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

Us Weekly reports that Grey’s Anatomy‘s writers are considering giving Katherine Heigl’s character, Izzie, a brain tumor as a "way of screwing with [Heigl]."

Katie Holmes will make a guest appearance on ABC’s Eli Stone this fall.

John O’Hurley told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that he and Charlotte Jorgensen are planning a return to Dancing with the Stars.

NBC Universal is selling special merchandise from several of its most popular shows (e.g., The Office, Heroes, and Battlestar Galactica) at Comic-Con. Fortunately for those of us who won’t be attending Comic-Con, the items are available for purchase online.

Variety reports that original programming has given the networks a modest increase in viewers, compared to last summer.

Ahead of tonight’s Project Runway 5 premiere, Bravo seems to be trying to spoil the season, sending critics video of the complete first episode — including the elimination — for review, and announcing all of the challenges for the entire season. Guess Bravo execs took the show’s move to Lifetime for Season 6 a little personally.

Tonight’s episode of The Colbert Report will feature a performance by one of my favorite bands: Rush. Unfortunately, they’re scheduled to perform "Tom Sawyer," one of my least favorite songs. But it could’ve been worse. They could’ve played "Roll the Bones."

An injury has forced So You Think You Can Dance contestant Jessica to withdraw from the competition. Comfort, who was eliminated last week, has taken over Jessica’s spot in the Top 10.

SYTYCD judge Mary Murphy spoke with TV Guide about Jessica’s departure, which may have been due to an injury the dancer had hidden from the producers until this weekend, according to a report at Zap2It.

In Jessica’s honor, EW posted a photo gallery of 20 Abrupt Reality TV Farewells.

Blog MeTalkinToYou posted spoilers about the identities of the new couples, and which dances the pairs will perform on tomorrow night’s episode of SYTYCD. On Wednesday’s show, each couple will perform two routines, and each contestant will dance a solo. Then on Thursday, every dancer will participate in two of three group numbers (one boys’ routine and one girls’ routine, in addition to the usual the whole cast routine). Maybe the producers are trying to injure every contestant so they can end the season early and go on vacation.

TV Guide has the scoop on the guest judges appearing on the fifth season of Project Runway, including LL Cool J and Apolo Anton Ohno. PR mentor Tim Gunn told People that fans will "get mad" at many of the judges’ decisions during the new season, which premieres Wednesday night.

Developmental psychologists at Illinois State University have determined that the type of television shows teens watch affects their dating lives and their perceptions of gender roles.

Actress Alyssa Milano, who must’ve watched a lot of baseball when she was a teen, has sworn off dating MLBers, calling them "childish."

Of course, the biggest Dancing with the Stars news of the summer breaks as soon as I go on vacation. Late last week, reports leaked that Lance Bass may join the cast of DwtS 7. Since Bass is openly gay, it’s rumored that he may dance with a male partner. Steve Guttenberg & Jonathan Roberts’ "Mango" went over well last season, so why not?

Former American Idol contestant Kellie Pickler told OK! that she’s trying to use her friendship with fellow country musician and DwtS pro Julianne Hough to garner a spot in Season 7’s cast.

Upon his retirement from professional boxing, DwtS 5 contestant Floyd Mayweather, Jr. accused the HBO network of racial bias against African-American boxers.

EW has the scoop on the meaning behind the "IV REAL" t-shirts worn by several of the dancers on Thursday’s episode of So You Think You Can Dance.

Katherine Heigl’s decision to withdraw herself from Emmy consideration because she felt that her character didn’t have enough a strong enough storyline so irked Grey’s Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes that Rhimes is reportedly considering killing off Heigl’s character, Izzie.

Variety reports that The CW’s future depends on a successful fall TV season.

The contestants of Project Runway 5 were finally announced today. The season premieres Wednesday night at 9 ET on Bravo.

The Mole returns tonight to ABC with a recap show at 9 ET, followed by an all-new episode at 10 ET. Producers of the show fear that a poor ratings performance tonight could lead to the show’s cancellation, and have started the website savethemole.com. If you’re a fan of the show, be sure you tune in tonight.

Here are videos of the performances from last night’s episode of So You Think You Can Dance:
Chelsie & Mark — Salsa and Broadway
Comfort & Thayne — Hip Hop and Contemporary
Jessica & Will — Contemporary and Quickstep
Courtney & Gev — Cha Cha and Jazz
Kherington & Twitch — Krump and Smooth Tango
Katee & Joshua — Viennese Waltz and Bollywood

Mary Murphy and Dan Karaty offered their thoughts on the performances to Us Magazine.

Of course, my favorite routine of the night was the Bollywood number. Katee & Joshua danced to the song "Dhoom Taana" from the excellent movie Om Shanti Om. Here’s a clip of the original dance number from the film.

If you’re interested in further Bollywood reading, my reviews of Love Story 2050 and Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic appeared in today’s Naperville Sun.

No Ox Notes tomorrow (we’re vacationing in Pittsburgh). Have a great weekend!