While the ratings have been disappointing for the latest revival of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, it's doubtful that Regis Philbin's spirits will be dampened. The daytime TV legend has as much pep in his step as ever and tonight he gets to banter with The View co-host Sherri Shepherd and her lifeline, Wolf Blitzer. Those "celebrities" may not move the needle but at least they won't upstage the Philbin charm.
In the past year, How I Met Your Mother celebrated its first Emmy nomination for Outstanding Comedy Series, a lucrative syndication deal and its highest ratings in four seasons at CBS. The show is run by co-creators Craig Thomas and Carter Bays who also quadruple as executive producers, writers and theme song performers. On the eve of the series' fifth season, Movieline caught up with Craig Thomas to discuss the Emmy recognition, sitcom immortality and Barney's views on religion.
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Forty-eight hours, two Silkwood showers and a jug of Livingston Cellars Chardonnay later, the aftertaste of the Television Critics Association press tour has still not left the old palate here at Movieline. While a few more items might trickle out over the next week, the critics are back home and the showrunners back on-set, both groups telling stories of the horrors of the past two weeks. Looking back over Movieline's scorecard, there really wasn't all that much to complain about at the summer TCA event. Get caught in the rundown after the jump.
Sorry you missed the goings on at this year's Teen Choice Awards and Alaskan Babydaddy Honors? Fret not -- they actually air on Fox tonight. And while Robert Pattinson winning might not be historically important (or surprising), at least it reflects the conscious choice of his fans to force him to find somewhere to put a surfboard engraved "Choice Male Hottie" in his house.
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Fun Fact: There are actually other people that work on Grey's Anatomy besides Katherine Heigl -- not that the media, or Heigl herself, cares to acknowledge that. Last month, when Heigl publicly and continually grumbled that her first day back at work this season involved a 17-hour day, would you believe that there were crew members who also had to work that day and didn't have the platform of a Letterman visit to milk sympathy for it?
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Jeremy Piven busted out his para-Buddhist semi-neurotic persona last night, making a trip to the Big Brother house to promote his new film, The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard. The BB houseguests would probably have been impressed by an actor with even half Piven's fame (Angus T. Jones? Anyone in Burn Notice other than Bruce Campbell?) but the fiery Entourage taskmaster worked the house like a pro: briefly schmoozing the houseguests before efficiently hammering home the plug (no body slams necessary). While it won't score him an Emmy nomination for Best Studio-Insisted Cameo on a Reality Program, last night's appearance ranks as one of Piven's strongest network TV performances since Cupid. Check out the video and this week's eviction nominees after the jump.
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With the Television Critics Association summer press tour winding down today, networks and critics alike could almost see the light at the end of the swag-filled tunnel. Then, out of nowhere, comes news that could shake the medium to its core: Television viewing causes high blood pressure in children. I mean, sure, Yo Gabba Gabba can be very exciting, but when it contributes to the epidemic of childhood obesity, we have a problem. Will there be boycotts or protests or cautionary forwarded emails between suburban mothers? Maybe right after that Dora the Explorer DVD is over.
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Since Top Chef became the primary topic of conversation for every college-educated person in America (and before that Iron Chef) there have been more and more food competition shows. Tonight's premiere of Chefs vs. City on Food Network is the latest phase of that network's campaign to assimilate all local cuisine into their programming. Resistance is futile (but possibly delicious).
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It seems like just yesterday Discovery Channel was rolling out the Shark Week sizzle reel, but now it's already Thursday and the best week of the year for lovers of shark stock footage is almost over. Earlier in the week, Discovery scared the heck out of New Jersey beachgoers with Blood in the Water. Tonight, they bring the fearmongering to the left coast.
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Fox entertainment chairman Peter Rice kicked off his segment at this morning's Television Critics Association press tour by bluntly stating that "Paula will not be returning to Idol." Rice then fielded questions about the failed negotiations, the unfortunate replacement strategy and what Abdul's absence will mean for the show. But this could still be part of an elaborate negotiation strategy, right?
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As talk intensifies that Paula Abdul's Idol-ditching tweet was just a negotiation ploy (certainly, we all expect second-level career management skills from the woman who saw what Being Bobby Brown did for Whitney Houston and then asked Bravo executives "Will you make one of those for me?"), it's time to ask the tough question: Is she worth it? We've laid down the pros and cons of reopening talks with Paula.
Jay Leno appeared Wednesday at the TCA Press Tour, revealing new details about his primetime talk show coming this fall on NBC. And don't worry if you can't quite get excited for regular guest "correspondents" like Brian Williams and D.L. Hughley; there's always eco-conscious celebrity drag racing behind the studio to save the day. Or not. More tidbits after the jump.
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For those of you who can't wait until spring of 2010 to get your Lewis Carroll fix, look no further than Syfy's two night Alice event in December. It won't be Tim Burton's richly funky interpretation featuring a gingery Johnny Depp, but it will co-star Kathy Bates as a modern day Queen of Hearts and Harry Dean Stanton as Caterpillar. At today's panel, the cast, executive producer and director discussed how their "modern day take" will differ from Tim Burton's project (think "rougher, tougher, sexier" and way lower budget).
Joan Rivers demonstrated last week that the road to self-promotion is not always insult-free. Fortunately, the local television segments will end since her schticky TV Land show, How'd You Get So Rich? premieres tonight. Expect cringe-worthy lines of questioning in between shots of Joan riding a lawnmower, Joan jumping into a gold-plated fountain and Joan trying to communicate with a Spanish-speaking maid.
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First Farrah. Then Michael. Now an American Idol worth watching. If we weren't sure that God was dead before, we now have conclusive evidence. With Kara DioGuardi standing atop the spinning Idol gyroscope, exhaling a powerful gust of fire-laughter as she triumphantly lifts a Coca-Cola-branded pitchfork to the smoky vortex that was once the sky, we thought we'd look back at some of the greatest moments in the Golden Reign of Paula Abdul.
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