TV

Did you know ... J.J. Watt was on an MTV reality-ish show before he became an NFL superstar????

His former college teammates did ... including SF 49ers cornerback Marcus Cromartie who tells TMZ Sports the entire Wisconsin Badgers squad gave him crap for it back in 2009.

First off, Cromartie has nothing but GREAT things to say about Watt -- but when we asked if he thought Watt could hack it in Hollywood, that's when Marcus brought up his MTV past.

Turns out, Watt had a guest role on a docuseries called, "College Life" -- which followed real life college students at UW (it only lasted one season).

J.J. -- sporting an incredible sideways beanie/cap at the time -- was the "crush" of one of the stars ... who raved about Watt being a really nice guy.

Check out the clip ... the girls are clearly smitten with the football player -- but clown him over his mode of transportation at the time.

Who's laughing now?

Kim Richards won't be a full, part-time, or any time cast member on "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" next season ... because we've learned producers have jettisoned her from the show.

The reason is simple and pretty obvious ... Kim is struggling with substance abuse and producers think she's unreliable and poses a liability risk.

According to our sources, Richards won't even be the ubiquitous "friend of the show."

It's interesting ... the surviving cast members are all friends -- Kim and Brandi were the s*** stirrers of the bunch -- so you have to wonder ... where's the drama?

Jazz Jennings, one of the transgender community’s youngest crusaders, is a massive Caitlyn Jenner fan and she's gunning to meet her idol tonight at the ESPYs.

Our photog caught up with the 14-year-old Tuesday in Bev Hills. She's in town promoting her new reality show “I Am Jazz,” but the highlight of the trip ... she scored a ticket to the show, where Caitlyn will receive the Arthur Ashe Courage Award.

Jennings was born a male but started her transition at age 3. Kid drops some serious knowledge on transgender equality.

Caitlyn Jenner has invited her entire family to be by her side when she receives the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the ESPYs Wednesday night, with the exception of her 3 ex-wives.

Chrystie Crownover, Linda Thompson and Kris Jenner will not be attending the ceremony, and it makes sense. We're told Caitlyn wants her family there, and the exes are not family anymore. As one Caitlyn source put it, "Her ex-wives don't celebrate Father's Day. Fact is, they're just not her family, but the kids are."

And the kids will be there in force ... Kim, Khloe, Kendall and Kylie. Brody, Burt and Cassandra will also be at the ceremony, but Brandon is up in the air because his wife, Leah, is about to give birth. Caitlyn's mom and sister will be in attendance too.

Former Florida State quarterback De'Andre Johnson says he doesn't think his college football career should be OVER after punching a woman in the face at a bar ... and insists he deserves a 2nd chance.

Johnson and his mother appeared on "Good Morning America" and talked about the incident with Michael Strahan -- saying, "There's no explanation for that. I totally should have walked away."

"I'm sorry, if I could do it all over again, I would."

Johnson was kicked off the team, but when asked if he deserves another shot in college football, he replied -- "Yes sir. Without a doubt. What you saw in the video is not who I am."

So far, Johnson has not committed to another school ... and it's unclear if there's even an offer on the table.

Jimmy Fallon almost had a finger amputated and spent 10 days in ICU ... and it was all over his wedding ring.

Fallon talked about the freak accident on "The Tonight Show" Monday ... his first appearance since the injury.

TMZ broke the story ... Fallon was rushed to the hospital June 26 after a severe injury at his home.

Fallon describes how he tried to break a fall in his kitchen and his ring got caught on the counter, almost ripping his finger off.

Gnarly.

Taylor Swift and the weather in the Washington, DC area came together for an epic forecast ... if you're into combining flooding with "Shake it Off."

Mike Thomas, the weatherman for the local Fox affiliate, did his weather report Monday night -- just hours before Swift was scheduled to play in the area -- by quoting as many of her songs as he could.

NeNe Leakes and Kim Zolciak were thiiis close to reuniting on TV … but Bravo just scrapped their new show, "Road to Riches."

TMZ has learned NeNe and Kim’s road trip show -- think Oprah and Gayle with more arguing -- has been 86'd due to scheduling issues.

We’re told the 'Housewives' BFFs-turned-frenemies just couldn’t get on the same page. Kim is in the midst of shooting her show, "Don't Be Tardy" -- and NeNe is taping the ABC game show, "To Tell the Truth." 

Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott are downsizing big-time -- moving into a new house that's nearly half the size of their old place.

Real estate sources tell TMZ ... Tori and Dean’s new Calabasas pad is 3,733 sq. ft. and has 5 beds and 5 baths -- nothing to turn your nose up at, but since their previous home was 6,623 sq. ft. ... this might hurt a bit.

They're renting this place, which has a yard, a pool, and a library -- and we're told the previous tenants dropped about $7k per month on it.

This is the 3rd rental home for Dean and Tori since they sold their big Encino home in 2011 ... for a loss. On a positive note: their rent keeps going down. Not so positive? The houses are getting smaller.

"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" star Nicholas Brendon has checked himself back into rehab after a bizarre incident where cops found him bleeding in an alley.

According to law enforcement sources ... Brendon got into an argument on July 3 with a woman at her apartment, smashed a window with his bare hands ... and then bolted. Firefighters responded and found Brendon in an alley, bleeding from the hands.

Brendon was transported to a hospital, but did not get arrested. He checked himself into rehab 3 days later.

Donald Trump must be fed up with getting bashed in the media ... because he lashed out with a pot shot of his own ... at his ex-biz partner NBC, and its embattled news anchor Brian Williams.

Trump fielded a lot of questions about his Mexican immigrants comments during a Friday news conference in L.A. -- but really went off when the subject of NBC dumping him came up ... Trump went for the jugular.

Check out the video ... we doubt the Donald and Williams will be sitting down for a campaign trail one-on-one after this.

Roger Rees, best known for playing Nicholas Nickleby on Broadway and TV ... died in New York on Friday.

Rees' rep says the Tony Award winning star was at his home when he passed after a brief illness. He had been performing up until May when he left his show Broadway show "The Visit" to undergo a medical procedure.

Rees was also famous for film and TV roles -- co-starring in "Frida," "Robin Hood: Men in Tights," "The West Wing" and "Cheers."

He played Robin Colcord on "Cheers" ... a British millionaire who dated Kirstie Alley's character, Rebecca Howe.

Rees was 71.

Don't EVER play poker with the guys from "Everybody Loves Raymond" -- especially Brad Garrett ... who's CRUSHING it at the World Series of Poker ... outlasting one of the best players in the world.

Paula Cole should be drowning in "Dawson's Creek" cash for the insanely catchy theme she sang, but she suspects she's getting screwed so she's opening a can of legal whuup ass on her labels.

Apologies, 'cause you're gonna be singing it for the rest of the day -- but Paula's "I Don't Want to Wait" intro'd every episode of 'Dawson's' from 1998 to 2003. Still, she says had to fight Warner Bros. Records and Imago Recording just to get an accounting of royalties she's owed for 'DC' ... and other TV shows and films that used her music.

Once she got the docs, she says the numbers didn't add up, and could've been off by up to $1 MILLION! Paula is suing to get a proper accounting ... so she can get her fair share in royalties.

She's also demanding all her master recordings, because ... "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?" never gets old.

"Big Brother" might have a sticky situation ... after houseguest Jeff appeared to masturbate, and wipe a fluid on houseguest Julia's back.

The incident was caught on the live feed Thursday night -- Jeff and Julia were lying in bed ... he seemed to be pleasuring himself under the covers while talking to her, and then joked about putting "it" on her.

Hard to tell if Jeff really did anything nasty, since it's all under covers -- and it seems unlikely (based on time alone) -- but viewers believe the jerk was real. Social media is blowing up with people pissed that CBS let this go down ... or on.

It's unclear if this will be addressed on Sunday night's broadcast ... but you gotta figure.

We've called CBS for comment. No word back.

9:45 AM PT -- A new camera angle's surfaced ... and this one appears to clear Jeff's name. Looks like there really was a stain on Julia's shoulder prior to him touching her. Also, you can't see that jerking action, but that could be because the camera's further away.

The Miss USA pageant just lined up the hottest judges panel ever assembled -- no offense to U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Roberts.

Nine former Miss USA or Miss Universe contestants and title holders will sit on the panel Sunday night, and they include:

- Rima Fakih (Miss USA 2010)
- Tara Conner (Miss USA 2006)
- Crystle Stewart (Miss USA 2008)
- Nana Meriwether (Miss USA 2012)
- Brook Lee (Ex Miss USA & Miss Universe)
- Leila Umenyiora (Miss Universe 2011)

Originally, Emmitt Smith, Terrence Jenkins, and former Miss Universe Zuleyka Rivera were on the panel, but they dropped out after the Donald Trump controversy exploded.