Mary Tyler Moore by Steve Granitz/ WireImage.com
She can turn the world on with a smile, but can she turn more viewers on to a sophomore-season drama? Seven-time Emmy winner Mary Tyler Moore has been booked for a multi-episode arc on NBC's Lipstick Jungle, playing mom to Brooke Shields' Wendy. Moore's alter ego, Joyce, is a retired high-powered executive who forces Wendy to question the ideal of "Having it all." And then a clown named Chuckles dies and they attend the funeral together. — Matt Mitovich
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Alec Baldwin courtesy NBC Photo
No awards system is perfect, and the TCA Awards is no exception. But arriving two days after the often-inexplicable results of the Emmy nominations, Saturday night's low-key, good-time TCA Awards ceremony at the Beverly Hilton was a welcome course correction to several especially egregious Emmy oversights. (And, lo and behold, nary a mention of Boston Legal anywhere.)First up: Michael C. Hall, ignored by the Emmys but cited by the TCA for “Individual Achievement in Drama,” for his mesmerizing performance in Showtime's Dexter as a serial killer targeting Miami's lowest forms of criminal life. (Other contenders in this category included Friday Night Lights' Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton, also shamefully snubbed at the Emmys.)Friday Night Lights, a near shutout at the Emmys despite its status as a first-year critics’ darling (and recipient of Peabody and AFI awards), was later named Outstanding New Program. (The field also included 30 Rock, Dexter, Heroes and Ugly Bet...
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Carlos Alazraqui, Reno 911!
From Barney Fife to Barney Miller, cops and comedy have made hysterical bedfellows. Comedy Central's cult hit Reno 911! is proof that the bumbling-police shtick remains in fine hands. The mostly improvised series plays its Cops-like parody for plenty of white-trash gags and silly sexual innuendos. Comic Carlos Alazraqui, who plays dim-witted deputy James Garcia, took a few moments away from World Cup action to lay down the law with TVGuide.com about his screwy series arriving on DVD this week, what the new season promises, and what's up with these modern Keystone Kops hitting movie screens. TVGuide.com: So, Reno 911! — The Complete Third Season is here on DVD.Carlos Alazraqui: Yeah, and fans will love the
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Question: It seems a given, in the many questions about network scheduling that you receive, that Saturday night is where TV shows go to die, so no one schedules a potential keeper on Saturday. Yet within living memory (mine, at least), CBS had a killer Saturday lineup that would put any recent "must-see" night to shame (All in the Family, M*A*S*H, Mary Tyler Moore, Bob Newhart, Carol Burnett). I know we went out on Saturday night in the '70s (and with no TiVo, or even VCRs). It can't just be due to the fracturing of cable — if the audience is really too small on Saturday, then it's too small whether your share is 15 percent or 35 percent. I've been looking back trying to find the tipping point, but I can't see when the landscape changed. What in the business has caused this change in perception? On a completely unrelated note: I have fallen in love with Slings & Arrows. Has there been, or is there going to be, a third season? I need more of New Burbage!
Answer: First off, I'm thrilled
...
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Question: I read a question-and-answer that was originally published in September 2005. The question was about Laura Petrie's maiden name on The Dick Van Dyke Show. The answer was Meehan. I recall one episode in which her maiden name was Meeker, and then in subsequent episodes it was Meehan. I remember reading an explanation, but I don't remember what it was.
Answer: No problem, Laura — luckily, I do. Mary Tyler Moore, who played Laura on the legendary show, divorced husband Richard Meeker and didn't want to keep his name as her character's maiden name. So via the magic of TV, it changed. Want to make a fortune? Invent a machine allowing us to change the past without any other ill effects in real life, too.
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Laura Prepon in Romancing the Bride
Laura Prepon, who has played Donna on Fox's That '70s Show since its 1998 premiere, returns to the "present day" to headline Oxygen's Romancing the Bride (premiering Dec. 3 at 8 pm/ET), a romantic comedy in which an always-in-control bride-to-be embarks on a "Dude, Where's My Car?"-type journey to piece together how she woke up in bed with — and married to! — a hunky Latino stranger (played by Days of our Lives alum Matt Cedeno; see related Q&A in Soaps News). TVGuide.com spoke with Prepon about the inherent evil of wedding dresses, the potential glory of furry pink handcuffs and the out-of-this-world joy o
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Question: What was Laura Petrie's maiden name?
Answer: Oh, please, mortal. You think to test me not only with your question, but also with the omission of the specific show?
The maiden name of Laura Petrie (Mary Tyler Moore), wife of Rob Petrie (Dick Van Dyke) on The Dick Van Dyke Show, was Meehan.
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Question: Could you please tell me what year and network Get Christie Love was on and who was its star? How long did it last on television? Thanks!
Answer: Get Christie Love, which sought to play off the renown of such tough blaxploitation cookies as Cleopatra Jones and the legendary Pam Grier's Coffy, debuted on ABC in September 1974, starring the late Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In bikini girl Teresa Graves as the titular undercover cop.
The big problem is that the genre's popularity stemmed from watching a slick, beautiful, street-savvy woman dispatch bad guys with brutal violence — and Graves was a devout Jehovah's Witness. Christie beat down evildo
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Before The Dick Van Dyke Show made Mary Tyler Moore a sitcom star, she was a pretty young dancer, best known for her legs and voice — viewers never saw her face — on the 1950s crime drama Richard Diamond, Private Detective. On May 11, Moore reprises her career-making role as Laura Petrie in The Dick Van Dyke Show Revisited (9 pm/ET on CBS). Here, she reminisces about landing the big gig — for which she beat out 40 other actresses — and her favorite memories from the landmark series.
TV Guide Online: Winning the role of Laura Petrie was a great step up for you.Mary Tyler Moore: I almost didn't go to the audition. When my agent called, I said, "I'm tired. I've had too many disappointments all week." He said, "You just get in your car and go over there." I walked in, and there was Carl Reiner, on whom I had a tremendous crush from The Sid Caesar Show. We sat down to read this scene — and about a thir
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Now happily retired, 78-year-old Dick Van Dyke says he had the time of his life working on The Dick Van Dyke Show. To the undoubted delight of TV-nostalgia fans, the surviving cast of his self-titled '60s sitcom reunites in The Dick Van Dyke Show Revisited (May 11 at 9 pm/ET on CBS). Here, he recalls his fondest memories of the landmark comedy, which still lives on in TV Land reruns.
TV Guide Online: How did the reunion show go?Dick Van Dyke: It was like a high-school reunion. We all said they should have taped the rehearsals, because it was hysterical. [Rose Marie's] hearing aid kept going out, people forgot their lines and we were all just rolling on the floor, laughing at each other.
TVGO: You weren't that well-known, having hosted a game show and done Broadway. How'd you get a sitcom named after you?Van Dyke: We couldn't come up with a name. They tried Double Trouble because it's about a guy whose work li
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