Hello, everybody. Friday night was the "Hope for Haiti Now" telethon to benefit the earthquake relief effort, broadcast on various networks around the world. This was George Clooney's fourth multi-network telethon after "America: A Tribute to Heroes" following 9/11, "Tsunami Aid" (which was only on the NBC Universal networks), and "Shelter from the Storm" after Hurricane Katrina. The broadcast originated from Los Angeles, New York, and London.

Armed with performances by Madonna, Stevie Wonder, Taylor Swift, Rihanna, Beyonce, and Justin Timberlake among others, 100 celebrities such as Penelope Cruz, Jennifer Aniston, Drew Barrymore, Mel Gibson, Reese Witherspoon, Taylor Lautner, the Jonas Brothers, Alec Baldwin, Dwayne Johnson, Alyssa Milano, Ray Romano, Tyler Perry, Drew Carey, the original cast of "High School Musical" (Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale), "American Idol" runners-up David Archuleta and Katharine McPhee, Marisa Tomei, Selena Gomez, and dozens others manned the phone bank in L.A. taking donations and engaging in a little chit-chat with them. Of course many of us took the alternate method of giving by texting GIVE to 50555 ($10 would be added to mobile bill) or by heading to hopeforhaitinow.org. Me? I did the latter and donated $35, because I would be caught dead calling or texting in my donation.

Oh yeah, there were also appearances by Halle Berry, Leonardo DiCaprio, Julia Roberts, Chris Rock, Sexiest Woman of 2001 winner Nicole Kidman, Denzel Washington, President Bill Clinton, Tom Hanks (fresh off on Conan O'Brien's last "Tonight Show", which I'll get to later) and more including CNN's Anderson Cooper in Haiti and Wyclef Jean in New York.

The telethon benefited Oxfam America, the Red Cross, UNICEF, Partners in Health, United Nations World Food Programme, Jean's Yele Haiti Foundation, and the Clinton Bush Haiti Foundation; 100% of the proceeds would be split among those organizations.

While we were Tweeting what's been going on on the broadcast so far, we've noticed some no-shows on the star-studded phone bank. Among them: Sandra Bullock, Anne Hathaway, anybody from "Glee", Courteney Cox, Lucy Liu (who is a UNICEF ambassador), and Kate Walsh. I guess they were all busy or there was only 100 slots to fill. And while Lautner was on the phones in L.A. and Robert Pattinson appeared from London, their fellow "Twilight" co-star Kristen Stewart is at the Sundance Film Festival. Fergie was also in "Nine" with Kidman and Cruz, but she and the rest of the Black Eyed Peas are in Europe. Oh yeah...where are Mr. and Mrs. Twitter (aka Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore)? I guess they stayed home as well.

So far, over $57 million was raised after Friday, and the number may increase to $100 million within the next few days.

By the way...in Canada prior to this, they had a one-hour "Canada for Haiti" telethon featuring famous Canuck celebs like William Shatner, Rachel McAdams, James Cameron, Wayne Gretzky, Pamela Anderson, Alex Trebek, Barenaked Ladies, Sarah MacLachlan and many others including who is probably the most popular Canadian at the moment...Justin Bieber. Sorry, no sign of Avril Lavigne, Elisha Cuthbert, Shenae Grimes, Neve Campbell, or even Bret "Hitman" Hart there.

Now like I said, the Haiti telethon is the brainchild of Clooney and it is happening closer to the 25th anniversary of "We Are The World"; Quincy Jones and Lionel Richie are planning a remake to benefit Haiti.

But in my lifetime, this is the fifth multi-network television event I've been watching. Almost 20 years ago in April 1990, the major broadcast and cable networks aired "Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue" with Bugs Bunny, the Muppet Babies, the Smurfs, and other Saturday morning cartoon stars to raise awareness about drug prevention. And looking back at it being on all those channels, this was a very big deal.

As I said a few paragraphs before, Hanks appeared at the telethon just shortly after doing the last "Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien" across town. Conan also on Friday wrapped up his tumultuous seven-month run as host of NBC's late night flagship after receiving a lot of hush money to get out of dodge: around $30 million.

I pretty much knew all along that Conan's brand of humor that worked at 12:30 wouldn't work at 11:30, though in the last few days, ratings for his show were up 50% over David Letterman. Now comes a couple weeks of reruns and then the Winter Olympics before Jay Leno returns back home to 11:30 and it'll once again be "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" with possibly the old logo and theme music returning.

And last but not least...if you look back at Julianna Margulies' Golden Globe speech, she thanked CBS "for believing in the 10:00 drama." Of course comedy at 10:00 with Leno didn't work, but drama and in most areas news at 10:00 have worked.

Just ask ITV (and the BBC) in Britain, the CBC in Canada with "The National", and dozens of Fox, CW, and independent stations. Their 10:00 newscasts, whether they are a half-hour or an hour, have been pulling in impressive ratings opposite the network dramas for many, many years. The reasons are simple: one, they have been cash cows for the stations and two, the public -- especially schoolchildren -- wanted their news in primetime before calling it a night.

I don't watch much TV as opposed to 10 or 20 years ago (thanks, "Jersey Shore" and other reality shows out there!), but I prefer my late news at 10:00 myself. It's just that KATN is the only place here in Fairbanks for it once again now that Leno will be done at 10:00 before heading back where he belongs on March 1. So long and stay strong.

Hello, everybody. Tonight was the 67th Annual Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills hosted by Ricky Gervais, and for the film winners, the road to Oscar begins right there.

James Cameron's "Avatar" (which has now surpassed "Star Wars" to become the third top-grossing film of all time) took the Motion Picture-Drama honors, while "The Hangover" beat out "Nine" for the Comedy or Musical prize. And speaking of hangovers...is it just me or did the cameramen had one too many before the show??

Anyway, Sandra Bullock picked up Motion Picture-Drama Actress for "The Blind Side"; Jeff Bridges, Drama Actor for "Crazy Heart". On the Comedy/Musical side, Meryl Streep ("Julie & Julia") and Robert Downey Jr. ("Sherlock Holmes") won as well. The Supporting Acting globes went to Christoph Waltz ("Inglourious Basterds") and Mo'Nique ("Precious").

On the television front, "Mad Men" and "Glee" received Drama and Comedy/Musical Series respectively, while the acting rewards went to Julianna Margulies ("The Good Wife"), Toni Collette ("United States of Tara"), Michael C. Hall ("Dexter"), and Alec Baldwin ("30 Rock").

Of course, the recent Haiti earthquake was on the minds of everybody at the awards, which explains the ribbon the stars adorned on their wardrobes.

But perhaps the most popular accessory on the red carpet was the umbrella, as there were many of them being sported because it was drizzling wet in Los Angeles. Under those umbrellas of course, we saw Sandra Bullock in Bottega Veneta, as well as Sexiest Woman of 2009 winner Lisa Edelstein (George Chakara), 2005 winner Lauren Graham, "Glee's" Lea Michele (Oscar de la Renta), Christina Hendricks (Christian Siriano), and Marion Cotillard (Christian Dior) among others. Even Mariah Carey and Halle Berry went the "if you've got it, flaunt it!" route, while Amy Adams displayed her growing baby bump in Carolina Herrera.

So...who outshone them all despite the downpour? Drew Barrymore was a winner tonight for "Grey Gardens", and she is a winner again in her Atelier Versace gown. As for Anna Paquin and Jennifer Morrison? Here's hoping dark clouds come their way.

Now...the Golden Globes for many decades are being called "the party of the year" for a reason: Just like those cameramen covering the show, they love to get wasted! And if you saw the scene inside the International Ballroom at the Beverly Hilton, some of the stars were brandishing their Blackberrys or iPhones covering the atmosphere as it was happening.

One of the trends I touched on on this blog and in the "2009 Year in Review" is that a growing number of celebrities are jumping on the social networking bandwagon like never before, especially on Twitter. Some stars have Twitter accounts, whether they are verified or not, but we're hungry for more to be followed. Without further ado (and this is something I've been working on for months), let me present to you...

Jonathan Allen's Celebrity Twitter Wish List

Here, in no particular order, are some of the celebs I want to see tweeting soon:

• Sandra Bullock (Let's face it: She's already on top of the world again and may be Oscar's only hope of bringing the Best Actress prize home to America)
• Cameron Diaz (She had a Twitter account once, but for reasons unbeknownst to us, she deleted it. We'd love to re-follow her)
• George Clooney (we also saw him at the Globes tonight; imagine if he opens his Twitter, gets it verified, and watch the number of followers shoot sky-high! That is, after he organizes his Haiti relief telethon on Friday)
• Julia Roberts (Come on; the woman's hardly doing anything right now...well, sort of. But she can give Demi Moore a run for the Twitter money)
• Dwayne Johnson ('cause we all love to read what The Rock is tweetin')
• Lisa Edelstein (did I mention she was voted Sexiest Woman of 2009?)
• Dana Delany (she said a while back on her official site that she has no intentions of being on Twitter and/or Facebook anytime soon. But...you may never know; she might change her mind!)

And that's it...for now; I may think up more in the weeks to come. But like I said before...not all celebrity Twitters are created equal, so we have to watch ourselves to see if some of them are the real deal and some are posers trying to trick us. So long and stay strong!

Hello, everybody. Like most of you, I have been following the latest developments coming out of that devastating 7.0 earthquake in Haiti that has left Port-au-Prince in ruins. In the last few days now, relief organizations from all over the world have descended on the country to help pick up the rubble and the bodies in which the estimated death toll could run up to hundreds of thousands. Not since 9/11 or even Hurricane Katrina have we ever seen such outpouring over a natural disaster in the Americas.

However, the worldwide outpouring was sorely needed, as Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. The facts are staggering: 80% of the population lives below the poverty line; 54% lives in abject poverty; and Internet usage is sparse with only 1 million. That's because now more than ever, we've been reaching into our wallets -- or into our mobile phones -- to help out in any way.

In the last few days now, over $8 million was donated to the Red Cross from those who texted HAITI to 90999 ($10 would be added to their bill), while Wyclef Jean's Yele organization raised more than $2 million from texting "Yele" to 501501 ($5 added to the bill). The social networking universe also played their part in the effort, as "Help Haiti" was among the top trending topics on Twitter.

And then of course there was the traditional method of giving, as grocery chains all over the U.S. and Canada have set up Haiti donation canisters at checkout counters. In-person donations were made out to local Red Cross chapters as well.

We have also learned that George Clooney is teaming up with MTV to help organize a two-hour, multi-network "Hope For Haiti" telethon that will air next Friday.

Just like Katrina, this is a story that won't go away for quite a while, because it's going to be a long time before Haiti gets back on its feet again.

Now the earthquake will be in the thoughts of the celebrities coming to Sunday's Golden Globe Awards (and yes, I'll have a recap on it Monday)...as will the NBC late night drama, which appears to have come to an end.

It was all about whose side are you on: Team Conan or Team Leno? And apparently, Team Leno has won as there is word that in light of his 10:00 experiment a flop, "The Jay Leno Show" will become "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" once again and that Jay will be heading back to 11:35 where he belongs. Conan O'Brien, on the other hand? His "Tonight Show" has been called, according to longtime NBC executive Dick Ebersol, "an astounding failure" and it'll be off the air next week. The next move will belong to Conan, and Fox may be opening their doors to welcome him with open arms.

The whole turmoil definitely made great television for the entire late night landscape, as Jimmy Kimmel on his show scathingly poked fun at Leno, chin and all. David Letterman has also taken cheap shots at NBC as well, as his ratings continued to rise in the wake; the same can be said for George Lopez on the cable side. And of course, coverage of the earthquake in Haiti have drawn the serious viewers to "Nightline."

In the end, this is somewhat reminiscent of the infamous Montreal Screwjob, in which to paraphrase Vince McMahon, "Conan O'Brien screwed Conan O'Brien." Let's face it: He's a great guy, but we pretty much knew all along that his brand of humor would not work on the flagship "Tonight Show" format. In other words, Team Coco and his followers are the real losers in this battle. Let's hope that if he does go to Fox, he'll last longer than Chevy Chase. So long and stay strong.

Hello everybody, and welcome to my first blog of 2010!

We begin up front with what is already the new year's first biggest entertainment story. No, not James Cameron well on his way to beating his own box office record with "Avatar" now at the $1 billion mark, but the biggest shakeup in late night TV since Johnny Carson leaving "The Tonight Show."

After only a few months, it looks like Jay Leno's 10:00 show appears to be dead and that Leno may be going back to 11:35 with Conan O'Brien being bumped by a half-hour. The reason is simple: Low ratings, which has also rolled over to the late news. Many NBC affiliates have relied on Leno to help reclaim the ratings luster their late news have lost, but it wasn't the case.

(UPDATE: NBC made it official on Sunday: Leno is going back to 11:30 after the Olympics, putting Conan's future now in question)

Now that the 10:00 slot is open again, I have an open message for new mom and four-time Sexiest Woman of the Year winner Sarah Michelle Gellar:

Remember "The Wonderful Maladys" pilot you shot last spring for HBO in the hopes they would pick it up, but didn't? Well, both your career and NBC's ratings have went south in recent years, so why not have NBC take a look at the pilot and see if they would greenlight it. I know it would call for re-shoots and a possible re-naming, but it's damn well worth it. If "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost" sure saved ABC from extinction, then you, just like "The Cosby Show" in the '80s, can do the same thing for NBC!

Anyway, on to other matters...On Monday for one night only, the fledging Total Nonstop Action Wrestling and the WWE went toe-to-toe as both "Impact" and "Raw" pulled out all the stops. TNA not only had the much-anticipated return of Hulk Hogan, but Ric Flair and a few other special guests as well; WWE's big highlight? Bret "Hitman" Hart stepping into their ring for the first time since the fabled Montreal Screwjob.

The end result? "Impact" posted its highest ever ratings with a 1.5 while it was business as usual for "Raw" with a 3.6. And 3.6 is a far cry from when they used to have monster ratings in the 6's and 7's a decade ago against "WCW Monday Nitro."

Now when WCW would be acquired by WWE in the spring of 2001, one of its talents whose contract would be rolled over to the new company was Stacy Keibler. At WCW, Keibler started out as one of the "Nitro Girls" before they gave her the persona of Miss Hancock and later as herself. But at WWE, she would kick up the hotness factor by several notches, appearing in nearly the skimpiest clothing we've ever seen in the ring. Of course after leaving wrestling, she enhanced her career even further thanks to "Dancing With The Stars."

Okay, why am I bringing her up? Because on New Year's Eve, Stacy ended her 2009 as only she could: showcasing her legs and the rest of her svelte body on the beach in Miami in a pink bikini with paparazzi capturing it all for the entire world! I guess that is considered early promotion for her guest starring appearance on the 100th episode of "How I Met Your Mother" this Monday on CBS. I promise to keep my hands to myself while watching her.

That's all I wrote, so so long and stay strong!