TVSquad

The Golden Globes has always been my favorite awards show. the stripped-down presentation and the giant bottles of champagne on the tables make for a decidedly non-tedious and drunken affair. Plus, the Hollywood Foreign Press can only be taken so seriously, which makes for some delightful acceptance speeches. My favorite from last night was probably Tina Fey's speech for her Best Actress in a Comedy win.

It was short, sweet, to the point, and most importantly, it was funny. When Fey called out the internet commenters who have given her grief over the past year, I, like most people assumed she was making up screennames for effect. Well, it turns out that "Dianefan" and "BabsonLacrosse" are actually real people who had not-too-nice things to say about the erstwhile 30 Rock star and Sarah Palin impersonator.

The Emmy nominations won't be announced until July 17, but we can tell you right now without a doubt that Ugly Betty's Rebecca Romijn will not be among the outstanding supporting actress in a comedy category at the Emmys. No, we're not psychic. It's just that her spokesman has confirmed that her name was never actually submitted. DOH! And why was that, you wonder. No good reason, said her rep, "It was an oversight."

According to L.A. Times' Tom O'Neil, this isn't really that far-fetched an occurrence. Tim Allen, at the height of his Home Improvement success, missed a chance for an Emmy nomination when somebody fumbled the ball. The next year, his paperwork was hand-delivered, accompanied by the University of Southern California marching band.

Romijn's omission -- on the surface -- looks like a mistake. Yes, it's true that her status on the show is going from series regular to recurring, but I don't believe she purposely kept her name out of the running to in some way act out in protest against the show. It makes no sense? How is she hurting Ugly Betty by not getting an Emmy nomination? No, this was a screw up, nothing more.

Well, it looks like fans of How I Met Your Mother (me! me!) and The Unit (maybe my parents?) have some early good news ahead of CBS's upfront, which is scheduled for tomorrow: The LA Times' Show Tracker blog is reporting that both shows will be renewed (thanks to Greg for leaving a comment with the link last night).

The article talks more about HIMYM, of course, mentioning that Britney Spears' first appearance gave the show the boost it needed to carry it to a fourth season. I wish that wasn't true, but I'm pretty sure it is. As much as fans of HIMYM (me! me!) hated the distraction Brit Brit brought to the show, and really hated her wooden performance (especially last night, according to many of the commenters on my review of "Everything Must Go"), they have to admit that without the pop tart, the show might not have made it.

Sigh. Oh, well. Whatever gets the job done, right? I'll see if I can confirm the renewal when I speak to Carter Bays and Craig Thomas later today.

The writers strike has claimed some more victims: staff of The Office. According to this LA Times blog post, 102 people who work on The Office were laid off since the writers and actors are striking. The employees who are now without a paycheck are people such as hair dressers, camera operators, grips, etc.

There are probably at least that many staff on every show, which means a lot of people are going to end up in the unemployment line while the writers continue to form a picket line. It's all just unfortunate, really. Who should these people blame for their unemployment? They could be mad at the WGA for forcing a production shutdown. Or, they could be mad at the studios for not respecting the writers enough to pay them a decent wage (although, I'm guessing the writers make more money than many of the "staff" positions).

By the way, this Thursday's is the final new episode of The Office until the strike ends.

[Via Digg]

What a difference 24 hours make. Yesterday, it looked like fans of Jericho might have been successful in their campaign to resurrect the canceled show. Today, it looks like they really are successful. Both Variety and the LA Times are reporting that CBS is in hurried negotiations with producers, writers and actors to resuscitate the show for an eight episode run, to return mid-season.

"The idea would not be to bring it back for eight and out, but to bring it back for eight with the hope that it would keep going," executive producer Carol Barbee told the LA Times. Barbee also said that when the fans initially responded to the cancellation, CBS suggested a two-hour movie to wrap up the series. But Barbee said 'no', because that wouldn't do justice to the series.

Barbee also makes an excellent point about the way networks are going to have to start looking at ratings. She says, they're going to need to consider online fan communities and online viewings and, "I think they have to understand that the Nielsens are not telling the story anymore." The networks need to find the coveted 18-49 demographic by going online. I thought they had figured that out by putting so many shows online, but apparently CBS wasn't taking that online community seriously.

**UPDATE: CBS officially announces Jericho is back... for seven episodes. The full letter is in comments (Thanks, Mark!)

When someone remakes a TV show or a movie, they often go more serious or darker. Is it because producers and directors feel they have to go "serious" to justify a remake? Do we live in more cynical times? Do the producers feel that they can't make a quality show that also happens to be light?

Kenneth Johnson, the creator of the original Bionic Woman series in the '70s (a spinoff of The Six Million Dollar Man), tells the L.A. Times that he's worried about the remake. I guess I would, too, if an NBC exec called my show "kind of cheesy." Although Johnson has been impressed with the work of producer David Eick on Battlestar Galactica, he's not so sure they're doing the right thing with the remake of his show.

Interesting post by Tom O'Neil over at his LA Times blog. O'Neil is the guy you see on many of the awards shows, especially the Emmys, giving his analysis and predictions. He worked with Joan and Melissa quite a bit, and knows why they were let go by the TV Guide Channel. And it didn't have anything to do with money.

The reason? Entourage (and not the HBO show). I guess the two women have too many people around them and it got to be more of a hassle than it was worth to the network.

O'Neil also says that Joan and Melissa are a lot nicer and more generous than they've been made out to be. He also reveals that several producers at the TV Guide Channel wish they had been kept on (the same with E! execs, because Star Jones drove them nuts on the red carpet). I'm sure we'll be seeing the two women again with another deal soon.

Remember the announcement from last summer that Comedy Central was going to pick up a Jon Stewart-produced pilot called Three Strikes? Well, it looks like Comedy Central has seen the pilot and decided to pass on the show, which follows an independent minor league team full of major league rejects. But in this world of viral video, pilots never die; they just get split into three parts and posted on YouTube, that's what. The pilot was "leaked" onto the service, and you can see all three parts right now, at least before Viacom orders YouTube to take it down.

Patrick Goldstein of the L.A. Times spoke to the show's writers, Alex Gregory and Peter Huyck, about the "second life" phenomenon failed pilots experience these days. They have nothing but good things to say about their experience with Comedy Central, but both the writers and Goldstein wonder what the future holds for networks now that failed pilots like this one and Nobody's Watching have found an audience online.

I came across an interesting article while perusing Ken Levine's blog last night. He was quoted in an LA Times article that came out on Christmas day; the article discusses the fact that most comedy writers intensely dislike Studio 60 and think that the show is completely unrealistic.

But here's the interesting part: like the rest of us who have mixed feelings about the show, they're so fascinated by it that not only do they keep watching, it's also all they can talk about the next day. The comedy troupe Employee of the Month even does a weekly sketch show imagining what the sketches conceived for the show would be like. Because the sketches themselves weren't funny, they inserted jokes about the program as part of a "backstage" portion of the show. Other writers have cited the fact that the S60 writers are way too smart for their own good and never laugh at anything, which many writers think is the best part of the job. Ironically, many writers like 30 Rock, because the sketches are goofier and the depiction of a sketch show's writers' room is much closer to reality than it is on S60.

Modern-day animated comedy. Elizabethan stage tragedy. Two great tastes that taste great together? Directors just love to "update" Shakespeare so why not let actor Rick Miller transport the Bard's Scotland to Matt Groening's Springfield? "Is this a doughnut which I see before me?"

Miller's MacHomer is a one-man, staged version of Macbeth employing over 50 character voices from The Simpsons. Homer and Marge are recast as MacHomer and Lady MacHomer. Mr. Burns is King Duncan. Krusty is the Porter, and Bart is transformed into Fleance, Banquo's son and the prophesized threat to Macbeth's throne.

Ever watch Frasier and think your dog could trounce Eddie in a cute-off? Don't have any kids to hustle around Hollywood for pocket change? How do you even know if your pooch makes the grade when it comes to potential television stardom? Well, the LA Times got a rundown on celebrity canine characteristics from Le Paws pet talent agency and Pomeranian stage mom Melissa Howard.

If you're aiming for Benji and not knock-off Boomer fame, the things your dog needs to know include tips like "get an agent," "get a publicist" and "you have to love it." Sounds about the equivalent of the advice they give would-be Hollywood actors, writers and directors.

The Defaker website, a mock blog linked off NBC's Studio 60 website, has been pulled off the internet. The LA Times has a great rundown about the rapid rise and fall of Defaker (obviously a spoof of Defamer). The fake blog, meant as a publicity stunt for Studio 60, was supposed to be a fan journal with gossip about the cast and crew of Studio 60 and thoughts on the fake show (Aaron Sorkin had nothing to do with it). The first entry on the blog basically recapped the season premiere. But, it was dumb. And it had open comments-- which summoned some Studio 60-haters and general hate toward NBC.

Despite yesterday's report in the LA Times, Saturday Night Live actor Horatio Sanz says he's still a member of the cast. He tells the Chicago Sun-Times that he doesn't know "what the hell is going on" but he has no reason to believe he's out of a job. The LA Times says that Sanz, Kenan Thompson, and Chris Parnell are out. But, TMZ.com says it's Sanz and Will Forte who are cut from the show. (Will says he's staying, too) And the New York Post says Maya Rudolph is considering leaving the show.

Lorne Michaels had better speak up soon.

[Via Pop Candy and TV Tattle]

Lloyd Grove reports in his New York Daily News column that Julia Louis-Dreyfus spilled the beans about one of the bits she's doing for SNL, which she hosts this weekend. Her misstep occured during an interview on New York radio station WKTU. If you want to see it, it's the fourth item down on this page. However, if you don't want the surprise ruined, I can understand; though we're talking SNL, not Lost here...

If you want to satisfy your JLD jones, though, here is a pretty good LA Times interview with her, where she talks about her pre-upfronts anxiety, who came up with the "Seinfeld curse", and her relationship with Old Christine creator Kari Lizer.

[via Pop Candy]

An article in the LA Times details just how much cash the two head honchos at Disney are raking in these days. Be prepared: you may turn green with envy. Or, just at the thought of all that money. Chief Executive Robert Iger got a 33% raise when he took over in October, bringing his annual income to $2 million. Wait. There's much, much more. If Disney does well, he will get to enjoy a $7.25 million bonus (whose bonus is nearly four times their annual salary???). He also received 500,000 shares of restricted stock. Restricted? I guess that means he can't sink it into Pixar, eh? Michael Eisner, on the other hand, earned $1 million in regular salary, plus a $9.1 million bonus. That's nowhere near the income he got in 1998 when he exercised some stock options that had been accumulating for years, and made $576 million. Eisner retired on September 30th but he will continue to received bonuses in the sum of $7.5 million through September of 2007. But don't worry about Michael Eisner. He'll be okay. He has a job at CNBC.