Bill Engvall's advice to Barack and Hillary
Just got off the phone with Bill Engvall, whose family sitcom The Bill Engvall Show will return to TBS next month for a second season. Because Bill is part of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour I asked what he thinks of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton attempting to woo non-elite, beer-drinking bowlers in states like Indiana. Says Engvall: "If I could tell the candidates how to appeal to my fan base - because that's who it is - I'd say just tell them the truth. Don't dance around the answers. I watch the debates and I see them. Sometimes it's like when you ask your kids something and they dance around the answer."
May 02, 2008
The Office's Phyllis takes break in St. Louis
I flew from Los Angeles to St. Louis on my way back to Washington, D.C. (home of Who's News), and who should I spot on my plane but Phyllis Smith (at left), who plays customer service rep Phyllis Lapin on NBC's The Office. She was headed to her hometown — she once was a cheerleader for the St. Louis Cardinals — after wrapping the shortened season of the show. I got a chance to chat with her while we waited for bags and we had a laugh about the "Dinner Party" episode a few weeks ago.
(photo by Chris Haston/NBC)
May 01, 2008
'Meerkat Manor' new season starts soon
OK, Meerkat Manor fans, good news for you. Animal Planet just announced that the show will be returning June 6, with all sorts of new drama and a new narrator. Stockard Channing has signed on to voice the Emmy-nominated show (and what a great raspy voice she has). Things are getting complicated for the Meerkats, as the once-united clan has now split into two factions, led by half-sisters. Talk about sibling rivalry. There will also be several special programs leading up to the premiere, including a look back at Flower's life (she's the matriarch who died last season) and a half-hour show called The Science of Meerkat Manor.
(photo by Heinrich Van Den Berg/Animal Planet)
April 21, 2008
Linus Roache, 'L&O' D.A., has a new movie
If you don't see enough of Linus Roache, the new executive assistant D.A. on Law & Order (at left), check him out next month in Before the Rains, a lush drama set in 1930’s India, a decade before India broke away from British rule. In this film, produced under the Merchant-Ivory banner, Roache has some love scenes —s omething he will never have on L&O. Also in the film is Jennifer Ehle, who played Elizabeth Bennet opposite Colin Firth’s Mr. Darcy in the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice.
(photo by Will Hart/NBC)
April 07, 2008
Emily Watson in Lifetime's 'Memory Keeper'
“I like to mix up my choices,” Emily Watson (at right) says. “I’ll do my share of nice moms and then I’ll do some crazies.” In The Memory Keeper’s Daughter, airing on Lifetime this Sunday and based on the popular same-titled novel by Kim Edwards, Watson plays the nurse who raises a Down syndrome girl. Watson thinks having a child — her daughter Juliet is 2-and-a-half — “gives me a stronger sense about playing a mom,” she says. “Although when you’re playing a prostitute, you don’t have to be one.” Watson, 41, wanted to give her daughter a Shakespearean name. “My husband (Jack Waters) and I met at the Royal Shakespeare Company, and we both studied Shakespeare,” she says. “He was born in Stratford. You can’t call someone Ophelia, so we picked Juliet. It’s also a little nod to Juliette Binoche because she’s such a genius.” How would Watson feel if Juliet becomes an actress, especially since Waters gave up acting to become a writer? “She can do whatever she wants,” Watson says, “but I’ll be a little distressed if she joins the Army.”
April 04, 2008
James Brown documentary on VH1 Saturday
VH1 airs an interesting documentary Saturday about the night 40 years ago when soul singer James Brown "saved" Boston in the aftermath of Dr. Martin Luther King's assassination. The documentary from David Leaf, takes viewers through events leading up the the night when Brown put on a previously scheduled show in Boston Garden but had it televised on Boston's public TV station in an attempt to prevent a riot. The film, airing on VH1's Rock Docs at 9 p.m. ET, includes footage of the concert along with reminiscences from members of Brown's bands, colleagues and concert-goers and commentary from people like Andrew Young and Al Sharpton. For baby-boomers, it will bring back memories of the days right after King's death. For young people, it is a history lesson indeed.
April 03, 2008
NBC new schedule: Dismal
And speaking of NBC, its new schedule for the next year - unveiled for the press yesterday - is dismal.
The stars of their new shows include Christian Slater, Molly Shannon and Selma Blair. No big draws there. The shows aren't exciting either. A Knight Rider remake? Series based on Merlin and Robinson Crusoe? A 15th year of ER? And while it's terrific that the network saved Friday Night Lights, the deal made to share the cost of production means DirecTV viewers get all 13 new episodes before it moves to NBC in early '09! The worst news is a planned spin-off The Office, which clearly has not been thought through. Who would leave to start the new office? Ideas anyone?
Jeff Zucker on 'My Name Is Earl'
Let me confess that I am not a regular viewer of My Name Is Earl. A few early dips into the Thursday night comedy left me wanting for laughs but mostly I found it uninteresting. And that's what I think about the back-to-back NEW episodes airing tonight. After three months off, the writers' might have delivered a sharper return. I know they weren't supposed to be writing during that time - but no one would have been the wiser if they'd been thinking, right? What I DID find amusing, however, is the Jeff Zucker opening. Zucker is the head honcho at NBC Universal and he's been criticized as insensitive and said to be "mocking" the writers in an Earl intro that was written by the writers. Some media reporters argue that regular folks don't care "a whit" about the media business, which may have been so until their TV viewing was disrupted for three long winter months. Anyway, I think Zucker's thing is self-deprecating, not self-referential; that he mocks himself and the commercialism of the decisions he makes. Watch it below and see if you agree.
Michelle Forbes of 'In Treatment'
Michelle Forbes (at right), who played the wife of Gabriel Byrne's psychiatrist in HBO's extraordinary serial drama In Treatment, couldn't be more appreciative of her fans. "It makes my heart swell that it is touching people in a poignant and emotional way," she told our writer, Gayle Carter. "Even if it happened to touch five people on a deep level.” I watched the show, which ended its nine-week run last Friday but is available On Demand, because Byrne was so compelling and Forbes says, "“I was really grateful to be sitting next to him through this experience. He’s very generous, wonderful, funny and a gentleman.” And like many actresses over a certain age (Forbes is 43), she has found quality acting jobs on television. “I love that TV is no longer the ugly stepsister," she says. "TV is a very profound medium. Almost everyone can afford to have a television in his or her home but not everyone can afford to go to the pictures. The Wire, Mad Men, these are fantastic shows. The Wire is a piece of literature, a document of the social underpinnings of these times. The same with Battlestar Galactica.”
(photo by Claudette Barius/HBO)
March 26, 2008
Tina Fey on the return of '30 Rock'
Kathy jumped on a conference call yesterday with Tina Fey, who was beginning the promotional effort to bring viewers back to her Thursday night sitcom 30 Rock. Tina was her usual witty self and gave away some of what's coming. Here's Kathy's take:
I may want Tina Fey to be my new best friend, but Tina has her sights set higher: She's aiming for Oprah. "I still want Oprah to play my best friend," she said. "I want to spend time with Oprah, and I don't know what I need to do to make that happen." And who would she choose for her on-screen boyfriend (even though she hates those story lines: "No more love times," is what she tells writers when they're pitching romance for Liz Lemon)? "You know who would be good? Peter Dinklage. That guy's awesome."
She did reveal some upcoming guest stars they were able to get, though, including Tim Conway, who "plays a very sweet TV veteran named Bucky Bright who used to be on a show in the '50s called Wagons Ho!" Tina said. "He's there to be a celebrity for a Republican rally that Jack (Alec Baldwin)'s trying to organize, but Jack's looking for a younger, hipper celebrity, so he pawns him off on Kenneth (Jack McBrayer). And he tells Kenneth some very, very shocking and racy stories about the old days of television." There will also be return appearances from Will Arnett as Jack's nemesis, Edie Falco as Jack's lover and Dean Winters and Jason Sudeikis as Liz's ex-boyfriends.
Tina also talked about her increasing comfort with being considered an actor, after winning at the SAG Awards. "Well, I've fully stopped apologizing for being in the show, and I'm having a very good time shooting these episodes," she said. "It feels like the pressure's off." One other thing that helps Tina relax: Having her daughter around. "She likes to hang out in the makeup room. But at the same time it is a busy workplace and I always feel mindful that not everyone gets to bring their kids. Actually at 30 Rock we also try to do special days where we have parties so everyone can bring their kids. We had a really fun Halloween party for the kids and then we're trying to do spring/Easter party this week. It always brightens my day to have her around."
(photo by Nicole Rivelli/NBC)
March 25, 2008
Kevin Sorbo on work, Westerns and family life
Well, Kevin Sorbo fans, you helped me do my job this morning. Thanks for all the questions you posted. Kevin was game to take them on — though it was just 7 a.m. in California. Actually, he chose the time for our phone date and it turns out he's an early riser. We're talking 5 a.m. early. It goes back to his youth, growing up on a Minnesota farm. Plus, he had a newspaper route for nine years as a kid and had to be out the door on his bike early to get the paper on his customers' doorsteps in time for breakfast. No wonder he has such a strong work ethic.
And the truth is, Sorbo, 49, has been working hard for many years. He goes from one project to another with little downtime and has been on some of the world's most popular television shows — Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda. So why isn't he on a huge network show? It's not for lack of trying. Sorbo admits to nurturing a little resentment at a certain ABC executive who turned down a sitcom Sorbo would have starred in called Bobby Cannon. Sorbo would have played an aging quarterback who is just starting to get that his glory days are over, and he says it was really funny — a compliment to the writers, not himself. Kate Walsh, of Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice fame, would have co-starred. (I can imagine her working up more steam out of a pairing with Sorbo than she did with McDreamy, can't you?) But, alas, it was not to be. Sorbo says his sitcom was deemed too much like Everybody Loves Raymond — as if that were a bad thing.
So, yes, Tracy E., he's interested in doing a TV series and he's looking at two possibilities, one on the Sci-Fi Channel and the other for Showtime. He can't say much about either, except that the Sci-Fi show is like "X-Files meets CSI" and his character is a bounty hunter. Which, of course, led us to talk about his guest role on Psych, playing a motorcycle mad bounty hunter, and his part in the 2007 Hallmark Channel Western Avenging Angel, in which he was a preacher turned bounty hunter. He laughs when I ask whether that Psych character could be spun off for his own USA Network show. "I loved doing the show," he tells me, and he'd like to return as a guest but he doesn't see a spin off. He loved Angel, too, and this isn't a man who sugar-coats his opinion. He's equally frank when he doesn't like something.
Now, amidst all this work is the movie that will air on ION Saturday night, Prairie Fever (click here to find the channel in your area). He plays a cowboy, a former sheriff who escorts three women back to civilization and runs into a fourth, who can take care of herself. I saw it and I'd give it a B. Sorbo likes it but isn't entirely happy with the editing. But he really likes making Westerns and has three more coming, though when I asked what genre — past, present or future — he favors he said, "I'm up for anything that's just good."
Besides work, Kevin has golf. He plays in lots of celeb and charity tournaments. And he is indeed a family man, as you posters pointed out. His children are now 6, 4 (next week) and 2, and he and wife, the actress Sam Jenkins Sorbo, are homeschooling. That means the whole family can go with him on movie locations, or move to places like Vancouver, where Andromeda was made. Even as we speak, a sleepy-eyed 6-year-old Braedon wanders into dad's office over the garage to say good morning. The Sorbos live in the posh Bel-Air area of L.A. but have the house up for sale as they are moving to a place where they can have a yard and good public schools, where the kids will eventually go. Or, who knows, maybe they'll pull up L.A. stakes entirely. Kevin says sometimes he's tempted to do what an acting buddy of his once did — move out of Hollywood. That's when the work started coming.
(photo courtesy thescifiworld.net)
March 24, 2008
Laura Linney and Paul Giamatti mesmerize in 'John Adams'
While I await the coming resumption of some of network TV's best offerings -- Brothers and Sisters, The Office and 30 Rock to name a few -- I must say I am utterly caught up in HBO's John Adams, the third installment of which I watched last night. Laura Linney as Abigail Adams and Paul Giamatti as John Adams are mezmerizing (both are pictured at right). I am equally caught up in the HBO's In Treatment, the four-nights-a-week drama starring the handsome Irishman Gabriel Byrne
that is finishing its nine-week run this week. Almost all episodes are
set in the office of the psychiatrist played by Byrne and focus on him
and a patient, all actors whose talents have not been showcased in such
an interesting piece on television before. It's like watching a Tony
caliber one-act play each night. Check them out On Demand if you
subscribe to the cable channel. I promise you won't be disappointed.
(photo by Kent Eanes/HBO)
March 20, 2008
Rainn Wilson and Greg Daniels on the return of The Office
Fans of The Office, you're in for a treat. Kathy just got off a phone call with the man in charge, Greg Daniels, and the very funny Rainn Wilson, at right, who plays the character we love to hate Dwight Schrute, and she got some great scoop on the rest of the season.
But first, allow us to point out that The Office comes back in 14 days, after what feels like an eternity due to the writers' strike. Kathy admits to being "positively giddy" about it so she was the perfect woman to take part in the call.
Daniels and Wilson joked around throughout it, starting off by identifying themselves as Rainn with the "deep, husky, male voice" and Greg with the "whiny, nerdy, unfamiliar voice." What most Office fans are pining for, though, is info on what to expect when the episode, titled Dinner Party, airs April 10. Kathy got that and more. Read on.
Love is in the air: "We'll be seeing a lot more facets of Dwight when it comes to dating and women," Rainn said. Greg brought up Rainn's audition, when he and co-star Jenna Fischer improvised about Dwight's ex-girlfriends (one was a reservist stationed in Kuwait City, according to Rainn) and said they'd always kept that story in mind.
The documentary's air date hasn't been set: One of the big questions about The Office is if the characters will ever watch the documentary, which is the whole premise of the show. It's not out of the question, Greg said, but it won't happen for awhile. "We definitely love it as a big, game-changing story move. There are certain ideas that we store away in our back pockets and if we got to that place where we ran out I think we could go to that and then see what comes out of it."
Jim and Pam are doing OK, we think: They weren't giving up much info on that plot line, but Greg also didn't make any vague, ominous remarks, so it sounds like JAM fans have some good times ahead. All Greg said on that front was that the writers "certainly didn't have it planned in season one what was going to happen to them. I know what's going to happen to them for about the next 10 episodes or so" but that's as far ahead as he works.
Dinners and felons and clubhopping, oh my: Greg was a little more forthcoming with some teasers about upcoming episodes. There's the Dinner Party episode, "where Michael has been asking Jim and Pam over and over and over again and he finally manages, through kind of a scam, to destroy all of their excuses. This happens to be after the previous episode, when Michael blew Jan's unlawful termination suit, so there's a lot of tension between them." Also coming up this season may be the downfall of Ryan (played by B.J. Novak), "whose website started the season off and is kind of crumbling underneath him. It has for some reason become infested with sexual predators." And there are episodes where "Dwight and Michael are going to join Ryan in some of his clubhopping and New York partying, trying to get involved in his life a little."
(photo by Byron J. Cohen/NBC)
March 18, 2008
Kristi Yamaguchi takes the Dancing lead
Jason Taylor said it Monday night — real men ballroom dance. So do real women. And all the women on Tuesday night's Dancing With the Stars made me want to learn a proper fox trot or cha-cha. But even before the show began, Kathy put her money on Kristi Yamaguchi. She predicted Kristi would be the best, and she was right on the money. Kristi's fans were rewarded with a performance almost as elegant as those she's given on the ice. I have to say, however, I was more impressed by Priscilla Presley than I expected to be. And Marlee Matlin was down-right amazing. So, who are your instant favorites? Monica Seles, pretty in pink? Marissa Jaret Winokur, the most energetic woman on Earth? Shannon Elizabeth, the competitive one? Post your favorites below.
March 17, 2008
Mario may be my Dancing man
I am SO hooked. Monday night's opener of Dancing With The Stars was so much fun. I told you earlier that I haven't watched a full season before now, and now I don't know what I was thinking. The six male contestants performed tonight and I'm having trouble deciding upon a favorite. I have a soft spot for Penn Jillette because I've interviewed him a couple of times and I like his sense of humor, though I don't think it quite came out on the show tonight. Kathy loves Steve Guttenberg. Mario, the youngest competitor, was definitely the sexiest dancer of the bunch. Can't wait to see more of him. Macho man Jason Taylor was hot, right? And Cristian de la Fuente - be still my heart. What do you think? Post your favorites below.
Go Dancing with us
Call it my March Madness but I'm about to go a little crazy over the new season of ABC's Dancing With the Stars. Though I've dipped in and out, watching various episodes of previous seasons, I've never followed start to finish until now. My readers, who ask questions about Dancing every week, my friends and my family have been singing the show's praises since Season One, so I'm finally getting with it. And, let me tell you how with it I'm getting. From tonight's Season Premiere until the Season Finale in May, I'll be blogging about the show, bringing you interviews with current contestants (both the celebs and pros), and comments from some of your previous seasons' favorites as well as celebrity fans of the show. The last weekend of April, I'll go to L.A. to blog from practice sessions — maybe I'll get a quick lesson myself — and then the shows themselves. Sound like fun? Then join me! Watch the shows and post your comments. Begin with tonight's 90-minute-long opener at 8 p.m. ET. I'll post just after the show and you can tell me your new favorites. To get ready, take a look at our photo gallery of the new stars and their pros, below.
March 13, 2008
Eliot Spitzer scandal may help new Showtime series
The PR people at Showtime must be feeling lucky. They have Billie Piper (at left), the star of their new show Secret DIary of a Call Girl, doing interviews in New York next week. The eight-part series features Piper as Hannah, a legal secretary by day who becomes Belle, a high priced call girl by night. It offers a "glimpse into the world of the high-end call girl trade," says my screening invite. Thanks to the Eliot Spitzer scandal we're all getting a real-life glimpse into the high-end call girl trade.
(photo courtesy Showtime)
March 06, 2008
Top Chef's Tom Colicchio and Padma Lakshmi
Top Chef’s host Padma Lakshmi and judge Tom Colicchio (both pictured at right) are out stirring up interest in the fourth season of Bravo's hit food show because it begins on Wednesday night. This season it's based in one of my favorite cities, Chicago, and Colicchio says they have the best talent pool yet. The duo handled a press conference call and our intern Dana Kinker listened in.
“As the seasons go on we are getting better chefs applying," says Tom. “You aren’t going to find a first-year culinary student or a housewife that can cook in Season Four." I should hope not! "In most cases, the 16 contestants are running kitchens, probably as a sous-chef or at chef cuisine level, and some own their own businesses.” Accompanying Padma and Tom at the judges’ table for another season will be Gail Simmons of Food and Wine Magazine and Ted Allen, an Emmy-award winning cookbook author known for his time spent on the Bravo series Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.
Colicchio says, for the judges, “nothing but food comes into play. In fact, all the reality stuff that happens behind the scenes we don’t see. We try to stay as objective as possible. We also are not allowed to interact with the contestants at all.” Padma says she has no interest in the personal lives or where the contestants came from. “They can tell me about themselves through their food.”
Now that would be a challenge. If I had to tell Padma about myself through food, I'd present her with a warm Lean Cuisine. How about you? What would you cook? Tell us by posting below.
(photo by Chuck Hodes/Bravo)
March 04, 2008
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition's Ty Pennington
If you watch Ty Pennington, at left, on ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition you are familiar with his enthusiasm. Kathy interviewed him this morning for a piece in a special "green" issue of the magazine, and reports that he's just as energetic and, well, distractable as he is on TV. Here's Kathy:
"It was pretty early in the morning here in Washington and I'd assumed he was out in L.A. so told him I was impressed that he was up so early, but he revealed that he's actually been in warm, sunny Miami since Saturday, and had finished a house in Boston a few days earlier. 'That's a day in the life for me. I'm never really home — I'm just constantly on the move,' he said. As we talked, he and his manager were trying (unsuccessfully) to navigate the streets of Miami. He was very gracious and apologetic about continually having to interrupt our conversation to figure out if they were heading northeast or northwest: 'This is ADHD working at its fullest,' he joked. (Ty does actually have ADHD, and is a spokesperson for ADHD Experts on Call.) Despite the distractions, we talked about everything from bamboo sheets to why he loves his job. 'I see that you can make a difference every day,' he said." Meaning with the job, not the sheets.
(photo by Adam Larkey/ABC)
March 03, 2008
Steve Carell on Horton, Get Smart and The Office
Our Who's News writer Nancy Mills caught up with Steve Carell (at left) Sunday morning, just before his press conference to launch his big new animated film Horton Hears A Who, based on the Dr. Seuss classic about an elephant who hears a faint cry for help coming from a speck of dust. Carell voices the mayor of Whoville, the community that lives within the speck. They chatted about his desire to be in the film, his love of Jim Carrey and spending too much time in booths. Read below for the full report.
Carell wanted to be part of the movie for many reasons. “As a little kid, I liked the book," he says. "I liked the theme, as expressed in the line, “A person is a person, no matter how small.’ To me, that’s the heart of the movie. Everyone deserves an equal footing. Also, I liked what I perceived to be their take on the animation, which I thought looked like Dr. Seuss. That was important to me. It’s a very slippery slope when you try to update or recreate something that’s so well known." He also had his own, selfish reasons -- wanting to work with an actor he admires. “Getting a chance to be in anything with Jim Carrey (who voices Horton) was a big draw for me. I’m a fan.”
During production, the two actors never actually crossed paths because in animated films each actor does his voice acting alone. “I did see Seth Rogen (who voices Morton, Horton’s mouse sidekick) just as he was coming out of the (sound) booth and I was going in,” Carell says. "Being in the booth freed me to an extent. One of the most interesting parts is that you don’t know what they’re going to use. You do hundreds of variations—some wild and some more subtle.” The mayor’s experience in the dentist’s chair will probably not encourage kids to want to go to the dentist.
From sound booths to phone booths, Carell has spent a lot of time in booths recently, as anyone who has seen the Get Smart trailer will know (you can see one of his phone booth experiences in the trailer below). “Booths are becoming my theme now,” he jokes. Judging from Carell’s Oscar appearance with Get Smart co-star Anne Hathaway, the two should have great chemistry in the film. “I’d never met her before the audition,” Carell says. “She was the first person who came in and read, and we almost could have ended the auditions right then. She was fun and playful, and we made each other laugh. Ultimately, going into it, I just wanted to have a good time and make it fun. My hope was that everyone else felt the same way. Anne’s very skilled as an actress. I think she was a little intimidated by the improvisation we were going to have on the set, but it turns out she was a fantastic improviser. In person, she's so goofy, funny and silly, and then the camera goes on and she turns into a completely different character. It’s remarkable to watch.”
Carell is happy that the writers’ strike is over and that he will be going back to shooting the next episode of The Office this week. As for being among the first to support the strike, he says, “I’m part of the Writers Guild, and especially in terms of what we do on the The Office I figured the writers and the actors go hand in hand. You couldn’t have the show without the other.”
(photo by Ron Tom/NBC)
February 29, 2008
Bob Harper on 'Biggest Loser'
I'd never watched NBC's The Biggest Loser until this season and then I tuned in only because one day I needed something to keep me going on my treadmill. I slipped in the DVD NBC sent me, set the "weight loss" program on the machine and and whatd'ya know? I got hooked. I'm not the only one. Audiences love Biggest Loser, even in Australia. And that's where our Who's News contributor Gayle Carter, no stranger to working out herself, found Bob Harper (at left), one of the show's two trainers. He and Jillian Michaels, the other trainer, were promoting the show in Australia. We are doing a piece on Bob for the magazine column but he's so full of advice I couldn't get it all in. And he has a new book coming called Are You Ready!
Harper told Gayle he wants to “show people that no matter how much you’ve got to lose, make a game plan starting today. That’s going to be your first big step. For many it’s so overwhelming, when they think 'I have so much weight to lose,' they feel like it’s a lost cause."
He does have some indulgences of his own: "Chocolate and peanut butter...they go together. I’m not going to have it every day, but I work it into my calories and my work outs a few times a week.”
He's proud of having fans from his hometown, Adams, Tenn.: “Oh my gosh. They’re all just so proud, they’re really happy to see my transformation and that’s why I’m so proud of this book. I’m proud of the accomplishment. I feel like even though I’ve never been the overweight kid, I understand what these contestants go through. I go through every single day of every single season. When people tell me of all the bad they feel about themselves — that’s the one thing I’ve learned is to change that inner tape recorder, it’s a big part of my book — it’s soul damaging."
He has worked with some celebs: "I’ve had Ellen [DeGeneres], in particular. She can definitely work on that spiritual side. She got that what I do has a real spiritual side — that’s what I try to do. Recently, Reese Witherspoon called, she wanted to work out, I was like ‘Baby you’re perfect.’ I worked out with her in a class — I never had the privilege to work with her one-on-one — where I taught exercise classes in Nashville at a gym."
(photo by Trae Patton/NBC)
Don't miss Discovery's 'Human Body' series
I asked our Who's News writer Gayle Carter to take a look at a new
Discovery Channel special on the human body and a funny thing happened.
Her 5-year-old loved it. Though the four-part series Human Body: Pushing the Limits
(starting Sunday at 9 p.m. ET) sounds complex — it explains strength,
sight, sensation and brain power — "you'll not only enjoy it but you
will marvel and be astonished at what the human body can do. Both my son
and I sat riveted during the strength episode as we watched a man
survive being sucked into a tornado because he became unconscious and
his limp body was able to absorb the shock." Gayle says the show is
appropriate for children but if you have an inquisitve child it would
be best to watch together. She interviewed producer John Grassie, who
explained, "We're not trying to answer every single question...we're
not a graduate student lecture series. We want to pique the imagination
so [viewers] come out saying, 'Gee, I didn't know that.'" Gayle
reports that she and son Ben are still talking about how much goes into
making their hands move, so Grassie has accomplished at least that. For a sneak peek at the first episode, check out the clips here and here.
February 28, 2008
A third season for Friday Night Lights
Hey Friday Night Lights fans — and I know there are many of you out there. I have good news on the status of the show, about which NBC has been very vague. FNL's exec producer Jason Katims tells us that he is confident the show will return for a third season. Hurray! Whether it will be seen on NBC is another question. There are many potential scenarios — a partnership with another network among them. Katims hopes that "whatever happens, we continue to maintain a presence on NBC," but he says the cast and crew is open to anything. And, Katims says, “Despite our ratings, everyone at the network and studio have shown genuine support for and belief in the show ..." He calls the latest endeavor by NBC and Universal to find a partner for the show "evidence to me of their continued commitment."
So, which of the current FNL storylines are you eager to see continued? Lyla and Tim and the Christian boyfriend? Smash's departure to a small college? Tyra and Landry? Something else? Tell us in a post below.
(photo by Paul Drinkwater/NBC)
February 27, 2008
Edie Falco's new gig
Edie Falco fans take note: She is at work on a new series for Showtime, a "dark comedy" to be shot in New York (she's pictured at left in her most recent comedic outing, as Alec Baldwin's girlfriend on 30 Rock). Here is how the Showtime folks describe it: "Falco will play an indomitable nurse with a special calling, who doesn’t hesitate to challenge her superiors – and the often untenable status quo – by taking matters into her own hands in order to save lives. While brilliantly in control on the job, her personal life is precarious, unpredictable, and demanding in ways that she is surprisingly not always prepared for." Kind of sounds like George Clooney's old character on ER, Dr. Doug Ross. Anyway, there's no premiere date yet but the show is being "fast-tracked" so keep your fingers crossed for summer.
Showtime also is crowing about having Diablo Cody's next project, The United States of Tara. Cody, you will remember, won an Oscar Sunday night for penning Juno. Tara is set to begin shooting in Los Angeles on April 14. The comedy, based on an original idea by none other than Steven Spielberg, stars Toni Collette as a wife and mother with dissociative identity disorder. I know what you're thinking. Sounds real hilarious. But, hey, Cody made teen pregnancy amusing.
(photo by Nicole Rivelli/NBC)
February 26, 2008
Kyra Sedgwick returns in The Closer in July
Good news for we fans of The Closer. The writers' strike did little damage to TNT's summer schedule. The network announced today that its crime drama starring Kyra Sedgwick will return in July. So will Saving Grace, starring Holly Hunter. TNT also annoucned a new legal drama by Steven Bochco starring Jane Kaczmarek, from Malcolm in the Middle. TBS, the other Turner network, is bringing back My Boys and The Bill Engvall Show, both in June.
February 21, 2008
Two Real Housewives of New York City
Our office intern, Dana Kinker, is almost as big a fan of reality TV as Kathy is, so she was happy to chat with Alex McCord and LuAnn de Lesseps from Bravo’s new show, The Real Housewives of New York City, premiering March 4. (All five of the Housewives are pictured at right. Alex is on the far right, and LuAnn is in the middle.) Read on for Dana's full report:
Surprisingly, neither Alex nor LuAnn had seen The Real Housewives of Orange County, the show from which the New York version is taken. LuAnn says the New York version shows the women living a much faster-paced life than their Orange County coun