It's hard to not feel a little melancholy when you're working on a year-end obit package.

Assembling a list of notables who died during a 12-month time span is like taking stock of how much the world you once knew is disappearing. Although I don't often admit it in the company of non-journos, I (usually) like working on obits. It's challenging work, usually against a tight deadline, and I feel a certain responsibility to do right by the person. I often hear Mrs. Loman's famous command in my head: "Attention must be paid."

In that spirit, here is an electronic chronicle of those who left their mark on the TV biz. 2007 saw the  passing of industry titans the likes of Jack Valenti, Merv Griffin, Tom Snyder  and Roger King; influential hyphenates including Sidney Sheldon, Mel Shavelson, Martin Manulis, Mel Tolkin and Bob Carroll, Jr.; and a local TV news icon in Hal Fishman.

It was a tough year for "Match Game" fans, with Charles Nelson Reilly and Brett Somers heading in to the blank hereafter. And no obit in the pages of Variety this year was more heartbreaking than that of Cartoon Network exec Jennifer Davidson, 38, who was a charter member of the cabler's staff and a mother of three.

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.

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.

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.

Let's all hoist a colortini toast tonight to Tom Snyder; may he rest in peace after what had to have been a tough battle with leukemia.

The man was born to be a broadcaster, born to talk on TV, without a net, without a script, and without needing much help from other people to tell him what to think. Snyder, who died Sunday in San Francisco at the age of 71, was smart, sharp, fast on his feet and funny, sometimes too funny with jokes that were an acquired taste. At least he had the brains and .... confidence to speak freely on live TV.

Or as Peter Lassally, who was exec producer of CBS' "The Late Late Show with Tom Snyder" and now exec produces the successor show with Craig Ferguson, put it:

"Tom was a true broadcaster, a rare thing. When he was on the air, he made the camera disappear. It was just you and him, in a room together, having a talk."

Snyder had a reputation for being cantankerous, or "prickly," as the AP put it in its obit, but he was way-way nicer than he needed to be during a down phase of his career when a green reporter called his production office one day to ask if she could sit in on a taping of his show.

Dick Wolf was busy today. He started the day with the "Law & Order" panel at TCA on Tuesday, breaking the news that Linus Roache is joining the mothership-show's cast in the upcoming season as executive assistant D.A., or the successor to Jack McCoy now that Sam Waterston's character has advanced to the big D.A. gig.

Wolf then hopped from TCA Central at the Beverly Hilton a few blocks down Wilshire Boulevard to the Regent Beverly Wilshire to moderate the "State of the Industry" sesh for the Hollywood Radio & TV Society. The HRTS panel was lively, and Wolf had plenty to say about the state of the biz he's in. Not surprisingly, much of the conversation revolved around the words "online video" and "new platforms."

As Variety's Michael Schneider reports, Wolf recounted for the HRTS aud the “horrifying moment” he discovered that not only does his 14-year-old son not watch network TV, but none of his son’s classmates do either. “At the end of the day, are we eating our young?” Wolf asked.

POSTED BY MICHAEL SCHNEIDER

(Updated Friday morning with fresh comment from Steven Moffat, see below)

Never mind the bollocks, "Coupling" creator Steven Moffat (left) may have to explain a few things the next time he rings Ben Silverman.

Back in his pre-NBC days, Silverman helped Moffat bring the hit BBC comedy over to the States -- where the U.S. "Coupling" promptly fizzled.

Why did the Yankee "Coupling" fail? (For one thing, see the image to the right: It was promoted as a sex-drenched romp, rather than a plain ol' funny show, as the BBC version was.) Moffat offered up his own hypothesis last week during BBC America's TCA session (where he was promoting his new BBC series "Jekyll"):

“I can answer it with three letters: N-B-C. Very, very good writing team. Very, very good cast. The network fucked it up because they intervened endlessly. If you really want a job to work, don’t get Jeff Zucker’s team to come help you because they’re not funny …I can say that because I don’t care about working for NBC. The way in which NBC slagged off the creative team on American “Coupling” after its failure was disgraceful and traitorous. So I enjoy slagging them off. That’s the end of my career in L.A.”

Hmm... that's what makes this part awkward: According to Silverman -- now co-chairman of NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios -- Moffat has been in contact about, yes, doing something for him at the Peacock!

"I find that a little hypocritical," Silverman said. "(Moffat and "Coupling" exec producer Beryl Vertue) have called me a number of times about doing a show."

The lesson?

"Never say never," Silverman added.

-- Michael Schneider

Friday morning update:

Just a few comments, if I may (and I'm assuming Ben's been quoted correctly.)

1.  I have NEVER been contact with NBC about making a show.  Not once.

2.  I have NEVER said I won't work for NBC, I just assumed they wouldn't want me (and I wouldn't blame them, really!)

3.  At the time of American Coupling, Ben Silverman was the producer of the show, not chairman of NBC - it was HIS work, and his team's work that suffered so badly from network interference.  It was, in effect, Ben I was defending.  Oh, the irony!

4.  I know and like Ben, but I've seen him type on his Blackberry, and realise he might have been trying to say something else entirely.

Steven Moffat

POSTED BY STUART LEVINE

Jerry Seinfeld is coming home to the Peacock.

Comedian-actor, whose show became a signature for the network, will appear as himself in the first episode of "30 Rock" when the sitcom returns on Oct. 4.

NBC is hoping the appearance of Seinfeld will give the highly praised comedy a ratings shot in the arm. The show, which stars Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin, returns at 8:30 p.m. Thursday, as part of the Peacock's comedy block, in addition to "My Name Is Earl," "The Office" and "Scrubs."

"Thursday night is a poweful comedy lineup for NBC. To have Jerry join '30 Rock' for the second-season launch is impressive, to him return even for one night in his old Thursday night turf is just classic," said NBC topper Ben Silverman.

"I think it's going to be so refreshing for me to be playing myself in a show that has nothing to do with neurotic, dysfuctional New York characters," Seinfeld quipped, tongue planted firmly in cheek.

Added Fey, who also acts as exec producer: "Finally, my parents have an excuse to watch the show."

-- Stuart Levine

He grew up yearning to write for “Playhouse 90” and “The Twilight Zone.”

Unfortunately for Matthew Weiner, he was born about 35 years too late, and as it happened, his break as a TV writer came in sitcoms, not high-end dramas.But Weiner was nevertheless determined to pursue his vision for a series that would capture all of his fascination with American culture in the finger-snapping era of Camelot and the Cuban Missile Crisis, of skinny ties and steel-tipped bras, of the Rat Pack and Sputnik.

By day, Weiner was working on the CBS sitcom “Becker.” By night, with the added motivation of the approach of 35th birthday, he poured himself into penning the pilot of his period-dreams. That was seven years ago. On Thursday, after many a twist and turn his Weiner’s life and that of his pilot script, his baby is set to make a splashy entrance on the heels of effusive reviews and a big marketing push from AMC. The film-centric basic cabler picked Weiner’s “Mad Men,” from Lionsgate TV, last year as the show to lead  the channel into the scripted series realm.

“No network quite got this show until AMC,” Weiner says, and that’s in keeping with the spirit of the show. “This show is all about misconceptions, and our contemporary culture’s misunderstanding of this period in American history and how it influenced who we are today,” Weiner says.

CONTINUE READING TO WATCH A VIDEO CLIP OF "MAD MEN" CREATOR MATTHEW WEINER DISCUSSING THE PERIOD SETTING OF THE SHOW.

It was such a "John from Cincinnati" moment.

Moments after I strolled into HBO's poolside party at the W hotel in Westwood on Thursday, I meandered aimlessly (or so I thought?) by a small group of people conversing in a cocktail party circle. I was still scanning the crowd and overall scene when I heard a familiar voice say "...and it was printed on Variety.com that the show is good..." and then the cocktail-party huddle opens up and whaddya know! it's Willie Garson (pictured far left with Ed O'Neill), aka lawyer Dickstein of "John from Cincinnati," and no kidding (I couldn't make this up), he's talking about this week's On the Air column about taking a second look at "John" and how the cast is so damn good. I was stunned -- so much so I almost kept meandering on, but I couldn't. (What writer could?) The timing was just too perfect, the entree too good to pass up.

POSTED BY STUART LEVINE

For those waiting for the "Deadwood" two-hour movies, don't hold your breath.

After the show ended amid a PR mess last year with George Hearst leaving town, HBO said it would bring the Western back to satisfy fans who felt there was little closure. But now network exec Michael Lombardo told critics at TCA Thursday that the movies were "doable but daunting."

Creator David Milch has just finished up "John From Cincinnati," which is the series that took his attention away from "Deadwood." To get "Deadwood" back up and running, Milch would have to recharge his batteries and assuming he's interested in going back to the Black Hills, the actors would have to be rounded up again.

That's no easy task. Many of the thesps have moved on to other shows and films. Plus, it might not be a financially wise decision to bring back the entire production.

"We've had no conversations with David yet," Lombardo said. "We're still interested but it may not happen."

-- Stuart Levine

POSTED BY STUART LEVINE and STEVEN ZEITCHIK

So what's the difference between between real-life Larry David and "Curb Your Enthusiasm" character Larry David?

Whatever it is, the difference is becoming less and less every year.

"I really love the guy who's on that show" he said to critics at TCA. "He's everything that I'm thinking and feeling and who doesn't have to behave the way society wants everyone to behave. I'm getting closer to that guy every day."

Many viewers weren't expecting a sixth season of "Curb," which starts up Sept. 9. Season five ended with Larry going to heaven, a seemingly perfect way to say goodbye.

But soon after that, back in his production office with nothing to do, David felt miserable. So he started thinking ideas for another season. And, as he told critics in his condescending but hysterical way, the process of thinking up new ideas also made him miserable.

So either way -- working or not working -- he wasn't a happy man.

So who's smiling now? Probably HBO, which is currently restocking its series pipeline, yet needs popular long-running skeins to placate auds who want something new while clinging to the old favorites.

Pressed on whether the cult-comedy would come back for a seventh season (after a long hiatus before the upcoming sixth), David said that show has shot an ending that "could be the last-show ending - or it might be the last-show ending."

David has famously equivocated about a new season for the past couple years; he quipped that he did that because knowing there might not be another season was the only way he could get through the current one.

If series does return, David took a cue from a reporter about how to advance the arc: by emulating his real life (in which he has formally separated from his wife, enviro-activist and producer Laurie David) and getting divorced from onscreen wife Cheryl Hines. "Sorry," he said, turning to Hines.

"You're off the show," David deadpanned, as only he can.

-- Stuart Levine and Steven Zeitchik

POSTED BY STUART LEVINE

HBO may have lost "Sex and the City," but its still feeling frisky.

Cable will launch "Tell Me You Love Me" on Sept. 9, a nine-episode Sunday night series that focuses on the relationship of three couples -- in their 20s, 30s and 40s. From creator Cynthia Mort, skein moves from the therapist office to the bedroom, and doesn't shy away from showing the inner sanctum of each.

In other words, there's lots of screaming, crying and sex.

"We're not porn stars, we're actors," said actress Michelle Borth to the TCA throngs who were definitely more interested in the authenticity and realism of the sex scenes than they were on the credentials of Jane Alexander, who plays the show's therapist.

Added actress Sonya Walger: "It's uncomfortable. These scenes have no dialogue but each has a lot to say."

"Our decision wasn't to push the envelope but be honest about the intimacy," said HBO programming topper Carolyn Strauss. You can't tell the story about intimacy without having sex in your tool kit. If you want to do it honestly, you have to tell that story."

-- Stuart Levine

A kind-hearted, TV-loving woman in Watertown, N.Y., is orchestrating an elaborate campaign to get some overdue recognition for one of television's most active players in the 1960s, '70s and '80s.

Bill Bixby (pictured far left) was one of those actors who seemed to be everywhere on TV when I was a kid: "Courtship of Eddie's Father" reruns, "Love, American Style" reruns, "My Favorite Martian" reruns, countless TV movies and series guest shots, and, of course, "The Incredible Hulk," a show that was well-placed on CBS' Friday night sked so that pre-teens could stay up for it. (I'm not too proud to admit that it scared me when I was about 8.)

Bixby died young, at age 59 in November 1993, the victim of a late diagnosis of prostate cancer. He was nominated three times for Emmy glory during his 30 years in television -- once for "Courtship" and twice in 1976, for a guest shot on "The Streets of San Francisco," and for his role in the mammoth hit mini "Rich Man, Poor Man." But for all of his work as an actor and director (his interest in helming began during his "Martian" chronicles), Bixby never took home the gold. Renee Tufo thinks this is just plain wrong.

More than any TV series in recent memory, “John from Cincinnati” seemed to be nearly done in by bad buzz long before it premiered.

“Why would HBO think people would want to watch this?” one blog poster opined on AOL’s TV Squad site nearly a month before the show premiered June 10, on the coattails of “The Sopranos’” finale.
“One department has a pool going as to when HBO is going to pull the plug and not complete the season at all,” read a post on the popular TelevisionWithoutPity.com site way back in February. (The author of the missive claimed to be someone who worked on the “John” set.)

Sure, all shows endure a fair amount of post-pickup/pre-premiere drama and “oh boy is it in big trouble” rumor-mongering. But “John” endured a surprising amount of early carping, especially for an HBO skein with a solid pedigree as the creation of revered dramatist David Milch and cult-fave novelist Kem Nunn. Milch took a beating from many fans of his previous HBO creation “Deadwood,” who felt that he and HBO decided to drive a stake in “Deadwood” prematurely in order to free Milch up to work on “John.” (Given the tone of “Deadwood,” Milch surely couldn’t have been surprised when its hard-core fans were quick to express their hostile, profanity-laden revenge fantasies.)

The cast that Milch and Nunn put together last fall and winter for “John” was undeniably strong: Rebecca De Mornay (pictured above left), Bruce Greenwood (pictured right), Ed O’Neill, Matt Winston, Luke Perry, Luis Guzman, Willie Garson, and up and comers Brian Van Holt and Austin Nichols. But when the pilot script started to make the rounds, there was a lot of head scratching.

If “Deadwood” was a surrealistic Western, then “John from Cincinnati” was a psycho surf-themed family drama, as inter-preted via a bad acid trip. The talk was that it was not just unconventional, it was unbound, merely an indulgent exercise in how obtuse (with curse words) two talented writers could be if given the chance. The consensus opinion seemed to be that HBO had come to the crossroads and was at a loss at where to go next after its storied run of success.

Sad news last week about the passing of Joel Siegel, ABC News' longtime film critic, at the age of 63 after a struggle with colon cancer. "Good Morning America" plans to devote the second hour of Monday's telecast to a tribute to Siegel, who delivered weekly film reviews for the morning show for 26 years, on top of logging a more than 30-year stint on  WABC-TV New York. "GMA" alumni Charles Gibson, David Hartman, Joan Lunden and Spencer Christian will make guest appearances on the hour, and it's expected that various actors and filmmakers will contribute taped pieces commenting on Siegel's work, per ABC.

Beyond his work as a critic, Siegel led an eclectic life, working as everything from a flavor-inventor for Baskin Robbins to a joke writer for Robert F. Kennedy. He was an eyewitness to history in 1968 when he accompanied the senator from New York to his fateful visit to L.A.'s Ambassador Hotel. He wrote the Tony-nominated Broadway play "The First," about Jackie Robinson, and when he was diagnosed with cancer six years ago, shortly after learning that he was to become a father for the first time, he penned a book of stories, "Lessons for Dylan: From Father to Son," he wanted to pass on to his son and wife, artist Ena Swansea. Monday's tribute ought to be an interesting and emotional hour of live television.

I wanted to like the Mort Sahl 80th birthday tribute event Thursday night at the Wadsworth Theater much more than I did.

The biggest problem was that most of the comics who moved through the turnstile Thursday night didn't offer anything close to political humor in the spirit of Mort. And that really shouldn't have been a surprise -- it's not as if Drew Carey, Jay Leno, Kevin Nealon, Richard Lewis and Paula Poundstone are known for their incisive social commentary. Neither are Jonathan Winters, Norm Crosby or Shelley Berman, but at least they were funny, particularly Winters, who trotted out his Leland Buckhorn dumb-baseball-player persona.

Lewis' time on stage in particular felt like a small eternity of jokes all about himself -- parts of himself that I'm guessing no one in the room wanted to hear that much about. George Carlin was funny with his now-familiar buzzword-rap routine, and he brought along a great clip of himself doing a Mort Sahl imitation from a CBS variety show in 1962.

Bill Maher at least felt like he belonged at a Mort Sahl tribute, with a few good Bush-bashing lines and the observation that among the GOP presidential heat, the only contender who isn't on his second or third marriage is Mitt Romney, the Mormon. But Leno and his not-funny jokes about Africa and obesity, Mel Gibson and Michael Jackson just fell flat, as did Carey and his "Paris Travel Lodge" schtick. (Maybe that was the point, to highlight how vapid most of standup comedy has become since the days when Sahl was riffing on Nikita and Ike, the arms race, civil rights, voting rights, etc.)

For me, Albert Brooks delivered the all-around funniest performance with his "I was told Mort Sahl had died" routine, complete with a eulogy that he delivered anyway. Emcee Jack Riley (aka "The Bob Newhart Show's" Mr. Carlin), who subbed for Larry King, had a good line about needing to do the event "to get a credit from this century."

By the time, Sahl came up on stage for the obligatory "this has meant so much to me," even he was underwhelming, red sweater and all. His best bit was noting the causal connection between subpoenas being delivered to key Bush administration figures and Dick Cheney's visits to the D.C. area hospitals.

"They're reconstructing Cheney, a Halliburton corporation," Sahl quipped, "and they're overcharging!"

In closing, audience members -- a crowd that included Hugh Hefner, Tommy Chong, Rob Reiner, Larry Gelbart, George Schlatter, George Shapiro, Fred Willard and Dick Van Patten -- serenaded Mort with "Happy Birthday" (never mind that Sahl's 80th was seven weeks ago). Event raised more than $100,000 for the Heartland Comedy Foundation, which aids older comics who have hit hard times financially.

Pictured above, back row from left: Richard Lewis, Jay Leno, Norm Crosby, Kevin Nealon, Hugh Hefner, event organizer Ross Shafer, Drew Carey and Albert Brooks. Front row from left: Shelley Berman, Jonathan Winters, George Carlin, Mort Sahl and Harry Shearer.

Photo credit: Derek Goes/GOES PHOTOGRAPHY

Wow, this is a really good, well-rounded view of Rupert Murdoch -- the man, the mogul, the dealmaking machine, by Time magazine's Eric Pooley. It feels like an objective take on a guy who is unfairly demonized at times, overly lionized at others. It's clearly Rupe's PR antidote to the New York Times series that rean earlier this week, and it's surely a much more interesting read.

"We're very proud of what we do at all our papers," (Murdoch) says on another day, in another mood. "And we just feel insulted by the coverage. We've got more than 50,000 people [in News Corp.]." We're sitting in his New York City office on a June afternoon. "We make mistakes here and there. But there's nothing wrong with the Post — most people would prefer to read it before they go to the Times. There's such a thing as a popular newspaper and an unpopular élite newspaper. They play different roles. We have both kinds. Just like we have the Fox network with American Idol and 24, and we also have the National Geographic Channel. It's hard for outsiders to understand that."

This just in...

Erstwhile "CBS Evening News" anchor Bob Schieffer (we were just talking about him a few items ago, see 'Rosie wasn't right for 'Price' anyway") is making an appearance on tonight's "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson," delivering a faux news report about Craig's ongoing campaign to become a citizen of the United States.

Earlier this month Craig began soliciting cities and towns across this fair land of ours for honorary citizenship status. According to CBS, so far the mayors of some 7,200 hamlets have responded, along with the governors of North Dakota, South Dakota, Alaska, Nevada, Montana and Texas, with letters giving Craig his red-white-and-blue due. As they should.

We are a nation of immigrants, and by my yardstick Craig's one of the better ones to have arrived on these  shores in the past 15 years or so. Think about it. The pride of Glasgow's many talents -- actor, writer (and not just short scripts but he pens the trifecta of TV, films and fiction tomes) , producer, host, father, motorcycle rider, keen-eyed pop culture observer, etc. have helped keep people in employed (stagehands, typesetters, craft services, mechanics, etc., etc. ) and he's contributed to the Clean Air Act by maintaining high standards for his double-entendres despite his past-the-FCC's-indecency-policing-jurisdiction time slot of 12:35 a.m.

So by the decree of On the Air, the People's Republic of Variety.com grants Craig lifelong honorary citizenship. He can come hang out in our Miracle Mile digs anytime. After all, Craig's home-away-from-home-away-from-Scotland, CBS Television City, is just around the corner.

Also, as Variety's Joe Adalian reported today, "Late Late Show" is committed to seeing the U.S.A. in a Chevro-..er..Ford this summer by sending two staffers on a road trip full of Ford logos. Maybe afterward one of them will get hopped up on ...coffee... and write the great American buddy-road novel of the early 21st century on one long continuous roll of paper in a sweltering one-room apartment in New York...

POSTED BY ERIN MAXWELL, NEWS EDITOR EXTRAORDINAIRE OF VARIETY.COM.

"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" is dead and gone (several times if you count the number of times she perished on the 1997-2003 TV series) but her spirit lives on in many ways, most recently via "Buffy-oke."
Yes, it's just what it sounds like, karaoke, "Buffy" style, based largely on the "Once More with Feeling" musical extravaganza episode that ran during the show's sixth season.

Now touring the country, "Buffy-oke" is a "Rocky Horror"-esque sing-along features audience participation, hand puppets and a fair amount of Dawn-bashing to create a new reason for "Buffy" fans to cheer since their Tuesday nights are now free.

For those who need a recap, the episode features a hoofer-loving demon named Sweet who puts a spell over the beloved denizens of Sunnydale, forcing the Scoobies to sing their innermost thoughts and perform complicated dance numbers.
On June 27, the Los Angeles Film Festival brought the show to the Crest Theater in Westwood, where fans were treated to not only their favorite episode, but fan-made videos that paid tribute to Buffy mom Kristine Sutherland and boy-toy Riley, played by Marc Blucas. A bit of trivia and a two-minute recap of the entire series was thrown in for good measure.

The screening came with an instruction sheets and goodie bags that allowed the audience to fully partake in the showing, such as blow bubbles for Lawrence Welk-inspired ballet numbers and kazoos to help "Buffy" star Sarah Michelle Gellar with the high notes.

At the end of the screening, Marti "Parking Ticket Lady" Noxon (pictured right) took the stage to thank fans and introduced series creator and surprise guest Joss Whedon (pictured above, as if you didn't know that already). Whedon was overcome by the fan response to the episode he wrote and directed, and thanked the audience for the keeping the episode from disappearing into rerun oblivion. He also shared his thoughts on Buffy's younger sis: "Come on. Dawn isn't that bad." (Erin Maxwell)

To investigate "Buffy-oke" further just click right here on this link.

I feel compelled to post a note of hugely heartfelt thanks to all of those who have read and responded to this week's "Supernatural" column. First off, it validates my feeling that this show is an overlooked gem. But more selfishly, from a business perspective, the hundreds and hundreds of good folks who have checked out my post have spiked the traffic for this blog exponentially. Before this week, the above image of guest star Emmanuelle Vaugier from the "Supernatural" seg "Heart" from this past season was a pretty good representation of how frustrated I was in trying to get any real traction for this blog since its soft launch in mid-May. But the response to my sit-down with Eric "hell of a nice guy" Kripke has restored my faith in humanity, television and my ability to do meaningful work in this new medium. It's one of the perks of the job to be able to talk to interesting, thoughtful, creative people like Eric. So thanks muchly to everyone, especially those who left kind words behind. And for all of you rabid Jensen and Jared fans, here's another cute pic of the guys, just for good measure.

Muscle cars. Classic rock. Scary monsters and evil demons. Chain saws. Handsome guys and hot girls. Jeffrey Dean Morgan dying. "Supernatural's" got it all, including a hard-core fan base who have built elaborate website shrines to the series. So why isn't it a bigger draw for the CW, especially among the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "X-Files" demo?

This is a question that keeps "Supernatural" creator-exec producer Eric Kripke up at night listening to things that go bump. Not that he isn't happy and grateful to just to have his spawn live for another season, its third, in the 2007-08 season. But he'd like to get the word out that there is hope in the Thursday 9 p.m. slot for people who like more other-worldly entertainment than the docs of "Grey's Anatomy" or the forensics of "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation." Hell, actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan, the cardiac-challenged martyr of "Grey's Anatomy," even died in the first episode of "Supernatural" last season, after cutting a deal with the devil to allow his older son to live.

"Because I believe in the humanity of man, I believe there's a wider audience out there for this show," Kripke joked over breakfast (brioche and coffee) the other day, down the street from Warner Bros. where "Supernatural" is produced. "I don't think we have to live on 'Grey's' and 'CSI's' scraps. But we do have to find a way to get the word out that this show is out there. The people who used to watch 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' are not watching anything else on the CW."

Now we know how Neil Patrick Harris is going to spend at least some of his summer. The "How I Met Your Mother" star will make his stage directing debut with what's billed as a "private premiere" rendition of Amanda Rogers' "I Am Grock" on July 17 at the El Portal Theater in North Hollywood.

Play revolves around "a monumental moment in the life of Phoebe Broman, a family therapist, mother and author. Her successful new book promoting raw, uncensored honesty within families has netted her an interview on a national news broadcast. However, things go awry when her entire extended family shows up at her front door an hour before the interview. Phoebe is left with no choice but to heal her own family before the newswoman and cameras arrive."

Sounds like Harris out to have fun with it, given the entirely overblown tabloid circus he faced a few months back over questions of his sexuality. I mean, who really cares? In this day and age? He's a hoot as the lascivious Barney on CBS' "How I Met Your to Mother" -- that's really all we need to know. Harris also is no stranger to the footlights, having appeared on Broadway in "Assassins," "Proof" and "Cabaret."

Here's hoping Ben Silverman and Marc Graboff didn't get their new business cards and letter head yet.
NBC Universal Television Studio is no more, per the news released this a.m. by the Peacock. The studio arm is being renamed Universal Media Studios, doing away with the mouthful of a moniker (and its unfortunate acronym, NUTS) that emerged after the formal merger of NBC and U in May 2004. (UMS may sound like a bank or something but at least it's harder to make fun of.) So now Silverman and Graboff are co-chairman, NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios. The NBC-free name may also be more conducive to the studio producing for non-NBC U outlets, though with NBC, USA, Sci Fi, Bravo and a growing number of digital platforms to feed it would seem that studio prexy Katherine Pope and her team have plenty to do in-house. Or as Ben says with characteristic modesty:  "NBC Universal is the premier content company on the planet and this name change reflects our TV studio's natural evolution as digital distribution expands and more platforms need premier ideas and programming."

Congrats to all the Humanitas Prize finalists. The Humanitas honors some times are the subject of a little ribbing for focusing on feel-good and Explicitly Uplifting fare, but the truth is most writers covet these awards, if only because they are so focused on scribes. Plus, these laurels come with cold, hard cash attached, which never hurts.

There are some oddly pedestrian choices on the list this year and some interesting picks. The biggest surprise is the nod to Fox's "The War at Home." It's hardly unusual for the Humanitas to shine a light on a canceled show, but it is in this case. "War at Home" wasn't exactly a critical darling in its two-season run on Fox. I can't really comment, having never watched beyond the pilot seg. I couldn't find an image from the episode "Kenny Doesn't Live Here Anymore," which earned the nom for series creator Rob Lotterstein, but I did find a shot, posted above, of an episode with a guest shot by George Segal. And since I've always loved "Where's Poppa?"...A full list of Humanitas noms, or finalists in the org's parlance, can be found here courtesy of Variety's hard-working, TV-loving Stuart Levine.

This week's guest judge Michael Bay added some star power to On the Lot and very clearly turned up the pressure for the remaining 15 contestants.
The plugs for Bay's new summer tentpole "Transformers" were pretty consistent, which underscored his heft in the biz that our hopefuls are trying to crack.
Format this week found five of the 15 -- Sam, Trever, Adam, Hilary and Shalini -- getting the chance to showcase their latest productions, three-minute shorts that had to be completed in five days, using mostly their own wits and connections for sets, actors, lighting, etc.

(pictured above: Adam, standing in back. L-R: Sam, Trever, Hilary and Shalini)

Been slowly making my way through the pilot screeners that have been piling up on my desk for the past two weeks. In all good conscience, I won't violate the sacred not-for-review covenant of not weighing in too heavily on the understanding that these pilots are still works in progress that undoubtedly will be tweaked, nipped, tucked and in some cases, recast, before the fall season starts. But some big-picture observations are starting to come together on what I've seen so far.

First off, Jim Parsons is a TV star. He's way-charming as the off-lead buddy opposite Johnny Galecki in CBS' Chuck Lorre sitcom "The Big Bang Theory." "Big Bang" is breezy fun, thanks in large part to Parsons (pictured left), even for someone who wasn't particularly in the mood for a geeky bud-com at the moment that I popped the disc in. But as usual, Lorre delivers the goods, starting with the names of his lead characters, "Sheldon" and "Leonard." (This town doesn't pay enough homage to the late producer Sheldon Leonard, a giant of the TV biz who helped birth "The Dick Van Dyke Show," "The Andy Griffith Show," "I Spy" and other gems.)

"Big Bang's" supporting cast is good too, particularly Simon Helberg as one of Sheldon and Leonard's geeky friends. Galecki's character (pictured right) is definitely channeling the J.J. Abrams geek-hip look. But Lorre's not just poking fun at others. Helberg's character is fer sure satorially inspired by the Lorre look (Davy Jones moptop hairdo, dark turtleneck sweaters) of the late '80s.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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