Four years after trying to revive Murphy Brown as a platform to chime in on the heated 2008 Clinton/Obama/McCain presidential campaign, the sitcom's creator, Diane English, is again talking to CBS and Warner Bros. about a series of political-commentary specials with Candice Bergen back in character as the tough-talking TV journalist.
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Sue Mengers, one of the most influential Hollywood agents during the 1960s, '70s and '80s, died following several small strokes, Vanity Fair reports. She claimed to be 78 years old, but some sources said she was 81.
According to Vanity Fair Editor Graydon Carter, Mengers died Saturday at her Beverly Hills home surrounded by close friends, Ali MacGraw, Joanna Poitier (wife of Sidney) and Boaty Boatwright.
Remember other celebrities we lost this year
Mengers was born in Germany and...
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The more things change, the more they sound the same. And so it was as American Idol returned this week — with shiny new judges, a flashy new opening, but the formula pretty much intact from before. (Delusional tone-deaf losers? Check. Precocious talents? Check. Inspirational sob stories? Name that tune, repeatedly.) One essential ingredient is, of course, missing: the curmudgeonly and biting snark, but also the tang of weary boredom, that was the hallmark of Simon Cowell. In his place, two charismatic supernovas who represent flip sides of the Paula coin: the ditsy loose cannon (an electrifying Steven Tyler) who blurts things like "I think you got the what-is-it-ness" when he's not leering at a parade of nubile Disney Channel refugees or drumming along to the groove of the better talents; and the beatific cheerleader (a luminous Jennifer Lopez) who's quick with the goosebumps and moist eyes and hates to say no. "I'm not in the business of crushing spirits," says J-Lo, who goes on to protest too much: "This is awful. I hate this! Why did I sign up for this?"
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Our top moments this week:
11. Worst Undercover Job: On Undercover Boss, Sheldon Yellen, CEO of disaster recovery company Belfor, does some immediate disaster recovery himself after hearing lowly employee ...
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Does no one have an original idea in TV land anymore? Judging from tonight's latest batch of mid-season offerings, it hardly appears so. Programmers have either gone to England for inspiration, rarely improving on the source material, or back to the drawing board of tried-and-true formats like the courtroom drama, resulting in an unhappy epidemic of deja view viewing.
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The best of tonight's premieres is Syfy's remake of Being Human (9/8c), and even it is a pale imitation of the provocative British original. Given the relatively limited reach of BBC America...
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