This is perhaps the very definition of a situation getting out of control. Here, Ellen Degeneres pleads with the operators of a dog rescue organization to return a puppy she'd given to the family of her hairdresser. (It turns out that because Ellen had given the puppy instead of keeping it herself, dog-rescue organization Mutts and Moms had the right to take the puppy back to the shelter.) Ellen's in tears as she literally begs the rescue shelter to take pity on those poor kids... I don't think I've ever felt so uncomfortable watching Ellen Degeneres before. And I saw Mr. Wrong.

Since this plea went nation-wide, though, Mutts and Moms has received death threats: "hate e-mails threatening them with lynchings, bombings of their home," according to attorney Keith Fink. DEATH THREATS? Jeez louise. These people rescue puppies for a living, guys. Let's just all calm down. Like Diane Sawyer (always a touchstone in irrational times) says, "There's got to be some sort of rational compromise."

In this clip from the Desperate Housewives season, Teri Hatcher, in the midst of a flip-out about her menopause diagnosis, asks to look at Dr. Nathan Fillion's diplomas to make sure that they're not from "some med school in the Philippines."

Apparently, the writers of Desperate Housewives (and let's be clear about this -- the ABC primetime soap is a DRAMA, written by WRITERS, not Teri Hatcher) underestimated the ire such an offhand comment would cause. The Filipino medical community is furious and a petition demanding an apology has nearly 72,000 signatures.

I would make an offhand comment about this might, just might, be a bit of an over-reaction. But, clearly, one offhand comment can get a gal into a lot of trouble. So I'll just say this -- those who think the days of political correctness are over? Hardly. YouTube just makes things a whole lot more interesting.

Over here at TDR, we are obligated to bring to you, our dear readers, the latest in viral videos. Sometimes, that can get a little tedious, as the Net often becomes the soapbox for manufactured scandals. Case in point, this video of Jerry Lewis coughing up the F word during a recent muscular-dystrophy telethon (we're referring here to the six-lettered version that ends with "t").

So, yeah, Jerry Lewis said the word "faggot" on television. He's also 81 years old, raises millions to help kids, has a famously dirty mouth, and cut himself short right after he said it. (And let's not forget that the French think he's positively Wellesian.) This is a major scandal? Apparently so. Here's what GLAAD president Neil Giuliano told TMZ: "We want to sit down with him, help him understand why these words are so hurtful, and give him an opportunity to raise public awareness about the destructive impact of these kinds of anti-gay slurs, even more so in attempted humor."

Will Jerry meet with Neil? Is a trip to rehab in order? Can he go to jail for this? Will he make an impassioned plea on Letterman, begging his fans for forgiveness? We get the feeling that the answers to all of these questions is an emphatic no. At least we hope so.

UPDATE: Jerry has since apologized. Also, the original video was pulled from Daily Motion. So here's CNN and their three-minute segment about this scandalous controversy. Lenny Bruce and Richard Pryor are have been spotted rolling in their respective graves.

In the 1990 film Longtime Companion, a group of friends gathered to watch a historical event -- the very first male gay kiss on daytime television. And this week, a mere seventeen years later, reality finally caught up to fiction. (By contrast, the time between Jaime Sommers' bionic ear and the first FDA-approved cochlear implant? Eight years.)

On Friday's episode of As the World Turns, after weeks of will-they-or-won't-they anticipation, teen dreams Luke and Noah sealed their attraction with daytime TV's first mano-a-mano kiss. Yowza.

Sure, All My Children broke the daytime gay-smooching barrier in 2003 when Bianca laid one on Lena, but lesbians are always ahead of the curve. L.A. Law had an all-girl kiss three years before Melrose Place famously cut away from poor gay Matt's one chance at on-screen action. Even Will & Grace, a show whose main cast was literally 50% homosexual characters, had two onscreen gay kisses in its entire eight season run. (Though one was with the delicious Taye Diggs, who by all rights should really count as at least three or four regular men.) So, yeah. It's still a big deal.

Next week: Luke says to Noah's (d'oh!) girlfriend, Maddie, "There's something you don't know about Noah." Yeah, no kidding, Luke. Now, soaps being soaps, he's probably just going to tell her Noah doesn't like her coffee, or something. But still.