There is a reason why Sesame Street is still on the air. This is brilliant:

This past week Natasha and I went on a search for one original screenplay idea in Los Angeles since everything seems to be a remake. Lampoon’s Sandy Danto thought he had the answers…not so much.

The Skinny Ep.6 - “Desperately Seeking Originality”

Jane Velez-Mitchell has issues, and this clip from her show, Issues with Jane Velez-Mitchell, proves it.

The masturbatory topic du-jour on her current affairs TV show was Ashley Dupré’s recent MySpace blog post. At about one minute fifteen-seconds into the clip, Velez-Mitchell asks her panel of Dupré: “Why did this girl get involved in all of this? She comes from an upper middle class household, her stepfather is an oral surgeon. She did not need to do this for the money.”

Right, Dupré might have not needed to do what she did for the money but when a Regional Emmy award-winning television journalist like Velez-Mitchell covers what amounts to be nothing more than a girl writing in her, albeit public, diary, a bigger question comes to mind: Is this non-story reported on solely for the ratings? If not then what’s with oh-so original “Hookergate” title?

Apparently in Jane’s world, every female sex worker comes from the ghetto and is involved in prostitution because they have trouble paying the electric bill. It’s also fair to say she feels that a lack of opportunity weighs heavily upon a person’s decision to trade sex for money; Dupré being somewhat of an anomaly given that she did not come from the slums. Hence, the ‘News Alert’ announcement on the screen.

For the record, Dupré, who is from suburban New Jersey, attended high school until her sophomore year. Elliot Spitzer, the former New York Governor who made Dupré a household name, graduated Princeton University, scored a perfect score on his LSAT, went to Harvard Law School and hails from the Bronx.

Get out the chainsaw because irony has obviously dulled the knife.

The Roots have been hired to be Jimmy Fallon’s new talk show house band. That is very bittersweet for me because I’m a fan of The Roots, and now they’ve just become a house band? I suppose it’s a steady gig, and they’ll still get to perform together for 15 seconds at a time as they play to bring on guests, but I feel like they’ve completely sold out.

To me, The Roots have always had the “real factor” going for them, and they’ve just mainstreamed themselves. My friends and I had a debate about this very situation last night and they’re comparing The Roots’ “houseband” situation to Max Weinbergs..but I think they have it all wrong. Max Weinberg hasn’t sold out because he’s simply playing a gig…you don’t see the whole E-street band as Conan’s house band (although that wouldn’t be such a bad idea). The Roots have simply given up in my eyes but at least I can say “I used to listen to them when…”

Miley Cyrus went on Ellen and wow, what the hell? She may legitimately be possessed. I mean it. I’m really concerned. This plays out like the next installment of The Ring, or some 1950’s B movie where space aliens wear disguises to look like people. Check it out.

It doesn’t open until May 9th but here’s the trailer for J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek.