Conan O'Brien by Dana Edelson/NBC Photo
Did absence make our hearts grow fonder of late-night TV's hosts, missing in action for the last two months? I suppose it's possible, though I doubt anyone's preferences were changed by what they saw Wednesday night, when all of the network hosts finally returned to work, all but David Letterman and Craig Ferguson without writers. (If anything grew, it was facial hair, at least on Dave and Conan.)If you're the sort who for whatever reason prefers affable Jay Leno over cranky Dave, or chooses to stay up late for the delectable derangement that is Conan O’Brien, nothing about Wednesday’s opening night would likely have shaken you from your long-ingrained after-hours habits. The strike beards sported by Dave and Conan in solidarity with the still-striking writers (“and to prove that I still have some testosterone,” joked Conan) were the most noticeable changes on the late-night landscape.Here’s my report card on late-night’s opening night, keeping in mind ...
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Jay Leno by Paul Drinkwater/NBC
Late Show with David Letterman returns on Wednesday not only with his writing staff (see our Strike Watch blog) but Robin Williams as his lead-off guest, says the AP. Also onboard for the evening is Shooter Jennings, with Donald Trump bumped to Friday. On Thursday, Dave welcomes Bill Maher, Ellen Page and a performance from Broadway's Young Frankenstein.Meanwhile, all eyes are on the late-night talkers that have not hammered out an agreement with the WGA (as Worldwide Pants' Letterman and Craig Ferguson did), and thus might have a harder time luring talent across a picket line. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Tonight Show with Jay Leno is expected to have former Arkansas governor and White House hopeful Mike Huckabee as its first guest.Related:• WGA Plans "Intense" Pressure on Returning Late-night Shows• Letterman, Ferguson to Return with Writers, Thanks to WGA Deal
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Conan O'Brien by Timothy White/NBC Photo
Bob Woodruff hasn’t had a lot to laugh about in the last couple of years. But thanks to Conan O’Brien and a lineup of top comedians, there will be plenty of humor to go around during a special evening on Nov. 7 to benefit the Bob Woodruff Family Fund.In conjunction with the New York Comedy Festival, O’Brien will host the event, Stand Up for Heroes, which is dedicated to the nation’s injured service members. The proceeds of the benefit — where Lewis Black, Bruce Springsteen, Robin Williams and other special guests will perform at New York City’s Town Hall — will go to the Woodruff fund.Woodruff, who was severely injured in 2006 while reporting from Iraq for ABC News, established the fund a year later to raise awareness and money for members of the military hurt in the line of duty.
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Tons of kids wearing black and metal horns high. It's the VH1 Rock Honors baby, yeah! Right now, my iPod is filled with nothing but '80s music and metal. So naturally, the second annual Rock Honors was highly anticipated in the Steed household. Over the past week, I've closed my eyes to not read any reviews of the show by critics who've never gotten near a ZZ Top album. So what you read below is my opinion only. Hell, yeah!!! That phrase could describe many points during the night, so let's run it down from the beginning. I hate Nickelback! I think they are the absolute bottom of the barrel, the point at which all bad music is judged. The Mendoza Line of the music world. Naturally then, you can probably understand that when they opened this broadcast my horns slithered away. But — and Lord, forgive me for saying this, but I promise this will be the only time — Nickelback actually rocked. D'oh. Making that statement almost makes me vomit, but it's true. Their performance of...
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Per the Hollywood Reporter, CSI's Marg Helgenberger has been cast as the disgruntled ex-wife of Val Kilmer's master thief in Columbus Day, a crime drama being produced by Kevin Spacey and also starring Wilmer Valderrama.... Robin Williams and John Travolta are Old Dogs in a Disney comedy about two business partners who find themselves minding 7-year-old twins. Also in the cast are Travolta's wife, Kelly Preston, and their daughter, Ella.... Julia Stiles will produce and star in an adaptation of Sylvia Plath's autobiographical novel The Bell Jar. Kicky soundtrack by the Bangles...? No?
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Barry Levinson directs Man of the Year Robin Williams.
Oscar-winning director Barry Levinson has turned his focus to the world of politics. No, he hasn't started making trips to Iowa and New Hampshire. First he directed the Robin Williams-as-president comedy Man of the Year (arriving in stores today on DVD), then just last month NBC greenlit his and producing partner Tom Fontana's new series M.O.N.Y., which follows the trials and tribulations of an interim New York City mayor (played by Will & Grace Emmy winner Bobby Cannavale). TVGuide.com welcomed the chance to speak with the Baltimore native about his bend toward the b
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Richard Thomas, Wild Hearts
What is he-who-is-most-fondly-known-as-John-Boy up to these days? In Hallmark Channel's Wild Hearts, premiering Saturday, July 8, at 9 pm/ET, Richard Thomas plays Bob Hart, a widower who trades his Los Angeles detective's shield for a sheriff's badge as he relocates, with reluctant teen daughter in tow, to his deceased dad's mustang ranch in the Montana countryside. Before you can say "culture shock," Thomas' lawman uncovers a sinister land-grabbing scheme, all while helping his kid adapt to her new home and trying himself to come to terms with his tortured past.
TVGuide.com: I like how Wild Hearts is part Western, part family drama, part CSI....
Richard Thomas: And also it's got a wonderful thing for young p
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Mickey Rooney in National Velvet
The American Film Institute celebrates America's 100 most inspiring movies in a three-hour CBS special AFI'S 100 Years... 100 Cheers, airing tonight at 8 pm/ET. Appearing in no fewer than seven films on the list — including Babes in Arms, Captains Courageous,
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Amanda Bynes bends her gender in She's the Man.
In the new comedy She's the Man (in theaters now), Amanda Bynes plays Viola, a soccer star forced to get her kicks by masquerading as her twin brother, Sebastian. Along the way, of course, all manner of hunky guys and ironically attracted girls find themselves mesmerized by this gal in disguise. Was Bynes able to pull it off? Should Felicity Huffman be looking over her shoulder? And more to the point, is the perky What I Like About You star ready to kick some Natalie Portman butt this weekend? Here's what Bynes shared with TVGuide.com in a fun one-on-one.
TVGuide.com: Seeing She's the Man almost — and my AP English teacher will be happy to hear this — made me want to actually read Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, on which it is loosely based. Or at least revisit the CliffsNotes
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Eric Idle
Eric Idle has every reason to gab. He's not only the creator (with John Du Prez) of the Tony-winning musical Spamalot, he's also the main attraction in the opener of Monty Python's Personal Best (premiering tonight on PBS; check local listings), a three-week series of specials featuring each Python player's favorite bits, along with new material. (Example: In addition to introducing gems like "Nudge, Nudge," Idle plays a German with a weird theory about Python humor.) To mark this recycling of material, Idle spoke with TV Guide about "the Beatles of comedy," one of his greatest influences and his plans for another stage musical.
TV Guide: The Pythons have been described as "the Bea
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