TVSquad

As the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences tries to whittle the submissions down to actual nominees, it's interesting to take a look at who has made it to the semifinals. It's not a nomination, but it's one step away. Today comes word of the finalists for best comedy actress and best supporting drama actor. There are some surprises.

Chief among those for me is Sarah Silverman. I honestly hadn't even considered her in the running. I'm not much of a fan, but I do like that she is being considered for the simple fact that the base the nominees are drawn from can always use some expansion. And if she is the most surprising inclusion, the most surprising snub just might be Teri Hatcher. Eva Longoria, Marcia Cross, and Felicity Huffman all made the cut, but not Hatcher. Ouch. The rest of the finalists, and the supporting actors from a drama, after the jump.

Sarah Silverman, the star of The Sarah Silverman Program, is fu*king Jimmy Kimmel, the host of ABC's late night talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live. At least we assume so, considering they've been dating for years and kidding about their love story in public -- remember her video, "I'm fu*king Matt Damon," which he countered with "I'm fu*king Ben Affleck"? These two are a fun couple and seem to really have it together. However, don't look for Ms. Silverman to ever become Mrs. Kimmel.

Simply stated, Sarah Silverman told People.com that she's vowed to never marry Jimmy Kimmel. Nothing personal, Jimmy, she just likes things exactly as they are and doesn't want to muck it up with rice, flowers, lace, cake, invitations and all the other wedding malarkey.

Clearly, little Sarah never fantasized about her parents walking her down the aisle, standing under the chuppa with her groom, and seeing the man of her dreams shatter a wine glass beneath his foot, all elements of a typical nice Jewish wedding for a nice Jewish girl like Sarah.

So, Disney CEO Robert Iger was having one of those yummy breakfast confabs talking about the future of the network and new media, alternate platforms and all those other fun buzz words about how we're going to be watching shows in the next few years. Then, kind of as an aside, he was asked about Jay Leno. With the end of Leno's era as the host of The Tonight Show looming -- and Conan O'Brien chomping at the bit to take over -- Mr. Iger said that he wouldn't rule out ABC going after Jay.

Ken Auletta of the New Yorker pressed Iger about Leno, to which the ABC head man squirmed and said, "It's not something we typically comment on."

Last night I went to a taping of the second installment of Idol Gives Back at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood. This year the charities that benefited were Malaria No More, Children's Defense Fund, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, Children's Health Fund, and Save the Children.

Keep in mind, there will be spoilers. It's not like I found out the secret to Lost, but I figured I would still give fair warning. The show will air on Wednesday April 9th at 7:30 pm ET / PT. For what happened at the taping and in the press room, read on after the jump. And check back for Jason's review Wednesday night.

Jenna Fischer: This is one of those "I've arrived!" moments. Seriously. There's, like, little milestones... Like, being on David Letterman for the first time and then, like, being in Vanity Fair.
Chelsea Handler: ... I knew I arrived when I got my period.
Everyone: [groans and laughter]

Yeah, I know how most of our male readers are. They like their ladies funny, smart, and painfully out of their league. Well, start lurking around the magazine stands, boys, because the upcoming Vanity Fair has a new Annie Leibovitz photo spread featuring some of the funniest ladies on the scene. The impressive list boasts Sandra Bernhard, Susie Essman, Tina Fey, Jenna Fischer, Chelsea Handler, Leslie Mann, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Amy Sedaris, Sarah Silverman, Wanda Sykes, and Kristen Wiig, each of them doing very typical "Hollywood bad girl" things. I especially love Maya Rudolph's hair and how Silverman manages to do Amy Winehouse better than Amy Winehouse.

Like a lot of writers, I have an idea folder (it's manila, but I have it covered in puffy rainbow and unicorn stickers, so it's beautiful). As each week progresses, I jot down all my ideas -- for columns, for stand-up bits, for ransom notes -- and at the end of that week, I take stock of my creative output.

This week, I noticed that there were a lot of ideas that I wanted to share, but that weren't quite big enough for a full TV 101 column. I attached them to the end of my last column in a section called "Dribs and Drabs." It was a good thought, except that it took an already bloated piece (my writing makes the Unabomber's manifesto look like a dream of concise thought) and puffed it up into a 3000 word monstrosity. My editor suggested I break up the Dribs and Drabs section into its own piece, and that, dear readers, is what I did. Dribs and Drabs, after the jump...

In a reversal of their stance on most of the major awards shows this season, Variety tells us the WGA is not only allowing Guild member Rainn Wilson to host the 2008 Spirit Awards, but he has received a waiver to write gags for it as well. The awards ceremony will be held February 23, a day before the Oscars (which did not receive a waiver), on the Santa Monica beach in a tent.

Broadcast live and uncensored on IFC at 5/4pm Central, the Spirit Awards honors the best in independent filmmaking and tends to feature a lot of off-color humor and remarks. Hell, last year's host Sarah Silverman opened the ceremony with a long discussion of her Mommy parts! Hopefully Wilson won't feel the need to discuss his Daddy parts, but if he wants to tell any off-color stories about Jenna Fischer, I'm all ears. Pam Beesly is my Office crush (Shh! don't tell HR) and now that Jenna's as "single" as Pam is, I can fantasize about both of them without feeling guilty! It's a win-win ... win!

I had a very interesting week last week. The high point was an interview I did with Laura Silverman for my podcast. Most of you will know Laura from her role as Sarah's sister on The Sarah Silverman Program. However, she also had major roles on HBO's The Comeback and the comedy classic Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist.

She had some funny things to say about working for HBO and Comedy Central but the best part of the interview was a story she told about Sarah's pooch, Duck, who plays Doug on the Comedy Central show.

Taking a diversion from Will Ferrell videos, someone posted a preview on FunnyOrDie.com for The Sarah Silverman Program. In it, Sarah takes things to new lows as she tries to determine why her dog is so fascinated with licking himself by sampling the orifice in question.

The sample is from tonight's episode. TV Squad tries to warn its loyal audience in advance when television sinks to new lows of depravity. I could barely watch it the third time.

Not one, not two, but three giveaways today. To add to the list today, we've got five copies of The Sarah Silverman Program season one on DVD for five lucky, random commenters. The set is already available in stores.

To enter, simply leave a comment below before 5:00PM Eastern, Friday, October 12, simply telling us why you'd like to own this series. As always, we'll randomly choose five winners amongst the eligible entries. Some other details:
Click here for complete Official Rules.

(S02E01) A new season begins, but it's still the same old Sarah. It's almost as though her character on this show and Master Shake from Aqua Teen Hunger Force were separated at birth. She's self-absorbed, childish and never seems to learn any lessons from her experiences.

I have found that you either love Sarah Silverman's brand of humor or you hate it. I have friends who find it wearing over time and I can understand that. Eventually, her sweet veneer comes across as fake.

After sitting through hours of spoilerific, carefully-calibrated marketing presentations, there's nothing quite as bracing as the inspired lunancy of Sarah Silverman and friends. The entire cast of The Sarah Silverman Program gathered at this year's Comic-Con to share clips from their second sesaon and a tape of Steve Agee masturbating, or as the moderator, comedian Zach Galifianakis, put it "alphabetizing his testicles." (He was alphabetizing for comedic purposes, of course.) Needless to say, it was an R-rated evening all around.

(S05E07) I'd like to open tonight's review by letting you all know that my wife and I had our first child this past Sunday. I'm telling you this up front so that you'll be forgiving of me if my review isn't up to the cracker-jack standards that you're used to. I'm operating on about one and a half hours of sleep and my entire house is literally covered in poop.

On the bright side, if I ever wind up on Last Comic Standing I can turn to the camera like every other comic and say, "I'm doing this for my son" while they play emotional music behind me.

Now, on to the review...

I always look forward to what Christopher Hitchens has to say. I don't always agree with him (for example, his Vanity Fair piece saying that female comedians aren't funny was just stooopid), but he's an intelligent guy and always has a unique take on politics, history, and culture. And now he has written an article for Slate on the Paris Hilton case.

Should he even be writing about someone like the Simple Life star, when he himself admits that the case has been covered way too much? He confronts this paradox, but I still wonder if he succeeds in defending his choice to write about her (though I don't really think he needs to defend it).

But the piece is interesting. Hitchens admits he has seen the Hilton sex video, says he doesn't like Sarah Silverman (big shock), and thinks that the treatment Hilton is getting "stinks" and that she should be left to live the life she has been given.

For the first time, the MTV Movie Awards is going to be broadcast live, and host Sarah Silverman promises there will be some controversial moments.

Adam told you a couple of months ago about Silverman being chosen as host of the annual show. This year it's being produced by Survivor mastermind Mark Burnett, who seems to have a hand in almost every show on the air right now, with the possible exception of The Mclaughlin Group. Silverman has already had simulated sex with a block of cheese at the Independent Spirit Awards (hmmm...must have missed that), and she tells USA Today: "The truth is, I'll probably be swearing a lot. But I don't think it will be any less funny. It will be fun to flirt with the conventions of live television. There's no way it's going to go totally smoothly, and I know, as a viewer, I'm always watching for the evidence of the 'liveness.' "