POP CULTURE CATCH-UP

In the same week Entertainment Weekly named The Jay Leno Show “the biggest bomb in television history,” the Chin appeared on Oprah’s couch. While I would love nothing more than to mock Leno’s shameless sympathy grab, why bother when I can just show clips of Jimmy Kimmel making fun him. Leno told Oprah he felt “sucker-punched” during Kimmel’s now infamous appearance on Leno’s 10 at 10 segment, allegations Jimmy addressed on Thursday night’s show:

“I don’t know if I going on a comedy show and making jokes qualifies as a sucker punch, right,” asked Kimmel. “Now, if I made any mistake it was thinking that Jay would have anything to say other than what was written on the cue cards. I figured I’d start in, he’d get into, we’d mix it up. You know at one time he was a comedian. But he didn’t do that, he just stood there and kind of read through the questions like a robot.”

Kimmel also ribbed Jay for going on Oprah, saying “It’s kind of funny because celebrities usually go on Oprah to get support from the public after they had sex with their father or married Bobby Brown or something, Jay Leno went on because they gave him The Tonight Show back. So please, keep him in your prayers.” Jimmy then lampooned Leno’s see-through attempt to use Oprah to get the public back on his side:

While Conan obviously didn’t have any shows last week, here are two clips of him talking to living-legend Norm MacDonald. In the first one, from Conan’s old Late Night show, Norm jokes about how Leno’s managed to outfox Conan again by getting on before him at 10pm: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mj_N-0xdNEM

Then in the second video, from Conan’s final week hosting The Tonight Show, Norm presents Conan with a gift-basket he says he meant to give him back in June. Norm reads from the card, dead-panning, “Congratulations Conan on finally securing your place as permanent host of The Tonight Show…That’s something they can never take away from you….Sure the pressure is on, but if I know you, Conan O’Brien, miserable failure is not an option.”

While I’m showing you week-old late night clips, check out this weather girl at CBS’ affiliate in Portland. Despite sharing a network with Letterman, she proudly declares herself a member of “Team Coco” before announcing she’s not really a fan of Dave’s:

Will Arnett was also on Letterman a couple weeks ago to promote the stinker When in Rome. Unfortunately, the whole interview isn’t available on YouTube, but there’s enough here to get your Gob fix:

Still didn’t get your Gob fix? Okay, this old Human Giant clip should do it:

Arnett also recently confirmed that there will be an Arrested Development movie. While we’ve heard it all before, this time it actually seems legit with filming set to begin by year’s end.

In other exciting news for those of us who waste our lives watching way too much TV, the creator of The Wire, David Simon, has a new HBO show set to premiere on April 11th. While the trailer doesn’t divulge much about Treme (pronounced: Trem-ay), the series is about jazz musicians living in post-Katrina New Orleans. It stars Bunk, Lester Freamon, and strangely, Steve Zahn. Check out the official website for more info.

Another one of my preferred programs, The Life and Times of Tim, has its second season premiere on HBO on Friday, February 19th. If you’ve never seen the show that many describe as “the animated Curb Your Enthusiasm,” here’s a taste:

Speaking of second seasons, the cast of Jersey Shore has re-upped with MTV. Taking a page from the Friends cast, America’s favorite guidos and guidettes negotiated with MTV as a package deal, netting them $10,000 a piece for the 12 episodes that are set to air this summer. MTV has announced the cast will “find themselves in a new destination.” Which has to be Italy, right? C’mon, how good would that be? Here’s a clip that a good blogger would’ve probably linked to three weeks ago:

Now, in an attempt to seem vaguely on top of things, here are the two best bits from Jon Hamm’s latest SNL appearance:

Even funnier, Kiefer Sutherland lost $869,000 in an alleged cattle scam. And I thought appearing on Letterman wearing a dress and starring in a fucked-out TV show with Freddie Prinze Jr. was embarrassing.

Moving to another kind of theft, here’s the latest from the “How much are we paying Turkoglu again?” file. The PTI guys discuss Hedo Turkoglu’s now legendary “Ball” interview with TSN’s Jack “Hello” Armstrong:

Because I like PTI, and because I somehow didn’t mention it when it happened two weeks ago, here’s a clip of Kornheiser and Wilbon discussing the Russian ice-dancers who managed to offend aboriginals in both Canada and Australia with their hilariously racist routine at the European figure skating championships:

Would former NFL running back Herschel Walker be embarrassed in his MMA debut on Saturday night? Nope, the 47-year-old absolutely destroyed some potato bag named Greg Nagy:

Finally, a clip that either proves being a broadcaster is hard, or that hockey players are dumb. In the case of Kings forward Ryan Smyth, well, you be the judge:

Oh, and a heartfelt thank-you goes out to 36-year-old Blackhawks forward John Madden. You’ve made countless aging Canadian males feel mature by comparison (unlike Greg Oden who just made countless Canadian males feel small by comparison). I salute you, sir.

(more photos: here).