Late-Night Funny Business Leads Week’s Top Five
by Adam Buckman | August 12, 2011 at 5:34 PM | Top 5, TV News

It was an embarrassment of riches this week on TV, a motherlode of entertaining moments presenting only one challenge: How to whittle ‘em down to just five.
Here’s what we came up with:
Conan’s farewell to George Lopez: The big TV news story of the week was TBS’s decision to cancel “Lopez Tonight,” essentially cutting its commitment to late-night by 50 percent. That’s why it was so interesting to see how Conan O’Brien — now TBS’s last comic standing — would handle the news on his own show, “Conan.”
Kimmel’s “birthing” bit: However, even as the late-night ranks were reduced by one, for the rest of the shows, it was funny business as usual. One example: The bit on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” in which Jimmy Kimmel accompanied a pregnant Jessica Alba to birthing class. This thing has to be seen to be believed.
In the garden of Eden: TLC’s eye-catching (and mind-boggling) “Toddlers & Tiaras” ended its season this week with the spotlight on 6-year-old Eden Wood of Arkansas, who was hyped all season as the pint-sized queen of kiddie beauty pageants. Well, you have to admit — she does have a certain charisma, particularly when she was seen recording her new single (yes, this 6 year-old already has a recording career), the catchy “Cutie Patootie.”
Jake and Vienna: Whoever came up with the idea of putting Jake Pavelka and Vienna Girardi back together on a TV show deserves a year-end bonus. The star-crossed duo were once engaged after he won her heart in the 14th season of “The Bachelor.” Now they’re in this summer spinoff on ABC, “Bachelor Pad,” and all of a sudden, they’re the talk of TV, especially in the wake of this week’s episode. We have the whole thing, in three parts, here.
Death of a vampiress: Isn’t that what you call a female vampire? Whatever the terminology, vampira Jessica Hamby (Deborah Ann Woll) met her demise when she walked directly into the sun at the conclusion of last Sunday’s episode of “True Blood” on HBO. It wasn’t a vampire suicide — she was under a witch’s spell.


