With two weeks to go before the Dancing with the Stars 7 cast is officially announced, rumors are flying. Retired NFL quarterback Dan Marino says he won’t be on the show. But Tom Selleck might.

With Steve Guttenberg having competed in Season 6, and Selleck supposedly lined up for Season 7, DwtS casting directors seem obligated to try and land Ted Danson for Season 8, thereby completing the 3 Men and a Baby trifecta.

FOXNews reports that not only is Kim Kardashian in the DwtS 7 cast, but so is her mother, Kris Jenner. The article also mentions that Tara Reid wasn’t considered "family friendly" enough for Dancing with the Stars. But Kim Kardashian is?

Catching up on news about this summer’s big dancing show, People, Zap2It, and Us magazine have interviews with So You Think You Can Dance 4 champion Joshua Allen.

Us also posted an interview with SYTYCD judge Mary Murphy about the Samba she danced at the finale, as well as Murphy’s and choreographer Dan Karaty’s thoughts on the season’s final performance show.

I’ve got Olympic fever, and so do a lot of other people, apparently. Friday night’s opening ceremonies were watched by more people than any other other opening ceremonies held outside of the United States (Atlanta in 1996 still holds the overall record).

Are any other fans of The Mole disappointed in ABC’s decision to air the season finale tonight, opposite the Olympics? I could’ve done without that mid-season clip show.

EW posted a slideshow of the top 25 celebrity guest appearances on Sesame Street.

I’m taking tomorrow off to celebrate my birthday. See you all on Wednesday!

Tonight’s the big night for So You Think You Can Dance. Unfortunately, the Chicago-area FOX affiliate is airing a Bears pre-season football game in SYTYCD‘s regular timeslot, and isn’t airing the finale until 11 p.m. Grrr…

People.com caught up with the SYTYCD finalists before they performed last night, and Zap2It has a recap of the episode. Here are links to videos of the performances: Courtney & Twitch, Katee & Joshua, Katee & Courtney, Twitch & Joshua, Katee & Twitch, Courtney & Joshua, Group Number.

In honor of the finale, EW compiled a slideshow of the best SYTYCD routines of all time, complete with videos of the performances. Us magazine tracked down some former contestants for career updates and their thoughts on who should win this season of So You Think You Can Dance.

TV Guide posted a video interview with last week’s eliminated contestants, Chelsie and Mark.

In other SYTYCD news, Us magazine reports that choreographer Dan Karaty will lend his talents to America’s Got Talent, while remaining involved with So You Think You Can Dance.

ABC announced that my favorite show of the summer, Wipeout, will return next summer. FOX’s stunt-themed game show, Hole in the Wall, premieres September 11, taking over Moment of Truth‘s timeslot at 8 ET.

ABC is currently working on a number of pilots, which could hit the air in early 2009.

CSI is hoping to fill the void left by William Peterson, who’ll depart the show after this season’s tenth episode, with Laurence Fishburne.

Variety has an article about the challenges NBC is up against during the Summer Olympics, as the network balances broadcasting the games with covering the protests surrounding the event — all under the watchful eye of the censor-happy Chinese government.

TV Guide has an interview with Kathy Griffin, who had to convince Bravo that an episode of My Life on the D-List filmed entirely at Walter Reed hospital could be funny.

I’m taking tomorrow off. Have a great weekend!

Dancing with the Stars 4 champion and Olympic speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno will be the guest judge on tonight’s episode of Project Runway. Any chance the challenge won’t involved shiny spandex?

Emily, the designer auf’d last week, didn’t seem to be taking her elimination well when she talked to EW and People.

Shows like So You Think You Can Dance — which airs the first half of its season finale tonight on Fox — have opened up lots of opportunities for choreographers.

Reality Blurred is skeptical of an insider’s list of Dancing with the Stars 7 contestants provided to In Touch Weekly. The list includes names we’ve heard before, like Lance Bass and Florence Henderson, along with new names like Toni Braxton and Dan Marino.

If Dan Marino were to join the cast, he would become the third NutriSystem spokesperson to compete on Dancing with the Stars, following in the footsteps of Marie Osmond and Joey Fatone. Who’s next, Ronald McDonald? Jared from Subway?

Reality Blurred is also encouraging fans of The Mole not to protest the show’s inevitable cancellation, saying their efforts would be better spent urging ABC to release the show’s second season on DVD.

The Summer Olympics officially begin on Friday, but a few soccer qualifying matches are being played today and tomorrow. I’m going back to bed now so that I’ll be ready to wake up at 4:55 a.m. ET on Thursday for the U.S. men’s match against Japan. Sweet dreams!

A rigorous rehearsal schedule is taking its toll on the So You Think You Can Dance finalists. On Saturday, two of the dancers — reportedly Twitch and Joshua — were taken to the hospital and treated for dehydration. Judge Mary Murphy spilled the beans about the hospitalization at Fox’s Teen Choice Awards, then promptly tripped and sprained her ankle.

Blog MeTalkinToYou has the scoop on what dances the SYTYCD finalists will perform on Wednesday night. The blog also notes that Thursday night’s finale is being preempted in the Chicago area by a Bears preseason football game. Thanks, local Fox affiliate.

SYTYCD judge and producer Nigel Lythgoe announced that he will no longer produce American Idol, giving him more time to focus on developing international versions of So You Think You Can Dance.

Shannon Elizabeth told People that Derek Hough didn’t propose marriage to her. She said that she hopes that his new partner on Dancing with the Stars is someone "who’s like 70, 80 years old."

The AMPTP is refuting rumors of informal meetings with SAG; the studios say they’ve had no contact with the actors union since July 16.

TLC will debut a new home makeover show on August 23 called Making It Home: Greensburg, which will help residents of the Kansas town devastated by a tornado in May 2007. Here’s hoping it does well in the ratings so that TLC can bring the show to other town’s afflicted by natural disasters.

Law & Order: SVU will reunite Josh Charles and Teri Polo, who played Dan and Rebecca on my beloved Sports Night, on an episode to air September 30.

EW caught up with ten reality stars, including Evan "Joe Millionaire" Marriott and Taylor from Kid Nation, and asked if sacrificing their dignity for 15-minutes of fame was worth it. Most of the stars answered, "No."

Good news, So You Think You Can Dance fans: Fox has officially picked up the series for a fifth season, which will air next summer. TV Guide has an interview with the dancers eliminated last Thursday, Chelsie and Mark.

Dancing with the Stars pro Cheryl Burke told E! that the odds of Lance Bass dancing with a male partner in Season 7 are pretty slim.

In other DwtS news, Shannon Elizabeth reportedly turned down a marriage proposal from her boyfriend, Derek Hough. And former DwtS pro, Nick Kosovich, recently taught a seminar in Sarasota Springs, NY.

An article in the Boston Globe investigated why Americans seem increasingly content to watch dancing on TV, instead of going out dancing themselves.

SAG leaders say they are still trying to work out a contract between actors and the studios, although through back channels rather than formal meetings.

TV Guide interviewed Jon Hamm, who says he’s nowhere near as stylish as Don Draper, the character he plays on Mad Men.

There’s a debate in the MOIB household as to whether we should keep watching the entire second season of Mad Men on our basic cable connection, or 1) upgrade to an HD package and watch it weekly, with commercials, 2) download the series from iTunes every week, and watch it without commercials, or 3) wait until the season is over, buy the Blu-Ray DVD, and watch it as a marathon, as we did with the first season.

After reading this analysis of last night’s episode, I’m leaning toward option 3. The article pointed out a detail from the previous episode that I’d already forgotten about, which made me think that I might be better off watching the shows in quick succession, rather than waiting a week in between episodes.

What do you think we should do? Are there any shows you prefer to watch on DVD, instead of week-to-week?

A spokesperson for Dan Quayle told TV Guide that the former VP will not be competing in Dancing with the Stars 7. Neither will comedian Kathy Griffin, apparently.

Zap2It has a recap of last night’s So You Think You Can Dance results show. TV Guide posted video of an interview with last week’s eliminated dancers, Comfort and Will.

Us magazine posted some thoughts on this week’s SYTYCD performance show from Mary Murphy and Dan Karaty, who didn’t seem too impressed by any of this season’s Top 6 dancers.

Reality Blurred wrote about Project Runway 5’s impressive ratings, in spite of cast members that are "less engaging and more annoying" than in previous seasons. Zap2It’s TV Gal agrees with that sentiment, and so do I — or should I say, so does Kathy.

In other Bravo reality show news, Top Chef 2‘s curly-haired, diabetic hunk, Sam Talbot, got engaged over the weekend.

Executive producer Bertram Van Munster dropped some hints about the upcoming season of The Amazing Race, which premieres on September 28.

With America in the middle of a housing crisis, Property Ladder host Kirsten Kemp is taking a break from teaching amateurs how to flip houses for profit, and will host a new show on TLC aimed to help struggling home owners make small improvements to boost their home’s value. Hope For Your Home premieres August 9 at 8:30 p.m. ET.

Also new to TLC is Battleground Earth (not to be confused with the John Travolta flick Battlefield Earth), which pits rapper Ludacris against rocker Tommy Lee in a battle to promote eco-awareness. The Motley Crue drummer talked with TV Guide about how the show, which premieres on TLC on August 7 at 8 p.m. ET, has turned him into a typical dad, yelling at his kids to turn off the lights when they leave the room.

The producers of Wizard’s First Rule have changed the name of the series to the totally generic Legend of the Seeker, which sounds more like a subtitle than a series title. Perhaps they just pulled a couple of words out of a hat and plugged them into the J.R.R. Tolkien Fantasy Epic Name Generator™: "_____ of the _____."

My disappointment is mitigated somewhat by their casting of Craig Parker, who played Haldir in the Lord of the Rings movies, as a villain in the series. But, still, they couldn’t come up with anything better than Legend of the Seeker?

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.