The Remote Island : CBS

"Survivor" Richard Hatch Makes a Prison Break

Lindy Parker — Thu, 14 May 2009 20:00:00 GMT

It's been four years since the very first Survivor, Richard Hatch, taught us all a valuable lesson: You can't outwit, outplay or outlast the IRS...

The 48-year-old Hatch -- who was convicted in January 2006 of failing to pay taxes on the $1 million prize he won on the first season of the CBS reality show -- left a federal prison in West Virginia on Monday. He was released early due to good behavior.
Hatch...has maintained his innocence all along, claiming that he thought the show's producers would handle his taxes and that he was ignorant about money matters. (CBS has denied Hatch's claims.) (Us Weekly)

Here's the thing: When you win a million dollars on national television and everyone knows about it, it's probably not a good strategy to shirk your taxes is it? We're guessing if they IRS already has documented proof (i.e. videotape) that you're a millionaire, they're going to be sticklers about getting their cut. Not to mention the fact that Richie Hatch probably spent a good portion of his winnings on lawyer fees trying to stay out of prison. It's a cautionary tale, kids -- one with many levels -- but the main points are these:

1. Don't get naked on TV if you're not going to enjoy looking at pictures later...

2. Don't expect CBS to do your taxes for you.

Lesson learned, Richard Hatch.

Previously:

Today in WTF: Survivor's Richard Hatch Wants to Serve His Sentence in Argentina

"Survivor" Richard Hatch Wants To Get Out Of Jail Free

"Survivor" The Theme Park Experience

Is "Survivor" Channeling "Girls Gone Wild" To Boost Ratings?

"Keep It Together, Dad": Mel and Mike White Come to the End of Their "Amazing Race"

Nicole Ankowski — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 17:02:00 GMT

VIA SCREENGRAB: Stunt casting on TV falls between two poles: on the one hand we have Lee Iacocca or Frank Zappa on Miami Vice, staring nervously at the camera before managing to grunt, "Okay, Sonny" and being mustered back into civilian life; on the other, we have David Lee Roth pulling up a chair at a Sopranos-sponsored all-night poker game, making small talk by wistfully recalling the good old days when his accountant let him deduct condoms. The decision to include screenwriter-director-actor Mike White (Year of the Dog, Chuck & Buck) and his 68-year-old pop, Mel, author of Stranger at the Gate: To be Gay and Christian in America, in the current season of CBS's The Amazing Race, the jewel in the crown of network reality-competition shows, definitely fell a lot closer to the Diamond Dave end of the chart. A pair of smart, genial wisecrackers who threw themselves into physical challenges and gave every sign of enjoying each other's company far too much to spoil the fun and the scenery with the kind of stress attacks and hissy fits that are an Amazing Race constant, Mel and Mike bestowed humor and class on the show, right up until their graceful exit last night, in the seventh episode of the season. They were the sixth of the eleven teams to depart, and while everyone was disappointed to see them go, at least they can boast of having made it squarely past the mid-point...

Read more. . .

NCAA Tournament Coverage: Just Because They Call It "March Madness" Doesn't Mean You Have To Lose Your Damn Mind

Jake Kalish — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 20:27:00 GMT

No game-winners on Day 1 of the Tourney (although VCU came close) - which means no reason for announcers to yell. Calm the hell down, fellas...

Here's the deal: unless it decides the game, it's just someone putting a ball into a basket, an act for which screaming like a banshee is inappropriate. The worst screamer is Kevin Harlan, above right with partner Dan Bonner. But Gus Johnson is an egregious offender as well. Harlan, incidentally, should never be allowed to call another basketball game again, ever - besides all the unnecessary shouting, he regularly reels off meaningless statistics, like "Gonzaga has three field goals in the past five minutes."

It's the yelling that really gets to us, though, and not just because it hurts our heads. It seems prefabricated and inauthentic - especially, if, in Harlan's case, what's being screamed is some inane catchphrase - "Right between the eyes!" Plus, if you're shouting like that over a three-pointer ten minutes into the game, what are you going to do if someone actually hits a game winner, have an orgasm? A seizure? You can't go any higher when the moment actually deserves big emotion. It's like if your girlfriend throws a gigantic fit because you looked at a woman on the street. What's she going to do when you sleep with her sister?

PREVIOUSLY:

NCAA Tournament Coverage: Jay Bilas Is No Dick Vitale [VIDEO]

Is "Star Trek" Returning to The Small Screen?

Lindy Parker — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 20:00:00 GMT

Is the world ready for another Star Trek TV show? To be honest, we feel skeptical. In theory, it's a good idea -- after all, the previous five shows (plus one animated series) have been uber-successful, and there's no immediate reason to assume that a sixth would be a disaster. Not to mention the fact that the upcoming film release with a younger, sexier cast could potentially set the stage for a younger, sexier show...

At least, that what James Hibberd hypothesizes. Through tenuous, yet oddly compelling logic, he has us pretty well convinced that a new TV installment is not only possible, but damn near likely...

>> Paramount’s twentysomethings-in-Starfleet "Star Trek" movie relaunch is coming in May (see the most recent trailer below).
>> CBS Corp. holds the "Trek" TV rights.
>> CBS also co-owns twentysomethings-in-unhealthy-relationships network the CW, whose forebear UPN aired the last two "Trek" series (“Enterprise” and “Voyager”).
>> The "Trek" revamp is directed by J.J. Abrams, who knows a thing or two about creating hit TV shows (“Lost,” “Fringe”). (Live Feed)

Granted, most of his points present evidence that is purely circumstantial, and wouldn't hold up in a court of law, but still he makes good sense doesn't he? Maybe, we're just enamored by the idea of a J.J. Abrams/Bryan Fuller collabo on a CW Smallville-esque prequel Star Trek series. That said, what if it turned out like the 90210 reboot? Hence the skepticism. Any thoughts?

Previously:

The New Star Trek Trailer is ABSOLUTELY GREAT [VIDEO]

Star Trek Reunion on "Family Guy" Next Month

Top Ten Responses to the Star Trek Corset

Now Available: Handmade Star Trek Corsets

NCAA Tournament Coverage: Jay Bilas Is No Dick Vitale [VIDEO]

Jake Kalish — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 16:32:00 GMT

We watched the NCAA Tournament last night, and after hours of the serious demeanor, astute observation, coherent thoughts, and general rationality of CBS (and ESPN) analyst Jay Bilas, a thought occured to us: This guy is no Dick Vitale.

See, it's a proven fact: a smart calm man is not as entertaining as a dumb crazy man. Bilas, a Duke law school graduate and practicing lawyer, is smart. And he's exceedingly calm - no hype or hyperbole, ever. ESPN analyst/clown Dick Vitale, on the other hand, is a screaming, gesticulating buffoon lunatic. Which is way more fun. And that's why we always follow Dickie V's advice for "Winning In The Game Of Life"...

PREVIOUSLY:

The New Face Of The Winter Olympics Is The Old Face Of The Winter Olympics

Top Ten Moments With Bob Costas During NBC's Super Bowl Pregame Coverage

Bob Costas Leaves HBO For The MLB Network

Joe Buck Replaces Bob Costas At HBO

Dharma's Back

Jake Kalish — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 20:33:00 GMT

That's really Jenna Elfman. Allure Magazine, 2006. We may become Scientologists...

Jenna Elfman is returning to network sitcoms, in a CBS pilot that sounds a lot like a continuation of Knocked Up...

The show will be called Accidentally On Purpose, and the statuesque Scientologist will play Billie, a San Francisco movie critic who gets impregnated from a fling with a much younger dude, and then builds an "unconventional family" around her "mistake." (Sounds like a chance for her to do her quirky Dharma thing.) Don't know precisely what constitutes an "unconventional family" in the 21st century, but hopefully it involves a transgendered mime. Probably not.

CBS' "Thunder Road" Sure Sounds Like Socially Irresponsible Television

Jake Kalish — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 18:50:00 GMT

A new pilot in which "two teams risk demolition while driving a course stocked with challenging obstacles"? Woooo! Me and my boys could do that!

WTF, people? Really? And it's executive produced by McG, the guy who did those Charlie's Angels movies and is directing the upcoming Terminator: Salvation, the movie where Christian Bale went all apeshit crazy and deservedly got mocked by James Lipton? Hey, McG's so cool he goes by one name with two capital letters! Woooo! Let's all drive obstacle courses and risk demolition! We'll bring the beer!

Is "Chuck" in Trouble?

Lindy Parker — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Bad news for Chuck fans, or should we say "alleged" Chuck fans...

Chuck came in fourth (behind CBS sitcom repeats) with 6.75 million viewers — a 19 percent plunge from its 3-D showcase, a 600K drop from its most recent 2-D outing, and the series' lowest rating ever for a fresh eppy. (TV Guide)

See, this huge ratings drop just proves our previous point: Who's watching Chuck? We assume many people are/were, but where are they? Why don't we know any of them? And most importantly, why did a couple million of them suddenly stop? At any rate, if the numbers don't go up soon, we assume we'll be writing Chuck a eulogy entitled: The Show We Never Knew We'd Miss. Maybe the answer is bumping it to a less competitive night? Although, if it can't compete with sitcom re-runs the outlook is bleak.

Chuck fans, make yourselves known. We are perplexed.

Previously:

Jordana Brewster Returns to Chuck

"Criminal Minds" Jumps on The Vampire Bandwagon

Lindy Parker — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 19:45:00 GMT

At first, we didn't have much of a reaction to the news that former Moonlight star, Alex O'Laughlin, was taking a turn on CBS's Criminal Minds other than to say, "Huh. Good to see Alex O'Laughlin getting work." However, that was before we heard the description of his role from CM executive producer Ed Bernero...

Alex is playing a killer whose life is unexpectedly changed by an "incident" which prompts him to reach out to the BAU team for "help." (TV Guide)

Is it us, or is CBS planning to bring Mick St. John (O'Laughlin's Moonlight character) to Criminal Minds? How crazy would that be? A crossover with a show that isn't even on the air anymore. At the very least, maybe he could play a serial killer who thinks he's a vampire. Good times.

Star Trek Reboot Action Figures: Boldly Going Where No Toys Have Gone Before

Lindy Parker — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 23:20:00 GMT

Bill Burke, VP of Marketing for CBS Consumer Products promises that the new Trek toys have gone bigger and better than ever: "This is really an action-adventure experience."

Not to be Negative Nellie here, but how can that possibly be true? Is the transporter functional? Will it, in fact, beam us up? Because if it will, we take it all back.

Check out the full scoop on the new Trek toys at E! Online.

Previously:

Star Trek: Bring Sexy Back To The United Federation of Planets

Pay Freeze For CBS Stars?

Jake Kalish — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 22:11:00 GMT

Faced with this crap economy, CBS Paramount wants the stars of its series to forego their raises next year, EW reports. This doesn't apply to a few shows produced by outside studios - The Mentalist, Ghost Whisperer, Without A Trace. But it does affect all fourty-three CSIs, NCIS, and all their other programs with acronyms. This has never been done before, and puts the stars in a tough spot - if leads like Caruso say they won't take a pay freeze, then the studio can come back and say they've got a hard cap on the budget for these shows, which means other people on these shows will be fired. And nobody wants to be responsible for people getting fired. A CBS exec, who wanted to remain nameless, admitted as much:

In fact, one exec producer at a CBS Paramount drama is already preparing for such a worst-case scenario. "If our lead doesn't accept the freeze, we will have no choice but to let one of our supporting actors go," says the exec. "There's no question that it's the second-tier actors who are most vulnerable."

Blah. Stupid economy. Interesting to see how this shakes out, and if CBS really holds firm on this, or concedes to the NBC-ish solution: cheaper programming.

MMA Back To CBS

Jake Kalish — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 20:50:00 GMT

CBS has signed a deal with Strikeforce Productions to air quarterly MMA fights, and have 12 fights a year on their sister station, Showtime. This is a bit of a surprise, considering the last CBS-boradcast MMA card was an unqualified debacle - the headliner, KImbo Slice, lost in 14 seconds, and that was against a replacement opponent, Seth Petruzelli, who later claimed MMA promoters, while not exactly fixing the fight, didn't want him to use all his weapons:

The promoters kinda hinted to me and they gave me the money to stand and throw with him, they didn't want me to take him down. Let's just put it that way. It was worth my while to try and stand up punch him.

Oy. So you've got a horrible fight and a scandal - all of which led to the promoter of that card, Elite XC, going bankrupt, and having Strikeforce pick up its fighters. It speaks to the immense popularity of MMA - and Kimbo Slice - that not only is CBS still down to broadcast these brawls, they want Kimbo Slice involved. Oh, and one must never forget that this has something to do with the economy - compared to regular prime-time programming, MMA fights are really cheap to broadcast, and have a guaranteed bloodthirsty audience.

PREVIOUSLY:

Our MMA Archive

"HIMYM" Actors Striving To Be The Most Knocked-Up Cast on TV

Lindy Parker — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 20:20:00 GMT

Apparently, there's something in the water over at CBS because according to the following video, the entire cast of How I Met Your Mother is either pregnant or trying to get pregnant. Ideally, their kids will all grow up together and become actors just in time to star in the inevitable 2030 re-boot of their parents' new millenium sitcom. After all, in the immortal words of Remote Island boyfriend, Neil Patrick Harris, "once you've had a taste of that honey, you gotta go back to the hive..."

More with NPH, as well as a sneak peak of Laura Prepon on HIMYM below...

Video: E! Online

Previously:

Laura Prepon is Coming to How I Met Your Mother

Diddy Runs The City On "CSI: Miami"

Lindy Parker — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 19:45:00 GMT

Ever since our brief but intense summer obsession with the Bad Boy mogul's Apprentice-esque reality show, we've pretty much decided that there's never a wrong time for more Diddy. Evidently, the good people at CBS agree with us.

Check out Diddy's turn on tonight's CSI: Miami...

Get it, Puff. We're pretty convinced that there's nothing this man can't do. Even if he announced tomorrow that he intends to ressurect and star on a new season of Skating With Celebrities, we'd still have faith he could pull it off without looking like a tool.

Previously:

Work For Diddy: Every Hustler For Herself

Work For Diddy: All's Well That Ends With Ciroc and Soda

Barack Obama Will Be Interviewed By Everyone Today

Jake Kalish — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 15:10:00 GMT

Today, at the White House's request, the President will sit down for separate interviews with the anchors of ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, and Fox News. Seriously, everybody's talking to Barack today. We've heard a rumor that the hosts of an Aurora, Illinois public access show have a sitdown with Obama at noon.

The interviews will be broadcast throughout the day and evening. Gosh, this President certainly does things differently than his predecessor, doesn't he?

PREVIOUSLY:

Our Barack Obama Archive

CBS Wants to Arrange Your Marriage

Lindy Parker — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 22:00:00 GMT

Hold onto your daughters, kids. CBS is taking the fickle wand of destiny into its greedy clutches, and going into the matchmaking business...

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the series, tentatively and uncreatively titled Arranged Marriage, will follow four unlucky-in-love adults, age roughly 25-45, who allow their friends and family to choose a spouse for them because they're that anxious to commit. The couples will legally tie the knot, and the series will document their lives together post-ceremony. (Popwatch)

Our first reaction to this is: "Ew, weird." But the more we think about it, we realize we're kind of obsessed with the idea of arranged marriages in general. We once went on a date in high school with a guy whose mom gave a post-date speech about how parents, in their infinite wisdom, are the best equipped to choose a suitable mate for their child. Ever since then, (after we got over being uncomfortable) we've been weirdly fascinated by the whole concept. In theory, relationships forged on a show like this could potentially have a better success rate than those formed on, say, The Bachelor. Thoughts?

NBC: Your In-Flight Entertainment

Lindy Parker — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 21:30:00 GMT

After over ten years of Young and the Restless, CSI and Cold Case re-runs on your cross-country flights, American Airlines is switching networks...

NBC Universal Domestic TV Distribution's Frances Manfredi was the architect of the Peacock's deal with American. Not so coincidentally, as a CBS exec, Manfredi helped construct the Eye's original deal with the airline in 1998. After a decade with CBS, American decided to reassess the in-flight account and put out a request for proposals last year.
American -- cash-strapped, like all airlines -- was also looking to alter its financial arrangement: CBS had sold the in-flight ad time; NBC will not. NBC also had a leg up when it came to the sheer variety of its programming options: The Peacock will offer fare from NBC, USA, Bravo, Sci Fi, Oxygen, MSNBC and CNBC, in addition to Universal Pictures films and programs from NBC News and NBC Sports. (Variety)

Looks like we're in for a Project Runway marathon to pass the time on our next trip to California, and to that we say: Awesome.

Controversy Over Obama's First Interview As President, With ABC's Robin Roberts

Jake Kalish — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 16:27:00 GMT

Tough question from CBS's Bill Plante to Obama's Press Secretary Robert Gibbs about ABC getting the first interview with the new President after they paid $2 million to cover the inauguaral ball event.

Plante: How is it transparent when it looks like pay to play when the president gives his only interview on inauguration night to a network that's paid $2 million for the privilege of exclusive coverage of an event... the Neighborhood Ball?

Gibbs: No interview is decided on by me or anybody else who works for the president based on who might sponsor an activity.

Well. Fair question, although it sounds a bit like sour grapes. Besides, is ABC going to pay for an event and then watch while CBS gets an exclusive interview? Still, this Presidency is all about transparency, and pay for play is a very sensitive topic in today's media landscape. Guess Plante and CBS didn't just want to give up an exclusive, in this new spirit of sacrifice.

"Jericho": The Movie

Lindy Parker — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 20:20:00 GMT

Remember Jericho? It was on for one season, got cancelled, a bazillion fans flooded the CBS offices with pleas to keep it on the air. CBS brought it back to life, but only for seven episodes because evidently, those bazillion fans weren't actually watching.

Since the second cancellation, the producers have kicked the reruns to The CW on Sunday nights, and also toying with the idea of taking Jericho to the big screen...

"...they're going to make a big-screen movie. Producer Jon Turteltaub tells IfMagazine.com that a feature film is indeed in the works, and that the original cast will be back. Turteltaub says he plans to make a movie that even non-fans of the show can go to and understand and appreciate." (TV Squad)

Truthfully, we never actually watched Jericho (safe to say we're not alone there), but the premise isn't totally uninteresting to us, so we might be persuaded to see a movie if the right people were involved. That said, the mediocrity of the X-Files and Firefly (movie title: Serenity) movies doesn't fill us with confidence.

Are You The Next Oprah Winfrey?

Jake Kalish — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 18:36:00 GMT

CBS, which syndicates The Oprah Winfrey Show, is desperately searching for a replacement if The Big O bails for her brand new Oprah Winfrey Network when her contract expires in 2011. John Nogawski, head of the CBS subsidiary that syndicates Oprah, wants to make it clear he doesn't want the most powerful woman in the universe to go:

We're not rushing her out the door, if anything we want to motivate her to want to stay.

Gee, ya think? Still, says Nogawski,

It's our obligation - if we are conducting our business properly - to identify people who identify with the viewer.

So get those applications ready, billionaires-in-waiting.

Are We Breaking Up With "The Mentalist"?

Lindy Parker — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 19:20:00 GMT

The thing is, that first episode of The Mentalist this season was like a really great date after a couple months of mediocre endeavors -- not love at first sight exactly, but a nice change from shows that we were originally excited about watching and then turned out to be painfully dull, borderline offensive, or just not for us. That said, we feel like the last couple episodes have been a little lackluster, and we've found ourselves checking our watches and half-wishing we were with Bones instead.

The plots have been kind of predictable and stock, and we're still only surface deep with any of these characters. We'd hate to see this show squander the things it's got going for it: interesting premise, charismatic lead, likable secondary characters. Actually, a good suggestion might be to develop those secondary characters a bit more and let them share a little of the weight (we LOVE Tim Kang!) so Simon Baker doesn't have to do it all himself. We recognize we may be alone in this -- the ratings seem to be going strong -- but we can only take so many weeks of frivolous dates before we're inevitably going to want something a little deeper, or maybe have to move on to something new. (Ha.)

Michael Rapaport Gives CBS "The Eye"

Lindy Parker — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 18:20:00 GMT

Word is Michael Rapaport (whom you may remember from such projects as Boston Public, Beautiful Girls or True Romance, but whom we remember from that ill-advised Woody Allen vehicle, Small Time Crooks, in which he spends most of his time wearing a hard hat with the head lamp pointing backwards) is developing a new series for CBS in which he'll star as a New York social worker.

Apparently, Basketball Diaries writer Bryan Golubuff is on board to pen the drama so we're feeling like it might be interesting. Our feeling is, we kind of love The Mentalist right now, so it's easy to feel generally optimistic about CBS programming endeavors at the moment. Also, Denis Leary is executive producing with Rapaport and Golubuff so we're sure some irreverance will work it's way in somehow.

Still, Michael Rapaport, you really do look coolah this way:

Jeff Probst Is Tired Of "Survivors"

Lindy Parker — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 17:00:00 GMT

It turns out that after 18 seasons of Survivor, host Jeff Probst is ready for a change. Of course, we suspect that he may have just been sticking around long enough to find a wife, but that's another story...

Regardless, Probst is moving on to create and host a new pilot for CBS entitled Live Like You're Dying -- if you found our post headline in poor taste (and it is, intentionally -- we're making a point here), tell us the show's title isn't more than a little macabre. Probst's new reality vehicle will give participants that have recently received terminal diagnoses of their illnesses the chance to live out one final dream -- sort of a reality show version of the Make a Wish Foundation. We have mixed about this concept. While we certainly think it's lovely for a show to give people oppurtunities that will be truly meaningful to them, and we totally support the idea of Make a Wish in general, we find it a bit troubling for a network to profit by callously exploiting a person's personal tragedy. So what do you think? Live Like You're Dying: generous and benevolent expression of goodwill in an increasingly complicated and tragedy-ridden world? Or shameless and sinister exploitation of personal suffering for capital gain? Give us your thoughts, we want 'em.

Remote Bryan Wants His "Eleventh Hour" Back

Bryan Christian — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 17:30:00 GMT

Because we knew that Remote Ben was going to be typing up his notes on the Life on Mars premiere, we decided to stick around after CSI -- surprisingly good, btw, and not just for Warrick's strange and sad death scene -- and check out Eleventh Hour, Jerry Bruckheimer's gloss on the paranormal. Blecch, we say, and blecch again. Which do you like better? "Numb3rs + X(files) = Zero" or "CSI-Fi"? We went with option three for our headline, which is less funny perhaps, but ultimately got at the heart of our feelings. Particularly after we switched channels and caught the last few seconds of Life on Mars. Brilliant closing shot, guys. We'll definitely be catching the whole show on our DVR's this weekend.

So who will win in the ratings battle? Hard to say. We think they both could survive, actually, though Life on Mars might be the first to get reschedules if it's a draw or worse for them. As for Eleventh Hour, well, CBS is doing really well with Buckheimer-type stuff right now, so our bet is it'll get big numbers and be around for at least five years. Because Bruckheimer ain't just interested in a show that does well now; he wants something that TNT will buy in five years, and nets all over the world will buy today.

Well, good on Rufus Sewell, who's an actor we love and deserves a steady paycheck. And Marley Shelton, well, we'll always have Grindhouse.

"The Mentalist" Gets Cancelled...Psych!

Lindy Parker — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 14:20:00 GMT

Humor us, we've been waiting for weeks to use that line. Rest assured, The Mentalist is just fine -- in fact, CBS has ordered up six more episodes of fun with gruesome murders and head games to keep us happy for while. And thank God too, because truthfully, we kind of love The Mentalist. Additionally, we have a bit of a crush on Tim Kang:

Hot, no? Also, anyone who can say, "The suspect further states that when you weren't around he was banging your wife like a big base drum" with an admirably straight face just makes our lives that little bit better.

Remembering Paul Newman, the TV Star

Ben Kallen — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 20:45:00 GMT

As you've probably heard, Paul Newman -- the movie star, philanthropist, race-car driver and all-around good guy -- died on Friday at the age of 83.

What you may not know is that Newman had a substantial career in television as well as film. He got his start acting in "Golden Age" dramas during the '50s, and took occasional TV acting roles throughout his life. (He won an Emmy for the 2005 HBO miniseries Empire Falls.) He was also a sought-after talk-show guest, and made quite a few visits with fellow racing enthusiast David Letterman.

We've collected as much footage as we could of Newman's half-century of TV performances. Take a look, below:

Newman had a small role in "Ice From Space," an episode of the sci-fi series Tales of Tomorrow, way back in 1952. (It's especially notable for the early special effects, which consisted entirely of a block of ice.) You can view the video here -- watch for him at about the 10-minute and 20-minute marks.

In 1955, Newman played young George Gibbs in a production of the Thornton Wilder play Our Town, which aired on the NBC show Producers' Showcase. You'll see a brief clip of it in this public-television documentary -- which also shows the actor, almost 50 years later, as the Stage Manager in a version of the play that aired on PBS and Showtime in 2003.

Newman demonstrated quite a bit of acting range as a soldier trying to get out of his military service in "The Army Game," an hourlong episode of NBC's Kaiser Aluminum Hour, in 1956.

Newman coproduced and costarred in the 2005 HBO miniseries Empire Falls, for which he won the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor.

Here's a 2007 appearance Newman made on Late Show With David Letterman, where he enjoyed discussing his second career as an auto racer.

Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward is a half-hour documentary on the longtime married couple's lives and work. (The origin is unknown, but we're guessing it's from a 1997 BBC series titled Great Romances of the 20th Century.) This is part one; you can find the rest here and here.

And, just for fun, here are a couple of Newman's TV commercials. The first is a Burger King ad for his salad dressing -- with which he raised millions of dollars for charity -- and the second is a Nissan public-service announcement in which he reminds people to wear their seatbelts.

Rest in peace, Paul Newman -- 1925-2008

Sunday-Night TV Party!

Ben Kallen — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 21:08:00 GMT

Okay, so Friday night we get two guys debating over whose plan will fix the economy (answer: neither), and Saturday is mostly reruns because the networks assume you're out getting drunk. That leaves Sunday as the next big night for new shows and season premieres.

So here are your many choices for Sunday-night viewing entertainment:

ABC: Extreme Makeover, Home Edition Boo-hoo, then yay! Either you like this sort of thing or you don't.

ABC: Desperate Housewives The whole show moves five years into the future. Does this mean everyone can stop using all the Botox?

ABC: Brothers & Sisters They bicker! They make up! They sleep with each other! (Okay, just former siblings Justin and Rebecca, but still -- eww.)

CBS: 60 Minutes Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson explains why the government's giving billions of dollars to the bank that's foreclosing on your home. Plus, the scientist who's testing that new supercollider device explains why it probably won't destroy the universe, he hopes. Fun!

CBS: The Amazing Race 13 Everyone's always saying that this is the best reality-competition show out there. So how come we always watch it with our finger on the fast-forward button?

CBS: Cold Case Detectives figure out who murdered someone a long time ago, while pop music from that era plays in their heads. You were expecting something different?

CBS: The Unit The team attempts to stop the assassination of the president-elect and vice-president elect. Guess that means neither of them owns a moose gun.

NBC: Sunday Night Football If this wins in the ratings, all the networks execs will be thinking, "Now, why do we pay writers again?"

Fox: The Simpsons As the 20th season begins, Homer and Marge get unlikely new jobs. Look for a joke about how many times this has happened on the show before, then another joke about how many times they've made a joke like that before.

Fox: King of the Hill Bill's love of sweets causes him to develop diabetes, which is totally different from the time Bobby's love of fatty foods caused him to develop gout. Sorry, these shows are great, but maybe it's time for something new around here.

Fox: Family Guy Brian and Cleveland get into a love triangle, which reminds us of the time we saw Raquel Welch eat 20 pounds of raw bacon at the People's Choice Awards.

Fox: American Dad It's Roger the alien's birthday, and he continues to creep us out in ways we don't entirely understand.

HBO: Entourage Johnny Drama goes on The View -- and we can't imagine that not being funny.

HBO: Little Britain USA In its new American version, the British sketch comedy is still all about the dick jokes.

HBO: The Life and Times of Tim A young dude suffers through all kinds of hardships and humiliations. It's like Worst Week, but darker. And animated.

Showtime: Dexter Some critics have complained that the third season is too similar to the first two. To us, that's a good thing. Watch this show.

Showtime: Californication Sure, there's something weird about diagnosed sex addict David Duchovny playing an undiagnosed sex addict. But as much as we hate to like Californication, we like it anyway.

AMC: Mad Men Make that the Emmy-winning Mad Men. What else is there to say?

Photo collage: Egregiously "borrowed" from Alan Sepinwall on NJ.com

Previously:
TV Orgy Tonight!

TV Orgy Tonight!

Ben Kallen — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 21:20:00 GMT

Er, we mean an orgy of TV, not an orgy on TV. But a huge number of new episodes and season premieres will be happening this evening. Here's what's in store for you, your couch and your TiVo:

ABC: Ugly Betty She'll have to decide between her two boyfriends, and maybe find out how many more years those braces need to stay on.

ABC: Grey's Anatomy Now that Dr. McDreamy and Dr. McSkinny are back together, Nurse McNobody turns out to be... well, it's kind of a spoiler, even though it's been in every ad for the past three weeks. Hope all the talking about it won't distract them from their complicated medical procedures, like always!

CBS: Survivor: Gabon Host Jeff Probst is worried about how he'll look now that the show's going high-def. Dude, you're not the one who's going to end up 30 pounds lighter and covered in filth. As for the contestants, we hope they've read this.

NBC: My Name Is Earl Seth Green alert! This show may not seem so new and fresh anymore, but it sure gets good guest stars. Plotwise, we think Earl's still working on that list or something.

NBC: The Office Woo-hoo! Amy Ryan's back, Michael's still nuts, Jim and Pam still can't put together a decent PB&J, and we can't wait.

NBC: ER Bad stuff happens! It's the last season! We haven't watched this show in years!

CW: Smallville Last week, Clark applied for a job at a major metropolitan newspaper and they made him a reporter, just like that! Did he even finish college? Don't they know blogs are where it's at these days? And when did Chloe become the hottest character on this show?

CW: Supernatural Spooky! (That's all we got.)

Fox: Kitchen Nightmares Our nightmare is that some jerkwad chef came over to our place and screamed for an hour, but that's just us.

PBS: American Masters: The Warner Brothers These guys went to Hollywood, and 100 years later they made The Matrix. Good times.

...Followed by Chris Rock: "Hillary's Not Running!"

Ben Kallen — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 20:20:00 GMT

If you're a politician on a talk show, the last thing you want is to be followed by Chris Rock -- which is what happened to Bill Clinton on Letterman last night.

Rock skewered Clinton but good, especially making fun of the ex-president for not being over his wife's campaign. "Is it me, or he didn't want to say the name 'Barack Obama'? He went through everything he could do -- well, like, 'Hillary would want to do with the economy....' Hillary ain't running! Hillary's not running! What the hell? One of those guys needs to tell him.... I love Hillary, but, you know, she lost!"

Have a look:

Previously:
Bill Clinton on Letterman: The Video

Bill Clinton on Letterman: The Video

Ben Kallen — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 19:50:00 GMT

Hey, why can't we vote for this guy? (Oh, right.)

Former President Bill Clinton appeared on Late Show With David Letterman last night, and came off as incredibly smart and well-informed, with more specific ideas for the economy and energy policy than any of the current candidates have provided in weeks.

But whatever your political affiliation, you probably have one question: How come CBS won't put this whole interview online? We've got a clip below, and you can find more here.

Previously:
McCain's Campaign Strategy: Make Conan Laugh
Obama to Dave: "Actually, Palin Would Have Been the Lipstick"