Chyler Leigh by Evan Agostini/Getty Images, Scott Garfield/ABC
There's no doubt about it: New TV hits can bring old, short-lived shows to DVD.Just ask Taye Diggs, who's hot enough in Private Practice that his 2006 effort, Day Break, will hit stores at the end of this month. Or Kim Raver: Her old show, Third Watch, was in hugely high demand for a DVD release... but the studio didn't actually pull the trigger on getting it out (early last month) until Raver was cast in the new series Lipstick Jungle. Christina Applegate is doing well with Samantha Who?, so naturally more season-set releases are getting dug up for Married... with Children (Season 8 hits in a couple of weeks). Ditto for Party of Five, which finally returns to DVD later this month, thanks to Matthew Fox's current hit show, Lost. (Jennifer Love Hewitt's good-enough turn in Ghost Whisperer doesn't hurt there, either!)This phenomenon is not only limited to cast members, either. With Heroes having hit superpower levels in the ratings, is it any wonder that creator Tim Kring's previous s...
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Calista Flockhart, Dave Annable and Sally Field in Brothers & Sisters by Craig Sjodin/ABC
How’s this for irony? All last week, trying not to get too depressed about what a protracted writers’ strike might mean for the TV season and the industry at large, I was secretly looking forward to a weekend getaway: catching former Alias star Jennifer Garner’s Broadway debut in a revival of Cyrano, opposite Kevin Kline and Rescue Me’s Daniel Sunjata. Unfortunately, my tickets were for Saturday night, by which time the stagehands’ union had initiated their own sudden walkout and work stoppage.At this rate, I might actually finish the book I’ve been reading since mid-October.(Thankfully, I was lucky enough to catch Aaron Sorkin's new play, The Farnsworth Invention, before the strike. It was scheduled to have its official opening night later this week, but when it reopens, I predict a healthy run for this fascinating, entertaining play recounting the birth of television.)While consumers of TV, movies and even theater wait for unions and producers to reac...
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Lacey Chabert
Party of Five's plucky violinist keeps plugging along. In Lifetime's What If God Were the Sun? (premiering tonight at 9 pm/ET), Lacey Chabert stars opposite no less than Oscar nominee/Emmy winner Gena Rowlands, playing a nurse whose world unravels upon the sudden death of her father. Transferred to a long-term-care facility, she meets Rowlands' character, a real character who teaches her to embrace life anew. Balancing out this emotional fare for Chabert is her sitcom pilot at Fox (whose fate will be decided this week). TVGuide.com asked her about both projects, her latest thoughts on "big brother" Matthew Fox's Lost,
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Applause to Ghost Whisperer for a wicked-cool Grammy Awards tie-in with Mary J. Blige as a guest star. She did a great job acting, and didn't seem at all to be "big music star playing actor," which often happens when pop stars get cast in TV shows and movies. It was actually her performance this evening that made me cry when her character realized her little brother was in the light. I also thought it was clever that we wound up hearing one of her songs through the cheerleading competition, rather than through an obligatory forced concert at the end of the show. Very clever and smooth Grammy Awards cross-promotion for CBS.Melinda was an adorable little freak in high school, wasn't she? She looked like a cute manga character, which I wouldn't exactly consider "nerdy," even by today's standards. But I s'pose to cheerleaders and the popular types, she would seem a bit different and be treated like a freak. Actually, her character in high school reminded me of the role that J. Love play...
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Last season, back in April, I made a comment that I was officially old since Mare Winningham was playing a soon-to-be grandmother. That's because, even though I know she was Oscar-nominated for Georgia, I will always think of Mare as Wendy, the gal that Billy (Rob Lowe) discovered was wearing a girdle in St. Elmo's Fire. Are you with me here? But it was good to see her back tonight as Susan Grey, the current wife of Meredith's dad, Thatcher, and the timing made sense since Susan and Thatcher's daughter, Molly (Mandy Siegfried), was there for an emergency C-section. I won't refer to Susan as Meredith's stepmother since Meredith doesn't seem to want to associate herself with Susan and Molly: "You are not my family." Oh, Meredith. So harsh. But I have friends who are in the same boat — they don't really want to become close with their father's new family. I did kind of want Meredith to take Susan up on her offer to become part of their family. What made things better was the poign...
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Question: Do we know yet which actress is going to play Bones and Brennan's sexy new boss, Dr. Camille Saroyan, on Bones? Answer: Yes! The role has gone to the lovely Tamara Taylor. Lost fans know her as Walt's mom, but TT also had recurring gigs on NCIS, Party of Five and Dawson's Creek. She also was one of the few reasons to watch UPN's short-lived
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Joey's nephew, Paulo Costanzo, has joined CBS' untitled comedy pilot about an engaged couple, a married couple and a single guy.... As she hinted at in last week's Insider Q&A, Lacey Chabert has landed herself a pilot: The Party of Five alum will play sister to Lindsay Sloane in CW's Nick Lachey-starring romantic comedy She Said/He Said.
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Lacey Chabert, Hello Sister, Goodbye Life!
Oh, how Party of Five's sweet Claudia has grown up. In the nearly six years since the sibling sudser aired its swan song, Lacey Chabert has gotten wild with the Thornberrys, at one point found herself Lost in Space, and then fell in with some Mean Girls. This Sunday at 7 pm/ET, Chabert stars in ABC Family's Hello Sister, Goodbye Life!, a TV-movie about a snarky coed forced to watch over her 7-year-old half sister — with barely an assist from mom Wendie Malick — when tragedy strikes.
TVGuide.com: I have to think that having Just Shoot Me's Wendie Malick play your mom was a big incen
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Question: The Golden Globes are my favorite awards show, mainly because they put TV and movie stars all together under one roof — and give them lots of booze. They can always be counted upon for great moments! But if one thing always irks me, it's the supporting actor TV category, which doesn't differentiate between drama, comedy or miniseries. And we end up with a field like this for Best Supporting Actor: Naveen Andrews, Lost; Paul Newman, Empire Falls; Jeremy Piven, Entourage; Randy Quaid, Elvis; Donald Sutherland, Commander in Chief. Seriously? We're putting Jeremy Piven's delightfully shallow superagent up against Andrews' painstaking dramatic portrayal of a tortured (no pun intended) former Iraqi soldier? In the same category? I am sure they must do this to get the time down on the program, but if they must lump TV-movies and miniseries together, can't they at least separate between comedy and drama (two drastically different media)? That would only add two awards to the program, ...
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So funny how this show debuts on the same night Amanda Woodward is on Boston Legal. Coincidence? Well, yes. But it's only fitting, since it takes place in a trendy L.A .neighborhood (Silver Lake) and features a group of friends well versed in betrayal, backstabbing and most important, bed hopping. Sounds a bit Melrose Place-ish, dontcha think? Actually, I feel like I'm watching Season 1 Melrose the whole time. You remember, that's when the show hadn't found the right formula yet, but it had oodles of potential. A few tweaks later (and by tweaks I mean Heather Locklear), it was enjoying ratings gold, baby. In this soapy drama, Denise Richards (Jolene) dons the short skirts. But here's what I don't get: Jolene goes off on Rose about how Rose once stole her boyfriend Billy? Come on! She's Denise Richards! She's the one who needs to be doing the stealing around here! Thankfully, I have a sneaking suspicion I'll get my wish soon.
A couple
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