How is it possible that this is still going on? Despite the fact that all signs pointed to new Glee co-star Chord Overstreet playing the part of Kurt's prom king boyfriend, creator Ryan Murphy has finally gone on the record to say he won't be. "It's definitely not Chord," Murphy told E! Online. So does that mean it will be Darren Criss, the web star who was recently cast as gay high school student, Blair? "The new character is certainly an option. I'm not sure how soon I want to [reveal] that information. because it's such a big storyline of the year -- I want there to be some surprises." Uh-huh. Which gets to the problem with this merry-go-round.
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Last night's Modern Family was a meditation on boundaries. Actually, is that true? Or do I just mean America's boundaries, you puritanical cads? To be precise, the episode was about Mitchell's public affection phobia, Phil Dunphy's laggard superintendent skills (I called him Schenider throughout the episode), Alex's boy foibles, and Jay's stoicism. And one benign gay kiss that will rock your great-aunt's babushka...So. Effing. Hard. But who reigns as this episode's "Family Member of the Week"? Is Claire Dunphy about to seal back-to-back victories?
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Dick Wolf's Law & Order franchise has translated hundreds of fascinating newspaper headlines into television gold by using a foolproof formula that is digestible for viewers, easy to repeat (L&O has cranked out 22 hour-long episodes per season) and so addictive that it kept audiences hooked to the original series for two decades. With that understanding, and the expectation that last night's Law & Order: Los Angeles pilot could usher in the first of 20 seasons, it was disappointing to see Wolf begin his newest spin-off with the most over saturated headline in Hollywood: Lindsay Lohan.
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That's it? Yes, that's it: Last night on Modern Family, the much-discussed, debated and campaigned kiss between Mitchell Pritchett and Cam Tucker finally occurred, and it was probably much simpler and quieter than you imagined. During "The Kiss" (look for Louis Virtel's Modern Family Family Member of the Week recap later today), an episode which dealt with the fact that Jay doesn't show affection to Mitchell, the gay couple shared the briefest and most natural of on-screen smooches this side of, well, Modern Family. Click ahead to watch the video and prepare to say, "awwww."
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High profile endorsements don't get much higher in profile than this. At small-town gathering yesterday, President Barack Obama singled out The Daily Show host Jon Stewart and his upcoming, Glenn Beck-ian "Rally to Restore Sanity" in Washington, DC on Oct. 30. You'll excuse the president for not getting the name right, however. The dude has plenty on his mind.
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Jimmy Fallon may not fit the classic late night host model in that he cracks up during interviews, laughs at his own monologue jokes and stages wet t-shirt competitions with stars, but the man can put together one hell of a musical number. Look no further than his impressive hip hop medley with Justin Timberlake and The Roots and ask yourself, "Who else in late night could have pulled that off?"
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Who's ready for a moment of peak adorableness from Cameron and Mitchell on Modern Family? Aw, I am, dammit! And I'm also ready for Survivor shenanigans and the debut of Law & Order: Los Angeles. Join me for a rundown of tonight's finest viewing options.
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Boardwalk empress Snooki is writing a novel that seems to recall her exploits on Jersey Shore, that show of hers. According to the book's press release, Shore Thing (ugh, what? No Juicehead Revisited? Mein Poof?) will be a "fun, sexy novel about a single girl looking for love on the Jersey shore," complete with "big hair, dark tans, and fights galore." Yeah, that's fine -- but when Hollywood decides to turn Shore Thing into a major cineplex draw (and assuming this protagonist is a Snooki snookelganger), who will play her? Movieline investigates.
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The premiere of ABC's sci-fi-family-mockumentary-Incredibles update No Ordinary Family did little to hide the fact that these suburban superhumans are pretty damn ordinary. From the looks of the ratings, the Michael Chiklis series seems destined to survive a full season. Or at least longer than Lone Star. In order to do that, though, it will have to survive its list of shortcomings.
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During last week's Parenthood, Sarah Braverman put her brother in a difficult situation by flirting with his supervisor over chocolate pudding. As delicious as that conversation may have seemed to them, it was a rotten dessert for Adam. He dealt with the ignominy by passive aggressively storing his resentment, only unloading fits of white, middle-class rage on Sarah days later for no apparent reason. The valuable lessons continued last night with the episode, "I'm Cooler Than You Think," in which no character proved that they were cooler than you think.
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Mr. Schuester would be so proud (and creepy). The Britney Spears fever dream episode of Glee drew in 13.3 million viewers, making it even bigger than the Madonna episode in the spring. According to Fox, "this is the first time in 17 years that the highest-rated entertainment program of premiere week grew in Week 2 among adults 18-49 and total viewers (since Fall '93, Seinfeld)." Expect to see an all-Christina Aguilera episode sometime in season three. [THR/The Live Feed]
Dancing with the Stars sent another amateur trotter to the glue factory last night, and girls, it was not sad. The losing dancer was downright surly for how inevitable his/her elimination was, and we caught it all on tape. Or rather, the Internet did. (It's faster than I am.)
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There is no way to cram six Britney Spears songs into an episode of Glee organically. Or so viewers learned last night when Ryan Murphy materialized in millions of U.S. homes viewers (at once, like Santa Claus), slipped them a gnarled episode that he engineered himself and fled into the night so that his audience could experience a mediocre high with hallucinations of Uncle Jesse from Full House. "Britney/Brittany" was traumatic and disappointing and no doubt left you itching for a hit of Glee, the way Murphy used to make it. Rather than hitting the streets in desperation, review the highs and lows with Movieline below. As always, there will be a pop quiz at the end -- so pay attention!
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It was a special night for afterhours television. Jon Stewart stopped by the Ed Sullivan Theater and coaxed his late night peer David Letterman into finally explaining why Oprah hated him all of those years. Meanwhile, Chelsea Handler and Stephen Colbert talked about Katy Perry's Sesame Street cleavage and Jimmy Fallon helped Law & Order: SVU fans realize their wet t-shirt fantasy.
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It wasn't supposed to happen this way for James Wolk. The relative newcomer was positioned as one of the breakout candidates of the fall because of his performance on the high-profile Fox series Lone Star. (It wasn't just Movieline; honest!) Fame, fortune and talk of being the Next George Clooney were surely to follow, except for one teensy, little problem: No one watched Lone Star; late yesterday it became the first fall series to get canceled. Does this mean Wolk's star will burnout before it even lights up? Hopefully not! Here are six shows that could help put his breakout career back on the tracks.
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