(S02E06) "It isn't a game." - Blair to Serena

Game or not, the war between Blair and Serena intensified to a point that both ladies got in a huge hair-pulling fight (see picture on the right). We have seen Blair and Serena say and do really nasty things over the past year but this week, they tapped into their evilest and nastiest of lines and actions (especially Blair when bringing up the "Serena killed someone" bit) in order to end up on top. If both ladies were somewhat at the top of their game, then why was I so bored when watching "New Haven Can Wait"?

Actors Donal Logue and Eliza Dushku, along with writer/producer David Hemingson, recently signed on for new network projects.

Logue stars in FOX's Barry Sonnefeld-directed comedy pilot, Hackett, as a "bad-boy literary luminary" who goes from teaching at Yale to teaching at a public school in Ohio. The pilot also stars Rachel Boston (American Dreams) and Morgan Murphy. Logue was last seen on ABC's short-lived The Knights of Prosperity. Sonnefeld will work on Hackett, as well as direct episodes of Pushing Daisies, a new series for ABC premiering Wednesdays this fall.

(S01E03) I don't know that any of us can ever really understand the machinations that go into making the network schedule. After watching the first three episodes of Traveler though, I'm left scratching my head wondering just what it was that kept this one tucked away for so long. I'll give in where The Nine is concerned, because the pilot was very good. But how this one got passed over for Six Degrees, Men In Trees, and the collection of little sit-coms that couldn't is beyond me.

Watch your backs, Harvard alum. Yale's looking to take on the Crimson mafia's domination of televised comedy. For the uninformed, this is the fast track to a job as a television comedy writer:

1. Be a man - preferably a Catholic or a Jew. (More guilt = More funny)
2. Go to Harvard. (Legacy, class privilege, whatever it takes to get you there.)
3. Write for the Lampoon.

That's it. Within a year or two of graduation, you should be writing for Conan, The Daily Show, SNL, The Office or The Simpsons. Guaranteed. Or, is it? Certain Yalies are looking to challenge Harvard's stranglehold on the writer's room. The Yale Daily News paints a picture of Yale's growing influence on comedy or, at least, Comedy Central. The article name-checks Yalies Lewis Black, Demetri Martin, John Hodgman, Daily Show writer Steve Bodow and Colbert Report head writer Allison Silervman. Hodgman offered, "By accident, maybe there is the beginning of a similar - extremely feeble - Yale network of professionals that may give the aspiring comedy writer on Cross Campus a glimmer of hope." And, so the elitist pissing contest commences.

For those of you who want to pursue a career in comedy and can't afford the Ivy route, you will be happy to know that Jon Stewart attended the College of William and Mary, Tina Fey is a woman and Bob Odenkirk is an atheist.

[Via CCInsider]

I think I've mentioned here before that I'm a big fan of Demetri Martin. Some people don't seem to like him for some reason (not sure why, he's funny and doesn't have any annoying qualities). It's probably just a knee-jerk reaction, to appear hip to dislike someone who has suddenly become hip. But I have no scientific data to back up this claim.

Martin talks to The Onion about how he got started in comedy, what it was like to be an intern on The Daily Show and then an on-air correspondent, how hard standup can be, and how comedy has changed since he started (since he started? What, seven or eight years ago?)

He also updates fans on the status of not one but two pilots he wrote for NBC. Hint: the news is not good. Or maybe it's very good, depending on what you want to see from Martin. He has a new CD out, These Are Jokes, and will film a special for Comedy Central.

My favorite athlete from the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City was Sarah Hughes. She wasn't expected to win a medal, but she piqued peaked at exactly the right time. She skated a flawless final program and, thanks to some bobbles and falls by her teammates, she ended up on the top of the medals podium. But, where is Sarah today? She was only 16 when she won gold so she's not too old to skate. Heck, Michelle Kwan has been a part of the Olympics since Lillehammer in 1994 (sadly, she had to withdraw from the games yesterday due to injury).

I did a little nosing around the internet and found Sarah. She's a student at Yale, where studies come first, boys come second, and figure skating is somewhere after that (although she has been hosting some skating events for charity). Sarah will be in Italy for the games, however. She'll be doing some sideline reporting for MSNBC and she'll be cheering on her little sister, Emily, the alternate skater who will take Michelle Kwan's place.

Proving once again that the gal with the best implants always stays afloat, Anna Nicole Smith has found herself an unlikely ally in her Supreme Court battle for the kabillion dollar inheritance she believes her ex-husband wanted her to have.  U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement, the Bush administration's top Supreme Court attorney, has filed arguments on behalf of Smith, and is lobbying for permission to argue alongside Smith's attorney when the case goes before the judges on February 28. Though Bush has more than a couple of things in common with Smith's long-dead benefactor – both were Yalies -turned- Texas oilmen – this is apparently an issue not of fraternity, but of politics: the Supremes are only hearing Smith's case because it maintains that federal court rulings should maintain superiority over local judgements, and that's apparently an issue close to the Neo-con administration's heart.