Ox Notes: June 9, 2009

Emmy balloting is underway, with the nominees set to be announced on July 16. Variety compiled a list of likely contenders in the reality show categories.

Variety also gathered a list of reality show stars who, while not eligible for Emmys themselves, keep us watching their shows -- guys like Bret "Set Piece in the Face" Michaels and Survivor: Tocantins' Coach.

Speaking of Coach, he recently gave a predictably long interview to the Springfield, MO News-Leader about life after Survivor. His villain edit on the show appears to have prompted a religious conversion, and he's sadly toned down the Dragon Slayer act.

Variety has another article about what it takes for new reality shows to succeed in a saturated market.

EW gave a nod to fun, trashy summer TV shows, including Charm School and my beloved Harper's Island.

Former Dancing with the Stars contestants have found a home onstage in Las Vegas. Kelly Monaco and Mel B are leaving the revue PEEPSHOW on June 21, making way for Holly Madison to join the cast.

In the previous edition of Ox Notes, I embedded a video compilation of '80s cartoon theme songs. It inspired me to spend an embarrassing amount of time searching for other classic cartoon themes. Thanks to YouTube, I discovered that the wonderful theme song for Gummi Bears is available in Japanese, German, Swedish, Polish, Norwegian, Bulgarian, Dutch, Czech, French, Greek, Portuguese, Spanish and Slovak. The Slovak version is pretty intense, but I'm partial to the Russian version, complete with English subtitles: