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Heroes Preview: Ando's Secret Superpower Desire

Ando may be Sancho Panza to Hiro's Don Quixote, but James Kyson Lee, the Korean-American actor who plays Ando, the Japanese salaryman turned apprentice world-saver on Heroes (Mondays at 9 pm/ET, NBC), couldn't be happier. Lee, who visited New York for the Asian American Arts Alliance awards and a charity poker tournament, chatted about learning Japanese, his upcoming movies and the key to Ando's happiness. TVGuide.com: Congrats on becoming a regular cast member.James Kyson Lee: Most people thought I was a regular last season, because I was in all but one of the episodes, more than anyone but Masi [Oka, who plays Hiro] and maybe Milo [Ventimiglia, who plays Peter]. But I was a guest star. It doesn't m

Mon, Oct 29, 2007

Heroes Preview: Ando's Secret Superpower Desire

Natalie Portman Braves the Jungle's Species

For the documentary Gorillas on the Brink, part of Animal Planet's Saving a Species (airing tonight at 9 pm/ET) series, wildlife expert Jack Hanna brought Natalie Portman to Rwanda's Volcanoes National Park to hang out with endangered mountain gorillas. We asked the actress, best known for her Star Wars work, Closer, Garden State and V for Vendetta, about her own good works and her upcoming movie work. TV Guide: So how did you get involved with hiking around the jungle? Natalie Portman: They asked me to go to Rwanda with Jack Ha

Fri, Oct 26, 2007

Natalie Portman Braves the Jungle's Species

Up Close with Supernatural's Jensen Ackles: Part 2

As Dean Winchester, the short-fused, sarcastic, evil-battling older brother on Supernatural (Thursdays at 9pm/ET, the CW), Jensen Ackles has made some pretty hard choices. In the first part of this interview, he talked about his deal with the Crossroads Demon, his obsessed fans and his real-life friendship with costar Jared Padalecki. In this final part, he opens up about this "thrill-ride season," his love of vintage cars and why he's jealous of Matthew Fox. TV Guide: You've added a couple of hot new female characters to the show, Ruby and Bella. Eric Kripke [the show's creator] said he's looking to see what chemistry that will brin

Fri, Oct 26, 2007

Up Close with Supernatural's Jensen Ackles: Part 2

Up Close with Supernatural's Jensen Ackles: Part 1

The CW's Supernatural (Thursdays at 9pm/ET) is the little horror show that could. In a two-part interview, Jensen Ackles, who plays the ruthless but somehow adorable older bro, Dean Winchester, speaks with TV Guide about the "thrill ride" of a third season, details an off-the-set scuffle and even opens up about his usually deep-undercover personal life. TV Guide: Because of his deal with the Crossroads Demon to bring Sam back from the dead, Dean only has this year to live. That must suck. How will he be handling those dwindling days?Jensen Ackles: He'll keep going out and having fun, calling old flames to see if they want to go Round 2.... He's not wasting any time. [Laughs] But at the same time, he knows there are people out there who need help, so he keeps in the reality of hunting.

Thu, Oct 25, 2007

Up Close with Supernatural's Jensen Ackles: Part 1

Preview! CSI: NY Goes Virtual with Second Life

CSI mastermind Anthony Zuiker wants to take over the world. Not the TV world — with three ratings-hot procedurals, he pretty much already has. We're talking about the virtual online world known as Second Life. The computer-generated alternate universe, where millions of players have signed up to chat, shop and even simulate marriage and sex, is at the heart of tonight's CSI: NY (10 pm/ET, CBS) mystery. Lab geek and Second Life devotee Adam Ross (A.J. Buckley) realizes that an oddly attired corpse is a dead ringer for a virtual character — aka an avatar — named Venus. When he discovers that despite the death of her look-alike, the avatar still exists on the site, the question becomes: Is the real-life person who's controlling

Wed, Oct 24, 2007

Preview! CSI: NY Goes Virtual with Second Life

Damian Lewis Shares His "Gorgeous" Life

British actor Damian Lewis talks to TV Guide about his swanky school days, sobering up for Spielberg and his quirky Life (Wednesdays, 10 pm/ET, NBC) role. TV Guide: Your character, Charlie Crews, is a cop who was wrongly imprisoned for murder for 12 years. He's very eccentric, isn't he? Damian Lewis: His quirkiness is born out of subtle psychological damage that one would suffer from years in a maximum-security prison. His personality is cracked. TV Guide: What's with all the Zen pronouncements? Lewis: He uses Zen to control anger and bitterness. He has almost a childlike enthusiasm for life and an incredible optimism. TV Guide: Would you call him the anti-House? Lewis: Yes, he's the white to House's black. But he does struggle. He's not morally p

Wed, Oct 17, 2007

Rachael Ray Leads One Yum-O! Life

Getting the host of The Rachael Ray Show (check local listings, ABC) to stop talking and answer questions isn't easy, but we managed to get Ray to tell us about her series' second season, her new projects and those pesky tabloids. TV Guide: What's new on your syndicated show? Rachael Ray: We have "The Human Lab" segment, where we let viewers test-drive fashion, beauty products and gadgets. Lara Spencer (The Insider) has a weekly segment, "The Dish," about everything from celebrities to green products. We also have a "So You Think You Can Cook" competition for home cooks. We'll send the winner to cooking school and then they'll be better than Rachael Ray! TV Guide: Aren't you a little less hyper lately?Ray: I don't shout as much because I have very little voice left. I

Fri, Oct 5, 2007

David Hewlett Spills Stargate Secrets

He's a filmmaker, a writer, a rapper and — oh, yeah — David Hewlett plays arrogant scientist Rodney McKay on Stargate Atlantis. We talked to the droll Canadian about A Dog's Breakfast, the indie he wrote and stars in that just arrived on DVD, as well as the fourth season of Atlantis, premiering tonight at 10 pm/ET on Sci Fi Channel. TVGuide.com: You're all over YouTube rapping and mock-apologizing. What's up with that?David Hewlett: The thing I love about YouTube is it's almost like having an instant audience for improv. But sometimes you tend to be a little silly. TVGuide.com: It has probably increased your popularity.Hewlett: I'm afraid that people do seem to like it. [Laughs] MGM wanted to do some promotions for the show and they said, "We have this great idea

Fri, Sep 28, 2007

Has Journeyman Kevin McKidd's Time Finally Come?

It'll be time to buckle up for the time-traveling adventures of Journeyman when it premieres tonight at 10 pm/ET on NBC. Here the show's star, Kevin McKidd, talks about playing dour, wearing a kilt and how he almost ended up in the whiskey business.  TV Guide: Who is your Journeyman character, Dan Vasser, and what's he doing traveling back in time? Kevin McKidd: Dan is trying to be a good guy despite his checkered past — he was a gambling addict. But for some yet-to-be-discovered reason, he starts to travel back to different periods in his life. There's a mystery in each episode where he also has to help change the path of another person's life. So there's this ongoing emotional drama because he's torn between the pas

Mon, Sep 24, 2007

Has Journeyman Kevin McKidd's Time Finally Come?

Sherri Shepherd Discusses Her View Deal

The View definitely has a different view in its newest host Sherri Shepherd. The comic actress who joined the ABC chatfest on Sept. 11 even makes resident conservative Elisabeth Hasselbeck wince when she disses evolution. Not that pious means puritan. On her very first day at the table, Shepherd proclaimed that she once sent nearly nude pix to her boyfriend — in prison! We talked to the self-described "real woman" about life on The View, her negotiations for the plum job and her gig on the Emmy-winning 30 Rock. TVGuide.com: You were always a front-runner. Were you surprised at all that you got the

Thu, Sep 20, 2007

Whoopi Goldberg Shares Her View on Her Daytime Gig

On Tuesday at 11 am/ET, Whoopi Goldberg begins her reign as moderator of ABC's The View, a job once held so smoothly by Meredith Vieira and so fractiously by Rosie O'Donnell. The 52-year-old actress has already won an Oscar, a Tony, a Grammy, several Golden Globes and even a Daytime Emmy. So will the Goldberg variation have what it takes to win the daytime chat show its own long-denied Emmy? We spoke with her on the View set. TV Guide: You do movies, you have a daily radio show, you had your own talk show… so why The View? Goldberg: I always liked the show. I always felt if there were a place for me, I'd love to be a part of it, but they always had their hosts. Then I started hearing little rumblings. It turns out that the timing couldn't be better, and it all worked out.

Mon, Sep 3, 2007

Whoopi Goldberg Shares Her View on Her Daytime Gig

A Blast from the Past Rocks Matt Dallas' Kyle XY

Sorry, Kyle XY fans, but after tonight's episode (8 pm/ET, ABC Family), there won't be anything new from the test-tube teen and his crew until early 2008, when the last 10 episodes of Season 2 air. TVGuide.com caught up with star Matt Dallas shortly after his return to the Vancouver set from what he calls "a little three-week hiatus," to probe him for tidbits about the summer finale and next winter's plots. TVGuide.com: How has your summer been?Matt Dallas: I was at Comic-Con. It was great. You get to talk to the fans and you don't get any jerks, because people who waited in line for two hours love your show. They're the true fans.TVGuide.com: Did you get to meet other sci-fi stars?Dallas: Doing the TV Guide panel was awesome because I got to meet some great people, especially

Mon, Sep 3, 2007

A Blast from the Past Rocks Matt Dallas' Kyle XY

Michael Shanks Visits Eureka and Returns to the Stargate

For those who missed Michael Shanks battling a ginormous man-eating serpent last weekend in MegaSnake, Sci Fi's latest cheese-filled movie, not to worry. The actor who played Stargate SG-1's hunky brainiac Daniel Jackson for a decade is now paying a visit to the genius town Eureka on Sept. 25 (Tuesdays at 9 pm/ET, Sci Fi). TVGuide.com caught the Canadian actor at the tail end of his vacation "playing dad” to his three kids, and invited him to share with us tidbits about that gig, the upcoming SG-1 DVD movies, and more. TVGuide.com: Both you and your wife, SG-1 colleague Lexa Doig, have Eureka gigs. Hers is the wee

Wed, Aug 29, 2007

Michael Shanks Visits Eureka and Returns to the Stargate

Survivor: China Exclusive: Meet the Fei Long Tribe

The heat and humidity are "indescribable." The snakes are deadly. And China is one of Survivor's most difficult locations ever. Despite all that, host Jeff Probst — speaking by phone from the rugged camp near the vast man-made Zhelin Lake in eastern China — admits he'd like to stay longer. "Usually I want to go home," he says. "But if somebody said, ‘You have to stay another two weeks,' I'd say, ‘All right.' " The CBS show, which has been granted unprecedented access to some of China's greatest sites including the

Mon, Aug 20, 2007

Survivor: China Exclusive: Meet the Fei Long Tribe

Survivor: China Exclusive: Meet the Zhan Hu Tribe

The heat and humidity are "indescribable." The snakes are deadly. And China is one of Survivor's most difficult locations ever. Despite all that, host Jeff Probst — speaking by phone from the rugged camp near the vast man-made Zhelin Lake in eastern China — admits he'd like to stay longer. "Usually I want to go home," he says. "But if somebody said, ‘You have to stay another two weeks,' I'd say, ‘All right.'" The CBS show, which has been granted unprecedented access to some of China's greatest sites, including the

Mon, Aug 20, 2007

Survivor: China Exclusive: Meet the Zhan Hu Tribe

Star Jones Shares Her Happy New View on Life

Former View cohost Star Jones dishes to TV Guide about her gastric bypass, staying fit and her brand-new Court TV show (premiering Monday at 3 pm/ET). TV Guide: Your new show, Star Jones, kicks off this week on Court TV, where you started your TV career. What's the format? Star Jones: It's a live daily talk show where law, news and pop culture will converge. If we were on today, we might do stories about whether Nicole Richie is maturing, why we are concerned with Hillary Clinton's cleavage, or the stories of heroism in the recent [Minneapolis] bridge collapse. TV Guide: So it's not all about legal issues? Jones: Because I'm a lawyer, it will always have a legal spin, but my job is to take a story that's making news and make it relate

Sun, Aug 19, 2007

Star Jones Shares Her Happy New View on Life

Five Things You Didn't Know About TV's Red-hot Army Wives

Lifetime's Army Wives (Sundays at 10 pm/ET) doesn't take a stance on the war, but it's still making a big noise. Since its June 3 debut, the soap has smashed the female-friendly network's ratings records with almost four million viewers a week. It doesn't hurt that the show stars popular TV veterans Kim Delaney (NYPD Blue) and Catherine Bell (JAG) and that it's lustier than Lifetime's usual fare. But Army Wives also seems to be striking a chord with its depiction of military family life — a world full of rituals, duties and sacrifices unknown to most of America. "People keep coming up to me saying it's about time we see the female perspective on war," explains ex

Fri, Jul 6, 2007

Five Things You Didn't Know About TV's Red-hot Army Wives

G.W. Bailey Previews a Darkly Comic The Closer!

Seemingly not having a first name is just one of the quirky qualities that makes The Closer's Detective Lieutenant Provenza one of the most endearing characters on a show full of them. G.W. Bailey, whose own real first name is George — but don't call him that — may not be a household moniker, but you'd probably know his face. The veteran actor's long career ranges from Charlie's Angels through such series as M*A*S*H, St. Elsewhere and The Jeff Foxworthy Show to a recent gig as a faux Santa Claus. We talked to the Port Arthur, Texas, native about what's happening on TNT's The Closer tonight at 9 pm/ET, why the show's such a hit, and yes, his love (or not) for his childhood buddy Janis Joplin. TVGuide.com:

Mon, Jul 2, 2007

G.W. Bailey Previews a Darkly Comic The Closer!

Traveler Preview: The Truth About Carlton Fog Is Revealed!

So they learned something in grad school after all. Tonight at 10 pm/ET on ABC's Traveler, the Ivy League fugitives stop running and return to New York to suss out who framed them for the Drexler museum bombing. With the involuntary help of a fellow Yalie, now a stock-market trader (Invasion's always-welcome Tyler Labine), Jay (Matthew Bomer) and Tyler (Logan Marshall-Green) uncover the unsavory truth about Tyler's dear old billionaire dad, Carlton (William Sadler). "It's a turning point for the story," says David DiGilio, executive producer of thi

Wed, Jun 27, 2007

Traveler Preview: The Truth About Carlton Fog Is Revealed!

Finale Preview: Why Stargate SG-1 Was Out of This World

As Sci Fi Channel's Stargate SG-1 signs off this Friday at 8 pm/ET, TV Guide explores the secrets behind TV's longest-running galaxy quest. Nothing Could Keep Stargate SG-1 Down Based on the campy movie about a team of Earth-saving scholar-soldiers, the series launched its 10-year mission on Showtime in 1997. In its sixth season, SG-1 teleported to Sci Fi Channel. Along the way, the show survived several near-cancellations and the exit of star Richard Dean Anderson."I agreed to do the show because I knew the movie had great potential for a franchise,"says Anderson, who's returned several times this season as Jack O'Neill, the wisecracking team-leader turned g

Fri, Jun 22, 2007

Finale Preview: Why Stargate SG-1 Was Out of This World

J.K. Simmons: Is It Really Over for Pope and The Closer?

J.K. Simmons, aka The Closer's hard-nosed Pope, discusses his character's love life, his Oz tattoos and his Spider-Man toupee. (Season 3 of The Closer premieres tonight at 9 pm/ET.) TV Guide: Your character on The Closer, assistant police chief Will Pope, has a romantic history with Brenda Johnson (played by Kyra Sedgwick). Do you think they'll ever get back together? J.K. Simmons: You don't want to say never, but it looks like so far this year, Brenda and Fritz [Jon Tenney] seem headed toward something resemblin

Mon, Jun 18, 2007

J.K. Simmons: Is It Really Over for Pope and The Closer?

Kim Delaney Hides Some Sexy Secrets on Army Wives

After several years of being in the press more for her drinking problems than her acting prowess, Kim Delaney is back on track, looking and feeling terrific. The former NYPD Blue and CSI: Miami fan favorite recently had a strong two-part role on Law & Order: SVU as a dangerously obsessed cop, and she starts a new Lifetime series, Army Wives, on June 3 (Sundays at 10 pm/ET), costarring JAG's Catherine Bell,

Fri, Jun 1, 2007

Kim Delaney Hides Some Sexy Secrets on Army Wives