All the tube news that’s fit to surf …

– IGN.com’s counting down the “25 Funniest Will Ferrell Characters.” It’s a great list (when Roger Klarvin, Ferrell’s character in the funny “luv-ahs” skits on Saturday Night Live, only merits a spot at number 20, you know there are some great ones coming up). This is a big week for Ferrell – not only does the big-screen makeover of Land of the Lost open on Friday, but he’s nominated for a Tony Award on Sunday.

– VH1’s upcoming miniseries The Great Debate is sorta like Lewis Black’s Root of All Evil in reverse. Instead of debating which of two pop culture ideas is the worst, The Great Debate will feature talking heads like Omarosa, Jerry Springer and Tila Tequila debating which is better – Star Wars or Star Trek, Rocky or Rambo, Jeopardy or Wheel of Fortune … you get the idea. The week-long series kicks off on July 6, and fans can weigh in now by voting on such topics as “Funny or Not?” (including Adam Sandler, Dane Cook and Kathy Griffin), “Sibling Rivalry” (Kevin or Matt Dillon? Owen or Luke Wilson? Paris or Nicky Hilton?) and “Hot or Not?” (including Michael Phelps, Fergie and Zach Braff). Sounds like a fun summer series, though you have to wonder, weren’t any of the Best Week Ever peeps available? Omarosa and Tila Tequila aren’t exactly, to play off the title, the great debaters.

– So you wanna be a star? Auditions for American Idol, season nine, kick off in Boston on June 14.

– The ratings are in, and the season premiere wasn’t a fluke. Plenty of people are still rubberneckin’ at the trainwreck that is Jon & Kate Plus 8. More Gosselin news: US Weekly is featuring the fam on its cover for a sixth consecutive week. Almost makes you nostalgic for the days when Britney was doing something crazy every week, huh?

– Claire (Hayden Panettiere) is getting a college roommate on Heroes next season, and she’s being played by Californication‘s Madeline Zima.

– The Jay Leno Show will debut on NBC on Sept. 14.

– Breaking Bad‘s second season just ended, but there’s already a preview clip for season three.

– And Grandma Gilmore, a.k.a. Gilmore Girls (and Dirty Dancing!) great Kelly Bishop, will guest star in the new season of Army Wives … as a cougar!

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• Filed in American Idol, Boob Tube to Big Screen, Late Night, Reality, TV News
• Tags: Adam Sandler, American Idol, American Idol auditions, Army Wives, auditions, Best Week Ever, Breaking Bad, Breaking Bad season three, Californication, Dane Cook, Dirty Dancing, Fergie, Gilmore Girls, Gosselins, Hayden Panettiere, Heroes, Jeopardy, Jerry Springer, Jon & Kate Plus 8, Kathy Griffin, Kelly Bishop, Kevin Dillon, Land of the Lost, Lewis Black's Root of All Evil, Luke Wilson, luv-ahs, Madeline Zima, Matt Dillon, Michael Phelps, Nicky Hilton, Omarosa, Owen Wilson, Paris Hilton, Rambo, Rocky, Roger Klarvin, Saturday Night Live, Star Trek, Star Wars, The Great Debate, The Jay Leno Show, Tila Tequila, Tony Award, Wheel of Fortune, Will Ferrell, Zach Braff

Don’t call it a remake. Don’t call it a sequel or a prequel (especially since Buffy papa Joss Whedon isn’t involved). Instead, like J.J. Abrams‘ Star Trek, the upcoming Buffy the Vampire Slayer big-screen movie will be a reboot of the franchise, one that could lead to a series of movies and maybe even a new TV series.

But, who’ll fill Sarah Michelle Gellar (and to a lesser extent, original Buffy movie star Kristy Swanson‘s) shoes? The Hollywood Reporter throws out Megan Fox, Kristen Stewart, Jessica Stroup, Amanda Seyfried and Teresa Palmer as candidates, but if I were the Buffy producers, I’d take a look at seasons one and two of Chuck on DVD …

Yvonne Strahovski, as tough spy chick Sarah Walker, is the best TV action heroine since Jennifer Garner left the tube in Alias. In fact, Chuck premiered on NBC during the same season as the network’s ill-cast Bionic Woman remake, and I think if Strahovski had been the titular star of that show, it would have been a runaway hit.

As Chuck devotees, particularly the male ones, will tell you, Strahovski is one of those rare actresses who can serve up a side of vulnerability with her kick-assedness, which is an endearing quality and a key to playing the often emotionally tortured Buffy.

So Buffy fans, let’s hear it: Who should be cast as Buffy 3.0? Megan Fox? Big Love star Seyfried? Twilight‘s Stewart? Or do you agree that Chuck star Yvonne Strahovski should stake (pun totally intended) a claim to the role?

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• Filed in Boob Tube to Big Screen, Chuck, Drama, TV News
• Tags: Amanda Seyfried, Buffy, Buffy Summers, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Chuck, J.J. Abrams, Jessica Stroup, Joss Whedon, Kristen Stewart, Kristy Swanson, Megan Fox, Prequel, Remake, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Sequel, Star Trek, Teresa Palmer, Yvonne Strahovski

All the tube news that’s fit to surf …

– At least Ryan Seacrest warned viewers last night to put extra time at the end of their TiVos for tonight’s American Idol season finale, but isn’t it still ridiculous that an episode that really boils down to one 30-second announcement of who the winner is, is instead so bloated that it can’t even be contained into a two-hour block?

– By the way, DiaIdol.com predicts last night’s Adam vs. Kris showdown is too close to call. People, did you not hear Adam sing “A Change Is Gonna Come”? It really should not be this close.

– The New York Times jokes, I think, that Jimmy Kimmel might not have a job today after the naughty, but hilarious, riffs on NBC, Fox and his own network at yesterday’s ABC Upfront presentation.

– And Kimmel’s remarks about the new Jay Leno primetime series apparently weren’t that far off from what some at NBC might have thought. Leno, it turns out, was NBC’s third choice to host a nightly primetime show, after Oprah and David Letterman.

– Can’t wait for the remake of Footloose with Gossip Girl star Chace Crawford as Ren McCormack.

– In case you missed the premiere of Glee last night, you can catch the episode at Hulu today.

– Lifetime.com, pegged to the June 7 season three premiere of Army Wives, has produced more than a dozen videos, collected as Homecoming: Real Army Wives, that pay homage to real-life Army wives, whose husbands have been deployed for 15 months or more in Iraq.

– Check out clips from ABC’s new comedies, including Modern Family, the mockumentary-ish family comedy starring Ed “Al Bundy” O’Neill.

– Even the most devoted Trekkies may find the new “video-based encyclopedia” of behind-the-scenes Star Trek info a bit daunting.

– Next up: The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.

– My Name Is Earl star Ethan Suplee is taking it to Twitter to try to rally fans for a save-the-show campaign. To get onboard, follow the “EarlTwitition.”

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• Filed in American Idol, Comedy, Drama, TV News
• Tags: A Change Is Gonna Come, Adam Lambert, American Idol, Army Wives, Chace Crawford, David Letterman, Ed O'Neill, Ethan Suplee, finale, Footloose, Glee, Gossip Girl, Jay Leno, Jimmy Kimmel, Kris Allen, Lifetime, My Name Is Earl, Oprah, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Star Trek, Upfront

41. Psych
How cool is Psych? So cool that among its many very diverse pop culture references has been Al B. Sure!, The Peanuts Christmas pageant dance, Drew Lachey and The Mentalist, a show that, as any Psych devotee will point out, came after our beloved Psych.

42. Best Week Ever – Best Pop Culture Wrap-Up Show Ever. Almost makes me forget how much I miss the Greg Kinnear and John “Skunk Boy” Henson days of Talk Soup.

43. The Sopranos reruns on A&E
The show’s still so good and so layered that you’ll find new things you didn’t catch the first time around, and I find I’m not missing the naughtier words at all.

44. Desperate Housewives
Was good, sucked there for a season or two, then bounced back. Despite the skepticism about the jumping-five-years-ahead storyline this season, I think it works, and has managed to freshen up a show that could have jumped into jumping the shark territory quite easily.

45. Boob tube to big screen adaptations
There’s the good (The Fugitive, The Adaams Family, The Brady Bunch Movie, Starsky & Hutch and most definitely the new Star Trek flick), the bad (Wild Wild West, Bewitched, The Dukes of Hazzard, Lost in Space and Scooby-Doo) and the what the hell were they thinking (The Honeymooners), but I always get excited about a TV show being made into a movie (or vice versa) and the possibilities of how some of my faves might be reimagined.

46. VH1’s Top 20 Countdown
Relying on VH1 videos to find new music? Yep, and I don’t care if that’s unhip. The fact is, I don’t remember the last time I saw a video on MTV, and though I often hear new tunes I like during The Hills or The City or The Real World (already admitted I’m still watching it), VH1’s weekend countdown of the top 20 videos is one of the best places to not only hear, but see new bands. It’s how I first discovered the pop/rock goodness of John Mayer‘s debut CD (after he had the bad luck to release the album on September 11, 2001), and I’d argue that American Idol “loser” Chris Daughtry owes a goodly portion of the success of his debut CD to his videos’ constant presence on the VH1 countdown.

47. Pat Kiernan on NY1
Those of you outside the NYC area may be unaware of the soothing morning goodness of hearing the delightfully smooth-voiced Kiernan tell you what’s in the newspapers every day, but if every city had Kiernan reading what’s In the Papers for them, it would amount to a better start to their day. Those outside NYC may also remember him as host of VH1’s World Series of Pop Culture, and you can also catch him on Twitter.

48. Malcolm in the Middle
Loving the FX repeats, especially of the later seasons, which I’d stopped watching when the show originally aired. But in the latter years, it’s all about Reese and Dewey and Hal (the comedic genius that is Bryan Cranston), as, apparently, the writers figured out what most viewers knew all along – Malcolm was a dud. The rest of the family rocked.

49. Breaking Bad
Bryan Cranston, comedic genius (see above). Turns out he’s a damn fine dramatic actor, too.

50. Saturday Night Live
Yep, still watching it, every episode, every season, even when it’s not the must-see show during an election year. Love the Target Lady, love Kenan Thompson, love Andy Samberg‘s digital shorts, love the Justin Timberlake appearances. Most of all, love the history of the show … one of the coolest things I’ve gotten to do as a TV writer was attending a live show (last season’s Jonah Hill-hosted ep). I was sitting there the whole time thinking about how I used to sneak out of bed to watch Eddie Murphy performing on that very stage. Back when Eddie Murphy was a comedic genius. Sigh.

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• Filed in I Love TV!
• Tags: A&E, American Idol, Andy Samberg, Best Week Ever, Breaking Bad, Bryan Cranston, Chris Daughtry, Desperate Housewives, Eddie Murphy, FX, John Henson, John Mayer, Jonah Hill, Justin Timberlake, Kenan Thompson, Malcolm in the Middle, Pat Kiernan, Psych, Saturday Night Live, Star Trek, Talk Soup, The Hills, The Sopranos, TV shows to movies, VH1

All the tube news that’s fit to surf …

– I love me some Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick), but New York magazine is crediting Monday night’s episode of Gossip Girl with coining the phrase “fauxialite,” and it’s simply not true. I interviewed The Real Housewives of New York City star Bethenny Frankel back in February, and she used the phrase back then.

– HBO is officially moving forward with Treme, the post-Katrina New Orleans drama from The Wire‘s David Simon and Eric Overmyer, and starring The Wire‘s fantastic Wendell Pierce. The show will begin filming in the fall in New Orleans, after hurricane season.

– Meanwhile, Peter Dinklage will star in another HBO series, Game of Thrones, a fantasy series based on author George R.R. Martin‘s Songs of Fire and Ice novels. And another alum of The Wire, Tom McCarthy, will direct the pilot. McCarthy, an actor/writer who penned The Station Agent, starred in the final season of The Wire as Stephen Glass-ish newspaper reporter Scott Templeton.

– The Office star/writer Mindy Kaling has signed a deal to create her own series for NBC. She’s incredibly talented, but can’t say I’m sad about the prospect of there eventually being a Kelly Kapoor departure from Dunder Mifflin Scranton.

– Seth MacFarlane says a big-screen Family Guy movie will happen … someday.

– Leonard Nimoy – as Spock – will deliver the top 10 list on Letterman Thursday night (May 7).

– Elizabeth Edwards‘ interview with Oprah airs tomorrow, giving us all the final bit of proof we need that John Edwards is officially one of the bigger douchebags in history.

– CBS is considering remakes of Let’s Make a Deal and The Dating Game to replace The Guiding Light. Still can’t believe that show’s being canceled. Sniffle, sniffle.

– Farrah’s Story, a two-hour documentary chronicling Farrah Fawcett‘s battle with cancer, will air on NBC on May 15.

– Jay Leno‘s promising to be funny in a promo for his new 10PM timeslot next season. I so doubt that will happen, and hope this experiment, which really only means there’s even less room for quality scripted shows now, is a short-lived one at NBC.

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• Filed in TV News
• Tags: Family Guy, Gossip Girl, Jay Leno, Letterman, Oprah, Real Housewives of New York City, Star Trek, The Guiding Light, The Office, The Wire