For some odd reason, NBC has decided to give Bonnie Hunt an hour a day to corrupt the dwindling talk show viewing audience.

Being Jumanji fans, we believe she has what it takes to last at least a few episodes, but what do the experts think?

To find out, we dispatched Intern Whitney to consult body language expert Dr. Lillian Glass (author of "I Know What You Are Thinking") in order to learn about the intangibles and discover what exactly it is about hosting an afternoon gabfest that separates the richest woman in Forbes magazine from the still-unemployed Will & Grace castoffs

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• Tyra Banks hopes to silence her critics with a crazy, shitshow rant, and that same yeasty one-piece bathing suit.

• Britney and K-Fed's custody arrangement to preclude Federline from spending too much time with his cash cows beloved sons.

• Johnny Knoxville's wife is finally divorcing her jackass of a husband.

• Madonna's daughter pisses off her sperm donor father by developing an affected British accent just like her mother's.

• Mary-Louise Parker and "Denny Duquette" from Grey's Anatomy are splitsville; MLP left wondering, "where's my $8.7 million check?"

• Megan Mullally's failed talk show was shunned by her Will & Grace co-stars, rest of planet.

May we just pause for a moment here and revel in our own glory? Back in October, we told you NBC had effectively put the kabosh on The Megan Mullally Show, the hour-long daytime gabfest from the best thing to ever happen to Will & Grace. After NBC affiliates started bouncing the show around from time slot to time slot in attempt to find pretty much any audience whatsoever, we heard from a top level insider that Megan's days were numbed.

Just over a month later, the scenario is quite different. Now we're hearing Mullally's days are numbered, with NBC seriously considering canceling the show entirely. With NBC Universal looking for any room to make cuts, this would serve Jeff Zucker nicely: An easy excuse to dismiss Mullally in favor of the bottom line. The only matter, then, would be Mullally's contract, which we're told is in the two-year range. (One source disputed as much: "They never would've signed her for more than a year. [NBC] wanted to test her out.") But what's a couple of MSNBC associate producer salaries if it gets Mullally off the air — and off their balance sheet? We're told to look out for an announcement by January. Says one insider: "Holidays could be phase out time."

And what's that you're hearing? Yep, Megan Mullally is no more. Defamer first broke the news late yesterday, and the AP confirms it — which is just such fun, since NBC has long denied our report.

Goodbye Megan, we'll miss you. But not as much as we'll miss Karen.

Even Oprah can't keep her ratings up. In an industry that isn't impressed unless there's a string of consecutive years with double digit ratings gains, a modest fall off is reason to ring Beyonce's alarm. But it's not just Oprah: Regis & Kelly saw their viewership drop this year, as did Martha Stewart an Dr. Phil — and don't get us started on the new crop of celebrity faces on the talk show circuit.

The rookie class isn't faring much better. Rachael Ray Show leads with a 2.1 average on the week, while Keith Ablow (1.1), Greg Behrendt (0.8) and Megan Mullally (0.8) are all praying for a second season.

Cue the excuses by expert analysts as to why stay-at-home moms aren't caring terribly much about Rachael Ray's daytime EVOO usage or lifestyle advice from one hit author wonder Greg Behrendt. And then there's Megan Mullally, who we told you could be cut come Christmas time. The latest word into Jossip is that her contract stipulates her show must be carried for an entire season.

But as for those TV industry experts? We're waiting for one of 'em to just say those dreadful words: "Viewers were expecting Karen."

More bad news for Megan Mullally. The Will & Grace star-cum-talk show host has just seen the "competition" gain on her. Why the air quotes? Because when you're dealing with a trio of syndicated talk shows barely registering on the Nielsens, it's actually less embarrassing to mimick Britney Spears' trademark gestures than pretend there's an actual race going on.

Mullally, who's been holding third place along with Greg Behrendt's self-titled show, saw the He's Not That Into You host pull ahead from a 0.8 rating to a 0.9, while Megan remains lurking with her staid 0.8, for the pre-sweeps week ending Oct. 29. (Meanwhile, Rachel Ray leads the pack with a 2.0, and Keith Ablow's Telepictures endeavor holds second with a 1.0.)

As we exclusively told you late last month, Megan's show is rumored to be on NBC Universal's chopping block. We've been hearing a tentative pull date of January, but with results like these, it wouldn't be surprising to see Mullally disappear from daytime even sooner.

Exclusive

Is Megan Mullally about to face the same fate as Jane Pauley? If our sources are correct, yes. It's no secret NBC's The Megan Mullally Show has failed to attract much of an audience, as viewers haven't found the Will & Grace character they're so longing for. The show premiered Sept. 18 to much fanfare — which died down after the first episode. It didn't take long for New York affiliate WNBC to remove Mullally from her coveted 3pm time slot, where she acted as a lead in for Ellen DeGeneres' moderate ratings winner. Since Oct. 16, she's since been bumped to 11am, falling between Martha and New York 360 (otherwise known as Laurel Touby's playground).

The news doesn't get any better from here. Yesterday, Los Angeles affiliate KNBC also booted Mullally's show, from 3pm to noon, pitting her after the hour-long mid-day news broadcast and Days Of Our Lives. All this on the heels of such pre-debut excitement, where affiliates were giddy over Mullally's arrival and willing to offer up their prime daytime slots.

Just over a month later, the scenario is quite different. Now we're hearing Mullally's days are numbered, with NBC seriously considering canceling the show entirely. With NBC Universal looking for any room to make cuts, this would serve Jeff Zucker nicely: An easy excuse to dismiss Mullally in favor of the bottom line. The only matter, then, would be Mullally's contract, which we're told is in the two-year range. (One source disputed as much: "They never would've signed her for more than a year. [NBC] wanted to test her out.") But what's a couple of MSNBC associate producer salaries if it gets Mullally off the air — and off their balance sheet? We're told to look out for an announcement by January. Says one insider: "Holidays could be phase out time."

It's time to check in with the three newest talk shows out of the gate: The Megan Mullally Show, The Dr. Keith Ablow Show, and The Greg Behrendt Show. Clearly, you have to be good with names to give a shit. Times TV scribe Alessandra Stanley clogged up her TiVo – or, quite likely, simply asked friends if they'd seen the shows – to offer today's review, which firmly places her allegience with Greg Behrendt (he of the "He's just not that into you" fame). The Sex and the City hanger-on's gimmick? "Minor celebrities promote their latest projects by helping people overcome petty problems." Almost like The Tyra Banks Show, except with Behrendt, the minor celebrities are the guests, not the host. Over at Megan Mullally's set, things aren't going so well, as viewers are trying so hard to identify with Will & Grace's Karen, not this sweet-voiced commoner whose mug is, most likely, filled with virgin coffee or water. And at Keith Ablow's circlejerk, where real people have real problems, you've got a discount Dr. Phil interviewing the likes of faux JonBenet Ramsey killer John Mark Karr, otherwise known as ABC's failed get. Which all makes for a lovely way to spend an afternoon — if you don't get SOAPNet.

Being Chatted Up, With the Whole World Watching [Alessandra Stanley, NYT]

At the risk of sounding like total groupies, how excited are we that Megan Mullally (the most hilarious Will & Grace character) is shopping a daytime talkshow?

We really hope it gets slotted in the Dr. Phil timeslot because if it interferes with Martha Stewart, that would be like, the worst.

The show is set to incorporate her comedy stylings, celeb interviews, and even (gasp!) real people. Though were not really sure how the whole "not sitting down" thing is going to work, we have high hopes for this post-W&G endevour. At least a lot more hope than we had for Joey.

Hey, CW networks, maybe you wanna jump on this one?

Now herrrrrre's 'Megan Mullally' [Kimberly Speight, Reuters]

• Some have the audacity to call the Peter Jackson's upcoming King Kong – at three-hours long and costing $207 million — bloated. [NYT]

• What's worse than reading the live-blog of Patrick Fitzgerald's Valerie Plame-related indictments? Reading the live-blog of Patrick Fitzgerald's Valerie Plame-related indictments when there, uh, aren't any indictments. [E&P]

• For a newspaper that's supposed to represent freedom of information, Boston Metro sure makes it difficult to get interviews with their staff. But perhaps that's because their "staff" is composed of wire report copy and pasters. [Boston Phoenix]

• Both Spin and Vibe magazines are on the sale block, but don't tell anyone about it. We're also pretty sure this is where Nick Denton issues an announcement that Gawker Media is not for sale. [Radar]

• Cookie magazine may look a little too similar to Child magazine with its fur-wearing fat baby on the cover, but rest assured that when the new Conde Nast baby title debuts next month, the baby will have had some liposculpting. [WWD]

• Jann Wenner isn't just a magazine publisher, he's also an interior decorator. And, like everything else he gets his hands in, he's quite the anal interior decorator. [Lowdown]

• Will & Grace's top act Megan Mullally has secured distribution for her upcoming talk show in the country's top four markets. Unfortunately for viewers, her whiny, high-pitched Karen voice is not actually how she speaks. [AP

• Sean McManus will not eat, sleep or breathe until he pulls CBS News out of third place. [AP]

Megan Mullally secures 7-figure daytime talk show with NBC for fall '06

And should Will & Grace magically return for a ninth season, Mullally will juggle both gigs at once.