Jimmy Fallon will be introduced online as Conan O'Brien's replacement this fall according to the NYT. Fallon will not be doing an entire hour-long show, but rather, 10 minute mini-shows that might or might not feature guests and skits. NBC is attempting to get a jump start on the changes that will be made in late night TV next year on NBC with Jay Leno leaving and Conan O'Brien taking over the "Tonight Show". Fallon......

The Screen Actors Guild has officially rejected the June 30th offer from the studios. Cited among the reasons for the rejection was the fact that the major studios and networks have invested large amounts of money and/or have inked deals to distribute their content online or via video-on-demand but the contract offered actors does not account for this increased distribution. Considering that the contract would be for four years, to be locked out of that......

The Emmy nominations are out today and finally it seems like they're getting on the right track with nominations for AMC's "Mad Men", FX's "Damages", and Showtime's "Dexter". In comedy NBC is duking it out with itself between "30 Rock" and "The Office". If any of those previously-mentioned shows wins this will be a good year for the Emmys. In particular the AMC and FX nominations are groundbreaking for basic cable to receive such critical......

NBC will be getting more than $1 billion in ad revenue from the Olympics this year. They've already sold off 85% of their inventory at a cost of $750,000 per 30-second spot. Looks like the network is looking to break a different kind of record. 8:00pm Big Brother CBS - Wednesday edition premiere 9:00pm Project Runway BRAVO - Season Premiere.......

Last weekend, while most of you were chilling out at the beach, or planning your outfit for some Saturday night booze-sessions, skateboaring's elite including Ryan Sheckler, Shaun White, Paul Rodriguez, Bob Burnqist and more were in at the Maloof Money Cup shredding a revolutionary skatepark in the hopes of grabbing the $100,000 prize. But that wasn't all there was to win. Vert skaters competed for $75K, Girls for $75K, and the éS game of SKATE,......

Looks like big media service companies aren't immune to the temptation of outsourcing their workforce - the most recent case is the media metrics leader, Nielsen Co. After taking millions of dollars in tax breaks for promising jobs at a Florida data center, Nielsen has outsourced the positions to an Indian-based offshore provider - makes one respect the numbers Nielsen spews out even less. 8:00pm Wipeout ABC - This is only listed here because you......

Minnesota Twins' Justin Morneau defeats Texas Rangers' Josh Hamilton. This year's edition was supposed to be a snooze fest. No A-Rod. No Big Papi. No Vlad. No Junior. No Bonds. Just a bunch of youngsters named Braun, Morneau, Utley, Berkman, Uggla, Sizemore, Longoria and Hamilton. But boy was this a doozy. Josh Hamilton stunned everyone in attendance at Yankee Stadium by hitting a record 28 homers in the first round of the Derby, the......

Season four of "the #1 ad-supported cable series of all time", aka TNT's "The Closer" returns to TV tonight. I've always had a problem with this series, whether it was the annoying music, Kyra Sedgwick's overpainted lips and weird accent, or the fact that her character, LAPD Deputy Police Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson, has somehow attained the status of Deputy Police Chief despite being "hopeless at LAPD politics". Still, the series is well-funded, looks decent......

The studios say that the SAG rejected their latest offer but the SAG says that isn't true. Still no word of a strike vote from SAG - if this SAG stuff is of particular interest to you, be sure to check out The Hollywood Reporter's SAG/AFTRA "Strike Zone". The big deal this weekend is HBO's Sunday premiere of "Generation Kill". The show will be dramatic and there will definitely be some "humanizing" of the members......

Tim Roth is set to star in a drama on Foxthat will be broadcast early in 2009 going along the lines of other film stars who are making forays into television (Glenn Close, Holly Hunter, etc.) - the drama, titled "Lie to Me", is based on the work of a real-life scientist who is able to read the human body and voice to determine if someone is being truthful. Fox is so behind this project......

The big news of the day is the official split between AFTRA and SAG when AFTRA approved the proposed contract with the producers and studios - still be determined how this will affect SAG's potential strike and negotiations. Ted Koppel, who has a new series premiering on Discovery tonight (see below), will also be appearing regularly on BBC America. This ain't no Roger Mudd gig on The History Channel, voicing over WWII footage, as Koppel......

Yesterday, Chuck Henry of NBC contacted LAist to gather more information regarding the Mandeville Canyon "road rage" incident that landed two cyclists in the hospital. This two minute segment aired last night during the 11:00 p.m. news. CBS/KCAL also aired their own version of the story.......

NBC is in the news big time this week. First off, NBC's ratings for its Wimbledon Men's Final broadcast was phenomenal - the best in 8 years and the best for a finale without a contending American since '91. Second: its purchase of The Weather Channel for $3.5 billion - this is well below the $5 billion that the owners of The Weather Channel, Landmark Communications, had wanted for the property when it first started......

Oops, so there is something more to look forward to this month on TV: the July 17th premiere of "The Gong Show" on Comedy Central. The show will be hosted by Dave Attell and judged by (among many others): Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, Brian Posehn, Adam Carolla, Kate Walsh, Andy Dick, Ron White, Dave Navarro, Greg Giraldo, Jim Norton and JB Smoove. 7:00pm Tom Jones TCM - (1963) With Albert Finch as Tom Jones,......

So the producers called SAG's bluff and told them to go do their strike vote - not much new to report on there. What there is to report on is the fact that ABC's "Wipeout" continues to get strong ratings after coming in as TV's most highly watched summer premiere. I guess the majority of the American public were not privy to Spike's "Most Extreme Elimination Challenge" and thus don't have the sense to......

The Screen Actors Guild was handed a final offer yesterday by the producers (AMPTP) which the SAG was going to review in detail today. Reports say that movie production has already halted, does the same go for TV? Reality TV, like the social disease it is, just keeps going on since it functions outside of these contracts. TV Junkie is thrilled to learn that AMC is going to go ahead, probably after this whole SAG......

With nine hours left in their contract, the TV Junkie is really wondering what will happen with the Screen Actors Guild situation. Our guess is that the SAG will blink first since somehow, even just discussing talent receiving additional percentages of DVD sales is simply off the table for producers. Looks like TV is for old folks folks as the LA Biz Observed is highlighting a summary of a report from Broadcasting & Cable noting......

Kind of a slow weekend ahead folks, even on the movie channels, Sunday's programming is particularly deplorable. Rejoice though, in the news that Sony, within the next three years, will be offering a video-downloading service through all its key products, including its televisions, computers, music players and videogame devices. It plans to give most of its products network and wireless capability in that same window of time. Yup, download Hollywood movies through your PS3, etc.......

The Screen Actors Guild contract runs out on Monday, yup, the day is fast upon us, and it looks like, according to the Hollywood Reporter, the SAG will attempt to extend their contract instead of vote for a strike. This will keep the studios' projects moving forward while the SAG and AFTRA get in lockstep (or not) and the SAG decides what its deal-breaking points are (or not). The SAG is becoming very aware of......

Good news, you may continue to watch as much online porn as you want without your broadband provider building that into your profile - that is, only if you are using Charter Communications. After announcing 6 weeks ago that they would start to monitor their customers' activity in order to sell target profiles to advertisers, Charter is backing away from that position after running into protests from Congress as well as consumer groups. Perhaps Charter......

Tonight a double-travesty is occurring: the broadcast of both "Wipeout" and "I Survived A Japanese Game Show". Both of these shows take a good idea (for immature jerks like myself), Spike TV's "Most Extreme Elimination Challenge" aka "MXE", and turn it into garbage. "MXE" is an overdubbed (by members of LA's comedy troupe the Groundlings) and hilarious replaying of episodes of Japanese gameshow, "Takeshi's Castle" while "Wipeout" and "I Survived A Japanese Gameshow" are......

- Unless you've got some specific sports events you want to watch this weekend, things are pretty slow on the tube - you'd better hope your Netflix came in. Finally: The AP reports that only one song per film can be nominated for an Academy Award. If you're a glutton for abuse and subject yourself to watching the Oscars on TV, you might remember being overwhelmed with songs from Disney's "Enchanted" this year as well......

Tomorrow the 10 day countdown of the SAG contract expiration begins. Reuters reports that the TV studios are already bracing for a strike even though the SAG has yet to vote to strike. Some TV shows have 2 or 3 shows for the upcoming season in the bag already but most do not. Even if the SAG chooses not to strike, because there is no contract signed as of today, there will be some effect......

As we reported yesterday, Jon Voight is going to be on "24" and now we learn from THR that William Hurt will be joining his The Big Chill co-star, Glenn Close, on FX's "Damages" this Fall. "Damages" was easily one of the top three programs of the year in 2007 and the addition of Hurt is beginning to solidify a picture of how the second season will function - Hurt will have regular role for......

Late last week The Hollywood Reporter noted that Jon Voight has signed on to be Jack Bauer's nemesis in the upcoming season of "24" (shooting now in South Africa). Do you think it's enough or is "24" so stale now that no addition of talent can save it? 8:00pm The Middleman ABC Family - Series Premiere. "A young woman is recruited by a secret agency to fight evil." Lord help us. 9:00pm Dirty Jobs: Brown......

Variety is reporting that the upcoming NBC "The Office" spinoff has made its first hire: Aziz Ansari from MTV's "Human Giant" whom LAist interviewed a couple months ago and whom the TV Junkie met at the Ashton Kutcher SNL post-party in April). While the show title, other cast members, and method of launch is unknown to the general public, it is known that the show will debut this winter in the 9:30pm timeslot, right after......

Ladies, you're in luck, you have a chance to date TV hunk Brad Garrett, and who wouldn't want to? The question is, based on current trends in California, why is he limiting candidates to only females? If you desperately want to be a part of the new reality series, Dating Brad Garrett, video auditions are being accepted starting today. 6:00pm Lakers-Celtics Game 4(!)(not 3) ABC - A good chunk of LA will grind to a......

Seems like everyone is running to the web these days as a secondary broadcast option. NBC did it a long time ago and now a couple more big names are heading that direction. Viacom will be adding an assortment of its shows to Fox-NBC joint-venture HULU - yeah, finally we'll be able to see full length episodes of "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report" rather than the ridiculous little clips we've been getting off......

As the SAG/AFTRA/AMPTP drama continues, advertisers are still ponying up the big bucks for TV advertising: $9.2 billion in pre-booked ads for the 2008-2009 season. This broad sale of advertising combined with targeted ad sales technology now offered by Canoe Ventures (you got a dog? say "hello" to even more Purina commercials) makes it seem like things are hunky-dory in TV land but they might not be. Some folks are perceiving these as just defensive......

In contrast to the wildly cute meerkates to the right (yes, they're back), some seriously big numbers have been issued by the prestigious Milken Institute has put out an impressive study of the impact of the writer's strike. In summary: - 37,700 jobs lost - $2.1 billion in lost output through the end of 2008 The cascading effects of the strike are what reportedly tipped the state into a recession in early 2008, but......