The show is supposed to explore race relations by the trials and tribulations of the cavemen characters, but some critics say all the "Cavemen" stereotypes—athleticism, sexually prowess, laziness, etc.—remind them of one race's stereotypes in particular. Critics ask the panel if "Cavemen" is actually a show about African Americans.

"We never saw them as a stand in for any one group," says executive producer Josh Gordon.

"It's something we're aware is an issue," added executive producer Mike Schiff, "but it's our job to make sure it doesn't come off that way."

The critics are skeptical. The panel consists of eight white men. Soon the producers are defensively rattling off the ethnicities of various crew members.

"There's three African American directors..."

"And a Latina..."

After several questions on the topic, Schiff suddenly slams the breaks on the entire "'Cavemen' as metaphor for race relations" premise that ABC has touted since first announcing the show; a premise McPherson upheld during his executive session just a couple hours ago.

"Is the show about race relations? No," Schiff says. "Is that a background? Yes. But it's not the driving force."

Although the producers' "some of my best crew members are members of various ethnic groups" defense was certainly clumsy, we think it's fair to ascribe their confusion about the sitcom's "driving force" to the creative growing pains endemic to any fledgling project. We're sure by the time Cavemen rolls into its award-winning, critically acclaimed third season, it will no longer be a series about Neanderthals who seem to struggle against the stereotypes of one race, but will have evolved into a show about people in silly makeup.

• 'Cavemen' About Race, Just Not the One You're Thinking Of [TV Week]

Silverman told reporters at his July 16 session with the Television Critics Association that he had begun talking with Washington "before he became available" and said he was shocked when ABC decided to let him go. "When he told me he was available I was like, 'You are? Wait, I don't understand. What do you mean? You're a huge star on a star television show.'" he said. "I don't quite understand what had gone on there."

McPherson told reporters Thursday after his TCA session that "if (Silverman) was in fact talking to him before he was available, that's inducement to breach. So I don't know, he's either clueless or stupid."

As to Silverman saying he didn't understand the circumstances surrounding the firing of Washington, McPherson said: "Was he living in a cave?"

While we'd normally take that cue to segue into a discussion of today's Cavemen panel (more on that later), we still have the matter of McPherson's questioning of Silverman's manhood over his handling of Kevin Reilly's firing, as reported by THR:

Talking with reporters after ABC's opening session during the Television Critics Assn.'s summer press tour, McPherson accused Silverman of being evasive at an NBC press conference last week relating to the dismissal of Reilly on the heels of Silverman joining NBC Universal. Known to be a close friend of Reilly's, McPherson quoted Silverman's comment "I just got here" and challenged him to address the issue. "Be a man," McPherson said of Silverman.

McPherson suggested Silverman owed the success of his former production company, Reveille, to Reilly, who pushed for the Silverman-produced series "The Office" to remain on the air despite initial weak ratings. "He in essence made Reveille," McPherson said of Reilly.

McPherson made it known he thought NBC Uni treated Reilly poorly in terms of his dismissal. "When you see a friend treated the way he was treated, you're going to stand up for him," he said.

Reached on his European vacation via his ubiquitous Blackberry to respond to McPherson's potentially feud-igniting remarks, Silverman was somewhat nonplussed, but typically optimistic that the hubbub would blow over quickly, writing: "Steve? Mad? At me? Over I-Wash and the K-Man? For real? Steve's my dog! We have Ugly Betty together! When I get back to L.A., me and Stevester are gonna sit down at the Chateau and throw back some shots, and by the end of the night, we'll have a groundbreaking three-season deal to cross-promote the shit out of Heroes and Lost. Oh, and Seacrest says hi! LOL! See you back in La-la land, lovers! xoxox Ben."

• ABC Exec Calls NBC "Clueless or Stupid" About Isaiah [TVGuide.com]
• TCA: ABC's McPherson defends Reilly [THR]

Silverman checks out the presentation ballroom, where he says he'll shortly announce a celebrity edition of "The Apprentice." The celebrities will play for charity, 13 episodes have been ordered for midseason (only 13, he explains, to keep the time-commitment demands modest for the celebrities, but surely the show's middling performance last season likely plays a factor too).

Silverman said he approached producer Mark Burnett and star Donald Trump with the idea. Trump immediately embraced it, though Burnett was tad reluctant. The producer has avoiding doing celebrity editions of his key shows in the past, but Silverman convinced him that "now is the time."

As for which celebrities will participate, Silverman said one of the first calls he made was to the staff of "The Office," which he produces. The idea of actors who play office workers on TV competing with business tasks in real life had its appeal.

While the more cynical among us might suspect that Silverman's "now is the time" pitch involved hourly deliveries of burlap sacks full of reluctance-easing cash to Burnett's office, we're inclined to believe that Trump's genuine enthusiasm for this not-at-all-desperate twist on the Apprentice formula was the deciding factor in the series' return. Even though it seemed clear during the show's flagging Los Angeles season that the billionaire host was no longer becoming aroused by his once-stimulating termination games, Trump is confident that the opportunity to publicly humiliate America Ferrara, already suffering through the indignity of being blackmailed into participation by old Ugly Betty boss Silverman, will restore his legendary boardroom potency.

• Silverman: NBC Ordering Celebrity Edition of 'Apprentice' [TVWeek.com]
• Previously: Presenting Trump Chairs [Defamer]

"I've never been drunk," she said. "I'm not under the influence of anything." Referring to her tenure as a judge on "American Idol," she added, "The first five years no one said anything about how I behaved or how I talked."

If we're to take Abdul at her word (and, really, why shouldn't we? She's on the most popular show on TV!), we have to assume that the apparent erasing from her memory of last season's "one of them ate pizza and one of them ate salad/the melon and the moth" and "irrational fear of spontaneously sprouting male genitalia" incidents is some kind of subconscious coping mechanism meant to protect her from the painful persecution of a year ago, and not a pharmaceutical-induced retrograde amnesia that's so thoroughly wiped out her recollection of past Idol installments that she can no longer remember how Clay Aiken became famous.

• 'Idol' Judge Says She's Healthy and Sober [NY Times]

This week's TCA press tour events have already provided us with so many memorable moments, from ABC's Steve McPherson's enthusiasm for bumping off Michelle Rodriguez to NBC's Kevin Reilly's mental coping strategies for dealing with his Idol problem to Aaron Sorkin's disdain for the opinions of the unemployed, that to add still more to the already lengthy highlight reel feels greedy. But a panel earlier today for The CW's The Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search For the Next Doll, the fledgling network's attempt to empower a new generation of feminists to nurture their inner, "Don't Cha"-inspired freaks on national television, easily cracks our crowded TCA best-of list, as frustrated executive producer McG (you know him better as the visionary behind the Charlie's Angels films) eagerly debated the assembled critics on the up-with-skanks virtues of his forthcoming series. Reports the Critical Eye blog:

"Not everything is going to solve the crisis in the Middle East," he says, almost certainly not for the first time in his career. "Sometimes you want to have some fun ... and women celebrating one another being beautiful, and, frankly, being appreciated by me, has been around for a long time. Under no circumstances is it shameful. And there's even a position to take that this is, frankly, third-wave feminism. You know what I mean?"

The critics don't know what he means.

One middle-aged critic asks how lyrics like, "Don't you wish you were a freak like me?" celebrates women.

"You must understand the fundamental paradox of a gentleman of your age demo asking that very question," McG says. "I don't know if you two-way your friends on your Sidekick ... It's just saying, 'Don't you wish your girlfriend could be free and comfortable in her own skin and do her own thing like me?' That's what we're saying."

In the interest of helping to settle this generational impasse over the meaning of the word "freak," we turn to Urban Dictionary, pop culture's up-to-the-minute lexicon, which defines the term alternately as "a person who likes to do kinky shit in bed or have sex a lot" and "a girl most likely that likes to act all innocent then she has sex with you and she is real freaky or kinky, she likes to have sex alot and do weird stuff." If this non-two-way-Sidekicking relic from a demographically undesirable audience segment can't see how the unabashed, televised pursuit of freakdom celebrates women, The CW isn't the least bit interested in his viewership.

• McG vs. Critics: Aspirational or Skanks? [Critical Eye]

We got to see how it weathers over the course of the year," he says. "Not to be shitty about it, but maybe they'll have a bad run. Nothing burns that bright forever. Some day it will be uncool to watch 'American Idol.'"

Indeed, all competitive shittiness aside, there probably will be a time when Idol's rival-incinerating supernova will burn at a lower temperature; unfortunately for the other networks, in middle of this stetch of total, Simon Cowell-led dominance, it feels like that day will coincide with the extinguishing of our Sun. And in those final eight minutes before the final ray of life-giving warmth provided by our burned-out star arrives and all goes dark, NBC will finally make its big programming move.

• Kevin Reilly, Feeling the Love [Critical Eye]

So off he went, noting, not a little angrily, that the LA Times had in the space of four months run three separate articles about his show, all of them stating, re-stating and then re-re-stating the idea that some people on the Internet aren't fond of "Studio 60." The most recent story, he continued, also claimed that comedy writers don't like the show, either. And though it quoted a few members of a local comedy troupe called Employees of the Month, it failed to mention that the show had recently scored two nominations for Writer's Guild awards. Those are working, professional writers, Sorkin seethed. "And the writers she quoted were all, you'll notice, unemployed."

This was great. Sorkin was totally throwing down. And he wasn't finished!

"This was nonsense," he went on. "The Los Angeles Times should be ashamed of itself!"

Sing it, brother! And he wasn't done! Next Sorkin ridiculed the whole idea that bloggers — many of whom come from parts unknown, bearing grudges, perhaps, and not always a reliable sense of who they are and what they're really after — be taken more seriously in the mainstream media than any random josephine walking down Main Street. "An enormous rise in amateurism," Sorkin said of the blogosphere. "And everyone's voice oughtn't be equal."

While his Employee of the Month critic does, in fact, have a job, Sorkin is right on his larger, more loudly made point: The opinions of the "working, professional" writers who nominated him for those awards should certainly be weighed more heavily than those of the Starbucks-haunting know-nothings not talented enough to maintain an employment level that would qualify them for full WGA health benefits; after all, anybody in this town with something worthwhile to say is already running his own TV series or doing uncredited punch-up on a Will Ferrell movie. And let's not get started on the bloggers, whom the internets hand a megaphone with which to shout their uninformed, poorly thought through feelings about Sorkin's work in between incremental updates about their cat's harrowing battle with feline diabetes, yelps too often picked up by the lazy, indiscriminate mainstream media. As we're currently stitching into a pillow to remind ourselves about the deleterious effects of unchecked amateurism on civilized discourse, "Everyone's voice oughtn't be equal."

• Field Notes: Part le deux [OregonLive.com]

Cuse: "We went to Steve McPherson last season and said, 'Okay, one of our main characters, Michael, is going to kill two of our other main characters.'

Lindelof: "And they were all: 'As long as one of them is Michele Rodriguez.'"

It's a truly special moment when both showrunners and their network boss can so easily find some common creative ground; we imagine hearty laughs and enthusiastic high-fives were exchanged on both sides when McPherson then requested, "Can you make sure it's a clear head-shot—hell, let's make it four clear head-shots—so that everyone will know that she's really not coming back, and that it's not one of those 'the evil island is just mindfucking us with wishful thinking again' things you always do?"

• 'Emergency' Solution [Critical Eye]

Having a new series draw critical praise and high ratings is ideal, he said, but if he had to choose, at the end of the day the man wants a hit.

The "Dirt" premiere was the second highest-rated debut in FX's history, mainly due to Cox's star wattage, but its tough to believe the viewership will hold. Landgraf said he expects the second episode to drop in the ratings as well, and possibly the third episode as well.

One point of criticism Landgraf conceded is that "Dirt" lacks a sense of humor about itself. That was one of his notes too, he said, and starting at about the fifth episode, the show significantly improves.

"I really love the show from about midway through the season on," he said. "Whether the audience sticks around that long, we'll see."

Addressing the note about the troubling self-seriousness of a show about celebrity gossip, the president promised that critics who make it to Episode Five would be pleased by a recalibration of Dirt's attitude, when Courtney Cox's take-no-famous-prisoner's tabloid editor hilariously "catches" schizophrenia from her mentally ill photographer, kicking off a running gag where she hallucinates that her vibrator comes to life each time she fires it up, becoming a wisecracking sidekick with whom she can dish about Jennifer Aniston's love life.

• The 'Dirt' Panel [Critical Eye]
• Previously: Defamer TV Preview: 'Dirt' [Defamer]

Calling TV "a terrifically influential part of this country," Sorkin said mean-spirited and voyeuristic programming is like "bad crack in the school yard."

Immediately Sorkin had regrets on his choice of words—probably related to his very public past struggles with illicit pharmaceuticals.

"Why did I use that word?" he asked.

After the first wave of tittering from the assembled press subsided, a bemused Sorkin shrugged before continuing, "Now, I know that it's pretty funny that I just made an unconscious reference to my former substance abuse problem like that, so I might be a little preoccupied with the subject at the moment. But can I ask why the Washington Post sent that six-foot-tall crackpipe in the third row to interrogate me? That's just very unprofessional of them."

• 'Studio 30,' or Maybe '60 Crack' [TV Week]
• Previously: Here Come The Upfronts: Aaron Sorkin To Be Crowned NBC's Savior [Defamer]

As we all recently learned in the immediate aftermath of Star Jones' self-immolation on/dismissal from The View, any entertainment corporation's abrupt firing of a high-profile employee must include a plan to remove all traces of the prejudicially shitcanned from their website, lest the stench of incompletion linger around an otherwise well-executed termination. Either Disney's soon-to-be very busy personnel reduction department hasn't yet gotten around to taking down Nina Jacobson's corporate bio, or they've already let go the guy who was supposed to take care of finishing the the dirty job started with that now-infamous delivery room phonecall.
· A live-action version of Donkey Kong would also not be a bad idea.
· With all due credit to our pal Will at Deadspin and the other friend who supplied this line: You're not with me, Leatherman.
· Yesterday, we learned the rule about not asking a showrunner about his Klum-stalking past; today THR's Ray Richmond teaches us the other rules of working the TCA tour.

But the high—or rather low point—came when one scribe asked [showrunner David] Rosenthal about his reported "obsession" with supermodel Heidi Klum. A New York Observer piece in 2001 reported that Rosenthal the previous year had left his wife, became estranged from his colleagues, gave money to strangers and wrote a play that indicated his fixation on Klum. The reporter asked Rosenthal if he was really the appropriate person to run the lighthearted family-oriented "Gilmore Girls."

"My personal life is not an issue here," Rosenthal replied with a shaken voice. "I'm here to talk about 'The Gilmore Girls,' "

When the reporter pressed, [Lauren] Graham snapped "That has nothing to do with anything. Next question."

It seems Graham's protective admonishment shamed the assembled press into falling back into their polite roles, leaving completely valid follow-up questions about Rosenthal's opinions on the new season of Project Runway, or about the possibility of a three-episode arc featuring Klum as Graham's troubled, nymphomaniac sister who's obsessed with bedding sitcom writers, unasked. We suppose we'll have to wait for the next Gilmore Girls media event to have these important queries answered to our satisfaction.

• Tensions mount with "Gilmore Girls" [LAT]
• Previously: New 'Gilmore Girls' Showrunner Was Heidi Klum's #1 Fan [Defamer]

The CW officially launches on Sept. 20, and green, its official color, was a hot topic of conversation at the television industry's summer press tour at the Ritz-Carlton Huntington Hotel & Spa Monday. Press binders were bright green, as were the pens and stationary CW handed out.

"There's quite a discussion about what color green is this? Lime green?" went one question.

And [The CW president Dawn] Ostroff, who always manages to stay on message, replied: "I think the really important thing is that we wanted to be able to use a color to help people be able to know they were talking about CW and CW shows and it really is a marketing tool, which I think is hopefully effective since everybody's talking about it. It is a lime green, a bit of a dark green in there, the whole palette. There's obviously yellow and white."

The Times' Channel Island blog also notes the crucial debate about where The CW's signature shade sits on the color wheel:

Ostroff even found herself at odds with reporters over the exact color used in the CW's new logo, with one journalist dubbing it "John Deere green." "I thought the John Deere green was a little darker, but maybe I don't know," Ostroff said.

So effective was The CW's tincture-assault that a reporter e-mailed us to let us know she'd been defeated: "I got the hell out of there...there was just too much green astroturf covering the floors and walls of the Ritz-Carlton for me to be able to function." We expect that tonight's after-party will be a similar nightmare, stocked with enough green apple martinis and midori sours to finish off those who survived the press conference.

• For the CW, It's Easy Being Green [LAT]

Doug Herzog Has Some 'Splainin' To Do Day continues on Defamer, as THR notes that South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone used their time at the TCAs yesterday to unload on Comedy Central for pulling their Tom Cruise-teasing "Trapped in the Closet" episode from the rerun schedule because of pressure from the Viacom-cherished actor (Paramount's M:i:III was soon to be released), and for censoring an image of Mohammed they included in another episode. THR has CC head Herzog's reaction to these additional disgruntled employees:

"So there are two things we can't do on Comedy Central: show Muhammad or Tom Cruise," Trey Parker said during the MTV Networks portion of the Television Critics Assn. summer press tour. [...]

Regarding the decision not to air the image of Muhammad during the "Cartoon Wars" episode, the [Parker and Stone] said it was a corporate decision that could become a slippery slope if other groups begin making threats and affecting content. They also noted that Muhammad seems to be off limits, while it is "open season" on Jesus, who happens to be a "South Park" character. (Depictions of Muhammad are strictly prohibited in Islam.)

Comedy Central president Doug Herzog admitted, "It's tough, but I think I would say we did overreact. ... Matt and Trey enjoy a fair amount of creative freedom. History might show that we overreacted, and we will live with that."

He added that the image probably will not be shown on the DVD version either, but "I look forward to the day when we can uncover it."

Indeed, we all look forward to the day when basic cable networks executives won't cave to overcautious pressure from their corporate parents over fears that the antics of crudely animated schoolchildren will touch off jihad from either offended Muslims or humorless Scientologist movie stars who have his bosses by the balls, though we don't recommend anyone hold his or her breath until such a magical time arrives. We also find interesting yet another reference to the artistic autonomy enjoyed by his talent; Parker and Stone should be careful not to take on Herzog again for a while, lest he upgrade their "fair amount of creative freedom" to a Chappelle-level "complete creative control" in hopes of driving them so crazy with independence that they flee the country and abandon their contracts.

[Photo: Getty Images; Parker, Herzog, and Stone in happier days]

• 'South Park' guys still upset [THR/CNN.com]
• Previously: South Park Creators Respond To Episode-Disappearing Scientologists [Defamer]

"I'm doing something, it's actually called 'Jew Fever.' It's this kind of a cool Hallmark show that I think is going to be sort of a... it's actually coming from the Right, but it's really cool. It's about this family, you know. They live in Ohio and they're farmers and pretty conservative, pretty right wing and this Jew comes in, actually comes in from space. I guess he lands on some sort of ... I don't know exactly what the story is. I just thumbed through it. I wasn't able to bring the script home. But I guess this Martian, sort of like 'Mork & Mindy,' he lands in their backyard, big like 'Superman' thing, and they run out there and they pop open this egg, and this little Jew jumps out. Now I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm not very Jew-y looking. I'm sort of semi-Jew-y looking. I could be maybe Italian? You know, in the right position? But I could be Jew-y too. So I come out and I look kind of Jew-y..."

There is much, much more of it, far too much to excerpt here. And while it's all suitably wacky, there are only so many times you can watch Officer Mahoney besmirch Lt. Mauser with poo before you start to feel like they're just going through the feces-smearing motions to collect a paycheck.

• The World Needs Steve Guttenberg Now More Than Ever [Zap2It]
• The Guttenberg Returneth: F You, I'm Rich [Defamer]
• The Guttenberg Cometh [Defamer]

"I want 'Entourage,' I want 'Nip/Tuck,'" [Harbert] said. "What I want is good, what I want is quality. If the ratings are great, great. More important is that I want a show that is the favorite for some."

Harbert sighs.

"I was having breakfast with my 80-year-old mother and she asked me what's my long-term vision for E!"

She did not.

"Swear to god."

What did you tell her?

"That I'm gonna put on some hit shows and keep my job."

Mrs. Harbert then gently mussed her boy's hair before turning her attention to the half-eaten plate of eggs before her. "Sure you will, Teddy," she said, feigning her best tone of maternal support. "Sure you will."

• Harbert's Not-So-Simple Life [TVWeek.com Blog]