An appeals court is reinstating an ex-Friends writers' assistant's harassment lawsuit against the show's writers. The woman claims that the writers constantly joked about sex and women, and even went so far as to make sexual gestures in the workplace. (Ed. note—We've always been a sucker for the one where you stick your finger in a little "o" you make with your other hand and move it in and out. Comedy gold!)

The Smoking Gun is tired of hearing claims that The Apprentice winner Bill Rancic built his internet-based cigar company into a mutlimillion dollar "empire." They've obtained a document from the company's sale, which shows a price of $425,000.

TBS is unveiling a $50 million campaign to rebrand themselves (slogan: "Very Funny") as the place to go for comedy programming.

The plot of the Friends finale is not being kept the huge secret that we might expect. Says executive producer/reputed taskmaster Marta Kauffman:

A new report shows that representation of race and gender on network television is showing all of the diversity of your average NHL team. (Ed. note—NHL teams are overwhelming composed of white men, many of whom are Canadian.)

Think CBS couldn't top Janet Jackson's titty flopping out in front of the year's largest television audience? Tomorrow night's episode of 48 Hours will show pictures of a dying Princess Diana at the scene of her fatal car crash, according to the BBC.

With the network upfronts (where the new Fall line-ups are announced to advertisers) just around the corner, The Futon Critic's Brian Ford Sullivan takes a very thorough look at NBC's potential schedule. In his "What They Did Wrong" analysis, Sullivan notes that NBC Entertainment President Jeff Zucker might want to invest in the adult undergarment industry:

Sitcom rerun factory TV Land will go dark during the series finale of Friends. As a further tribute to the comedy juggernaut, the channel will preempt their regular, rerun programming to play reruns of long-cancelled shows featuring the Friends cast, like the short-lived Ferris Bueller adaptation that starred Jennifer Aniston in the Jennifer Grey role, before either of them had undergone thousands of dollars in plastic surgery.

The FOX Network, which has revolutionized reality television by bringing us the millionaireless Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire and trying to find right-size brides for a dwarf on The Littlest Groom, is now trying to destroy the traditional, seasonal TV schedule.

It's been just over 10 years since Kurt Cobain killed himself. Everyone knows that 10 years is the statue of limitations on making biopics about self-destructive, voice-of-a-generation types. Now that it's safe to do so, the WB is developing a movie based on Cobain's life. They haven't cast it yet. We've got a couple of suggestions to get the ball rolling.

The 13-week job interview is over. Donald Trump can rest now, knowing that he has knighted a worthy Trump Organization leader in vanilla, internet cigar mogul Bill Rancic (as we predicted). The Donald can now kick back and spend a few days in the hyperbaric chamber that preserves the somewhat hairlike organism that lives on top of his billionaire head, emerging only to have brief, sexual encounters with Miss USA hopefuls and dream of the Time Man of the Year cover that is surely to follow.

Given the current indeceny-in-entertainment purge, CBS is considering toning down Big Brother to avoid FCC fines. And they haven't yet decided what to do about the unedited web feed that's available 24-7 during the show's run.

Variety reports that the mighty WB network, home to such knee-slapping fare as One Tree Hill and Everwood, is about to unleash an American Idol spoof on the shitty-singing-devouring public.

On tonight's two-hour finale of The Apprentice, evil, parasitic hairpiece host Donald Trump will finally anoint either low-key Bill Rancic or catatonic broker Kwame Jackson to run one of his many companies. Our money's on Bill, who'll be presented with a desk plaque reading "Bill Rancic, Chief Executive Officer, Trump Skank Procurement Industries" and immediately stashed on a card table by the copier that no one can figure out how to un-jam.