One of the icky things about too much TV entertainment coverage is that the content of the interviews are decided beforehand backstage. It’s not all pernicious—I suppose there’s nothing wrong with celeb appearances on Letterman and Leno being mapped out beforehand—but since, inevitably, the agreement, tacit or spoken, is to steer away from uncomfortable subjects, it’s discordant when circumstances dictate the opposite.

Case in point is Jeremy Piven’s jarring recent appearance on Good Morning America, which I noticed on Hollywood Elsewhere. Piven left Mamet’s Speed-the-Plow on Broadway after suffering what he said was mercury poisoning from having eaten too much sushi, but the outlandishness of the reason has produced speculation that he was perhaps trying to get out of the show.

Anyway, the GMA appearance was obviously arranged as a clear-the-air spot by Piven’s PR folks. Given the green light, you can see Diane Sawyer turn into a hard-hitting interviewer, pressing on, pressing on, even regularly cutting of the end of Piven’s sentences to get to her next penetrating question.

It’s fun to watch Piven squirm, too. But the triviality of the subject also points out the shows’ double standards.