TVSquad

You'd think by now that people would know better. Embellishing a resume, adding credits that are the work of a vivid imagination rather than hard work... they're bound to be unearthed someday. Especially if you're a success. The latest prevaricator caught in a series of lies is Food Network's British chef Robert Irvine. In a scathing expose by the St. Petersburg Times, the star of Dinner: Impossible, has been caught with egg on his face. Make that more like egg salad. Multiple claims by Irvine, including creating Princess Diana's wedding cake, cooking for White House dinners, being knighted by the queen, and more, have turned out to be tall tales.

Lil' Bush debuts on Comedy Central tomorrow night, June 13, at 10:30 p.m. This is an early review.

I've mentioned before that, outside of South Park and the occasional rerun of Duckman and The Critic at 4:00 a.m., Comedy Central hasn't offered much in the way of animated programs. No offense to fans of Drawn Together, but I've always found it cloying and grating. Freak Show, which I cut a bit more slack because it was made by comedic folks I admired, was still not as good as it should have been.

Back in 2003, were you wondering why the mass media was beating the drum to war in Iraq? I sure as hell was. I was so confused as to why Tom Brokaw would go on David Letterman and advocate a war, and I was stumped as to why the New York Times continued to plaster reasons for war all over its front pages.

Frontline is going to explain it all in a four-part investigative series that I cannot wait to see. Starting next Tuesday (Feb. 13th), the PBS program will investigate the way the Bush White House planted confidential tips in the media and then used subsequent media stories as evidence that America had no choice but to invade Iraq. The first hour "untangles the snarl of events" that show how the Bush administration won approval for the war from the public and the media. The second half of the program, on Feb. 20th, investigates just how much the press can reveal about the government's "war on terror" without putting the nation's security in jeopardy. The other two hours, on Feb. 27th and March 27th, look at the future of journalism in the U.S. and at journalism around the world.

"Am I Hot Or Not?": The high-pitched voice gave me a good chuckle. I'd like to imagine that Punxsutawney Phil is really thinking all that in his little groundhog head. "I speak the truuuuth!" Oh, and The Daily Show is really pushing those Jimmy Dean Chocolate Chip Pancakes & Sausage On A Stick jokes. I'm starting to wonder if they're getting paid by Jimmy Dean to advertise that "food" by pretending to hate it... when, in fact, it's delicious and addictive. Senior White House Correspondent Dan Bakkedahl also stopped by to say something. My ears tuned out because, as of late, Bakkedahl-talk sounds like Peanuts adults... but less funny.

With the aid of Roget's monosaurus (ha!), Bush has prepared yet another stirring State of the Union! That montage of the president's past addresses was amazing. And by "amazing", I mean "kind of depressing".

Senior Political Analyst Jason Jones talked about what Bush meant about the average American's sacrifice: peace of mind. When that robot unexpectedly turned around and started talking, I was surprised that Jones didn't know what to do. The Daily Show should hold improv workshopping for all of their correspondents, heh.

There's an episode from the fourth season of The West Wing where a temp work comes in to work in Josh's office, and she's wearing a Star Trek pin. Donna notices it and tells Josh, and Josh tells the worker that she can't wear it while she's working in the White House. The woman doesn't understand and gets upset. At the end of the episode, Josh explains to the woman that he's a Star Trek fan, too, and he'll even try to get a Star Trek holiday declared by the government. But while she's working there, she can't wear it, and the woman understands.

I thought of that while watching the video after the jump. It's from January 10, and shows Congressman David Wu (D-Oregon) talking about the war and how the people in the White House are Klingons, not logical Vulcans. But they're not like the "real" Klingons of Star Trek, because they've never fought a real battle.

As he warns: "Don't let faux Klingons send real Americans to war!" There's a bumper sticker waiting to be made

... a great TV moment

I remember. It was the evening of April 29th, and I had opted out of attending a major social event to watch, of all things, C-SPAN. Honestly, it felt a little pathetic. Well, not "a little". It felt really pathetic. Little did I know that I, sitting in front of the television with my laptop resting on my tacky pajama bottoms, would soon be witnessing something remarkable.

"Majority Power": There was a little more talk about Bob Gates' confirmation hearing ("You had us at 'We're losing'!"). I failed to pay much attention because I kept staring at Jon's disturbingly skinny tie. Yes yes, minor things like that still bother me. Jon used to look so sharp!

Yuletide War Correspondent John Oliver talked about another war we're fighting... the War on Christmas. Well, folks, it's all over, because Wal-Mart is going to start saying "Merry Christmas" again. Oliver and Santa could have gotten into that kiss so much more. I watch The Daily Show for hot correspondent-on-holiday figure action, so y'better not disappoint me. Sideline Correspondent Rob Riggle also popped up... not in front of a green screen, surprisingly. I snorted really loudly when he called that guy Moshe Goldstein.

I was trying to figure out how to review this set. Should I even mention how great the series is (brilliant cast, brilliant writing, brilliant direction, blah, blah, blah)? And then I figured, no, I'm not going to review certain episodes or the series as a whole. Everyone knows how good the show was, and if you're a fan you already know all that stuff, so you really want to know how the rest of the set is and if it's worth upgrading from the individual sets to this new set.

Tonight's episode of HBO's Real Time With Bill Maher will air live from Washington, D.C. His guests will be National security expert Richard Clarke, Robin Williams, MSNBC's Chris Matthews, Florida Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, and Senator Lincoln Chafee. We know they'll touch on all of the topics in the news this week (the war in Iraq, Mark Foley, next month's elections), but Maher ends the show with a special D.C.-centric set of "New Rules," his very funny (but often wise) series of observations about, well, just about everything. Check out a special preview video of Maher's D.C. rules after the jump.

My favorite line, about certain Republicans: "I know it's D.C. and I know it's hard out there for a blimp, but it's time to come to grips with the fact that there's only one woman in town who finds you two attractive, and she's banging Carville."

BP shut down one of their main pipelines, after finding that it was dangerously corroded (higher gas prices on the horizon, kids). Correspondent Rob Corddry elaborated on the situation, live from Alaska and wearing a hard hat. "I feel a little silly walking around with a shiny dome where my hair should be." Awww. Bald joke. Rob had a little trouble explaining the pipe line so he left it up to Alaska Senator Ted Stevens... "It's a series of tubes!" However, Rob had no problem talking about the sealing process, which involves actual seals. Baby seals, preferably. The baby seals are forced into the holes in the pipe line. Really back-breaking work... Meaning they have to actually break the backs of the seals. The audience reaction to this was really funny, especially to the Photoshopped picture of a baby seal stuck in a pipe line. Big laughs for Rob.

Well, I know what I'm giving myself for Christmas this year.

Warner will release The West Wing: The Complete Series on DVD November 7. The set will include every single episode of the series (154 episodes) on 45 discs. The set will contain the same sets as the individual sets already released, but will also include a copy of the pilot script, including a special intro by creator/head writer Aaron Sorkin. The set will sell for around $300.

The set for the last season will also be released that day, separately, with bonus materials.

(S07E22) Was anyone else struck by the differences between the pilot episode of The West Wing (shown tonight before the finale) and the episodes from the past couple of years, including this one? Such a different vibe. So much energy and passion and great writing (not to mention inspirational music and romanticism) in the pilot, compared to the last couple of years of so-so writing, dark camera work, bad changes in characters (although this season was a comeback). I would have rather have seen a retrospective, but it was interesting to see how the show began and how it will end.

The series finale got so many things right and also a few things wrong. Let's talk about them.

Aaron Barnhart over at TV Barn wonders why NBC isn't showing the West Wing retrospective this Sunday (as you've probably heard, they're running the pilot episode instead). Barnhart is trying to find out from someone at NBC what happened to the one hour special, but they haven't called him back yet.

He does, however, think it's one final slap in the face to the show and to the fans that made it a hit.

(S07E21) This was an odd episode. I mean, it's the next to last show, and we're supposed to believe that everyone is getting ready to leave the White House and they're packing up and they're thinking about new job offers. But at the beginning, even though C.J.'s office is filled with boxes and Will goes to see someone about a possible political job, it didn't "feel" right. Focusing on C.J. is fine, but focusing on Will and Kate? I just don't see it.

Then Andy walked into C.J.'s office and asked her to ask the President about pardoning Toby, and that's when the episode kicked into gear for me.