TVSquad

A day hasn't gone by where we haven't received some sort of tip or email asking us, the TV Squad, how to get on [insert reality show here]. Unfortunately no, Simon Cowell does not work for us, and Donald Trump isn't my BFF, so we really can't help all that much.

The folks at RealityWanted.com often send us a list of new and existing reality shows that are looking for new, er, talent, and they've given us permission to make mention of them here. We'll try to make this a regular feature as often as we get a new list.

This time we have Rock of Love, Family Court and a lot of new shows.

It was an historic occasion yesterday last Thursday on NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, didn't you know? The lady who lives to be banned -- and re-banned in the case of The View -- Kathy Griffin appeared as Jay Leno's guest. What's the big deal?

Well, if you recall the first season of Kathy's show, Bravo's My Life on the D List, the comic was rather brutally insulted by Jay when he called her ugly, and in the subsequent episodes of the show, Kathy revealed that she was put on The Tonight Show's "do not invite list."

And yet, the other night, there was Kathy in the prime seat, chatting it up with Jay, dissing celebrities as is her wont, and generally looking like the D List is now just the title of her show, not her true show business status.

In what has got to be the funniest news article I've read today, Rosie O'Donnell compares her time as one of the hostesses of The View to prison rape. The comment was made while O'Donnell appeared at Cyndi Lauper's True Colors tour in Vancouver (Yes, Cyndi Lauper still tours).

She uses the specific example of the movie Born Innocent starring Linda Blair. There's a scene involving a broom that doesn't need to be described any further. Needless to say, it was very graphic and quite controversial at the time. Out of curiosity, does this comparison make Barbara Walters the evil warden character?

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.)

For the first time in a long time, something was different about the Daytime Emmys. No, it's not that they're on in primetime; that happened years ago. What was different was the 35th Daytime Emmys opted to forgo the theater setting and seat the stars at round tables. As co-host (with All My Children's Cameron Mathison) Sherri Shepherd told the AP days before the AP, "Usually everyone is sitting in a row. This year, it'll be like a wedding. We're also going to do something so that fans will be able to get a view of what's going on at the different tables." That would be web video created by the actors at every table - table cam. Perfect for hams. The vids are at SOAPnet. For details about the show from the winners backstage, check out AOL.

So did the seating arrangements make a difference? Well, it depends. Those who were there probably had a better time because there was an open bar, just like the Golden Globes. For viewers, it still looked like the Daytime Emmys, including many familiar faces winning. After a strained attempt at comedy for the opening -- blending All My Children fictional characters with The View's real hosts -- the show commenced.

Another potential First Lady is set to join the ladies of the The View. Following Cindy McCain's April appearance, Michelle Obama will be a guest host on the show's June 18 episode. Obama was offered a guest appearance, but wanted to try her hand at hosting instead. This will be her first appearance on the talk show; Barack Obama has been a guest twice before.

As a guest host, Michelle Obama will help conduct interviews, participate in the show's "hot topics" segment, and chat about current events. She'll also be interrupted by her co-hosts on numerous occasions. The guest lineup for Obama's episode hasn't been set yet. Cindy McCain interviewed Craig Ferguson when she guest-hosted.

The Daily Show was a little late to the game, finally covering the big news from the previous night. As the entire world already knows by now, Barack Obama is now the presumptive Democratic nominee. But, in case you haven't heard, Obama's win is super-historic. Bringing Abraham Lincoln (with a small cat glued to his chin) back for his reaction was hilarious, if only to hear him scream about time travel shock. But all Lincoln impressions aside, we can finally celebrate, for this tedious mess is over. Or... is it?

Well, the Daytime Emmy nominations were not exactly soul-stirring -- lots of repeat nominees, the same old, same old -- so the producers of the Emmy broadcast are trying to inject something new: that means new hosts. Call them the newest odd couple. Cameron Mathison will team up with Sherri Shepherd to co-host the ABC broadcast of the 35th Annunal Daytime Emmy Awards on June 20. Not coincidentally, Cameron and Sherri are ABC stars. He's Ryan Lavery on All My Children (and a former contestant on Dancing with the Stars); she's one of the five talkers on The View. And if you think they didn't ask Whoopi Goldberg first, you don't know TV.

ABC in turning things around on The View -- at least for one day. In what a cynic might call a stunt, The View is going to broadcast one show from the next two weeks from backstage. Essentially, what they're doing, is a rerun, but in a way you never saw the show.

On Friday, May 30, the experimental episode will show how The View is made, by lifting the curtain so you can see how the magic happens. They've chosen to show the upside down, backstage View on that Friday - and don't worry about marking it in your calendar. You can expect plenty of reminders from Barbara Walters (if she's there), Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Sherri Shepherd. With all that behind the scenes footage, only half of the show as seen originally -- from the camera's point of view -- will be seen.

She's an experienced host, an Oscar-winner, a Broadway star. But is Whoopi Goldberg hosting the 62nd Tony Awards the answer for the struggling annual broadcast? The Tony Awards, which honors the best in Broadway theater is considered one of the four major entertainment awards, along with the Oscar, Emmy and Grammy. But the Tonys have been losing viewership year after year despite the stars lured onto the broadcast. After having no single host the past two years, CBS has tapped Whoopi to be the emcee for the June 15 live broadcast from Radio City Music Hall in hopes that she'll make a difference in the Nielsens. The last single host was Hugh Jackman in 2005.

While this is Whoopi's first turn as Tony host, she is well regarded for her four stints as Oscar hostess. At the most recent Oscars, when Whoopi was left out of the host-highlight clip package of years gone by, she was ticked off and talked about it the morning after on The View. Perhaps doing the Tonys will be her way of sticking to the Oscars?

I think we can totally forget about Star Jones and Barbara Walters exchanging Christmas gifts this year.

The former View host/Court TV host is quite angry at Walters for various things that Walters says in her new memoir, Audition. Among the many reveals in the book is the fact that Walters had an affair with a married Senator back in the 80s. This doesn't please Jones at all, and she's also upset at Walters' version of the events that led to Jones being axed from The View. Walters reveals that they all knew that Jones lost a lot of weight by having gastric bypass surgery and that the other hosts were ticked that they had to lie about how Jones lost the weight on the air.

The Daytime Emmy nominations were announced this morning on The View. My initial reaction is this: there are so many repeat nominees! This list is filled with actors who have won multiple times. Are the Daytime Emmys in a rut? I'm afraid so. This list seems very stale to me, not that many of these performers aren't worthy, but a lot of other worthy actors were completely overlooked. Again. Emmy could use an overhaul, but we'll discuss that another time.

Here are the main nominees -- and some comments -- and you can check out the complete list and a photo gallery of the Daytime Emmy nominees at AOL Television. On Friday, June 20, ABC will broadcast the awards in primetime (8-11 p.m. EST) from the Kodak Theater in Hollywood.

Outstanding Daytime Drama
General Hospital
Guiding Light
One Life to Live
The Young & the Restless

Here we have the usual suspects. Last year, Y&R and GL shared the prize. My choice would be OLTL this time around -- they had a great year and have been on the uprise. However, Y&R has a lot of actor nominations and that could mean another Emmy for the Bell show. I'd be flabbergasted if either GH or GL win. Both shows have received critical blasts this past year.

Now we know that we're getting serious when it comes to the 2008 presidential campaign: Cindy McCain, wife of presumptive Republican nominee John McCain, will co-host on The View on Monday, according to both the AP and the show's own web site. Mrs. McCain has been on the show before, appearing with her husband in 2004, and Sen. McCain has been on the show a number of times, most recently last week. But this is the first time either of them have sat with the hosts for the entire episode.

As the AP article mentions, there's no word on whether Mrs. McCain will share any recipes on the show. Why is that significant? Nothing really, just a little bit of plagiarism committed by an overzealous campaign intern; the intern reprinted recipes from various Food Network personalities, including Rachael Ray, on the campaign's web site and tried to pass them off as "McCain Family Recipes." I'm surprised people didn't get suspicious sooner, because I don't think I've ever heard either McCain say the word "Yum-o."

[via Mediabistro]

Three weeks ago it was a hot rumor. Now it's a fact. NBC announced that Kathie Lee Gifford will co-host the fourth hour of Today beginning Monday, April 7th. She'll be teaming up with Hoda Kotb for an hour of chit-chat, info, interviews and what have you. I doubt she'll be singing, but then again, if Kathie Lee can cajole them into rolling a piano onto the set, watch out.

"I am truly honored to join the Today show family, many of whom have been friends and colleagues of mine for years," said Kathie Lee via release. "And I'm especially looking forward to working with Hoda, a bright and beautiful woman I admire very much. Together I hope we will bring a fresh and fun perspective to the topics that affect all of our daily lives."

When I first saw the URL for wowowow.com, I thought it had to do with pain. You know, someone is hitting you over the head with a ruler and you're saying "ow...ow...ow!"

Upon closer inspection I see that it stands for WOW O WOW. It's a web site that launches this Saturday. It's described as a site for women over 40, and the people behind it include Lesley Stahl, Whoopi Goldberg, Candice Bergen, Lily Tomlin, Marlo Thomas, columnist Liz Smith, advertising veteran Mary Wells, publishing exec Joni Evans, and writer Peggy Noonan, among others.