TVSquad

Somebody give Ed McMahon a job, please! There are more stories emerging about the famous TV sidekick's financial woes, and it's just sad that he's in such dire straits.

Granted, he's not alone in these tough times -- and, yes, he has had millions in his time -- but the revelations that the former Tonight Show star and Star Search host is in money trouble strikes me as really unfortunate. And apparently that help from Jay Leno is slow in materializing. Why isn't Publisher's Clearinghouse giving him a gig?

The latest news is that Citibank is suing McMahon for $200,000, a loan they extended to Ed. In a lawsuit filed in L.A. Superior court on June 9, the bank is seeking $179,687 in damages, plus legal fees. This is on top of the potential foreclosure on his Beverly Hills home.

Last week, the news about Ed McMahon possibly losing his Hollywood home spread across the airwaves. Surprisingly, there were many comments here that were downright unsympathetic to the former Tonight Show sidekick. Apparently, people in show business are sympathetic. Current Tonight Show host Jay Leno has vocally offered to help Ed with his financial problems.

Jay, who is in the last year of manning the desk that Johnny Carson manned for years with Ed right by his side, promises to come through for Ed. According to Leno's PR man, "Everybody loves Ed. Jay and others on the show are discussing how they can help him."

It's no secret that the country is in severe financial straits, especially people who are caught in the real estate merry-go-round where they find themselves unable to pay their monthly mortgage. Amazingly, someone as seemingly well-heeled and secure as Ed McMahon is one of those people struggling. Johnny Carson's sidekick on The Tonight Show is on the verge of losing his Beverly Hills home through foreclosure.

Published reports claim that Ed McMahon's home on Mulholland Drive, part of the gated hilltop development called The Summit, has been on the market for sale since 2006. Unfortunately, moving real estate in a depressed market is very tough. Complicating matters for McMahon is the neighborhood, in particular, one neighbor: Britney Spears.

It seriously sends a message to CBS when even Nightline as well as Leno is beating Letterman in the ratings. Nightline averaged 3.6 million viewers for the week ended May 19. The Tonight Show with Jay Leno averaged 5 million and The Late Show with David Letterman averaged 3.4 million according to latest Nielsen Media Research data.

It's tough to believe that David Letterman has fallen from grace so far and is now largely irrelevant. Given the gap, perhaps NBC should look into keeping Leno for a little bit longer rather than have him leave in 2009, particularly considering that even Craig Ferguson is beating Conan O'Brien in the ratings.

I remember when Letterman was a shot of adrenaline to the late night wars. What has Letterman done (or not done) to place him in the number three position? If CBS decided to replace Letterman, who would be the logical choice for the timeslot?

Remember that song, "Everything Old Is New Again"? Well, it's true. In the old days of broadcasting, it was typical for the host of a show to appear during the hour or half-hour doing a live commercial endorsing the sponsor of the program. That old idea is being re-invented and ABC will soon announce that Jimmy Kimmel will be doing live spots on Jimmy Kimmel Live. Call it the ultimate in product integration, if you will, but it's just one more way for advertisers to guard against DVR watchers zapping through the commercials or live viewers clicking to another channel. And if they're smart, they'll make the commercials clever enough to be worth watching. The live ads will launch in May.

It must have been hard to put a set together for a show like The Tonight Show. It's not the type of show you can do by season (way too many episodes), and Johnny Carson was host for 30 years (1962-92). A set like this is bound to disappoint some fans. But you know what? The set is just individual DVDs that have already been released in another form, and now they're packaging them under the Definitive DVD Collection title. That might tick off some fans who already bought the discs, but the set is well-done and has a variety of material to recommend it.

What a difference 15 years makes.

I have to hand it to Leno and NBC. It's a great idea to air older episodes of Leno's show during this strike. I've been saying for a couple of years that the late night shows should run repeats from years ago when they have repeat weeks instead of an episode we saw just a week or two ago. Leno's doing it, though I wonder if it's more of an NBC decision and not one that Leno made.

Last night he aired an episode from June, 1992, which was only one month after Johnny Carson retired and Leno took over the show (with the controversial Helen Kushnick still producing the show). It's interesting to note the differences between Leno 1992 and Leno 2007.

Earlier we heard about Tina Fey joining the picket line in New York City, and now more celebs are joining the picket lines on the west coast.

The New Adventures of Old Christine star Julia Louis-Dreyfus joined picketers in front of Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank, CA. She supports the writers and also knows that whatever happens with them might affect the Screen Actors Guild in the future (the union contract expires in 2008).

Here are the new TV DVDs, in stores tomorrow. It's a complete series extravaganza!

• The Andy Williams Show - Best Of
• The Bob Hope Show - The Ultimate Collection
• The Captain and Tennille - TV Specials
• The Colbert Report - Best Of
• The Cosby Show - Season 5 and 6
• Doctor Who - Series 3, Story #123 and 124
• Flight of the Conchords - Season 1
• Full House - Complete Series and Season 8
• Gilligan's Island - Complete Series
• House of Venus - Season 1
• King of Queens - Complete Series
• Martin - Season 3
• McLeod's Daughters - Season 4
• The Munsters - Scary Little Christmas
• The Pink Panther Show - A Pink Christmas
• Project Runway - Season 3
• Seinfeld - Complete Series and Season 9
• Sesame Street - Old School Vol. 2
• The Tonight Show - Heeere's Johnny: The Definitive DVD Collection
• Wildfire - Season 2
• Wings - Season 5
• Wonder Woman - Complete Collection
• The X-Files - Complete Collection Edition

BroadwayWorld.com is reporting that stage, film, and television star Robert Goulet has been in the hospital for over three weeks and is in critical condition. The star was experiencing shortness of breath a couple of months ago and found out that he has Interstitial Pulmonary Fibrosis, which is fatal.

Goulet had been in a Las Vegas hosptial when it was determined that he would not survive without a lung transplant. They don't do that in Las Vegas so he was moved to Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles on October 12. He's waiting for a transplant.

The last of the Rat Pack is dead.

Joey Bishop, who along with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr. and Peter Lawford comprised the Rat Pack in the late 50s and early 60s, died of multiple causes in Newport Beach this morning.

Besides several movies, including the original Ocean's Eleven and The Naked and the Dead, Bishop starred in two different TV series titled The Joey Bishop Show.

There have been rumors swirling ever since Conan O'Brien was tapped by NBC to replace Jay Leno as host of The Tonight Show that O'Brien would be asked to move to L.A. from his current New York City home. And now it's been made official by NBC: Conan will move to L.A. when he takes over the show in 2009.

The network has big plans for the area. NBC is selling off part of its Burbank lot and Conan's show will beam to us from the renovated Studio One at Universal Studios.

We've been hearing a lot of stories about Jay Leno and what he will (or won't) do after Conan O'Brien takes over The Tonight Show in 2009. Could he move to another network?

On the heels of news that NBC might be building Conan O'Brien a new studio on the Universal lot (O'Brien will probably have to move from New York to L.A. when he takes over the show) comes word from gossiper Cindy Adams that Leno might be moving to FOX. Adams says that there's no way that Leno is going to retire (Leno is making more and more jokes about leaving NBC lately, and you can tell it's not all in jest), and the best odds are that FOX will want to get back into the late night game.

FOX makes the most sense. He certainly wouldn't go to CBS since Letterman has 11:30 (and produces the 12:30 show). Would ABC want to get rid of Kimmel in some way to make room for Leno?

Whitney Matheson has an interesting topic over at the Pop Candy blog. She lists her 10 favorite props from the movies, and includes some items like Indy's hat from the Raiders of the Lost Ark movies, Darth Vader's light saber, and many items from Steve Martin's The Jerk. This got me thinking, what props from TV shows would I like to own? I have a few from Ed, including a name plate from the courtroom and a drinking bird, but I'd like more. My list is below, in no particular order.

Anything from The Dick Van Dyke Show: In particular, the typewriter in the office or anything from the Petrie's kitchen. Or maybe the ottoman Rob trips over!

In a sign that Conan O'Brien may indeed keep The Tonight Show out in California when he takes over for Jay Leno in two years, Hollywood Today is reporting that NBC has taken over Stage One at Universal Studios, where ABC's Desperate Housewives has filmed. The Wisteria Lane girls are now filming at the bigger Stage 41.

Conan's show is in reruns this week, and he's been in Los Angeles and Burbank, talking over the deal to move to California and take over for Leno in 2009.