1. Last night’s crazy wedding-themed episode of Gossip Girl may or may not have revealed the show’s biggest secret: the long-debated identity of Gossip Girl. But are you buying it?

2. You probably know that Bon Iver is up for Record Of The Year, Song Of The Year, and Best New Artist at this year’s Grammy Awards, but we bet that you haven’t seen his Grammy’s commercial yet. (Adele, Foo Fighters, and Skrillex all have TV spots airing, too.)

3. Flavorpill favorite Mindy Kaling will write, executive produce, and star in a new comedy pilot for Fox that’s about “a young Bridget Jones-type doctor.” Should the network decide to pick up the show, she’d be leaving the sinking ship that is The Office, which we think would be a good thing. [via TVLine]

4. Susan Sarandon will be joining Laura Linney in a handful of upcoming episodes of The Big C, playing a cancer survivor “who is using her unique experience to inspire and motivate others”; the show’s third season launches April 8 on Showtime. [via THR]

5. According to paperwork just filed with the FEC, Stephen Colbert’s Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow super PAC has taken in more than $1 million. No wonder Jon Stewart was so reluctant to hand back over the reigns. [via The Daily Beast]

Bonus Buzz: 20 of the Happiest Dogs Around

Earlier today an interesting little rumor started by a sharp-eyed New York Post reader started to make the Internet rounds. The claim? That former Office star Steve Carell made “an unexpected, unannounced cameo” in last week’s “Trivia” episode as a member of The Queerenstein Bears team. While the dude in the screenshot accompanying the report certainly looks a lot like the actor (with a bushy beard, some under-eye bags, and a few extra pounds, mind you), NBC is now saying that he was just an extra — and definitely not Carell. Are you as oddly disappointed by this news as we are? It would have been kind of funny to see him sneak into the background a few episodes this season, Patton Oswalt-style, don’t you think? [via AV Club]

Before he became Dunder Mifflin’s resident slacker on The Office, B.J. Novak was refining his future character by pulling pranks on Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts. During a trip to the institution’s popular 1997 exhibit, Tales from the Land of Dragons, the actor flexed his funny bone when he and a group of friends decided to re-record the audio guide for the show. Novak’s pal with an Eastern European accent (calling himself Lev Davidovich Bronstein) narrated the newly dubbed tour, and the friends swapped tapes after buying their tickets and renting the audio tour equipment. The actor was only in high school at the time, and recently told his alma mater about the prank revealing what was said. “The first three minutes of the tape were completely accurate … but about 3 minutes in, the tour started getting a little weird. The guy started injecting his personal opinions. He’d say, ‘Personally I think this painting is a piece of crap,’” Novak told audiences. Apparently the pranksters also encouraged listeners to do the hokey pokey and inhale the paint fumes. Sound about right for Ryan Howard?

It’s getting colder, folks, which means we’ll be spending more and more time indoors. How do you like to spend the winter months? Watching TV? Playing games? Reading Flavorpill? Well, let’s combine all of three, shall we? Every now and then, our favorite fictional characters will use their fictional brilliance to invent some awesomely fictional games, and we’ve been itching to play ‘em. The rules of these fake games, however, are often left somewhat unexplained, so why not piece together what we do know and add a few guidelines to create real, playable games? Gather some pals, order a pizza, and read on for the real life rules to 10 of pop culture’s most competitive creations. It’s game night! Read More »

Bringing the mythic media of your favorite television shows to life, Fake Anything showcases fake ads and products inspired by the antics of your most beloved characters. And as expected, their site boasts a few fake testimonials that are good for a laugh — but their clever ad campaigns for shows like Arrested Development, Parks and Recreation, and Seinfeld (Death Blow!) are infinitely more amusing. We’re a little concerned that we’d totally buy Liz Lemon’s “Night Cheese” and enjoy it “while wearing a Slanket,” but once you see the product’s pretty tin packaging you might feel the same way. Hit the break for more TV ad goodies. Read More »

Polaroids have been immortalizing actors on the sets of their latest project for decades now. The retro form of photography is generally utilized for makeup or continuity purposes, and on occasion, serves as a catalogue for on-set shenanigans. Actors such as Johnny Depp, Audrey Hepburn, and Jason Schwartzman have all mugged for (or in some cases, ignored) the camera in between takes, blurring the line between their fictional characters and reality. We’ve unearthed photographs from a few cinematic gems, both old and new, that provide an intimate glimpse at life on set of projects like Taxi Driver, The Office, and more. Venture behind-the-scenes with a collection of our favorite shots after the jump. Read More »

There comes a time in a TV show’s life when the plot line takes a turn for the literary; a fictional character hunkers down and authors a book. Some are guidebooks, others are self-help books, but they all share one crucial quality: they’re not real. These authors don’t exist in real life, so how could their books? Well — sometimes, just sometimes, our real world is graced with a fake book’s tangible, published, purchasable presence. But, not always — so we’ve gathered some awesomely fake books from TV that you can actually buy, and a few others that we hope will be available one day. Because, well, who wouldn’t want to read Liz Lemon’s Dealbreakers: A Girl’s Guide to Shutting it Down from cover to cover? Or proudly display Cosmo Kramer’s The Coffee Table Book of Coffee Tables on their own coffee table? Read on for some fake TV fiction, and let us know your other favorites.

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Every Batman has his Robin, every Don Quixote his Sancha Paza — and any sitcom protagonist is nothing without his comedic, ego-boosting sidekick. It’s a symbiotic relationship — every main man needs a sounding board; every sidekick needs a star’s spotlight to bask in. But every so often a supporting actor entirely outshines the headliner. Browse through the sidekicks we think add more to their shows than their dominant counterparts, and tell us who you’d add in the comments.

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Everyone knows that primetime TV is a stronghold of stock characters, gender stereotypes, and cheap jokes. All of which is, ahem, half the reason we love it so much. No matter how far our society seems to advance, stereotypes sell, so they keep popping up on the small screen — even, we’ve noticed, pushing the boundaries of how offensive they can get. Just for analyzation purposes, we’ve picked out ten of the character tropes on modern television, from the epic nerd to the hot girl, that we seem to keep seeing over and over again, for better or for worse. Click through to see our list, and if we’ve missed any of your favorite stock characters, be sure to let us know in the comments!

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Last night House returned in its eighth season on Fox to less than stellar ratings. We don’t know about you, but we’re not surprised. What more can possibly happen on this show? The last season ended with a crash, literally, when Gregory House drove his car into long-time crush Cuddy’s house, and this season begins with his release from a short stint in jail. He’s already done the rehab thing. He’s already done the almost dying thing. So what now? Perhaps a DNR would have been in order at the conclusion of Season 6. But we know how House, and even more so, producers, feel about letting go. Below the jump, we’ve rounded up a few other series that should’ve walked away a few seasons before they did — and some that still haven’t. Add to our list in the comments!

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