The plight of actresses who seek to escape saucy supporting character roles ("soubrettes," as Moliere would call them) is dicey; unless you're Marla Gibbs, who parlayed her success on The Jeffersons into a starring role on 227, the path from brassy ingenue to bankable marquee figure is fraught with dire history. No one knows this better than Megan Mullally, who hopes to end her post-Will & Grace drought by signing on to replace Jane Lynch on the Starz series Party Down, about a klatch of dysfunctional caterers. But does Mullally have what it takes to outlive the confines of the role that earned her two Emmys?
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The Got Talent franchise is like American Idol without the marketability, car sponsorship and Simon Cowell, but like any reality-competition-hungry country, America ignores these shortcomings. We can look past David Hasselhoff's half-hearted feedback ("I was really touched by your personal story") and even the insensitive giant X's that scream "Game over!" to a family of slum-raised acrobats because occasionally, the program finds a Susan Boyle. This season, America's Got Talent offers up its own dowdy performer: Her name is Grandma Lee, and America, she needs your votes and a makeover.
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Last night's much-anticipated episode of Larry King Live featured a bow-tied, so-sawwy Chris Brown answering questions about his assault on ex-girlfriend Rihanna. He was accompanied by his mother Joyce Hawkins and lawyer Mark Geragos, who chimed in with the frequency of Ken Jennings on Jeopardy. Throughout his interview, Brown said that the media fiasco was "probably" the worst thing ever to happen to him, and that there's no "book" on love, which I feel was his way of administering an emotional beatdown to Dr. John Gray. Video, and more extemporaneous Chris Brown gems, after the jump.
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Sometime before Kathy Griffin made a career of tipping boxes of wine for her 89-year-old mother on Bravo, she had to establish herself in Hollywood using age-old tricks of the trade, like drugs. With her new autobiography Official Book Club Selection, the My Life on the D List star's confessional writing veers into descriptions of drug abuse, which better not be a vicious lie if she's baiting Oprah. Griffin also fesses up to a number of dramatic attempts to lose weight as a young comedian on the make. Speed, a near-death experience with liposuction, and a major eating disorder all spring up -- accompanied by punchlines.
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It takes an especially good-natured "judge" to perform on the same hacky talent competition show where he doles out worthless, subjective advice each week. David Hasselhoff proves he is up for the challenge by singing "Feeling Good" during tonight's America's Got Talent live results show. Granted, the Hoff doesn't have as much to lose as Whitney Houston did on GMA, but there is still a significant risk for humiliation when Miss Piggy and Kermit the Frog follow his act.
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Avril Lavigne, the seven-year veteran of the almost-punk-pop mainstream, is scheduled to laugh at talentless hacks as part of the L.A. casting for American Idol. Colleague Katy Perry will guest-host on the second day of the L.A. dates, meaning the two singers' critical skills are bound to be compared. Who's going to win this competition of erudition, analytical expertise, and neon hair streaks?
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Katherine Heigl will take a five-episode hiatus from Grey's Anatomy so that she can work on a new romantic comedy, Life as We Know It, directed by Greg Berlanti (who co-wrote the Green Lantern script). Heigl's absence will be explained on screen and will begin with November episodes, possibly coinciding with Ellen Pompeo's maternity leave. Shonda Rhimes forewarned fans this summer when she said prophetically, "Eventually, everybody is going to leave the show [...] Season 6 is about finding the longevity of the show and figuring out if there is a future for this show beyond these characters." [Entertainment Weekly]
If MTV means to thrill us with the return of Kristin Cavallari, they've done a bang-up job with their new trailer for the next season of The Hills. Kristin's apparently spent her (marathon) off-season(s) polishing zingers like "Are you single? How single is single?" and "The one guy that you can't get you'll always have a thing for." Ultimately, she has pretty good hair, so I don't feel sorry for the 25 fortune cookies that were originally slated to fill her role. The trailer after the jump.
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Two comediennes have joined the cast of Saturday Night Live in time for its 35th season, says The Comic's Comic, who first reported last season's SNL recruits. Is it just us, or do new cast members Jenny Slate and Nasim Pedrad both resemble Michaela Watkins? Sure, Michaela tracked well with bored high school kids, stoned college students and aspiring improvisers in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, but wouldn't Lorne Michaels want to find doppelgängers for Kristin Wiig, the only SNL-er maintaining the show's faint pulse?
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When Katie Couric ascended to her post at the CBS Evening News in 2006, there was controversy; namely, could a woman, in possession of sexy legs, have the gravitas necessary to recite news off a teleprompter in between ads for erectile dysfunction medicine? At first, it was thought that Couric simply did not, and then she shamed Sarah Palin with a deliciously drawn out series of interviews and won herself a stay of execution. But guess who's coming along to harsh Couric's buzz now?
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This morning, 5,000 rabid Whitney Houston fans gathered in Central Park for what was hoped to be the second rising of the soul diva. Good Morning America hyped her I Look to You promotional performance, the first in seven years, as an event to remember by playing a Houston career-retrospective on their Times Square screen on loop. With fans gathered from all corners of the world and bedazzled "We love you Whitney!" posters in place, Whitney took the stage for a four-song concert that could only be described as underwhelming.
Despite her cracking voice (when there was a voice at all), Houston's ardent supporters wildly applauded throughout, proving that either they couldn't hear the songs over their own cheering or that their love is unconditional. Judge for yourself after the jump.
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As Showtime revamps The L Word as a reality series that follows the travails of six lesbians in day-to-day life (a la Real Housewives, except with fewer charges of prostitution whoring, we suspect/hope), it's time to reflect upon reality television's seminal lesbians.
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Denis Leary's brainchild Rescue Me has managed to fly below popular America's radar the past five years despite its Emmy nominations, guest stars (Susan Sarandon, Michael J. Fox and Maura Tierney) and tribute to the duality of heroism and self-destruction. Maybe it has something to do with the show's cable home or the depression suffered after endless tragedies or those forced sex scenes. Whatever the reason, enjoy tonight's conclusion to what Leary called" a "less bleak" season.
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In a stunning development reminding us of that one time NBC renewed The Cosby Show, AMC announced today that it has picked up its ugly duckling of a series Mad Men for a fourth season. This, after consecutive Golden Globes and last year's Emmy for Best TV Drama, and a ratings-record for this year's premiere. And sure, a protracted contract squabble with show creator Matthew Weiner prior to Season 3, but that was nothing, really. Official comment after the jump.
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In the wake of Adam "DJ AM" Goldstein's potentially drug-related death on Friday, MTV has yet to decide what to do with his unaired reality series Gone Too Far, which features Goldstein counseling young drug addicts. In a rough cut of the show obtained by Entertainment Weekly, Goldstein talks to a young user who spends $200 a day on heroin and speaks about his own well-documented history of drug addiction. Complicating matters further, The NY Post now says that Goldstein planned to check into rehab hours before his death, making the show's harrowing examples of honesty seem like tragic foreshadowing.
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