Via Deadline.com

The Simpsons, the venerable Fox network animated series, made light of Karl Rove's election night antics--attempting to un-call a decisively won election for President Obama--with an animated "chalkboard joke" at the beginning of last night's episode. It reads "I will not concede the election till Karl Rove gives me permission"--a lesson Megyn Kelly et al. seem to have literally taken to heart for a time last Tuesday.

The series has a long history of teasing Fox News and the News Corporation, particularly in the episode's opening "chalkboard" sequence wherein Bart writes a moral on the board repeatedly--it's easier to animate with a short turnaround than jokes in the episode. (Another easily animated sequence: the fake Fox News "crawl" that led Fox News to reportedly threaten suit against The Simpsons in 2003.) One more memorable, and expensive, exception: graffiti artist Banksy's sequence for the show in 2010, depicting News Corp's sweatshop labor in Asia as integral to the production of the complicated animated series.

The New Normal, on New Media (NBC.com)

For all those folks in Utah who will not be able to watch Ryan Murphy's The New Normal because their Mormon God does not approve of Andrew Rannells's lifestyle, worry no more! NBC has posted the entire first episode, which premieres on regular television September 11, on both Hulu and NBC.com today.

Also online is the pilot for The Mindy Project, which so far has raised no objections from any major deities, but will definitely be of help to hipsters who do not own a TV set.

Well, it's 5 p.m. here, anyway. Work is practically over. Just put on your headphones and enjoy. (Or don't enjoy, whichever you prefer. We're certainly not going to tell you how to watch your programs.)

The New Normal:
http://www.hulu.com/watch/395910

The Mindy Project:
http://www.hulu.com/watch/394815

Mike Strahan on 'Live! With Kelly' (ABC)

From the NFL to Fox sports to Live! With Kelly--Michael Strahan must have himself a really good publicist. Rumors abounded on TMZ yesterday that the New York Giants defensive end would finally fill the empty chair left vacant by the departure of Regis Philbin last November.

This morning, WABC, a syndicate of the network that produces the morning show, announced that the 6-foot-5 Fox Sports commentator would be offcially joining the 5-foot-3 human percolator on September 4.

Which leaves just one question: Out of all the 59 hosts that ABC has used as rotating guest hosts, why Mr. Strahan, a name that carries far less cachet than say, NY1's Pat Kiernan, Mario Lopez, Seth Meyers or Alec Baldwin?

According to one television insider, the choice of Mr. Strahan speaks more to his new television partner's status than it does to his own. "Kelly was able to host the show for so long because she had so much sway over the producers. While it's easier to book a celebrity guest host for one day than a permanent replacement, there is no doubt that many  pop-ins were bigger stars than Mr. Strahan."

So Ms. Ripa just likes watching the guy strip:
http://youtu.be/U2PF6HuUDjw

The thought being that now that Ms. Ripa is the bigger personality on the program, she doesn't want to be overshadowed by another Regis-like figure. Even though kids these days might think of  Mr. Philibin as that old guy who once hosted Who Wants To Be a Millionaire, in 2004 he entered the Guinness Book of World Records for most hours in front of a television camera (15,188 of them, to be exact).

And while Mr. Strahan might not be the most obvious choice--though he was adorable when he filled in during a June taping--Ms. Ripa should have no fear about becoming the sidekick to a bigger star. In related news, Mr. Strahan will be keeping his gig on Fox NFL Sunday, meaning that Fox doesn't view ABC's morning show as competitive with its own brand.

Agreeableness all around! Now, how often do you see that in television or sports? ABC and Ms. Ripa have yet to make an official comment on Mr. Strahan's new position, but don't be surprised to find Mr. Strahan sitting in Mr. Philbin's old chair in two weeks.

(Photo: Richard Dumoulin / Rex Features, via Telegraph.co.uk)

Fox News claims to have identified their mole, the "long-standing, current employee of Fox News Channel" who has been slipping Gawker intel for the past two days, including unreleased video footage of pre-show banter between Mitt Romney and Sean Hannity and a picture of the office's flawed bathroom stalls—where Bill O'Reilly defecates.

Fox, for their part, kept it brief.

“We found the person and we’re exploring legal options at this time," the network told Mediaite.

Mole tells Gawker that he hasn't heard anything of the sort. "I'm still here. Back to work."

Wouldn't it be fun if there were no "mole," just a couple of anonymous tips and some extrapolation on Gawker's part to send Fox on a wild goose chase of a witch hunt?

Update: Gawker is denying that 

After peaking at the #5 slot for total viewers in its third season, the show came in at #42 in its seventh. Its most recent episode had just over 7 million viewers, down from a season average of just under 20 million in that vaunted third season. House has been a valuable asset to Universal Television, having been sold into syndication across the world.

Hulu.com has expanded its space at 276 Fifth Avenue, adding 4,710 square feet on the fifth floor, the Commercial Observer has learned. The on-demand streaming video service will take control of the space on November 1^st. Hulu.com, a joint venture among NBC Universal, Fox and Disney, is one of many technology clients grabbing space in the the neighborhood north of Madison Square Park that New York Magazine dubbed NoMad in 2010.

The building, at 30^th street, has a number of law firm tenants, a marketing firm and some medical tenants. The asking rent was $45 per square foot. Elliot Klein of Winoker Realty represented the landlord in-house and Jason Frazier of CB Richard Ellis represented the tenant. - Guelda Voien

One of the night's biggest wins came from FOX-NYTVF Comedy Script Contest, which offered a $25k prize in addition to a network development deal. The winning sitcom, Adulthood for Beginners, is the brainchild of New Yorker Robby O'Connor, who spent his  former life as a book scout for Paramount and a development executive for Dimension Films. For the past two years he's  held the occasional odd job as a nanny or personal assistant to subsidize script-writing.

"I'd like to say I wrote a relevant to this generation version of Friends," Mr. O'Connor told the New York Observer by phone today, noting that he couldn't talk too much about the concept since "no one has seen the show, and I think Fox would like to keep it that way." He's also a bit mum on the subject since apparently there is no commitment on Fox's end to actually shoot the Beginners pilot.  ("Development deals" are such fickle phrases in TV Land.)

Okay, but could give us a hint on what the original script was about?

"It's five young people living in Manhattan," said Mr. O'Connor. "There's a lot of divide about the investment banker class and everyone else, and some other aspects of (the show) that are distinctly New York. But that may all get written out next week."

Were there any sitcoms out there (besides Friends) that could be considered a similar type of show?

"I just saw The New Girl on Fox," Mr. O'Connor says, "Which I think is really great, and speaks to the fact that guys and girls really can be friends. That's some shared DNA. Friends was about a group of friends who all got married in the end, so it could have been called Lovers. In this, all the characters have tangled sexual histories, which holds a little bit truer to what friendships in your twenties are like."

Mr. O'Connor continued: "I think there's even a dark element in the background: What if these characters don't get to be friends after they meet Mr. Right or Mrs. Right?"

Good question. We hope Fox lets us see the answer.

One person who's unconcerned about time-shifting-viewing programs online or on DVR, deflating those programs' rating--is Ted Harbert, the (also new) chair of NBC Broadcasting. The Transom caught him as he ran from the afterparty into the meeting of NBC affiliates. "It's basic--put something good on-like the ten o'clock dramas. There can't be three good dramas a night, but there is one now. The audience is there. No one says, I'm only watching time-shifted. They do it because nothing else is on. So if something better is on, they'll watch it." NBC's strategy--at least in terms of its self-presentation--is to focus on better programming, while others, like Fox, touted their tech-savvy and ability to monetize online broadcasting.

One of NBC's soi-disant better programs may be The Playboy Club, a drama for which Mr. Greenblatt seemed almost apologetic, noting that "the word 'Playboy' might evoke something off-limits," but telling advertisers to expect "a lot of cross-promotional opportunities with one of the most recognizable brands in the world." The bunny-actresses exited the afterparty in a long and dazzling line, exchanging cheek kisses with Mr. Greenblatt before slipping into bunion-appeasing ballet flats. Other actors in attendance included the stars of returning series Community and Chuck, who gamely posed for pictures with fans in designated areas. "TV's where it's at right now!," said Anjelica Huston, star of the January 2012 series Smash, on why she's moving to TV. She couldn't name her favorite television show.

Perhaps it's better to have a little time away. 30 Rock's Jack McBrayer, who gamely posed for photos at the "after-party" with fans and his costar Tina Fey as well as Jerry Seinfeld (they were more easily able to attract the photographers' attention than Bent star Jeffrey Tambor, who had to shout down a photographer), was looking forward to "some time in the sunshine! It will be a different thing for the shooting schedule--" he dropped into a stage whisper "--but I'm looking forward to an extended break!"

Fox's after-party was more heavily attended than NBC's-while NBC's had been populated with the network's megastars in order to dazzle the attendees (there is more of an onus to dazzle if one is NBC), Fox's was largely Fox-affiliate owners and advertisers eating burgers. (ABC, surprisingly or not given the network's travails, did not host a party at all.) The talk of the evening was the upcoming X Factor, the talent reality show Simon Cowell is to launch in the fall with Paula Abdul. Talent competitions are resurgent on TV right now-NBC's The Voice is the season's only breakout hit, and a sorely needed one (the network trotted out judges Christina Aguilera and Cee Lo Green to perform at their upfront). The network also announced that--in 2013--bro-cartoon auteur Seth MacFarlane is to remake The Flintstones for Fox. Fox's head of programming, Kevin Reilly, had boasted it had been kept a secret. "Nikki [Finke] got the scoop on that, like, an hour before the presentation, but no one noticed it, because everyone was here," said one TV journalist over a burger.

On a rainy Thursday, The Observer sought to continue our upfronts adventures and trotted to Carnegie Hall at the appointed time to pick up the CBS ticket that had been reserved for us, only to discover that the publicist's purported "press check-in table" did not exist or had disappeared before we were told to arrive. We waited, in the rain, as well-dressed Midwestern affiliates and young ad exec types huddled under umbrellas. A fellow young journalist, from Good Housekeeping, commiserated with us in a green room we found to get out of the rain. "We're not trying to break news, we just want to see what's out there," the writer said. Julie Chen, the TV host, walked through the green room quickly; she'd set off the first flurry of activity among the paparazzi photographers outside. At the upfronts, at least, TV still can draw a crowd.

ddaddario@observer.com :: @DPD_