Oscar-winning actress Meryl Streep came thisclose to stealing the iconic role of Officer Ripley away from her Yale Drama School rival Sigourney Weaver. On the new Blu-ray release of the classic, Alien franchise producer Gordon Carroll says both actresses were in the running. "The first woman was Meryl Streep [but] Meryl's long-time companion [John Cazale] had just died, and I did not feel that she should be asked to come in from the country. [...] The other woman was, of course, Sigourney Weaver." Any chance Meryl would take on Ripley in those Alien prequels? Enh, never mind. [Blastr.com]
The A-List: New York keeps getting better and better! I'm lying, but this show is about make-believe, and I want to invite you to this fantasy. In last night's episode, Derek enhanced his Marilyn Monroe drag costume with actual lip injections (!), Austin bawled when he saw pictures of his own naked body, and Reichen and Rodiney pretended to have problems again. All in all, an A+ effort from an A+ list of (sigh) A-holes.
more »
I feel a tad foolish today. Imagine my surprise last night when, after looking forward all day to Conan O'Brien's "Show Zero," I nestled up to my laptop at 11 p.m. only to find out that the "show" turned out to be just under five minutes in length -- barely longer than the videos of O'Brien answering Facebook questions. Sigh. Regardless of the brevity, though, did we learn anything about O'Brien's actual show, Conan, debuting next week? A little bit, actually.
more »
Tim Gunn's always a candid fellow, but the Project Runway mentor let loose at a Kate Spade event in Pennsylvania last Friday when he shared his feelings about surprise season-eight champion Gretchen Jones. He also revealed that during the judges' final deliberations, Heidi Klum pulled him aside and asked him to help sway the judges to vote for Mondo. Excuse me, Heidi! That is not Tim's job. And you should know better, Ms. Klum: He already turned you down once when you sought his help in rendering the season-ending decision.
more »
Charlie Sheen Week continues over here at Movieline with a spotlight on last night's remarkably titled episode, "The Crazy Bitch Gazette." Yes, a Monday night primetime network sitcom casually incorporated the single word that Oprah Winfrey has preemptively banned from her cable channel because it unnecessarily cuts women down. Was last night's title just a fluke or has the world's most incest monster-friendly sitcom been airing oddly misogynistic titled episodes during the last eight seasons, only we've been too distracted to notice? Take a look at the following evidence and judge for yourself.
more »
For Dancing with the Stars's 200th episode, celebrities from past seasons rejoined the cast and either mentored team dances, or sat in with the panel and judged one of the new contestants. (Did you see our girl Erin Andrews sitting with Evan Lysacek and Jake Pavelka?) Sixth-season winner Kristi Yamaguchi helped coach three of the remaining dancers in a swanky routine set to Michael Jackson's "Working Day and Night," which would've been an innocent task if it didn't seem like she purposely picked the worst team ever.
more »
If you hate fat people and jokes about the morbidly obese* getting busy on a bed of kettle corn then you would have hated last night's episode of Mike & Molly, "After the Lovin,'" in which CBS's lardy-yet-lovable leads navigate their relationship, well, after the lovin'. (The episode will also be cataloged in Movieline's archives as "The One With the Free Willy Joke.") Join us ahead for this week's extra-large Fat Joke Tracker.
more »
Have you ever watched a comedy like Two and a Half Men and thought to yourself, "This is not remotely funny." Or maybe you realized that the tears you felt streaming down your cheeks during an episode of Intervention did not spring from your eyes because of the incredible compassion you feel for the characters onscreen, but because you just heard the most hilarious-sounding cry escape an elderly man ever. Well, Movieline understands and just so happens to be here for you with a complete list of nine series running wild in the wrong genres.
more »
With just a week until Conan O'Brien premieres his new TBS series, late night put out one of its best Monday night line-ups in recent history. Over on The Daily Show, Zach Galifianakis remembered some of his scariest hitchhiking experiences and the time he met Jon Stewart. Meanwhile, Robert Downey Jr. offered Charlie Sheen some career advice, Stephen Colbert found his inner Mr. Rogers and Jonah Hill talked about the girl who broke his heart at Studio 8H and Will Ferrell sang "Imagine" with a boxing world champ.
more »
In a nutshell, last night's edition of Gossip Girl, cheekily titled "War at the Roses" (Blair Waldorf is actually a Rose, since her mother married Cyrus Rose; Wallace Shawn, who plays Cyrus, was sadly absent), was all about Serena van der Woodsen's nether regions. As in: Serena is apparently so horny all the time that she needs friends and enemies alike to prevent her from lady raping her chosen beau -- in this case, a Columbia professor played fittingly by Joan's rape-y husband from Mad Men. (Oh, Sam Page, someday you'll get far away from that moniker.)
more »
I'm always a little skeptical about specials like NBC's The Women of 'SNL' retrospective (which airs tonight), at least in theory. We've seen enough hilarious women in history to know that they don't need special, gender-centric commemoration, as if men are funnier and folks like Jane Curtin and Jan Hooks give a laudable second-place effort. But tonight's special is necessary for another reason: The women of Saturday Night Live have contributed singularly to comedy in the past 36 seasons, and one of their chief accomplishments remains under-appreciated.
more »
I knew Oprah Winfrey was up to no good when she reunited Love Story stars Ali MacGraw and Ryan O'Neal on her show. Now her mischievous intentions are clear: She's rehabilitating Ryan O'Neal's image for his OWN Network reality series Ryan and Tatum: The O'Neals, in which Ryan and his Oscar-winning daughter live together and work out their differences and (ahem) similarities. Fancy. But is Ryan and Tatum the best Oprah could do for a title? Here are ten better handles.
more »
This week's TV is catty, nasty, and perhaps a little brilliant. Take for instance Community, where the plucky Abed faces off against a 'mean girl' while showing off his own sass capacities. Will his celebrity-portrayed foe survive? Let's jump into a preview of this week's finest programming.
more »
In other words, if you're a fan of The Office, you're basically Jim Halpert. So says a new study by "psychographic ad targeter Mindset Media" about how the television shows you watch give marketers insights into your personality. For instance: "[W]atchers of The Office think they are superior to others. In fact, folks who consider themselves superior to others are 47 percent more likely to watch this show. These alpha dogs believe they are extraordinary and happily brag about their accomplishments." That's what she said?
more »
This is not the kind of Saturday Night Live Not-Ready-for-Prime-Time-Player Relevancy Poll I like to see: The rankings of the female cast members is a concern, with the three women not named Kristen Wiig all settled into the bottom three slots. As recent history has shown, this usually doesn't end well.
more »
