Julianne Hough and Apolo Anton Ohno by James Sorensen/ABC
Although he initially didn't sign up for Dancing with the Stars' live tour, Season 4 champ Apolo Anton Ohno is proving he's a real winner by joining the show for five East Coast performances. Also, fellow hoofer John Ratzenberger will do a single turn when the tour hits his hometown of Bridgeport, Connecticut.... Spike Lee will make his Broadway directorial debut with a spring 2008 remounting of the World War II dramedy Stalag 17, says the New York Times. Though no casting has been announced, Lee wants "a name" for the lead, and vows that no rappers are on his shortlist.... Per Playbill.com, Duke of Hazzard Tom Wopat is joining Faith Prince and Harvey Fierstein in A Catered Affair, an upcoming B'way musical based on the 1956 movie of the same name. — Reporting by Raven Snook
read more
John Schneider, You've Got a Friend
John Schneider has gone from playing a good ol' boy on the enduring 1979-85 hit Dukes of Hazzard, to more fatherly roles like Clark Kent's dad on Smallville, to serving as the role model to a 12-year-old orphan in Hallmark Channel's You've Got a Friend (premiering Saturday at 9 pm/ET). He spoke to us about his journey.
TV Guide: Tell us about You've Got a Friend.Schneider: It's a fantastic movie to sit and watch with your whole family, which is very important to me these days — there seems to be less and less of that out there. It's a great story about the importance of big-brother relationships and fathers. I [think] it's really importan
read more
American Idol Season 1 finalist Tamyra Gray will join the cast of Broadway's Rent on May 29. During her run, she'll share the stage with original players Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp, who, despite middle age, return to their humble roots July 30.... Nathan Lane and Luke Duke himself, Tom Wopat, have been invited to appear in a workshop of Catch Me If You Can, a musicalization of the Steven Spielberg film. The same team that turned Hairspray into a Broadway blockbuster hope to cast Lane in the Tom Hanks role and Wopat as the juvenile con's dad. No word on who will fill Leonardo DiCaprio's disguises.... Weeds scribe Rinne Groff and others are turning Saved! into an off-Broadway musical to premiere next spring. —Reporting by Raven Snook
read more
The Cincinnati Pops Orchestra has scrapped a Dukes of Hazzard-themed July show featuring drop-bys from John Schneider and Tom Wopat, because some community members find the classic TV series — which costars a Confederate-flag-emblazoned car — racist and offensive. "It's a huge shock to me that in this day and age, people could be so narrow-minded," Schneider tells the Associated Press, adding that those in charge should examine "their knee-jerk reactions to someone else's prejudice and bigotry." The Pops, which consulted with a head-shaking NAACP, says in a statement, "We decided that some of the messages conveyed in the program are not consistent with [our] efforts to reach out to all [people]." Besides, they thought they'd be getting Jessica in a bikini.
read more
Question: From what I'm reading, Smallville is doing much better on Thursdays this year. I also have heard that the producers planned a five-year run, but I don't see why they'd quit when it's doing so well. Is this true? To me, this is by far the most interesting season, with Lex becoming totally evil, Chloe knowing the secret, Lionel normal or not (who knows?), Lana and Clark finally together, Tom Wopat coming to the show, and the totally cool new ways they show his powers (like jumping onto the missile).
Answer: OK, I've really got to get back into this program again. Most of last season it got away from me because of the Lost competition (I still haven't caught up, but it's a priority), and I expected it to fade further this year when put up against all of those more heavily hyped Thursday alternatives. But that didn't happen. Instead, the move gave the show a new lease on life, and my in-house source at the magazine tells me it looks very good for a sixth year (maybe even ...
read more
Question: What was the name of the song Cybill and her ex-husband sang to their new grandchild? I believe it had something to do with the city of Memphis.
Answer: In the Nov. 17, 1997 episode of Cybill, Cybill Shepherd and Tom Wopat (The Dukes of Hazzard), who played her ex-husband, Jeff, sang "Talk Memphis to Me" to their new granddaughter, Amanda. (Memphis is Shepherd's hometown, by the way.)
If you'd like a copy of the tune, Shepherd's album Cybill: Songs from the Cybill Show includes that, "Nice Work If You Can Get It," "Funny How Time Slips Away" and a host of other ditties the actress sang on the series, which ran on CBS from January 1995 to July 1998.
read more
We are family: Dukes stars Schneider, Bach and Wopat
Question: Did John Schneider and Tom Wopat play Bo and Luke Duke the whole time The Dukes of Hazzard was on? I seem to remember other actors playing the roles, too. Thank you.
Answer: Not quite, Beth, though your memory of substitute stars is halfway there.
Schneider (Smallville) and Wopat played the Charger-drivin' Duke boys from the time CBS launched the show in January 1979 until the spring of 1982, when they bailed out after battling with the suits over merchandising money the actors said they were owed. Now before you go thinking they were just a couple of demanding, whiney stars, be aware there was serious money involved.
"[W]e picked up the newspaper and read that [Dukes producer] Warner Communications' annual financial report stated that the company had earned $190 million in 1981 from its
read more
