As predicted, TNT has picked up Jay Leno's first scripted casualty, Southland, after a month of negotiations with Warner Bros. Fittingly enough, when the sophomore cop drama makes its cable premiere in January, the unceremoniously ousted series will face off directly against its death maker.
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For those concerned that they would die without ever seeing a sequin-overall-clad Stewie Griffin hustle to "Turn The Beat Around" after Microsoft pulled out of its sponsorship deal last week, fear not. Justice will be served by Sherlock Holmes himself. Yesterday, Warner Bros. announced that they would use Family Guy Presents: Seth & Alex's Almost Live Comedy Show to promote the studio's Christmas-timed Holmes. The Nov. 8 Family Guy program will now feature a sneak preview of the film starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law. [Associated Press]
If CBS had not revived Medium after NBC snuffed it out last May, fans would have never seen tonight's special Halloween episode in which Allison (Patricia Arquette) is placed into certain scenes of George Romero's classic horror flick Night of the Living Dead. In the sequences, which come to Allison while she's asleep, Arquette takes over the role of Barbara (originally played by Judith O'Dea). Given how frequently Arquette's character lapses into bizarre nightmares though, it would have seemed just as natural for Allison to pop up in Nell or Soul Plane.
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· Upstaging Ann Curry
· Attempting to drink a "boo-tini" despite Ann Curry's angry pronouncement, "You're not allowed to have vodka!"
· Humping Al Roker's leg
Last night's Project Runway dared the home viewer to recall older episodes when the designers did things right. Didn't ring a bell to me either. But as each contestant sewed a companion piece to one of their earlier creations, two new competitions broke out: Irina's one-woman quest to mangle everyone's feelings, and Althea's strange, internal grudge match with paranormal forces.
Buried in a Variety article today (but caught by the eagle eyes at Slashfilm) is the news that Denis Leary's production company is remaking the 1997 Ethan Hawke film Gattaca as a TV series. What's Gattaca, you ask? Oh, only the best sci-fi film ever that no one has seen. I need the TV show to incorporate three elements from the original movie, and then I'll be happy: that incredible Michael Nyman score, a stuffy Gore Vidal, and a handful of homoerotic swimming competitions. Good luck! [Variety]
The CW announced this morning that Eddie Murphy, last seen in Imagine That, will make a special appearance during the November 18 season finale of America's Next Top Model. Instead of guest-judging, the friend-to-fatsuits will support his daughter, Bria, who will be involved in the Julia Clancey final runway fashion show. Fun fact: Bria is credited for the children's drawings in Murphy's Daddy Day Care. [E!]
One of the most frustrating flaws with Heroes is how the show absolutely refuses to kill its characters off, resuscitating them again and again and robbing the series of its already sapped stakes. (Sure, there have been some supporting characters who disappeared, but it's more due to the show's own inattention than any grand plan.) However, according to Airlock Alpha, NBC may be planning to do to Heroes what Heroes hasn't been able to do with its cast: pull the plug, permanently.
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Whatever you think of American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert's debut album cover, it was supposed to be that way. Aight, bro/mom? But as Movieline discovered last night when talking to Idol sixth-place finisher Anoop Desai at Gen Art's 12th annual "Fresh Faces in Fashion" runway show in Los Angeles, the now-famous sleeve could've ended up much different -- and funnier.
After invoking our own FlashForward on Wednesday to visualize scenes from the rumored Jon - Kate + Octomom, we frantically searched for ways to stop the reality TV apocalypse from approaching. We considered powerful groups with whom we could align in our efforts to stop this explestival (exploit-festival): TLC, Kate Gosselin and child services. However, we completely overlooked Jon Gosselin's new Michael Jackson-sized entourage to step in on behalf of society's best interest.
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Fox proudly announced this morning that after years of scheduling conflicts, Zooey Deschanel will finally join her older sister, Emily, on an episode of Bones airing December 10. The 500 Days of Summer star will play a distant relative of her sister's character, Brennan, who is invited by Brennan's father to spend Christmas with the family. Aside from satisfying the Deschanel-on-Deschanel fantasies of many male American indie rock fans in time for all of the major winter holidays, the episode will mark the the sisters' first-ever on-screen pairing. [Futon Critic]
The above stills don't do my theory justice, but I believe comedienne Chelsea Handler has always been the only fitting choice for the inevitable Vanna White biopic. (Seriously, check out Vanna's bio -- Bob Barker's condescension, a terrible plane crash, and a precedent-setting lawsuit all come into play!) The pert, squarish cheek bones, the sharp golden mane, the large eyes, the capacity to spell -- I could go on. The news that Handler will appear on a December cover of Playboy (previewed above) just tidies up her destiny. White also appeared on Hugh Hefner's glossy in 1987, though the photos were snatched from a pre-Wheel photo shoot more than six years earlier. Let's confirm my spot-on casting (and glimpse more of Handler's "Before and After") after the jump.
Tens of millions of Americans spice up their Sundays by running a fantasy football team. This market of sports fanatics does not go ignored by advertisers and you can already guess that the commercial breaks for FX's new man sitcom The League will be filled with beer, pizza and possibly male-enhancement treatments. Tonight is the series premiere, so get your line-ups ready and hope that the series' comedy skills are more on the level of Drew Brees than Jake Delhomme.
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Betty White wheedled Emmy nods out of single appearances on a number of ratings-deprived television series: The John Larroquette Show, Yes, Dear, and the final season of My Name is Earl, among others. Tonight the 87-year-old legend doggedly attempts to achieve the same accolade on 30 Rock, playing herself amid TGS's crew of caricatures. I'm putting 20 down on Jenna Maroney asking for advice regarding showbiz vitality and Betty deadpanning back, "The password is strip aerobics, bitch." After the jump, a tribute to the Movieline patron saint and her more unusual TV appearances.
If you are bored with your Sudoku puzzles and those Mental Jumping Jacks e-mails your great-aunt forwards you so you don't end up in a nursing home like her Alzheimers-afflicted sister, try to identify a single race, religion or creed that Curb Your Enthuasiam has not insulted in the 66 episodes that have aired on HBO. Now midway through its Seinfeld-plated seventh season, one group has had enough, and is protesting Larry David's schtick.
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