TVSquad

Hmmm, maybe Ellen doesn't know a lot about music.

Right on the heels of Ellen being named as the replacement judge for Paula Abdul on American Idol comes this news: she's being sued by various record companies. You know the segment at the start of the show where Ellen dances onstage and often in the audience? Yup, it looks like she's been playing those songs illegally (over 1000 times), and the record companies don't like it.

What's interesting is that the spokesman for TelePictures (they produce Ellen's show) says they've been trying to work with the record companies for months to get a resolution to the issue.

To go along with starring in summer sci-fi blockbusters, Will Smith, or rather his production company, will be producing a cop procedural drama for the Sci Fi Channel (I refuse to call them SyFy until the actual switchover occurs) called Unfinished Business. It's about a cop who gets "flashes" of memories from the recently deceased in order to help him solve their murders.

I've seen this concept before. I think it was a storyline for the pilot of Torchwood.

I'm surprised it's taken Will this long to start producing content for the genre. His breakout flick, Independence Day, was science fiction. His follow-up, Men In Black, was science fiction. In fact, every movie he's starred in that has done well at the box office was science fiction. If he decides to make a cameo appearance on this show (perhaps as a victim), it could lead to the Sci Fi Channel getting their highest ratings ever.

It's the age-old question that comes up just about every year, but after last night's marathon Oscar ceremony, I need to ask it again: Is it about time for the Academy to award most of the technical prizes (for editing, art, costumes, makeup, visual effects, etc.) either another day or before the televised ceremony starts?

The reason why I ask is because of the way the producers formatted the show this year. They did a nice job of grouping those technical awards together, threading them through the life cycle of a film's production. Believe me, it helped; instead of dragging out new presenters for each and every category, one set usually presented a few at a times (poor Will Smith was out there presenting the post-production awards almost as long as host Hugh Jackman was on stage). But somewhere around 10:30, I was still looking at the clock and trying to count how many categories were left.

The folks at our sister site Cinematical are working hard to give you news and reviews of the best -- and worst -- the silver screen has to offer. Here are some of their latest musings on the latest blockbusters, indies, and everything in between:

• I don't have anything against Ali Larter as an actress, but I really hate her character(s) on Heroes,. It doesn't look like I'll like her character in Obsessed much more.
  
• Sure, there's 24 hours of A Christmas Story, but how about a fireside viewing of L.A. Confidential instead? Cinematical Seven takes a look at unconventional holiday movies.
• I really wanted the mysterious new Will Smith movie, Seven Pounds, to be good. Unfortunately, it does not look like I'll be getting my wish. Read Cinematical's review here.
• Want to be a part of the filming of Funny People, Judd Apatow's next movie? Cinematical tells you how to live the dream.
• Have you ever wondered what Star Wars would look like as a silent film? No? Well, some guy did. Check out a fan-made Star Wars silent movie.
  

I've always had a problem with Barbara Walters and her list of the 10 most fascinating people of the year. There are always a few people on the list that definitely belong there, such as a President or a politician or the person who starred in the biggest movie of the year. But her 2008 list, which she revealed last night, is pretty lame.

I've found four people on the list that I think should be there: Barack Obama, Tina Fey, Sarah Palin, and Michael Phelps. If you wanted to stretch it you could include Thomas Beatie, the pregnant man, but I'll stick with the other four. It's obvious why Obama and Palin on the list. Fey is on there for not only winning several awards but also for being a major player in the intersection where the election met pop culture. Phelps won 300 gold medals at The Olympics.

Like most red-blooded Americans, I love lists. We do a lot of them here at TV Squad and you'll see them at many sites every single day of the week. But I think that sometimes the lists go too far. I mean, what's the point of listing the top 50 or top 100 of something? Isn't that a little bit too many spots? Instead of getting down to the nitty-gritty (say, a top 10 or top 25), you ended up not only listing the best, worst, most, least (or whatever the list's topic is), you're just listing all of them.

Case in point, this Forbes list of the 100 most powerful celebrities.

Hey, Brigitte here with TV Squad Daily. I'll be covering the TV stories I find interesting each day, Monday through Friday, in this video blog.

Today on TV Squad Daily:

• Drew Carey is on top of the world. So was Humpty Dumpty.
  
• Does endorsing donuts make Rachael Ray an evil person?
  
• Will Smith wants to make the movie Hitch into a TV sitcom. (Oops! Okay, so in the video I said "Switch" instead of Hitch. And great, now that song is going to be in my head all weekend.)
  

The video's embedded below, or you can subscribe to this podcast via our feed. Plus, you can also download the file directly.

The Smiths are becoming entertainment moguls, aren't they? They already produce the CW comedy All of Us; now Will and Jada are pairing with a writer-producer team to create a medical drama for CBS. Just what we need, right? Well, this one has the potential to be a little different: the show will follow the doctors at the Centers of Disease Control as they battle viruses and other diseases that threaten to become pandemics (the pilot episode: bird flu... it's a natural!).

The writer-producer team that the Smiths are joining are Jan Nash and Jennifer Levin, who met while working on Without a Trace.

The CW has given script commitment to a comedy being developed by Kelly Ripa and her husband, Mark Consuelos. The comedy is loosely based on their experiences working on soap operas. Before hosting Live with Regis and Kelly, Ripa used to star with her husband on All My Children.

The CW already has a similarly-themed comedy, All of Us, created by Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, about their real life experiences as husband-and-wife actors.

There's an old Bloom County strip where Opus the penguin splits into two distinct personalities so his subconscious can debate itself on Nightline. That's kind of how I felt when I heard Will Smith was going to be directing an episode of his UPN sitcom All of Us for the first time. The episode will focus on a child who blurts out the "N-word" and will focus on the impact of the word, it's place in history, its significance, and etc. Now, I think debate over this subject needs to continue, because I don't think there's any easy answers. If a sitcom wants to tackle the subject, that's great. However, there's another part of me that feels, strictly from a programing standpoint, that this is an idea that has already been visited and revisited countless times by many other shows. I wonder, will this episode actually have anything new to say, or are we just going to get the same cliche statements we've already heard before? If you're curious, the episode airs this evening at 8:30 p.m. EST.

I only caught the end of the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards last night, but I did see it in time to catch Chris Rock win the Wannabe Award (like a Lifetime Acheivement Award). The best part was when his daughter ran up the stairs to be on stage with her dad. When he told the audience to 'say no to steroids', she said "no" into the microphone. What a cutie. He also made a joke about Todd Bridges, which got some adult laughs but flew right over those kids' heads. Other than that, I heard a lot of screaming kids. They sounded like they had fun.

Before I list the winners, I just have to say that it's funny how kids can humble you. We like to stick our noses in the air about 'quality' television shows and actors, but kids just like what they like. Here are some of the winners:

This is the type of news that makes me think a.) Hollywood doesn't know what its doing, b.) Producers have no imaginations, and c.) Big stars will do anything for a f***ing paycheck.

Will Smith, who did soooooo well bringing Wild, Wild West to the big screen a few years back, will take on the Robert Wagner role in an updated version of It Takes A Thief. Now, this was a very cool show. I loved it as a kid. But why do they insist on remaking these shows? It's not the premise/plot of a show that makes it great, it's the combination of a certain star at a certain time in TV history. (I've talked about this so many times on these pages I really don't have the energy to go into it anymore.)

I don't care who they have writing this or who they have directing it, I can tell you right now it's going to be lame. It has to be.

I just saw this press release that announces that Chris Rock and Will Smith will direct an episode of Everybody Hates Chris and All of Us, respectively. Obviously, both actors have an in with each series, since they are the executive producers of their respective shows. Of the two, only Rock has directorial experience, having directed his 2003 movie flop, Head of State.

It's amazing to me how many actors get a chance to direct episodes of the shows they star in or produce. Now, I know how involved film directors are with their projects, shaping the actors' performances, setting the mood with lighting, effects, and filming techniques, and setting the pace through editing. But what does a TV director, especially of an established, long running show, do? "Uh, Jenny, baby, can you act a little more Rachel-like?" "Mary, can you cry a little more when you say 'Oh, Mr. Grant!"?" What do they do that can put a unique stamp on a show? The only time I've ever seen a director make a difference on a show was when Quentin Tarrantino directed episodes of ER and CSI.

It's almost as if the show runners think that directing a TV series is so easy, anyone can do it, which must be a slap in the face to experienced, esteemed directors such as James Burrows and David Steinberg.

If you know what a new director, especially a cast member or star producer, can bring to an existing TV show, let me know in the comments.

[via The Futon Critic]