Joely Fisher and Brad Garrett, 'Til Death
After disappearing from the airwaves in early October, many thought Fox's 'Til Death was on its way to the grave. But that doesn't appear to be the case.
Fox has ordered 22 episodes of the Brad Garrett and Joely Fisher comedy, which will return next season. The new order brings the series' episode total ...
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Joely Fisher by Jean-Paul Aussenard/WireImage.com
Joely Fisher and husband Christopher Duddy have adopted a baby girl, People reports.Olivia Luna Fisher-Duddy, who was born recently, joins big sisters Sklyar, 7, and True, 2, and big brothers Cameron, 22, and Collin, 20, Duddy's sons from his first marriage."They are all blissfully happy and enjoying their new baby sister," the 'Til Death star's rep said.Out of respect for the birth mother, Fisher will not be releasing more details. — Joyce EngWatch full episodes of 'Til Death in our Online Video Guide.
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Joley Fisher by Jemal Countess/WireImage.com
Joely Fisher knows what she's grateful for this Thanksgiving. After a car crash this past Monday, in which Fisher and her daughter True were hit head-on by a 91-year-old man who fell asleep at the wheel, she thanks her lucky stars that they got away unharmed. At the launch party for the book Altar Your Space at the Tara Home store in Los Angeles, the 'Til Death star showed TV Guide a minor burn on her chin from the bursting airbag. "I'm thankful that it wasn't worse than that," says Fisher. "We were belted in and [True] was in a car seat. It's pretty amazing." The accident only added to an already difficult week. Fisher and her costars have shut down production on 'Til Death due to the writers' strike, and they don't expect to start up again anytime soon. "I'm in support of the writers, they're absolutely right. I think the unfortunate thing is that the studios and networks were so prepared for this that they're going to have a huge fight on their hands. We could be in a lot of trou...
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Blake Lively and Penn Badgley in Gossip Girl by Andrew Eccles/The CW
Is it possible that this season, Wednesdays are the new Thursdays? An incredible amount of high-profile new programming — nine freshman series in all — will be introduced to the Wednesday prime-time schedule over the next few weeks, and when the dust settles, I can only hope a few of my new favorites will survive.First up are CBS, the CW and Fox, launching their newbies a week before the official season begins. The biggest headlines so far have been generated by CBS' unseen-by-critics and instantly controversial Kid Nation, a reality show in which 40 kids are set loose in a desert ghost town (actually an unused film set) and tasked to create a Utopian adult-free society. Sounded kind of prosocial and heartwarming until all those red flags began to surface about possible abuse of child-labor laws, penurious confidentiality agreements that made boilerplate mention of such possible reality-show liabilities as STDs, and allegations of injuries on the set. Something tells me th...
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Katherine Heigl and Kevin Dillon by John Shearer/WireImage.com
And some people worried that getting Ryan Seacrest to host this year’s Emmy telecast was going to be the producers’ worst idea. That’s before we got a look at the set, an unwieldy and unappealing theater-in-the-round setup that looked more suitable for the new American Gladiators revival than for an awards show. The nominees, half of whom saw only the backs of the various presenters and performers, had a deer-in-the-headlights look every time Seacrest approached them or the cameras awkwardly cut to them. They appeared to be sitting in penalty boxes, not deluxe auditorium seats.Honestly, though, we poor schnooks at home were the ones suffering the penalty here: as in, confronted with one of the worst Emmy telecasts I can remember. As Emmy years go, I’m actually at peace with the majority of the winners, given who was and wasn’t nominated (and we’ve been over that frustrating ground plenty of times since the July nominations). Learning who won was a lot m...
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Question: Is their any chance that 'Til Death will be renewed for next season and possibly paired up with the new sitcom starring Patricia Heaton and Kelsey Grammer? Since Heaton and Grammer are so well-known for the characters that they have played on other series, what are the chances that their new show will be successful? Sure, they have name recognition, and perhaps people will tune in to watch the first week. Will those viewers accept the actors in their new roles, or will they expect to see Frasier Crane and Debra Barone?
Answer: Case in point regarding the previous question: 'Til Death is now looking more and more like a contender for renewal, thanks in large part to the ratings spike that occurred once it was scheduled behind the American Idol results show on Wednesdays. And given the fact that 'Til Death is something of a star vehicle, with the Brad Garrett-Joely Fisher squabbling the primary reason to tune in, it probably would be a good fit with the star-driven
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There was a comment left on last week's blog that it should be a requirement to be married to review this show. Well hey, I'm engaged so that will have to count for now. I can certainly relate to a diamond ring in the middle of a cantaloupe, though. I mean, I shoved it deep inside a watermelon when I proposed and that worked out well. OK, I'm just kidding about that ? it was actually a pineapple. Seriously though, most of you seem to think this show is crap. For some reason I think it's getting funnier. Maybe I'm demented (and maybe so are the four of you who said you liked it last week, too), but I think the five of us are right. This is really a quality comedy if you like lowbrow put-downs for 30 minutes. How about Eddie throwing the engagement ring at Joy? When she complains about the ring hitting her in the boob he compares it to "pitching softball to a slow kid." Ha. The way he proposed the first time around was better, though ? straight out of Top Gun when he asked her to "rid...
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After the premiere last week, one of the first comments I got was that we should be expecting more than just sex jokes from our shows. I think we are clearly getting the picture that 'Til Death will not be that show. I really hope this isn't the way the future goes. I'm not married yet, but the scenarios in this show somehow actually seem plausible to me. The newlywed Steph likes to buy furniture sight unseen, and, in return for Jeff's turning a blind eye to his girly house, he gets sex. Who's going to argue with sex, right? But then there's Joy, who learns of this technique and tries it on Eddie, who must research everything before buying, and he actually turns the sex down. Who's going to argue with manly patio furniture, right? OK, so maybe this isn't so plausible after all. Joy's actually offering Eddie "daytime sex" was funny. How many ways can Eddie put down his wife here? "You realize it's light out; I'll be able to see you," he says. Or after really giving it some thought, g...
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Question: Now that Arrested Development is gone, does Fox have any promising new comedies set for its fall lineup? I read that they have a Brad Garrett show, but that doesn't really feel like the kind of cutting-edge comedy they have attempted for so many years now. Have they finally given up after canceling most of their best comedies too soon, or have the cutting-edge comedies gotten tired of being jerked around by Fox?
Answer: It's true that this season Fox is going more mainstream in its comedy choices. Fox Entertainment chief Peter Liguori says the network did develop a few single-camera (read: cutting-edge) pilots that didn't work out. I think it's a mistake, though, to assume that just because a comedy is done the old-fashioned way (with multiple cameras on a soundstage before a studio audience) it's automatically not as worthy or as funny as a more stylized, filmed piece (à la Arrested Development, Scrubs or My Name Is Earl). Some terrific work can still be done in this format.
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Here are several updates on stuff I reported in this week's Ask Ausiello as well as some new scoops mixed in. Enjoy! I can now confirm that Marlee Matlin has signed on to appear in 11 episodes of Showtime's The L Word. The deal just closed and, even though this drama is so far off my radar it's virtually undetectable, I wanted to bring you the official word ASAP. The Oscar winner will play a deaf artist who takes a shine to Jennifer Beals' Bette. She'll first show up in the fourth-season premiere in January. Speaking of shows I probably should be watching, Disney's teen phenom Hannah Montana has reeled in a pretty big fish. I'm told Dolly Parton will make a guest appearance this summer. I'm not sure who she's playing, but very reliable sources say her character will have huge knockers. Regarding the fate of The King of Queens, another source told me yesterday that "the show is definitely dead." Still no confirmation from CBS. My Eric Balfour mole (yes, I now have a mole assigned sp...
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