This was fun.......

For some reason one of the entries for this evening didn't make it into yesterday's Weekend Edition post and that is the Pick O' The Night: 11:30pm Saturday Night Live NBC - Season Finale. Hosted by Steve Carell with Musical Guest: Usher. TV Junkie Pick O' The Night As we reported from New York earlier in the season, there's something about SNL this year, with the addition of new players and several new writers, that......

We've got (at least) 6 season finales tonight. Speaking of finales of sorts, CNET was bought by CBS for $1.8 billion. In a day where the old school dinosaurs have been shedding their digital assets, it's pretty remarkable that CNET's management pulled off a sale, especially for that amount, for a property that has regressed to not much more than a newsfeed, and product review site. Also, if you remember, CNET actually had original TV......

Bye-bye Robert Redford - Sundance Channel is being bought by Cablevision. Why "bye-bye"? Because even though Redford will remain "involved", he will not have an ownership stake and without ownership Redford will essentially be a figurehead. Hey, you thought you could move to a Caribbean island and join a start-up engaging in shady media practices like Valence Media's TorrentSpy and think you could get away with it indefinitely? TorrentSpy was one of those "we don't......

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! 8:00pm Death on the Nile TCM - (1978)......

"Lost" is back! Thursday night is truly the best night on TV, hands down. If you saw yesterday's TV Junkie you might have read that post about Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. taking over NYC media - today there's a story in the New York Times about News Corp. hiring a hacker to break into the DISH satellite network, steal codes and flood the market with pirated smart cards costing the network almost a billion dollars......

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......

True, the strike has been over for awhile now and things have pretty much returned to normal. But I don't want you writers to think we are taking you for granted just because we're not honking anymore. We are honking with our hearts. New television shows are finally trickling down to the TiVo-ed masses, and they are better than ever! Clearly the writers weren't just sitting around eating free breakfasts at Bob's. They were......

The above is a clip for tonight's "30 Rock" that hasn't even been posted on NBC.com, check it out. Before the writers' strike, Thursday was comedy night, with "30 Rock" vs. "Ugly Betty", etc., so I'm glad this dry spell is over. In local TV-related news, KCET is gets props from LA County for the production and broadcast of "Bracing for a Quake: A Survival Guide", which, as you might recall, the TV Junkie......

Drinks with Digital LA tonight at Bodega Bar in Santa Monica (and yes, this is not the Bodega bar) / Photo by C-Monster via LAist's photo pool. FILM I am so scaaared. Writer/director Eli Roth (Hostel) continues his reign at the New Beverly in “The Greats of Roth” series. Tonight, he’s screening the double-feature of The Blair Witch Project (1999) and Cannibal Holocaust (1980), an earlier film that deals with a missing documentary film......

Jason Williams the Star of 1974 Porn Flick, Flesh Gordon ("not to be confused with the original Flash Gordon") is looking for a Writer to Tell His Story. Aside from being an incredible source for houses, hookers, haikus and everything in between, Craigslist can also a great source of entertainment. Reading through the listings under the personal section, especially "casual encounters" and "missed connections" can serve as a much needed distraction on one of......

a writer's perspective Returning to Warner Brothers to picket yesterday and today felt like a bit of a homecoming. Between Monday’s SAG unity day at Fox, and the last holiday-shortened week that saw me putting in appearances at Paramount, WGA headquarters, and, of course, Xena Appreciation Day at NBC, it seemed like I’d been working out of the office for ages. It felt good to be home. I don’t know what they’re putting in......

Bright Umbrellas in Chinatown for a Less than Bright Day Crews are still working to restore power to some 3,600 Edison and DWP residents that lost power due to heavy rains and winds over the past two days. North Hollywood, Granada Hills, Porter Ranch, Pomona, Torrance, Stevenson Ranch and - gasp! - Beverly Hills residents were affected. Candles, people. More rain is on the way so gather ye umbrellas while ye may. Tons of......

Attention comics, those who think they are comics, or those whose friends said they were "comedians" - here's your chance: this TUESDAY, January 29th, NBC's Last Comic Standing is having an all-day open casting call at the Hollywood Improv on Melrose starting at 9:00AM to show off their best 2 minutes of comedy. "Comics" who qualify and are 18+ (are they gonna strip?) are asked to come back Tuesday night to perform in front of......

Voting and YOU! I love that France is smelly and filled with laughing Nazis, because, you know, we don't want that here.......

Photo of John Edwards in Burbank by John Edwards 2008 via Flickr With exactly three weeks to go until the Tuesday of Destiny, John Edwards will stop by Los Angeles tomorrow. Though he has to stand on 37 crates to equal Sen. Hillary Clinton's footing in California, according to the latest L.A. Times/CNN/Politico California poll, John Edwards will visit the city to stump for votes and reinforce his standing as a man of the......

Starting a business in Los Angeles is what thousands of people do. In fact, in the City alone there are over 300,000 registered business, which means their is one business for every 13 residents (no matter their age). Starting a business is the realization of a dream for many, and can be lifechanging. But how do you start? Like LAist reported early this week, many people look at the new year as the time to......

How many times have you seen some boneheaded driver make a stupid move on the road, only to drive up beside them and see them yapping away on their cell phones? Too many times, I'll bet you. Now a new study shows that cell phone users also drive more slowly and make poor lane-change choices, which may slow down traffic overall up to 10%. From the LA Times: Researchers at the University of Utah......

You Me and Iowa Things are starting to get back to normal here, after the holidays -- it's a great night in music for Los Angeles. For one, two major arts institutions are hosting some excellent concerts tonight. At the Natural History Museum's popular music and discussion series, First Fridays, Dr. Antonio Damasio, M.D., Ph.D. (Director of Brain and Creativity Institute, USC) will cover how the brain processes memory, language, emotions and decisions. And......

Sorry I missed y'all yesterday but we're back. With just a few days before Xmas you may still have a hankering for your own personal favorite holiday shows and movies. LocateTV which is still in its Beta might be able to help you - just go to the site and type in your flick or program and it will hunt it down for you whether it be on TV, DVD, or online. Next week......

Even though “Extras” has ended, you can still get a Ricky Gervais fix when he comes to the Kodak Theatre in 2008. Though his people originally announced that tickets would go on sale Dec. 25, the date has been moved up to tomorrow, Dec. 18, at 10 a.m. ...

Admit it. We have all done it one time or another. Re-wrapped something that ran counter to our oh-so-fabulous taste and passed it along to some unsuspecting schmuck &/or loved one. It's not very nice. It reeks of cheapness and laziness. Still, in a recent survey more than half of the Americans polled said they re-gift regularly and unashamedly. Hey, we all got our reasons: couldn't make it to the store in time for......

Dear PBS, eff you and your dumbass Doo-Wop shite - I'm sick of it! Grasping at straws here, no decent movies on tonight either, frickin' TCM has Show Boat (again) and IFC has Sid and Nancy (again). 8:00pm The Office NBC - Yeah, it's a rerun, but it's the hour-long one where they go to Benihana. 8:00pm Survivor: China CBS - Next to last episode of the season. The finale is on Sunday. 9:00pm 30......

Remember back in the mid 90s or so, when MTV used to play videos? Think hard. Okay, and then there was this period where, right before they cut to a commercial, there was a clip of a Sinatra wannabe singing the song you just saw a video for? Like a snazzy rendition of "Kharma Police" or something of the sort. (Okay, that would've been late 90s. Whatever.) Well, that dude is "Rudy Casoni", a character......

Need for food donations is increasing, while food available for those in need is on a downturn. The good folks over at SOVA in the Valley are scrambling to provide for hungry families this holiday season; rising energy and food costs are partly to blame. So why do I still see people checking the coin slots for loose change? AT&T is selling off their pay phones to "independent" operators; will the machines be kept......

Due to the recent writer’s strike, the popular mockumentary TV series, "The Office," is now being produced as an actual documentary of a real office. "An Office" is just like the real show, only far more boring. This parody was created by my good friend, and Upright Citizens Brigade alum, Charlie Todd. You can check out more of his pranks and videos at Improv Everywhere, and here's the link to the original post. One......

Start saving your pennies now. Today it was announced that Ricky Gervais—podcast king and star/co-creator of The Office (U.K.) and Extras—will be coming to the Kodak Theatre next summer. Here's the official word from his website: Overpaid, Over-Fed and Over There Ricky Gervais will shortly be announcing stand-up shows across America in July 2008. Tickets for the coast to coast tour will go on sale at Christmas and will include dates at New York's......

1. The Obvious- My parents and sister are the most important people in the world to me. They support me in every boneheaded endeavor I partake in, and believe me, there are tons. It's astonishing how many, actually. 2. My friends. Once again, totally obvious. Once again, they're totally awesome. Much love to Porter House, SLC, Shalhevet, AU, and everyone who fits into all, some, or none of those categories. World rockers, each and every......

Thursday night I almost invariably turn to NBC - what's gonna happen if we run out of new episodes of our fave shows? I might have to get creative, perish the thought. I apologize for writing the word "fashionistas" yesterday, I also apologize for saying that Kenny vs. Spenny was premiering - what we got last night was a sneak preview, not a premiere, the premiere happens on Sunday. 8:00pm Ugly Betty ABC - Betty......

As the writers strike enters it's second week, a lot of attention continues to be paid to the issue of "new media". AKA The Internet. For negotiating purposes, the AMPTP insists that it doesn't know if they make money on the internet. They've also been trying to push the idea that internet content is purely promotional, and before talks broke off, were trying to get writers to agree to a clause that said they......