After two seasons, MTV has failed to create a worthy TRL successor in It's On With Alexa Chung, a live talk show hosted by the British personality and former model. MTV is pulling the series from the air after its second-season finale December 17. MTV programming chief Tony DiSanto explained that the network is still searching for the right live, talk show formula -- hopefully one without hybrid musical chairs-interview segments. [THR]
· Congratulations to NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker, who navigated last week's $37.5 billion Comcast-General Electric merger so well that his contract with the company was renewed for at least 18 months. Does this mean any big changes for the denim deity of peacock primetime? Probably not. Only last week, Zucker maintained that the Jay Leno Show is doing "exactly what we thought it would do" and just needs a little more time. Sigh. [Reuters]
CBS time-travels, Hugh Laurie tries his hand at directing, and more TV Bites after the jump.
Tonight's lineup features a welcome breach of typecasting. A certain Brat Pack veteran returns to the limelight and plays a role highly unlike the one that brought him most acclaim. No, Judd Nelson is not playing a footloose-and-fancy-free call girl -- though he may strap on his leg-warmers and jitterbug through the library upon seeing what his former co-star has planned for us this evening.
The two-season HBO hit Flight of the Conchords, which earned Jemaine Clement a surprise Best Actor nomination at this year's Emmys, is officially canceled, the show's stars and director confirm. Their candor is disarming, but the news is a downer. Read the sad statement after the jump.
It has been days since Port Charles last saw Franco, the graffiti artist "whose canvas is murder." Just ask Jason Morgan (Steve Burton), General Hospital's ruggedly handsome mobster who has been staking out Franco's crime scene apartment all this time. It's exhaustive work, partly because on three separate occasions, Jason heard heavy footsteps outside and braced as the doorknob turned -- only for one of Jason's nosy colleagues to enter the mysteriously unlocked boudoir. This afternoon though, Franco re-emerged from the shadows to give Jason the scare of his week.
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This Tiger Woods scandal has worked miracles for late night. Earlier this week, David Letterman self-effaced himself out of his own infidelity mess, Jay Leno developed a Tiger Tote Board to count the golfer's affairs, George Lopez repeatedly swatted his monologue bat at the Tiger pinata and last night, Conan O'Brien and Jimmy Fallon tweaked the late night format again in honor of the scandal-plagued golfer. Their innovative segments, which involved Bob Saget and an intimate locker room pep talk, along with the other moments you missed while bailing out the New Moon She-Pirate, after the jump.
Top Chef's engrossing sixth season -- a big step up from the previous two years -- concluded with a challenge that was Freudian in nature, and awkward in person: Create a meal based on your childhood. I would've much preferred a less psychological, more gritty "Create a dish based on Kevin's body art" theme, with enraged pig heads cropping up on Padma's platter, but the finale's Bryan/Michael Voltaggio showdown gave us adequate levels of cockiness, tears, and Gail Simmons's emphatic deployment of the word "sophistication." Plus, these five cringe-y moments.
When Time gave Glee its #8 slot on its list the best TV of the year, virtually every sentence in James Poniewozik's explanation was defensive. "Consistency is overrated," Poniewozik wrote preemptively. "Some of its story lines (especially the fake pregnancy of the choir director's wife) are distractingly implausible...It can be a mess, but it's what great TV should be...When it hits its high notes, nothing else matters."
I can relate to Poniewozik's stubborn defense of the erratic series, because it's what I could have said about creator Ryan Murphy's previous shows, Nip/Tuck and Popular. The thing that worries me, though, is that while Glee can sometimes nail the over-the-top thrills that are Murphy's trademarks, it's already running into some of the problems that sunk his other shows (and trust me, you do not want Glee to become the mess Nip/Tuck currently is). Here are four things I hope Murphy fixes before the show returns next spring:
If Barbara Walters really interviewed the 10 Most Fascinating People, she would have scored certifiably interesting sit downs with this year's real headliners like David Letterman, Chris Brown, Roman Polanski (from jail) or even readjusted her list to include Tiger Woods. Instead, viewers watched as Barbara Walters rehashed Kate Gosselin's ascent to reality fame and Brett Favre's fake-out retirement. But the esteemed journalist did manage to cover four sound bite-friendly topics which may surprise you. The cringe-inducing videos after the jump.
It's one thing for networks to yank ads featuring the embattled Tiger Woods from their primetime schedules. It's another altogether for those networks that broadcast golf to accommodate the radical dynamic shift brought on by "transgressions" acknowledged by the game's biggest star and ambassador. But now they're doing just that -- and judging by the early reactions, it's not the best feeling in the world.
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· Glee fans rejoice! After months of fan speculation that the Tony-winning star of Wicked, Idina Menzel would be a perfect fit as the bio mom of Lea Michele's character Rachel Berry, producers tapped Menzel for a long (possibly nine episodes) arc as a rival glee club coach. Menzel is the second star of Wicked to guest star (after Kristin Chenoweth), and appears in the wake of an episode built entirely around "Defying Gravity", a song from the play's soundtrack. In other Glee news, the cast will be featured in an upcoming issue of Vanity Fair, according to Mark Salling's Twitter feed. [THR]
Meryl Streep brushes up on her history, Jersey Shore finds another advertiser, and more TV Bites after the jump.
The glitter has already faded from last night's finale of The Biggest Loser, but one side of winning contestant Danny Cahill's story remains to be heard: the fat's side. Movieline put in a call to the 238-pound shapeless mass and found that he was not only available for an interview, but willing to discuss the tumultuous end to his affair with the 39-year-old Broken Arrow, OK, native. After the jump, the heaping stack of blubber discusses good times, bad times, and what he felt were the goals of their courtship.
After Will (Matthew Morrison) discovered that his wife was not actually pregnant last week, the rest of the glee club's carefully plotted secrets will be revealed during tonight's fall finale. It is almost possible to outline the entire hour's events by glancing at tonight's set list of covers: "Don't Rain on My Parade" by Barbra Streisand, "You Can't Always Get What You Want" by The Rolling Stones, "My Life Would Suck Without You" by Kelly Clarkson, "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" from Dreamgirls, "Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey and "Proud Mary" by Creedence Clearwater Revival. Take solace in tonight's melodrama knowing that Jane Lynch's Sue Sylvester will probably splash one of her scalding lattes in the face of a student.
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Someone notify Adam Shankman ASAP. The Oscar producer should forget Adam Lambert and any other Tweet-gestions from his fans and and tap George Lopez and his Lopez Tonight editors instead for the Academy Awards. Last night, G-Lo inserted himself into two minutes worth of Gran Torino footage in honor of Lopez Tonight's legendary guest, Clint Eastwood. Aside from that joke about "girly drinks," it rivaled anything Billy Crystal's ever done for the ceremony. That clip, along with the other segments you missed while sending MTV staff Facebook death threats, after the jump.
Jesse Tyler Ferguson almost missed out on Modern Family, ABC's breakout mockumentary that is already being heralded by the Hollywood Reporter as one of the best series of the decade. Recovering from his experience on the critically savaged and quickly canceled Do Not Disturb, Ferguson told his managers that he was finished with television and moved to New York last year to headline the Broadway musical based on Elf. Fortunately for Ferguson, his managers soft-sold him Modern Family, which the actor read five times over and fell in love with. Now, Ferguson can be seen on Wednesday nights as Mitchell Pritchett, the hilariously straight-laced former figure skater who has since settled down with his flamboyant partner -- the hilarious Eric Stonestreet -- and their adopted Vietnamese daughter.
Last week, Movieline caught up with Ferguson to discuss his brush with Adam Lambert, the truth behind that Julie Bowen-Sofia Vergara rivalry and the upcoming storyline about Mitchell and his old-fashioned father, played by Ed O'Neill, that brought him to tears.
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