"Game of Thrones" fans will be in for a treat this spring as HBO launches an immersive, traveling exhibit that transports visitors to the "GoT" world of Westeros.

Exhibit, built by New Project LLC, will be free to the public and center on the key characters from five of the noble houses -- Stark, Lannister, Targaryen, Baratheon and Greyjoy. Visitors will get to explore over 70 original artifacts from the first and second seasons of "GoT" along with select pieces from season three, including costumes, props, armor and weapons. Photo opps and an interactive experience featuring the Blackwater Bay from season two of "GoT" will also be available for fans.

Exhibition tour dates and venues are as follows:

Toronto (in partnership with HBO Canada)

March 9 – 16

Design Exchange

234 Bay Street

Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5K 1B2

For ticket information and more, log on tothemovienetwork.ca/exhibition

New York City (in partnership with Time Warner Cable)

March 28 – April 3

Additional details to be announced

Sao Paulo (in partnership with HBO Latin America)

April 25 – 30*

Additional details to be announced

Amsterdam (in partnership with HBO Netherlands)

May 19 – 27

Additional details to be announced

Belfast (in partnership with Northern Ireland Screen, Northern Ireland Tourist Board and Titanic Belfast)

June 8 – 17

Titanic Belfast

1 Olympic Way,
Queen’s Road,
Titanic Quarter,
Belfast, N. Ireland, BT3 9EP

For ticket information and more, log on to www.discovernorthernireland.com/GoTExhibition

Season three of "Game of Thrones" premieres on March 31 on HBO.

As the person in the Variety office who watches unscripted for both work and pleasure, I am often approached by colleagues and asked: "So, are you watching 'The Bachelor' this season?"

Is the sky blue?

Of course I watch "The Bachelor." The dating competition series has, for several seasons, fed the TV viewer in me that loves catty drama paired with champagne and a touch of romance. (I am a Pisces, after all.) I've always enjoyed the franchise, but when I'm asked this season -- the program's seventeenth iteration -- if I am tuning, I've found myself responding with: "Yes, and it's complete farce."

God bless Sean Lowe, this season's bachelor, and all of his well-intentioned smiles. He has been dubbed on Twitter one of the most genuine men to be on the show, and looks like he was birthed from a Bow Flex machine. But, unfortunately for Sean and his yet-to-be-named fiance, ABC has spun this installment of the skein into something that resembles "Survivor," "Fear Factor" and "Big Brother," all rolled up into one show with dating and a few long-stem roses as the anchor point.

The success of last season's "Bachelor" was, arguably, the success of painting season winner, Courtney, as a villain. Viewers loved to hate-watch the femme as she progressed in the competition, and editors did her no favors when cutting the show together. While ratings slipped for the skein compared to past seasons, Courtney and Ben's faces littered the covers of rag mags and gossip sites, bringing the show -- and its characters -- deeper into the American vernacular.

ABC must have taken note, because this season's villain, Tierra, has been editorialized beyond belief. On-air ads for "The Bachelor" no longer focus on burgeoning relationships on the show, but the program's villain and her catchphrase name, "Tierrable." When she exited the skein this week, I couldn't help but wonder: what now, ABC?

Dates have gone off the deep end -- literally -- as well. Each one of Sean's group or one-on-one expeditions seems to involve some sort of repelling, diving, gripping of safety bars and overall wearing of helmets. What ever happened to just dinner and a movie? Why are the girls being asked to drink warm goat's milk in some sort of weird dare? Why are we sending the woman with one arm on a date that she can only complete if she repels down a 30 story building, and then on a group date that is nothing but roller derby? Why are we doing this?

To make matters worse, ABC has introduced on its website the Kiss Leaderboard, a scoreboard that shows how each woman has fared in "pecks," "make outs," and "hot tub kisses" and does everything short of saying it's sponsored by Cosmo.

More importantly, how is the ABC Digital employee faring who has to update this ridiculous thing?

"Bachelor" creator Mike Fleiss made a bit of noise in the reality space last year when he claimed about 70-80% of unscripted programs are fake -- just not his beloved dating show. But Fleiss's skein is finding itself lost in the villains, the smooch graphics and the gags. While he may claim his show is of the truthier variety, "The Bachelor" is still sinking into intolerable quick sand and may be heading towards its final rose.

--

Follow me on Twitter: @Variety_AJM

Just two months after the death of Jenni Rivera, Spanish cabler mun2 has announced the return of docuseries "I Love Jenni" for its third season.

Program will rejoin to the net's lineup on Sunday, April 14 at 9 p.m. and, according to mun2, feature footage shot in the month prior to Rivera's untimely death. The chantoosie was killed in a plane crash along with six others on December 9 in Mexico.

Additionally, season three of "I Love Jenni" will feature Rivera's family as they preserve the legacy of the late singer. Rivera's children and sister will be included in the reality show.

Separately, Rivera's family has set a world exclusive interview with Univision's Don Francisco to air on February 17. Univision and Telemundo are competing Spanish-language nets, with "I Love Jenni's" mun2 a sibling cabler to Telemundo.

Rabbit: The Video Chat Revolution Begins from Rabbit on Vimeo

Back in the old days of social TV, one didn't have to worry about looking presentable to interact online with friends about shows. But if the new video-chat software Rabbit takes off, the pressure may be on to look as good as the actors you're watching on screen.

Rabbit merges multi-person video chat with the ability to share the programming for watching in real-time together with friends from the comfort of their own webcam-equipped homes. So instead of, say, tweeting along to "South Park" with fellow fans with your hair dangerously uncombed, you and said fans can actually be looking at each other while watching. Music and other kinds of content can also be shared, and there's a nifty integration with Facebook to connect with friends.

One caveat: The content that can be integrated into Rabbit can only be from free ad-supported video sources like YouTube or Hulu. Video from transactional platforms, be it subscription VOD like Netflix or a la carte platforms like iTunes, don't grant rights that allow for public viewing.

Rabbit launched Thursday in a closed beta (visit www.rabb.it to request an invite) for Macs only so far. But join up if you want to get an early sense of how social TV is likely to evolve.

So: you finished Netflix's "House of Cards" in a single weekend. (No? You didn't? Just me? Alright...) This type of feat unleashes a wave of emotions that can overpower even the most elite TV viewer, so I thought I'd capture it here.

THE SIX STAGES OF "HOUSE OF CARDS" GRIEF:

1. ACCOMPLISHMENT: Congrats! You managed to consume over 12 hours of programming in a handful of days, proving that you are willing to forgo any social obligations in the name of a self-imposed dare. High fives all around to your other hand, soldier. You tweet out your victory proudly to the public, and pity those barely through episode 4 of "Cards."

2. REMORSE: Wait. You just finished a compelling drama in a handful of days. This is akin to eating your favorite dessert too quickly, and you find yourself regretting your decision to hole up in your bedroom with your laptop for hours on end. What could you have accomplished this weekend that you neglected because of Kevin Spacey? And did you really have to blow through those episodes so quickly? Is tantric TV viewing a thing? If it's not, should it be?

3. FRUSTRATION: What the hell, Netflix. You didn't even give us a premiere date for season 2 and we're just supposed to sit around and wait until that announcement comes out, and then, you guessed it, wait some more. You, the viewer, find yourself angrily Googling "House of Cards season 2 premiere" only to come up empty-handed with a meaningless article from EW.com. "Screw this," you think. (In therapy down the line, you'll eventually realize you were never mad at Netflix, but rather yourself for lacking the self control to parse out your viewing experience. You were childish, eating all of your Halloween candy in one sitting and now stuck with a stomach ache and an empty Pumpkin-shaped basket. "Radical Self-Forgiveness" is available for purchase from Amazon's Kindle store, when you're ready.)

4. DEPRESSION: You return home from work or other responsibilities and find no TV show or movie is replacing Kevin Spacey's direct-to-camera smugness. Depression, peppered with regret, begins to set in. You watch your Twitter feed as others discover episodes you hastily consumed last week, and are jealous of them reveling in the poignant moments of "House of Cards." You eat a pint of Ben & Jerry's, but it only does so much.

5. URGE TO FIND A REBOUND: Time to get back in the game. After all, you've seen all of those articles about Netflix licensing programs from a trillion networks, so there are for sure plenty of streaming shows in the sea. What's next? This, you think to yourself, is a perfectly good time to watch "Psych," which you'd been meaning to tune into anyways. And "Bones." It's fine, it's fine that these aren't cinematic like "Cards," it's fine that they don't have Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright in the cast, it's totally, totally fine that David Fincher wouldn't direct these with a ten foot pole, really. Really it's fine. You tell yourself this as you weep over your keyboard, before realizing you could short circuit your laptop with tears and retire your face to your pillow instead. Rebounds aren't often a good idea.

6. ACCEPTANCE: After some introspection and the realization that "Walking Dead" returns Sunday, you come to understand that everything will be just fine, even though you binge-viewed "House of Cards" in an ungodly amount of time. There is a life outside of Underwood World, you discover. You have hobbies, and a sink full of dishes that need to be tended to, and your cat may warm up to you again if you feed it a few times, which you forgot to do while staring at Netflix.com all weekend. You have a family that loves you, even though you have twenty five missed calls and texts that read, "Really? You can tweet about Zoe Barnes not being a realistic character, but you can't call me back?" It's time to apologize to those you neglected, sift through your DVR and do some yoga.

After all, you'll need to regain your strength before you surrender yourself to this self-hatred yet again when "Arrested Development" comes out in May.

--

Follow me on Twitter: @Variety_AJM

Last fall, Science Channel and BBC announced a factual telepic about the investigation surrounding the Challenger space shuttle disaster, with William Hurt set to topline as scientist Richard Feynman.

Now, Variety has your first look at the Oscar-winning thesp in character.

This week marks the 27th anniversary of the Challenger disaster, which occurred on January 28, 1986 and claimed the lives of all seven space shuttle crew members. Feynman, a physicist, gained notoriety for his role on the Presidential Rogers Commission, which investigated the disaster. Feynman was battling cancer during the investigation, and passed away in 1988.

The telepic, titled "73 Seconds: The Challenger Investigation," will bow in the fourth quarter of this year. Hurt is part of a cast that includes:

•         Bruce Greenwood ("Thirteen Days", "Star Trek", "Super 8", "I, Robot") as fellow Commissioner U.S. Air Force General Donald Kutyna in the second lead role

•         Brian Dennehy ("First Blood", "The Belly of an Architect", "Bunker Hill", "Twelfth Night") as William Rogers, Chairman of the Presidential Commission

•         Joanne Whalley ("The Singing Detective", "Edge of Darkness", "The Virgin Queen", "The Borgias") as Feynman's wife Gweneth

•         Kevin McNally ("Pirates of the Caribbean", "Margaret", "Wuthering Heights") as Larry Mulloy, head of the Solid Rocket Booster program at NASA's Marshall Space Centre

•         Henry Goodman ("The Merchant of Venice", "The Damned United", "Notting Hill") as Doctor Weiss

•         Eve Best ("The King's Speech", "Nurse Jackie", "The Shadow Line", "Shackleton") as astronaut Sally Ride

The Jeff Zucker era has begun in earnest at CNN given the hiring/firing binge he's been on as of late.

In: Chris Cuomo, Jake Tapper, Rachel Nichols

Out: James Carville, Mary Matalin, Erick Erickson

He's just getting started, no doubt, but where is the kind of out-of-the-box thinking Zucker hinted in his own pre-hire press conference would be necessary to reinvent the struggling news network? Yes, Tapper is solid but no maverick, Nichols is a standard-issue ESPNbot, and Cuomo...really? As generic a blowdried blowhard as anchors come.

So as Zucker plots his next moves, maybe it's time he dust off his Rolodex from the NBCUniversal days and make some calls that would really deliver on the notion that he's shaking up CNN. Start with these five guys:

Keith Olbermann. If CNN's most pressing concern is bringing in on-air talent capable of sustaining a competitive rating in primetime, it only makes sense to call one of the few who has that on his resume.  He's available now that he is out at Current, the former employer with whom he's embroiled in lawsuits over the demise of their relationship (though it's possible he is on the sidelines now due to non-compete clause in his contract).

But even once he's free and clear to return to the air, there is the matter of his infamous intractability. Plus he's reportedly clashed with Zucker in the past when he was at MSNBC whilst Zucker was leading NBCUniversal. But Zucker is not the kind of guy who is going to hold a grudge when he could be holding onto a 2 rating.

And then there is the fact that Olbermann is avowedly left wing, which may not be a good match if CNN wants to maintain a middle ground. Olbermann is not the kind of guy who can tone down anything, from a political or psychological perspective.

But after a few more months of doing monologues to the audience in his bathroom mirror, maybe Olbermann will be up--and his asking price down--for the kind of adjustments (meditation, medication, etc.) that will get him back in the game.

Conan O'Brien. Oh, come now. A comedian on a news network? Arch enemies from the debacle at NBC that sent the late-night host packing, his walking papers signed by Zucker...together again?

Well, why not?

First, note that O'Brien and Zucker are now both in Time Warner's Turner Broadcasting division. And though there's probably a restraining order in place separating them, perhaps that bridge could be divided by the opportunity Zucker can extend O'Brien to diversify his persona and perhaps have a weekly CNN perch where he can show off his more serious side in addition to his TBS gig.

If that sounds unrealistic, consider that it's already kinda happening. Last September, O'Brien launched "Serious Jibber-Jabber with Conan O'Brien," a Web-only showcase for him to conduct long-form interviews in the Charlie Rose mold (guests have included Jack White, Nate Silver, Judd Apatow). Sounds like perfect training ground for O'Brien to take a similar vehicle to a sister network.

As for the Hatfield/McCoy dynamic between he and Zucker, it would only draw more publicity to O'Brien moonlighting at CNN. Would an on-air hug be out of the question?

Andy Cohen. The notion that Bravo's cheeky late-night host has any place on a news network might seem even more appalling than a comedian like O'Brien. But there's a lot more to Cohen than meets the eyeful he provides nightly talking to unreal "Housewives"; he's a former news producer and still-very-current TV programming executive who has the savvy to step outside his garishly decorated wheelhouse if need be.

As Zucker knows from having Bravo in his NBCU portfolio back in the day, Cohen appeals to an upscale, female-skewing demographic that is probably allergic to news networks. Who better to bring over in an attempt to attract a whole new audience segment?

Not saying Cohen should parachute into Benghazi. But there's plenty of other lighter news territory where he could make his mark and broaden the CNN audience, in a fashion similar to what NBC is trying by giving Ryan Seacrest time on "Today."

Lorne Michaels. No, the "Saturday Night Live" impresario has no business being on CNN in an on-air capacity. But where he could help Zucker immensely is finding talent that could straddle the news and comedy worlds as he's done on "Weekend Update" all the way fom Seth Meyers back to Chevy Chase.

As Zucker surely realizes, CNN couldn't have its own version of "The Daily Show" on its air each night. But there's no way he'll get his hands on Jon Stewart, who re-signed with Comedy Central over the summer through mid-2015, or Stephen Colbert, who is locked down almost as long. That leaves finding the next smart, newsy comedian, and that takes an experienced talent magnet like Michaels to find, groom and executive produce.

Aaron Sorkin. As Zucker can recall from the days when Sorkin delivered him NBC's brilliant "The West Wing," this guy is as intelligent and mesmerizing in person as he is on the scripted page. MSNBC's Laurence O'Donnell has proven the move from the "Wing" writers' room to the anchor chair is doable, so why not look to Sorkin to make a similar shift?

What's odd about Sorkin's latest creation, HBO's "Newsroom," is how it provides a filter through which Sorkin can voice his thoughts on what's in the news when it has already been out of the news for years.  Maybe Time Warner siblings HBO and CNN can even figure out a way to do something that is "Newsroom"-branded on both nets, enabling a little cross-promotion.

Surely there's some part of Sorkin that wants a soapbox to address issues while they're still fresh rather than channel them on delay through the fictional alter ego of Will McAvoy.

Last week, CW's "The Vampire Diaries" for the first time landed the top spot when it came to social media, according to Trendrr.

The serialized drama ranked as TV's #1 social program during the week of January 21-27, accruing over 850,000 social interactions across Twitter, Facebook, GetGlue and Viggle. ("Vampire Diaries" even topped broadcast heavyweight "American Idol" for the week.) Cast members including Nina Dobrev, Ian Somerhalder and exec producer Julie Plec live-tweeted during the Thursday, January 24 episode, encouraging the online engagement.

Social media, at this point in the TV game, still exists as the Wild Wild West, with nets constantly experimenting with online initiatives to capture aud engagement -- some work, some don't. CBS recently let viewers vote for the ending of an episode of "Hawaii Five-0" via Twitter and CBS.com to encourage live-viewing. Programs like "The Voice" and news nets' live election coverage include social media and Twitter correspondents who handle analyzing trending topics and tweets from viewers. And now, with data from companies like Trendrr, nets are being handed a fresh way to analyze the popularity of a program -- though nothing can really beat Nielsen ratings (yet).

What social media brings to the table is depth to Nielsen ratings. Niche programming is often touted with words like "audience engagement" and "passion," which can be, in a way, the TV world's version of real estate's use of "charming" -- sure, a show may not draw viewers the way that CBS's juggernaut "NCIS" does, but thanks to granular data provided by Trendrr, we can now look at depth and "passion" in a more meaningful way, instead of looking at merely the spread of viewers. Perhaps a program does not draw tens of millions of viewers, but its online engagement births a host of opportunities for branding and advertisers.

Use of Trendrr data, of course, is powerful for younger-skewing nets like the CW where auds relate to social media like a compulsion, and teens and young adults follow their fave stars on Twitter, devouring their tweets. To expect a show like "Scandal" to engage its viewership the way "Vampire Diaries" or "Pretty Little Liars" do is to forget how its demos engage with tech devices and social media.

So, while social media does offer another way to analyze a show's popularity, it is far from being an across-the-board method simply because, well, teens and young adults flock to Twitter in a way that older demos do not. (Case in point: how often do you see a Bieber-themed hashtag trending on Twitter and have no idea what the hell it's about?)

Nevertheless, the gathering -- and subsequent publication -- of social media data for TV shows is very relevant, as analyzing the popularity of a show calls for an increasingly multi-dimensional approach that goes beyond live-viewing, C3, C7 and the like.

For advertisers targetting young, cutting-edge consumers, social media data provides the gateway to skeins those viewers flock to, and offers an advertising angle that goes beyond typical, passive ad viewing during a program. For nets, social media data allows them to pinpoint the shows with the most passionate viewer base and frame marketing and branding campaigns around social media. For tech companies, it's a reminder of how second-screening is rapidly growing in the nation, so apps and devices should keep up.

The question is: will we one day see a ratings system that, by the end of a season run, can crunch numbers from live-viewing, C3, C7, beyond C7, digital viewing and social media?

It's seems like a delirium-inducing challenge, but I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Netflix being Netflix, you might assume that its first original series, "House of Cards," would launch Feb. 1 without any offline marketing. The streaming service is so intent on rewriting the syllabus for TV Programming 101, it wouldn't have been out of character for CEO Reed Hastings to praise the power of the almighty algorithms Netflix uses for targeted advertising on its own platform and dismiss all other promotion as folly.

But the fourth-quarter earnings call Wednesday provided a reminder that Hastings hasn't thrown out the entire TV 101 textbook. As this billboard that popped up this week in Los Angeles in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood can attest, Netflix will be doing some conventional marketing for "Cards," albeit in pretty targeted fashion.

"We’re also generating a lot of attention in certain cities doing a highly concentrated, large scale promotion to be able to see what the effects of ours to stimulate the creative community awareness and generally build a lot of buzz around those shows," said Hastings.

Translation: Netflix's push into original programming has to be on Hollywood's radar in order to spur more interest from producers and talent that it is a new home for their wares. No doubt big cities where Netflix usage over-indexes will get their share of promotion as well, targeting the "influencer" crowd.

That said, the billboard is a pitch-perfect marketing execution. There's that bold image of "Cards" star Kevin Spacey that grabs your attention, but the accompanying copy distills all the right messaging that needs to get across to consumers who aren't accustomed to seeing Netflix as more than a home for library programming. And there's that "All Episodes" reference to the service's binge-viewing style.

Netflix CFO David Wells also indicated on the call there will be some TV promo spend, so keep an eye out for "Cards" commercials on those old-fashioned TVs.

No, Steve Carell isn't coming back for the final season of "The Office," but that doesn't mean the show hasn't had key players from its creation in America making appearances. Ben Silverman, the exec producer who, as Reveille topper (not to mention future NBC Entertainment head) was instrumental in bringing the format Stateside, has been recurring on the show in recent weeks as one of the guys Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) has been working with on a start-up business.

By the way, I'm still not clear on what exactly Jim's start-up is designed to do.

Thursday's "Office" was momentous because for the first time (quit reading here if you haven't seen the episode but intend to) ...

This week, HBO's "Girls" was renewed for a third season, on the heels of Lena Dunham's Golden Globes win. Also this week, internet sleuths discovered a casting call on Craigslist for a reality show version of "Girls."

When it comes to the latter, I am left asking: why why why why why why why.

Craigslist evidence reads as follows:

Ever feel like life in the big frantic city is just too much? Are you a twenty-something young woman seeking fame, fortune, love or even a hookup with potential? How do you get from here to there when you can't even get a seat on the L train! Come to a casting call with our Emmy-winning production company and tell us your dreams and woes, your highs and lows, your tales of *** in the city and the outrageous opportunities that have come your way. Is your circle of friends bound together by not just the parties, fights, and brunches but frequent bouts of commiserating over your struggles? It isn't easy taking the road less travelled, but making it as a writer, designer, entrepreneur, actress/model or glorified dog walker never is!

The real life television show we are making follows the trials and tribulations of an ensemble of wise-beyond-their-years young ladies. We are with you living the dream in hipster Brooklyn and lower Manhattan. Only well educated and cultured extroverts need apply. Are you thinking about that show--"Girls?" Well we didn't say it but. . ..now that you mention it.

It should be noted that the production company reminds web surfers that it is "Emmy winning," but does not disclose its name.

Now, let's reflect for about fifteen seconds and consider the reality TV landscape that has emerged over the last several years. MTV's "Laguna Beach" capitalized on the success of Fox's "The OC." Bravo's "Real Housewives" franchise piggy-backed off the success of ABC's "Desperate Housewives." Spin-offs upon spin-offs emerged, and reality TV fans in search of sudsy docuseries have been greeted each year by casts of real-life characters that are even more outrageous than their scripted counterparts.

Given the success of this scripted-to-unscripted transition with past shows, a "Girls" reality show pitch seemed inevitable. But wait a tick -- didn't we have "Gallery Girls," "The City," "The Hills," and now, to a certain extent, "Washington Heights"?

Bravo's "Gallery Girls" is mostly hate-watched and follows a group of twenty-something gals working in the Gotham art scene. "The City" was a spin-off of a spin-off of a show based on a scripted show (phew!), and followed women living in New York City. Neither were that successful, and most of the cast was disliked by the viewing public. "Washington Heights" isn't a breakout hit either, and many on social media are bored by the featured players. Sure, folks tuned in to "The Hills," but not because they truly liked and related to the cast. Mostly, "The Hills" transformed its featured SoCal cast into people that the public loved to loathe. (Heidi and Spencer, anyone?)

"Girls" is different. The magic behind the HBO dramedy is its raw quality. To think that you can capture that quality in a glossy, editorialized docuseries is almost as naive as 98% of the things Hannah Horvath does. (Sex scenes on "Girls" would translate into softcore porn in reality TV, etc. etc. etc.) "Girls" goes where a reality show cannot, and that's what makes it so enticing -- it's there for awkward sexual encounters, it's there during nasty breakups and drug use and illegal parties and abortions and STDs and just about every questionable bit of behavior that can define being in your early twenties.

But, could you imagine if Hannah, Shoshanna or her friends were real people? They would be lambasted across social media every week. ("Hannah drew her eyebrows on like that?! Who DOES THAT?! She's an idiot" would read some tweets.) Yet, as fictional characters, young femme viewers relish in their relatable flaws and missteps. The fictional distance provides comfort and the ability to look past the scripted flaws and in towards the character cores that feel like a viewer's own. The main characters on "Girls" are funny and charming in their imperfections, instead of stuck up, naive and sheltered as real life folk. Often, it is only in the scripted realm that viewers can drop their walls and truly relate with someone on TV, instead of merely watching and judging as most do with reality programming.

(Similarly, if the women of "Sex and the City" were on a reality show, backlash would probably be remarkable re: Charlotte's prissiness, Carrie's inability to maintain a healthy relationship, and Samantha's...Samantha-ness.)

I'm sure the shingle is being bombarded with bios and photos of reality star hopefuls. But to try to mimic the essence of a generational HBO hit by simply casting extroverted girls in NYC misses what makes "Girls" so special in the first place.

Some things, as it turns out, may be better left scripted.

This year's South by Southwest will have a serious injection of television, as the fest will host a session between Chuck Lorre and author Neil Gaiman.

"Chuck Lorre: In Conversation with Neil Gaiman" will take place on Saturday, March 9 at 3:30pm and feature the two scribes discussing their creative process. Gaiman will also discuss with Lorre the TV vet's vanity card book "What Doesn't Kill Us Makes Us Bitter."

Gaimain is the bestselling author of novels including "Neverwhere," "Coraline" and comic book "Sandman."

South by Southwest takes place March 8-12 in Austin, Texas.

When the Manti Te'o hoax girlfriend broke in media last week, my immediate thought was: "The team working on MTV's 'Catfish' must be popping champagne."

Maybe that's a stretch, but the national interest in "catfishing" sparked by the Te'o internet girlfriend tale served as a prime marketing springboard for the late-night MTV reality show.("Catfishing," for those not familiar with the term, is forming an online relationship a person while deceiving them regarding your true identity.)

Nev Schulman, the face of "Catfish," and the exec producers from RelativityREAL were used as experts in the "catfishing" phenomenon on numerous national news outlets, both online and on-air, supplementing coverage of the Te'o debacle. MTV also offered articles regarding the hoax, citing its newbie reality show throughout. And, luckily for the production team, the Te'o scandal emerged while "Catfish's" season one run was still underway.

It was a promo opp made in internet heaven.

On Monday, Jan. 14, "Catfish" pulled 2.17 million total viewers. The Manti Te'o scandal surfaced on Wednesday, Jan. 16, thanks to an article on Deadspin. This week's "Catfish," which aired on the 21st, then landed over 2.75 million viewers, its highest ratings performance to date.

Hopefully the new viewers stick around and continue to tune into the show. "Catfish" was renewed last year for a second season, and still is, in my opinion, one of the greatest reality shows on TV today. A wise move on the part of MTV could be moving the program up to an earlier timeslot, since the 11pm timeslot discourages live-viewing in favor of DVR, VOD and streaming the following day. But, more than anything, the Manti Te'o hoax is proof that there is a national fascination with catfishing and internet relationships. People are hungry for more info.

And MTV and RelativityREAL are more than happy to give the people what they want.

January 22, 2013 marked a monumental day in TV journalism where reporters typed out news regarding pilot orders till their fingernails were wedged off. In under 3 hours, the Big 4 ordered almost two dozen pilots and email inboxes across Hollywood were flooded with frantic updates, and prayers were said for agency coordinators everywhere.

Now that I've slept (a little), it's time to make sense of the mess. With that, I give you: everything you need to know about yesterday's pilot orders, with bold font and a dash of sheer delirium:

(If you need to know more, you can always trek over to our real story here.)

Being 30-something is so in: 2012 was the year for HBO's "Girls" and all 20-somethings caught in romanticized, unemployed hell. But 2012 is so last year! 2013 pilots give nod to a decade that seems far more perilous according to loglines, with words like "dysfunctional" thrown into the mix. ABC's "Pulling" is exemplary here, as it follows a few 30-something women who, per the logline, are doing whatever the hell they want and society can just deal with it. But there's another layer...

"Friends," but on CBS, a little older, and doing enviable things: "Friends with Better Lives" at CBS centers on a group of 30-something friends. (Told you.) And just when you thought you had read the word "friends" enough in this paragraph, I blow your mind by telling you a vet of NBC's "Friends" wrote the CBS pilot. #brainexplodes

ABC renames network "Betrayal": Okay, not true, but the pilot for drama "Betrayal" fits the net's bill pretty perfectly. Needless to say, if you're having issues with trusting people and/or need encouragement regarding loyalty in your romantic relationships, ABC may not be the network to watch. (Reference: "Mistresses," "Revenge," now-defunct-but-still-relevant "Desperate Housewives.")

"Beverly Hills Cop" is back!: I repeat -- "Beverly Hills Cop" is back! Thank you CBS and Shawn Ryan.

Dick Wolf, purveyor of funny: You decide what sounds funnier -- Dick Wolf moving into comedy, or the phrase "Girlfriend in a Coma." NBC is hoping you laughed at both, since the net ordered a pilot for the Wolf-produced laffer. Story centers on a woman who wakes up from a coma to find out she has a teenage daughter that she, I'm guessing, birthed while in a coma. The funny un-funny part is that Wolf's "Law & Order: SVU" had a similar plot where a doctor raped patients in vegetative states and comas, so maybe he's looking at his expansive drama franchise as potential backdoor pilots for comedies. Who knows.

Brilliant + self-destructive = PILOT ORDER: Fox's "Rake" and CBS's "Backstrom" follow men -- criminal defense lawyer and detective, respectively -- who are really good at their jobs but really bad at being humans. I sense solid HBO comedy spinoff potential where the two men meet and become fast friends, bonding over case files and life's inevitable missteps.

Shout out to law firm assistants: I was one for a month, it was a harrowing experience, and now Fox has ordered a comedy pilot about how that job can be so stressful that it is, truly, laughable. "To My Assistant" may trigger PTSD in folk like me, but I'll tune in to reminisce nevertheless.

Congrats, Dads: More TV shows about you. Pilot at Fox about becoming a dad, pilot at NBC about Sean Hayes being a dad, and a series order at Fox from Seth MacFarlane about when dads stop being dads and move in with their well-adjusted, adult children. It's literally full circle and you can whet your palette with "Guys with Kids" reruns on NBC.

Happy pilot season! Let's take some naps.

A company that spends $50 million on a new ad campaign urging customers to "come back" is sending a not-so-subtle signal to the marketplace: we ain't all that. 

But that's how Time Warner Cable chose to position itself starting this week with its "The Better Guarantee" multimedia blitz, which features subscribers describing what prompted them to return to the nation's second largest cable operator. The New York Times previewed the campaign Monday.

Now before you head off to TW Cable's YouTube channel to check out some of the commercials, stop and ask yourself, what exactly are the customers being asked to "come back" from?

You might suspect these ads are countering the hordes of subs that are supposedly so fed up with the extravagant cost of their monthly bill that they are throwing off the shackles of multichannel service and subsisting entirely on free over-the-air TV and/or broadband-delivered Netflix or Hulu or Amazon.

Then you'd be entirely wrong. 

What's remarkable about this campaign is how it reflects zero anxiety over cord-cutting; these spots are entirely devoted to counterattacking the same competitors that cable operators have been fighting off for the past decade: satellite and telco firms.

"Why is satellite on demand so lame?" a subscriber asks aloud in one ad. "DSL was just too slow," grumbles another. The primary pitch in these commercials isn't about discounted price; it's product and service attributes.

Translation: TW Cable is a lot more concerned with DirecTV and Verizon stealing its customers than those customers just getting by via Boxee.

Though the pay-TV business is routinely written about as if it faces imminent demise from various high-tech threats, TW Cable's defensive posture doesn't bear that out. The company could have dusted off commercials from 2002 and just run them again.

Either TW Cable is completely out of touch with the realities of its competitive landscape or those who see cord-cutters as decimating its business are delusional. We'll find out next week when the MSO releases its fourth-quarter earnings.