Our Kathy Rowings is a self-professed reality TV junkie, so of course she was watching last night's finale of The Bachelor: London Calling with bated breath. She even correctly predicted that bachelor Matt Grant would choose Shayne Lamas (daughter of Lorenzo Lamas) as the woman he proposed to. So Kathy jumped in on a call with the happy couple earlier today. Read on for her full report.
ABC announced its fall line-up at the upfront presentations this morning with few surprises. The fall season will include only two new shows, a U.S. adaptation of a BBC thriller, Life on Mars (at right), and a new reality-game show, Opportunity Knocks, from Ashton Kutcher's company. The rest of the schedule is filled with returning series including the mega-hit Dancing with the Stars, Eli Stone, Boston Legal (which moves to Monday nights at 10 p.m.), Private Practice, Dirty, Sexy, Money, Grey’s Anatomy and Scrubs (though the last is a former NBC show that ABC picked up for a final season). Sorry, fans — no October Road, no Women's Murder Club.
For more news from the upfronts read on.
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I hate to say it but I think Dancing with the Stars is now predictable. Last night the judges' scores gave us a preview of how it will work out, don't you think? Marissa Jaret Winokur, trouper that she is, is most likely to be eliminated tonight. That will leave Jason Taylor, Kristi Yamaguchi and Cristian de la Fuente in the finals. Who do you think will leave the show tonight? And which couple do you think will ultimately be the winner? Check out our slideshow of the final four contestants and their performances from last night, and post below. We want to know!
(all photos by Kelsey McNeal/ABC)
After weeks of rumors Jimmy Fallon was officially named Conan O'Brien's Late Night successor Monday (they're both pictured at left, at last night's show). The Saturday Night Live alum dominated the news out of NBC Universal's party and press conference for press and advertisers to its unconventional upfront presentation dubbed "The Universal Experience."
Fans of Fallon will have to wait until sometime next year to see Late Night with Jimmy Fallon; he'll take over shortly after O'Brien makes the move out West and takes the helm at the Tonight Show. With no exact start date given, it is hard not to think that the rumors of Jay Leno not wanting to give up his Tonight Show gig might actually have some truth in it.
NBC also announced that Fox's American Idol emcee Ryan Seacrest will be executive-producer on Are You a Momma's Boy?, one of several new reality shows for the 2008 season. The series will focus on a group of mothers who must help choose the perfect bride for their sons and try to find an answer to the age old question — Who really is the most important person in a man's life?
(photo by Dana Edelson/NBC)
Tonight is the semi-finals of Dancing with the Stars. Still in the competition are Marissa Jaret Winokur, long the underdog, whose bubbly personality can't help but be bringing her viewer votes; Cristian de la Fuente, whose injured arm is either a blessing or a curse, but whose stamina has been rewarded by the audience voters; and the two most obviously talented competitors, the NFL's Jason Taylor and former Olympian Kristi Yamaguchi, both of whom have the drive and discipline of world class athletes.
Tomorrow, one of them will be eliminated. So, tell me who you want to see in the final three by posting below. And please tell me, do you base your votes on talent or spunk?
It's going to be a newsy week for avid TV watchers. Network honchos and some of their stars are gathered in New York City beginning today for the annual "upfront" presentations, where they woo advertisers with their fall schedules and show off new series for the season to begin in September. That means we viewers will find out which of our favorites will return and what new fare may prove interesting. Our TV editor, T.J. Walter, will be tracking the upfronts for us and heads to NYC mid-week to attend some of the presentations.
NBC gets things started today with a party at 30 Rock. But it released its schedule -- including just four new shows (but perennial favorites like The Office, pictured at right, will be back) -- a month ago. Click "Read more" below for a sneak peek at some of what is coming from the other networks.
(photo by Chris Haston/NBC)
Read more...I had a working weekend but it hardly seems fair to call it work when you get to interview two of theater's most interesting new stars, the potential Tony nominees Stew from the musical Passing Strange and Lin-Manuel Miranda from In The Heights. Both men are the creators of the musicals they star in and likely to wake up tomorrow to the news that they've been nominated for theater's highest award. But that's my prediction, not theirs. Their interviews will be included along with those of many other of the nominees in our special Tony report on June 15, the night of the big awards show on CBS, and I'll share more about them in the blog as well. Meanwhile, check out the Tony's web site here.
It's a veritable feast of celebrity birthdays today. We'll start with the actors: Stephen Baldwin turns 42, Malcom David Kelley turns 16, Emilio Estevez turns 46, Kim Fields is 39, MacKenzie Astin is 35, Linda Carlson is 63 and Ving Rhames is 47. Skateboarder Tony Hawk celebrates his 40th birthday today, comedian George Carlin celebrates 71, singer Burt Bacharach is 79, and former baseball player Yogi Berra hits 79.
It was all bear hugs and laughs when we had a seaside lunch with Indiana Jones himself, Harrison Ford, and his new co-star, Shia LaBeouf, for this week’s cover story (that's the cover at left, but there's a cool poster inside too). Even though you’ll start seeing the stars pop up on TV and elsewhere to promote the newest installment of the famed Indiana Jones series, we met up with guys first for our exclusive chat. Cleary, there’s a bond between the veteran actor and newcomer, who teased each other about women and work and ordered the same fancy steak. Still, they tried not to spill the beans about their relationship in the movie (are they father and long lost son?) In fact, director Steven Spielberg has been so secretive about movie details that a rep from the studio flew to our Virginia offices from San Francisco just to show us some pictures from it — and then whisked them away! Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull opens May 22.
Major League Baseball players around the country will be hitting with pink bats Sunday, doing their part on Mother's Day to draw attention to the fight against breast cancer with Going to Bat. And just for our readers, New York Yankees mega-stars Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez, as well as Good Morning America person
alities Robin Roberts, Diane Sawyer, Chris Cuomo and Sam Champion, have signed pink bats to put up for auction. Roberts, as her loyal fans know, just finished treatment for breast cancer. "It’s fantastic that you’re having these world-class athletes involved in an initiative like this," says Roberts, who participated in our photo shoot with A-Rod and Jeter. "It just helps bring attention to a much needed problem."
If you would like to have one of those signed bats, click here to bid.
Some of my favorite celebs have birthdays today. Rosario Dawson turns 29. John Corbett of Sex and the City fame turns 47. The Piano Man Billy Joel turns 59. And Candice Bergen, of Murphy Brown and Boston Legal fame, turns 62.
Mario Lopez took the Broadway cast of A Chorus Line to Dancing with the Stars earlier this week. This weekend he hosts the taping of a line-up of performances from all of the musicals from the 2007-2008 Broadway season. Casts will perform numbers from A Catered Affair, Cry-Baby, Grease, Gypsy, In The Heights, Passing Strange, South Pacific, Sunday in the Park with George, The Little Mermaid, Xanadu and Young Frankenstein. The Tony Awards preview concert will air on CBS affiliates between May 26 and June 7 so you'll have to check local listings.
On Tuesday we'll get the actual Tony nominations. Actor David Hyde Pierce, of Frasier fame and a Tony winner last year for Curtains, and actress Sara Ramirez, of Grey's Anatomy fame and a Tony winner for Spamalot, will do the honor of announcing them.
Did you get your mom's Mothers' Day gift yet? If not, you might consider Rose Rock's new book Mama Rock’s Rules. R
ose is the mother of gifted comedian Chris Rock, but she raised 10 children of her own (including Chris) and 17 foster children. In other words, she knows a few things. We got her to talk with us about rearing Chris (she said she mostly had to reign him in to keep him from killing himself). But we also focused on the the difference she sees between parenting today and when she first began. Read on for her thoughts:
When Whoopi Goldberg announced on The View this morning that she will be hosting (though she doesn't want us to call it that) the Tony Awards on June 15, our Who's News writer (and loyal View watcher) Gayle Carter immediately sent an email to Whoopi's publicist asking if Whoopi could spare 10 minutes after today's show to talk about the Tony gig. No problem. Within the hour Ms. Goldberg, herself a Tony winner, got on the phone to share with Gayle why she said yes to what she calls "the storyteller" spot.
The upshot is, Whoopi wants to make New York theater more accessible to the rest of the country and sees the televised award show - it will air on CBS from 8 to 11 p.m - as a way to do that. You'll recall that Goldberg has hosted the Oscars, quite successfully. She also is the winner of an Oscar, a Grammy, an Emmy and a Golden Globe in addition to her Tony. We'll feature her in the magazine's third annual special report on the Tony's in our June 15 issue.
Toni Tennille, of The Captain and Tenille fame, turns 65 today. Wow. Seems like just yesterday I could sing along to Love Will Keep Us Together. Melissa Gilbert, former Screen Actors Guild president, turns 44 and the handsome Enrique Iglesias is 33.
Happy birthday to NBC's Meet the Press host, Tim Russert (at right), who turns 58 today. Director Amy Heckerling turns 54, and stuntman Robbie Knievel turns 46.
(photo courtesy NBC)
The elimination of R&B singer Mario - the youngest competitor ever - on Dancing with the Stars Tuesday night broke my heart. I have to admit he stole it from me during my week in L.A. with all the contestants. No, not like that. I'm old enough to be his mom, and I would be proud to have a son like him. Mario is a consummate performer and was a gentleman throughout the competition. He made dancing cool for young people and, at 21, broke DWTS ground for future young competitors. Mario may not have bonded with a fellow contestant in the way Jason Taylor and Cristian de la Fuente have, but he was well thought of by his colleagues and certainly by his partner, the beautiful Karina Smirnoff. Next up for Mario will be getting ready for his summer tour, which will promote his new album Go and his Do Right foundation.
