♦ Not surprisingly, ratings for SNL this past weekend exceeded expectations. Some 10 million people tuned in for Tina Fey's Sarah Palin skit. [WSJ, THR]
♦ Michelle Obama will appear on Jon Stewart on Wednesday. [HuffPo]
♦ Beverly Hills Chihuahua took the top spot at the weekend box office with $29 million. [Mojo]
♦ Joe Hagan takes a long look at the Times-owning Sulzbergers in this week's issue of New York. [NYM]
♦ AdAge has released its list of the 10 best magazines. [AdAge]
♦ Campbell Brown is working out nicely for CNN: Ratings are substantially higher than they were for Paula Zahn and she's beating Keith Olbermann most nights, too. [NYT]
♦ Ratings for Desperate Housewives continue to decline. [TVDecoder]
♦ HBO's Entourage has been renewed for a sixth season. [THR]

Click to viewBoomp3.com Thirsty Tuesday hit an unfortunate sour note for one fan of the popular HBO series Entourage when its star Adrian Grenier entered the bar. The fan attempted to confront Grenier about the program's declining quality but soon fled tearfully, leaving only boyfriend left in the bar. The boyfriend gave Grenier the Cliff Notes version of the situation, explaining how despondent she’s been since Entourage's slide. Never one to disappoint a fan, Grenier flew out of the bar, rushed down the street, caught up with the sobbing woman and gave her a big hug. He then clutched her tightly, leaning in to whisper something in her ear. The tears quickly faded into a smile and a look of optimism. Grenier and the woman left their embrace and started to walk back to the bar. “Also," Grenier added, "the economy is going to bounce back. It always does.” [Photo Credit: INF Daily] *A Call To The Bullpen is a work of fiction. Although the pictures we use are most certainly real, Defamer does not purport that any of the incidents or quotations you see in this piece actually happened. Lighten up, people ... it's a joke.

It's just two days before television's biggest event (that isn't the American Idol finale, the Oscars, or a political convention speech), and we at Defamer are gearing up to fulfill all your Emmy needs — at least, the ones that don't involve white linen slacks. Don't forget, we'll be blogging the Emmys live from the East Coast starting at 7pm EDT/4pm PDT (West Coast spoilerphobes, beware: the Emmys air here tape-delayed). So who do we expect to be taking home the hardware? After the jump, get our official predictions in the Emmys' comedy categories (for dramas, head right here):Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series 30 Rock - Alec Baldwin Monk - Tony Shalhoub The Office - Steve Carell Pushing Daisies - Lee Pace Two and a Half Men - Charlie Sheen With last year's surprise winner Ricky Gervais out of the mix, the stage is set for Alec Baldwin to take home the first of what will most likely be several Emmys for his role as Jack Donaghy on 30 Rock. Clinching the deal? Baldwin submitted the episode containing this season's instant classic therapy scene: Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series 30 Rock - Tina Fey The New Adventures of Old Christine - Julia Louis-Dreyfus Samantha Who? - Christina Applegate Ugly Betty - America Ferrera Weeds - Mary-Louise Parker If this is not Tina Fey, Sarah Palin will have all the Emmy voters fired. Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series Entourage - Kevin Dillon Entourage - Jeremy Piven How I Met Your Mother - Neil Patrick Harris The Office - Rainn Wilson Two and a Half Men - Jon Cryer While Neil Patrick Harris has had a career-best year, How I Met Your Mother is still little-seen. The Emmys fear change, especially in the comedy category (five-time winner Candice Bergen and four-time winner John Laroquette both eventually withdrew their names to give other actors a chance), so this award should go to the Pivs in a walk. Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series Pushing Daisies - Kristin Chenoweth Samantha Who? - Jean Smart Saturday Night Live - Amy Poehler Two and a Half Men - Holland Taylor Ugly Betty - Vanessa Williams My Name is Earl's Jaime Pressly took home this award last year, but this time she's not even nominated (neither was dark horse Jenna Fischer for The Office). Kudos to Amy Poehler for becoming the first modern Saturday Night Live performer to score a supporting actor nomination, but Emmy loves a veteran, so we expect this to go to two-time winner Jean Smart. Outstanding Comedy Series 30 Rock Curb Your Enthusiasm Entourage The Office Two and a Half Men Curb Your Enthusiasm is a weak-fill in for last year's nominee Ugly Betty; frankly, we're surprised that the dazzling Pushing Daisies pilot couldn't muster up the votes to fill that fifth slot (the strike-truncated season could have sapped its momentum). All the buzz is with 30 Rock right now — not only did it win in this category last year, but none of its challengers are coming off their best seasons. If anything besides Tina Fey's expertly crafted sitcom wins, we promise to liveblog an episode of Two and a Half Men as penance.

Oh, look. Gossip Girl's Leighton Meester was on Entourage last night, recurring her first season role as a virginal (sorta) singer and love interest for Vinnie Chase. We're not sure this exactly counts as a cameo, considering this was already an established role and Leighton Meester isn't exactly a cameo-worthy household name yet. But there were three other big cameos on last night's episode. And that, maybe, is three cameos too many. I mean, yes, one of the major conceits of Entourage is that it is an inside look at Hollywood, which is full, duh, of celebrities. But it's begun to feel like a desperate stunt to mask the show's flailing quality level. Trotting out Tony Bennett, Giovanni Ribisi, and series exec-producer Mark Wahlberg in one episode? Too much distraction from an already cobbled-together plot. Especially that Wahlberg bit, which was self-deprecating in a kind of depressing way. A show like Gossip Girl has placed its handful of cameos more sparingly. The Jay McInerney and Tinsley Mortimer bits were wry winks to its New York audience base. Entourage's used to be the same way—an occasional "look who's willing to make fun of themselves" or "look how silly LA is" kind of thing. Lately though they come off as slathering over-showmanship. Kind of like Ari's swearing and Turtle's horniness and Drama's now-cartoonish buffoonery, come to think of it.

Entourage star Jeremy Piven spent a good portion of his lunch yesterday wondering why he didn't have any company. Piven asked his waitress at a New York City eatery if she thought that season premiere of his HBO laffer wasn't quite up to snuff. The waitress remarked, "Eh, I missed it. I was watching Mad Men on Sunday night and sort of flipping back and forth between the VMAs." Piven then asked her if she was planning on watching it On Demand, but the waitress shook her head "no", then excused herself by explaining that she needed to get Diet Coke refills over to Table 12.

Entourage star Jeremy Piven bucked the established order of the fashion world by sporting a pair of white pants after Labor Day in New York City on Tuesday. When asked why he dared to commit a fashion crime this heinous, Piven claimed that his pants weren't white, they were actually vanilla. Piven said, "They're vanilla bean colored — that's what my glam squad told me. Check the catalog."

· After Al Roker does lines all night, he's primed to give you the best lube job of your life. [Today] · PhelpsWatch: Add an Entourage cameo to his SNL hosting gig. We're thinking possible Lloyd love interest, but we don't want to get our hopes up. [Us] · Half of the 59 rape charges against Anand Jon have been dropped. [Waxword] · Here's just a tiny glimpse of the massive gold Kate Moss sculpture—the largest "since ancient Egypt"—soon to go on display at the British Museum. Quick! Where's that giant Studio 54 coke spoon? [CNN.com] · Sexy People: A Celebration of the Perfect Portrait is our current favorite time-killer. Check out the cousins. [Sexy People] · POW! Right in the kisser. Do you have a celebrity shiner fetish? Well here's some porn. [Holy Taco]

With just a little over a week until the new season of Entourage begins, we thought we'd take a moment to salute the most complex and rewarding of all relationships in that ongoing industry sausage fest: that of Ari and Lloyd. And no better examples of their glorious co-dependency exist than in those moments when everyone's favorite double-banger-securing Zeus completely loses his shit on his fiercely loyal Gaysian henchman. Defamer videographer Molly McAleer combed through the Entourage archives to find the greatest of all spittle-flecked Ari-Lloyed exchanges—though call us biased, our favorite one didn't make the cut.

Fleeting fame continues! Michael Phelps, the richly be-medaled Olympian and Ariel the mermaid's half brother, will be making a cameo on HBO's Entourage this season. He could teach Vincent Chase a few things about pulling chicks, I'm sure. You know, when in the confines of a little village in a foreign country.

[Cast members of the flailing HBO show "Entourage" filming in Tribeca today; image via Splash] Don_Is' new line beats the original, "Come Back, Good Writing! Come Baaaack!!"

As a charter member of the Hollywood Welcome Wagon, Jeremy Piven did his best to welcome the city's newest resident on the set of Entourage. Piven listened intently as the woman explained her trials and tribulations in the big city of dreams and the differences here and back home in St. Paul, Minnesota. Piven confided to the woman that he also was a reformed midwesterner as well. Piven said, "After you have that first double-double from In-N-Out and watch the sunrise in Malibu and then get grossed out by a tranny on Santa Monica Blvd, you'll never want to go back there." Piven also slipped the woman his business card and said that the card would be for two free drinks at the Green Door on Thursday night.

Looking to recover from his recent split with actress Isabel Lucas, Adrian Grenier headed to the beaches of Malibu with his trusty acoustic guitar. A gaggle of women quickly circled around the hunky environmentalist as he began to bear his soul with some recently penned tunes. One woman was really impressed by the songs and suggested that he pursue his music for awhile. Grenier told the woman that he had weighed his options numerous times and is "thisclose" to hanging it all up and just riding the rails with a song in his heart. The woman replied, "That's so deep."

This Should Help With Those "Party Boy" Rumors: NBC head Ben Silverman, who's never let running a network get in the way of being a party-positive "rock star," will be guesting on the upcoming fifth season of Entourage, says Nikki Finke. What kind of storyline might the HBO brofest have in store for Silverman? We imagine that after sparking up a doob with Vincent at Teddy's, a jealous Johnny Drama will grunt to Turtle, "I want to go hang out with that guy!" Their quest to befriend Silverman will result in a hilarious B-story that ends as all Entourage plotlines do: indifferently, punctuated by loud outbursts from Jeremy Piven. [Deadline Hollywood Daily]

Jeremy Piven was all smiles as he left popular Los Angeles steak house STK on Tuesday night. Piven told the lens men he had a delicious steak dinner and was thrilled about Michael Phelps' domination in the summer Olympics. One of the paparazzi wasn't sure if Piven's smile was genuine and asked the Entourage star about his fantasy football team. Piven with a large smile said, "Aaron Rodgers for the win!" then disappeared into the darkness of the Hollywood Hills.

In lieu of simply noting the facts of this TMZ story on a lawsuit involving former Malcolm in the Middle star Justin Berfield and his producing partners on an is-it-real-or-is-it-Entourage? Pablo Escobar biopic, we thought we'd instead check in with the 24 Hr. TMZ Fact-Checking Dept.—i.e. their unpoliced comments section—for oversights, omissions, and general findings of note. Defamer's Crack Copy-Editing Team, meanwhile, presents the following with a sprawling blanket [sic]:

Jeremy Piven further cemented his reputation as one of the most rebellious actors in Hollywood on Thursday afternoon. The Very Bad Things star boldly drove around Malibu while talking on his cellular phone, which is now an illegal activity in California. Piven said, "Headsets are for nerds ands squares and I'm not a nerd by any stretch of the imagination." Then Piven flexed his muscles and gunned through the light.

Entourage star Jeremy Piven had a shocking trip to his local bank on Tuesday afternoon. Apparently, the ATM declared that the Pivs had insufficient funds in his account and spit out his ATM card. Piven told the ATM that wasn't cool and quickly re-inserted his card into the machine. Yet as soon as Piven put the card back in, it came back out. Pivs was about to kick the ATM when a bank employee came outside and said, "Oh, hi! The ATM has been on the fritz, telling everybody that they have insufficient funds and junk like that. Sorry for the trouble!" Piven then adjusted his suit jacket and declared that he's seriously considering joining a credit union.

In between filming scenes for Entourage, Jeremy Piven warned beloved character actor Gary Cole to keep his flirting with female extras to a minimum unless he enjoyed being talked about the Howard Stern show and morning zoo radio shows. Piven said, "There's nothing quite like waking up to a Blackberry full of messages from your buddies on the East Coast talking about how some girl dragged your good name in the mud before getting on the Sybian or letting Beetlejuice throw lunch meat at her ass on the Stern show." Cole thanked Piven for the advice and told him that it wouldn't be an issue, seeing as how he's married.

Jeremy Piven most certainly felt the burn while jogging in Malibu on Monday afternoon. The Smokin' Aces star reportedly began to cramp up somewhere between mile two and three and attempted to walk it off. Piven slowly walked down the street, hoping that a car full of co-eds from near by Pepperdine University would come by and offer a ride back to his place. Alas, they never did, and Piven was forced to walk hands-on-hips all the way back to his place.

[Photo Credit: X17]