One of television's most likable workhorses may still be in this race. Also today: a long lost Joss Whedon movie sees the light of day, the VMA nominations then cast all that light away, but then Annette Bening brings it all back.

  • Good news to all you fans of Rent, Law & Order, and, uh, 413 Hope St.? Any 413 Hope St. fans out there? Anyway, the point is that Jesse L. Martin has signed a one-year talent deal with ABC while his pilot Hallelujah, the one from Marc Cherry about the town where it's all good vs. evil all the time, is retooled. So everyone who was excited when they heard Jesse L. was on a new show and then sad when it wasn't picked up, be sad no more! Your beloved Collins will return to you soon, hopefully. Now if we could just get Adam Pascal some honest work, I think we'd be in good shape. [Deadline]
  • Finally! Nerd king Joss Whedon made this horror movie a couple years ago called The Cabin in the Woods but then it sort of languished and looked to be shelved forever, but now it's been picked up by Lionsgate and they are going to release it! Not until next April, but still! And guess who stars in it? Chris Hemsworth, Norse god of sex himself! So this is some good news. This is just some very good news. It's a good news day! [THR]
  • Oh, wait, no, it's the worst day in the world, everything is black and awful and doomed and hissing and dying. Everything is snakes. It seems that MTV announced their VMA nominations last night and at the top of the heap with nine nominations is Katy Perry. Yup, Katy Perry. Here we were, thinking we were all happy and good on Paradise Island with our friends Jesse and Chris and then all of a sudden we look around and see Katy Perry, nine Katy Perrys, and we realize we're not on Paradise Island at all, we're on Garbage Planet and the nine Katy Perrys are its queens and there's nothing we can do about it. Not a single stupid thing. Oh well. At least the weather's nice. No, wait, it's like an oven farting at you outside. The weather is horrible. Everything's awful. Yup. [CNN]
  • TLC has ordered a show called All-American Muslim, a reality program about Barack Obama. Hahahahahahaha. It's still 2008, right? No, it's about regular old American families that happen to be Muslim. So that's good! I mean, it's sort of sad that this show had to happen on America's 24-hour freakshow, TLC, the implication being that these folks are freaks, but whatever works, I guess. Hopefully it does better than Aliens in America, which was only about one Muslim surrounded by a buncha not-Muslims, so. [EW]
  • This is going to be good. Annette Bening has just joined the cast of a movie called Imogene, from the directors of American Splendor, playing the gambling addict mother of Kristen Wiig. That sounds great! Maybe it'll finally get her an Oscar. Unless, of course, Hilary Swank comes along and does some movie called Sad Tomboy and beats her again. Actually, my money's on Sad Tomboy. [Deadline]

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