The entire pilot for ABC's new Friday night procedural The Women's Murder Club has been reshot. Why? Apparently, it was a little too mysterious for fans to follow. Executive producer Joe Simpson, tells TV Guide that there were too many characters and too many murders in the first attempt to turn James Patterson's best-selling novels about crime-solving female buddies into a TV series. "We tried to cover too much too early," Jessica and Ashlee's dad says. So one of the books' characters, Yuki Castellano (played by Elisabeth Ho) has been written out, and a simpler homicide written in. The version that will debut on October 12 is darker and more grisly as well. Although Patterson is a writer on the series, the only storyline expected to be copied from his novels is an ongoing search for a — what else — serial killer. In other changes, Rob Estes (CSI:Miami) has replaced the less-known Christopher Wiehl as the former hubby of cop Lindsay Boxer, played by series star Angie Harmo...
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Having recently jettisoned Larry Rudolph, the manager who strong-armed her into rehab, Britney Spears could next find herself under the guidance of Joe Simpson, dad to fellow blonde popsters Jessica and Ashlee. Sources tell the New York Daily News that Joe is hot to help salvage Brit's barely there career and even tried to confab with her this past weekend, and that Jessica is not only OK with the arrangement, but offered to dial Brit's digits on his behalf. (Alas, Jess got all hung up on the "Do I dial 1 plus area code?" thing.)
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Las Vegas physical improbability Nikki Cox tied the knot with Ghost Whisperer's Jay Mohr in a Friday-night ceremony held in Los Angeles, People reports.... Jessica Simpson and her nonboyfriend, musician John Mayer (whom she has not been dating), were spied "full-on making out" at a New Year's Eve bash thrown by Christina Aguilera, a spy tells the New York Daily News. Simpson's pa, Joe, meanwhile, reportedly owes the Kennedy Center Honors folk some $15,000 for prettying up Jess for the "9 to 5" number that was ultimately yanked from the telecast. But I digress as I giggle.
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In Ashlee Simpson's second album, In Another Life (due out Oct. 18), the oft-mocked sister of Jessica will deliver not one, but two songs making nods to the October 2004 Saturday Night Live lip-syncing fiasco that turned her into a (very funny) cocktail party punch line. "There is no way to get away from mistakes," the songstress' manager-father, Joe Simpson, tells MTV.com. "So we try to teach our girls the way to [face them] is head on." I hear the songs in question, "Beautifully Broken" and "Who Will Help Me When I Fall," are absolutely fantastic hoe-down material.
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Brace yourselves: Another Simpson is about to get the MTV-reality treatment. As previously reported, Jessica's 19-year-old actress sis, Ashlee — who plays Cecilia on WB's 7th Heaven — has landed a six-episode series that will chronicle the writing and recording of her as-yet-untitled debut rock album.
Premiering in June, Ashlee was pitched to MTV by manager dad Joe Simpson, who saw it as an opportunity for the actress-singer to break out of her famous older sister's shadow. "I knew people were going to say she got her record deal just because she's Jessica's sister," he says. "I wanted people to see Ashlee's the real deal."
While the cable network bit, Ashlee herself proved a tougher sell. "I was sort of anti-reality because my sister has her show," the younger Simpson admits. "But it's cool because it's the first time people will really get to see the real me."
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