Finke offers one explanation from a source in the show...

"One of the great things about Mad Men is the tradition that Matt has established of offering higher-level opportunities to staff, writers and artists in all of the various departments. From the beginning, Matt has fought to get people approved by the studio which almost always lobbied for him to hire more experienced people instead."

"We think [Kater's] done a great job, particularly for someone whose career has progressed so quickly. Now, however, Matt has reluctantly decided that their relationship has reached its full potential. She'll be missed, but the series has consistently benefited from the influx of new writer talent, and there's absolutely no doubt that Kater will continue to have unprecedented success in her career as she spreads her wings. She leaves Mad Men with our love and respect and a well-deserved Emmy."

...that's clearly in Weiner's camp. Maybe this is the truth! Or maybe she might as well have placed an email from the show's flack in exchange for a better scoop later on. But the truth can't be this simple. Finke—who exercises a Machiavellian hand over the comments in her posts—left it to her commenters to speculate. And by speculate, we mean, speak for her. And I imagine someone at AMC is asking Finke why she's not deleting comments like she normally does on issues she wants to control.

Let's look at some of the more interesting theories:

• Matthew Weiner had a strictly unprofessional relationship with her, or as the commenter put it:

  *cough*LETTERMAN*cough*

  Well, Gordon did have a very quick rise through the rankings of Mad Men. Again: started as Weiner's assistant. Became a writers' assistant. Weiner then let her co-write the last season finale with him, and now, she's a staff writer for the third season. Or was, until she got fired. Staff writing jobs are not easy to come by, obviously. Sure, it's topical. And maybe it's worth noting that this is the first show Weiner's ever been a showrunner on. I somehow doubt this theory. If something inappropriate took place, why would he fire her? Probability: unlikely.
  
  

• Jealousy Issues. Another commenter writes:

  There was a really weird moment during the acceptance where Matt kind of 'snatched' the Emmy from her...The photo gets at it but I remember it being uncomfortable to watch. I always [sic] trhought they worked with these relatively inexperienced people on this show primarily for financial reasons. Allows them to put as much money as possible up on the screen.

  I'm not sure I buy the "inexperienced writers" line so much as the one above: that Mad Men hires writers with low quotes because they can afford to do so by reputation, and allocate the money elsewhere on the show. Weiner's a notorious control freak, as evidenced by the show, obviously. Hollywood loves a young, hot writer, and Gordon's cute and staffed on a hit show. Maybe this made Weiner uncomfortable. Or maybe Gordon's ego from the win outgrew Weiner's ability to micromanage, which could've been marginally. Even so, another commenter draws a comparison to Peggy and Don Draper's relationship, noting that this could give a certain scene from earlier in the season more significance...

  One just goes balls to the wall:

  Anyone who believes this horseshit is completely naïve. Matt Weiner is the lowest of the low in our business. He is a egomaniac and the likelihood is that he was incensed that he had to share credit and let alone an Emmy with her. A lowly former writer's assistant. As far as he is concerned, he is solely responsible for the success of this show and no other writer, producer, director, actor, key grip have done anything to contribute to the show's success. For Pete's sake, he didn't even let Kater Gordon say a word when they got up on stage. It was her moment as well but Weiner made it ALL about him.

  Though egomaniacs are kind of par for the course, no?
  
  

• And another one just thinks Matt was unloading unnecessary cargo:

  The only episode she wrote by herself was "The Fog" and it was terrible. Looks like Matt got too excited and promoted her too quickly…

Update: Finke posted from a writer who supposedly knows by Weiner and Gordon, who insists there was no "Letterman" play involved. "She totally got the show and deserved the break she got. There was NOTHING illicit in her relationship with Matt." 'Figured. But Finke has yet to posit any theories...

[Photo via Mark J. Terrill/AP]

Why quibble? Because that's how much rival Hollywood webpreneur Sharon Waxman — who wouldn't mind pushing up the price of websites about the entertainment business — insists the deal is worth. In her story today about Penske's nabbing of magazine editor Bonnie Fuller to run HollywoodLife.com, Amy Kaufman writes at Waxman's The Wrap, "Last month, TheWrap reported that MMC purchased Nikki Finke's blog Deadline Hollywood Daily for a deal totalling $14 million."

Still, Finke is now pulling in one of the largest blogger — excuse us, news website editor — salaries around. And as Carr points out, Finke has her sharp elbowed, merciless, style that she's known for to thank for Penske's millions. One the big debates about Finke's is whether she is a hard-nosed reporter trying to keep Hollywood honest or a recluse ranting on the corner of Journalism and Vendetta?

We've had Nikki's digital spittle on our faces a number of times. And so have many others, like an editor at GQ for instance. This email from Nikki sent to the GQ is one of our is one of our favorite postcards from the stormy isle of Finke:

Subject: Re: LA story
Date: 8/17/2004 3:13:52 PM Pacific Daylight Time

From: Nikki Finke

To: XXXX

You think having an unnamed Hollywood agent talking about poaching unnamed clients is a "get"? I have 300 interviews with real live Hollywood agents ON THE RECORD talking all about stealing clients and naming names, dates, places, etc. not to mention a whole bunch of even juicier stuff. But do you people ever think to actually call me to do an article for you? Noooooooooooooooooooooo....

Because I'm not 24 years old...
Because I'm not making up stuff.

Because I don't live in New York.

Because I don't kiss up to the idiots who decide which stars magazines like GQ can and can't put on their covers.

Because I actually know something about Hollywood.

Here's a thought: Why not ask me to put together the juiciest Hollywood stories I know for your magazine. Oh, you're running late for lunch at Michael's?

How come I'm not surprised.

C'mon guys! Who wants to buy Nikki lunch? As a burgeoning chronicler of the entertainment scene, I have to tell you that judging from this highlight reel Nikki Finke is an absolute inspiration to me. She proves that you can be successful despite your tendency towards spleen venting tirades, outrageous public feuding, intolerable smugness, and overall an contemptuous personality. There's hope still!

Murray was apparently hired away just a couple of weeks ago from his private practice to keep Jackson healthy during his planned comeback tour. This indicates there was ongoing concern about the singer's heart; a medical finding of a heart attack would of course also point to likely heart disease. As AP puts it:

Heart attacks can indicate a long-term problem, such as heart disease. It would not necessarily rule out another factor, such as drug use, however.

Murray is said to have injected Jackson with his daily Demerol shot within an hour before the singer's death; Jackson family members reportedly believe the dosage was too high and caused his demise, despite the evidence his heart was already weak.

This is why Los Angeles police are eager to have a detailed conversation with the doctor, extending the brief interview he granted Thursday night. As of Friday evening, they still had not reached Murray.

The British tabloids, meanwhile, went into overdrive; the Mirror produced a lengthy report on Jackson's "final 24 hours in agony," which the singer entered in a "permanently medicated state, kept going by an increasingly dangerous mix of seven prescription drugs and vitamin shots."

When he came down from an artificial high, he came down hard and was being treated with various depressants to ease the crash...

Jackson complained of being ill Wednesday, the Mirror said, but later felt well enough to watch re-runs of his old performances in his rented mansion's theatre room and take notes on choreography ideas. The singer, who had trouble sleeping more than two hours straight, woke up the next morning "woozy and disoriented," according to the British tabloid. Then came the demerol shot, cardiac arrest and death.

One of Jackson's former producers has said the singer was surrounded by "charlatan doctors who were billing him thousands and thousands of dollars worth of drugs, vitamins." Murray, who left his Las Vegas practice only this month, is presumably preparing to show police he was not one of those "charlatans." Given Jackson's, err, complex condition prior to his arrival on the scene, that must be quite a task.

The New York Post ran a blind item last week detailing an actor on the brink: "Which actor is on hiatus due to a drug relapse? He claimed he needed time off because of the heartbreak of his public split, but he's actually headed to rehab."

A blog called Spielster put two and two together before Variety's announcement, as rumors had been floating around for a few days that the actor's involvement in Cartel and the gloomy-sounding Three Stooges was tenuous at best.

If he his having problems with his wife (and, really, when isn't he?) or doing too many drugs, now is a perfect time to lay low for a while. He's so awash in the Milky glow of the industry's respect that he really doesn't need to do anything right away to capitalize on a moment. No, people will wait around for him, as they have since Fast Times. Plus, the Three Stooges thing will likely be a disaster, so walking away could prove a wise decision.

Image via Getty

Carradine's ex-wife told Radaronline (naturally) that tying himself up was nothing new for the "kinky" Carradine:

Jensen told Radar that she'd often discover her husband nearly naked and bound at the wrists in their bedroom, or in front of the family fireplace.

But she also said that he did not tie himself up for autoerotic masturbation—just to "relax."

Of course, it's not so surprising that he didn't autoerotically masturbate in front of his wife, so her knowledge is probably limited. But just because a coroner rules that he died that way doesn't necessarily rule out the presence of someone else in the room with him—perhaps "secret societies of martial artists" out to do harm to the sensei. So the mystery of Carradine's death endures.

Altogether probably not the way he would have chosen to go out.

Now we know that there's all sorts of doctoring and prepping that goes on backstage with celebrities before they walk out on stage, so it's likely that Gwyneth or her assistant lathered up her legs good with lotion before she went out, but this was a little over the top. And as noted by blogger Soup, someone must have taken a towel to her in the second segment, as evidenced by the photo on the right in which she's lacking the blinding sheen she had in the first.

Naturally, we turned to Twitter to see what others were saying about all of this, and as of now it seems as though the "lard theory" seems to be taking root.





We just want to make more Goop jokes right now, but we suppose the title filled our quota, so we'll just let this one go.

UPDATE: Here's video of the greasy-leg segment in question.





Greasy Gwyneth photo via Soup
Tweet via Courtney Reimer's Twitter

Now, it'd be easy and cheap to make a bunch of "Jay Leno sucks" jokes here because the internet hates Jay Leno, mainly because he's liked by the olds and people who live in red states, and the internet collectively tends to shit on anything liked by the olds and people who live in red states, but the question begs to be pondered—-Why is there no outpouring of emotion for Jay Leno leaving as host of The Tonight Show? In a country that adores and worships it's television icons, here's a guy who has exhibited longevity and ratings dominance, and there just doesn't seem to be any palpable sense of loss anywhere in the culture for his stepping down, which is, well, sort of odd. Now, we have no statistical data to back that up, it's just a feeling, a strong hunch if you will, that we have deep down inside, but we're usually pretty good at gauging these sorts of things, and our gut is telling us that no one really gives a shit about Jay Leno leaving.

Think back to when Carson stepped down from The Tonight Show, or when Seinfeld or the Sopranos went off the air, or hell just think back to last week's finale of American Idol—-These were times when people felt true hurt, an actual sense of loss, over these people, characters and shows going away. I've been there and I know how these endings can feel almost as if a piece of your soul has been stolen away.

Now, we suppose an argument can be made for the fact that Leno's not really going away altogether. He is, after all, returning later in the year to host a new nightly show in the 10pm time slot, so it stands to reason that Jay Leno fans aren't weeping because he's not truly going away. But in response to that argument we would simply ask—-What about Conan?

When Conan O'Brien stepped down from his show earlier in the year, people were acting as if he was slowly dying, despite the fact that he was set to be back on the air in June as host of the Tonight Show. So why aren't people doing the same for Leno?

About a half hour ago, we went out to the 24 hour deli around the corner for a cup of coffee as our mind had begun to drift into a fog. On the walk to and from the deli, we were thinking about Jay Leno. We thought about how he seems like a super nice guy, like he'd make a great neighbor, someone you could trust your kid or your dog with if you had to in an emergency. Just an overall swell guy, especially for someone in Hollywood. We were beginning to almost feel guilty for not liking him more. We sort of found ourselves asking—-"What the fuck is wrong with you?! Why don't you like this guy more?" And then it hit us that this is exactly the reason no one is crying for Jay Leno.

You see, Jay Leno is sort of like a wife or a husband or a lover that you just sort of settle for. He's a serviceable, but utterly passionless flame. He's nice. Jay Leno is the nice guy. He's safe. And despite all the harping and preaching about how much we love nice people in America, we don't truly let ourselves get too emotionally involved with them. The rebels and the bitches are the ones that we fall for, in every possible way, and there is nothing rebellious or bitchy about Jay Leno, despite the fact that he collects hot rod cars and rides motorbikes, which sort of makes it even all the more pathetic that we're not crazy in love with him.

With all of that said, we're really looking forward to watching Leno's final show tonight, but not out of any sense of nostalgia or overwhelming love for Leno mind you. No, we're just so looking forward to seeing Conan as his guest for his final show. We get excited each time we see those promos with him running on the beach in his suit and we just can't wait for him to get back on the air regularly. You see, Conan, buried deep inside that outwardly geeky aura, is a rebel. And that's why millions of people just like us hold passionate feelings for him, something that just can't be said for Jay Leno.

UPDATE:Our friend Gabe at Videogum felt sorry for nobody loving Jay Leno and made a fan montage for him. It needed to be done.

Why Is Everyone Acting Like Conan Died? [Videogum]
Will No One Make Jay Leno a Ridiculous YouTube Fan Montage? [Videogum]

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]

A throwaway remark can never be just a throwaway remark for Aniston — not near the end of her high-stakes Uncool Press Tour 2008, and not even with a subject as seemingly harmless as baby food up for discussion. Closing out an anecdote recalling the layers of pureed liver that attracted the Marley dogs to her and Owen Wilson, the actress dares to suggest her golden epidermis has "had more baby-food slathered on it than..." We leave you with her ensuing cliffhanger, which we can only imagine is a reference to the more famously reproductive among us — not that we know anyone like that. Or maybe it's just a self-tanning jibe she thought better of at the last-minute. Anyone's guess; yours are welcome below. [Late Night with Conan O'Brien]

Update: here's Alice__K's theory from the comments: "My guess is that the original un-Photoshopped photo went to separate retouchers, one for print and one for web, probably because of a timing issue. The person who retouched the left photo kept the mole, changed the jawline, and made the colors warmer and more saturated. The person who retouched the photo on the right erased the mole, left the jaw alone, and used daylight colors."

This morning, we got a tip about a sighting of Banksy painting on the side of Thunder Jacksons in NYC. Bucky Turco went and took pictures of the work. Shortly afterwards, Gothamist and others proclaimed that the piece was in fact by Nick Walker(pictured)—another well known stencil artist from Bristol, England.

Well.

The piece at Thunder Jacksons is by Nick Walker. You can see the theme in his own photos on Flickr. Our own original tipster wrote in to say, "I stand corrected. It wasn't Banksy - it was Nick Walker...the pics of the artwork show a signature that happens to be Nick Walker's. Youtube has some videos of Nick Walker working and he is the guy who was at TJ's last night."

But, asked for more information, the same tipster added this: "While he was outside doing his stencil sombody asked if he was banksy and he said he was."

Nick Walker said he was Banksy. [This is also corroborated by Gawker commenter chickenjungle, a.k.a. Abbe Diaz, here. She says she was at Thunder Jacksons last night and heard Walker say the same thing]. With that in mind, allow us to quote liberally from Bucky Turco's just-posted item at Animal NY:

According to a waitress at the newly stenciled Thunder Jackson restaurant, who witnessed Banksy painting the wall last night, "the whole thing took him about 15 minutes." When asked if she was positive it was Banksy, she emphatically stated "yes," and then awkwardly added, "Banksy is Nick Walker, they are the same person. Oops, I don't think I was supposed to say that." When pressed on why Banksy would use different names, she spilled, "He uses that identity because of visa and passport issues." The waitress added that Banksy is going to make a big announcement about his identity but not while he's in town, "He has a whole master PR plan, but he's waiting till he leaves the country."

Wow. If true.

Walker is often described as a predecessor, friend, and/ or rival of Banksy, and has certainly benefited from Banksy's publicity himself. He told Bloomberg last month:

Walker said that he had got know Banksy in Bristol, western England, in the late 1990s when he was invited to be part of the ``Walls on Fire'' group of graffiti artists.

``We don't talk too much now,'' he said.

Now let's run through the case against this theory. It started with an unsolicited tip. It has only a handful of sources. Theoretically, any of them could be lying, exaggerating, or misinformed. But it's worth noting that none of them have any readily apparent reason for making any of this up. We'd be happy to hear some art experts weigh in on Nick Walker vs. Banksy from a technical angle; but the similarities in their styles are obvious and unmistakable.

So, smart people: is Nick Walker Banksy?

But, obviously, this raises some mind-melting questions: Who were these mysterious cavemen? Were they Geico's Cro-Magnons, bitter that their characters were being co-opted by primetime TV, having a little fun with passers-by? Were they auto-insurance-and-network-unaffiliated pranksters with a generous prosthetics budget, just trying to stir up trouble? (That one-episode-to-cancellation crack was harsh.) And more perplexing still: last night, another tipster sent in this photo showing cavemen who seem to match the description of the Gulch crew and a dude with a boom mic, claiming that they were "crashing the Ivy" around 1 p.m. yesterday (about an hour or so before the Gulch encounter), but that backdrop looks decidedly un-Ivy-like to us in its dinginess. Get out of our fucking heads, unevolved demons!

While we don't have any hard answers at the moment, only one thing is certain: We've just spent a lot of time thinking about how Cavemen, coming to ABC on Tuesdays nights this fall, has nothing to do with all that bizarre stuff we just wrote about. But we'll get to the bottom of this, we promise.

[Update: The mystery Cavemen were postivively identified outside The Ivy.]

• Previously: Stumbling Into ABC's Cavemen-On-The-Street Promo [Defamer]