TVSquad

The most famous Rachel on TV today isn't the same one that made Jennifer Aniston a star. And it's Rachael with the extra "E" that's the syndicated star of a talk show that won the Emmy in 2008. But the newest Rachel on the air is MSNBC's plucky new host of her own show, Rachel Maddow. Like Aniston, Rachel Maddow's hairdoo is fashionable, and like Ray, Maddow's very personable. However, The Rachel Maddow Show is worlds apart from Friends or 30 Minute Meals/The Rachael Ray Show. Maddow is all about politics, current events and things that, by and large, are important.

In some ways, The Rachel Maddow Show is a spinoff of Countdown with Keith Olbermann. Maddow has been a regular sub for Olbermann, proving her prowess to MSNBC, and her show has a cushy spot between the first run of Countdown at 8 p.m. ET and the replay at 10 p.m. For the premiere episode, in fact, Keith appeared as Rachel's first guest -- a crossover from the end of Countdown where Rachel was interviewed in the last segment before the close. This was a smart move, sort of like a bridge from his show to hers, a bridge to somewhere if you will.

The new studio for Maddow has the quality MSNBC look, glass top desk, plasma screens, obnoxious -- but expected -- graphics on the bottom and bugs and flags reinforcing information as it's spoken.

We all speculated as to what role Jennifer Aniston will play when she guest stars on NBC's 30 Rock later this year, and now we know what part she'll play. It's actually one of the choices we came up with.

Aniston will play an old friend of Liz Lemon who starts to stalk Jack Donaghy. The character is described as an ex-roommate of Liz's from Chicago who is a "free-spirited, Fatal Attraction-like stalker." Well, let's hope that she isn't completely like that. We don't need any gunshots to the chest or bunny-boiling on 30 Rock. The character's name is Claire Harper.

So we've had Aniston and David Schwimmer on the show. I think all of the Friends people should appear on 30 Rock at some point.

Don't get too worked up, they're not dumping all reruns. But TV Land announced that by the end of 2009 they are looking to have original programming fill up half of their prime-time lineup. Last year it was 4% and it's only 15% now. The Wall Street Journal article goes on and on about how the channel is aiming to skew younger, to generate more ad revenue. When it spun off solo in 1996, TV on DVD was still relatively new, so it was a lot of fun to have a place to go to get your nostalgia fix. But now, most folks can go to their DVD library if they want to see M*A*S*H again.

It goes on to say that the types of shows they're developing are romance and dating shows, like Cougar, which is basically The Bachelorette with an older woman scouting younger guys. The strides they've made so far have improved their ratings and median age, so I guess this will work, too but it's disappointing to me. Basic cable used to have channels where you knew what to expect when you went there and TV Land was one of them.

Hey, if David Schwimmer can do it, why not Jennifer Aniston?

The rumors floating around have turned out to be true: the ex-Friends star is going to make a guest appearance on NBC's 30 Rock this season. In fact, she's filming the episode as I type this. Well, maybe not that sentence, but even as I type ... this.

Now comes the endless speculation on what part she'll play. Could she be a new girlfriend for Jack Donaghy? Or maybe a new cast member brought on TGS with Tracy Jordan that becomes a rival to Jenna? How about an old friend of Tina Fey's that moves to New York and causes trouble for her in some way? I think the biggest twist would be if Aniston actually became a regular on the show, but I don't see that happening.

Of course, why not just have her be Rachel Green (sorry, it must be Rachel Geller by now)? She could be brought on TGS as a fashion/make-up person.

I'm hesitant to get my hopes up, because there's always talk of TV shows making a leap to the big screen. Whether it's a great idea, as with Arrested Development, or a horrific one like Friends: The Movie, it seems that as soon as a show ends, the silver-screen talks begin. Regardless, I just about peed my pants when I read that a Veronica Mars movie may actually become a reality.

Even though Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas has two pilots in the works (Cupid and Outrageous Fortune), he still hasn't forgotten the little detective show that is singlehandedly responsible for people no longer asking him if he's the dude from Matchbox Twenty. Apparently, Thomas's production office is located on the same lot where VM star Kristen Bell is currently shooting Heroes and the two sat down for a little chat.

There was a time during the early days of television where what happened on a scripted show remained within the confines of the small screen. Then came the wonderful world of the Internet and the amazing potential that it had. Soon enough, reality and imagination began to merge. Now, it's a near given that a TV show will utilize the Internet to maximize its viewing potential.

Take Psych for example. In a conversation that took place during last week's episode Shawn made reference to the fact that his father Henry was angry because he didn't have as many friends on Facebook as his son. Of course, that signaled the purveyors of the World Wide Superhighwaynet to take a look to see if it was true. Turns out, Shawn was correct: he has more friends than his father does. Henry only has two friends -- Shawn Spencer and Shawn Spencer. Poor Henry! Meanwhile, Shawn has a total of 50 friends over two different profiles.

However, neither of them can compare to one Burton "Gus" Guster. When it comes to friends on Facebook good ole Gus has a total of 108 on two profiles. Now we really know who everyone loves on Psych!

How awesome is this? Barney's official list of how men should interact with each other in pursuit of conquest of the opposite sex,The Bro Code, is going to be published for real. Barney Stinson, the most awesome womanizer on How I Met Your Mother, has referred to this compendium on the show and now The Bro Code will be for sale in bookstores in late November, just in time for Christmas sales.

Neil Patrick Harris, the embodiment of Barney, is not writing the book. That'll be done by co-creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas with Matthew Kuhn, the staff writer who is responsible for Barney's blog. Barney, as fans of the show know, is nothing if not prolific and legen -- wait for it -- dary when it comes to knowing the rules, the rights and wrongs, in bagging the babes.

Ya know, around the time Friends was ending, I would have bet on big things for Jennifer Aniston. She's certainly had her successes since then, with things like The Break-Up. But it really seems that she's had far more press for her relationships, and her penchant for sunbathing topless, than she has for her acting. That may go a long way to explain the latest Aniston rumor.

It's being reported that she has an idea for her production company, a movie where she plays the over-bearing mother to a rising star daughter. And she would like that daughter to be played by Miley Cyrus. It actually sounds like a good idea. From TV episodes, to concert tickets, now seems to be a pretty good time to be in the Miley Cyrus business. It should all be taken with a large grain of salt though, as the quote leading to the rumor, "I approached Miley about it, and she thinks it's a very cool idea." Is the Star, quoting a pal, quoting Aniston. Make of it what you will, but if there is any truth to it, it's an idea with some legs.

I'm a sucker for stunt casting. Sure, it can get annoying after a while, (hello Will & Grace) but I still love seeing a Michelle Trachtenberg on Gossip Girl or a Britney Spears on How I Met Your Mother. So I was really excited to read that Courteney Cox has signed up to guest star on Scrubs this season.

Cox, who was most recently seen on her FX drama, Dirt, is returning to the small screen for a three-episode arc as Sacred Heart's newest Chief of Medicine. The position was left open after Dr. Kelso (Ken Jenkins) retired at the end of last season. Since Cox is only going to be on the show for a handful of episodes, something tells me that she's not going to do well in her new position. Her character is said to "ruffle some feathers," and it sounds like she's ruffling the wrong ones right out the door.

Last week, the rumors about the Friends movie were shot down by Warners. Now, you can put The Sopranos feature in the dead zone, too. Who's the voice of authority with the lowdown on what's really going on in David Chase's fevered mind? A psychiatrist, of course.

Okay, seriously, he's not a shrink, he just played one on The Sopranos. Director-actor Peter Bogdanovich was asked about a possible big-screen Sopranos and he said it's not going to happen.

"I spoke to David Chase a month ago, and he said no. He said he thought about it, and he can't figure out a way to do it. So I don't think it will ever happen. I don't think you can ever say never, but my hunch is it won't happen."

Bogdanovich should know. He played Dr. Melfi's psychiatrist, Dr. Elliot Kupferberg, and he spoke directly to Chase. No middle men, the big enchilada himself, the creator of The Sopranos himself, told it to him straight.

A roundup of TV people from in front of the camera and behind the scenes who have passed away.

• Lilyan Chauvin: She was a veteran actress you might remember as Joey's grandmother on Friends and the woman in the pilot of The Pretender who asks "Are you a doctor?" (Jarrod's response: "I am today"). She appeared on a ton of other shows over the years, including ER, Alias, Frasier, Star Trek: DS9, Ugly Betty, Malcolm in the Middle, The X-Files, Baywatch, The Young and the Restless, Falcon Crest, Fantasy Island, Man From Atlantis, The Bob Newhart Show, Mannix, The Adventures of Superman, Studio One, and many, many others. She died of cancer and heart disease at age 82.

Thanks to the success of the Sex and the City movie -- and talk of more to come -- the rumor mill has been bubbling with other TV shows making the leap to the big screen. In the case of Arrested Development, it sure sounds like the truth.

However, the Friends feature is a rumor that has no legs. Warners owns the property and on July 4th, even though all U.S. offices were closed for the holiday, denied the rumors via the London office.

Jayne Trotman, Warner's director of publicity, said of the Friends movie, "(There's) no truth in the story."

Just to be sure, Matthew Perry's press rep also denied the rumor. She told the BBC that nothing is happening and the rumor is just that, a shred of news with no value attached to it.

So, did you hear that they did a poll they did to determine which presidential candidate people would like to hang out with at a barbecue? Obama won 52 to 45 percent over McCain, which may not mean very much in the long run, but the day before July 4th it made news.

The thought of barbecues and July 4th parties got me thinking about which TV characters with whom I'd like to spend Independence Day. I wouldn't want them here at my place, though, I want to go to their places. I have high expectations, too, and a vivid imagination.

Here's the six TV characters who could expect me to join them to watch the rockets red glare -- if only they were real live folks and not just my fictional faves.

Vanity Fair has done a piece on Gossip Girl profiling the likes and dislikes of its young Hollywood starlets. Amanda Seyfried, who's starring in the upcoming film Mamma Mia! with Meryl Streep, wants to work with Michael Caine on day. When asked whether she drove a hybrid or an Escalade, she said, "Audi. Maybe I should drive a hybrid. I do have a shirt that says, 'Go Green.' " Well, that helps, I guess.

Blake Lively, who got her start playing Bridget in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, got the car question too: "Hybrid. Even if anybody picked the Escalade they wouldn't say it, 'cause it'd be, like, bombed."

VH1.com pointed out that in the article Gossip Girl ripped off a famous Friends photo. The pictures features each cast in evening gowns and tuxes while lugging champagne. Technically, Vanity Fair ripped off Friends. I feel indignant at any comparison, intentional or not, made between Friends (*cue choir of angels*) and Gossip Girl. Check out the pictures and let me know what you think.

If there is one rumor that never dies it's the one about the possibility of a Friends reunion. Since the series finale aired in May 2004, rumors about a reunion popped up here, there and everywhere. Sometimes the rumor takes the form of "there will be another spinoff" (remember Joey?) but most of the time it's a "there are talks about a movie but one of the stars doesn't want to commit." This week's revival of the rumor is of the latter kind.