally bought you, here's a guide to some TV show promotional items and other collectibles you might want to buy.

Heroes stamps. Yup, these are official U.S. stamps, and they come with a pic (actually, Isaac-ish drawing) of your favorite hero. Right now they have Claire, Nathan, Hiro, Peter, and also that mysterious helix symbol. What, no Syler?

This is probably the weirdest video you'll watch today. And no, don't worry, the Deal Or No Deal models aren't going to make a guest appearance on The Office. That would be too much to take.

No, the models appear in a promotional video on NBC's web site, re-enacting a scene from the sitcom. You'll see model...um...what's her name, the hot one, in a cast, talking to another model...um...can't remember her name...sitting behind the desk, playing Pam. The scene is even done in the style of the show, with hand-held cameras, sweeping shots to get reactions of characters, and confessionals. The woman playing the Dwight part only has one line but she's actually rather effective.

The only innovation (if you can even call this an "innovation") on NBC's Deal Or No Deal is that you never see or hear the Banker. He's just a mysterious man in shadow who calls up Howie Mandel several times during the show and offers money to the contestants. But now, for at least one episode, we're actually going to see and hear him.

Donald Trump will play the Banker in the season premiere of the hit game show. The episode will also feature another first: someone who plays at home will be guaranteed to win a million dollars. I guess this is good publicity for The Donald and makes sure he's still in the public eye until that celebrity edition of The Apprentice premieres. Judging by a photo on the set of the game show, he'll actually be on stage with Howie and the contestants for at least part of the game and not just in the booth above.

The episode airs on September 17.

NBC is creating a syndicated version of Deal or No Deal, but it's going to be a little different than the prime time version of the game show. Howie Mandel will still be the host, but everything else is going to be slimmed down. For instance, the syndicated version will last 30 minutes instead of an hour. And the maximum amount a contestant can win will be $250,000 rather than $1 million. Also? Fewer suitcase models.

The game show is being picked up on at least six NBC-owned affiliates as a companion to a new, Merv Griffin-produced game show called Crosswords. Both are scheduled to begin airing in the fall.

There's a funny post by Ken Levine over at his blog. He talks about how it seems that the goal of standup comics now is to host a game show. Think about it. Howie Mandel, Bob Saget, Jeff Foxworthy, Drew Carey. They've all gone from having sitcoms and dramas and doing standup to hosting network game shows like Deal Or No Deal and Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader. Ken wants sitcoms to make a big comeback, so the talents of comics can truly be showcased and not put into that game show personality machine that either makes them annoying or (even worse) lame and bland.

But what if Sam Kinison had hosted a game show? After the jump, Ken's very NSFW scene from a Kinison-hosted show.

Okay, so, a few months ago Rich gave y'all the skinny on a proposed half-hour syndicated version of Deal or No Deal. Well, Variety, citing "sources" but nothing more solid than that, says NBC Universal and Endemol USA will be moving ahead with plans for a syndicated Deal or No Deal, and that Howie Mandel will likely be hosting this version, as well. The syndicated version would appear sometime in 2008. Again, it's worth noting that neither NBC nor Endemol have confirmed any of this.

Since it's part of the same article, I should probably also mention that Access Hollywood and Yahoo have teamed up to create "omg!," a celeb-centric site featuring clips from Access Hollywood. The site, which is supposed to launch today, will serve as a direct competitor to AOL's TMZ.com (AOL also owns TV Squad). I just hope whoever supplies the alcohol and drugs to today's Hollywood stars keeps the supply coming so folks like me can sit back and watch these two portals fight for the best footage.

Deal or No Deal, the stupid NBC game show that airs a couple of times a week, is being sued by a former "paid audience extra" on the show.

Judy Ann Myers was taping a segment of the show last February, and during a commercial break she was told to hurry up to get into the audience so she could take part in a dance contest that was being held. Well, Myers tripped on the way down (I guess there were no handrails on the stairs and the lighting was bad) and hurt herself, and now she wants $25,000.

That's not me saying that, it's The Los Angeles Times. But I have to agree.

As several of us here have pointed out in the past, just look at the shows that pass for game shows nowadays. Deal Or No Deal has the gimmick of hot chicks and shiny suitcases. So far, so good (every show needs something). But then we get the most annoying guests in the history of television. Seriously, these people are so OUTGOING and have big PERSONALITIES, all of them, that the producers must give them a test before the show and won't pick anyone normal. Even their family members are this way. This was never the case on game shows before, and if you got an episode where it was like that, it stood out.

Now all of these contestants are the same, and so are the shows. After all, what is Identity but Deal Or No Deal, only with humans instead of suitcases? More annoying guests, more luck, and more stupid decisions (honestly, quit while you're ahead). And the l.......o......n.....g, drawn out pauses and "suspense" each show tries to build. Ugh.

Things are not looking good for the NBC series, Crossing Jordan. The crime drama is being moved to Wednesday nights, up against American Idol and Criminal Minds.

Evidently, NBC sees more promise in Howie Mandel and Deal or No Deal. That game show is currently in the Wednesday 9 pm timeslot and it's getting pummeled in the ratings. The network is moving Howie and the suitcase models to a friendly time slot on Sundays at 9 pm. That means The Apprentice is getting pushed back an hour to 10 pm on Sundays and Crossing Jordan gets thrown into the line of fire. It's amazing that Crossing Jordan is still on the air, considering all the time-shifting and lack of publicity it gets from NBC.

All these changes begin March 4.

Now that is a Superbowl commercial. I fully suspect someone to ask tomorrow, "Did you see that Bud Light ad, with the guys slapping each other?" It's an interesting premise, and does call to mind the How I Met Your Mother episode "Slapbet", which is a good thing.

I really like the editing here. Just having slap after slap after slap once we learn that the face-slap is the new fist-bump was great. Bonus points for the two girls at the wedding. We have to include everyone in the fun. And a nice payoff at the end when Larson slaps his boss across the face after saving the account. This is another contender for ad of the night I think. The only thing that could have been better would have been seeing a dejected Howie Mandel learning that the fist-bump is now out.

This isn't really a surprise: ABC has canceled the William Shatner game show Show Me The Money.

Even though game shows are all the rage now, especially ones hosted by celebs known for other things (Shatner, Howie Mandel, Bob Saget, Penn Jillette), no one really seemed to care about Show Me The Money, and the ratings for this past week's show were the lowest yet. The network actually ordered more episodes, but they won't be shown either (though I guess we'll have to wait to see how long it takes for the shows to show up on ABC's site, though I bet even that's a long shot).

Did anyone even watch this? I like Shatner, but this held no appeal to me. I fear the same thing about Identity, Jillette's new show. I like Jillette, but this show just seems lame and random. Guessing what other people do for work or what has happened to them by looking at them? Yawn. Looks like Deal Or No Deal, only without the beautiful models and human beings instead of shiny suitcases.