TVSquad

I watched Martha Stewart on Rachael Ray last week and then Rachael on Martha the following day, and both shows were interesting. I noticed that Rachael had Martha sit down and talk and take questions, but Martha got Rachael in the kitchen baking right away with little small talk. The funniest moment came from Rachael's show: when both came out of the elevator, Rachael tried to grab Martha's hand but Martha pulled it away quickly. Ha!

Anyway, they talked about the so-called "feud" that had been reported everywhere, and both dismissed it. I don't know how you can dismiss something that Martha herself said on her own show (among other things) but they said there was no truth to any feud rumors. I wonder what they'll say after Martha's appearance on Nightline tomorrow night.

NBC must be doing a lot of regretting these days for moving Jay Leno to 10 p.m., and not just because it screws up the perfect headline alliteration with his former competition.

It seems that David Letterman's Late Show reruns are getting higher ratings than Conan O'Brien's brand-spanking new Tonight Show episodes.

The margins aren't very wide, but it must hurt when a rival is kicking your lily-white hide and he's not even throwing any punches. It's like getting your ass kicked by a one legged Stephen Hawking.

We've talked about this a lot here at TV Squad, how the word "exclusive" isn't used correctly in TV news these days. In fact I'll go one step further and say that networks often lie when they say something is an "exclusive." They'll say that an interview with a famous celebrity or a politician is an exclusive, but you realize you just watched an interview with the same person on another network the night before, or there's an interview with the same person the next day.

Now, some networks will say they have an exclusive before another interview airs, so in that case I guess we can say they're right (if we give them the benefit of the doubt that they didn't know the other interview was coming, that is), but more often than not they know it's not an exclusive.

According to James Poniewozik, this isn't a done deal or even close to being a done deal, but it is certainly one of the moves that ABC is thinking about: Nightline might move to 10 PM from it's current 11:35 slot.

It would certainly be a lot cheaper than running dramas (which are usually the scripted shows the networks have at 10PM), and it could signal a change in the way that networks schedule their shows. This would also mean (in all likelihood) that Jimmy Kimmel Live would move into the 11:35 slot.

So Conan O'Brien takes over The Tonight Show tonight, and I was wondering, what are you going to watch tonight? Conan? Letterman? Nightline? Something else?

I'm going to assume (if I may be so bold) that a lot of people are going to be watching Conan tonight. Not just old fans of Late Night or even fans of The Tonight Show. I bet there will be a lot of David Letterman fans watching and maybe even people who don't regularly watch late night television. Tonight is an institution and a lot of TV fans are going to be interested in seeing what exactly Conan is going to do on his first night.

I'm going to predict here and now that he'll thank Jay Leno (unlike Leno, who didn't thank Johnny Carson on his first show). So what are you going to watch?

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.

So we all know that Conan O'Brien is taking over for Jay Leno next year, and that when he does Leno might go some place else, perhaps ABC, which might bump Kimmel to 12:35am. But what about the other late night player in all of this, Nightline?

The long-running news show will probably be dumped and its employees out of jobs if ABC pays Leno a bunch of money to come over to the network to host a show at 11:35pm and go up against David Letterman. Even though Nightline's ratings are good (they often beat Letterman) and it's makes money, they'll make more with Leno.

If you're a regular watcher of The Oprah Winfrey Show, you -- like me -- will recall the powerful reports created by Lisa Ling. The journalist attacks interesting stories and is intrepid and dogged in her reporting. She's found a new place to do her work. Lisa Ling is joining Nightline.

"I have wanted to work with Lisa for a long time," said James Goldston, ABC News and Nightlines' executive producer. "She is a terrific journalist with a very distinctive style that fits really well with the Nightline sensibility."

Lisa will continue with her Oprah appearances. She will also host National Geographic Ultimate Explorer.

Lisa's initial report for Nightline debuts tonight. It's a look at the growth of luxury retirement communities. If you're thinking Del Boca Vista, the Seinfeld show condominium where Jerry's parents lived, so did I.

You know how people say stuff like "if CBS cancels Moonlight, I'm never watching that stupid network again!"? I think those proclamations are usually silly, but I might be in that group if the following happens: CBS replacing David Letterman with Jay Leno.

That's one of the options listed in this handy Hollywood Reporter guide to what Leno will do after his stint on NBC is over in 2009. The other options are going to ABC at 11:35, going to FOX at 11:35, a syndicated show with Sony, he stays at NBC and does some other primetime show, he takes over for Larry King on CNN, or he goes back to doing standup full-time. Taking over for Letterman would happen if (and when - he could extend his contract) Letterman retires in 2010.

If you tuned in to Nightline last night, you saw a report from the Congo about the political and humanitarian crisis there. But, the interesting part about it was who was reporting the story: Ben Affleck.

According to Reuters, Affleck has made three trips out to the Congo, and he contacted ABC News to see if they wanted to send a camera crew along with him. He also wrote an essay about his trips for the late-night news program's website. It's a refreshing view from Ben, whose trips to the war-torn country have mostly been under wraps.

"I view this as a long and ongoing learning experience to educate myself before making any attempt to advocate or 'speak out,'" Affleck writes. He also says that "it makes sense to be skeptical about celebrity activism. There is always the suspicion that involvement with a cause may be doing more good for the spokesman than he or she is doing for the cause."

Have you noticed that Jimmy Kimmel Live has slowly but surely become a big force at ABC? It doesn't do Jay Leno numbers, but the ratings have increased in the past few months, the network has given him prime real estate on prime time during the NBA Finals, and there just seems to be a buzz about the show. ABC must have noticed too because they've extended Kimmel's contract through the 2010 season.

This is good news for Kimmel fans, as there has been much talk about what would happen to Kimmel if ABC were to grab Leno after Leno exits his show on NBC and Conan O'Brien takes over. Would Kimmel be pushed to 12:35 if Leno comes aboard, or even later if ABC also decided to keep Nightline? Of course, there's no word on whether or not this new contract guarantees Kimmel the 12:05am slot. Leno leaves his show in 2009.

I hope Kimmel stays around for a long time. I can't get into his musical guests, but he has the best monlogue on late night, in my opinion.

It seriously sends a message to CBS when even Nightline as well as Leno is beating Letterman in the ratings. Nightline averaged 3.6 million viewers for the week ended May 19. The Tonight Show with Jay Leno averaged 5 million and The Late Show with David Letterman averaged 3.4 million according to latest Nielsen Media Research data.

It's tough to believe that David Letterman has fallen from grace so far and is now largely irrelevant. Given the gap, perhaps NBC should look into keeping Leno for a little bit longer rather than have him leave in 2009, particularly considering that even Craig Ferguson is beating Conan O'Brien in the ratings.

I remember when Letterman was a shot of adrenaline to the late night wars. What has Letterman done (or not done) to place him in the number three position? If CBS decided to replace Letterman, who would be the logical choice for the timeslot?

Looks like the late-night talk shows may be coming back sooner rather than later, and this regardless of what happens with the strike. Variety admits that nothing official has been said and no one will comment one way or another, but insiders are saying the time may be nearing. Carson returned after two months of the '88 writers strike. With ratings taking a nosedive, January 7 has been pegged as a possible return date for the NBC hosts (Leno and O'Brien), with the others starting the same time or soon thereafter.

They initially shut down production in deference to their writers and stayed dark to help the writers maintain some leverage in negotiations, even going so far as to pay non-writing staffers out of their own pockets. But, when reruns of Spike TVs MANswers are beating your reruns, and your ratings are half what they were (as is the case with the NBC pair), it's time to rethink everything.

ABC crammed in eight (!) panels today on new and returning series as the TV Critics summer 2007 press tour -- finally -- came to an end.

As predicted in my preview story about today's sessions, Shonda Rhimes (Grey's Anatomy; Private Practice) was indeed asked about ex-GA cast member Isaiah Washington, who was canned last month by ABC and then scooped up by rival NBC for a role on Bionic Woman.

A reporter wanted to know what Rhimes thought about NBC president Ben Silverman saying he was in talks with Washington prior to the actor being let go at the end of the TV season.

Today is the last day of the 2007 summer TCA press tour and one of its panels in particular is highly anticipated as ABC rolls out more shows to present to the TV Critics membership.

Shonda Rhimes is coming to the Beverly Hilton today with Kate Walsh, Tim Daly and other cast members of Private Practice to tout the Grey's Anatomy spin-off. But you just know that Rhimes will be asked about the controversial exit of Isaiah Washington from GA at the end of the season.

Where's Dr. Bailey when you need her?