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.......

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......

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......

We're coming down to a bit over 3 weeks to go before a SAG strike as the guild resumes talks with producers today. The guild has yet to vote for a strike and sources say that even though fellow actors' guild AFTRA signed a contract last month, SAG is unlikely to rubberstamp a copy of that contract for their members. All I know is that "Mad Men" is coming back to AMC in July so......

So aging favorite David Cook won "American Idol" last night, how could this happen, what with all the texting teenie-boppers? It turns out that viewership by the 12-17 demographic was down dramatically, resulting in 42 as the average age of an "American Idol" viewer. NPR had a great piece on yesterday's "Morning Edition" regarding how the show has somewhat degraded over its 7 seasons: distracted/bored judges; contestants obviously placed by the producers; and rampant product......

Hey hipsters, did you catch the "30 Rock" season finale last night? If you didn't, be happy and secure in knowing that NBC has formatted it (along with "The Office") for streaming on your iPhone - they're not waiting for Apple on this one. It looks like a lot is on TV but it's slim pickins - shockingly no decent oldie movie selections on TCM this weekend. Tonight 9:00pm Man vs. Wild DISCOVERY - Bear......

Late night TV is looking really good this week, with at least one good guest per show per night (with the exception of the deplorable "Last Call With Carson Daly"). Was anyone at the Pacific Design Center in Hollywood last night? There was supposed to be the debut of a new TV series called "Scarlet" but in reality, according to the Wall Street Journal, the whole thing was a ruse to launch a new series......

So while TV is still recovering from the writers' strike another strike looms on the horizon. According to Variety, the Screen Actors' Guild signed a pact with producers of indie films that will ensure that an indie film in production will be completed in the event that SAG goes on strike. This sounds like a good thing but it's being interpreted as a move to put pressure on major producers to get inline with SAG......

Am recovering from my NYC trip to see the SNL taping. Monday looks a little slow but I'm sure there's a crapload of Masters' Tournament highlights to watch. I'm sorry if the selection looks a little CBS-heavy but that's what's on. What're you watching on Monday nights? Lemme know. 8-10:00pm The Big Bang Theory/How I Met Your Mother/Two and a Half Men/Rules of Engagement CBS - All new. CBS has a comedy stranglehold on Monday......

B-ball junkies and gamblers get their climax tonight but it will be over with early enough - I suggest checking out late night, there's a few good things going on but unless your a fan of "The Bachelor" or "Medium" primetime sucks tonight. 3:00pm NCAA Basketball Championship CBS - Your jock coworkers will suddenly all succumbed to the flu at 2:00pm today. 8:00pm Canterbury's Law FOX - Season Finale. Thankfully. 9:00pm Little Women TCM -......

The 10:00pm slot is hot again tonight but I'm going to have to go with Lewis Black again, that's a great show, maybe Comedy Central has finally figured out what to do with him. In other items, the Nielsen Company, whom I've occasionally reported on/castigated in this column, is inviting LAist to submit some TV Trivia questions for an "Ultimate Pop Culture Trivia Challenge" contest and I'd to invite YOU, our readers, to submit some......

So here we are on Thursday again and 9:00 p.m. ABC is the only logical choice -- Lost. With some exceptions for viewing options during late-night, like celebrity rehab with Dr. Drew and the Late-Late Show with Craig Ferguson (all other late-night options are reruns), we're left with only one choice. The fact that Lost is the only show during prime time worth watching on Thhursday nights while there are literally hundreds of other channels......

[The Junkie's been sick for a few days but we're back] LAist has some great coverage of the Project Runway finale tonight on BRAVO @ 10:00pm so I'm not even going to touch that. If you can't stand the fashion tension, you can always switch over to the L.A. County Board of Supervisors Meeting broadcast on KLCS and your tension will be released utterly. If you follow the link you can see, there's plenty......

The Phantom Dog?A Mr Ferguson was a passenger in a car travelling from Los Angeles to Ontario during the year of 1970. In the car with him were his aunt, who was driving, and cousin. The vehicle twisted and turned and came to an almost rural stretch of road when a large dog came onto the opposite carriageway and began to run across the road. Strangely, the animal seemed to almost move in slow motion......

Today's Wall Street Journal reports that '24' co-creator Joel Surnow is bailing from the show and the Fox network. Surnow is the "right-wing nutjob" who is a personal friend of Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, and President Bush - he's the one that had the brilliant idea to come up with a right wing "answer" to 'The Daily Show' for Fox, but the failure to produce one is evidence he never understood the question. 8:00pm Survivor:......

Photo courtesy of Warner Brothers The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford didn't exactly set the box-office on fire when it landed in theaters. Something tells me, though, that this superb, meditative neo-Western will enjoy a long life on DVD. Across the Universe is the world's longest music video and a treat for any Beatles fan (and only for Beatles' fans!). Elizabeth - The Golden Age was unexpectedly ripped by critics.......

In some TV news with local flavor, Santa Monica-based Ovation, "The Arts Network" (I thought this was Lifetime's tagline?), has announced a series of partnerships with cultural institutions across the country to produce and promote their content and collections. Local organizations include: the LA Opera, Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, and P.S. ARTS. Now if I could only get Ovation on local cable.... Also, despite our tailspin into recession and the lack of decent......

Conan O'Brien will soon leave NYC | Photo by Shiny Things via Flickr Conan O'Brien really isn't that funny as a talk show host. Nor is Jay Leno. We all know David Letterman and Jimmy Kimmel are the kings of late-night (and to be fair, Craig Kilborn Ferguson has many great moments too). Nevertheless, in preparation of kicking Leno out in 2009, Conan has purchased a $10.5 million home in Brentwood:The newly built, gated......

In other news, a desperate NBC has ordered a pilot of the BBC's cars & celebs series, Top Gear. The show has been running on BBC America for a couple years now, I've seen a few episodes, notably one with Ewan McGregor. The show may be amusing depending upon which celebrities they line up, but it's no American Idol. Again, instead of coming up with something original, we're forced to watch rebranded concepts from overseas.......

At this point my whole week is focused on getting to AMC's Breaking Bad which debuts this upcoming Sunday. AMC scored a couple Golden Globes with Mad Men, let's see if they can repeat the success. On face value Breaking Bad is more interesting than anything the Big Four have planned for us. Late night is troubling me lately since NBC and Comedy Central aren't posting their guests into the news feeds or their websites......

Just like yesterday, when we announced that while the federal government can rob medical marijuana dispensaries, citizens can't, we find that LAPD officers are not allowed to rob drug dealers. In a separate case from the widely known Rampart Division Scandal, a group of rogue officers held up at least 30 drug dealers in a two year period ending in 2001 according to CBS2 News. After the robberies, which included taking the drugs, money......

I vaguely remember the '80s so the return of American Gladiator to the screen presents me with a nauseating wave of nostalgia that I want to boogie board to the fullest. Then again, I vaguely remember the '70s and the relaunch of the Bionic Woman left a lot to be desired. But hey, we live in America, and with enough boobies and violence, American Gladiator could have the required recipe for success. Friday 8:00pm Flash......

So tonight it's Leno vs. Letterman, Conan vs. Ferguson - potentially unfair matches since Letterman and Ferguson have reached an agreement with the writers' union and NBC hasn't. This will mean a further addition to my sleep deficit as I will be sitting up and flipping between these networks until 1:30am [no, I don't have some swank double-satellite-dish-to-Tivo setup like some of you, if you're interested in helping out, I can give you an address......

Best way for LA to bring in the new year: win the Rose Bowl. USC killed Illini at 49-17, winning their 23rd Rose Bowl title. 750 bills go into effect this year and the minimum wage is now $8 per hour! The news battle in Santa Barbara continues: Wendy McCaw, owner of the Santa Barbara News-Press, has lost in court over illegal firings. She "must re-hire and give back pay — to at least......

David Letterman’s production company, Worldwide Pants, and the WGA have reached an interim agreement that will allow the host to return to the air next Wednesday WITH writers. Letterman, who has been an outspoken supporter of the writers since the strike began, made it clear that he wanted to return to the air, but stressed that it was important to him to work out a deal with the WGA, so that he could return......

Whats even more shocking than Jamie Lynn Spears being preggers? That it may not be Casey Aldredge's baby. Thats right, reports are that the real daddy is an older man that would surely be charged ith statutoryw rape charges if revealed - Showbiz Spy Stacy Ferguson aka Fergie and her boyfriend of over three years, actor Josh Duhamel are engaged - TMZ Our favorite heiress's fortune has just been pulled out from right under her......

In a bid to save late night television programming as we knew it, the Carson Daly show will jump the gun on production in the coming days; WGA strike settlement or no, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The late night talk shows have taken a big hit since the Writers' Strike began three weeks ago as insomniacs nationwide discover that Nightline never actually went off the air. Viacom's Comedy Central is losing its late......

Watching Nip/Tuck has always been a dirty and guilty pleasure. Season five of the show returns tonight on FX and McNamara/Troy are moving the business to our own Los Angeles (as if you haven't been pummeled incessantly by the promos for the last month, and particularly during the World Series). The overpromotion irritates me a bit because it can set up what has been a pretty good show for a fall. Since Nip/Tuck has always......

After a raucous couple of weeks we're settling in now. We know what sucks (Moonlight and about a jillion other programs) and what's pretty good (Chuck and just a handful of others). It's a matter of choosing a couple to follow now as we wait for the delayed series like Nip/Tuck, etc. 7:00pm The Pride of the Yankees TCM - The Gary Cooper classic is followed by Anthony Perkins in Fear Strikes Out, yes, it's......

Check out late night TV, lots of good stuff including an appearance of Juliette and the Licks (photo via Juliette's Myspace) on the Late Late Show. Tonight we also present the guilty pleasures of Steve-O's new show Dr. Steve-O, USA @ 11:00pm. Steve-O's sidekick is the lovely Trishelle of Real World fame who was interviewed here on LAist a couple months ago. The premise is that Steve-O and Trishelle subject "wussies" to various humiliations......