Portia de Rossi by Joseph Viles/Fox
There's a run on lesbians at FX's Nip /Tuck. On the heels of Access Hollywood's report that Rosie O'Donnell will reprise her role of lottery winner Dawn Budge for several episodes this season comes word that Arrested Development alumna (and GF of Ellen DeGeneres) Portia de Rossi will play a manipulative (and gay at that) mom whose teen daughter wants to go under the knife. Also, says the Hollywood Reporter, Huff's Oliver Platt (not a lesbian) will appear in five episodes as the producer of a TV show on which Sean and Christian are consultants.In other casting news, Sophia Myles will return to her Underworld: Evolution roots, replacing Shannon Lucio as the love interest for Alex O'Laughlin's vampire in the new CBS drama Moonlight.
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Who's doing what this pilot season? From the Reporter:• Huff's two-time Emmy nominee, Oliver Platt, has joined ABC's D.C.-set British import, The Thick of It.• As first scooped by Ausiello, Chris Lowell (aka Veronica Mars' Piz) is set to guest-star on the Grey's Anatomy episode setting up the possible spin-off. Deets on Lowell's character, even his name, are being kept hush-hush. Hmmm....• Lacey Chabert (Mean Girls) joins Molly Stanton (Twins) and Dorian Brown as sorority sisters trying to clean up their act after college in an untiled Fox laffer.• Eric Winter (Wildfire) is a police detective in CBS' Viva Laughlin.• Reba's Steve Howey is The Beast in Fox's comedy about a womanizing veterinarian.• James D'Arcy is a lead agent on the hunt for E.T. sleeper cells in Fox's Them.• Thad Luckinbill (The Young and the Restless) has joined CBS' police serial Protect and Serve.
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Turning a blind eye to the horror that was The Grinch, Jim Carrey again will give life to a Dr. Seuss character, this time voicing the titular elephant in a CGI-animated take on Horton Hears a Who, Variety reports. The Office's Steve Carell will voice the Mayor of Whoville.... Dustin Hoffman, Kevin Kline, Christopher Lloyd ("Marty!!"), William H. Macy and Sigourney Weaver are among the voice cast of The Tale of Despereaux, an animated adaptation of the award-winning children's book about a mouse, a rat and a servant girl with cauliflower ears.... Warner Bros. is remaking Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?, this time minus the "of Europe" (xenophobia alert!) and featuring Huff's Oliver Platt as a dessert chef's ex.
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Question: Are you at all surprised that John Spencer didn't receive a posthumous Emmy nomination for his work on The West Wing? I thought his death would earn him a nod at least in an honorary sense. But given the condition of the current system, I cannot say that I am completely surprised.
Answer: It is surprising, but really, with this year's nominations, where do you start and where do you end? Truthfully, and with all sincere respect to the terrific and much-lamented John Spencer, this was not Leo's greatest season on the show, and I think the nomination in that category for Alan Alda was more appropriate. A sentimental nomination for an actor taken from us too soon is without doubt the sort of thing you'd expect from a conservative group like the Emmy voters, so it is kind of jarring. But overall, this is one of the more interesting, eclectic categories this year, and just having Gregory Itzin (24's President Logan) in the running is very satisfying. (He's my pick over Alda,
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Anjelica Huston, Huff
From Maerose Prizzi to Morticia Addams, Anjelica Huston has made a career of playing women you don't want to mess with. After she appears on Showtime's Huff (Sundays at 10 pm/ET), striding down a hall in form-fitting clothes, stilettos and a fierce expression on her angular face, you'll add the name Dr. Lena Markova to her power-babe pantheon.
"I don't like to think I'm scary," the 5-foot-10 actress says. "Maybe my size contributes to being cast in dominant roles. But then, I've never pictured myself as a wilting flower. So I'm drawn to strong women."
In Huston's four-episode Huff stint, which kicked off last night, she plays an unorthodox psychiatrist w
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As Huff’s second season opens, the title shrink (Hank Azaria) is lost in thought, not paying attention to his droning patient. Kind of how I felt watching this whiny, discordant and unfocused drama (Sundays at 10 pm/ET on Showtime), which whipsaws wildly and mostly unsuccessfully between raunchy dark comedy and existential family tragedy.
I kept watching my DVD time display, waiting (like the doctor) for each hour to be up. I got through seven of 13 new episodes before bailing, around the time Huff’s blabby conscience, which takes the form of a “Homeless Hungarian,” tells him to “wake up and smell the unspoken need.”
What I’m smelling is Showtime’s desperate need to launch a breakout drama that could attract the buzz of an FX or an HBO. Huff isn’t it.
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Harold Ramis directs John Cusack in The Ice Harvest.
There are a lot of movie directors who spend their entire careers working in a single genre. In a fickle industry where a couple of bombs can lead to prolonged unemployment, there's a certain job security in mining similar subject matter. On the rare occasion when a filmmaker does step out of character, they frequently find themselves chastised by critics and ignored by audiences that are shackled with expectation. Apparently, these concerns didn't weigh heavily on Harold Ramis when he decided to make The Ice Harvest. A dark yarn with a moral compass as slippery as the setting, The Ice Harvest is a far cry from the flicks that made Ramis. In fact, nothing in Animal House, Caddyshack or
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Question: Well, well. I just heard the Emmy nominations. Those were interesting. I won't go on a complete rant and talk about how their whole system is flawed, but can I float a few nominations and omissions by you that go in the all-time "what was this awards show thinking about" category? Six Feet Under and The West Wing for best drama series. I mean come on. Lost, 24 and Deadwood were all great, but absolutely necessary, choices. Where was House, Rescue Me, Nip/Tuck or CSI? That was insane. And how about Shohreh Aghdashloo being left off the ballot? What in the world were these people thinking about? And those are just the first three things that came to my mind. Matt, please. Can you account for any of this?
Answer: Not really. And I'm sick about Aghdashloo from 24, and Anthony Anderson from The Shield, being passed over. They were two of the most compelling guest adversaries I've ever seen, and to ignore them for the likes of Stockard Channing, Tyne Daly (both actresses I admire, but
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