For a few minutes there, it looked like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar might just get to talk seriously about his latest project exploring the history of basketball in this country. But this is 'Chelsea Lately' (Weeknights, 11PM ET on E!) and Chelsea Handler quickly got to the crux of the sport from her perspective.

She put up a picture of Abdul-Jabbar back in his NBA days, which of course featured much shorter and tighter shorts on the players than the athletes wear today. "Those shorts are pretty suggestive," she said with a laugh.

Abdul-Jabbar agreed with her, though he hinted that such a wardrobe was actually good for the sport.

Have you been horrified for the better part of two decades at the awful parenting you've seen on 'The Simpsons' (Sunday, 8PM ET on FOX)? Poor Bart has been strangled countless times -- actually, we're pretty sure someone out there does have a count of this -- by Homer.

Sure, he's a scamp and definitely deserves to be punished more often than not, but strangling? After he takes it too far, Marge pushes Homer into therapy where he gets the chance to feel what it's like on the receiving end of his rage.

The best way to experience it, as described by his therapist, is "what it feels like to be young, small and terrified"? Face off against 7-foot-2-inch Kareem Abdul-Jabbar!

George Lopez doesn't like to see his usually happy-go-lucky buddy David Arquette feeling down -- what with his marital problems and trial separation from Courteney Cox. We're not convinced Arquette is in a somber mood, given that he partied his troubles away in Miami last weekend. Regardless, Lopez had a few surprises to cheer him up when he visited 'Lopez Tonight' (weeknights, 12AM ET on TBS).

First up, some Oompa-Loompas with a big cake. Arquette took a giant mouthful -- no utensils necessary. Next, he shot some hoops with against Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Then the L.A. Laker Girls joined them on a snowy sleigh ride. "I'm very happy!" he told the host.

The post-season has arrived for the National Basketball Association. The NBA Playoffs are upon us, starting today on ABC and ESPN, and tomorrow night on TNT, and that means the networks are shifting into overdrive to present all the games, all the action, and -- especially -- all the stars to the viewing public. Shaq, Kobe, LeBron, Dwayne, Dirk, Rajon ... if you're a fan, you don't need the last names. That's how big the star power is for NBA elite players.

It's perhaps even bigger than the NFL or any other major league. And that's one reason why the NBA is not the number one sport in America, but it is the number one marketed sport. That's a point illustrated in the new promo for the TNT broadcasts featuring music and movie stars Jamie Foxx and Justin Timberlake extolling the virtues of the NBA playoffs.