Lisa Kudrow, The Comeback
For those of you who Valerie Cherish'd HBO's The Comeback, here something to make you say, "I wanna see that!" The single-season look at a onetime sitcom queen's bid for a return to fame arrives on DVD this week, complete with extras, including an update on the horrific role Val has since been offered and a look at her Dancing with the Stars stint. TVGuide.com spoke with cocreator Lisa Kudrow, Emmy-nominated for playing the hapless actress, about her ongoing Comeback, Valerie's A-list "Angel" of a fan, and Madonna stealing her hair.
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Mickey Rooney in National Velvet
The American Film Institute celebrates America's 100 most inspiring movies in a three-hour CBS special AFI'S 100 Years... 100 Cheers, airing tonight at 8 pm/ET. Appearing in no fewer than seven films on the list — including Babes in Arms, Captains Courageous,
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Brande Roderick on Gameshow Marathon
We asked 100 men, "Would you drown yourself if it meant Brande Roderick giving you mouth-to-mouth?" How many said yes?
That Card Sharksian moment is brought to you by CBS' Gameshow Marathon, airing tonight at 8 pm/ET (click here for additional dates) and pitting such familiar faces as Leslie Nielsen, Kathy Najimy and, yes, Baywatch alum Brande Roderick against each other in conte
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Brande Roderick on Gameshow Marathon
We asked 100 men, "Would you drown yourself if it meant Brande Roderick giving you mouth-to-mouth?" How many said yes?
That Card Sharksian moment is brought to you by CBS' Gameshow Marathon, premiering tonight at 8 pm/ET and pitting such familiar faces as Leslie Nielsen, Kathy Najimy and, yes, Baywatch alum Brande Roderick against each other in contests from your favorite quiz contests. Avoiding the Whammy and bidding on fabulous showcases is but the first of many things on Roderick's plat
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Question: Just read your review of the Oscars and thought it a bit harsh. This is, after all, an awards show, with the main event being the handing out of awards. Certainly the singing performances, funny montages and humorous turns by Jon Stewart, Ben Stiller, Will Ferrell and Steve Carell were attempts to liven up the evening. Some succeeded, some failed. But what would you recommend instead? Although I agree with you that there are many ways to reduce the lengthy event, that won't automatically make it any more interesting. So what will? Or do you concede that the Oscars are just one of those events that viewers and critics alike will always find fault with, no matter what happens or who hosts?
Answer: Gee, a critic being harsh? How did that happen? You're right, though. I've been reviewing Oscar shows since maybe the late '80s, and I can probably count on one hand the number of times I've had a mostly positive impression (usually the years with Billy Crystal at the helm). As I
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Jon Stewart did his best, but it wasn't good enough. There are limitations in being a clever, self-deprecating master of irony, when what the job of Oscar host truly demands is being a showman. Which Stewart would probably be the first to admit he's not.
His humor, politically barbed but never obnoxious, was possibly a bit too sophisticated for that cavernous room. But what really defeated him, as it has almost every modern-day Oscar host except for Billy Crystal, is the deadly monotony of the Oscar show itself. What a fossiled relic. The Oscar broadcast is a classy but inert dinosaur, and this year's was more forgettable than most.
Stewart gamely tried to deflate the evening's pomposity whenever he could — after a montage on message movies, he quipped, "and none of these issues were ever a problem again" — but still, we had to sit through it all anyway.
Even with a last-minute shocker, as Crash
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Jon Stewart
The 78th Annual Academy Awards 8:01: The opening scene just demonstrates why we love Jon Stewart: No one does self-deprecation so funny. Not even George Clooney. I think my dog would look great in a Steve Martin wig.
8:05: At first, the Hollywood royalty aren't laughing quite as hard as I am at Jon's jokes — especially not at the one about the suffering caused by movie piracy. But nothing brings people together like a Bjork joke. (She was trying on her gown and Cheney shot her!) And then the gay Western montage. Not even Stewart knows how to follow up that hilarity, so I'm not even gonna try. Brilliant.
8:16: Nicole Kidman's weird intro for the best-supporting-actor nominees has me thinking right away that Clooney will win. And then he does; self-deprecation keeps working wonders. "So I'm not winning director." The music starts after about 10 sec
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Kiefer Sutherland and Kim Raver
You know that nasty smell permeating throughout TV land? It's most likely the stench of death. As if regular readers of Ask Ausiello needed to be reminded, many of our favorite shows will be bidding permanent farewell to pivotal characters in the coming months — capping a bloody TV season that has already claimed lives on Smallville, Battlestar Galactica, Las Vegas, 24 and Lost. Who's next on the Grim Reaper's hit list? Let's sift through the latest evidence and see if we can ID the victims.
24 The buzz: As exec producer Howard Gordon made pretty clear when I spoke to him in early January, Palmer and Michelle won't be the only 24 MVPs getting clocked this season. "I would say it's a pretty good bet that we will have another major loss… or two," he said. "No one
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