All the tube news that’s fit to surf …

– The Los Angeles Times claims that Paula Abdul‘s demands for a $20 million salary – and the American Idol producers’ hardball stance to avoid giving it to her – have led her to drop her price to $12 million a season, which would still be triple her current salary. Meanwhile, Jennifer Lopez is denying rumors that she’s going to replace Abdul on the show.

– Simon Cowell, whose salary is expected to be juiced up to $45 million a season on AI, is planning a new AI-ish series that looks to find the next big band. Supermodel Kate Moss will be a judge … apparently, dating rock stars qualifies one as a worthy rock critic.

– And a sad bit of Idol news: Police have arrested a man in the hit-and-run death of two-time AI auditioner Alexis Cohen.

– The View co-host Whoopi Goldberg is producing a new Science Channel game show called Head Games, and the show is looking for contestants.

– There are women with mommy issues and then there’s Tori Spelling and her mom Candy, who’s taken to TMZ.com in her latest attempt to publicly humiliate her reality TV star daughter.

– It had been rumored for months, but now it’s official: Lost star Dominic Monaghan has joined the cast of ABC’s new fall drama Flash Forward, which premieres Sept. 24

– The Lipstick Jungle series didn’t work out, but Sex and the City author Candace Bushnell, who also penned the Jungle book, is writing another women-in-the-workplace series, The Boardroom, that will unfold online. The four-episode series will star 90210‘s Jennie Garth and Mad Men‘s Talia Balsam.

– Seth MacFarlane is producing an abortion-themed episode of his Emmy-nominated ‘toon Family Guy, but he says he thinks it will prove too controversial to air.

– The Octomom and her 14 kids will reportedly earn $250,000 for a new reality show.

– Newsweek asks, “Why is Katherine Heigl so annoying?” I’d answer, “She can’t seem to help herself.”

– The number one TV network for gay-friendly programming: HBO, according to GLAAD. Among the worst, says GLAAD: CBS and NBC.

– It’s a Partridge Family reunion: Shirley Jones will play the mom of her real-life stepsons David and Patrick Cassidy on ABC Family’s new hit Ruby & the Rockits.

– And tonight in primetime:

– Jillian chooses between Ed and Kiptyn in the season finale of The Bachelorette (8PM ET, ABC)
– A pie-eating contest is just one stop for the fams on Great American Road Trip (8M, NBC)
– Amy’s ticked when Ben plans a fab summer trip and she has to stay home and work on The Secret Life of the American Teenager (8PM, ABC Family)
– Charm School graduates its winner in the season three finale (9PM, VH1)
– Carter gets an ultimatum on Make It or Break It (9PM, ABC Family)
– A new Unwrapped installment (9PM), Food Network) covers diner classics like hotcakes and java
– NGC unveils the Secret Lives of Charles Lindbergh (9PM)
– Gino builds a new patio and a basketball court on King of Dirt (9:30PM, DIY)
– History Channel gets freaky with Sex in ’69: Sexual Revolution in America (9PM)
– A&E has new eps of Intervention (9PM) and Obsessed (10PM)
– Andy’s growing more fond of Dr. Kitson on Weeds (10PM, Showtime)
– P. Diddy/Puff Daddy/Sean Combs/What-ever puts together a band for his upcoming tour on the series premiere of Making His Band (10PM, MTV)
– The contestants shake their groove thangs to movie soundtrack tunes on Dance Your Ass Off (10PM, Oxygen)
– Kathy hangs with Drew Barrymore and Melissa Etheridge on Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List (10PM, Bravo)
– Tony’s back in America, with stops in Buffalo, Baltimore and Detroit on Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations (10PM, Travel Channel)
– Terrell heads to Buffalo to meet his new teammates on The T.O. Show (10PM, VH1)
– Buddy’s latest creation: a tiki torch cake with real fire on Cake Boss (10PM, TLC)
– ABC has a new ep of Dating in the Dark (10PM)
– And Jackie’s secret – two of them, actually – may be out on Nurse Jackie (10:30PM, Showtime)

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• Filed in TV News
• Tags: Alexis Cohen American Idol, American Idol, Candace Bushnell The Boardroom, Candy Spelling TMZ letter, Dominic Monaghan, Family Guy abortion episode, Jennifer Lopez American Idol, Octomom reality show, Paula Abdul contract

All the tube news that’s fit to surf …

– Things probably aren’t going to be less tense on the Grey’s Anatomy set this year, especially after Katherine Heigl‘s appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman last night, in which she all but laughs at her character’s storyline. No, actually, she does laugh at it.

– One opinion on the Paula Abdul/American Idol contract mess: Simon Cowell, who says he’s told producers he definitely wants his loopy co-star back.

– Sarah Jessica Parker is headed back to TV – as the producer of Bravo’s upcoming series that aims to be a Project Runway or Top Chef for the art world. The winner of the new series gets a gallery showing.

– How rampant is Twilight fever? So rampant that ReelzChannel is launching a weekly series devoted to all things vampire-y and Robert Pattinson-y.

– Can Shaquille O’Neal outswim Michael Phelps? We’ll see, when Shaq Vs., a new series in which the NBA star competes against other superstar athletes in their sports, premieres on ABC on Aug. 18.

– Brooke Burns has joined the cast of the Melrose Place remake, where she’ll play the wife of Michael Mancini. If we can ignore the poor acting skills of Ashlee Simpson, this thing just might not suck after all.

– Emmy-nominated Top Chef hostess Padma Lakshmi is going to star in her own NBC sitcom, in which she’ll play “a single woman working in the food world.”

– Because of the Mischa Barton situation, The CW is casting a new character, as a “Plan B” for Barton’s character, in its model drama The Beautiful Life.

– Twitter has verified Tyra Banks‘ account, which really makes that scary photo of her a head scratcher … she’s got the crazy eyes!

– The most surprising thing about Burn Notice star Jeffrey Donovan‘s arrest on suspicion of DUI: that it took the media a week to find out about it. Even TMZ didn’t pick up on the story until eight days after the arrest.

– How does Gossip Girl plan to avoid the boredom that often follows when a favorite TV couple finally hooks up? Apparently, angry sex with Chuck and Blair.

– Fans still bummed about the cancellation of The Unit can at least look forward to the complete series DVD box set Fox Home Entertainment will release on Sept. 29.

– More complete series DVD news: Shout! Factory releases 16 discs full of It’s Garry Shandling’s Show on Oct. 20.

And tonight in primetime:

– The sixth season of Hell’s Kitchen premieres on Fox (8PM ET)
– On 10 Things I Hate About You (ABC Family, 8PM), Bianca asks Cameron to help her find a party the popular kids are hosting
– David Cassidy makes a TV comeback as the papa of a potential pop star on the premiere of ABC Family’s Ruby and the Rockits (8:30PM)
– The Power of Veto ceremony unfolds on Big Brother 11 (CBS, 9PM)
– The HawthoRNe crew is extra busy when another local ER shuts down (TNT, 9PM)
– It’s the ninth round of auditions on America’s Got Talent (NBC, 9PM)
– On Better Off Ted (ABC, 9PM), Ted hopes to finally impress his dad with Phil and Lem’s baldness cure. Potential baldness cure …
– Pete and Myka look for a mind-altering object in upstate New York on Warehouse 13 (SyFy, 9PM)
– It’s night two of the fantastic five-night Torchwood: Children of Earth miniseries on BBC America (9PM)
– A former rocker gets his own rehearsal space on Man Caves (DIY Network, 9PM)
– A dangerous storm mobilizes the Coast Guard on Deadliest Catch (Discovery, 9PM)
– PC – gasp – gets a job on NYC Prep (Bravo, 9PM)
– Grace runs into trouble when she pursues a rape suspect by herself, on foot, on Saving Grace (TNT, 10PM)
– Maria ships her kid off to boarding school, leaving her more time to hang with her equally self-involved pals on Miami Social (Bravo, 10PM)
– Tiny plans a birthday party while getting ready for T.I.’s jail term on Tiny & Toya (BET, 10PM)
– Discovery Channel premieres its new reality competition series The Colony (10PM), in which contestants try to prove they could survive a global disaster
– William deals with twin sister addicts on The Cleaner (A&E, 10PM)
– And Tommy’s fam stages an intervention about his drinking, which leads to one of his all-time most selfish actions on Rescue Me (FX, 10PM)

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• Filed in Reality, TV News
• Tags: Gossip Girl Chuck and Blair, Grey's Anatomy, Jeffrey Donovan DUI arrest, Katherine Heigl, Melrose Place remake, Mischa Barton, Padma Lakshmi sitcom, Paula Abdul contract, Sarah Jessica Parker Bravo, Shaq Vs., Shaquille O'Neal