Network television is a fickle mistress, and no network knows it better than NBC. The last ten years have seen them plummet from being the network of Seinfeld, Friends and Law & Order to a withered husk of remakes and reality shows. While the new golden age of television marches forward on basic cable channels like AMC, FX and the Sci-Fi Channel, the peacock looks like it’s sitting this one out.

The Washington Post ran a column this week cataloging the network’s woes and, while the column never names him, most of the blame clearly falls at the feet of Ben Silverman, the wunderkind co-chairman who shepherded through most of the network’s recently-axed new programs.

Alas, the follies of youth»

Swashbuckling photographer Peter Beard’s work isn’t getting any cheaper—quite the opposite in fact—but we consider it fairly recession proof as these things go. We recently told you about the re-release of his classic 1965 book on Africa, The End of the Game. Then we reported on his shoot in Botswana for the 2009 Pirelli Calendar featuring naked supermodels and an elephant named Cathy.

Now he’s finally hitting the auction circuit»

Got an extra 25 grand, a blank wall and some friends you want to fuck with? Then head over to Sotheby’s today and snap up this eye-popping photo of Pamela Anderson by merry prankster David LaChapelle. The pic, which was taken in 2004 and measures an impressive 3-ft. tall, is a playful take on Pam’s permatan—not to mention her massive mammalian protuberances.

The pneumatic portrait is buried among a fairly ho-hum collection of contemporary art in the auction house’s New York sale today, with an estimate of $18,000 - $25,000 which we predict will end up on the high side even though most people will be bidding on paintings. Because there’s always been a heated competition for Pam’s ample charms.

Drug-fueled burnout has become a rock star cliché, but the original rock star’s burnout had more to do with chitlins than cocaine.

That’s the subject of James Marsh’s The Burger and the King, a doc about Elvis’ ultimately fatal obsession with the beef patty’s siren song.

From his impoverished, burgerless childhood to his fatback-fueled rise to fame, documentarian James Marsh covers the full span of the King’s development through food, complete with fat and calorie content.

More on The Burger and the King»

With someone like Harland Miller who’s equally talented as an author and painter, it’s only fitting that his best work should be inspired by books. The Brit wunderkind, whose atmospheric homages to iconic Penguin paperback covers are also instant classics, presents a visual (and visually appealing) narrative of a man’s life through the books he’s read. Small wonder that one of his biggest fans is Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker, one of the smartest, coolest and most stylish cats on the planet.

More on Miller and his takes on Ernest Hemingway…