Question: I heard that the PAX network was making a new Bonanza series. Do you know anything about the show and the actors? Thanks. — Brian
Televisionary: But of course, Brian. The Ponderosa, which kicks off with a two-hour movie Sept. 9 on PAX (9 pm/ET), is being billed as a prequel to the famous series. In it, Daniel Hugh Kelly portrays rancher Ben Cartwright as a young man, taking on the role originally played by Lorne Greene during the parent series' 1959-73 run on NBC.
Ponderosa takes place 10 years before
Bonanza began and it tells the story of how Cartwright and his three sons — Adam (
Matt Carmody), Hoss (
Drew Powell) and Little Joe (
Jared Daperis) — got their start in the ranching business after the death of Cartwright's wife. Trivia fans may also want to tune in: The producers promise to reveal how the ranch got its name, plus the reasons behind Hoss and Joe's nicknames.
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Question: I really hope you can help me on this one. I have searched the entire Net and have exhausted all efforts to find out from friends and family but can't find an answer. There was a TV show that aired on the educational channels in the late '80s and early '90s that was a high school drama/comedy series. All I can recall of this show was that the storylines were continuous and there was a character named Snake. I remember the stories running from the older to the younger kids. This was an excellent program that tackled serious issues for young boys and girls. It had a pleasurable mix of comedy and romance as well. I'd really like to find these episodes, so that I may share them with my children one day. But first, I'll need the name of this show, of course! Thank you very much for your time and have a nice day. — Chuck
Televisionary: Ah, Chuck. Once again someone combs the entire Web before finally dropping so low as to ask your old pal Televisionary. Must I spend
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Hank Azaria's divorce from Oscar-winner Helen Hunt may be behind him — but sadly, those pesky tabloid rumors about his alleged adultery are not.
You may recall last summer's splashy National Enquirer headline: "Helen Hunt Dumps Hubby as He Romances Playboy Model." Well, Azaria remembers it — and so do far more people than he would like. "That was not true," he tells TV Guide Online. "That really was false. They printed a retraction on that, even. You'd be amazed at how many people think there's at least a grain of truth to that.
"I wish that was true!" Azaria adds, chuckling at the thought of his dating busty Playboy bunnies. "Look, I don't mind if I'm a single guy and they write that... Who cares? But they wrote that in connection to quite an upsetting event. It was quite upsetting t
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Rush Hour 2 helmer Brett Ratner sums up the appeal of star Chris Tucker pretty simply. "He's funny as hell," the director grins. "He's funny if he just says, 'Hey, maaan.'"
Taking his comedy a bit more seriously, Tucker boasts that his work has "evolved tremendously" since his early days. "I always knew I wanted to keep going to another level," says August's GQ cover boy, who's cleaned up his dialogue plenty since his last collaboration with Ratner, Money Talks.
Rush — hitting theaters Friday — found Tucker a fish out of water, both on and off the set. While the citizens of Hong Kong were already familiar with prominent native read more
Look for fans to give major props to pop princess Britney Spears this fall. In quite a coup, she's snagged a duet with childhood idol Cher for her next televised concert extravaganza, Britney Spears: Live from the MGM Grand Las Vegas (airing Nov. 16 on HBO). And despite her practiced veneer of frosty supermodel coolness, she's clearly excited.
"When I was younger I sang all of her songs — so it's really bizarre for me to be on the same stage with her," Spears told reporters at the Television Critics Association press tour in Pasadena, Calif. "Since the HBO special came up, it just made sense for me to do a duet with someone and she was definitely on the top of my list."
Clad in Bob Mackie glamwear, the divas — who first met backstage at the World Music Awards nearly two years ago — are expected to perform at least one of Spears's fave Cher tunes. "On my first album, I did a remake of 'The Beat Goes On,'" the 19-year-old
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Art imitates life in the intriguing HBO teleplay Dinner with Friends — debuting Aug. 11 — starring Dennis Quaid, Andie MacDowell, Greg Kinnear and Toni Collette as a quartet of married pals rocked by infidelity. Given his own widely publicized marital woes with Meg Ryan, Quaid fully expects this choice of subject matter to raise eyebrows. But clearly, the gracious actor won't shy away from sharing his take on the state of modern matrimony — in Hollywood and elsewhere.
"Well, I just think there's no guarantees in life," Quaid tells TV Guide Online. "I don't think it's necessarily hopeless. I mean, I have se
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During her eight years chasing flying saucers on The X-Files, Gillian Anderson's G-Woman Dana Scully has been paired with a believer (David Duchovny's Mulder), a skeptic (Robert Patrick's Doggett) and a lackey (Mitch Pileggi's Skinner). Well, if Internet buzz is any indication, the addition of Annabeth Gish's Agent Monica Reyes as a regular next season gives the former abductee an altogether different type with whom she can butt heads: a lesbian.
Here's the lowdown: Although it was heavily implied during Reyes's introduction last February that the sexy sleuth shared a romantic history with Doggett, the show's May cliffhanger — specifically a scene in which she gushed to an in-labor Scully that she looked "amazingly beautiful" — hinted that she may have switched teams in the interim.
In fact, according to executive producer John Shiban, she nearly
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John Waters, the renegade director of such gross-out classics as Pink Flamingos and Mondo Trasho, has his say in an episode of the Sundance Channel's Conversations in World Cinema series airing tonight at 8:30 pm/ET and Saturday at 4:30 pm/ET. But before then, one of his favorite leading ladies — sorry, not the late Divine — wants to speak her peace about the outrageous auteur.
"[The atmosphere on John's sets] was like reform school," Cry-Baby and Serial Mom veteran Traci Elizabeth Lords tells TV Guide Online, laughing. "I adore John. He definitely sees the world off to the left... or off to the right... or just off."
All kidding aside, the former blue-movie starlet holds in the highest esteem the colorful character who gave her her big break in legitimate pictures. "I respect John so much," she says. "He grew up wanting to be a filmmaker so badly that he went out and got a little eig
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If you were among the legions of Sopranos fans let down by the show's relatively quiet and uneventful season finale (save for Jackie Jr.'s whacking), the show's creator, David Chase, has good news: "Next year we'll kill 200 guys," he deadpans. "Maybe they'll like it better."
Well, it certainly couldn't hurt. Despite 22 Emmy nominations and blockbuster ratings (at least by cable standards), HBO's mob hit continues to find itself haunted by last May's anti-climax — an episode that critics complained spent more time showcasing Dominic Chianese's second career as a singer than tying up loose ends (the Russian mobster, Dr. Melfi's rape, Tony's mistress, etc.).
The disappointing send-off was one of the hot topics at the about-to-be-concluded Television Critics Association press tour in Pasa
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During Emmy season, many an actor experiences the thrill of victory or the agony of defeat. However, perhaps only up-and-comer Justin Long — Ed's adorably awkward Everyteen, Warren Cheswick — went through both emotions in a single morning.
"My dad called and woke me," he tells TV Guide Online. "He was like, 'I wanted to be the first to tell you [that you're up for best supporting actor]!' At first, I didn't even know what he was talking about. Then I realized the nominations were announced that day.
"My dad's a philosopher," he adds, "and he's usually pretty stoic. But he was being so boisterous that I knew it was for real... or at least he thought it was."
Alas, it turned out that, like the rest of the endearing Ed ensemble, Long had been snubbed. "My dad's friend had read the story about 'If TV Guide Online could pick the Emmy nominees...'" relates the s
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