The fact that D.L. Hughley got a CNN talk show was just mystifying from day one. And he didn't surprise the world with his hidden news acumen. The fact that David Alan Grier got to host what was billed as the black Daily Show was...at least enough to make everyone feel a vague sense of hope, for a few minutes, until the show aired. Turns out it was unoriginal and unfunny. Oh well! David Alan Grier was pretty funny on In Living Color but not so much since, so maybe they should have picked someone actually funny to host this show, Chocolate News, and perhaps CNN could have searched far and wide and eventually located a black person with slightly more journalistic chops than standup comedian D.L. Hughley. They are rumored to exist in the far-flung corners of our land!

Giving shows to people who aren't good is the real conspiracy.

Last week Tina Fey herself said that there was no product placement deal involved in this. And today, Ad Age did some "reporting" and, according to both McDonald's and NBC, that's right, this was no paid product placement deal; 30 Rock writers just love the McFlurry that much:

As it turns out, the McDonald's inclusion was really part of the script; McDonald's didn't pay for it, said Jennifer Lane Landolt, director-entertainment alliances for McDonald's. NBC's ad-sales department was also made aware of the inclusion, according to an NBC spokeswoman.

"30 Rock" approached executives from the restaurant chain in advance, asking if they could make use of a McDonald's restaurant for filming purposes, she said. McDonald's executives examined the script and found nothing in it that portrayed the company and its restaurants in a bad light, Ms. Lane Landolt said. "If we felt that something disparaged the brand, we would have pushed back on what they did, but no, we didn't make any changes," she said. The episode was shot in a restaurant operated by an independent New York City franchisee, who was paid for the time his store was closed. The McDonald's ad that ran during the show was "part of our traditional media buy," said Ms. Lane Landolt; no advertising was moved around specifically to be near the "30 Rock" episode.

There you have it: this was a totally organic thing. I have no factual basis whatsoever to say, "Bullshit, they're obviously cuddling up to advertisers during a recession, this is all semantics, they'll get their money on the back end." [Ad Age]

Or maybe by the network, fearing the overindulgence of cursing, bleeped or not. Or maybe even by Samberg himself, fearing some Emanuelian turnabout for casting the Illinois representative as the boorish lout who would "strip [Joe Lieberman] naked and make yhttp://publish.gawker.com/ged/newou walk your McCain-loving-ass back to Connecticut, you fucking turncoat." We'll likely never really know why the sketch was killed, but we favor the latter scenario, just for the potential for Emanuel to threaten to "crack that big fucking nose of his" while teasing an SNL guest appearance in the weeks ahead.

• 'Saturday Night Live' [NBC]

E! saw through the stunt, blowing a golden opportunity to welcome Miley's ghost to last night's Daily 10. Instead, host Michael Yo gave the whole game away from the start, prompting a gaping incredulity that Miley's BFF Mandy soon mitigated with her urgent MySpace update: "MILEY IS OK!! Some1 hacked our youtube account." Miley is naturally shocked, and the search is on to track down the culprit, despite investigators' lengthening list of suspects with both opportunity and motive. We'd look closely at Disney ourselves; Bolt can't rocket to number one this weekend on John Travolta's goateed charm alone.

• 'Daily 10' [E!]

"I have to clear my name," a determined Washington told the Houston Chronicle in a telephone interview from the set of his new movie, The Least of These. "I'll start from the beginning. I'm telling everything. So here's the truth."

Washington said Knight, who plays Dr. George O'Malley, stirred up the notion that the slur was targeted at him and created a negative work environment. Washington also alleged that Knight likely wanted a salary increase and a more substantive role for his character.

Knight, who acknowledged that he was gay after the incident, told Ellen DeGeneres in January that Washington used the slur against him and that "everyone (on the set) heard it."

"That's a lie," Washington said. "I used the word during a disagreement with Patrick. I apologized for that. We shook hands and went back to work."

He said he is considering a lawsuit. "My livelihood, my honor and dignity and my name have been so challenged." [...]

"I was not fired for making homophobic slurs," he said. "I did everything I said I would do. I offered to go to counseling, to do a public service announcement. I wanted everyone to know I was remorseful."

If the assertions are true, it paints the affable Dr. George O'Malley—and the pudgy-cheeked, Labrador-toting actor who portrays him—in a sinister new light. A vengeful Washington, meanwhile, will surely only continue to ramp up his countermeasures, and we imagine it won't be long before he unveils a crucial piece of evidence on an upcoming, equal-time Ellen appearance: blurry cell phone video of the actual McChokedown taken by an opportunistic P.A, and showing Knight's eyeballs turning into actual dollar signs just moments after the pink F-bomb was dropped.

• Grey's star says they fired the wrong guy [Chron.com]