There are two ways to look at Jimmy Fallon's experiment this week, in which the NBC host watches his show at the same time as his East Coast audience and streams the experience live on his show's blog while interacting with fans via multiple online platforms: 1) This is just like watching Late Night with a bunch of your bored friends who would rather stare at their laptops than have a conversation with you -- or 2) This is kind of cool that a late night host wants to interact with his viewers. Although I was torn when I first tuned into the stream last night, I started to enjoy last night's online viewing party as the ultimate "shared experience," for good and for bad.
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Say what you will about Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, but at least they sorta had a plan. Oh sure, with a three-year jump on Lost going off the air, maybe they could have done a better job of explaining some of the series core mysteries -- like, why the Smoke Monster was trapped in "Jacob's Cabin" but also free to guard the temple and terrorize the 815 castaways, for instance -- but on the whole, it seemed like they had at least thought things through. Not so for Howard Gordon though! The 24 executive producer spoke to EW following last night's series finale, and his answers do little to retroactively inspire confidence in the 24 creative process. To put it another way: There's a good chance this season was blocked out on a napkin.
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Sad news, guys: It is Kevin "Kev" Eubanks' final week at the Tonight Show. Last night, Jay Leno got the giant farewell ball rolling with a terrible remote sketch depicting the pair's first Christmas together. Meanwhile over at Lopez Tonight, Randy Jackson addressed those rumors that Paula Abdul might join American Idol this week for Simon Cowell's last episode. Those clips, as well as the other highlights you missed last night while praying for Chris Klein, after the jump.
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Add this to the list of numbers that make Sunday's Lost finale ratings a bit underwhelming: 15 million. That is the number of viewers who watched Betty White's episode of Saturday Night Live earlier this month when you factor in digital recorder numbers. According to preliminary figures, that would lift White over Lost's epic primetime closer by nearly 2 million viewers. Lost's own DVR stats are pending, but it'll be awfully close. Take that, Smoke Monster. [Media Decoder]
We're just nanoseconds away from Dancing with the Stars's 10th season finale. Who'll walk off with the life-size platinum sculpture "Bruno Tonioli Descending a Pile of Thai Men"? Could it be Nicole Scherzinger, the reliable Pussycat Doll? What about Evan Lysacek, who has the personality of a Felix the Cat clock? Or could ESPN personality Erin Andrews come from behind with a victory? We've posted their two performances (a "freestyle" and a "redemption" dance, where the contestants retry a flub from earlier in the season), put in our two cents, and rewritten the judges' comments for your pleasure. Spoiler: A certain Olympian goes a little Tonya Harding in the membrane.
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· Even though ABC hosted its upfront event last week, the network has just revealed a second string of projects that will continue to be developed in hopes of a few summer pilot orders. The "spring development" projects include the Charlie's Angels remake, a family cop drama from Taye Diggs called Behind the Blue, a ghost-themed show from the Ghost Whisperer people called Ghostworld, the medical buddy show Island of Women and the previously announced Edgar Floats pilot. [Deadline]
Larry King pencils in Lady Gaga, the Tom Selleck series finds a showrunner, and more TV Bites by the jump.
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Tomorrow's American Idol showdown may have a new frontrunner in the momentum-accruing Lee DeWyze, but no one can claim GrizzLee Bore deserves the win, right? Crystal Bowersox, Lee's resilient competitor, has given so many great consecutive performances that many voters are just used to her talents. Thus, the brigade to ensure Crystal's victory begins here, with these two videos of Mama Sox performing next to an open guitar case at a Chicago train station. Unlike Lee, she's still just as much of a star even when a Metra is passing behind her at 100 MPH.
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While Arizona strives mightily to legislate Mexicans out of existence, and we discover all over again that our country is hardly "post-racial," your week's prime choices on cable cover the multicultural gamut. Sure, race cinema can be righteous and dull, but it can also be Brotherhood of Death...
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Here's something fun for the slowest news day of the year! Ben Stiller is auctioning off an oversized wine glass that once touched the lips of Conan O'Brien during a classic Late Night remote shot in Napa Valley So far, 46 Coco fans have bid the item up to $1,125, and all proceeds will go to the Causecast Foundation. Also for sale: a signed Tropic Thunder swag bag, a Stillerstrong headband autographed by Tom Cruise and 4 V.I.P tickets to the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. [eBay]
It's a tough night for fans of the two most dependable dramas of the decade, as 24 and Law & Order end their incredible runs this evening. We've buoyed those rather somber viewing options with lighthearted fare in case you're not in the mood to close up your Kiefer Sutherland/Sam Waterston-themed hope chests just yet. Look: Frenchie's leaving beauty school!
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Previously on Lost: A plane crashes on a mysterious island. Six years later, here we are.
By jetliner, VW bus, yellow Hummer, unmarked BMW, outrigger canoe, sailboat or submarine, please join us as we Answer the Final Set of Questions offered up by our last, constantly commercial-interrupted moments with our favorite group of merry castaways. (It should go without saying that a frank discussion of the Lost finale will be a long string of spoilers. Beware, those who sat out this searingly important cultural moment!)
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Remember when reports surfaced last year that the "stars" on Dancing with the Stars were making $200,000 to "Choo Choo Ch'Boogie" in front of ABC cameras for a season? And you questioned every career decision you had ever made that did not lead to shamelessly begging home viewers for votes while Cheryl Burke mimed the number four behind you? Well, get ready to re-question everything because there is an even more grotesque figure being circulated today-- the number of U.S. dollars Kate Gosselin was paid to terrorize you every week.
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Paula Abdul's new gig as lead judge on CBS's upcoming series Got to Dance is... happy? Grim? An opportunity for the 47-year-old singer to bring back her oversize blazers and leggings? Not so bad? Whatever it is, it's not a Simon Cowell production, and that makes us fearful for next year's smattering of reality competitions. I certainly figured that Paula would join Simon on the American version of his hit X-Factor. But could it be that Paula Abdul's smartest move is detaching from all American Idol associations for good?
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It seemed like the dust had finally settled around NBC's 11:35 P.M. time slot. Conan had been escorted off the Warner Bros. premises to circulate the continent on a comedy tour that turned out to be just as therapeutic for its host as for its audience members and Jay Leno resumed his Tonight Show perch as if nothing weird or backstabby ever happened. So by the time that Conan announced that he was abandoning network late night for TBS, it seemed like the two would never go head-to-head again... until we heard about this year's Emmy ballots.
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Though ABC aired the Lost series finale last night as a two-and-a-half-hour event, there were still scenes, lines, and moments from the first cut that may not have made it on the air. (All the more time to sell to Target!) Using promotional photos, paparazzi pictures, and some post-finale reflections from those in the know, we've found four items of interest that may have fallen on the editing room floor:
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