Robert Redford never meant for it to be this way. On April 27 the inaugural Howard Stern Film Festival — no need to adjust your morning coffee, you read that right — will culminate with the radio shock jock and arbiter of dubious taste anointing one "lucky" moviemaker a torchbearer for "lowbrow, high-quality entertainment." The following day the winning flick, along with other festival standouts, will be screened on Howard TV on Demand.
See what happens when you talk about her too much? In addition to announcing that 24 will air a "special two-hour event" on March 6, Fox is confirming that Elisha Cuthbert will resurface as superagent Jack Bauer's daughter, Kim, "sometime in the next month," says a show rep, and with a therapist friend, played by C. Thomas Howell, in tow. (Is someone still haunted by mountain-lion flashbacks? Besides me, that is?) Also slated to pop up this season are Twin Peaks bad dad Ray Wise as Logan's vice president, Hal Gardner (but you knew that, because we told you a month ago), and William Devane, reprising his role as Secretary of Defense James Heller.
I haven't seen this kind of drama at the Olympics since Tonya Harding. On Sunday, figure skater Michelle Kwan bowed out of the Torino games after straining a groin muscle during her first practice a day earlier. "I respect the Olympics too much to compete [if] I don't feel I can be at my best," she told the Associated Press. Knowing it had just lost its most recognizable star, NBC tried to keep the ice princess front and center by offering her a commentator gig; however, she declined. Emily Hughes has been tapped to replace Kwan on the U.S. team.
On Sunday, while riding shotgun with an Iraqi Army unit near Baghdad, ABC World News Tonight anchor Bob Woodruff and cameraman Doug Vogt were injured in a roadside bombing, Reuters reports. Both journalists underwent surgery in Iraq, then were flown to a U.S. military base in Germany for further treatment, the Associated Press says. They remain in serious but stable condition.
Tuesday brought news of not one, not two, but a holy trinity of shelved series. Despite a riveting cameo by TV Guide's own former Party Boy, Daniel R. Coleridge, TNT has canceled Wanted, while ABC has brought Jake in Progress to a halt. (Think John Stamos has called ER yet to let them know he's available? Two words for you: Ask Ausiello.) Lastly, NBC has slammed shut The Book of Daniel, "due to many reasons," series creator Jack Kenny reports in a message to fans at NBC.com. Now, before the American Family Association gets all full of itself, their efforts had little to do with Daniel's demise, a reliable source tells us; rather, the ratings were just sinfully bad.
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.
Fox is on the lookout for "stars" who didn't do But Can They Sing? to appear on American Idol grump Simon Cowell's new Fox talent contest, Duets, which will pair them to perform real singers and then get voted off Idol-style by viewers. Sadly, since But Can They Sing? already scraped such "notables" as Michael Copon (who?) and Myrka Dellanos (huh?) off the bottom of the barrel, the remaining talent pool pretty much consists of Lauren Tewes, Edward Furlong and Bud Bundy. At least the sub-lebrities won't have to face producer Cowell's tongue-lashings when the show debuts this summer — this time, he's staying behind the scenes. Muttering obnoxiously but still, blessedly, behind the scenes.
What a difference a year makes. Last week, the Empire State was abuzz with talk that Donald Trump would throw his hat into the ring as the GOP candidate for governor. Now, however, The Apprentice's one-man firing squad tells the Daily News, "I have no interest in running for public office at this time." The New York Post adds that he'd prefer to run for president in 2008 and, failing that, simply to unseat God from his celestial boardroom.
Give E! an F! Variety reports that while the cabler is pulling up a Brink's truck to Ryan Seacrest's place to sign him as anchor of E! News, the powers that be have bumped Kathy Griffin from their red-carpet coverage of the Golden Globes. "Apparently," the funny lady confided in the New York Post, "[network prez] Ted [Harbert] told my reps that the E! red carpet is a puzzle and I am a piece of the puzzle… but I don't fit this particular puzzle." Puzzled? I am. But at least now I won't have to worry that I'll miss something by flipping over to the TV Guide Channel to catch the Riverses' preshow train wreck.
The fifth season of America's Next Top Model is over and done with, but oh, the nightmares continue — endless vignettes in which wild-eyed Bre Scullark accuses me of (egad!) eating one of her granola bars, her precious, precious granola bars. What drove the Harlem 19-year-old to go nuts over the imagined theft of a snack that even the occasional squirrel rejects? Once again risking life and limb for the sake of entertainment — your entertainment, people — TVGuide.com climbed into the ring with the voracious vixen. TVGuide.com: Were you surprised that you weren't eliminated immediately after you went all Naomi Campbell [on eventual winner Nicole Linkletter] over that darn granola bar?Bre Scullark: Nah. I was surprised when I wasn't eliminated the first time I was in the bottom two — five weeks
Although the whiniest girl in the history of America's Next Top Model stole the title from her, runner-up Nik Pace hasn't switched to a diet of sour grapes. On the contrary, the 21-year-old Atlantan continues to comport herself with the kind of class and charm that is antithetical to reality TV (with the exception of last season's soft-spoken victor, Naima Mora). Before she set off pounding the pavement for opportunities to strut the runway, TVGuide.com gave Nik a shout to congratulate her on bringing manners back to the tube. Oh, and on taking one fierce photo after another, too! TVGuide.com: Considering that [eventual winner] Nicole Linkletter blew her CoverGirl commercial, were you surprised by the outcome of the competition?Nik Pace: Definitely! I felt like I put everything into the whole competition, my heart and my soul. S
Once you're done with Nicole, check out what Top Model's Nik and Bre had to tell Insider! She got mud on her. She whined. She got pigeons on her. She whined. She got bright lights on her. She whined. Yep, for 13 weeks straight, Nicole Linkletter complained about pretty much everything she saw or did — and yet Tyra Banks and Co. named her, of all the skinny girls in the U.S., America's Next Top Model. Are they crazy, or is the 19-year-old winner? To find out, TVGuide.com rang up the Grand Forks, N.D., native to see if she really has any idea what she's gotten herself into. TVGuide.com: When you were standing up there with runner-up Nik Pac
The box office went ape for King Kong over the weekend... oh, right — that's next Monday's news. (Hey, I didn't want to be the last hack to make a lame joke about people being driven bananas by Peter Jackson's instaclassic.) This weekend, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe dominated the cineplex, conjuring up $67.1 million in receipts. Expanding nationwide after two weeks, George Clooney's muy political Syriana took in $12 million for a second-place finish. But the big story — no, I'm not going to make another pathetic Kong crack — is the performance of two flicks in limited release: Memoirs of a Geisha, playing on only eight screens, made a stunning $674,000; and Brokeback Mountain — the movie of the year according to the L.A. Film Critics Association and the Boston Society of Film Critics — wrangled $544,549 in just five theaters. Its $108,910 take per screen
For a reality-show castoff who's more natty than catty, check out our Q&A with The Apprentice: Martha Stewart's Leslie. When America's Next Top Model's Jayla Rubinelli says, "Don't hate me because I'm beautiful," her plea comes with a caveat: "Or because I'm a stark raving bitch." Over the course of the competition, the 20-year-old head-turner found herself unable to say anything nice about... well, pretty much anybody! So when TVGuide.com phoned her before tonight's season finale (8 pm/ET on UPN), we knew there was every chance she'd use us as a scratching post. Oh, the things we do for you people.... TVGuide.com: I've got to ad
Another reality-TV contestant who had less than a gay old time was The Apprentice: Martha Stewart's Amanda. Click here for our Q&A with the tossed-out Texan. Tyra, Tyra, Tyra — what are you thinking? First you put endearing underdog Sarah out of the running toward becoming America's Next Top Model, then you eliminated photogenic wino Lisa, and now you've "outed" Kim Stolz, your token lesbian contestant — despite the fact that the prepped-out tomboy had done a bang-up job of getting in touch with her inner
Sixty-year-old rocker Rod Stewart and his 34-year-old fiancee, Penny Lancaster, welcomed their first child together, a baby boy, early Sunday morning in a London hospital. "Both Penny and our baby son are gorgeous, healthy and doing well," Stewart said in a statement. A rep for Lancaster says wedding plans will be made once Stewart's divorce from model Rachel Hunter is finalized — which, after all, is only the proper thing to do.
Here's a sentence I never thought I'd type: The tabloids were right all along. After, like, years of speculation, Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey have announced their plan to "part ways," according to a remarkably grammatically correct statement released by the thimble-brained former Newlyweds. "This is the mutual decision of two people with an enormous amount of respect and admiration for each other." Whew — so long as their publicists are still getting along. In related news, the Hollywood Reporter says that Mad About You cocreator Danny Jacobson has been hired to write Lachey's WB sitcom pilot, about a music baseball star whose young marriage comes under constant scrutiny. Nice to see a promising thespian really stretch for a change, eh?
E! Entertainment Television has announced a spring 2006 premiere for The Simple Life: Until Death Do Us Part — 10 all-new episodes of the onetime Fox reality series. The fourth season of Simple Life will find Paris Hilton and Nicole Ritchie taking turns running a household, playing wife and mother to a husband and kids. Each family will then vote on which celebutante is a "keeper." Says Bunim-Murray Productions president Jon Murray, "The possibilities for new variations on The Simple Life are limitless" — as long as the concept keep friends-turned-foes Paris and Nicole from being on the same set at the same time.
Ordinarily, I don't dare disagree with people who throw around the word "fierce" with as much impunity as Tyra Banks does. However, last week, when she and her fellow America's Next Top Model judges gave the heave-ho to good-time girl Lisa D'Amato, I hit the roof. What the...?! Sure, the 24-year-old is a self-proclaimed wino and by consensus a brat, but that didn't stop her from taking a, ahem, fierce photo every single week. (Plus, what producer wants to lose a character whose hobbies include streaking?) Well, before another (yeah, I'll say it, more deserving) contestant is issued her cat-walking papers in tonight's episode (8 pm/ET on UPN), I rang up the so-called loser to make sure she knew she'd at least won over TVGuide.com. Lisa D'Amat
It's back to Dairy Queen for Kyle Kavanaugh. On last week's America's Next Top Model, the small-town sweetheart of the soft-serve set got the cold shoulder from Tyra Banks and her fellow judges, who declared the 19-year-old, in essence, awful pretty but pretty dim. Does the Dexter, Michigan, native have more potential than they realized? Before tonight's episode airs (at 8 pm/ET on UPN), read our interview and decide for yourself. TVGuide.com: It's got to feel strange to hear, "You're probably the prettiest girl here. Buh-bye!"Kyle Kavanaugh: Yeah, apparently it wasn't enough to keep me there. It was nice to hear that, though, because I had no idea. TVGuide.com: Obviously! You started crying way before you got the ax.Kyle: I know. That was a hard day. I kinda knew right when we got [to panel] that I was going home. I
Ya gotta feel for America's Next Top Model reject Coryn Woitel. On tomorrow's The Tyra Banks Show, the 19-year-old retail clerk has to shoot down 1) Internet rumors that she's really a he; 2) talk that before being eliminated, she clashed constantly with the reality romp's resident boozehound; and, to add insult to injury, 3) the judges' observation that she seemed sad. Well, duh! Who the heck wouldn't be?! Hoping to raise the Minneapolis native's spirits — and get her to dish the dirt on her rival — TVGuide.com tracked her down in anticipation of this week's episode (airing Wednesday at 8 pm/ET on UPN). TVGuide.com: I was stunned that after taking such a gorgeous photo, you were given the boot.Coryn Woitel: I wasn't really surprised. I felt as if it was my time to go. TVGuide.com: You've got to be kidding.Coryn: No. I lo
Although America's Next Top Model contestant Diane Hernandez started out with a larger-than-life personality to match her zaftig figure, as the weeks went on, she faded into the woodwork and eventually got nailed for it. What the heck happened to the 23-year-old criminal defense investigator? Gearing up for this week's elimination (Wednesday at 8 pm/ET on UPN), we called the Miami native to find out. TVGuide.com: Where on Earth did your personality disappear to?Diane Hernandez: Basically, this situation breaks you down. They put you through situations that you may think you'll never be in, but you are. I don't necessarily feel like they broke me down, but it was intense the whole time. I was more focused on the competition than anything. TVGuide.com: So it kind of took the fun out of modeling?Diane: Yeah. It was like modeling boot camp, basica
