An Idiot Abroad - Friday November 25, 10PM ET, Discovery

If you've missed the latest collaboration between Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, this is the perfect chance to get on board. Ricky (recently confirmed to return to host the Golden Globes) and Stephen send their sad sack friend Karl Pilkington out to see the world and make fun of him mercilessly as he whines and complains his way around some of the most incredible locales on our planet.

It sounds mean, and it is. But you'll only feel sorry for poor Karl -- who'd be happier at home in his flat with a cup of tea -- for a few minutes. then you'll be laughing too hard to care. This week, Karl takes the legendary Trans-Siberian Express train into China. Fans may remember Karl's feelings about the Great Wall from last season. He was, shall we say, unimpressed.

When 'Harry's Law' returns to NBC for a second season (yep, that's happening), it'll be missing two of its young stars.

According to TVLine, Brittany Snow and Aml Ameen have left the show as series regulars in what is reported as a "mutual decision." The two may guest star during the second season.

'Harry's Law' stars Kathy Bates as Harriet "Harry" Korn, a patent legal eagle turned defense attorney. The dramedy comes from David E. Kelley, so you know there's a quirk: Harry operates out of an old shoe store.

'American Dreams' veteran Snow played Jenna, Harry's secretary. Ameen, known for the UK series 'The Bill,' played Malcolm, a client-turned-paralegal.

In other casting news ...

Jon Stewart probably intended to conduct a typical interview with Ricky Gervais, asking solid questions and exchanging the occasional quip. But the host of 'The Daily Show' (weeknights, 11PM ET on COM) couldn't keep things simple with the comedian.

When Stewart remarked that his audience members have "vertebrae" (as opposed to saying "spine" or backbone"), Gervais called the late-night program "the cleverest show ever. It is. Until Stephen Hawking gets his own chat show," referring to the famous British physicist, who must use a voice synthesizer to speak.

Stewart put his head in his hands, perhaps unsure how to respond to a joke about the severely disabled scientist. The host began to laugh and turned away to compose himself. Stewart then countered with, "I was just imagining also, how Jay Leno would figure out how to f--- him over." This, in turn, got Gervais laughing.

"The Grand Design," a new book from physicists Stephen Hawking and Leonard Moldinow, has gotten a lot of buzz for its argument that God is not required in the formation of the universe.

Moldinow was on "Countdown With Keith Olbermann" (weekdays, 8 PM ET on MSNBC) and he laid out the book's thesis:

"The book is about two main questions: where did the universes come from and why are the laws of nature what they are?" Moldinow explained. "And we give scientific answers to these questions, and from those answers we conclude that God is not necessary for either of those."

"That's all we say, we don't pretend to prove that there is no God ... we don't even say God didn't create the universe. We just say that God is not necessary as an answer to those questions."

You might think Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic of 'Mike and Mike in the Morning' (weekdays, 6AM ET on ESPN2) would be unlikely experts on Stephen Hawking's theories ... and you'd be right.

We had no idea Stephen Colbert felt so strongly about the subject of aliens. On 'The Colbert Report' (weeknights, 11:30PM ET on Comedy Central), Colbert criticized astrophysicist Stephen Hawking for imagining that contact with aliens could go as poorly for humans as the discovery of America went for Native Americans.

"Personally, I look forward to a future after the aliens have conquered us when, on baseball's Opening Day, the Cleveland Humans take the field," Colbert said, then debuting a mascot for the fictional team which looks suspiciously like himself. "Stephen Hawking is such an a-hole."

Watch the video after the jump.

A host can make or break an entire episode of 'Saturday Night Live.' In fact, the mere presence of some celebrities like Chevy Chase, Milton Berle and Frank Zappa have turned their slice of Saturday late night into the lowest moments of "Must-Miss TV."

However, things are looking good this season. A preliminary list of hosts includes Oscar nominated actress Gabourey Sidibe, former 'SNL'er and '30 Rock' star Tina Fey and 'Golden Girl' actress and new found Internet champion Betty White.

However, some pop culture icons, nay legends, will never get to prove their celebrity power by hosting this comedy powerhouse simply because they never got an invitation, the show wasn't around in their time or they physically couldn't go to the studio. These hosts would have made for the best shows if the laws of time and space went on a week-long coffee break.

I don't know where this "Autotuning" came from, but I like it. Sometimes it seems forced, but other times it's so spot on that it actually creates a good song and not just a goofy, funny curio.

The latest is from the PBS TV show Cosmos, something I really enjoyed years ago, and features Carl Sagan (with a cameo by another famous scientist and author). This is really well done, sort of techno meets progressive rock. I love how it's not just stringing his words together, but there's actually a chorus.

Here's one for Billy Mays.

(S01E01) I thought I had a good idea of what to expect going into this short series. I caught all of Showtime's Masters of Horror series, though its first season was terribly disappointing when you think of what you'd expect from the directors chosen. Masters of Science Fiction doesn't necessarily focus on the directors, basing the "master" part of the title on, well, anything that makes it a science fiction story. I'm not sure how I feel about that.

This poll in the UK edition of Esquire isn't too much of a surprise I guess. I can understand why chef and TV host Gordon Ramsay is the most admired guy, especially in a popular, "of the moment" sort of way. But what I find funny is that he beat scientist and author Stephen Hawking, a man that has literally changed the way we look at space, time, and the universe.

Other people on the list after Ramsay (17%) and Hawking (14%) are Ray Mears (a TV survival expert - probably unknown to many of us here in the U.S.), who got 11% of the vote, new James Bond Daniel Craig, who also got 11%, and comedian/writer Ricky Gervais, who somehow only got 9% of the vote.

The new season of Hell's Kitchen, the U.S. show that Ramsay hosts, starts on FOX, June 4 at 9pm.

[via TV Tattle]

Could Stephen Hawking and David Hasselhoff be the modern-day odd couple? David, with his looks and awkward charm and Stephen with his theoretical physics could make an interesting duo. Alas, we'll never know. The producers of Celebrity Big Brother have reportedly asked Hawking to be on the Celebrity edition of the show, which starts next month. While Hawking got a kick out of the invitation, he's probably going to say 'no'. That guy has street smarts, too!

Producers are keeping tight-lipped about the celebrities lined up for the next Big Brother, but tabloids are reporting that David Hasselhoff, Adam Ant, and Jeffrey Archer have signed on.

ABC certainly doesn't seem to be making the same mistakes as it did early this century when it relied on only one show (Who Wants to be a Millionaire) to carry its entire programming schedule. In other words, it's not counting on the successes of Lost, Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy to carry the the whole network. So, only does it have a full slate of new series to try out on the public, but it is also experimenting with a few concepts that haven't been seen in awhile.

One of these is a new anthology series named Masters of Science Fiction. Created by IDT Entertainment, the same people who gave us Showtime's Masters of Horror, the six episode series will feature adaptations of stories from acclaimed science fiction writers such as Harlan Ellison, Robert Heinlein and Robert Sheckley. Each episode will be introduced by physicist, author, and recurring actor on The Simpsons Stephen Hawking.

A number of actors from current and new ABC series will be cast in this anthology. This includes Anne Heche from the upcoming series Men in Trees, Terry O'Quinn from Lost, and Desperate Housewives' James Denton. Also appearing will be Sam Waterson (Law & Order), Elisabeth Rohm (Angel), Sean Astin (Lord of the Rings), and Macolm McDowell.