Geena Davis by Tony Barson/ WireImage.com
Geena Davis, who on TV last occupied no less than the White House, is eyeing a return to the tube, as the star of Exit 19, a pilot presentation for CBS. In the drama, Davis will play "a quirky murder detective balancing her job... with her role as a single suburban mom raising two kids on Long Island."CBS entertainment boss Nina Tassler, says Variety, has long been trying to lock down Davis for a series, since both women graduated from Boston University. It's a good thing Tassler didn't go to Syracuse; Exit 19 might have ended up starring that crazy chick who used to drive me home at winter recess.
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Harvey, we hardly knew ya. Just hours after word broke that Harvey Keitel was thisclose to signing a contract with Criminal Minds for the spot left vacant by the disappearing Mandy Patinkin, sources say the deal is no longer on the table. This makes Keitel the latest big name to be stricken from the show’s most-wanted list. Others include Geena Davis, Michael Keaton and Bob Hoskins. Despite the suspense surrounding the search, we hear the show is still chugging along fine without the replacement. The first three episodes are already in the can (with Patinkin’s absence being dealt with in the season-opener). This means that whoever the new character is, he/she (and we suspect it’s a he) won’t be appearing until later in the season. — Reporting by Jonathan SmallRelated: Harvey Keitel Emerges as Front-runner for Criminal Minds Top Spot
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Mandy Patinkin by Michael Desmond/Touchstone Television
It's official. Doris Roberts and I are the only two remaining showbiz "names" that haven't been approached about replacing Mandy Patinkin on Criminal Minds.Early on, you'll recall, Oscar winner Geena Davis was considered to be the front-runner to get the job. But she took a pass, according to my spy, because she wasn't keen on "the nature of the show." (Funny — she didn't seem to have a problem with "the nature" of the Geena Davis Show, and that was god-awful.) Michael Keaton nixed the gig, too, presumably because he wasn't ready to do TV full-time.And they're just the tip of the iceberg. To give you some idea of just how wide a net the show's producers are casting, I've listed some celebs that are under consideration below, with a few key letters asterisked out to protect their anonymity. Of course, if Shemar Moore wants to blab their identities, too, who am I to shush him?Among the stars who've been approached and took a pass:**b ***k*n*J*** **t**owSi****ne* **av*r Among the ...
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Geena Davis by Steve Granitz/WireImage.com
The search for Mandy Patinkin's replacement on Criminal Minds may be over.At CBS' press-tour soiree this evening, Minds man Shemar Moore essentially confirmed what I've been hearing all day: Geena Davis has emerged as the front-runner to succeed Patinkin. Moore, who was in a very chatty mood, also name-dropped Michael Keaton as a possible successor, but sources tell me that Keaton has officially passed. What else did Moore have to say? Loads. • On Patinkin's abrupt exit: "I don't like that he did this the way he did this. I don't. I don't think it's right. He left us hanging a little bit... no warning, no nothing. We all showed up to work on Day 1, and he didn't. And we've been scrambling. But we're going to be all right without him. I just feel like he needs to take responsibility for his actions… [and] just acknowledge us, because it's an ensemble, it's a team.... We just want the courtesy and the respect that we deserve. And we felt like if he had given us that initial...
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Question: I am so disappointed that ABC canceled Commander in Chief! I know many other people are upset, too. Geena Davis received a Golden Globe, the episodes were so believable, and even though there were serious breaks in the season, it was a great show. Do you think the head honchos at ABC received pressure from certain political parties to silence the show? I know that the writers or directors were changed midstream, but I think the show was still good and could have come back given support, creative freedom and consistency in its airdates. Do you think politics were involved?
Answer: Nope. Just a bad case of network mismanagement, which ABC now admits. They should never have taken the show away from its creator, Rod Lurie. As great a producer as Steven Bochco is, this was not a good fit. The creative disarray, which I thought became quite noticeable on screen, doomed the show, along with ABC's erratic scheduling once the powers-that-be gave up on it. Had nothing to do with it ...
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Question: Ugh! This year's Emmy nominations are complete crap. Damn it, Michael, you should have slept with the judges to get Lauren Graham in there.
Answer: Believe me, had that option been presented to me, I would have whored myself out in a heartbeat. Speaking of the egregious Graham snub, I was chatting with a network exec the day after the noms and he remarked that, with LG's film career heating up, she'll probably be nominated for an Academy Award before she lands her first Emmy bid. How unbelievably ironic (and fitting) would that be? Oh, and in case you're wondering what Rob Thomas thought of Kristen Bell's second consecutive Emmy diss, wonder no more. "Hey, I loved Geena Davis in The Accidental Tourist, too — that doesn't mean she's better in Commander in Chief than Kristen is
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Hugh Laurie, House
Question: Six of one, half dozen of the other, huh? So much for the "improved" Emmy nomination process. It seems that just as many glaring omissions were made this time around as before, just different ones. Now, rather than the overlooked performers from small shows getting shafted, the respected stars from equally respected shows got the pie in the face. How any panel of humans viewing televised programming could find five more deserving fellow Homo sapiens than Hugh Laurie in the best-lead-actor category boggles the mind. Yes, Denis Leary, Gregory Itzin and Jean Smart got welcome nods, but the rest? Sheesh! No James Gandolfini or Edie Falco, but Martin Sheen and Geena Davis? No Jason Bateman or Lauren Graham, but Kevin James and Sto
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Question: Hope you had a great vacation!! I heard that ABC is making a TV-movie to wrap up Commander in Chief. Is anything certain?
Answer: Geena Davis was on Jimmy Kimmel last week and said talks were ongoing. I say there's a better than 50 percent chance that it'll happen.
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Reunion, Love Monkey and Commander in Chief
Reunion. Threshold. E-Ring. Invasion. Emily's Reasons Why Not. Love Monkey. Commander in Chief. Heist.
What do these shows have in common? They all debuted at some point during this soon-to-wrap TV season, yet each saw their run either cut surprisingly short or handicapped by irregular scheduling. Was 2005-06 the worst year ever to sample a new show? Were the networks especially hasty in deciding the fate of freshman series? TVGuide.com consulted a panel of experts with unique points of view to examine this strange little season gone by.
Are New Shows Getting Short Shrift?Jeff Bader, executive vice president of ABC entertainment programming and scheduling, dismisses the suggestion that prime time is a crueler-than-ever proving ground for new series. "
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Natasha Henstridge, Commander in Chief
Sure, all the headlines have been about the backstage power-shifts going on at ABC's Commander in Chief (Thursdays at 10 pm/ET), but there's a whopper of an on-screen power grab on the horizon. (Three words: Templeton in charge!) On the way to work yesterday, Natasha Henstridge, who plays the silver fox's chief of staff, Jayne Murray, spoke with TVGuide.com about Chief's never-boring term.
TVGuide.com: The fact that you're on your way to the set kind of answers my first question about whether new show-runner Dee Johnson is working you.Natasha Henstr
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