That '70s guy, Wilmer Valderrama, will star in The Emancipation of Ernesto, a Fox pilot about a Forrest Gump/The Jerk-like innocent, raised in a Mexican prison and now toiling in a Twinkie factory, who embarks on an epic quest to find his father in Los Angeles. A single-camera, one-hour comedy, if picked up Emancipation would mark the first of its kind on Fox since All McBeal. "It has a really unique original tone," Susan Levison, senior VP of comedy development at Fox, tells the Hollywood Reporter. "It was a mix of real emotion with hard comedy." — Matt MitovichMore pilot news:• Could Matthew Perry Be More Excited?
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Wilmer Valderrama and his producing partner Danny Villa have inked a first-look deal with American Idol producer FremantleMedia North America to develop scripted and unscripted projects which Valderrama will exec-produce and perhaps star in. Valderrama, who currently hosts and produces Yo Momma and voices Handy Manny, is still attached to play Ponch in a big-screen CHiPs remake.
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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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This was the second of the three episodes to start off with some slight show of athleticism. The pilot had the guys playing racquetball and in this one basketball. For the amount of sports they seem to play, you'd think Jeffrey would be a little better skilled or maybe a little less injury-prone. What was he doing when he busted up his elbow? Simply holding his arms in the air? I hope old age isn't quite as sad sack as Jeffrey makes it out to be. I guess I also hope that I don't think I'm cool when I'm really just stuck up like John. Of course, combine those and that's my life now, so maybe I can at least hope for a sitcom down the road. Hey, speaking of sitcoms, this one was quite funny, yet again. OK, so it's predictable and lame in some parts and has virtually no chance of making it (I guess if Fox was able to air multiple episodes of War at Home while the World Series was in a rain delay, then any show has a shot), but there's still enough laughs to keep me interested. In this e...
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Over the last few weeks, TV Guide correspondent Robert Edelstein previewed a spate of new programs for preschool audiences. After he was done (and ate a box of animal crackers, washed down by a juice box... ), he debriefed TV Guide's family editor, Michael Davis.
Michael Davis: What was the best new series of the bunch?
Robert Edelstein: I completely loved Curious George (PBS, premiering Sept. 4). To me, it hit the ever-elusive triple: It's spirited-enough fun for kids, it's got sophistication — within its presentation — to be way more than tolerable for adults, and it has enough warm and fuzzy references to the Curious George we remember. But the secret of its success is found in three words: William H. Macy, the voice of the narrator. OK, I guess that's two words and one ini
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