TVSquad

If you're like me, the last two weeks of Late Show reruns have driven you crazy. I actually get a little bummed out when the late night shows are in repeats, especially Letterman's show. Letterman is always the great bookend to my day. I can always count on him to entertain me before I go to bed, to make me laugh. But he has been in repeats for the past two weeks (not just one, but two!) and it's been lame. I mean, if they had older repeats from two, four, six, ten years ago, that would be cool (we've talked about this here several times before), but it's always repeats from a few weeks ago and that's just tedious.

So, to hold us over until new episodes of The Late Show start this Monday, a few videos from Letterman's past. The first one is from the Jacksons Variety Show in 1977 and features Dave with Michael Jackson!

I know fans of So You Think You Can Dance have noticed that one of the best choreographers from show is absent this season. We know why Shane Sparks isn't on the program this summer, but what about Wade Robson? Many fans of the show agree that he has put together some of fiercest couple routines and group performances that So You Think You Can Dance has ever seen.

Unfortunately, I don't know where Wade Robson is. Believe me, if I find out if he's coming back to Fox's hit show, you TV Squad readers will be the first to know. I thought in the meantime we could enjoy some of his other work, including his performance on Star Search as a little boy. It's adorable.

I was never a Blake fan, but as the end of American Idol season six drew near, I came to admire his attitude even more than his singing or beatboxing skills. I like that Blake never talked back to the judges in a snotty, defensive manner. I like that he took his lumps with a smile and a shrug. I like that he didn't cry "foul" when forced to sing the generic "This Is My Now."

In the age of reality TV where everyone wants to win at any cost, it was nice to witness a guy who actually seemed to be enjoying the experience itself.

In a conference call with reporters, Blake said, "I honestly didn't care one bit [about] winning or losing, because I call myself a winner just by getting into the top 10."

(S05E18) And so ends a short, inconsistent, Family Guy season. I don't know if we should chalk it up to Seth MacFarlane being spread too thin with American Dad and The Winner to watch over, or just the show coming up on 100 episodes. Something just wasn't quite right at Family Guy HQ this season though.

American Idol's ratings may be down, but it is still the number one show on television. And the juggernaut has spawned all kinds of imitators, including, America's Got Talent, Dancing With the Stars, Skating With Celebrities, and Rock Star Supernova.

And now, the Jackson Family is developing its own talent contest for CBS, tentatively called Pop Dynasty. Before you ask, NO, neither Janet nor Michael is involved with the show. This is Jermaine, Tito and LaToya's baby. The three Jacksons will serve as the show's judges.

The latest from the land of CNN, MSNBC, and FOX News:

1. Jeff Greenfield is leaving CNN. He's going over to CBS to become part of their Election 2008 (or whatever CBS is calling it) coverage. The Washington Post's Howard Kurtz says that Greenfield hasn't been too happy with the way CNN has been using him lately.

2. Dan Abrams to lose his title at MSNBC. Last year he got a promotion from on-air host/analyst to general manager, but it looks like Abrams will lose that title when the cable network moves from New Jersey to 30 Rock in NYC. The move probably won't happen until the end of the year.

3. Nancy Grace and John Gibson news. Both of their shows (Grace on CNN Headline News and Gibson over on FOX News) had "Breaking News" reports that Michael Jackson was really ill in the hospital, when he actually is just a little sick and not in the hospital at all. Yet more evidence that the "Breaking News" and "This Just In" and "Developing News" graphics are waaaaay overused. Don't the networks use judgment anymore?

[via TV Newser]

He's baaaaaaack!

Sure we've heard about Michael Jackson's $3,500 per person meet and greet in Japan, but did you see the King of Pop receive an award at the World Music Awards broadcast, rocking a hairstyle very similar to my mothers and throwing his very expensive looking clothing into the audience?

No offense Mr. Jackson, but word on the street is that you're having a bit of money troubles. Don't you think you should go to your nearest Ebay reseller and have them make you a couple thousand? Is that just an amazing camera trick or are people still crying for you too? Does that still happen?

We really are the world. We are the children (shudder)...

In other interesting television moments...

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:

• Placing odds on American Idol contestants is the latest big thing in gambling around the world.
  
• Michael Jackson will not be a guest on American Idol. (No... really. Seriously.)
  
• Spike TV is proud to be expanding their coverage of the "sport" of competitive eating.
  

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

American Idol is a show whose popularity and success hinges on some well-kept secrets and big-ass surprises. Which is why the Top 24 Finalists will have to put their MySpace pages on temporary hiatus. There will be no blogging allowed during this part of the competition.

Part of me is disappointed by this rule. I love the behind-the-scenes first hand accounts that blogging provides. But I also understand why the producers need to be such a bunch of paranoid control freaks. Thirty-three million of us are not going to continue to tune in each week if too much vital information is leaked on the Internet.

Michael Jackson needs a career comeback in a big way. According to Page Six, Idol creator Simon Fuller may be just the man who can make that happen. Or at least Wacko Jacko hopes so.

Jackson reportedly has met several times with Fuller in Las Vegas to discuss his comeback strategy. Robin Leach called it a "perfect match" with "the world's biggest pop star being looked after by the most successful mogul manager in the world."

American Idol's oh-so-brutally-honest judge Simon Cowell wasn't always quite so brutally honest. In fact, back in the 1980s, Simon was so intimidated by mega-star Eddie Murphy, that he didn't have the nerve to tell him that the songs he had written were complete and utter crap.

Simon recalls how he went to Eddie's home, expecting it to be "just the two of us and one hi-fi." Instead, he found himself in "a recording studio with about 20 nodders; a nodder is someone who gets paid to agree with the person paying him."

Of all the 24 hour news channels, I'd have to say that I like CNN the best and watch it the most. FOX News is FOX News, and MSNBC blows hot and cold. But sometimes CNN just makes some really odd decisions that leave you scratching your head.

Right now they're showing the James Brown funeral. Again.

Now, James Brown was important to rock and roll, blah, blah, blah, but we already saw this funeral, the whole thing, just a few days ago on CNN and the other channels. Do we really have to see it again? I know it's New Year's Day, but isn't there any news going on in the world? Any war news we should know about? How about President Ford's body, which lies in state right now, with people walking past it giving their respects?

I know that pop culture is an important force in the world (I write about it full-time, so I'm all for it), but come on. It's 3pm on a Monday and you're repeating a singer's funeral? Not that the others are any better. FOX News is showing a special on religion and politics and MSNBC is showing more of those damn documentaries about crime. Gah.

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:

• Miss USA will continue her reign - from rehab.
  
• Ruben Studdard wants to help Alabama lose weight.
  
• Michael Jackson participating in a reality show? He really needs the money.
  

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.

Peter Robinson, who writes a series of children's books based on troubled pop stars and celebrities that can be read by both children and adults, recently signed a deal to have the books turned into an animated series, with one of the first possible episodes being "A Boy Called Pete," about Pete Doherty, the always troubled and always drugged out singer. Robinson has also written books about Britney Spears, Michael Jackson and Robbie Williams. There is no word yet on when or where the series will air.

I have never read these books, so I can't really say much about this. However, I tend to think parodies of celebrity excess can be just as tiresome as the celebrities themselves. After awhile you just don't want to hear the word "Britney" anymore, even if it is coming from a cartoon character. If this show can approach this tiresome idea in a new way, more power to it.

TMZ.com has a new mug shot of Rip Torn, formerly of The Larry Sanders Show, that is downright hilarious. He was allegedly driving drunk (which is not funny) in New York over the weekend. Rip, with his hair flying to the right and a confused grin on his face, posed for the camera when cops took his mug shot. This is Rip's second arrest for drunk driving. In 2004, he crashed his car into a NYC taxi. Despite his outlandish behavior at the cop shop, Rip was found not guilty.

While it's not quite the caliber of the Nick Nolte mug shot, or as creepy as Michael Jackson's mug, it still gives me a chuckle.