Is Peter and Bobby Farrelly's Shallow Hal a clever take on the lives of plus-size women — or just a one-note fat joke à la the Nutty Professor movies?
"The message of the film is that it doesn't matter if you're extremely overweight or not," insists Gwyneth Paltrow, who plays Jack Black's Rubenesque girlfriend. "That we feel it's unacceptable is this ridiculous thing that is sociologically imposed on all of us, when it has nothing to do with who the person actually is.
"I didn't feel at
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Nobody was surprised last week when the Samburu schism resulted in Linda Spencer's ouster from Survivor: Africa. "We were split into two alliances along generational lines, as you know, and it happened too early and too quickly," the 44-year-old career counselor reminds TV Guide Online. "That was not a good idea. The lack of Lady Luck entered into the picture back when Carl from my alliance was voted off, so the young 'uns had the power."
Now, we know Linda's unwelcome hugs — which made neurotic Lindsey bristle — and her reluctance to act as Silas's "doormat" made her unpopular with the brat pack. But surely it was all that annoying New Age-y chatter about 'Mother Africa' and gods and goddesses that sealed her fate!
"I was not accurately portrayed," Linda counters. "In the third episode, which was called 'The Gods Are Angry,' the editors went overboard and made it sound like every tim
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Question: Hi. Can you tell me who the blonde singer is on Ally McBeal? I have tried the website and can find nothing. I love her voice and would like to learn more about her. Thank you. — DeeAnn
Televisionary: That's singer-songwriter Vonda Shepard doing cover versions of such pop classics as "Someday We'll Be Together," "Tears on My Pillow," "Fire," "This Magic Moment," "It's So Easy" and a whole truckload of others on the show. A former backup singer for Jackson Browne, the New York native struggled to make a name in the biz before Ally creator David E. Kelley, a fan, brought her in to provide musical backup for the show and gave her career a bigtime boost.
If you like her work on the series, there are three bestselling compilations available:
Songs from Ally McBeal,
Heart and Soul: New Songs from Ally McBeal and
Ally McBeal: A Very Ally Christmas. You might also enjoy
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Despite its veneer of political correctness, it's clear homophobia is alive and well in Hollywood, as indie writer/director Patrik-Ian Polk discovered while trying to cast Punks. He needed a strong, handsome boy-next-door type for his debut film about the lives of black and Hispanic gay men in Los Angeles, and almost every "semi-well-known" candidate turned down the offer — until he found tasty Rockmond Dunbar of Showtime's Soul Food.
"I kept running into this road block with actors who didn't want to do a gay kiss," says Polk, who declines to name the reluctant thesps. "It was really a big issue. Everybody loved the character, and they loved the script. I had meetings and went through a nice number of actors [who] did not want to do the kiss, and I wouldn't change it."
It wasn't until a week before filming that they turned to the relatively unknown Dunba
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This year, when Santa Claus reviews kids' holiday wish lists, he'll find more than just the usual pleas for Sony PlayStations. The DVD release of Jim Henson's 1977 classic, Emmet Otter's Jugband Christmas, means the honky-tonkin' puppets known as the Riverbottom Gang also will be in high demand.
"Comparing perennial to perennial, Emmet has the longer life," offers Michael Polis, senior VP of marketing at Jim Henson Co. "Every holiday season, you'll end up seeing Emmet Otter in some form, which helps to boost the franchise."
Jugband follows the down-on-their-luck Otter clan, who sacrifice in hopes of making their holiday a little merrier: Musician Emmet ruins Ma's washtub to make a washtub bass, while Ma hocks Emmet's tools to buy a pretty frock — each is secretly scheming to win their local talent show and use the prize money to buy the other a "real Christmas gift."
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Question: Who played the mayor on the television series That's Life? My husband and I have a large sum bet that it was Colin Higgins, the actor from the movie 9 to 5. I'm keeping my fingers crossed — I could really use the money! Thanks. — Wellie, Phoenixville, Pa.
Televisionary: Sorry, Wellie, but now you can really use it. Time to uncross those fingers and dig them into the old wallet because the actor who plays the mayor on CBS's That's Life is Peter Michael Goetz, not Mr. Higgins.
You may also have caught Goetz on
The West Wing,
The Practice,
Gilmore Girls,
Family Law or in guest spots on a slew of other shows. While you're mourning the loss of your much-needed cash, you might
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When NYPD Blue kicks off its ninth season tonight (9-11 pm/ET), one of last May's biggest cliffhangers will be resolved: What happened to Rick Schroder's Det. Danny Sorenson? A source close to the show confirms widespread speculation that with Schroder off the ABC cop drama, Blue producers decided to send his troubled character on a stairway to heaven. "They find his body decomposed," the insider whispers to TV Guide Online. "So, apparently, a long time has passed since he died."
Asked about the DOA chatter, executive producer Bill Clark reveals only that the Silver Spoons alum will definitely not appear on the show this season. Why? "I think that would have been a bit of a disservice to Mark-Paul [Gosselaar]," he explains, referring to the former
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Question: Oh, great Televisionary, I vaguely recall a game show where the contestants got a chance to play on a giant pinball machine. Who was the host and how was the game played? Thank you. — Jeffrey E., Rochester, Minn.
Televisionary: Well, I... uh...
Sorry, Jeffrey — I was stunned into pfumpfery by your shameless worship (not that there's anything wrong with that). The show you're thinking of was called The Magnificent Marble Machine and it aired on NBC's daytime schedule from July 1975 to June 1976. Hosted by Art James, it featured celebrities and average-joe contestants teaming up to play a 50-foot-high pinball machine. Without getting into too much detail, players were supposed to light up bumpers and earn points using a regular ball and a special bonus ball in an attempt to win cars and other big prizes. Before they could do that, though, they had to defeat another contestant in an initial round, which called for them to identify myster
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Question: I've been watching Bonanza reruns and was wondering why it was eventually cancelled. My dad says it was because Dan Blocker died. Is that true? Thanks for your help and keep up the good work! — Tim M., Cicero, N.Y.
Televisionary: Aw, heck — t'ain't nothin, but thanks for the kindly words, Tim.
It's true that when Blocker died at 43 from surgical complications, many felt the heart and soul of the show went with him. But the show also dropped in the ratings after NBC moved it from its longtime Sunday-night berth to Tuesday night. The truth is that Bonanza most likely perished because its time had simply passed. Next to Gunsmoke, it was the longest-running Western on TV (from September 1959 to January 1973) and for much of that time it turned in phenomenal ratings. From 1964-67 it was number one and it only began to slip out of the top 10 in
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Finally, the show went on. After two unprecedented postponements stemming from the Sept. 11 attacks, the 53rd annual Primetime Emmy Awards were held last night, and as expected, politics and patriotism — both real (musical tributes, stirring speeches) and fictional (The West Wing's second-consecutive best drama series victory) — played a major role. But did anyone watch?
With a nail-biter of a World Series finale airing opposite the kudocast on Fox, the consensus backstage in the Jade West restaurant-turned-press room was that the Yankees weren't the only ones headed for defeat Sunday. Even Emmy honcho Bryce Zabel struggled to put a positive spin on the potent counterprogramming. "That's the breaks," he sighed. "But on the other hand, the idea that there's a live baseball game going on at the same time as the Emmys really sends a powerful message to the rest of the world."
Well, the message it sent to many in attendance at Los Angeles's S
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