12 Days of Bacon: Day Eleven

On the eleventh day of Christmas, my Bacon gave to meeee…

We Need A Little Colbert, Right This Very Minute

Every holiday season, we enjoy a Comedy Central musical extravaganza, South Park‘s “Mr. Hankey’s Christmas Classics”. Few things get our minds off fruitcake and hanging out with distant relatives like a chorus of angels berating Eric Cartman for botching the lyrics of “O, Holy Night.”

While it’s a touch early in the season, we’re hoping to add to the cynical Christmas canon tonight with Comedy Central’s new special, “A Colbert Christmas.” We just misread the description of a debate on the merits between naughty and nice as a debate between the merits of nerdy and nice. While we think that would be more fun, we think Stephen’s version is likely to be a hoot, too. Forget the star-studded guest list (including Feist, Willie Nelson, and Elvis Costello)–the best singer on this show might be Stephen Colbert himself. Tonight on Comedy Central at 10 Eastern and Pacific.

Peabody Awards Honor Truthiness

The Peabody Awards–given each year for excellence in electronic media–have a great track record for honoring quality TV that sometimes isn’t the most visible. Previous honorees include fare as diverse as The Office, Battlestar Galactica, Good Eats, and Viva Blackpool (leading, sadly, to the debacle that was Viva Laughlin). This year’s winners include 30 Rock, Dexter, and Mad Men on the scripted side and Planet Earth, Project Runway, and recent Oscar-winner Taxi to the Dark Side on the non-fiction end of things, as well as excellent news programming (a full list of winners can be found here). Bridging those worlds is an award for The Colbert Report, which I’m sure Stephen will feature tonight in his continuing segment, “Who’s Honoring Me Now?”

MAD MEN Happier After Taking WGA Award

As were drug dealers, mafiosos, and officials at Dunder-Mifflin and the Sheinhardt Wig Company.

Hard on the heels of the announcement that a settlement on the strike may have been reached, the Writers’ Guild of America handed out their annual awards. They said goodbye to The Sopranos with a prize for best episodic drama and hello to Mad Men with a nod for best new series.

See complete television winners behind the cut…

Monday Newsapalooza

• Stephen Colbert’s presidential bid nipped in the bud by South Carolina Democrats. (NY Times)
• Masterpiece Theatre to air adaptations of all six Jane Austen novels in January. (Hollywood Reporter)
• Aaron Sorkin returns to Broadway with “The Farnsworth Invention.” (NY Times)
• Weeds renewed for a fourth season. (Hollywood Reporter)

Thursday Newsapalooza

• Sci Fi Channel has ordered a two-hour pilot of Warehouse 13, a comedy-drama described as part X-Files, part Raiders of the Lost Ark and part Moonlighting, written by Farscape creator Rockne O’Bannon, Battlestar Galactica co-executive producer Jane Espenson and D. Brent Mote. (Yahoo!)
• The CW’s Reaper and ABC’s Dirty Sexy Money have both received three-script extensions. (The Futon Critic)
• A new poll suggests Stephen Colbert could be the presidential frontrunner within a month. Seriously? Seriously. (Editor & Publisher)
• Yet another new showrunner for Bionic Woman. (SyFy Portal)
• Battlestar Galactica‘s fourth season won’t start until April 2008. Let the wailing and tearing of hair commence. (L.A. Times)