TVSquad

Dennis Haysbert recently claimed that his role as President Palmer on 24 may have helped pave the way for a viable African American presidential candidate. He went on to claim that his portrayal of Nelson Mandela in the movie Goodbye Bafana ended apartheid and that his role as Jonas Blane in The Unit cured polio. Haysbert was then wrestled to the ground by his handlers and is now "recuperating" at the Clay Aiken Home for Delusional Celebrities.

My first thought upon hearing this news was that Dennis Haysbert is obviously insane. Since I've been criticized in this space for not having an open mind about insane things, I decided to take Mr. Haysbert at his word. I then went even further and went to work putting together a list of other politicians who exist mainly due to the hard work done for them by TV actors. After researching Wikipedia for almost a full fifteen minutes, this is the list I've managed to put together...

Chalk this up to one of those items that got lost amidst all of the other crap that goes on in Congress. Last week, in a vote of 357-72, members of the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly rejected President Bush's plan to eliminate the $420 million dollar subsidy the federal government pays for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

The CPB was created by Congress back in 1967 to shield public broadcasting from political influence. The funds they receive are distributed between PBS and local public television stations as well as National Public Radio and its affiliates. Funding for the CPB has been a point of contention in Congress over the last few years. Two years ago Republicans attempted but failed to slash the public broadcasting subsidies (Not a jab at Republicans here; just stating facts).

The wacky neighbor is a sitcom staple. Neighbors like Kramer from Seinfeld, Lenny & Squiggy from Laverne & Shirley, and Carl Brutanunanadilewski from Aqua Teen Hunger Force make for great entertainment. They're always part of some wild adventure or providing comic relief. But, let's face it: these people would make terrible neighbors in real life.

The real neighbors you want are ones who are courteous, quiet, and friendly. Or hot. Here are the seven television neighbors you'd want in real life:

Interesting piece over at The New York Observer that fans of How I Met Your Mother will probably agree with: why isn't this show a bigger hit?

Mark Lotto thinks the show is as good as Friends and deserves to be promoted more by CBS and talked about around the watercooler the next day at work. But he wonders why CBS isn't promoting it more (ads for the show are lacking and CBS didn't push it after the Super Bowl) and seems rather confused to hear that the show might indeed be canceled at the end of the current season.

While I don't think that HIMYM is as good as Friends (except for maybe the last couple of years), I do think it's a solid little show that should not be canceled. This is a show that could easily grow into a long-running staple for CBS. It has the characters, it has the writing, and it does what it does a lot better than most similar shows that have been on the air recently.

[via TV Tattle]

A New Year's resolution is a funny thing. On the one hand, resolutions are a great way of beating back seasonal depression. They allow us to put our old ways behind us. Making a resolution is a way of acknowledging that there's hope for us yet - all is not lost. Then, the year begins. The resolution gets left by the wayside. What was once a hopeful promise you made to yourself becomes indicative of failure.

So, why make resolutions at all? Theoretically, because we keep hoping that we can become the best possible versions of ourselves. And, what exactly would be the best possible version of the Simpsons? Lucky for you, Fox has the answer. In an odd, brief press release promoting the January 7th return of the show, Fox listed the adult Springfieldians' 2007 resolutions. You can check them out after the jump. Perhaps, they'll inspire you to turn over a new leaf this holiday season.

Recently, Julia posted a piece about a lawsuit filed against a man that made fun of Barney on his little website. The end result favored the satirist, so Julia said, "America, you are free to mock Barney" and... y'know what? I think I will.

I don't recall how I stumbled across this video (probably late-night YouTube surfing), but I definitely remember watching it at, like, three in the morning and laughing deliriously for an obscene length of time. It's a charming mash-up of Barney video and Tupac audio. That's right. Somehow, the flailing of Barney's tiny hands suddenly become the aggressive gestures that conduct the beat of a west-side thug. Plus, the dancing children and sparkles add a nice touch.

Obviously, the visuals are work-safe, but, since it's gangsta rap, you may want to turn down the volume or pop on some headphones. Here we go...

Poor Stuart Frankel. He set-up a website satirizing friendly purple dinosaur Barney, and all he got was grief - grief in the form of intimidating letters from Barney's copyright holders, the Lyons Partnership. Lyons threatened to file a lawsuit if doctored images of said dinosaur were not promptly removed from Frankel's site. Fortunately for satirists everywhere, Frankel fought back. An out-of-court settlement has been reached. Lyons must cease all threats against Frankel and pay him $5,000.00 for his trouble.

The parody in question depicted Barney's off-stage persona -- the evil, punky one (pictured). Under the legal doctrine of fair use, anyone can use copyrighted work in a parody so long as it's for "noncommercial purposes, limited to conjuring up the subject of the satire and does not replace the market for the original." So, go to town, people. Mock away. Kick a dinosaur while he's down. Think Barney parodies have been done to death? There's a world of saccharine children's programming just waiting for your comedic intervention.

(S02E10) Last week's episode, "Slap Bet," was a tough one to follow; even an extraordinarily funny episode would have paled in comparison. So to say this week's episode was a disappointment would be an overstatement. But it really wasn't as sharp as some of the others this season have been.

I'm not sure what it is, but I'm really starting to think that introducing guest stars disrupts the chemistry of the show too much. The last time there was a lame-ish episode, Jane Seymour and Bryan Cranston were guesting; this time around, it's Wayne Brady, who played Barney's brother James. You'd think a guy who uttered the line "Does Wayne Brady have to choke a bitch?" would be able to do well playing a black, gay version of Barney. But he was just... meh. Let's just say he could have been a lot better.

Hot off the presses (DVDs are pressed right?), the first season of How I Met Your Mother is out on DVD today. Without getting into specifics, I got lucky and ended up with a copy last week. So I've had all weekend to play around with it. The simple answer is that this is a great DVD set... for all HIMYM fans. Anyone else that picks this up probably isn't going to get as excited about the special features as I did.

That being said, the special features are scant. There's not many, but what you do get is worth it. Once you get over the fact that it's only presented in full frame (Joel and I were both angry about the lack of widescreen), there's plenty to watch. I especially enjoyed the commentaries on the pilot episode and "Drumroll, Please" because Pamela Fryman sat in on those sessions. It's a rare occurrence when one person helms the directorial duties for an entire 22-episode run, but Fryman did it and created a constant visual style throughout the entire season. So her thoughts held some weight in those commentaries.

Yup, comic Wayne Brady is going to show up on CBS' How I Met Your Mother, and he'll play Barney's brother.

I know, I know, you're thinking, "but Brady is black and Harris is white!" Well, first, congrats on the observation! Second, if Lost can make us believe that there's an invisible smoke monster and a second island all of the sudden that no one knew about, I think we can believe that Brady and Harris are brothers.

Adoption seems to be the most logical answer, though co-creator Carter Bays says "I feel like the less we say about it, the funnier it is" and that they have an interesting relationship.

[via TV Tattle]

Do you think you can come up with a good line for Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) to use on How I Met Your Mother? Here's your chance.

CBS and TV.com are having a contest to find the next Barneyism that everyone will be repeating to their friend. And if you win, the Barneyism you write will actually show up on a future episode of the show.

I've only seen a couple of episodes of the show, so the only one that I know is the "Suit Up" line. I guess that's the best known. If you think of a good one, put it in the comments below. And if you win, let us know.

[via Pop Candy]

(S06E18)

Burns: Listen, Spielbergo, Schindler and I are like peas in a pod. We're both factory owners, we both made shells for the Nazis, but mine worked damn it!

This episode opens like any other, with one tiny omission: Matt Groening's name does not appear on the Simpsons' television along with "James L. Brooks" and "Sam Simon." The story goes that Groening and Brooks were at odds over whether to let Jay Sherman from The Critic (a show created by Simpsons peeps Mike Reiss and Al Jean) appear in the episode. Groening felt, and quite rightly I believe, that Jay was not a part of the Simpsons' universe, and didn't belong on the show. A transcribed article about the tiff can be found here.

(S01E22) Life's short, guys. You only get one chance; don't have any regrets. As per the spoilers, in this last episode, we got both the surprise hookup, and the twist no one saw coming. Both were heartbreakingly perfect. Between this and the absolute perfection that was The Office's finale, this is the season for love ... or mistakes and heartbreak; it all depends on how you look at it. As finale's go, I haven't been this excited to see next season since I saw Ross get off the plane with Julie. What's going to happen next year? Will anything ever be the same? Wait, what happened last night? On with the show!

(S01E21) One episode left and Lily had me worried there for a while. After  her reservations the past couple of weeks, and her desperate plea for Ted to come and rescue her, I thought one of two things were going to happen. She was either going to make a move on Ted, or she really was going to make a break for it and run away. Lily's justification for being freaked out probably doesn't sit well with those of you that haven't been around friends or family right before they get married. Needless to say, it's probably not half as crazy as some of the things people have done when they've had cold feet. On with the show!

The How I Met Your Mother star told Craig Ferguson (scroll down) that he wants to be on a celebrity version of The Amazing Race, because he loves the show so much.

And this gets me thinking: what celebs would you like to see on a celebrity edition of the show? I think they should team up Andy Dick and Bill O'Reilly on one team. That'd be fun to watch.

[via TV Tattle]