Sunday Morning Catch-Up: Watching Icelandic Latex Puppets Edition.

Have you watched Lazy Town before? It’s a town filled with puppets and humans living side by side learning about diet and exercise. What makes it GENIUS is that Stephanie (the heroine) seems to be half puppet/half human. The genius lies in filling in the back story in your head, and a human not only had to have had sex with a latex puppet, but one of them also got impregnated. Children’s television is the best.

If you didn’t listen to the show this week, or the podcast, there was a party at 4ZZZ. What happens when there’s a party going on? People get sloppy and forget to cover all the news for the week. So here are some bits we missed, and some extra bits, just for YOU!

[Celebslam: Amy Winehouse to dance with the stars?] According to a Strictly Come Dancing insider, producers of the BBC series are determined to get the Back to Black star on-board in order to keep up with rival show the X Factor, which has recently signed a host of high profile stars to perform on the live shows.

If this really happens? I predict this would be the most downloaded show in the internet’s history!

[THR the live feed:Poll: 'NCIS: LA,' 'Vampire,' 'Stargate' top watch list] Fandex.com polled 1,000 “rabid fans” to see what this group of TV viewers say are the must-watch shows this fall. Here’s the results: 1. NCIS: Los Angeles [etc etc etc]

Interesting to see NCIS:LA on the list. Dear Channel 10: Please don’t cock this up like you do Dexter, Go Girls, etc etc etc.

[What's on the Tube:How to get involved with Hey Hey It’s Saturday…] … There is still no word on when these two specials will air, however fans can now contribute to some of the segments the show has been known for.

Danny posts some info on how to get involved with Hey Hey. I don’t know whether to thank him or curse him.

[The Australian: Pay purge to help Nine slice costs]THE Nine Network has been forced to slash as much as $20million from its budget within the next two months, as it battles a tough advertising market and the high debt of its owner, PBL Media.

Trying to make TV cheaper 9? When you’re failing in the ratings, how would spending less money help? With people like Mark Ferguson reportedly earning $700K a year to do little else than be a wally, this isn’t entirely unexpected.

[TV Tonight: Double Take slammed for “After School You Die” sketch] Seven’s Double Take sketch comedy has come under fire following a sketch last night on schoolyard bullying.

[The Australian: Anti-siphoning laws for TV sports being screened]THE Rudd government will consider strengthening use-it-or-lose-it provisions for sports on the anti-siphoning list that are not shown on free-to-air television, under a review started yesterday.

Expect Dan and I to talk about this next week. A LOT.

[ACMA: TCN 9 breaches code as A Current Affair aims to hypnotise viewers] The Australian Communications and Media Authority has found that TCN Channel Nine Pty Ltd (the licensee) breached the Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice 2004 (the code) by broadcasting a program that was likely, in all the circumstances, to be designed to induce a hypnotic state in viewers.

This is almost too insane!

[THR: 'Mad Men' using product integration] Fans of AMC’s “Mad Men” know that the show, about fictional 1960s advertising agency Sterling Cooper, names other real-life agencies and brands to achieve some verisimilitude. What they might not know is that some of those are actual product placements.

In an age of fast-forwarding ads, this kind of high-end product placement is really going to be what we start to see supporting shows over the next few years.

Want to see why kids TV is better than it ever was when you/I were kids? I present you with: DESTORY, BUILD, DESTROY!. The show is described as “two teams compete against one another to destroy a large structure, rebuild it into something different and then destroy it again”. Hosted by Andrew WK it is insane, and wonderful, and awesome.