Make Dr. House confront his own inner demons and what does it get you? Your own series. Katheryn Winnick, who played a rape victim in a January episode of House, has been signed by Fox to a talent holding deal in which she will be cast in a new drama series. Winnick recently was replaced (by Eliza Dushku) as the lead in the Fox pilot Nurses when the role was taken in a more comedic direction. But now who's laughing?
"Thanks to a great effort by MGM executives and some not-so-subtle nudging by [series] executive producer Barney Rosenzweig," the press release reads, Cagney & Lacey will, in fact, have its first season released on DVD May 8, in time for Mother's Day. "History has repeated itself," says Rosenzweig, alluding to the fan campaign that once rescued the series from the chopping block and the new flurry of e-mails that prompted MGM to cut through the latest red tape and get out a DVD. "In a time when I wondered if anyone even remembered who we were, it was clear that they did. I'm grateful that they remembered, and grateful to the folks at MGM who saw this, too."
CBS has inked a deal to stream Evening News with Katie Couric on Sprint cell phones, starting in April. Also coming to that itty-bitty screen: full episodes of Jericho.... A May 1 DVD release date has been set for Alpha Dog, featuring the captivating Amber Heard.... Have a theory about what's coming up on Heroes? Share it here at NBC.com. The best ones are airing on NBC. The worst ones will be mercilessly laughed and laughed and laughed at by Peacock interns.
The New York City-based National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, which administers the Daytime Emmys, has announced that starting this year, as a belt-tightening measure, it will only float one free statue per category. Meaning, those who share in a win will need to pony up $350 to go home with their own golden girl. The West Coast-based ATAS, which oversees the Primetime Emmys, says that "as a matter of principle, we do not agree with the decision," and as such has offered to reimburse those invoiced for a statue. The only catch is you have to saw off the UPC code on the bottom, all layers of cardboard. No peeling!
Appearing at TV Land's Friday upfront presentation — at which the cabler announced a new focus on baby boomers and such new series as the 35 and Beyond Supermodel Search — former president Bill Clinton revealed that his favorite TV shows include Grey's Anatomy and 24, even though the latter was cocreated by the "uber right-wing" Joel Surnow. Citing I Love Lucy and All in the Family as among his classic-television faves, Clinton said that with wife Hillary on the campaign trail, "I'm home alone a lot, and I'm grateful to TV Land for giving me something to do at night." As if that explains the "Amorous Interns" pay-per-view charge on last month's cable bill.
As Angelina Jolie celebrates her latest burst of motherhood — to newly adopted Vietnamese son Pax — she is still coping with the January loss of her own mother, actress Marcheline Bertrand — by not eating. "Angie has become very thin because she's grieving," her older brother, James Haven, tells London's Daily Mail. "She has not wanted to eat, nor has she been able to." Assessing the sitch, Jolie's Ethiopia-born daughter, Zahara, is all, "I'm sorry, you people here choose not to eat?" and then smacked her forehead.
Despite no longer featuring the vocal stylings of one Paige Turco, the computer-animated TMNT update topped the weekend box office with $25.45 million. Rounding out the top five were 300 ($20.5 million, for a to-date tally of $162.4), Mark Wahlberg's Shooter (opening with $14.5), Wild Hogs ($14.4 mil) and The Last Mimzy (earning $10.2 mil in its debut).Among other new releases, The Hills Have Eyes 2, Adam Sandler's Reign Over Me and Pride placed at Nos. 7, 8 and 9, respectively.
This Tuesday's American Idol performance show, which was to be the first trimmed down to a lean hour, in fact will run 67 minutes — an apparent ploy to keep viewers from switching over to rival reality behemoth Dancing with the Stars' first elimination show. ABC scheduled DWTS to avoid such conflicts — as entertainment prez Steve McPherson noted in January, "Fans won't have to choose between the two reality hits this spring" — so Fox's move seems pulled from the "kill-it-in-the-cradle school" of counterprogramming, the Washington Post notes, and has industry insiders wagging their fingers. The "word" at Fox is that the extra minutes are in some way needed to best serve the inclusion of guest mentor Gwen Stefani — though she won't even be performing until Wednesday's show.Is Fox a bit out of line here? Discuss in Comments.
In a Friday conference call to promote the March 27 premiere of ABC's The Great American Dream Vote, the show's host, '70s hearthrob Donny Osmond, revealed that he and his kin may reunite for a one-time TV special. "The family has been talking," he said. "I haven't done a show with my brothers [Wayne, Jay, Merrill, Alan and Jimmy] for 25 years or so. We are talking about doing a TV special, and maybe something with [sister] Marie, but nothing is locked in yet." Maybe with Marie? If not, who's gonna bring da bit o' country?!
This just in from Warner Bros. Pictures: "Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson will reprise the roles they have made their own: teen wizards Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, respectively, in Warner Bros. Pictures' Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the final two motion-picture adaptations of J.K. Rowling's best-selling book series."Watson, who was rumored to be a holdout as recently as Monday, says in a statement, "I could never let Hermione go — she is my hero! I love her too much and love what playing her has meant to me. I am excited and honoured to be finishing what I started and playing her in all seven of the films."What's Parseltongue for, "Back up the Brinks truck?"
Lady Heather is back! The professional dominatrix who gets CSI's Gil Grissom all hot under the collar returns to the CBS series May 10. During this, her fourth stint on CSI, Melinda Clarke's character could very well shed some light on Grissom's secretive relationship with fellow CSI Sara Sidle. "He's a fascinating character to go after," Clarke teases. "And who doesn't love a good triangle?" The writers are still working on a final draft of the script, so how Grissom resolves his personal issues and the problem of that pesky miniature killer in the season's second-to-last episode remain a mystery. — Reporting by Craig Tomashoff
A long-awaited and oft-postponed DVD release of the first season of Cagney & Lacey — hoped to fittingly hit stores in time for Mother's Day — has hit yet another roadblock. The problem: Music-rights clearance issues were overlooked by vid-distributor MGM, which, as executive producer Barney Rosenzweig chronicles in his blog, is in no hurry to set things right and stick to the schedule. "Much like in the past, this might be up to the fans," Rosenzweig says in a statement, alluding to the grassroots letter-writing campaign that saved the groundbreaking drama in 1983. "Last time, they brought the show back from cancellation. This time, we hope they can help us get the first season DVD released."
The autopsy report revealing the cause of Anna Nicole Smith's Feb. 8 death will be released on Monday, and expounded on in a joint news conference with medical examiner Dr. Joshua Perper and Seminole police chief Charlie Tiger, the Associated Press reports. Until then — and for what it's worth, I hereby proactively qualify — a joint investigation by sister tabloids The Star and National Enquirer claims that Smith was felled by a lethal dose of the sleep aid chloral hydrate, which she allegedly took the night before and never woke up from. What's more, the tabs say Smith's death might have been avoided had she gone to a hospital for treatment of her fever, nausea and other infection symptoms (stemming from an infected injection site on her left buttock), rather than cope by using her own remedies.Tune in to Anna Nicole: How She Died on the TV Guide Channel for in-depth coverage of her autopsy results. The special debuts Monday, March 26, at 2 pm/ET, and encores through Marc...
Lenoardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, who last shared the silver screen in the 1997 art-house sleeper Titanic, will reunite for Revolutionary Road, a drama about a 1950s couple dealing with repressed desires, Variety reports. based on a novel by Richard Yates, the film will be directed by Winslet's hubby, Sam Mendes (American Beauty). So no messin' around in the Renault, kids!
This week's episode of America's Next Top Model, in which the photo-shoot challenge found the myriad mannequins making like crime-scene corpses, has come under fire from women's-rights groups, with the president of the New York City chapter of the National Organization for Women calling the stunt "supremely ironic" for a show "geared toward women and about women, and about glamour." As the NOW prez tells the New York Daily News, "Violence against women is such a reality in our society that I certainly don't need the entertainment industry making entertainment out of it." The CW declined comment on the scrape, while a rep for Top Model tyrant Tyra Banks didn't return the News' calls.
Josh Charles, best known for his turns on Sports Night and in the film Dead Poet's Society, joins ABC's Six Degrees starting April 13, TVGuide.com has learned. Charles will play a man from Whitney's (Bridget Moynahan) past who will shake things up for the duration of the season, which resumes this Friday at 9 pm/ET. As part of a Six Degrees feature posting tomorrow, executive producer Stuart Zicherman describes Charles' character as "flawed, and you're not sure what he's up to," and says that he arrives on the scene in "a very McDreamy sort of way." Whoa, Mer sleeps with him, too?! She's shameless, really.For more on Six Degrees' return, watch for Friday's Interviews & Features.
Sure, American Idol viewers were stunned to see Stephanie Edwards and Chris Richardson land in the bottom two on Wednesday's results show, and then see Stephanie get sent home. But how stunned was the 19-year-old Atlanta gal herself? On a scale of 1 to 10, Stephanie tells TVGuide.com she'd place her own astonishment at only "a 5, because of what the judges said about my performance the night before. I had a feeling that I was going to be in the bottom — and I was right." If she had Idol, specifically '60s pop week, to do over again, would she have done or sung anything differently? "I would have definitely chosen an upbeat, faster song," she tells us. "[But Dusty Springfield's "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me"] was the only one I wanted. I listened to it, fell in love with it, and that was it." All that's left is the 13-year-old crying.
Wednesday's ratings noteables:8 pmA "just visiting" Survivor: Fiji won the hour with 12.67 million total viewers, a mil fewer than its last Thursday outing and five mil more than Jericho has been getting. At No. 2, Bones held steady with 10.3 mil. Friday Night Lights (5.46 mil) saw a 330K bump, and Top Model delivered a typical five mil.9 pmAmerican Idol's results show 26.34 million, up 740,000 week-to-week) fueled another series high for 'Til Death (14.65 mil). Jordan (6.13 mil) plunged 1.3 mil, while this Wednesday's Pussycat Dolls encore drew 3.12 mil, giving it the same two-night tally as last week.10 pmCSI: NY (13.63 mil, down 370 thou) topped an otherwise outstanding episode of Lost (which was down again, a bit, to a hair under 12 mil).
The line between reality, reality TV and plain old TV just keeps getting blurrier. According to the trade mag TV Week, TV Land is moving ahead with production on a loosely scripted series starring Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams as themselves — only a version of themselves in which they both live at Penny's house. Weird. Eddie Mekka, call your agent. "If I could go from rags to riches...!"
Wednesday was a rough night for reality-TV junkies. First, for a rendition of "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" that wouldn't even stir the dirt on Dusty Springfield's grave, American Idol viewers dissed and dismissed Stephanie Edwards rather than the increasingly unbearable (yet undeniably sweet) Sanjaya. Then, Tyra and Co. gave the Ugg boot to drop-dead gorgeous Felicia after she failed to enliven a shoot in which she portrayed a literal fashion victim. Do you think it's too late for me to start a hunger strike until she's brought back? I mean, I could stand to lose a few pounds anyway. Next week on Idol, the contestants will be coached by an artist who they might actually have heard of (sorry, Lulu) Gwen Stefani. The Hollaback Girl will then perform "The Sweet Escape" with Akon during the results show. Personally, I would've done "Don't Speak" and dedicated it to moody Simon.
This fall, Sci Fi Channel will premiere what is being called a two-hour episode of Battlestar Galactica but sounds a whole lot like a stand-alone movie to me. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the whole cast will be involved in the flick, but it won't necessarily have frak to do with the show's ongoing story lines. You do the math.UPDATE: This press release perhaps illustrates the sitch better: "Si Fi Channel has upped its episode order for Season 4 of Battlestar Galactica from 13 to 22 episodes. This will include a special two-hour extended event that will air during fourth quarter 2007 and be released on DVD."
Bring on the TP! Kicky martial-arts hero Jet Li is all wrapped up in talks to play the title character in The Mummy 3, the Hollywood Reporter tells us. Although the plot is being kept hush-hush, what is known is that the story will be set in China and will include at least one sequence showcasing the famous terra-cotta warriors that were constructed as guards for an emperor's tomb. No word yet on whether Brendan Fraser or Rachel Weisz will be back.