Was it a little dreary? A little tedious? Mmhmm, that's why they call it work. Last night on Baby Borrowers, the teen parents had to juggle unfun jobs with playing house, and oh, did it blow-for them, anyway. They cried, rolled their eyes, and pitched hissy fits as far as they could throw 'em. And it all resulted in, well...nothing.

The theme of tonight's condom crusade (Can't you just see the little Trojans marching to repel the mighty sperm army? Protect the egg, soldiers!): Consequences? What consequences?

Let's start with the repeat offender, Alicea. Last week she copped so much 'tude, little Carson's momma had to take her to the woodshed. Trying to avoid another run-in (and any semblance of responsibility for Carson), Alicea went to work while Cory stayed home with the baby. Only Ali showed up for her gig at the lumber yard looking like she rolled in from a club. Then she threw her boss a stinkeye so funky, I'd have taken off my shoe and beat her with it. Does she get fired? Nope. Does she lift a finger to help Cory when she gets home? Hardly. Is there any incentive for her to behave better? Not that I can see. As for the other couples, let's get to them, after the jump.

For Sean and Kelsey, the motivation seems pretty clear: One of them has to work, or they don't get paid. No money means no food, no house. So it certainly seems like self-sabotage when Kelsey pouts in the bathroom for so long that Sean feels compelled to stay with baby Etta. But really, are we supposed to believe that NBC would let their underage "parents"-much less the babies-starve, or somehow default on their ersatz "rent?" Whatever. The point becomes moot by day 2, as Kelsey packs herself off for a shift at a drive-through diner. So big deal, they'll earn half-pay and buy generic Cheerios. 

And what about the skater daters, Morgan and Daton? Actually, what about them? There is no less interesting couple than these two sunspots. Their biggest concern is whether they'll still be together a year or two from now. (Hint: no.) It's not surprising that they're largely checked-out, since they only went on the show to test their relationship. Judging by how desperately Daton wanted to ditch Morgan to go skate, my question is: What relationship?

Which brings us to the couples who did well: Sasha and Jordan (who were such chill parents, they barely popped up last night) and Kelly (pictured) and Austin. Finally, we ran into some consequences! Only they were the troubling unintended kind, like what happens when a teenage girl is so good at playing house that she wants to get knocked up immediately? Like what happens when a social experiment induces the subject to misbehave? Like what happens when a well-meaning boyfriend has to call in the Magnum infantry, because his girl's got ideas? To think, just last week she was Pregnancy-Belly Kelly who couldn't leave fast enough.

What do you think? Is Kelly on a stretch of bad road? Why did only he girls' moms visit? Is anyone learning anything? Ooh, and be sure to come back next week-one of the faux-mommies loses her mind.

The intrepid bloggers at Gold Derby continue to post the lists of the top 10 Emmy semifinalists in all the major acting categories -- recently adding the contenders for nods for Best Lead Actor and Actress in a Drama. And yet while my inner Emmy addict has an insatiable appetite for such scoop, there's a small part of me that hates myself for even looking. I mean, knowing that Battlestar Galalctica's Mary McDonnell has made the shortlist in her category will only make it more devastating when if she doesn't wind up on the final roll call of nominees; her President Laura Roslin is by turns brash, wise, sexy, powerful, petty, and conflicted -- in other words, deliciously fleshed out. She'd be a shoo-in if she wasn't the star of a sci-fi program. On the flip side, though, I was bummed to see that Ally Walker, so devastating in HBO's under-the-radar Tell Me You Love Me, isn't even up for consideration. (Doesn't it sometimes feel like Emmy reflexively favors actors with extensive movie backgrounds/Oscar nominations over its homegrown talent?)

The contenders: Patricia Arquette (Medium); Glenn Close (Damages); Minnie Driver (The Riches); Sally Field (Brothers and Sisters); Mariska Hargitay (Law and Order: Special Victims Unit); Holly Hunter (Saving Grace); Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men); Mary McDonnell (Battlestar Galactica); Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer); and Jeanne Tripplehorn (Big Love).

On the men's side, I would like to express my shock and outrage about the snubbing of CSI: Miami's David Caruso, who continues to redefine the term "acting" through the exhilaratingly nuanced repositioning of his sunglasses. (He should've followed my advice for a Very Special Episode.) And while I'm just beginning to check out season 1 of Friday Night Lights on DVD, I know a few of you will start a "PopWatch wave" down in the comments section at sight of Kyle Chandler's name on the list of Best Actor contenders, especially since his counterpart Connie Britton got bupkis.

Chandler's fellow contenders include: Gabriel Byrne (In Treatment);  Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad); Patrick Dempsey (Grey's Anatomy); Michael C. Hall (Dexter); Jon Hamm (Mad Men); Eddie Izzard (The Riches); Hugh Laurie (House); Denis Leary (Rescue Me); and James Spader (Boston Legal).

Which contenders for this year's Emmy nods have you particularly stoked? Which ones really didn't deserve the accolades? And which omissions have you ready to punch a hole in the wall/write a strongly worded email? Let your emotions flow below!

If Oprah can use television to encourage people to read classic literature, why can't Juliet, Ben, and Sawyer? Check out the Lost Book Club (hat tip to EW book maven Thom Geier), a guide to more than 40 books that have been referenced on the series to date. Each book is one that has been used as a prop (like Stephen King's Carrie, which the Others were reading in their own book club, pictured, on the day Flight 815 crashed into the island), has been referenced in the plot (such as Jack Kerouac's On the Road, whose wandering hero Dean Moriarty is Ben's alias when he checks into a hotel), or whose philosophical underpinnings have been a touchstone for Lost's writers (like Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time). Each book is cross-referenced to the episode or episodes in which it was referenced, and which you can watch streaming online just a click away. "We can't promise you any of these books will lead you to answers about Lost," showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse write in a note to Book Club visitors, "but we can promise you'll be enriched for having read them."

Check out the list, then let us know which books on it you're now inspired to go read, which you've read already, and which have most illuminated the mysteries of Lost for you.

We're barely halfway through 2008, and already, Variety is complaining that we've hardly seen any Oscar contenders. Sure, there are likely animated feature nominees in WALL-E, Kung Fu Panda, and Horton Hears a Who, and EW's Ken Tucker (among others) thinks Iron Man merits a golden man or two. Still, aside from Richard Jenkins' (pictured) lead performance in the modest indie hit The Visitor, no acting turns have emerged as consensus potential nominees.

Of course, distributors tend to assume Oscar voters have short memories and save their likeliest contenders for the latter half of the year, as everyone knows (including Variety, whose article contains a helpful schedule of the Oscar-baiting movies due out over the next six months). Still, let's play along and ask: which movies and performances have you seen so far in 2008 that you think might be up for Oscars at the end of the year?

All signs point to Hancock scoring a superhuman opening weekend in the next few days. So what's Will Smith doing to celebrate, aside from crossing his fingers and hoping SAG doesn't strike? Well, for one, he warmed a lot of old-school hip-hop fans' hearts by reuniting with his old partner DJ Jazzy Jeff at the movie's premiere party on Monday night. Opening DJ Mick Boogie caught part of the performance, below - two stone-cold classics, "Summertime" and "Brand New Funk," though sadly there's no "Parents Just Don't Understand." I gotta say, it's great to see those guys back in action. They've still got real chemistry, even if their careers have taken them to very different places. (For the record, Jazzy Jeff has continued to do excellent work in hip-hop in recent years.) So what do you think? Would you buy a ticket for Will and Jeff's rumored reunion tour this summer?

I spent the first half of this week stricken with an ill case of jetlag after returning from two weeks' vacation in Europe (tough life, I know). As a result, I had a chance to get reacquainted with the early-morning TV lineup. My favorite new discovery by far has to be MTV's FNMTV - an hours-long block in which, somehow, Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz has convinced the network's higher-ups to play actual music videos. Seriously! What's more, they're showing some truly cool stuff that you'd never see anywhere else. I mean, the new No Age video (below) is in heavy rotation. How many people even knew who No Age were before this?! The more mainstream vids FNMTV has been featuring aren't bad, either - I'm especially digging the stark clip for T.I.'s excellent "No Matter What."



So I'm kinda shocked to discover how many bloggers have been hating on this show since it premiered while I was gone. The most common kvetch seems to be about how it superimposes user-submitted talking-head commentary on the clips. Suit yourself, I guess, but I don't mind that at all. MTV did the same thing constantly on turn-of-the-millenium TRL, which I consider the absolute holy grail of music on television. Okay, maybe FNMTV isn't quite "DVR-proof," but am I missing something here? Or are you loving what Wentz has wrought, too?

Whether you're part of the rabid pack of fans who made Mad Men a cult favorite last summer, or if you're still wondering what the heck all the hype is about, this blog post is for you. Indeed, with the show's second-season premiere approaching (July 27, to be specific), AMC is streaming the season 1 pilot episode - which is under consideration as one of 10 semifinalists for a 2008 Emmy nomination in the Best Drama category - as part of its $25 million promotional campaign to transform its flagship series into a bona fide hit.

As you'll see from the episode (embedded below), the series, which depicts the lives and loves of a group of ad-agency execs in the early 1960s, has captivated fans because of its fastidious attention to period detail, its accurate representation of the overtly manly culture inherent in workplaces less than 50 years ago, and its crystallization of 1960 as a moment on the cusp of vast social changes beyond the imagination of any of the characters. These include the firm's talented but drifting executive, Don Draper (Jon Hamm); his troubled wife, Betty (January Jones); the firm's office manager and sexy femme fatale, Joan (Christina Hendricks); and green account manager Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser).

For more on Mad Men, click here and read Missy Schwartz's recent cover story, then let us know your hopes and expectations for the show in season 2. Until then, press play and enjoy!

To paraphrase Bob Dylan, Rush Limbaugh is not my cup of meat, but I have to salute him for making the free enterprise system work for him, to the tune of a $400 million contract extension for the next eight years. That's a pretty dang enormous deal for one guy, comparable only to Howard Stern's deal for $500 million for five years at Sirius. (Plus, Stern has to pay his show's labor and production costs out of his own pocket.)

Now, I know a lot of people are scratching their heads over this, since $400 million seems like quite a gamble for Clear Channel to spend at a time when its own revenues are declining, and on a guy with a well-known history of health problems (including deafness and drug addiction) and whose conservative shtick seems to be going against the prevailing political winds. But I think it makes business sense for a few reasons.

First, the coming election results won't matter a whit to his ability to do what he does best: work up an outrage over politics. He's dissed both Obama and McCain in the past, so whoever wins, he'll still get to play the aggrieved victim. Second, the size of his listenership doesn't really matter. (It's been estimated at between 14 to 20 million listeners a week on 600 stations; in any case, no other radio personality comes close to his numbers.) For the last 20 years, he's had a loyal core of "dittoheads" who'll follow him whether his ideology is in the ascendancy or on the wane. A station that puts Limbaugh on the air figures it can build an entire slate of like-minded talk shows around him, figuring that if his listeners will come for him, they'll stay for the rest.

What's important, from an industry standpoint, is Limbaugh's ability to deliver those listeners to advertisers. In the fascinating profile of Limbaugh that runs this weekend in the New York Times (but is already available online), Limbaugh says that he's a businessman first, and his priority is to sell airtime. What's more, the big-ticket sponsors who advertise on his show know it's a friendly environment for a pro-corporate, consumerist message. "I consider myself a defender of corporate America," Limbaugh tells the Times. In other words, no sponsor ever need worry that its ad will appear alongside a rant about downsizing, pollution, price-gouging, or other corporate bad behavior. (This is also, conversely, one reason why liberal talk radio hasn't prospered: sponsors are afraid to support what they fear will be a hostile environment for their ads.)

Finally, it's probably worth it for Clear Channel to pay him an exorbitant sum of money (and to let its competitors know how eager it was to break the bank to satisfy him) than to risk losing him to another radio network when his current contract expires. In fact, maybe the big windfall is a signal to advertisers that Clear Channel (whose radio revenues dropped $30 million in the first quarter of this year) and radio itself are still strong and viable. After all, they can afford to pay this guy $400 million - and he's just the help.

Okay, so you've seen every director's cut of Blade Runner, but how about Metropolis, the film Blade Runner wishes it was? For the last 80 years, Metropolis has been available only in truncated versions, with as much as a fourth of Fritz Lang's original cut thought lost. Now, however, most of what was trimmed from the 1927 silent sci-fi epic has been found and is about to be restored, so we'll be able to see the closest version possible to Lang's original vision. I'll let GreenCine Daily tell you the whole story, but suffice it to say that this is huge, one of the greatest finds in film history (the only comparable thing might be if someone were to find the missing hours of Erich von Stroheim's Greed or the hour lopped off of Orson Welles' The Magnificent Ambersons). I'm thrilled, and I can't wait to see the restored version. (Of course, even the extant version is still a masterpiece that you must see at least once in your lifetime, if only to recognize how much every sci-fi and Tim Burton film you love has been influenced by it.)

2004's The Grey Album, a Jay-Z-meets-the-Beatles mash-up record produced by Danger Mouse (of Gnarls Barkley fame), proved that such a record could be commercially successful, but Girl Talk has taken the concept to an entirely new level. While most mash-ups come off, to some extent, as novelty items, Girl Talk records are hour-long collages every bit as fun and intriguing as the stunning palette of hip-hop and pop music samples from which Girl Talk (AKA Gregg Gillis, pictured) has pieced them together. The new Girl Talk record, Feed the Animals, contains some 300 samples in its 53-minute runtime. He's got Flo-Rida rapping over Velvet Underground, P. Diddy rocking a Beach Boys sample, Missy Elliot and Faith Evans tag-teaming over Nu Shooz' "I Can't Wait," and Static Major crooning Lil' Wayne's "Lollipop" perfectly matched to the melody of the Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Under the Bridge." Like any true rock star, Gillis closes with a power ballad, letting UGK and Outkast take us home over Journey's "Faithfully."

It's mind boggling that Gillis has such an impressive mastery of this much material. Who listens to "Whoop There It Is" and thinks, "Wow, this would sound DOPE over some Big Country"? Who could possibly find a way to make Tone Loc's "Wild Thang" fit seamlessly with Fleetwood Mac's "Gypsy?" The best part: you can pick up a copy of Feed the Animals at the Illegal Art website under a "pay-what-you-like" system. Yes, that's right -- you can get it for free and opt to "donate" money later if you feel suitably entertained. Which you will be, assuming there's been any pop music in the past 30 years that you've enjoyed.