HBO has pulled the plug on 'Joe Buck Live' after just three episodes, Broadcasting & Cable confirmed today.

The sports talk show, which replaced 'Costas Now' last June, was perhaps best known for its rocky premiere episode, during which 'Howard Stern''s Artie Lange infamously referred to Jessica Simpson as a "fat chick."

Subsequent episodes suffered in the ratings, with its most recent episode pulling in just a 1.2 rating, according to the report.

"Joe Buck is one of the premier broadcasters in our industry. We have made the decision not to continue his talk show and wish him all the best and continued success with his wide array of responsibilities at Fox Sports ... It was a privilege to work with him at HBO. Joe worked tirelessly on the three shows, and we appreciate his professionalism and immense talent," HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg said in a statement.

I thought it was a rule that TV stations covering sporting events (at least in baseball) didn't show drunks, streakers, and other morons who jump on the playing field in the middle of a game? Last night FOX happily showed a guy at the Yankees/Angels game who somehow got into the waterfall area of the outfield and went for a swim. Well, he laid down in the water.

I think we can assume the guy got at least one beer from the concession stand.

[via TMZ]

You wouldn't know that Fox football was ready for prime time based on the lame broadcast of the Tampa Bay Buccaneer-Miami Dolphin game the other night. The number one team in the booth -- Joe Buck and Troy Aikman -- seemed ill-prepared for the game. It was embarrassing to watch them call the game.

Listen, I know it's only pre-season and everyone -- including the networks -- are working out the kinks, but I expect Buck and Aikman to be on top of their game. They usually are, so I guess I was surprised by the sloppy effort.

-- How well do you know your TV dads? Take the Father's Day quiz to find out [BuzzSugar]

-- Joe Buck is talking the talk with Asylum. Read the play-by-play interview [Asylum]

-- T.R. Knight is leaving 'Grey's Anatomy.' But it looks like George O'Malley won't be missed by everyone [Test Pattern]

(more headlines after the jump)

Monday night, Artie Lange went on Joe Buck's awful new show Joe Buck Live and did to him what Keyser Soze did to the Hungarian gang in The Usual Suspects.

If you didn't see it, let me tell you this much: Artie didn't kill the show; it was already dead when he got there. What he did was the equivalent of finding a dead squirrel (with awful, frat-boy hair), filling it full of firecrackers, then cackling gleefully as the guts rained down onto Jason Sudeikis and Paul Rudd.

Artie Lange's appearance on Joe Buck Live was boorish, crude, mean-spiritied, and blatantly homophobic. It was the kind of thing that'll probably end the career of the poor person who booked him on the show.

It's also something that we need a hell of a lot more of...

Anyone catch the live broadcast of Costas NOW last night? I was lucky enough to get a few tickets and went to the live taping in Manhattan with my girlfriend. And I really do mean lucky. Not only did we get seated in the front row, but we were seated right in front of all the panelists. Everyone. Joe Buck, Cris Carter, Mitch Albom, Mike Tirico, Michael Wilbon, John McEnroe... the list goes on. And of course, Bob Costas was only a few feet in front of us on stage. For a sports and TV fanatic, it was very impressive. So why am I writing about it? The town hall format of the show covered a lot of hot topics in sports, but there were a couple segments that really stood out because they directly relate to what we're doing here at TV Squad -- blogging and athletes' (or in our case TV celebs, writers, and producers) reactions to the media.

Last year, when FOX announced that Joe Buck (right) would add pre-game hosting to his play-by-play duties on the network's NFL broadcasts, the words "one-year experiment" kept popping into my head. I mean, think about how impractical having Buck pull double duty was going to be: every week, FOX NFL Sunday would have to go on the road, broadcasting from the stadium of whatever game Buck and booth partner Troy Aikman were working that week. By the last few weeks of the season, which found the show originating from its Los Angeles home base, you knew that the network was wearying of the constant road trips.

So it comes as no big surprise that, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the network gave Buck the choice to do one or the other next year, but not both. Wisely, Buck chose to stay in the booth. Curt Menefee, who ably took the anchor chair during halftimes, post-game shows, and when Buck was working the baseball playoffs, will be installed as the permanent host.

In case you've missed it -- perhaps you were busy shopping back-to-school sales with your depressed kids -- here are some highlights from the last week at TV Squad:



Breaking News

• Lawsuit filed against Dog the boutny hunter.
• Here's a link to a possible Amazon download preview.
• Winner of Big Brother UK announced.
• Fox to offer shows on the web via local station sites.
• Avenue Q writers to write songs for a Scrubs episode.
• ABC greenlights Crime Prevention Unit.
• NBC files complaint with NLRB over webisode dispute with WGA.
• Pat Summerall went a little nutso after his liver transplant.
• Ebert sends an e-mail about his surgeries and long recovery.
• Voice actor Tony Jay dies.
• William Dozier's heirs sue over rights to Batman series.
• The Jim Henson Company launches a podcast.
• Jane Krakowsi cast in Rachel Dratch's former role on 30 Rock.
• CBS to sumulcast Couric's Evening News on the web.
• USA to show lots of Law & Order.
• Little Richard to be a judge on Celebrity Duets.
• Elizabeth Vargas gives birth to a boy.
• YouTube to offer every music video ever created.
• Tony Kornheiser rips into WaPo colleague.
• Something big may happen on Lost this season.
• Justin Timberlake criticizes Taylor Hicks.
• The celebrity part of Celebrity Duets is announced.
• Bruno Kirby dead at 57.
• Lorne Michaels talks a new 30 Rock role for Dratch and a streamlined SNL.
• USA picks up pilot from Steve-O.
• Joe Buck named host of Fox NFL pre-game show.
• iPod users shut out of Fox's new download service.
• Networks torn on illegal downloads of fall pilots.
• The new cast of Dancing with the Stars announced.

Discussions

• Ricky Gervais reprises David Brent for Microsoft.
• Take a look at Cracked's favorite drug-fueled talk-show guests.
• Adam talks about the new book from Subway's Jared Fogle.
• Here is the video of Denis Miller ranting during a Red Sox game.
• What's your favorite part of Entourage?
• Is Hell's Kitchen fake, even for a reality show?
• Should network news be an hour long?
  

The Five

• Creepy puppets.
• What Bob would like to see on reality shows.
• My fall picks.
• Anna's fall picks.
• Annie's fall picks.
  

Opinions

• Will Paris hold the Guinness record for Most Overrated Celebrity? Adam hopes so.
• Adam talks about Tough Crowd.
• Chris thinks that local sports broadcasters should just concentrate on local sports.
• Bob rips into KCAL reporter for breaking news of a celebrity death to other celebs.
• Adam wonders if Elmo is killing Sesame Street.
• Anna wants Samantha Brown's job.
• Rich gives an early review of Fox's Vanished.
  

Retro Squad

• The X-Files: "Gender Bender"
• Sports Night: "Rebecca"
• Firefly: "The Message"
• The Simpsons: "Bart vs. Australia"
• Angel: "She"
• The Prisoner: "Hammer Into Anvil"
• Seinfeld: "The Suicide"
• The Office (BBC): Episode 12
• Buffy: "Prophecy Girl"
• Futurama: "Mars University"
  

Episode Reviews

• Monk: "Mr. Monk Gets a New Shrink"
• Stargate SG-1: "200"
• It's Always Sunny...: "Dennis and Dee Get a New Dad" (finale)
• Big Brother All-Stars: Elimination #6
• 30 Days: "New Age"
• Project Runway: "Waste Not, Want Not"
• Rock Star: Supernova: Week 7 Elimination
• Eureka: "Invincible"
• Rescue Me: "Twilight"
• Weeds: "Corn Snake"
• Kyle XY: "Memory Serves"
• Hell's Kitchen: Season Finale
• Entourage: "I Wanna be Sedated"

When I reported on the announcement that Joe Buck was to become the host to Fox NFL Sunday yesterday, I had an entire paragraph devoted to how it'll be a shame that the show's "meteorologist", Jillian Barberie, would have to bundle up if the show pulled into Green Bay in November. But I cut the whole thing when I realized her name was not on story about the change on FoxSports.com. I guessed that Barberie was no longer going to be with the show, but I wasn't quite sure.

Tom of the LA Daily News blog "Farther Off the Wall" was wondering, too, so he contacted Fox. A producer told him that Barberie's work on Good Day L.A. was going to make it hard for her to stick to the pre-game show's traveling schedule, and they didn't want her to work remotely because they'd lose the interaction she had with Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, and Jimmy Johnson. So Jillian's out. Too bad; she was annoying as hell, but so much nicer to look at than Johnson's toupee. But, good news everyone: we'll still get plenty of Frank Caliendo.

[via Deadspin]

When James Brown (no, not the "Sex Machine" James Brown... the other one) left Fox to become the new host of The NFL Today at CBS, Fox kept everyone in the dark about who was going to take his place as host of Fox NFL Sunday. They even made the mystery into an ad campaign. But the mystery is over: the network has named lead play-by-play man Joe Buck as the host of the pre-game show. Because Buck is still going to broadcast the games, though, the show will be on the road the entire year, originating from the stadium where Buck is supposed to be working that week. Curt Menefee will host the halftime and post-game shows.

Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News, who reported on the unconfirmed rumors yesterday, felt that Fox was making too safe of a move with Buck. According to Raissman, it was a perfect opportunity for Fox to develop someone new in the host role, someone who can evolve as he tries to corral Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, and Jimmy Johnson. I'm not quite sure about that argument; after all, for every Bob Costas that gets a chance to shine in the studio, there's two Brent Musburgers that make us want to throw things at the screen. Those aren't good odds, as far as I'm concerned.