This weekend's Saturday Night Live will serve up a new slew of previously aired holiday-themed skits. Unfortunately, I have a feeling the title "Thanksgiving Leftovers" will be the cleverest thing about it.... VH1 will debut Larry the Cable Guy's Christmas Spectacular, featuring everyone from Flavor Flav to George Wendt, on Dec. 5.... On Dec. 23, CBS will go biblical on our asses with In God's Name, a heavy-duty special in which a dozen religious leaders address our the toughest questions of our time.... Neil Diamond has finally revealed that his hit "Sweet Caroline" was inspired by JFK's daughter. And before you go there, let me thank you in advance for not making any assumptions about the substitute TVGuide.com news editor who inspired Michael Jackson's "Ben." — Ben Katner
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Friedman Paul Erhardt, aka Chef Tell, died at the age of 63 on Friday. His good humor and heavy German accent made him a well-loved fixture on such shows as Regis and Kathie Lee and Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, but he is perhaps most famous for being the rumored inspiration for The Muppet Show's hysterical Swedish Chef.... Larry the Cable Guy (aka Dan Whitney) and wife Cara welcomed into the world a daughter, Reagan, on Monday, People reports. "I hope I'll be able to relate to a little girl," the comedian says on his website. "I'm just hoping Skoal comes out with a strawberry and cream dip!"Tuesday's Today's News was written by Ben Katner.
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VH1 will gift viewers this coming yuletide season with a comedy-musical special fronted by Larry the Cable Guy, says the Hollywood Reporter. To be taped in early August (how festive!) in Las Vegas (how sacrosanct!), the special, says Larry's manager, aims to "push the envelope and go out there with such bits as roasting Santa Claus." "Roasting" as in chestnuts/open fire, or as in having Don Rickles crack jokes about Kris Kringle's prostate?
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Per the Hollywood Reporter, Jared Padalecki (Supernatural) will portray Thomas Kinkade in The Christmas Cottage, the first of three planned films inspired by the painter and his works.... Per Variety, Harrison Ford, Ray Liotta and Sean Penn will star in Crossing Over, a drama about illegal immigration.... Leonardo DiCaprio is in talks to star in an adaptation of the David Ignatius novel Body of Lies. Ridley Scott will direct.... Larry the Cable Guy is a small-town sheriff in Witless Protection, costarring Ivana Milicevic (Love Monkey), Peter Stormare (Prison Break) and Joe Montegna.
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Last week on Fox's 24 (Mondays at 9 pm/ET), CTU staffer Nadia Yassir was identified as a mole feeding info to this season's baddies, prompting Ricky Schroder's Mike Doyle to give her a helluva scare in the interrogation room. But is Nadia really a turncoat? Or is she the victim of a masterful, 24-style setup? TVGuide.com debriefed Marisol Nichols on her character's unfortunate pickle.
TVGuide.com: First off, talk CTU to me....Marisol Nichols: "I need you to upload the link to the variable... thing and decode it to my computer."
TVGuide.com: "The variable thing"?Nichols: How about, "Upload the video image to my feed and decrypt it using an H5 QS"?
TVGuide.com: Wow. You and Mary Lynn [Rajs
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