Word on the street

So Sesame Street is gearing up for its 39th season, which starts on August 11. (Who knew the show even had a season, right?) And from the looks of this trailer – who knew it had trailers? – it’s going to be a very clever, entertaining and fresh season. (This blogger’s optimism might just be a side effect of the detritus passing as “original” and margin-managed programming this summer.) According to its press kit – who knew it had a press kit? – this season will feature: Will Arnett, Feist, Jessica Alba, David Beckham, Heidi Klum, Brian Williams, Neil Patrick Harris, Sandra Oh, Jack Black and Jenny McCarthy.

Also lined up is a parody of NBC sitcom 30 Rock entitled: 30 Rocks. Its leading lady? A lemon named Liz Lemon. There’s a game-show spoof called: Are You Smarter Than an Egg Layer? (Its host looks a lot like this guy.) And beating the Disney Channel at its own game, there’s – wait for it, wait for it – Pre-School Musical. Rounding out the offering, the Children’s Television Workshop is debuting a redesigned sesamestreet.org on August 11 as well.



Also making the rounds is a musical number from the upcoming season. Leslie Feist reworks “1-2-3-4,” for the pre-school crowd. The Sesame Street version even pays homage to the choreography and the one, long camera take of the original video, directed by Patrick Daughters. (No sequined jumpsuit, though.) The lyrics might even be better than the original. “It’s one less than five and one more than three. Whoa-oa-oa. Counting to four. Whoa-oa-oa. Let’s cou-ount some more.”

Seeing all these chipper muppets twisting pop culture into something fun and useful, makes this blogger wonder if it’s time to bring back The Muppet Show in some shape or form. Probably not a full 22-episode season. Maybe just a 30-minute episode once or twice a month – to keep the content sharp and the concept special. The property is owned by Disney, which has plenty of broadcast and rebroadcast outlets – its namesake channel, ABC or even ABC Family. Think about it, Bob Iger. Just think about it.

Badges of honor

A thoroughly fun, new cartoon debuted on Nickelodeon this weekend – The Mighty B. Each episode follows the hyperactive adventures of Bessie Higginbottom, who is nine and three-quarters and an enthusiastic member of her Honeybee scout troop. Bessie’s m.o. is to earn every badge possible, thinking that’ll give her the power to become a superhero, the Mighty B. See video clips here.

If the show looks a little like SpongeBob Squarepants and Fairly Odd Parents, that’s because two of its three creators – Erik Wiese and Cynthia True, respectively – worked on those shows. The third co-creator is Amy Poehler, who also is the voice behind Bessie. Certainly, Bessie is reminiscent of Kaitlin, the reoccurring pre-teen character Poehler plays on Saturday Night Live. (“Rick! Rick! Rick! Watch this, Rick!”). But Poehler tells Entertainment Weekly, it goes back even further.

I’ve been doing that kind of kid character for a long time. I did that character at Upright Citizens Brigade before I came to SNL, the Brownie kid named Cassie McMadison. [Bessie] was an amalgamation of a lot of different voices and things that I had done. I really liked the idea of playing that kind of optimistic, super-intense, go-get-’em spirit combined with being a little bit of an outsider. I am really drawn to girls of that age in general, who believe they can be a waitress, scientist, actress, a dentist, a zookeeper...and who really aren’t boy-crazy.

Visually, the show is incredibly engaging. Set in San Francisco, the cartoon makes ample use of the city’s acute angles and steep streets and, to a certain extent, evokes the beautiful and sharply drawn children’s books by Miroslav Sasek. Straight out of the Haight, there’s even a resident hippie who calls to mind Captain Caveman. And Bessie’s dog and cohort, Happy, looks like he could be a grandpuppy of Hanna-Barbera’s Huckleberry Hound.

The show doesn’t reinvent the format; each episode is still two 15-minute stories. But the episodes are relevant to kids without being preachy. In “Sweet Sixteenth,” Bessie gets all worked up to ride the grown-up roller coaster – even readying a bucket in case there’s a “vomiting incident” – only to learn that she’s too short for the ride. Welcome to disappointment, kids. Of course, being a cartoon, she finds a loophole. In “Bee Afraid,” Bessie realizes during an overnight camping trip that she’s more afraid of being afraid than anything that’s actually worth being afraid about. (Does FDR get a co-writing credit?) Not to mention she makes smoothies for woodland creatures. There must be a badge for that, right?

Getting out front with an Infront?

Last week NBC announced a full year’s worth – 65 weeks actually – of programming at an event dubbed an “Infront.” Traditionally, NBC has unveiled its fall line-up in glitzy Upfront presentation at Radio City Music Hall during the same week in May when the other networks announce their programming. (CBS is usually at Carnegie Hall. ABC at Lincoln Center.)

So why the toned-down presentation? The writers’ strike basically killed the pilot season. And NBC is in last place.

But is a 12-month slate of programming really anything new? Not really. In the past few years, networks have been serving up new programming during the summer months. The operative word here is new, not quality. A quick look at the proposed summer schedule, and there’s more of the same: America’s Got Talent, Last Comic Standing, two hours of Dateline and some shows that seem like they escaped from the Discovery Channel (Shark Taggers and America’s Toughest Jobs).

However, the way the network pitched the schedule is interesting. NBC bills the 8 o’clock hour as family fare. “Blockbusters” are reserved for 9. (Full disclosure: NBC considers Deal or No Deal a blockbuster.) And at 10 are the dramas for grown-ups. (Noah Wyle’s coming back to ER for the final season.)
NBC caveated that it might still shuffle some specific shows, but said it would stick with certain genres for certain time periods, i.e. action-adventure on Wednesdays at 8. That certainly makes it easier swap out duds, and advertisers will like that.

What about the shows? There’s a spin-off from The Office in the works. To NBC’s credit, network co-chair Ben Silverman says, “We're only going to bring [the spinoff] to market if it's ready for market and up to the quality of the original.” The Office Executive Producer Greg Daniels will also be in charge of this one, so its in capable hands. With tongue planted firmly in cheek, blogger Televisionary suggests an advertiser-ready title and a location: That Was Easy and a Staples store.

The best drama on television, Friday Night Lights, will be back, in an unusual cost-sharing arrangement with DirecTV. The dish network gets first dibs on the episodes which will air four months later on NBC. The best sitcom on television, 30 Rock, will also be be back for a third season. The network ordered to series My Own Worst Enemy, headlining Christian Slater without even shooting a pilot. And far-too-often underutilized Molly Shannon will co-star in Kath & Kim with Selma Blair. Get Variety’s detailed wrap-up here.

Attention Zach Braff fan(s): Scrubs is not on NBC’s schedule. Says NBC’s Silverman, “I don't know where Scrubs is going. It's finished its run on NBC, though.” There’s a chance ABC might pick up the hospital laffer since it’s actually produced by ABC’s TV production arm, the former Touchstone Studios. As they say on 30 Rock, there’s probably a way to synergize backward overflow in that.

It’s hularrefic!

Some infomercials are funny and don't even know it. “Hawaii Chair while answering phones, using the computer, balancing books or filing paperwork.” How about while performing Lasik surgery? Even Ellen gets into the hot seat with this one.

What to expect when you’re expecting an end to the writers’ strike

It’s only been three months, but it seems so much longer. Finally, an end to the writers’ strike appears imminent. (Even Cindy Adams has written about it, kids.) No word yet on what was the tipping point. Fatigue? The upcoming Oscars? The DGA settlement?

So what’s changed? Of course there’s a potential new deal, which may or may not resemble the package the Directors’ Guild ratified a few weeks ago. And The New York Times speculates writers may experience some grudges when they return to the set. In fact, several high-profile development deals (Joan of Arcadia producer Barbara Hall, Brothers & Sisters creator Jon Robin Baitz, among others) have already been axed, with studios citing force majeure.

When are existing shows coming back? Some ABC titles – Grey’s Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, Ugly Betty – expect to crank out scripts for four to five episodes which would then air in April and May. Newer shows, like Pushing Daisies, will likely send its writers back to the table but won’t have new shows on air until the fall. (Sigh.) The handful of multi-camera sitcoms on the air nowadays (Back to You, Two and Half Men and The Big Bang Theory) could be on the air sooner, thanks to shorter production schedules. Mindless reality programming will continue to be a staple until scripted content is available. And maybe even longer, as long as episodes of American Gladiators pull in twice as many viewers as Friday Night Lights. (Double sigh.)

CBS is bringing back living-room voyeurism this month with another edition of Big Brother. However, Black Rock execs are borrowing from premium-cable sibling Showtime for Dexter, which will make a sanitized debut on CBS on Sunday, February 17.

Daily comedy shows – The Daily Show, Colbert Report, Late Night with Conan O’Brien – have been trooping along admirably, mocking the fact that they’re officially writerless yet still churning out an entertaining product every night. Those shows should see an uptick in both laughs and general tenor once they’re reunited with their writers. And hopefully it’s not too late for an Andy Samberg digital short on Saturday Night Live about Chuck Norris’ support for Mike Huckabee. (Goodness knows we've been denied the comedic stylings of Kristen Wiig for too long, while off-the-air Amy Poehler has gone stir crazy.)

As far as the business of show business goes, the pilot season has changed forever. Traditionally, networks would sink millions of dollars into filming pilots that programming execs would use to determine their slate of shows for the fall. Only a handful of those shows ever saw the light of day. Expect more “backdoor” pilots spun off of existing programs, much the way Private Practice emerged from the, er, loins of Grey’s Anatomy. And get ready for pilots masquerading as TV movies. Cue the Knight Rider music. And expect just fewer pilots in general. The three-hour extravaganzas in April that unveil the fall schedules – the Upfronts – will change. Probably smaller and less puffy.

And last but not least, fingers are crossed and double crossed that we’ll still get a few more episodes of 30 Rock – “the best show on TV” according to NBC’s Co-Chairman of Entertainment Ben Silverman – this season.

Huckabee Grudge Match

This blog isn’t typically a forum for antics reminiscent of the Three Stooges. There are, however, notable exceptions.

What to expect when you’re expecting a writers’ strike

On Tuesday, a federal mediator joins the talks between the Writers’ Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers. Time's ticking, and it's not looking rosy. “Writers could walk out as early as Thursday if their union can't hammer out a new three-year employment contract with the studios to replace one that expires at midnight on Wednesday,”according to the Los Angeles Times.

So why is everyone at loggerheads? “This showdown between writers and producers is the result of a long-brewing fight over payment for online distribution of TV shows, movies, Webisodes and other new-media content,” explains Maureen Ryan in the Chicago Tribune. “In Hollywood, the WGA-AMPTP battle is widely regarded as a defining moment in the entertainment industry's digital coming-of-age...The guild wants jurisdiction over such works and it wants agreed-upon payment rates for new-media content; it wants an increase in the DVD compensation rate; and it wants a percentage of revenue derived from content sold over the Internet or delivered with advertising.”

And what would TV look like during a strike? Daily, late-night shows will be hit first. In primetime, “Long-running shows like NBC's ‘Law & Order: Special Victims Unit’ are likely to stay in original episodes longer because they are further ahead in production than new programs like ABC's ‘Pushing Daisies,’” writes Brooke Barnes in The New York Times.

Animated series like ''The Simpsons'' and ''Family Guy,'' completed up to a year in advance, are strike-proof for this season at least. Much more problematic are complicated serial dramas like ''Lost,'' which networks typically broadcast without repeats...Networks have been stockpiling reality material in the event of a strike. The CW network alone has five completed reality series ready to go: the returning shows ''America's Next Top Model,'' ''Beauty and the Geek'' and ''Pussycat Dolls Present,'' and the new entries ''Farmer Wants a Wife'' and ''Crowned,'' about beauty pageants.

ABC has two reality shows from Oprah lined up: “Oprah Winfrey's The Big Give” and “Your Money or Your Life.” CBS has ordered up episodes of game show “Million Dollar Password” with Regis Philbin. “Dateline” might even make a comeback on NBC. The Peacock has also floated the idea of running the British version of “The Office.” The networks could possibly dip into their cable offerings for rebroadcast on primetime. FX's “Damages” could air on Fox. Past episodes of USA's “Monk” or the new season of Bravo's “Project Runway” could air on NBC while ABC could replay Lifetime's “Army Wives” or even ABC Family's “Kyle XY” or “Greek.”

What happened to the jingle?

When’s the last time you heard a jingle on a TV commercial? Recently it seems that jingles are relegated to low-budget spots for local mattress stores. Instead, the big advertisers are going for two kinds of music, depending on their budget. Option one: Real, existing rock/pop songs that use some borrowed interest to lend some cool to the products they're selling. Option two: very catchy tracks by emerging artists. On the airwaves right now is one of the the later, an Old Navy commercial with a track by unsigned artist Ingrid Michaelson. "If you are chilly, here, take my sweater..."

Michaelson's MySpace page was discovered by Secret Road Music, a "management company that specializes in finding little-known acts and placing their works in soundtracks for TV shows, commercials, movies and videogames," according to this story in The Wall Street Journal. As a result, Michaelson had three songs featured on Grey's Anatomy last season. But with success comes some angry fans. On her blog Michaelson writes, "it makes me a bit upset because it seems that some people love knowing about an indie artist, but as soon as they garner some attention, these people get mad! But you have to understand that this is how we make a living!"

Target's "Hello Good Buy" campaign relied on an existing hit and reworked the Beatles'classic "Hello Good-bye." But the retailer also uses new music to soundtrack its spots. Running now is a commercial with music from a group called the Icicles. Maybe you've had the la-ti-da refrain running through your head.

But wait, it doesn't seem the jingle is completely gone. Leave it to reality show producer Mark Burnett to resurrect it. CBS has ordered eight episodes – probably stockpiling for a WGA strike – of a new series tentatively titled "Jingle." According to Variety,

teams of players will be given weekly jingle-writing assignments -- coming up with, say, the next Oscar Mayer wiener song or a new pitch for Coke -- and will then have to perform them in front of a studio audience. Viewer votes will determine a weekly winner (whose ditty will end up in a real ad) and loser (who will go home)...The ultimate winner will likely get a large cash prize and a job at a major ad agency.

A job at an ad agency? In-sourcing music? Maybe the jingle's not dead yet.

The Emmys on Fox

Lost amid all the hullabaloo about the expletives and clumsy, censoring cutaways on Sunday’s Emmy telecast was Stewie & Brian’s salute to TV. And by salute, they mean a song about the “wide selection of trash” on the tube today.

Not surprisingly, Fox made it through unscathed. The section about that network was limited to a few lines about Sanjaya’s performance on American Idol. The other networks got a poke in the eye. Here’s the rundown of insults.

NBC
Scrubs “reminds us that a sitcom doesn’t have to make you laugh.”
“So I hear they’re bringing Seinfeld back to save a little face…And I hear Isaiah Washington is taking Kramer’s place.”

ABC
“They’re always brewing up some brand-new primetime swill…like the Geico cavemen.”
“…With its hits like Desperate Housewives continuing to thrive…And those women look sensational for being 65.”

CBS
“Today they’ve got some shows that are remarkably obscene. Like the show about the little boy who lives with Charlie Sheen.”

Probably the best bit of the song was for HBO. “The Sopranos is a show I’d recommend. Because you never know just how it’s gonna…” Then the audio drops out and they cut to black. Even James Gandolfini laughed at that one.

Interestingly, the song – with different lyrics – appeared on the Family Guy as a rant against the FCC. The same party that made Fox so jittery about all those four-letter words.

And what a nice surprise it was when 30 Rock won for best comedy. Finally, a decent speech from someone. Thank you, Tina Fey.

Pushing Daisies

If you like TV, the new fall season is always a bit like Christmas morning. There are things you’ve been counting down the days for. And things that are just taking up space under the tree like gift-wrapped socks and underwear. Here’s to the new ABC/Warner Bros. show Pushing Daisies being a big, red, shiny new Schwinn.

This past Saturday, the New York Television Festival had a special sneak preview of the show, followed by even more special Q&A with the show’s creator/executive producer Bryan Fuller, director/executive producer Barry Sonnenfeld and one of the leads, Lee Pace. Fuller, who wrote for Heroes last year, explained that the idea came from a story arc he’d considered on another show he’d created: Dead Like Me.

The show delivers so well on so many levels. It’s part fairy tale, part science fiction, part romantic comedy, part criminal procedural. Sonnenfeld and his DP have dialed up the colors to a candy-coated goodness for a story that’s actually quite dark. And he has the cast move through Fuller's smart dialogue at a good clip (like a screwball comedy from the 30's.)

The pilot covers a lot of ground and sets up a unique framework exceptionally well. And Jim Dale – yes, he of the Harry Potter audiobooks – has a great turn as the show’s narrator. Ellen Greene – yes, she of the original Little Shop of Horrors – plays one half of the retired synchronized swimming act, the Darling Sisters. Swoosie Kurtz is the other half. Anna Friel & Lee Pace actually have chemistry. And much of it takes place in a bakery/café that's the shape of a pie. If all of this keeps this up, it looks like every Wednesday at 8 will be like a very good Christmas present. Like a Snoopy Snow Cone Machine.

Pushing Daisies makes its broadcast debut on ABC October 3. Watch it. TiVO it. DVR it.

Hello, Hulu

The joint venture between NBC/Universal and News Corp. finally has a name: Hulu.

"Why Hulu? Objectively, Hulu is short, easy to spell, easy to pronounce, and rhymes with itself. Subjectively, Hulu strikes us as an inherently fun name, one that captures the spirit of the service we're building," says Jason Kilar, Hulu's CEO (formerly of Amazon). Not to mention it is a couple letters shorter than YouTube (YuTu?), sounds vaguely Hawaiian (hula) and a little Star Trekky (Sulu). And this report from Reuters explains that Hulu is the Chinese word for a kind of gourd.

Hulu's beta version isn't scheduled to launch until October, providing some on-demand traction – and revenue – for the networks' new season of shows. More on Hulu from BusinessWeek and Adweek. And get the Wired take on the other video newcomer Joost here.

UPDATE: Now NBC/Universal says it won't renew its contract with Apple to sell TV shows through the iTunes store. Is it one of Jeff Zucker's negotiation tactics or...ba buh bum...or will Hulu sell shows for NBC?

FURTHER UPDATE: Apple says "oh no you didn't" and decides it won't sell any new episodes of NBC shows currently for sale. So NBC teams up with Amazon.com to sell them through it Unbox platform. One problem. Downloads won't play on iPods. Say whuh? Fix it fast. Please.

Kwik-E-Marketing

You've probably seen advertising for it on TV and online, but not in a commercial. To promote the Simpsons movie, 20th Century Fox has been partnering with companies like 7-Eleven and JetBlue. Mr. Burns hijacked the blog of JetBlue's David Neeleman for a few days this month. Twelve 7-11 stores have been converted to Kwik-E-Marts through the end of July. And in a clever reverse product placement, the stores sell Springfield-worthy products such as Buzz Cola, Krusty-O's cereal and Radioactive Man comics that are "flying off the shelves." One lucky fan ran into an incognito Matt Groening while visiting the Burbank store and got an autographed box of Krusty O's.

A ubiquitous, unnamed "source close to the movie's promotions" told Brandweek, "It wasn't really about lining up as many partners as possible, it was about having the right partners in the right context and the right message." It appears that the efforts for 7-Eleven were spearheaded by agency Tracy Locke with some serious input from Groening and his team at Gracie Films.

In addition, the movie studio paired with USA Today for a contest to see which Springfield would play host to the movie's premiere. (Springfield, Vermont gets the honors.) Fox also got on the YouTube bandwagon with this 9-second video.


And now Haaper's Bazaar has even gotten into the game. The August issue has the Simpson family and a cartoon version of Linda Evangelista in Paris wearing the latest from Versace, Chanel, Marc Jacobs and more. Get your cartoon couture here. The current issue of Vanity Fair asks Conan O'Brien what it was like to work on The Simpsons. More writers, the voices, other funny people and even Murdoch provide VF with the inside skinny and color commentary here.

Of course, you can create your own Simpsons avatar here. There will probably be a few more surprises before the movie opens on July 27. Stay tuned.

UPDATE: Burger King has launched SimpsonizeMe.com while Leo Burnett says, "Hey, we pitched that to you!" in this NPR report (courtesy of Agency Spy).

Dramatic chipmunk & friends

Five perfect seconds. Does anyone know what the soundtrack is? Here's a link for the original clip. (The chipmunk was an animal segment on a Japanese TV show.) Now there's even a t-shirt and a Facebook application.


French D.J. combo Justice serves up some great CGI on t-shirts in this video to their catchy single. It seems even the Old Grey Lady has a bit of crush on them in this profile. (The NYT has moved the article behind a paid firewall. Click here for the same article republished in a Scottish newspaper.)


Some clever performance art with the iPhone. There's a company behind it that sells software for "electronic" magicians.

Judd & Jerry

This interview between a teenage Judd Apatow and a not-yet-famous Jerry Seinfeld is nothing short of prophetic. Seinfeld lays out his plan for success, while Apatow proves himself an astute student of comedy -- at an age when most kids still struggle to write a decent essay. The interview is one of the online features that accompany the profile on Apatow in a recent issue of The New York Times Magazine as part of the publicity for his new comedy Knocked Up. (Which by the way, recouped its production costs the opening weekend, pulling in nearly $30 million.) Meanwhile, Seinfeld plans a mini-comeback to NBC primetime via one-to-two minute shorts (tinytainment, in his words) that promote his upcoming animated feature Bee Movie. Seinfeld debuted two minisodes last month in front of advertisers at the network's upfront session. One was a fictionalized tour of the Dreamworks animation studios -- complete with overworked animators crashing on cots in the hallways. In a second minsode, a writers' assistant offers up coffee and script ideas to Jerry and his crew. Jerry is critical of the suggestions until he learns the assistant's last name is...Spielberg.

30 Rock Rocks

The NBC sitcom 30 Rock just finished its 21-episode, first season on Thursday. Good news is that it'll be back for a second season. The troubling news is that it's been in third place and, sometimes, fourth -- behind CSI, Grey's Anatomy and (gasp) Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? Along with The Office (yes, the American version), it's the best written comedy on TV right now. So how can you as a non-Nielsen household show 30 Rock some love? Watch the episodes for free (with limited commercial sponsorship) here. Or even better, buy episodes -- or the whole season -- at iTunes. (NBC will be watching both of those numbers.) If you haven't seen the show, the clip above does a great job of explaining the premise.

Some episodes that were real highlights this season include: Blind Date, Jack the Writer, Up All Night, Hard Ball, The Fighting Irish and Fireworks. And just a note on the music written by Jeff Richmond, who happens to be married to Tina Fey. It's the perfect acccompaniment for the show's shenanigans in and around Rockefeller Center. For fans of Kenneth the Page, here's a video interview with Jack McBrayer on The Sound of Young America. Oh, and keep your fingers crossed that Alec Baldwin comes back next season.

Nora & Conan

You may have seen Nora, the piano-playing cat on YouTube. (One clip has had more than 3 million views.) Well, Nora made a "guest" appearance on Late Night with Conan O'Brien this week, as shown in the clip above. The sketch didn't go exactly as planned. Herding cats -- or getting them to play the piano -- is never easy, but it can be funny.

Jon Stewart, unscripted

On October 8, 2006, Jon Stewart stepped out from behind his desk on "The Daily Show" and spoke with David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker. In this audio clip of the conversation, Stewart talks about: the similarities between politics and show business; Fox News; and the perception that his show is a news source. (Stewart's interview starts at 12:05.) A few transcribed quotes are below.

On Washington vs. Hollywood: "We traffic in government and Hollywood, for the most part. And the similarities between the two cultures are so stunning that it's hard to imagine they are ever at odds with each other...They always used to say that politics is show business for ugly people, but I believe that show business is politics for the powerless."

Stewart on the "rudderless protoplasm" of news today: "In the media atmosphere, you either bring clarity or noise. And for the most part, the people that have overtaken the business have the biggest noisemakers...I think Fox knows what they're doing and CNN doesn't...They don't know why they exist...There's no editorial point of view...Fox News is actively pursuing something. They are actively pursuing what they feel is an editorial slant in the other media that they need to correct. So they believe that they are a corrective...a salve to whatever they thought is festering in the media culture. They're wrong...We are reactive in the same way, except we just think that what's wrong is that most of it is theater and very little is authentic. So, the reason that you have to be reactive is government and corporations work non-stop, incessantly, 24 hours a day to create noise. And if you're just reporting...what you're reporting is the smoke from the machine."

On his show as a news source: "People put up our show as a news show because they feel underserved by news shows. It says nothing about our show's news ability...We're not journalists. We have one guy with a TiVO...We're cranky people, like, that would sit in a bar and yell at the TV. Only somebody gave us a show. But the reason people keep presenting us in that manner is because they feel sad about what they're being served with."

In a related story, Ben Karlin, the executive producer and former head writer for Stewart's show, is stepping down. (No punchline to follow. But here's an NPR interview with Karlin from April 2006.)

Big Yellow Taxi

What if you hopped in a cab and ended up a contestant on a quiz show? That's the premise of the Discovery Channel's show, "Cash Cab." In the clip above, a contestant/passenger gets some help from a pedestrian. Volkswagen does their own version in a Rabbit (minus the cash) in the Gypsy Cab Project. But for those of us who have to pay for our cab rides in New York, fares have just doubled when stuck in traffic. Good news is that there are 11 different hybrid vehicles in the city's fleet, including a Lexus RX.