Mike Myers, Shrek the Halls
The timing was monstrously perfect. ABC was on the hunt for fresh holiday stories, DreamWorks was looking to expand its fantastically successful Shrek franchise to television, and, when last we saw him, the big green ogre was enjoying proud fatherhood with three adorable ogrelets. What better occasion for a visit than the babies' first Christmas? Thus was born Shrek the Halls (Wednesday, Nov. 28, at 8 pm/ET, ABC), a 30-minute special that, for some fans, just might steal Christmas from that other green, grinchier guy. The new special finds Shrek celebrating the holidays with wife Fiona, their children and lots of unexpected guests — Donkey, Puss in Boots and others from the enormously popular big-screen trilogy. Halls also retains the franchise's movie-quality animation and its original voice cast, including Mike Myers, Eddie Mu
read more
D.L. Hughley
Last year at this time, comedian D.L. Hughley was on one of the hottest shows on TV. At least that's what everyone thought Aaron Sorkin's Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip would be until it slowly faded away into irrelevancy. Nonetheless, Hughley quickly moved on and is now going off in his new HBO stand-up special, "Unapologetic" (airing Saturday at 10 pm/ET). Here, Hughley talks about why he's not looking for forgiveness, the reason he thinks Studio 60 tanked, and whether or not he can take a joke like the victims on his recent BET hidden-camera show, S.O.B.
TVGuide.com: Why is the special called "Unapologetic"?
D.L. Hughley: Because nowadays when anybody passi
read more
Christie’s employee Leonia Ashfield surveys some of the highly coveted Star Trek wares.
When item No. 712 was announced at Christie's Star Trek auction, the assembled crowd oohed and aahed with anticipation. "Is this an important lot?" joked auctioneer Richard Brierley. No doubt. It was the Starship Enterprise-D, the 78-inch model used for exterior shots on Star Trek: The Next Generation. In just three minutes, the presale estimate of $35,000 was photon-torpedoed, and ultimately an anonymous phone bidder ponied up $576,000 for the top seller of the October 5-7 auction. That single-item expenditure even surpassed the $284,800 that was taken in by the Enterprise-A model, which had been used for the first six Trek films. (In case you were wondering, the model featured in the original 1966-69 series is housed at the Smithsonian.)
The $576K Enterprise-D wasn't the only "anomaly" during this most unusu
read more
Jimmy Kimmel
At the beginning of 2003 there were two men fighting for ABC's dignity in late-night TV. And wouldn't you know it, the considerably less funny Ted Koppel is long gone, while Jimmy Kimmel is proudly celebrating his first prime-time special. Airing tonight at 10 pm/ET, Jimmy Kimmel Live's All-Star Salute to Jimmy Kimmel Live! will feature clip highlights, an appearance by Ben Stiller... and likely lots of airtime for Guillermo, the show's parking-lot security guard, who's in more comedy sketches than half of SNL's cast. On his way into work, Kimmel spoke with TVGuide.com by phone about his show's renewal through 2008, his new game show, and of course, read more
Survivor boss Mark Burnett knows about alliances. And so it's no surprise that in Gold Rush (aol.com/goldrush), the online reality game in which he's partnered with AOL, there's an element of teamwork — up to a point. "Not unlike how you play Survivor," explains Gold Rush exec producer Ted Smith, "you sometimes depend upon the collective to advance yourself."
The collective in this case is the Gold Buddies you pick, who you can instant-message for help as you compete in the pop-culture challenges. And if you're one of three finalists to get to the coveted vault, you can actually phone as many as five of those comrades to help you win one of the $100,000 awards, or even the million-dollar grand prize.
But who should you pick? "You want the guy who's sitt
read more
Mark Burnett's Gold Rush is almost on!
Survivor/Apprentice mastermind Mark Burnett's new project may not make your boss very happy. However, Burnett says, "While you're working on your computer, it's OK to have little breaks and do something."
That "something," if it's up to Burnett, will be Gold Rush, his first online competition. Hosted by Entertainment Tonight's Mark Steines, the interactive game, which runs from Sept. 13 throu
read more
Mark Steines leads the Gold Rush.
Survivor exec producer Mark Burnett has finally found a way to give away more than a million dollars without the mandatory starvation diet. This time, instead of making people sweat and backstab on a tropical island, he's partnered with AOL in a new online competition called Gold Rush. For seven straight weeks starting Sept. 13, you can head over to aol.com/goldrush to compete in pop-culture challenges, some which lead to clues found in various commercials, magazines and CBS shows.
"It's like The Da Vinci Code," explains Entertainment Toni
read more
When Tina Fey met Ty Pennington....
Saturday Night Live's Tina Fey is a major Ty Pennington fan. From the early days of Trading Spaces to his hit ABC show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, she's been there. (She's even checked out his line of home furnishings from Sears.) But little did Tina know that the man with the megaphone has been watching her every Saturday as she skewers world leaders and pop culture on SNL's Weekend Update. With a little help from TV Guide, this
read more
Loni Anderson, So Notorious
When VH1's So Notorious premieres this Sunday (10 pm/ET), it may leave some viewers a bit confused. They may think, "Hey, I never knew Loni Anderson was Tori Spelling's real mother...." But no, that's not one of Hollywood's best-kept secrets. Anderson, of course, is only playing the part in this fictionalized version of Tori's life. While Tori's real mother is Candy, Anderson is "Kiki," a twisted version of Aaron Spelling's wife. "Candy is a really nice lady," says Anderson, best known for her classic role as Jennifer Marlowe on WKRP in Cincinnati. "And, as we all know, being nice isn't funny. So Tori needed a nemesis, and I am the mother you love to hate."
TVGuide.com: How did this role come about for you?
Loni Anderson: I had to kind of fight to get in because they didn't want a celebrity name for the part. They wanted Tori to be the only celebrity because th
read more
Cher Tenbush and Josh Herman, Beauty and the Geek
Who would have thought that a show called Beauty and the Geek could be one of the nicest reality shows on television? This season began with seven guys and girls paired up with the goal of pushing everyone out of their comfort zones, all while shooting for a $250,000 payday. The winners of executive producer Ashton Kutcher's "social experiment" this time were Josh Herman, 27, and Cheryl Tenbush, 24 — a surprise in only that this nondating show resulted in a romance for Cher and fellow contestant Wes Wilson. Since Beauty and the Geek wrapped, Josh has sold a comedy screenplay to Fox and Cher has moved out to L.A. (But as our phone call will reveal, it seems she's not out there by her lonesome....)
read more
