Ricky Gervais is smart as well as funny
Kathy just called from New York's Penn Station to say all went well with her Ricky Gervais interview. The Extras and Office (British version) star confessed that he was just getting his morning started after a late night — and he looked it — but he was easy with the jokes and surprisingly intellectual. Kathy says they got into a discussion of his atheism.
'X Files' and alien sightings: Tell us yours
For all you X-Files fans out there, not only does our magazine have an interview with Gillian Anderson this week about the movie opening next Friday, but USA WEEKEND's website also has extra questions that didn't fit in the print version.
You'll find that life is good for Anderson, at left in a scene from the movie with her costar David Duchovny.
She is now 40 and pregnant with a third child. She lives in London and
that's where our writer met up with her. Anderson was particularly
happy that Saturday afternoon because her toddler was taking a
three-hour nap. "It's unheard of," Gillian joked.
All this X-Files hoopla got us to discussing everything from aliens to various conspiracies. What do you think? Are there aliens out there? What's your weirdest "X-Files" experience?
Post your answers in the comments section below.
Kathy's Weekend Outlook: 'Mamma Mia!', 'Monk'
My weekend's going to be full of planes, trains and automobiles: I'll be in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Cleveland over the next three days. Whew. I won't have much time for pop culture fun, but here are a few ideas for f
illing up your weekend:
Mamma Mia! opens today, and my friend Jess reports that it's a ton of fun. She said people in the theater were clapping and singing along to the songs. Plus, there's the always lovely Pierce Brosnan, who she said really added to her pleasure. He's pictured at left with co-stars Amanda Seyfriend and Colin Firth at the film's Sweden premiere.
Monk returns to the small screen tonight, back for its seventh season. The show will hit the 100 episode milestone this fall, so you can't blame star Tony Shalhoub, Emmy nominated AGAIN on Thursday, for thinking that some of Monk's obsessive-compulsive tendencies have rubbed off on him.
We've all known a music snob or two (you know, the ones who say things like "Everyone always forgets about this Poison song"). I can categorically say I suck at music, so I don't fall into that group, but I may just be what Entertainment Weekly calls a pop culture bully. Despite the fact that my TV tastes sometimes veer dangerously far into reality territory, I continue to harshly judge people who like Everybody Loves Raymond. What about you — are you a pop culture bully, too? Tell me what you do by posting below.
"Weekend Update" has always been one of the best segments on Saturday Night Live, and I always thought the Tina Fey-Amy Poehler combo was unstoppable. Fey long ago left SNL for 30 Rock and more, but now Poehler (at right) is following in her friend's footsteps; she's going to another NBC sitcom. Poehler will be joining the spinoff of The Office and I, for one, can hardly wait, for both the show and Poehler's appearance in it.
It looks like Britney Spears will be spending many of her upcoming weekends in a recording studio: She's working on a new album. Yes, she's a trainwreck, and yes, she's already had one miserably failed comeback, but I can't help but root for her. Maybe it's because my friends and I all did our own version of Hit Me Baby, One More Time in high school, or maybe it's because she and I share a birthday (hello, Sagittarius!), but I've still got faith that she'll make it back in a big way.
If you haven't caught this clip from Celebrity Family Feud yet, watch it as soon as you can: It was easily the funniest thing to happen on TV all week. To set the scene: It was Larry the Cable Guy's family vs. Bill Engvall's family on Monday's show, and the category was "A traffic sign that best describes your love life." There were the obvious answers -- stop, yield -- but Larry's mom really brought the house down with her answer. I won't ruin the joke for you, but trust me when I tell you that the elder Mrs. Cable Guy is a sassy lady.
(Mamma Mia! photo by Torsten Laursen/Image.net; Poehler photo by Virginia Sherwood/NBC)
Rainn Wilson has a new movie and an Emmy nod
Rainn Wilson got an Emmy nomination this week for his supporting role in The Office, which makes our story on him, also out this week, even more timely. But the awards ceremony isn't until September and, in the meantime, Wilson has a new movie coming in August so we sent writer Jeffrey Ressner to meet up with him in L.A. Ressner tells us about it here:
"At this point in his career, Wilson's star is on the rise, but he's not a superstar yet . A friendly sort, he was open to answering every question I posed, tossing out funny lines but also more serious, thoughtful answers when the probing got personal. The only thing I regretted about the interview was the location — because Wilson lives in a remote corner of Los Angeles County, he refused to meet at the freeway-unfriendly Hollywood joint Rainbow, a rock and roll restaurant that would have better reflected the vibe of his new movie, The Rocker, in which he's pictured left. Traffic is the great L.A. equalizer, affecting rising stars and superstars alike, so we met at at a restaurant in the Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown L.A. instead."
(photo by Greg Craychyk/Twentieth Century Fox)
Anthony Edwards, Gisele Bundchen birthdays
Anthony Edwards, George Clooney's ER pal, turns 46 today. We miss you, Anthony. Come back to TV. And it's a big birthday weekend for Gisele Bundchen, who turns 28 (maybe some jewelry from beau Tom Brady?), Josh Holloway, who turns 39, and Carlos Santana, who turns 61, all on Saturday. Josh Hartnett turns the big 3-0 on Sunday. Celebrate it well, Josh. Robin Williams, turns 57 the same day.
July 17, 2008
Inside the renovation of American History museum
We told you yesterday about the big donation of objects from The X-Files to the same Smithsonian museum here in Washington that keeps The Fonz's leather jacket and Dorothy's ruby red slippers. What we didn’t tell you about was the thrill our intern Lisa Gartner got as she was led through the very popular, very interesting and very closed-for-renovation National Museum of American History. Millions of tourists denied entrance during a two-year renovation would love to see what Lisa saw after entering through a sneaky staff entrance in the underground garage of the museum. "One moment I was looking at a model of the first automobile; the next I was discovering electricity," Lisa says. "In a dim room, the first people to ever cross the United States are draped with plastic furniture covers. The whole place is dark, but clean and spacious, and the reopening in the fall will be exciting. Look for new architectural features and a state-of-the-art gallery for the famous Star-Spangled Banner, the original flag that inspired the National Anthem."
Sibi Blazic, Christian Bale's wife, is popular
With the opening of The Dark Knight renewing our interest in its stars this week, you would think it would be Christian Bale, who stars as Batman, or the late Heath Ledger, who stars as The Joker, who would be the most searched for term on our Web site. But, no. It is Bale's beautiful movie producer wife, Sibi Blazic (at right, with Bale), our site visitors are looking for.
(photo via mtv.com)
Questions for Ricky Gervais?
Our Kathy Rowings is heading up to New York City for an interview tomorrow with the very funny Ricky Gervais, who was among today's Emmy nominees. They'll be talking about his upcoming film, Ghost Town (with Greg Kinnear and Tea Leoni), as well as his work on Extras, The Office and his other hilarious projects, plus what's up next for him. But what do you want to know? If you've got questions for Gervais, post them in the comments below and Kathy will do her best to get them answered.
(photo by Sarah Shatz, courtesy rickygervais.com)
Emmy nominations: Tell us who should win
The television Emmy nominations came out this morning so it's time for me to be thinking about a special Emmy report for our readers. Many of my favorite shows and actors are nominated — The Office, In Treatment, Dexter, Mad Men, for example — but I'd like to hear which actors and series you want to see win at the ceremony next month, and why. Click on read more below to see a list of nominees, then post your picks for me, please. I can't wait to see. And if your personal favorite was robbed (like mine, Blair Underwood from In Treatment, was) let me know that, too.
Celebrity birthdays: Donald Sutherland, David Hasselhoff
Happy 73rd birthday to Dirty Sexy Money star Donald Sutherland, who told us that they'll try to solve the murder of Nick's father on the show this season. Hopefully nobody hassles The Hoff today: David Hasselhoff (at left) turns 56.
(photo courtesy davidhasselhoff.com)
