All the tube news that’s fit to surf …

– Guiding Light is a lame duck, and now a CBS honcho says As the World Turns may be next on the network’s daytime hit list.

– Gotta love that Joan Rivers, whose new show How’d You Get So Rich?, premieres on TV Land tomorrow, still doesn’t censor herself. And I agree with her; Chelsea Handler is not funny.

– Who’s the Boss and Charmed star Alyssa Milano is headed back to TV in the ABC midseason series Romantically Challenged. The comedy stars Milano as a woman who has to compete with her boyfriend’s best friend for his attention.

– Turns out Screech, a.k.a. Dustin Diamond, didn’t decide to bail on People magazine’s Saved by the Bell cover shoot; he was banned.

– One of the many signs that the reality TV genre needs some freshening up: E!’s latest reality show is a fake reality show called Reality Hell.

– Another sign: No one is watching The T.O. Show on VH1. Okay, correction: The number of people watching The T.O. Show is roughly the same number of people watching a 5AM airing of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air on Nick at Nite.

– Emmy Awards producer Don Mischer ‘fessed up that the annual TV award show is in danger of becoming irrelevant, as viewers are turned off by the fact that the shows most of them watch aren’t generally represented among Emmy winners. Good thing they have fan fave Neil Patrick Harris hosting this year.

– Bethenny Frankel confirms she’s returning for the next season of Real Housewives of New York City. Meanwhile, the Real Housewives franchise’s Atlanta season two premiere was the highest-rated in the show’s history.

– Sugar Ray lead singer Mark McGrath says Real Housewives of Orange County star Vicki Gunvalson inspired him to write a song called “She’s Got the (Woo-Hoo!).”.

– And tonight in primetime:

– Tom Green and J. Peterman (John O’Hurley) are dinner guests on Hell’s Kitchen (8PM ET, Fox)
– Kat joins shop class on 10 Things I Hate About You (8PM, ABC Family)
– A green record label is among the topics discussed on the third season premiere of Big Ideas for a Small Planet (8PM, Sundance)
– It’s the season finale of The Superstars on ABC (8PM)
– Ruby has car problems on Ruby and the Rockits (8:30PM, ABC Family)
– The Power of Veto competition unfolds on Big Brother (9PM, CBS)
– Luke takes one of his bachelorettes to Vegas on More to Love (9PM, Fox)
– Chuck sister Sarah Lancaster guest stars on Hawthorne (9PM, TNT)
– Former NBA-er Brandon Williams gets a garage makeover on Man Caves (9PM, DIY Network)
– Shark Week continues on the Discovery Channel with Sharkbite Summer (9PM)
– Stargate: Atlantis‘ Joe Flanigan guests on Warehouse 13 (9PM, SyFy)
– Jessie and PC have (another) fight on NYC Prep (9PM, Bravo)
– Paris chooses her new sidekick on the season finale of Paris Hilton’s My BFF (10PM, MTV)
– New Saving Grace on TNT (10PM)
– William tries to help a surgeon who insists he performs better under the influence on The Cleaner (10PM, A&E)
– Work comes between Maria and Ariel on Miami Social (10PM, Bravo)
– Maura Tierney begins a guest stint as Tommy’s new fling on Rescue Me (10PM, FX)
– Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood ends season four (10PM, Oxygen) with Stella’s birthday party and the hope that Granny Spelling will show up
– Oxygen also has the just-after-primetime premiere of Addicted to Beauty (11PM), which follows the shenanigans of an L.A. spa

• No Comments
• Filed in Reality, TV News
• Tags: Alyssa Milano, As the World Turns cancellation, Bethenny Frankel, Dustin Diamond, E! Reality Hell, Emmys, Guiding Light, How'd You Get So Rich?, Joan Rivers, Neil Patrick Harris Emmys, Real Housewives of New York City, Saved by the Bell reunion, The T.O. Show, Vicki Gunvalson

All the tube news that’s fit to surf …

-Just not a good month for TV celebs: On the heels of the deaths of Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, MTV video legend Michael Jackson and pitchman Billy Mays, The Gale Storm Show and My Little Margie star Gale Storm – one of TV’s first big stars – died on Saturday at age 87, while comedian, celeb impersonator and frequent late-night TV guest Fred Travalena died Sunday at age 66 after a battle with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

– The B-Side Blog has a sneak peek at the new Big Brother house, where the latest round of reality TV hamsters will move in on July 9.

– For TV fans, this is the year to attend Comic-Con in San Diego. The TV-heavy line-up includes panels with the casts of Lost, 24, Chuck, Bones, Burn Notice, Glee, MythBusters, The Cleveland Show, Futurama, Heroes and upcoming series V, Flash Forward and Human Target.

– No good Oprah deed goes unpunished? May be, as her gifts to her staff – a fancy luxury cruise – is reportedly going to cost each of them $1,000 in taxes.

– As the Sept. 18 series finale of long-running daytime soap Guiding Light grows sadly closer, 60 Minutes is planning a special Sept. segment that includes interviews with cast, while the Daytime Emmy telecast on Aug. 30 will also include a special tribute. Meanwhile, The Hollywood Reporter‘s Roger Friedman claims the show’s sponsor, Procter & Gamble, is purposely trying to turn fans against the show because the company wants out of the soap biz.

– Casting news: Reaper star Missy Peregrym has signed on to star in ABC’s Canadian cop drama Copper, while Desperate Housewives guest star T.J. Ramini – he played Gabby’s trainer, Yaniv – will be a recurring star on season eight of 24, where he’ll play Tarin, a cohort of the Middle Eastern leader who’ll be played by Anil Kapoor.

– And tonight in primetime:

– The premiere of Oxygen’s Dance Your Ass Off (10PM ET), a Biggest Loser-meets-Dancing with the Stars/So You Think You Can Dance-ish reality competition
– Brenda and Fritz clash when they work together on a missing person/murder case on a new ep of The Closer (9PM, TNT)
– New York will apparently be unemployed after the season finale of New York Goes to Work (10PM, VH1)
– Zoey wigs when she loses her first patient on Nurse Jackie (10:30PM, Showtime)
– Celia’s baaaa-ack – and living in Nancy’s garage, while Agent Roy Till also pops back into Nancy’s life on a new Weeds (10PM, Showtime)
– Buddy bakes a cake and plans to stash live birds inside of it on Cake Boss (10PM, TLC)
– Kathy Griffin hangs with Paris Hilton (is getting off the D-list really worth that?) on My Life on the D-List (10PM, Bravo)
– Guy Fieri hits the road for pumpkin-oatmeal pancakes and bacon-wrapped meatloaf on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives (10PM, Food Network)
– And it’s down to five on The Bachelorette (8PM, ABC)

• 3 Comments
• Filed in 24, Reality, TV News
• Tags: 24, Big Brother, Big Brother house, Cake Boss, Comic Con TV, Dance Your Ass Off, Desperate Housewives, Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, Fred Travalena, Gale Storm, Guiding Light, Guiding Light finale, Guy Fieri, Kathy Griffin, Missy Peregrym, My Life on the D-List, New York Goes to Work, Nurse Jackie, Oprah, Paris Hilton, The Bachelorette, The Closer, Weeds

All the tube news that’s fit to surf …

– Memorial Day weekend means TV marathons, and TVGuide.com has a round-up of ’em.

– Nurse Jackie, the quirky new nurse dramedy starring Edie “Carmela Soprano” Falco, debuts June 8 on Showtime, but you can watch the first episode now, free, at Sho.com. The password: “shifthappens.”

– Now that the networks have announced their schedules for next season, they have to deal with the dismal stats of the just-concluded 2008/09 season: ratings were down 16 percent.

– Don’t read this EW.com story unless you want to know the major twist that will kick off The CW’s remake of Melrose Place in the fall.

– Tonight’s season finales: Starz’ terrific comedies Party Down (10:30PM ET) and Head Case (10PT), which features a funny cameo by Jerry Seinfeld.

– What was missing from the American Idol finale (besides an Adam Lambert win, of course)? A goofy Will Ferrell song that was cut.

– Fringe‘s Kirk Acevedo took to his Facebook page earlier this week to say he’d been fired from the show. Not so, says a show producer.

– First Guiding Light is cancelled, and now All My Children killed Stuart Chandler. What is going on in daytime TV?!

– Just when you think you can’t possibly love Neil Patrick Harris more, you find out he has pop-up books in his guest room, Kiehl’s products in the shower and a selection of magazines in his bathroom. NPH!

– And in more things that make perfect sense to me, Project Runway star (and he is the real star of the show) Tim Gunn will become a Marvel Comics superhero.

• No Comments
• Filed in American Idol, Comedy, Drama, TV News
• Tags: Adam Lambert, All My Children, American Idol, Carmela Soprano, Daytime TV, Edie Falco, EW.com, finale, Fringe, Guiding Light, Head Case, Jerry Seinfeld, Kiehl's, Kirk Acevedo, marathons, Marvel Comics, Melrose Place. spoiler, Memorial Day, Memorial Day weekend TV marathons, Neil Patrick Harris, Network ratings, NPH, nurse, Nurse Jackie, Party Down, Project Runway, Showtime, Starz, Stuart Chandler, superhero, Tim Gunn, TV Guide.com. TV marathons, Will Ferrell