It is with a heavy heart that Moveline reports that Jay Leno's trusty sidekick, Kevin "Kev" Eubanks, is fleeing his cushy gig as Leno's bandleader after 18 years. The announcement, which was confirmed by Extra today, comes just a week after the last Jay Leno Show aired on NBC. Leno will return to the 11:35 PM time slot after the Winter Games coverage with a new Tonight Show bandleader -- one that is rumored to have fronted one of your favorite 90s groups. Click through to find out who Jay Leno will be tossing monologue quips out to beginning March 1.
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Forget boxes of chocolate and novelty handcuffs. On Valentine's Day, Family Guy sent fellow Fox employee Sarah Palin a heart-shaped episode entitled "Extra Large Medium." Only instead of a complimentary or sweet shout-out to the governor, the episode included a storyline in which Chris dates a girl with Down syndrome. And not just any girl with Down syndrome -- a girl who admits that "my mom's the former governor of Alaska." That particular line as well as Stewie's song "Down Syndrome Girl" ("And though her pretty face may seem a special person's wettest dream") stung Alaska's former first family enough to warrant two nasty Facebook tongue lashings at Seth MacFarlane & Co.
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If the final season of the mythologically dense Lost feels a little bit familiar to you, there might be a good reason: It's a whole lot like the final season of the mythologically dense Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Here are six ways the two shows' last arcs dovetail, mimic, and flat-out pilfer from each other:
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Back when Glee acquired the rights to Madonna's song catalog and we posted five offbeat singles the cast could chirp, we didn't expect Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch's alpha gym teacher character) to feel the closest connection to Lourdes's maker. The new preview for the grand Madge explosion -- which will finally air in April -- proves that Sue considers herself a "lady with an attitude." It also confirms that Glee will turn even the staunchest empowerment jam into Gerber mush.
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Valentine's Day might be considered an excuse for romance for some, a faux-holiday created by Hallmark by others, but for the late night circuit, February 14 is a source for segment-ready guest anecdotes. Like Tracy Morgan's bit about the holiday on the Late Show last night ("Flowers and candy, right? So we had some collard greens and I bought her some Goobers.") That clip, as well as the other moments you skipped last night in favor of Olympic coverage, after the jump.
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· After 29 years, Barbara Walters will retire her annual Oscar night celebrity interview special. The newswoman announced the sad news on The View, saying "ABC has asked me to keep doing these specials as they have been so successful -- and I'm thrilled we have such great stars and have such a wonderful show -- but to be honest, I feel like I've 'been there, done that.'" For Walters' final Oscar show on ABC this award season, she will talk to Academy Award nominees including Sandra Bullock and Mo'Nique. Meanwhile, Walters will continue her other annual ABC special, The 10 Most Fascinating People. [THR]
Betty White responds to the Saturday Night Live campaign, Vancouver is good to NBC, and more TV Bites after the jump.
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Usually Project Runway stages its Bryant Park finale, complete with all the remaining designers' $8,000 collections, sometime close to the airing of its second-to-last episode. That way, a slew of eliminated designers -- who the home audience hasn't seen auf'ed yet -- don't have to make decoy collections to keep everyone guessing about who's been sent home.
That didn't work out this year; Fashion Week is going on right now, and the 11 remaining designers were forced to present completed collections this morning in New York. Heidi Klum, Michael Kors, Nina Garcia, and inexplicable guest judge Faith Hill sat in. Among the remaining contenders, two designers stood out to me as clear frontrunners -- and one still-competing contestant didn't show at all. Don't click ahead if you want details about the final collections tucked away from you in Tim Gunn's Faberge lockbox.
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HBO's new dramedy How to Make It in America is a street-level view of entrepreneurs who weigh the ambition to succeed with moral conundrums about borrowing more money. Wannabe clothiers Ben (Bryan Geenberg) and Cam (Victor Rasuk) need more than just ideas and bolts of denim to make the dream happen, though; they need to coordinate, socialize with their bankable connections, and cling to their blanching optimism in a grayed-out New York City to have a prayer. The trailer, embedded after the jump, promises true-to-life lessons in "getting there." But is the pilot just as desperate as its protagonists?
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Following months of world championships and decades of training, the finest athletes in the world will gather in Vancouver tonight for the 2010 Winter Olympics. In the tradition conceived long ago in ancient Greece, they will put aside their countries' political differences, bask in multi-million dollar brand sponsorships, snap up as much hardware as their muscular necks will support and then unwind afterward by bedding their competitors in an Olympic Village orgy. But just because NBC sunk a ghastly $2 billion into the broadcasting rights to this year's games does not mean that we, American viewers, are actually obligated to watch. So after the jump, Movieline has neatly compiled your primetime alternatives to that grating Bob Costas coverage for your counter-programming pleasure.
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In the Bunim-Murray era of Project Runway, two things occur when we hit episode five. First of all, everyone you ever loved has been eliminated. Sure, the casualties couldn't sew, they were "afraid of fabrics," their design background is in "playing with my dogs," and you wanted them to enter a different competition where contestants vie to wear the cutest suspenders, but that doesn't seem important when their degree is in twirling our feelings. Secondly, the remaining contestants band together and agree to be boring. Fresh out of options, the producers invent a villain from one of the less-mute cast members. Mila, you and your severe haircut are hired! Let's see how smeared she is in our recap, after the jump.
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As far as late night host-guest relationships go, Regis Philbin and David Letterman share one of the more underrated bonds in history. The Late Show has tapped the Reege dozens of times over its 17-year span, usually for quiet Friday night episodes. But with zero NBC competition (and the complementary ratings surge) these days, the Reege was upgraded to a prime Thursday night spot. And after all these years, Philbin still delivered one of his most entertaining segments -- but maybe that is because Letterman ignored him the entire night. That clip, as well as the five other highlights you missed last night while crying inside your freshly-organized closets, after the jump.
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Gracing this month's cover of the world's foremost fashion bible, Vogue, is none other than America's first lady of funny, Tina Fey. (Seen here before and after digital retouching, just for contrast.) Looking positively ethereal in a photo by Mario Testino, Fey admits inside that she prefers oral surgery to attending Fashion Week shows, relies on V-cut cleavage to enhance her curves, and avoids spaghetti straps, which make her look "like when you tie up a roast before you put it in the oven." Still, that didn't deter the Vogue styling army, who put the 30 Rock star and creator in a spaghetti-strapped tank top, shorts, fishnets and Mickey Mouse ears, and had her pose seductively on the roof of the famous address she calls home.
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The reason that Warner Bros. was so eager to renew The Ellen DeGeneres Show for three more years: Research. Specifically, research done by SmithGeiger proving that Ellen's show is finally on par with The Oprah Winfrey Show. While Ellen's ratings are expected to improve more still thanks to her American Idol gig, the only component missing from launching Ellen into that lucrative Oprah franchise territory is an "emotional bond with viewers." So brace for Ellen to rip a page from Oprah's playbook with an all-female-suffering line-up. Who said a little coffee-table dance therapy doesn't help ease those traumatic incest memories?
[NYT]
· On this slow news morning, television insiders are analyzing which series have the slimmest chances of returning. This year though, an extremely low bar for primetime success means that networks have a better chance renewing quality shows with weaker ratings like Chuck and The New Adventures of Old Christine. Until the fateful May upfronts though, each rating counts for the bubble shows like Fox's 24; CBS's Numb3rs, Gary Unmarried and Medium; ABC's FlashForward, The Deep End and The Forgotten; and NBC's Mercy and Trauma. [Variety]
Larry Charles invests in lowlifes, Ugly Betty finds a new orthodontist, and more TV Bites after the jump.
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Bill Carter, the New York Times reporter who famously penned The Late Shift in 1994, about the battle between David Letterman and Jay Leno for the Tonight Show crown, has confirmed that he is working on a sequel for Viking. As expected, the sequel will focus on the recent Tonight Show rumblings at NBC involving Conan O'Brien and Jay Leno. Carter is currently researching ConanGate in Los Angeles. In case HBO decides to adapt the sequel into a movie, Movieline has a casting lead for Conan. [Gawker]
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