May 12 update: Finally found the time to watch "Recount." It's great, absolutely a ton of fun, even if it is very said to relive the election heist of '00. There's great work all around by the cast but the standout perfs come from Tom Wilkinson and Laura Dern, IMHO.

Can't wait to see "Recount," HBO's telepic about those 36 days in November and December 2000 when the decision on who would be the next president of the United States hinged on a few hanging chads.

The screener landed on my desk today and it just looks like it's going to be a lot of fun, even if living through that experience as a voter was anything but. Remember all the dueling press conferences where each side tried to shove as many American flags into the shot as possible? The posturing was laughable. But I submit that Gore's final-final concession speech after the Supremes weighed in was one of the classiest moments we've seen in politics in many years. (And Mr. Nobel Prize Winner has done all right for himself lately.)

Jay Roach is at the helm of this pic, and I'm hopeful that his comedic touch will enliven the pace and the characterizations of these, lawyers, policy wonks and political animals. The cast is first-rate, from Kevin Spacey as Al Gore's chief of staff Ron Klain, to Laura Dern of Katherine "pancake makeup" Harris to Ed Begley Jr. as legal eagle David Boies arguing for the Gore side. Denis Leary will surely bring all of his wiry intensity to the role of another key Gore operative, Michael Whouley. Bob Balaban, who's always good no matter what, plays a lawyer for the Bush-Cheney camp, Ben Ginsburg.

Both sides trotted out their elder statesmen for the fight: Tom Wilkinson plays James Baker III; John Hurt takes on Warren Christopher.

Sure, we know how it ends ("Mission accomplished!") but it ought to be interesting, in this intensely political election year, to revisit the bare-knuckle (brass knuckles?) campaigning that helped get us to the place we are today.

We were told they were coming, but it still didn't prepare the Variety newsroom for the sight of 26 cases of unsalted peanuts showing up at our door on Tuesday afternoon.

"Jericho" fans are nothing if not determined. The loyalists who helped save the show from annihilation after its first season with a well-orchestrated campaign last year have regrouped to find more creative -- and not inexpensive -- ways to bring attention to their cause. (Last year, "Jericho" fans sent nuts by the truckload to CBS execs.)

The nut-cases delivered to Variety all featured a sticker that read "Save Jericho! "Nuts to Nielsen!!!" highlighting the shortcomings in the ratings service's ability to track viewing on more than just the old-fashioned live telecast.

"Jericho" stalwarts are convinced that if CBS could get its arms around the number of people who are watching the show via DVRs, web streaming and paid downloads, it might be enough to have convinced the Eye to hang tough rather than nuke the show for a second time as it did last month. The industry's inability to get a clear understanding of the new world of on-demand viewing habits is a big problem, bigger than even a nuclear bomb going off in the middle of the lone prairie.

"Jericho" fans have also shelled out in the past few days for full-page ads in Variety and the Hollywood Reporter designed to convince another net or cabler to give the show a chance. Pretty bold, given that CBS Paramount Network TV could probably bring the law down on them for shopping something that isn't exactly theirs to shop. Ad even goes so far as to point interested buyers to CBS Par Entertainment boss Nancy Tellem. CBS, meanwhile, has migrated the show to the "CBS Classics" page of its website and is offering web streaming of all 29 episodes from both seasons.

The "Jericho" fandom may be an irritant to CBS Par execs, but at a time when even TV's top shows are taking double-digit ratings hits, it's heartening to see that TV, even canceled TV, can still stir up such passion in viewers who adopt shows as their own.

So thanks to all the "Jericho" lovers out there, and thanks also for the protein boost that many of us at Variety will enjoy during the next few weeks (months?) as we work our way through the peanuts. About an hour after the delivery arrived, the newsroom was a-poppin' with the sound of peanut shells being opened.

Whaddya know, Warner Bros. has decided to revive the WB, at least as a brand for one of the many "destination" websites that the studio is investing in as it tries to figure out where in the world this business and its next-gen consumers are headed next. Variety's Diane Garrett has the details right here. (So far, TheWB.com is still in beta.)

My advice -- not that anyone asked -- to put this over is: Bring back the frog! Plaster Michigan J., the WB's much-missed spokesphibian for most of its 11-year run, all over that new site. It'll push all the right buttons in the youths who have grown old enough to vote or drink in the 19 months since the WB signed off on Sept. 17, 2006.

Here's that heart-tugging "Faces of the WB" promo spot that marked the Frog's final bow.

TV's Craig Ferguson charmed the tough crowd at the White House Correspondents Dinner in D.C. on Saturday.

Ferguson's barbs at the New York Times for sitting out the dinner this year ("Shut the hell up, you sanctimonious whining jerks!") were gleefully reported by other media, but the "Late Late Show" host's remarks at the dinner were also full of the lower-key observations and word play that we've come to appreciate from this ex-pat Scot who clearly, unabashedly, wholeheartedly loves his adopted home.

Before he made the move from the Old Country, Ferguson noted, plenty of people suggested that he might like Canada, with its pockets of Scottish communities, a little better. Nothin' doing, he said.

"To me, Canada is not the party. It's the apartment above the party," Ferguson said.

When you're up watching TV at 12:45 in the morning, lines like that help you sleep a little better.

Here's some highlights, courtesy of CSPAN and YouTube. (Forgive me, Brian Lamb.)

"Surreal" is the only word that Santiago Tapia can summon to describe his experience during the past  year since a friend sent him an article about a website called Filmaka.com.

Tapia (pictured left) was intrigued by the site's premise of challenging aspiring auteurs to create short films based on  concepts and loglines suggested by the site. The finalists from a series of monthly competitions vie for the chance to have Filmaka fund the production of feature-length pic budgeted at up to $5 million.

What set Filmaka apart from similar web short film ventures, in Tapia's eyes, was the company it keeps. Backing the venture was Deepak Nayar, producer of noted indies "Bend it Like Beckham" and "Buena Vista Social  Club," and the list of boldface names he'd assembled to judge the monthly submissions: Colin Firth, Werner Herzog, Neil LaBute, John Madden, Zak Penn, Paul Schrader, Bill Pullman and Wim Wenders.

Tapia moved through the monthly rounds of competition and is now among the finalists waiting to find out Monday (This just in: Winner is 21-year-old Nuru Rimington-Mkali of London. Click here to see his winning pic "And I Refuse to Forget.") if they're getting a coveted greenlight from Nayar. But Tapia already feels like a winner, because his Filmaka experience has opened more than a few doors for the Boston resident, who's in the process of  moving to L.A.

For starters, Tapia's collection of Filmaka shorts were enough to convince actor Malcolm McDowell to  appear in his final-round pic, "The Secret Adventures of Mr. Grant." (Pictured right. Click here to watch the short.)He's also been accepted as a  directing fellow in the diversity mentoring program run by Film Independent. And he's the first  home-grown Filmaka talent to be signed to the fledgling company's management division.

It's a far cry from where he was a little over a year ago, fresh out of Boston University with a MFA, having focused on film production. He ran a video production shingle from his living room, but other than getting a few gigs producing short vids for the website of his undergrad alma mater, Harvard (where he earned a degree in biology), Tapia wasn't overly burdened with work.

Tapia had no shortage of motivation but the structure and deadlines provided by the monthly competitionwas the prod he needed to get cracking, at first on his own dime, and then with a little bit of coin from Filmaka as he advanced through the final rounds.

"I loved the challenge of making films every month. That's what really got me into it. It was a chance to out there and do something," Tapia says. "It's one thing to call yourself a director, but you don't often get the chance to make anything. This opportunity was so exciting."

"Who the hell is Jacob?"

As usual, Sawyer cuts through the haze and gives voice to one of the key questions that viewers have had about "Lost" for a long time now.

For sure, "Lost's" stormy, sensational return with No. 9 of this season, "The Shape of Things to Come," written by Brian K. Vaughan and Drew Goddard and helmed by Jack Bender, was one hell of a Big Ben episode, a tour de force for thesp Michael Emerson.

But it was also a big night for Sawyer, who demonstrated the kind of courage and resolve under fire that only those with the highest moral character, integrity and compassion possess. First he does a "Saving Private Ryan" and risks all to save Claire as the invasion begins. Then he tries to do the same for Hurley, only Hurley won't let him. Sawyer, we always knew you had it in ya.

"Lost" scribes surely did give us a lot to process in tonight's return after the five-week, strike-hangover hiatus. Let's review the apparent tangibles before we dive into the 'what the #$%^&?' issues.

**We now know that by Oct. 24, 2005, Ben makes his way to Tunisia.

**We know that Ben kept up with news coverage of the early days of the Iraq war, more than a year before Oceanic flight 815 crashed. Shock and awe, indeed.

**We know that Sayid reconnects with his beloved Nadia after he gets off the island, no doubt because of his notoriety from being one of the Oceanic 6. And we know that Nadia is killed in L.A., three blocks away from the intersection of La Brea and Santa Monica. Don't tell me they were having lunch at the Formosa Cafe? Pink's? Shopping at Target?

It sounds like something that will either be very good or very ... not so good. But I give 'em all credit for derring-do and willingness to try something totally off the wall -- a scribe swap that cuts across genres, and even studios.

"CSI" writers Sarah Goldfinger and Evan Dunsky have penned the May 5 seg of "Two and a Half Men," based on a story by "CSI" czarina Carol Mendelsohn and Naren Shankar. Chuck Lorre and Lee Aronsohn, co-creators and exec producers of "Men," have done the script for the May 8 installment of "CSI."

The "Men" seg, "Fish in a Drawer," involves a CSI team coming to Charlie Harper's beach house to investigate -- what else? -- a mysterious death. It should be further enlivened by guest stars Robert Wagner and Jenny McCarthy.

"CSI" seg "Two and a Half Deaths" revolves around the death of a high-maintenance sitcom star, played by Katey Sagal, while shooting her show on location in Sin City. Suspects include the entire writing staff, her loser husband and her stand-in, played by Rachael Harris. 

I'm thinking positive and hoping these experiments be as playful as they outta be. I will do some more investigating and find out whose DNA is all over this idea, what the motivation was and the weapon (laptop, legal pad, etc.).

In the meantime, here's some more pics of the crossover episodes.

(In the pic above, that's Aronsohn leaning over the body, and Lorre directly behind him.)

From the "CSI" - "Two and a Half Deaths" seg:

This is very, very good news for our democracy. Laurie Ender, a former top producer for "Entertainment Tonight" and "Access Hollywood," has been elected to the Santa Clarita City Council.

Laurie gave up the syndie newsmag wars some time ago to be a full-time mother and community activist in her 'hood of Valencia. She and her husband, CBS Entertainment senior veep Chris Ender, have deep roots in the community where they have lived for the past 16 years and where they are raising three fabulous sons, Jason, Griffin and Davis.

Laurie is the kind of best-and-brightest, pillar of her community that is desperately needed in politics, particularly at the rubber-meets-the-road local level. Any journalist who's covered one minute of local-yokel politics knows that all too often, those who wind up in elected positions are people who can't actually put a sentence together on their own, let alone handle serious business.Laurie, on the other hand, is schooled in the high-wire act of producing a nightly television news program.

During the past few years she's learned the ropes of public policy by serving as a Parks, Recreation and Community Services Commissioner for the city of Santa Clarita. She has her alpha-mom bona fides as a former president of the Santa Clarita Valley PTA and a member of Valencia High School's Action Team for Partnership, among other school and community board positions.

Pictured above: Laurie with sons Jason (in back), Griffin and Davis, husband Chris and her parents, George and Sue Holt.

POSTED BY STUART LEVINE

David Chase answered one of life's most enduring questions Tuesday night. One that has baffled the greatest minds of the last decade.

No, not what came first, the chicken or the egg? Or if a tree falls in a forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound? The real question everyone has been asking, of course, is the one that has eluded the most elite television scholars since May 6, 2001: What happened to the Russian in the woods?

Chase, the creator and voice of "The Sopranos," spoke to a crowd of a few hundred gathered at the Writers' Guild to discuss all things "Sopranos." The event was an homage to Chase, this year's recipient of the Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award for Television.

Unlike the Democrats, "The Colbert Report" had plenty to crow about this past week.

Fresh off of its Peabody win, "Colbert" demonstrated its anything-but-faux clout in the contempo political landscape, drawing brief appearances by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and a sit-down with Michelle Obama. How desperate are these candidate for the approval of "Colbert's" youthful affluent/educated/urban hipster (dare we say elite) aud? Really desperate.

For "Colbert," the show's weeklong stand in Philadelphia (aka the special "Doritos Spicy Sweet Pennsylvania Primary Coverage From Chili-Delphia -- The City of Brotherly Crunch!" edition) added up to the most-watched week in its two and a half years on the air. An average of 1.5 million viewers tuned in Monday-Thursday -- not bad for 11:30 p.m. on cable. It averaged a winning 1.8 rating with the men 18-34 that Clinton, Obama or McCain would love to see in their column on Election Day.

Most important, Stephen Colbert was on fire, taking the foul air out of the gaseous pre-primary atmosphere in Pennsylvania by skewering what the show aptly dubbed "Democralypse Now: The delightful dismemberment of the Democratic hopescape!"

"Shameless!" Colbert inveighed in one of his commentary segs on Obamamania. "Scoring political points using footage of Hillary being booed for scoring political points using comments Obama made to score political points. Who does he hope he is?"

On Friday, Comedy Central was kind enough to send along a highlight reel for the week:

And since they did the same for "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," what the heck, give it a spin. Stewart was in fine form too. On Thursday he added his pointed critique to the chorus savaging the perf of moderators Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos in Wednesday's Democratic debate on ABC.

"The first hour of last night's debate was a 60-minute master class in questions that elevate out of context remarks and trivial, insipid miscues into subjects of national discourse ... which is MY job!"

CBS chief Leslie Moonves made a visit to the CBS News offices today as a show of support for embattled anchor Katie Couric. Associated Press' David Bouder has all the details in this report on Moonves' journey into the newsroom and meeting with Couric and "CBS Evening News" exec producer Rick Kaplan, who insisted that reports of Couric's exit from the anchor chair have been greatly exaggerated. "She's not been at it two years and everybody is writing her obituary," Kaplan told the AP. "That's fine. Success is the sweetest revenge."...

Meanwhile, NBC News has locked up the services of its intrepid Middle Eastern correspondent Richard Engel. Engel has been upped to chief foreign correspondent for the Peacock, which is promising to raise his profile on "NBC  Nightly News," MSNBC and other platforms. Engel, who is conversant in Arabic and fluent in Italian and Spanish, made a name for himself covering the early days of the Iraq war as a freelancer for ABC before joining NBC News in 2003. "There aren't enough superlatives to describe the work that Richard has done in some of the most dangerous places on Earth for NBC News," said NBC News prexy Steve Capus in touting Engel's promotion.

A child of new media is spreading his gossipy wings into the oldest of broadcast media.

Yes, Perez Hilton has inked a radio syndication deal, with ABC Radio Networks and C Student Entertainment. It'll be Perez in small doses -- two-minute celeb dirt and dish updates running twice a day (morning and afternoon drive times, natch) on weekdays, starting May 5. He's already got stations lined up in Gotham (WQHT-FM aka "Hot 97"), Los Angeles (KPWR) and Chicago (WBBM-FM). C Student is the newly launched production banner of Premiere Radio alum Steve Lehman and former music biz and MTV alum Andy Schuon.

Hilton (who was born Mario Lavandeira but assured me he prefers his online moniker) said he'd recently been approached with a number of radio offers. He settled on C Student as his production partner because he felt comfortable with Lehman and Schuon and their take on his peculiar brand of celeb-toid reportage. The expansion into radio -- in addition to his high-traffic blog, Perez hosts VH1's trashy "What Perez Sez" -- is all part of his master plan. He's not merely a 21st century Rona Barrett in drag; he's a brand, of course.

"My whole goal for 2008 has been to really actively and aggressively try to grow my brand and live up to my self-appointed title of Queen of All Media. This is one wonderful way to do that. It's going to be a lot of fun, and the results will be exponentially amazing," he said. Not that he's excited or anything.

But radio is a uniquely cool medium with incredible reach. People who would never in a million years stumble across Hilton's blog or his VH1 show will hear his 120 seconds of gossip in major markets. Which in turn will drive his blog traffic and TV show ratings. And radio is a wonderfully user-friendly medium for talent. With a fancy microphone that plugs into his laptop, Perez will be able to record and send via an FTP site his reports from whatever den of debauchery he may be visiting on any given night.

So let's face it -- love him or loathe him and everything he stands for -- it's good to be Perez Hilton.

"It's a Cinco de Mayo party with Perez," he enthused, noting his May 5 preem date.

POSTED BY STUART LEVINE

After thoroughly enjoying the Turner Classic Movies special last night, "Role Model: Gene Wilder," I have to say it was as good as advertised.

Those firmly camped in middle age like me will remember Wilder as the comic foil in two of the funniest films of the 1970s, if not ever, with "Young Frankenstein" and "Blazing Saddles," both from the bizarro mind of Mel Brooks. Both pics remain indelibly etched in my brain, with scenes from each making me laugh louder than the next.

From the opening shot with Wilder, as the good doctor, sticking a scalpel in his leg, to trying to delicately discuss Marty Feldman's humps, to asking Teri Garr to "put the candle back!," Wilder was wildly underrated in "Frankenstein" and other comedic gems. He played the straight man with Zero Mostel in "The Producers," moved on to "Frankenstein" and "Saddles," where he developed a huge following, and then, only a few years later, co-starred with Richard Pryor in "Silver Streak" and "Stir Crazy." It was quite a run, indeed.

Alec Baldwin did a nice job of setting a pleasant tone and getting Wilder to recall how he felt working on those films, his initial meeting with Brooks, his on-set relationship with Pryor (and how drugs affected Pryor's performances) and his comfort zone in front of the camera compared to being on stage.

When Wilder chatted about his relationship with comedy icon Gilda Radner, it was hard to believe that it's been 19 years since she passed away and that he's been married to his second wife for 16 years now.

Anyway, there's certainly no shortage of celebrity interviews on the air these days -- "Inside the Actors Studio" is still probably the best at it -- but it felt good to see Wilder, who's pretty much retired from showbiz and lives in Connecticut, far away from the hubbub of L.A., to get his due in an interview that felt not too fawning or personal.

In an era where some actors don't know when to step away, Wilder's virtual disappearance from film and TV (he last appeared in "Will and Grace" about five years ago) has worked to his benefit.

Some highlights from this morning's Q&A at the National Assn. of Broadcasters confab with "Lost" stewards Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse.

We will find out more back story as to why the late Libby was in the same mental hospital with Hurley, prior to the plane crash, and presumably after she gave her boat to Desmond for the race.

Will we at some point catch up with Emma and Zack, the two kids from the tail section group of survivors who were kidnapped by the Others in season 2's "The Other 48 Days."

To the question of whether we'll ever see Katey Sagal's Helen character (Locke's former flame) again, Darlton indicated that they hoped so.

To the question of whether the DeGroots, the hirsute couple who founded the Dharma Initiative, are still alive, Cuse and Lindelof paused a bit and then pressed for more specificity on the time frame of the question. As of where the time line of "Lost" will be when the series returns on April 24, Darlton would only say: "One of them is."

Lindelof let it be known that in a recent episode when one of the castaways (Locke? Hurley? Sawyer? I can't remember offhand) asked Ben if he knew what the island's smoke monster really was and Ben responded that he didn't know -- big lie. "Ben was lying about the smoke monster," Lindelof said.

And once again, Darlton made it clear that they do in fact have a blueprint for the series, stem to stern, and that "the last scene has been in our heads for a long period of time."

More to come from the sesh, which mostly focused on big-picture business issues and production processes, once I transcribe the tape.

In the meantime, above and below are some pics from the upcoming April 24 seg "The Shape of Things to Come."

I swung by Wisteria Lane on Sunday for the first time in months, encouraged by the positive buzz generated by "Desperate Housewives'" first-back-from-strike seg, "Sunday." I hoped to be as impressed as others have been with Dana Delany's contributions to the cul-de-sac.

As it turned out, it wasn't a huge episode for Delany's Katherine Mayfair -- though she did have one great scene with guest star Chris Carmack toward the end -- but I have to say that the whole conceit of Mayfair having deep dark secrets to hide still felt a bit tired.

The ludicrous storyline about Bree claiming her daughter's baby as her own was what made me stop watching last season, and it still bugs me to see Bree and Orson toting a baby carrier, even though they weren't much of a factor in this episode either. As always, the one ever-reliable player in the "Housewives" troupe for me is Felicity Huffman as Lynette.

A show that did not disappoint on its post-strike return last week was NBC's "The Office" with seg "The Dinner Party."

Special commendation is owed to Melora Hardin, who is turning beyond-bizarro Jan into the show's most explosively funny character. Considering that she's playing opposite Steve Carell's Michael Scott, that's saying something.

Plot of this episode was particularly funny because it is something we've all endured -- an evening with a couple who are obviously not getting along. Of course, Rainn Wilson's Dwight Schrute took the laughs up a notch by crashing Michael and Jan's dinner party with his one-time babysitter ("Strictly carnal," he assures them) and his own food and wine in tow. I didn't catch the actress' name but she gave a great deadpan perf. Thank goodness ABC's "Lost" is moving from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. hour when it returns April 24 -- no tough choices on whether to check in first with the "Office" or the island....

Speaking of "Lost," ABC this ayem put out the good word -- strike be damned, "Lost" is getting a two-hour  finale after all on May 29. (And yes, confirmed with ABC that it is two original hours, not a recap show leading into a finale.) That translates to six post-strike segs instead of the five that Darlton previously forecast. (Only downside: "Lost" will be preempted on May 22 to make room for a two-hour "Grey's Anatomy" finale that night.)

I hope to pry a few details about the next run of "Lost" adventures out of exec producers Damon Lindelof (pictured left) and Carlton Cuse (pictured right) Tuesday morning when I have the pleasure of moderating a Q&A with them as part of  this week's National Assn. of Broadcasters confab in Las Vegas.

CBS needed some happy news last week, and it got some courtesy of its resident Scotsman-turned-American in late night.

"The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" notched a milestone in its three-year-plus competish in the wee hours against NBC's long-dominant "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" by winning the week ended April 4 -- Ferguson averaged 1.88 million viewers for the frame to O'Brien's 1.77 million.

Not that latenight always has to be measured strictly a death-match, zero-sum game -- both Conan and Craig are very funny fellows indeed and viewers are well-served by their diverse styles -- but it is a competitive business and ratings are the yardstick by which ad sales and pop culture traction are measured.

NBC number crunchers noted that Ferguson got a big boost that week from the post-strike return of CBS' big scripted guns, the three "CSIs," "Without a Trace," "Criminal Minds" plus the circulation lift from the NCAA finals coverage, while NBC was still mostly in reruns.

Looking back over the past few weeks, however, the trend is interesting. "Late Late Show" has been making it a real horse race with "Late Night" of late, in spite of the latter's lead-in benefit from "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno." Indeed, Ferguson is more competitive with O'Brien than his 11:35 a.m. companion, "The Late Show with David Letterman" is with "Tonight Show" -- the berth O'Brien is to move up to in the fall of '09.