TVSquad

Radner. Louis-Dreyfus. Poehler. Fey. Shannon.

Suffice it to say, the number of women who became famous on Saturday Night Live before graduating to solo success is few and far between. Sure, Gilda Radner can be considered a pioneer in the art of sketch comedy. And Julia Louis-Dreyfus undoubtedly honed her comedic skills before becoming a sitcom icon on Seinfeld. And, yes, Tina Fey can easily be considered a heroine to comedy nerds everywhere who have witnessed her climb from Weekend Update anchor to Mean Girls scribe to single-handedly decimating the vice presidential chances of one certain gun-wieldin', six-pack-totin' Alaskan governor.

But, sadly, the number of men who left Studio 8 for the superstardom of Planet Hollywood (not the theme restaurant) easily outnumbers the ladies. For every Amy Poehler, there's a Will Ferrell. And a Bill Murray. And a Mike Myers and Eddie Murphy and Adam Sandler (although, to be fair, there's also a David Gary Kroeger, A. Whitney Brown, and Charles Rocket for every Melanie Hutsell, too). (And for the record, no, you shouldn't recognize those names.)

Ah, 2009. Come in, come in! Have a seat at my crystal ball. Oh, I know it's cracked, but don't worry -- it's still useful.

You are so young, so virile, my little new year. You are also ripe...ripe for me to predict your future. I see plenty in my cracked crystal ball -- yes, yes, it's working just fine. Some of it is good, some is bad, and the rest I can't see because of all the cracks. Those predictions probably don't mean much anyway. I mean, Dustin Diamond being cast in a remake of Cop Rock? Who would believe such tripe?

Oh, don't get up! Yes, Allison gave us her predictions already, but that was with a different ball. So, sit, sit, and let me predict your future in television through my fractured sphere.

He's the Guiness World Record holder for the most time spent in front of a television camera, and now he plans to defend that title for at least three more years. I'm speaking, of course, of Emmy-winning TV host, Regis Philbin.

Regis Philbin renewed his contract with Disney through 2011, assuring that he will be sitting beside Kelly Ripa on Live with Regis & Kelly till he's 80-years-old.

Make that 80-years-young because even though Regis comes on as a curmudgeon, nobody would call him a grouchy old man. In fact, he's still a hoot to watch in the morning as he goes on about the tabloid headlines, the parties and openings he attended with Joy, and the status of the New York Yankees and Notre Dame football.

Frankly speaking, I'm glad that he's chosen to remain active. To me, ever since the day Johnny Carson retired from The Tonight Show, that show has never been the same. The Jay Leno years just don't compare. Johnny retired too soon.

Near the end of today's Live with Regis and Kelly, Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa offered their apologies to the Dominican community over remarks they made on the show last week. It seemed like a sincere apology, even if it was read from a teleprompter.

Anyway, since I don't watch the show every day, I had no idea what remark they were talking about. So I immediately fired up the ol' Google search machine and plugged in "regis kelly dominicans." Sure enough, a story (and accompanying video) came up from our cousins at TMZ about the Reege laughing at a joke where Kelly associates "donkeys" with "Dominicans," and the ensuing protest by Dominican organizations.

But then a click on the video clouds the issue a bit.

Don't tell Keith Olbermann -- he of the Countdown special commentaries -- but CNN's Anderson Cooper is the Edward R. Murrow of our era. That's according to Lisa DePaulo of Elle, but the popularity and proliferation of Cooper, from CNN to CBS's 60 Minutes to anchoring Times' Square on New Year's Eve and filling in for Regis Philbin on Live with Regis and Kelly, backs up her assertion.

"He is our generation's Edward R. Murrow; that is, if Murrow were this good-looking and had lived in a world with Gawker and TMZ," DePaulo writes. "This is not just because of Cooper's exacting standards of journalism-hard work, legwork, no-divaness. He's a purist, really-like Murrow."

(S04E02) "This burger is so good I want to sew my ass shut."

I don't tend to open my reviews with a quote, but this one from Barney was too good to ignore. Might as well give it the Best Barneyism of the week, but it's only one of a ton of memorable lines from all the characters in this episode. Was it funny? Damn straight. Did it make me hungry? Absolutely. Did it make me afraid of Regis Philbin? Maybe a little.

Yes, I know: I just spoke to Carter Bays a couple of months ago, right before How I Met Your Mother's season finale. But there was so much news coming out about the show over the summer -- The Bro Code, a wedding, self-contained episodes, Regis -- that I felt I had to speak to him again before the fourth season started on Sept. 22.

(Well, I actually wanted to talk to both Carter and his show-running partner Craig Thomas, but, as usual, the mystery man was elsewhere. I've met him more than once, though, so I know he does exist.)

Anyway, I could have spoken to Bays at the CBS press tour party in July, but I wanted to get a bit more in depth, so we arranged a phone interview; that took place a couple of weeks ago, right after the third episode of the fourth season wrapped. He was a bit more evasive about those topics than he's been in the past, but he still provided me some good information about the upcoming season, the "haunting" singing voices of his male stars, and what it's like to see his show being played on an airplane. Interview is after the jump.

Look, I don't know what it is, but I'm kind of obsessed with Regis Philbin. Maybe it's the way his hair doesn't look like it's moved since 1956, or the way he doesn't even bother to hide the fact that he has no idea who half the people are who he interviews. The point is, I get really excited any time I come across some Regis news, so I'm totally psyched that he's set to guest star on How I Met Your Mother.

Philbin is going to play himself on the sitcom's second episode of the season. Apparently the gang runs into him at Marshall's favorite NYC burger joint.

While having Regis Philbin on the show may not earn them quite the record-breaking ratings that Britney Spears did, it does offer a distinct advantage: The possibility of one of Neil Patrick Harris' famous Regis impressions. Harris, who has filled in for Philbin on Live With Regis and Kelly on several occasions, is known for doing one of the best "Reeges" out there, and that, to me, beats staring at Britney's extensions any day.

One of the best things about moving your show to New York? New York guest stars. Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa have signed up to play themselves on the September 25th season premiere of Ugly Betty. Conveniently, Ugly Betty's star, America Ferrera, announced the casting news while she was a guest on ... Live With Regis & Kelly.

In addition to the morning duo, other guest stars lined up for the new East Coast version of Betty include Ripa's husband, former All My Children star Mark Consuelos and Long Island native Lindsay Lohan. Lohan is reprising her role as Betty's high school rival for five episodes.

I'm a sucker for shows that are filmed in New York, so I'm super-psyched about this season of Ugly Betty. Now that they've already snagged Regis & Kelly, what other New Yorkers should Ugly Betty try to get as a guest star? Personally, my fingers are crossed for Anderson Cooper. But then again, my fingers are always crossed for Anderson Cooper.

A day hasn't gone by where we haven't received some sort of tip or email asking us, the TV Squad, how to get on [insert reality show here]. Unfortunately no, Simon Cowell does not work for us, and Donald Trump isn't my BFF, so we really can't help all that much.

The folks at RealityWanted.com often send us a list of new and existing reality shows that are looking for new, er, talent, and they've given us permission to make mention of them here. We'll try to make this a regular feature as often as we get a new list.

This time we have America's Next Top Model, Don't Forget the Lyrics and a lot of new shows.

CBS has ordered six more episodes of Million Dollar Password. This is probably because the show, hosted by Regis Philbin, has become extremely popular. Over four broadcasts, Million Dollar Password placed first in ratings in its time period. It also placed first among adults 18-49 and adults 25-54. The show is averaging 9.46 million viewers. Looks like CBS has the right idea with ordering up some more.

A few weeks ago, Joel talked about the appeal of Password. Perhaps, it's the celebrities they secured to come play: Neil Patrick Harris, Rachel Ray, Betty White, Tony Hawk and Rosie O'Donnell. But I think it's the power of the Regis. Everything that man touches turns to gold. Remember the craze that accompanied Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? I can't hear that theme music and envision the dramatic lights even now as I write this.

Million Dollar Password airs Sundays at 8 p.m. on CBS. Are you hooked enough to watch six more episodes?

For the first time in a long time, something was different about the Daytime Emmys. No, it's not that they're on in primetime; that happened years ago. What was different was the 35th Daytime Emmys opted to forgo the theater setting and seat the stars at round tables. As co-host (with All My Children's Cameron Mathison) Sherri Shepherd told the AP days before the AP, "Usually everyone is sitting in a row. This year, it'll be like a wedding. We're also going to do something so that fans will be able to get a view of what's going on at the different tables." That would be web video created by the actors at every table - table cam. Perfect for hams. The vids are at SOAPnet. For details about the show from the winners backstage, check out AOL.

So did the seating arrangements make a difference? Well, it depends. Those who were there probably had a better time because there was an open bar, just like the Golden Globes. For viewers, it still looked like the Daytime Emmys, including many familiar faces winning. After a strained attempt at comedy for the opening -- blending All My Children fictional characters with The View's real hosts -- the show commenced.

Here's the thing about game show revivals: you have to satisfy people on two levels. For fans of the old show, you have to make the gameplay of the new show familiar enough to keep them happy and coming back. And, in order to attract new fans, you have to modernize and add touches that will suck in viewers and help build drama. That's one of the reasons why most new game shows have Who Wants to Be a Millionaire-style darkened sets with swirling lights, and depend on ominous music and tight camera angles to create drama.

Million Dollar Password, premiering Sunday at 8 PM ET, has all of that. They even nabbed Millionaire's original American host, Regis Philbin, to give it that extra bit of primetime oomph. But does it work? Well... sorta. Fans of the Allen Ludden / Tom Kennedy / Bert Convy incarnations might be dissatisfied with what they've done to their old favorite, but even an objective observer can see that the gameplay has some flaws that are going to need to be worked out for the show to succeed.

In an announcement that most who remember the older versions of Password would consider a no-brainer, it has been revealed that Betty White will be returning as a guest panelist on CBS' new Million Dollar Password series. And, really, if she wasn't even being considered would it even be Password?

White, who is 86-years-young, was a staple of the original version of Password when it started back in 1961 as well as the revived 70s and 80s versions of the show. Much of that connection came from her marriage to original Password host Allen Ludden. White and Ludden were married in 1963 and remained together until his death from stomach cancer in 1981.

You've heard of Ryan Seacrest, right? Well, one of the most reliable news source in the world, The Globe, tells us now that the folks behind Live are courting Ryan Seacrest to replace Regis Philbin on their morning staple. It makes perfect sense. Consider that Regis, who turns 176 this year, has racked up more hours on television than anyone in history, but now has announced he'll be cutting back his television work to three days a week. Then we have Ryan, who can be seen and heard everywhere from his work on E! to American Idol to New Year's Rockin' Eve to his radio show to American Top 40. Maybe he'd give up his morning radio gig for a morning TV gig. Or maybe record one during the commercial breaks of the other.

I almost missed this story, though, because that same issue of The Globe promised to show me how to win the Lottery and I'm busy spending all the money I'm gonna win! So for now, we'll say the rumor's unsubstantiated but if the Weekly World News or The Onion picks it up, then it's official!

[via AOL]