ben.katner

Karen Black's Unhappy Halloween

Want to see something scary? Call Karen Black a scream queen; then run like hell. "I consider myself a tremendous talent," the snippish star of It's Alive! III, Children of the Corn IV and House of 1,000 Corpses tells TV Guide Online. "I do have quite the gift. I don't really like horror movies, nor do I want to do them. I just got on a path many years ago, and it got hard to avoid, because people kept offering me scary movies. "I'd really be upset if you put in the [article] that that was the path I was on," she adds. "I've made 130 movies, and 14 of them were scary movies, so it's not that big of a deal." Far be it from us to argue with a tremendous talent. However, we can't help but suspect that Black would have a tougher time making her case to anybody who's ever lost sleep after seeing her wear wooden teeth in Trilogy of Terror. Undaunted, she argues, "I'm interested in doing a very high aesthetic, and it's very hard for

Wed, Oct 8, 2003

NYPD Blue Wedding Off?

Now that NYPD Blue gunshot victim Rodriguez is back on his feet, there's nothing keeping affianced detectives Sipowicz (Dennis Franz) and McDowell (Charlotte Ross) from walking down the aisle. Well, almost nothing. "Let me just put it this way," executive producer Mark Tinker tells TV Guide Online. "There's some dissention in the ranks as to what we should do with that story." He can say that again. His colleague, co-producer Bill Clark, talks like he's already stocking up on rice. "We sure hope [the wedding will happen]," he insists. "We have it on hold probably at least through about half the season." So what's the sticking point? Bennifer could put together a ceremony quicker than this! Heck, J. Lo could even get hitched and divorced faster! "It's a delicate situation," Clark explains, "because we don't want to get into marital bliss with [Sipowicz], and he's had so much tragedy in

Tue, Oct 7, 2003

American Dreamboat's Darth Vader Connection

Jamie Elman is a professional actor. He's been in show business for years. He's even got a regular gig playing nerdy dreamboat Luke on American Dreams. We make special mention of these facts because, after reading the following confession, you might be tempted to think otherwise. Ready? Okay. On the set of the feature Shattered Glass (opening Oct. 17), about the New Republic reporter whose fabricated articles predated the Jayson Blair scandal, the Star Wars fanatic had to use the Force to keep from going all ComiCon on co-star Hayden Christensen. "I wanted to tell him, 'Hey, it's another movie about Darth Vader and Luke,'" he admits to TV Guide Online. "Get it? Darth Vader [his big-screen counterpart] and Luke [my TV character]." Long pause. Dead silence. "Eh, I don't think even he would get that joke." Elman also refrained from challenging the erstwhile Anakin Skywalker to a light-saber duel. "No, I did n

Mon, Oct 6, 2003

Temptation Tomcat Tells All!

After he behaved so boorishly on Temptation Island 3 that his girlfriend, Melissa, was forced to hook up with homeboy Jerome, you'd think goofy, girl-crazy Michael wouldn't have any fans. But in this weird world, that isn't the case. "Guys seem to like me a lot," the bartender tells TV Guide Online. "I guess it's because how I acted on the show is the way they would dream of acting, but they don't necessarily have the [stones] to do it!" Maybe. Then again, it could just be that Michael's fellow men simply were raised better than to breast-knead on national television and use language that was so explicit, it made host Mark L. Walberg blush. Seriously, dude  you kiss your mama with that mouth? "She knows how I am," he insists, chuckling, "and she's very open to sexual conversations. She'll talk about, you know, 'Oh, buy condoms,' or whatever. Just recently, actually... "My father thought it was hilarious [that I copp

Wed, Oct 1, 2003

Hotel's Charla Loses "Virginity"!

We admit it: At first, we didn't really get Charla. Although she was among the hottest of the sunbathing beauties on Fox's summer skin parade, Paradise Hotel, the loner seemed adrift in the game and, therefore, a likely candidate for early eviction. But as the weeks (and weeks and weeks!) dragged on, she worked out a buddy system with fellow outcast Dave, and together with sly pin-ups Keith and Tara, they forged a powerful alliance that withstood everything from muscle-head Zack's crude manipulation to bipolar body builder Toni's over-the-top tantrums. And, by God, we also figured out our heroine. We finally got her! She wasn't pulling a Garbo at all, she was just waiting for some folks to show up with whom she could share more than sex on the beach  the drink, that is, not the act. Now, as the guilty pleasure airs what we're sure will be its "shocking" finale (Wednesday at 8 ET), the founder of Team Barbie

Tue, Sep 30, 2003

Hotel's Dave Dishes the Dirt

From the moment that unlikely Paradise Hotel guest Dave peeled off his shirt and cheerfully announced, "I have man-boobs!" we couldn't help but love the guy. Sure, he was about as reliable an ally as the French, but come on  in a sea of washboard stomachs and bulging biceps, he was like us (and how often have you ever seen a real person on reality TV?). What's more, the pro-level schemer's unrequited adoration of brainy Barbie Charla made us groan in empathy. So, as the first of what we can only hope will be many seasons of Fox's summer skank-o-rama comes to an end (in a two-hour finale, airing Wednesday night at 8 ET), we rang up the big lug to give credit where it is due.TV Guide Online: Dave, on behalf of the pectorally challenged everywhere, I salute you! Dave: Thank you, but I wouldn't necessarily say I'm pectorally challenged. I'm just more normal. TVGO: Looking back, how would you characterize your Pa

Mon, Sep 29, 2003

Mrs. Melissa Etheridge Speaks!

Isn't it ironic? Girl-on-girl action never fails to get a rise out of viewers, yet being a lesbian can send a starlet's career spiraling downward. Luckily, the new Mrs. Melissa Etheridge, Tammy Lynn Michaels, doesn't give a damn; the former Popular vixen has her priorities in order. "This industry is fickle," she tells TV Guide Online. "What's most important is who's going to be there with you at the end of the day when people stop taking pictures." Hallelujah! However, the 28-year-old actress, who recently played a homosexual teenage spy in the spoof D.E.B.S., didn't always have a beautiful mind to match her pretty face; she came by her level head the hard way. "I had a single mother, and coming from a small Catholic town in the '80s... that did not fly well," the Indiana native remembers. "Back then, it was like the scarlet letter... so I know what it's like to be the black sheep of the town. That's why I tend to root for the under

Mon, Sep 29, 2003

Alicia Silverstone: Miss Familiarity?

Does Alicia Silverstone have a hit on her hands with NBC's Miss Match? As if! The series bears too striking a resemblance to the movie starlet's 1995 comedy Clueless to fail. See for yourself. MISS MATCH Golden girl: Silverstone plays Kate, a singleton with a knack for striking matches between her law firm's odd clients out. Father time: Kate's dad is a tough-as-nails divorce lawyer. Best bud: Kate's sidekick, Victoria, has a steady stream of beaux. Hit and run: Kate tells a boyfriend to take a hike by getting out of his car. True love: Fair-haired Kate seems, um, clueless that cute pal Michael is destined to be hers. CLUELESS Golden girl: Silverstone plays Cher, a single teen with a flair for pairing up her high school's lonely hearts. Father time: Cher's pop is a sharp-as

Fri, Sep 26, 2003

Seven Silly Questions for... Paradise Hotel's Smokey

If you ask us, only one of the guests of Fox's wanton wonderland, Paradise Hotel, has never made an ass of himself  and he's a monkey! Yes, even as odd bird Tom's stuffed traveling companion, Smokey, watched his pulchritudinous playmates hook up and strip down, he himself didn't go ape... or did he? Perhaps a little gorilla warfare  in the form of Seven Silly Questions  will flush out his inner party animal.TV Guide Online: How aggravated were you that you got to visit a singles' mecca, but had to let Tom tag along? Didn't he get in the way of your game? Smokey: Somebody has to take one for the team sometimes. We're a pimp duo. TVGO: In several episodes, we didn't see you at all. Were you under the covers while Charla was hiding out in bed? Smokey: No. Most of my time was taken up by Amanda, the host. She wouldn't leave me alone! I was complaining. TVGO: Gee. You must have had

Fri, Sep 26, 2003

Temptation Host's "Hardcore" Gig

Though Mark L. Walberg has hosted romance-centered reality series such as Temptation Island and Anything for Love, he also really likes home-improvement shows like While You Were Out. So what better gig for him could there be than presiding over House Rules, the new TBS offering (premiering Oct. 10 at 8 pm/ET) that combines the excitement of room makeovers with the intensity of competitive soon-to-be-weds. "This show is so cool," he tells TV Guide Online, with so much enthusiasm that he almost makes us forget he's not the least bit impartial. "First of all, it's hardcore redecoration. They're knocking out walls! It's not like Trading Spaces, where you throw some paint and fabric up and buy an art piece. "Plus, there are relationships [under pressure]," he continues, "in the sense of how stressful it is to be under the gun, timewise and moneywise. Even just picking out paint color... Boy oh boy, that's stressful for these

Wed, Sep 24, 2003

Seinfeld's Puddy Returns!

Maybe Patrick Warburton has a thing for difficult women. At least his characters certainly do. For three years, his dim Seinfeld alter ego was Puddy in the hands of pushy Elaine. And this season, he'll be appearing on the workplace "witcom" Less Than Perfect as Jeb, a media pundit who'll be hot for ice princess Lydia (Andrea Parker). "We're doing a little arc with them," executive producer Christine Zander tells TV Guide Online. "They have a very sexually tense relationship, but neither of them will admit to their attraction to one another, and then they finally do." While Jeb's infatuation with Lydia is certainly understandable  she's smokin' hot!  the outcome of their involvement is far more difficult to predict. Could a kinder, gentler diva possibly emerge? "I think," hints Zander, "we're going to see maybe a little more vulnerability in Lydia." The softening of the vamp's hard heart couldn't come at a bet

Tue, Sep 23, 2003

Emmy Emcees Left Us Laughing

Since the nominees for the 55th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards were a who's who of repeat contenders, we were left to focus on what the ceremony's producers wanted us to  the good-humor men and funny ladies they recruited to emcee. So which of them left us laughing so hard that they ought to be going for the gold themselves next year? A quick review of Sunday's live broadcast reveals the host with the most... guffaws. &#149Gary Shandling: Our favorite neurotic got the evening off to a shaky start, perhaps because he could tell that his disappointing material wasn't so much hit and miss as it was hit and miss and miss and miss. Having money grubber Brad Garrett lumber on stage for a lingering kiss during the erstwhile Larry Sanders's riff on the infamous Madonna-Britney smooch did nothing to give his set the illusion of originality. At least he landed one good punch line in closing. "I just want to say to CBS," he said, breathless, "[Br

Mon, Sep 22, 2003

Catching Up With Xena's Callisto

We thought we'd heard everything here at TV Guide Online. But then we rang up Hudson Leick, and dang if the former Xena: Warrior Princess villainess didn't prove us wrong in nothing flat. "I quit acting for about two years," the 34-year-old knockout tells us. Why on Earth? If ever a performer was born ready for her close-up, we'd have bet that it had to be her. So, what possessed her?! "'What possessed you?!'" she repeats dramatically, then bursts into laughter. "I just wasn't crazy about the business. When you work, you're so lucky  I mean, only [a small percentage] of the Screen Actors Guild actually makes enough money to support themselves. I just didn't think that was what I wanted to do. "But," she adds, "I was wrong." We could've told Leick that. Whether the veteran of Melrose Place and Touched by an Angel is throwing herself into another of what she calls the "slutty, bitchy bimbo" roles

Thu, Sep 18, 2003

O.C. Vixen the Next Katie, Not Tori

Some O.C. cast members would sooner drink Coppertone than hear one more time how much their prime-time soap resembles its Fox forebear, Beverly Hills, 90210. But Rachel Bilson? She isn't one of 'em. "It's so flattering!" the actress exclaims to TV Guide Online. "I grew up on 90210. I was addicted to it!" Just don't call her character, ice princess Summer, the O.C.'s answer to Donna Martin. "I don't want to be the Donna!" she says, mock pouting. "Nothing against Tori Spelling, but Summer affiliates more with Kelly (Jennie Garth) at the beginning of 90210, when she was the BMW-drivin' bad girl. Donna was way more innocent." And the buxom virgin stayed that way for  gulp!  years. "No, no, no, no!" Bilson squeals. "That is not the case with my character at all!" Down the line, however, the L.A. native hopes that her star will align less with sitcom scene-stealer Garth's and more with that of a certa

Tue, Sep 16, 2003

Sara Rue's New Beau Less Than Perfect?

Throughout the first season of Less Than Perfect, ABC's daffy and endearing post-millennial Mary Tyler Moore Show, fans watched and winced as plucky heroine Claude (Sara Rue) made one misstep after another on the road to true love. First there was her unrequited crush on egocentric boss Will. Then her romance with Charlie from Travel went nowhere. But, executive producer Christine Zander tells TV Guide Online, Cupid's aim may be about to improve. "We have a great episode that we'll be doing where Claude does one of those Classmates.com things," she teases. "She posts what she's been doing [working under a well-respected network anchorman] and she's a little proud of it, so she gets a little flashy and it gets responses. "One of them," she continues, "is from the most popular guy in her high school." Easy-on-the-eyes sitcom vet Eddie McClintock  late of A.U.S.A. and Stark Raving Mad  has lande

Mon, Sep 15, 2003

Island Hunk Tempts Fate

Upon arriving on Temptation Island, trouble magnet Jeff scarcely had time to unpack his swim trunks before he decided what he wanted to tempt  fate. Yep, one look at Kara's boyfriend, Vin Diesel wannabe Jason, and the mischievous sometime model was a goner! He just had to pretend he was going to give Jason a trinket indicating his interest in Kara. "When we were walking by, Jason was pretty much growling at everyone," he tells TV Guide Online. "My first impression was that he was a tool, so I had to mess with him. It was nothing toward Kara at all. I didn't want to hurt her feelings  I never even met the girl!" However, after logging some quality time with his archenemy's significant other, the 24-year-old realized that he enjoyed rubbing her back as much as he did getting under Jason's skin. "We had a little bit of chemistry," he teases, adding that he didn't turn on the charm just to piss off Ja

Thu, Sep 11, 2003

Homicide: Life on Sesame Street?

Broadway baby Kerry Butler knows her way around the block  and not just Theater Row, either. The native New Yorker, who's currently putting down roots as Audrey in the big-time revival of Little Shop of Horrors, has appeared twice on Sesame Street and, even more impressive, lived to tell the tale. "I went to the wrap party [last year], and I actually saw Snuffleupagus eat a little boy," she reveals to TV Guide Online. But before you go grumbling, "There goes the neighborhood!" let the ingenue finish. "Snuffleupagus spit him back out again, so it was okay. At the wrap party, they play all kinds of jokes and stuff. It was perfect!" Butler's second visit to Big Bird's turf was especially meaningful to her. On her first visit, she was just a kid. However, upon returning to the avenue, "I was sort of like a celebrity guest. I played the mail carrier and sang, 'Oh, the letter carrier brings the mail... ' &mdash; you know, for 'T

Thu, Sep 11, 2003

Will Ben and J.Lo Give in to Temptation?

As their eagerly-anticipated wedding approaches, we can't help but think that media mainstays Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez would benefit from some prenup counseling. And where better for a couple on the verge to go over the edge than on national television, right? That's why we're dying  dying!  for the soon-to-be marrieds to drop in on Mark L. Walberg and turn Temptation Island into Fantasy Island. "There is no question in my mind that that would be a very watchable television show," the reality host tells TV Guide Online, adding with a laugh, "Bookable is another story." On the flip side, Walberg suggests that, after seeing the Gigli co-stars smile from the covers of hundreds of magazine and walk a thousand red carpets, their public may not be ready to hear them air their true confessions. "I don't know if I would be as interested," he says, "in seeing celebrities sit there and whine abou

Tue, Sep 9, 2003

Will Ben and J.Lo Give in to Temptation?

Mon, Sep 8, 2003

O.C. Papa Does Preach

Sandy Cohen, the public defender Peter Gallagher plays on The O.C., may seem like the squeakiest-clean father figure since Stephen Collins suited up to play Reverend Camden on 7th Heaven. But the sex, lies and videotape bad boy insists that although his character wears a halo, it's plenty tarnished. "I don't think Sandy wakes up in the morning and decides to be a do-gooder," he says. Rather, "I think he comes from a long tradition in New York and certainly in the Bronx of pink-diaper babies who have a healthy mistrust of the government and the police." As such, Sandy's taking-in of jail-bait teen Ryan (Benjamin McKenzie) isn't so much the attorney acting out of heroism, but out of habit. "The mistake of Sandy's life  or the most illuminating thing he does  is respond instinctively at a moment [after meeting Ryan's mother] when he sees that this kid who has great potential has no chance... no future.

Fri, Sep 5, 2003

Revealed: The MVPs of MTV's VMAs

At this point in MTV's illustrious history, we just don't get the point of the network's annual Video Music Awards. Seriously  when's the last time you channel-surfed past Martha Quinn's old stomping ground and saw a real, honest-to-God music video? Or a clip that plays out in its entirety? Or even one that isn't interrupted by cut-aways to caterwauling mall rats or obscured by a crawl of unintelligible e-mail? That's what we figured. Don't feel bad, though; we can't remember the last time we saw a real video, either. But, while the VMAs may have become a joke, we still wouldn't have missed their 20th presentation for the chance to turn back the clock all the way to the era in which Madonna was wearing Gautier, not Gap, and the most offensive statement uttered on VH1's twisted sister station was "Wubba, wubba, wubba." After all, we need a good laugh as much as the next guy. And if we had skipped the streetwise ceremony, which aired live last night, we wouldn'

Fri, Aug 29, 2003

Will Walberg Give in to Temptation?

Now that Fox is finally bringing back Temptation Island (tonight at 9 ET), we want dirt, we want dish, we want scoop  and, by God, host Mark L. Walberg is going to give it to us. At least that's our fool-proof plan as we begin our interview with the host of the skank-o-rama that makes Paradise Hotel look like Disneyland. Unfortunately, it quickly becomes apparent that the armchair psychiatrist has other ideas. TV Guide Online: Since Island nearly fell off the map during its second season, should we expect any big changes this time around? Mark L. Walberg: The way we reveal vote-offs and date selections and things like that might be a little different, but the biggest difference is the personalities [of the couples involved]. Each season, our show is as unique as the couples' problems and choices. TVGO: Bummer  I was hoping for a clothing-optional episode. Tell me about playing the island's pseud

Thu, Aug 28, 2003