Nearly 30 years of one of American television's most storied and beloved traditions (i.e. portraying our presidents as moronic simpletons whose inability to tie their own shoes could send the country to Defcon 3) came to a glorious fountain of awesomeness at Funnyordie.com.

The website premiered a new public service announcement on federal finance laws directed by Ron Howard in the form of a very funny "Presidential Reunion" sketch that features the likes of Will Ferrell, Darrell Hammond, Dana Carvey, Dan Aykroyd and even Chevy Chase reviving their classic impressions of former presidents including (respectively) George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George Bush Sr., Jimmy Carter and (the most hilarious in my opinion) Gerald Ford who come together to help the beleaguered Barack Obama, played by Fred Armisen. Jim Carrey also stepped in the room to play Ronald Reagan probably because Randy Quaid is nuttier than a Payday bar these days.

'Breaking Bad' isn't just reinventing the TV drama. It's also reinventing viral marketing.

With the third highly-anticipated season of the popular AMC show just around the corner, the show has unleashed "BetterCallSaul.com," a website advertising the shady law offices of Saul Goodman, Walter White and Jesse Pinkman's equally shady attorney.

Goodman, played by Bob Odenkirk who also contributes to the series as a writer, appears all over the site in some hilarious videos that play with Odenkirk's trademark humor and provides some interesting teaser links to the show such as "the tragedy of Wayfarer Flight 515" and Walter's son's funding raising site, SaveWalterWhite.com.

NBC has removed a thread on their Jay Leno message forum that was taken over by Team Coco. The Conan fans not only posted messages about Conan (that they wanted Jay "to see"), they also posted pictures of Conan like the one on the right (both bearded and clean-shaven versions).

I'm going to side with NBC here. Hey, you're bound to see that stuff online and there's a history of people doing things like this to get their point across, but it's their forum and they can do whatever they want with it, especially if it's overrun with messages and photos from fans of someone who doesn't even have a show on the network anymore. Of course, this doesn't excuse NBC from the other "let's delete Conan" stuff they pulled, including taking down all of his 'Tonight Show' clips from the site and the dumping of Conan collectibles from the NBC online store.

[via TV Week]

You think 'Mad TV' was the first to use the name iPad? Actually, the name was used in a 1999 episode of 'Felicity.' Her friend is trying to decide which computer to buy and rattles off a list of products that are available at the store...hmmmmm.

Obviously she mixes up "Thinkpads" and "iBooks." Either that or J.J. Abrams has powers we mortals can't understand.

[via nymag.com]

So what has Conan O'Brien been up to now that he's part of the near ten percent population who are currently unemployed? He's doing what the rest of us are doing, besides drinking.

A Twitter account with the name "ConanOBrien" popped up earlier today and the first Tweet went out just a few minutes ago. Check it out here before Twitter dashes our hopes and declares the account just one in another long line of celebrity impersonating hoaxes.



UPDATE: (8:30 P.M.) Twitter has verified that "ConanOBrien" belongs to the real Coco.

Do you remember in the prehistoric days of no Internet and nothing digital? Back then, if you liked the songs you heard on MTV or -- gad! 'The Monkees' -- you would have to wait months and months for the single or album to show up in the record store. Yes, those were the days of records, even if they were tapes or 8-tracks.

Anyway, in today's wonderful world of instant gratification and super-technology, waiting is a thing of the past. Last night's performances from 'American Idol's' Top Twelve ladies will be on Apple iTunes today! Last night if you were watching and loved Lilly Scott's version of The Beatles 'Fixin' A Hole,' you could've pre-ordered it and it would be downloaded to your computer today.

Last week, HBO launched a new service called "HBO Go". If you subscribe to the network through your cable system, you can now access a deep offering of its content - about 600 hours so far - on your computer.

As soon as the average hotel wireless speed improves from "AOL 1997" to something more akin to what I have at home, HBO Go is going to make my life on the road much less boring. Goodbye drinking myself to sleep at the Des Moines Holiday Inn! Hello 'Entourage'! (And , uh, drinking myself to sleep).

Happy as I am about the new service, ever since it was announced something has really been pissing me off: The way HBO Go is currently configured helps the cable companies screw over their customers.

Laugh tracks always amaze me. Just what kind of easily-amused simpletons do the networks hire to laugh at crappy sitcoms? I imagine it does something like this. A bunch of actors are wrangled into a studio and are told to pretend to be an interested audience. They are each given a secret dose of thorazine through a hidden syringe in their seats. Nitrous oxide is pumped into the studio. And just before the curtain goes up, they are each whacked across the face with a cast-iron shovel. Then they turn on the applause sign.

College Humor has taken this weird TV tradition and turned it on its head by providing a "groan track" to CBS' neverending sitcom 'Two-and-a-Half Men'.

Something really cool found its way to my mailbox the other day. No, not porn.

The 'Colbert Report's' online shopping hub at Colbertnation.com has a neat, interactive and (most importantly to me) dirt cheap little bit of flair for your refrigerator or office: your very own "On-Notice" board.

It's a dry-erase board that lets you write in and therefore write off anyone or anything that's pissing you off in life. It's not only a great way to pledge your allegiance to the mighty and awesome Stephen Colbert, but it's also a great stress reliever. You know why, Don Cheadle. Don't pretend like you don't.

Have you ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes of FOX's 'American Idol?' Not just the typical questions like "what is Simon Cowell really like" and "does Ryan Seacrest's breath really smell minty," I mean the really important questions, like are the contestants ever denied bathroom privileges?

That's one of the many questions answered in this very long 'American Idol' piece at The Daily Beast. Lots of past contestants on the show (including season five winner Taylor Hicks - remember him?) dish about what goes on behind the scenes of the show when it gets to Hollywood. How are songs chosen? Who rooms with whom? Does everyone really get along? Do they sleep?

Jackie Tohn, who was on the show last year, says "the head games start right away. You never have any idea why anything is happening." So now we know: 'American Idol' is just like 'Lost!'

Everyone seems to be putting a lot of money into online video: Hulu, Epix (from Paramount, MGM, and Lionsgate), and our own SlashControl, to name a few. It's the future! Now another company is getting into the web act, HBO (or Home Box Office, which no one calls it anymore). They have a new service coming up with the catchy name HBO GO (unlike the other video sites you will only be able to access HBO's stuff).

Ben Parr at Mashable makes a good point when he says that if GO only goes to HBO subscribers and no one else, it's only going to be a niche thing. He suggests that HBO open some parts of it to everyone (with advertising) and then have other features and videos that are only available to HBO subscribers.

This has actually been in the works for a while. We first reported on it back in 2006.

[via Pop Candy]

AMC has done wonders with dramatic series like 'Mad Men' and 'Breaking Bad' but hasn't really tried to crack the comedy bubble yet.

Their first and biggest attempt to date comes in the form of a "mini-com" called 'Life Coach' starring former 'SNL'-er Cheri Oteri as Liza, a life counselor with some major life control problems of her own. The show serves as both a web series and a buffer between AMC's Monday night movies.

The episodes will feature celebrity appearances including comedians Lewis Black and Kathleen Madigan, CNN talking face Nancy Grace and actor and 'Perfect Strangers' star Mark Linn-Baker.

What do you get the 'Lost' fan for Valentine's Day? DHARMA chocolates? A copy of 'The Third Policeman?' Advil to take at 10PM every Tuesday night when the latest episode is over?

How about a 'Lost'-themed card? These are pretty darn clever. The Ben one on the right is my favorite. I love the expression on his face, and you can imagine him saying those words.

The card after the jump is my other favorite, though since it's addressed to Kate it seems like only a handful of 'Lost' fans would be able to use it.

If you're not listening to the weekly 'Lost' podcast, you're missing out on a lot of great stuff. I didn't start listening to it until recently, and I've discovered that not only are the podcasts entertaining, they're giving a lot of clues as to what's happening on the island (and these are official clues, not rumors or theories that you might find on other sites - though producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse are more than a little coy in the podcasts).

What jumped out to me in the podcast posted after the season premiere last week has to do with the timeline(s).

Bashing 'Heroes' has become a sport, much like bashing 'Saturday Night Live' became a sport several years ago. "It's not as good as it was" and "it sucks" are the phrases you hear most often when former fans (or fans that are still watching the show but always on the edge of leaving) talk about it.

Tim Kring tells The Onion that he knows what fans are saying about the show, but he also wants fans to know that there are things going on behind the scenes that they might not be aware of. For example, the writers strike hurt the show. Two, it's actually a more consistent show when more writers write an episode than having just one writer on an episode. Three, the writers don't even think of the show as being in "seasons," it's really all one continuous plot.