matt.mitovich

Casting About: Galactica Star Gets Her Wish

Battlestar Galactica's Katee Sackhoff will star in the Lifetime movie Be Careful What You Wish For, playing a teenager who, because of an eclipse, is shot forward 20 years into the future, where she is about to wed her high-school crush.... Frasier's Peri Gilpin guests on Desperate Housewives April 22.... Prizefighter Oscar De La Hoya plays the son of George Lopez's longtime rival on April 24.... Peter Stormare (Prison Break) and Tony- and Emmy-winner James Whitmore will guest on CSI April 26.... X-Files' Mitch Pileggi visits Seattle Grace on the April 26 Grey's Anatomy.... Eric Stoltz is on trial for murdering a fellow police officer on Close to Home April 27 and May 4.

Tue, Apr 10, 2007

Fall 2007: Wedding Belle Packs for ABC

Who's doing what this pilot season? Per Variety and the Hollywood Reporter: Missi Pyle (Heroes, The Wedding Bells) will join Shawnee Smith (Becker) and Virginia Williams (Monarch Cove) in ABC's Traveling in Packs, a comedy about three women in their thirties who live together. Dondre T. Whitfield (Girlfriends) and Christine Woods are en route to CBS' Atlanta, playing the best friends of Freddie Prinze Jr. and Leslie Bibb, respectively. Barry Shabaka Henley (Barbershop) is an internal-affairs investigator in NBC's David Shore/Peter Blake drama starring Famke Janssen as a cop. Jerrika Hinton is an art-gallery owner in the CW's Eight Days a Week. The CW's I'm Paige Armstrong is now called I'm Paige Wilson, while ABC's newsroom comedy from Ric Swartzlander (Rodney) now has a title (get your final guesses in now, hurry!): The News.

Tue, Apr 10, 2007

Idol Talk: Sanjaya Sang "Beautifully" at Rehearsal

Jennifer Lopez's production partner and manager, Simon Fields, tells Variety that during the rehearsals for this week's American Idol (for which Madame Badonkadonk is serving as guest mentor), Sanjaya Malakar was served well by the Latino-music theme. "He sang beautifully," Fields told the trade mag over the increasingly loud hoofsteps of four storied horsemen.Fields was speaking to Variety on behalf of a musical drama he and Lopez are producing for Univision. La Flor Palida, the Spanish-language net's first foray into the miniseries genre, concerns a singer/movie actress who runs away from fame and her beau, ultimately reconnecting with a torch-carrying guy she knew back in high school. Slated for a late May premiere, the mini will feature music from Lopez's just-released Spanish CD Como Ama Una Mujer.For more on Idol's current happenings, read the brand-new "Idol Chat" with TV Guide Channel's Kimberly and Rosanna in Interviews & Features.

Tue, Apr 10, 2007

NBC Sizes Up Medium for Possible Pickup

Though the Peacock has not quite pulled the trigger on a fall pickup for Medium, the Hollywood Reporter reports that the network has perhaps tipped its hand by ordering six additional scripts for the Patricia Arquette starrer. Though the show's ratings have dipped since it was plucked from its original Mondays-at-10 berth and pitted against the likes of CSI: NY and Lost on Wednesdays, NBC execs are said to be impressed by its ability to significantly build on the audience of its current (and dying-on-the-vine) lead-in, Crossing Jordan.UPDATE: The Ausiello Report has breaking scoop regarding the good-looking fate of NBC's FNL.

Tue, Apr 10, 2007

Bobbed Barker: NBC Scrubs Andy's Thursday Finale

NBC has pretty much closed the case on Andy Richter's Andy Barker, P.I., shuttling the short-run series' fifth intended-for-broadcast episode from this Thursday to Saturday at 8 pm/ET, where it will be paired with a sixth episode that was originally planned for online streaming only. Filling Barker's 9:30 slot this Thursday, a week sooner than planned, is a fresh episode of Scrubs.It's too bad, seeing the Andys get this less-than-honorable send-off. The show had much promise and a sweet, wholesome undertone long missing from TV comedies, which these days can be so... snarky.

Tue, Apr 10, 2007

Imus Deems Suspension "Appropriate," Yet Insists, "I'm Not a Racist"

MSNBC is suspending its simulcast of Don Imus' radio program for two weeks, as public anger built over his racist remark about the Rutgers University women's basketball team. The suspension will begin April 16, so that it falls after a radio-thon for Imus' various charities that was scheduled for Thursday and Friday. In a statement issued late Monday, MSNBC parent NBC News said Imus has expressed remorse and "made a commitment to listen all those who have raised legitimate expression of outrage" over his calling the Rutgers University women's basketball team "nappy-headed ho's" on April 4.After talking with NBC News executives Monday, Imus promised to "change the discourse on his program moving forward." NBC News added that its future relationship with Imus "is contingent on his ability to live up to his word."On his Tuesday broadcast, Imus called the suspension "appropriate" and said he plans to "serve it with some dignity," yet maintained, "I am not a racist.... What I did was mak...

Mon, Apr 9, 2007

Ratings: Housewives Hits New Low

This Sunday's ratings rundown:8 pm/ETExtreme Makeover: HE (12.5 million total viewers) bested Amazing Race (9.25 million) and Dateline (7.56 mil).9 pmHousewives (15.66 million) topped the hour, albeit with a new season low. This was 2.6 million fewer heads than tuned in to its last fresh eppy, and, it could be noted, a 29 percent smaller audience than it opened the season with. Cold Case placed with 11.47 mil.10 pmWithout a Trace drew 14.07 million, while Brothers & Sisters (10.98 mil) surged 1.85 mil week-to-week. The Apprentice (6.72 mil) was up 710,000.

Mon, Apr 9, 2007

HBO's True Blood Casts Its Southern Vampire

British thesp Stephen Moyer (Quills) has been tapped to play vampire Bill Comton to Anna Paquin's Sookie in True Blood, the HBO drama pilot based on Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire book series, says Reuters. As previously reported, Six Feet Under's Alan Ball is on board to write, direct and exec-produce. Also added to the cast is Brook Kerr (Passions), playing a bar coworker of Sookie's.

Mon, Apr 9, 2007

At the Movies: Supernatural Hunk in Possible Trilogy

Per the Hollywood Reporter, Jared Padalecki (Supernatural) will portray Thomas Kinkade in The Christmas Cottage, the first of three planned films inspired by the painter and his works.... Per Variety, Harrison Ford, Ray Liotta and Sean Penn will star in Crossing Over, a drama about illegal immigration.... Leonardo DiCaprio is in talks to star in an adaptation of the David Ignatius novel Body of Lies. Ridley Scott will direct.... Larry the Cable Guy is a small-town sheriff in Witless Protection, costarring Ivana Milicevic (Love Monkey), Peter Stormare (Prison Break) and Joe Montegna.

Mon, Apr 9, 2007

Silver Spoons, More Seinfeld Due on DVD

DVD release dates have been announced for Rescue Me: The Complete Third Season, BBC America's Hex: The Complete First Season and Seinfeld: Season 8, all hitting stores June 5. Silver Spoons, meanwhile, will celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Ricker's first train ride with a three-disc Season 1 set to street on June 19.

Mon, Apr 9, 2007

Citing "Right-wing" Bias, Edwards Snubs Fox News

For a second time, presidential hopeful Sen. John Edwards has elected not to participate in a debate  this one slated for September  being hosted by Fox News Channel. "We believe there's just no reason for Democrats to give Fox a platform to advance the right-wing agenda while pretending they're objective," his deputy campaign manager tells Variety. In response/retaliation, a Fox News rep says, "Sen. Edwards has appeared on FNC more than 30 times, most recently in January. When exactly did he start having problems with us? When he was polling below 15 percent?" Oh, fair-and-balanced snap!

Mon, Apr 9, 2007

Love Notes: Scrubs Star Weds, Hanson's an Mmm-Pop

Scrubs' prickly Dr. Cox, John C. McGinley, was married Saturday at his Malibu home. McGinley married Nichole Kessler, a yoga teacher and birthing doula, in a small ceremony featuring family and friends. "We want to get a family started right away," McGinley told TV Guide in December. McGinleys son from a previous marriage, Max, 9, who has Downs Syndrome, brought the couple together by approaching Kessler on the beach in Malibu. "He walked right up to her and hes the reason I met her," says McGinley. Awwww!.... Isaac Hanson, the eldest of the "Mmm-Bop" kids, became a first-time dad on April 3 when his wife Nicole birthed son Clarke Everett.

Mon, Apr 9, 2007

Box Office: Grindhouse Can't Slay Family Fare

The Quentin Tarantino-Robert Rodriguez double-bill Grindhouse fell short of expectations in its opening weekend, coming in at No. 4 at the box office with just $11.6 million. The well-reviewed venture's performance is believed to have been hampered by its three-hour running time (which limited the number of showings and intimidated sleep-susceptible fannies) and its "two films for the price of one" pitch, which proved unfamiliar to today's audiences.Topping the box office for a second straight week was Blades of Glory ($23 million), followed by Meet the Robinsons $17 mil) and Are We Done Yet? (opening with $15 mil). Hilary Swank's The Reaping reaped $10.1 million, good enough for the No. 5 spot.

Mon, Apr 9, 2007

Fall 2007: Mario Lopez Goes Dancing with the CW

The latest fall-pilot casting news, from our friends at the Hollywood Reporter and Variety: Dancing with the Stars alum and Price Is Right-host wannabe Mario Lopez has joined the cast of the CW's Eight Days a Week, a comedy about four twentysomethings who toil for NYC movers and shakers. (Lopez is one of said bosses.) On board as three of the ragged-run assistants are singer-actress Christina Milian, Johnny Lewis (The O.C.) and Robert Ri'chard (One on One, as Lopez's lackey). Kyla Pratt (One on One) has landed the lead in the CW's Hell on Earth, about a spoiled rich girl who, after dying, is returned to the living but as an ordinary gal from the wrong side of the tracks. I know  it's just like the Jason Biggs pilot. Tembi Locke (Windfall) is Lisa Tucker's ma, while Jon Rowland, Rod Rowland (Veronica Mars), Scarlett Chorvat and Diego Serrano are Born in the USA on Simon Fuller's Fox sudser fancied as EastEnders-in-Philadelphia. Grounded for Life creators...

Mon, Apr 9, 2007

Will Grey's End Season with Some "I Do"?

Spin-off shmin-off: let's talk Grey's Anatomy proper. The popular rom-dram may  just may  wash away its Season 3 backstage troubles and on-screen waterski-flirtations with a May wedding for Cristina and Burke. Judging by pics and sightings shared at JustJared, Katherine Heigl's Izzie is suited up as a bridesmaid, while Ellen Pompeo appears to be the Mer of honor. The spied scenes, though, are merely from a bridal-shop try-on session for Yang & Co., so will the vow-swap actually go off without a hitch? Or will a presumed-dead Tina Lord crash the ceremony toting Burke's long-lost son, Milagro? Actually, that I'd rather see.

Sat, Apr 7, 2007

Forest Whitaker May Wear Shield Again

The Barn might not be done with Detective Kavanaugh just yet (or vice versa). Per the Los Angeles Times, in a conference call to talk up his final appearance on The Shield Forest Whitaker said "the possibility is there" for him to return during the FX drama's final season, which starts filming in June. "It's a matter of timing," added Whitaker, who since earning an Oscar as The Last King of Scotland has already lined up at least two films. Indeed, as series creator Shawn Ryan noted, "Forest might be a little popular these days. But nothing is ever impossible."

Sat, Apr 7, 2007

On Stage: Class Mate Returns to Spelling Bee

As The Class awaits word on a possible second season, Jesse Tyler Ferguson is keeping busy, reprising the role he created on Broadway of Leaf Coneybear, for the Los Angeles premiere of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. The musical's four-week run begins May 27.In other stage news, Ron Livingston (Standoff) and Jason Patric (yep, Speed 2) are two-thirds of the cast for Neil LaBute's In a Dark Dark House, world-premiering May 16 off-Broadway. Also, the New York Post hears that Leonardo DiCaprio is in talks to visit the GWW this fall as the star of The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel, which Al Pacino fronted 30 years ago.

Sat, Apr 7, 2007

Friday Night Lights Star: "Our Fingers Are Crossed"

Speaking with TV Guide at Thursday night's Entourage premiere party, Connie Britton said she has heard "a lot of positive talk" about Friday Night Lights possibly getting a Season 2 pickup, but added, "You never know until you know."Britton suggested that the "old-school ratings" system hasn't given the acclaimed drama its due, noting, "When we go out [in public], so many people seem to be loving it, so I really do think it's building an audience. And the people who are watching it are so committed to it. We have our fingers crossed, hoping [for a renewal], but we feel very optimistic about it."  Additional reporting by Carita Rizzo

Fri, Apr 6, 2007

Casting About: NCIS Dials Nine Star, and More

John Billingsley, most recently seen on The Nine and perhaps best known as Star Trek: Enterprise's Dr. Phlox, will guest on the May 1 episode of CBS' NCIS. He'll play a visually impaired photographer with an acute sense of smell whom the NCIS team enlists to help solve the case of a deceased petty officer who shows up in one of the shutterbug's recent pictures.In other casting news involving actors from shows with numbers in the title, a 90210er and a Party of Fiver are Medium-bound. Check out the Ausiello Report for deets.

Fri, Apr 6, 2007

Anna Nicole: Diaries for Sale, Doc Under Investigation

A pair of diaries written by the late Anna Nicole Smith in the early '90s are among her personal belongings being sold off by Heritage Auction Galleries in Dallas. Included in her revelations, the Associated Press reports, is the fact that, although she says she loved him, her elderly husband, J. Howard Marshall II, drove her batty. "He call me 15 or 20 times a day," she wrote not quite so eloquently. Perhaps tellingly, the yo-yo dieter ends an entry with not "Ciao!" but "Chow!" In related news, TMZ says the California Medical Board is investigating Smith's shrink, Dr. Khristine Eroshevich, who prescribed her and companion Howard K. Stern more drugs than your local CVS (and without the long lines)  including chloral hydrate, which was the most direct cause of A-N's death.Friday's Today's News was written by Ben Katner.

Fri, Apr 6, 2007

Secrets to Sanjaya's Success Still a Mystery

To combat the efforts of The Site That Must Not Be Named, which has been helping keep hair-raising American Idol wannabe Sanjaya Malakar in the running, a new website, VoteAGAINSTtheWorst.com, has emerged. It instructs viewers in different states to throw their support to different contestants... except, of course, to Cousin Itt. Meanwhile, the Associated Press reports that the future face of Mr. Clairol isn't, in fact, getting stupendous support from his father's native country. Although there are over a billion people in India, hardly any of them know who Malakar is, because Idol airs there a day late on an English-language station that few people watch. (Or what we used to call UPN.)

Fri, Apr 6, 2007

Britney and K-Fed's Love Shack Marked Down

Desperate to cut their last remaining monetary ties, Britney and Fed-Ex have slashed the asking price of their Malibu mansion by more than a million, TMZ reports. But trust me, folks, no matter what line of bull your Realtor tries to feed you, unless your surname is Trump, you still can't afford it.... Elsewhere in Splitsville, TMZ reports that although Whitney Houston entered divorce court Thursday all teary-eyed, she nearly died laughing when, as she exited, a paparazzo tripped and fell. "That's what happens!" she screamed when she wasn't praising the heavens.

Fri, Apr 6, 2007