"Playhouse 90" -- what a legacy. If Martin Manulis had only produced Rod Serling's "Requiem for a Heavyweight," he would forever have earned his place in TV history books.

But as the creator and chief steward of CBS' high-end dramatic anthology series, Manulis, who died last week at the age of 92, presided over many more great hours of television, most of them live, though "Playhouse 90" also ran "filmed presentations" about once a month. (Click here for Manulis' Variety obit.) Thanks to the Archive of American Television, click here for vid of a comprehensive 11-part interview of Manulis in 1997.

It's maddening that those of us born long after the skein ended its 1956-61 run have had scant opportunities to see these smallscreen gems. I've seen a kinescope of the original "Requiem," and it lived up to every inch of its advance billing. (With all due respect to Anthony Quinn and the 1962 feature version, once you've seen Jack Palance as the hard-luck boxer, you can't never go back.) I've also seen a beat-up copy of another breathtakingly good Rod Serling teleplay, "The Comedian," helmed by John Frankenheimer with a fearless perf from Mickey Rooney. And that's about it.

I'd love to see the original "Days of Wine and Roses" starring Cliff Robertson and Piper Laurie. I'd love to see Serling's "A Town Has Turned to Dust," with Rod Steiger and James Gregory. And I'd like to see at least some of the "Playhouse 90" segs that I've never heard a thing about. If I can turn on the tube any time day or night and find a repeat of the Ultimate-Fighting-Xtreme-Street-Skate'n'Spandex-Challenge semi-finals from 1997, why can't we have the Ultimate-Badass-TV-Dramatists-Showdown airing once a week or so on an artsy channel? Or how about a comprehensive, anotated DVD set? A "Playhouse 90" download-on-demand website?

(Pictured above: "Requiem" stars Keenan Wynn, Jack Palance and Ed Wynn. Pictured right: Manulis in 2004.)

Much has been said by the cognizati about the greatness of NBC's "Friday Night Lights," how it has managed to capture the simple majesty of everyday folks living through everyday trials and triumphs.

All the superlatives that have been hurled at the show during the past year are true, and justly earned. In primetime's sea of cops, docs, lawyers and supernaturals, "Friday Night Lights" is the bravest show on TV, and it trumped the odds against shows with anemic Nielsen numbers to secure a renewal for a second season, which begins Oct. 5 at 9 p.m. (Get plenty of vid clips and full episodes for streaming by clicking here.)

"Friday Night Lights" stood apart in its freshman year because its only storytelling fulcrum in the traditional sense (i.e. a built-in plot engine like the case of the week, disease of the week, etc.) a small-town high school football team's quest to reach the summit of the Texas state high school football championship. The Dillon Panthers' bid for "State" is greatly complicated after the team's star quarterback is injured paralyzed in the first game (and episode) of the season.

But to tag "FNL" as a "football show" is like saying John Ford's "Stagecoach" is about bandits and Indians running amok in the old West. The vast majority of "FNL" hinges on the writers' ability to find compelling stories within the stuff of life in a small Texas town. Like everything else about the show, even the town of Dillon was finely drawn as a vibrant, complex character -- neither dirt poor nor oil flush, neither a redneck wasteland nor an enlightened utopia.

Dillon has many classes, many races and many nuances that were slowly drawn out through the course of 22 segs last season in such a way that made it come alive to people who've never been anywhere near the Lone Star state.

For all that there is to gush about over "FNL" (The writing! The ensemble! The directing! The production touches!), what stands out most to me after two weeks of marathon viewing of the season one DVD set is how so much of the drama is rooted in a subject rarely tackled in such a significant way on the small screen: Parenting.

Pictured above: "Friday Night Lights" cast and producers Jason Katims and Jeffrey Reiner (first row far left) soaked up the kudos during the show's NBC's Television Critics Assn. press tour sesh in July.

I made a point of taking home the "30 Rock" season preem screener when it arrived earlier in the week.

I wanted the seg to live up to the show's Emmy win for best comedy. It even boasts Jerry Seinfeld...but the upshot was, I liked it, didn't love it. That's kinda how I felt about the show last season, even after friends kept opining how much funnier it became in the second half of its frosh year.

In the sophomore season opener, "SeinfeldVision," which airs next week, there seems to be a concerted effort to put a wee bit of heart in the show, and to Tina Fey's Liz Lemon TV producer character in particular.

"I think it's going to be my year," Lemon declares at the top of the episode -- signaling of course that things are about to go awry.

For me, "30 Rock" is still a little bit too clever for its own good, what with its endless inside-the-Peacock references. Alec Baldwin, however, makes takes the edge off every time he's on screen. I've watched the show more than once wondering if I wouldn't like it more if Baldwin's nutty TV exec character Jack Donaghy was the main focus.

The "30 Rock" definitely has its moments. As the network prepares to launch a new season, Donaghy gets the bright idea to use old NBC footage of Seinfeld to digitally insert him into new episodes of shows ("Heroes" and "Deal or No Deal" among them). When the real Seinfeld returns from vacationing in an exclusive European enclave that only super-rich people know about, he takes exception with the "SeinfeldVision" campaign, forcing some fancy footwork by Jack.

I'm impressed that Chris Rock waited until season three to make his first on-screen guest shot on "Everybody Hates Chris," the loosely autobiographical sitcom he co-created, exec producers and narrates for CW.

Rock's big moment in the "Chris" spotlight finally comes on skein's Oct. 1 season preem, with Rock playing a guidance counselor at the Corleone Middle School that his on-screen alter ego, played with charm and by Tyler James Williams.

"Chris" has kinda flown under the radar lately after bowing to much acclaim and strong ratings in 2005 on the now-departed UPN. Every time I catch a seg of this show, I laugh. The season opener looks like fun. Click here for a clip of Rock in action on the show.

There are all types of drama to be found this fall on TV.

Dr. House choosing a new team, the Dillon Panthers dealing with a new coach and the Bachelor find a new Mrs., but my favorite white-knuckle ride involves a turn of the cards. Literally.

I'm a poker junkie and ESPN's Tuesday night "World Series of Poker" coverage of the main event from Las Vegas has kept me riveted for months. I was up at 5:30 this morning watching the two hours I had Tivo'd last night.

The cabler's poker producer, Jamie Horowitz, says you needn't be a fan to enjoy, which is true … to a point. It's tough for someone who doesn't know the difference between a flush and full house to appreciate the skill of these pros and amateurs, but if they do, and they can understand the ramifications — millions of dollars won or lost with a single card — they'll quickly realize the tension here is the equivalent of a "Lost" fan (which I am one) wondering who's going to make it off the island alive.

"Poker lends itself to great television," Horowitz says. "The key is good storytelling."

As the field winds down in the main event, ESPN does a nice job of profiling the players who remain: what makes them tick, their life history, how they got here, etc.

Folks such as Phil Hellmuth, Mike Matasow and Daniel Negreanu  -- all of whom have been eliminated from winning -- are all world-class talkative players who try to get under their opponents skin with constant chatter. It's often a winning strategy.

"We see this in a lot of sports," Horowitz says. "There are certain players who believe they can get inside people's heads."

And then there are players who are just plain annoying, like Hevad Khan, who does a cringe-inducing dance every time he wins a hand.

Meanwhile, I'm happy just watching players play — their strategy, the bluffs, when they go all in, on what hands do they fold — and absorb and learn for my own home-game purposes.

ESPN, which is contracted with the WSOP until 2010, upped their main event coverage this year to 16 hours. Ratings are down significantly -- 19% down in total households from last year -- but certainly not because the event is less entertaining than in years past.

Credit should to be paid to the top-notch announcing team of Lon McEachern and Norman Chad (pictured above; McEachern's on the left). McEachern plays Chad's straight man and the two are the Al Michaels and John Madden of poker. (Disclaimer: I'm Norman's cousin by marriage).

Like anything else, there's an ebb and flow to poker, which saw a huge rise in popularity in 2003 when amateur Chris Moneymaker (how's that for a great name) won the World Series and a few million bucks that goes along with it.

Granted, poker isn't for everyone and the ratings downtrend might indicate the phenomenon might be on the wane. For me, though, it's still pocket aces.

— Stuart Levine

I was too beat to make the green-scene at Area on Monday night for the Fox Fall Eco-Casino Party, but a  splendid time was had by all, I'm told. A little too splendid, perhaps, for Kiefer Sutherland, who got arrested for investigation of drunken driving after leaving the event and making a U-turn where he shouldn't have, according to the AP. (Who among us hasn't been tempted to take those kind of shortcuts after a long night of work-related schmoozing?)

The Fox soiree was a eco-friendly, carbon-neutral fundraiser that brought in more than $25,000 for enviro-charities the Nature Conservancy, Habitat for Humanity and Earth Share, all in keeping with the net's tubthumping this season for a "Cool Change." Event drew about 500 people to the club, which was decorated entirely with recyclable and renewable materials. Partygoers left with a baby tree ready for planting, and swag bags made out of recycled Fox billboards.

(Yes Virginia, some good did finally come of all those "Happy Hour," "Standoff" and "Justice" marketing materials.)

The show of force among Fox execs included the dynamic duo of Peter Liguori and Kevin Reilly, exec veeps Marcy Ross, Preston Beckman and Joe Earley, and a talent roster that included Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton, Fred Willard, Rashida Jones (pictured above with Reilly), Emily Deschenal, Omar Epps, Thomas Dekker (pictured right with Liguori), Joely Fisher, Spike Feresten, Jennifer Morrison, Lisa Edelstein, Seth MacFarlane, Kal Penn and John Cho.

It's that most wonderful time of the year for showrunners. After living with a pilot for a year (or more, in some instances), and after working non-stop for most of the summer on the subsequent segs, the climax of the campaign comes down to one night, one hour or half-hour during the Long March known to non-pros as Premiere Week.

Of course, it's rarely all over (but the shoutin') for a new show after week one, but those first overnights set a certain tone for frosh shows that can be very hard to overcome. This time around, there's no more active theater in the 2007-08 campaign than Wednesday night. And while most of the recent industry chatter has focused on the fates ABC's "Pushing Daisies" and NBC's "Bionic Woman," ABC also has a high-roller bowing in the 10 p.m. slot in "Dirty Sexy Money." "Dirty Sexy" (costar Seth Gabel pictured at left) has a secret weapon in exec producer Greg Berlanti, who has shot up the short list of uber-showrunners during the past few years, particularly after he parachuted in to save "Brothers & Sisters" for the Alphabet net last season.

According to the tao of Greg, when the nerves begin to jingle-jangle as the premiere date approaches, the only thing a showrunner can do is breathe deep and keep focused on the next script in the pipeline.

"What I always get excited about at this time of year is that it's almost out of your hands," Berlanti said last week when asked to reflect on his pre-premiere rituals. "You have to say to yourself: 'Have I done everything I can to get this ship to shore?' And then you just have to keep working. The great thing is that once you're on the air, you're communicating directly with the audience. There's nothing that fuels you more than having people finally see the stuff you've been working on for a year. That is a really great second wind. I always look forward to that part of it."

"Family Guy" had its force-is-with-you mojo working on Sunday. Animated skein's two-part season opener, a "Star Wars" spoof dubbed "Blue Harvest, Parts 1 and 2," drew 10.7 million viewers and a 5.5 rating/13 share in the adults 18-49 demo in the 9-10 p.m. hour, which indicated a high awareness of the seg among a slightly older crowd that doesn't typically tune in to the toon. (Granted, most of the competish was still in repeats.)

Young auds showed up as well, of course, to the tune of a 7.7/19 in adults 18-34 and 5.3/17 in teens, per prelim Nielsens. In the boys-to-men 12-17 demo, "Family Guy" smoked with 7.8/22. In most key measures, Sunday's perf marked "Family Guy's" best numbers since its return to Fox's air (after its resurrection on Adult Swim and DVD) in May 2005.

The Devil wears argyle sweaters. He likes to croon karaoke tunes, and he owns a small chain of Tequila Sally's restaurants that offer such signature items as the "diet-rita" (a low-cal margarita) and the "A-taco-lypse" carne asada platter.

Underneath his well-honed image as evil incarnate, the Devil is more a misunderstood family man than malevolent dictator of the underworld -- at least that's how he's played for laughs in "Lucy, Daughter of the Devil," the latest animated addition to Adult Swim's latenight lineup. Wickedly funny skein, which bowed this month in the 12:15 a.m. Sunday slot for a 10-episode run, hails from Loren Bouchard, the co-creator of another Adult Swim fave, "Home Movies."

Like most of the shows on Adult Swim, the humor in "Lucy" is surreal and uninhibited by traditional standards of TV decorum, and unbound by the laws of physics as only animation can be. Even non- believers might even feel a bit, well, devilish for giggling at some of the things that "Lucy" pokes fun at. Who knew homicidal nuns, manic-depressive priests and nonsensical setups, like the Devil and Jesus engaging in a dashboard-bongo jam session while driving across the desert to get to the Burning Man festival, could be so much fun?

To Bouchard, "Lucy" is not overtly concerned with skewering sacred cows of the Judeo-Christian tradition. It's about a father's relationship with his feisty 21-year-old daughter, who is dating a charismatic guy dubbed DJ Jesus, much to her father's disapproval.

"I don't think that if you really watch the show you'll be offended" by the treatment of the religious themes and Biblical characters, Bouchard says. "There'll be moments here and there people might not like, but I don't think the overall impression you get if you watch the show from the beginning is that we're trying to offend."

Judge for yourself in this clip:

There was a heartfelt "awwwww" at the breakfast table in my house this morning when we read the news of Alice Ghostley's passing. Ghostley was one of TV's great character-actress soldiers, known for being a regular on "Bewitched" -- her role as housekeeper and good witch Esmeralda on that show cemented her on-screen persona as the ditsy-nervous housefrau type -- and "Designing Women," plus a few thousand one-offs in which she always scored. (Peruse her IMDB listing right here, it's like a tour of TV from the early 1960s through the present day.)

Ghostley also did her share of supporting turns in movies, some of them classics including "To Kill a Mockingbird" and "The Graduate," and plenty of theater in the 1950s and '60s. (Click here for her AP obit.)

Whatever the forum, Ghostley was one of those actors who was just plain fun to watch, and listen to -- the distinctive nervous timbre of her voice was often a feature of her roles. (Even if you haven't caught a "Bewitched" rerun in 15 years, can't you just picture Esmeralda saying "Oooooohhhhhhh" and fiddling with her fingers?) R.I.P., Miss Ghostley, we'll miss you.

(Pictured: Alice Ghostley with her character-actor compadre Charles Nelson Reilly at a 1993 Friars Club event. Pic by Ron Galella/WireImage.)

How hot is Disney Channel's "Hannah Montana" and its sweet-faced star Miley Cyrus? So smokin' that Disney Channel execs have been inundated with celeb requests to bring their children to tonight's (Friday) taping of the show's last episode before it goes on a hiatus while Cyrus hits the road for a concert tour. (The "Hannah Montana 2 Soundtrack/Meet Miley Cyrus" disc was among this summer's chart toppers). I'm told that Sylvester Stallone brought some of his yungins to the show's set at Tribune Studios in Hollywood on Thursday to watch "Hannah" in action.

Among those expected to be in the bleachers at the show's live taping tonight (Friday) evening are actress Leslie Mann and her daughters, Iris and Maude Apatow, who memorably made their film debuts this summer alongside mom in dad Judd Apatow's hit comedy "Knocked Up."

"The VIP requests for this show have been piling up all year," sez a Disney exec.

(Pictured above: Miley Cyrus and her dad and "Hannah" co-star, Billy Ray Cyrus, get cuddly with Minnie Mouse at last month's "High School Musical 2" preem at Disneyland. Pic by Gregg DeGuire/WireImage.com)

I'm curious to finally see how Aaron Sorkin will handle the Birth of a Television saga on stage in his play "The Farnsworth Invention," which is set to begin its previews at Broadway's Music Box Theater on Oct. 15.

I think the historical story of how vacuum tubes, radio waves, ionoscopes and various transmitters, circuits and receivers were mashed together to create radio with pictures is a fascinating techno-thriller that should be more widely appreciated. It's got all the dramatic elements -- heroes and villains, endearing underdogs and larger-than-life overlords, examples of pure ingenuity, gumption and genius and ultra-high stakes for profit and glory among the (mostly) men who raced to stake their claim to having "invented" television.

Philo T. Farnsworth is a Steinbeck-ian character, the Utah farm boy who had an epiphany of how radio waves could be channeled to make pictures fly through the air as a teenager working in the field and studying rows of corn (I think it was corn). There's no question he got hosed in the credit department by the institutional machine of RCA, its mega-titan David Sarnoff and Sarnoff's genius-inventor-in-chief, Vladimir Zworykin.

But from the books I've read on the subject (one of the best is Michael Ritchie's "Please Stand By" -- click here to check it out via Amazon.com), it's a little too simplistic to paint the story as RCA stealing it all from the struggling little-guy Farnsworth. So I'm anxious to see how Sorkin handles it. Play directed by Des McAnuff stars Jimmi Simpson as Farnsworth and Hank Azaria as Sarnoff. I'm guessing there's a role for Philo's beloved wife, Pem, who was at his side in the lab and stuck with him through his unhappy end in 1971, and then worked hard to make sure the industry didn't completely forget about her husband's accomplishment.

(Pictured above, from left: Sorkin, Azaria, Simpson and McAnuff from Tuesday's photo call. Pic by Eugene Golorgursky)

Variety looked in on "Farnsworth" when it was workshopped at the La Jolla Playhouse in February and March (click here for the story). And if you're interested in diving deep into TV geek-dom, there's all kinds of websites out there stocked with info about Farnsworth, Zworykin, John Logie Baird (a nutty British guy who also has TV pioneer cred), and their ilk. (Click here for a good one about Farnsworth.)

The enduring image I have of rail-thin Philo T. is from an appearance he did on "I've Got a Secret" in 1957. (He got a couple hundred bucks cash and a carton of Winstons for stumping the panel.) I caught a rerun on Game Show Network some years back, and lo and behold I found the clip on YouTube.

Showtime is getting into the high school musical business.

No, not with Zac and Vanessa, et al, but through a feature documentary to be produced with Lionsgate that promises to examine "the cutthroat world of high school musicals in southern Indiana." Pic will focus on the rehearsals, histrionics and hijinks surrounding tuner productions at three schools -- Floyd Central High, New Albany and Jeffersonville -- as students, parents, teachers and even local salons go at it head-to-head in an effort to have their shows selected to participate in the International Thespian Festival. Untitled docu will be produced by Barry Blaustein, producer of the wrestling docu "Beyond the Mat," and Nigel Sinclair, who produced Martin Scorsese's "No Direction Home: Bob Dylan" doc.Lionsgate gets worldwide theatrical distrib rights to the pic, which is expected to bow next year.

Blaustein's promising to capture "all the joy, all the love, all the backstabbing" that surrounds the process.
The southern Indiana setting is kinda close to home for Showtime entertainment chief Robert Greenblatt, who had his own "Waiting for Guffman" moments in high school as the stage manager of variety show and tuner productions at his high school in Rockford, Ill., including "Guys & Dolls," "No No Nanette," "Bye Bye Birdie" and "George M!"

As such, the untitled docu project "really speaks to me," Greenblatt says.

Twenty-five years ago, Evan Lurie was a Lounge Lizard who haunted New York City night spots and European jazz  festivals. Today he's the musical tour guide for Pablo the penguin, Tasha the hippo, Tyrone the moose and the other stars of Nickelodeon's hit animated skein "The Backyardigans."

Yes, it's been a long, strange musical journey for Lurie in his evolution from pianist for the Lounge Lizards, the jazz fusion outfit led by his older brother, John Lurie (better known in showbiz circles as the lanky, enigmatic star of such Jim Jarmusch pics as "Stranger Than Paradise" and "Down by Law") to becoming one of Nickelodeon's resident  tunesmiths.

(To get a sense of the Lounge Lizards' strange and beautiful music, think Eric Dolphy meets Captain Beefheart and Frank Zappa at an after-hours jam session with Little Walter, George Gershwin, Nino Rota and King Sunny Ade. If that sounds good to you, check out the vid clips posted below.)

But the music he pens for "Backyardigans" is no less satisfying than the work he did with the Lizards or the scores  he periodically composes for grown-up movies. Given the unusual conceit of "Backyardigans" -- each episode is  built around a different style of music -- Lurie sits down to work each day secure in the knowledge that he's doing his part to expose his listeners to the aural wonders of the world.

"Backyardigans" has done episodes around everything from calypso to cumbia themes, from juju to zydeco to Irish jigs and Southern gospel. The show has become one of Nick Jr.'s hottest properties, and it's getting a big push with this week's preem of its first hourlong primetime spesh, "Super Secret Super Spy." It's a 007 spy-thriller intrigue, Nickelodeon-style, anchored by a jazzy-pop number, "The Lady in Pink," warbled by Cyndi Lauper. (Click here for a vid clip, and check out the behind-the-scenes featurette on "Backyardigans" on the same page for a soundbite from Lurie.)

"It really feels like an accomplishment. I hope I'm expanding the musical vocabulary of a generation," says Lurie.  "We go for styles of music they may never hear anywhere else."

Some Emmy tidbits I really should have written up Sunday night before going off to parties:

Consistency, thy name is David Chase. "It's open to interpretation," the "Sopranos" creator said backstage at the Emmys when asked, inevitably and more than once, about the series' famed blackout finale. In a convoluted way, after being pressed by multiple questioners, Chase seemed to say that he knew in his mind what happened to the family, but he had no intention of sharing it with the intimate room full 200 or so reporters. Chase did say that he'd had the notion to take the show out in the way that he did for a long time....

Earlier in the night Alan Taylor told us backstage scribblers that Chase was pleased by the fact that even members of "Sopranos'" production crew debated what the finale really meant. Chase wanted it to be something people would chew over and talk about, Taylor said...

And as for the Emmy snub of James Gandolfini after the tour de force he turned in? Paulie Walnuts had his back, backstage on Sunday. "I think it was a shame. He should've won tonight...but we won all around (for drama series)," Tony Sirico (pictured right) said. "We've been honored. I speak for Jimmy when I say he can handle it." .....

America Ferrera was such a doll in the backstage quip room. She displayed her usual humility and gratitude for the career-making break that "Ugly Betty" has been for her. And she's happy that her star turn has come on a show that is light and frothy on the outside but meaningful on the inside, where it counts, by challenging the conventional notions of beauty and body image for women.
"It's fun and it's funny and entertaining and I feel so incredibly blessed," Ferrera said. "To be acknowledged for it, to know peep are watching it and enjoying it -- it's just a dream for me. This is what I have wanted to do since I was 5 years old. It just reassures me in the power of dreaming. Now I can set my (career) heights even higher." And she was channeling the self-assured Betty Suarez when a questioner tried to pry into her love life. "I don't talk about my personal life. Thank you," she said in a Betty-esque polite-but-firm tone....

Don't ask Terry O'Quinn what's going on in "Lost" in its upcoming fourth season, because he doesn't know. Is John Locke really Jacob? Is he going to somehow kill Jack? Will he ever get near a shower again? I'm telling ya, don't ask because Quinn doesn't know. (And no, winning an Emmy doesn't entitle him to a few free plot points.) Backstage after his win for supporting drama actor, Locke showed off his hot pink shirt and black tie with glittery rhinestones. When asked, Quinn admitted that early on in the show's run he would go on the Internet to see what the fans were speculating about the Deeper Meaning of it all and where the castaways were headed. But not any more. "I'm sated," he said....

Sally Field was feeling strong, confident and not ready to suffer any cliches on Sunday. She made fast work of a question about actresses of a certain (out-of-the-demo) age enjoying a renaissance on cable ("The Closer," "Damages," "Saving Grace," etc.) and why aren't there better roles for women in features and blah blah blah...."I don't listen to any of that stuff. You guys are the ones who are listening to that," Field shot back.

Where fore art thou, Oscar? Jon Stewart had a cheeky response for the reporter who just had to know what it meant to him to be asked to host the Academy Awards a second time. "Whatever emotional hole I had in my soul vanished at that moment and I was complete," he deadpanned. "That's why I decided to do it."...

And thus brings to a close this inaugural edition of live blogging at the Emmys. I'd be remiss without giving a special thank you to the shooters of WireImage, who moved Emmy photos lickity-split last night and thus livened up this blog considerably. Honorable mentions go out to Steve Granitz, Jeffrey Mayer, John Shearer, Jeff Vespa and Todd Williamson.

For as much fun as we all had backstage at the Shrine Auditorium on Sunday night, it seems that America (the country, not the actress) didn't play along. Viewership of the Emmycast fell to near-record lows with only 13.1 million viewers. For the details click here for Variety's Sunday night ratings report. And don't take my word for it: For a complete rundown of the winners, click here.

HBO turned the Pacific Design Center into Thai Town on Sunday night.

Theme of this year's shindig was all about the far east isle of Siam, and the party space was dripping with purple and gold iconography and, of course delectable, and exotic eats. I particularly enjoyed an orange-chicken salad concoction with a light-sweet touch that hit the spot just right after getting parched in the packed-like-sardines press room for three-plus hours earlier in the night.

HBO's party space was packed with stars, execs of all stripes (not just Time Warner folks), and even the dance floor got busy at one point. The Journey power ballad "Don't Stop Believin'" that had such a powerful guest-star role in "The Sopranos" finale was playing (loudly) over the P.A. when I arrived at the party with Variety managing editor Kathy Lyford. Hearing that tune kinda put a slightly bittersweet vibe to the night for me, as if it was really HBO's final-final farewell to the show that put the network into overdrive, and of course it was made all the more poignant by "Sopranos" bagging the top Emmy prize one last time, plus prestige wins in the drama series writing (David Chase, for the finale) and directing (Alan Taylor) categories that it has long dominated.

The whole "Sopranos" gang seemed in great spirits, particularly Chase, who was remarkably open to a few thousand people sidling up to his table to gush about what the show meant to them (me included, and he even offered a smile when I mentioned how cool it is to see his name on "Rockford Files" segs.) Most important, Chase reiterated what he said backstage at the Shrine: Don't hold yer breath for a "Sopranos" movie. He won't say never-ever, but it'd have to be a fantastic idea that would make for a pic worthy of the series. I pressed him on what's next for him. He said nothing in particular, maybe a movie script down the road but nothing's on the front burner.

(Pictured above left: "Sopranos" kids Jamie-Lynn Sigler and Robert Iler; at right, Time Warner prexy Jeff Bewkes and "Sopranos'" Tony Sirico.)

It was a nice way to end the night, with a boatload of writers, producers, directors and stars of "The Sopranos" taking a final bow. There were so many of them that they were brought up in two groups -- the scribe-producers and the actors, though Tony Sirico stood with both (so in character). They all had kind words for one another, and David Chase was ultra-cool and unflappable in discussing his much-discussed finale moment of darkness. But most telling to me was the way the actors looked reverently at Chase as they stood on the side waiting for their turn. And when the scribes were done, Chase, Brad Grey and exec producer Matthew Weiner stood in a group on the side and watched the actors (sans Gandolfini and Falco) speak their piece.

A nice way to go out, after all....

I have more notes and good anecdotal stuff to disgorge from backstage, but signing off for now -- the parties await.

Well, here was an upset that made some sense. It's a little generous for a first-year show that took more than half of its frosh season to find its groove, IMHO, but it almost feels like a vote of confidence from Emmy voters to the woebegone TV comedy and that there is hope for the future. "30 Rock's" multi-tasker-in-chief Tina Fey was charmingly humble in her backstage remarks.

"Because we shoot in New York, and we're not the highest rated show, I feel like we're not really on TV -- they are putting these shows on TV, right? It sort of feels like it legitimizes us a little bit." sort of feels like it legitimzes it a little bit."

Fey sez she feels good about the plans for season two with cool guests a la Edie Falco, David Schimmer and Jerry Seinfeld lined up. But she's also wary of getting "too stunty" with too many guest stars.

"We have a very deep bench" in the regular cast, Fey observed. When asked the inevitable Q about writing strong roles for femmes, Fey and costar Jane Krakowski feel into a bit. "Jane is very physically strong," Fey said. "She can lift a Volkswagen."

How could Emmy voters pick any one other than James Gandolfini for lead actor in a drama this past season.

After the perf Gandolfini turned in on "Sopranos?" How in the world could this happen. "Brought the proceedings to a screeching halt," sez my neighbor Stuart Levine. Well said. "It's the Emmy's equivalent of the blackout at the end of the 'Sopranos' finale. It's the thing everyone will be talking about tomorrow," sez my other neighbor, Variety's David Cohen.

But in all fairness, Spader proved himself to be nothing but classy when he came backstage. "I thought it could've been anybody but me," he said. "I really was sort of dazed and confused while up there. I had not prepared much to say. I just didn't think it was going to happen tonight...I was pleased to be nominated and most importantly pleased that the show was nominated (for best drama), because I never really knew what category we would be nominated in unless they created a category, 'What the hell is this?'"

Another big win for a frosh ABC show. "Ugly Betty's" America Ferrera besting tough competish for lead comedy actress. She's earned it, she deserves it and like her character Betty Suarez, she's always demonstrated nothing but a fantastic attitude toward her work. Here's to you, America.

Sally Field just triumphed as lead actress in a drama for ABC's frosh "Brothers and Sisters." That's huge for the show, and something I didn't see coming given her competish.

I couldn't hear her on stage remarks but there's been a hubbub backstage because some of them were apparently bleeped out on the telecast.

When she came backstage, looking absolutely fabulous, Field reiterated her firm belief that "if mothers ruled the world there would be no wars." When it was pointed out to her that those remarks were sure to be picked up widely tomorrow and undoubtedly put her in the line for harsh criticism, she said "oh well...I've been there before."

Al Gore looked real happy as he and partner Joel Hyatt came backstage to talk up theirr win in the interactive TV category for cabler Current TV. First question lobbed at Gore was whether he, as a survivor of many controversies and media flaps, had any advice for Britney Spears, and did he plan to run in '08?

Gore didn't miss a beat, and got a big laugh with this quip: "I kinda figured the first question would be about Britney Spears."

Finally, a probing question of an actress that elicited something we really wanted to know.

No, Helen Mirren hasn't met up with Queen Elizabeth in the year since she triumphed on screen with her role as QEII in Miramax's "The Queen." But, Mirren did say that she had received a royal invite but had to turn it down because, as befitting a great actress, she couldn't make it because she was working.

"It was very sad for me; it was probably not so sad for her," Mirren joked, adding later that she's not sure if she gets a raincheck or not. "I guess only time will tell."

Mirren won her Emmy for PBS' "Prime Suspect: The Final Act," was a good sport about the obvious non-question thrown at her about 'Wow you've had a good year" after winning the Oscar earlier this year for "Queen." "I call it my amazing year. I don't believe in astrology but I'm curious to see what my astrological sign said about this year. 'You will meet disappointment,' probably."

Cast of "Roots" came back stage after their tribute moment on stage. The group of them -- John Amos, LeVar Burton, Louis Gossett, Jr., Cicely Tyson, Leslie Uggams and Ben Vereen -- genuinely looked they they were enjoying their reunion and they might have potential as a comedy troupe. Burton and Tyson got into a funny little dispute about whether "Roots" was in fact the first miniseries. And when Vereen lingered at the mike a little too long, Burton stepped behind him making motions of trying to pull him off stage. Of course there were queries about what "Roots" meant to this country, then and now. Gossett noted that there's a frightening lack of understanding of history among many young people in this country today.

"Some people in Atlanta don't even know about Martin Luther King Jr.," Gossett said. Burton concurred but also looked a bit into the near future.

"I think there's a direct connection between slavery and reconstruction of the south civil rights to 'Roots' in the '70s," Burton observed. "In 1977 it would have been unfathomable to think we might have a black president in the United States. Now that is really a possiblity...Progress is two steps forward. Tempest fugit. Time always moves."

Meanwhile, in a quick "what'er you doing now," interesting tidbits came from Gossett -- who said he's heading back to Broadway to do "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" with Phylicia Rashad, with Debbie Allen directing -- and Vereen, who said he's just wrapped a seg of "Grey's Anatomy."

Jeremy Piven, supporting comedy actor winner for the second year in a row for HBO's "Entourage," was feelin' sweet backstage (kinda like the Ari Gold aw shucks moment in most "Entourage" segs), expanding on his remarks about how much his parents, the late Byrne Piven and Joyce Hiller Piven, influenced his life with the "corner theater" they ran in Chicago, in which he grew up steeped in a life of trodding the boards.

"He's a man who worked his entire life to find a brilliant role, and his last role was "King Lear" so he found it," Piven said of his dad. Piven noted that his mother was busy directing a play in Chicago so she turned him down as his date for the Emmys for a fifth time in a row.

"And for the record, I'm straight. I'm the only straight man to bring his mother four times and now his sister. You can look it up."

Back to the serious side, Piven noted when pressed on the "what does it all mean to you, Jeremy" question, especially being a back to back win. "For a guy from Chicago, the dream for me was getting on stage in Chicago, not being celebrated like this. So I'm having an other-worldly experience."

POSTED BY STUART LEVINE

There's lots of great questions to be asked backstage at the Emmys ... tell us more about your character,  what does this mean for your career, who has inspired you, etc., etc.

Yet one that keeps getting asked, as it just was to comedy supporting actor winner Jeremy Piven and "My Name Is Earl" actress Jaime Pressly, continues to be "So where are you going to put your Emmy?" (UPDATE: Thomas Hayden Church said he will be "hiding it in the tool shed.")

What's with the fascination of where's the Emmy's going in the house? Is there an office pool going on that more are being displayed in the bedroom vs. the living room? Do you get bonus points if an actor says they're keeping it in the bathroom?

I've learned to live with the questions about who you're wearing but where you're keeping your Emmy once you get home has got to come to an end. Maybe they should just set up a press tent for the folks from Architectural Digest and be done with it.

POSTED BY STUART LEVINE

Rob Marshall, who many thought had a shot to win an Oscar when he was nominated for "Chicago," has had better luck at the Emmys. He picked up a statue for helming "Tony Bennett: An American Classic."

It's Marshall's second Emmy. He won for choreography when he put the song and dance into "Annie" back in 1999,

Marshall always had a lot of class when "Chicago" was making the rounds and, as evidenced by "Dreamgirls" and now "Hairspray," has helped reinvent the musical for the bigscreen.

Good for Jaime Pressly! She won for supporting comedy actress for her bravura turn as a trailer prima donna Joy Turner on NBC's "My Name is Earl." Backstage she admitted that Joy is an amalgam of four or five people she grew up with in North Carolina. The win is important to her because after toiling for 13 years, "I finally changed everybody's mind...and had the opportunity to show what I could do."

I'm especially happy for her because I went out on a limb on Friday and noted that I was rooting for her in the category. I was also rooting for Rainn Wilson in the supporting comedy actor heat, but it went to Jeremy Piven. I'm 1-2.

At left, Julia Louis-Dreyfus hands Pressly the trophy for the category that she won once and was nommed seven times for during her "Seinfeld" days.

Pity the poor Emmy announcer. She mispronounced the surname of "Grey's Anatomy" star Katherine Heigl, who joined the achingly handsome Kyle Chandler on stage to present the trophy for supporting actor in a movie/miniseries. First thing Heigl sez as she hits the mike: It's "Hi-gull."

Winner in the category added a heap of sweet to Heigl's sour. Thomas Haden Church (pictured below), a victor for the AMC oater "Broken Trail," thanked "David and Lynn Angell, who were there at the beginning." Sweet of him to remember David Angell and his wife. David, of course, was part of the Angell-Casey-Lee triumvirate who created the show, "Wings," that provided Church's breakthru role. David and Lynn died in one of the hijacked planes on Sept. 11, but their legacy, clearly, remains strong.

This just in: Katherine Heigl (that's Hi-gelle) has won in the supporting drama actress category for her role as the mixed up Izzie on "Grey's Anatomy."

Emmycast started with a musical number from "Family Guy's" potty-mouthed baby Stewie and Brian. "If you want it you can find it on TV...." The bit had barbs for each of the networks, but there was a particularly nasty one aimed at "Scrubs," about it going into its "seventh and a half" season: "Reminds you a sitcom doesn't have to make you laugh." Ouch! As Emmy host Ryan Seacrest observed when the bit was over, it's clear the Emmys "are on Fox this year."

Not much shaking here backstage yet but "Lost" fans around the world are excited that Terry O'Quinn just won for his role as the mystical John Locke. And how 'bout that pink-pink-pink shirt. During his quips he seemed to make a thinly veiled request for a raise, comparing the duties on "Lost" to those on "Desperate Housewives'" Wisteria Lane.

OK,  we're here. Backstage at the Shrine. Stuart Levine and I are in place in the winners quote room, trying to get adjusted to tight squeeze that they have reporters in and we're both vowing to work hard not to knock our water bottles over into our computers. Mercifully, I'm having no tech problems (that I know of!) and it's not 100 degrees in the tent yet, so by the standards of Emmys past, I've no reason to complain. Gonna head out to the red carpet and see what's up. I can see by the pics that are already posted on WireImage (thanks Jeff Vespa) that stars, such as best drama actress nominee Edie Falco pictured at left, are starting to arrive.

Don't think it's an exaggeration to say that among industry insiders, the talk of NBC U's Spago party on Saturday night was the happening that started late Friday and stretched through dawn at the blow out hosted by Ben Silverman and L.A. nightclub maven Brent Bolthouse at a 10,000-square foot rented mansion in the Mt. Olympus area. (Everybody described it to me as 'the SoHo House' from two years ago when that London club made a stand here for a few days during the run-up to the Oscars.)

It was a shuttle-in kind of exclusive affair, albeit one with a big guest-list. Attendance estimates varied from 1,500 to 2,000. One thing that is certain  -- the bash was not underwritten by NBC U -- on that point Peacock execs were emphatic. Emphatic.

I'm told that the soiree was in keeping with the style of the youthful exec who has vowed to "bring sexy back" to the Peacock's air. Apparently there were plenty of bikini-clad party favors spread around, a caged tiger to greet guests at the entry to the mansion compound and lots and lots of cognizati and beautiful people.

The best description of the scene from someone who attended (I can't personally vouch for how accurate it is but I trust the source):

"It was 10 percent TV people; 20 percent bimbos; 40 percent movie people and execs and agents; and the rest Hollywood hangers-on" and club-crawler types, undoubtedly brought in by Bolthouse, who's busy tonight lending his charms to DirecTV's party in BevHills.

That said, a number of folks noted that for all its trappings it was a "sedate" atmosphere mostly dominated by industry gossip and schmooze. Even the tiger fell asleep, some attendees observed. As one scribe on an NBC series put it: "For a sleazy Hollywood party, I had a great time."

Music was via DJ, not live, and food was fabulous, by all accounts from people who were munching Spago vittles at the time, so it was up against a tough comparison.

One person told me that Paris Hilton made the scene, but again, can't entirely vouch for it.

4 a.m. seemed to be a common time for people to have pooped out and cleared out, though I'm told Ben left earlier. A dozen hours later, NBC U's man of the moment was whirling around the Spago party on Saturday, looking none too worse for wear. I got a Ben drive-by handshake and cheek-peck at Spago but he didn't stop to chat, or let me give him grief for leaving me off his invite list.

NBC Universal's pre-Emmy party at Spago on Saturday night was as relaxed as a shoulder-to-shoulder schmoozefest can be. Place was hopping with NBC U execs, agents, scribes and helmers and stars of NBC U productions -- it seemed everywhere you looked there was a staffer from "The Office" or a savior from "Heroes" holding court.

"Heroes" trouper Hayden Panettiere looked particularly fetching in a white minidress that flattered her cheerleader-worthy figure. Alec Baldwin of "30 Rock" was surrounded by a hub of well-wishers and back-slappers. Kathy Griffin picked up compliments while in line in the ladies room for her win  (unveiled at the Creative Arts ceremony) for Bravo's "My Life on the D-List"; there was some discussion of whether her show's title needed to be adjusted in light of her victory. And there was much chatter throughout the night at Spago of the goings-on the previous night at the private affair thrown by new NBC U co-chairman Ben Silverman and impresario Brent Bolthouse. (Among the more talked-about elements of the affair at a rented 10,000-square-foot mansion in the Hollywood Hills: the caged tiger that greeted guests, the number of bikinis running around, and of course, Paris Hilton).

NBC U graciously pushed back the start time of its Spago party to 8:30 p.m. to accommodate the dance cards of those who also attended Saturday's "Evening Before" benefit in Century City for the Motion Picture Television Fund home, co-sponsored by Variety. Among those who took in both parties on Saturday were "Top Chef" star Tom Colicchio, whose new Century City restaurant Craft pitched in with "Evening Before."

(Sorry, no pics posted yet of the NBC U party. Above shot of Kathy Griffin at the Sept. 8 Creative Arts ceremony by Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage.com.)

Here it comes, the big night. By midday Sunday showbiz journos will converge in tents at the Shrine Auditorium for the 59th annual Primetime Emmy Awards.

Seems like there's been precious little pre-show buzz for the kudofest this year. Is it because it looks like a cakewalk to the top of Mount Emmy this year for the dearly departed "The Sopranos"? Is it because ratings for the show have ebbed precipitously in the past decade? Who knows. Really, the most pre-Emmy buzz I've heard this week is about the bash that NBC Entertainment co-chair Ben Silverman is throwing late tonight (Friday) with the help of L.A.'s premier nightclub dude Brent Bolthouse (who's also handling DirecTV's inaugural Emmy night party) at a rented mansion in the Hollywood Hills. The guest list and the security plans are said to be super-tight.

I've always had kind of a love-dread thing with the Emmys. Love because I do love the smallscreen and its players and it's fun to see your colleagues all dressed up in their finery. (As my old boss at UPI used to say: It's prom night for the media.) Dread because of course a big awards show means a looooong work night for showbiz reporters, especially those of us who file live on deadline and have to get everybody's name and award category right, etc., or there'll be snickers the next day.

POSTED BY JOSEF ADALIAN

Yes, that was Mark Itkin walking around the corridors of CAA Thursday night. But no, the William Morris Agency’s dean of unscripted programming isn’t defecting.

Itkin made a trip to what he called “enemy territory” in order to appear on a CAA/BAFTA-sponsored panel dubbed “Another British Invasion.” Powwow brought together six of the biggest names in the reality biz, ostensibly to discuss the past and future of Blighty-produced TV in the States.

Night actually turned into a broader discussion encompassing the history of the biz and the challenges it faces, with “American Idol” showrunner Nigel Lythgoe (pictured left) moderating a lively hourlong-plus conversation.

Panel also included CAA reality chief Michael Camacho, unscripted superlawyer Jeanne Newman, Fox alternative prexy Mike Darnell, CBS reality guru Ghen Maynard and Lifetime supremo Andrea Wong (who until recently headed up unscripted programming for ABC).

Group of Six repped a sort of Mt. Rushmore of the modern reality age, collectively repping some sort of involvement in just about every major unscripted skein since “The Real World” kicked off the alternative boom.

Itkin talked about putting together the deal for “Real World” (MTV wanted a soap but didn’t have the coin to pay for actors), while Newman (pictured right)outlined how she got all the major nets to bid on “Big Brother.”

“We had a true bidding war, not like the ones we make up,” Newman quipped.

Finally caught up with the David Letterman interview on Monday's season opener of "The Oprah Winfrey Show."

For Letterman-lovers it was a treat, well worth seeking out (I botched getting it in its premiere but was saved by a dub sent over by the good folks at CBS Paramount Domestic TV), if only to see him acting like a proud papa showing off adorable pics of his tow-headed 4-year-old, Harry. (Pic at left is from a "Late Show" promo spot Oprah and Dave did for CBS' Super Bowl  telecast in February.) Also happy to see that video from the Sept. 7 dedication ceremony of the David Letterman Communication and Media Building at Ball State U. in Muncie, Ind., is starting to pop up on YouTube.

Letterman was clearly in good spirits that day, talking about how much his late father, Harry, would have been proud of him for the school's brick-and-mortar tribute. By gum, Dave's gonna lose his reputation for being an interview-phobic recluse if he keeps up this nice-guy-in-public routine. Maybe it's just natural maturity (a hopeful sign that TV personalities can in fact mature gracefully). As Oprah informed him: "60 is the new 40."

In reality, I think Letterman's doing a burst of PR for good causes -- he owed it to Oprah for her having come on his show two years ago, and he owed to the mom and dad who put him through Ball State -- and he'll soon go back to keeping firmly out of the spotlight. He told Oprah that his idea of "kicking back" (her phrase) is spending time on a horse at his spread in Montana, not strolling red carpets. Anyway, here's the best quality vid I could find of Letterman's nine-minute address, complete with Top Ten list.

And for Letterman fans of the truly, madly, deeply variety, there's also vid clips on YouTube of a Q&A that Letterman and his "Late Show" exec producer Barbara Gaines and another "Late Show" staffer I can't identify (sounds like they're calling him "Bill") did with students on campus, presumably the same day as the dedication. Vid quality is pretty weak, so you'll have to be a devotee to get through it but IMHO it's worth it.

When asked about his fave moments on the show, he cites two that indicate he's not the same self-centered, insanely competitive neurotic of old. Dave's personal Top Two: The night he came back on air after his January 2000 quintuple heart bypass surgery, and the night in November 2003 after his son was born. Me thinks Dave's mentor and idol, Johnny Carson, would be proud of his protege.

The Q&A is broken up into three roughly 10-minute vids. Here's a link to Part 1 .... and Part 2 ... and Part 3.

Meet Benji Lessman. He's an agent's agent. No, he's not the toast of the percentery business. He's an agent for agents, proprietor of the Less is More Agency. And he's got his own publicist -- twin publicists, in fact.

If it all sounds absurb, well, it should, because it's the conceit of of "Layers," an inside-showbiz satire series of vid shorts set to debut Sept. 21 on Turner Broadcasting's Superdeluxe comedy broadband net. (Click here for a streaming video sneak of the debut installment.)

"Layers" is the brainchild of twin comics Jason and Randy Sklar (they guested as the battling twin assistants on a recent "Entourage" seg, and they played battling conjoined twins last year on "Grey's Anatomy") and thesp Nick Kroll (pictured above), who is soon to make his primetime series debut on ABC's "Cavemen." Superdeluxe has ordered eight five-minute segs of the trio's sendup of showbiz and its ever-growing entourages.

"I'm passionate about people who are passionate about people," Lessman explains of his vocation. To give the shorts an authentic backdrop of a Wilshire Boulevard talent agency, the shorts were shot at the Sklars' and Kroll's respective management firms, Principato-Young and Thruline Entertainment.

(The debut seg opens with a title card featuring a quote from a recent column by Variety editor-in-chief Peter Bart, but to be crystal clear, Variety has no formal tie to "Layers.")

Lessman was a character that Kroll was doing in his alterna-comedy standup act for a few years. The Sklars (pictured right) met him while they were producing and hosting the ESPN Classic series "Cheap Seats," and they all vowed to work together at some point on something cool. "Layers" kinda fell together earlier this year, and after they shot the first three, Superdeluxe was quick to order five more. They'll roll out once a week on Superdeluxe on Friday nights starting next week.

That rumble you might've heard earlier this week eminating from the Westside wasn't the screams of youngsters on the Ferris Wheel at the pier but the folks at HBO's Santa Monica headquarters.

With less than 1 million voyeurs tuning in to the premiere episode of "Tell Me You Love Me," the folks at the pay cabler couldn't have been pleased. Shocked may be a better description.

That's a shame, considering "Tell Me" is a smart and introspective look at four couples (including therapist Jane Alexander and her husband) in the midst of relationship turmoil. And, oh yeah, there's lots of sex, too.

There's lots of ways to interpret the numbers. HBO has always said it's more interested in cumulative viewer totals over the week of repeated viewings than what happens on opening night. And the network also previewed "Tell Me" before Sunday, which means some caught a sneak peak.

But even with all that into account, the numbers have to be disheartening. It was a major drop from the "John From Cincinnati" premiere in June, and that one was considered low. The 5.7 million who tuned in for the first-ever "Deadwood," which preemed in March 2004, seems like a "Seinfeld"-like number now.

Maybe some were turned off by all the explicit sex they had read about in reviews. Who knows?

Adding to the cabler's woes was the lowest-ever premiere for "Curb Your Enthusiasm," which obviously got no help from "Tell Me."

So where does HBO go from here? All they or any network can do is continue to make programs that rise above the common denominator and hope that folks give these shows a chance.

But it's undoubtedly been a tough year over there and hard to keep a stiff upper lip, with the sudden departure of Chris Albrecht and the end of "The Sopranos."

Where HBO once ruled the cable universe, those days are long gone now. Showtime has made huge strides with shows such as "Weeds" and "Dexter," while FX has established itself as the gritty basic cable alternative with skeins like "The Shield," "Damages" and "Nip/Tuck." Even networks that didn't have original drama programming just a few years ago, such as AMC and TBS, are now in the game.

This weekend should help, however. "Sopranos" and James Gandolfini could certainly be coming home with Emmys and "Longford" was a stellar piece of work, as was its star, Jim Broadbent.

HBO's closets are filled with Emmys but what it needs now, more than statues, are hits.

— Stuart Levine

For anyone who wants to test-drive the experience of being a television writer, Matt Selman has an easy solution.

Get a group of your most sarcastic friends together in a room, preferably windowless, and try to make each other laugh by outdoing one another with a steady stream of the most offensive, sophomoric and vulgar set of jokes and set-ups that you can possibly imagine -- things that could never air on TV, not even pay cable. Add in lots of takeout food and soft drinks and repeat for a few weeks on end. If your heart soars and body tingles every time you make the room snicker, you just might be cut out to be a television writer.

At least that's the quick-and-easy career counseling that Selman (pictured right), an Emmy-winning scribe for "The Simpsons" and co-writer of "The Simpsons Movie," offered Tuesday night during the "Sublime Primetime" dish sesh with a clutch of Emmy-nommed scribes, hosted by the WGA West and Variety at the Writers Guild Theater in BevHills.

"Don't wait for the industry to give you money," Selman instructed. "Take any opportunity to (try writing). The joy of writing is just as fun to do ... if you're on the worst show on television or the best show...Find a group of friends and make each other laugh. Riff off each other. Go on super-offensive runs about degrading subjects."

It's the bulge that they're all talking about today at MTV. MTV sez that Monday was MTV.com's busiest day ever "by far" with 2.6 million unique visitors, up 40% over its previous record-high, which was day after last year's VMAs.

MTV also reports that it has beamed out more than 7 million video streams of show snippets, a record that beats last year's 6.7 million streams during the same period, and on Sunday night it delivered some 871,000 streams of the full-blown VMA telecast through its MTV Video Music Awards On-Demand service. So while these bulges aren't attached to any of Britney Spears' body parts per se, her much-panned perf helped drive a whole lot 'o this traffic -- undoubtedly more than if the critics had been raving or even lukewarm about her big comeback effort.

Using the old-fashioned Nielsen ratings yardstick, Sunday's live VMA telecast drew an average of 7.1 million viewers, up 23% from last year, when the show's ratings tumbled precipitously. In the MTV target demo of 12-34, kudocast drew 5 million viewers, also up 23% from last year's low ebb.

Meanwhile, David Letterman came up with some face-saving (belly-saving?) excuses for why Britney bombed so badly on Sunday in his Top Ten list on Monday's show. (Click here for the clip.) Among the highlights:

No. 9: I haven't been myself since Phil Rizzuto died.

No. 3: Uh...global warming.

No. 1: Wanted to get myself on Oprah like Dave.

(Pic of Britney Spears by John Shearer/WireImage)

Here's something more than half of the world's population can relate to: A National Geographic Channel special on the origins of the brassiere.

We love 'em, we hate 'em, but what do we really know about these tender undergarments? According to the folks at Nat Geo, the tradition dates back to the Roman days when women began wearing what would today be considered a "body bandage," or a large piece of fabric wrapped awfully tight. Thankfully, our options have evolved considerably since then.

Among the who-knew? stats offered up as teasers for the spesh:

**Bras are a $16 billion-a-year business.

**The modern system of cup sizing dates back to the late 1920s

**Women today, on average, own six and a half bras. (huh?)

**More than 4 million bras are produced every day.

"The Secret History of the Bra" bows Sept. 28 at 10 p.m.

It's come to this for Joan and Melissa Rivers. After losing their berths on E! and more recently, TV Guide Channel, on Emmy night they'll be nowhere near the red carpet at the Shrine Auditorium but live blogging in New York for VH1Eyecandy.com. That site is described by its mothership cabler as "VH1's recently launched site that offers a host of tools for users to grab, embed, blog and remix photos, videos and news stories," and VH1 boasts that it has 150,000 photographs and 5,000 hours of video housed on the site for users' mash-up pleasure, with more coming every day. (It's part of MTV Networks' new bid to grab, embed and remix many more pairs of youthful eyeballs to its cablers and websites.)

VH1Eyecandy.com promises to have a dedicated emmyswithjoan.com site running start at 5 p.m. ET on Sunday, which will include their live blog snark about the action on the red carpet and during the ceremony. It'll also have Joan's red carpet video podcast recap and Emmy podcast recap. It's the on-demand part of this equation that people might have trouble with. But in a funny way, for awards-season vets it's good to know that on some level, the tradition of groaning over what tumbles out of Joan Rivers' mouth on Emmy and Oscar day hasn't completely gone away but is safely out of the way on the red carpet.

Joan and Melissa Rivers pic from this year's Oscars by Dan MacMedan/WireImage

Rob McElhenney, Charlie Day and Glenn Howerton do such a convincing job of portraying a trio of degenerate, sex-crazed narcissists that it's hard to believe "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" is set to begin its third season on FX Thursday.

How could these hedonistic slackers pull themselves together long enough to produce 15 half-hour segs of a single-camera show on which they all serve as genuine multihyphenates -- stars, writers, producers and, in the case of McElhenney, an occasional helmer.

Perhaps it was all that real-life unemployment that the three endured just a few years ago when they were struggling actors yearning to eat regularly. Since its 2005 debut on FX, "Sunny" has become the poster child for the groundswell in the biz of actors taking matters into their own hands and writing their own material, on the theory that it can't be any worse than the crap they're being turned down for anyway.

"I jumped from waiting tables in West Hollywood one night to directing a pilot and showrunning," McElhenney still marvels, even with 34 episodes (and counting) under his belt. "It's such a great complement when people say (the threesome) come off as a comedy troupe that has been working together for years. Because we haven't. We were friends before, but we never worked together."

Click here for clips of the new "Sunny" segs on the FX website, or check out the promo vids posted below.

(Pictured above, from left: Glenn Howerton, Rob McElhenney and Charlie Day)

Not much of an upset Saturday night during the first leg of the Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony as HBO's "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" maintained its trophy market share with a total of five wins, followed by Discovery Channel's "Planet Earth" (wha?) and NBC's "Tony Bennett: An American Classic" with four apiece. (For a proper report on who-won-what, click here for the report from Variety's Jeff Sneider, who sacrificed his Saturday night so that you and I wouldn't have to.)

Contrary to conventional wisdom the Creative Arts ceremony isn't all craft and tech honors (though let it be said here that the below-the-line folks are not only H'wood's salt of the earth but its true artisans). NBC nearly swept the guest-star awards categories, which can be a handy career reviver for the right actor at the right moment if the sun and the moon and the stars align...

Elaine Stritch (pictured left) bagged the guest actress in a comedy trophy for her turns in "30 Rock." Leslie Caron (pictured right) took the drama trophy for her one-shot on "Law & Order: SVU." John Goodman's visits to "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" were recognized for guest actor in a drama, while Stanley Tucci (pictured above) got the nod on the comedy side for having fun with the great Tony Shalhoub on "Monk." (So if you count USA Network as one of "the networks of NBC Universal," as the Peacock likes to put it, NBC U did sweep the category. That bit of bragging rights and a dollar will buy you a cup of coffee at Musso & Franks...)

(Pics of Stritch and Caron on Creative Arts Emmy red carpet by Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage)

You just know he did this for his mom. David Letterman's appearance on the campus of his alma mater Ball State University was big news in Muncie, Ind. today. He was there to attend the dedication of the school's new $21 million communications building, which is named after its famous alumnus.(Click here for Ball State's coverage)

As the pics on the (Muncie) Star Press website make clear, the normally press- and publicity-averse Letterman endured all the big to-do because it made his mom, Dorothy Mengering, proud. And given the fact that she's been a contributor to his latenight shows over the years (he sent her to cover the winter Olympics in Nagano, fer chrissakes) TV shows over the years, it's the least he could do.

Here's the Star Press' take on Friday's dedication ceremony ("If reasonable people can put my name on a $21 million building, anything is possible," Letterman observed to the SRO crowd, per the paper), but even more amusing is the paper's set-up story detailing all of the preparations and anticipation for this state visit from a beloved native son. It was covered live by local TV outlets and streamed live on the school's website.

(Full disclosure: Pic above was filched from the Ball State website.)

From Variety.com's new blog Season Pass, tracking the highs and lows of the new season. If you haven't checked it out yet, click here.

The screener for the first proper seg of "Grey's Anatomy" spinoff "Private Practice" arrived in the mail on Thursday. I'll leave the reviewing to the professionals (Brian Lowry, coming soon). But for my broad-strokes reaction (remember that the Season Pass ratings for this show were based on the two-hour backdoor pilot "Grey's Anatomy" seg that ran in May), I'll say that I can definitely see why creator/exec producer Shonda Rhimes made the call to recast Audra McDonald in the key role of Naomi Bennett (originally played by Merrin Dungey), best friend to Kate Walsh's Addison Montgomery (and her excuse for heading down the Pacific coastline from Seattle to Santa Monica) and recently divorced wife of Taye Diggs' brilliant-internist character, Sam Bennett.

This seg overall is watchable, and beautifully shot, but there's still something that feels a bit amiss here. I can't quite put my finger on it but I keep coming back to the thought: Do we really need this spinoff? But I digress....

Opening moments deal of the seg deal effectively with Addison's resignation from Seattle Grace hospital  and set up the new ensemble of doctor characters that she'll work with at the Oceanside Wellness Group, a touchy-feely non-hospital facility with touchy-feely Westide L.A./BevHills/Santa Monica clients. There's a nice inside-TV reference early on in the seg to Addison feeling the need to sally forth and "throw my hat all the way up in the air." (Think classic TV opening sequence for a show with a femme lead and killer theme song.)

Of the supporting ensemble, the most intriguing to me (as an actor and as a character continues to be Amy Brenneman, who plays the mixed-up shrink Violet Turner. (Is there any other kind on TV?) So all in all, I don't love it as much as I did the first batch of "Grey's Anatomy" segs, but it stays on my Season Pass list.

I didn't see it coming for the Defuser in the big finish of Sci Fi Channel's "Who Wants to Be a Superhero 2?" But the police detective from Austin, Texas (alter ego: Jarrett Crippen) impressed Stan "the Man" Lee with his fortitude, natural leadership skills and his ability to take Stan's direction to stand back every so often and let others take the reins. His self-professed superpower is the use of non-lethal weaponry to accomplish his missions and the ability to function at 110% (not to mention having huge abs and arms). My husband and I picked him to make it into the finals but not to go all the way.

I'm a sucker for a singing cowboy movie marathon, and Encore Westerns has a doozy lined up for the end of this month to commemorate what would have been Gene Autry's 100th birthday on Sept. 29.

There's no better illustration of the kind of B-Western volume that Autry turned out for Republic Pictures in the 1940s and '50s than the fact that Encore can program a 100-hour marathon of his pics, to run from 8 p.m. on Sept. 28 to midnight on Oct. 2 without repeating a single pic, with the exception of the new half-hour docu "Gene Autry: White Hat, Silver Screen." (For the sked, click here.)

Autry famously moved into TV production early on with his Flying A Prods. turning out an Autry-toplined show as well as oater-adventure skeins "The Range Rider," "Annie Oakley" and "Buffalo Bill Jr." Plus, he wrote the Christmas chestnut "Here Comes Santa Claus," specifically for the Hollywood Christmas Parade, in which he was a frequent participant.

Autry, who died in 1998, was very much a local mogul when I was a kid, as the owner KTLA-TV Los Angeles, in addition to a few radio stations and the California Angels baseball team. (KTLA's telecasts of Angels games would always feature a few lingering shots of the Cowboy, as he was known, sitting with some dignitary in the owners box. Too bad the team never clinched the World Series during his lifetime, but, hey, they did have Nolan Ryan.)

KTLA in those years always began its broadcast day with spins of Autry's old TV shows. Amortization? Nostalgia? Ego? Maybe it was a combination of all three, but so what? He owned the place. These days, his legacy lives on most prominently at the Autry National Center and Museum of the American West across the street from the L.A. Zoo. A ton of Autry-ana can also be found at GeneAutry.com.

(Pictured top: Autry in 1937's "Public Cowboy No. 1." At right, Autry in 1941's "Back in the Saddle.")

WARNING: VID POSTED BELOW IS NOT EXACTLY FAMILY-FRIENDLY

You've gotta give Danny DeVito credit for lending his considerable charm to FX's "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia." At this stage in his career, a sitcom supporting role is hardly something he needs, but by all accounts DeVito loves the show and the creative forces behind it, namely creator/stars Rob McElhenney, Charlie Day and Glenn Howerton.

However, the truth is now emerging about another reason (let's just say it involves Vaseline) why he's been so willing to toil in basic-cable land. There's a certain third-season stipulation in DeVito's contract, as documented in this clever bit of viral marketing posted on Will Ferrell's FunnyorDie.com site. Even Rhea Perlman gets into the act. The humor on "Sunny" generally goes pretty far, but I think this one's a little randy even for them, which makes it perfect for the a bit of viral marketing to tubthump for the show's Sept. 13 preem.