It's official, "pulling a Letterman" means sleeping with a co-worker. Why? Because I said so.
It seems that ABC's late night host Jimmy Kimmel has been in a relationship with a member of his staff as well. This time, the host has been dating the show's head writer Molly McNeary for "several months."
This forced Fox News to pose the question if Kimmel is "pulling a Letterman" and ask if he should be forced to apologize on the air to Ben Affleck. That normally would be hilarious if Fox News didn't handle all of their news with the same level of integrity and tact.
And yes, I'm jealous they came up with that line first.
With The Jay Leno Show starting on Monday, I figured this would be as good a time as any to print my brief chat with Leno at the party NBC held at the TCA press tour. He had just shown up, and he was surprisingly not yet surrounded by reporters; I figured it would be a good time to throw him a couple of questions I was curious about. Little did I know that I'd be doing it while he was eating one of the short ribs they were serving at the party .
No matter; you get the hot star of the moment in front of you, you throw him questions even while he's chewing. Jay being Jay, he handled it like the pro he is. Nothing really that newsworthy came out of this little chat, which is why I've held on to it until now, but I figured it would be a fun thing to read on a Friday.
Oh, one fun note: he claims that when he started The Tonight Show, someone said "I hope Jay dies of AIDS in one of his cars." Wow. Wonder how easy that article would be to find on the Web?
I was wondering when someone would do some sort of parody related to the death of Billy Mays, and it's Jimmy Kimmel Live. There have been jokes here and there, including some by Kimmel himself, but this is the first all-out segment I've seen. Over the line? Judge for yourself.
A lot of memories have surfaced of the good times that pop icon and musical genius Michael Jackson provided the world in the wake of his untimely and unfortunate death. However, an elephant in the room has wedged its wide butt in between the happy memories that range from "Billy Jean" to "Rockin' Robin," other than the eye-bleedingly bad Moonwalker movie.
Jackson's life outside of the recording studio and in the blood-soaked pages of the supermarket tabloids provided a lot of fodder for comedies and comedians that turned the man into a punchline just as fast as the radio waves turned him into a legend.
I'm sure the rest of the staff here at TV Squad would like to thank Jimmy Kimmel for the laughs he's served up at ABC over recent years on Jimmy Kimmel Live as his career on that network comes to an end.
That possibility seems like more than a good bet after Kimmel ravaged his home base during an upfronts presentation Tuesday.
In a monologue that seemed to generate more winces than laughs, Kimmel not only bit the hand that feeds him, he band-sawed it clean off. Appearing before a New York City press corps, Kimmel tore apart NBC, ABC, Jay Leno and anyone else who wanders anywhere near the world of network television.
What's most strange is that anyone reading even a partial transcript of his monologue will be left wondering what part of it this gifted comic thought was funny. His remarks seem more vitriolic than comedic.
Andy Warhol's comment about everyone getting fifteen minutes of fame has apparently morphed into everyone getting fifteen minutes as a talk show host. George Lopez is the latest, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Lopez will start a 34-week test run in November on TBS, in the 11 p.m., Monday through Thursday timeslot.
Lopez seems like a personable guy, and if his ABC sitcom was any indication, he should have a pretty good mainstream appeal. But this will be an experiment for Lopez and TBS. The network has only dabbled in late night programming, and many a comedian and comic actor (Joan Rivers, Chevy Chase, Dennis Miller) have found late night talk shows to be a quagmire. The success of the show may depend on how much leeway Lopez has for trial and error (a la Conan, who hit a great stride after a rough start).
They're together. No, wait, they're separated. No, wait. They're together again.
And now, talk show host Jimmy Kimmel and his girlfriend Sarah Silverman, star of Comedy Central's The Sarah Silverman Program, have split up again.
Matt Damon jokes aside, I was kind of hoping that they would prosper as a couple. I have no particular reason for this. I just find them each entertaining individually (although I found Silverman's humor grating after a while). Plus, I thought they were cute together.
Sadly, they suffer from the relationship problems of most of Hollywood: it doesn't last. Why is that? Is it that Hollywood creates a higher standard, or does Hollywood simply reflect the rest of American culture? Are most relationships like this, with the only difference being that a break-up anywhere else doesn't make headlines?
Of course, for all you single men, this means Sarah Silverman is back on the market. Ditto for the ladies and Jimmy Kimmel. Good luck with that.
The prospect of a news show featuring people with disabilities interviewing celebrities and people on the street sounds like a sick way to spend a Sunday evening. That assumption doesn't help when you see South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker's names under the executive producer heading, two guys who made the phrase "Timmy!" and "cripple fight" part of the American pop culture lexicon.
But as Stone said himself in my soon-to-be awarding winning interview (my boss said he would put a gold star on my next paycheck), How's Your News? -- which premieres at 10:30 tomorrow night on MTV -- aims to change the audience's perspective on more than one level.
It's a journey of self-discovery for both the participants and the viewers and that's a big step for a network that has had a hard time figuring out what it's supposed to be.
Call it the start of the slow destruction of Nightline or the unwavering confidence the network has in Jimmy Kimmel. Either way, someone is getting bumped and someone is getting dumped.
It's the high school prom all over again.
The New York Times reports that ABC is considering switching Jimmy Kimmel Live with Nightline's time slot sometime before or after Conan O'Brien makes his move from Late Night to The Tonight Show. That means Kimmel would no longer be messing with the natural order of late night television. He would be a direct competitor to Conan's new show when it hits the air later this year.
Ah, the celebrity roast. Comedy Central resurrected the tried and true comedian ass-kiss off with hilarious specials featuring Denis Leary, Flavor Flav, Bob Saget and William #*$&$ing Shatner. Then came the capper: a roast of music legend Willie Nelson. It was a shift in evolution so great, it could have made Charles Darwin buy into the theory of intelligent design.
Then the network caused a global groan so loud that it shifted the tectonic plates when they announced that Nelson had to cancel and they would replace him with Larry the Cable Guy.
It's such an obvious and safe choice that might be a good recipe for ratings, but it's a sure fire recipe for boring. Here are the iconic stars who would have made much better kindling for a white hot comedy roast.
On September 21, the night ABC broadcasts the big anniversary of the Primetime Emmys, producer Ken Ehrlich has tapped balladeer Groban for a four-minute medley of TV themes. The mind reels with the possibilities of how many memorable melodies he can fit into 240 seconds.
Some choices seem obvious: Cheers (where everybody knows your name), The Jeffersons (movin' on up to the big time), The Beverly Hillbillies (black gold, Texas T), The Flintstones (they're a modern stone-aged family).
Like I said, the possibilities are vast, and the promise of a something hilarious is sure fire.
After Jimmy Kimmel left the room, ABC Entertainment Steve McPherson got on with the business of facing the press at his executive session. I kicked it off with a question about Scrubs, following up on what Bill Lawrence told me in May about a possible "next generation" ninth season.
"We do think there's an opportunity after (this eighth season)," said McPherson. "If any or all the cast is a part of that, I think there's a growth (opportunity) there. It's a show that, despite being moved around into like 17 time periods and really never being given the marketing support, has really performed unbelievably well on NBC." He went on to say that they hope "it won't be a one-season situation."
Other than that, most of the conversation revolved around the network's returning shows, which makes sense, since the network is only debuting a few new shows (none of which had pilots that the network thought were suitable for preview) this fall.
A funny thing happened at the beginning of the ABC executive session this morning. After ABC Entertainment president Steve McPherson got on stage, said some opening remarks, and opened the floor to questions, someone got up and identified himself as Tom Weinerman of the Sarasota Star-Herald Tribune. That was a bit unusual, as the reporters here never identify themselves before asking questions.
But then, people started recognizing the voice, or turned in the direction of the questioner, and realized what was going on: It was Jimmy Kimmel, and he had some pointed -- and funny -- questions for McPherson about the possibility of Jay Leno coming to ABC.
It looks like we have a potential candidate for the B.A. Baracus role in the movie adaptation of the 80's television show The A-Team. UFC fighter Quinton Rampage Jackson mentioned on The Jimmy Kimmel Show that he was in the running for the role made famous by Mr. T.
Looking at the photo, it's easy to see why he's in the running. He's already got the pecks and the chain. If you check out the video after the link, he's even got the attitude. Just give him a mohawk and he'll be set.
The planned release for the feature film is June 12, 2009. It will be produced by 20th Century Fox and Universal Studios and is to be directed by John Singleton (Boyz In The Hood, Shaft, 2 Fast 2 Furious).
The question is: can the UFC fighter act? And if he can't act, then can he at least act like Mr. T.?
The late night comedian will be appearing during your primetime schedule. Starting tomorrow, Jimmy Kimmel LIve will run special half-hour shows each night that ABC airs the basketball finals. Special guests include: David Beckham, Edward Norton, Charles Barkley, Liv Tyler, Adam Sandler, Eminem, Shaquille O'Neil, Magic Johnson and New Orleans Hornets guard and 2008 MVP contender Chris Paul, among others.
Out of the celebrities mentioned, I'm most interested to see Eminem. I haven't seen the Real Slim Shady on TV in awhile. He's always a good interview though -- all that contrived hostility and testosterone in overdrive. Who are you looking forward to seeing? Or is Kimmel's fabulousness enough to get you to tune in?
It's official, "pulling a Letterman" means sleeping with a co-worker. Why? Because I said so. 
With 
I'm sure the rest of the staff here at TV Squad would like to thank Jimmy Kimmel for the laughs he's served up at ABC over recent years on Jimmy Kimmel Live as his career on that network comes to an end.
Andy Warhol's comment about everyone getting fifteen minutes of fame has apparently morphed into everyone getting fifteen minutes as a talk show host. George Lopez is the latest, according to the 
They're together. No, wait, they're separated. No, wait. They're together again.
The prospect of a news show featuring people with disabilities interviewing celebrities and people on the street sounds like a sick way to spend a Sunday evening. That assumption doesn't help when you see 
Call it the start of the slow destruction of Nightline or the unwavering confidence the network has in Jimmy Kimmel. Either way, someone is getting bumped and someone is getting dumped. 
Ah, the celebrity roast. Comedy Central resurrected the tried and true comedian ass-kiss off with hilarious specials featuring Denis Leary, Flavor Flav, Bob Saget and William #*$&$ing Shatner. Then came the capper: a roast of music legend Willie Nelson. It was a shift in evolution so great, it could have made Charles Darwin buy into the theory of intelligent design. 
One of the highlights of this year's primetime Emmys is going to be musical. That's right, I'm psychic. I've looked into the future and can tell you without equivocation that 
After 
A funny thing happened at the beginning of the ABC executive session this morning. After ABC Entertainment president Steve McPherson got on stage, said some opening remarks, and opened the floor to questions, someone got up and identified himself as Tom Weinerman of the Sarasota Star-Herald Tribune. That was a bit unusual, as the reporters here never identify themselves before asking questions.
It looks like we have 
The late night comedian will be appearing during your primetime schedule. Starting tomorrow, 
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