Though I was 15 minutes early, there were already at least 30 people ahead of me in line when I arrived at Liquid on May 4 to participate in an open casting call for reality television show Big Brother.

The woman in front of me was telling several other women that she got there an hour early.

"Whatever it takes to get the producer to see me," she said.

Though it was pouring rain outside, she was wearing rainbow toe-socks with flip flops. Her companions opted for muffin tops dressed up in sparkle shirts. Eyeshadow was copious. 

"I live in Meridian," one said. "I live at the liquor store," another piped up without missing a beat. 

The woman and her new friends began sharing their strategies to get the casting director's attention, but they quickly closed ranks when they saw me listening in.

I turned to the couple behind me in line, and asked them what their interest was in the show.

• Josh Gross
• Aasif Mandvi shoots a bit for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Tuesday in Downtown Boise.

Downtown Boise was full of rubbernecking and double-takes this afternoon, as comedian Aasif Mandvi and a small camera crew wandered around shooting a piece for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

The subject of the piece is the two-headed fish caught in Eastern Idaho in February, and linked to pollution from a Simplot-owned mine.

The camera crew for the shoot was local and have worked for The Daily Show previously, most recently for a piece on former Idaho Sen. and world-class punchline Larry Craig.

The Daily Show shot fragments at various restaurants on Eighth Street and at the Idaho Capitol. The crew also plans to head to Eastern Idaho, home of the fish in question.

Though the on-site producer refused to comment on the record, he told BW that the air date for a piece is usually four to six weeks after it is shot.

It had to happen. DogTV is coming to a television set near you for just $4.99 a month.

• You may have to fight your dog for the remote.

Geared toward relaxing, stimulating or entertaining your pooch while you're occupied, DogTV offers eight hours a day of life from a dog's point of view. Producers said they regularly get down on their knees and shoot "low and long" to appeal to their presumed viewers. DogTV offers no commercials and no reruns. Dogs also won't be subjected to the usual noise that pulses through the tube—no gunshots, no explosions, no loud music.

According to Dr. Nicholas Dodman, director of the Animal Behavior Clinic at Tufts University, dogs used to only be able to see flickering screens from analog television sets. But newer digital, high-definition TVs allow pets to perceive clear images, according to Dodman.

Some of the more "popular" programming on DogTV includes extended videos of sleeping dogs, nature scenes and the occasional sound of babies, doorbells and other pets.

Alec Baldwin is ticked off at his bosses at NBC and has threatened to leave the network.

Baldwin, who has picked up an armful of acting trophies for his portrayal of network executive Jack Donaghy on NBC's 30 Rock, tweeted hints that he might leave the network over a feud with the Today show. Baldwin made recent headlines over the arrest of a woman who allegedly stalked him. However, when media staked out his Manhattan apartment, including reporters from NBC's Today, Baldwin took to Twitter with his frustration:

"A story about stalking sure brings out the stalkers in the media. But the Today show?" tweeted Baldwin. "I think I'm leaving NBC just in time."

The tweets aren't the first time Baldwin said he would leave NBC. In 2007, he hinted about retiring to focus on the relationship with his daughter, following a much-publicized leaked voicemail, in which he called her a "rude, thoughtless pig" for not answering his phone calls.

The New York Times is reporting that a fan production of a long-lost script for the original Star Trek series has gotten the kibosh from CBS, which owns the rights to the series and the script.

From the article:

Last fall, an unused script for the cult 1960s television show turned up after being forgotten for years. Its author, the science-fiction writer Norman Spinrad, announced it would become an episode of a popular Web series, Star Trek New Voyages: Phase II, which features amateur actors in the classic roles of Capt. James T. Kirk, Mr. Spock and other crew members of the starship Enterprise.

But then another player stepped in: CBS, which said it owned the script and blocked a planned Web production of it.

What makes the story odd—aside from how a Star Trek script could remain lost for decades—is that CBS has no plans to produce the script and no one involved in Phase II makes any money. Not to mention, Phase II has previously produced lost scripts from the series without issue.

Again, from the article:

Phase II has already produced an unused script, by David Gerrold, the author of the humorous 1967 Star Trek episode “The Trouble With Tribbles.” In 1987 his “Blood and Fire” was shelved by Star Trek: The Next Generation; he reworked and directed it for Phase II in 2007 and never heard any objections.

“I don’t understand CBS’s thinking on this at all,” Gerrold said. “They didn’t care then. Why do they care now?”

There are several ways to campaign for an Oscar. Once actors are nominated, it's traditional for them to take out full-page ads in Variety or The Hollywood Reporter, "respectfully" asking members of the Motion Picture Academy "for their consideration."

But Jean Dujardin is anything but conventional. The star of the breakout hit The Artist showed up on Saturday Night Live to playfully mock his character and his film, with a little help from Kristen Wiig and guest host Zooey Deschanel. If you haven't seen The Artist yet, here's a reason why it's so much fun.

In the 1970s, a lot of school kids on Monday mornings would talk about who appeared on the past weekend's American Bandstand, but the really cool kids ... and by cool, I mean groovy ... talked about Soul Train. Billed as "the hippest trip in America," the syndicated television show blasted out of the tube with a cartoon train and an announcer telling you that it "was time to get back on the the Soul-l-l-l-l-l-l Train."

The best of the best were regular passengers: Aretha, Marvin, Stevie, The Isley Brothers, The O'Jays, The Commodores, Curtis Mayfield and, of course, James Brown.

The conductor and host was Don Cornelius, who assured us that the 60-minute trip was "a stone gas." Classic.

The show left the station in 1970 and kept rolling until 1993, and by any account, it was the godfather of all black entertainment television.

Cornelius, 75, was found dead in his Los Angeles home this morning. An L.A. county coroner said Cornelius had died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

A reunion of Arrested Development, one of the smartest and funniest sitcoms in American television history, has been talked about and hoped for most of the last decade. It was even "announced" last year.

But now, it looks like it's finally in the process of happening. And instead of broadcast, the show will apparently be going direct to Netflix.

Dean Lorey, a writer for the series, posted this on his blog on Jan. 28.

We’re really doing this thing. Mitch Hurwitz, Jim Vallely and I are off writing the new season of Arrested to premiere on Netflix in 2013. The original cast is back. There are offices and parking spaces. We’re shooting this year. I wish I could give more specifics but, for the moment, even the schedule is being kept under wraps. But it’s happening and it’s great to be back with my pals from the show. More later as it becomes okay to release further details…

Boise Weekly will keep you posting as the arresting details develop. <— You see what we did there? You see that?

The face is familiar (maybe with a wrinkle of two). The antics are definitely familiar.

Twenty-six years after skipping school, Ferris Bueller is about to take another day off: in particular, Super Bowl Sunday.

More accurately, it's Matthew Broderick's day off. Broderick played Bueller in the iconic 1986 movie. The one-minute spot is a very expensive 21st century stunt for Honda to promote its newly redesigned CR-V (so sadly, no convertible). But the commercial does offer some familiar elements: a roller-coaster ride and singing in a parade.

The commercial will be splashed across a bazillion television screens this Sunday when the New England Patriots meet the New York Giants in the Superbowl.

Political partisanship has taken center stage in recent years, dividing countrymen in very ugly ways, but who knew that division reached all the way to the core of American society—television viewing.

According to a survey by Experian-Simmons and prepared for Entertainment Weekly, the viewing preferences of Republicans and Democrats can actually be measured. According to the results, posted at EW.com, “’sarcastic’ media-savvy comedies and morally murky antiheroes tend to draw Dems. While serious work-centered shows (both reality shows and stylized scripted procedurals), along with reality competitions, tend to draw conservatives.”

The report goes on to state that Dems love them some Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report, as well as shows like 30 Rock, Parks and Recreation, Glee, Modern Family, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Treme, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, Aqua Teen Hunger Force and The Office, among others.

On the other side of the viewing aisle, Republicans like to watch Swamp Loggers, Top Shot, The Bachelor, Mythbusters, Swamp People, Pawn Stars, Biggest Loser, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Hawaii Five-O, Dancing with the Stars, Man vs. Wild and Wheel of Fortune, among others.

Shows that did well with both groups? Castle and (ironically) The Middle.

So, what to the parties hate to watch? Well, for Democrats, it appears reality TV is a big no-no. Among the least-favorite shows for self-identified Democrats are Swamp Loggers, Dog the Bounty Hunter, The Ultimate Fighter, Kitchen Nightmares, Operation Repo, Swamp People, Hardcore Pawn, Deadliest Catch, Only in America with Larry the Cable Guy, Billy the Exterminator, and anything dealing with ghosts, including Ghost Hunters, Ghost Adventures and The Haunted.

Republicans switch the channel fastest for Weeds, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Colbert Report, South Park, General Hospital, Family Guy, Dexter, The Walking Dead, The Big C, Bridezillas and Jersey Shore (but you can’t really fault anyone for not wanting to watch those last two).