CW is having a some marketing fun at the expense of its harshest critics.

I laughed out loud this ayem when I saw a "Gossip Girl" quote ad on the side of a bus that proclaimed the show to be "Mind-blowingly Inappropriate," with a tagline crediting that august organ of critical discourse, the Parents Television Council watchdog org. There are others in the series, including one touting the New York Post's assertion that "Gossip Girl" is "a nasty piece of work."

But it was the PTC quote that struck me as inspired. Tim Winter, prexy of the PTC, is rolling with it in the same way that CW is trying to use the PTC's outrage to its advantage. "Normally, we have to pay for our outdoor advertising," Winter noted. "We'd be thrilled if every network used our quotes about their programming to describe it in their ads."

That said, Winter stressed that he is troubled by the steamy "Gossip Girl" ad campaign. No matter what CW says about the sexy show being aimed at young adults, the ads are titillating bait for teens and pre-teens, in Winter's view.

"I am deeply troubled what the CW network is doing with the programming they're putting on the public airwaves and in particular the media campaigns they're putting out to promote their shows," Winter says.

We're as breathless as Jackie Kennedy was all those years ago about AMC's decision to offer web streaming of the entire Jackie-hosted tour of the White House that aired on CBS and NBC way back on Feb. 14, 1962.

The program is woven in to the "Mad Men" season opener in a way that could only be conceived by a great writer like Matt Weiner. I saw this historical gem years ago, on C-Span as I recall, and am tickled pink (Chanel pink, with a matching pillbox hat) to get the chance to see it again.

Sad to learn that Ruth Engelhardt, a legend of the Morris office, died last week at the age of 86.

It would only be a bit of stretch to call WMA the house that Ruth built, because she was the one who crafted the deal points and the contracts for all of those vintage TV shows that help keep the agency's coffers flush. Ruth spent 59 years with WMA. She was the go-to person in TV business affairs back when the business of filmed entertainment series was young, anything was possible and star client Danny Thomas and his partner Sheldon Leonard were turning out hits ("The Andy Griffith Show," "The Dick Van Dyke Show," etc.) faster than Ruth could draw up the contracts.

I got a crash course in TV biz affairs 101 some years ago when I spent about two hours with Ruth in her WMA office for a column about her remarkable career. She recalled that back in the day, she and a few other WMA folks essentially were the business and administrative affairs department for Thomas and Leonard's bustling production company, along with a bunch of other top clients.

She was proud of her role in etching the templates for production, program licensing and, of course, agency packaging pacts that endured largely unchanged until the vertical integration boom of the late 1990s. When we met, she was giddy at the prospect of closing a greeting card licensing deal for one of the old Thomas-Leonard shows. "You wouldn't believe what they're going to pay us," she said with the enthusiasm of a dealmaker on the verge of victory.

This just in from Dr. Horrible's lab: By popular demand, and a hell of a response from the crowd at Comic- Con, "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" will be offered via web streaming on Hulu for the next four months.

It's a slight departure from the Dr. Horrible world domination plan articulated by mastermind Joss Whedon a few weeks ago. When the first installment of the Internet musical monster was unleashed July 15, the notion was that it would only be available for free for a six days via the www.drhorrible.com site, and then taken down to build demand for a DVD release. (A guestimate on the traffic numbers for its July 15-20 stint is about 1 million views.)

But an extended engagement on Hulu seemed in keeping with the D.I.Y spirit of the supervillain tuner, which Whedon funded out of his pocket just to see what he and his brothers Zack and Jed and Jed's fiance, Maurissa Tancharoen, would come up with if left to their own devices. With the help of stars Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion and Felicia Day.

"Dr. Horrible" will remain available on iTunes as a paid download, for those who just have to own it. Meanwhile, Joss' reps are taking meetings with homevid distribs who want a piece of the DVD action, which Joss has promised will include a second musical dubbed "Commentary!," as well as a proper (well...) commentary track.

To herald the Hulu deal, Joss posted a blog entry on Hulu.com calling the NBC Universal-News Corp. joint Internet vid venture "the premier site for people who like joy and life and children and America."

Can't wait for this year's "Lost" Comic-Con teaser vid with the creepy Dr. Marvin Candle (or whatever his handle is) to show up on ABC.com or iTunes.

I've seen the grainy versions captured on cell phone cameras and posted on YouTube but those are more frustrating than anything else because you can't grasp all the nuances, hints and clues. For those of us who didn't make it to Comic-Con, Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune has provided us with the next best thing -- a fabulous write-up of the "Lost" panel on her The Watcher blog.

It's so good, you'll feel like you've time-traveled back a few days to the S.D. Convention Center after reading it. Thanks, Mo.

This just in from AMC: The premiere telecast of "Mad Men's" season two opener drew about 1.9 million viewers. That's up from last summer's preem, which drew 1.65 million viewers, and a big spike from the show's first-season average of about 915,000 viewers per seg.

It's not exactly gynormous growth, but the needle is moving in the right direction. And by AMC's standard, these are triple-digit spikes. Variety's ratings guru Rick Kissell has all the details right here.

POSTED BY STUART LEVINE (Cynthia and Jon Weisman weigh in after the jump)

You can watch Don Draper for hours on end and still not figure out his relationship with women and determine what makes him tick.

Much of this first episode of season two offers small but vital hints as to how Draper relates to women, and it all goes back to his mother, of course. Then again, don’t all psychological dilemmas start with Mom?

In Don’s office, Peggy and Salvatore are discussing an ad campaign for Mohawk Airlines. When Peggy and Don offer up some revelatory ideas about addressing the campaign to businessmen, he looks at her like a proud father.

He admires Peggy very much, maybe because the way she earned her promotion as a junior copywriter after starting at Sterling Cooper as his secretary.

She’s garnered Don’s respect, and that’s not an easy thing to do — as any of the guys there could tell you.

In many ways, Don enjoys being around her more so than his wife, Betty, who he sees more as an accessory than an equal.

Betty is often a last consideration if Don needs to work late or wants to pal around after office hours, and certainly he didn’t give her much thought when he was having affairs with both Rachel Menken and Midge Daniels.

And while Don is quick to get into bed with others, when he and Betty have a romantic Valentine’s Day evening together at the Savoy Hotel, Don’s mind is elsewhere, and he’s unable to perform. Since he had a reserved the room in advance, it was obvious to him they’d end up having sex, but maybe the chance meeting at the hotel bar between Betty and her former roommate, Juanita, who is now a call girl, threw Don off his game.

Remember, his mom was a prostitute and seeing a friend of Betty’s in hooker mode might’ve brought up some serious childhood issues.

“Mad Men” creator Matt Weiner promises a seasonful of Draper revelations, so keep your eyes peeled.

Other thoughts while wondering how much it would cost today to fix a fan belt in the middle of the night on a rural road:

This time last year, we were all pleasantly surprised and comparing notes around the office. "Have you seen 'Mad Men'? It's really good. Jon Hamm is amazing."

"Mad Men" commanded our attention last summer as soon as the first screeners were sent out. Like most showbiz journos, Variety's resident TV fanatics approached the show with some skepticism because of what it was: the first foray into original drama series by AMC, and a period piece. We wondered how you could do a credible job on re-creating early 1960s Manhattan a la "The Apartment" on a basic cable budget.

We stopped worrying about halfway through Joan's tour of Sterling Cooper office with the new girl, Peggy, in the pilot seg, "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes."

"Mad Men" got better and better as its first 13-segs unfolded, as evidenced by the 16 Emmy noms the Lionsgate TV production raked in earlier this month. In a sign of its high-quality construction, "Mad Men" episodes hold up incredibly well in repeat binge viewing, as some of us are doing in preparation for season two and for what feels like inevitable Emmy night sidebars.

To make the most of season two, Variety's Stuart Levine, Cynthia Littleton and Kathy Lyford will be opining here on the show on Sunday nights (or by midday Monday) about each of its 13 episodes, starting this week with the opener, "For Those Who Think Young." (Please consider this fair warning for those who watch on their own timetables and want to avoid learning plot points.)

The three of us have had the pleasure of seeing the first two segs of the new season. We have a firm no spoilers policy in this space, but suffice it to say that we're in for a hell of a ride. (Here's Brian Lowry's review.)

"Mad Men" creator/exec producer Matthew Weiner was walking on air last week at the series' season two preem party at Musso and Frank, which followed a screening of "For Those Who Think Young" at the Egyptian Theater across the street. The Emmy nom glory and the continued critical hosannas are like an inch-thick coating of butter cream icing atop the three-layer chocolate mousse cake that he and his cast and crew get to feast on in doing the show of Weiner's (period) dreams.

As moody and complex, naughty and macho and wonderfully unshaven as Hamm's master manipulator Don Draper was last season --  we ain't seen nuthin' yet, Weiner promises.

Hmmm, maybe Disney is finally getting serious about mounting a Muppets revival. I hope so.

Mouse House will inject a big dose of Disney Channel star power -- Miley Cyrus level star power -- into our favorite fuzzy puppet troupe next month with the spesh "Studio DC: Almost Live."

It's described as "a music-filled sketch comedy show with classic Muppets backstage antics." Sounds like a trial balloon for a new spin on "The Muppet Show."

Miley is set to jam with Muppet house band the Electric Mayhem (Maybe she'll do "Piece of My Heart"? Maybe not). Ashley Tisdale duets with Kermit on "High School Musical" number "Bop to the Top," and Miss Piggy tries to nose her way in to the epicenter of teen pop stardom by casting herself as the Jonas "sister" and performing with the red-hot Jonas Brothers.

Sounds like this could be a lot of fun if written and directed in the tradition of the "Muppet Show's" cheeky-spoofy-silly tone. (Which is a high standard to meet.)

"Studio DC" is hosted by Dylan and Cole Sprouse of "The Suite Life of Zack & Cody." Seems a little funny that Fozzie Bear, Kermit or Gonzo the Great wouldn't be at least a co-host...but I'll reserve judgment until I see the spesh, which bows Aug. 3.

It is exec produced by Mouse's appointed Muppet master, Martin Baker.

Betty White red alert! The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences is hosting a tribute to the thesp affectionately known on this blog as the First Lady of television.

The Aug. 7 event, "Betty White: Celebrating 60 Years on Television," is already sold out, even though it hasn't even been formally announced with an Acad press release. I noticed it as an events listing today on the Acad's emmys.tv home page. (Pic of Betty with Emmy swiped from that site.)

Among those set to appear are Ed Asner, Cloris Leachman, Mary Tyler Moore, Craig Ferguson (White makes semi-regular visits to "The Late Late Show," in a tribute to Craig's excellent taste), Bob Stewart, Gavin MacLeod, Tom Sullivan, Susan Harris, Valerie Harper and John McCook. Pete Hammond is set as moderate, and the event also promises a perf by Michael Feinstein. I'm there.

As Betty-philes know, her first paying gig on TV came in the summer of 1949 with her appearance on a local special hosted by singer Dick Haynes, on KLAC-TV, known today as KCOP-TV. From there she appeared on a short-lived (by weeks) comedy "Tom, Dick and Harry," starring three third-rate vaudevillians, and then she segued to game show "Grab Your Phone," according to White's 1995 memoir "Here We Go Again: My Life in Television."

Betty's first steady work came in November 1949 with the debut of KLAC's "Hollywood on Television," in which she was a "girl Friday" sidekick to Al Jarvis, then a top L.A. disc jockey.

"Hollywood on Television," by Betty's description, was a prototypical morning TV show. Betty and Al would chat about the headlines, interview guests ranging from human interest to celebs, have musical and how-to segments, etc. Five hours a day, five days a week of live without-a-net television. She did "Hollywood on Television" for about four years, and then moved into her first lead role in a scripted series, the syndie "Life with Elizabeth" (she did both shows simultaneously for a little while). No wonder she's so good.

POSTED BY STUART LEVINE

A few wandering thoughts while waiting for the season two premiere of "Mad Men" Sunday night. More on that later, but for now …
-- You can take the NBA Finals, Wimbledon and British Open, but I'll go for ESPN's World Series of Poker coverage every time. I find very few TV events -- even though this one is highly edited -- that has as much drama. Tuesday, the cabler premiered the tourney, with satellite games to start out with the main event to begin in a few weeks. (Pictured right is 2007 WSOP champ Jerry Yang and his $8.25 million in winnings. Cash.)
While attending the Cinevegas Film Festival at the Palms last month, I walked across the street to the Rio and caught part of the WSOP in person. Two massive rooms with hundreds of tables, the sound of chips rattling around like the white noise of honeybees busy in a hive. As a player, it was music to my ears.

A swinging early '60s good time was had by all who attended season two preem party for AMC's Emmy darling "Mad Men" at Musso and Frank on Monday night, following a screening of the season opener at the Egyptian Theater across the street.

The most telling sign that "Mad Men" is the "it" show of the moment as far as the creative community is concerned? Mussos was crawling with top TV agents last night, even those who don't have anything to do with the show.

(Pictured left, "Mad Men" stars Vincent Kartheiser and Jon Hamm)

I have a really high tolerance for legal briefs and wonky ruminations on First Amendment issues and broadcast indecency policy -- I love reading the raw legal rationale for justifying or barring government-imposed curbs on free speech.

It was exciting to learn on Monday that the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals had vacated the FCC's decision to fine CBS $550,000 for the Boob Flash of Destiny by Janet Jackson during her duet with Justin Timberlake during the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show. The fine was voided and the case remanded back to the FCC for a new review in light of the appeals court's lengthy guidelines provided in Monday's ruling, as Variety's William Triplett reports. (It's gonna be a big year for indecency policy geeks. Another case will be heard at the Supreme Court during its 2008-09 sesh.)

The Jackson-Timberlake incident turbo-charged what was already a mounting crusade in Washington, at the FCC and from self-appointed media watchdogs (the Parents Television Council by any other name) that has been politically motivated. It's been a red herring to push the buttons of certain voting blocs and a way to distract from the more substantial media policy questions facing the FCC (ownership limits, anyone?).

But even I found the 102-page decision on the Jackson fine impenetrable. (Read it here for yourself.) The case for the legal precedent and factors considered in the appellate review of the FCC's ruling on Nipplegate were rendered in mind-numbing detail in the opinion penned by Chief Judge Anthony Scirica

The basic argument boiled down to the FCC being out of line ("arbitrary and capricious" in the court's words) for taking a major departure from its past policy on indecency cases involving a "fleeting" instance of something untoward being said or shown on screen. The FCC was free to make a major change in its indecency policy, but it had to give broadcasters plenty of advance warning that it was doing so, the court reasoned.

I'm guessing Jay Leno enjoyed dressing up as a "reporter" for the executive session with the Peacock's Ben Silverman and Marc Graboff at TCA on Monday, as Variety's Michael Schneider reports. I gotta admit, he looks like an amalgam of several TCA regulars.

POSTED BY STUART LEVINE

Having attended most of the panels over a two-week period at the Beverly Hilton, here's one man's view of the best and worst of TCA 2008:

Number of times an actor said "we're all a family. It's a pleasure to come to work every day": 4,567 (a slight exaggeration)

Number of questions asked about the dead "Deadwood" movies: 259 (not-so-slight exaggeration)

Amount of time it takes for critics to get from their seats to the afternoon cookie spread: 3.5 seconds

Best comeback: During the ABC showrunner sesh, the first question was addressed to "Grey's Anatomy" showrunner Shonda Rhimes (pictured left) about Katherine Heigl's comments on not having good material to submit for Emmy consideration. Immediately, "Lost" exec producer Damon Lindelof shot back: "Gee, I didn't this one coming."

Don't tease us like that: "Scrubs" showrunner Bill Lawrence on Sarah Chalke's role on "How I Met Your Mother," "They don't want me to say it, but she's the mom."

"The Office" star/scribe/co-exec producer Mindy Kaling appeared to be having a good time Saturday in her daylong photo-op in Scranton, Penn. to promote the release of two "Office" themed games, The Office DVD Board Game and The Office Trivia Game. The day's events include a trivia contest, a beet eating contest, a 2K run and "Office" character look-alike contest.

Hanging with Scranton-icity pols and radio DJs at the local Mall at Steamtown probably wouldn't be Kaling's first choice of things to do on a summer Saturday. But it was all in service for the show (and NBC Universal's merchandising biz), and the money raised from the events went to a worthy Scranton-based cause, United Neighborhood Centers of Northeastern Pennsylvania. Kaling even seemed to be a good sport about the beet-eating contest.

This sounds like an awards show TV fanatics could love. Television Without Pity, the Bravo-owned website  for TV nuts, proudly announces (drum roll here) the Tubey Awards. It's billed as a TV kudofest "for viewers who love TV when its good -- but love to hate it even more when it's bad."

There are 60 categories -- some conventional (best new show, favorite actor, etc.) and some not (wost new show, most overrated show, best badass, most ludicrous plotline, etc.), and it's the latter that promise to make this one fun. The nominees were selected from suggestions by TWP's regulars. The plan is to hold online voting in various categories each week through Aug. 31. (Only catch -- you have to be a registered TWP user to vote.)

Winners will be unveiled in mid-September (look out Emmys!). The whole list of nominees is posted right here on TWP. Naturally, given the profile of TWP users, the picks tend to be generous to the genre fare that is more often than not snubbed by Emmy voters. Turnabout is fair play, I say.

Among the highlights:

Most overrated show:

"American Idol"
"Grey's Anatomy"
"Gossip Girl"
"Heroes"
"Lost"

Most underrated show:

"Friday Night Lights"
"How I Met Your Mother"
"Journeyman"
"Psych"
"Supernatural."

Character most in need of being killed off:

Izzie Stevens, "Grey's Anatomy"
Maya Hererra, "Heroes"
Thirteen, "House"
Jack Shephard, "Lost"
Kate Austin, "Lost"

Most overhyped big name guest appearance:

Jerry Seinfeld, "30 Rock"
Britney Spears, "How I Met Your Mother"
Robin Williams, "Law & Order: SVU"
Lindsay Lohan, "Ugly Betty"
Victoria Beckham, "Ugly Betty"

"Mad Men" hit the trifecta on Saturday at the TCA Awards, snaring the prizes for best drama, best new show and program of the year, as Variety's Stuart Levine reports. This is probably a good warmup for the Emmycast on Sept. 20.

Stars John Slattery and Jon Hamm (pictured left) already look very comfortable doing the acceptance remarks thing.

It's also good to see "The Wire" (cast members and series creator David Simon goofed around for a WireImage photog prior to the awards, see below) getting some respect. HBO drama was recognized with the Television Critics Assn.'s Heritage Award for programs that are gonna stick around for a while in our collective memory.

TCA kudos were hosted at the Bev Hilton by the Smothers Brothers (pictured right). I'm kinda sorry I missed it, I'll be Tom and Dick were great -- it's an election year after all.

Emmy's picks for writing and directing nominees in the series categories are kinda like a state of the craft report card every year. They're often the category where new and innovative programs are recognized long before they crack the more prominent races.

But in a year when Emmy voters seemed to embrace new and different, the choices in the writing and directing heats seem more pedestrian, though some of this year's contenders were so obvious (Bryan Fuller and Barry Sonnenfeld for "Pushing Daisies" Pie-lette, Matthew Weiner and Alan Taylor for the "Mad Men" pilot) as to take some of the suspense out of the race this year. Sonnenfeld (pictured left) and Taylor (pictured right) have already bagged DGA Awards for their work on these pilots.

Sonnenfeld, IMHO, can safely begin rehearsing his acceptance speech for comedy helmer. (Coming from him, it oughta be a doozy.) The competish is strong -- a six-nominee category meaning that there was one tie in the nom ballotting -- but nothing was quite so inventive and visually distinct as that first slice of ABC's "Pushing Daisies."

From my viewfinder, the dark horse in the race could be James Bobin of HBO's "Flight of the Conchords." Bobin, co-creator of the series with Kiwi comedy-rockers Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie, is up for the "Sally Returns" episode of "Conchord's" 12-episode frosh season.

Dan Attias nabbed a nom for the "No Cannes Do" installment of "Entourage." Paul Lieberstein has shown that there's no end to his talents by performing, writing and directing segs of NBC's "The Office," and now he's up for helming the seg "Money" Parts 1 and 2 (sounds like a James Brown hit from the early '70s). Also nommed from "Office" is Paul Feig, for handling the season finale, "Goodbye, Toby," which happened to mark the farewell of Lieberstein's character. Michael Engler of NBC's "30 Rock" is up for the "Rosemary's Baby" installment.

It was no surprise to see Showtime's Matt Blank and Robert Greenblatt looking like they were enjoying themselves Friday afternoon during their executive Q&A sesh. Any way you look at it, Showtime is on a roll. They're not getting the

"Why aren't you as cool as H