TVSquad

You know you've reached a certain place in pop culture when Sesame Street does a parody (Mad Men is getting one later this season). This one is a take-off on Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?

The Jeff Foxworthy puppet is eerily accurate.

It seems Jeffrey Ross already has the line of the night for Sunday's Roast of Larry the Cable Guy (Comedy Central, 10 PM), which isn't surprising, because he's a longtime Friars Club member. In the trailer, Ross slams, "This is ridiculous, he's not even a real person! Why don't we just roast Dora the Explorer or Popeye the Sailor Man?"

Fictional character he may be, Mr. The Cable Guy has attracted Jeff Foxworthy, Warren Sapp, Toby Keith, Gary Busey, Maureen McCormick, fellow comic Reno Collier, and Roast regulars like Ross, Greg Giraldo, and Nick DiPaolo. "Queen of Mean" Lisa Lampanelli will serve as the first female Roastmaster for the Comedy Central series (the Friars, originators of the roast, have only had a couple of female Roastmasters -- Susie Essman did the Smothers Brothers and Joy Behar did Danny Aiello).

I guess they think he's FOX-worthy. Now to go along with his hit game show Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?, FOX has greenlit an animated series about a NASCAR family by and featuring the voice talent of Jeff Foxworthy. In fact, the same article goes on to report that they're developing a daily syndicated version of Fifth Grader also to be hosted by the redneck king. I could never really get into the show because too often the answer to the titular question is "No" and at this point it's just getting sad how stupid we're collectively getting.

As for the animated series, with the show set in the world of NASCAR, I worry that the premise is too narrow. But if anybody can turn a show about the redneck's sport of choice into a bona fide hit it would be the guy who helped turn the Blue Collar Comedy Tour into a national phenomenon. This guy gets the working class and they love him right back. I suspect he'll be gently poking fun at them much like his "You might be a redneck" jokes. If he goes too gentle, he can just call it King of the Track and be done with it.

Just when you thought awards shows couldn't get any longer, The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences announced that reality show hosts are eligible to receive Emmys. This year's 60th Annual Emmy Awards will include a category called Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program.

The academy named popular hosts like Ryan Seacrest, Tom Bergeron, Samantha Harris, and Howie Mandel as possible nominees. Ty Pennington, Tyra Banks, and Jeff Foxworthy are also eligible. I'm not surprised that reality hosts are getting this opportunity. The Emmys have had categories for Outstanding Reality Program and Reality-Competition Program since 2001 and 2003, respectively.

Every year, The Boston Phoenix publishes a list of the 100 Unsexiest Men of the Year, where they judge 100 males involved in everything from sports to politics to the internet. They always include several TV faces (and other body parts), and this year they've included a cartoon character.

No, not Dr. Phil, though he is a bit of a cartoon. The "doctor" is on the list, but the cartoon character I'm talking about is Quagmire, from Family Guy. The Phoenix sends a note to creator Seth MacFarlane that "nothing screams hilarity like jokes about date rape!" Giggity.

Who knew that the American version of Whose Line is it Anyway? would produce so many game show hosts. We have Drew Carey on Power of 10 and Price is Right, Wayne Brady on Don't Forget the Lyrics, and now Improv veteran and bald Adonis, Colin Mochrie, will be hosting a Canadian version of an American game show.

Colin will be hosting Are You Smarter Than a Canadian 5th Grader, which will premiere on Canada's Global network on October 25th. The show will duplicate the format of America's Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader, which airs on FOX and is hosted by comedian Jeff Foxworthy.

Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader kicks off its second season next month with four one-hour episodes and a two-hour season premiere.

The premiere airs Thursday, September 6 at 8:00 p.m., followed by a new episode every Thursday, save for one episode airing on Friday, October 5.

I've only watched a few episodes of this series, but I can only take so many minutes of a yammering jackass behaving in a manner that proves he's not only less smart than a fifth grader, he's also vastly more immature.

Fox entertainment president Kevin Reilly answered inquiries from TCA members on Sunday about a big name exiting the network -- only the network was NBC and the departure was Reilly's own.

Reilly poked fun at the standard reasons found in press releases that are used to explain a person's leaving a top gig. "No one is ever really fired in Hollywood are they," he rhetorically asked, adding, "You can pick whatever trade euphemism you want [to explain my exit from NBC]. 'I segued.' 'I thought about it over the holidays.' I want to spend more time with my family, which I did for three days.'"

Then, Fox hired him to work with Peter Liguori, the network's entertainment chairman.

There's a funny post by Ken Levine over at his blog. He talks about how it seems that the goal of standup comics now is to host a game show. Think about it. Howie Mandel, Bob Saget, Jeff Foxworthy, Drew Carey. They've all gone from having sitcoms and dramas and doing standup to hosting network game shows like Deal Or No Deal and Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader. Ken wants sitcoms to make a big comeback, so the talents of comics can truly be showcased and not put into that game show personality machine that either makes them annoying or (even worse) lame and bland.

But what if Sam Kinison had hosted a game show? After the jump, Ken's very NSFW scene from a Kinison-hosted show.

I missed the premiere of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? Tuesday night as I had better things to do, like brush my dog's teeth. But curiosity got the best of me Wednesday night and I figured I'd check this show out. Whoa. What a big pile of poo.

I don't think I need to go over everything that's wrong with this show, but as I'm watching it I started to come up with ideas that could make this one kick ass game show and make it feel a lot more like school when I was a kid.

1) If the contestant fails the game, he/she has to sit in the corner of the "classroom". For three episodes. Throw in a dunce cap for good measure.

Hey, Brigitte here with TV Squad Daily. I'll be covering the TV stories I find interesting each day, Monday through Friday, in this video blog.

Today on TV Squad Daily:

• In hopes of creating some extra friction, Survivor: Fiji kicked off the season by separating tribes into the "have's" and the "have-not's" ... but the real force to be reckoned with here is that couch.
  
• I'm hoping to see my favorite side of Jeff Foxworthy, as the host of the new game show Are you Smarter Than a 5th Grader?
  
• We're still reeling about the death of Anna Nicole Smith.

The video's embedded below, or you can download the file directly (Quicktime required). You can also subscribe to this vodcast via our feed.

The ill-fitting blue suit and red tie. The sweat-soaked shirt. The bulging eyes and fidgety manner. The rapid-fire jokes about getting "no respect." Rodney Dangerfield was in the Pantheon of comedy greats for all those reasons, but his fantastic stand-up comedy was just a part of his legacy, as we find out in the fun Comedy Central documentary Legends: Rodney Dangerfield, which airs Sunday night at 9.

This is the first in CC's Legends series, where the lives of comic giants are examined through interviews with the stars that were influenced by them. In this episode, the mega-stars come out to talk about the man they equally admire and are indebted to: Jerry Seinfeld, Roseanne Barr, Chris Rock, Robert Klein, Bob Saget, Stiller & Meara, Bill Murray, Jay Leno, Norm MacDonald, Jeff Foxworthy, Adam Sandler, Sandra Bernhardt, Susie Essman, Ray Ramone, Bill Maher and Rob Schneider all provide commentary on how Rodney influenced their careers from afar, and how gracious he was with his knowledge and advice.

This seems like an awfully appropriate match-up. Redneck comedian Jeff Foxworthy just signed a deal to bring Blue Collar TV to Country Music Television (CMT). Foxworthy signed on for 12- half hour episodes of Foxworthy's Big Night Out. It's a sketch and stand-up comedy program that also features live musical performances. Production on the program begins in June, at the Alliance Theater in Atlanta, where all programs will be filmed before a live audience.

Foxworthy's new home on CMT is a big win for the cable channel, which saw its biggest ratings ever in the last two years when Foxworthy hosted the CMT Music Awards.