Remember that brief March 1 New York Post “Page Six” item? Here’s a quick refresher:

Jimmy Kimmel is already being lined up to host next year’s Oscars, we’re told. One source said, “Jimmy is favored to host the Oscars next year; ABC has been pushing him for the role.” The late-night host already seems a shoo-in for the job after he earned his best post-awards show ratings on Sunday night.

We’ve been saying for several years that the logical host for the annual ABC-TV telecast is the one within walking-commute distance. Now that Seth MacFarlane has confirmed what pretty much everyone in Hollywood already knew, it’s hopefully only a matter of very little time before Kimmel finally gets his outside-the-special-box shot.

Read more

For several years, it’s been the greatest running gag on late night talk TV: Jimmy Kimmel ending a show with the disclaimer, “Apologies to Matt Damon; we ran out of time.” Last night on Jimmy Kimmel Live, the double-punchline to that bit was finally delivered by Damon. In spades.

With a duct-taped Jimmy in the background, Damon at one point during his commando-host appearance gleefully revealed that Kimmel is a bitter, jealous soul who has auditioned for every one of the actor’s film roles:

Read more

Yes, Jimmy Kimmel. Los Angeles is freaking about about the temperature dropping.

But, we’d just like to point out the building heating laws enjoyed by all those brave New Yorkers in their insulated buildings.

Between the hours of 6:00 AM and 10:00 PM, if the outside temperature falls below 55 degrees, the inside temperature is required to be at least 68 degrees Fahrenheit; and,

Between the hours of 10:00 PM and 6:00 AM, if the temperature outside falls below 40 degrees, the inside temperature is required to be at least 55 degrees Fahrenheit.

It was 34 the other night in LA. And, guess what, it was just about 34 behind the paper-mache walls of my rented single-family home.

Dan Abrams, founder of the mediaite.com website network, had a lot of exciting news to share on Monday. For starters, he says he will be announcing in the next few weeks a new site to go along with the eight that already make up his group including gossipcop.com and stylite.com.

In addition, as part of some recent staff changes and promotions, Matt Wilstein is mediaite.com’s new LA bureau chief, effective January 7. Wilstein comes to the operation after launching the comedy-and-politics blog Gotcha Media in November 2008. He will among other things oversee expanded coverage of late night talk shows, just in time for Jimmy Kimmel‘s move tonight to 11:35 p.m.

Other staff changes at Abrams Media include: the addition of a pair of full-time writers to geekosystem.com (Steven Romano, Glen Tickle); the hiring of writer Colette McIntyre at thejanedough.com, where Sarah Devlin has also been promoted to the overseeing of day-to-day operations; and the addition there of regular contributor Meredith Lepore, formerly EIC of thegrindstone.com.

Read more

You better redneckognize, Los Angeles.

Reality sensations June Shannon and Alana Thompson, better known as “Mama” and “Honey Boo Boo” are in town and paid Jimmy Kimmel a visit on Monday night.

During their interview, the pageant star from McIntyre, Ga. endorsed President Barack Obama over Mitt Romney, securing the vote of the 5-9 demographic.

Instead of another season of Here Comes Honey Boo Boo in Georgia, tell me you wouldn’t want to see this family living in the middle of Beverly Hills. It would be reality gold.

Make it happen, TLC.

A dream year for Jimmy Kimmel is about to get dreamier.

On top of getting the news that his show will be moving in the New Year to 11:35 p.m. and hosting major powwows on both coasts (White House Correspondents dinner, Primetime Emmys), there’s now this. Per a report by Lacey Rose in The Hollywood Reporter, Kimmel will finally be afforded the opportunity to interview his lifelong idol David Letterman:

Letterman will join Chris Rock, Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert and Tracy Morgan as a guests on Jimmy Kimmel Live when the ABC host brings his late-night show to his hometown of Brooklyn for one week later this month. The move is a monumental one for Kimmel, who grew up wearing a Late Night with David Letterman jacket and would celebrate his birthday with a Late Night cake.

Read more

This would seem to be a perfect premise for some memorable banter at the 64th Annual Primetime Emmys. Especially if – as the experts are predicting – Breaking Bad pulls off the upset and unseats Mad Men as Best Drama Series.

Long before Bryan Cranston became known as Walter White and Jimmy Kimmel as late night’s most capable celebrity interviewer, the former coached the latter’s son in Little League baseball. As Kimmel told ABC colleague Katie Kindelan, the host will naturally be pulling for the actor to take home a fourth consecutive Best Actor, Drama:

“Bryan Cranston, a little-known fact, was my son’s Little League coach,” Kimmel said. “I would like to see him win.”

Read more

Here’s a vivid reminder of just how well Tom O’Neil and his group of goldderby.com editors know the Emmy Awards beat.

Thanks to a recent Skype discussion between O’Neil, Chris Beachum, Matt Noble and Daniel Montgomery about the Best Supporting Comedy Actor chances of New Girl’s Max Greenfield (pictured), the performer’s Hollywood agents realized the wrong episode had been submitted on the co-star’s behalf. Instead of “Control,” which Greenfield’s reps had selected, the DVD reproduction house somehow pressed copies of the episode “Bad in Bed.” Tipped by Gold Derby, the TV  Academy worked with the actor’s team to remedy the mistake and get new discs out to voters with special instructions in time for the September 17 deadline.

“It’s definitely one of Gold Derby’s top ten scoops,” O’Neil tells FishbowlLA via telephone. “But nothing will likely surpass our story about Katherine Heigl lashing out at her writers after having withdrawn from Emmy consideration for Grey’s Anatomy. She was ticked off at her writers, and then there was that whole backlash against her after the story broke.”

Read more

We had to read a portion of this week’s TV Guide magazine interview with Jimmy Kimmel twice. Just to make sure it wasn’t some sort of gag.

In tangential response to the question, ‘As the ratings climb, has that given you more leverage?’, Kimmel replied:

“… Once in a while, we’ll have a fight over whether something is too obscene. One of the dumbest things ever happened about six months ago. There was a stick figure drawing of a naked woman, and there was a dot where each nipple would be, and they made us blur the dots out, which I figured was a little bit much for midnight.”

Read more

On Monday, LA Times TV reporter Scott Collins shared a solid contextual look at the recent Tonight Show layoffs. We caught up with his piece tonight and were plainly amazed that there has not been more media pick-up of paragraph number three:

Leno even offered to work for free to save more jobs, according to people familiar with the matter, who said the offer was rejected because executives believed it would set a bad precedent. These people said Tonight was now barely breaking even.

Got that? Leno was reportedly willing to forego his entire $26 million (or thereabouts) annual salary, which he famously banks while paying the bills with coin earned from stand-up appearances. Despite this staggering offer of charity, the rest of this week’s Leno coverage has been gleefully focused on disparaging Leno slams made by Jimmy Kimmel and Howard Stern.

Read more