TV Guide Network today announced plans to launch Hollywood 411, a daily one-hour entertainment newsmagazine show, which is slated to premiere in January 2008.Hollywood 411 will focus on the day’s top entertainment news stories and will offer on-scene interviews with big-name TV, film and music celebrities. TV Guide Network host Madison Michele will anchor the broadcast. "Hollywood 411’s hour-long format will leverage our network’s strengths in covering entertainment and celebrity news in-depth," says Matthew Singerman, TV Guide Network’s senior vice president of programming and production. "It will distinguish the program from some of the other entertainment offerings currently available on TV."Veteran news and entertainment producer Jerry Burke will serve as 411’s senior executive producer. Burke comes to the network from the Fox News Channel, where he increased ratings 300 percent as executive producer of daytime programming. He has also worked as bureau c...
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Colin Ferguson in Eureka by Matthias Clamer/Sci Fi Channel
Warner Bros. syndicated division has cleared a fall 2008 daytime talker to be hosted by actress-comedian Bonnie Hunt. The Reporter also reports deal extensions for Ellen (through 2011) and Extra (through 2012).... Sci Fi Channel has ordered a third season of Eureka, to launch in summer '08, and a second round of Destination Truth.... Showtime has erected or modified fountains in 14 U.S cities, including in Times Square and Hollywood & Highland, to flow red, promoting the Season 2 premiere of Dexter. The cabler, though, insists the color choice is to match its logo, not to symbolize blood. Uh-huh. Tell it to Doakes.
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As part of an interview airing on Monday's Extra, Chad Lowe admits, "It has been a tough year, and not something I expected," referring, of course, to his split from Hilary Swank, who famously "outed" her husband's substance abuse problem in a Vanity Fair profile. "I was disappointed that the details of our relationship became public," he says, "[But] they were absolutely true, absolutely true. I am so grateful to Hilary for her support of me in a very difficult time in my life, three-and-a-half years ago. What hurt me more than anything is that people would think that she wasn’t there for me, and she was. I will always love her."Also during Extra's Monday Lowe-down: a preview of his role on the new season of 24.
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Michael Douglas tells Extra he was misquoted in a GQ interview that had him questioning Brad Pitt's decision to dump you-know-who for you-know-lips. ("Leaving that beautiful wife to go hold orphans for Angelina? I mean, how long is that going to last?" the mag quoted Douglas as saying.) "I didn't say it," he reportedly told GQ, which responded with the statement, "We stand by [the quotes] 100 percent. For him to suggest we made them up is laughable."
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King Kong's Jack Black has eloped with his girlfriend, musician Tanya Haden, People reports.... Desperate Housewives' Nicollette Sheridan got engaged to singer-beau Michael Bolton over the weekend.... Extra is saying that Teri Hatcher and Ryan Seacrest had a "first date" — with "a group of friends," just as any online dating service would advise — Saturday night at a Los Angeles restaurant. The supposedly smitten American Idol host hopes never to hear Hatcher say, "Seacrest... out!"
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A cryptic casting call recently went out for a television show about soap grads hoping to return to daytime. "At this time, we can't really divulge much about the project," the industry notice said. "We are just looking for those who had contract roles on soaps and might be interested in returning to one. [Candidates must be] recognizable as former soap stars, not day players."
Hmm... Sounds like it should be called
I Wanna Be a Soap Star... Again. My short list of personal picks for ex-daytimers who oughta get back in the suds: Actor-turned-artist
Thom Bierdz (ex-Phillip Chancellor III,
Young and the Restless),
Extra correspondent
Michael Corbett (ex-David Kimball,
Y&R), the feisty
Roberta Weiss (Flame,
Santa Barbara) and the fabulous
Victoria Wyndham (Rachel/Justine,
Another World).
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Get This Party StartedIn the wake of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition's success, it was bound to happen: a show devoted to giving deserving folks a well-earned party. And there are fewer families in need of a party more than the Joneses, who lost just about everything in Hurricane Katrina. Since then they've been living in a hotel as evacuees and could certainly use a diversion. Enter Laguna Beach babe Kristin Cavallari and Extra's Ethan Erickson to the rescue! Sisters Arin and Alexis were ostensibly heading to Las Vegas to audition for a singing competition (not American Idol, these girls actually can sing). But sneaky Arin was in cahoots with Kristin and Ethan so her sis Alexis could have the best 21st birthday ever. With an entire wardrobe, a brand-new car, gift bags, an
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Kimberlin Brown, The Young and the Restless and Arianne Zuker, Days of our Lives
Despite what you may've read elsewhere, soap superstar Kimberlin Brown is not gunning for a role on Days of our Lives. "That is pure rumor," a show rep insists to TVGuide.com. "We're not sure where it came from."
While suds fans best know Brown as she-devil Sheila Carter from
The Young and the Restless and
The Bold and the Beautiful, she is a hero in real life. Brown recently donated her bone marrow to help save the life of a 16-month-old baby girl who was born with leukemia. "I can't imagine a family having to lose [a child]," she told
Extra. "This is why I did what I did. Is there anything more important that you can do before you leave the world than to save someone else?"
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Chad Lowe and Hilary Swank
Having apparently received their copy of the memo, two-time Oscar winner Hilary Swank and Chad Lowe have officially separated after nearly eight and a half years of marriage (including a prolonged trial separation). No court papers have been filed. "Hilary and Chad are hopeful they'll be able to get through this tough time," Swank's manager tells Extra in a segment slated to air Monday night.
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Question: Desperate for Housewives spoilers over here!
Answer: Doug Savant told Extra that when the show returns in January, we're going to see some action between Tom and Gabrielle. “When we come back on the air, Eva Longoria is kissing me! I had a hellacious day on the set with just hours and hours of Eva Longoria kissing me!" And I'm sure Laura Leighton was totally cool with it. After all, they're both professionals.
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