All the tube news that’s fit to surf …

– Neil Patrick Harris hosting the Emmys … that should definitely happen.

– Let no angle in the Michael Jackson story go uncovered: Anderson Cooper got the scoop on Bubbles the chimp last night on CNN.

– Speaking of celeb deaths, the sad trend continues for TV stars. Streets of San Francisco star (and Oscar winner) Karl Malden got all the press yesterday, but Broadway, big screen and tube star Harve Presnell – he was Dawson’s cantankerous friend/mentor Mr. Brooks on Dawson’s Creek – died on Tuesday at age 75.

– Bravo’s premiering a second season of The Rachel Zoe Project on Aug. 25.

– Christian Slater‘s My Own Worst Enemy flopped, but the Heathers star may be headed back to the tube in ABC’s fall drama The Forgotten. Slater would play a cop-turned-private detective whose daughter was kidnapped.

– Coyote Ugly star Piper Perabo (a fellow Ohio University alum – Go Bobcats!) has signed on to star in the USA drama pilot Covert Affairs, which sounds an awful lot like Alias. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

– Prison Break star Wentworth Miller will be on the other side of the law – playing an NYPD officer – on the season premiere of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (Sept. 23, NBC).

– Lost star Michael Emerson predicts a sad ending for the show, with (more) major character deaths and what he describes as a “series finale for grown-ups.”

– Kiefer Sutherland confirms that 24 will shoot some season eight scenes at the real United Nations. Jack Bauer’s next really long day will unfold in New York City (Jan. 17, 2010).

– This certainly trumps the Flintstone vitamin in TV-related pharmacology: Homer Simpson ecstasy.

– Billy Mays‘ infomercials will continue to air, and Discovery Channel has planned a tribute to the late pitchmen for July 9. Meanwhile, the New York Times has a rundown of five memorable moments from last night’s Pitchmen season (series?) finale.

– There’s official So You Think You Can Dance confirmation that Katie Holmes will be tapping her toes – for a new dance education charity she co-founded – on the show’s 100th episode, July 23.

– And tonight in primetime:

– William Shatner stops by G4’s Attack of the Show (7PM ET) to chat about his new Tek War comic
– A military couple who has spent a lot of time apart is shipped home and given a dream wedding on TNT’s Wedding Day (8PM)
– ABC has back-to-back new eps of the sadly canceled Samantha Who? (8PM)
– Kelly Clarkson sings “I Do Not Hook Up” as the top 14 becomes the top 12 on So You Think You Can Dance (Fox, 9PM)
– A teen who wants to join the Air Force may have her dreams dashed when she becomes preggers on the latest ep of 16 & Pregnant on MTV (10PM)
– Shea becomes a full-on bridezilla on Southern Belles: Louisville on SoapNet (10PM)
– TV Land has a new installment of She’s Got the Look (10PM)
– Science Channel’s Science of the Movies examines 3-D animation (10PM)

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• Filed in Award shows, Lost, Reality, TV News
• Tags: 24 season 8, 24 United Nations, Anderson Cooper, Billy Mays, Billy Mays Pitchmen, Billy Mays tribute, Bubbles the chimp, Christian Slater The Forgotten, Emmys, Harve Presnell, Homer Simpson ecstasy, Kiefer Sutherland, Michael Emerson Lost, Michael Jackson, Neil Patrick Harris, Piper Perabo Covert Affairs, So You Think You Can Dance Katie Holmes, The Rachel Zoe Project, Wentworth Miller, William Shatner

All the tube news that’s fit to surf …

– Office Space star Ron Livingston is set to boldly go into another kind of space with ABC’s new sci-fi series Defying Gravity. The show, scheduled to premiere this summer, revolves around a group of international astronauts who are sent on a “mysterious” six-year mission through the solar system.

– AOL’s PopEater wonders if farmer Kevin Skinner might be America’s Got Talent‘s version of Susan Boyle. Judge for yourself via the video of Skinner’s performance.

– MTV has given a season-two greenlight to 16 & Pregnant, the fantastic documentary series that follows teen moms-to-be as they deal with pregnancy and the realities of raising babies when they’re still kids themselves. The network has also announced a first season finale special, 16 & Pregnant: Life After Labor, that will be hosted by Dr. Drew Pinsky on July 23. In it, all six teen moms from the inaugural episodes will chat about their experiences and answer questions from a live audience.

– After his stint on Celebracadara (and a memorable guest gig on Southland), C. Thomas Howell will return to reality TV as the host of CMT’s All Jacked Up on Aug. 22. The show, in which the Soul Man star travel around the country “in search of outlandish, funny and extreme stunts, sports, events, people and inventions,” sorta sounds like Jackass-meets-America’s Got Talent-ish.

– Sci Fi (soon to be SyFy) is developing a remake of the short-lived Fox drama Alien Nation.

– The new Lifetime dramedy Drop Dead Diva (which premieres on July 12) will feature guest appearances by Liza Minnelli and Delta Burke, who will play feuding sisters. Rosie O’Donnell will also play a judge in the episode, which is set to air on Sept. 20.

– The big ratings winners of the week among premieres: HBO’s Hung, which was HBO’s biggest premiere in two years with 2.8 million viewers, and Oxygen’s Dance Your Ass Off, which, with 1.3 million viewers, was the highest-rated premiere in Oxygen’s history. PS – Check out the TVScreener.com reviews of Hung and Dance Your Ass Off.

– And NBC News’s upcoming series The Wanted (July 20) sounds like a real-life version of The A-Team, as “an elite team with backgrounds in intelligence, unconventional warfare and investigative journalism” tries to hunt down terrorists and war criminals.

– And tonight in primetime:

– Discovery Channel’s season marathon of Pitchmen episodes, featuring the late Billy Mays, continues all day, leading into the first season finale at 10PM ET
– Animal Planet premieres Monster Inside Me, all about parasites that prey on humans, at 9PM ET
– Wipeout. ABC, 8PM. More big red balls
– The Reno 911! deputies think aliens have come to town (10:30PM, Comedy Central)
– Teddy has company woes of his and tries to help a young girl who needs a kidney transplant on The Philanthropist (10PM, NBC)
– The Fashion Show crew gets busy designing sleepy-time wear (10PM, Bravo)
– One pair feuds while another hooks up on The Real World: Cancun (10PM, MTV)
– There are back-to-back new eps of Tattoo Highway on A&E (10 and 10:30PM)
– And E! has home videos of young Michael Jackson and his family on Michael Jackson: An E! Entertainment Special (10PM)

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• Tags: 16 & Pregnant, 16 & Pregnant: Life After Labor, Alien Nation, America's Got Talent, Billy Mays, C. Thomas Howell, Dance Your Ass Off, Delta Burke, Dr. Drew Pinsky, Drop Dead Diva, Hung, Kevin Skinner, Liza Minnelli, Michael Jackson, Pitchmen, Ron Livingston, The A-Team, The Philanthropist, The Real World: Cancun, The Wanted NBC News

There’s no lack of coverage on Michael Jackson‘s death and the more salacious details of his life – the legal woes, the health problems, the debt, the weirdness that led to the Wacko Jacko nickname. But my first reaction to the news that Jackson had suddenly died – I found out on a restaurant TV while my family was celebrating a much happier event, my nephew’s graduation – was a flashback to the early ’80s, when there was no one bigger in music, or pop culture, and when my friends and I were obsessed (futilely, I have to add) with learning to moonwalk.

Jackson’s performance on the famous Motown 25th anniversary special in 1983, and his classic “Thriller,” “Billie Jean” and “Beat It” videos on MTV and the old NBC series Friday Night Videos are big childhood memories for a lot of us, I’m sure, so, in the days ahead, when there is going to be a lot of retrospective coverage and a lot more news, good and bad, about Jackson and his death, I’m going to watch those videos again and remember Jackson before “Wacko Jacko” overtook his reputation as the King of Pop and one of the most exciting performers ever.

What’s your favorite Michael Jackson video or TV memory?

Michael Jackson’s performance on Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever

The “Thriller” video

The “Beat It” video

The “Billie Jean” video

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• Filed in TV News
• Tags: Beat It video, Billie Jean video, Michael Jackson, Michael Jackson death, Michael Jackson Motown special, Michael Jackson videos, moonwalk, Thriller video