Wow, summer's here in primetime for sure, just look at the Nielsen numbers, as Variety's ratings guru Rick Kissell dutifully does every morning so that you don't have to.

Wednesday's premiere of ABC's celeb impersonator hokum "The Next Best Thing" (featuring folks like this Borat wannabe doing their darndest to get work on cruise lines) wasn't half-bad, in a YouTube-silly kind of way. "Best Thing" opened to respectable summer-level ratings at 8 p.m., drawing about 7.7 million people with nothing better to do and about a 7 share of the adults 18-49 audience with nothing better to do. Fox had the lion's share of the traction last night with the two-hour opener of "So You Think You Can Dance," which drew 9.2 million viewers and 4.0 rating/12 share in adults 18-49, per Nielsen prelims.

Not much good to say about CW's post-season burnoff preem of "Hidden Palms." Every 18-34-year-old in the country had something better to do last night, or were turned off by all the carping about it being a pale rendition of "The O.C." in the desert. "Palms" (pictured right) didn't crack the 2 million-viewer threshold, and even in its target aud of teens and adults 18-34, "Palms" got creamed by CBS' "The King of Queens" repeat. Sympathies to "Palms" creator Kevin Williamson, who waited all season for this?!

If it's the post-season, it must be executive shuffle time in TV land. This year the turnstiles are moving faster than ever with a host of gigs open and/or up in the air at major webs.
For starters, there's NBC where the new regime of Ben Silverman and Marc Graboff might make major changes -- or they might not. The situation with NBC Entertainment exec veep Katherine Pope (pictured), who served as No. 2 to the now-departed entertainment prexy Kevin Reilly, is said to be fluid, though the new regime has made it clear they'd like her to stay.

(Through the magic of blog technology I can make this appear as if I posted it Tuesday night but, in fact, I completely forgot about posting it here until Friday evening.)

The “On the Lot” hopefuls had solo flights in this week’s round, which seemed to be a relief to the 18 remaining contestants after having to team up in groups of three.Monday’s episode did away with most of the let’s-watch-them-at-work bits and focused on the in-studio presentation of contestants’ personal stories their one-minute comedy shorts. Garry Marshall was back as a judge (and comic relief) alongside Carrie

Fisher and guest-jurist D.J. Caruso, helmer of the recent Shia LaBeouf hit “Disturbia.” And for reasons known only to the god of TV reality-show hosts, Adrianna Costa has replaced Chelsea Handler as “Lot’s” new host. The screenings get off to a good start with Adam Stein’s “Dance Man,” whose short earns six thumbs-up from the panel. “We should be sucking up to this guy,” Caruso observes. (Stein is pictured at left.)

No doubt about it, Marc Graboff is a big winner in the shuffle unveiled today at NBC. Sure, he already had a big job and plenty of responsibility, and perhaps most importantly he's long had the consiglieri-level trust of NBC Universal boss Jeff Zucker, but still, there's something about the co-chairman title that he now shares with Ben Silverman that has a certain ring to it. It solidifies his role at the Peacock as being much more than a numbers and bottom-line guy, even though the NBC Entertainment and NBC Universal TV Studio arms already had reported into him. Indeed, NBC U brass are saying they're aiming for a Bob Daly/Terry Semel-esque partnership, as Variety's Joe Adalian reports in today's now-it's-really-official version of the story.

Graboff, previously NBC West Coast president, is a lawyer by training. He's known as a tough negotiator, which sometimes grates on creative types (and their agents), but he's also respected as a straight shooter. He joined NBC in November 2000 as executive veep, NBC West Coast, from CBS, where he was a biz affairs maven. Graboff expanded his domain following the NBC-Universal merger in 2004, and was most recently upped to prexy, NBC West Coast in January 2006.

It appears that the scepter at NBC is about to be handed to Ben Silverman, the agent-cum-producer who's made a name for himself in recent years as the packaging force behind NBC's "The Office" and "The Biggest Loser," ABC's "Ugly Betty," Showtime's "The Tudors," among others.
The whirlwind of activity at the Peacock and its studio arm, NBC Universal TV Studio, during the past few weeks has been surprising to outsiders and Burbank insiders alike, as Variety's Joe Adalian details in his latest report. (No rest for the NBC U beat reporter this Memorial Day weekend.) Official word of Ben's arrival and the departure of NBC Entertainment president Kevin Reilly is expected as early as tomorrow.

The changing of the guard seems designed to shake up the Alameda Avenue status quo at a time when "reinvention" is a watchword for the TV biz. Ben has proven himself adept at spotting programming trends and cutting innovative deals for his shows. His management-leadership skills will undoubtedly be tested in his new role. He's had some traditional TV executive experience, including a stint as a creative executive at New World/Marvel during the Ron Perelman era, but not on the scale he's about to take on. Ben was known for his independence during his successful run as a TV agent at William Morris, where he championed the Brit/Euro TV format import/export biz, scoring with "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," "Big Brother" and "The Weakest Link," among other hits. Since leaving the agency more than five years ago to found Reveille, Ben seemed to be reveling in the freedom of being his own boss at the helm of a nimble operation capable of out-maneuvering TV's big guns to make better, smarter, faster deals. Maybe it's the prospect of having more ammo at his disposal that's luring him to the other side at this point.

One call Ben might want to make when he gets settled is to the last guy named Silverman to hold a lofty post at NBC. Fred Silverman didn't have a terribly successful tenure as NBC president and CEO from 1978-1981 (Two words: "Hello, Larry"), but there are parallels to the Silvermans then and now. NBC was deep in third place in a three-network world at the time Fred came aboard, and Fred was a hot-shot coming off of a streak at CBS and ABC where he was known for scoring by bucking industry convention. Besides, he's an entertaining lunch date, and he's always got something interesting to say about the state of the network biz.

No matter what transpires at NBC, there is sure to be an outpouring of support and appreciation for the departing Reilly, who's respected far and wide as one of the good guys of the biz.

(Pictured above: Ben Silverman, left, and "Ugly Betty" co-star Eric Mabius.)

It's hard to imagine what daytime TV would have been like in the 1970s without Charles Nelson Reilly and his distinctive laugh-snort sound and "huh, huh, huh." Reilly, who died Friday in Los Angeles at 76, per the AP, was everywhere in bits and pieces on TV when I was a kid -- livening up the discourse on "Match Game" and "Hollywood Squares," in repeats of syndication chestnuts like "Ghost & Mrs. Muir" and "Love, American Style," a pitch man in TV commercials for Bic pens, etc. Reilly was also a mainstay in this era on Carson's "Tonight Show," where the later hour allowed him to indulge in even more of his famous double-entendre and no-entendre sex jokes.

Having won a Tony early on in his career for his role in "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying," Reilly would later admit to being frustrated at being consigned by all of those game show and chat show appearances to being "TV's Charles Nelson Reilly." But for those of us at home, Reilly was one of those wonderfully familiar faces and voices that makes TV such an intimate medium, or comfort food, if you will. Once you saw Reilly's horn rims on the screen or his name in the credits, you knew what you were getting, and he never disappointed. He honed a flamboyant but friendly goof ball character that he could take anywhere -- game shows, talk-variety shows, sitcoms, lighter dramas, commercials, cartoon voice work, celebrity roasts, and on and on. (Here's a clip of Charles at work on a seg of Match Game where he and host Gene Rayburn switch places. "I want to be Bob Barker - tall, hard and gorgeous," Reilly admits after taking possession of the long, skinny mike.)

"The X-Files" played off of that familiarity in casting Reilly as a sleazy sci-fi novel writer looking for alien abduction tales in the memorable 1996 seg "'Jose Chung's 'From Outer Space'." The Chung character reappeared the following year in an unusually light episode of Chris Carter's "Files" follow-up, "Millennium." (The latter guest shot earned Reilly an Emmy nom.)

So thanks for all the comfort and cheap jokes over the years, Charles, and let's pretend that it's Gene Rayburn's voice asking you to fill in the obvious closer to this appreciation: "We'll miss...blank."

(Pictured above: Reilly strutting his stuff at the April 2002 wrap party for "The X-Files.")

Once again, NBC Entertainment chief Kevin Reilly found himself the subject of rumor and conjecture on Friday as the latest round of "Reilly's out" rumors hit fever pitch. (Why does it always come on the Friday before a long holiday weekend?!) Variety's Joe Adalian spent all day Friday on the phone trying to separate fact from fiction, and he gives us the objective details on where things stand as of this weekend in this dispatch.

No matter what happens next week, I'll never understand why such a classy, talented, decent sort as Reilly has had to deal with such clouds of uncertainty hanging over him almost from the day he walked in to NBC in the fall of 2003. By any measure, he's done a good job bringing some watch-able programs to the Peacock. Reilly's done well during the past two years in replenishing the lineup with "My Name is Earl," "The Office," "Heroes," "Friday Night Lights" and "Deal or No Deal." He's one of the few programmers willing to go out on a limb for shows he believes in. The Peacock is better off now from Reilly going to bat for "The Office" after it's first mini season, when few others (me included) could see the promise in the show that would explode after just a few more episodes. (Reilly's pictured above with "Office" mates John Krasinski and Jenna Fischer.) It sure feels like "Friday Night Lights" is in the same idling-on-the-tarmac moment.

Some years back, when NBC was in similar straits competitively that it faces now, there was a debate among Brandon Tartikoff and other execs about whether to cancel the low-low-low rated hospital drama "St. Elsewhere," which was a favorite among the execs despite its meager audience. The Peacock's leader at the time, the great Grant Tinker, is famously said to have piped up with the obvious question, "Why are we talking about canceling a show that we all are so proud of?" NBC took a page from Tinker's play book earlier this month by going on faith and giving "Friday Night Lights" a sophomore season renewal. Let's hope the collective will is there at NBC Universal to do the same for the exec who's been fighting the good fight for the Peacock for nearly four years.

It was good enough to make your skin crawl, as fine a finale as TV has seen since No. 6 returned to his London apartment only to have the whole mess start anew as the midget and tall, top-hatted guy drove slowly past his flat. (If you're confused, go rent the DVD set of Patrick McGoohan's "The Prisoner.")

Of the many questions raised by "Lost's" powerful two-hour finale, the biggest one that came to my mind is: How long are we going to have to wait for the show to come back! As "Lost" segues to its 16-episode season next year, we could be on the hook for eight months or more! Say it ain't so Steve! C'mon Jeff Bader, ABC scheduling dude extraordinaire, have mercy! If ABC opened the the year with a clip-show recap, like the very entertaining spesh with showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse that led into Wednesday's finale, the season could start on Jan. 9 (assuming show stays on Wednesday, which I vote for) and run through April 23. Or take a week off for another creative clip or even bloopers special halfway through and that'd take us through April 30. Let's not wait, guys. May sweeps are outmoded!

Of all the super-fine moments in the third-season closer, perhaps the most satisfying for fans was watching Hurley ram that VW bus through the encampment to take out that mean, burly Other. It was pure vindication for the good-hearted soul who'd spent the previous 65 minutes being told he was too rotund to be of help in the castaways grand rescue and resistance efforts. (Hurley's feat will also fuel conspiracy theories in the L.A.'s South Bay area that Jorge Garcia's character was named for one of the great drummers of our time, George Hurley, of Minutemen fIREHOSE and Vida fame, who's known for driving his V-Dub buses and minivans as if he's possessed by the spirit of Jacob.) The finale was also a tour de force in varying degrees of facial hair for Matthew Fox.

Like all good segs of "Lost," the finale raised far more questions than it provided answers. Some of the questions we get to ponder during the next 200-plus days before we get our next fix:

1) So Jack's dad is not dead?

2) Who's the third maybe-pregnant woman? We knew Sun was expecting, we knew Kate was going to be in the family way after seeing her unprotected relationship with Sawyer blossom, but who's the inhabitant of the third tent that the Others wanted to abduct?

3) Who was in that casket in the funeral home in the really bad part of L.A. that Jack visited but didn't look at?

  4) Is Charlie really a goner?

5) Is Mikhail, aka Cyclops, really gone, this time?

6) What's the deal with Penelope? How is it that she just happens to have a direct channel into the Looking Glass station?

7) Why did Walt appear to spur Locke out of his bony resting place?

8) Is there a shred of truth to Ben's contention that the people behind Naomi's arrival want to "kill every living thing on the island?

9) How is creepy Richard going to handle things now that he's got to do

double-duty on the island and on CBS' midseason drama "Cane"?

10) What's the big mistake the future-Jack refers to in his tearful reunion with future-Kate, which brings us back to...

11) When oh when is "Lost" coming back?!?

The Memorial Day weekend timing of the premiere of HBO’s “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee” is entirely appropriate. The massacre of about 300 members of the Lakota Sioux tribe at a camp near the banks of Wounded Knee creek in South Dakota occurred on Dec. 29, 1890. Memorial Day is, of course, the federal holiday designated to honor the memory of our nation’s war dead. The men, women and children killed at Wounded Knee that day inhabited their own sovereign nation, but they are most definitely “our” war dead. They were slaughtered by U.S. Army soldiers, without direct provocation and without much in the way to defend themselves. They are war victims that we as a nation should never forget.

pictured above, "Wounded Knee" producer Dick Wolf, left, and actor August Schellenberg, who plays Sitting Bull.

They hail from small towns in Texas, Ohio, Indiana, New Hampshire, Kentucky and Mississippi, from Chicago, New York and Manchester, England to South Africa and Italy. And they all want to be filmmakers, so much so they’ve put their lives and day jobs on hold to compete for a $1 million development deal with DreamWorks on the Fox reality-competition series “On the Lot,” produced by Mark Burnett and Steven Spielberg.

We know how much they want it because, to a contestant, they all gushed variations on the same theme in the first few minutes of the premiere episode. "I want to direct! I love movies! I’ve wanted to direct since I was a kid! I love movies! This is my big break! This is my big shot! I love movies! I want to be a director!" You get the idea. If not, hop over to the show's Web site.

Let the "American Idol" post-mortems ensue, now that the 2006-07 season is finito. Whoo-hoo!

First off, let's be honest. There's no way to say that "American Idol" isn't anything but the most lethal weapon to come along since the four-network era began 20 years ago. Anything that draws 25 million-30 million viewers routinely and doesn't involved a live execution can't be wrong. But...last night's numbers also indicate a bit of vulnerability in the "Idol" armada.

According to prelim Nielsen's, "Idol" finished out its 8 p.m.-10:09 p.m. run with 29.4 million viewers and 11.0 rating/30 share in adults 18-49. Last night's closer peaked in the final half-hour, natch, with 34.9 million viewers and 13.3/rating/32 share in adults 18-49.

The comparisons to the '06 "Idol" wrap are telling. The Taylor Hicks coronation drew an average of 36.3 million viewers and 14.2 rating in adults 18-49. That one ran to 10:03 p.m., peaking at an astounding 42 million viewers and 17.3 rating/38 share in adults 18-49.

What does it all mean? "Idol," like the everyday folks who make or break the show for the millions who love watching it, is mortal. Although there's plenty of post-finale carping about how unnecessarily draaaaaaawn out last night's finale was, Fox still deserves props for keeping its addiction in check and only offering one edition of "Idol" per season, so as not to wear the show out too fast. So congrats to Jordin, and all of those on the Pico Boulevard lot for another year of scheduling restraint.

As for the other big finale last night, it boggles this mind why ABC's "Lost" is losing some of its steam. The stats for last night's finale: 13.7 million viewers, 5.8/15 share in adults 18-49, compared to '06's 17.8 million faithful and 7.6 rating/18 share in the 18-49 demo.

No network, not even "Idol"-enhanced Fox, would sniff at those numbers. Still, why the fall off? The show's better than ever, more mysterious than ever, more beautifully shot than ever. "Lost's" DP's deserve combat pay. You think those run-through-the-jungle scenes shoot themselves? Those guys must be on their bellies half the time, getting as muddy as the castaways. And the ensemble has never been as strong thanks to the additions of Michael Emerson (mean ol' Ben), Elizabeth Mitchell (Juliet) and the increased presence of Nestor Carbonell (creepy Richard). Josh Holloway (Sawyer) and Evangeline Lilly (Kate) have also had great seasons that ought to make them Emmy bait when the noms are out in July.

But there's real truth to the growing sentiment that shows like "Lost" are facing an unfair discount of their  audience base if viewership stats are based on the Nielsen overnights. Thanks to the brave souls at Disney, "Lost" has from the start been on the leading edge of the new world in which viewers are digitally empowered to watch shows whenever they want, on a variety of platforms. As anyone who's been reading this blog the past few weeks knows, I couldn't be a bigger fan of "Lost," but real life and a punishing deadline prevented me from tuning in to the two-hour finale last night. I've got an unbreakable date with ABC.com tonight, and plans for a leisurely stroll through the Season Three DVD set as soon as it's available.

If that isn't incontrovertible evidence (from this viewer's perspective) that the whole notion of TV ratings needs a big, massive re-write, then I don't know what is -- maybe the solution is in a hatch somewhere near the Others' old compound, or maybe it's in the mysterious Nielsen compound in Florida, where much of the company's round-the-clock number-crunching is done.

But for all the frustration re the numbers, there's no shot whatsoever that this show won't get anything but the royal treatment from ABC during the next three seasons, as was thoughtfully laid out a few weeks ago by ABC, ABC Studios and exec producer/good shepherds Damon Lindelof and Cartlon Cuse. So I'm not going to lose sleep over the weaker finale numbers. Based on the closing moments of last week's penultimate "Lost" adventure, I'm focused on rooting for Charlie to get back to his No. 1, Claire. (They don't mention it much on the show but, in fact, Claire's last name is...Littleton.)

The President called it "pure political theater." But clearly, the Monica Goodling story is a Lifetime movie just waiting to be greenlighted.

It opens with a wide shot of the campus of Pat Robertson's Regent University in Virginia. A bright, driven, earnest and very blond recent law school grad throws her duffel bags into the trunk of her American-made car and heads to Washington, just as the town finds itself in the red-state reverie of a neo-conservative revolution. Connections from school help her land a gig working on research for the GOP. From there she moves quickly to an entry-level public affairs gig at the Justice Department, then further up the ranks to an influential post that keeps her in touch with federal prosecutors night and day. At just 33!

Monica has her Mary Tyler Moore moment of throwing her wool cap up as high as she can inside the Capitol rotunda dome. Dissolve into a quick-cut montage of scenes of Goodling rushing around her office, looking very officious, writing emails, answering phones, keeping tabs on who returns her calls, and how quickly, and gasp, even a few visits to the White House Rose Garden. After the 2004 election she's sitting pretty, expecting only blue skies ahead, and then wham! Heavy minor chord strikes, and it's what-did-you-know-and-when-did-you-email-it time.

Suddenly, her cell phone is ringing off the hook. Scruffy Washington Post reporters are hiding out in her front yard. She quits her beloved job, lays low for a while, takes the fifth on the advice of her earnest, paternal (but totally platonic) lawyer, and then, after a long talk with her mother and father, she takes the immunity deal. The night before she's due to testify before a House committee, she washes her hair, goes to bed early, falling asleep reading the "Book of Virtues." The next morning, she pastes on her million-dollar smile and proceeds to charm a House congressional hearing as she drops small bombshells, leavened by that smile, that tighten the noose on one of the President's men.

Finally, after the scene where she fights her way through a throng of reporters and cameras and liberals shouting rude things at her, inside of a week she's landed a shampoo-endorsement contract, a book deal and a hosting gig on MSNBC.

I see "West Wing's" Janel Moloney as the lead.

(Goodling photo credit: AP Photo)

Does this mean he gets to be even nastier on the show?
Hugh Laurie, who plays the cranky-brilliant Dr. Gregory House on Fox's "House," got the nod today from Queen Elizabeth II at her place and can now call himself a member of the Order of the British Empire. Not a bad way to cap a TV season in which "House" stood tall as one of primetime's precious few shows to actually grow from season-to-season.

Laurie does a swell job of convincing us he's an American on "House," but he's a son of Britannia through and through. Get him and Craig Ferguson going on an interview seg on CBS' "The Late Late Show" and us Yanks are lucky if we can make out every third word or so. We know him best nowadays for his furrowed brow and dramatic intensity on "House," but Laurie first made his mark across the Pond as co-star with Stephen Fry of the wickedly daft 1980s sketch comedy series "A Bit of Fry and Laurie." Bits of that show are strewn all over YouTube for anyone who's curious.

Let's hope that Aardman Animations' U.S. rendition of "Creature Comforts" for CBS is as fantastically funny as the British version that snuck onto BBC America last year. The show has a simple, genius premise. Producers go out and interview ordinary folks in various parts of the country on various subjects, i.e. what they do for a living, how they get along with their spouse, whether they believe in an afterlife. Then those sound bites are used as the dialogue for short stop-motion animation bits featuring animal characters of the kind that Aardman does so well. It's hard to do the show justice in a short logline description, but watching a tubby hamster in his cage talking about what it's like to deal with unemployment, what a moose and bear think attracts the opposite sex, or a pair of rats discussing the secret to a strong marriage, or a pair of bulldogs dreaming about dating Kate Moss, is just good, clean fun. The wide range of dialects that producers captured in Britain heightened the anthropomorphic hilarity. Imagine what they can do with the vast expanse of the United States and its melting pot of accents.

You also have to marvel at the artistry, craftsmanship and sheer dedication that goes into every frame of these plasticine-manipulated wonders. The production of each short moves along at a clip of about three to five seconds per day. The whole fascinating process is detailed in an oh-so-amusing way on the Creature Comforts' UK Web site, and now there's a site for the U.S. show as well.

It's usually not a good sign when a new show bows on a broadcast web in the immediate post-season, but "Creature Comforts" should be the perfect antidote to the plethora of reality this-and-that and repeats that will clog the airwaves during the next few months. And it's a very good sign that the lead producer on the CBS rendition is the same as on the Brit version, Aardman vet Richard "Golly" Goleszowski. "Creature Comforts" arrives June 4 at 8 p.m. If BBC America is smart enough (or legally allowed) to rerun the British segs during the run of the Yank version, it's well worth checking those out too.

This morning brings the bittersweet news that Tim Brooks, research maven extraordinaire and TV historian without peer, is prepping his retirement from Lifetime Television at the end of this year. If Tim had a nickel for every time someone in the biz consults his indispensable, brick-sized lifesaver, "The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present," he'd be richer than Murdoch, Redstone and Diller combined. He's a lovely man who always makes time for desperate journalists in need of insight or a quote from a respected, objective source of knowledge about all things television. Tim earned his research stripes at NBC, where he befriended fellow number-cruncher and "Complete Directory" co-author Earle Marsh, and then worked for ad firm NW Ayer, and then caught the cable wave at USA Network in the 1990s before segueing to Lifetime in 2000, where he'll retire as executive veepee, research.

I'm all for being kind to mother Earth but in the past few months the level of sanctimonious marketing-speak about the film and TV biz going 'carbon neutral' has been getting to the gag-me state. At first glance at this press release from Comedy Central about their plans for a roast special skewering rapper-turned-VH1 star Flavor Flav, I thought a "carbon neutral roast" was a new Starbucks flavor or something. But no, Comedy Central is promising that the July taping of its Flavor Flav roast will be "the network's first-ever carbon neutral production" and that it will offset its carbon emissions associated with the production with assistance from NativeEnergy, a national marketer of carbon offsets and renewable energy credits that offer "individuals and organizations a means to compensate for their global warming pollution."

I suppose it's better than not doing anything regarding carbon emissions and pollution, etc., but somehow putting it in the sub-headline of the press release makes it seem like it's at the very least (trying to be charitable here) as much about marketing as it is about genuine concern for the environment.

"We only roast the ones we love," Elizabeth Porter, Comedy Central's senior veep, specials and talent, gushes in announcing the special, to be taped in July and air on Aug. 12. Now that's the kind of hot air, er, global warming, we can stand in a press release.

Anybody who wrote for Jack Paar, Bob Hope, Danny Thomas and Sid Caesar in their heydays, palled around with Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner and lived to tell funny stories about it deserves all the kudos this biz has to offer. So good for the Humanitas org for giving its Kieser Award to Larry Gelbart. His resume includes everything from radio and Broadway shows to the small-screen adaptation of "MASH" to HBO's "Barbarians at the Gate," "Weapons of Mass Distraction," Showtime's "Mastergate" and another very funny HBO telepic from a few years back, "And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself." He's good at slaying pomposity and mendacity, without being mean or vulgar, and his work almost always has something deeper to say about whatever slice of the human condition he's examining at the time. One piece of Gelbart-ana that's ripe for DVD revival is "Mastergate," his 1992 parody of the Iran-Contra hearings (or more accurately a parody of TV coverage of Iran-Contra hearings). The 90-minute pic boasted a dynamite cast, including James Coburn, Tim Reid, Ed Begley Jr., Buck Henry, Hy Averback, Bruno Kirby, Ben Stein, Robert Guillaume, Pat Morita, Dennis Weaver, David Ogden Stiers, Jerry Orbach and Henry Jones. Variety at the time called the telepic's dialogue "priceless" and noted that "underneath this satire is the very serious point that Washington is engaged in an endless series of shenanigans followed by a pointless series of hearings to investigate the shenanigans." Sound familiar? Here's a clip, courtesy of YouTube.

So congrats to Larry, and let's hope he brings a good anecdote or two about his long, long career to this year's Humanitas awards luncheon on June 26.

Bree, what happened? Last night's "Desperate Housewives" finale marked a low ebb for Marcia Cross' character that was arguably the most complex and intriguing of the Wisteria Lane foursome when the the Sunday night sudser first bowed in 2004. "Housewives" creator Marc Cherry made Bree much more than a 2-D Martha Stewart-type by building her a rich back story, intriguing character traits including making her politically conservative and proud of it, and of course, and some great, great lines. Cross' delivery of the zinger "Rex cries when he ejaculates" at a dinner party scene in season one remains one of the skein's best moments, and not just for its can-they-say-that-on-TV risque-ness but because of how it demonstrated (showing without telling) the depth of Bree's pain at her husband's betrayal.

Sure, she's been through a lot during the ensuing 55 or so episodes -- dealing with Rex's passing, a psycho boyfriend, a drinking problem, another psycho boyfriend and his even more insane mother-in-law, plus various fights with her friends and the joys of mothering two horribly spoiled teenagers. But for pity's sake. By the end of last night's season closer, Bree has been reduced to sashaying around the cul-de-sac with a pregnancy falsie Nerf ball strapped to her belly because she can't bear the shame of her daughter getting in the family way with Edie's bad-boy nephew. The Bree of season one would have blamed the Clinton administration for debasing American culture with wantonness in the White House and then got about the business of building the perfect crib or something. The "Housewives" scribes get some credit for a clever way of making use of Cross' real-life pregnancy glow into the storyline this season but, really, hiding her behind counters and sofas and hedges might've been the better way to go.

There were some other howlers in the "Housewives" closer too, though in fairness the Susan-Mike wedding scene was sweet, especially for its brevity and thank goodness there were no flat tires or anything to complicate getting Mike to the ceremony site. Fan turnout was good but not great: Per Nielsen prelims, last night's "Housewives" drew 7.0 rating/17 share in adults 18-49 and an average of 18.4 million viewers, a modest bounce from its season average of 6.9 rating/16 share and 17.4 million viewers.

On a more positive note for ABC, the first-season closer of "Housewives'" 10 p.m. companion "Brothers   and Sisters" was a strong, well-written seg that reinforced the faith ABC has demonstrated in the ensembler that seemed pretty scattered at the start of the 2006-07 campaign. No doubt ABC will give "Brothers and Sisters" heavy repeat plays this summer, which outta allow it to bring in new viewers and hang on to more of the "Housewives" crowd in its sophomore sesh in the fall. Last night's finale got a slight bounce over its season average, drawing 4.7 rating/12 share in 18-49 and 12.7 million pairs of eyeballs, compared to its season average of 4.3 rating/11 share and 11 million viewers.

What to say about the new Fox sked? Lotta new shows, lotta familiar faces a la Kelsey Grammer, Patricia Heaton, Julianna Margulies and Parker Posey. Lot of star power behind the scenes, from the "visionary" Lasse Hallstrom (as he's billed in Fox's press release) directing a guy who can't die in "New Amsterdam" to the Farrelly brothers ("Rules for Starting Over") to Mike Figgis (Margulies' "Canterbury's Law") to the drama pilot zen-master David Nutter ("The Sarah Connor Chronicles") who can get a pilot picked up just by touching the script. James Burrows brings his gracious touch to the Grammer/Heaton sitcom-cast "Back to You." I'm curious why Fox is going the "'Til Death" route with that high-profile comedy (which is also graced with the comedy stylings of Fred Willard) by launching it the fall rather during the second front in January when the network has the "Idol" glow around it. But Fox scheduling guru Preston Beckman has been at this game a long time. He knows what he's doing.

Folks at CW have been saying that "The Reaper" (pictured) is a hell of a pilot, and darn it if that sentiment wasn't seconded by a lot of people who attended the web's upfront presentation today in Gotham. New drama "Life is Wild" and comedy "Aliens in America" got big reactions too, per the download on the event from Variety's Michael Schneider. Schneider has earned a round of applause for checking in to all five of this week's upfront presentations (plus a few parties) and never once losing his sense of humor or his lightning-fast ability to whip out news bulletins on his Blackberry for the Variety.com Web site. (Thanks Mike, we love you for it. Now come home!)

Are we there yet?

Watching the last two upfront presentations by Fox and CW (OK, watching a herky-jerky CW on my computer at home; convergence conschmergence), there were several strong emotions -- especially regarding the caterers who fed me and a lot of ridiculously young-looking media buyers throughout the week.

Still, there was one major wince-inducing moment Thursday, and a minor one.

With the disclaimer that it's never a good idea to prejudge these things, I can't help feeling Fox has bitten off more than it can chew with "K-Ville," a series that uses the remnants of Hurricane Katrina as the jumping-off point for a drama about New Orleans cops. Not only is the show fraught with political land mines, but it risks trivializing an event that is still extremely raw -- and whatever cash shooting in the Big Easy pumps into the local economy is unlikely to make up for that.

CW has its own potential headache with "Aliens in America," a comedy that hinges on a nerdy kid being saddled with a Pakistani exchange student who's a Muslim. Although that would seem like a great way to puncture stereotypes, again, big guffaws over the Muslim kid getting discriminated against in school is going to require an extraordinarily deft touch. Will the payoff be worth the headaches? Somehow it's hard to imagine that being true in either case.

Fox-CBS also join ABC-NBC is the customary "two networks develop what looks to be the exact same show" sweepstakes. In the latter case, it's the "Sex and the City"-derivative "Cashmere Mafia" and "Lipstick Jungle," respectively. Fox and CBS, meanwhile, both went the immortal cop route, with Fox's "New Amsterdam" (some kind of witchcraft mumbo-jumbo) following CBS' "Moonlight," featuring a vampire detective. (And yes, I remember "Forever Knight," but that was awhile ago.)

One poster accused me of being unduly generous in saying two similar shows might survive, so let's sum it up this way: They have as much chance of surviving as anything else that isn't scheduled immediately after "American Idol." Come to think of it, that probably explains why TV execs are so attracted to the concept of something that can't be killed.

-- Brian Lowry

OK, now that's what I call a presentation -- crisp, succinct and LOTS of David Caruso.

Seriously, though, and call me old-fashioned, but CBS is thus far the only network that still discusses scheduling strategy in its presentations, recognizing that even with DVRs and alternative platforms, concepts like "lead-ins" and compatibility continue to matter. Each new series, CBS Entertainment Prez Nina Tassler enthused in between drooling over the net's hot leading men, is "paired with a compatible proven hit."

Granted, lead-ins don't mean what the once did, but they still count for something -- a fact that ABC and NBC virtually ignored. If I were Fox, meanwhile, after this year's mostly deceased development, I'd preface every new show by saying, "Which we will introduce after 'American Idol' or 'House,'" just to get media buyers' attention.

Tassler also expressed a desire to "get America talking" with new series like "Viva Laughlin" and the midseason "Swingtown," though the former, in particular, has all the makings of a show that will get critics talking, but not necessarily much of America. Then again, no guts, no glory -- and, remarkably, not a single joke calling NBC's Jeff Zucker a boob, which probably lopped 15 minutes off the presentation alone.

Gee, maybe this really isn't your grandmother's CBS.

-- Brian Lowry

It's bold, it's daring, but in everything in moderation. The 2007-08 sked lineup CBS unveiled today makes good on entertainment prexy Nina Tassler's promise to ease up on the crime and corpses and bring a little variety to the Eye network's primetime menu but not in such a gangbusters way that might overwhelm viewers. CBS' big gamble of the fall is, of course, musical drama "Viva Laughlin," which landed the time slot that, on paper, seems just about perfect for the show and for the network's need to experiment in a way that won't hurt them too much in the competitive fray. Here's the first dispatch on CBS' plans from Variety's Michael Schneider.

A little sad to see "Gilmore Girls" bow out last night after seven seasons, even though I confess I haven't kept up with this season and haven't seen the finale yet. Unlike me, other fans did turn out for the finale, boosting "Gilmore" to its best numbers in 18 months, as Variety's Rick Kissell reports in his Tuesday ratings dispatch.

Creator Amy Sherman-Palladino often said she knew what the last line of the last episode of her baby would be, but she's taking the high road and steering clear of commenting on how her showrunner successor, David Rosenthal, handled the wrap. Amy and her husband and fellow "Gilmore" soldier Dan Palladino left the show at the end of last season amid some tension with "Gilmore" studio Warner Bros. TV, so it's doubtful that Amy's last line made it in to last night's seg. Hopefully, one day she'll reveal her vision for the end of the Long and Winding Road of Lorelai and Rory, but for now she and Dan are busy with a new comedy expected to land on Fox's 2007-08 sked, "The Return of Jezebel James." So good  luck to them and everyone else who made this show, famous for its witty, speedy banter and numerous literary references (who else would brag about landing Norman Mailer as a guest star?), most especially stars Lauren Graham and Alexis Bleidel.

At first glance, CBS has come to a rather stark conclusion: You can only go so far with a lineup that relies almost entirely on chalk outlines.

After becoming known as the home of dead bodies -- devoting half its primetime hours to crime shows, anchored by three "CSIs" and "NCIS," which is really just "CSI" with the letters jumbled around -- the Eye network has realized that they have to take some bigger, bolder bets. As a huge fan of the original BBC version of "Viva Blackpool," the U.S. version "Viva Laughlin" is precisely that -- and a conceptual gamble, if you'll pardon the expression, with very long odds.

Still, it beats the hell out of sitting back and waiting for the audience to realize that there are only so many ways to dismember a human body, right before zooming through the puncture wound to watch the little neurons stop firing. While CBS has had a great run with that approach, it's clearly yielding diminishing returns.

On the down side, those in the press who questioned whether last year's serialized dramas might leave viewers high and dry have a prime example with "Jericho," which ended on a cliffhanger and now risks leaving its little Kansas town in limbo for all eternity. There's no evidence that disappointed fans hold extended grudges, but this is one of those instances where some kind of closure -- a blog posting, online outline, whatever, assuming a two-hour movie isn't feasible -- would seem to be good customer service. Barring that, this might be the worst endless cliffhanger since CBS' sci-fi series "Now and Again" a few years ago.

The network also merits a share of blame, too, for "Jericho's" demise, having benched the show for an extended stretch after its promising debut. The ratings never rebounded when it returned (Fox helped kill it off with expanded "Amercian Idol" rounds) and what initially looked like a keeper for CBS soon went Ka-boom.

On the plus side, maybe this means Ashley Scott will be available to do "Into the Blue 2: Even Less Plot, But More Bikinis."

-- Brian Lowry

Last year, ABC Entertainment Prexy Steve McPherson wowed everyone with his dancing moves, in a "Dancing With the Stars" tie-in. This year, it was the cast of "Ugly Betty" performing a version of "A Chorus Line's" showstopper, "One."

Oh yeah, and they previewed some new shows, too.

ABC does bring some pizzazz to the upfront derby, but there's also a peculiar aspect to these affairs -- including an extended promo for the net's "Bingo Night" that, at least on the closed-circuit feed, left the audience looking as flat as they did during the preview for the net's new TV-ad-inspired-sitcom, "Cavemen." (While that show figures to get scads of attention, I have a feeling that the "Cavemen as last oppressed minority" conceit is going to be a very, very delicate line that won't be easily balanced.)

Otherwise, the Alphabet net's development looked reasonably good, though if I had to bet, that Wednesday lineup of three new dramas -- even if one of them is the "Grey's Anatomy" spinoff "Private Practice" -- is a strong candidate to have something delayed to midseason, if only to ease the promotional headache of trumpeting an entirely new night.

And I know McPherson and NBC counterpart Kevin Reilly are college buddies, but they still win the early version of this year's prize for "Two networks order the exact same show," with NBC's "Lipstick Jungle" bearing an uncanny resemblance to ABC's "Cashmere Mafia," almost down to the logo. Call it convergent evolution.

Then again, both "ER" and "Chicago Hope" hung around for awhile, so maybe these can too.

-- Brian Lowry

ABC warmed the hearts of the creative community this morning with its slew of new scripted series pickups, four comedies and seven dramas, five of which hail from suppliers outside of the Mouse House's tent. The big winner of the upfront sweepstakes is Warner Bros. Television's "Big Shots" (pictured), which lands the plum post-"Grey's Anatomy" launch pad Thursdays at 10 p.m. Variety's hard-working Michael Schneider gives us the skinny on all of ABC's news in this early pre-presentation dispatch.

Good for "The King of Queens" for going out in style with its sweet hourlong finale, "The China Syndrome, Parts 1 and 2," on Monday. I've always thought the show was underrated, particularly Leah Remini in her role as leading lady to Kevin James. And how can you not appreciate a show that kept Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara together in primetime on and off for nine years. "Queens" beat the odds from the start when it was passed on at the pilot stage by NBC and rescued by CBS. It was a workhorse for the Eye throughout its run, which wrapped last night from 8-9 p.m. with a 5.1 rating/12 share in adults 18-49 and 13.5 million viewers, according to Nielsen prelims.

Westerns don't get much better than "The Searchers" (pictured), John Ford's breathtakingly photographed 1956 film that gifted John Wayne one of the best roles of his long career. Starz's Encore Westerns channel is doing right by the Duke with a 100-hour marathon of his films starting on what would have been the actor's 100th birthday, Saturday, May 26. The list of flicks is a little slim on classics, save for "The Searchers" and 1947's "Angel and the Badman," but Wayne's charisma makes even the quickie 1930s and '40s oaters fun to watch. His was a face born to be on the big screen.

Driving back from NBC's upfront presentation simulcast in L.A., I couldn't help wondering if anybody else found NBC sales exec Mike Pilot's promise that advertisers will have "a seat with the creatives" a little bit ... creepy?

Hey, I get it -- it's a new world out there, as NBC's upfront presentation reminded us over and over again, with another paean to the joys of new media. Product integration, moreover, is here to stay in a zap-happy world, and nobody has achieved that balance of commerce and creative more deftly than one of the net's prize series, "The Office."

Nevertheless, desperate networks have a tendency to engage in semi-desperate practices, and with NBC promising to get "more better," as NBC Entertainment boss Kevin Reilly purposely put it, the notion that the network is so eager to bring advertisers into the process at a granular level appears fraught with peril. Everyone at NBC, in fact, sounded so eager to please media buyers that there was a prevailing sense if the ad guys wanted a Target logo tattooed on John Madden's forehead, well, how often do you see Madden, anyway?

Leave it to Jerry Seinfeld to sum up this unease, saying that when he surveys the current state of TV, "Sometimes I feel like the whole industry just packed up and joined the circus."

And then some. As for NBC's new shows (and everybody else's), more on those once we have a chance to see them. Until then, though, listening to this glorious world where ad buyers are in on the ground floor with show producers, the whole idea gives me a case of the "Mo' Better Blues."

--Brian Lowry

"Class and mass," and a little Jerry Seinfeld -- that's what NBC programming chief Kevin Reilly is promising to deliver next season.The peacock has lots of bells and whistles with its 2007-08 sked announcement this morning, perhaps most intriguingly a project with Seinfeld billed as 20 "minisodes" inspired by his work on the upcoming DreamWorks animated pic "Bee Movie," due out in November. The shorts, which promise a live-action glimpse into Seinfeld's antics during the production of the movie in which he voices a disillusioned bee, will air on the net this fall and on NBC.com, natch.

Don't you get the feeling that this good-clean-absurdist-fun moment from last week's episode of "The Office" is how NBC's Kevin Reilly and his crew must be feeling right about now with the clock ticking down to Monday afternoon's upfront presentation at Radio City Music Hall. It's never easy being the first into the drink.

But at the end of the annual Monday-Thursday marathon of network dog and pony shows, NBC has kindly scheduled a treat that should help take the edge off nicely for many of us. Thursday's hourlong season finale of "Office" may or may not settle the questions of whether Michael gets the big promotion to corporate and what that might mean for the Scranton branch. But that's really beside the point (though it appears that the show will have at least six more hourlong episodes next season and shift to the brutal 9 p.m. Thursday slot). A double-length dose of "Office" antics after a grueling week of non-stop work ought to be just the tonic for those in the biz who will inevitably be questioning their career choices, at least temporarily, by the time Fox wraps up the last of the presentations on Thursday. (In a humanitarian gesture Fox has promised to keep the pace moving as fast as "American Idol's" open audition days on the road.)

Speaking of NBC season finales, it's kinda funny given Sunday's news about "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" moving over to USA Network next season (here's the low down on that and the mothership show's renewal from Variety's Michael Schneider) that the show's last final original episodes on NBC are titled "Endgame" and "Renewal." Looks like "the networks of NBC Universal," as NBC U likes to call its bouquet of broadcast and cable webs, got the hint.

With upfront madness upon us, it’s a good time to review our television etiquette, courtesy of the January 1952 issue of Coronet magazine. The medium was so young back then that the mag had to use the cast of a radio show, NBC’s “Kings Row,” to pose for the pics in this news-you-can-use feature. (Click to enlarge.)

Call them the Young and the Restless. Greg Berlanti, (pictured), of "Dawson's Creek" and "Everwood" fame, and Josh "The O.C." Schwartz appear poised to join the club of showrunners who sacrifice their lives for their art by having multiple shows on the schedule, based on the pickup buzz swirling around this pre-upfront weekend. (Who do we have to blame for scheduling upfronts to coincide with Mother's Day!?)

There’s nothing the entertainment business prizes more than achieving the proverbial “smooth” or “seamless” transition whenever a change occurs – whether it be an executive pas de deux at the top of a studio, a switch of directors on a picture or the recasting of the love interest in a pilot.

The dawn of this electronic space represents a huge transition for me, and it is one that is unlikely to be smooth or seamless. With this column, er, post, I’m venturing into the melee of the blog-o-sphere. Frankly, it’s going to be on-the-job training for a while as I adjust to the demands of being an information provider and aggregator for the always-on Internet era.