It looks like Lost's non-stop season will actually be making one previously unscheduled pause. ABC is planning to re-run the Richard Alpert-centric episode, "Ab Aeterno," on April 27 as a calm before the coming storm. Or maybe it's just so all the remaining episodes -- airing on May 4, 11, 18 with the series finale set for May 23 -- can land in May sweeps. Hey, even the Dharma Initiative has to worry about ad sales. [TV Over Mind]
VH1 has spent three seasons trying to find love for Bret Michaels, the former Poison vocalist whose blood bleeds bandanna-patterned. In numbers, that means that MTV's sister channel has pumped out 40 episodes in which 68 contestants with exotically spelled names like Ambre and Destiney found maybe 3,000 kinky ways (including rollerblading with strollers) to incite Bret into purring, "That kinda turned me on." And while Bret did find one woman he liked enough to get her name tattooed on his neck, he never found that "true love" that he was after. Dejected, VH1 announced this weekend that it is giving up on Rock of Love to pursue other reality projects, but is America ready to break-up with reality's rock-star Romeo? Movieline investigates after the jump.
Get ready to laugh until you don't. In their increasing effort to parrot trends and kill whatever works with over-saturation -- never forget Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? -- television networks are stuffing their upcoming schedules with comedy pilots. According to a piece in the New York Times today, 40 comedy pilots are being produced this season, including 10 alone for Fox. Says Fox's entertainment president Kevin Reilly, "We're going to recommit." So, more Brothers?
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It was no surprise that Fox's Glee won a GLAAD award this weekend for best comedy. After all, the breakout series prides itself on embracing sexual diversity, from Rachel Berry's two-father family to Kurt's unrequited crush on Finn. So when writer/co-creator Ryan Murphy, himself openly gay, took the stage on Saturday to accept the award at the Hyatt Regent Century Plaza Hotel, he delivered a moving acceptance speech about the value of inclusion before lobbing a few juicy season two spoilers into the audience.
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Patton Oswalt's loss is Nick Thune's gain this week on Beach Lane, the NBC comedy pilot which did some mysterious last minute cast shuffling last week after a table read. Comedian Thune, best known for his parts in Knocked Up and Unaccompanied Minors, will assume Oswalt's former role of an irresponsible millionaire heir given the job of running his struggling small-town newspaper. Matthew Broderick will co-star as a celebrity journalist enlisted to help. [Deadline]
· Good morning, folks. Drew Carey has got a pitch for you. It's a hidden-camera show called WTF! ("Wow That's Funny!") which will feature the comedian and a group of "comedic agents" pulling benevolent pranks on deserving citizens. For example, the WTF! team transforms a truck stop into a five-star restaurant for long-haulers. Come on, it loosely follows that same Undercover Boss formula. Carey taped a pilot presentation this weekend. [THR]
Cybill Shepherd lands the role of a Lifetime, Cheaters tries to spin-off into celebrity territory, and more TV Bites after the jump.
Good news for planners! Movieline sister site Deadline posted their annual Hot List of primetime pilots for the 2010-2011 television season on Friday, meaning you can get an early jump on all that pesky DVR scheduling. Though with 36 pilots on tap, clearly not every show will get picked up by their respective network. But which five shouldn't even bother? Find out after the jump.
You have to wonder what obsessive geeks -- myself included here -- are going to, well, obsess over when Lost shuffles off this mortal coil for good in May. For instance: Will people bother with conspiracy theories about why a certain cast member isn't present in a promotional photo for The Good Wife? Probably not. Regardless, the final cast pic for Lost has made an appearance in TV Guide and sharp-eyed viewers will notice the absence of one very special player. Hint: It's Desmond. Check out the photo after the jump and conspire away!
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Ryan Phillippe seems about as natural a choice to host Saturday Night Live as Charles Barkley, until you remember that Phillippe has a co-starring role in next month's MacGruber. And while he was certainly passable as host -- this wasn't January Jones territory -- the question must be asked: How does Lorne Michaels let Phillippe host an episode and not demand an appearance from MacGruber? This is marketing 101-type stuff! Okay, sure he mentioned the new movie during the opening monologue -- a very funny bit that featured other recurring characters hoping for their own chance on the big screen -- but that was all. Talk about a missed opportunity! Check out the monologue -- and some crazy ridiculousness from Ke$ha -- after the jump.
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Are you tired of Glee yet? Well, too bad! The Fox series continues to permeate the cultural zeitgeist and it doesn't show any signs of stopping. And if you believe the hype, the all-Madonna episode airing Tuesday is going to be the biggest television event ever. Including the Fox-sanctioned Jane Lynch video for "Vogue," four of the ten songs from the episode have leaked onto the Internet in the last couple of days. And, not surprisingly, they're pure Glee specials: overly earnest, overly produced and -- somehow -- pretty great. How do they rate? Click ahead to listen and find out.
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Good news: You don't have to worry about watching Don Draper run around the '70s wearing bell bottoms. Bad news: Mad Men only has three seasons left! Or so sayeth creator Matthew Weiner, who told the National Association of Broadcasters that his series won't go past six seasons. No truth to the rumor that in the wake of this announcement, AMC executives have asked Frank Darabont to set Walking Dead in the '60s. [The Weekly Blend]
Jay Nicolas Sario's fourth-place finish on Project Runway isn't just a loss for the 31-year-old San Francisco resident himself -- it kinda sucks for us too. Jay's deocy collection at Bryant Park was a master class production, and seeing Michael Kors rendered asthmatic would have been a record-early Christmas treat. Sadly, Jay was eliminated in favor of Mila last night, but he took time to tell Movieline about Tim Gunn's advice, Mila's "expected" collection, and the fellow designer who helped him during a dark hour.
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Can you imagine an American Idol season even weaker than the current one? You would have had just that, if it weren't for your guardian angel Ryan Seacrest. TMZ reports that dreadlocked Idol frontrunner Crystal Bowersox was thisclose to quitting the competition two weeks ago, until Seacrest convinced her to stick in it so that she could buy her mother a house someday. Meanwhile, a blithe Simon Cowell was like, "Eh, do what you want." [TMZ]
Tax Day is stressful. You park yourself at the computer at 9 a.m., wait for your assistant to find your W-2s, spend five hours navigating the H&R Block website and burn through another hour or so troubleshooting with a consultant outsourced in India. Throw in a few smoke breaks and lunch at a four-star restaurant and your day is shot. So how do you celebrate your Tax Night? If you're Kiefer Sutherland, by raising hell at a London strip club.
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Last night Tim Gunn visited Project Runway's four remaining designers in their hometowns -- their disgusting, smoke-gagged hamlets. With their polluted families running around. And their dogs. Tim wore enough sanitizer over his face and body that it hardened and looked like a beekeeper uniform. And for reasons unexplored, Tim Gunn was a jackass to the designers! For real! Let's revisit his frosty rendezvous and ask ourselves whether the right designer -- Jay or Mila -- went home at episode's end.
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