In its continuing effort to rebrand itself as an actual channel (as opposed to a televised programming schedule) the TV Guide Network has picked up broadcasting rights to Showtime's Weeds. Beginning in September, non-premium cable subscribers can watch a censored version of the series starring Mary-Louise Parker as a suburban pot-dealer. The network has also picked up right to air Curb Your Enthusiasm and Ugly Betty. [TV Guide]
Death-throe dementia can take on troubling forms, and nowhere is that more so the case than with mortally wounded trade publication Variety, who've responded to their dire diagnosis of ad-sales anemia and severe staff-hemorrhaging with a bizarre cocktail of paywalls and payola. But things appear to have taken a turn for the worse.
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If the Olympics-elongated Oscar season seemed interminable this year, we've got some good news for you. AMPAS president Tom Sherak announced today that the 83rd annual Academy Awards will be presented on February 27, 2011. Count on another Best Actress divorce by March! [The Wrap]
If you haven't been constantly refreshing your news feed in anticipation of the fanboy-pleasing Scott Pilgrim vs. the World trailer, it'll play a lot better as a witty spin on your usual Michael Cera film. The opening moments seem to set up the umpteenth plot in which sadsack Cera falls for a beautiful alterna-girl, then somehow scores with her, doffing his size-small Threadless tee to hop into bed. That's only the beginning, though: How many of Cera's other films then forced him through a videogame-like gauntlet of bosses in order to prove his love?
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After employing inscrutable episode titles throughout the show's run ("Ab Aeterno" is only the latest example), the producers of Lost have finally revealed the series finale's title in this week's Lost podcast. Are you ready for this? It's called "The End." OK...that's referencing on some ancient Sumerian god-myth or something, right? [TV Guide]
Last week on South Park, Cartman and the gang explored the mythology of sex addiction while wiping out over a dozen wealthy philanders along the way. Last night, however, the boys expanded their scope a bit, ridiculing literary censorship and the intrigue that surrounds it with an epic episode entitled The Tale of Scrotie McBoogerballs. After the jump, Movieline assesses this week's carnage at the hands of Trey Parker and Matt Stone -- and let's just say, it doesn't end well for Sarah Jessica Parker.
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The 3D-cinema boom is, at this moment, as hot as any fad to ever hit Hollywood. It sounds like kind of an intellectual flatline -- perhaps even a bit of stating the obvious -- until you realize the implications, from bleeding-edger Jeff Katzenberg pouting about too much competition to Michael Bay being the lone voice of reason in a race to three-dimensionalize everything. But in all this media hyperspeed, expect viewers to witness the most dramatic consequences starting tomorrow -- before they even enter the multiplex.
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Sometimes, you know when an animal is about to die because it withdraws from you out of shame, finding an ignoble, lonely place to pass away. The Hills has kind of done that, too, skulking off to a lower-rated corner of MTV even as it gradually lost its heroine, its blank-eyed Girl Friday, and its certifiably insane, villainous snowman. Now, Animal Control has officially been called, and The Hills has been put down.
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Recently filed court papers say the 73-year-old actor-director-artist Dennis Hopper is in irretrievably dire straits. He's destitute from divorce, too frail (barely 100 pounds!) from prostate cancer to undergo continued chemotherapy and unable to earn funds through acting roles. Hopper's film festival is on indefinite hiatus. Meanwhile, his estranged wife says he's profited well over the $45,000 he claims from having sold artwork in recent years; she reportedly refuses to settle for his $5,000-per-month alimony limit. Now he's accused her of stealing artwork. Sounds like someone needs some of Mo'Nique's sugar right about now. [PopEater]
An open letter in an Italian newspaper has ignited yet another round of interest in the curious case of Pier Paolo Pasolini, the legendary (and legendarily challenging) filmmaker who was found savagely beaten and murdered in 1975. A male prostitute confessed and did the time three decades ago, but suspicions have lingered, and today folks are wondering anew: Did he really do the crime?
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NBC stars and How to Train Your Dragon cast members hit the late-night circuit in full force last night, letting audience members in on a few secrets. Tina Fey demonstrated how to decipher Tracy Morgan-speak, Jonah Hill revealed that he has a career back-up plan should his Twitter impostor destroy his Hollywood cred, and Crispin Glover (OK, he is not on NBC or in Dragon) proved that Chelsea Handler has no patience for eccentricity during her E! show. Those clips, as well as the other highlights you missed last night while waging war on the King of the World, after the jump.
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As noted here last month when he joined Movieline for a round of My Favorite Scene, Irish actor Ciarán Hinds is known to work frequently. OK, a lot. And this week, the face you know from scores of high-powered indies (including There Will Be Blood and Margot at the Wedding), studio blockbusters (Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, Race to Witch Mountain) and a TV watershed here or there (Rome) stars in his first leading role in The Eclipse. Writer-director Conor McPherson's genre-bending tale present Hinds as Michael Farr, a widower dealing with grief, single fatherhood, a clinically depressed father-in-law, a hyper-jealous prick (Aidan Quinn) going after a mutual love interest (Iben Hjejle), and ghosts. Or so Michael thinks -- and so the viewer thinks, thanks to McPherson's exquisite cocktail of atmospherics and jolts and Hinds's vulnerability to phantasmagoria of what may (or may not) be his own making.
In a free-wheeling interview with Movieline, Hinds spoke about how to act in a ghost story, the spookiest legends of Ireland, watching Paul Thomas Anderson and Daniel Day-Lewis build There Will Be Blood from scratch in eight weeks, and a few spoiler-ish insights about playing a Dumbledore in the next Harry Potter film.
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Fox News commentator Glenn Beck likely welcomed his most sizable liberal audience in years Wednesday night, where the right-wing's unofficial Czar of Crazy was expected to respond to James Cameron's point-blank fusillade of insults and debate challenges. Beck didn't disappoint -- for the most part, engaging Cameron with the kind of directionless, self-immolating logic for which he's famous before getting into the genuinely good stuff. Click through for the segment.
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· It's a big morning for Jennifer Love Hewitt casting news. The Ghost Whisperer star will get in touch with her inner ex-beauty queen for a Lifetime movie called The List, about a former glamourpuss who has to save her family from foreclosure on their home in Texas. Meanwhile, Sex and the City scribe Cindy Chupack has tapped Hewitt to make a cameo in her upcoming NBC pilot Love Bites. The project features three loosely connected stories of love and dating, with Becki Newton (Ugly Betty) and Jordana Spiro (My Boys) as leads. Also joining the pilot are Greg Gunberg, Lindsay Price, Jason Lewis and Craig Robinson. [EW]
Saturday Night Live honors tax day, CBS gets into the competitive dance business, and more TV Bites after the jump.
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It was a sad, sad night at the rage-red American Idol vomitorium yesterday. The final 11 contestants found out who wouldn't tour this summer, like the kid from summer camp with the fatal allergy to sumac. This week's evictee served as a fine presence for the past month, but did not survive the texting abilities of America's preteen vote-jockeys. Iron your black work trousers and join us for a eulogy (spoilers!) after the jump.
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