Yahoo’s latest original series offering brings to mind Jon Favreau’s old IFC show Dinner for Five. And that’s a good thing.

The program is shorter (about seven minutes) and, ahead of future guests such as Fran Drescher, TV host Billy Bush and one-time Bond Hazzard County girl Catherine Bach, this OMG! concoction hosted by Tristen MacDonald kicks off today with a visit to actor Scott Wolf’s house. Helping the actor and his wife Kelley cook up a beef bourguignon storm are his brother, a cousin with spouse and a pair of newlywed friends.

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Here are some economics that Hollywood can identify with. For one of a hundred-plus YouTube shorts, a Modern Warfare-inspired riff, the tandem of Freddie Wong and Brandon Laatsch tell TheWrap‘s Kurt Orzeck that the total cost was $200 and total views 4.7 million.

Although the pair have no studio deal yet, they confirm they have had discussions with Weinstein Co. and various producers. The USC cinema school grads also just directed their first TV commercial spot, after cranking out Internet ads for the likes of McDonald’s and Toshiba:

In the Electronic Arts [Battlefield 3] ad (pictured), they load up a forklift with explosives, Wong drives it toward a building, and then he bails out before it detonates. “We turned it around in 10 days,” Wong said. “[EA] left it open to us to come up with concepts. They said, ‘Mess around and have fun with your friends.’ “

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A year after Jon Favreau explained to Geoff Boucher just how important the iconography of Walt Disney was to him growing up, he returned to the pages of Hero Complex late last week to pen a guest essay about the Magic Kingdom maestro.

Although Favreau glosses over Walt’s live action catalog, he does put forth the intriguing idea that Disney had three perfect creative moments: Steamboat Willie, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Disneyland. He also recalls one of the many moments in his life when the theme park loomed large:

My 1988 cross-country trip on motorcycle culminated with my Sportster padlocked in front of the happiest place on Earth. It was this month-long adventure that ultimately inspired me to leave New York and try to make it in showbiz. My first screenplay, Swingers, was rife with Disneyland references. Even now, with my own three children, I make the pilgrimage several times a year.

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Bravo! That was FishbowlLA’s immediate reaction when we read Movieline west coast editor Jen Yamato‘s account of a rip-roaring talk given this week at the Savannah Film Festival by Universal Pictures president and COO Ron Meyer.

It’s one thing to label Will Ferrell‘s Land of the Lost as “crap.” But it’s quite another for the former CAA partner to call out a marquee mess made by Comic-con darling Jon Favreau with help from James Bond and Indiana Jones. On Wednesday, Meyer nailed it:

“Forget all the smart people involved in Cowboys & Aliens, it wasn’t good enough. All those little creatures bouncing around were crappy. I think it was a mediocre movie, and we all did a mediocre job with it.”

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The Hollywood Reporter is putting out a special Comic-Con issue in San Diego on July 20, and they’ve apparently signed up actor/director Jon Favreau to guest edit. It’s not clear what exactly Favreau’s role will be as guest editor, or how involved he’ll be–especially considering he’s still putting the finishing touches on his latest film Cowboys and Aliens. But his name is attached, anyway.

Cowboys and Aliens is making its world premiere at Comic-Con this year, so one would imagine the issue will be a little C&A heavy.

More info at Heat Vision.

Ever wonder who all those people are flying out of Van Nuys Airport on private aircraft? Per Geoff Boucher‘s rip-roaring LA Times article, one recent such take-off was winging Jon Favreau and his Cowboys & Aliens producer Ron Howard down to Austin, Texas for a critical rough footage preview of the Universal Pictures summer release at an Alamo Drafthouse event organized by Harry Knowles.

The beauty of the piece is the way it contrasts Favreau’s deft management of the new rules of “early fan engagement” with Howard’s clear admission that dealing with Twitter, Facebook and blog buzz is still a relatively new and scary process. Explains Howard:

“There’s a conversation now with fans and it starts a long time before the movie is even finished. The frightening thing for me is if somehow the wrong story gets out there and your film is misunderstood in some way… you need to shape the message, really. But Jon is the expert at this stuff.”

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Don Cheadle looks like he’ll be filling in for Terrence Howard as the second banana in “Iron Man 2,” according to news reports.

Cheadle will step in to play Jim Rhodes, Tony Stark’s best friend who would also become the armor-clad hero War Machine.

Although there was no comment from Marvel Studios, The Hollywood Reporter says that sources close to the deal reported the negotiations fell through with Howard over financial differences, among other things.

The character of Rhodes is expected to play a larger part in “Iron Man 2.”

Justin Theroux is writing the screenplay with Jon Favreau to return as director and Robert Downey Jr. to step in again as Stark/Iron Man. Gwyneth Paltrow also is expected to be back as Stark’s assistant, Pepper Potts.