You might not know this, but every night at 11:35 P.M., dog pounds around the nation adjust the rabbit ears on their archaic black-and-white television sets and tune in for the Tonight Show monologue. They howl at what they think are the good jokes ("Happy Earth Day Kev!"), whimper at the bad ("In Beverly Hills, recycling plastic means remarrying your ex-wife") and then dream about Jay Leno adopting them and letting them live inside his thousand-car garage. Well, that all changed during last night's show, when dog orphans around the country watched in horror as Leno awkwardly shushed and coldly patted their distant relative, the American Gray Wolf, during his Earth Day segment. "Aw, hell no," they thought, before switching the channel to Lopez Tonight. That sad clip, as well as the other highlights you missed while getting in touch with your inner Glee kid, after the jump.
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You've really got to hand it to Tina Fey. While you would think that jokes about NBC are in the "What's the deal with airplane food?" stage of comedy at this point, she continues to find new and exciting ways to wet willy her bosses -- like reducing the Leno/Conan war to a shift debate between two janitors.
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Awww, yeah. Time to quote the One Day at a Time theme song: This is it! Project Runway concluded last night and chose a winner among its three remaining contestants. Take your pick: Is it the cartwheeling manchild who's mistakable for the most ecstatic Panic At the Disco roadie ever? The hard-smirking headmistress with bangs like an '80s topiary? Or the unsmiling train conductor who does not want directions to the Gunn show? After the jump, we analyze Seth Aaron, Mila, and Emilio's final Bryant Park collections, make fun of it all, and reveal the champion at post's end.
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· HBO's Danny McBride series Eastbound & Down is headed in a new direction its second season: south. The comedy will move Kenny Powers (McBride) to Mexico, where he will join a local baseball team. Ana de la Reguera and Michael Pena have been added as season regulars, while most of the first season cast -- with the exception of Steve Little -- will not be returning. [Deadline]
Megan Mullally returns to Parks, Hal Holbrook explores Anarchy, and more TV Bites after the jump.
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When Comedy Central aired last night's episode of South Park -- which, in spite of death threats by radical Muslim groups, picked up where last week's Muhammad-in-a-bear-costume installment left off -- fans were surprised to hear Muhammad's name bleeped. Were creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone just poking fun at the Muslim culture with some kind of meta-censorship joke? Or was the network taking extra measures to protect themselves in light of the recent threats?
Click through for the official explanation from Parker and Stone.
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As the co-creator of Pop Idol and American Idol, Nigel Lythgoe is never short on opinions, and as a panelist on his self-created show So You Think You Can Dance, Lythgoe's deadpan candor is his trademark. Still, the 60-year-old former dancer reached a new level of unfiltered commentary when he was asked to open up about Idol's current season, laying into Simon Cowell, Ryan Seacrest, and most of all, Ellen DeGeneres.
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Before you judge the following video, imagine that you are a TV Land network executive. You are putting on your 8th Annual Award show, which no one will watch. You have created a category ("Future Classic Award") specifically to honor the hottest song-and-dance television show on the airwaves (Glee), figuring that at least the third-string cast members will show up and throw you a pity performance. But they refuse. What do you do to fill that "Don't Stop Believin'" segment that you've been planning meticulously for months?
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Project Runway's seventh season concludes tonight -- so who's going home with $100,000, a bunch of new computers, and a mentorship with a condescending agency? Before we find out if Seth Aaron, Emilio, or Mila is the winner of Project Runway, Movieline is revisiting its interviews with all of the eliminated designers. After the jump, we select the best quote from each of our Q&As with the auf'd artists.
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Even though Jay Leno has been spicing up The Tonight Show with innovative diva tests and undercover investigations, his numbers continue to sink. Just last week, The Tonight Show earned its lowest ratings among its cherished 18-49 demo with an average of a 1.0 rating/5 share. For anyone keeping score at home, Conan O'Brien averaged a 1.1 rating while hosting the 11:35 P.M. show. [The Wrap]
It's become clear that The Marriage Ref holds the ominous power to book whoever it wants. Don't be surprised if President Obama soon moderates a Wichita couple's squabble about whether it's OK to enjoy sex and a steak dinner at the same time. Now that Jerry Seinfeld has further proven himself as a conduit to the biggest stars on Earth by securing Bette Midler, it's time for the public, with its stingy amounts of DVR Season Passes available, to suggest the celebrities that would behoove it to tune in.
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Earlier this month while promoting Date Night overseas, Tina Fey spilled the beans on an upcoming 30 Rock episode that would boldly parody the very late night disaster that shook 30 Rock's network just months before. Tonight, Fey & Co. deliver with that eagerly awaited episode "Khonani" as well as a bonus installment at 8:30 PM. An hour of new 30 Rock should counteract everything unfunny happening on tonight's Marriage Ref, right?
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Good news: You don't have to wait until tomorrow (or until you find the money to subscribe to Starz) to watch the season premiere of Party Down and the series premiere of Gravity, because the premium cabler has kindly made both full episodes available here and here. And as an added bonus, you can watch Party Down's fifth episode guest-starring Steve Guttenberg here. [Starz.com]
Last week, South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker celebrated their 200th episode by inviting back every celebrity ever ridiculed in the series' 14 seasons -- and by taking the Prophet Muhammad hostage in a bear costume. Needless to say, the gag did not go over well with radical Muslims, who "warned" Stone and Parker that they could face a Theo van Gogh-style assassination for depicting Muhammad in such an insulting light. Little did the radical Muslims know, the show's anniversary episode was actually a two-parter that continued with last night's episode, "201."
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Last night, Jay Leno decided to get to the bottom of those nasty diva rumors swirling around Jennifer Lopez when the actress stopped by to promote her movie The Back-up Plan. So he did what anyone with a late night talk show would do -- set up a softball diva quiz, asking her questions like, "When was the last time you were on a bus?" and "Have you ever just flipped your underwear inside out instead of getting a new pair?" Makes sense, right? After the jump, Leno's scientific conclusion on the matter and the other clips you missed while vowing to never go undercover as an eastern European slaughterhouse worker again.
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"Teflon Tim" doesn't have the American Idol stage to stick around anymore. The 20-year-old Duncanville, Texas, native was ousted after the longest Idol Gives Back special in world history. Luckily, our Hearty McFly didn't have to perform after slightly more talented singers went on like Elton John and Annie Lennox. Phew, in fact. Instead he just left us with our own thoughts -- assembled after the jump.
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