I've heard of "American Idol" viewing parties and "Sex and the City" viewing parties.

But political convention viewing parties?

The SLC Film Center, the wonderful organization that brings unique films and filmmakers to Utah, sent me an email Thursday touting two Democratic convention viewing parties in Utah so people can watch Barack Obama's acceptance speech together.

Here's what it says:

Hmmm. The upcoming second season of NBC's comedy caper, "Chuck," must be pretty good.

The network has ordered a full season of the show about a geek who helps out government agents after watching the first eight episodes, something that rarely happens.

"We couldn't be more excited with the creative direction Josh (Schwartz) and his team are executing on 'Chuck,'" Teri Weinberg, NBC's head of development and current programs, told TVWeek. "This show has really hit its stride and deserves a full-season commitment to carry out the producers' vision for this unique series."

The show will get a full 22 episodes, which should satisfy its usually nerd-herd fans.

Remember The WB, the network home of television fare like "Everwood" and "Buffy"?

The broadcaster may have gone away in favor of becoming The CW, but the channel lives on in the Inter-tubes.

TheWB.com was just launched this week, and it's a portal for old WB shows that you can watch online.

It looks great - that is if it worked.

My first foray into the site, I tried clicking on several shows, including "Babylon 5," "Veronica Mars," "The O.C." and others, and the Flash player didn't work.

This is on my quad-core PC with Windows Vista, the latest updates installed and the latest version of Adobe Flash installed. It's also a PC that's never had a problem running Flash video or animation.

I'm thinking this is a problem with the site.

It says it's still in beta, which means it's still being tested by users but is available for public consumption, but it looks like it's still not ready for primetime.

Anyway, check it out, maybe you can get it to work.

It's a good thing that Murray's David Archuleta ascended the "American Idol" ranks last season instead of the new one coming in January - he would have had to please a fourth judge.

The hit Fox show announced Monday it's adding a fourth judge to the already-famous roster of Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson.

It's Grammy-nominated songwriter Kara DioGuardi, whose tunes have been sung by the likes of Celine Dion, Kelly Clarkson, Avril Lavigne and Britney Spears.

The "Idol" producers are attempting to shake things up a bit after somewhat lagging ratings last season, though it still remained the most-watched regular series of the year.

Apparently, Kim Kardashian, whom I mentioned below is joining the new cast of "Dancing With the Stars," is not exactly light on her feet - at least in her hotel room.

The socialite cut her foot in her hotel and had to go to the hospital.

She's OK, though, and says she'll be dancing on "Dancing" in no time.

Let's face it, the only time people would get nervous about her cutting herself accidentally is if she did it to her world-famous bum.

Check out the E! story for all the gory/not-so-gory details.

ABC announced its new cast for the seventh season of its hit show, "Dancing With the Stars," and as I reported two weeks ago, Utah brother and sister, Julianne and Derek Hough are joining the cast. The show debuts Sept. 22 on ABC (KTVX Channel 4).

Here's the list of stars and who they're dancing with:

LANCE BASS - Lance Bass has sold over 50 million records as a member of the phenomenally successful pop group *NSYNC. He also executive-produced and starred in a number of film and television projects. In 2002 he successfully trained to be a cosmonaut at Russia's Star City and was certified by both the Russian Space Program and NASA for a mission aboard a Soyuz capsule. Lance has released his memoir, Out of Sync, for Simon Spotlight Entertainment. 2006 U.S. Youth Latin Champ and 2007 World Swing Dance Champ Lacey Schwimmer teams with Lance to make her series debut.

TONI BRAXTON - The winner of six Grammy Awards, Toni Braxton is a Billboard chart-topping singer and actress, selling over 40 million records worldwide. Her U.S. No. 1 hit, "Un-Break My Heart," is the second-biggest single by a female artist in history. She has also appeared in two Disney Broadway shows, "Beauty and the Beast" and "Aida." "Dancing with the Stars" marks her return to the spotlight after a six-month health hiatus. She teams up with Season One champion Alec Mazo, who returns for his fourth season.

BROOKE BURKE - A host, actress, entrepreneur and celebrity mom, Brooke Burke has truly done it all. She has graced numerous magazine covers, has her own top-selling swimsuit calendars and is regularly ranked in men's magazines as one of the sexiest women in the world. Recognized worldwide as host of the hit travel series "Wild On!," Brooke has since hosted several high profile network series, including "Rock Star: INXS" and "Rock Star: Supernova." On the acting front, she has guest starred on such television series as "Las Vegas," "Less than Perfect," "Eve," "It's All Relative," "The Bernie Mac Show," "Monk," "Rock Me Baby" and "That's Life." Brooke is a mother of four and recently launched her own babystore, BabooshBaby.com, a site where she shares her secrets (and some products she used) to get back in shape after giving birth. Brooke teams with Derek Hough, who returns for his third season.

ROCCO DISPIRITO - The James Beard Award-winning celebrity chef and author Rocco DiSpirito combines his world-class cooking with a passion for empowering home cooks. A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, Rocco opened the three-star Union Pacific in New York City in 1997. In 2003 he launched Rocco's for the reality series "The Restaurant." Rocco will next appear on the A&E series "Rocco Gets Real," beginning in October, along with its companion cookbook, Rocco Gets Real: Cook at Home Every Day. He teams with Karina Smirnoff, who returns for her fifth season. Karina teamed with R&B singer Mario last season.

MAURICE GREENE - The winner of two gold medals in the 100m sprint and the 4x100m relay at the 2000 Sydney Summer Olympics, track star Maurice Greene was dubbed the "World's Fastest Man" during his career. In addition to being the former world record holder in the 100m sprint and winning multiple world championships, he also won silver and bronze medals at the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics. He is the current Indoor World Record holder in the 60m at 6.39 seconds. He teams up with two-time champion Cheryl Burke. Cheryl returns for her sixth season.

KIM KARDASHIAN - Actress, model and reality television star Kim Kardashian shot to stardom after the first airing of her hit E! reality series, "Keeping up with the Kardashians." The series follows the exploits of Kim, her siblings, her mother, Kris, and her stepfather, Olympic Gold Medalist Bruce Jenner. Kardashian recently completed her first feature film, "Disaster Movie," and will also be seen on The N's series "Beyond the Break." She teams up with defending champ Mark Ballas, who returns for his third season.

CLORIS LEACHMAN - Actress Cloris Leachman's storied career has been recognized with nine Emmys, a Golden Globe and an Academy Award. She has the distinction of being the only woman to win eight Primetime Emmy Awards and one Daytime Emmy. Cloris has starred in a wide range of theater, television and motion picture projects, creating such indelible characters as Phyllis in the TV series "Phyllis" and "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," Frau Blucher in "Young Frankenstein," Nurse Diesel in "High Anxiety" and Ruth Popper in "The Last Picture Show" (for which she won an Oscar and a BAFTA). In 2008 she has already completed three new films, "The Women," "American Cowslip" and "New York I Love You." She is in the process of writing her memoir and is currently touring the U.S. with her one-woman show, "CLORIS!" She teams with World Latin Champion and Mark's father, Corky Ballas, who makes his series debut.

CODY LINLEY - Cody Linley will be the youngest contestant ever to compete on "Dancing with the Stars." He is best known for his role as Jake Ryan on the wildly popular Disney Channel series "Hannah Montana," a role in which he was nominated for a Young Artist Award. He also helped the show garner an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Children's Programming. Cody's film credits include "My Dog Skip," "HOOT," "Miss Congeniality" and "Cheaper By the Dozen." He teams with two-time "Dancing with the Stars" champ Julianne Hough, who returns for her fourth season.

SUSAN LUCCI - As the most famous face in daytime television history, Susan Lucci has held audiences spellbound for years as the sexy, sassy, beautiful "woman you love to hate," Erica Kane, on ABC's "All My Children." In May 1999, all of America stood and cheered when Susan won the Emmy Award for Best Actress. While competing on the show, she will continue her work on "All My Children," and will celebrate her 10,000th episode this November. In addition to her performances on Broadway and in cabarets across the country, Susan is an entrepreneur, having launched successful cosmetic, fashion and jewelry lines on HSN. She teams with Tony Dovolani, who returns for his sixth season.

MISTY MAY-TREANOR - Beach Volleyball champion Misty May-Treanor and partner Kerri Walsh captured their second Olympic gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics and became the first team ever to repeat as back-to-back champs. The victory also marked their 108th straight match win. Misty and Kerri were distinguished as AVP Team of the Year for four consecutive years (2003 through 2006). Misty was also named Most Valuable Player in 2005 and 2006, Best Offensive Player in 2004, 2005 and 2006, and Best Defensive Player in 2006. She now joins a new teammate, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, who returns for his fifth season.

TED MCGINLEY - Actor Ted McGinley's extensive television credits include "Married. . .with Children," "Hope & Faith," "Happy Days," and recurring roles on the critically-acclaimed series "The West Wing," "Sports Night," "Charlie Lawrence," "Dynasty" and "The Love Boat." He has also starred in such films as "Pearl Harbor," "Daybreak," "Dick," "Major League: Back to the Minors," "Wayne's World 2" and the cult hit "Revenge of the Nerds." Newcomer Inna Brayer will be paired with Ted. Inna is the current U.S. Amateur 10 Dance Champion.

JEFFREY ROSS - Comedian Jeffrey Ross, a.k.a. the "Roastmaster General," has delivered numerous show stopping performances at celebrity roasts honoring the likes of William Shatner, Hugh Hefner, Donald Trump, Pamela Anderson, Bob Saget and Emmitt Smith, inspiring New York Magazine to crown him "The Meanest Man in Comedy.” As a comic, Jeff has appeared on several late night and morning shows - "Jimmy Kimmel Live," "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and "The View." Jeff's other TV credits include "Weeds" and "C.S.I." He has also appeared in such films as the Farrelly Brothers' "Stuck on You,” and the critical sensation "The Aristocrats." Jeff continues to tour regularly. He teams with Edyta Sliwinska, who is the only pro to compete in all seven seasons of "Dancing with the Stars."

WARREN SAPP - Recently retired defensive tackle and Superbowl Champion Warren Sapp played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Oakland Raiders during his 13-year career. His 96.5 career sacks are the second-highest career total sacks for a defensive tackle in the NFL. Warren was named NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 1999, played in seven consecutive Pro Bowls and won Super Bowl XXXVII with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2003. This fall he will co-host Showtime's "Inside the NFL" and will be a studio analyst and game commentator for the NFL Network. Warren is teamed with Kym Johnson, who returns for her fifth season.

The New York Television Festival begins next month and has announced its lineup.

Fox's anticipated "Fringe," (pictured) about FBI agents investigating unusual phenomena after a plane load of people die, is included.

So is the sitcom "Worst Week," about a normal guy trying to impress his in-laws, with disastrous results.

The festival also plans to premiere "Life on Mars," the remake of the British drama about a detective who is whisked back to the 1970 and has to investigate crimes without today's modern techniques like DNA analysis and computers.

Microsoft, which has been sitting on its hands for years while Apple pummels them with their inventive and very funny "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" ads, is finally going to strike back.

And they're using Jerry Seinfeld as their ammo, according to the Wallstreet Journal.

The computer software company has hired the comic for a whopping $300 million ad campaign that will use Seinfeld as their pitchman. He is rumored to be paid $10 million for his efforts.

He'll appear in the ads with company founder Bill Gates, touting the Windows operating system.

Windows Vista, the latest iteration, has been getting massive criticism, a lot of it in the Apple ads, for its technical glitches.

Meanwhile, the Mac's market penetration has risen, though Windows still dominates in world households.

Apple also has released a few more of their "I'm a Mac" ads. Here's the funniest one to laugh at.

In an earlier posting, I wrote about NBC's supposed trouble with being unable to remove the graphic, "Live," from people's TV screens during the West coast and Mountain Zone broadcasts of the Olympics.

You see, while it's live on the East and Central time zones, it's not in the West or Mountain zones. But a time stamp that says "Live" is still in the corner of the screens for us. That's deceiving.

NBC said it can't remove the graphic for the west.

But according to a USA Today story, the technology company that provides the Olympic graphics for NBC says you can - pretty easily.

In fact, the vice president at Chyron said it could be done, "almost in real-time - in seconds!"

So much for network integrity.

E! Online has an interesting article about how well David Archuleta's single, "Crush," has done against his former rival, David Cook's, first single in the wake of their battle royale on "American Idol."

For the last couple of weeks, the 17-year-old Murray teen's single has been No. 1 on iTunes, the largest music retailer in the U.S. It also debuted No. 2 on the Billboard singles charts. (Rhianna's "Disturbia" has since taken the top spot).

That's better than Cook, who debuted at No. 3 with his single, "The Time of My Life," in June.

I was told that Archuleta also just shot the music video for his single.

The battle rages on.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, an Italian medical group, the National Federation of Medical Colleges, thinks that shows like "Grey's Anatomy" and "ER" and "House" are rife with errors and therefore should not be shown in their country.

The Order of Medical Professionals of Rome said the same thing.

"These programs are teaching viewers inaccurate views on medicine," said NFMC President Annalisa Silvestro. "They are spreading misinformation."

I believe they shouldn't be shown because they also are giving inaccurate views on people and relationships.

Then again, that McDreamy sure is dreamy.

NBC didn't waste any time.

The network is now making available three DVDs from the Beijing Games that you can purchase at NBCOlympics.com. And the Olympics aren't even over!

Here's descriptions of the three:

Milwaukee residents still remember their native son, The Fonz.

The Henry Winkler-born character from "Happy Days" and "Laverne and Shirley" was immortalized in bronze this week.

I'm still trying to get the Salt Lake City mayor to erect a bronze statue of Della Reese for her work in "Touched by an Angel." Investors anyone?

When the rights for the 2014 and 2016 Olympics are up for bidding in the next six to nine months, NBC is going to have a lot of competition, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

ESPN said it's going to throw in a bid. As well as Fox and possibly CBS.

NBC has the exclusive U.S. rights to air the Olympics for Vancouver in 2010 and London in 2012, dishing out more than $2 billion for the priveledge.

Given that these Beijing Games in progress now have yielded incredible viewership numbers, the bids are likely going to be high for the next set of Games.

Remember cute little Valerie Bertinelli?

The co-star of the 1970s sitcom, "One Day at a Time," about a single mom raising two kids, is going to star in a new sitcom about a single mom raising two kids.

According to Variety, she wills star in a TBS pilot as a mom who struggles to make ends meet with a lumber business and her kids after her husband walks out on her.

The 48-year-old actress hasn't done much lately except be the ex-Mrs. Eddie Van Halen.

Her last steady gig, if you remember, was on the show "Touched by an Angel," which was filmed here in Utah.

Her last role was in a made-for-TV movie this year, "Confessions of a Hollywood Starlet."

Michael Phelps just won his unprecedented eighth gold medal, his record 14th gold medal, achieved something that will never be broken in our lifetime, and became one of the greatest sports figures of all time earlier this week.

So what does the television tabloid show, "Extra," ask him?

"Who are you dating?"

Don't you just love/hate tabloids?

"Extra" sent me a press release touting their interview with the Olympic swimmer, and they wanted to know if he was dating fellow swimmer Amanda Beard. (No, he's not). They asked him who he's dating. (Not telling, he says). They wanted to know his reaction to news that singer Carrie Underwood has a crush on him. (That's news to him). And they wanted to know what leading lady should star in a movie about him (he thought Cameron Diaz should, even though she can't act out of a paper bag, or an Olympic-sized swimming pool).

There. News you could use.

To think the poor kid (by the way, doesn't he look just dreamy in the above picture?) is going to have to endure that kind of crap for the rest of his life.

"Samantha Who?" star Christina Applegate got breast cancer and lived to tell about it.

She's interviewed on ABC's "Good Morning America" in this clip and is quite honest about her experience.

She decided to have a double mastectomy and is now "Absolutely 100 percent clear and clean" of the cancer, she says.

Good for her. Now she is using this experience to push the idea that women at high risk for breast cancer should get an MRI, which she says can see actually see cancer cells in the test, a much more thorough way to examine for cancer than a mammogram.

But many insurance companies don't pay for an MRI, even for those people at high risk (figures), and it's expensive to have one done (figures).

So Applegate has started a program to get at-risk people into hospitals for MRIs.

Movie studios have been using a particular marketing strategy more frequently: not screening a really horrible movie for critics before it opens to hopefully avoid bad word of mouth that first weekend.

It's something that's rarely been done for television critics - in fact never for a series pilot.

That is until now.

The CW is not sending out screeners before the Sept. 2 premiere of the remake, "90210," because they want to build "anticipation."

Here's the email the network sent to critics Monday:

Trust me, if the network was proud of the show, they would have sent it out to critics awhile ago, waited for someone to say something nice, and then they would splash a blurb all over the ads and the commercials, something like:

"The greatest, sexiest, boldest new drama of the season. I wanted to rip off my shorts in excitement, it was so good. Man, that Lori Laughlin is one hot mama!"

Well, now they're not going to get anything like that. Their loss.

I remember once talking to a movie writer originally from Salt Lake City back when the writers strike was going on.

He told me about how bad the age discrimination was in Hollywood regarding writers - no one over 40 gets hired, he said.

I was flabbergasted.

So don't ever think that Hollywood is the liberal-minded haven it says it is. It's far from it.

I believe less than 10 percent or so of the director's guild is made up of women, for example.

But regarding this ageism question, writers are fighting back.

According to Nikki Finke's blog, the first of about two-dozen class action suits by older writers - representing about 150 of them - against some talent agencies are being settled out of court.

It's the start of a push to settle these suits in the California courts.

It's absolutely sad to see how certain groups of people are treated in Hollywood. Like in a lot of other sectors of corporate culture, the thought is younger minds, yield fresher ideas - but more importantly, with smaller salaries. So untrue.

Unfortunately, Hollywood has never heard of the word, "wisdom."

Hopefully, the writers get everything they want in this. Some of the best writers I can think of are over 45 - William Goldman, The Coen Brothers, John Sayles, Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin, David Simon, the list goes on.

So much for the Food Network being about food.

The cable broadcaster is filming a pilot for a possible new reality/competition series: "Eat the Clock."

The unfortunately-titled show (I can just imagine copy editors accidentally dropping a certain letter by mistake) is described as a cross between "an eating competition and 'The Amazing Race'," according to this article by the Hollywood Reporter.

Contestants race to certain eateries in Los Angeles and stuff themselves in eating challenges.

Then they will apparently show up on G4's "Hurl" where they will throw everything up. (Kidding on this last part).

Television at its finest people.

Still looking?

The contestant from Prince George's County described herself as "a woman born physically male" and that her "cards were dealt differently."

Us Magazine broke the news.

In the article, which is online here, GLAAD president Neil Giuliano was encouraged by the move to cast Isis, calling it "an unprecedented opportunity for a community that is underrepresented on television.

"We applaud Tyra Banks and The CW for making this historic visibility of transgender people possible," Giuliano said.

Giuliano's right, of course. But from now on, Isis likely will be seen more as a novelty by viewers now that the word is out. Hopefully, they can see past all that eventually as she ascends this season's "America's Next Top Model.

How can it be? Sweet little Vanessa Hudgens of "High School Musical" fame is getting sued by some nasty man.

Actually, she's getting sued by a producer named Johnny Vieira for $5 million, claiming the 19-year-old actress owes him money after she signed with him in 2005.

According to the Variety article, Hudgen's father also is getting sued.

It also notes that Hudgens once was sued by an attorney who claimed she owed him $150,000. That suit was settled out of court just before a trial date was set.

You can see Hudgens next dancing and singing, and apparently dodging lawyers, in the newest sequel, "High School Musical 3: Senior Year," this October.

Jennifer Lopez's production company has signed up to produce a television version of her 2002 romantic comedy, "Maid in Manhattan."

The new version, according to the Hollywood Reporter, will involve a different maid in Manhattan than the one Lopez played (she ended up with the politician played by Ralph Fiennes at the conclusion of the movie).

Which is fine, because the only thing I remember from the movie is that Lopez and Fiennes has ZERO chemistry.

ABC plans to air the pilot presumably next season.

If the posting below has got your stomach in a knot over how the Chinese government likes to control things, just remember that we're not exactly being told the truth either.

Again, the New York Times is reporting that NBC has been telling people on the west coast and here in Utah and elsewhere in the Mountain time zone that the games in primetime are broadcast live.

How? There's a "Live" stamp in the corner of the screen during the broadcast - and still was as of Monday night - only the telecast is not live in the west coast and mountain zone. It's tape delayed an hour. It's only live on the east coast.

NBC's response: Twice an hour, the network puts a time stamp on the screen briefly explaining that the feed is only live on the east coast, while the "Live" stamp remains on the screen all the time.

An NBC spokesman said this about the confusion: "You assume there's a large amount of intelligence in the viewing audience, so when they see those twice-an-hour time stamps they'll understand what is being presented."

And they also have enough intelligence to know when the network is trying to trick them.

If you rememer cute Lin Miaoke, 9, singing "Ode to the Motherland" in the Beijing Opening Ceremony and thought, "Oh, she has such a cute voice too," be prepared to be disappointed thanks to the Communist Party of China.

According to the New York Times, little Lin, pictured right, was deemed cute enough for the ceremonies but was ruled to not have a good enough voice.

So they replaced her voice with that of Yang Peiyi, 7, pictured left, who was recorded singing the song for the ceremony but was deemed not cute enough to be seen. Awwww!

Ta da! You have a cute girl singing with an angelic voice thanks to the power of lip synching. Ashley Simpson would be proud!

Damn Commies! Er, wait, we do that a lot here too. Rats! Is nothing sacred?!?!?!

New Nielsen numbers show people like the Games of Beijing.

NBC released the data, saying 107 million Americans watched some of the Games Sunday, the biggest first-Sunday numbers of an Olympics in history.

For the first three days of the Olympiad, 143 million Americans have tuned in, 17 million more than those who tuned in to Athens.

And for those first three days, viewership averaged 30 million per day, which is about 5 to 10 million more than "American Idol" was getting each episode each week.

Meanwhile, there have been more than a million live streams seen on NBCOlympics.com of Michael Phelps, pictured, in the USA Swimming Gold Medal Relay race.

With a crippled economy, people staying home more and with less money to spend, it was expected that the Olympics would draw big numbers this year.

You may have heard that a couple of entertainment heavyweights passed away over the weekend.

First it was comic actor Bernie Mac, pictured, best known for both the "Oceans" movies with George Clooney, but also for Fox's "The Bernie Mac Show."

Second is singer/songwriter Isaac Hayes, who not only won an Oscar for the title song to the 1970s film "Shaft," he also was the voice of Chef in "South Park." He also made waves for leaving the show in protest when he complained it made fun of his religion, Scientology.

Finally, and lesser known to the public, is the death of former Hollywood agent and big-time producer, Bernie Brillstein.

Brillstein not only managed the careers of Hollywood giants like John Belushi and Lorne Michaels, but he also ran his own production company that produced comedies like "The Blues Brothers" and series such as "The Sopranos."

When the last 10 episodes of "Battlestar Galactica" air next year on the Sci-Fi channel, that won't quite yet be the end of the series.

Sci-Fi announced Thursday that there also will be a movie for television and DVD. Here's the relevant paragraphs (along with obligatory hotness photo from the show).

Disney is rebranding its Toon Disney cable network, calling it Disney XD, and will be focusing its animated and live action programming toward boys.

Here's a paragraph from their press release:

Shows planned for the "new" channel include:

The Parents Television Council, also known as the Group With Too Much Time On Its Hands If It Counts the Number of "Damns" On TV, has just released a new report that says single people like to have sex as much as married people.

You don't say?

In Happily Never After: How Hollywood Favors Adultery and Promiscuity Over Marital Intimacy on Prime Time Broadcast Television, it is revealed that "broadcast networks depict sex in the context of marriage as either non-existent or burdensome while showing positive depictions of extra-marital or adulterous sexual relationships with alarming frequency."

Highlights of the report:

(Well, honestly, do you really want to see the married couple above having sex on TV?)

- On NBC, there were as many depictions of adults having sex with minors as there were scenes implying or depicting sex between married partners.

The reason network TV downplays sex between married partners is because married partners don't have sex.

But seriously folks. . .

The one thing you have to take with a grain of salt with any PTC report or finding is that they rarely take their percentages or numbers of gratuitious acts on TV and give them any context beyond the statistics.

It's not enough to say there were this many acts of pedophiles having group sex with donkeys in a Mormon church in one hour of television without understanding why they had group sex with donkeys.

Big news for "CSI" fans: the Hollywood Reporter says that Laurence Fishburne of "Matrix" and "Apocolypse Now" fame is in talks to replace William Peterson in the lead role of the hit CBS show.

Peterson, who has played Grissom for eons on the crime drama, is leaving mid-season it was announced recently.

During the Television Critics Association press tour last month, CBS president Nina Tassler told us that Grissom's replacement would carry a unique DNA profile similar to that of a serial killer's but never act on his homicidal tendencies.

Wow.

Anyway, Fishburne is on a short wish list from producers that includes - strangely - Kurt Russell and John Malkovich.

Here's the latest update in the talks between the Screen Actors Guild and the Hollywood studios.

Nada. Nothing. Not one piece of news to report.

The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that "No meetings, formal or informal, regarding these negotiations have taken place since the sidebar SAG requested on July 16, and no meetings are pending," according to the motion picture studios.

So does this mean a strike is looming over the Hollywood sign?

No one is willing to guess, but it has been a month since the actors' contract expired and the two sides have been working in overtime.

But if a strike does happen, it will make the writers strike earlier this year look like a terse disagreement.

Fox is gearing up for a new branding campaign this fall, according to Broadcasting & Cable.

It's going to be . . . are you ready for it?

Ready?

"So Fox."

As in "that's so Fox." As in "that's so lame," "that's so unconvincing," "that's so . . . whatever."

I think the network wants to use it as an adjective for being cool, being hip.

Instead, when I see a show like "'Til Death," I'll think, "That's so Fox."

When I see a show like "The Swan," I'll think, "That's so Fox."

When I see a show like "Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire?" I'll think, "That's so Fox."

When I see Fox News, I certainly think "That's so Fox."

C'mon, these guys had to see this coming.

E! Online is reporting that if gay, former boy bander Lance Bass is going to appear on ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" (sorry, it's another reality TV post), then he likely wouldn't get a male partner.

One of the show's professional dancers ,Cheryl Burke, pictured with Bass, told the site, "I don't think America is ready to watch two men dancing."

It's not still confirmed if Bass is even going to be on the show, but I don't see the big deal if he is that he should get a male partner.

After all, if they're going to have him on the show to represent the gay and lesbian population, they ought to at least be honest with his sexuality.

If they don't, so much for liberal Hollywood.

Fox announced Monday that it has ordered another season of "So You Think You Can Dance." Not surprising since this year's fourth season was a ratings smash, landing in the top 10 every week.

Meanwhile, TMZ.com is reporting that "Dance" creator Nigel Lythgoe, who also is executive producer of "American Idol," is pulling out of "Idol" voluntarily.

The tabloid site says Lythgoe thought it was time to let someone else step in as producer and that he found the show to be a little "boring" for him. He also said he wants to devote more time to "Dance" - dancing is his real passion.

This is, as they say, the video that they don't want you to see.

A South Korean television station walked into the rehearsals for the 2008 Beijing Summer Games and began filming the upcoming Opening Ceremony.

The video preview quickly made its way to the Internet and includes floating dancers, flying whales and a huge group of drummers (oh my!).

Needless to say, this illustrates the problems the Olympics have always had in the Internet age - including the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City - with video being leaked to the world while countries try and enforce exclusive rights to show the Olympics.

Of course, the video preview has been yanked from most sites including YouTube, but it's still available here via Dailymotion.com.

So for heaven's sake, DO NOT click on the video below. DON'T!

I said DON'T! Don't You Dare!!

(or do it quick before it's taken down)

Update: Oh oh, it looks like the Olympics police got a hold of Dailymotion.com, held a gun to their heads and told them to take down the video as you can see below.

However, it looks like the Daily Telegraph in Australia still has their video of it up. Sorry, I can't embed the video on this page, but you can go to it by clicking this link.

Ironically, you have to watch a commercial first for an Australian TV network that's going to show the Olympics on mobile phones, legally I would presume.

The last of the Utahns, Chelsie Hightower of Pleasant Grove, was booted from Thursday night's episode of "So You Think You Can Dance." It was a shocker considering how well she had been doing all season.

The 18-year-old (pictured, left, with Twitch Boss) just missed the last cut before entering the grand finale of this season next week.

Chelsie was one of four from the Beehive State, along with Gev Manoukian of Davis County, Thayne Jasperson of Salt Lake City and Matt Dorame, also of Salt Lake City, who were one of the top 20 finalists this season when the show began.

Now the Utah dance dominance is over - at least until "Dancing With the Stars" starts next month where possibly a couple of Utah dancers may make it onto the cast.

Meanwhile, Marcus - just Marcus - of West Jordan has made it into the finals of NBC's "Last Comic Standing."

He got an automatic berth the week before for winning that week's challenge. Now, he competes against five others next week for the top prize.

And Salt Lake City designer Keith Bryce is still in it to win it in this season's "Project Runway."