Village Vidiot: TV

OK, here's another odd partnership.

Larry Charles, left, the director of very smart entertainment like "Borat," "Seinfeld" and "Curb Your Enthusiasm" is teaming with McG, the director of very stupid entertainment like the "Charlie's Angels" movies and the steaming pile of dung known as "Terminator: Salvation."

The are making a pilot to a new sitcom about science fiction fanboys who start filming their own episodes to a cancelled show. Sounds promising. The show will be semi-scripted, an area that Charles is very familiar with having directed "Borat" and "Curb" (which is having one of its best seasons right now).

That day is likely later this week when its rumored that Comcast will seal the deal in buying up a controlling interest in NBC.

Remember the days when the broadcast networks like NBC, CBS and ABC looked down on the emerging cable networks? Not anymore.

Comcast is expected to buy up 51 percent of NBC after General Electric, which currently owns the network, sells off its interest in the Peacock.

Read about it here. And here.

It's the end of the world as we know it, and FX feels fine.

That's because the cable network bought up the exclusive rights to last weekend's disaster epic blockbuster, "2012," which did something like three gazillion worldwide (actually, more than $200 million). Gee, the flooded Earth isn't even dry yet, and they're already talking about it going to TV.

The date it will first air: 2012 of course. The network also bought the box office hit, "Zombieland."

According to The Hollywood Reporter, FX paid about 12 percent of their box office take to air them.

I saw "2012" over the weekend, and I must say, the destruction of Los Angeles never looked so good. Maybe the new found humility from all that catastrophe will mean Hollywood will make better movies after that.

In a rather absurd article by the Times about bad words on TV, the newspaper asked the PTC to do what it does best - count the number of naughty words heard uttered on the boob tube (darn it, I just said one!).

And of course, the PTC was more than happy to oblige since they have members who like to sit in front of a TV with one of those hand counters and click away whenever someone says, "You butthead!"

In this case, the Times wanted the PTC to count the number of times a character says "douche." The results: A lot. From the article:

In total, the word has surfaced at least 76 times already this year on 26 prime-time network series, according to research by the Parents Television Council, which compiled the statistics at the request of The New York Times. That is up from 30 uses on 15 shows in all of 2007 and just six instances on four programs in 2005.

It's an epidemic, I tell ya.

They also found that the words "bitch" and "jackass" were said a lot of times. If only the Times was as curious and motivated to do research when George Bush said there were weapons of mass destruction.

Not once, by the way, does the Times talk about the context those words were used. I mean, they could have been uttered in a fashion that was, you know, FUNNY.

Next time, the newspaper ought to count the number of times someone is shown murdered. And I'm just talking about the evening news.

In her new book coming out soon, former vice presidential candidate and Tina Fey lookalike, Sarah Palin, said she thought Katie Couric was biased while interviewing her in that infamous interview that made Palin look, well, REALLY STUPID.

From a TV Guide story:

Palin labels Katie Couric as "badgering" and says she had a "partisan agenda," according to the Associated Press.

Palin recalls her interview with the CBS Evening News anchorwoman, saying Couric had a condescending manner and edited their talk to keep "gotcha" moments rather than "substantive" discussion.

Here's a clip from this Monday's Oprah Winfrey show which will have an exclusive interview with Palin (the episode airs at 4 p.m. on KUTV Channel 2).

In the "Hollywood Has No Originality" Department, there's word that ABC is planning to update, remake, "re-imagine" "Charlie's Angels."

Nice to know that good old fashioned T&A never goes out of style. Josh Friedman, a producer and writer on the recently deceased "Sarah Connor Chronicles," is writing the pilot and producing, according to Variety.

Mind you, this show already was remade as a series in the 1980s and as the Drew Barrymore movie. Guess it just takes too much brainpower to come up with something new.

CNN's Lou Dobbs is leaving the network, which means he's leaving television. Er, wait, according to reports, he's also been talking to the head of Fox News, which means he may be just jumping ships.

At least we can savor that time he's off the air. Dobbs, whose contract ends next year, said his goodbyes on his show tonight (Nov. 11).

Here's what the New York Time had to report about his leaving.

Why, happy birthday "Sesame Street."

The legendary PBS children's television program turns 40 today. But it was not without its own series of controversies through the years. According to The Onion, the most trusted news source, it had rough times. Here's a clip from an article from December 1997 that rocked the children's education television world. It just goes to show that not every noble television series is free of controversy.

NEW YORK—A spokesperson for the letter D announced Monday that the consonant is withdrawing sponsorship from Sesame Street following a Children's Television Workshop announcement that a homosexual muppet (pictured above) will soon join the show's cast.

"The letter D is proud to have brought you many wonderful Sesame Street episodes throughout the program's 28-year history," said Patricia Willis, public-relations director for D. "But the letter D does not condone the sort of morally questionable lifestyles that Sesame Street is advocating with the introduction of this new character. It can no longer in good conscience associate itself with the show."

Willis said D's withdrawal is effective immediately, and applies to both capital and lower-case versions of the letter.

The gay muppet, "Roger," will be introduced on Sesame Street Dec. 23, CTW director Leslie Charren said. Thus far, no other sponsors have pulled out, though the number seven has requested an advance tape of the episode before it makes a decision.

To read the whole sordid mess, click here.