Where was Wanda Sykes two weeks ago? Last night the comedienne joined Jay Leno on his temporary 10 PM perch, chastised NBC for offering an offensive lunch menu and then absolved Leno of his late night evils. A visibly touched Leno patted Sykes on the elbow and then reciprocated by canceling her humiliating "Earn That Plug" segment. (Or maybe publicly defending Leno was her "Earn That Plug" challenge. Discuss in the comments below.) That heartwarming moment, as well as the other highlights you missed last night while remembering your days as James Cameron's sexy cowgirl, after the jump.
more »
News that Bill Condon has teamed with Tell Me You Love me creator Cindy Mort to write Tilda, a half-hour comedy pilot for HBO about "a powerful female online showbiz journalist with a no-holds-barred style," has been the only thing on Hollywood's minds and lips since it hit the wires last night. Would Condon and Mort finally crack the elusive code that could translate the scintillating world of people typing in their bathrobes into television worth watching? And after whom did they pattern their outrageously conceived title character? It's just questions on top of questions on top of more questions! Well, I'm happy to report your friends at Movieline have some answers, as we have procured a copy of the casting breakdowns* for the next blockbuster HBO series that will have everyone saying, "It's Not TV. It's Tilda."
(*Yes, it's rare that casting breakdowns are circulated for a show that has yet to be written, much less greenlit. Isn't that weird? It's almost like we made them up.)
more »
· HBO is getting into business with some serious Academy Award talent this pilot season. The newest catch being director Jonathan Demme, who will co-write a pilot with Walter Mosley based on Mosley's detective novel series, The Long Fall. Demme is slated to direct the pilot episode in which an ex-boxer turns private investigator. Last fall, the premium cable station premiered Bored to Death about a quirky author-turned P.I. Mosley and Demme will executive produce with Playtone's Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman. Playtone is also behind Big Love and The Pacific at HBO. [Deadline]
Another Oscar-winner explores showbiz blogging at HBO, Joe Simpson hops onto the Nickelodeon express, and more TV Bites after the jump.
more »
There was a brief moment last year when it did not look like The Sarah Silverman Show would be returning for a third season. Comedy Central had cut the show's budget and its creator refused to settle for the diminished resources. Fortunately, Logo swept in, subsidized the difference and Silverman was back in production by April, shooting tonight's third season premiere, in which Sarah comes to grips with the fact that she was born a hermaphrodite. Who is excited?
more »
Posted to the Twitter feed of Jimmy Fallon bandleader and Movieline party D.J. ?uestlove was this snapshot (click for larger) of a Black History Month-themed lunch served today in NBC's 30 Rock commissary. Shortly thereafter, an NBC rep tweeted this: "The sign in the NBCU cafeteria has been removed. We apologize for anyone who was offended by it." Upper-management is now discussing the best way to proceed with the latest P.R. disaster to befall the beleaguered network, including the option of building a 10 p.m. show around the menu called The Racist Soul Food Variety Hour. [@questlove via The Wrap]
Season nine's last Idol audition episode stepped up the starpower: In an unending phalanx of golden-ticket recipients, we saw twangy ladies, ambitious young men, and a number of sincere "soulful" vocals. Kara didn't have to say "sweetie" much! Plus, we revisited enough of the previous auditions that we even got our fill of Victoria Beckham's petrified cricket exterior. Our top 3 moments from last night's audition wrap-up after the jump.
more »
If I never see Jay Leno hand-dip a strip of bacon in melted chocolate and tenderly feed it to a beautiful young actress again, it will be too soon. To her credit, Jessica Biel played along, claiming that the bacon was greased to perfection and allowing Leno to dabble the chocolate remnants from her chin, but still. And I know that Leno is not the only talk show host to flirt with his guests for the cameras, but to date, he is the only one to cuddle a guest on a vibrating motel room bed. Please Jay Leno Show producers, spare us this Seduction-Set Leno in the future. We'll take twice as many Headlines instead. After the jump, revisit your Valentine's nightmare and four other highlights culled from last night's after hours programming.
more »
· Oscar-nominee, talk show queen and fake orgasm virtuoso Mo'Nique has signed on to emcee Shaquille O'Neal Presents: All-Star Comedy Jam for Showtime. The star-packed comedy special will be taped in Dallas the night before the Feb. 14 NBA All-Star Game and will co-star fellow comics George Willborn, Mike Epps and Paul Mooney. The event will be produced by Codeblack Entertainment, Shaq Entertainment and AEG Live. Acknowledged Codeblack CEO Jeff Clanagan, "It's a testament to the strength of the All-Star Comedy Jam franchise that Codeblack and AEG Live locked in a comedienne as talented as Mo'Nique." Maybe, maybe not; it's not like she'd be doing anything else -- like Oscar campaigning -- that night. [THR]
Arianna Huffington casts her first Freshman, Dancing With the Stars taps Baywatch talent, and more TV Bites after the jump.
more »
For the first time in fifteen years*, the Super Bowl-carrying network will introduce a new series in its lead-out time slot. On the heels of the most-watched television event of the year, the coveted post-game position is usually reserved for the network's most popular show (Friends, The Simpsons, Survivor in past years) or in rare years like this one, a new series that the network just about guarantees to be a hit. This Sunday, CBS is forgoing an episode of established hits like Criminal Minds or NCIS in favor of Undercover Boss, a reality venture in which the executive of a major company goes undercover as an entry-level worker. In honor of the Tiffany network's big gamble on Sunday, let's look back on nine other series that got their successful (and unsuccessful) starts as Super Bowl lead-outs.
*Movieline is not counting Fox's American Dad as a lead-out to the 2005 Super Bowl, since it aired after The Simpsons.
more »
CBS has announced that President Barack Obama will crash each and every one of your Super Bowl parties on Sunday by appearing during CBS's four-hour pre-game show. At approximately 4:30 p.m. ET, Katie Couric will interview Obama live from Miami, two hours before the 6:30 p.m. kickoff. Don't count on him for bringing the onion dip though. [USA Today]
Victoria Beckham left us spellbound during American Idol's Boston auditions when she successfully criticized an entire contestant pool using only variations of "nice." This woman is the George Washington Carver of "nice." She innovated "nice"-related phrases such as "Nice job," "Nice face," and "Not so nice pants." It's hard to imagine everyday life without her discoveries. In her second Idol stint in Denver, which aired last night, Beckham advanced upon these breakthroughs with more nice-associated antics while Kara DioGuardi ordered a passerby to strip. Because this is a highbrow talent show starring pillars of integrity, you forgot.
more »
It's the beginning of the end on Lost, and last night's two-hour season premiere "LA X" (written by showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse) started laying the groundwork for Lost's final run of episodes. It was packed full of revelatory moments, big questions, nasty shocks, and confounding choices; in other words, it was 100% Lost. Here are three things that worked like a dream, and three things that left me scratching my head:
more »
The Jay Leno Show may have been off the air last night (in favor of a super-sized episode of The Biggest Loser to rival ABC's premiere of Lost) but there were plenty of other late night moments worth catching, mostly on Comedy Central. Maybe it is because the Daily Show and the Colbert Report only have twenty-two minutes worth of programming to fill, or maybe because their network gives them more leeway and less advertisers to please, but both shows hogged most of the night's brightest moments, leaving Jimmy Fallon to referee spit-takes and George Lopez to take another fruitless swing at Tiger Woods. After the jump, the best late night moments you missed while designing that Leno ballot-stuffer.
more »
· Just yesterday, Matthew Broderick announced his transition to series television, and today, his Diminished Capacity co-star Virginia Madsen does the same. The one-time Oscar-nominee has signed on to lead ABC's drama series Scoundrels. Based on New Zealand's Outrageous Fortune, the show centers on the matriarch of a family of criminals who decides that it is time for the brood to go straight after her husband is sentenced to a long prison term. ABC tried to remake the series in 2008 with Catherine O'Hara as the lead. The show is scheduled for an eight-episode run this summer. [Reuters]
Your favorite early '90s teen stars reunite, Oprah recycles her show, and more TV Bites after the jump.
more »
Indie ingenue Zooey Deschanel will revisit the swinging 1960s in an HBO pilot based on Pamela Des Barres' memoir I'm With the Band: Confessions of a Groupie. Deschanel will exec produce the half-hour dramedy with her manager Sarah Jackson and Curb Your Enthusiasm's Tim Gibbons. Des Barres' book details her high-profile flings (Mick Jagger, Jimmy Page, Keith Moon) and the depression incurred after each relationship ended. [DHD]
