Jimmy Kimmel on Jay Leno’s 10 at 10

Jimmy Kimmel appears on The Jay Leno Show and confronts Jay about his controversial return to The Tonight Show.
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Late Night with Conan O’Brien: Jimmy Fallon’s first appearance on a Talk Show

Saturday Night Live cast member and future Late Night host Jimmy Fallon sets down with Conan O’Brien in this late 90s interview.
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Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson: Jason Segal – Dracula’s Lament

Jason Segal & Nathan Danforth, with The Broken West performing “Dracula’s Lament” from the motion picture Forgetting Sarah Marshall.
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Star Trek TOS Season 1 Theme

Originally scored under the title “Where No Man Has Gone Before”, the Star Trek theme is an instrumental musical piece written by Alexander Courage.
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The X Factor to come to the U.S.

American Idol judge and music mogul Simon Cowell has confirmed that he is bringing his huge British hit The X Factor to the U.S.

“I think the show will go to America” Cowell told BBC’s Newsnight. ” It has to go to America. There has to be an American version of the show. To not make The X Factor in the biggest market in the world would be crazy”

The X Factor was launched in 2004 in the U.K. and the show’s finalists are wildly popular in Europe as well as the U.S. No word on when the American version of the show will air.

Stephanopoulos to host Good Morning America

ABC News has made the long-rumored appointment of George Stephanopoulos to succeed Diane Sawyer as the anchor of “Good Morning America” official. The president of ABC News, David Westin, made the announcement on Thursday. It is said that he conducted a three-month search for a successor for Sawyer, who was named in September as the next anchor of ABC’s evening news program, “World News,” succeeding Charles Gibson.

With his background as a former political advisor under the Clinton administration, as well as political reporting, Stephanopoulos will make a good fit for the new and improved version of GMA. Executives are promising that the show would move “in a new direction,” toward more news and substantive information.

Stephanopoulos begins his new assignment on Monday, December 14.

Spielberg plans for Israeli reality drama

American director Steven Spielberg plans to produce a reality television series set at Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center, the Israeli financial newspaper Globes reported this week.

Dreamworks Studios, in which Spielberg is a partner, will produce the show, and it will be directed by the Emmy Award winning producer Phil Rosenthal, creator and producer of the popular television sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond.

Spielberg has collaborated with Israelis several times in the past, particularly in his films Schindler’s List in 1993, about German businessman Oskar Schindler who saved Jewish families during the Holocaust, and Munich in 2005, about the PLO massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympic Games, and the subsequent killing of the terrorists by the Mossad. Many Israeli actors participated in both films.

The Jerusalem Post reported that Rosenthal was in Israel this week to check out Shaare Zedek and hold discussions with the Israeli producers of the show, which is scheduled to air on the Sundance Channel in 2011.

Episode Recap: Ugly Betty – Level (7) With Me

I have to say the whole concept of Daniel letting  the leaders  of a quasi-cult (the “community of the phoenix”) call the shots at Mode is so unbelievable and outrageous, that it ruined much of this episode for me. Daniel’s bizarre actions, along with the cult leaders insane promises of reuniting Daniel with his dead wife prompt Betty and the crew to take action. Meanwhile Wilhelmina finally banishes her conniving daughter Nico, after discovering her deception, and catching her red handed trying to steal a family heirloom.

I think the real star of this episode was Becki Newton, who plays the snarky, attractive receptionist Amanda. She has been showcased more frequently on recent episodes, and in my opinion always steals the show. Her scene with Judith Light’s character Claire, where they pretend to attend a grief counseling session, giving Betty time to search the “Community of Phoenix” headquarters, was both comical, and touching.

I was disappointed there were no scenes with the Suarez family, especially Justin. I the back story surrounding Betty’s flamboyant nephew extremely entertaining. In a show I often fear has jumped the shark, the moments in the show featuring Mark Indelicato (who portrays Justin) and Becki Newton keep me coming back for more.

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Episode Recap: Jon & Kate Plus 8 – It’s a Crazy Life, But it’s Our Life (Series Finale)

After five seasons and countless controversies, TLC said goodbye to Jon & Kate Plus 8.

Some highlights (lowlights?) include;

• Kate’s take on Jon’s relationships: ‘[The kids] don’t know about the girlfriends at all…That’s just too warped for them, too unhealthy for them to know. They’re learning at this age by watching us what it’s like to be an adult, but that’s the last thing I want them to know.”

• Jon, being the class act that he is, punishes the twins Cara and Mady by leaving them with a babysitter while the rest of the family (sans Kate) holds a lemonade stand to raise money for the local volunteer fire department. Why? Because they complained of having more fun with mommy! Kate takes the brood to a local dairy farm.

• Jon and Kate were interviewed separately about the past and the present, and what they think might happen in the future. Kate called the ending of the show “bittersweet,” but also added that it was “totally avoidable.”

This last episode of the popular series netted an average of 4.32 million viewers, which is paltry compared to the nearly 10 million who viewed the show last May, but still a strong showing. The average TLC show gets only 1 million views on average.

Lambert Controversy at the AMAs

Adam Lambert’s sexually charged performance at the American Music Awards on Sunday has drawn criticism from some viewers.

The controversial number, billed by the AMAs as the American Idol star’s first performance, featured Lambert performing his first single, “For Your Entertainment,” complete with S&M-themed choreography. The most controversial moments were Lambert flashing his middle finger at the audience, simulating oral sex with a back up dancer and kissing a keyboard player on the mouth. The west coast airing of the segment was considerably less racy, with the oral sex portion of the performance strategically cut out.

ABC said more than 1,500 people complained, which they consider a “moderate” response, and the Parents Television Council also said it had heard from upset members.

“They’re outraged,” said Timothy Winters, president of the Parents Television Council. “They just can’t believe the nature of the content, the explicit nature, and how much graphic content there was.”

Lambert had alluded to making a bold statement in interviews preceding the awards show. To the Associated Press he had said “We’ve seen female pop and rock performers do that for the last 10 years. They’ve been very provocative, owning their power and sexuality. You just don’t see men doing it very often. And I’m hoping to break down that double standard with this number.”