ben.katner

Wild Child to KO The O.C.

In tonight's episode of Fox's The O.C. (airing at 9 pm/ET, not that we really need to tell you that!), the Cohen clan suffers a shock. Does Ryan smile? Does Sandy pluck? Does Seth shut up? Nope. Kirsten's incorrigible kid sister swings into town. "Hailey is a rebellious wild child," her portrayer, Amanda Righetti, tells TV Guide Online. "She's a freeloader living off Dad's money." In other words, she's Paris Hilton! "Yeah, I guess you could sort of view her like that," the actress reluctantly agrees. "She kind of does her own thing [and makes a habit of] involving herself with people she shouldn't be involved with." Sounds like our kinda gal. So, although Righetti is only scheduled to appear on the hit soap through the end of next month, there's every chance that she'll be back again. She certainly deserves a break! A year ago, she headlined the Fox pilot No Place Like Home (from the creators of Party of Five

Wed, Dec 17, 2003

Music Lover Hits It Big

If anybody has a cooler job than Luke Eddins, we don't know who it is. (And that includes Party Boy!) Night and day, the music lover listens to demos submitted via his website, lukehits.com, then picks the most ear-catching tracks for the mix CDs he circulates among commercial, TV and movie producers. When all is said and done, industry bigwigs have gotten a great song for a great price, and the middleman has helped a wannabe become what they wanna be. What did we tell you? Cool! "I had this crazy-ass idea," the 27-year-old Virginia native tells TV Guide Online, "to become a sort of human Google guy, sifting through all the clutter  only in my case, my search results would yield hit songs. I felt that no one had the guts to listen to the thousands of often frightening demos out there to find that one diamond in the rough. "I'm in the needle-in-a-haystack business," he sums up, "and I'm the first to admit it." Since lukehits.com's

Tue, Dec 16, 2003

American Dreams Come True

There's good news and better news for fans of NBC's superlative period piece, American Dreams. First, although last season, resident heartthrob Will Estes joked that executive producer Jonathan Prince "has ways to kill all of us off!" G.I. JJ Pryor will not become a casualty of the war. "JJ's is the story of survival," the boss explains to TV Guide Online. "Just as the Pryors are a family that will survive the '60s and a marriage that will make it through difficult times, so the story of Vietnam is told through the eyes of a boy who will come home to his family. And not only will he have changed, but so will they." "Expect to see [ex-Bandstand dancer] Jimmy Riley, who joined the Marines last season," he adds. "Expect to meet a new cast of good-looking Marines in JJ's unit, 'the Untouchables.' And expect to see Vietnam accurately portrayed as a place in which men and boys fought hard to stay alive, to fight for their country an

Fri, Dec 12, 2003

American Dreams Come True

Fri, Dec 12, 2003

Johnny Depp's Secret Admirer

Since it stands to reason that the PYTs of Fox's The O.C. top most of America's most-wanted boy- and girlfriends lists, you'd think that the cast could get anyone and everyone they fancy. But it ain't necessarily so, Rachel Bilson sadly informs TV Guide Online. "My crushes are kind of like out of reach... unless you can tell Johnny Depp to forget the girlfriend and the kid!" Consider the Pirates of the Caribbean star's booty officially called, Rachel! In the meantime, the 22-year-old cutie can content herself with the knowledge that, wish though she may to be meeting Gilbert Grape, she already has a beau of her own. "I am involved at the moment," she confides. "And he's not in [show] business, which is a blessing." "He thinks [my job is] kind of cool," she adds, amused.

Wed, Dec 10, 2003

Recasting Dark Shadows

Like a vampire that simply refuses to die, the gothic soap opera Dark Shadows (which ran on ABC as an afternoon serial from 1966 to '71 and, almost a decade later, was resurrected by NBC as a Friday-night fright) is being raised from the grave yet again. This time, series creator Dan Curtis has even recruited for his partner a real power player: John Wells, who, as executive producer of ER, has lots of experience with faux hemoglobin. But before the latest prime-time version sees the light of day (so to speak), the dynamic duo will have to unearth an actor with the charisma to pull off the lead role of toothsome playboy Barnabas Collins. Luckily, their friends at TV Guide Online are here to help. Our picks? Dylan McDermott: Not only does the Practice

Fri, Dec 5, 2003

Eddie McClintock is Almost Famous

Although A.U.S.A. survivor Eddie McClintock had never met Scott Wolf before being cast as his best bud in the ABC Family movie Picking Up and Dropping Off (airing Sunday at 8 pm/ET), their male bonding was fast and frivolous. "We talked about hockey and the World Series playoffs, what facial creams to use... stuff like that," he tells TV Guide Online with a laugh. "You know  guy talk." All kidding aside, the leading men  both of whom are spoken for  spent a good deal of their time together chatting about women. And with them. (What? Were they supposed to be rude?) "Let me tell you, the girls go crazy for Scott," says McClintock. "When we went to the Calgary Flames game [while shooting in Canada], they put him up on the Jumbotron, and five minutes later, there was a row of no less than 30 girls coming down the ais

Wed, Dec 3, 2003

Ask Harriet Sansom Harris

TV stars don't come much gay-friendlier than Harriet Sansom Harris, who  when not camping out on Frasier as Bebe, the radio shrink's agent  sings show tunes in Broadway hits like Thoroughly Modern Millie. So it's beyond ironic that she's now headlining the freshman laffer It's All Relative as homophobic matriarch Audrey. "One of my friends said, 'That's why you were hired  because gay people know you don't actually feel that way!'" she tells TV Guide Online with a laugh. "But I don't think there was that much thought that went into it; I just lucked out and got this job." Yeah, right  we suspect the actress's hiring had at least a little something to do with her great big talent. "Oh, now no one would ever say that," she scoffs. "Least of all one of my friends!" However she landed the gig, the humble scene stealer hopes that the ABC sitcom (airing tonight at 8:30 pm/E

Wed, Nov 26, 2003

American Revolution

As 1965 approaches on NBC's superlative period piece, American Dreams, the winds of change are picking up. But neither the battle over civil rights nor the war in Vietnam will set off the fireworks in Sunday's episode (airing Sunday at 8 pm/ET); rather, this fight is sparked by a simple conflict between a parent and child. And, in this case, by "simple," we mean "really, really intense and complicated." "When Sam (Arlen Escarpeta) openly defies Henry (Jonathan Adams), in front of [their boss], then goes to hear Malcolm X speak in Harlem after his father's told him not to, the Walker household is in full revolt," executive producer Jonathan Prince tells TV Guide Online. "This is a story about about a boy taking on his father in full-blown adolescent

Fri, Nov 21, 2003

She-Wolf Prowls Again!

In the 2000 thriller Ginger Snaps, leading lady Katharine Isabelle's transformation from teenage misanthrope to toothsome she-wolf took nearly as long as Michael Jackson's metamorphosis into... well, whatever scary creature he is. So, before she agreed to howl once more in the sequel (due in March '04), she put her paw down. "I made [the producers] promise not to torture me like they did the first time," she tells TV Guide Online. "They were like, 'Okay, we'll only have, you know, maybe one contact lens and one fingernail, but nothing crazy.'" The insanity, it turned out, was all saved for the Ginger Snaps 2 plot, in which Isabelle's ill-fated lycanthrope character, the titular Ginger, haunts her institutionalized younger sibling, Brigitte  herself a sure bet to lead a dog's life. "But I'm still dea

Mon, Nov 17, 2003

An American Tragedy

We were horrified when NBC's 1960s-set gem, American Dreams, bumped off stalwart Henry's wife late last month. (We optimistically thought the cancer patient would recover!) But imagine how series regular Jonathan Adams felt: Not only did he have to say good-bye to his on-screen better half, but her loss was his gain. Since the plot twisted, he has been given especially meaty material and has risen to the occasion, playing to the hilt his character's heartbreak and resilience. "I got kind of upset with myself," he admits to TV Guide Online, "because last year, when [executive producer] Jonathan Prince and I were discussing it, I got a little bit happy. 'They're going to kill my wife! Yea!' As far as [dramatic possibilities for Henry], I thought it was wonderful. It just felt really weird." The suddenly-single parent will need every ounce of his strength, not to mention his restraint, in this Sunday'

Fri, Nov 14, 2003

Eloise Seeks "Bookings"

Sofia Vassilieva will go down in TV-history books as the little girl who made it big playing the beloved storybook moppet of Eloise at the Plaza and its sequel, Eloise at Christmastime (airing November 22 at 8 pm/ET on ABC). But instead of resting on her laurels, the precocious 11-year-old has come up with a novel idea of her own: She wants to bring to life other famous fictional characters. "Even though I'm a little old for it, one of my favorite books is Lizzie Logan, Second Banana," she tells TV Guide Online, adding, for those of us who have gone through puberty, "There's two basic characters in it. I think Lizzie Logan is somewhere around 14, but the other character is 6, and I play a lot of 6-year-olds. "I've also read Helen Keller four times," she continues. "I don't think I'd like to be Helen Keller, though. I'll play anything, but I like being in co

Thu, Nov 13, 2003

O.C. Cutie's True Love

Many an actor has been moved to pursue a career in showbiz after seeing a particularly meaningful movie. But The O.C.'s witty and winsome Adam Brody is probably the only one who'd admit that, for him, that film was I Know What You Did Last Summer. "It was a huge influence on me," the former video-store salesclerk confesses to TV Guide Online. "I always walked by [the VHS box] on the shelf and thought [of leads Freddie Prinze Jr., Sarah Michelle Gellar and Ryan Phillippe], 'Those kids have it made.' "At the time, I thought the movie was very cool," he continues, "but it was more their lives that I wanted. And, like everyone, I was in love with

Wed, Nov 12, 2003

Mrs. Swan Returns to Mad TV

On the occasion of its 200th episode (airing Saturday at 11 pm/ET), Fox's Mad TV is doing something really crazy: It's bringing back a passel of its most popular former players, among them our personal favorite, Alex Borstein. "[Seeing the old gang again] was like Friday the 13th, only scarier," she tells TV Guide Online with a laugh. "It was kind of like we'd been gone forever, yet we felt as if we'd never left." Best of all, for the reunion, the funny lady has resurrected Mrs. Swan, the loopy manicurist character she based on her (apparently certifiable) grandmother. "We went to the post office recently to get her passport renewed," she relates, "and she gave me her ID to show the lady there, and that's when we found out it had expired... which she actually already knew, but was trying to pull a fast one on them! "So we had to take a trip to the DMV to get her a new ID," she continues, "and that's what this Mrs. Swan sketch is

Fri, Nov 7, 2003

Actor Vanishes Without a Trace

Fans of American Dreams's bespectacled boy next door, Luke, will be surprised, surprised again and then just plain shocked by his portrayer Jamie Elman's appearance in tonight's Without a Trace (airing at 10 ET on CBS). "You'll get to see me a) without glasses, b) without much of a sense of humor and c) without any of the sensitivity that [ex-girlfriend] Meg can bring out in Luke," the wry actor tells TV Guide Online. "I play a troubled rich kid, who is involved in some very shady things. "I hope, in a way, that fans of Luke won't even recognize me," he adds, "'cause I was going for something really different. Viewers who do know it's me... well, I just hope they can forget about some of the more malicious aspects of the character I play when they see me again as 'that record-store guy' on American Dreams.

Thu, Nov 6, 2003

O.C. Newbie Makes Waves

From the start, The O.C.'s adorably dorky Seth has been snobbish Summer's to do with as she pleases: kiss, dis, dismiss... you name it. But the rich witch's spell over him may be broken in tonight's episode of the hit Fox soap (airing at 8 ET), when Samaire Armstrong returns as Anna, the babelicious bookworm with the good sense to notice Seth's inner hottie. "She's pretty happy to see him when she shows up [after her sailing trip to Tahiti]," the Not Another Teen Movie co-star tells TV Guide Online. "Definitely, the feelings are there. They have a really strong connection, because they have so many quirky things in common that nobody would understand but the two of them. They really share something sweet." At first, though, Anna gets roped into her fellow boatnik's hare-brained scheme to make Summer see him the way that Anna, and viewers, do. Needless to say, chao

Wed, Nov 5, 2003

O.C. Hunk Plays Fame Game

Don't call The O.C.'s Benjamin McKenzie an overnight sensation: The heartthrob at the heart of Fox's unexpectedly witty new primetime soap opera was in Hollywood for a whole year before being anointed an It boy. As a result, he graciously accepts the "burden" of his newfound popularity. After all, being asked for an autograph beats the heck out of being asked for a menu! Being recognizable "can be tricky," the 27-year-old tells TV Guide Online, then adds sarcastically, "I'm not going to say, 'Oh, [my castmates and I] are so huge, we can't go anywhere and my life is terrible.' [The loss of anonymity] is slightly unfortunate, but also pretty flattering. I mean, no one ever comes up to me and, like, slaps me or, you know, calls me an a--hole." On the contrary, face to face with Ryan's handsome portrayer, many an admirer can't make any remark at all,

Tue, Nov 4, 2003

Creepers "Haunts" Ed Star

The original Jeepers Creepers freaked out a whole lotta people (us included), and none more so than Ed's Justin Long. But it wasn't what he saw while playing the creature feature's embattled protagonist that gave him nightmares, it was what we didn't see. "The hardest scene for me to do in that movie," he tells TV Guide Online, "was the one right after I saw all that scary scary stuff [in the Creeper's stiffs-stuffed lair]. We all really wanted to make it authentic... to make that fear as real as possible. I didn't know how I was going to do it. It was the kind of experience that leaves a [gray] streak in your hair"  &#224 la JoBeth Williams in Poltergeist. Nonetheless, the junior achiever was determined to give himself

Fri, Oct 31, 2003

Blair Witch "Spells" It Out

Four years ago, three actors went into the woods and came out with The Blair Witch Project, the most crudely shot  and, arguably, most lavishly admired  independent film in, like, ever. And, according to leading lady Heather Donahue, even if the godawful sequel hadn't killed the franchise, there could never have been another Project anyway. "On a regular set, you've got all these [crew members], and you have to be working on their schedule, because they've all got their jobs to do," she explains to TV Guide Online. (Well, duh.) "On Blair Witch, it was just the three of us out there. So we pretty much made that movie however we damn well pleased! "If we wanted a break, we took a break," she continues with a laugh. "When we were ready to shoot a scene, we shot a scene. We didn't have to do a million takes or take anybody's direction; we just

Fri, Oct 31, 2003

Meet TLC's Newest Sex Symbol

If a good man is hard to find, then a good-looking man who's as quick with a quip as he is handy with a hacksaw must be darn near impossible to locate. So it makes sense that the newest sex symbol to emerge from The Learning Channel stud farm is Andrew Dan-Jumbo, the hunky carpenter on While You Were Out (Fridays at 9 pm/ET). But would the Nigerian-born, English-bred hottie who could, well, nail anything he likes, collapse when hammered with TV Guide Online's unrelentingly probing questions? Read on and find out.TV Guide Online: Um, Jumbo? Andrew Dan-Jumbo: It's a Nigerian name. There's a long story behind it, but it would probably take three pages to explain. TVGO: No time for that, then. Would you agree that it gives you a lot to live up to, running around with a name like Jumbo? Dan-Jumbo: (Laughs) It does, yes. But as awkward as that name was to go through school with, because of the ridicule, it was a name that peo

Wed, Oct 22, 2003

Alex Boyd Plays the Fame Game

Blessed with bedroom eyes and a voice to match, Fame seeker Alex Boyd seemed like a shoo-in to win NBC's spring talent contest. So, naturally, when he didn't emerge victorious, American idolizers were quick to express their disapproval. Heck, we were so ticked off, we quit watching in protest! "The judges said they were surprised, too," the 19-year-old tells TV Guide Online. One particularly impressed panelist, Carnie Wilson, has even gone so far as to throw her weight behind the up-and-comer."I can't thank her enough for taking me on and shopping me to some labels. But [finding the right deal] can take a long time." Until a forward-thinking A&R bigwig finally realizes that  hello?!  a heartthrob who'll appeal to fans of both Justin Timberlake and

Wed, Oct 15, 2003

NYPD Blue Cop Out?

Although Esai Morales survived the shocking NYPD Blue season finale in which his character was gunned down, Lt. Tony Rodriguez still may not be long for the 15th precinct. "I can't say that I'll be on the show for the whole season," the actor tells TV Guide Online. "I have a deal at ABC to do my own series  drama, dramedy, whatever." Even if this does turn out to be the 41-year-old heartthrob's final year as a regular on the beat, it isn't likely to be his last visit to to the set. A la alumna Kim Delaney (who returns for a weeks-long story arc in episode five), he notes, "I hope that if I leave, it's in a way that I can come back." (Memo to Mr. Bochco: No body bags, please.) As it is, Morales is surprised that he has been so warmly embraced b

Thu, Oct 9, 2003