Conan O'Brien: marry me.

Another man I'm in love with, even more than I was before. Move over Stewart and Colbert. Out of the way, Joss Whedon and Aaron Sorkin. Conan O'Brien is my man.

NBC was going to lay off Conan's production staff of 80 today because of the writers' strike, so instead Conan's going to pay all of their salaries.

Read the article here: "Conan O'Brien grows a strike beard"

Also, check this site out: Late Night Underground

New hits?

Article from Media Post's TV blog: "In This Strike-Minded Season, Hope For A Hit"

I'm excited to hear that "Quarterlife" got picked up for TV, mostly because "thirtysomething" creators Zwick and Herskovitz are amazing. Plus, I thought it was pretty cool that they were creating an online series in the first place. (Read about "Quarterlife" here.) And now it's picked up for TV. You've gotta give it to these guys for always tapping into the zeitgeist.

So after reading the Media Post blog, what do you think, readers? What else besides "Celebrity Apprentice" (yikes) should the execs start thinking about? They already did Lord of the Flies this season (thanks, Kid Nation). What's next? Any good ideas?

Nielsen THIS

So here are the top 10 viewed shows last week according to the Nielsen ratings:

1) Without a Trace
2) CSI
3) Dancing with the Stars
4) Grey's Anatomy
5) Dancing with the Stars (results show)
6) Desperate Housewives
7) NCIS
8) NFL: Colts v Chargers
9) House
10) CMA Awards

Seriously?!

When I saw this list this morning, I asked my friend Katie, "WHO are the Nielsen viewers?! People 55 and over? What the hell?!"

Katie's response: "Actually... my 80-year-old grandparents are Nielsen viewers." No joke.

When I heard that, I a) convinced Katie to hijack her grandparents' television and start watching my shows on it, and b) started complaining to Katie about why I hate Nielsen ratings. I learned in doing this that Katie, like a lot of people, had no idea that Nielsen ratings are how advertising prices get set and therefore determine which shows get the boot.

(Read my previous beefs with Nielsen ratings here and here. Or just have a conversation with me at all, and it will probably come up at some point. I have very strong feelings about Nielsen ratings.)

So basically, in case you're not grasping this, Katie's grandparents are deciding which shows stay on the air. Great. Programming schedules full of CSI, Without a Trace, and Diagnosis Murder.

In case you don't know anything about Nielsen ratings, here's a place to start: "How do television ratings work?"

C is for...

Sara from my office made chocolate chip cookies today! Then Jay sent around this video. Thought you might appreciate the flashback:

Kring's my hero

Tim Kring (creator of Heroes) released an apology to the fans recently. Read about it here: "Heroes Creator Apologizes to Fans." You'll note that what he says was wrong with the show are the exact things I've been pointing out since the season started. OBViously he read my blog.

In all seriousness though, you've got to give the guy credit for recognizing that something needed to be fixed. My main man Aaron Sorkin's pride never would have let him do that. (see: Studio 60)

The last two episodes of Heroes have been much improved -- finally some excitement. (And a little lightning never hurt anyone. Yeah, Kristen Bell!) Kring never should have waited until this far into the season to get things moving. No reason this stuff couldn't have happened weeks ago.

Regardless, Heroes is back in the game, and by ending the season in a couple weeks and starting over again, Kring's giving himself an almost-clean slate to redeem himself. Thanks, Tim Kring, for being so super. ;)

Zero episodes of The Office left...

"When is your favorite TV show gone?" -- Entertainment Weekly tallies how many episodes your fave shows have left.

Please, Hollywood. Just man up and give the writers a cut of the online ad revenue already. I can't take this much longer.

One more reason I want to marry Jon Stewart...

As a follow up to my previous post...

There are rumors going around that Jon Stewart is planning to cover the salaries of his writers (and the rest of his employees) for the next two weeks during the writers' strike. This includes the staffs of both The Daily Show and The Colbert Report.

Jon Stewart, I love you. (I've told you this before.)

It's not confirmed by the Stewart camp, but I have reason to believe it's true, especially based on Thursday's episode of The Daily Show.

(Thanks to Dave Press for the info.)

Strike out

It was only a matter of time, thanks to technology...
"TV, movie writers go on strike"
Stewart, Colbert and Conan... I'll miss you! (Please end strike soon.)

Who killed Laura Palmer?

If you've never experienced Twin Peaks, now is the time.

David Lynch's masterpiece was a cult favorite back in the '90s. Watch it today, and it doesn't lose any of its luster. It's completely bizarre, but it's artful and unique. (If you know anything about David Lynch, I'm sure you're not surprised.) "Who killed Laura Palmer" was the pop culture mantra of the day - not unlike last season's "Save the Cheerleader, Save the World" catchphrase fave.

Twin Peaks was some quality TV. It's finally out on DVD, so give it a shot... If only so you can be in on the phenomenon of days of yore.

If you already love Twin Peaks, visit this site to get cool wallpaper, downloads, widgets, and other Twin Peaks stuff. Agent Cooper is now on my desktop. I couldn't be happier.

No "Origins"

Well, it was a cool idea. But this is for the best. Maybe Tim Kring can fix Heroes now that he's not distracted by a spinoff. Here's hoping.

"'Heroes' spin-off not happening."

Phenomenon indeed

Well, I thought the new show Phenomenon was useless... until I saw this.

These tapings are live, and apparently Criss Angel exposed psychic Jim Callahan as a fraud. ("A fraud?!" I know, you're shocked.) You can read (and watch) for yourself, but basically Angel told Callahan he'd give him a million dollars of his own money if Callahan could tell him what was in an envelope.

Good stuff. All of those people are a mess. Who knew such a crappy show would end up being so entertaining?