Just as ABC extended its option on Football Wives, a few other initially passed-on fall pilots might see the airwaves after all. Per the Hollywood Reporter, ABC is also keeping a short leash on the comedies The Middle (Ricki Lake as blue-collar mom) and The Hill (set in D.C. and starring Michelle Trachtenberg and Wendie Malick).Fox, meanwhile, still may come calling for Nurses (a dramedy fronted by Eliza Dushku and Sara Rue) and/or The Cure (starring Oded Fehr and Anson Mount).
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• A spokesperson for Nicole Kidman tells the New York Daily News it's "not true" that the Aussie beanpole will guest on the coming season of Nip/Tuck, as claimed last week by series creator Ryan Murphy. Intriguing!• Peyton Manning hosts Saturday Night Live on March 24, with musical guest Carrie Underwood.• Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger puts in an appearance on this Sunday's The Apprentice, as part of the winning team's reward. • Kevin Nealon, Jane Lynch, Richard Kind and Wendie Malick are among those who have been added to the guest-star lineup for Thank God You're Here, NBC's improv comedy-challenge series debuting April 9.
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Will Wendie Malick ever get a chance to play a demure, down-to-earth role? Let's hope not. Best known for her seven-season, Emmy-nominated stint as narcissistic fashion editor Nina Van Horn on Just Shoot Me, Malick has made a career out of playing outrageous small-screen characters, including Brian Benben's neurotic ex on Dream On and a husky-voiced lounge singer during the final year of Frasier. Currently on ABC's mid-season sitcom, Big Day (Tuesdays at 9 pm/EST) — a real-time comedy about wedding-day drama — Malick adds a
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Hello, dedicated TVGuide.com reader, my name is Stephen Rannazzisi. You can see me on ABC's new comedy Big Day. The show premieres Tuesday, Nov. 28, at 9 pm/ET. Each episode covers a different half hour in a single wedding day. It's kind of like 24 without explosions. The show was created by Josh Goldsmith and Cathy Yuspa, a married couple who used to write for King of Queens. We have a talented cast: Marla Sokoloff (The Practice) and Josh Cooke (all three episodes of Four Kings!) are Alice and Danny, the bride and groom. Wendie Malick (Just Shoot Me) and Kurt Fuller (really, who cares? I've already gotten bored of giving everyone's credits, and to be honest, I'm not sure what else he's done. I think he was in Wayne's World, but he doesn't like to talk about it) play their parents. Miriam Shor (look it up) is Becca, the maid of honor, and the hilariously nervous Stephnie Weir (I really think the Red Sox overpaid for that Japanese pitcher) is Lorna, the wedding coordinator. But enoug...
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Today's big news: I woke up to find a zit the size of a Vespa parked on my face. Good times....EXECUTIVE SESSION9:04 am: ABC Entertainment president Stephen McPherson is wearing blue jeans that scream "rock-star network executive!"9:06 am: McPherson announces that he's going to pressure the TV Academy to let us, the nation's top TV critics, decide next year's Emmy nominees. Hey, that was my idea! (And not to split hairs, but it's only supposed to be Matt Roush and me.)9:08 am: McPherson admits if he had to do Commander in Chief over again, he wouldn't have impeached Rod Lurie and replaced him with Steven Bochco. "We would probably bring it on later in the season and let Rod prep for it a lot longer than he had a chance to. He was the voice of that show." 9:08 am: I ask McPherson what he's doing behind the scenes at Desperate Housewives to address last season's "creative collapse." Although he disagrees with the "creative collapse" part — I was going to say implosion — he c...
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