We missed last night's premiere of "The Pacific" on HBO due to, shall we say, inclement weather (read: torrential downpours and 60 MPH winds). We heard good things about the premiere episode, though, and we're looking forward to catching up on DVR tonight. We also got a flood of emails last night about the trailer for "Treme," the new series by David Simon (creator of "The Wire") about the post-Katrina New Orleans music scene that we told you about a few months ago. We tracked down the trailer online and we're even more excited about the premiere on Sunday, April 11. It's after the jump.  Keep Reading »

On Saturday I was able to catch HBO's fantastic new documentary "Magic & Bird: A Courtship of Rivals," and was sorry we left it out of Friday's "Weekend Agenda." By weaving historic NBA footage with candid interviews of Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, the 90-minute film profiles one of the best individual player rivalries in professional sports. Personally, my favorite part occurs during the documentary's final minutes when a visibly agitated and cranky Bryant Gumbel blows his shit and rants, "One of my pet peeves is when people say, 'Oh, Michael Jordan saved the NBA.' Bullshit. Magic and Larry saved the NBA." If you have On Demand, it's worth watching right away. If that's not an option, set your DVR to HBO with this schedule or check it out on Thursday at 7 p.m. The trailer is after the jump.  Keep Reading »

The New York Post is reporting that a Russian-American version of "Jersey Shore" is being planned, with casting calls already in progress (yes, Mya Erlikh, above, is a hopeful). "Brighton Beach" will put seven or eight Ruskies in a house in the Brooklyn beach community made famous (among other reasons) by Neil Simon's play "Brighton Beach Memoirs." The shows creators are looking to "deal with Russian stereotypes head-on." What exactly does that mean?  Keep Reading »

We don't watch "Lost," but we know many of you have been counting down to tonight's big premiere (8 p.m., ABC) for months now. Anyone want to make some predictions about the final season and just what the hell those numbers in the headline mean? Sound Off with your ideas in the Comments. Spoilers about previous seasons are O.K., but if you know any insider info about Season 6, please keep those spoilers out of the comments. [Thanks to Eater for the photo.]

Conan O'Brien's 17-year run of "having fun on television" came to a hushed and abrupt end last night. For the most part, Conan kept it relatively low key throughout the entire evening. Neither "Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog" nor "The Masturbating Bear," made a final curtain call for the bittersweet show. We have all of last night's highlights for you after the jump, including "The World's Most Expensive Sketch," Conan's NBC exit interview, and his very classy goodbye speech.  Keep Reading »

According to the latest reports on Conan's negotiations with NBC, the Great Late Night War of 2010 may soon be coming to a ceasefire. Conan O'Brien's last show as the host of the Tonight Show appears to be cemented for tomorrow. In the meantime, the late night circus has turned up the comedy pressure cooker on both Leno and the peacock network. The highlights from last night are below.

First of all, David Letterman took a jab at Leno, his old foe.



Conan finally brought back the Masturbating Bear, which he may loose the rights to when NBC terminates his contract. Watch the video and more highlights after the jump.  Keep Reading »

The peacock network's Jay Leno/Conan O'Brien quagmire seems to have reached an irksome tipping point of feverish fan emotions and hushed programing manipulations. As of right now, Leno will takeover the Tonight Show at 11:30 for the second time in his career. In the meantime, Jimmy Fallon will stay put, Conan will consider offers to do "ginger" porn, and NBC chief Jeff Zucker will probably hide out in a corporate boardroom with a bottle of scotch all weekend wishing the botched Leno vs. Conan PR debacle would just go away. No matter where Conan ends up or how many times the NBC lineup is shuffled, the trials and tribulations of Team Coco have certainly made for some fascinating kabuki theater over the past week. But this is nothing new. Conan, we're here to remind you that you're not alone. As a genre, late-night television is historically rife with network ineptitude, broken promises, and short-lived television dreams. Here are 12 other failed late-night television programs. Unlike Conan, some of these may have been doomed from the get-go.

"The Chevy Chase Show"
Network: FOX
Time on the air: September 7, 1993 to October 1, 1993

Despite his popularity and comedic success, Chevy Chase's remarkably unfunny late night show on Fox was one colossal disaster after the next. The show didn't live up to its potential to lure advertisers to FOX and received an "F" rating by an Entertainment Weekly critic. It was canceled less than a month after it premiered.

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On Tuesday we told you about "Treme," a new HBO series from David Simon, the mastermind behind "The Wire." The New Orleans music scene-themed show will debut in early April, following the conclusion of HBO's latest epic World War II miniseries from Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, "The Pacific." Today brings the trailer of another new series from top HBO pedigree, and it looks just as bad ass as previous HBO fare.

So what do you get when you team up a lead writer for "The Sopranos" with Martin Scorsese, Steve Buscemi, and Gretchen Mol, and then set it all in Prohibition-era Atlantic City? The answer is after the jump.  Keep Reading »

The finale of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" aired last night, and with it, we finally got the "Seinfeld" finale we were all hoping for. Or, at least part of it. We got to see about 5 minutes of the "reunion episode," and boy do we wish "Seinfeld" was still on the air. I think what we've loved most about the way that Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld "wrote" the reunion show was just how up-to-date it was. The idea that George created the iToilet iPhone App, made millions, and then lost it all in Bernie Madoff's ponzi scheme is pure brilliance. Jerry's donation of his sperm to father Elaine's daughter worked as well; we just wish Kramer had had more of a plotline (and where was the big audience reaction on his first slide into Jerry's apartment?). Anyway, a brilliant end to a brilliant season of "Curb," and yes, we finally got a decent ending to the show. Or at least a few snippets of one. The video is after the jump.  Keep Reading »

After a more-or-less terrible "SNL" last night with the still-gorgeous January Jones, the guys in Studio 8H put together a humdinger of a show last night. The first of three highlights, above, is "The Mellow Show," starring Andy Samberg as Jack Johnson, Bill Hader as Dave Matthews, host Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Jason Mraz, and musical guest Dave Matthews himself as a mellow Ozzy Osbourne. After the jump, check out the latest (and very funny) digital short music video, "Two Worlds Collide," featuring Samberg with Kenan Thompson as "Reba McEntire." And finally, we're not sure if the fake BET show "What's Up With That?," also starring Thompson, is a new recurring skit, but we like what we're seeing and want more cowbell.  Keep Reading »

How incredible does MTV's "Jersey Shore" look? It debuts on Dec. 3, and of course reminds us of a little video called Guido Beach, which we've posted after the jump. Relive the glory...  Keep Reading »

So after the massive response we received from yesterday's article, "The 12 Hottest Female Anchors on Business Television," we knew we had to do a follow-up piece on the Bloomberg babes, who, as Dealbreaker correctly nailed us on, we failed to include in the first go-around. It's not that we have anything against Bloomberg, it's just, honestly, who the hell watches Bloomberg television? Having said that, Bloomberg is loaded with a stable full of some serious talent. We went through the lineup and picked out the cream of the crop.

Now, unlike other networks who will remain nameless (coughCNBCcough), Bloomberg is not all about shameless publicity, so it was difficult to find a ton of background information about their female anchors on Bloomberg's website (or anywhere else on the Internet for that matter). But it's not like anyone is looking at these articles for the bios anyway. So here they are: the hottest DL babes from Bloomberg television and one bonus babe to top it all off. One more thing: we're really sorry Dennis Kneale, but there won't be a Hottest Male Business Reporters follow up after this. You can put your pants back on.


Deirdre Bolton  Keep Reading »

We'd be remiss if we let the whole day pass by without mentioning the fact that we were right all along about this season of "Entourage." O.K., so they never let Vince get into any real trouble with the paparazzi or gossip websites or sex tapes, as we suggested several times -- and still predict might happen next year. But we nailed almost every other plot point we could reasonably see coming from the first episode, and, more importantly, maintained correctly that even in its sixth season and even with all the haters out there, "Entourage" remained relevant, hilarious, and a lot of fun.

So let's review our July 13th predictions and relish in last night's episode of Matt Damon outbursts, Ari's paintball firings, Bono and LeBron cameos, and E finally popping the question.  Keep Reading »

Even after rethinking the voting process a few years back, the Emmy nominations still usually end up looking like the Tivo schedule at AARP's headquarters. Luckily the always likeable Neil Patrick Harris is suiting up as host for Sunday night's big awards show (8 p.m. ET, CBS), and you should recognize a decent amount of nominees, so this year could be watchable. Here's our predictions and commentary on who actually deserves the damn trophies -- and, naturally, who Kanye West would storm on stage and announce as the deserved winner:

Outstanding Comedy Series
The Nominees: "30 Rock," "Entourage," "Family Guy," "Flight Of The Conchords," "How I Met Your Mother," "The Office," "Weeds"

Our favorite, "Summer Heights High" is ineligible for competition (it aired in Australia over two years ago), which is shame because Chris Lilly's triple turn as ADD plagued troubled-youth Jonah, whiny teen queen Ja'mie, and flaming drama teacher Mr. G was by far the best comedy of the year. A giant "fuck you, miss" to the Emmys for not bending the rules. Also absent: "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia." If "Family Guy," can score a nod than clearly voters aren't offended by cannibalism and racial stereotypes, so what gives?

As the first animated series in nearly 45 years to score a nomination in the big race, voters might find "Family Guy" freakin' sweet, but it wouldn't be fair to bestow that honor upon Peter Griffin ahead of "The Simpsons" or "South Park." Voters finally caved into peer pressure and invited "Weeds" into the category. In its fourth season, creator Jenji Kohan uprooted the Botwins away from their prestige Agrestic abode and ditched half the cast. A lesser show would've folded under new circumstances, but "Weeds" floated higher than... insert bad stoner joke here. I'd like "Weeds" to score a win over other newcomers "Mother" or "Conchords," but the always dependable "30 Rock" will walk away triumphant for the third year in a row.

Who Kanye West would storm on stage and announce as the deserved winner: "Entourage." West guest-starred on the show two years back, and his own ego rivals Johnny Drama's.

Outstanding Drama Series
The Nominees: Nominees: "Big Love," "Breaking Bad," "Damages," "Dexter," "House," "Lost," "Mad Men."  Keep Reading »

Yes, even New York Giants fans are going to be watching the premiere of Season 7 Sunday night at 9 p.m. How good does this look?