Blink

An enthusiastic audience gathered Thursday to show "House" some love during its crusade for Emmy nominations, part of the Los Angeles Times' screening series at the ArcLight Cinemas. After screening the Emmy-bait conclusion to its two-part season finale, "House's" cast and creators chatted with the Times' Mary McNamara and took questions from the house.

Turns out the two-part season finale was supposed to be the episode that aired after the Super Bowl, but that annoying writers strike messed up that plan. However, series creator/executive producer David Shore said, "It worked out very nicely. It gave us more time to establish the Amber-Wilson relationship."

A Scene From "Battlestar": (From Left) Rekha Sharma, Mary McDonnell, Edward James Olmos, and Michael Hogan.

TelevisionWeek sent a two-person Blink team to cover the premiere of “Battlestar Galactica’s” midseason finale June 11 at Hollywood’s ArcLight Cinema. The screening, hosted by the Los Angeles Times, was part of Sci Fi Channel’s “For Your Consideration” campaign for the show.

For the purposes of clarity and impartiality, the premiere was Blinked by a die-hard fan of the show and an observer seeing it for the first time.

After the jump, the newcomer’s segments are the ones in italics, in case you couldn’t figure that out...

Creators Will Scheffer and Mark V. Olsen and actors Jeanne Tripplehorn, Chloë Sevigny, Ginnifer Goodwin and Bill Paxton.

It was a night of firsts, marking both the Envelope’s first Emmy screening series and the first year that the show is eligible for an Emmy nomination, due to timing issues.

The evening began with a “fun-reel” montage summarizing the past two seasons, which made the polygamist family drama look like an edgy comedy. Describing young Rhonda’s betrothal to the much older prophet Roman, the snarky young-sounding voice-over declared, “She’s 15-ish and he’s, like, old. That’s creepy,” before moving at lightning speed through the rest of the montage.

“Bill’s a very busy man,” the deadpan voice-over reminded the audience repeatedly over scenes of Bill having sex with his three wives. “Bill pops a pill.”

Bill’s going to need many more pills if the closing of that “fun reel” (“There’s no fourth wife…yet.”) is any indication.

Video after the cut.

Another season of “American Idol” rolls to a close, and the Daily Blink was on hand Tuesday at the Nokia Theater in downtown Los Angeles to see rock star extraordinaire David Cook and Shire-inhabiting David Archuleta sing their faces off.

After walking through security and getting our cell phones confiscated (lest we incur the wrath of Fox for Twittering that Simon said something mean), we took our seats and waited for the show to start.

Of course, considering that the last person to wear a watch was Dark Ages magician Merlin himself and the security at the Nokia Center had our only timepiece, we were trying to guess the time based on a sundial and Mr. Cowell’s 5 o’clock shadow.

During the audience warm-up, David Cook received a bigger pop from the crowd than Mr. Archuleta. But once the crowd heard of Mr. Archuleta’s harrowing journey up Mount Doom, they switched their favor.

Some notable signs spotted during the event were “My David Is Fun-Sized” and “Simon Needs a Hug.” A Brownie troop brought in letters that on one side spelled out “Brownies” and the other side spelled out “I Love David.”

Mr. Cowell also was visibly impressed with Mr. Archuleta’s bravery in the face of the orc horde, and declared a “knockout” of Mr. Cook, continuing to extend a ridiculous boxing metaphor that had the two dressed in ring attire and the audience having to listen to Michael “Let’s Get Ready to Rumble” Buffer.

Once Mr. Archuleta finished his final song, John Lennon’s “Imagine,” the audience rushed toward the doors, either because they wanted to be first in line to get their cell phone back or because second-season winner Ruben Studdard was closing the show.

Check the Daily Blink tomorrow for coverage of tonight’s finale, with special guests rumored to be anyone from George Michael—“the biggest star in the world,” according to Nigel Lythgoe—to Donna Summer and the Jonas Brothers.

—Andrew Krukowski

How do you get to Carnegie Hall?

All together now: Practice, practice, practice.

Also, kiss CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler on the lips when she gets down on the floor with you and let her scratch you on your lower chest (only appropriate if you act on four little legs).

Last week at CBS’ upfront presentation, a 6-year-old Boston terrier named Pi reduced the SRO Carnegie Hall audience to a collective “awwwwwww” with one of those perfect moments on the fabled stage that signifies a performer has arrived.

After clips from the well-received summer reality series “America’s Greatest Dog,” Pi zoomed out from stage-right and across the stage, coming to a perfect stop in front of Ms. Tassler, who was scooched down and said what all hopefuls dread hearing: “I’m sorry. Auditions were last week.”

After one perfect hangdog look, Pi raced off stage-left. Pi is a rescue dog trained by Bill Berloni, who has made his name by turning rescue dogs into stars of Broadway shows including “Annie” and “Legally Blonde: The Musical.” He’s even written about it with Jim Hanrahan in “Broadway Tails: Heartfelt Stories of Rescued Dogs Who Became Showbiz Superstars,” to be published June 9 by Lyons Press. Pi, who needed much rehabilitation after being rescued from owners who kept him chained to a tree, is now a member of the Berloni family and has his own chapter in the book. He also appeared in “Doga: Yoga for Dogs,” the 2003 book by Jennifer Brilliant and Mr. Berloni, and has done print ads and TV commercials.

After his (bow)wow of an appearance for CBS, Pi and Mr. Berloni commemorated the debut by posing in front of Carnegie Hall for a picture taken by actress-pal Mary-Pat Green (if you’ve ever watched TV, you know her friendly face). That’s where Blink met the pooch, who is just as winning on the street as on-stage. The fact that Pi had the tough childhood that produces stars, is professional, is “Doga”-level flexible and plays well with others might make him perfect for TV, which has to work on tight schedules with actors who are quick studies and can hit their marks on cue, mightn’t it, Ms. Tassler?

“I’ll call casting,” the CBS executive said with a chuckle.

— Michele Greppi

The A-team of “The Early Show” will spend this week in Greensburg, Kan., pitching in on a volunteer effort to build an eco-friendly playground for the town that was all but wiped out a year ago by a tornado.

Maggie Rodriguez, the newest member of the CBS morning show’s anchor team, said she’s “not handy at all.” She laughed as she confessed that it’s easy to tell whether she or her husband, Telemundo ad sales executive Michael Rodriguez, hung the pictures on the walls at home: If she did it, it was “trial and error” and there are several holes in the wall behind the art. Her husband can do it perfectly with one hole.

In Greensburg, she said, it won’t matter that she’s not a natural-born carpenter, because “this is all about going and doing whatever you can, even if it’s learning how to do something. I’m sure there’s something I can do. I want to roll up my sleeves and learn to do something.” When she worked in Los Angeles, she said, she spent a day in Mexico on a group project to build a house: “I held my own there and it really was the most gratifying thing.”

The “Early Show” anchors and staffers will work with a team from Planet Green, Discovery Communications’ eco-focused network, which debuts its 13-part series “Greensburg” on June 15; the series documents the rebuilding of the town with ecological and economical sustainability in mind.

— Michele Greppi

The Writers Guild of America, West, handed out its 2008 honorary awards Wednesday at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles.

According to WGA West president Patric Verrone, the guild was celebrating the occasion differently than it has in past years. Instead of a black-tie dinner in Beverly Hills, the presentation was a business-attire lunch in downtown L.A. A little more relaxed, it seemed, as the guild is still tingly from the strike that ended two months ago.

The ceremony, hosted by Mr. Verrone, recognized Budd Schulberg (“On the Waterfront”) with the Screen Laurel Award, David Chase (“The Sopranos”) with the Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award for Television, Robert Eisele and Jeffrey Porro (“The Great Debaters”) with the Paul Selvin Award, Tom Schulman (“Dead Poets Society," J.J. Abrams' series "Anatomy of Hope”) with the Valentine Davies Award, Don M. Mankiewicz (“Ironside”) with the Morgan Cox Award and Brad Bird (“Ratatouille”) with the Writers Guild Animation Writing Award.

The honorary awards recipients were announced weeks in advance, but this is the first time the WGA has been able to get together since the strike ended. At the luncheon, the guild seized the opportunity to hand out its award statues, which had yet to be distributed because of the strike.

The real winner for the day, though, was the decision to serve parmesan-crusted chicken with mashed potatoes instead of the traditional salmon with wild rice.

Why? It takes a little bit of comfort food to assure you that things are getting back to normal.

—Sergio Ibarra

With an impish grin and laid-back aplomb, “The Soup’s” Joel McHale slices and dices through the world of reality TV week after week on E! Entertainment Television.

During a recent on-set visit, Blink talked with Mr. McHale, who said that of all the reality shows on television currently, the one that ruffles his faux-hawk is CBS mainstay “Big Brother.”

“I have a problem with ‘Big Brother,’ but I’ve always had a problem with ‘Big Brother’ since the moment it went on the air,” Mr. McHale said. “It is the epitome of conspiratorial whispering. It’s just people lying on beds or couches quietly plotting against each other. And it drives me up the wall. I’m like, ‘People are watching this.’ They are just watching people sit around, hating each other.”

In keeping with the spirit of upfront season, Tuesday’s Discovery Communications slate announcement at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills included lions, bicycle-powered blenders and Bill Nye, the Science Guy.

Discovery’s new slate, covered here, included standouts like a singing competition show called “The Singing Office” on TLC, “Dave Salmoni: A Year With Lions” on Animal Planet and “Stuff Happens” on Discovery’s newest channel, Planet Green, set to launch June 4.

Much was made last week of Keith Olbermann’s fifth anniversary as anchor of MSNBC’s “Countdown”—a far longer arrangement than his 1997-98 stint at MSNBC, which was abruptly ended by his distaste for the Monica Lewinsky-President Clinton saga.

Politically inclined comic Janeane Garofalo and documentarian Ken Burns were among those at the celebration, held on competitor CNN’s home turf at the Time Warner Center in Manhattan. Inside the private room at Landmarc restaurant, the party poster read, “Party @ 7. Beat CNN @ 8.”

NBC Universal President-CEO Jeff Zucker, NBC News President Steve Capus and NBC News VP Phil Griffin took some proud and playful shots at Mr. Olbermann (who was happy to return the favor to his bosses) during the program, which was a reminder of how funny the truth can be.

Later, Blink asked the “Countdown” anchor if he could have lasted the five years if George W. Bush had not been president and the target of so much Olbermann verbiage. He said he thought he could have, for a number of reasons: He’d gotten daily sports out of his system during a shorter-than-expected gig with Fox Sports and he’d come back to the NBC-MSNBC family in 2001 with everyone knowing which of everyone else’s buttons not to push.

He said everyone seemed to agree it was time to try his idea of a “21st-century newscast that people will stick around to watch.” That worked out given the show’s flexibility to let someone else do “four or five minutes worth of, you know, Michael Jackson stuff”—basically anything he didn’t want to cover. “We had a backup plan. We never used it, because there was a lot of goodwill created by then. More than anything else, I think that’s what contributed to the change. That and just growing up,” Mr. Olbermann said. So would he actually describe himself as happy these days? “Oh yes, yeah, very much so. And I like it large-carload lots. Yeah,” he said.

—Michele Greppi

It’s official. The Daily Blink has moved on from childhood, and is now a full-fledged young woman.

Well, maybe not, but we did get to see how it happens at the mun2- and WWE-sponsored “Ultimate Quinceañera” on Saturday.

A quinceañera, for those unfamiliar, is similar to a Sweet 16 party, and it’s an important event in Spanish-speaking areas of the world to mark a girl’s 15th birthday.

Mun2 and the WWE held a sweepstakes to throw one girl a quinceañera, and they received more than 10,000 unique entries. Starr, a 15-year-old from Van Nuys, Calif., was the big winner. (She's in the center, surrounded by her family.)

So what makes this quinceañera an “ultimate” quinceañera?

How about WWE stars Carlito and Melina showing up?

And maybe mun2 personalities Frankie Needles and Yasmin Deliz?

And a performance by Prima J, who had the lead single off the “Bratz: The Motion Picture” soundtrack?

All in all, a great night for Starr. But, how does the WWE, a male-skewing organization, fit in with a 15-year-old girl’s birthday party?

“Surprisingly, 40% of our audience is female that watches ‘WWE Raw’ on mun2,” said Lisa Hackett, VP of marketing for mun2.

“We do have a lot of females,” agreed Melissa Seffens, WWE director of network affiliate marketing. “Either because they like the way the guys look or because their fathers watched it or their boyfriends or their brothers. But this was something we did just for the ladies.”

Starr said she watches “Raw.”

We asked the WWE stars at the party, knowing what they know now, what advice they would give to themselves at 15?

Melina said she wouldn’t be able to convince herself to do anything because her 15-year-old self would want to do it on her own.

“I would tell myself, ‘Forget wrestling and try football.’ The schedules are shorter, and it’s not as stressful or hectic. You don’t travel as much. You play, what? Sixteen games a year? I think I would have been good at football, if I would have tried it out,” Carlito said.

Both Carlito and Melina are prepping for Wrestlemania 24 matches, later in the month. Carlito is lined up for a Money in the Bank match, which involves climbing a ladder to grab a briefcase, all while fending off seven other competitors.

“You can’t really prepare for it. Actually, it’s more mental than physical. You have to go out there and realize that you are going to go through a lot of pain, and that you’re going to be hurting the next day,” he said about preparing for the match.

The match was in the news today as the WWE announced the 60-day suspension of Jeff Hardy for a second violation of the company’s substance-abuse and drug-testing policy. Mr. Hardy was scheduled to compete in the match.

—Andrew Krukowski

A comedy club, particularly one situated at the mouth of the Sunset Strip, seems an unlikely setting for dry, officious legal proceedings. But that’s what DirecTV proposed in a dark room at the back of the Laugh Factory, at a meet-and-greet for their new project “The Supreme Court of Comedy.” Justice, and brunch, were served.

The new show from creator Jamie Masada hopes to breathe new life into the courtroom genre by hiring the Laugh Factory’s resident comedians to act on behalf of real litigants.

Ever wished Tom Arnold could help you resolve your small-claims case? Now he can, as part of an unholy law firm that includes Kennedy, Joe Piscopo, Victoria Jackson and a host of other wholly unqualified comedians. Taking up Judge Judy’s lacy mantle is Dom Irrera, who will preside as the court’s resident “chief justice.”

The Daily Blink habeas’d its corpus to a banquet near the buffet, where wire photographers and comedians jockeyed for space at the bagel station.

When asked if they had any legal experience, comedian and “defense lawyer” Dov Davidoff mentioned that he’d once successfully fought a traffic ticket.

“The Forty Year Old Virgin” actor and standup Gerry Bednob, also a defense lawyer, said, “You watch those court shows on TV and the judges so badly want to be comedians. They’re up there insulting everyone. It’s like a comedy show anyhow.”

So what’s the difference, we asked.

“We don’t insult the clients, we embrace them,” offered Bednob.

“But,” said Davidoff, “we’ll screw them over for the sake of a goof.”

Should Sinbad ruin your case in the name of a “hung jury” joke, you’ll be happy to know it’s not legally binding. The series airs this spring on DirecTV’s original content channel, The 101.

— Julieanne Smolinski

Cleveland’s native son Drew Carey has been giving stuff away on “The Price Is Right” for a handful of months now. But he also gave away food during the Writers Guild of America strike, covering the meals of striking writers during the pickets at Swingers and Bob’s Big Boy in the Los Angeles area.

Writer Elaine Aronson thought that was really sporting of Mr. Carey, and expressed her appreciation and that of other writers by giving him a signed shirt.

Ms. Aronson took in a meal at Bob’s Big Boy a few days before the writers’ big meeting at the Shrine Auditorium in early February and noticed a vast majority of the patrons at the diner were WGA writers.

“I thought it would be really nice to take advantage of having so many people there to get something special signed to send to him. At first I thought maybe a card, but I couldn't find one,” she wrote in an e-mail to Blink.

Ms. Aronson estimates Mr. Carey spent tens of thousands of dollars feeding hungry writers.

“I know some people who went to eat at Bob's or Swingers every day of the strike,” she wrote.

Some notes from the writers on the shirt include, “You’re my big boy,” “Thanks for the strike fuel,” “Like Cleveland, you rock” and “Drew, I ate there and I threw up, so you should get your $8.50 back.”

Mr. Carey did not respond to a request for comment.

—Andrew Krukowski

If you ever wanted to see a minor-scale riot, World Wrestling Entertainment is more than happy to fill that need. The Daily Blink took a trip down to the Wrestlemania 24 press conference at Staples Center today to see what all the commotion was.

Scheduled for March 30 at the Florida Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Wrestlemania brings all sorts out of the woodwork, from Donald Trump to Pete Rose to, this year, pro boxer Floyd Mayweather. Mr. Mayweather is going to take on Paul “The Big Show” Wight (all 7 foot, 430 pounds of him) in a match.

Hundreds of rowdy fans turned out for the press conference, held in the main lobby. For the rest of this post, we’re going to flag the riot threat level during the event.

The modern-day P.T. Barnum himself, WWE CEO Vince McMahon, kicked off the event by talking about how global and awesome the WWE is.

“The WWE is the only variety show left on television,” Mr. McMahon said.

RIOT THREAT LEVEL: Low.

John Cena, who has effectively split fans into “love him” or “despise him” categories, also was on hand. The crowd—and remember, this is a "press" conference—started up competing chants of “Cena” and “Sucks.”

These chants continued throughout the event, long after Mr. Cena had sat down.

RIOT THREAT LEVEL: Moderate.

Also making appearances at the event were current Raw champion Randy Orton, current Smackdown champ Edge, Triple H, WWE diva Maria and Rey Mysterio.

Then undefeated WBC welterweight champ Floyd Mayweather Jr. came out. In terms of wrestling, Floyd should be considered a “babyface,” or good guy. But "Pretty Boy" Floyd, who defeated hometown hero Oscar De La Hoya in May, was roundly booed during the event. Until he flashed some cash. Which he could afford to do—after all, he's getting $20 million for the WWE bout.

RIOT THREAT LEVEL: Quickly rising.

Mr. Mayweather was flashing a huge stack of bills (it looked like 50s and 100s) and, after three minutes of taunting the crowd, threw up the cash out into the crowd.

RIOT THREAT LEVEL: A large siren should be sounding now.

While it’s nice that some fans were compensated for their, one assumes, day off from work to attend this event (one guy was shown, on the big screens displaying the event, walking with four $100 bills), they definitely had to work for that cash as the crowd just scrambled around chasing the money.

Mr. Mayweather’s opponent, The Big Show, talked tough about “Money” Mayweather, and then promptly threw the podium down into the first row of press, nearly taking out the staff member looking to get the podium out of Mr. Show’s way.

RIOT THREAT LEVEL: Moderate.
BODILY INJURY THREAT LEVEL DUE TO WAYWARD LECTERN: Surprisingly high.

All in all, fans got to a real taste of Wrestlemania and WWE got what it was looking for, some crossover publicity between wrestling and boxing media outlets; several of the latter turned up to give the conference coverage.

The Daily Blink talked to The Big Show after the event, and he said, “All kidding aside, it’s an honor to be in the ring with Floyd Mayweather.”

But, he said, “It’s a different environment. [Mayweather] might be a great athlete in boxing, but he might choke in the wrestling ring. Or get choke-slammed…several times.”

—Andrew Krukowski

With our beloved writers back at their laptops where they belong, it’s now time to assess the damage of the WGA strike. Sure, we can look at the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp.’s report of a $2.5 billion loss to the Los Angeles economy. But the writers have lost something more than that.

Specifically, their pants.

The Daily Blink took a trip down to the Writers Guild of America’s contract headquarters (formerly WGA Strike HQ, formerly the guild’s lounge) to check out the picket line Lost & Found. Aside from the standard baubles and trinkets with show logos on them (sweatshirts, hats, cups), here are some of the more interesting things writers lost during their 100-day war:

- Two pairs of pants
- A bra
- About 10 pairs of glasses
- Sets of keys (BMW, Porsche, etc.)
- An iPod
- Several cell phones
- Elementary school homework
- A walking stick
- A voter registration card (Republican)
- Several pots and pans
- Dr. Scholl’s orthopedic inserts, donated by a talent agency
- Collapsible stadium chair

And the biggest find: a wedding ring. The ring, a man’s silver band with the word “Benchmark” stamped on it, was found at CBS Television City. The WGA is using the inscription and date inside the ring as a security question in case someone wants to claim it.

—Andrew Krukowski