Fox Cancels Mad TV

One blogger thinks her brand of humor is to blame instead

(NEWSER) - In her new book, Girl Walks Into a Bar, Rachel Dratch says her looks have cursed her career. "By Hollywood standards, I’m a troll, ogre, woodland creature, or manly lesbian," she writes, and that's prevented her from getting the roles she wants—NBC replaced her as a 30 Rock lead, for instance. Jezebel generally agrees with Dratch ("if she were a dude, she'd have her own show"), but at Slate , Torie Bosch isn't so sure. "What if her particular brand of acting—and she has admitted that she is more a character actor—just isn’t right for leading-lady-dom?" More»

Wayne's World writer Joe Bodolai found dead in Hollywood hotel room

(NEWSER) - Joe Bodolai's long career in show business came to a sad end in a Hollywood hotel room. The 63-year-old comedy writer and TV producer was found dead the day after Christmas, having apparently committed suicide by drinking a mixture of antifreeze and Gatorade. Bodolai, who wrote for Saturday Night Live and co-wrote Wayne's World, left a final blog post in which he said one of his biggest regrets was his inability to conquer his alcoholism. More»

Critics split on Jennifer Lopez as host, agree on singer as musical guest

(NEWSER) - The Jennifer Lopez image-rehab train pulled into Saturday Night Live station last night, to mixed reviews.

• "Her appearance on the show—bizarro Hallmark lyric songs included—was a very obvious attempt at rebranding herself as a down-to-earth, un-diva-like sweetheart, but it just came across as weird and overly acted," Hortense writes for Jezebel . Although there were some high points, "overall, it was a pretty craptacular show."

'Saturday Night Live' guest host can't live up to debut but fits in well

(NEWSER) - Jon Hamm's Saturday Night Live debut was an instant classic, which meant hopes were high—perhaps unrealistically so—for last night's second effort. The Mad Men star has no trouble taking off his shirt and "obviously enjoys doing comedy, and so was game for a few silly bits," writes Claire Zulkey of the Onion A.V. Club . The episode didn't hang together well, but in a disappointing season, "it was much stronger than most of the stuff we've seen." More»

Launch a Fox rival? Return to SNL ? Reality TV?

(NEWSER) - NBC's shabby treatment of Conan O'Brien has been a recurring theme of the Jay Leno-centric late-night shuffle, but "he-who-rocks-the-dopest-pompadour-on-TV" has more options than you might think. MTV ponders his options.

• Defect to Fox: The network is apparently interested, and it would be a great way to tick off NBC. But Fox has a terrible track record with late-night talk shows.
• Saturday Night Live: O'Brien's writing tenure at SNL coincided with a memorably strong run for the show, but Tonight Show host to "Cheeto-dusted anonymity" is a major step down.