TVSquad

What's happening on other blogs via the interweb.

• Best Week Ever lists the 10 Emmy nominations you should be psyched about.
• Nikki Finke has the latest on a possible strike, here and here.
• TV stars wear glasses and try to look smart.
• Hey kids, it's the trailer for High School Musical 3!
• Could Fringe be the big new hit of the fall?
• Remember those "what would you do for a Klondike Bar" commercials? They're holding a contest!
• Jimmy Fallon answers a bunch of odd questions.
• Too Much Free Time has been redesigned.
• An interview with Smallville executive producer Darren Swimmer about season eight.

What's happening on other blogs via the interweb.

• Hmmm...maybe we are a little closer to a strike after all.
• Is a cast member of Ugly Betty leaving the show for CBS' new show Harper's Island?
• TV Newser has reactions to the death of Tony Snow.
• Yes fans, it looks like there will be a Sex and the City sequel.
• Stephen Collins says that Hallmark Channel would be a perfect place for a 7th Heaven movie.
• Ed McMahon is recovering from yet another neck surgery.
• Variety has some ideas on how to improve The CW.
• Broadcasting & Cable has a roundtable of TV critics: what if they ran the networks?

Our Monday morning roundup of a half dozen things TV Squad readers - and TV fans in general - will be talking about this week.

1. The SAG/studios mess. Sure, it looks like there isn't going to be a strike (not yet anyway), but both sides are still far apart and one could still happen.

2. The Moment of Truth summer finale. Lives are destroyed for cash. Yay! (Tuesday at 8 on FOX.)

3. The Secret Life of the American Teenager. I think pregnant teenagers are about to take over the world. (Tuesday at 8 on ABC Family.)

4. Hell's Kitchen. We're down to the final two contestants (Petrozza and Christina). Whoopi Goldberg guest stars ... for some reason. (Tuesday at 9 on FOX.)

5. It's Six Feet Under Week here at TV Squad. Come reminisce about your favorite deaths!

6. The Wimbledon Final. I think Federer or Nadal might be in the final. You think? (Sunday at 9am on NBC.)

There's good news and bad news coming from the on-going talks between the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). The bad news is that there has been very little progress in talks between SAG and the studios concerning a new contract.

With their current contract expiring on June 30th, SAG members are looking for higher pay for "middle-tier" actors, those making less than $100,000 a year, and a greater cut of profits from DVD and new media sales -- a main sticking point during this past winter's Writers Guild strike. In addition to those woes, there are bitter splits taking place between SAG members and those of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) after the smaller union ratified an agreement with the studios.

What's happening on other blogs via the interweb.

• The estate of the creator of Mr. Ed is suing MGM for royalties.
• Here's a complete guide to the (possible) strike and what we can expect on Monday.
• Jaime Weinman has some thoughts on CBS' sitcom strategy.
• There's a new cartoon coming, about John Oates' (of Hall and Oates) mustache, who play rock music and fight crime.
• Boy Meets World star Ben Savage is joining Chuck, playing Nicole Richie's husband.
• CNBC + a jar of mayonnaise = either a really gross rumor or a really stupid rumor.
• Did you know that there's a Rock Paper Scissors league, and Fox Sports will telecast the tournament in October?

Our Monday morning roundup of a half dozen things TV Squad readers - and TV fans in general - will be talking about this week.

1. Wipeout and I Survived A Japanese Game Show: Next season the Japanese will come over here and star in I Survived The Jerry Springer Show. (Tuesday at 8pm on ABC.)
2. The strike: One more week to go before the deadline.
3. The Baby Borrowers: Stars Jamie Lynn Spears and these girls. (Wednesday at 9pm on NBC.)
4. Jimmy Kimmel on The View: He's dumped on them for years and now he's going to be on the show. Should be interesting. (This morning on ABC.)
5. Hey, it's Buffy/Angel Week!: Our retro summer continues with posts about Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel (and everything related to them).
6. Rescue Me minisodes: We really have to think of a better name for these things. (Starts Tuesday at 10pm.)

Oh, if only the "reality-free" tag above meant something else when it comes to this.

Just when you thought you could sit back in your comfy chair and watch TV this fall, comes news that possible Screen Actor's Guild strike that has been talked about for weeks is very close to actually happening. The deadline is June 30, and while a lot of people in the industry thought that the contracts signed at the end of the writer's strike earlier this year (ah, remember those days?) could serve as a blueprint, that might not be the case.

And you thought that all that business with the WGA strike was over.

The writers for the new animated FOX show Sit Down, Shut Up have walked out, saying they were misled by Sony Pictures. They thought that under the agreement reached a few months ago they would be represented by the Writer's Guild of America but Sony actually has them covered under the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. Under their rules, writers don't get all those things they fought for, including new media (online, DVD, etc) money or even residuals.

What's happening on other blogs via the interweb.

• Doc Jensen has some new theories concerning Lost over at Entertainment Weekly.
• Time's James Poniewozik weights in on Recount and The Andromeda Strain (he liked one and hated the other).
• Oh, for Pete's sake, it was a person's voice!
• Ausiello over at TV Guide has some info about Supernatural.
• Here's the latest on that possible strike (yes, another one).
• Will Al Franken's past come back to haunt him in his Senate race?
• And now, the music of Katie Couric.

Raise your hand if you saw this one coming. The prospects for another strike went up as negotiations with the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) once again broke down, with the AMPTP (Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers) moving to negotiations with AFTRA (American Federation of Television and Radio Artists). Among the issues causing the split, and stop me if you've heard this one before, DVD residuals, streaming, and new media. Go figure. One new wrinkle in these negotiations comes in the form of an AMPTP provision that would give them free and unlimited use of short clips of an actor's work in movies and television.

Here we go again. We have barely healed from the wounds that the Writers Guild of America strike opened up late last year, now it's the Screen Actors Guild's turn to make us nervous about the television we watch.

Yesterday, SAG representatives began negotiations with the Hollywood studios by swapping contract proposals between the two parties. This is the first time in nearly three decades that the Guild is negotiating solo with the studios since the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) has rejected combined talks. AFTRA is upset with the Guild over concerns that it is attempting to poach its members. The Guild is denying this accusation with the statement that it normally broils its members over a low flame with some butter sauce.

Cool news for fans of NBC's Heroes: it looks like the show is going to start filming a lot earlier than it usually does.

Shows usually start filming in July/August for the fall season, but according to Heroes star James Kyson Lee (Ando), the writers strike means that the show will start filming in June, and maybe as early as May. He says that NBC plans to really push the show this year, using the Olympics to hype the show.

That's the good news. The (possible) bad news is that TV Guide's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Kristen Bell isn't signed for the new season yet.

• It's the 60th anniversary of NBC Nightly News.
• Today's tip: if you're selling bootleg copies of The Carol Burnett Show, don't use a newspaper's address as your address. [via Lee Goldberg]
• Should CBS show Dexter, even if it is cleaned up?
• Tom Shales is not happy with Turner Classic Movies.
• What did William Shatner, Tina Fey, and Naveen Andrews do during the strike?
• This may be a silly question to ask on a TV blog, but are you a movie person or a TV person?
• Aaron Barnhart has a list of strike winners and losers.