Glenn Close: Buried Alive!

'Time' Mag Names 100 Most Influential, Awards High Honors To Lorne Michaels And...Peter Gabriel?

Ben Silverman Ushers In Golden Age Of TV That Makes You Use A Computer To Find Out What The Fuck Happens

Game-changing perfect executive storm Ben Silverman gave the keynote address at the TelevisionWeek Upfront Summit in New York recently (a sorry substitution for a line of high-kicking dogs and ponies on the stage of Radio City, we realize, but what can you do). In it, the programming maverick laid out his bold vision for TV's cross-platform, "log on to NBC.com now to find out if Hiro ever gets off Samurai Island!"-future. From TVWeek.com:

"[Broadcast] will also be where we launch our episodic storytelling vehicles, but they will be living and breathing everywhere," he said. [...]

"Around our new offerings there will literally be shows that end on air and the last scene will continue online," he said.

Brad Pitt Getting Blown

Marketing 'Baby Mama': Universal Tries The Kitchen Sink Approach

'30 Rock' To Anchor NBC's New Erection-Friendly 'MILF Hour'

Just weeks after NBC unveiled its much-touted, Ben Silverman-approved "family hour"—only to reveal their loose definition of "family" to include the holy hot mamas of 30 Rock's fictional (for now, at least) Mothers I'd Like to Fuck Island, and its inlet of pubescent discovery, Erection Cove—comes news that the network would be repositioning the sitcom in the more engorgement-friendly 9:30 slot, effective immediately:

"Rock," which has been airing at 8:30 p.m., will now benefit from having the Peacock's red-hot laffer "The Office" as its lead-in. "Scrubs" will inherit "Rock's" earlier timeslot.

Tina Fey Blames Crafty Editing For Anti-Jon Stewart Comments

We're thrilled to report the extending of an olive branch in the East Coast-East Coast comedy wars that have devastated the industry since a Tina Fey quote in Reader's Digest appeared to openly question Jon Stewart's ability to earn sincere laughs, vs. politically aligned "clapter." Fey told cinemablend.com that the quote was taken out of context:

Fey: That thing was edited kind of weird.

Tina Fey Shoots Higher Than Choir-Preacher Jon Stewart

Tina Fey, arguably the most powerful vagina-having joke force in the universe, has rarely minced words in the past when it comes to some of her lesser-abled collaborators, whether describing Paula Abdul as a "disaster" or Paris Hilton as "a disease-ridden fucktard" [Ed.note: Could we have an intern verify that?] But we never expected the 30 Rock star and showrunner to run off so freely at the mouth about her comedy giant equals, such as in the case of her surprisingly harsh assessment of Jon Stewart's more politically solicitous material:

COMEDY queen Tina Fey says that while she makes people laugh, political pundit Jon Stewart only makes them uncomfortable.

Possible '30 Rock' Role For Humorless Josh Hartnett Forces Us To Get Inside Tina Fey's Brain

We've never found much of what Josh Hartnett does particularly funny, with the possible exception of the scraggly 'stache that he's been sporting unironically for years. So how will the stiff-as-a-board actor fare when cast opposite the likes of Tina Fey and the rest of her comedically blessed cohorts on 30 Rock? OK! is reporting that Hartnett recently read for a part on the Emmy-winning laughfest as Fey's next love interest, a role that may last four to six episodes. And while this latest bit of stunt casting would be a major boost to Josh's embarrassing-of-late resume, the Emmy-winning show hardly needs a swarthy guest star to save it from sinking. So what does the much cleverer than us Tina Fey have up her sleeve?

Lorne Michaels Ready To Bring 'SNL' Back After Lengthy Writer's Strike

Lorne Michaels is going to do something he hasn't done since 1976. No, not snort coke off of Chevy Chase's shiner. Starting with SNL's triumphant post-strike return to the air this Saturday, he's going to put on four new episodes back-to-back. But if everyone is "so happy to be back at work" according to the NY Times, why is Lorne so blue about the prospect? Being the perfectionist producer that he is, he's rife with regret about the pop culture events they didn't get a chance to cover. "We missed Mike Huckabee. We never got to do our Mitt Romney." As if that weren't bad enough, the show "still needs to find it's Obama." So what can devotees expect when the season returns? Well, after Tina Fey slam dunks her performance this week, Ellen Page will be hosting the next week. After that, the picture is a bit murkier.

Tina Fey Recalls Paula Abdul's Trainwreck 'SNL' Appearance

It was on Howard Stern's show that Tina Fey described SNL guest host Paris Hilton as "a piece of shit" who was universally hated by the cast, and now in Playboy (sorry Feynatics—just an interview, not a Naughty Showrunner spread in which she delivers script notes wearing only glasses and an unbuttoned men's dress shirt with the collar up), she recalls the experience of working with Paula Abdul:

"I was pregnant [with daughter Alice] at the time and probably a little moody, but I remember thinking, 'She's a disaster! I gotta prop this lady up and get her on TV,'" Fey dished.

The Ridiculous Awesomeness That Was '30 Rock' Live: A Round-Up

Just as some optimistic and industrious Shark assistants turned the strike to their advantage, rolling up their shirtsleeves to whip up a refreshing batch of Nick Counter-Eats-Farts-erade, there are the rare silver linings to the ongoing work-stoppage, not the least of which was a benefit live performance of an all-new episode of 30 Rock, performed last night by the show's cast for a lucky audience at New York's Upright Citizen's Brigade theater. (The evening before, SNL players performed two-hours' worth of too-hot-for-TV sketches in the same space.) The Rock blog reports have already begun to roll in, breathlessly describing the electrifying atmosphere around the once-in-a-lifetime sitcom-happening, while dutifully adhering to Tina Fey's requests not to divulge any plot points of the already-taped show. ("'Cause, you know, the show's kind of like Heroes.") A round-up from around the web:
· The show was "ridiculously awesome," as much for the actual episode as for the luxury of being able to be catch a rare glimpse at the cast's table-read-only displays of mutual appreciation, including Alec Baldwin cracking up "at the word 'tampon' and Tracy Morgan shaking his head laughing at a Jane Krakowski deaf joke." [BWE]

Season Of The Witch

Emmys Telecast Flirts With Low-Rated Awards Show History

· Last night's Emmys drew the second-smallest TV audience in the awards show's history with an anemic average of 13.1 million viewers. No one, it seems, was tantalized by the sketchy possibility of Britney Spears showing up to apologize for destroying her career, or by the prospect of emergency host Ryan Seacrest breaking into song. Congratulations, America: you saved yourself over three hours of torture. (We were not so lucky.) [Variety]
· Tina Fey hopes 30 Rock's big win for Best Comedy Series will bring viewers to her show—obviously, she wasn't privy to the preliminary Emmy Nielsens when she made that crazy wish. [THR]
· AMC has an Emmy coming-out party, capturing four awards for Broken Trail. [Variety]
· Remember Pop-Up Video, the show that provided you with amusing, if useless, factoids about the "music videos" one used to be able to watch on VH1? It's coming back in a mobile format, allowing you to learn everything you ever wanted to know about "Hollaback Girl" by staring at your cellphone's tiny screen while stopped at a red light. [THR]
· Internet-creating former VP Al Gore doesn't even know the URL of his interactive TV network's website. [Update: Whoops, yes he does!] [variety]

Emmy Nominees As Excited As Nominees Of Bigger, More Prestigious Awards