A few premiere and return dates from Fox:The Mark Burnett and Steven Spielberg-produced reality competition, On the Lot, kicks off May 16, then moves to a Monday/Tuesday schedule starting May 28. Season 3 of So You Think You Can Dance begins May 24. Hell's Kitchen returns for a third helping on June 25. And the sophomore season of The Loop premieres June 10.
They have to believe she is magic — I certainly do! The New York Post reports that Kristen Bell has been offered the lead in the upcoming Broadway production of roller-disco musical Xanadu (based on the awful '80s movie with the terrific ON-J/ELO soundtrack). 30 Rock's Jane Krakowski, whose involvement in the project helped rope investors, had been expected to play the mystical muse until — poof — she dropped out of the running. Maybe it isn't as easy to sing on skates as Livvie made it look.
Some goodies in today's pilot-casting news!• Former SNL funny lady Molly Shannon (as in, from back when SNL was funny) has been tapped to play Natasha Richardson's sister (and a possible murderess) in NBC's comedy soap, The Mastersons of Manhattan.• Big-screen bruiser Ving Rhames has joined the cast of ABC's Americanized version of Footballers Wives, called Football Wives, as the team's general manager.• O.C. cutie Samaire Armstrong has been tapped to play, in essence, Paris Hilton in ABC's Dirty Money drama, with Peter Krause.• Boston Public principal Chi McBride can expect a bouquet from ABC for joining its drama, Pushing Daisies; in it, he plays a private dick who goes into business with a guy who can make Lazarus of anyone.• And finally, someday-star (trust me on this) Jennifer Esposito has been signed to ABC's amnesiac comedy, Sam I Am, though unfortunately not as the amnesiac.
Did you think Jamie Foxx was playing Motown founder Berry Gordy in Dreamgirls? Me, too. And so did Gordy, apparently. So, to make sure there was no further debate about the matter (and perhaps to preclude the music legend filing a nightmare of a lawsuit over his... er, the unflattering depiction), DreamWorks and Paramount have taken out full-page ads in Variety and the Hollywood Reporter that read, in part, "For any confusion that has resulted from our fictional work, we apologize to Mr. Gordy." Did their ploy work? "I wish [the studios] all the best in the forthcoming Academy Awards," Gordy told the Hollywood Reporter.
This is why computers need parental controls: On Sunday (at 8 pm/ET), Family Guy's murderous moppet Stewie and martini-swilling pooch Brian will host Up Late with Stewie & Brian, a 10-minute talk-show parody on MySpace. Their guest will be Rob Corddry, the lead on Fox's new comedy, The Winner. Oh. So it's just, like, a commercial?
Subtitlers may want to form a union, and fast! Starting Mar. 5 (at 10 pm/ET), VH1 will begin airing Australia's Next Top Model, hosted by Erika Heynatz (who?) and featuring as judges talent booker Alex Perry (come again?), style guru Ken Thompson (insert blank look here) and onetime U.S. Harper's Bazaar editrix Marguerite Kramer (hey, at least I've heard of the magazine).... The second season of The Closer — that's the season that won Kyra Sedgwick her Golden Globe, thank you very much — comes out on DVD on May 29.... CBS Television Distribution has signed Deborah Norville to stick around as anchor of Inside Edition for at least a few more years.
Although when her Prairie Home Companion director Robert Altman died, Lindsay Lohan issued a statement calling him "the closest thing to my father... that... I've had in several years," she skipped out on his memorial service Tuesday, the New York Post reports. Adding insult to injury, Britney Spears' future padded cell mate was in L.A. raising hell with Jackass idiot Steve-O.... Finally, some nice news: the New York Post says R&B heartthrob Usher has popped the question to his longtime girlfriend (and, conveniently enough, his stylist), Tameka Foster. Oh, wait, you weren't still thinking you had a shot at him, were you? Oopsie. Maybe that's not such good news after all.
Somewhere, Norma Rae is smiling. When the Writers Guild advised its members not to work on webisodes of NBC series like The Office and Heroes unless they were sufficiently paid, the network filed unfair labor charges with the National Labor Relations Board. Now, per the Associated Press, an administrative judge has told the peacock to go pluck itself. Power to the people, especially the people who write!Thursday's entertainment news was written by Ben Katner.
Finally, a show Taye Diggs can't kill! Ignoring his track record, ABC has selected the erstwhile Kevin Hill to play Addison's next lover on the proposed spin-off of Grey's Anatomy. (OK, I don't actually know for sure that they'll hit the sheets, but let's be real; it's Addison.) The Day Break star will first appear in a two-hour Grey's airing in May as a back-door pilot. In the episode, Dr. Montgomery will be considering leaving Seattle Grace for other doctors.... I mean greener pastures.
OK, maybe he isn't the worst dad ever after all. Today in L.A., Kevin Federline will be at an emergency court hearing that was called by him. The Associated Press was not able to learn why his attorneys requested the session, but c'mon, I think we all know. In related news, Us reports that since her last flight from rehab, Mrs. Federline hasn't gone near the kids. "She knows she is not well and she does not want to scare [older son] Preston," a source tells the mag. "She has no credit cards or cash. She is basically on the run at the moment." On the run with no credit cards? That won't get her far, especially since she's so frequently barefoot (never mind pregnant). Hope her cell battery still has enough juice to get a call in to Paris....UPDATE: With the two spied arguing and Brit at times curled up in a ball in the passenger seat, Lynne Spears drove her troubled daughter back to the Promises rehab center late Wednesday night. K-Fed's emergency custody hearing has since been cancel...
Ongoing developments in the aftermath of Anna Nicole Smith's death:• All but sealing his bid for a TV show titled "Judge Wishy-washy," circuit court judge Larry Seidlin on Thursday ordered that Smith's body be handed into the custody of the court-appointed guardian of Dannielynn, the deceased's 5-month-old daughter. (Reuters)• In court on Wednesday, Larry Birkhead claimed that when Smith was four months pregnant with Dannielynn and hospitalized to wean her off a prescription-drug habit, Howard K. Stern "was thwarting [the] efforts" by sneaking her meds "on top of what she was getting from the IV."• Questioned for a second time, Stern was pressed by the judge to admit that "Anna paid for everything," including his $950-a-month rent, since he immersed himself in her life in 2002. He also 'fessed that he stands to reap six percent of any fortune Smith might inherit from late husband J. Howard Marshall.• Virgie Arthur said Stern is angling to sell broadcast rights to...
Desperate Housewives star Marcia Cross on Tuesday gave birth to fraternal twin daughters, Eden and Savannah, her rep tells People. The pair of lasses represent the first children for Cross and her stockbroker husband, Tom Mahoney, and perhaps my own twin sons' future wives.
Access Hollywood is hearing from reliable sources that Gwen Stefani will perform (not her incredibly lame-o new single, I hope) on the Mar. 28 edition of American Idol, and that Jennifer Lopez will put in an appearance of her own on Apr. 11. What's more, the TV newsmag says the speculation is that the "special" something Fantasia will announce on this Thursday's show is not "the biggest thing" to hit Idol in five years by any stretch, but merely that she is [yawn] joining the cast of Broadway's/Oprah Winfrey's The Color Purple, which has been saddled by poor ticket sales ever since the holiday tourist crowds dissipated.Speaking of Idol, may I brag (to those who missed it below but are nonetheless susceptible to awe) that I missed the date for Ryan and Simon's first homoerotic exchange (Cowell calling the host, "Sweetheart") by just two days?
This Tuesday, as American Idol's dozen dudes averaged 29.44 million total viewers, drawing a whopping 31.1 mil from 9 to 10 pm/ET...• NCIS (15.36 million) dropped 400K, while Gilmore Girls (four mil) slipped 310,000.• At 9, The Unit (11.55 million) was down 700 thou and Law & Order: CI (9.37 mil) was up 800K, while Veronica Mars* (2.34 million) sank 280,000 heads to hit a new season low.• SVU (11.94 million) dropped a mil but still topped Boston Legal (holding steady with 9.4 mil).* UPDATE: Speaking of Mars, Ausiello has posted a fresh Q&A with last night's killed-off cast member.
Stop me if you've heard this one before.Less than 24 hours after entering rehab — this time reportedly at the impassioned urging of her father — Britney Spears has abruptly fled the Promises Center in Malibu, California, numerous media oulets are reporting.I asked. For someone. To watch. The door. Y'all think I'm funning here.
Who's doing what during this pilot season? Here's the latest from Variety and the Hollywood Reporter:• With The O.C.'s swan song but a day away, Melinda Clarke has scored a gig on CBS' The Man, playing a tough and sexy policewoman who has worked with LL Cool J's undercover cop over the years.• Beau Bridges is a father whose two separate sets of grown children don't know the others exist in Fox's Two Families.• Last seen on Pepper Dennis, Lindsay Price is joining Kim Raver and Brooke Shields in NBC'sLipstick Jungle, playing a fashion mogul.• Linus Roache (Kidnapped) is Julianna Margulies' husband in Fox's Canterbury's Law.• Keith Robinson (Over There, Dreamgirls) has joined the Fox crime drama The Apostles.• CBS has picked up three comedy pilots: the Paul Reiser-produced Atlanta, about a man and woman who meet at a funeral; an office comedy from Will & Grace's Max Mutchnick and David Kohan; and The Rich Inner Life of Penelope Cloud, concerning a lite...
"The winner for outstanding lead actor in a drama series... after this." This might be heard at this year's Primetime Emmy Awards, which will be exec-produced by American Idol bosses Nigel Lythgoe and Ken Warwick. But can we text-vote for the major categories? That is the question....In other Idol news, Season 3 champ Fantasia will perform live — and "make a special announcement" — on this Thursday's results show, airing at 8 pm/ET. Lythgoe teased last week that the show would soon unveil "the biggest thing to happen to Idol in five years," but rebuffed speculation that it involves Michael Jackson.
Trista and Ryan Sutter, who met while taping ABC's The Bachelorette in 2002 and wed on TV the following year, are expecting their first child in August, says People.... Kate Hudson and Owen Wilson are back on, says Us.... Amidst reports that he was blindsided by former flame Bridget Moynahan's public declaration that she is pregnant with his child, NFL star Tom Brady (who is currently hot 'n' heavy with Gisele Bundchen) is "excited" by the news, his agent tells the AP.... Carmen Electra's divorce from rocker Dave Navarro was finalized on Tuesday.
In what is being touted as one of the year's biggest TV deals, Desperate Housewives creator Marc Cherry has inked a four-year, eight-figure pact with ABC Television Studio (née Touchstone), Variety reports. The agreement keeps Cherry lording over Wisteria Lane through May 2011, at which time he anticipates wrapping up the story of Bree, Lynette et al. (ABC has also quietly negotiated deals with key cast members through '11.) "After seven seasons, it will be a good time to call it quits," Cherry tells the trade mag. "I don't want anyone else to run the show, and I don't want us to fade away."
Who'll be hoofing it this time in the name of winning that garish trophy? Onetime Dancing with the Stars competitor Jerry Springer unveiled the new season's contenders on Wednesday's Good Morning America, and they are:• Laila Ali, the daughter of the legendary boxer Muhammad Ali• Country music star Billy Ray Cyrus • Paul McCartney's soon-to-be ex, Heather Mills • Former NBA star Clyde Drexler • 'N Sync alum Joey Fatone • Miss USA-turned-GSN hostess Shandi Finnessey • Entertainment reporter Leeza Gibbons • Former supermodel Paulina Porizkova • 90120's Ian Ziering• Sopranos alum/Sirius Satellite Radio host Vincent Pastore • Olympic speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno Dancing with the Stars returns Mar. 19, on ABC.
The family of a woman who died two years ago is suing Michael Jackson and the Marian Medical Center in Santa Maria, California, claiming that a gravely ill Manuela Gomez Ruiz was moved from the trauma unit when Jacko arrived with flu symptoms, and died shortly thereafter. The hospital calls the suit "frivolous".... A second wrongful-death lawsuit has been filed — this time by the deceased's sons — against Brandy, stemming from the fatal car crash the singer was involved in last December, says People.... Nicole Richie on Tuesday pleaded not guilty to the DUI charge stemming from her Dec. 11 arrest. A pretrial conference is set for Apr. 2.
NBC and 20th Century Fox have finally struck a deal that will make My Name Is Earl available for online download and stream new episodes for free on NBC.com.... ABC Family has set a Mar. 4 premiere for The Dukes of Hazzard: The Beginning, a made-for-TV prequel to the film, starring Jonathan Bennett (Mean Girls), Randy Wayne (Sons & Daughters) and April Scott (Entourage) as Bo, Luke and Daisy.... Now out on DVD: Scarlett Johannson's The Prestige, also featuring some other actors.... Dr. Tancredi? Izzy? Cast your vote for TV's sexiest lady doctor in TVGuide.com's new poll!