Charles Barkley hosted SNL last weekend and actually got some favorable reviews (Ken Tucker called it "one of the more likable editions of the show in recent months"). Also funny? This rehearsal footage, in which Barkley impersonates Alicia Keys.

The much-anticipated fourth season of Big Love bloomed strangely last night — a messy, deliriously overstuffed smear of stories that left us anticipating a season rife with the show's usual eerie, lunar menace. There will also be exotic birds!

New York art impresario Jeffrey Deitch is Los Angeles-bound: He's been named the new director of LA's Museum of Contemporary Art, which makes him "the only art dealer/gallery owner to assume leadership of a major U.S. museum." [LAT, NYT]

The Simpsons just celebrated its 20th Anniversary, and names like Homer and Bart have become ingrained upon our cultural identity. However, they've invented many other names, not as immediately recognizable. Here's a massive compilation of the best and funniest.

Fox has just signed on for the second act of our favorite musical misfits saga. Oh happy day! The show is also going to audition amateurs for new roles on the show. Get those karaoke tracks ready, show choir dorks.

AOL will begin a much-anticipated mass layoff round today, the head of HR wrote to staff. Fired workers — an estimated 1,400 of them — will largely be leaving on Wednesday. Then the internet conglomerate can hire in India. AOL is planing to expand its technical staff in South Asia, according to briefings within the company earlier this month. But first the company, in the midst of a major restructuring under CEO Tim Armstrong, must make major cuts stateside. By spreading the cuts among AOL's offices, the company will avoid having to give costly, lengthy firing notices under the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification act. Let's hear it for the bottom line.

Sarah Palin is coming to Fox News, as a contribucommentator! She will not have her own show but will be allowed to sit in a chair and speak, or possibly strut around(?). Get your Tivos ready. [Media Decoder]

writing in 2006 about the total inconvenience the shoe bomber Richard Reid caused air travelers, in a New Yorker Talk of the Town piece taking credit for predicting (or is it giving Al Qaeda the idea?!) the "underwear bomber."

This Russian billboard shows four tires and a condom, and reads, "A complete set of the road rubber." It is presumably meant to advertise tires. Do you get it? I don't get it. [Copyranter; Pic via. Click to enlarge]

The 1996 made-for-HBO movie holds nothing back in dissecting NBC's first late night debacle. As Leno pushes for a sequel, it's a certain red-headed Irishman that has the most to gain from giving this film another inspection.

The Observer reported last week that execs at Condé Nast have been thinking about cutting licensing deals to generate a little extra revenue, even though Condé chairman Si Newhouse has been resistant to the idea in the past since it has the potential "cheapen the brand." Presumably Vogue-branded toilet paper is a good example of a product extension that would never see the light of day. But it's nice to see that one Mexican company is giving it a go anyway! [Paper]

Lindsay Lohan, recognized for her vacillating sexual preferences, talent for offscreen antics, and mission to keep us all comfortably be-legginged, is going Jolie and getting all altruistic on our asses!

Muppet-haired white crook Rod Blagojevich now says that his comment to Esquire that he is "blacker than Barack Obama" was a "stupid thing to say." And by "stupid," Rod Blagojevich means "dope." [AP]

We were sporting our long johns all weekend, so we would have looked horrible at Improv Everywhere's annual No Pants Subway Ride. Luckily Gawker operative Stephen Kosloff was there to take pictures of all the panty raiders for our amusement.

What boyfriends/girlfriends search for on Google [Predictably Irrational, via]

A chain-smoking, drugged-up, and depressed Kermit the Frog does his take on Elliot Smith's "Needle in the Hay." Who knew Kermit had a dark side? This brings new meaning to his cries of how "it's not easy being green."

"Four people were decapitated, at least 10 people were killed in drive-by attacks, and five people were kidnapped." Tijuana! Party! "At least two of the recent beheading victims were women, one of whom was left naked outside a cemetery." [LAT]

Happy Daily Caller day! Tucker Carlson's new website, sponsored by $3 million from Christian GOP donor and health care reform opponent Foster Friess, is live!

Guanabee has captured this dramatic image of Jackie Chan striking the "Ching-chong Chinaman" pose at the Spanish premier of his new movie, Bad Jackie Chan Movie. Spanish people simply cannot get enough of that pose! [Guanabee]

You've probably seen a variation of this with a stereo. The ol' "turn the volume up all the way" for this poor souls computer. Combine the volume with the gunshot sounds and you have a good and terrified roommate.