Oooooh, HBO is going all sorts of highbrow and getting Martin Scorsese to direct Empire, a new series about the glamorous days of 1920s Atlantic City [guffaw]. Now that Marty's former bitch Leo has decided to graduate to bigger and better things, it seems Scorsese has tapped a new place holder in the form of Michael Pitt, whom I always thought was sort of a poor man's Leo anyway. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Steve Buscemi will star as some bootlegger named Nucky Johnson and Pitt will play his protegee.

Sure, it's great to go out and be festive or whatnot, but how nice would it be to snuggle up in front of the boob tube and just hang out in PJs? It's not a bad way to ring in the New Year. You don't have to worry about catching a cold from kissing a stranger. If you get really drunk, you don't have to find a taxi or a driver. And there's the extra bonus of not getting gussied up.

If you are a Time Warner Cable customer and were planning on watching their Miley-filled New Year's Eve special (and I sincerely hope it was either because you wanted to mock it, or because you have a tween in your house that you wanted to appease) you may be out of luck. At 12:01 am, Time Warner's deal with Viacom goes kaput, and talks aren't looking so good. There's like money and that kind of crap involved (Variety has the specifics) but basically it comes down to the customers getting screwed over. Happy New Year!

We've tired of thinking what we'll do to make TV a better experience for us and vowing never to watch a show, only to get suckered back into a hyped storyline (Prison Break), or promising to watch all those shows that have been sitting in our DVR for months that we know we're never, ever, going to really watch. Instead, we decided to be more productive and came up with some resolutions for the TV shows themselves (and the people behind them). Here's hoping that at least a few of these actually stick.

The rumor that Balthazar Getty's gig on Brothers & Sisters is ending soon has been swirling around ever since he started being photographed smooching a topless Sienna Miller on the high seas months ago, and now Ausiello is reporting that it's pretty much officially true now. Well, it's still technically a rumor because ABC hasn't confirmed, but it's Ausiello and he knows things from time to time so I'm inclined to believe it.

Living here in my post-modern pop culture-referencing Manhattan alcoholic social circle, I too often forget that the vast majority of people on this planet have much better things to do with their lives than read every single bit of entertainment gossip and watch every single TV show and movie that gets made and then regurgitate everything retained from those things in conversation form with their idiot slacker friends day and night.

The answer to that question should be a resounding no. If the question was "Can you feel the desperation of nine guys who really want to be rich and famous without having actually any skill aside from kissing ass?" then the answer would be yes. The "star" of this "show" is Brody Jenner, who is pretty much famous for having a famous dad and using that to leverage his way into reality TV "stardom." Though his official bio on the MTV site would have you think differently: "Nominated for a 2008 Teen Choice Award for his role on The Hills, Brody Jenner is more than just a handsome face; he's a talented entertainer, a budding entrepreneur and a lover of all things luxurious." OK then.

Move over Anthony Bourdain, I've got a new travel channel crush and his name is Adam Richman. He's not your conventional hottie, and he may not dine on high-brow cuisine or go globe-trotting to exotic locales, but this down home guy is exceedingly lovable and his new series, Man V. Food is addictive. Now I don't like to cook much, so watching Giada whip up a meal isn't really all that fascinating to me, but I do like to eat, and I love shows that involve a competition, and this one serves up a little bit of everything.

When's MTV gonna change its stupid name already? With the recent announcement regarding its reality show-heavy slate of new shows (16 new ones in all), it's like they're not even trying to pretend they have anything to do with music anymore. It's not even like on VH1, where the shows are sort of vaguely related to music via their hosts (Rock of Love, Charm School, etc.). It's just pure unmitigated trizzash.

I'm still upset about David Tennant leaving Doctor Who. I'm not going to lie. It's been about two months since the official announcement and I'm still mostly in denial about it. Especially since I just got cute little Doctor Who toys for the holiday, and him with the Adipose? Adorable. Anyway, making the whole situation slightly less sucky is news that David Tennant and Russell T. Davies want to go out with a bang... and maybe a little song too. Doctor Who... the musical? It's like a dream come true.