TVSquad

There's something sweet about birthday reunion celebration, and on Friday, November 13 -- defying all superstitions about Friday the 13th -- The People's Court will honor the original judge, Judge Wapner, on the show. Judge Marilyn Milian will move aside and the distinguished, no-nonsense Wapner will pick up the gavel one more time. Will Dustin Hoffman make a guest appearance? Gosh, I hope so.

Actually, it's Judge Wapner 90th birthday and he's getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (on November 12), so it just seemed appropriate to bring it full circle.

Maybe they'll change the name of this year's Academy Awards to So You Think You Can Win An Oscar? Or maybe it'll be Oscar, You Should Be Dancing. What else can we expect now that Adam Shankman has been assigned to produce the Oscar broadcast... with Bill Mechanic. The Bill Mechanic part is almost like fine print. (Or that cute kid Brick on The Middle who whispers under his breathe in a funny, creepy way. "Mechanic...")

The story here is Adam Shankman. He's a director/choreographer and dancer. He's a judge on the current season of So You Think You Can Dance. His biggest credit is Hairspray, one of the few movie musicals that has made it to the big screen and was a bit hit in the last decade. Shankman should bring movement, energy and -- perhaps -- dance to the Academy Awards?

Have you wondered why American Idol's recently debenched judge Paula Abdul has yet to land somewhere? You know, as a TV personality, it seemed like after her tweet that she was not returning to the show, she was hit with an avalanche of offers... and then nothing. No dancing show. No talk show. Just rumors. Okay, there was the VH1 Divas thing and a guest appearance on Drop Dead Diva, but nothing substantial.

Now, Ms. Abdul herself has hinted that there's yet a new possibility for her. She again used Twitter which is cheaper than a publicist. Paula sort of attached herself to The X Factor. The British musical competition show is coming to America next year if Simon Cowell can work out the deal. Paula may be part of that package. Paula tweeted: "Hey guys, I'm having a great time in London. Going to watch x factor rehearsals now. So excited! Almost the weekend!!!! Xoxo"

Of all the names bandied about as replacement judges and guest judges on American Idol, I can honestly tell you that today's name made me smile. How I Met Your Mother's Neil Patrick Harris is filling in as a guest judge on American Idol as they conduct auditions in Dallas, Texas.

Neil is not only one of the funniest talents around, but he is a legitimate singer who has appeared on Broadway, hosted the Tony Awards (and the upcoming Emmys, too) and knows what it takes to sing professionally. And let's not forget Dr. Horrible.

Nigel Lythgoe really was serious about wanting to work with Paula Abdul again. Lythgoe used to be executive producer on American Idol, before he left to devote his full attention to So YouThink You Can Dance. This upcoming week, they'll be filming "Vegas Week" for the upcoming fall season six of the hit summer series.

But before that starts, Lythgoe has invited Paula Abdul to fly down to Vegas this weekend so they can talk about her possibly becoming a part of the show. He'd love to have her, of course, "If I can afford her," he says. The question becomes: was it the money over at Idol, or the fact that she felt disrespected?

As to what capacity Abdul could be involved in the show as it takes Idol's time slots in the fall, she could be very involved. Hell, if they agree to things quickly, she could be a part of the judging panel for "Vegas Week," meaning she'd only have missed the initial auditions, and she could certainly join the choreographer pool immediately.

I've always enjoyed jingles, you know, those catchy commercial tunes that get in your head and never leave. "Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun." See, after all these years, it's still there. I wonder if Gene Simmons would have liked that McDonald's jingle?

We'll soon find out what the Kiss star likes in musical commercial craftsmanship because Gene Simmons has been tapped as one of the judges on the CBS reality show Jingles. It's a competition show, from producer Mark Burnett, he of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader, Survivor and The Apprentice fame. We'll just forget about the ones that didn't fly, like On the Lot (that was painful to watch), Pirate Master (unwatchable) and Rock Star: INXS (truly a train wreck).

Jingles should be pretty challenging for contestants; it's hard to fake it when it comes to writing words and lyrics. The winner gets a contract with an advertising agency and $100,000.

If you're in the camp that believes that Tony was whacked by the Members-Only jacketed man in the final blackout of The Sopranos, then you'll probably be pleased to know that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito Jr. has taken a shot at the HBO drama, too.

During a recent speech at New Jersey's Rutgers University, Justice Alito opined that the Emmy-winning series besmirched not only Italians, but citizens of the Garden State, too. "You have a trifecta - gangsters, Italian-Americans, New Jersey - wedded in the popular American imagination," he said to a crowd of about 100. He was speaking about the stereotypes Italian-Americans have had to live with in the United States. Clearly, The Sopranos would be just the kind of depiction to draw his ire. After all, Uncle Junior and Paulie Walnuts are not characters to be emulated and admired, and creator David Chase never said they were.

Remember the sobbing judge who turned the Anna Nicole Smith custody case into an audition tape for himself? He's off the bench. Judge Larry Seidlin has resigned from his position of 29 years and he's not saying where he's going. But, I'm guessing he's making a beeline for a television camera.

When Seidlin was all over television a few months back, he was reportedly being wooed by at least one network for a little face time. In his resignation, Seidlin didn't say exactly what he'll be doing, except that he has "a further commitment to helping my fellow citizens through roles in the educational system, media, and non-profit organizations." I highlighted a key word there because I'm guessing we'll be seeing Judge Larry's emotional outbursts on television sometime soon.

Anyone want to guess what type of show he'll be getting?

*UPDATE: Yup, he's got a TV show. He'll be filming a pilot for CBS Television Distribution.

Funnyman Graham Norton will be hosting a new reality pilot for Lifetime.

The new show will serve as a kind of popularity contest in which an audience of women vote off one woman at a time from a group of seven as they answer challenges and tackle different challenges. The Hollywood Reporter article doesn't go into much detail than that, so it's hard to say exactly what the hell the point of the show is supposed to be, other than showing women at their most judgmental and catty. Oh yeah, and the show was originally called Judgment Day, which probably isn't a good sign, either.

Norton will still appear in TV in the UK. The Graham Norton Show, his BBC2 series, hits BBC America on June 2. Previously, he hosted So Graham Norton, a Channel 4 series that was adapted into an American version which ran on Comedy Central for a short time.

You folks might recall that a man running for Sheriff in Grant County, Wisconsin changed his name from "William Harold Fenrick" to "Andrew Jackson Griffith" so he could run under the name "Andy Griffith" and hopefully use the iconic name to win the election.

He didn't win.

He did, however, have a lawsuit filed against him by Andy Griffith, the actor who played Andy Taylor on the Andy Griffith Show. Recently, however, a judge dismissed the case, saying that Fenrick did not violate any copyright and that what he did was protected under the First Amendment. I'm not a fancy big city lawyer, so I can't say much about this.

It's pilot season in Los Angeles, which means it's time for underemployed writers to slip on their parkas and head into sub-Artic studios to attend the tapings of television shows that may never see the light of day.

The novelty of attending a pilot taping wears off pretty quickly. If you've ever attended the taping of any television show, you know that there is a copious amount of waiting involved. Sitting and waiting and freezing. Picking out which audience members were bussed in versus which ones actually know what show they're attending can only occupy you for so long.

While this news probably won't affect the show one bit, Fleshbot has uncovered that Top Design judge and LA interior designer Kelly Wearstler was once known as Kelly Gallagher, September 1994's Playmate of the Month. Her stated ambition - to "own my own marvelous design and furnishings business." Way to achieve, Kelly.

Kelly is also turned on by "fabulous, intense minds, honesty, huge smiles and a man with a colossal heart." Her turn-offs include "bad design," but we already knew that. Kelly, I think it's time to pull some strings. I see a Top Design "redesign Hef's grotto" challenge in the works. With the way this clunker of a show is going, It couldn't hurt.

NOTE: Be forewarned. Neither the link to Fleshbot nor Playboy are work-friendly... unless, of course, you work at Fleshbot or Playboy.

When a cellphone-created video of Saddam Hussein's execution started rocketing around the Internet, news directors were torn as to whether to show it or not, according to The Hollywood Reporter. In the video, which we showed here, we not only see images of the hanging itself but also a contentiousness between Hussein and the people in the chamber, audio of which was conveniently left out of the Iraqi government's official video of the event.

Most networks decided to show the yelling between Saddam and the executioners and witnesses, judging that the audio gave additional context to the event, but they decided not to show his body actually falling through the gallows, deciding to stop at the point where the noose gets put around his neck. However, CNN.com showed a little bit more, stopping right before the hanging itself, and FoxNews.com showed the entire thing. Only MSNBC stayed consistent between its network and web site, just showing the first few seconds.

Ladies, who do you fantasize about when you're making sweet love to your partner? 'American Idol' judge Simon Cowell? Well, in wacky ole England, Cowell has placed second on a list of women's dream men right after "007" Daniel Craig. Cowell beat out David Beckham, Brad Pitt and Leo DiCaprio. Speaking with The Sun, Cowell had this to say about the honor: "I would expect to be very near the top as I'm obviously extremely attractive."

I'm not sure Cowell would even place in the top 10 stateside. What do you think it is that makes England's ladies weak in the knees for the bad boy judge? Could it be the tough, man hair that peeks out of his V-neck sweaters? The confidence? The power? Do they think he'd take charge in the sack? Frankly, he seems like the kinda guy that probably cries after sex. I wonder if in the British broads' fantasies, there's a panel of judges ranking their amorous activities upon completion -- something like Woody Allen's 'Bananas.' Just don't expect much for the East German judge.

Related:
Gee, your hair smells like Simon Cowell
Simon Cowell won't sing for Ricky Gervais' Extras

(S01E08) After seeing this episode (which just confirmed something I thought anyway), I'm not quite sure while people are so annoyed by the show's supposed liberalism and "east and west coast" mentality. This show is doing two things. One, it's sparking debate about a lot of serious issues (religion, gay rights, tolerance, politics), and two, it makes sure it dumps on liberals and Democrats and Hollywood just as much as much as they do flyover country, religious people, and Pahrump, Nevada. There's enough to go around on both sides.

I think a lot of viewers who don't like the show (and I truly don't understand why they're watching it week after week if they can't stand it) don't get the fact that just because the show dares to bring up the above topics, that it dares to even suggest that these topics are a hot-button issues and there might be a way to actually get along, doesn't mean that it's "against" anything.