TVSquad

FOX has ordered the script for a new comedic drama from Josh Berman, creator of previous FOX series Vanished and Killer Instinct, a story editor on Bones and a consulting producer for CSI.

The series, Drop Dead Diva, is about a gorgeous model who dies and whose soul is transplanted into the body of another female: an overweight, and therefore not as attractive, attorney.

You can probably fill in the blanks from there: everyone, including the viewers, learns that beauty comes from within, and I, much like the diva in this story, am also killed (with boredom).

Have you ever wonder how it is those speed eaters can stuff so much food into their bodies in such a short amount of time?

No? Okay, then go away, this isn't for you.

If you are interested, tune into the National Geographic Channel July 8 at 9:00 p.m. for Science of Speed Eating. The special will examine the science behind these eating competitions by following three speed eaters, including Tim Janus, who only weighs 170 pounds. In fact, at one point a doctor will track the food as it makes its way through Janus' body. Yes, it's disgusting, but science is yucky sometimes. I think Einstein said that. Or maybe it was Bunsen Honeydew. Either way, it's true.

According to a new study, people eat more when they're watching television they find entertaining.

Dr. Alan Hirsch, the neurological director for the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago, conducted an experiment in which folks were given chips to eat while watching Letterman and Leno, and chips to eat when not watching any TV at all. As it turns out, they ate more chips while watching TV because they paid less attention to whether or not they were full while distracted by what was on the television.

Tonight at 9:00 p.m. on the Food Network, Al Roker will host Childhood Obesity: Danger Zone, a special that delves into the obesity epidemic that now affects more than 12 million children in America. The special will focus mostly on children, including: a teenager who weighs 500 pounds; the public policy initiative put in place by Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee to help overweight children; and a doctor who teaches kids how to shop for healthy food.

Rumors have been circulating for many years that the only way William Shatner could maintain the physique of Captain James T. Kirk was to wear a corset under his uniform. Well, that's not true, claims Shatner. The actor claims the seed of this particular rumor actually began when he was working on TJ Hooker. During a break in filming he went horseback riding and wound up with a broken rib. An assistant was sent to fetch a bandage for the injured Shatner, and somehow the rumor mill eventually turned "bandage" into "girdle."

Okay, I don't believe Shatner ever wore a corset/girdle on Star Trek, but his explanation seems a little suspicious. Is he claiming this rumor didn't exist until long after Star Trek went off the air? Do any of you older readers remember hearing this rumor pre-TJ Hooker?

(S10E07) When you reach her room, Butters will keep a look out while Kenny opens the bedroom door, Kyle puts a pillow over my mom's head, and Stan shoots her in the face. --Cartman, plotting his mother's demise.

It's been an interesting season, and this wasn't a bad episode to go out on. Cartman's mom, both the sluttiest and most malleable woman on the planet, has almost given up on Cartman, who, as we know from his past exploits, has a tendency to engage in acts of complete, unmitigated evil. No matter how hard she tries, Cartman continues to manipulate her, so she does what any hip mother would do in this day and age, she relies on a reality TV show to try and set her son straight.

Unfortunately, hiring the nannies from Nanny 911 doesn't work, as Cartman's knack for manipulating authority figures sends one away screaming, and another to the insane asylum. Unfortunately, they never send Nanny Skesis, a nice little allusion to The Dark Crystal.

First, comedian Joe Rogan of Fear Factor got into an online debate with a kid half his age, and then later smoothed things over with the kid. Now Rogan may be courting controversy again with this fifty-page thread on his messageboard. The thread wasn't started by Rogan; it was actually started by a board member who found out that another board member, whom he disliked, was part of a support group for obese people. Apparently this was the culmination of an ongoing battle of wits among the members of the board, and like most messageboards, conversation eventually devolved into personal attacks and racist insults. This kind of behavior on messageboards is hardly news, but apparently Rogan decided to toss in his support for the thread, even adding a few insults of his own. Rogan apparently loves the raw and unfiltered power of the internet, even if his participation in it might be construed by some as indirectly supporting anti-Semitic sentiments.

[via Best Week Ever]