EXCLUSIVE: 'Gossip Girl' season 2 premieres Sept. 1

We still don't know what exactly Gossip Girl's Serena (Blake Lively) and Georgina (Michelle Trachtenburg) did that drove them to leave New York, but EW.com can exclusively reveal that The CW's hit will return for season 2 on Monday, Sept. 1. Look for that first episode to feature cast members OMG-ing and LOL-ing in the Hamptons. The CW will offiically announce their schedule in New York during next week's Upfront presentations.

Phish honored at the Jammy Awards

Wednesday night's Jammy Awards, held at Madison Square Garden's WaMu Theater in New York City, found the four members of Phish, reunited on stage for the first time since their final concert in 2004, trading fond memories of their two decades on the road. Honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award, frontman Trey Anastasio made a surprise post-rehab-and-jail-stint appearance, sitting in with Beatles cover band the Fab Faux to handle Eric Clapton's part on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." He then joined his Phish bandmates Mike Gordon, Page McConnell, and Jon Fishman side-stage to hear rock scribe Anthony DeCurtis' introduction. "Remember when I snapped that one day [and said], 'You try getting up at 4:00 p.m. for a photo shoot!'" Fishman recounted to a round of laughs. Ever the jokester, even this drummer-turned-farmer ("This morning as we were getting ready to leave, the post office called to say your geese, ducks, and chickens have arrived," he cracked), could not overstate the importance of the moment.

But the real emotion came from Anastasio, who has battled his share of personal problems in recent years, and now seems healthy, inspired, and motivated to get back to music (he has a new album due out this June). Holding back tears, the guitar god told a crowd of 5,000 ecstatic jam-band fans: "I want to express something that's been on my mind for the last five years. I've always wanted to have a moment to convey to some degree what all this meant to me and the guys — it was always so much bigger than the four of us. I feel like, as a musician we're servants, and musicians from the beginning of time have been there to express the mood and the musical feelings in the air for whatever's going on in that particular culture. It's the greatest joy to be able to translate that, be part of something and watch the scenery around you. That's what it felt like to be in Phish all those years.... Thank you so much for the experience." As for whether phans will see a real reunion sometime in the band's future? "Never say never," Fishman said cryptically backstage afterward.

Picturehouse and Warner Independent close up shop

A little more than two months after Warner Bros. announced that it was absorbing mini-major New Line into a smaller unit of the studio, Warner Bros. president and COO Alan Horn released a statement today saying that Picturehouse and Warner Independent Pictures are ceasing operations. (Warner Bros. and ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY are both divisions of Time Warner.) "With New Line now a key part of Warner Bros., we’re able to handle films across the entire spectrum of genres and budgets without overlapping production, marketing and distribution infrastructures,” Horn said. “After much painstaking analysis, this was a difficult decision to make, but it reflects the reality of a changing marketplace and our need to prudently run our businesses with increased efficiencies."

According to the statement, management from both studios will be meeting with Warner Bros. executives in coming weeks to determine the status of movies currently in development as well as distribution of already-dated films. Upcoming Picturehouse projects include Mongol (June 6), Kit Kittredge: An American Girl (in limited release June 20; wide release July 2), and The Women (Sept. 12).  Warner Independent’s upcoming releases include Towelhead (Aug. 8) and Slumdog Millionaire (limited release Nov. 7).

Scott Baio to exec produce VH1 reality series featuring former male teen idols

Cue the high-pitched squeals: VH1 is greenlighting a reality series in which eight male teen idols from the 1980s and '90s shack up together and reflect on the highs and lows of heartthrobbery. After receiving mentoring from a life coach and industry experts, each one decides whether to attempt a career comeback or to swear off Hollywood for good. Executive producers on the still-untitled show — which is slated to debut early next year — include Scott Baio and Jason Hervey, who know a thing or two about teen fame (Baio with Happy Days, Hervey with The Wonder Years) and VH1 (Scott Baio is 45…and Single, Scott Baio is 46…and Pregnant).

Madonna's 'Hard Candy' hard sell pays off at No. 1

About 280,000 Madonna fans got sweet on Hard Candy during its first week in stores. That hard figure is considerably softer than the 463,000 copies that Mariah Carey debuted with two weeks ago. Also, it is no match for the 351,000 that Madonna's last album, Confessions on a Dance Floor, entered with in 2005 — though it does handily beat the 241,000 that her least popular disc, American Life, bowed with in 2003.

Seven of the top 10 discs on this week's Billboard/Soundscan chart are debuting albums, although none (besides Madonna's) look like a real hit. R&B singer Lyfe Jennings comes in at No. 4, with sales of 80,000 for his third album, Lyfe Change. Nos. 5 to 7 are tightly bunched: 55,000 copies for Def Leppard's first album of original material in six years, Songs From the Sparkle Lounge; 54,000 for the Roots' Rising Down; and 53,000 for Portishead's aptly titled Third. No. 8 belongs to a newcomer, too, the self-titled album by Mudcrutch, Tom Petty's newly reunited old band; it sold 38,0000. And in at No. 10 is Tim McGraw's Greatest Hits Vol. 1 & 2, with sales of 29,000. If you're thinking that's a little low for an artist of McGraw's commercial stature, that's because this was a Wal-Mart-exclusive bundling of the country star's two already existing best-ofs.

The Ratings Report: TV's post-strike blues

Now that the writers' strike is over, networks are airing new episodes of their top shows once again. But early ratings returns indicate that viewers might have left some programs for good.

Serialized dramas are suffering the most, presumably because of their complex story lines: Desperate Housewives just logged its four lowest-rated episodes of the season, while Grey's Anatomy and Ugly Betty hit season lows on May 1 (15.3 million and 7.9 million, respectively). Even Gossip Girl couldn't parlay considerable anticipation into a ratings surge: Its first two episodes after the three-month-long writers' walkout each garnered roughly 2.5 million viewers, under the series' average from last fall.

On the other hand, comedies, at least initially, seemed immune to the slump: The Office, How I Met Your Mother, and Scrubs all posted season highs their first two weeks back, and Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory were strong, too. "There was obviously a lot of pent-up demand for comedy," says Mitch Metcalf, NBC's head of scheduling. "Closed-ended shows generally have been doing better as they've come back." That, or the laffers benefited from faster production schedules that allowed them to get on the air sooner, without much competition. But they, too, eventually succumbed to diminished ratings. Facing new installments of Grey's and CSI, The Office dropped from its season high by 21 percent on May 1, while 30 Rock posted its lowest-rated episode this season. The lesson here? Depriving viewers of their shows is no joke. —Tanner Stransky

Actors' talks update: SAG negotiations end with no deal, focus now on AFTRA

After three weeks of "insufficient progress" negotiating with the Screen Actors Guild, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers announced that it will turn its attention to the other actors union, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, starting today. The goal will be to hammer out a new primetime contract for AFTRA-covered shows like Rules of Engagement, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and 'Til Death, among others — and, ultimately, to avoid another debilitating Hollywood strike like the writers' walkout that ended in February. The contracts for both SAG and AFTRA expire June 30.

Jonah Hill no longer in talks for 'Transformers 2'

Transformers 2 negotiations between Jonah Hill and DreamWorks have broken down, and the Superbad star is no longer expected play a sidekick to Shia LaBeouf in the upcoming sequel from director Michael Bay.

Word is that he will appear in a cameo role in Ben Stiller's Night at the Museum 2 for director Shawn Levy.

David E. Kelley: Will he be on the air this fall?

Will fans of David E. Kelley be in for a big disappointment come fall? ABC has yet to pick up the producer's Emmy-winning drama Boston Legal for another season, and EW.com just learned that he may walk away from Life on Mars, a drama pilot he executive produced for ABC, because of financial reasons. The series, which stars Jason O'Mara, is based on the BBC's sci-fi crime drama of the same name. It focuses on a 21st century detective who, after a serious injury, is transported back to the 1970s as a cop. One insider says that the chances for a series pickup are strong even without Kelley's involvement, though it appears the drama may end up as a coproduction between ABC Studios and 20th Century Fox TV (the latter studio, along with Kelley, first sold the project to ABC). According to the insider, the studios are in talks with the exec producers of October Road to take over showrunning duties on Life on Mars if Kelley leaves. A spokesman for 20th Century Fox TV declined comment.

Meanwhile, Kelley's beloved but beleaguered Boston Legal is still awaiting word of a fifth-season pickup by ABC. The dramedy, which has earned Emmy wins for stars James Spader and William Shatner, has averaged 9.8 million viewers this season, but it hit a low of 7.4 million when the show switched time slots on April 30. 

Jonas Brothers to star in a 3-D concert film of their own

If it worked for Miley Cyrus, it might as well work for the Jonas Brothers. Disney announced today that the teen recording group will get their own digital 3-D concert movie in early 2009. The film will follow the same formula that helped the 3-D Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour earn $65.3 million at the domestic box office earlier this year. Bruce Hendricks, the director of the Hannah Montana concert flick, will helm the Jonas Brothers' feature, which promises both live performance footage and behind-the-scenes documentary material chronicling the lives of the three Jonas Brothers.