Aw, hell no. Four times over. Last night's Idol showed that the voting public hates texting in for middle-of-the-pack contenders. That's the only explanation for these four eliminations, besides game theory. With tears in our eyes, Movieline has written memorials for the loser quartet.
· Grey's Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes has reportedly agreed to finally release Katherine Heigl from Seattle Grace. The actress, who has taken public swipes at the ABC drama for keeping her on set for 17-hour days and giving her material that she did not deem Emmy-worthy, took maternity leave earlier this year after adopting a daughter. The actress was scheduled to return to set March 1 to finish episodes for the sixth season, but both Heigl and ABC reportedly came to a mutual decision that she not tape anymore episodes, meaning that viewers have already seen the last of Izzie Stevens. [EW]
Jon Voight channels a Texan for television, VH1 designs its most demeaning dating show yet, and more TV Bites after the jump.
Tonight's Project Runway features a very special "elemental" challenge, and we can only guess that means Mila will embrace the "fire" in her humorless stare, Ben will "water" down another dress with bland finishing, and Anthony will knock the "wind" out of Seth Aaron with just one hoarse bellow. If element puns aren't your thing, we recommend more after the jump.
American Idol's surviving ("competing" seems like an overstatement) eight dudes ripped through enough country jams and fossilized ballads to fill your average 4 a.m. infomercial. Unfortunately, these dudes couldn't sell anything. Let's rank these jank caterwaulers from #8-1.
Post-Oscar week is nearly over and Elinor Burkett's fifteen minutes of fame ran up before she could make a single actual late night appearance. Fear not, other Academy Award winners made their final victory laps last night. Like Christoph Waltz, who stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live! to reflect on those 28 awards won this season and that one embarrassing late night sketch in which he mimes sex with rotary phones. That clip, as well as the others you missed last night while putting the finishing touches on your 30-city comedy tour, after the jump.
After weeks of speculation surrounding Conan O'Brien's plans to circulate the country on a comedy tour (and no less than two false starts by eager distributor Ticketmaster), the former Tonight Show host officially announced his Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television Tour this morning. In a statement provided to TheWrap, O'Brien revealed that NBC's ironclad exit deal didn't leave him many options: "It was either a massive 30-city tour or start helping out around the house."
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Heidi Montag has fired her manager -- who just happened to be her husband and Hills co-star, Spencer Pratt -- and replaced him with...(wait for it)...a psychic. Montag told People Magazine last night, "After the incredible experiences I have had healing my life and truly connecting to my dreams with healer intuitive Aiden Chase, I have officially asked him to become my manager. Having an intuitive psychic leading my team gives me an edge no one else has." Pratt has been Heidi's manager since the couple met five years ago. The pair will remain married. [People]
· It's taken months of tireless Facebook campaigning, but fans now have official confirmation of Betty White's upcoming Saturday Night Live episode in the form of a date: May 8. Although the former Golden Girl does not actually have children, Lorne Michaels validated her Mother's Day booking by explaining, "She's the mother of us all in comedy." Apparently, this mother needs her little helpers, because Michaels has enlisted six former female SNL cast members to join the comedy legend for the episode; Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Molly Shannon, Maya Rudolph, Ana Gasteyer and Rachel Dratch will all help to lighten White's sketch load at Studio 8H. A band for the May 8 show has yet to be announced. [People]
A 24 star gets a Happy Ending, Mark Burnett tests the deceptiveness of game show hosts, and more TV Bites after the jump.
You sampled the inert chemistry between Jerry Seinfeld and Kelly Ripa during last week's disappointing premiere of The Marriage Ref and tomorrow morning you can relive it all over again. On Live! with Regis and Kelly, Ripa and Seinfeld will joke about the morning news, throw a few plugs towards Ref and end the hourlong show by interviewing guest Donald Trump. Other stars filling in for the Reege this week include Ludacris and Ted Danson. [THR]
Bravo announced a slew of new projects today, including the newest iteration of their signature Real Housewives franchise in Beverly Hills. Predictable, no? It sounds like a colorless hybrid of Orange County and NYC, with the added cupcake empires and Rodeo Drive visits for singularity. At least the upcoming Washington D.C. branch offers politics, the military, and legitimate scandal; Beverly Hills just repackages the well-explored lives of Bethenny Frankel and Vicki Gunvalson. Bravo is missing potential in five smaller metropolitan areas, which all offer sinister qualities like international flavor, religion, or complete isolation.
Conan O'Brien may not have officially announced his upcoming vengeance tour yet but Ticketmaster pretty much has. First, with their premature posting of a stop in Phoenix, AZ, which had fans counting down the hours until ticket-take-off, only for the event to be mysteriously pulled from the distribution site. When Movieline contacted Conan's publicists at 42West, they cryptically told us that "It's too premature to comment on anything at this point. There will be an announcement this week." We begged for a head nod, a wink, a telling blast from Andy Richter -- anything that would confirm the Cocopalooza. And God Ticketmaster finally conceded, by revealing another stop on O'Brien's eagerly-anticipated comedy tour -- that proves the comedian might be cutting a wider tour swath than fans had hoped.
Oh yes, this exists. Presenting Mad Men Barbies, part of a part of a premium-price collectors' series for adults ($75 a pop!) entitled the Barbie Fashion Model Collection. You'll have to act quick to pick up your own, multi-jointed version of Don, Betty, Roger, and Joan, as there will be 7,000 to 10,000 copies of each doll (sorry, no adult accessories like cigarettes or alcohol). The Don Draper Fingerband Threat Level just got adorably diminutive and diorama-friendly. [NYT]
That perilous tick-tock that you hear this morning over Los Angeles isn't the final seconds running out on Elinor Burkett's fifteen minutes of post-Oscar-crashing fame, but instead 20th Century Fox's countdown to the end of its super-drama series 24. Still, the decision -- which has been on the minds of Fox executives since the beginning of the series' current, eighth season, when the network hired scribe Billy Ray (State of Play) to pen a feature film for Jack Bauer -- is not so cut and dry.
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It wasn't just Didi Benami's version of "Rhiannon" that asked the titular question -- it was us too, responding to the realization that we have two months of competition left before an inevitable winner is chosen from these three ladies: Will you ever win, Didi, Siobhan, or Crystal? We rank last night's eight razzle-dazzling girls from bottom to top, after the jump.
On the third day of the Music by Prudence Oscar speech fallout, Elinor Burkett, a.k.a. the "Kanye of the Oscars," spoke to Joy Behar. Unlike the previous night's humiliating CNN segment, in which Larry King pulled a one-two-re-interrupt-punch on Prudence director Roger Ross Williams, Burkett immediately asserted good will among viewers and host by heartily agreeing that "yes, the Oscars were so dull that I spent most of the ceremony chain-smoking outside." Charmed, Behar leaned in as her Academy Award-winning doppleganger lurched ahead with a tale of Sunday's events which would pit the raspy documentary producer as the first victim of acceptance speech "bigfooting" in the Academy's history.
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