TVSquad

The world's armchair TV executives proudly proclaimed that the only way Conan O'Brien's cavalcade of foul-mouthed puppets and surreal pop culture mechanes could work every night at 11:30 p.m. is with a potent injection of Ritalin (present executive included).

O'Brien noted, however, that television has broken the time barrier.

"I think especially now, people don't watch an episode of Lost when they are supposed to watch it," he said during a recent conference call. "DVRs changed everything. The Internet has changed everything. People are getting it off Hulu and watching shows on their iPhone. What's most important to me with The Tonight Show is it needs to be funny so people can experience it at 11:30 or watch it the next morning while they're eating their oatmeal."

When a show becomes a cult hit, what better way for the franchise to make extra cash then by selling all the props and sets from the show? It worked for Star Trek, among others.

This is likely why NBC Universal will be hosting its second live and online auction of the remaining props from Battlestar Galactica from May 8th to the 10th. They even sent us a promotional catalog of the props available for the event.

The catalog itself looks terrific and may be a collector's item all its own. It's done in the hexagonal paper style of the show and looks incredible.

If you're a fan of Guiding Light (now in its final six months on the air), you probably saw Bill and Lizzie running around Universal Studios in Florida today.

They were going on the various rides, eating giant chicken legs, squirting each other with big water guns, and shooting colored balls at each other, all the while holding hands and getting all kissy (I swear there was even a scene of them getting their pictures taken in one of those photo booths).

What is this big promotion that the show and CBS is doing for Universal Studios?

Before you get excited about the title, I should add that Universal is not talking to Ron Moore or David Eick or anybody behind the current incarnation of the series (or its prequel, Caprica). Instead, the studio is quietly approaching original creator Glen A. Larson about a complete, modern revamp of the series for the movie screens.

I'm left scratching my head on this one. Do we need another series revamp so soon after this series? Wouldn't that confuse casual viewers, particularly those that may start watching Caprica? Also, while I appreciate involving the creator in the concept, Larson hasn't been a big influence in television since the 80's.

I'm wondering if the studio went to Moore and company for a big-screen adaption and they said "no", so they went to Larson. The original pilot of Battlestar Galactica was first released as a movie. That could have been a factor in that choice.

Of course, this is all just rumor for now.

After I read the press release about The Simpsons 20th year poster contest, one thought came to mind: Fire Prevention Week. If you were raised as a clean-cut boy and/or girl in the America of the last few decades, you'll recall the week in either September or October where you got to climb up on the firetruck parked in the school parking lot and learn all about fires from an honest-to-goodness firefighter. There was also an obligatory poster contest to create free press material for the fire departments in the area.

No matter how hard I tried, I could never win one of those contests. It usually went to someone who spent their time drawing pictures of Camaros on the back of their Trapper Keepers during math. And what do these people do now? Well, they draw Camaros on the back of Trapper Keepers. But, they get paid for it now. Anyway, for some reason that's where my mind went when I thought of this Simpsons' contest.

In a move as big as his executive producing Living with Fran, Jamie Kennedy has decided to return to series television. In fact, Jay Mohr's loss is Jamie's gain. Jamie Kennedy has signed on to the CBS psychic drama Ghost Whisperer. It's not a guest role or a mini-arc, he's a regular. Yes, Jamie Kennedy will be a regular and will play a dramatic role. Okay, he'll try to play it straight. Perhaps this will be the ultimate Jamie Kennedy experiment?

Jay Mohr was the college connection with whom Melinda consulted on Ghost Whisperer, but now that he's getting his own sitcom on the networks, Project Gary, GW needs a new character to provide the same kind of insight. Jamie will play Eli, a college grad student.

Here's an update on the massive fire that hit Universal Studios yesterday morning. The only TV show affected by the fire is CBS' Ghost Whisperer, which had two of its many sets damaged in the blaze (the fall season will not be delayed, however).

The Wisteria Lane set used on ABC's Desperate Housewives didn't receive any damage at all.

The courthouse set used in Back to the Future (and dozens of other films, including To Kill A Mockingbird) was destroyed, and the clock tower building seen in BTTF was heavily damaged. A set used as a New York City street (seen in everything from the first Dirty Harry film to Seinfeld) was destroyed, as was a set used as a New England street. The King Kong exhibit was destroyed as were many videos in the vault (luckily there are backups for those).

400 firefighters were involved in fighting the blaze, and the cause is still under investigation. The studio/theme park opened for business this morning.

This news will leave a hole in the gut of movie and TV fans.

A giant fire broke out at Universal Studios in Los Angeles early this morning, destroying the courthouse square from the Back to the Future movies and damaging the famous clock tower. The King Kong attraction was destroyed, along with over 40,000 videos that were housed in a vault, including footage from I Love Lucy and Miami Vice. Not sure why videos aren't stored in a fireproof vault, maybe underground or some other safe area, but luckily there are copies of the videos in another office.

There have also been a few sets that have been destroyed, including fake New York City and New England street sets that have been used in various TV shows, commercials, and movies. No word on how the fire started but officials say that it has now been contained. One firefighter and two other have been hurt (the latter in an explosion at the vault after the fire was out), but the MTV Movie Awards will go on as scheduled tonight.

I went to Universal Studios in Hollywood on Saturday for the revealing of The Simpsons Ride. Celebs walked the "yellow" carpet. The mayor welcomed the crowds and led the countdown. A human cannonball was shot into the air. And a yellow sheet dropped to reveal a 32-foot Krusty the Clown face at the entrance to the attraction.

Despite the launch being for The Simpsons, there were hardly any members of the cast there on the yellow carpet. Kelsey Grammer (Sideshow Bob) was there along with creator Matt Groening and producer James L. Brooks but no other voice talents were anywhere to be found. See who I talked to and read more about the ride unveiling after the jump.

There have been rumors swirling ever since Conan O'Brien was tapped by NBC to replace Jay Leno as host of The Tonight Show that O'Brien would be asked to move to L.A. from his current New York City home. And now it's been made official by NBC: Conan will move to L.A. when he takes over the show in 2009.

The network has big plans for the area. NBC is selling off part of its Burbank lot and Conan's show will beam to us from the renovated Studio One at Universal Studios.

Last month, I mentioned that some rumors were floating around about a possible Simpsons movie ride at Universal Studios. According to a recent interview with Simpsons writer Matt Warburton over at TV.com, it's true. Warburton was rather coy about what the ride would consist of, but he says he is writing for it and that it will be "cool."

Earlier rumors claimed the new ride, allegedly titled "Travel with Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie" would be a motion-simulation ride in which a "car" twists and moves along with an animated film to give the feeling of actual movement. One assumes that's probably going to be the case since I can't imagine how someone would "write" for any other kind of ride.

That's the rumor, anyway.

While no official announcement has been made, Web scuttlebutt has it that a new Simpsons movie ride will be added to Universal Studios Florida in Orlando. The ride will be similar to the Back to the Future ride in that folks will sit in a stationary car while a film is projected before them to give the illusion that they're traveling through the town of Springfield. Some reports even say that the ride will replace the Back to the Future ride, which closed down last March. The new ride has allegedly been given the cumbersome name of "Travel with Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie." Rumor has it the ride will open in the summer of 2008. In the meantime, you can do what I do and just run in place in front of your TV while playing The Simpsons Road Rage video game. It's not quite the same, but it is a great way to burn calories.

Largely a retread of August's New York Times piece on black women in advertising, today's Detroit News has published a feature on the use of Aunt Jemima imagery on TV today. The piece sticks mainly to commercials, but this type of criticism has also come down on Weeds' creator Jenji Kohan for giving us the kitchen-bound, dope-dealing Heylia who proclaims herself a member of the original NPR - "Negroes Preachin' Right."

The article asks if Aunt Jemima is back. They probably should be asking if she ever went away.