TVSquad

(S03E14) "I bet you wish you had more than one God now, eh?" - Ravi Kapoor as Earl's doctor

Boy, that Jeff Zucker is one hell of an actor, isn't he?

Generally, I love it when a high-paid executive is willing to make fun of himself for his company. Case in point; when Les Moonves talks to Dave Letterman on the phone I think it's hilarious. The key, however is that the executive in question has to be able to effectively deliver a joke. I think My Name is Earl missed an opportunity for some real nice comedy. Too bad Jerry Seinfeld didn't have another movie to promote.

Remember last October when Jerry Seinfeld was all over NBC promoting Bee Movie? Well, maybe there was more going on with Jerry and the Peacock people than just honey-related promos. PageSix.com is reporting today that Jerry Seinfeld is in talks with NBC for a new series.

You have to assume that if there's truth to this, the network is probably bending over backwards to secure a new Seinfeld. Heck, if Jerry wanted to do a series about a forensic scientist who also does comedy on the side, they'd greenlight that, too! Will they call it Seinfeld Redux? Seinfeld Squared? Seinfeld Deux?

Well, Jerry and his wife have finally responded to cookbook author Missy Chase Lapine's lawsuit.

Lapine sued the Seinfelds after Jerry went on The Late Show with David Letterman and said some rather nasty things about her, including calling her a "wacko" and suggesting she was a stalker (even making a joke about her having three names, like killers often do). This also stems from the incredible similarities between Lapine's hide-your-veggies book The Sneaky Chef (released in April of 2007) and Jessica Seinfeld's hide-your-veggies Deceptively Delicious (released in October of 2007).

Just last night, a fan named Kevin sent me this query...

"What actor/actress has received the most money for a sitcom syndication deal?"

Well, the short answer is Jerry Seinfeld. The long answer has all the details.

Ask Men has a list of 5 Things You Didn't Know about Seinfeld. I don't consider myself the biggest Seinfeld fan on the planet, but I do think I've seen every episode, and I didn't know any of this stuff. Maybe you die-hard fans will scoff at the list and proclaim your knowledge of all those little known facts and more.

For instance, did you realize that we never got to meet any of Jerry, George, or Elaine's siblings? We got to meet their parents, but each of them referenced siblings during several episodes and we never, ever saw or met them. That's actually a cool little insight to their characters--that they really don't want to see their siblings. In case you were wondering, Elaine has a sister (her nephew was the one who was obsessed with the nipple slip Christmas card), Jerry has a sister, and George has a brother.

This is my third Festivus at TV Squad and, in past years, just a few of my wishes have come true. For instance: a Kate and Sawyer hook-up on Lost, another season of My Name is Earl, and a little faith in Scrubs from NBC. All those came true after my first Festivus, last year's wish list wasn't really granted. And, CBS has yet to kill off a main character on CSI. Sara almost died, but didn't. Drat!

This year, all I really want for Festivus is for the writers to get a fair shake and for my favorite shows to return to television. But, since that's kind-of a downer, I made a list that's a little more fun.

I have to agree with Whitney over at Pop Candy when she says she's confused that Marcia Cross made the list of TV Land/Entertainment Weekly's "Top 50 TV Icons" list. I mean, seriously, Marcia Cross?! Imagine all of the people left off the list that could have gone in that spot. Maybe if Cross had found a cure for cancer she could go on the list. Then again, she'd be on a "Top 50 Scientists" list, not a TV icons one.

Anyway, she's on the list. The full list actually goes up to 100 (Cross is last, but that still doesn't explain anything), and she's not the only head-scratcher.

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:

• The writer's strike officially began today, complete with picketing and a giant rat.
  
• Sabrina Bryan admits that she and her dance partner Mark fell for each other on Dancing with the Stars.
  
• Jerry Seinfeld says it's too late for his plans to write a reunion episode of Seinfeld.
  

The video's embedded below, or you can subscribe to this podcast via our feed. Plus, you can also download the file directly.

• At 8, FOX has a new Cops.
• ABC has college football at 8, Florida State vs. Boston College.
• There's a new Emeril Live on Food Network at 8.
• Nickelodeon has a new iCarly at 8, then a new Just Jordan.
• G4 has a marathon of second season Heroes episodes tonight.
• At 9, FOX has a new America's Most Wanted.
• CMTV has a new I Want To Look Like A High School Cheerleader Again, which sounds scary.
• At 10, CBS has a new 48 Hours Mystery.
• TLC has a new Trading Spaces at 10.
• Also at 10: TCM has Gone with the Wind.
• At 11, FOX has a new Mad TV with Carlos Mencia, then a new Talk Show with Spike Feresten, guest hosted by Jerry Seinfeld with guest Patrick Warburton.
• At 11:30, NBC has a new Saturday Night Live, with Brian Williams and Feist.
• Note: A&E was supposed to have a Dog The Bounty Hunter marathon all night. That's not going to happen now.

Check your local TV listings for more. And don't forget to turn your clocks back one hour when you go to bed!

"The Strife Aquatic": I'm so glad Jon called out the fact that the "liberal dictionary" was just a children's Bible. I kept thinking, "The liberal dictionary has an awful lot of pictures, Jon. Quit perpetuating liberal stereotypes! We read good." Anyway, torture is no good. Usually. Kind of depends one your definition for "torture", apparently. Also, I just realized that I may have been using "waterboarding" instead of "bodyboarding" for most of my childhood. Seeing as how I've lived in beachy Florida for most of my life, "bodyboarding" has come up quite a bit. Oops.

• At 8, ABC has a new Ugly Betty, then new episodes of Grey's Anatomy and Big Shots.
• CBS has a new Survivor at 8, followed by new episodes of CSI and Without A Trace.
• NBC has a new, one-hour My Name Is Earl at 8, then new episodes of The Office, Scrubs, and ER.
• FOX has a new, two-hour Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader at 8, with Regis Philbin and Clay Aiken.
• The CW has new episodes of Smallville and Supernatural.
• At 9, Larry King interviews Jerry Seinfeld on CNN.
• HGTV has a new Divine Design at 9.
• Hallmark has the new movie McBride: Semper Fi at 9.
• Also at 9: Sci-Fi has the new movie Headless Horseman.
• At 10, Sundance has a new Iconoclasts, with Alicia Keys and Ruby Dee.
• FX has a new It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia at 10.
• At 10:30, Comedy Central has a new Drawn Together.

Check your local TV listings for more.

What's happening on other blogs via the interweb.

• FOX gives JJ Abrams $10 million to make a sci-fi pilot for the network titled Fringe.
• There are 26 crime dramas on TV right now. Radar helps you pick which one to watch.
• Jerry Seinfeld gives 30 Rock a slight ratings boost.
• Something Old, Something News has video of the classic SCTV parody The Cisco Kid.
• More evidence that Jimmy Fallon will take over Conan's spot in 2009.
• Oh, this is funny. Remember I told you about the hot women of Fox Business Network? They've changed the site!
• Hey, remember UPN and The WB? Ah, the olden days.

(S02E01) Seinfeld: "What if I just buy NBC and turn it into the biggest Lane Bryant in midtown?"
Jack: "Ha! You're going to buy NBC? Oh, right, like you have $4 million just lying around..."

The above bit of dialogue is one of the many reasons I love this show. They could have gone for the easy joke, which would have been to play off of the vast wealth that Jerry Seinfeld has and just say a figure like $4 billion or $20 billion or whatever real amount it would take to buy NBC. But they go one step further, cleverly saying $4 million, thereby insulting NBC, the very network this show runs on. That's great stuff. No wonder NBC renewed this show. Besides being a new classic, then get to look self-deprecating while having what amounts to a half hour infomercial for the network every Thursday night!

This annual list from Forbes is half "wow, I didn't know they made that much" and half "oh my God, Oprah made more money in the last minute than I've made in the past five years." But it's a fun way to see who's making what. Some of the people you pretty much assume will be on the list, but there are a few surprises too.

Oprah is indeed on top again. From June 2006 to June 2007 she made $260 million. I could pay off my Visa with that money. Number two isn't even on TV anymore: Jerry Seinfeld. He made $60 million during that year. I won't spoil the rest of the list for you, but let's just say that the top twenty includes two people from American Idol, someone from a reality show featuring models, and a whole bunch of talk show hosts, both daytime and nighttime.

The list is also a TV show. The Forbes TV 20 will premiere on E! tomorrow night at 5pm.

A lot of words and phrases from Seinfeld have made it into our everyday language. Yada yada yada, not that there's anything wrong with it, close talker, hipster doofus, to name just a few.

TBS has a contest at their site. They've created a poster that includes 38 references to the show. Can you find them all? The answers are available at a link just below the poster. Some of them are hard to figure out, but you can enlarge the poster.