Commenting is now back and working. After more a day offline, the corrupted database issue affecting SM4 (the  commenting system used by many Viacom Media networks sites like TheBacklot) has been resolved.

7/17/2013 10:30 am Eastern

TheBacklot.com commenting system (a system which is shared by many Viacom Media Networks sites) began experiencing technical difficulties early this morning. Existing comments aren't displaying and new comments aren't being recorded. Our technical team is working on the issue, but visitors to Viacom Media Networks sites like TheBacklot, AfterEllen, NewNowNext, MTV.com and more are still experiencing this issue intermittently. Will post further site status updates here as we know more.