The Emmy nominations are out today and finally it seems like they're getting on the right track with nominations for AMC's "Mad Men", FX's "Damages", and Showtime's "Dexter". In comedy NBC is duking it out with itself between "30 Rock" and "The Office". If any of those previously-mentioned shows wins this will be a good year for the Emmys. In particular the AMC and FX nominations are groundbreaking for basic cable to receive such critical......

NBC will be getting more than $1 billion in ad revenue from the Olympics this year. They've already sold off 85% of their inventory at a cost of $750,000 per 30-second spot. Looks like the network is looking to break a different kind of record. 8:00pm Big Brother CBS - Wednesday edition premiere 9:00pm Project Runway BRAVO - Season Premiere.......

Looks like big media service companies aren't immune to the temptation of outsourcing their workforce - the most recent case is the media metrics leader, Nielsen Co. After taking millions of dollars in tax breaks for promising jobs at a Florida data center, Nielsen has outsourced the positions to an Indian-based offshore provider - makes one respect the numbers Nielsen spews out even less. 8:00pm Wipeout ABC - This is only listed here because you......

Season four of "the #1 ad-supported cable series of all time", aka TNT's "The Closer" returns to TV tonight. I've always had a problem with this series, whether it was the annoying music, Kyra Sedgwick's overpainted lips and weird accent, or the fact that her character, LAPD Deputy Police Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson, has somehow attained the status of Deputy Police Chief despite being "hopeless at LAPD politics". Still, the series is well-funded, looks decent......

The studios say that the SAG rejected their latest offer but the SAG says that isn't true. Still no word of a strike vote from SAG - if this SAG stuff is of particular interest to you, be sure to check out The Hollywood Reporter's SAG/AFTRA "Strike Zone". The big deal this weekend is HBO's Sunday premiere of "Generation Kill". The show will be dramatic and there will definitely be some "humanizing" of the members......

Tim Roth is set to star in a drama on Foxthat will be broadcast early in 2009 going along the lines of other film stars who are making forays into television (Glenn Close, Holly Hunter, etc.) - the drama, titled "Lie to Me", is based on the work of a real-life scientist who is able to read the human body and voice to determine if someone is being truthful. Fox is so behind this project......

The big news of the day is the official split between AFTRA and SAG when AFTRA approved the proposed contract with the producers and studios - still be determined how this will affect SAG's potential strike and negotiations. Ted Koppel, who has a new series premiering on Discovery tonight (see below), will also be appearing regularly on BBC America. This ain't no Roger Mudd gig on The History Channel, voicing over WWII footage, as Koppel......

NBC is in the news big time this week. First off, NBC's ratings for its Wimbledon Men's Final broadcast was phenomenal - the best in 8 years and the best for a finale without a contending American since '91. Second: its purchase of The Weather Channel for $3.5 billion - this is well below the $5 billion that the owners of The Weather Channel, Landmark Communications, had wanted for the property when it first started......

Oops, so there is something more to look forward to this month on TV: the July 17th premiere of "The Gong Show" on Comedy Central. The show will be hosted by Dave Attell and judged by (among many others): Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, Brian Posehn, Adam Carolla, Kate Walsh, Andy Dick, Ron White, Dave Navarro, Greg Giraldo, Jim Norton and JB Smoove. 7:00pm Tom Jones TCM - (1963) With Albert Finch as Tom Jones,......

So the producers called SAG's bluff and told them to go do their strike vote - not much new to report on there. What there is to report on is the fact that ABC's "Wipeout" continues to get strong ratings after coming in as TV's most highly watched summer premiere. I guess the majority of the American public were not privy to Spike's "Most Extreme Elimination Challenge" and thus don't have the sense to......

The Screen Actors Guild was handed a final offer yesterday by the producers (AMPTP) which the SAG was going to review in detail today. Reports say that movie production has already halted, does the same go for TV? Reality TV, like the social disease it is, just keeps going on since it functions outside of these contracts. TV Junkie is thrilled to learn that AMC is going to go ahead, probably after this whole SAG......

With nine hours left in their contract, the TV Junkie is really wondering what will happen with the Screen Actors Guild situation. Our guess is that the SAG will blink first since somehow, even just discussing talent receiving additional percentages of DVD sales is simply off the table for producers. Looks like TV is for old folks folks as the LA Biz Observed is highlighting a summary of a report from Broadcasting & Cable noting......

Kind of a slow weekend ahead folks, even on the movie channels, Sunday's programming is particularly deplorable. Rejoice though, in the news that Sony, within the next three years, will be offering a video-downloading service through all its key products, including its televisions, computers, music players and videogame devices. It plans to give most of its products network and wireless capability in that same window of time. Yup, download Hollywood movies through your PS3, etc.......

The Screen Actors Guild contract runs out on Monday, yup, the day is fast upon us, and it looks like, according to the Hollywood Reporter, the SAG will attempt to extend their contract instead of vote for a strike. This will keep the studios' projects moving forward while the SAG and AFTRA get in lockstep (or not) and the SAG decides what its deal-breaking points are (or not). The SAG is becoming very aware of......

Good news, you may continue to watch as much online porn as you want without your broadband provider building that into your profile - that is, only if you are using Charter Communications. After announcing 6 weeks ago that they would start to monitor their customers' activity in order to sell target profiles to advertisers, Charter is backing away from that position after running into protests from Congress as well as consumer groups. Perhaps Charter......

Tonight a double-travesty is occurring: the broadcast of both "Wipeout" and "I Survived A Japanese Game Show". Both of these shows take a good idea (for immature jerks like myself), Spike TV's "Most Extreme Elimination Challenge" aka "MXE", and turn it into garbage. "MXE" is an overdubbed (by members of LA's comedy troupe the Groundlings) and hilarious replaying of episodes of Japanese gameshow, "Takeshi's Castle" while "Wipeout" and "I Survived A Japanese Gameshow" are......

AdWeek reports that the most recent comCast data shows that while the flow of people who go online to watch video has slowed down somewhat, the amount of video they watch online has exploded (like a Jerry Bruckheimer film). And it's no wonder, look at the garbage below to see what these people are fleeing. This is another one of those "there's nothing on TV tonight" nights. Late night is nothing but reruns except for......

- Unless you've got some specific sports events you want to watch this weekend, things are pretty slow on the tube - you'd better hope your Netflix came in. Finally: The AP reports that only one song per film can be nominated for an Academy Award. If you're a glutton for abuse and subject yourself to watching the Oscars on TV, you might remember being overwhelmed with songs from Disney's "Enchanted" this year as well......

Tomorrow the 10 day countdown of the SAG contract expiration begins. Reuters reports that the TV studios are already bracing for a strike even though the SAG has yet to vote to strike. Some TV shows have 2 or 3 shows for the upcoming season in the bag already but most do not. Even if the SAG chooses not to strike, because there is no contract signed as of today, there will be some effect......

If you thought Microsoft's foray into television had stopped with their relative failure in MSNBC, you were wrong - Microsoft acquired (for an undisclosed sum) interactive TV network Navic. Navic provides services to Comcast, Cox, Time Warner, and Charter Communications among others - so I guess what we're saying is, get ready for a blue screen of death when you try to watch TV. Other than watching the amazing flop known as the Lakers perform......

As we reported yesterday, Jon Voight is going to be on "24" and now we learn from THR that William Hurt will be joining his The Big Chill co-star, Glenn Close, on FX's "Damages" this Fall. "Damages" was easily one of the top three programs of the year in 2007 and the addition of Hurt is beginning to solidify a picture of how the second season will function - Hurt will have regular role for......

Late last week The Hollywood Reporter noted that Jon Voight has signed on to be Jack Bauer's nemesis in the upcoming season of "24" (shooting now in South Africa). Do you think it's enough or is "24" so stale now that no addition of talent can save it? 8:00pm The Middleman ABC Family - Series Premiere. "A young woman is recruited by a secret agency to fight evil." Lord help us. 9:00pm Dirty Jobs: Brown......

Variety is reporting that the upcoming NBC "The Office" spinoff has made its first hire: Aziz Ansari from MTV's "Human Giant" whom LAist interviewed a couple months ago and whom the TV Junkie met at the Ashton Kutcher SNL post-party in April). While the show title, other cast members, and method of launch is unknown to the general public, it is known that the show will debut this winter in the 9:30pm timeslot, right after......

Ladies, you're in luck, you have a chance to date TV hunk Brad Garrett, and who wouldn't want to? The question is, based on current trends in California, why is he limiting candidates to only females? If you desperately want to be a part of the new reality series, Dating Brad Garrett, video auditions are being accepted starting today. 6:00pm Lakers-Celtics Game 4(!)(not 3) ABC - A good chunk of LA will grind to a......

Seems like everyone is running to the web these days as a secondary broadcast option. NBC did it a long time ago and now a couple more big names are heading that direction. Viacom will be adding an assortment of its shows to Fox-NBC joint-venture HULU - yeah, finally we'll be able to see full length episodes of "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report" rather than the ridiculous little clips we've been getting off......

As the SAG/AFTRA/AMPTP drama continues, advertisers are still ponying up the big bucks for TV advertising: $9.2 billion in pre-booked ads for the 2008-2009 season. This broad sale of advertising combined with targeted ad sales technology now offered by Canoe Ventures (you got a dog? say "hello" to even more Purina commercials) makes it seem like things are hunky-dory in TV land but they might not be. Some folks are perceiving these as just defensive......

In contrast to the wildly cute meerkates to the right (yes, they're back), some seriously big numbers have been issued by the prestigious Milken Institute has put out an impressive study of the impact of the writer's strike. In summary: - 37,700 jobs lost - $2.1 billion in lost output through the end of 2008 The cascading effects of the strike are what reportedly tipped the state into a recession in early 2008, but......

Huffington Post reports that Michelle Obama will be guest host of "The View" on June 18th. Am not sure if being associated with that gaggle of harpies is a good thing or not but the Obama campaign is trying to achieve some parity with the McCains, both John and Cindy have been on the show repeatedly. We are in total agreement with Jason Kottke that the new ads on TBS have got to stop -......

The SAG and producers meet again today for the 18th time, yeah, the 18th. NBC is putting the hammer down to sell off Olympic broadcasting ad inventory and has been lagging behind FOX and ABC in overall up-front ad sales. Look for ads to get even more annoyingly irritating as NBC offers discounts to existing Olympics advertisers. 9:00pm Farmer Wants a Wife CW - A game of truth or dare reveals the women's secrets; Matt's......

We're coming down to a bit over 3 weeks to go before a SAG strike as the guild resumes talks with producers today. The guild has yet to vote for a strike and sources say that even though fellow actors' guild AFTRA signed a contract last month, SAG is unlikely to rubberstamp a copy of that contract for their members. All I know is that "Mad Men" is coming back to AMC in July so......