Kanye West, with his clothing line and suspiciously-active blog and new Comedy Central show, is obviously trying to expand his reach in the entertainment and business world. But one of his ventures has hit a road block. West recently shot a pilot for a new scripted-but-improvised comedy show on HBO with Larry Charles, the producer behind Curb Your Enthusiasm, Borat, and Bill Maher's upcoming Religulous. We might not ever see it. Here's what Charles had to say: "It was really good, but again I think it was too hardcore for HBO…People gave it a very good response and it seems to be on the shelf right now. The management has shifted at HBO so we're waiting to see." I'm not really sure what line one would have to cross to make something too hardcore for HBO, but leave it up to West to cross it.

• Kanye West does comedy, promotion with Absolut. Drink responsibly. [AHH]

• The Hughes brothers are trying to create the next big crime show on HBO now that The Wire is gone. [C&D]

• 50 Cent is not content to let Lil Wayne be the big seller of 2008. [MTV]

• Really, Lauren London? [SR]

• Tyler Perry vacations with Oprah and Gayle. [CL]

No Child Left Behind sucks. Ask the children who are routinely left behind year after year and the resource-needy teachers who have to sit back and watch it happen. But don't take my word for it. A documentary called Hard Times At Douglass High: A No Child Left Behind Report Card airs tonight on HBO. It tells the story of NCLB as it relates to a struggling, inner-city Baltimore high school that counts Thurgood Marshall among its graduates. Hard Times is part of HBO's documentary series; last week's Resolved which followed two white and two black high school debate phenoms, was a must see.

• India.Arie is Broadway-bound and set to appear in a revival of Ntozake Shange's famous For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf. [EW]

• What do Jack Johnson and Eliot Spitzer have in common? [Root]

• Remy Ma is calculating and irresponsible, says the prosecution in her shooting trial. [MTV]

• HBO has ordered 13 episodes of a series based on Jill Scott's movie, The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency. She'll star of course in the show, of course. [DV]

• Janet Jackson's in the hospital with the flu. Buy her album to make her feel better, would you? [E!]

Entourage, a favorite of every black man — scratch that — every man I know, is under fire for not having many black characters. An ex-bodyguard of Mark Wahlberg, who based this show loosely on his life, is particularly unamused.

Leonard Taylor, who worked for Wahlberg for a long time "back in the day" and is African-American, told us, "There are no black people on the show. There are no black or Latino bodyguards, like Mark used to have - it's a slap in the face. People always ask me, 'Why is there no character based on you in "Entourage"?' " A rep for the series said, "The show is only loosely based on Mark Wahlberg's experience. There aren't really any bodyguards, and as for being multicultural, Turtle [one of the main characters] is dating an African-American."

Let's not mention Wahlberg's sketchy past regarding race and instead commend the producers of the show for including Lauren London as Turtle's love interest and, in lieu of having Turtle's actual character be black, making him really interested in hip hop, jerseys, and sneakers. That's close enough, isn't it?

[Page Six]

The last rapper/producer I can recall breaking a record was Lil John for the biggest and most ridiculous (okay, the latter is just opinion) medallion in history. I like Diddy's distinction better. He's the first African American to have four television shows — MTV's Run's House, Taquita and Kaui and the upcoming fourth season of Making The Band plus HBO's P. Diddy Presents: The Bad Boys of Comedy — on air at the same time. To show how brilliant this man is at multi-tasking, he also juggles four kids, two baby mommas, mistresses in various international locations, a clothing line, a solo album, Danity Kane, and several bottles of champagne all at the same time. He needs to write a book.

[EUR]

In 1984, and innocent black man from North Carolina went to jail for a murder he obviously didn't commit. It took twenty years for him to be freed. This is the sad, frustrating, and often unbelievable story of what happens when flaws in our justice system mix with racism. In the two-hour documentary The Trials of Darryl Hunt, HBO examines Hunt's story, from his first unfair trial to his eventual release. The Chicago Tribune calls it "disturbing but engrossing," and definitely worth watching. It premieres on HBO tonight at 8pm.

[CT]