day 3.243

anne hathaway, rap superstar

this is why i love anne hathaway.

day 2.339

conan returns

the red headed funny man made his second return to tv this year last night on tbs. the eponymously named conan ("so i'd be harder to replace," conan joked) brought in over 4 million viewers, but will it stick? naturally, ratings are going to be big the first week or so for conan on tbs. but i don't think a 4 million-person audience, let alone more than 1 million viewers, will stick around. conan was able to beat time-slot competitors jay leno and david letterman, but he also has a 30-minute lead in. it would be interesting to see the ratings for the second half of jay and dave's shows. after interest dies down, expect conan to be on par with where timeslot predecessor george lopez was - hovering around 1 million viewers. critics haven't responded well to conan's new program, expecting him to break free from the traditional late night mold. instead, he delivered a tonight show knock off with a cable edge. chances are tbs will give conan a longer shot than nbc, but i don't know if the net's gamble will pay off. conan couldn't bring in ratings on a major network. why is he expected to bring in even more viewers on a less watched cable channel?

the people have spoken
and they're getting out of control. the nominees for this year's people's choice awards was announced today and...well...it's interesting to say the least. it looks like the awards show has been extended by about 3590238097230932 categories, almost as if there idea was to not leave any possible nominee off the list. there's not just a "favorite movie" category, but favorite action, comedy and family movie categories. and acting awards under each of those categories. the people's choice awards have been headed downhill since the writer's strike in 2008. queen latifah returns (yet again) to host the show, to be broadcast january 5th on cbs. here's an (extensive) list of the nominees below. it looks like it will be a twilight award show, just like every other fan voted award show the past couple of years.

favorite movie

• alice in wonderland
• inception
• iron man 2
• the twilight saga: eclipse
• toy story 3

favorite movie actor

• johnny depp
• leonardo dicaprio
• robert downey jr.
• robert pattinson
• taylor lautner

favorite movie actress

• angelina jolie
• jennifer aniston
• julia roberts
• katherine heigl
• kristen stewart

favorite action movie

• iron man 2
• kick ass
• price of persia: the sands of time
• robin hood
• salt

favorite action star

• angelina jolie
• bradley cooper
• jackie chan
• jake gyllenhaal
• robert downey jr.

favorite drama movie

• alice in wonderland
• dear john
• inception
• the social network
• the twilight saga: eclipse

favorite family movie

• despicable me
• hot to train your dragon
• shrek forever after
• the karate kid
• toy story 3

favorite comedy movie

• date night
• east a
• grown ups
• sex and the city 2
• valentine's day

favorite comedic star

• adam sandler
• drew barrymore
• steve carell
• tina fey
• will ferrell

favorite on-screen team

• tina fey & steve carell - date night
• leonardo dicaprio, joseph gordon-levitt, ellen page, tom hardy & dileep rao - inception
• robert downey jr. & don cheadle - iron man 2
• jackie chan & jaden smith - the karate kid
• robert pattinson, kristen stewart & taylor lautner - the twilight saga: eclipse

favorite movie star under 25

• emma watson
• kristen stewart
• robert pattinson
• vanessa hudgens
• zac efron

favorite horror movie

• a nightmare on elm streed
• let me in
• resident evil: afterlife
• the crazies
• the last exorcism

favorite tv drama

• gossip girl
• grey's anatomy
• house
• the good wife
• the vampire diaries

favorite tv drama actor

• chace crawford
• hugh laurie
• ian somerhalder
• patrick dempsey
• taye diggs

favorite tv drama actress

• blake lively
• julianna margulies
• kate walsh
• lisa edelstein
• sandra oh

favorite tv comedy

• glee
• how i met your mother
• modern family
• the big bang theory
• two and a half men

favorite tv comedy actor

• alec baldwin
• jim parsons
• matthew morrison
• neil patrick harris
• steve carell

favorite tv comedy actress

• alyson hannigan
• courteney cox
• eva longoria parker
• jane lynch
• tina fey

favorite competition show

• american idol
• america's got talent
• dancing with the stars
• hell's kitchen
• so you think you can dance

favorite tv crime drama

• bones
• criminal minds
• law and order: special victim's unit
• lie to me
• ncis

favorite tv crime fighter

• emily deschanel - bones
• mariska hargitay - law and order: svu
• mark harmon - ncis
• simon baker - the mentalist
• tim roth - lie to me

favorite sci-fi/fantasy show

• fringe
• smallville
• supernatural
• the vampire diaries
• true blood

favorite talk show host

• chelsea handler
• conan o'brien
• ellen degeneres
• george lopez
• oprah winfrey

favorite tv obsession

• burn notice
• dexter
• pretty little liars
• true blood
• white collar

favorite tv guilty pleasure

• jersey shore
• kathy griffin: my life on the d-list
• keeping up with the kardashians
• the real housewives of new jersey
• tosh.o

favorite tv guest star

• betty white, community
• britney spears, glee
• carrie underwood, how i met your mother
• demi lovato, grey's anatomy
• neil patrick harris, glee

favorite tv doctor

• sandra oh - grey's anatomy
• patrick dempsey - grey's anatomy
• hugh laurie - house
• robert sean leonard - house
• ellen pompeo - grey's anatomy

favorite tv family

• the griffins - family guy
• the harpers - two and a half men
• the pritchetts/dunpheys - modern family
• the scavos - desperate housewives
• the simpsons - the simpsons

favorite tv movie

• beauty and the briefcase
• camp rock 2: the final jam
• icarly: ipsycho
• revenge of the bridesmaids
• starstruck

favorite tv chef

• bobby flay
• gordon ramsey
• jamie oliver
• paula deen
• rachael ray

favorite new tv comedy

• $#*! my dad says
• better with you
• mike and molly
• no ordinary family
• outsourced
• raising hope
• running wilde

favorite new tv drama

• blue bloods
• chase
• detroit 1-8-7
• hawaii five-0
• hellcats
• law and order: los angeles
• nikita
• the defenders
• the event

...and those are just the film and tv noms! to see all the other nominees - including the music categories and viral video stars, click here.

day 2.244

coco coming back to your tv

well that didn't take long. after being booted from his late night post at nbc in favor of bringing back former host jay leno from the oblivion of primetime, former tonight show host conan o'brien has landed himself a new nightly gig. the red haired funny man will be bringing his comedy stylings to tbs come fall. conan's show will premiere sometime in november and run four nights a week (monday through thursday) alongside current tbs late night-er george lopez. lopez's show will get pushed back to the 12/11c time-slot to make room for conan at 11/10c. early reports had conan taking his schtick to fox, but i never bought it. fox never seemed all that interested in getting coco - he didn't work on nbc so why would he work on a different network without an established late night schedule? fox affiliates make tons of money of syndicated shows like friends and sex and the city in the time-slot he would have taken, too, so it would have been a lose-lose for the network. i would say conan's move to basic cable is a downgrade for him, but the right move. cable late night series are growing in popularity and are where comedy is going. it will be interesting how conan does; i predict tbs' biggest ratings ever for his premiere, but for him to taper off around 900,000 viewers a night (those are the type of ratings chelsea lately gets). i guess we'll just have to wait and see.

day 2.65

it's official

conan has left the building. well, he'll be leaving the building tomorrow night, jan 22. conan was already scheduled to go on hiatus starting next week so the end of his short tonight show reign is not as abrupt as it may seem. jay leno will regain the 11:35/10:35c time slot beginning march 1st, after the olympics. the new tonight show with jay leno will be a hybrid of the original show and jay leno's primetime disaster. between friday and march 1, nbc will rerun early episodes of the tonight show with conan o'brien - you know, the ones without him talking crap about the peacock net. conan's severance package includes $45 million, $12 million of which will go to pay his now job-less staff. as part of his deal to leave nbc, conan cannot return to the airwaves until september 1. though, that would be the normal start date for any new show he would have, so it's really not that big of a deal. rumor has it that fox is interested in getting into the late night game, though i saw an anonymous quote that if conan didn't work on nbc, why would he work on fox? but, with the recent renewed interest in the ginger comedian, fox's tune may have changed. truth be told, i'm a leno fan (though i think conan was good for late night, just too juvenile for the earlier show) and i'll be very interested to see how all this works out. either nbc is going to bounce back big or keep on falling. i guess we'll find out starting in march.

day 2.56

conan calls it quits...sort of
the light night war continues to rage. conan o'brien released quite the statement today that basically says that the peacock net can go fly a kite when it comes to tooling with their late night line-up. i posted the letter below. it's both a screw you way and a classy way to exit the program. but don't feel too bad for conan - he'll be leaving nbc with about $80 million.

people of earth: in the last few days, i’ve been getting a lot of sympathy calls, and i want to start by making it clear that no one should waste a second feeling sorry for me. for 17 years, i’ve been getting paid to do what I love most and, in a world with real problems, i’ve been absurdly lucky. that said, i've been suddenly put in a very public predicament and my bosses are demanding an immediate decision.

six years ago, i signed a contract with nbc to take over the tonight show in june of 2009. like a lot of us, i grew up watching johnny carson every night and the chance to one day sit in that chair has meant everything to me. i worked long and hard to get that opportunity, passed up far more lucrative offers, and since 2004 i have spent literally hundreds of hours thinking of ways to extend the franchise long into the future. it was my mistaken belief that, like my predecessor, i would have the benefit of some time and, just as important, some degree of ratings support from the prime-time schedule. building a lasting audience at 11:30 is impossible without both.

but sadly, we were never given that chance. after only seven months, with my tonight show in its infancy, nbc has decided to react to their terrible difficulties in prime-time by making a change in their long-established late night schedule.

last thursday, nbc executives told me they intended to move the tonight show to 12:05 to accommodate the jay leno show at 11:35. for 60 years the tonight show has aired immediately following the late local news. i sincerely believe that delaying the tonight show into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what i consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting. the tonight show at 12:05 simply isn’t the tonight show. also, if i accept this move i will be knocking the late night show, which i inherited from david letterman and passed on to jimmy fallon, out of its long-held time slot. that would hurt the other nbc franchise that i love, and it would be unfair to jimmy.

so it has come to this: i cannot express in words how much i enjoy hosting this program and what an enormous personal disappointment it is for me to consider losing it. my staff and i have worked unbelievably hard and we are very proud of our contribution to the legacy of the tonight show. but i cannot participate in what i honestly believe is its destruction. some people will make the argument that with dvr's and the internet a time slot doesn’t matter. but with the tonight show, i believe nothing could matter more.

there has been speculation about my going to another network but, to set the record straight, i currently have no other offer and honestly have no idea what happens next.my hope is that nbc and i can resolve this quickly so that my staff, crew, and I can do a show we can be proud of, for a company that values our work.

have a great day and, for the record, i am truly sorry about my hair; it’s always been that way.

yours, conan

day 2.51

the ginger always loses

it looks like conan o'brien may be looking for a new job starting next month. the red-headed funnyman is reportedly on his way off the peacock airwaves. and jay leno would be in. it hasn't even been a year since conan took over hosting duties for nbc's the tonight show from leno, but nbc is feeling the loss. ratings are down for the net all around, with cbs's letterman-hosted late show beating nbc for the first time since leno was host. and the primetime numbers are weak, weak, weak with leno's new format taking 5 hours of programming time away from the network. according to tmz, leno's current show will go on indefinite hiatus starting february 1 and the veteran comic will return to 11:30/10:30c after the network's airing of the olympics winds down later this year. sources say there was a long staff meeting at leno's nbc studio today to figure out what exactly will happen when the star returns to the airways, with one option cutting leno's program down to a half hour which would then be followed by an hour of conan, pushing the jimmy fallon hosted late night to directly compete with abc's ratings winner jimmy kimmel show. the second option would be for the network to completely buy mr. o'brien out of his contract and give jay back the show that made him a household name. this was one of the plans being tossed around before jay was offered his primetime showcase, but was tossed to the curb because it would be a major million dollar payout. looks like the audience and ad sale lost is more costly for the net than conan's severance. hopefully the network will release some sort of statement in the next couple of days once they've figured out what exactly will happen, but either way leno will get back his after hours comedy slot. looks like the peacock may finally be getting its mojo back. my question is, what the hell are they going to be putting in those 5 hours a week at 10/9c??

ka ka ka ke$ha

here's a mini-music review for you. the other night i decided to grab ke$ha's debut, animal, on itunes while it was still specially priced for under $7. i've been listening to the she-rap/singer since september - long before "tik tok" fell on anyone else's radar. animal lives up to the build up of "tok" and then some. my one critique is that the way the tracks play, the disc progressively goes from high energy pop to slower songs. but, with the help of itunes shuffle, that little complaint is nbd. there are plenty of radio-friendly songs, including my favorite from the cd, "dinosaur." check it out above and consider downloading the disc while it's still cheap.

day 99

jobros jet from coast to coast

with their 3d concert experience movie opening in theaters this friday, it's no surprise that the brothers jonas would be doing some crazy publicity stunt.  in a press conference held today, the boys revealed that they'll be attending screenings of their film at a variety of theaters in a variety of u.s. cities all weekend.  but, of course, they want to keep the surprise alive and will not be revealing exactly where they'll be staying.  ergo, if you hear a sonic boom of tween screams in your town, you'll know they're there.  my guesses is they'll be stopping in new jersey (their home state), dallas (where they have a home), orlando (home to disney world), and california (mecca of entertainment) at the least.  and it can't be argued that the jonai's publicity team is genius.  now that they've announced this, you know thousands (maybe even millions) of girls begged their parents to pre order tics for a showing this weekend in hopes that they'll get a chance to see kevin, joe, and nick.  chances are they won't, but why crush dreams, right?

andy richter's back at home

andy richter, conan o'brien's former cohort on late night, is returning to help the floppy haired tv host in his new venture as host of the tonight show (a decision i still think was a major mistake on the part of nbc - they'll probably lose more money keeping conan around than it would have cost them to buy him out of his contract).  richter will take on the role of announcer when conan moves up to the 11:30/10:30c time slot. andy left conan's show in 2000 in order to pursue his own career aspirations, which amounted to a multitude of failed sitcoms and sporadic guest star gigs after taking on the role of sidekick in 1993.  but, will richter's reappearance help out ratings for conan? probably not.  i predict katie couric-esque ratings, meaning a bump in the beginning and a rapid decline to third place after a week.  and as for the man o'brien is replacing? leno will be debuting a new 10/9c show (similar to his current one) on the peacock net and i'm skeptical of how he'll do.  people commit to 10 o'clock dramas and don't necessarily want to see a talk show.  plus, leno will have to conform to stricter fcc rules in the pre-news slot.  we'll see how this all plays out in august when everyone is up and running.  

a fox is on the prowl

megan fox is a single woman.  but, that doesn't mean all you teen fanboys are her dating pool.  the angelina jolie-alike and rising star has ended her 5 year relationship (3 year engagement) to actor brian austin green because the twosome is "focusing on their careers" and had let the relationship run its course. meaning, megan is a hot commodity in the entertainment industry and brian, well, isn't. his only career highlight since 90210 is being a recurring star on fox's sinking terminator drama - there's a reason they put it in the tv graveyard, a friday night time slot.  fox's career, on the other hand, is booming with the transformers sequel and the diablo cody dramedy jennifer's body scheduled to be released later this year.  plus there was the whole age difference (13 years) and the fact that green had a kid from a previous relationship didn't help.  i wouldn't be surprised if megan had a new man on her arm by her next movie premiere.  and, as for brian? hopefully he'll be able to get over losing hollywood's it girl.