With all the recent cancellations of shows — Southland, Eastwick, Dollhouse — it’s time for some good news to come from TV-land. One of the favorite shows among our staffers is Chuck, the NBC action comedy starring Zachary Levi as a mild-mannered nerd-turned-spy. It just avoided the Grim Reaper last spring to be picked up for its third season, and is tentatively scheduled to come back in March. Not so fast, though, because there’s a rumor that Chuck may return as early as January. Our Brian Truitt caught up with Levi yesterday for a feature in the magazine next month pegged to his upcoming role in Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, and wanted to get the early premiere scoop from Chuck himself. “Yeah, that’s a pretty solid rumor,” Levi says, taking a break from the editing bay after wrapping an episode of Chuck that he directed (which will be the ninth of the next season). Read below for more of what Brian found out from Levi, including some hints about Chuck’s upcoming season.
Photos courtesy of NBC
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In this week's issue, we're spotlighting two longtime TV actors and their newest projects on the small screen. First, we talk with George Lopez, the popular standup comedian and star of The George Lopez Show, about his new Lopez Tonight talk show airing on TBS Mondays through Thursdays on late night. It started this past Monday (watch a clip of him and Ellen DeGeneres below), and in the feature, Lopez chats about how his show is different from the likes of David Letterman's and Jay Leno's, and what it's like playing golf with Clint Eastwood. Also, we tracked down former St. Elsewhere star Ed Begley Jr. about his latest passion: the environment. You can see him with wife Rachelle Carson on the Planet Green channel's Living with Ed, but just for our readers, the author of Ed Begley Jr.'s Guide to Sustainable Living gives some of his best tips on how to live eco-friendly and "off the grid."
Photo by Gavin Bond
Tony Shalhoub is one of the nicest men in Hollywood. He’s always been good to me and my Who’s News readers; saying yes to my many interview requests over the years. We talked for this week's column about his leaving Monk, his USA Network series. "I don’t know if the fans know how much we appreciate them," he says, and he explains that it
wasn’t easy to decide it was time to go. "So much is about timing," he tells me. So true.
Rocky Carroll is the only actor on two top hit shows — NCIS and NCIS: Los Angeles — but do
you think he and the family watch them at home?
No. They watch Dancing With The Stars. That's OK, Carroll tells us,"enough other people are watching." No kidding. Like 20 million of them.
Gladys Knight amazes me. The first time I met her was a million
years ago in a studio where she was rehearsing for a Super Bowl half-time appearance. This time we talk music, retirement and great grandkids – she has 3 greats, 17 grands (as she calls them), and she keeps track of 'em all.
Also this week, Paul Walker, of Fast and Furious fame, swims with
sharks. Well, OK, maybe not swims, but he does tag and lift and do everything any deckhand does in the National Geographic Channel's new documentary Great White Expedition airing Monday. Walker tells us he studied marine biology and "I hoped and prayed one day there would be a crossroads." So, some prayers DO get answered.
Superstar chef — and this weekend’s cover boy — Jamie Oliver is on a mission to teach people how to become healthy eaters. Continuing the campaign he started in his native England, Oliver is now bringing his new book Jamie’s Food Revolution to the U.S. Associate editor. T.J. Walter caught up with the affable English chef when he was on his way to Huntington, W.Va. — 2009’s most unhealthy city in America — and the site of Oliver’s new, 6-week ABC primetime series airing this spring. Speaking bluntly about how Americans and Brits alike are in battle with obesity and overall bad health, Oliver says that, in most of the research he has done, America and England have many of the same problems and the solution is a simple one for most people: learn how to cook for yourself. In this week’s cover story, Oliver offers nine easy steps that can radically change the way you eat and save you money. Plus, you can pose a food challenge or question to Oliver, who is going to answer one reader's query in an upcoming issue.
ABC’s late-night host Jimmy Kimmel is 42 today. If you can make it past midnight, watch him live on his birthday tonight. Chris Noth, the elusive Mr. Big on Sex and the City, celebrates his 53rd birthday. (And yes, he'll be in the movie sequel Sex and the City 2 when it hits theaters in May.) And outspoken The View co-host Whoopi Goldberg turns 54.
I've been browsing Nigella Lawson's new Christmas cookbook this morning (dwelling longest on desserts for some reason!) to come up with questions for our interview next week. Lawson has hosted TV shows in both the U.S. and England, Nigella Feasts and Nigella Express among them, and she has written several books already — my favorite of her titles is How to Be a Domestic Goddess. The new book out now, pictured left, looks like a pretty shiny present and in the forward Lawson talks about celebrating Christmas in the kitchen, as opposed to, say, feeling like all that cooking is a chore? What questions would you ask this domestic goddess of Christmas? Please share them in a post below and I'll take them to her Monday.
Janet Jackson will open the American Music Awards on Nov. 22 and no doubt she will do a thorough check of all wardrobe functions before she takes the stage. Jackson has performed at the awards show three times previously but not since 1998. Other big names performing at this one: Whitney Houston, Rihanna, Green Day, Shakira, Lil’ Wayne, Mary J. Blige, Keith Urban, Lady Gaga, Eminem, Jay-Z, Alicia Keys, Jennifer Lopez, The Black Eyed Peas, Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood. The show is in L.A. but we can watch it live on ABC from 8 to 11 p.m. ET
Photo by Dan MacMedan
Anne Hathaway, who was recently nominated for a Best Actress Oscar for Rachel Getting Married, turns 27 today. Next year, she stars as the White Queen in Tim Burton’s vision of Alice in Wonderland alongside Johnny Depp. Ryan Gosling, who will try to re-create The Notebook’s success with Kirsten Dunst in the 2010 romance All Good Things, turns 29. Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Neil Young is 64, and Megan Mullally, the firecracker Karen Walker from Will & Grace, turns 51.
Let's raise a glass of milk today and toast Sesame Street's 40th anniversary. My daughter — who turns 20 on Saturday — learned to count, sing and covet the muppets thanks to a daily dose of PBS's beloved children's show; I tuned in for the celebrity guests — from Robert De Niro to Julia Roberts. Celebrities with kids love to appear on Sesame Street. First Lady Michelle Obama is a special guest today, teaching kids about healthy eating. But she's one in a long line of stars who have hit the Street and as I searched for video I found these hilarious outtakes of a scene between Ricky Gervais and Elmo. Gervais brings out a whole different side of Elmo.
Every year around this time, dozens of A-list musicians and groups unveil their Christmas albums – already in the past month or so, we’ve seen releases from Barry Manilow, Neil Diamond, Andrea Bocelli, Sugarland and even Bob Dylan. But for those wanting a little variety in their holiday playlist cheer, Warner Bros. Records is releasing the digital-only Gift Wrapped: 20 Songs That Keep on Giving, available exclusively on iTunes Dec. 1. The album features both Christmas and Hanukkah tracks from artists such as Michael Buble, Randy Travis, Dwight Yoakam, Regina Spektor and the Flaming Lips. In addition, nine songs on the album were previously unavailable to music fans, including My Chemical Romance’s cover of Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas is You, Blake Shelton’s Silent Night and R.E.M.’s take on Deck the Halls. If listening to these by the yule log doesn’t get you in the holiday spirit, nothing will.
Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Records
No wonder pop star Nick Lachey and MTV VJ Vanessa Minnillo reconsidered their breakup: Lachey, who is 36 today, and Minnillo, turning 29, share a birthday, so they’re clearly meant to be. Eric Dane, the “McSteamy” of Grey’s Anatomy, still turns up the heat at 37 today. And R&B group Dru Hill’s lead singer Sisqo, who became a household name in 2000 with his solo hit Thong Song, celebrates his 31st.
