And yet another reason to love Betty White

From last night's Super Bowl.  Betty White, can you do no wrong?  The answer is, no.  She cannot.

Viva the Golden Girls

If you combine Clueless, Amy Heckerling's hilarious and sweet 1990s update of "Emma," with the comic perfection of the ladies of The Golden Girls, you get this:



My single complaint: why no Bea Arthur?  It borders on tragedy.

And the nominees are...

The nominees for this year's Academy Awards were just announced, with Avatar and The Hurt Locker receiving the most nods.  It should be interesting to see if the new system of ten Best Picture nominees works well, and if it succeeds in attracting more viewers when the ceremony is broadcast on ABC on March 7.  This is by far my favorite television event of the year. 

Another favorite?  Newsweek's annual Oscar roundtable, which is in the current issue.  Conveniently, every actor interviewed this year received an Oscar nomination. 

Also: the final season of Lost premieres tonight!  My head might just explode.

And another also!  My friend just reminded me that Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin are co-hosting the Oscars this year.  This is all kinds of awesome. 

Bill Watterson speaks!

Also known as the creator of the late, lamented comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, Watterson is a fellow Kenyon grad.  The reclusive author was just interviewed for the Cleveland Plain Dealer; they note that this is his first time speaking to the press since 1989.  As sad as I was when Calvin and Hobbes took their last sled ride, I think Watterson was right to end the strip when it was still good.

Team Coco, always!

Conan O'Brien's finale as host of the Tonight Show was a perfect example of why people love him: silly humor, intelligence, and, finally, complete sincerity.  His speech at the end of the episode was a great example of taking the high road.  It might have been easy or tempting to succumb to bitterness there, but Conan made a very elegant and mature farewell. (Sorry, embedding isn't permitted on that one.)  The very end of his speech is worth taking as a personal motto.  I look forward to seeing what he does next, even if it is in the parking lot of a 7-11.

Interesting side note: hours after appearing in the final musical act as a singer and his very pregnant hippie lady friend, Will Ferrell and his wife, Viveca Paulin, had their third son.

Jay Leno, you're not doing yourself any favors!

According to this story from Entertainment Weekly, the Tonight Show situation could be resolved by this weekend, with Conan likely to leave NBC for greener pastures and Leno back in his old digs.  Even if Leno is getting what he wants, ultimately, he's really getting pummeled in the press and by the other late night hosts.  He invited Jimmy Kimmel on his program last night, but it didn't exactly make him look good.

Late Night Wars

NBC's decision to create a primetime platform for Jay Leno was observed with rabid speculation last summer, and after only a few months the outcome is clear: the show is a failure, and NBC is has decided to change their late night lineup again.  Leno gets his own show at 11:35, the Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien gets moved to 12:05 (which technically means it doesn't air "tonight") and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon is on at 1:05.  Apparently, no one's too bothered about the fate of Last Call with Carson Daly.

Earlier this evening, Conan released this statement wherein (no surprise here) he reveals that he does not want to see the Tonight Show's timeslot changed.  I think he's right.  NBC needs to give Conan time to develop his show and audience, and seven months just isn't long enough.  And Leno is starting to seem like a jerk.  It's time for him to move on, perhaps to another network.

Maybe Conan won't get the same numbers Leno did, but he has lowered the age of Tonight Show viewers, which is supposedly what advertisers all want, and he waited patiently to get this gig.  He has behaved honorably, and that should be returned.