Says Broadcasting & Cable:

The network will give Talkshow With Spike Feresten a six-week run of hour-long shows at 11 p.m. beginning Jan. 17. That is an upgrade both in length and time slot for the third-year show, which normally airs at midnight for 30 minutes.

But the tryout may carry bigger stakes for Feresten. The network wants to see if the host has the stuff to be part of a weeknight block if the network ever decides to re-enter that daypart.

“We're making a concerted effort to kick Spike to the next level,” says Fox Entertainment President Kevin Reilly. “He's growing to where he's breaking out in the digital world, and we want to see where that takes him.”

Fox is most heartened that Talkshow's Lil' O'Reilly character has broken out as a viral video semi-hit, even though the videos carry no Talkshow branding and we totally had no idea they came from this series until Broadcasting & Cable said so:

Fox is widely expected to make a strong play for Jay Leno after his contract expires, and insiders say Feresten could score the show after Leno's if the Tonight Show host can be lured into a late-night berth on the network. So how has Feresten managed to score such a vote of confidence despite low viewer awareness that his show even exists? Somehow, we think the fact that looks like he could be Fox head Kevin Reilly's younger brother doesn't hurt...

• Saturday late-night talker to get six-week trial in "MadTV" slot with eye on weeknight block [Broadcasting & Cable]

"It's true," said the highly-placed source. "We're finishing out the season, then we're done."

Fox had been experimenting with potential MADtv replacements over the last few years, though none of its hush-hush, taped pilots ever made it to series. We're hearing, though, that the network has currently decided to keep its other late-night offering, Talk Show with Spike Feresten. Developing!

• MADtv [Fox]

The Academy has the full, looong slate of nominees, naturally, but we've narrowed our interests down to 10 easy storylines for our own Emmy dramedy — conveniently outlined after the jump!

1. Mad Men joined Damages as the first basic-cable programs to earn a nomination for best dramatic series. Its 15 other nods led the pack among all nominated dramas, while 30 Rock led all shows with 17 noms.

2. For the last time (literally), the Academy has snubbed The Wire for a dramatic series nomination. Critics at the TCA press tour will be symbolically immolating themselves by lunchtime.

3. In other snubs, FX is wondering this morning who it has to blow to get Denis Leary, Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver back on the list after nominations in 2007. Hint: It might be a bribe-friendly exec at AMC, which scored a kind-of-stunning two dramatic actor nods this year.

4. Silverman, Emmy Darling (Part 1): "I'm Fucking Matt Damon" was nominated for Outstanding Original Music And Lyrics. Silverman's competition is Flight of the Conchords and MADtv. As such, it bears saying aloud: " 'I'm Fucking Matt Damon' is going to win an Emmy."

5. Sarah Silverman, Emmy Darling (Part 2): Denied an actress nod for her own show, she earned a guest actress nomination for her turn as Marci Maven on Monk.

6. Amy Poehler's supporting-actress nod for Saturday Night Live is the first for an SNL actress since Gilda Radner and Jane Curtin were each nominated in 1978. Radner won.

7. There's apparently a formula for earning a few dozen Emmy noms: Just make a loooong historical epic like HBO's John Adams, which pulled in 23 mentions including outstanding miniseries — as Variety notes, the third consecutive year a period miniseries has drawn the year's biggest haul. Awards-bait film stars like Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney — both nominated as well — can't hurt either.

8. Come to think of it, film actresses on cable dominated dramatic categories in general, with four Oscar winners (including Susan Sarandon and Holly Hunter) and three Oscar nominees (Linney, Catherine Keener and Glenn Close) among the ten performers recognized. We presume Sally Field got Katherine Heigl's spot.

9. Speaking of whom, we're guessing ABC had higher hopes for Grey's Anatomy than two supporting-actress nominations and "Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup For A Series, Miniseries, Movie Or A Special."

10. If we must split up the reality and reality-competition categories, surely the Academy can find a way to further separate things like A&E's grueling Intervention from trifles like Extreme Makeover Home Edition and Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List. Really.

• The 60th Annual Emmy Award Nominations [Academy of TV Arts & Sciences]