Ben Silverman has his eye on Rosie O'Donnell. According to FoxNews.com, the Peacock's brand-new programming chief is hot to land The View's massive ratings draw as not just the host of her own daytime talker, but also as the frontwoman for a new prime-time game show. Hey, how about instead doing just one hybrid show, titled "Who Wants to Be Talked Over?"
Some new intel on Jericho's return. The show could resurface as soon as October (depending on how quickly CBS' first fall casualty croaks), the budget is smaller, and a "great cliff-hanger" will cap the seven-episode encore. So executive producer Stephen Chbosky tells the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette .Speaking to money matters, Chbosky says the tighter wallet will embody itself in less frequent guest stars and fewer road trips for Jake and the gang. For example, "In Season 2, we want to investigate and explore Cheyenne," he reveals, "and a line producer could say, 'Cheyenne may come to Jericho now.'"As for the aformentioned cliff-hanger, Chbosky tells the paper he won't leave Jericho's passionate fans hanging again if he (alas) doesn't have to: "We know how to wrap up the show if we have to."
His final on-air appearance is still a week away, and already the Bobster is angling to reclaim his mike. Speaking to reporters on Wednesday after taping his last show, Barker said that since The Price Is Right is "having trouble finding someone" to step into his shoes, if a temporary fill-in is needed, "I would do it. I don't want to walk out on CBS... if they're in that position." Reruns with Barker as host are slated to run throughout the summer, so it is unclear just how quickly TPIR needs to come up with its final answer. (Oops, wrong show.)
Sam Waterston has officially been "promoted" to New York District Attorney on Law & Order, as longtime prosecutor Jack McCoy fills the vacancy dictated by possible presidential candidate Fred Thompson's exit from the role of Arthur Branch. Though he may, as a result, see less screen time, Waterson puts the best spin on the sitch, saying that while the career move is "a logical step" for McCoy, "politics isn't his game." As such, "There'll be fireworks," the actor predicts. "I'm looking forward to it."
Speaking of fireworks.... Series stars Vincent D'Onofrio, Chris Noth and Kathryn Erbe have until 5 pm today to accept a non-pay raise for the new season of Law & Order: Criminal Intent, which will be airing on the more budget-conscious USA Network. Sources tell the Hollywood Reporter, however, that the prospect of a salary freeze is not sitting well with the cast members, who typically enjoy at least a five percent year-to-year bump. Reps for Dick Wolf's production house and NBC Universal declined to comment on the talks.
Some new deets from The Closer regarding Brenda Leigh's soon-to-be-introduced papa. Clay Johnson, to be played by Barry Corbin (Northern Exposure), is "a retired military officer who owns auto-parts stores in the metro Atlanta area." Corbin and returning guest star Frances Sternhargen (as Brenda's mom) will both appear in Episodes 10 (airing Aug. 20), 11, 14 and 15.In other casting news, Peter Facinelli, whose credits include Six Feet Under and Fastlane, has joined FX's Glenn Close-fronted legal drama Damages, in a recurring role.
The second half of House of Payne's hourlong Wednesday debut delivered 5.8 million total viewers, making it basic cable's most-watched sitcom telecast of all time, in several measures. (The 9 pm outing, it should be noted, drew a none-too-shabby 5.2 mil.) But back to the more famous 9:30 episode, which also has the honor of being the highest-rated telecast of any kind in TBS history. Telling the Reporter that "even our highest hopes were exceeded," Turner Entertainment president Steve Koonin gives credit to Tyler Perry's "significant fan base" as well as the fact that "the subject of family and being able to relate to family is universal." Plus, to reference Tracy Jordan, granny Madea be trippin'.
Not On Our Watch, an organization that raises awareness of the crisis in Darfur and similarly troubled regions and was founded by Ocean's Thirteen stars George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and Don Cheadle, and producer Jerry Weintraub, announced on Thursday that a $750,000 grant has been made by the aformentioned quintet to Oxfam's humanitarian efforts in Darfur and neighboring Chad.
Bones executive producer Stephen Nathan has inked a two-year, seven-figure deal to continue on as second-in-command to Hart Hanson, as well as develop new projects.... Devil Wears Prada director David Frankel guest-judges on this Tuesday's On the Lot.... LeAnn Rimes sings the national anthem before Game 2 of the NBA Finals in San Antonio, Texas.... Miss Potter arrives on DVD June 19.... To celebrate 20 years of Shark Week, Discovery Channel wants you to vote here on your favorite chomps clips.
The Ausiello Report, which first reported the firing on Thursday afternoon, has all of the details — and 144 comments at last count! — so check out the story there. But in a nutshell? ABC isn't picking up the actor's option for next season, and Isaiah is a William Holden fan. UPDATE: Ausiello got some rather illuminating details from Isaiah's rep. Check it out.POLL: Do you think ABC was right to fire Isaiah? Vote here.At the risk of being late for my Hostel II screening, I have prepared for you this retrospective:One Isaiah Washington and one Patrick Dempsey have a to-do over something or another on the Grey's set (10/11/06)Chandra addresses recast talk (10/25/06)Ellen Pompeo says things have "calmed down" backstage (12/29/06)T.R. says Isaiah lied with Globes denial (1/17/06)ABC calls Isaiah's behavior "unacceptable" (1/18/07)Isaiah speaks: "I can neither defend nor explain my behavior" (1/18/07)GLAAD slams Isaiah (1/18/07)Heigl says Isaiah needs to just "not speak" (1/19/...
It is time to put on the Ritz. No sooner had the massive flop musical The Pirate Queen shut down production but it was announced that Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein will set up its laboratory (and revolving bookcase, one has to hope) in the Hilton Theatre, with previews starting Oct. 11, followed by an official Nov. 8 Broadway bow. Tickets go on sale July 15, but that is of no concern for me; our resident theater queen Raven is getting me in for free. (That's my story and I'm sticking to it.)
UPDATE (4:06 pm/ET): TMZ says an appeal is in the works, to be filed by Monday. Matt says, "Leave it be, Paris. You have as much chance of getting off scot-free as I do of not having to update this story over the weekend."UPDATE (3:14 pm): Stars blind? Yes. Justice? Maybe not. Judge Michael Sauer on Friday afternoon showed what's under his robe, ordering Paris Hilton back to the detention facility to finish out her sentence (with credit for five days served). Hilton reportedly was all but dragged out of the courtroom, crying, "Mom, Mom, Mom" to (I'm guessing) her mother. Earlier in the hearing, Sauer revealed that the sheriff department's motion to downgrade the Simple Lifer to house arrest (which they went ahead and did on Thursday morning) never made it to his desk, and even if it had, "There's no way I would have approved it." He's a pit bull, I tell ya!UPDATE (2:02 pm): Nearly two hours after her "call time," Hilton showed up at the courthouse. Despite using a "secret" entrance ...
One glossy's trumpeting of Jennifer Aniston's hot 'n' heavy new romance has had cold water thrown on it by (surprise) a rival mag. Addressing talk that Brad's ex is currently head over heels for British construction worker turned model Paul Sculfor, Jen's rep tells Us, "People's [cover] story was way too premature. There is nothing to report."Rather than being all googly-eyed over one new fella, a pal of Aniston's tells Us, "She has met a few really great, nice guys. She is seeing what's out there." Just be wary of that Criss Angel guy, Jen. He's awfully lovey-dovey.
The fourth (and final, whispers Harrison Ford's back) Indiana Jones film, scheduled to start shooting this month, will not revisit the father-son relationship introduced in Last Crusade, if only because Sean Connery simply isn't up to it. "I thought long and hard about it, and if anything could have pulled me out of retirement, it would have been an Indiana Jones film," the 76-year-old actor says in a statement. "I love working with Steven [Spielberg] and George [Lucas], and it goes without saying that it is an honor to have Harrison as my son. But in the end, retirement is just too damned much fun."And just like that, craft services' Metamucil budget gets reduced by half.
A quick ratings recap, now available on a superbly intermittent, not-at-all daily basis:• ABC's Next Big Thing (8.3 million total viewers) sounds a bit like Robert De Niro and looks like a winner, up 550K versus last week's premiere.• Hidden Palms (1.55 mil) isn't swaying fans, shedding 270 thou from its debut. Maybe last night's freaky tag will get peeps curious? Lead-out One Tree Hill (2.11 mil) was down a bit from last week's measly numbers.• So You Think You Can Dance surged a full mil and dominated at 9 pm, with 10.21 mil viewers.• American Inventor returned to an audience of 7.8 mil — a definite improvement (i.e., up 1.2 mil) over the previous season's finale, but barely half of S1's own premiere draw.• Traveler saw 880,000 viewers hit the road, dipping to 5.44 mil.
Is Captain Pajamas in the doghouse with one of his three honeys? In response to Kendra Wilkinson's grumblings about an Elle profile pegging the sporty Girl Next Door as fixated on her acne problems, addled by a "fleeting attention span" and rather proud of her two "best investments," Hugh Hefner said during a recent Larry King visit that he would take writer Daphne Merkin to task. In actuality, though, the New York Post reports that Hef praised the scribe, writing to her, "I just finished reading your article [and] it's the best, most perceptive piece on the show to date. I hope you get a chance to do a longer story for the New York Times or the New Yorker." Longer? C'mon, Hef, size doesn't matter.
House's Jennifer Morrison has been tapped to star in The Murder of Princess Diana, a Lifetime movie based on the Noel Botham book that theorized that Di's fatal car crash was the dirty work of a conspiracy. Morrison will play an American journalist who witnesses the tunnel crash and starts her own investigation after becoming suspicious of the "official" take on what happened. (It should be noted that a recent BBC poll found that 31 percent of British citizens believe Di's death was not an accident.)An August premiere is slated, timed to the 10th anniversary of Diana's passing.
HBO is finalizing a deal with Tom Hanks' Playtone shingle to adapt Vincent Bugliosi's 1,632-page Reclaiming History: The Assassination of John F. Kennedy into a miniseries. Per Variety, the 10-part series will put to bed, once and for at least 10 nights all the assorted conspiracy theories, while establishing that Lee Harvey Oswald in fact acted alone. The mini will span Oswald's journey from becoming an assassin to his own murder on live television.
As one of the new NBC regime's first orders of business, Heroes creator Tim Kring has inked a new two-year deal — one of the biggest in television, says the Hollywood Reporter — under which he will continue as show-runner for the hit series and its forthcoming spin-off, Heroes: Origins, as well as develop new projects for NBC Universal Television Studio.ABC Studios has bought out the final year of Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence's contract with NBC Universal and added three additional years to it, in a new, eight-figure deal. Per Variety, Lawrence will stay in charge of Scrubs (which is produced by the ABC shingle) while developing new projects for the Alphabet. In a statement, Lawrence quips, "My goal is to get a comedy on the air before the genre goes away for good." I in turn quip, "Hurry!"
So, so much blood was spilled in The Sopranos' penultimate episode this past Sunday. Will it continue to the very end? Perhaps felling the big fella himself? "Something bad is going to happen," filmmaker and recent Sopranos guest star Sydney Pollack predicts in an interview with the Associated Press. "I don't know [if Tony will die], but I know that David Chase can be counted on to surprise us [or] at least do something that's bold and not safe."Do you think Tony will take a dirt nap this Sunday? Vote in our new poll.In somewhat related news, Steve Schirripa used the TV Guide men's room Wednesday afternoon, thanks to me being generous with the pass code. Yeah, I'm that guy.For much, much more on The Sopranos' revered run, pick up the new TV Guide.
Per the Hollywood Reporter, Tyler Perry will portray Madea and Uncle Joe in Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns, an adaptation of his stage play about a single mother who travels with her kids to the funeral of the father she never met.... Stan Lee has inked an exclusive deal with Walt Disney Studios, giving the Mouse first dibs on any stuff churned out by Lee and his POW! Entertainment.... Per Variety, Naomi Watts will star in We Are All the Same, an adaptation of Nightline correspondent Jim Wooten's novel about a white South African woman who adopted a black child with AIDS.
Your American Idol, Jordin Sparks, serves up the national anthem at tonight's NBA championship series tip-off.... America's Got Talent was Tuesday's ratings winner, averaging some 13 million total viewers across its two-hour premiere. On the Lot, meanwhile, dropped to a scant 3.13 mil.... Hannibal Rising and Apocalypto topped last week's DVD sales and rental charts, respectively.... "What Time Is It?", the first music video from High School Musical 2, premieres Saturday at 7:55 pm/ET, on Disney Channel.... My Trivial Matt'rs blog has been updated.