Private Practice Recast

Francie from Alias (Merrin Dungey) is getting replaced on Private Practice by Audra McDonald. Sigh, I guess that means that we won't suddenly find out that Addison's best friend has been replaced by a lookalike assassin.

Netflix pricing

Via popcandy, Netflix has lowered the price for the 2-at-a-time rental plan by $1. I'm currently on the one out unlimited plan (although I could theoretically downgrade to 4 per month, probably), but this makes the two out plan pretty appealing. However, I'm going on a big trip soon so I'm actually going to put my Netflix account on hold while I'm gone, so I guess I don't have to worry about this for a while.

Netflix Up Close and Personal

Well, if you ever wanted to feel a personal connection with people who work on the UI of Netflix, you can read the Netflix blog. The way they write the blog is a littel strange because they seem pretty apologetic/afraid of angry customers. I've definitely encountered angry users, so I can see where they are coming from, but it seems a bit odd to be so timid from the get go. But I guess you can assume that many of the Netflix users are rabid/jaded/terrifying technology power users. Or at least the ones who would seek out a Netflix blog. As opposed to say, the Us Weekly blog... But it is interesting to see the new features that are being added into Netflix to make it a more fun community experience.

Burn Notice

A number of the cable channels are starting to premiere their summer shows, and it actually looks like USA and TNT have some intriguing options. Of course, I'm excited about Monk and Psych, which start in mid-July, but there have been some positive reviews for USA's Burn Notice, about an ex-spy who is now doing investigative work. It has a 67 from Metacritic. I think the tomcat might really like this since it's set in Miami, and he really liked Miami Vice. He actually bought the DVDs of Miami Vice and watched them.

Saving Grace, which starts in late July also gets a good review here. The previews for Glenn Close's show Damages have also been really appealing to me. So while I haven't had much to watch on TV lately, it looks like things might be picking up...

MySpace vs. YouTube

Here's an interesting NY Times article about MySpace and YouTube with some data about their users, including the fact that YouTube claims that over half its audience is overseas. Who knew?

recasting on Moonlight

Shannon Lucio (from the OC) is being replaced on the new CBS fall show Moonlight, and she's going to be replaced by Sophia Myles, and randomly, I know who that is and I'm really excited about it. I saw Sophia Myles on an episode of Dr. Who, and I really liked her. She's like a British Julia Stiles who does TV. So now I'm even more likely to watch Moonlight.

In other news, the tomcat is getting very pressed for summer TV entertainment, so he's been watching a bunch of DVDs. But he finally started watching Friday Night Lights and loves it. Totoro, you really need to watch it too! I've also gotten my sister hooked on Arrested Development. Woo!

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip DVD

Aaron Sorkin will do commentary on the Studio 60 DVD. I would be interested to hear what he has to say about the show and the whole saga of its season.

Oprah, the store

Yes, Oprah is opening her own store to extend her brand. Oprah iPod covers, key rings, hats - yikes. Sadly, I'll bet my mom would love something from here.

Chicken Dance

Here's a compilation of the Chicken Dance from Arrested Development. Sigh. It made me laugh all over again.

Paley Center To Stream Footage

The Paley Center, which does fun panel interviews with TV shows currently on the air, will stream some of the footage from their sessions.

DS Lite

Nicole Kidman is getting paid to tell people she likes playing the brain training games on the DS Lite. Here's a picture where she intently tries to lower her brain age. I wonder how does on remembering all 30 words in the brain age test.

Aaron Sorkin

An overview of Aaron Sorkin's career and how he got to doing Studio 60. A bit gossipy, so it's interesting. (via tvtattle)

Makeup tips on myspace

Sigh, it looks like the latest place for getting good makeup tips is via watching videos on myspace. I also recently saw an ad for a house for rent that has it's own myspace page. Maybe my tivo should get a myspace page! It likes to read Cormac McCarthy, long walks on the beach, loves Julia Roberts movies and thinks Lifehouse is HOT!

Sheeps!

The creator of Wallace and Gromit has a show about animated sheep which just got picked up by Disney. I hope it's cute - I'll have to try to Tivo it.

Dress like Izzy

You can now have your own Katherine Heigl-designed/inspired scrubs.

Cylons!

The tomcat pointed me to this funny blog post about a hilarious Microsoft banner ad that has a shout out to Battlestar Galactica.

Star Wars parody

The Cartoon Network show Robot Chicken apparently did an episode with a Star Wars spoof, for those of you who are into that...

More wedding stuff

Sorry for the flurry of wedding stuff - it's not normally like this, but I guess it's June, so I'm going with it... Anyway, Slate is doing a wedding issue which is pretty interesting. I think they'll be putting up articles all week.

A Tivo themed wedding

Oh dear, some Tivo fanatics got married and featured TiVo as a theme in their wedding. When TiVo heard about it, they donated plush TiVo dolls as favors and people wore the antenna headbands during the reception. I wonder if the company will offer a set of wedding favors as a package you can buy or redeem with TiVo rewards. Maybe it would drive an additional revenue stream...

Matchmaking online

Hilariously, through an email blast from a friendster like site, I heard about Linx Dating company. Now, the reason I think this is funny is because of the following excerpts from the blurb on their site: "a high caliber mix of sophisticated eligibles. Everyone has excelling background, great job, excelling education... physically fit and attractive." "completely offline and pursuing zero advertising, ... it can be considered the 'hidden' source for exclusive Bay Area dating". They call themselves a "private society" - I can only hope that this is a secret society like the Skulls! Maybe Joshua Jackson will show up! (Although he appears to be dating Diana Krueger now, sigh.) Here's an article about the company in the SF Chronicle, which is also entertaining - says that this is the place for singles who are "too old to cruise trendy Yelp parties or to ride the N-Judah in hopes of getting picked up on Craigslist's "Missed Connections." Yep, that's right. Riding a bus in hopes of finding yourself listed on Craigslist. Maybe no one does this, but the idea is pretty funny... Plus, they name checked Yelp!