Call me old fashioned, but I have always been a strong believer that you shouldn’t bite the hand that feeds you, especially the one that makes you a pseudo-celeb and a household name, something few chefs are able to attain these days. But that didn’t stop Ilan Hall, Cliff Crooks and Sam Talbot from making not-so-nice remarks about Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi.

Asked if he trusted Lakshmi’s culinary taste, Ilan Hall, a line cook at Casa Mono, asked a Bravo flack, “Um, are we allowed to say disparaging things about Padma?” No. “She’s beautiful,” Hall offered. “Mostly, she just explained things, and she did a good job at that.” Cliff Crooks, executive chef at Salute!, said, “Nothing she said really made a difference in my cooking.”

Sam Talbot refused to even answer the question.

And then there’s the matter of her stomach-baring, kitchen-unfriendly attire. “Some of the things she wore, I wouldn’t suggest anyone wear around a working kitchen,” said Crooks. “Either she’d be a fire hazard or she’d get hurt.”

Except, hello, this is television. Since Top Chef wants to nab some male audience members, covering up Padma with a chef’s jacket would kinda defeat the purpose when guys would much rather see her in something sexy. And so what if she isn’t a trained chef herself? Most reality show hosts these days are not trained in whatever the show is about, so give her a freaking break. I hope Top Chef drops those three chefs from any future endorsements.

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Bring on Beatles Week!

For the first time, Idol has permission to use parts of the famed songbook of The Beatles, executive producer Ken Warwick says. “We’ve got the permission” from Sony, which owns the publishing rights, Warwick says. Certain songs are still off limits, but “they said, ‘Tell us what songs you want and we will do our best.’ “

No word about who the week’s mentor would be… there have been reports that Amercan Idol producers were trying to get Paul McCartney. Other possible mentor could be Beatles producer George Martin.

Who else thinks this season could be the best yet? Don’t forget that American Idol starts tonight!

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There has been many rumors about which former Amazing Race contestants would be back for the all stars - as well as some b!tching by those who weren’t asked to participate - but we now have the complete All Star contestant list!

Without further ado, here are the all stars!

Only one team — Uchenna and Joyce Agu — was a past winner, in Season 7. But others are standouts: height-challenged Charla Faddoul and cousin Mirna Hindoyan; Joe Baldassare and Bill Bartek (the first season’s “team Guido”); Rob and Amber Mariano, who parlayed their Survivor stint into marriage and reality-TV careers; and Kevin O’Connor and Drew Feinberg, amiable, bald best friends from Season 1. Also repeating the Race are two teams from the latest season: coal miner David Conley and wife Mary, and beauty queens Dustin Seltzer and Kandice Pelletier.

Also in the hunt: Eric Sanchez and Danielle Turner, who competed on separate teams in Season 9 but later became a couple; Oswald Mendez and Danny Jimenez (Season 2’s “Team Cha-Cha-Cha”); John Pietanza and Jill Aquilino, a now-split couple from Season 3; and Teri and Ian Pollack, the oldest couple to finish as runners-up (she’s now 53, he’s 54), also in Season 3.

I am glad to see Uchenna and Joyce back, I think they were my favorite couple from all the seasons. I always remember her shaving her head, then them both struggling to get money to pay that cab fare when they were only moments from the million dollar finish line. And no surprise, Rob and Amber are participating… after all, they have made a career of reality show appearances.

Apparently there will be a lot of curve balls and twists this season… after all, these contestants are the best of the best.

How did Race challenge contestants who knew the drill? “We had to throw them curveball after curveball, because they all thought they knew what we were doing again,” Van Munster says. So the 45,000-mile, 28-day race, which ended Dec. 19, sent them “from extreme cold to extreme heat,” a desert in northern Chile to “borderline South Pole” in Antarctica.

I have always enjoyed those rare times they have sent the contestants to colder climates where they have to bundle up and snowshow or sled

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There have been a ton of rumors about who will be on the new fourth season of Dancing with the Stars. They have announced that they will be making an announcement on the morning show Good Morning America on all the new dancers and celebs, closer to the March 19th premiere date.

Producers have also revealed that only about half of the celebs have been signed on to appear in the new season so far, meaning there is still time to lobby for your favorite celebs to appear on the show!

If you were producers, who would you try to get on the show?

I hate when producers start talking about the end of a series, especially one I love! But it looks like the producers want to set a series end point, so they can plot things towards to series finale.

“It’s time for us to find an endpoint to the show,” said Cuse, speaking Sunday at ABC’s portion of the TV Critics Assn. press tour. “It’s a struggle for us, because we don’t know if we have three years, four years or more to go. If we had an endpoint, then we could figure out where everything goes.”

Such a move would placate fans of the show, who frequently gripe that they have no indication whether the show’s ever-increasing mysteries will pay off. A set timetable would send a message to viewers that all of their questions will be answered eventually.

“Once we figure out when that will be, a lot of those concerns will go away,” Cuse said. “The worst point is when a show ends and no one cares. We don’t want that to happen. We want to make the shows good for as long as we do the show.”

They also go on to say that episode 100 would be a good end-point for the series. Going at the current rate, episode 100 would fall in the fifth season.

They obviously went into the interview with having the series finale in mind… they talk about other things that have overstayed welcomes (such as X-Files, Harry Potter), something they want to prevent happening to Lost.

Hmmmm…..

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Ah, Dancing with the Stars, the show that manages to turn B and C list stars into A-listers. ABC has announced that the long-rumored fourth season of Dancing with the Stars will premiere Monday, March 19 at 8pm. And the first episode will be a two hour episode, giving fans lots of opportunity to get to know the new dancers.

The show will air on Mondays from 8 to 9:30 (yes, 90 minute episodes) and then the results on Tuesdays from 9-10.

Yes, you read that right. Dancing with the Stars is switching the day to Monday from Tuesday, in order to get out of the way of the powerhouse known as American Idol.

“The great thing about this air schedule is that fans won’t have to choose between the two reality hits this spring,” said ABC Entertainment president Stephen McPherson.

As you will remember, this isn’t the first hot series that ABC has moved out of American Idol’s way. Lost has also seen its time slot changed to prevent a head-to-head with American Idol.

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While we knew new episodes of Sopranos would be starting in April, HBO now has an official premiere date for the second half of season six. April 8th will be the first episode, with new episodes running through to the season - and series - finale on June 3, 2007.

And don’t forget you can catch up on the first half of season six beginning January 16th.

It is hard to believe that not only are fans finally getting the second half of season six, but are faced with the series demise as well. You do have to wonder if they will be filming a Sopranos movie now though!

Jane Seymour has been signed to guest star in three upcoming episodes of ABC’s In Case of Emergency, the new comedy starring David Arquette. Seymour will play Donna, Jason’s (Arquette) mother.

Seymour will play Jason’s (David Arquette) mother, Donna. In her first episode, “Oh, Henry!,” Jason, on the verge of going to jail, can cut a deal if he rats on his Uncle Henry, who happens to be Donna’s favorite brother. Jason begs Harry (Jonathan Silverman) to help him with Donna because she always favored Harry over him. Things quickly get hot when Donna starts flirting with Harry and makes a pass at him. But the fireworks don’t end there, as Donna asks Harry to give her a ride home - alone.

Her first episode will air February 14th at 9:30 on ABC.

In Case of Emergency stars also stars Greg Germann (All McBeal), Kelly Hu (The Scorpion King), Lori Loughlin (Full House, Summerland) and Jackson Bond (The Invasion).

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We all know that someone is getting pregnant on Crossing Jordan. While the Jordan & Woody shippers hope it would be them, I am putting my money on it being Lily who just left her fiance at the alter for Bug. And in an upcoming episode, Lily receives a “surprise” on the January 21st episode, the third episode of the sixth season.

Jordan and Lu investigate the suicide of a teen, whose note indicated that he’d been molested; Woody looks into the gruesome death of a woman who was hit by several cars on a highway; Macy warns Jordan that she needs to do things by the book when an investigator starts poking around the office; and Lily receives some surprising news.

Could a pregnancy be the surprising news?

Sprint is continuing its exlusive content deals with various television shows by adding 24 to the lineup that has included Amazing Race, Smallville and America’s Next Top Model.

Sneak peaks of the following week’s episode, available to Sprint TV subscribers as soon as the show airs on the East Coast, are part of Sprint’s overall media deal with Fox. While Sprint pays an incremental fee for the in-show integration, the exclusive content was provided at no additional cost to the company. Sprint’s sneak peaks are sponsored by Degree Deodorant.

So what will fans be getting? Obviously previews and promos that are not available to the public for upcoming episodes. But there will be other offerings for 24 fanatics to download.

In addition to “24″ ringtones, games, images and logos, Sprint also will offer subscribers a “covert ops” sweepstakes in which they can enter for the chance to win a trip to Incredible Adventures, a simulation spy training camp in Sarasota, Fla.

There also will be an experts quiz to test your “24″ IQ and a covert ops survival guide tied to previous episodes of “24,” with the first tip being how to survive a cougar attack.

Some interesting things for fans. And I could see that some rabid fans might be tempted to sign on with Sprint to get it. But you have to wonder how long it will take after each new content release for it to show up on YouTube.

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This clip is taken from Sunday’s Desperate Housewives episode, where Susan attempts to eavesdrop on her daughter Julie, with predictable klutzy Susan results.

Pretty funny!

I will admit, I love Paula Abdul, way back from her Straight Up days. And while there has been a lot of talk in the past about rum in her Coca-Cola glass during the American Idol tapings, I kind of dismissed it because, well, that’s just how Paula is. But after watching this video, I am just not sure. It is pretty painful to even watch!

Her behaviour just seems so bizarre in this interview!

Abdul’s spokesman, Jeff Ballard, tells PEOPLE the incident is “really much ado about nothing.”

Asked whether the Idol judge was drinking or under the influence of drugs during the appearance Ballard says: “Absolutely not.”

The interview was just one of at least 20 Abdul did that day, according to Ballard. “This is the only one that went bad due to technical difficulties. The sound dropped not once but twice. She was totally distracted by the whole thing.”

I think if that is the truth, let’s see some video from the other twenty Paula did that day, and maybe we can see for ourselves that the one for Seattle was the one off one with technical difficulties and that the others went off without a hitch.

CBS has released the list of new castaways for the upcoming season of Survivor! Here they are, in alphabetical order.

Castaways competing in SURVIVOR: FIJI (in alphabetical order) are:

ALEX ANGARITA
28
Los Angeles (originally from Colombia)
Attorney

KENWARD “BOO” BERNIS
34
Lafayette, La.
Construction Worker

YAU-MAN CHAN
54
Martinez, Calif. (born in Hong Kong, raised in Borneo, Malaysia)
Computer Engineer

EARL COLE
35
Santa Monica, Calif. (originally from Kansas City, Kan.)
Advertising Executive

JESSICA deBEN
27
Los Angeles (originally from New Orleans)
Fashion Stylist

ERICA DUROUSSEAU
27
Lake Charles, La.
Non-Profit Fundraiser

CASSANDRA FRANKLIN
42
Los Angeles
Civil Engineer Manager

LILIANA GOMEZ
25
Oxnard, Calif.
Loan Officer

ANDRIA “DRE” HERD
25
Wilmington, N. C.
Cheerleading Coach

STACY KIMBALL
27
Boulder, Colo. (originally from Montpelier, Vt.)
Interactive Internet Producer

SYLVIA KWAN
52
Ross, Calif. (born in Hong Kong)
Architect

MOOKIE LEE
25
Wheeling, Ill. (born in Seoul, Korea)
Loan Manager

LISETTE “LISI” LINARES
36
Los Angeles (originally from Miami)
Customer Service Representative

JAMES REID
28
Los Angeles (originally from Boston)
Bartender

EDGARDO RIVERA
28
Miami Beach, Fla. (originally from Puerto Rico)
Advertising Executive

ANTHONY ROBINSON
32
Compton, Calif.
Expert Witness Locator

GARY STRITESKY
55
Ramsey, Minn.
School Bus Driver

RITA VERREOS
38
San Antonio, Texas (originally from Venezuela)
Single Mom

MICHELLE YI
23
Cincinnati, Ohio
Student

An interesting mix, although I sure notice that California is definitely represented well! There are also three castaways in their 50s, although no one older than that is on the list.

Also, the castaways number 19… could the person chosen to divide the teams also be ousted after doing so?

Looks like Scotty (Luke MacFarlane) is returning to Brothers & Sisters for the Valentine’s episode “Valentine’s Day Massacre”. Of course, this comes hot on the heels of Kevin meeting Chad. No word yet if this will be Scott’s only episode or if it marks the beginning of another run on the show but we will keep our ears open!

Some great new promos are available for Heroes!

There has been a lot of buzz about this series, seemingly even more since it left for the Christmas hiatus. Fans won’t have to wait too much longer for new episodes though! New episodes start Monday, January 22nd on NBC.

Via Seriously OMG WTF

TV.com has four new videos to get you ready for the season premiere on Sunday.

First, here is a recap of the Jordan saga in last season’s season finale when she is accused of J.D.’s murder.

Next, meet the new medical examiner (Remember her from Grey’s?)

Third, the team tracks Jordan

Last, Macy tracks Jordan down to D.C.

You can watch them all here. Enjoy!

You can always count on Survivor to mix things up come the start of a new season, whether it is returned castaways, Exile island or dividing the tribes by race. So the new season of Survivor, branded Survivor Fiji, has not one but a few different twists up its sleeve. This season will have two hidden immunity idols - one at each camp - as well as starting off the season with a single tribe.

A single tribe? Yep, you read that right. All 19 castaways will get dropped off at one camp, where they are actually given supplies instead of having to win reward challenges to get them. And the twist? Oh yes, there definitely is one of those.

Actually, the plan for Survivor: Fiji, premiering Feb. 8, is to group the 19 castaways as one tribe equipped with enough supplies and resources to fashion themselves an exceptionally cozy camp. But come Day 3, one player will be called upon to split the one mass into two. The tribe which then wins the first immunity challenge lives large at the existing camp, while the other is relocated to a separate island with only a pot, a machete and a water source. (Think The Apprentice: L.A., but with millions more viewers.)

Yes, Exile Island will exist in Fiji as well, but with a twist. There will not be an idol hidden on Exile Island, but rather those castaways sent there will receive a clue to find the idol back at camp.

Survivor Fiji premieres on Thursday, February 8th on CBS.

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