Hmm ... this is an interesting development. For weeks, it seemed that Simon Cowell was all set to snag his old 'American Idol' foil, Paula Abdul, for 'The X Factor.' That's the new talent competition show Simon is launching on Fox in 2011. Reportedly, Simon wanted Paula as an 'X Factor' judge.

Simon now has competition for Paula. ABC has offered Paula Abdul a spot on 'Star Search.' According to the Hollywood Reporter, following another report in Entertainment Weekly, the latest incarnation of 'Star Search' will be a singing competition and Paula could be a host and a judge. That's twice as much as she did on 'American Idol.'

More importantly, it's on ABC.

TV Guide is reporting that 'Today' co-host Meredith Vieira has signed a new deal with NBC that keeps her in the co-anchor seat alongside Matt Lauer until the end of 2011.

The fact that Vieira re-upped with 'Today' isn't surprising (she has settled in quite nicely over there), though it is a little surprising that she only signed on for one more year. I don't know what type of contract Lauer has with the show (though The New York Times says his last contract extension in 2006 was for five years), or Robin Roberts at ABC or Harry Smith at CBS, but I would have thought that the network would want to lock Vieira in with a multi-year deal. So the fact that Vieira is staying with 'Today' isn't news, but I think the length of her contract might be.

Maybe she just wants to take it year by year and see how things go.

Unless you've been like able to enjoy the complete fourth season of 'Friday Light Lights' that just wrapped up on DirecTV last night (click here if you don't mind spoilers), you may not get as excited news from Michael Ausiello in Entertainment Weekly that there will be a fifth season of 'Friday Night Lights' to end the run of the award-winning drama series about Texas high school football.

However, you should be ecstatic. Quality TV like 'Friday Night Lights' deserves to be given its due and given the time to complete the stories it's been telling.

So, you can count on the Dillon football teams to mature with new players, the Taylor family to deal with Julie's impending leaving for college while Eric and Tami make it work back home, the Riggins men to face upheaval and a bunch of new characters to continue to fascinate, including Becky, Vince, Jess and Luke.

There had been lots of speculation that Oprah Winfrey was going to be giving up on her juggernaut of a syndicated talk show soon, but many of those rumors had been dismissed as negotiating ploys or some other silly rumor. Now, however, it seems like Oprah's departure from daytime is official: Tim Bennett, president of Harpo, confirmed that Oprah will announce on her show tomorrow that she will be ending the program on September 9, 2011.

Not coincidentally, that date is the day after the 25th anniversary of her first nationally-syndicated episode, and she'll mark the anniversary on her last show. Bennett told WCCO that this decision was under discussion for months, but the decision ultimately came down to the big O herself.

The boys of 62 Truck are finally calling it quits. According to TVGuide.com, Tommy, Lou, Franco and the rest of the Rescue Me crew have fought their last fire, polished the rig one final time, and will hang up their boots for good in 2011.

Details on how it'll end, who might be back, and a preview of this Tuesday's season five finale are after the jump.

Is there a new trend in the television landscape? Could be. At the TCA panel for Mad Men, creator Matt Weiner, revealed that the show is only going to run four more years.

That's right, the man has a plan. Each season of Mad Men will jump ahead approximately two years, so that when Don Draper's story comes to an end, it will be 1969. Can you imagine how radically the show will look by the end of the 1960s? With their attention to detail, it'll be amazing.

So what's the trend? It's setting an endpoint for a series. Battlestar Galactica did it, and Lost has as well. Traditionally, American television series run and run and run until the creators choose to end or the network calls it quits which usually corresponds to viewers having tuned out.