Betty Garrett
Betty Garrett, best known for her TV roles in Laverne & Shirley and All in the Family, has died, according to The Associated Press. She was 91.
Garrett died Saturday, probably from an aortic aneurysm, at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, her son, Garrett Parks, told the news agency. She had checked into the hospital the day before with...
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David Ramsey
If Outlaw's Cyrus Garza is on one side of a case, then best friend Al Druzinsky is on the other — even though they're on the same team. David Ramsey, who plays Druzinsky, tells TVGuide.com that although Garza, played by Jimmy Smits, may be conservative and Druzinsky liberal, the new NBC series is not about Red States vs. Blue States. Ramsey talks about why highly politicized, current legal issues make the show relevant, and how he hopes it'll open up people to conservations.
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Rue McLanahan
Rue McClanahan, best known as Golden Girls' man-hungry Southern debutante Blanche Devereaux and Maude's scatterbrained Vivian Harmon, has died. She was 76.
McClanahan suffered a massive stroke and died at ...
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Gary Coleman
Gary Coleman, the child star who anchored the classic, racial-barrier battering sitcom Diff'rent Strokes, has died. He was 42.
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Coleman suffered an intracranial hemorrhage at his home in Utah Wednesday and was admitted to Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo, Utah. Family and friends were at his side when his life support was terminated, and he died at the hospital at 12:05 p.m. local time Friday, a hospital spokeswoman said.
Coleman starred as ...
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Allan Melvin, a popular character actor best recognized for his roles on The Phil Silvers Show (as Cpl. Henshaw), All in the Family (Archie's bud Barney) and The Brady Bunch (Sam the butcher), on Thursday died of cancer, reports the Los Angeles Times. He was 84.Melvin's 50-plus year career also included guest appearances on such TV shows as The Andy Griffith Show, The Dick Van Dyke Show and Gomer Pyle: U.S.M.C.; voicing Magilla Gorilla and Popeye's Bluto; and playing "Al the Plumber" in 15 years' worth of Liquid-Plumr commercials.Melvin is survived by his wife of 64 years, Amalia; a daughter, Jennifer Hanson; and a grandson.
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Question: I love how much you appreciate TV from a variety of cultures. Thanks to the Internet, viewers are finally figuring out just how often the U.K. and the U.S. "borrow" show ideas from each other. But outside of reality and sketch shows, how often does this actually work? There is usually a great deal of buzz surrounding Americanized British shows, especially from the fans of the original. Yet when the show finally debuts, there is a sigh of disappointment from critics and fans alike. The Office is the only show I am aware of that has avoided this curse. Should the networks take a chance and try showing the original British versions? Financially, this would be a goldmine for them and for the original British companies as well. The U.K. broadcasts American shows like Heroes, Dexter, House, CSI, Grey's Anatomy and Desperate Housewives, so why don't we return the favor? Most Americans don't seem to know that BBC America exists (unless they read your column) and have no other way to ...
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Norman Lear by Jaime McCarthy/WireImage.com
Is there a run on porkpie hats in Hollywood? It seems Norman Lear is making quite a comeback at this summer's press tour. Earlier at the TCAs, NBC announced that he will oversee the production of a new hourlong comedy. At a CBS session, Chuck Lorre told reporters how he recently turned to the legendary producer of All in the Family and Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman for some wisdom on how to simultaneously run two sitcoms. (Lorre has the new Big Bang Theory joining Two and a Half Men on Monday nights for CBS.) But the advice was pretty short and simple. "He said ‘I basically worked like a dog,'" said Lorre. "I said, 'Thank you for your time.'" — Reporting by Stephen Battaglio
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Ben Silverman and Marc Graboff, NBC
It was fair to wonder why NBC put Kevin Reilly in the executive ejector seat just after signing him to a new multi-year contract. After seeing the debut performance of his replacement, Ben Silverman, at the Television Critics Association press tour, we're not wondering anymore.Instead of doing a rope-a-dope with reporters because he's only been in the job a month, Silverman came out with guns blazing, firing off one programming announcement after another. He even made a deal with legendary sitcom producer Norman Lear. That's red meat for the TCA, since many of its members love TV the way it used to be.He's even ignored the mandate NBC chief
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Ben Silverman and Marc Graboff, NBC Press Tour by Chris Haston/NBC
It was fair to wonder why NBC put Kevin Reilly in the executive ejector seat just after signing him to a new multiyear contract. But after seeing his replacement Ben Silverman's debut performance at the Television Critics Association press tour, we're not wondering anymore.Instead of the doing a rope-a-dope with reporters because he's only been in the job a month, Silverman came out with guns blazing, firing off one programming announcement after another. He even made a deal with legendary sitcom producer Norman Lear. That's red meat for the TCA, since many of its members love TV the way it used to be.He's even ignored the mandate that NBC chief Jeff Zucker publicly issued last year that the network was out of the business of programming 8 o'clock with new, expensive scripted sitcoms and dramas. The first scheduling move under Silverman's watch was moving the new, expensive scripted hi-tech thriller Chuck to Monday at 8, leading into Heroes and Journeyman and turning the night into ...
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The Singing Bee's Joey Fatone with The Honey Bees by Trae Patton/NBC Photo
He dropped names as diverse as Norman Lear, Uri Geller, Isaiah Washington and Jerry Seinfeld. He teased an all-celebrity version of The Apprentice (with a half-joking promise to extend an invitation to Rosie O’Donnell). In describing his vision for NBC's immediate and long-term future, the network’s boyish new co-chair Ben Silverman showed his affinity for both packaging and programming TV in an enthusiastic debut performance in front of the nation’s TV critics on Monday morning.Though he took the stage alongside the relatively subdued co-chair Marc Graboff, whose expertise is on the business side, this was Silverman’s show all the way, and he wasted no time in announcing some surprising programming deals and a few aggressive scheduling changes, including turning Monday into an all-fantasy night and shifting Friday Night Lights an hour earlier on Fridays, so it’s now cozily hammocked between the strong franchises of a relocated Deal or No Deal and Las Vegas,...
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