Fox will heap a last indignity on Arrested Development tonight, when the network airs a four-episode, two-hour, can-we-just-put-on-what- we've-got-left-so-we-can-start-selling-the-goddamn-DVDs-already "season finale," finally pressing its pillow down long enough for the suffering series to stop its stubborn kicking on a relatively witness-free Friday evening. Diehard fans can hold out hope that potential saviors Showtime or ABC will resurrect the Bluths for a couple of more seasons (long enough to help them cross over into the immortality of syndication), but those made of more pessimistic stuff should say their goobyes tonight, accepting that it's likely the final time they can break out the mustache and Daisy Dukes from their Official Tobias Fünke Never-Nude Fun Set knowing that they're simultaneously sharing the experience with other AD fans.

· The Sundance Festival loses some of its excitement due to the fact that many buyers are showing up having already seen screeners of most of the films in the comfort of their own homes, at what is unofficially being referred to as the Underpants Festival. [Variety]
· As the WSJ reported yesterday, talks between the purported Disney acquisition of Pixar are at a very sensitive stage, with Bob Iger and Steve Jobs courtship being observed more closely than two newly-introduced pandas at the San Diego Zoo. [Variety]
· The team behind Dodgeball sells Dreamworks a pitch for a Dr. Evil-envying $1 million. While the plot is being kept a secret, we have it on good authority that it relies heavily on Ben Stiller playing a pompous and/or put-upon guy who is constantly humiliated and/or has trouble keeping his rage bottled up. [Variety]
· Tooth gnashing, wild-eyed crusader for moral betterment Jack Valenti introduces a multimillion-dollar plan to educate Americans about the various ways to protect their children from Satan s tangy gumdrops, i.e. televised smut and violence. [Variety]
· Commander in Chief has been seeing a steady decline in its ratings since its debut, though producers are optimistic that people will show up for their ripped-from-the-headlines episode in which Geena Davis likens the Senate to Uncle Tom s Cabin. [THR]
· Showtime president Bob Greenblatt announces at the TCA winter press tour that there are ongoing negotiations for the premium network to pick up Arrested Development, but that no deal has been reached, further stretching out the series excruciatingly long death sequence, while bringing hope to millions of Arrested fans who, push comes to shove, won t shell out the bucks to subscribe to Showtime in the end, anyway. [THR]

· Var reports on yesterday's New Line layoffs (two dozen let go just in time for the holidays!), but says "no top execs were axed." We've heard that VPs Matt Moore and George Waud were among the purged, who many tell us should qualify as "top level execs." Developing... [Variety]
· Potentially great news for Arrested Development fans: Though FOX hasn't "officially" canceled AD yet, there are "serious" talks between 20th Century Fox TV and Showtime and ABC to find the series a new model home. We've heard rumblings (there we go hearing things again) that the Showtime deal might be close to completion, but we've been hurt before. [Variety, THR]
· The grown-up sons of Tito Jackson are shopping around a reality series in which they try to recapture the musical semi-fame of their youth. No further commentary necessary. [THR]
· Jamie Foxx will star in adaptation of James Stetson novel Blood on the Leaves for Paramount, as a "district attorney who grapples with feelings of revenge as he prosecutes a black history professor on trial for the murders of white men accused of crimes against blacks during the civil rights movement," Sadly, it looks like Foxx's vaunted musical skills will go unutilized in the role. [Variety]
· Disney's first attempt to tap into the Chinese entertainment market involves unraveling the secrets of a magic gourd. [THR]
· Now officially famous for becoming the new James Bond, Daniel Craig signs over ten percent of his soul to CAA. [Variety]

Faced with the prospect that none of the shows that they're currently working on for their sweeps-yanked, reduced-order critical darling may ever air, the Arrested Development gang is coping by getting self-referential. Variety reports that an upcoming show (subtly named for the online campaign to rescue the series from cancellation) goes balls-out-of-the-bottom-of-Tobias'-Daisy-Dukes for the meta:

An eagle-eyed operative just sent in this Tony Hale (seal-attack victim Buster on the almost all but certainly, positively canceled Arrested Development) spotting at the Fox Studio Store :

• Come on, Pinch, you're breaking poor Tom Scocca's heart. [NYO]
• Was Bob Woodward the first reporter to learn of Valerie Plame's identity? And why didn't he mention that to anyone till now? [WP]
• Ah, but at least Ben Bradlee says it's OK Woodward didn't tell his nominal bosses. [E&P]
• Turns out Bush-crony public-broadcasting chief Kenneth Tomlinson — you know, the guy determined to get more conservatives on PBS — broke all sorts of laws and regulations. [NYT]
• Who's to blame for Arrested Development's (latest) demise. America, obviously. [NYO]
• Rupert: This internet thing is gonna be huge! [Hollywood Reporter]
• What reference in a headline will conclusively show that boomer media dominance is over? [Slate]
• MSNBC's Chris Matthews name-drops, and Jon Friedman loves him anyway. [MW]

· Warner Brothers and AOL team up to create the web television outlet IN2TV, which will air library titles (read: Chico and the Man) for free on demand, though with four 15-second commercials per half hour. The webnet will also be able to offer interactive features with the programming, like the indispensable ability to win prizes if a viewer can correctly guess how many secret Christian references Kirk Cameron slipped into late season Growing Pains episodes. [Variety]
· ABC continues its predictable, yet oddly comforting, Sunday night ratings dominance. It's kind of nice to know that no matter what ludicrous plot twist surfaces on Desperate Housewives (this week: the gay-seeming pharmacist moves ever closer to becoming a serial killer), people will still tune in in massive numbers. [THR]
· More Aquaman news: The WB will give Aquaman the Smallville treatment, but it won't be a spinoff launched by the recent fish-boy cameo on that series. The new producers promise that the character won't "won't be talking to fish or riding a seahorse," which will basically reduce him to an above average swimmer who wears orange spandex to class. [Variety]
· Greg Coolidge, the man behind Cockblockers, is set to write the script for 5-0, a single-camera comedy about a short, 18 year-old cop. For NBC, exactly the hit-starved place we'd expect to greenlight Doogie Howser PD. [Variety]
· New Line will keep star Will Arnett busy in the rapidly approaching post-Arrested Development era, casting him as the lead in comedy Jeff the Demon. [Variety]

· As far as we can tell, THR has the same details as yesterday's Var story about Arrested Development's reduced episode order, but goes the extra mile and declares the show canceled. Are the trades splitting hairs, or is the Deathwatch officially over? [THR]
· While News Corp. yearns to suckle profits from the internet's money-teat, earnings statements remind it that its old-timey talkies business is where Rupert Murdoch's bread is buttered. [Variety]
· Paramount continues its commitment to comedy, comedy, comedy, picking up SNL's Amy Poehler and Wedding Crashers' Isla Fisher's Groupies, a pitch about, um, groupies. [Variety]
· Scarlett Johansson is in negotiations to star in the movie adaptation of The Nanny Diaries. (Yes, as the nanny.) It's a bold, risky move by the Weinstein Co., who are ignoring The Island's producers' warnings that Johansson can't open a movie. [THR]
· No matter how many votive candles we light, rosaries we pray, or Sally Struthers-approved children we sponsor, Peter Berg continues to get work. [Variety]

Fox may not be killing Arrested Development, but it's stabbing it in the gut, rolling it out of the passenger side door, and leaving it for dead by the side of the road. Variety reports that Fox is pulling the show from the schedule during sweeps (along with Kitchen Confidential, but we doubt its fans will be sending any foam Hail Marys to save it), and has reduced its order from 22 to 13 episodes. We'd tearfully lament the fact that we live in a world where Fox flips pancakes for the re-launch of Stacked while plotting AD's demise, but a) as we all know by now, we're dead inside, and b) Stacked probably won't survive past December, either.

· In probably the strangest hurricane relief idea we've seen, journalist Mark Ebner has pledged to legally change his name to "Ron Bon Jovi" if he receives a valid $100K bid in his eBay auction. (Admittedly, going with "Rico Torres" probably wouldn't bring as many bids.) The proceeds from the potential name change will go to the Red Cross. By comparison, Kathy Griffin's charity auction of a night out in Vegas seems a lot less interesting—and you have to hang out with her.
· Goldenfiddle recounts Jared Leto's less than moving tribute to Katrina victims on last night's Conan O'Brien. Also, the blog's not a fan of 30 Seconds to Mars's brand of "LA neo-garbage" rock.
· In an effort to meet their quota for casting ex-Happy Days stars, the folks at Arrested Development have filled the spot left by Fonzie's departure with Chachi.
· With Bob Denver's passing, finally the truth can come out: He preferred Mary Ann to Ginger. Also, he didn't love it when fans swatted him with their hats, no matter how hilarious it was when the Skipper did it.