NBC has unofficially announced the new Late Night host to succeed Conan O'Brien in 2009, and (surprise) it's not a woman. Jimmy Fallon has signed on to be O'Brien's replacement, while Conan will move up to 11:35 p.m. to replace Jay Leno, whose contract is expiring. Looks like this means NBC will be continuing the grand tradition of male hosts in their late-night lineup. Now if you would all grab your calculators, let's see what this brings our tally of females currently in late-night TV to: One.

That honor goes to Chelsea Handler, who has a 30-minute talk show on E!.

Handler is the only woman in television to host a night-time talk show at this time. A rare honor, Handler joins a very short list alongside Joan Rivers as being the only female comics to host a late-night show. If we take out our trusty calculators again and add these figures together, that brings our grand total to two female late-night talk show hosts. Ever. In the history of television. Two.

For whatever reason, networks seem to think that women are more funny to more people when the sun is out. Rosie O'Donnell and Ellen DeGeneres have both won multiple Emmy awards for their daytime talk shows and have an enormous audience base stretching across all demographics, yet their shows never air before dinner time. … continue reading

Doesn't it suck when things that seem so, so great end up going so, so horribly wrong? No, I'm not talking about Eliot Spitzer, though that certainly is disheartening. I'm talking about The Return of Jezebel James, the new series from Gilmore Girls creator Amy Sherman-Palladino. It stars Parker Posey, Lauren Ambrose and Dianne Weist. The premiere is tonight at 8/7c on Fox.

But that litany of great names might add up to nothing. The reviews and promo clips are not pretty. Says the L.A. Times,

The problem is that from these folks you expect a fascinating female lead, but you get instead every uptight, cellphone-clenching, relationship-avoiding, food-issue-riven working woman you've ever seen (and never met).

Uh-oh. Plus, there's a laugh track, which ... why? The Boston Globe notes that the show's stars deserve better:

With her soft deadpan and her renegade vibe, [Ambrose] doesn't belong within a mile of a laugh track. ... Posey, so adept at being both ironic and sympathetic, is no better off in this unfunny mire.

Sigh. Still, I'll probably tune in, and maybe it will be better than it sounds. Or at least better than reading one more headline about Spitzer.

On Saturday, Lifetime offers the return of Alyssa Milano, in Wisegal. She plays a young widow who ascends to power in the mob. I dunno, Lifetime, that's not a very impressive title — why not something like Mother, May I Sleep With the Mob Now That My Husband Is Neither My Stepson nor My Lover?

Milano also produced the film. The Lifetime website has a gallery called "Alyssa Milano: Through the Years" to keep you entertained until Wisegal debuts. It includes this cute photo: … continue reading

My girlfriend and I are in the midst of planning our wedding — although we're not as far along as we theoretically should be. However, we do take some comfort in having secured a nice local lesbian rabbi as our officiant. But perhaps we acted too hastily and without enough imagination. Should we, perhaps, have considered Kathy Griffin for the ceremony?

You may think I jest, but D-Lister Griffin is licensed to perform weddings in New York and just performed the ceremony for a New York couple. It seems the couple, Brian Antsley and Erika Shapiro, were big Griffin fans. Their request made its way to her, so she got her online ordination from the Universal Life Church, jumped through the necessary New York hoops, and performed the ceremony on Saturday. True to character, Griffin opened the ceremony with raunchy jokes and then had the bride recite the reception menu. (Note to self: Discuss whether or not rabbi should open with a raunchy joke.)

The obvious irony with Griffin's ordination is how much flak she got for her Emmy acceptance speech, which included this tidbit:

“A lot of people come up here and thank Jesus for this award. I want you to know that no one had less to do with this award than Jesus. So all I can say is, suck it, Jesus; this award is my god now.” … continue reading

Kathy Griffin won an Emmy, then gave a sarcastic acceptance speech. Quelle surprise.

This time, though, Griffin seems to have stepped on more toes than usual. Opinions are all over the map, so let me tell you what happened and get your take.

Griffin’s show, Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List, won Outstanding Reality Program at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards — you know, the ones not important enough to be on the Sept. 16 broadcast. Griffin is one of my favorite comedians and I love her show, so I think the award is richly deserved. Kathy, being Kathy, used her acceptance speech to mock acceptance speeches. Here’s what she said.

“A lot of people come up here and thank Jesus for this award. I want you to know that no one had less to do with this award than Jesus. So, all I can say is, suck it Jesus, this award is my god now.”

Now here in the buckle of the Bible Belt, we watch the sky for lightning when somebody disses Jesus. But I like to think most of us giggled at Griffin's joke while we ran for cover. Besides, what she said is a lot less offensive to me than hearing someone thank God that they weren’t in New Orleans when Katrina hit. … continue reading

Tonight on Bravo, Kathy Griffin's new special Everybody Can Suck It premieres (9:00 p.m. ET). And right after that, it's time for a new season of My Life on the D-List.. But wait, there's more! All day, Bravo's running a D-List marathon. If you watch this much Kathy Griffin in one day, you will turn into a giant red-headed ball of snark.

What's more, you can watch all of Everybody Can Suck It on the Bravo site if you get bored today. And there are even bonus clips, with titles like "Military Rules" and "Ambien Blackout." Sounds promising. I just hope something like this happens again: … continue reading

In case you had one too many Coronas at your Memorial Day party or were entirely offline all weekend (gasp!), here's the big news: Rosie O'Donnell has permanently vacated her (shortened) chair at The View. She was supposed to stay for a few more weeks, to the end of the season, but the split-screen fight last week was just too much for her.

Judging by the comments on the blog (here and here and here), many of you think Rosie should have stuck it out to the bitter end. It seems like everyone's talking about the kerfuffle — on Sunday, three of People.com's top five stories were about Rosie and Elisabeth.

Here's a rundown of the weekend chit-chat: … continue reading