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conpiracy theory
Roger Friedman: Celebrity Scientologists Got Me Fired From Fox!
Wow: Roger Friedman's accusing prominent Church of Scientology members Tom Cruise and Kelly Preston of conspiring against him, and he's citing this as the reason he was fired from his job as a showbiz columnist in a lawsuit against Fox. More » -
things we actually like
Glee More Than Lives Up to Its Name
I sincerely hope you watched the premiere of Glee last night. Fox's new funny/sad series about a high school glee club was spunky, precocious, and sincere—normally things that are annoying. And yet, somehow on this show, they aren't at all. More » -
television
Obama's Ratings Slide Ends with Fox on Top
The president's its third televised news conference in as many months ended with ratings down 42 percent from their February peak of 49 million. The obstinate bastards at Fox win! Just look: More » -
tv
Instead of Barry, Fox To 'Lie' To Us
Are you excited for Barack Obama's network-bankrupting fourth prime time national TV address, in honor of his 100 days of Presidenting? Fox isn't! They will be playing their regular Wednesday programming. More » -
journalismism
Pirated Wolverine Review Puts Fox Newser's Job on the Line
(UPDATED) Despite reports he was fired for reviewing a pirated copy of Wolverine, Fox News columnist Roger Friedman will have a chance to argue for his job, a Fox News source said.
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television
Is Rupert Murdoch Picking Shows for Fox?
Want to know how much more work Rupert Murdoch has at News Corp. after his No. 2 Peter Chernin stepped down? Some Fox executives are expecting Murdoch to put together the primetime television schedule himself. More » -
news corp
Rupert Murdoch's Tale of Two Peters
Rupert Murdoch shook up Fox's movie and TV businesses today, his first moves since News Corp. deputy Peter Chernin stepped down. The biggest winner: Peter Rice, who's going from overseeing Slumdog Millionaire to American Idol. More » -
novelties
Fox Buying Carbon Offsets For 24 Car Crashes
Existing to arouse torture-happy conservatives, 24 is going green to stop damaging the world the show is trying to protect. This could be a new plot twist: Jack Bauer realizes the global terrorist is himself. [Jalopnik] -
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records
Could Anything Ever Kill The Simpsons?
Fox just put in an order for two more seasons of The Simpsons, ensuring that it will exceed Gunsmoke's 20-year run to become the longest-running primetime series ever. Here's why it may never end. More » -
watchmen
'Watchmen' Screenwriter David Hayter Insists Fox More Satanic Than Most Studios
Watchmen screenwriter David Hayter was asked by Hollywood Outbreak for his thoughts on Fox's litigious adventures in the Land of the Forgotten Rights Claim. More » -
american idol
'Idol' Judges Torn Between Attractiveness And Talent
In case you were worried that American Idol had somehow lost its dehumanizing edge over eight seasons, and that there was perhaps some small chance that its castaways won't end up on Celebrity Rehab—fret not. More » -
american idol
Paula's New Line of Skull Plate Jewelry Now Available on QVC
Which Idol judge was beaten hardest with a bad-taste-bat? [EW] -
epic fails
'Osbournes Reloaded' Gets Around WGA by Hiring Staff of Shit-Flinging Monkeys
We've glimpsed the dark abyss that is Osbournes Reloaded—the out-of-the-box godawful idea for a Fox variety show starring the mumbly metal icon, his violent wife, and their unlikable kids—and it is truly, truly awful. More » -
american idol
Bikini Girl: 'Why Can't We All Just Get Along?'
We swore we'd gotten Bikini Girl out of our system after yesterday's breathless retelling of her final moments on American Idol—a pretty amazing run that ended much as it began, with Kara DioGuardi's hacking noises. More » -
american idol
The Politics of Bikini Girl
On part one of Idol Hollywood Week, hopeful after hopeful took to the Kodak Theatre stage for what Simon Cowell described without a shred of facetiousness as "the most important day of your lives." More » -
short ends
My First Whippit
· Watching this kid enjoy the effects of his first mind-altering substance, we're reminded of ourselves at that age, huffing Marks-A-Lots to enhance Sesame Street pinball cartoons. Yup. He's off to a great start. More » -
oscars
'Slumdog' Drama, 'Milk' Strategy Upend Best Picture Race
Two days after the Slum Interview Heard Round the World forced a detour upon Fox Searchlight's Oscar express, at least one other Best Picture hopeful is making its own swift move for the win. More » -
american idol
'Idol' Judges Visited By Easter Beary
We're still not sure if what we saw in the Salt Lake judging room was an actual 250-lb., adorable pink Easter Beary or rather some barbiturate-induced Paula Abdul hallucination, but whatever it was—we're in love. -
the chronicles of narnia
Fox Willing To Take Magical, Expensive Trip To 'Narnia'
As we predicted last month, Fox has stepped up to take the reins of the Narnia franchise steered into a costly anthropomorphic wall by Disney. Here's the scoop from Variety (including what they got wrong): More » -
short ends
'Fringe' Chillingly Recreates Experience Of Watching 43 Hours Of 'Idol' Auditions
· In an interesting Fox crossover last night, Fringe subjected some poor kid to a clip of Paula Abdul and Kara DioGuardi making out just minutes before. Needless to say, it instantly liquefied his brains. More » -
american idol
Jacksonville Produces Early Frontrunner In 'Bipolar Idol'
The American Idol taco truck pulled into Jacksonville last night, where aspirant Darren Darnell—a radioactive people person with a seemingly bottomless bag of party tricks—nominated himself holding tank spirit-squad leader. More » -
timelines
Grab A Fanboy And Kiss Them: It's 'Watchmen' V-J Day!
The superstudio showdown that pit Fox against Warners over a long-forgotten Watchmen rights claim discovered behind a potted ficus by an after-hours cleaning woman (who's since been upped VP Business Affairs) is finally over! More » -
watchmen
Fox And WB To Join In 'Watchmen' Matrimony Tomorrow Morning
In the penultimate episode of their Watchmen soap opera, lawyers for Fox and Warner Bros. have filed a motion of settlement that will resolve the film's ongoing rights battle Friday morning. More » -
american idol
Judy Garland Advances To Next Round Of 'American Idol'
Part two of American Idol's premiere moved the circus to Kansas City, keeping frequent contestant tackle-dummy Ryan Seacrest far from the threat of any icky bikini girl-germs. More » -
american idol
Meet This Year's Batch of Emotionally Unstable 'Idol' Contestants
American Idol will come under scrutiny in the weeks to come, as one former, batty contestant—that sweet crazy-candy that gets viewers hooked from the start—tragically took her own life outside Paula's home during Hollywood Week. More » -
american idol
'Idol' Cycle Begins Anew With Pitchy Implants And High-Fives for the Blind
Last night, a karaoke leviathan reemerged from the depths of the Pacific to terrorize the TV landscape, its destructive appetite unsated until a virginal white-soul prodigy (preferably Mormon) is sacrificed at its easy-listening feet. More » -
short ends
'Marley & Me 2: The Burritoing'
· Wow. If Bubba can do that to a burrito, just imagine how quickly he could wolf down an abandoned newborn. This mutt's got a future at CAA. [via BoingBoing] -
bitches
Werewolf Show 'Bitches' Like 'Sex and the City' With More Fangs And Bikini-Line Hair
In a bold programming gambit that officially solidifies 2009 as the Hollywood Year of the Lycanthrope, Fox is developing Bitches, a "dramedy about a quartet of female friends in New York who are werewolves." -
hollywood strikewatch
Fox To Dump High-Maintenance SAG For Cheaper, Sluttier AFTRA
A rumor that Twentieth Century Fox Television—producers of some of your most beloved stories, including 24, My Name is Earl, and Family Guy—would be switching over to an all-AFTRA format got this official response: -
spoilers
Desperate Fox Experiments With Unique Spoiler Campaign For 'Marley & Me'
Vandals have done well by Fox this year, but the latest defacement of the studio's marketing efforts — this time for its rambunctious-dog dramedy Marley & Me — breaks entirely new ground. (Warning: Spoilers follow.) -
american idol
'Idol' Producer On Contestant Suicide: 'I Like Dem Odds!'
Paula Abdul is now freely admitting she was scared shitless the day she came face-to-face in the Idol audition room with a longtime obsessive fan who'd later commit suicide outside her home. -
seasons greetings
Relax In Front Of A Flaming Cuthbert Yule Arm This Holiday Season
With the holidays now officially upon us, we can think of no more festive activity than gathering around Elisha Cuthbert, dousing her arm in lighter fluid, and setting it ablaze. -
Pop Culture Doomsday
Doomsday Clock Chimes With Crowning Of Seth MacFarlane As Smartest Man In TV
End of Days Day continues here at Defamer with a proud e-alert belched from the bowels of the Fox network's Century City headquarters, informing what's left of the world that cartoon kingpin and deeply closeted spray-on hand-tanner Seth MacFarlane has been named EW'sSmugestSmartest Person in TV. Fox couldn't be prouder of the money he makes for them, according to their press release: -
talkshow with spike feresten
Fox Stakes Late Night Hopes on 2-Year-Old Show You've Never Watched
When we broke the news that Fox had canceled MADtv, we also cited rumblings that Fox was going to keep its other late-night offering, the little-watched Talkshow With Spike Feresten. At the time, we assumed that Talkshow wasn't long for this world either, since it has now aired for two years (with top-tier guests like Vanilla Ice!) safely out of the public eye. Au contraire, say Fox spokespeople, who are attempting a new strategy designed to grow the series into their own Tonight Show. So what's their plan, and what is this show anyway? More » -
madtv
Defamer Exclusive: 'MADtv' Canceled
Though the high-profile political season has gifted Saturday Night Live with some killer ratings, it apparently hasn't floated all sketch comedy boats. Rumors started circulating today that Fox's MADtv was canceled in the middle of its fourteenth season, so Defamer checked in with one of our operatives to get the scoop: More » -
Defamer Pleasant Surprises
Dead Woman Outside Paula Abdul's House Not Paula Abdul
A bizarre discovery turned up outside America Idol tastemaker Paula Abdul's home last night: a dead body propped over in a car. Even more confusing was that the body belonged not to the klonopin chip brownie-loving singer/choreographer/karoake-feedback-deliverer herself, but rather a rabid Abdul fan, whose car bore a vanity license plate reading "ABL LV," ("4VR URGL" had already been taken) and Paula-scented air-fresheners dangling from the rear-view mirror. More details follow after the jump: More » -
huffpo
Not Your Average Bear. Family Guy spinoff The Cleveland Show has received a full-season order from Fox, but has been pushed all the way to Fall. In another announcement we totally saw coming, THR reports that "Arianna Huffington will join the cast in a recurring role as the [talking] matriarch of a bear family," who says things like, "Da eeconomeec game is not supposed to be rrrigged like some shaydee ring toss on a carneeval midway. Now who vould like another helping of flopping sah-mon?" [THR] -
dollhouse
Joss Whedon's 'Dollhouse' Consigned to Friday Death Slot That Doomed 'Firefly'
Back when Fox bought Joss Whedon's series pitch Dollhouse, the network bypassed the pilot stage and granted an immediate episode order in an attempt to speed the show onto the air with a minimum of speedbumps. Since then, though, the Eliza Dushku starrer has undergone cast shuffles, vicious network notes, episode reshoots, a set shutdown, and then, finally, a completely thrown-out premiere episode. Now, Fox has announced the latest, biggest setback, and it's one that even the former Faith may not be able to fight her way out of: More » -
king of the hill
Hope For The Hill? The recently canceled King of the Hill may yet live on, as a Fox rep has confirmed that "another network is interested" in the long-running and consistently solid (but terminally unbuzzworthy) series. The show is still averaging at about a 3.4 rating—the same numbers CBS's "breakout hit" The Mentalist is getting—and reached as high as a 4.3 after last Sunday's Simpsons Halloween special. Fun fact: Did you know Bobby is voiced by Pamela Adlon, aka Mrs. Louie from short-lived Louis C.K. sitcom Lucky Louie? [THR] -
the simpsons
'Hi Diddly Ho, Draper!': 'The Simpsons' Gets Its Best Ratings In Five Years
Last night's Treehouse of Horror episode of The Simpsons featured a direct homage to Mad Men—the familiar strings accompanying a silhouette of Homer tumbling down the side of a building on whatever Springfield's answer to Madison Avenue is. More »



















































