For the most part, TV Squad doesn't cover professional wrestling, despite pro-wrestling and television being synonymous since the 1950's. It could be because wrestling is a world unto itself and there are certainly enough blogs out there that cover the subject. In this instance, an exception has been made since wrestling and TV icon Captain Lou Albano has passed away. He was 76.
He was known mostly for his work with the WWF (now the WWE) in the '8's and his participation in the first WrestleMania as well as several thereafter. Hell, he was instrumental in creating that event by participating in Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" music video which led to "The War to Settle the Score" on MTV which led to ... well, you know.
On tonight's hilarious second episode of Community, we see the first appearance of Ken Jeong, who's joining the cast as Spanish professor Señor Chang. Chang has a bit of a chip on his shoulder because he always has to fight against Asian stereotypes.
He's a welcome addition to the cast, and he's been having a hell of a summer. Besides his memorable turn in the massive summer hit The Hangover, he was also in All About Steve and The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard. To promote the latter movie, Jeong and co-star Jeremy Piven bounced around the ring on WWE Raw in August. Imagine a tiny guy like the 40-year-old Jeong trading blows with huge wrestlers and you can see the comic potential.
When I talked to Jeong at NBC's party at the TCA press tour, we were interrupted by WWE's The Miz, and the exchange between them was just too funny for me to keep on my hard drive. Audio is after the jump.
This is all kinds of crazy. Last night, Bob Barker appeared on Monday Night RAW. Thankfully, he didn't jump from the ropes and land on top of one of the wrestlers, but he did get physical with one of them (thanks to Chuck Norris).
Interesting that they used the real Price is Right logo (not sure if it's the actual set or not). Here's more.
Before it became all cooking, gossip, fashion and interior decorating, Bravo used to be a fine arts network that aired classic drama, music, opera, etc.
McMahon wants to launch the WWE-dedicated channel for basic tier rates within the next two years. While a return to fine arts TV is unlikely, McMahon's wrestling product has been greatly softened in tone over recent months -- looking to attract a more family-based audience.
Back in the halcyon days of NBC's Bob Hope TV specials, the comedy legend would march out a list of the most bizarrely unrelated pseudo celebrities you could imagine.
You'd hear something like, "Join me this Sunday on NBC for 'Bob Hope's All-Star Salute to Existence' with great stars like Loni Anderson, Pink Lady and Jeff, the UPI All-American Football Team, Billy Carter, Steve Reeves and Brooke Shields!"
It looks like World Wrestling Entertainment is shooting for something equally bizarre with its list of upcoming Monday Night Raw guest hosts. Vince McMahon and company plan to continue the guest general manager routine through the end of 2009 and possibly all the way to Wrestlemania 26 next March.
The problem with reporting real news originating in the professional wrestling world is that you never know if you're being played as part of a story angle designed to drive up ratings or pay-per-view buys.
However, since the following hasn't been mentioned on any of World Wrestling Entertainment's television shows, it might be legit.
According to the WWE: "Linda McMahon, CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, is considering a run for the United States Senate representing the state of Connecticut. Should she decide to run, Linda would step down as CEO, and Vince McMahon would assume the duties of CEO in addition to his current position as WWE Chairman."
To drive ratings up -- and to drive devoted pro wrestling fans up a wall -- Vince McMahon and World Wrestling Entertainment recently began welcoming guest hosts to take over Monday Night Raw -- the WWE's flagship show -- every week.
It seems that when the show producers can't find a celeb to fit the bill, they bring in a wrestling star from the past -- like The Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase or Sergeant Slaughter.
The storyline featuring Donald Trump "buying" Monday Night Raw from World Wrestling Entertainment's Vince McMahon lasted all of one week. On Monday's commercial-free Raw from Green Bay, Wisc., McMahon bought the show back from Trump for "double the original price." Trump took the deal and smacked McMahaon across the chops for his trouble.
The show capped a day-long publicity festival for the WWE in which local network news affiliates flocked to the Green Bay airport to shoot Trump arriving and to hear speeches from him and McMahon. It was the first time any media set foot in that airport without Brett Favre being involved.
Never have a personality and an organization entered into a more appropriate marriage than Donald Trump and World Wrestling Entertainment. Pro wrestling has always been full of over-the-top, testosterone filled rants, colorful costumes, and over-sized props. And Trump, well, is famous for about the same sort of thing. Plus, we know pro wrestling is fake, and we're pretty sure about Trump's hair.
All weekend long, USA promoted tonight's WWE Monday Night Raw event, on which Trump will appear. The "ruse" is that Trump bought the WWE, something John Scott Lewinski reported last week didn't sit well with the company's stockholders. On tonight's show, Randy Orton defends his title against Triple H, as "decreed" by Trump. And he gave a press conference today with the WWE Divas. What could be more fitting?
What started out as just a TV wrestling stunt could have Vince McMahon and World Wrestling Entertainment in a headlock from federal authorities.
As we reported earlier this week, the WWE's Monday Night Raw is running an angle in which Donald Trump purchased the show from McMahon. It's all a big wrestling "work" -- a story element to drive the weekly show and entertain fans.
The trouble is that both WWE and Raw's parent network (USA) sent out official press releases announcing Trump's "purchase." And, WWE publicly held shares fell nearly 7% the next day.
On a three-hour edition of World Wrestling Entertainment's Monday Night Raw on USA, CEO Vince McMahon announced he had sold the show to Donald Trump.
Before a shock wave ripples through the sports entertainment and reality show worlds, it's safe to say this is "a work" -- as they say in grappling circles. Trump has his orange-topped mug back on TV as an on-screen performer with WWE. Behind the curtain, when the arena goes dark, McMahon is still in charge.
According to McMahon, Trump will take over running the show in person next Monday night when a special, commercial-free Raw originates from Green Bay, Wisc.
Having only recently caught the movie The Wrestler on DVD, I was thinking about the relationship between television and pro wrestling. Since the inception of the boob tube, professional wrestling has appeared on television. At first it was an inexpensive way to fill the hours, usually for several hours per week. Then, it became much bigger than that and is now one of the biggest ratings draws on cable television. So, why doesn't the television media or blogs such as ours cover it more (except for when it intersects with other television shows such as The View)?
First, wrestling has its own cult following with a myriad of websites and news sources that cover it exclusively. Anything done on a television website would seem redundant. Secondly, despite the ratings, mainstream television has never taken wrestling seriously. Wrestling is a carnival atmosphere that blurs the line between fantasy and reality and is difficult to treat with dignity and respect for those who don't understand it.
So, I ask of you: do you think more television websites should cover wrestling?
Television has had crossover events for years, but I never expected one involving such polar opposites. The View's Sherri Shepherd will be appearing on next week's WWE Smackdown in the corner of wrestler MVP.
I envision the following scenario: when she appears at the event, she will try to get between the wrestlers and get them to discuss their differences. When they stop fighting and reconcile their misunderstanding with each other, she will grab a steel chair from the side of the ring and clock MVP (or his opponent) upside the head.
Actually, that's more of an Oprah scenario, and Oprah doesn't need either the money or the ratings of a WWE appearance. Maybe Shepherd is a wrestling fan.
I cannot imagine two shows that are as different as WWE and The View. Totally different concepts. Totally different audiences. Do you think this news will get more women to watch WWE or more men to watch The View?
MyNetworkTV is changing its game plan by dropping some of its original content and airing syndicated programming including movies. They call it a "hybrid model".
In effect, MyNetworkTV is doing what other cable networks and/or independent stations have been doing for years. That is, paying the fees for syndication rights and having little to no original programming. Even their ratings superstar, WWE Friday Night Smackdown!, isn't owned by the network.
Obviously, this is due to the economic downturn as it is much cheaper to buy someone else's programming than create your own. Still, if this persists nobody will take MyNetworkTV seriously as a network. You need original programming to become a name brand in that business. Ask AMC.
With this model, MyNetworkTV better not lose its deal with World Wrestling Entertainment. If it did, the network would have nothing really unique to offer and would possibly become all Law & Order: Criminal Intent, all the time.
The biggest mistake made by The CW was probably abandoning wrestling programming (which was picked up by My Network TV) in an effort to go for the Gossip Girl demographic. This tactic seemed unusual to me at the time because 1) wrestling, like it or not, brings in strong ratings, and 2) usually after establishing oneself, a network tries to expand its programming to get to the widest base possible rather than limit itself to a particular group.
While I'm liking Smallvilleagain this season, I can only hope that The CW uses this as motivation to create some programming that a variety of people like. If it doesn't, then the channel reserved for The CW on my cable box could become My Network TV sometime in the near future.
For the most part, TV Squad doesn't cover professional wrestling, despite pro-wrestling and television being synonymous since the 1950's. It could be because wrestling is a world unto itself and there are certainly enough blogs out there that cover the subject. In this instance, an exception has been made since wrestling and TV icon Captain Lou Albano has passed away. He was 76.
On tonight's hilarious second episode of 
Before it became all cooking, gossip, fashion and interior decorating, Bravo used to be a fine arts network that aired classic drama, music, opera, etc.
Back in the halcyon days of NBC's Bob Hope TV specials, the comedy legend would march out a list of the most bizarrely unrelated pseudo celebrities you could imagine.
The problem with reporting real news originating in the professional wrestling world is that you never know if you're being played as part of a story angle designed to drive up ratings or pay-per-view buys.
To drive ratings up -- and to drive devoted pro wrestling fans up a wall -- Vince McMahon and World Wrestling Entertainment recently began welcoming guest hosts to take over Monday Night Raw -- the WWE's flagship show -- every week.
That didn't take long.
Never have a personality and an organization entered into a more appropriate marriage than Donald Trump and World Wrestling Entertainment. Pro wrestling has always been full of over-the-top, testosterone filled rants, colorful costumes, and over-sized props. And Trump, well, is famous for about the same sort of thing. Plus, we know pro wrestling is fake, and we're pretty sure about Trump's hair. 
What started out as just a TV wrestling stunt could have Vince McMahon and World Wrestling Entertainment in a headlock from federal authorities.
On a three-hour edition of World Wrestling Entertainment's Monday Night Raw on USA, CEO Vince McMahon announced he had sold the show to Donald Trump.
Having only recently caught the movie The Wrestler on DVD, I was thinking about the relationship between television and pro wrestling. Since the inception of the boob tube, professional wrestling has appeared on television. At first it was an inexpensive way to fill the hours, usually for several hours per week. Then, it became much bigger than that and is now one of the biggest ratings draws on cable television. So, why doesn't the television media or blogs such as ours cover it more (except for when it intersects with other television shows 
Television has had crossover events for years, but I never expected one involving such polar opposites. The View's Sherri Shepherd 
MyNetworkTV is 
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