"The Daily Show" host Jon Stewart welcomed legendary filmmaker George Lucas to Monday night's show to discuss Lucas' upcoming flick "Red Tails." But Lucas didn't just talk about the beauty of movie magic, importance of historic stories or the talented cast, he revealed why the film took 23 years to develop. more ›

While an estimated 60,000 people gathered on the mall in Washington DC to rally under the leadership of Comedy Central hosts Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, about 1,000 Angelenos made their way to MacArthur Park this morning to watch the live telecast, reports CBS. more ›

Comedy Central's "Night of Too Many Stars" is your best bet for both comedy and charity tonight: great performances with live broadcasts of action for the West Coast fundraising tonight. | CBS is renewing all 5 of its new shows - what do you think about that? | Even Jon Stewart doesn't think that Rick Sanchez should have been fired for his comments about him. more ›

On October 30th, Los Angeles will play host to a satellite event of Jon Stewart's "Rally to Restore Sanity". The gathering will be held at the Levitt Pavilion at MacArthur Park near downtown L.A. - more details are available on the event's Facebook page. more ›

Jon Stewart has found 'Sanity' in MacArthur Park. The festivus for the rest of us dubbed the "Rally To Restore Sanity" ran into a harshed mellow last week when LA's West Coast organizers were denied a permit to gather in Pershing Square. more ›

There was major disappointment earlier this week when organizers of the L.A. offshoot of Jon Stewart's rally in Washington D.C. were denied a permit to gather in downtown's Pershing Square. Officials with L.A.'s Recreation and Parks Department told the LA Weekly the park could not accommodate crowds as it prepares for Downtown on Ice, which begins November 18th and were willing to work with organizers in finding a venue one of the city's other 400 parks. more ›

Comedy will be king on October 30 when Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert hold dueling rallies on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. In Los Angeles and other parts of the known world, shadow rallies are being organized in solidarity of inside-voices, sanity, and not throwing stuff. more ›

And now for a totally different perspective, chock full of good points, on this silly drama from John Stewart a couple nights ago. Oh, and then there's Keith Olbermann who is calling all of this a WTF?!? moment: more ›

Today in the web TV world, Josh Schwartz's (Gossip Girl, The O.C., Chuck) music-themed web series, "Rockville CA" premieres on TheWB.com. The show features both indie favorites and up-and-coming bands such as Eagles of Death Metal, The Broken West, and Bishop Allen. “Rockville CA” is set in a fictional Los Angeles rock club and was shot on location at The Echo, which is an actual, real rock club, that you might have heard of if you have a heartbeat. more ›

Tonight NBC is going to attempt to out-Gordon Ramsay FOX with Chef Marco Pierre White's new show, "Chopping Block". Our guess is that White will not have as foul a mouth as Ramsay but will have all his other TV-worthy qualities: intimidation, rage, and viciousness. May the most evil bastard chef win. more ›

If you thought that the local news was boring claptrap that only idiots watch, then you are outside of the ever-increasing popularity of the local newscast - Nielsen is reporting a 20% year-over-year increase in viewership. For TV, a fractional percentage change is big news but 20% is incredible. more ›

Who watched the new "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" last night? How did you like it? It's on our Tivo and we will watch it later but let us know.. We'll update you with the Nielsen numbers later this week - should be interesting. more ›

It looks like Andy Richter will be returning to the side of Conan O'Brien when he fires up his version of "The Tonight Show" starting on June 1st. Richter will be the announcer for the show and will appear in comedy sketches but it's not clear if he will be a fixture on the guest couch a la Ed McMahon. Now that the Academy Awards are over with and Conan has shut down production, late night TV is a wasteland this week other than Jimmy Kimmel. more ›

More post-Super Bowl hype: Nielsen says 95 million watched, NBC says 148 million watched, and Tuscon Comcast subscribers got 30 seconds of porn during the Super Bowl (that's so wrong in so many ways, if you're going to prank me with porn, you'd better provide more than 30 seconds of it). more ›

Anyone else watch programming on ABC.com? Get ready for more commercials on that web property as their research has shown that they can pump a lot more commercials at viewers than they thought they could. You gotta love the attitude of one of the members of the National Association of Television Program Executives, a panel that is supportive of the research findings: "The key is what is that very fine line and balance before we push them (the audience) over the edge of being pissed." more ›

The stroke of midnight tonight could bring more disappointment than delight for Time Warner subscribers. If the cable company doesn't pony up an agreement to Viacom Inc.'s demands of 25 cents more per subscriber, they will yank all 19 of the channels they own from their airwaves at 12:01 a.m. January 1st. more ›

TNT is pulling out all the stops for its launch of their Timothy Hutton-driven action-thriller series "Leverage" (premieres on Sunday 12/07 @ 9:00pm). They've got a major press tour (more on that, Friday) and they're even launching an online game on Sunday where players can win $100,000. We haven't seen an effort this coordinated in a while. more ›

If you thought Microsoft's foray into television had stopped with their relative failure in MSNBC, you were wrong - Microsoft acquired (for an undisclosed sum) interactive TV network Navic. Navic provides services to Comcast, Cox, Time Warner, and Charter Communications among others - so I guess what we're saying is, get ready for a blue screen of death when you try to watch TV. more ›

The New York Times says that the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and the Screen Actors Guild will not be reaching an agreement anytime soon. In less than 60 days the SAG contract is up and all motion picture and TV production will stop on a dime with the exception of game shows, reality TV, and the news. I might actually get outside this summer! more ›

Blazers 82, Clippers 80 - Portland blew a 14 point lead in Staples Center one night after blowing a 15 point lead on the very same court. This time they were playing the Clippers, so things worked out OK. Los Angeles managed a pathetic 29 points in the first half, but did make a noble effort in the second. Corey Maggette was hot with 32 points, but missed a big shot with eight ticks left. more ›

Ethan and Joel Coen, aka the Coen Brothers took home the biggest prizes at tonight's Academy Awards for the film "No Country For Old Men." It wasn't even the best film they've done but then again, Herbie Hancock. Jon Stewart ran the show as he did last year but could do no wrong with Regis Philbin there in the wings. more ›

Live, from in front of our television set, it's LAist's Oscar night liveblog extravaganza. more ›

OK so the Oscars are this weekend. Even though the writers' strike is over, the prediction is that this will be a ho-hum (excuse me?) Oscars. First of all, the majority of the films presented for consideration are real downers, secondly, because of the strike, many potential presenters thought that the awards ceremony would be canceled or drastically cut back so they made other plans and are now not available to present at the show. I'm sure they will have enough presenters but perhaps there won't be as many "mega-stars", thus leaving room for more indie-types. more ›

Now that the writers' strike is over and it's full-steam ahead with the Oscars, you can bet that just about every TV channel is going to dogpile on the gala event. Yeah, the Grammys went ahead without interference but the Grammys are nothing compared to the Oscars. E! and CNN already have several shows lined up (look for Oscar host, Jon Stewart, on Larry King this Wednesday night) ready to tackle the exciting topics of: what will be in the gift bags? Who is Prince going to have perform at his Oscar bash? Where do the stars detox before and after the Oscars? etc. more ›

• With exactly one year to go until a new president is inaugurated (and one more year of Jon Stewart's hilarious Bush headlines), the field of Republican hopefuls just got smaller. After poor showings in, well, every primary, caucus and poll, San Diego Congressman Duncan Hunter is ditching the presidential race. No word on what he will do now, but rumors are flying that Hunter will continue to build that fence along the Mexican border he started months ago.
• And speaking of the election, Gov. Arnold is holding off on endorsing a Republican candidate, preferring to stay "neutral." For now. Some are postulating that Schwarzenegger is waiting to endorse someone in the Republican field to see if his friend and NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an Independent, will enter the race.
• It's been a rough Saturday night/Sunday morning in LA County as 11 people have been shot at two separate parties in Long Beach and Compton. The first shooting happened late Saturday at a birthday party in Long Beach, when several gang members apparently crashed the party and started a fight. The second shooting took place early Sunday in Compton, when four or five men turned up to a party and started shooting partygoers, shooting eight and leaving three in critical condition.
• Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is expected to address the Chatsworth/Porter Ranch State of the Community Breakfast next month. It's the first time the mayor will speak to the group about issues affecting the area. Yawn. The interesting thing about this is that in the the Daily News headline, they referred to the mayor by his first name: "Antonio to speak to area chamber." I didn't know the Daily News and the mayor were such good friends.
• The Dodgers will play two March exhibition games against the Padres in Beijing. While some veteran players are privately saying they don't want to go, Matt Kemp sounds downright giddy about the trip. I hope the old versus young rift that ripped through the clubhouse late last season does not carry over into this season. Isn't this why we go Joe Torre?
• Several gay porn sites have posted pictures of under age water polo players from Orange, LA and San Diego counties without them knowing. Authorities think a campus police dispatcher may have played a role in taking the pictures. Gives a whole meaning to block that ball, doesn't it?

It's becoming a task to find episodes of anything new and/or remarkable. Do I even mention that there's new episodes of Celebrity Apprentice, Make Me A Supermodel, and CSI? Am I supposed to be excited about informing you that there will be two (2!) new episodes of NBC's Chuck airing two weeks from tonight? more ›

• Tribune Company CEO Dennis FitzSimons will be stepping down at the end of the year, letting Chicago businessman Sam Zell take over the company. The Tribune Company owns the Los Angeles Times.
• President Bush signed a huge Energy Bill yesterday, in hopes of "reducing our dependence on oil, confronting global climate change, expanding the production of renewable fuels and giving future generations of our country a nation that is stronger, cleaner and more secure."
• Looks like Sean Preston and, uh, the other little Chee-to whose name escapes us will have a little fucked up cousin very soon! Jamie Lynn Spears, following in her sister's dirty, unshod footsteps, got herself knocked up.
• California's population has grown by 11.5% since 2000 -- but the annual growth rate has slowed overall, possibly due to slower job growth: "Those who left... were fleeing an economy in which just 5,800 jobs per month were created -- down from more than 20,000 per month the previous year."
• Sean Penn's road-trip flick "Into the Wild" garnered four SAG Award nominations, including one Best Lead Actor nod for star Emile Hirsch. SAG has reached an agreement with the writers guild that will allow the ceremony to proceed as planned.
• This week's rainfall brings California's yearly total up to the seasonal norm. More relief may still be on the way.
• Approximately 25,000 residents in Northridge and other parts of the Valley were affected by power outages yesterday. Cal State Northridge shut down classes, but power has been restored to most customers.
• There may be hope yet for television in the New Year! Stephen Colbert & Jon Stewart will return to cable on January 7th without their writing staff. Stewart and Colbert commented: ""We would like to return to work with our writers. If we cannot, we would like to express our ambivalence, but without our writers we are unable to express something as nuanced as ambivalence."

The big news this morning is that the Writers Guild is striking beginning today. Although LAist isn't part of the Guild, we are writers and we support our brethren. Not enough to strike with them, of course, but in spirit. Therefore above you will see Jon Stewart's take, and below David Letterman's. And after the jump you can see where the writers will be today from 9am-5pm so you can drive by and honk... more ›

I'm hoping that no one had time for TV last night and if they did they had the class to watch the Boris Karloff marathon on TCM. 8:00pm Ugly Betty ABC - The Halloween Episode. TV Junkie 8:00pm Pick. 9:00pm To Die In Jerusalem HBO - Have heard enough about this documentary on NPR and elsewhere to know it's a good thing. TV Junkie Pick-O-The-Night 9:00pm The Office NBC - If you don't feel like... more ›

Thanks to incessant media overproduction and round-the-clock rambling, the rest of the world could enjoy last week's wildfires as if it were watching another fiery, explosive drama out of Hollywood. Quick, cue the aliens and giant, silicone implant-eating insects. The president even played himself in this one and came with hugs; everyone drank lattes and did yoga; and somehow Britney still made it to court. It was really all just part of a much bigger... more ›