The special sponsorship with Subway is enabling NBC to bring back the series, executives said, in a deal they described as made possible by a decision to go to advertisers earlier than usual in what NBC called the "infront," to ask for ideas about interweaving brands into shows.

You read that correctly: the fucking Subway product placement is enabling this show to be on TV, period. All the other stuff in there is just extra low fat mayo. How hardcore is NBC willing to get here? Hardcore to the bone:

"Chuck" appealed to Subway for reasons that included its audience, which is mostly the type of younger consumer that buys a lot of subs at malls. The show takes place in a mall, and Chuck's girlfriend, Sarah, is a C.I.A. agent who works under cover at various stands in the food court.

It is no great leap to believe she could be selling Subway sandwiches next season. An NBC executive said discussions have been under way about the specifics of the tie-in.

We hope you're very happy about the success of your "Buy a Subway Sandwich to Save NBC's 'Chuck!'" campaign now. Sandwich whores.
[NYT]

Yes, one ball wonder Lance Armstrong is discovering the benefits to following his pony around, namely in the form of residuals. While Hudson made some attempt to gussy up for the new-ish couple's lunch with Goldie, the bicyclist and sometimes-cameo artist threw on an old t-shirt and couldn't be bothered to shave his beard, leaving him looking like flip flop-less Matthew McConaughey's understudy in Fool's Gold. Which is a look that only works when you're elbow-deep in garbage and tears. And when you're Matthew McConaughey.

[Photo credit: Splash]

• KATE AND LANCE HAVE A BEACHSIDE LUNCH WITH GOLDIE HAWN [People]

In '99, it was revealed that the paper's magazine had come up with a plan to share the revenue from a special (flattering) issue about the city's Staples Center with the Staples Center, in exchange for advertising help. Which, needless to say, was a breach of the storied Chinese wall between the editorial and business sides. There was a huge uproar! Some quotes from the time:

"Something this blatant, this bizarre, something that is just so compromising - this was a monumental error," said Stanford journalism professor William Woo...

"The whole tone is, "How can I believe what I read now?' " [Times columnist Patt] Morrison said. "That hurts. Reporters don't pass bar exams; we don't get board-certified like doctors. We're hanging our asses out there everyday. For all of us, this is 10 or 20 or 30 years of our lives put in jeopardy to add another 3 cents to somebody's dividends per share."

Will there be a huge public uproar this time around? No! Because everybody in the newspaper industry knows that their business model is dying. And while they might not like it, they'll grumble quietly, or just go ahead and retire. Because we're far past the days when complaining about jaw-dropping things like this would do any good.

As explained in this email blast sent to Defamer HQ, the rationale for the campaign is as follows: "We've all done things that in hindsight, we should have known better about. Celebrities, more than anyone, wish they could make their bloopers and blunders disappear. Well, two high-profile names are now fessing up to their mistakes! Gary Coleman and Dustin Diamond now know better and are admitting their faux-pas to the world in online video confessionals." Um, okay? Other than the fact that this graf contains the phrase "now know better" (the new slogan for I.C.B.I.N.B), we still don't know what any of this has to do with butter-substitute. While we understood and applauded your casting of Fabio as your former pitchman (even to this day, he remains the gold standard and go-to-guy when you want to visually represent the abstract concept of escapist housewife fantasies), it's hard to think of a worse pitchman for a product that is primarily sold to weight-conscious women than a scat-obsessed misogynist. Next time, why not just hire O.J. Simpson and Scott Peterson and call it a day?

• Dustin Diamond confesses & admits that Now He Knows Better! [YouTube]