Lena Horne's death at age 92 yesterday reminds us not only of her crystal-clear voice and political activism, but of her alphabet comprehension too. Sesame Street's best sketches and songs had a tendency to replay for years, and Lena's renditions of "The Alphabet Song" and "Bein' Green" were no exception. Classic clips after the jump.
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Celebrity Apprentice, as the title suggests, is about discipline, work ethic, and being famous -- or at least famous enough to appear as a humiliated panelist on Andy Cohen's Watch What Happens Bravo show. That kind of famous. During last night's challenge, as the six remaining competitors painted two apartments using "celebrity" styling, five moments of unprofessional behavior broke out, tarnishing the spotless Trump name. We captured those moments -- and after viewing the pics, you won't feel like barking background vocals on Cyndi Lauper's True Colors tour anymore.
Barbara Walters interrupted The View's "Hot Topics" segment this morning to announce her upcoming heart operation. "Later this week, I'm going to have surgery to replace one faulty heart valve," said the newscaster, who explained that she had been aware of the condition for awhile but did not want to talk about it "too far in advance." Walters will use her summer vacation for recovery, which is expected to take one to three months. [People]
While your nephew goes door-to-door this month advertising his $8 per hour grass-cutting business, consider Two and a Half Men star Angus T. Jones, who at the pimply age of 16, is pulling down about $250,000 per episode of his hit CBS sitcom. That means that after memorizing one-liners for this season's 22 episodes, Jones will have earned over $5 million. Click through for more proof that life is unfair, in the form of 10 high-earning underage actors.
On the heels of Facebook's Betty White coup, the social networking site is testing its influence again by launching another campaign meant to revolutionize network television. Only this time, instead of taking on the seemingly impossible task of making Saturday Night Live funny again, Facebook is targeting PDA equality on primetime television. Easy enough, right?
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If you thought you could get away from the wall-to-wall coverage of Betty White's Saturday Night Live appearance, here's some bad news: You can't. As Seth Meyers tweeted yesterday, White and the SNL Lady All-Stars (Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Ana Gasteyer, Maya Rudolph and Rachel Dratch), were so funny that the show had enough good material to last for two hours. Ever the opportunist, NBC has released three of the skits that were cut during dress rehearsal onto the Internet. You're welcome.
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· For reasons unknown, Kevin Bacon has declined a lucrative offer to star in Steven Spielberg's mega-budget dinosaur series Terra Nova. The Fox series centers on a futuristic family who travels back 150 million years to the time when dinosaurs roamed the earth. Friday Night Lights star Kyle Chandler has also turned down a leading role on the series. 24's Brannon Braga will act as showrunner while scribes Craig Silverstein and Kelly Marcel will join Spielberg and Peter Chernin in exec producer capacities. [The Wrap]
Lie to Me loses its showrunner, NBC preps to pick-up Jerry Bruckheimer, and more TV Bites after the jump.
Forget which one will end up with Kate. The real mystery of Lost that needs an answer is what happens to Matthew Fox and Josh Holloway after the series saunters off into television history two weeks from today. Will they find future fame and fortune as leading men or quietly wait around until ABC calls them for the Lost reunion special in 2020? The main feature from this week's special -- and not online -- Lost edition of Entertainment Weekly (collect all 10 covers!) offers some hints to what the long-term goals are for the two heroes. Hint: It's movies. But are they being realistic?
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Too bad Lorne Michaels can't have Betty White, Jay-Z and former cast members Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Ana Gasteyer, Molly Shannon and Rachel Dratch on Saturday Night Live every week. Because not only was the hyped edition of SNL utterly hilarious, but it also proved that the show works best in small doses. To wit: Whether it was because of the over-stuffing or simply to keep the 88-year-old White fresh, each skit ended before it got unfunny. What a concept!
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In case American Idol contestant Didi Benami's poignant version of Kara DioGuardi's song "Terrified" isn't on your mind, season five Idol runner-up Katharine McPhee will freshen your memory with a new single version of the track. Still, this is no ordinary ballad, as McPhee is accompanied in a duet by Chuck's Zachary Levi. We hardly knew our favorite Buy More employee! Apparently he grew up with a background in musical theater, which explains his competent trilling. Check out the "Terrified" video -- and its curious-looking star Kelly Overton -- after the jump.
Another day, another comically large misstep made by the Peacock. Only instead of senselessly shuffling Tonight Show hosts or hiring divorcées to dole out marriage advice, the network created Twitter accounts for their new series, not realizing that Internet users might notice. Click through to see which pilots (probably) made the fall line-up.
Mike Tyson is the candyman of awkward interviews: plenty of flavors and varieties of uncomfortable! Look what our makeshift Wonka offers: A grim history with Barbara Walters interviews. Hostility. A grimmer history of domestic violence. Family tragedy. Drug issues. The cavalier admission that he's "destitute." All are everlasting jawdroppers in the land of The View, and Tyson pimped them all in promotion of his VH1 pigeon-racing show and the James Toback documentary Tyson, which will not go away. Let's count up the worst moments in his View spot and get back to letting basic cable swallow him up like a Scrumdiddlyumptious morsel.
This weekend, amid the stagnant sea of my-God-not-The-Mummy-Returns-again cable movies, the grade-A options are split between the usual-suspect channels and the channel offshoots no one pays attention to. Read on for your carefully curated guide featuring work from fish-monsters to fetishes and beyond, and set your recorders accordingly.
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Don't blame Lizzy Caplan if Party Down doesn't return for a third season. The actress told Vulture that she'll go to any length to keep her onscreen catering company afloat, even if that means hoping that her co-star Ryan Hansen's pilot isn't picked up: "I know, it's terrible to say, especially since he has a brand-new baby. A baby which needs to eat. I guess the baby deserves to eat, but I'd much rather do a third season." The Mean Girls alum is attached to the CBS sitcom True Love as a guest star, which means that she would be available for another season at Starz. [Vulture]
Well, allegedly. Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson taped an episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show this week, and while they would not confirm their relationship during the show, Oprah allegedly forced the admission from them after cameras stopped rolling. In other news, Ricky Martin is gay and cigarette smoking is linked to lung damage. Oprah's Eclipse special, which also features Robsten's (Krisbert's?) co-stars Dakota Fanning and Taylor Lautner, will air May 13. [E!]
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