IN SYNC:  Lip Sync Battle has become a huge hit for Spike, and Vulture looks to why.  Most interestingly, they've given the celebrity competitors pretty much total creative control--producers do not veto any song choice as long as they can get clearance--and they deliberately book celebrities in pairs who know each other.  The latter leads to choices like Anna Kendrick's pretty darn brilliant use of One Direction's "Steal My Girl" to taunt John Krasinski.

LOOKS LIKE I PICKED THE WRONG WEEK TO QUIT READING ORAL HISTORIES: On the making of Airplane!, including insight on David Letterman's and Sigourney Weaver's auditions, and ...

J. Zucker: When we offered the role [of Murdock] to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, I think we offered him $30,000, and then the agent asked for $35,000 because that’s how much this rug cost that Kareem wanted to buy. It was an oriental rug—an art piece, not one to walk on, I don’t think—so our initial reaction was, “That’s got to be the best line we’ve ever heard from an agent.” It was like, “Boy, this guy’s really creative!” But then a couple of weeks later, there’s an article in Time with a picture of Kareem standing in front of the oriental rug that he’d bought for $35,000 after we’d paid him. 

D. Zucker: That was another lucky break that we got, because Kareem himself was not the first choice for that role. We actually wrote it for Pete Rose.

WONKY-BUT-ACCESSIBLE PARADE OF DUCKS APPROACHING:  Among this year's honorees in the annual Peabody Awards at the University of Georgia for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence (In Media) are Inside Amy Schumer, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, The Americans, Jane the Virgin, and Rectify.  News and radio/podcast awards still to come next week, so do hang out at the payphone by your nearest Best Buy for all the latest news.

BUT IS SHOOTIN' THE BALL LIKE MAKIN' ROMANCE?:  Members of the San Antonio Spurs have cut a music video to motivate people for their playoff run.

SCENES A SCARE: A self-published author has sued the makers of Cabin in The Woods, claiming that they stole it from him.  This is a particularly fascinating case because Cabin is a send-up of (and tribute to) certain horror cliches, and a bunch of the purported similarities seem to be such cliches--e.g., the lack of cell phone reception, that the heroes "drink alcohol and play games," and that characters are killed.

QUESTLOVE WORKED THE ROOM LIKE FRANK UNDERWOOD WORKS CONGRESS: Inside the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame selection process. Said one source, "Like anything boomer-centric, people are going to hold on to it as if their lives depend on it. You’ll have to pry the Hall of Fame from their cold, dead fingers."

The committee’s track record in recognizing such rock ’n’ roll offshoots as hip-hop, metal and alternative rock has been spotty. They view The Cure (eligible since 2003) and Depeche Mode (since 2006) as weird outcasts from England who wear mascara, rather than post-punk and electronic pioneers who still headline festivals and sell out arenas. "You and I will die before those groups are in the Hall of Fame," an insider predicts.

SAVAGE LOVE:  Pick up your coconut phones, because Survivor 32 will apparently be an all-star season cast based on fan voting, and this is a list of the 40 castaways alleged to be in the running.

MUSIC WOULD PLAY AND FELINA WOULD WHIRL:  Craig Calcaterra performs a comprehensive review to determine which MLB team's AAA city is the biggest downgrade from, and which destinations constitute upgrades to, the Big Show.

THRONES/GOOD WIFE/MAD MEN, SAVE OLIVER FOR TONIGHT:  How the hell do you organize your DVRs/viewing preferences for nights as crowded as Sunday nights now are?

(And farewell, Last Man on Earth. Maybe I'll catch up with on-demand.)