YouTube has amped up their efforts to remove videos of the So You Think You Can Dance performances from their site, so no vids this week. Here’s a link to Zap2It’s recap of last night’s episode, in case you missed the show.

The latest Dancing with the Stars 7 cast rumor involves former Vice President Dan Quayle. It’s fine if ABC wants to cast celebrities who will cause a little "controversy," as Entertainment President Stephen McPherson put it. But casting a polarizing figure like Dan Quayle in a presidential election year ensures that viewers will or won’t vote for him according their opinion of his political party, not based on the quality of his dancing.

The official DwtS 7 cast will be announced on Good Morning America on August 25.

In other DwtS news, pro Karina Smirnoff is denying rumors of a romance between her and Bachelor Andy Baldwin.

Reality Blurred has the scoop on an upcoming Entertainment Weekly article about the extent to which the MTV show The Hills is manufactured. As you probably guessed, the show is pretty fake.

Top Chef 5 is currently filming in New York City.

I was saddened by this Us Magazine story about Ali Lohan, who is desperate to be as famous as her big sister, Lindsay: "I want it so bad. So bad you don’t even know."

The Daily Show compiled a video collection of the Top 5 Daily Show Moments featuring Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska, who was indicted on corruption charges earlier this week. If you’ve never heard Stevens explain how the Internet — which is not a truck — works, watch this:

Blog MeTalkinToYou has the scoop on which dances the couples will perform on tonight’s episode of So You Think You Can Dance. Zap2It interviewed Will Wingfield about being eliminated last week, and TV Guide has Nigel Lythgoe’s reaction to Will’s surprising departure.

In court proceedings regarding Project Runway‘s move from Bravo to Lifetime, it was revealed that the show didn’t pay Tim Gunn anything for mentoring the designers during the first season, and a measly $2500 per episode for Season 2.

TV Guide has an interview with Project Runway judge Michael Kors that deals with lighter topics, like Heidi Klum’s gift for remembering song lyrics.

Yesterday’s L.A. earthquake was remarkable for how little damage it caused, although it did freak out a few Big Brother contestants.

Us Magazine reports that Dancing with the Stars pro Karina Smirnoff may be dating Bachelor Andy Baldwin. C’mon, Karina, you can do better than that.

Catching up with some former DwtS contestants, ET has video of Cristian de la Fuente showing Cheryl Burke around his home country of Chile, while both of them complain about how cold it is. And website SheKnows caught up with Stacy Keibler in between acting lessons.

The New York Post’s PopWrap blog chastised Marie Osmond for attributing all of her recent weight loss to NutriSystem, with no mention of the 6-7 hours she spent in dance rehearsals every day while she was on DwtS.

Chemical & Engineering News has a fascinating interview with Food Network’s resident geek, Alton Brown, who suggests that high school science classes would be more engaging if they were taught in a kitchen.

Cracked ranked the 5 Most Ridiculously Unfair Kids Game Shows and the lessons they imparted to their pint-sized viewers, including: "Not even superior knowledge can overcome life’s completely arbitrary obstacles."

A Dancing with the Stars 7 casting disaster appears to have been averted: Rev. Al Sharpton turned down an offer to compete on the show. If the separation of politics and ballroom dancing isn’t already written into the Constitution, it should be.

DwtS alum and noted workout buff Mario Lopez will take over as sole anchor for the celebrity gossip show Extra, starting on September 15.

Samantha Harris haters, consider yourselves vindicated. Harris earned worst host honors in a recent AOL poll for her gaffe-prone work on Dancing with the Stars.

The waiting list for seats in the audience of the British show Top Gear is 21 years long. No wonder NBC was so keen on creating an American version of the show.

A Georgia house built for an edition of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is facing foreclosure.

I can’t believe I missed the first two days of Shark Week! Discovery’s Shark Conservation Blog is full of interesting information about the ocean’s top predators.

Two days before the winner of the fourth edition of The Next Food Network Star was announced, the results accidentally appeared on the channel’s website.

Tonight, the Food Network debuts Food Detectives, hosted by Ted Allen. In this humorous interview with TV Guide, Allen reveals that the "five-second rule" isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

The Boston Globe has a slideshow of the Top 50 Science Fiction Television Shows of All Time. If, like me, the list inspires you to do some shopping, boxed sets for a number of the shows mentioned are selling at Amazon for at least 50% off.

TV Guide asked readers submit their suggestions for the Sexiest Sci-Fi Stars on TV, and I was glad to see Robert Picardo of Star Trek: Voyager and Stargate: Atlantis fame getting some love in the comments thread. No one can resist the charms of The Doctor:

Comic-Con wrapped up over the weekend, Variety has an article about some of the hits and misses presented by TV and film studios at this year’s convention. Zap2It has a page devoted to all of their reports from the convention, and The Futon Critic filed reports from dozens of TV show panel discussions.

One of the bits of news to come out of Comic-Con was that Mitch Pileggi, best known as Assistant Director Skinner on The X-Files, will guest star on Supernatural this season.

Over at CBS, Greatest American Dog swapped time slots with the Wednesday edition of Big Brother.

TV Guide went inside reality TV school to get some tips for success from cast members of shows like A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila. That’s definitely who I’d turn to for career advice.

Dancing with the Stars‘ Marissa Jaret Winokur became a mom last week.

In other DwtS news, Tom Bergeron will join all of the other nominees in the reality TV host category in hosting the 60th annual Primetime Emmys.

The Screen Actors Guild’s national board rejected the final contract offer from the studios. However, insiders feel that there’s still not enough support among guild members to authorize a strike.

Zap2It has pictures of all four of the sexy new Gossip Girl promo posters that I mentioned in yesterday’s Ox Notes.

TV Guide has a report from the set of Mad Men, where journalists were given an up-close look at the period-appropriate props. Don’t forget, the second season kicks off Sunday night on AMC at 10 p.m. ET.

On TV tonight is the game between the Major League Soccer All-Stars and English football club West Ham United. The match kicks off at 7 ET on ESPN. Take the opportunity to gaze appreciatively at David Beckham without having to listen to his goofy, high-pitched voice.

MTV is working on an unnecessary remake of the film The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which will include new music. Sacrilege!

Reality show producers Mark Burnett and J.D. Roth are teaming with R&B star Chris Brown to make yet another dance competition show. While I’m pleased that dance has become a major part of the American television landscape, I wonder how many more dance competition shows the market can support.

Catching up on a couple of So You Think You Can Dance interviews I missed, OK! Magazine asked host Cat Deeley about her dating life. And Zap2It’s Korbi Ghosh posted videos of her interviews with the SYTYCD judges and some of the dancers.

Zap2It has a recap of last night’s episode of SYTYCD, and Us Magazine got Mary Murphy & Dan Karaty’s thoughts on the performances.

I’m taking tomorrow off to play Dungeons & Dragons. No, I’m not kidding. Have a great weekend, and enjoy these videos from last night’s episode of So You Think You Can Dance (As of this morning, I couldn’t find decent versions of the solos or of Courtney & Will’s Samba):

Courtney & Will — Samba and Hip Hop
Katee & Twitch — Contemporary and Broadway
Comfort & Mark — Hip Hop and Fox Trot
Chelsie & Joshua — Tango and Disco

Before the rock band Rush took the stage on The Colbert Report last week, the show’s producers filmed the band playing their song "Tom Sawyer" on the video game Rock Band. Clearly, having written the song offers no advantage when playing Rock Band:

Actress Natalie Portman is slated to be the guest judge on tonight’s new episode of Project Runway. TV Guide tracked down some of the notable designers of Project Runways past to find out what they’re doing now.

Two TV shows’ ad campaigns are making headlines: Gossip Girl‘s ads, for being racy, and promo posters for HBO’s vampire drama True Blood, which look more like ads for a new kind of alcoholic beverage.

Lifetime will run a marathon of the Golden Girls‘ best "Sophia" episodes on Friday afternoon in memory of Estelle Getty, who died yesterday.

Ben Lyons and Ben Mankiewicz will take over as hosts of At the Movies starting September 6. Current host Richard Roeper will film four more episodes, with the Chicago Tribune’s Michael Phillips joining him as co-host. Check out Roeper and Phillips while you can, as the duo have engaged in some funny debates in the past — although nothing to rival this hilarious exchange of insults between show creators Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert (the language isn’t safe for work, so plug in those headphones):

Dancing with the Stars 5 winner Helio Castroneves reportedly blabbed that Kim Kardashian has signed on for Season 7. If the producers were looking for controversial contestants this season, you can’t do much better than a socialite with a sex tape and a reality show on E!

CBS has banished Swingtown to television no man’s land, Friday nights at 10 ET.

Jay Leno’s hosting duties on The Tonight Show will end on May 29, 2009. NBC insists that it’s still trying to find a way to keep the comic at the network.

Also coming to an end is Roger Ebert’s affiliation with the weekly movie review show At the Movies. Ebert and his successor, Richard Roeper, are both moving on after failing to agree on contract terms with ABC.

Project Runway 4 winner Christian Siriano is designing a couture line that will be featured in the movie Eloise in Paris. The film is based on the popular children’s book.

Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune posted another Mad Men interview, this time with actor John Slattery.

According to blog Me Talkin to You, Toni Basil will be the guest judge on tomorrow night’s episode of So You Think You Can Dance (the post also lists which dances each couple will perform). Basil is probably best known for her ’80’s hit "Mickey," but she was also partially responsible for the 1990 vampire rock opera Rockula. Something tells me that Rockula was not the high point of Basil’s career:

TV Guide posted a video interview with some of the Dancing with the Stars pros, who shared their thoughts on the upcoming season and the possibility of a male-male couple. If you’ve been suffering from Edtya-Sliwinska-skimpy-outfit withdrawal, this video has the cure.

DwtS 6 runner-up and six-time NFL Pro Bowler Jason Taylor has been traded by the Miami Dolphins to the Washington Redskins for a couple of draft picks. Ouch.

Shannen Doherty has officially signed on to reprise her role as Brenda Walsh on the new 90210. Tori Spelling, who’s reprising the character Donna Martin on the new show, couldn’t be more pleased.

90210 debuts with a two-hour premiere on September 2. Zap2It has a list of all of The CW’s fall premiere dates.

Variety has the scoop on shows in development at the cable networks owned by NBC Universal, which include Bravo, Sci Fi, USA, and Oxygen.

Mad Men, on a roll since the announcement of its 16 Emmy nominations last week, took top honors at the Television Critics Awards ceremony on Saturday night.

The Chicago Tribune’s Maureen Ryan interviewed Neal Patrick Harris about his role in Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, the Internet musical by Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon. I watched it last night and thought it was okay, but not great; I was hoping it would be funnier. What did the rest of you think of it? Is it worth the $3.99 it costs to download it on iTunes?

In anticipation of this Sunday’s Mad Men marathon on AMC, the Chicago Tribune’s Maureen Ryan posted a series of interviews with the stars and creator of the show: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.

Ryan also posted in her blog, The Watcher, that Jay Leno says he’s "done with NBC."

NBC’s fight to keep Project Runway from moving (from NBC-owned Bravo) to Lifetime has gone to court.

Wizard’s First Rule, a new weekly syndicated series from Hercules and Xena creator Sam Raimi, will premiere November 1.

ABC’s president told Reality Blurred that, if ratings don’t improve in the next few weeks, The Mole won’t be back for a fourth season.

Variety got reactions from some of the folks nominated for Emmys yesterday, and Reality Blurred has a list of nominees in the Emmys’ reality show categories.

So You Think You Can Dance choreographer Mia Michaels got into trouble (again) earlier in the week for saying that Utah generates so many talented dancers because Mormons "have no social life." She later issued an apology.

The highlight of last night’s SYTYCD results show had to be the group Bollywood routine that opened the show (not that I’m biased, or anything). The song they performed to came from the film Jhoom Barabar Jhoom, a cute romantic comedy with some great dance numbers and at least one terrible wig. I’m off to review Kismat Konnection. Have great weekend!

The 2008 Emmy nominations were announced today, and AMC’s Mad Men led all shows with 16 nominations. If you missed the show when it originally aired, AMC is running a marathon of all 13 episodes on Sunday, starting at noon ET. I watched the first season on DVD last week, and I can’t recommend it highly enough.

Nominated in the inaugural Reality Host category were Tom Bergeron, Heidi Klum, Howie Mandel, Jeff Probst, and Ryan Seacrest. Bergeron for the win!

ABC announced its fall schedule yesterday. Dancing with the Stars 7 premieres on Monday, September 22 at 8 p.m. ET.

When DwtS returns, expect the contestants to be more controversial than those of Season 6. I, for one, was happy that last season was devoid of the drama that surrounded cast members like Sara Evans and Master P.

Noticeably absent from ABC’s fall plan is The Bachelor. Unfortunately, they’re just giving the show a break, and not shelving it permanently.

Production on fall shows is still going strong, despite the possibility that the actors may yet go on strike.

The Writers Guild is amping up its efforts to unionize reality show writers, staging protests outside American Idol auditions to highlight the unfair conditions the show’s writers work under.

CBS has indefinitely delayed Mark Burnett’s new reality competition, Jingles, which was set to debut on July 27.

My brother, Dan, is thrilled that his dream girl, Sarah Silverman, is back on the market.

Jessica revealed on last night’s episode of So You Think You Can Dance that she withdrew from the competition because she has two broken ribs. She said she should be healed in time for the tour. Zap2It has a recap of the episode, and Us Magazine has Mary Murphy & Dan Karaty’s thoughts on the performances.

Last week, most of the SYTYCD performance videos were pulled from YouTube. I can’t guarantee how long these links to videos of this week’s performances will remain active, but here they are:

Courtney & Joshua — Hip Hop and Rumba
Kherington & Mark — Country Two-Step and Jazz
Comfort & Twitch — Smooth Waltz and Hip Hop
Katee & Will — Broadway and Pas de Deux
Chelsie & Gev — Contemporary and Jive

Solos: Chelsie, Gev, Courtney, Mark, Comfort, Twitch, Katee, Will, Kherington, and Joshua