July 21, 2008
The NBC executive session at the TCA press tour featured many scheduling announcements. Jay Leno's final episode of The Tonight Show will be Friday, May 29, 2009 and Conan O'Brien will take over the following Monday, June 1. Conan will be stopping his current show in early 2009 and Jimmy Fallon will take over in either March or April, following a virtual preview of the show that will exist online prior to its network premiere.
The other big story was Amy Poehler's role on the new show from The Office writers Greg Daniels and Michael Schur which is officially NOT an Office spin-off. Though Daniels is also developing a spin-off that would include characters currently on The Office, the Amy Poehler show will be tonally similar but has no direct connection to The Office.
July 19, 2008
While accepting the Television Critics Association Award for Outstanding Miniseries for John Adams, executive producer Tom Hanks was thankful that the TCA Awards are not televised due to his random, somewhat dirty humor. After attending Saturday night's ceremony, I feel just the opposite, because the awards themselves and particularly the acceptance speeches were so hilarious that it's a shame more people don't get to see them,
The TCA Awards recognize the best in television, and this year the awards were divided among three shows: 30 Rock, Mad Men and the HBO miniseries John Adams. In an odd moment of mutual adoration from critics and the industry, those just happen to be the three most nominated programs at this year's Emmys.