Parks & Recreation (8:30pm, NBC) - Leslie finds out Tom is getting divorced from his hot Canadian green-card wife, so she plans a night out on the town to cheer him up.

Private Practice (9pm, ABC) - There are two new back-to-back episodes tonight. Stephen Collins (left) guest stars as Addison's father, and Violet makes Addison angry by sleeping with him. In the second episode, JoBeth Williams shows up as Addison's mother, and shares a devastating family secret.

30 Rock (9:30, NBC) - It's the first episode of Liz Lemon's "Dealbreakers" talk show, and Jack connives to make it a hit. Will Arnett and Sherri Shepherd guest star. 

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (10pm, FX) - Dee gets a part in an M. Night Shyamalan film, and Mac and Charlie seize the opportunity to pitch the director their script -- which they haven't yet written.

Parks & Recreation (8:30pm, NBC) - Megan Mullally guest stars as Ron's ex-wife Tammy, who runs the local library and wants to take over Leslie's lot (formerly known as "Leslie's pit"). 

The Office (9pm, NBC) - Jim and Pam are forced to double-date with Michael and his new girlfriend, who just happens to be Pam's mom. I guess this is what Michael meant when he said a few weeks ago that he planned to "date her even harder." 

30 Rock (9:30pm, NBC) - I hate to dwell on NBC, but really, how often do we get a chance to do that? Brian Williams has a guest cameo tonight, and that dude is flat-out funny. Okay, I'm stopping with this and promise not to promote "whatever" is in the NBC 10pm slot. 

The Last One (10pm, UNC-TV) - This is a treat. It's local filmmaker Neal Hutcheson's Emmy-winning documentary on Popcorn Sutton, an Appalachian moonshiner who went into the mountains to make one last batch of liquor and let Neal come along to film. If you haven't seen this yet, you should definitely tune in. Sadly, Popcorn passed away earlier this year. 

Real Housewives of Orange County (10pm, Bravo) - It kills me to write this, but Adrienne watched the first episode and said it's pretty good. Apparently these women actually address the "controversies" going on since the end of last season (such as losing  homes and husbands) instead of denying and fighting about it (yes, Atlanta, we're looking at you). 

It sort of sounds like a huh? but the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced that next year's Academy Awards will be co-hosted by Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin.

“We think the team of Steve and Alec are the perfect pair of hosts for the Oscars,” said producers Adam Shankman and Bill Mechanic.

“Steve will bring the experience of having hosted the show in the past and Alec will be a completely fresh personality for this event.”

Community (8pm, NBC) - Annie hosts a Day of the Dead Party, which conflicts with Jeff's plans to court his statistics professor. Pierce (Chevy Chase) gets a little carried away as he confronts getting older.

30 Rock (9:30pm, NBC) -  Jack and Liz visit Kenneth's hometown looking for fresh talent (expect lots of over-the-top Southern stereotypes) and Tracy is afraid his will be the third death after two other celebrities die. Betty White and Jeff Dunham appear in guest roles.

Real Housewives of Atlanta (10pm, Bravo) - It's part one of two reunion shows featuring the feuding brats of Atlanta. The ridiculous fighting between NeNe and Kim is pretty unbearable at this point, so the only compelling reason to watch this is Kandi, who will talk about how she's dealing with the sudden tragic death of her former fiance, AJ (left).

Ace of Cakes (10pm, Food) - In the seventh season finale, the
gang goes to New York to prepare a cake for the premiere of "Harry
Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," and also a cake honoring an upcoming
"ghostgirl" novel.

Grey's Anatomy (9pm, ABC) - It's Day One of the Seattle Grace-Mercy West merger, and it's war. With jobs on the line, no one here is playing nice. Plus, Hector Elizondo returns as Callie's father, and he's brought with him a priest who will pray for Callie to start dating men again. 

30 Rock (9:30pm, NBC) - It's the much-anticipated return of NBC's award-winning (but modestly-rated) sitcom. Liz (Tina Fey) and Pete search for new talent and Kenneth goes on strike. Jack (Alec Baldwin) is struggling to both cut costs and boost ratings of NBC's show-within-a-show (doing more with less, anyone?), which gives Tracy (Tracy Morgan) the idea of reaching out to the public. That's just not going to end well.

Real Housewives of Atlanta (10pm, Bravo) - I can't make any snarky comments about this episode because in light of AJ's recent death, it sounds just plain sad: Kim and Sheree come together to plan Kandi and AJ's wedding shower, while Kandi and AJ (and Kandi's mom) all visit a marriage counselor to try to work out some of their differences.

Tonight at 9, ECW champ and Cameron native Matt Hardy is in on the joke on Syfy's "Scare Tactics."

The show, if you're not familiar, is a half-hour reality prank show, where folk set up their unsuspecting friends for horror hoaxes. It's hosted by Tracy Morgan of "30 Rock," whose dead-pan brand of insanity works just right.

It's Emmy time at last, so I'm settling down in front of the TV to see just how badly I did on my Emmy ballot. If you didn't watch, here's what you missed.

Most favored Emmy host Neil Patrick Harris starts with an intro that sounds like a 1940s newsreel announcer. He then comes out in white dinner jacket and channels Frank Sinatra for his big song, a clever number that implores folks to put down the remote. It's brief and fanastic. The funniest part of the song was the line about how curvy Joan from "Mad Men" could turn a gay man straight, then "Oh wait, there's Jon Hamm."

First Kanye West joke of the night is from NPH: "I hope Kanye likes '30 Rock.'"

NPH gives a tour of the fancy stage and tells us they will present the awards grouped in genres this year. Interesting. First up is comedy and there's a comedy montage that reminds me once again why I do not watch "Two and a Half Men."

The Primetime Emmy Awards were announced today.

And once again, "Friday Night Lights" and, specifically, Connie Britton, were spurned.

And NOTHING for "The Shield" the greatest cop drama EVER?!

We don't know what the problem is but Happiness is not happy.

You can find all the nominees here.

Below are our thoughts on the major categories.

Let us know what you think.

One of the most delightful surprises on television recently was last month's "30 Rock" season finale, featuring an all-star sing-along on a faux-anthem called "Kidney Now." Elvis Costello served as ringleader, opposite Mary J. Blige and even Raleigh "American Idol" star Clay Aiken. Costello will bring an acoustic band to Cary's Booth Amphitheater for a show on Sunday; and if Aiken were to turn up wanting to crash the party, Costello would probably just roll with it -- the man is used to unusual collaborations, after all.

"Maybe your local boy might want to sing some country?" Costello asked with a laugh during a recent interview. "He can hop on up and do some harmonies with us; maybe some gospel. You never know what might happen!"

Well, probably not. But as to what might really happen at Sunday's show, complete with lots of talk about Costello's new album, check out the interview in Friday's paper.

"30 Rock" is one of those shows I mean to watch a lot more than I actually do -- and I should make a point of doing so because it almost always leaves me in stitches. And now I'm really wishing I'd watched Thursday's season finale, thanks to this little piece of genius. The only thing wrong with it is that Valient Himself should have been among the all-star cast.

(Thanks, Brian.)

UPDATE: The copyright meanies have struck down the video from YouTube. All I can find is this.