[Televisionary]

Thanks to you, gentle readers, Televisionary has been named as a finalist in the Best Culture Blog category at the 2006 Weblog Awards. Voting starts tomorrow (Thursday) so I ask that each of you vote for Televisionary... each and every day. (Rules allow one vote per day per computer.)

Whew. After a particularly whirlwind trip to London involving a few days worth of television-related meetings, parties in private clubs , luxe dinners in the nation's capital, and more than a few nights of champagne-fueled debauchery , I'm back in the States again and recovering from some sleep deprivation. I'm blaming it on a week of excess living. (Thanks, guys!) Special thanks first of all to Televisionary guest star "Christine Fortune" for pitching in whilst I was away and writing two superlative pieces on the latest edition of Bravo's Project Runway and the premiere of CBS' latest installment of The Amazing Race . If you haven't swung by to check them out and leave a comment or two, please do so now and make the lady feel welcome. So what did I learn from this particular crazed visit to my favorite city on the planet? Putting aside all of the work-related information I gathered, I just couldn't travel all the way to England and not catch som

Is it just me or are you totally creeped out by the Old Navy " Fash " commercials that are currently airing in cineplexes around the country? Starring Veronica Mars ' Kristen Bell (with a cameo from former Veronica Mars co-star Tessa Thompson ), the commercials revolve around the adventures of Fash, a diminutive marionette who happens to be a serious ladies' man. The two spots currently airing, entitled "Football" and "Date," involve Fash's rebellious nature. The first involves Kristen Bell and Tessa Thompson swooning over Fash on the well-manicured campus of an unnamed university. (Hearst College, perhaps?) The second spot features Fash picking Kristen Bell up for a date and ruffling the feathers of her overprotective "parents" before kissing Kristen and speeding off in a vintage car. Both "Fash" spots completely weird me out. And not in a David Lynchian "Calvin Klein Obsession" commercial kind of way. I'm no

Unpack your knifes, it's time for another season of backstabbing culinary challenge series Top Chef , Well, almost time, anyway. I don't know about you, but I've been jonesing for another Top Chef fix ever since the first season of Bravo's culinary challenge wrapped a few weeks back. Sure, we've been following the behind-the-scenes shenanigans with the show (android Katie Lee Joel out, Padma Lakshmi in) and we know that the sophomore season will take place in Los Angeles this time around, but what's in store for Top Chef 2 ? Fret not, fearless foodies! (I saw Stan Lee down at Comic Con, so forgive the exclamatory address.) Televisionary knows how much you love your Bravo reality shows and we've got a sneak peek at some images from the second season of Top Chef , courtesy of top secret Televisionary operative "Ted Kord," including the first photo of new host Padma Lakshmi in action (above, looking rather, um, model-esque). The scene: California S

As I reported last week , news had reached my ears that Top Chef host/automaton Katie Lee Joel would not be returning to Bravo's hit culinary reality series for a second season. It's always vindicating when a story you've broken (and which subsequently was picked up by most entertainment websites) is confirmed to be true. So it tickled me pink when Bravo finally confirmed my story about Katie Lee Joel today, via Bravo's Vice President of Production and Programming Andy Cohen's blog : "I want to address something you may have heard, that Katie Lee Joel wont be joining us next season on Top Chef . It is unfortunately true that Katie has left us to pursue other opportunities. She is a dynamic, beautiful woman who is passionate about food with a real zest for life. Everybody at Top Chef is going to miss her next season but she will always be part of the Bravo family." Quite possibly because Bravo has wisely already constructed a thousand clones of Ms. Joel,

The android has left the building. Or the test kitchen, anyway. Top Chef 's robotic host Katie Lee Joel, the veritable "Uptown Girl" herself (pictured at left), will NOT be sticking around for a second course of Bravo's hit culinary competition. According to a well-placed insider, Joel will "not be returning" to the show. No reason for her departure was cited. Unfortunately, the perfect replacement for Joel, Top Chef judge and professional chef Tom Colicchio, will not be taking over as the reality series' host (damn!). Instead, the show's producers are currently scouring to find a replacement for Joel. Top Chef 's second season was announced by Bravo last month, but no return date has been set for the series' ten-episode sophomore season. Stay tuned as this story develops. UPDATE (6/27): Bravo has now confirmed the above story .

We've all noticed the sudden proliferation of product placement on television as it's become inescapable of late. Whether it's Venus razors on America's Next Top Model or Windex on HBO's Big Love , American television has become cluttered with shots of name-brand products, a trend which has lately carried over into actual program dialogue. Pundits have blamed the explosion of product placement on the popularity of TiVo and other DVRs that allow users to speed through (or erase entirely) commercial ad breaks, making it necessary to embed ads into the actual program. If less people are seeing the commercials, networks need to reassure their sponsors that their products are still being viewed. But when does product placement cross a line from a subtle nudge to a knock over the head? Reality shows have always been gluttons for product placement, whether it be competitors' rewards in the form of cars or luxury vacation excursions or, in the case of CBS reality serie

Jace Lacob is the TV Columnist for The Daily Beast/Newsweek . He is the founder of Televisionary , an award-winning television website that focuses on US and UK television programming, news, reviews, and interviews that began in February 2006. Jace holds a Bachelor's degree in English Literature from Cornell University College of Arts and Sciences and a Master's degree in Journalism and Mass Communications from New York University. He also studied Literature at Oxford University (Wadham College, to be precise). He is a member of the Television Critics Association. Jace previously worked in the television industry for more than seven years, both on the domestic and international sides, in development, co-productions, and acquisitions. For publicists: Jace welcomes all coverage inquiries but please note that he writes exclusively about television (and to a smaller extent TV-on-DVD), so please don't send press releases or inquires on other topics. A list of popular topics ca

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