Lots of TV-centric goings-on around town in the next few weeks. CBS Paramount Network TV gets into the swing of summer with a "block party" on the CBS Radford lot on Tuesday night to herald the June 5 debut of CBS drama "Swingtown," about fun-loving, Quaalude-downing, partner-swapping couples in the summer of '76. It's so nice to see "Swingtown" costar Molly Parker all cleaned up and dusted off from her "Deadwood" days...

...Speaking of CBS dramas, a clutch of "Moonlight" fans are descending on L.A. this weekend for what's billed as the first fan-generated confab on the show, "MoonlightCon," at the Westin hotel out by LAX. Undoubtedly these folks will cook up some stunt to draw attention to their cries for another network to pick up their fave rave, which CBS dropped last week. (That's the hint in an email message today from a "devoted Moonlight fan" who promised me that "the fat lady ain't sung yet!") It doesn't appear that their immortal, series star Alex O'Loughlin, is skedded to stop by, but they will be taking a "Moonlight"-centric tour of the Warner Bros. lot on Friday...

...Some of those "Moonlight" fanatics might want to hop a bus to Culver City on Saturday morning, where Sony Pictures TV is holding open auditions for its revival of "The Gong Show" for Comedy Central. The cattle call will be held at a site near (but not on) the Sony Pictures lot on West Washington Boulevard. Click here for the specifics...

...Finally, the upcoming event we're most excited about is the June 4 party to celebrate the opening of Gordon Ramsay's new eatery at the London West Hollywood. The restaurant's moniker is already a mouthful: Gordon Ramsay at the London West Hollywood. Ramsay's "Hell's Kitchen" is having a nice hot run behind "American Idol" on Tuesdays in the last lap of the 2007-08 season. He ought to be in a good mood, and for once he won't be able to yell at anyone (but himself) about the food.

The news that Comedy Central is reviving "The Gong Show" this summer hit the Variety newsroom like...a gong. A bunch of us began swapping memories of favorite acts, favorite judges and favorite unintelligible sounds made by host and producer Chuck Barris.

We learned that one of our staffers actually appeared more than once on the later 1980s version of the show, but that incarnation surely paled in comparison to Barris' original 1976-1980 masterfarce. Variety managing editor Kathy Lyford gushed about how much she loved Gene Gene the Dancing Machine, aka stagehand Eugene Patton, who was always good for a boost if the show was dragging with his unique bit of soft shoe as the orchestra (yes, this was back when even low-budget game shows had live music) boogied to Basie's "Jumpin' at the Woodside."

Here's a representative sample of his hoofing. And who knew? Patton put out a record back in the day (click here for a blog post with details):

David Letterman famously did a stint as a "Gong Show" judge (click here for proof). Others who did turns on the show in their pre-fame days include Oingo Boingo and Paul Reubens. This time around, the host will be comic Dave Attell, and it will hail from Adam Sandler's production banner, Happy Madison Prods., as Variety reports. They are already canvasing for freaks and geeks to strut their stuff on the show -- send your best pitch to gongshowcasting@aol.com