It's official: GE has sold 51% of NBC Universal to Comcast, for approximately $6.5 billion dollars in cash (what are the odds they'll use this as an excuse to raise my cable bill again?). It'll take about a year to go through the regulatory and anti-trust gauntlets, but after that, the cable giant will be in charge.
Everyone makes fun of NBCU because of the NBC's bumbling high-profile moves over the last half-decade or so, but the reason why the company was so attractive to Comcast was not the broadcast network, but its über-successful cable networks, especially Bravo and USA. Still, it's embarrassing to have your flagship net stumble around like a disoriented shopper on Black Friday. So, if I were in the Comcast executive suite, here's a few things I'd do to prop up the Peacock:
In his Tonight Show monologue Friday night, Conan O'Brien threw his hat in the ring to replace Oprah, following her announcement that she would leave her syndicated show after next year's 25th season.O'Brien even offered a new segment. Since Oprah was in charge of what people read, and Conan confessed he isn't much on reading, he offered to suggest DVDs for people to watch. The first Conan DVD Club selection? Kill Dozer, about a killer bulldozer.
There isn't a new 30 Rock tomorrow night (there is a new Jay Leno Show however - sigh), but that doesn't mean we can't get our fix of Kenneth Parcell quirkiness this week. Jack McBrayer was on The Tonight Show last night. First clip is below and the other two clips are after the jump.
Last night, Spencer Pratt announced on The Tonight Show that he might run for President. His reasoning? It has to do with becoming hated by everyone and hacking computers. Or something. I don't think he's thought it through yet. Seth Green gets a little dig in, and the audience is obviously tired of him and Heidi.
What you don't hear in the clip (it cuts off early) is the audience actually booing Heidi and Spencer. My favorite part of the show was the end, as the music played and credits rolled Conan talked to guest Brian Setzer and Green talked to Andy, leaving Speidi all alone in the middle on the couch, not sure where to look or who to talk to.
Conan O'Brien is a better interviewee than interviewer, as this "Between Two Ferns" interview with Zach Galifianakis shows. He and Andy Richter sat down to chat with Galifianakis at FunnyorDie.com and they touch on everything from The Tonight Show to whether or not Conan touches himself while watching himself. It seems to be all scripted but it's funny (not die). There's a surprise guest star too.
Chris Elliott is quite possibly the most famous person few people have heard of. His early '90s sitcom Get A Life is a classic and he's had runs on TV shows like Late Night With David Letterman and Everybody Loves Raymond as well as some memorable movie cameos. And now he's in a new TV show.
It's called Eagleheart and it's about an over-the-hill action star who uses his television show of the same name "as a soapbox for his right-wing politics and conservative paranoia". He'll likely be more carictaure than character. Is the character based on Chuck Norris, I wonder?
It is produced by Conan O'Brien's production company. Conan actually co-created a pilot with similar themes (an over-the-hill star trying to remain relevant) in the early 90's called Lookwell starring Adam West.
It's got the right star and the concept certainly sounds amusing. But did it have to be Cartoon Network? Isn't the word "cartoon" in the network's title? Yet another example of channel drift.
Last night was the 100th episode of The Tonight Show since Conan O'Brien took over (time flies, etc). His dad sent him a very special video message from his home in Massachusetts, and it's actually weird and funny.
[Watch clips and episodes of The Tonight Show and other shows at SlashControl.]
William Shatner has appeared on The Tonight Show to give his typically awesome take on the Twitter messages that Sarah Palin posted to her account when she was Governor of Alaska. Last night he appeared again to recite the Twitter "poetry" of her arch-rival Levi Johnston.
The whole "Leno at 10PM" thing has been analyzed to death, so let's analyze it a little bit more!
Leno has an interview with Broadcasting & Cable and he says, among many other things, that if NBC asked him to go back to 11:35 for whatever reason, he'd do it, but it's not his decision to make.
It seems that Leno is definitely trying to make things work at 10, and he's always been a good network soldier and will happily do what they want him to do because he has nothing to prove. But at the same time it seems like he truly would have preferred staying on The Tonight Show, and you get the sense that he's not 100% happy about how everything went down.
Whenever a celebrity cook appears on a talk show like The Late Show or The Tonight Show, it's hardly ever a real cooking demonstration. Letterman will start drinking cooking sherry right out of the bottle or Conan will just go nuts and spread butter all over something he shouldn't.
Last night was particularly crazy, as Conan, Garry Shandling, and Andy Richter helped Paula Deen make... something for Halloween. It gets kinda hectic so I'm not sure what it was.
"Girls need to shop for clothes. Period." Words of wisdom from our president. The crack editing staff at The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien has created an amazing clip of President Obama putting women in their place. They took an interview Obama recently gave to NBC news and edited it so it's just a full minute filled with random, nonsensical sexist remarks.
In addition to the quote I mentioned above, he alludes to a nefarious-sounding "strategy" that the men have in place, while a graphic of female politicians, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, hovers ominously. The clip is amazingly well-edited, to the point that if you didn't know what it was, you would swear it was real. In fact, I give it a day before the clip, or at least the quotes, start making the media rounds as fact. Ah, behold the power of late night.
Two very unique comedies will get a time slot on an equally unique cable network.
Conan O'Brien's "Conaco" production company and actor Rob Corrdry both scored spots on Adult Swim for two new live-action sitcoms.
O'Brien's company won a spot for Eagleheart, a show about a fading TV star who wins a chance for glory once more on a production in Texas, but constantly clashes with the low-level TV exec in charge of the show.
Corrdry's medical drama spoof web series Childrens' Hospital will also go to Adult Swim. The channel will show re-edited versions of the episodes that aired on TheWB.com as well as produce new ones. Corrdry originally pitched the show to Comedy Central, but negotiations broke down with the network, probably because the show didn't have enough bimbo strippers and shirtless fat guys to fill their quota (cough, Secret Girlfriend, cough).
You've got to give Cory Booker credit: he could have completely fallen on his face trying to match Conan O'Brien laugh for laugh. I mean, politicians are never the most talented folks in the humor department to begin with; even armed with his speechwriters, the Newark mayor was bringing pop guns to the comedic battle with the dual cannons Conan and his veteran writing staff could bring. But he held his own. Now he can reap his reward: Booker's been booked on The Tonight Show for October 16.
Newark hasn't been in this big of an entertainment spotlight since Howard Stern hosted his New Year's Eve beauty pageant there fifteen years ago. So if Booker had to throw out some semi-lame jokes and suffer some gentle ribbing from Conan in order to get his city some publicity, so be it.
At first I thought it was kinda lame that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was going to solve the Tonight Show feud with Newark, NJ mayor Cory Booker via video instead of in person, but it actually worked out better this way (plus she's probably busy with, you know, world stuff).
She was able to intervene in the dispute but at the same time make it clear that she didn't even know what it was about and didn't want Conan to ever bother her again.
This is starting to become a trend at NBC. First Conan whacked his head after slipping on the stage during a sketch, and now Jay Leno hit his head during rehearsal for a stunt. Luckily Leno's injury wasn't bad enough to send him to the hospital like Conan's was.
Of course, this injury gave Leno an opening for a Letterman joke.
It's official: GE has sold 51% of NBC Universal to Comcast, for approximately $6.5 billion dollars in cash (what are the odds they'll use this as an excuse to raise my cable bill again?). It'll take about a year to go through the regulatory and anti-trust gauntlets, but after that, the cable giant will be in charge.
Chris Elliott is quite possibly the most famous person few people have heard of. His early '90s sitcom Get A Life is a classic and he's had runs on TV shows like Late Night With David Letterman and Everybody Loves Raymond as well as some memorable movie cameos. And now he's in 
The whole "Leno at 10PM" thing has been analyzed to death, so let's analyze it a little bit more!
Two very unique comedies will get a time slot on an equally unique cable network. 
You've got to give Cory Booker credit: he could have completely fallen on his face trying to match Conan O'Brien laugh for laugh. I mean, politicians are never the most talented folks in the humor department to begin with; even armed with his speechwriters, the Newark mayor was bringing pop guns to the comedic battle with the dual cannons Conan and his veteran writing staff could bring. But he held his own. Now he can reap his reward: 
Have any questions for Rich Sommer of Mad Men? Ask them here!
Syfy's Alice -- An early look
The TV Squad Podcast: Surprising shows, decade-end lists, and the Commenter of the Week!
