There has long been tension between the White House and the networks, who don't like having their excruciatingly calibrated schedules torn up by politicians for political purposes. So when Obama scheduled a press conference to discuss his health care proposals for 9 p.m. tomorrow night, which would seriously screw up the networks' plans, the networks led by last-place NBC balked, obliging Obama to move it to 8 o'clock. And Fox, like they did for Obama's last primetime presser, just told the White House to fuck off, but that's a different story.

In any case, in describing the programming scramble caused by the press conference, The Hollywood Reporter pretty much sums up why no one watches broadcast TV any more:

The stakes were particularly high for NBC, which airs the most-watched show of the summer, "America's Got Talent," at 9 p.m. This week, the reality hit includes a heavily promoted interview with "Britain's Got Talent" singing sensation Susan Boyle.... ABC News often has the highest-rated coverage of Obama's primetime events and ABC was leaning toward carrying the conference all day. In one respect, the shift to 8 p.m. could make their night more tricky. ABC's highest-rated reality show, "Wipeout," will be pushed to 9 p.m. to face "America's Got Talent" along with "So You Think You Can Dance," with "I Survived a Japanese Game Show" moved to 10 p.m. The ABC News special "Over a Barrel: The Truth About Oil," originally slated for 10 p.m. Wednesday, will air Friday as a special edition of "20/20."

Fox airs its top-rated two-hour "So You Think You Can Dance" on Wednesday nights and will direct viewers to Fox News for the news conference.

That's right, television executives were willing to face down the White House over Susan Boyle and retreads of Japanese game shows where people bathe in squids and razor blades. The last time this happened, when George W. Bush scheduled a presser on the first day of May sweeps in 2005, they forced him to change the start time over CSI, Will & Grace, and The O.C. That's how far they've fallen. In their defense, summer has become the traditional time for vile reality TV. But the fact that NBC essentially told Barack Obama, "We are not going to take your press conference at 9 p.m. because we have to air a deranged foreign lady and amateur vocalist" is a good measure of just how desperate they are.

The solution of course, is to just break up the press conferences with ad slots. It's an engaged, Tivo-proof audience, and there are dozens of brands out there that would love to be associated with Obama. Back in February, his 8 p.m. presser netted NBC 9.75 million viewers—2 million more than stuck around for Heroes an hour later.

Goodspeed's MySpace page, meanwhile, was a shrine to all things Idol and Abdul—whom she captions in one photo as her "secret crush, shhhhh." She also blogged about the humiliation of appearing on the show, saying she had trouble coping with the "awful things" said about her, "just because I made the mistake of trying out for a singing competition before I was even ready vocally, emotionally and physically."

TMZ reports Goodspeed had been spotted frequently outside Abdul's over the past few weeks, sitting in her car in the early mornings. Neighbors assumed she was a paparazzo.

• Paula Goodspeed - Proud Mary! [AOL]

• America's Next Top Model [The CW]

[American Artist] has been described by the Elves team of Dan Cutforth and Jane Lipsitz as a "Project Runway"-style competition series that takes on the art world.

Aspiring artists compete to produce various styles of artwork (painting, sculpting, etc.), which is then judged by a panel of experts.

We know what it is you're going to say: That something as subjective and pure of intention as art needn't be sullied by commercialism and voyeuristic opportunism. But as anyone who's ever blown a CalArts MFA prof to get their plasticine horse-busts into a Culver City new artists' exhibit already knows, the art world is as crassly trade-driven as any L.A.-based industry. Why not, then, use the power of cable to launch the next art world star, who'll emerge from a pack of hot tranny collaging messes to nab a handsome spread in Artforum, $100,000 to get their art business off the ground, and, best of all, the title of Top Art Fag?

• Sarah Jessica Parker lands show at Bravo [THR]