July 10, 2008 1:01

McCain to Do Conan

NBC

Word is in from NBC that John McCain will appear on Late Night with Conan O'Brien on Friday, July 18. It'll be his first appearance there, according to the network, since 2005.

I've been working on a future column having to do with pop culture and the candidates, and one side issue I've been wrestling with is: why is Barack Obama so much more the focus of pop culture in this election, anyway? (Here I mean not just the candidates' use of pop culture, like talk shows and SNL, but pop culture's use of them: the online videos, the soft-magazine covers, the HOPE posters and their various mashups, the websites like barackobamaisyournewbicycle.com.)

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July 10, 2008 11:29

Lost Discussion Group: My Two Dads

From this week's Ask Ausiello (now relocated to Time's sister publication/site, EW), Michael Ausiello shares a small bit of Lost dish:

Team Darlton is doing their annual “radio silence” thing, so Lost scoop is at a premium these days. Luckily, I managed to unearth this little morsel: John Terry (Christian) and Alan Dale (Widmore) are in talks to return next season on a recurring basis. Big frakkin’ whoop, right? Well, here’s where it gets interesting: In the fine print of both their contracts, it states that Lost has the right to pick up series regular options on both actors for the show’s sixth and final season.

EW's Doc Jensen offers his interpretation of the significance of this development—you can read it here if you want, but I don't want to prejudice your interpretations.

I'm not particularly surprised that Chas Widmore would become a bigger player in the endgame season of Lost, since all signs seem to point to some ultimate showdown with him over the Island. But the news about Christian is more intriguing, since we've become used to seeing him only in tantalyzing glimpses. Any guesses on what his (possibly) expanded role in the show's denouement says about who or what he is? Or about why we'll be seeing so much of two of Lost's worst fathers?

And a bonus question: Why are nearly all the fathers on Lost such jackasses, anyway?

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July 10, 2008 10:10

Office Webisodes Return: Kevin's Big Score

Brian Baumgartner as Kevin. / NBC

It's summer, and the writers' strike is over, which means that it's time for the broadcast networks to finally launch some of that original online content that everybody was so exercised about last winter. Today is the debut of this summer's webisodes of The Office. (The first is scheduled to post at 3 p.m. E.T. on nbc.com; new eps go up weekly.) I've seen four of them, and unlike many online spinoffs of TV shows, they're actually worth your time.

Not a ton of your time, mind you, but at two minutes each, that won't be an issue.

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July 10, 2008 8:53

The Morning After: TCA Roundup

* Matthew Weiner will give you information about Mad Men when he is damn good and ready, and you will be damn good and entertained by it. Now stop bothering him and let him make his geniusy things.

* History Channel plans Sandhogs, a series on the cannibalistic, lantern-eyed mole people tunnel diggers who work far below the streets of New York City. And invites TV critics to get their drink on.

* First Fox was reviving The Brady Bunch Variety Hour with the Osbourne family. Now Comedy Central is reviving The Gong Show with Dave Attell (Update: despite what it may say on the player below, video is in fact available--at least as of the moment I type this):

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