· The Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. estimates that the cancellation of the Globes "could" cost the local economy more than $80 million; should the Oscars also go down, the organization says L.A. can expect another $130 million to be flushed away. [Variety]
· The DGA announces the nominations for their yearly awards, with There Will Be Blood's Paul Thomas Anderson, No Country's Coen Brothers, Michael Clayton's Tony Gilroy, Into the Wild's Sean Penn, and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly's Julian Schabel all earning the official esteem of their behind-the camera peers. [Variety]

News that the Golden Globes ceremony had been permanently and irrevocably canceled, replaced instead by a sickly televised press conference wheeled out in an iron lung to wheeze through this year's winners, did little to raise Hollywood's spirits last night as they solemnly death-marched up the Critics' Choice Awards red carpet. Not surprisingly, The Envelope now reports that the fall of Hollywood's booziest, A-listiest party is taking down all of its satellite clusterfêtes with it, in what could well go down in Hollywood history books as The Great Tinseltown Party Famine of Oh-Eight:

· What's up with the Golden Globes? The industry's collector sphincter is still uncomfortably contracted as it awaits official word from the HFPA and NBC about whether or not they'll try to put on some version of Hollywood's Drunkest Night without striking writers and sympathetically no-showing actors, though whispers are already indicating that the whole thing will be flushed. [Variety, THR]
· James Bond has a love interest! Ukrainian actress Olga Kurylenko is officially reporting for Bond 22 sexual-conquest duty, ready to deliver a coquettish line about how great the superspy's tuxedo will look crumpled up on the floor of her bedroom the morning after she's been ravaged by Daniel Craig. [Variety]

The WGA's displeasure with The Tonight Show host Jay Leno's self-penned monologues only continues to grow—while Conan O'Brien seems to get a pass, exempt under the "Actually Funny" clause—to the point where NBC has felt the need to issue a statement on the matter. Meanwhile, with SAG boycotting decrees making it increasing difficult to get even B-list asses on non-Worldwide Pants couches, the comedian has found an unlikely ally in another late night rival:

According to an announcement made by Screen Actors Guild president Alan Rosenberg this afternoon, the members of his union refuse to undermine their striking WGA brethren by crossing the WGA picket line at the Golden Globes:

Though WGA member Jay Leno seemed to think that writing his own monologue on last night's Tonight Show wasn't flouting the Guild's strike guidelines, the union this afternoon announced via this terse public statement that it had a little heart-to-heart with the host about the matter: "A discussion took place today between Jay Leno and the Writers Guild to clarify to him that writing for The Tonight Show constitutes a violation of the Guilds' strike rules."

· Overcoming the apparently mild inconvenience of putting on shows without their striking writers, Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien still triumphed over fully staffed talk-show rivals David Letterman and Craig Ferguson in Wednesday night's Nielsen battle. In fairness to the WGA-approved programs, however, it should be noted that many viewers might have chosen to tune in to Leno out of irresistible curiosity about how unfunny the host would be on his own. [THR]
· Though the Golden Globes briefly harbored hope that the Writers Guild might give them a waiver for their rapidly approaching awards show, the WGA isn't going to cut them a break and still plans to picket. [Variety]

Sporting an intimidating beard meant to show the effects of his difficult, two-month-long, tragically scribe-deprived hibernation, David Letterman symbolically crossed a twirling line formed by his Eugene V. Debs Picket Dancers and returned to work, bolstered by the full services of his newly contracted Guild writers. We haven't seen Jay Leno's opening yet, but we're going to assume he won't be doing a self-effacing version of the picket-line bit, wary that the saboteurs who've previously feasted on a vulnerable Carson Daly might have infiltrated his dance troupe, ready to paddle him with "Shame on You, Jay!" signs for going back to work without his striking staff.

· While the AMPTP's member companies insist that internet will remain a revenue-deficient wasteland in perpetuity, they seem to be doing quite well in their multiplex-based lines of business, as an unprecedented six major studios have crossed the $1 billion threshold in 2007. Fox joined Paramount, Warner Bros., Disney, Sony, and Universal in the Billion Dollar Club behind this weekend's Alvin and the Chipmunks performance, while the 'Mount won the overall market share title thanks to DreamWorks-supplied Shrek and Transformers. Congratulations to all of the faceless corporate entities further enriched by the bad taste of the American moviegoing public! [Variety]
· We take back what we just said about ticket-buyers' poor taste, as instant classic and prohibitive Best Picture favorite National Treasure: Book of Secrets was rightly rewarded with another $55.4 million over the five-day holiday weekend. [THR]

While the WGA picket lines that have become important stops for local tour-bus drivers looking to show visitors to our fine city the stalled dream-making factories where their favorite films and television shows were once made have generally featured enough exciting musical performances, adorable striking babies, and occasional attempted vehicular manslaughters to keep their paying customers entertained, the protests have thus far lacked the A-list star power the public expects from such large-scale Hollywood productions. Today's LAT wonders why the cream of the showbusiness crop has yet to join the pizza-proferring efforts of lesser (read: TV-based) lights in showing solidarity with the WGA's cause:

· The Return of Late Night (*Doc Severinson trumpet flourish*) brings a veritable who-cares of stars to their chilled couches. Leno has Jamie Lynn Spears'-pregnancy-endorsing candidate Mike Huckabee, and Letterman has Donald Trump, on hand to find out which of his Celebrity Apprentice candidates float. [THR]
· More on the Worldwide Pants/WGA deal: Writers got what the Guild is demanding for internet across the board: "3% based on the applicable minimum payment per 100,000 hits." [THR]
· Netscape Navigator, who for some of us was our first portal into the many splendors of the bold new fetish-catering technology of the World Wide Web, is to be buried beneath a heavy pillow in its sleep by corporate parent AOL. [THR]
· Chinese actor and director Sun Daolin died at age 86, his illustrious cinematic legacy in many ways paving the way for Chris Tucker shouting about the words coming out of his mouth at a nonplussed Jackie Chan. [Variety]
· Overseas audiences still can't get enough of I Am Legend, which foreign film snoots are calling the greatest exploration of the existentialist dilemma since 1948's La Terra trema. [Variety]

· We realize this makeover isn't that new, but did the Sun-Maid girl fix a deviated septum? And get Botox? And a chemical peel? And a brow lift? And go tanning? She's still being styled by Rachel Zoe, though. Zing!
· The AMPTP clock has hit $151,000,000. Why is that figure significant? Well, says their website, it's the moment the strike has crossed over into the red abyss, costing the writers more than they were negotiating for in the first place. Do you taste the bitter irony here? It's so unpleasant on the tongue!
· The visor supposedly worn by Data on Star Trek: The Next Generation and sold by Christie's to a Trekkie for $6000 is now suspected of being a fake.
· It's official: Rocky's son and the indestructible cheerleader are doing it!
· Did somebody say...list? Reality Blurred reminds us of all the reality stars who died this year—a surprisingly hefty lot—as well as a bunch of other reality TV stuff from a year where the format reigned supreme.

A press release brings at least a glimmer of end-of-year good news to the otherwise moribund state of writers strike affairs: Worldwide Pants, which sought to reach an independent deal with the WGA that would allow both their late night talk shows to return to the airwaves with a full roster of Guild-approved Top Ten lists, Know Your Current Events questions, and whatever it is they do on The Late Late Show, has successfully negotiated an agreement with their writers' union:

· Annoyed that no progress has been made in the strike, the DGA has offered January 7 as the start date for their own AMPTP negotiations. Obviously, we hope everything goes smoothly, and yet a tiny part of us would love to lay our eyes on an Incredible Picketing Director Baby, wearing a beret and holding a tiny, old-fashioned megaphone. [Variety]
· Lists! Lists! We love lists! Here's one of 10 things that didn't happen in Hollywood this year. [Variety]
· The music industry renames itself Josh Groban's Noel LLC, fires any artist, manager, or A&R person not by that name. [Variety]
· It's producer vs. agent over who came up with the idea of a reality show set in a gym first. [THR]
· Hollywood breaks record overseas, pulling in $10 billion in box office receipts, up 15% from last year. We know this is supposed to be good news, so why does it fill us with a vague sense of dread? [THR]

· Steve Jobs and Rupert Murdoch emerge from their jacuzzi-bound tete-a-tete with a new deal in place that allows iTunes users to "rent" Fox movies. [Variety]
· The stock prices of major media conglomerates have "barely budged" in the eight weeks since the writers strike started, but investment experts warn that Howie Mandel getting so much as a splinter would result in dramatic fluctuations. [Variety]
· The WGA hired Democratic strategists Bill Carrick and Kam Kuwata. Carrick "oversaw the campaign of former Los Angeles mayor James Hahn against current Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the gubernatorial campaign of Treasurer Phil Angelides against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger." Um... [Variety]
· Meanwhile, networks who formerly seemed destined to never get along are mending fences like never before: For the first time in history, NBC and CBS will both be airing the same Patriots season finale game. [THR]
· The Kingdom director Peter Berg is in talks to join Edwin A. Salt, a movie about a CIA officer "fingered as a Russian sleeper spy." Tom Cruise is attached to play the fingered Russian. [THR]

You've no doubt noticed that Carson Daly's been demonstrably less gut-bustingly hilarious these past few weeks sans pro writers —the bon mots his niece texts him from math class usually fall flat—but the show hit a new low last night when the material-starved talking head, openly looking to kill a few minutes, held a "talent" show featuring members of his put-upon staff. Listen to the tone of voice of everyone in this thing. Heaven's Gate members were peppier.

A sleepy trade round-up for Christmas Eve:
· I Am Legend continues to clean up overseas, accidentally giving foreigners the impression that Manhattan is a sparsely populated American island with inexpensive real estate and some overzealous homeless people. [Variety]
· Much like the war in Iraq, except with fewer babies on the front lines, the writers strike proves elusive in putting a face on the enemy. [Variety]
· 2007 will go down as The Year the World's Biggest Stars Proved to be Gigantic, Useless Wastes of Hundreds of Millions of Studio Dollars. We're looking at you, Pitt, Cruise, Kidman, and Cera. Oh—strike that last one. Kid's on fire. [Variety]

· The looming threat of a strike-induced cancellation of the Golden Globes ceremony has thrown the party-planning world into chaos: How can anyone commit half a million bucks to fill a venue with chocolate fountains, imposing mounds of peeled shrimp, and ice sculptures of prohibitive best actor favorite Daniel Day Lewis when there's a chance the whole night might be called off? [Variety]
· The WGA has granted a waiver for the Independent Spirit Awards (to be hosted by Guild member Rainn Wilson), freeing the show's organizers from the stomach-churning stress being suffered by their writerless Globes counterparts. [THR]

With Conan, Jay, Jimmy, and the rest of the late night gang announcing they're reluctantly headed to back to work without their striking writers, it seemed inevitable that Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert wouldn't be far behind. They've released this joint statement on their January 7th return: "We would like to return to work with our writers. If we cannot, we would like to express our ambivalence, but without our writers we are unable to express something as nuanced as ambivalence." A more disappointed than ambivalent WGA has already issued a reminder that writerless versions of the shows aren't going to fill the Colbert and Stewart-shaped holes in our lives: "Comedy Central forcing Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert back on the air will not give the viewers the quality shows they've come to expect. The only way to get the writing staffs back on the job is for the AMPTP companies to come back to the table prepared to negotiate a fair deal with the Writers Guild." [AP, WGA.org]

· Studios are reviving Hollywood's love affair with the Super Bowl's TV audience, with at least eight movie commercials scheduled to air during the game—at a record price of $2.7-3 million per 30 seconds. Cinematic product you'll be sold in between supposedly clever ads for watery domestic beer: Iron Man, Will Smith's Hancock, and Will Ferrell's Semi Pro. [Variety]
· The Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp forecasts that the writers strike will cost the local economy $220 million each month it drags on, and has already caused $342 million in "lost wages and ripple effects" on related businesses. Now we all have a staggering dollar amount to attach to our free-floating strike dread. [THR]