For crews, reality show life can be high-risk —

In the LA Times, an interesting piece on the dangerous nature of working in reality television. As shows compete against each other to present the grossest, riskiest, and most outlandish spectacles, the men and women who labor on these productions are exposed to greater risk for injury and illness. — Xeni •

(Video link) If you've caught any of the commercials for Portlandia's upcoming third season premiere (this Friday, January 4 at 10:00 PM EST on IFC), then SPOILER ALERT: you may have already seen parts of this new preview clip, entitled "Spoiler Alert," which means you've already been spoiled. SPOILER ALERT: It contains spoilers. (via IFC)

We all know about the time-honored tradition of Syfy's Twilight Zone New Year's marathon. But in case you're not into a 24-hour trip into another dimension and still want to watch a buttload of TV today and tomorrow, here is a short list of other TV marathons that might interest you!

24 Hours of Portlandia (IFC), starting tonight at 6:00 PM (EST)

(Doctor) Who Year's Eve (BBC America), last episode airs at 5:00 AM (EST) tomorrow morning

MacGyver marathon (Cloo), last episode airs tomorrow morning at 5:00 AM (EST)

New Year's Hercul-Eve Marathon (The Hub), 10 episodes of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys starting tonight at 8:00 PM (EST)

How Do They Do It? marathon (Science), last episode airing at 1:30 AM (EST) tomorrow morning, followed by a Fringe marathon

The Walking Dead Season 3 (AMC), starting tonight at 9:00 PM (EST)

Mysteries At the Museum (Travel Channel), starting at 9:00 AM (EST) tomorrow morning with a special, followed by regular episodes

Photo credit: IFC

The boundlessly wonderful folks at Adafruit are producing an online puppet show for kids aimed at teaching electronics. I could not be more happy about this without that I exploded.

Their new online show, titled Circuit Playground, will teach the essentials of electronics and circuitry to children through kid-friendly dolls with names like Cappy the Capacitor and Hans the 555 Timer Chip. Limor “Ladyada” Fried, Adafruit’s founder and chief engineer (and 2012 Entrepreneur of the Year), will host the episodes, with her team assisting with onscreen and puppeteering duties.

“We’ll have each component have a story, a song and something to do,” Fried says. “We’ll have live feeds in our factory on how things are made. It’s a little Elmo for engineering, a little Mr. Rogers for resistors and a little Sesame Street for Circuits.”

Adafruit is familiar with online broadcasts, hosting weekly “Show-and-Tell” and “Ask an Engineer” shows on Google+ and Ustream for over three years. Circuit Playground was a natural extension for them. “We saw the audience and the participants getting younger with more advanced projects, so we figured there was something there,” Fried says.

Adafruit to Teach Electronics Through Puppets in New Kids’ Show [Mike Senese/Wired] (via /.)

Good news, Boing Boing readers: There is going to be a 2013! Not only that, but tons of cool stuff is coming in the way of entertainment. Here is my list of ten of the cooler things hitting screens both big and small, according to my own personal preferences (and perhaps yours)!

Read the rest

Nothing says Christmas like jazz poetry, and nothing says jazz poetry like Lord Buckley's appearance on You Bet Your life. If you only watch one 10-minute video of a jazz poet trading quips with Groucho Marx this holiday season, make it this one. Bonus: a totally unsubstantiated comment on the YouTube page says that Buckley's partner is actor Amy Poehler's grandmother.

Lord Buckley / Groucho Marx

Zack Smith has done a deep roundup of the best in Christmas Specials, "with a number of links to unedited versions of lesser-known specials including an unedited MUPPET FAMILY CHRISTMAS with original commercials, a "Shalom Sesame" from Israel with a Hanukkah theme and a British airing of Raymond Briggs' THE SNOWMAN with a live-action intro by David Bowie as the grown-up version of the little boy in the story. The Star Wars special is not in here because, well...the world has suffered enough. Also wrote up a look at the many specials of Rankin-Bass, and how they do or don't tie into one another.

The Spirit of Christmas Specials, Conclusion: Beyond Charlie Brown and the Grinch! (Thanks, Zack!)

Rebel Wilson will host the next MTV Movie Awards —

Whatever you might think of MTV or movies, you can at least count on the MTV Movie Awards to be a pretty fun affair. And the next one will be hosted by the fantastic Rebel Wilson, so there's even more reason to tune in to MTV for the first time in, what, twenty years? The MTV Movie Awards will air Sunday, April 14. (via VH1 Celebrity) — Jamie •

After turning around a flailing sophomore season for AMC's The Walking Dead, the network announced that on the heels of an amazing third season start -- and a fourth season pickup -- Glen Mazzara will be stepping down as showrunner after the current season is over. Mazzara, who replaced original showrunner Frank Darabont, said: "I have told the stories I wanted to tell and connected with our fans on a level that I never imagined. It doesn’t get much better than that." Here is the full statement from AMC:

Today, AMC announces the season 4 pick-up of The Walking Dead.

AMC also jointly announces with Glen Mazzara today that for future seasons, the two parties have mutually decided to part ways. Glen guided the series creatively for seasons 2 and 3. AMC is grateful for his hard work. We are both proud of our shared success.

Both parties acknowledge that there is a difference of opinion about where the show should go moving forward, and conclude that it is best to part ways. This decision is amicable and Glen will remain on for post-production on season 3B as showrunner and executive producer.

Well, this news is like getting a delicious cake and then being told it was made by a person who can no longer bake for you. The Walking Dead returns to AMC on Sunday, February 10 at 9:00 PM.

Walking Dead Renewed, Parts Ways With Showrunner Glen Mazzara Over 'Difference of Opinion' [TVLine]

Photo credit: AMC

Something we'll never get to look forward to again: a new season of 30 Rock. One of TV's most excellent shows had its last day of shooting yesterday, culminating in what must have been a seriously weepy wrap party. Cast member Kevin "Dot Com" Brown took and shared pictures on Twitter, because he knows how much we wanted to be a part of this glorious farewell.

The series finale (sob) of 30 Rock will air Thursday, January 31 on NBC. And just in time for your to restock your tissue supply, Community will come back! It's the most bittersweet two weeks in sitcom history!

Here is the full cast and crew of 30 Rock, gathering for a group photo. Perhaps the last group photo. Sniff...

Thanks for sharing these, Dot Com! Will we ever have another TV show with a character named Dot Com? Probably not. And if we do, it just won't be the same.

(via UPROXX)

CBS TV Studios wants to hop on the genre TV train! News broke today that the studio has hired Bryan Singer to serve as executive producer for a(nother) new version of The Twilight Zone, though it's still in the very early stages of development. With the success of horror-themed shows like The Walking Dead and American Horror Story -- not to mention the upcoming prequel series, Hannibal and Bates Motel -- you can't really blame them for trying, but will an anthology series (as opposed to a serial) still attract the audience they want? The most recent attempt (2002) only lasted for one season, and previous one (1985) also struggled to gain traction. But a new Twilight Zone could probably go to much creepier places these days, making it a little more worth our while. Possibly.

In the meantime, you can just tune in to Syfy's annual Twilight Zone marathon on December 31 and January 1. It's a holiday tradition!

(via IGN)