Ron Howard thinks Americans should vote for Barack Obama. And so do Opie Taylor and Richie Cunningham.
During this campaign season, some celeb messages have been serious, others have featured useless yapping (we're looking at you Hayden Panettiere), but Howard's recent Funny or Die video is the fist to reunite cast members from two TV classics: The Andy Griffith Show and Happy Days.
Watch the video after the jump.
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A bevy of balloons and children arrived for the premiere of A Plumm Summer, held Sunday at the Mann Bruin Theatre in Westwood, Calif. In homage to one of the film's icons — a true-life marionette named Froggy Doo who appeared alongside "Happy Herb McAllister" on Montana television for 22 years starting in the '60s —the carpet rolled out for celebs was green. Beyond the real Froggy Doo, other icons hit the carpet, including Henry Winkler, who plays "Happy Herb," and Ron Howard, there to support his Happy Days pal as well as his brother Clint, who has a cameo in the film. Also making an appearance were actors from the movie including Billy Baldwin (Dirty Sexy Money) and Brenda Strong (Desperate Housewives). Delivering news about another ABC fave was Jasmine Jessica Anthony, who will soon be seen on Ugly Betty as Gio's younger sister, Antonella. "I don't like Betty," Anthony says of her character. "I'm kind of rude to her and say in one of my scenes, 'You're a little old to w...
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With an eye on the possible writers' strike and a Christmas 2008 release, Columbia is fast-tracking Angels & Demons, the Ron Howard-directed follow-up to The Da Vinci Code, for a February production start.... Also per Variety, Dakota and Elle Fanning will star with Cameron Diaz in an adaptation of the Jodi Picoult novel My Sister's Keeper.... Michael Mann is developing the mob drama Frankie Machine as a star vehicle for Robert De Niro.... According to the Reporter, Woody Harrelson will join Bruce Willis and Channing Tatum in Oliver Stone's new Vietnam drama Pinkville.... Jamie Foxx is a detective investigating race-related slayings in The Zebra Murders.
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"Aristophanes!" CBS is teaming with Idol producer FremantleMedia North America on Million Dollar Password, a "pumped-up" (read: swirling lights and annoying/overly theatrical music) remake of the classic game show, Variety reports. Regis Philbin will host; our copy editors will go mad over the hyphen-deficient title.... Fox is opening The Church of Reggie, a Ron Howard-produced comedy pilot about a man who starts a religion from his back porch.... Also per the Reporter, Lifetime is embracing more reality with Matt Titus: Matchmaker and It's My Party (aka My Super Sweet 16 for super-affluent adults).
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Penthouse is getting into the adult-TV biz, signing a 10-year, $10 mil deal with adult network developer New Frontier to create a 24/7 bow-chicka-wow-wow network as well as a VOD service, says Variety.... Fox Business Network, launching Oct. 15, has added four more anchors: former CNBC correspondent Peter Barnes, Forbes.com's Jenna Lee, Bloomberg's Nicole Petallides and The Financial Times' Cody Willard.... A Sept. 25 release has been set for a pair of Roger Corman DVDs: The Intruder: Special Edition, starring William Shatner, and Eat My Dust! Supercharged Edition, with Ron Howard.... It's never too early to not care: the 62nd Annual Tony Awardswill be broadcast live from Radio City Music Hall on Sunday, June 15, on CBS.
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