TVSquad

Former host of Win Ben Stein's Money and Turn Ben Stein On (and also some less important jobs like scriptwriting for Richard Nixon) has been terminated from the New York Times. Specifically, he will no longer be writing his weekly business opinion column. The company took one look at his other job as a spokesperson for FreeScore.com and found it to be a conflict of interest.

There are a number of ways this could be spun. No doubt the conservative press will consider this a strike against their cause since they have always pegged the New York Times as a liberal newspaper. I do admit that I find the business practices of sites such as FreeScore.com to be suspect (they advertise as free, but further analysis reveals that one has to pay for their services). Perhaps he should have supported a less sleazy one like Cash4Gold.com.

The following is one of his commercials for FreeScore.com. Judge for yourself whether the Times was justified.

The Nielsen ratings for last Friday night showed that NBC did really well with the Olympic opening ceremonies. Good for NBC, bad for fans of CBS's Swingtown. It didn't take a psychic to predict that all that NBC Universal hype would draw those who love pomp and spectacle. It also didn't take a seer to see that CBS wasn't giving Swingtown a fair shot by asking it to go up against the Olympics.

Still, in CBS's defense, Swingtown just hasn't grabbed the kind of ratings all summer long -- mostly on Thursday nights -- to warrant the network believing that it has a potential hit on its hand. The New York Times pondered Swingtown's fate, too.

I think it does, but only if CBS gives Swingtown some time. I'm not alone in thinking this either. Josef Adalian agrees, as do and many TV Squad readers have expressed their passion for this show. Will CBS hear them as they chant, "All we are saying, is give Swingtown a chance."

So, you probably heard that the NBC Universal empire will be expanding by one, once it has added The Weather Channel to its media outlets. On MSNBC this morning, the subs on Morning Joe were crowing about CEO Jeff Zucker, sucking up royally, and even hyping GE stock.

It was all really uncomfortable, obvious and out of place when you are tuning in for news, politics, some pop culture and get NBCU corporate cheerleaders in full pom-pom mode.

Okay, enough ranting; there is some news to report. If the deal goes through -- and it will -- Today weatherman Al Roker may be relocating or he'll be repurposed, becoming the face of The Weather Channel.

One of the cartoon stars of the 80's, Strawberry Shortcake, is getting a makeover. Apparently her owners, American Greetings Properties, is giving her character a new look that is more suitable for little girls of the 21st century.

The article goes over other cartoon properties which are attempting redesign to fit more in a modern context, such as Angelina Ballerina and the Looney Tunes characters. Even Disney is considering a redesign for Mickey Mouse.

The redesign may work for cartoons such as Strawberry Shortcake, which are attributable to a particular era, but I don't think world-famous properties such as Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny should be messed with. The only redesign they did for Mickey that worked was giving him whites for his eyes rather than strictly pupils.

More often than not, updates on the concepts of an era fail (I'm thinking of Michael Bay's The Transformers and the remake of The Honeymooners). What do you think? Will the new Strawberry Shortcake work?

Penn Jillette has always been outspoken. He and his silent partner in magic, Teller, have more than three decades showing audiences the secrets behind their most spectacular tricks. And on Penn & Teller: Bullshit!, which is about to enter its sixth season on Showtime, the pair debunk commonly-held beliefs about everything from the Bible and people who claim to speak to the dead to gun control and what the 9/11 conspiracy movement.

But those two platforms aren't enough for Penn. Up until recently, he hosted a syndicated talk radio show, which he gave up in part to concentrate on his stint on Dancing with the Stars this season. But he hasn't stayed silent; in January, Jillette started posting a series of short videos called Penn Says, which can be seen on the C Spot portion of Crackle, a Sony Entertainment website that has a number of exclusive video series. In these shorts, Penn turns on the camera and speaks extemporaneously about a topic that comes to mind, from Thomas Jefferson to the shelf life of calling Hillary Clinton a "bitch."

I spoke to Penn about Penn Says, the Hillary joke, Bullshit! and what he got out of being on Dancing with the Stars. The interview is after the jump.