ABC's Boston Legal will tackle a temporal anomaly of sorts with its April 3 episode, which in recounting a hostage taker's decades-old grudge against Denny Crane will use footage from The Defender, a 50-year-old TV pilot starring William Shatner, to show what transpired during the original, contested court case. Young Denny, I have but one piece of advice: Let Joan Collins die. Trust me.
Keanu Reeves' Porsche allegedly grazed a photographer standing in its path as the actor on Monday evening pulled out of a parking space in the the Avenida Tranquila residential area 30 miles south of downtown Los Angeles. According to the Associated Press, the unidentified shutterbug fell to the ground after getting clipped, then was taken to a local hospital for treatment of unknown injuries. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is investigating the incident.Bummer.
This Monday's ratings recap:• Dancing with the Stars partnered up with an audience of 21.65 million across its two-hour bow, an increase of 1.65 mil over the Season 3 opener and the contest's best premiere ever. And Heather is still intact.• Opposite DWTS and trailing Deal or No Deal at 8, Prison Break (8.26 million) was down 1.4 mil from its last fresh outing, while CBS' Mother (7.59 mil, down 1.9 mil) and Old Christine (6.86 mil, down 1.18 mil) hit season lows, with the latter also falling nearly two mil shy of The Class' last outing.• At 9 pm, 24 (11.88 mil, -480K) topped Men (11.62 mil, slipping almost a mil) and Rules of Engagement (9.32 mil, down two mil), both of which hit season lows.• Come 10, What About Brian (7.38 million) benefited big time from its DWTS lead-in, surging 2.6 mil to what appears to be its best outing in five months, and besting the Donnellys (5.84 mil, down 900K). CSI: Miami, of course, dominated with an audience of 17.44 million and a...
NBC's 30 Rock is pulling out all the stops when it comes back from its brief break with fresh episodes. For the April 5 (at 9 pm/ET, remember) return, the acclaimed comedy has tapped Will Arnett (of Arrested Development fame, and the real-life hubby of Tina Fey's ol' WU-mate Amy Poehler) to play a West Coast NBC exec whom Jack believes is out to get him. And for the freshman season finale, airing April 26, Will & Grace Emmy winner Sean Hayes will guest as Kenneth the page's equally countrified cousin, Jesse. Best casting ever? Discuss.Renew this show now. Thanks.
Live with Regis & Kelly will broadcast from New Orleans for four sweeps shows airing May 22 to 25, setting up shop on the Fulton Street pedestrian thoroughfare between Harrah's New Orleans Hotel and Harrah's Casino. The hope is that Kelly Ripa's partner in gab will be done recuperating from his March 15 heart bypass surgery in time to join the show's remote.
• Steven Bochco, who gave FX the short-lived Iraq War series Over There, is now developing "a supernatural-themed thriller with family elements" for the cabler, says the Hollywood Reporter.• Simon Cowell is partnering with the producers of Footballer$ Wives on Rock Rivals, a U.K. drama pegged as "The X Factor meets Dallas," and concerning two TV talent-show judges whose marriage falls apart. Talks about a U.S. adaptation are already under way, says Variety.• HBO Films is developing a biopic about legendary blues musician Robert Johnson, with Ray's James L. White set to pen the screenplay.
MTV2 plans to release the entire upcoming season of The Andy Milonakis Show on iTunes a full month before its April 27 broadcast launch, says Reuters. Season 3's premiere episode will be made available as a free download this week, while the full six-episode run can be yours for $9.99.... Toon Disney premieres Season 4 of Kim Possible on March 26 at 5 pm/ET, with three new episodes following an encore of the film Kim Possible: So the Drama.
The producers of the upcoming horror film Captivity have agreed to take down Los Angeles billboard and New York City taxicab ads featuring female lead Elisha Cuthbert in gratuitous stages of torture, following a flurry of complaints from parents and offended women. "We neither saw nor approved this [campaign] before it was posted," a Lions Gate Entertainment exec tells Reuters. "Once aware of the materials and the reaction... we immediately asked [distribution partner] After Dark to remove the billboards." Contending that Captivity — in which Cuthbert awakens to find herself held in a cellar — is "also about female empowerment," the After Dark CEO says, "For the audience it's made for, it's satisfying. I'm sure that's not the same audience that's complaining about the billboards."The MPAA, which could now withhold a rating from the film, has yet to comment on how it will respond to the ads, which are in defiance of its rules and regulations.
Per Variety, Angelina Jolie's next film gig will be starring alongside Morgan Freeman and James McAvoy in Wanted, an actioner based on a graphic novel and concerning a son out to avenge his dad's murder, with Jolie playing an assassin who tutors him.... Channing Tatum (Step Up) will star in Dear John, based on the Nicholas Sparks best-seller.... Though the timetable is still very much up in the air, insiders refute rumors that the Superman Returns sequel has gone into turnaround.... Per the Hollywood Reporter, Kevin Macdonald (The Last King of Scotland) will direct Brad Pitt in State of Play, a political thriller.... Catherine Keener and Robin Wright Penn have joined What Just Happened?, a comedy starring Robert De Niro as a down-and-out filmmaker. Penn's his ex.
The Cincinnati Pops Orchestra has scrapped a Dukes of Hazzard-themed July show featuring drop-bys from John Schneider and Tom Wopat, because some community members find the classic TV series — which costars a Confederate-flag-emblazoned car — racist and offensive. "It's a huge shock to me that in this day and age, people could be so narrow-minded," Schneider tells the Associated Press, adding that those in charge should examine "their knee-jerk reactions to someone else's prejudice and bigotry." The Pops, which consulted with a head-shaking NAACP, says in a statement, "We decided that some of the messages conveyed in the program are not consistent with [our] efforts to reach out to all [people]." Besides, they thought they'd be getting Jessica in a bikini.
Might the NBC sudser Passions find new life on a new channel? Check out Daniel's Soaps News for the breaking news.... What's the greatest baseball movie of all time? Cast your vote now in a poll conducted by the Tribeca Film Festival and ESPN. Finalists will be bracketed against each other March Madness-style, with the winner being shown May 5 at the ESPN Sports Festival.... Law & Order: SVU has been sold into syndication in more than 97 percent of the U.S., to begin airing in the fall.... Director Stuart Rosenberg (Cool Hand Luke, The Amityville Horror) died last Thursday of a heart attack. He was 79.
Perhaps possibly coming not so much soon, but maybe eventually, to a TV screen near you:• Emmy winner Jane Curtin is Jayma Mays' secretary in the ABC comedy pilot Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office.• Angus MacFadyen (Saw III) is Marisa Tomei's editor and former flame in CBS' The Rich Inner Life of Penelope Cloud. OK, shorter titles, pilot people.• Lex Medlin (Happy Hour? Bueller?) is Ricki Lake's hubby in ABC's The Middle.• Jonathan Chase (Veronica Mars' Josh) and Kyle Bornheimer (Blades of Glory) have boarded the CW's Dash 4 Cash.• Dana Ivey (Oz) is on hand for The Return of Jezebel James (Fox).• NBC's Area 52 is now titled Area 57, in a crafty if not blatant bid to suck up to ketchup enthusiasts.All the above is courtesy of Variety and the Reporter, but never, ever from News of the World.
Fox's Steven Spielberg-produced reality competition On the Lot, which was originally set to premiere in mid-May only to disappear for a week as American Idol wrapped up Season 5, instead is being granted the cushiest debut berth possible. The search for wannabe Scorseses, Coppolas or, worst case, Ritchies will now bow May 22, following the final performance episode of Idol. The second episode (a newly added batch of auditions) airs that Thursday, paired with the Season 3 premiere of So You Think You Can Dance. On the Lot will then settle into its regular schedule — Monday "movie premieres" and Tuesday eliminations — on May 28 and 29. I bet Antonella makes a fine movie.
Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant have elected not to do a third season of Extras, and instead will wrap up the HBO series with a "one-off" special, as they did before with the U.K. edition of The Office, says the Hollywood Reporter. Explaining that the idea to end the run was in its very early stages, a rep for the duo says no timetable is in place for the series ender, but that Gervais and Merchant "will, at some point, sit down... and write it." Oooh, I love how mysterious and exotic the TV-making process sounds!
According to wicked, wicked online reports, Emma Watson has yet to sign on for the final two Harry Potter films — and, say some nasty rumors, will hold to that decision, even if producers were to jack up the 16-year-old's pay to £2 million (roughly $3.8 mil) a picture. "Emma doesn't want to do it anymore. She's tired of being known as 'that girl from Harry Potter,'" that redheaded kid from Harry Potter (Rupert Grint) supposedly told the U.K. tabloid News of the World. "Daniel [Radcliffe] and I are distant from her now. We don't text or talk to her when we are not filming." In a statement issued Monday morning, a Warner Bros. spokesperson maintains, "We're extremely confident that Emma will be back for films 6 and 7" — or else they'll get themselves a Gyllenhaal.EDITED to make overall tone of the blurb more Potterphile-friendly. Last thing I need is, like, a spell of Perpetual Flatulence cast on me. (Again.)
Per Variety, Grey's Anatomy's Katherine Heigl, who stars in this summer's Knocked Up, has booked another rom-com: 27 Dresses, scripted by The Devil Wears Prada's Aline Brosh Mckenna and concerning a perpetual bridesmaid whose 27th time is as her sister marries a man Heigl is madly in love with.... Per the Hollywood Reporter, Michael Bay and his Transformers scribes are developing sci-fi author Whitley Strieber's 2012: The War for Souls for the big screen.... Oscar nominee/comeback "kid" Jackie Earle Haley has booked three gigs: Will Ferrell's Semi-Pro, the drama Winged Creatures (with Kate Beckinsale and Forest Whitaker), and the indie biopic Bolden!.... Rudy Ray Moore will exec-produce and perhaps appear in a remake of the 1975 "blaxploitation" comedy Dolemite.
Ant and Dec (aka Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly), who are huuuuuge across the pond, have been tapped to host Wanna Bet?, an ABC variety- and game-show pilot in which everyday people wager they can tackle extraordinary stunts, Variety reports. In the U.K., Ant and Dec have fronted such reality fare as Pop Idol, I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! and Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway.
The fourth season of E!'s The Simple Life, now in production, will not only proffer Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie as camp counselors, but in one specific instance have the wafer-thin celebunots mentoring overweight kids. A rep for the reality series, though, insists to the New York Post's Page Six that the stop isn't at a "fat camp" per se, but a "wellness camp focused on eating right, yoga, nutrition and exercise." Add in "crotch flashing" and "drunk driving," and I think the gals can really get somewhere with these rugrats.
Numbers' Diane Farr and husband Seung Chung welcomed a son, Beckett Manchuso — named after the poet Samuel Beckett — on Friday morning. Farr will be back on Numbers in time for the May 18 season finale.... King of Queens star Kevin James and his wife, model Steffiana De La Cruz, are expecting their second child — another daughter — this summer.... Also per People, R&B singer Tamia and her NBA-star husband Grant Hill are expecting their second child in August.
SOAPnet will begin airing One Tree Hill and The O.C. weeknights at 5 and 6 pm/ET, respectively, on April 9.... The View's spring coffee mug, to be unveiled on Tuesday's show and featuring the hosts in a Warhol-inspired design, is available for purchase at ABC.com.... Smokin' Aces arrives on DVD April 17.
Perhaps proving once and for all that an online petition protesting historical inaccuracies can't take down a box-office behemoth, 300 came in at No. 1 for a second straight weekend, adding $31.2 million to its total haul ($127.5 mil).Rounding out the top five were Wild Hogs ($18.8 million, now at $104 mil total), Sandra Bullock's poorly reviewed Premonition (opening with $18 mil), the not-screened-for-critics Dead Silence ($7.8 mil) and Chris Rock's I Think I Love My Wife (debuting with $5.7 mil).
Who's doing what this pilot season, says the Reporter and Variety:• Kathy Baker (Picket Fences) is Amber Tamblyn's mother in CBS' Babylon Fields, where the two of them must again contend with the resurrected abusive husband/father whom they killed with an ax. Awk.Ward.• Get-ready-to-feel-old alert: Kelly Rutherford plays mom to the lead girl (Blake Lively) in the CW's Gossip Girl. Also on board for the pilot is Florencia Lozano (One Life to Live).• Jaime Ray Newman (Veronica Mars) has landed the lead in the CW's I Am Paige Armstrong, playing a disenfranchised congressional aide who decides to run against her boss.• Michael Arden and Ron McLarty have joined Amy Sherman-Palladino's The Return of Jezebel James.• Victoria Pratt (Day Break) has joined ABC's Dirty Sexy Money.• Kevin Dunn (The Path to 9/11) is amnesiac Christina Applegate's dad in ABC's Sam I Am.