The Jay Leno Show sailed its maiden voyage last night, navigating the forecasted Obama jokes, bland pre-taped sketches and Leno's reliably affable personality. Surprisingly, it wasn't the threesome between Leno, a tuxedo-ed Jerry Seinfeld and Oprah (via video) that salvaged The Tonight Show's primetime resurrection (complete with homophobic Cheaters sketch!) from complete unwatchability but an intimate sit-down with Kanye West, a day after his wildly unpopular VMA stunt. To see see who fared better - the autopiloted host or the Taylor Swift assailant - follow us after the jump.
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Whether or not you caught this afternoon's Oprah Winfrey Show premiere featuring a Whitney Houston interview so juicy that it had to be broken into two parts (the other airs tomorrow), rest assured that Movieline has compiled Houston's most shocking revelations for you to use during tomorrow's water-cooler discussion. After the jump, find everything from Houston's How-To Guide on smoking rock cocaine to her definition of physical abuse (that conveniently excludes Bobby's spitting and hitting) to Bobbi Kristina's own visit to rehab.
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Still in True Blood withdrawal? Seth's finale recap (due later tonight) should help you out, but until then, enjoy Alexander Skarsgård's guest DJ stint on LA's KCRW radio station from this past week. Thrill as Skarsgård tells stories about bathing naked outside (a natural segue to the Rolling Stones' "Mother's Little Helper")! Swoon as Skarsgård discusses his newfound love of Los Angeles! Ponder how Skarsgård's mock-Southern accent, acquired for his upcoming Straw Dogs redneck role, clashes with his native Swedish intonations to produce something very like the voice a Georgia math club president. [KCRW]
Last night's Kanye-jacked Video Music Awards gave MTV its highest ratings for the ceremony since 2002, scoring 26.9 million viewers. (To be fair, the 2002 ceremony boasted the unbeatable lineup of a Guns 'N Roses reunion performance, Michael Jackson's non-reception of the Artist of the Millennium Award, and a less-gaunt Eminem). Next year, MTV plans to improve on its ratings by surrounding the stage with a highly-lit electric fence, all the better to give Taylor Swift an extra, ethereal glow and Kanye West a friendly tasing. [THR]
Kanye West has already survived his fare share of public meltdowns, but last night's Taylor Swift acceptance speech hijacking might be the one stunt from which the rap star won't recover. His VMA interruption enraged fans and celebrities, who immediately aligned themselves with the fragile, flaxen-haired victim (really, the only side to take if you ever want to work again in Hollywood or share Swift's wide fan base). But Kanye has done too much for music, South Park plot lines and late night monologue jokes to disappear after one VMA stunt gone wrong. So just how can the freshly-branded Swift Kicker, Taylor Stomper, and the breaker of delicate MTV dreams reclaim grace -- and more importantly, how long will it take?
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We live in ugly times when Howard Cosell isn't around to sort out matters of network all-star athleticism. Sadly, it now falls to us to comb through glamour shots of TV celebrities running the Nautica Malibu Triathlon over the weekend and rank their running, swimming, and biking abilities using context clues and the freshness of their perspiration. So which five television stars won the battle?
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It was an evening of new arrivals, anxious dads-to-be, and comely elementary school teachers begging to be the next notch in a certain ad man's fedora band. It was, to be sure, a good evening. So join us, if you will, for another installment of our Mad Men Power Rankings:
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The 61st annual Creative Arts Emmy Awards were distributed on Saturday night. And while emcee Kathy Griffin walked away from the Kodak Theatre Emmy-less (losing Outstanding Reality Program to A&E's Intervention and Variety, Musical or Comedy Emmy to CBS's The Kennedy Center Honors), her memoir sales were spared from the effects of another Jesus-bashing speech. To see how Charles Dickens rose from the dead to take home four of the low-priority Emmys and how Saturday Night Live and Pushing Daisies found redemption in the form of gold statuettes, follow us after the jump.
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First, some not-so-simple math: Add together Randy Jackson, inadequate judging, Mario Lopez's emcee skills, and contestants whose names you forget, and the sum is one of the most entertaining reality competitions on television, MTV's dance-off America's Best Dance Crew. It not only outshines its network contemporary So You Think You Can Dance and even the current season of Project Runway, it's the most ecstatic example of raw talent on the air.
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While the nation is divided over whether they approve of Ellen DeGeneres joining American Idol next season, we can find solace in the fact that the celebrities are amazingly unanimous in their support for the talk show host's foray into competitive singing programming. Sure she has no musical experience aside from boogying down the aisles of her studio to unlicensed tunes, but maybe it is time for America to unite and follow the leads of these A, B and C-listers.
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King of the Hill may never have matched the Emmy count of The Simpsons, but it was hardy enough to last twelve years and survive threats of cancellation until, after 253 produced episodes, the Mike Judge animated series ends this Sunday to make room for the Family Guy spin-off series The Cleveland Show. Though its absence will leave us with a profound paucity of bored cartoon characters slowly lifting beer to their mouths, at least it's amassed enough memorable footage to tide us over until Judge sucks it up and mounts Beavis and Butthead Do America as a stage musical. (Here's hoping.) In memoriam, KOTH's greatest achievement after the jump.
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Let this be a lesson to all talk show hosts: You can't just dance freely through your studio, booty-shaking with elderly guests and engaging unwilling audience members in a hand clap without any kind of repercussion. At least if your deejay is spinning over 1,000 popular jams that have not been licensed. Just ask Ellen DeGeneres, American Idol's freshly appointed fourth judge, whose production company, A Very Good Production, is being sued by four major record companies.
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The Jay Leno Show has been clouded by skepticism, industry disses, fancy-car talk and desk controversy since the moment NBC's fall schedule was announced. But on the weekday eve of the hotly anticipated premiere, what can we really expect from the former Tonight Show's denim deity on Monday night? Guests at Leno's test-taping have the answers.
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Were you scared that Project Runway couldn't be more boring this season, or that the 1,459 remaining designers couldn't produce another batch of bland, mall-ready clothing? I lost sleep over it, but press on nevertheless. During last night's episode, several Bethlehem-sized miracles occurred: Michael Kors and Nina Garcia took the day off to play badminton, the challenge was built around the ever-scintillating Models Of The Runway, and not one interesting design was produced by a designer. Did the episode even happen? Is that... the point? Is Project Runway's executive producer Samuel Beckett? Let us inspect.
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America's fascination with vampires won't be waning anytime soon, to judge by last night's Vampire Diaries numbers. CW's gamble on the pop culture trend paid off last night when the network's vampire venture became the network's most-watched series premiere -- ever. How big was it?
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