Jennifer Garner of Dude, Where's My Car? fame has been cast as the lead in Alias, the ABC pilot from Felicity co-creator and executive producer J.J. Abrams. Garner will play a young spy who leads a double life.
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Speculation is intensifying that Regis Philbin will name his new Live co-host Monday, and as reported yesterday, the smart money is on All My Children actress Kelly Ripa winning the coveted gig. Adding fuel to the fire: The New York Post reports that Live's producer, Disney, has obtained the rights to a new Web site domain named livewithregisandkelly.com. Disney reportedly officially registered the Web site name on Jan. 10.
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With the WB's Angel already facing some stiff competition from Fox's similarly appealing Dark Angel this season, it would seem the last thing the dark drama needs is to lose its potent lead-in, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. But David Boreanaz doesn't feel Buffy's possible switch to another network next fall will slay his spin-off series.
"We're confident Angel can stand on its own," he insists. "In the beginning, you need the love and support from where you came from. For the first six episodes, [the Buffy/Angel crossovers were] a needed correspondence; it was a nice dance to have. We're a young show, but Buffy didn't get going until its third season."
With negotiations between 20th Century Fox (the studio behind Buffy) and the WB said to be tense, Boreanaz is being careful not to follow in the footsteps of Buffy star Sarah Michelle Gellar and make any
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Robert Downey Jr. was back to work on the set of Fox's Ally McBeal this week to tape an additional episode, although the actor's rep told the Los Angeles Times that there was no "official... commitment" that he will stick around longer. On Monday, the Golden Globe winner was given until Feb. 21 to iron out a plea bargain on drug charges stemming from his Thanksgiving weekend arrest in Palm Springs.
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The Great TV Battle of 2001 got underway Thursday night and Survivor: The Australian Outback has taken an early lead. The second episode of CBS's reality phenom — featuring Kel's swan song — attracted 29.4 million viewers, compared to 22 million for the expanded Friends. Despite the loss, NBC's top-rated sitcom held up much better than expected, say insiders. In fact, despite Survivor and a strong performance by CBS's relocated C.S.I., NBC — powered by Will & Grace and ER — managed to win the night overall. "I don't begrudge anybody else success as long as we have success," Jeff Zucker, NBC's entertainment president, told The Associated Press. "The institution of
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Rumors persist that anti-gay rapper Eminem will perform a duet with gay pop superstar Elton John at the Grammy Awards on Feb. 21... Fox's Temptation Island drew 18.2 million viewers Wednesday, its largest audience yet. Meanwhile, according to the Los Angeles Times, Fox refused to run an ad for a female contraceptive spermicide during the show, saying it would only accept contraceptive ads if the product's purpose was disease protection... Billy Campbell, star of ABC's Once and Again, is in talks to star opposite Jennifer Lopez in the suspense drama Enough, Variety reports. — Michael Ausiello
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It's going to take more than a little public mockery to get James Lipton to loosen up. The offbeat and seemingly uptight host of Bravo's signature series, Inside the Actors Studio — who has become one of comedian Will Ferrell's most popular parody subjects on Saturday Night Live — insists he couldn't change his interview style if his love of acting depended on it.
"I know I'm a bit solemn," admits the drama professor, whose college seminars began airing on Bravo in 1995. "My wife says to me, 'For Chrissake, smile!' But it's not the kind of person I am. The thing that the press has to realize is that I am not there as a journalist. There's no gossip... there's no ambush... there's no attempt to trick somebody into revealing themselves.
"I find that staying focused on the craft [of acting], we have literally blown the door off the hinges to the most intimate moments."
During the past seven seasons, Lipton has played host to some of th
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ABC has ordered a comedy pilot from Freaks and Geeks executive producer Judd Apatow, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The as-yet-untitled project is being described as a semiautobiographical comedy that centers on two aspiring twentysomething writers-actors-comedians trying to make sense of their post-college lives.
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Law & Order creator Dick Wolf inked a 13-episode deal with NBC for an unscripted prime-time drama described as L.A. Law meets The Real World. According to Variety, Trial and Error will follow the professional and personal lives of five first-year assistant district attorneys. And with no scripts or actors, Trial and Error — which is slated for next season — will be unaffected by the impending actors and writers strikes.
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After three seasons sans a man, is Will Truman — the eligible gay bachelor that Eric McCormack plays on Will & Grace — finally landing a boyfriend? And of all people, could it be Patrick Dempsey, that adorable geek from such '80s romps as Can't Buy Me Love and Loverboy?
"I'm at the height of my heterosexuality on my honeymoon in Bora Bora and I get a call saying, 'Would you be interested in doing Will & Grace?,'" the actor tells TV Guide Online. "I thought, 'This is really risky.'"
But Dempsey took a gamble — and got back on our radar — by guest-starring as Matt, the TV sportscaster who browsed Will while shopping at Banana Republic last November. And he's back for two more episodes starting tonight. "I go on my first date with Will," he previews. "But [there's trouble when] I'm not upfront about my sexuality with my bosses because I'm af
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