Come 2008, expect a sequel to Madagascar, again featuring the voices of Chris Rock, Ben Stiller and Jada Pinkett Smith as Marty the Zebra, Alex the Lion and Gloria the Hippo, respectively. Meanwhile, the Madagascar penguins will get their own DVD release in 2009.... Variety reports that Martin Short is in talks to play a villainous Jack Frost in The Santa Clause 3, which again will star Tim Allen as the North Pole VIP.
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Jennifer Aniston
The first batch of performers has been announced for Friday's multinetwork telethon, Shelter from the Storm: A Concert for the Gulf Coast, and they include newly engaged Sheryl Crow, the Dixie Chicks, Alicia Keys, Randy Newman, Paul Simon, Rod Stewart and Neil Young. Among the nonmusically inclined celebs slated to appear are Jennifer Aniston, Cameron Diaz, Ellen DeGeneres, Jack Nicholson, Chris Rock, Ray Romano and Sela Ward. Kanye West, meanwhile, will serve as host. Psych!!! Speaking of the little rabble-rouser...
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Late Saturday Night Liver Chris Farley received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame Friday, nearly eight years after the comedian died of an accidental overdose of morphine and cocaine at age 33. SNL alums David Spade, Chris Rock and Adam Sandler were on hand to pay tribute to Farley. Everyone else was stuck on the 405.
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Chris Rock
UPN thinks everybody is going to love Everybody Hates Chris. In the weeks leading up to the show's Sept. 22 premiere, it will be hard to avoid it.
The show created by Chris Rock and based on his childhood years is getting the biggest promotional blitz in the history of UPN. You'll see the usual stuff — ads that run before movies in theaters and on DVDs, posters on every New York City bus and tons of radio ads. But UPN thinks Rock's show deserves extra-special treatment.
Starting in September, the entire pilot episode will be shown on American Airline flights that carry CBS programming. That amounts to 4 million captive viewers. George Schweitzer, marketing chief for CBS and UPN, says no new show has ever been given that kind of exposure before its premiere.
UPN has also sent "street teams," outfitted in Chris T-shirts, to urban centers to distribute up to 1 million DVD copies of the pilot. They were at the X Games earlier this month and are
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My Name Is Earl
How does NBC entertainment president Kevin Reilly describe a season in which his network tumbled from first to fourth place?
"[It] was kind of a colonic," he told the Television Critics Association press tour in Beverly Hills, Calif., Sunday.
Is that covered by parent company General Electric's health plan? ("I think it's 80 percent," one exec told us.) But seriously, folks, Reilly is trying to look at his network's sudden biggest-loser status as a cleansing experience that will prepare all involved to take on the task of rebuilding a prime-time schedule.
"It literally took any residual sense of entitlement or complacency at our company and blew it out, so to speak," he said. "I do feel a thirst for creativity and a focus for getting NBC back on the leading edge. This is what it's going to take ultimately to fuel our comeback."
In a rare admission for a programming executive, Reilly said NBC has been "in denial" about its downward m
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Everybody Hates Chris
Executive Session
9:09 "We’re thrilled to see everyone except Michael Ausiello today," UPN’s top PR gal, Joanna Massey, announces to the room. She might just as well have said the middle part ‘cause I know she was thinking it. As one insider recently confided to me, "You’re on UPN’s [poopy] list ever since you did that interview with [Veronica Mars creator] Rob Thomas." That probably explains why they didn’t deliver Snapple to my room like they did last year. I suppose I should be grateful I got the press binder.
9:11 Network chief Dawn Ostroff, in bragging about UPN’s impressive year, cites a 13 percent surge in viewership among the women 18-34 demo. Meanwhile, I’m pretty sure
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