Even as host of the most glamorous of Hollywood shows such as the Oscars and the Emmys, Ellen DeGeneres opted to sport beautifully tailored velvet or silk tuxedos instead of the more conventional gown. For that matter, it's been a very long time since fans have seen DeGeneres in a dress — but that may all change in January.A good friend of Deal or No Deal host Howie Mandel (who in turn has been a frequent guest on Ellen), DeGeneres will be his game show's first celebrity spokesmodel. That's right: DeGeneres will be one of the 26 briefcase-toting, elegant, sparkly dress-wearing women who may or may not be holding the million-dollar bag. "Ellen is a great supporter of the show and we were looking for our first celebrity model. Who better to do that than Ellen?" says Libby Hansen, NBC's vice president of alternative series and specials. DeGeneres' appearance will be shot on Nov. 9 and air sometime in January 2008.Ellen fans will get an early preview of the show, since DeGeneres wi...
read more
You know why TVGuide.com loves the cast of The Office? No, not just because they write all those clever celebrity blogs for us. And not because they're always eager to ring us up for a chat. It's because even after snagging all those awards, all that critical acclaim and all the support from NBC that they deserve, these actors still seem really grateful that their show is even on the air. Brian Baumgartner, aka "Kevin from accounting," called us to reflect on his momentous year, the sourc
read more
Hi, it's me, Kate Flannery from The Office [Thursdays at 8:30 pm/ET, on NBC]. This week's episode was a lot of fun to shoot. I must admit, in the past few weeks I was hesitant to mention some of my scenes because they didn't make it on the air. But NBC.com has been showing so many of my deleted scenes that I now feel comfortable bringing them up, as long as you keep in mind that you may have to watch them later on the Web (or on the Season 3 DVD extras). OK? That being said, "The Convict" was written by our show's British creators, Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. This is the first time they have written specifically for the American version of the show. Pretty cool. Now, usually when we shoot an episode, the writers are on the set all week when we shoot. Ricky and Stephen were not. They haven't been to the set very often. I love it when they come, but when I've seen Ricky there, it seems to me like he is looking at all of us with a sense of, "I can't believe that this exists bec...
read more
