Send in the clownish final challenge! Project Runway became annoyed with its restrained workroom dramas last night and defibrillated itself with 1,000 CCs of peanuts 'n P.T. Barnum 'n pettiness. Read: This episode is a triumph! After the jump, let's rip and romance the episode that may have been The Greatest Show On Earth for all of season seven.
· It has been a worrisome year for the cast of Starz's sophomore series Party Down. First, Jane Lynch departed for Glee, then Adam Scott for Parks and Recreation, and then Ryan Hansen for an NBC pilot and now the latest: Lizzy Caplan (whom Movieline spoke to recently) has defected to a CBS pilot called True Love. The project centers on four New York friends looking for love. No word yet on whether Caplan (billed at this point as a guest star for the pilot) will try to fit in a few episodes of Party Down, like some of her other co-stars breaking into network work, if True Love is picked up. [THR]
A former Bratpacker explores the premium cable miniseries landscape, Steven Spielberg conquers a Future Earth, and more TV Bites after the jump.
Kate Gosselin is once again contracted to hide in plain sight from inevitable obscurity. The eight-time mom and million-time tabloid target is slated to star in the new TLC series Twist of Kate, in which Gosselin "visits the homes and workplaces of women facing personal challenges, where she will exchange insights for living." Kate Plus Eight will also return with a series of specials, TLC reports. Sounds like we're in for a couple dozen episodes of Kate-birthed revelations, begging the question: What questions do we need answered about the domestic darling? Here's 15 for starters; contribute your own suggestions in the comments.
What is it with CBS producers this year? First we had Joe Halderman, and now Survivor's Bruce Beresford-Redman, who is suspected of murdering his wife, Monica Beresford-Redman. The couple was vacationing in Mexico when Beresford-Redman reported his wife missing on Tuesday. Her body was found Thursday in a sewer at the Moon Palace resort, where the family was staying. Developing... [Fox]
Remember back in November, when Oprah made a teary announcement that she was leaving the world of daytime syndication...in 18 months? And you choked up because she choked up? And you started to imagine a world where you'd never again be able to tune into sixty minutes of Oprah talking about a completely random subject (Matthew Morrison breakdancing! Chocolate! Porn stars! Funny people! Female suffering! Recovered crack addicts!)? Well, wipe those tears from your eyes, because Oprah has just announced that she will host a show on her Oprah Winfrey Network, the totally predictable format of which will shock you.
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How do you know you've made it in Hollywood? When you have an entire category of Family Feud dedicated to things that are publicly known about you! Unfortunately for Ellen DeGeneres, this bit of flattery hit a rough patch when one of the contestants guessed something about Ellen that nearly ground the game to a halt.
Last week on South Park, Cartman and the gang ridiculed child obesity and the legalization of marijuana by snorting fried chicken skin and contracting cancer from lewd uses of the microwave. And this week, the gang returned to skewer the hell out of social networking with a plot involving the gross overuse of Facebook and Chatroulette. After the jump, Movieline tallies the figures slayed in last night's episode, "You Have 0 Friends" and explains why all of your Facebook friends are suddenly talking about a fictional character named Kip Drordy today.
A wave of sadness washed over last night's 11:35 PM time slot, beginning with David Duchovny's own brand of malaise that could fill oceans -- or at least three segments on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, where the Californication star discussed his many depression triggers. Meanwhile on CBS, David Letterman croaked through the Late Show, unwilling to let a little laryngitis force him into bed -- or as Chris Rock said, "back to that mean wife in Connecticut." After harping on the host's sex scandal a few more beats, Letterman finally butted in with, "All right, enough about me and my misery." Those soulful moments, as well as Luke Wilson's admission that he is one bad movie away from a cable crime series, after the jump.
Hooray! Not so much? This week, American Idol's voters grew a pair and almost eliminated a dude. But before that pig could fly, the judges whipped out a pocket veto and fired it square at the showstopping vest of Michael "Big Mike" Lynche, who sang a decent "Eleanor Rigby" this week and still scored the lowest number of votes. The new father Lynche, whose wife enjoyed a very famous cervix during Hollywood Week, lives to meet mentor Adam Lambert. Are we happy for Big Mike's triumph?
· The Home Box Office has upped Enlightened, the comedy pilot from Year of the Dog collaborators Mike White and Laura Dern, to a full-season order. The single-cam series will star Dern as a "self-destructive woman who has a revelatory experience at a treatment center and becomes determined to live an enlightened life, creating unexpected havoc at home and work." The pilot, which was penned by White and based on a story by him and Dern, also features Luke Wilson, Diane Ladd (Dern's mother) and Sarah Burns. White issued a formal statement early this morning about the news: "I'm stoked to finally party with HBO... I feel lucky to have been given this opportunity to make something original, heartfelt and weird." [THR]
Showtime gambles on its own Shamelessness, DirecTV considers saving Damages, and more TV Bites after the jump.
After four unambiguously gay seasons, Justin Suarez (Mark Indelicato), the well-clothiered nephew on Ugly Betty, comes out of the closet tonight following an incident where his father catches him necking with boyfriend Austin. And it's going down at his mother's wedding! Escandalo, por favor! Actually, the footage of Justin and Austin dancing like Lladro figurines at the wedding reception is downright sweet, even if it doesn't compare to the best coming-out scene in TV history.
This afternoon, self-professed Gleek Oprah Winfrey invited the cast of her favorite Fox musical program to her studio for a super-sized show. The cast dished on their amazing chemistry, took viewers behind-the-scenes of an upcoming episode featuring Neil Patrick Harris, then performed "Somebody to Love." Still, Oprah was not satisfied, because lead actor Matthew Morrison (aka "Mr. Schu") had not yet performed. So, on her command, Morrison removed his jacket and initiated an impromptu breakdance competition with co-star Harry Shum Jr. Evidence of the crime after the jump.
And please excuse the low quality video -- Movieline HQ's sophisticated video equipment died out of embarrassment as soon as Oprah cued "Gold Digger."
Though we're still wondering what was meant in Nicollette Sheridan's lawsuit when she said Desperate Housewives creator Marc Cherry struck her "because he is a homosexual man," her former costar Eva Longoria Parker has apparently confirmed at least some of Sheridan's story. Here's what she said today (via Yahoo) on Ryan Seacrest's radio show:
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If you're not familiar with writer-producer-director Morgan J. Freeman, here is a primer: The multi-hyphenate's debut feature, Hurricane Streets, starring Edie Falco and Brendan Sexton III (Welcome to the Dollhouse), was the first narrative project to win three awards at Sundance in 1997. Freeman went on to direct other films including Desert Blue and American Psycho 2 while launching a successful career producing reality television shows for MTV. His first series, Laguna Beach, spawned two spin-offs and two years ago, Freeman created 16 and Pregnant, which has already spun off another successful social commentary series for MTV, Teen Mom.
Movieline caught up with Freeman recently to discuss how 16 and Pregnant has been a "dream come true" for his inner storyteller, why the series hits home with so many audience members and how all of his projects -- scripted or not -- are related.
Previously on Lost: Desmond participates in Charles Widmore's race around the world, unsuccessfully. Desmond turns a key that causes all sorts of bad electromagnetic-related things to happen. Desmond sees flashes of the future. Desmond shouts "PEN-NAY!" to the skies, the powerful sound of his love dissipating in the island air before reaching the heavens. Desmond is locked behind a door on a submarine. Widmore dives in and out of mountainous piles of gold, Scrooge McDuck-style. Juliet whispers, "It worked," with her dying breath after detonating a bomb named after an Archie Comics character. Hurley eyes a box of Dharma Ding Dongs with lust in his eyes.
Please join us as we wake from a fevered, restless sleep and scribble some advanced mathematical equations which, when solved, provide the Answers to the Questions raised by this week's episode of everyone's favorite time-travel soap opera:
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