Bye bye Rosie, hello Whoopi! TV Guide has learned from a source close to The View that Whoopi Goldberg is at the top of the wish list to fill one of the two empty seats on the chat show's depleted couch.The departing Rosie O'Donnell says she loves the Whoopster, as do current co-hosts Elisabeth "I hope I stay forever" Hasselbeck and Joy Behar. Whoopi would fit the bill quite nicely: She's outspoken, funny, a woman of color, and already lives in New York — and scored high on TV Guide.com’s recent poll of possible Rosie replacements. No word yet, though, on how her asking price compares to Rosie's $10 million. (Whoopi's rep had no comment.) Also on the chatfest’s dream team is Ricki Lake, but sources close to the actress/talk show host says she likes living in Los Angeles and has other projects in mind. — Reporting by Ileane Rudolph
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Geez, who had Stiffler pegged as the career feature-film star? But I get ahead of myself. The latest pilot-casting news from Variety and the Reporter:• CBS could soon be home to three American Pie stars. Jason Biggs is a Wall Street whiz who dies in a Blackberry-related car accident and, since Hades is full, is forced to endure "Hell on earth" (aka a life devoid of his fancy career, apartment and such) in I'm in Hell. Chris Klein, meanwhile, is the series lead's best buddy in The Captain, which has also added comic Al Madrigal as a janitor.• Ricki Lake is the mom in The Middle, ABC's comedy about a lower-middle-class family in the Midwest.• Michael McKean is a low-level congressman's chief of staff in ABC's The Thick of It.• Penn Badgley (John Tucker Must Die) has joined the CW's Gossip Girls.
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Question: I saw your comments last week about Gameshow Marathon, which seems to appall you. As a big fan of the classic '70s and '80s game shows, I have actually found Gameshow Marathon to be a guilty pleasure. It does have a couple of major flaws, but if tweaked a little, it could be very enjoyable summer fare. As for its faults, I think having C-list celebrities playing for charity takes any element of suspense out of it. Also, Ricki Lake is just not a good fit as the host of the games — she obviously knows her stuff, but her voice and style are just soooo annoying. But on the plus side, the faithful re-creations of the classic game-show sets are satisfying in a surreal kind of way. And I really like the concept of the tournament. This could be a fun summer show if it were played with real people (not celebrities) for their own cash and prizes, and if the games themselves had hosts who were more in the traditional host mold. Of course, most of the original hosts are no longer with ...
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Question: I would find those prime-time game shows on CBS far more watchable if Ricki Lake was not the M.C. It seems like she is yelling into the microphone, and the pitch of her voice just gives me a migraine. CBS should have, where possible, gotten the original emcees to do the shows.
Answer: Is this celebrity Gameshow Marathon not the most insipid thing you've ever seen? And I love game shows! Whose bright idea was it to revive these lovably cheesy shows and stick C-list (being generous here) celebs in the players' seats? It's shrill, annoying and, for me, betrays what made the originals so much fun: watching ordinary folks playing the game (though in some of the formats, playing alongside C-listers). Yes, Ricki Lake is way out of her element, but I'm not sure even the deans of the genre could bring dignity to this misbegotten enterprise. (By contrast, how wonderful was last week's prime time broadcast of the National Spelling Bee finals? Now that was great TV. ...
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What's the only show on TV this summer that can beat the clock and turn back time? Survey says: Gameshow Marathon!
NBC's five-week tournament (the latest entry airs tonight at 8 pm/ET) features a gaggle of celebrities competing in faithful restagings of seven classic shows: Let's Make a Deal, Card Sharks, Beat the Clock,
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