hi-def

When the late night musical chairs began, I dipped my toes into their waters for the first time in many, many years. The only three shows remaining on my DVR are The Tonight Show, Late Night and The Late Late Show, and only Craig Ferguson is a must watch from beginning to end (I've actually cut Tonight twice and put it back since Conan took over).

The real hook for me is Ferguson's monologue. While everyone's doing, "Hey let's look at the news. Setup. Punchline. Setup. Punchline. Setup. Punch me in the face I can't take it anymore!," Ferguson is doing a short stand-up routine every night. It's smart, it's clever, and it all flows so much more nicely.

I've also enjoyed his constant rants about how terrible his show is, what a horrible host he is, and how incredibly cheap CBS is when it comes to anything to do with The Late Late Show. But now, long after all of his competitors got the upgrade, we're finally getting Craig Ferguson in HD starting August 31, 2009. So he'll have one less thing to bitch about, at least.

Our friends over at sister site DV Guru give a very technical report about the Today show's conversion to a High Definition broadcast, which will start when they move into their newly-renovated studio on Sept. 13 (which is also new anchor Meredith Vieira's first day). If you want all the details about what cameras they're going to use, what kind of HD it is, etc., you can go over to the DV Guru article. The important part for the casual viewer is that, like all of NBC's HD shows, it'll be shown in 16:9 format, meaning that viewers on standard TVs will see the show in a letterbox format. They'll handle standard-format feeds from affiliates by showing colored bars on either side of the 4:3 picture, which, combined with the news crawl on the bottom, should reduce the picture to the size of a postage stamp for those who have older TVs.

But the bottom line is: Ann Curry will still be insincere, Al Roker will still be a goofball, and Matt Lauer will still be bald. They'll all just look instantly older now.

Alex Tebek and Pat Sajak in Hi-Def. That's a scary thought, isn't it? Well, if you think it is, then don't bother to watch Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune this season, because both will be offered in HD for the first time ever. According to TV Week, the sets of both shows have undergone extensive renovations in preparation, making them wider, more detailed, and more colorful, and episodes for fall have begun to be shot by both King World-distributed shows. Also, the signature J! gameboard of individual video screens has been replaced by a video wall, similar to what's used when the show goes on the road. They are both the first syndicated and first game shows to go HD.

I still think they should follow Ken Jennings' suggestion and add physical challenges to J! But that's just a personal preference. Oh, and what are the odds Vanna White had some "work" done in preparation for the more-detailed broadcast this season?