matt.mitovich

TV's Chris, Dreamgirls Film Lead NAACP Nods

Everybody Hates Chris (with six) and Dreamgirls (seven) earned the most nominations in their respective fields when the NAACP Image Award nominations were revealed on Tuesday. Chris' kudos include noms for best comedy series, lead actors Tyler James Williams and Tichina Arnold, and supporting stars Terry Crews and Antonio Fargas, while Dreamgirls netted nods for best film, leads Beyoncé Knowles and Jamie Foxx, and supporting players Anika Noni Rose, Jennifer Hudson, Danny Glover and Eddie Murphy.

Wed, Jan 10, 2007

Short Cuts: Smallville, Roger Corman and More

Attention, Smallville fans! Series cocreator Al Gough is taking your burning questions, to be answered in an upcoming Interviews & Features column. Go here for more.... The Corman Cult, an official fan community for director Roger Corman (the original Little Shop of Horrors), is now live.... Clive Owen is the face of Lancôme's new men's grooming products.... Carlo Ponti, one of Italy's best-known film producers and the husband of Sophia Loren, died on Wednesday at the age of 94.

Wed, Jan 10, 2007

TV Guide Exclusive: Housewives Hits the Road to Avoid Pregnant Pause

Marcia Cross, who is expecting twins in April, was put on immediate bed rest last week for the remainder of her pregnancy, TV Guide has learned. The doctor's orders sent Desperate Housewives producers scrambling to wrap up Bree's current story line, ultimately deciding that if Cross can't come to the shoot, then the shoot will come to Cross. At the end of this week, they will move the production of the show to the actress' West Los Angeles home for two days. (Cross  whose TV alter ego isnt pregnant  had only planned on taping two more shows after the Feb. 11 episode because it was becoming too difficult to hide her growing bump.) While Cross is resting upstairs in bed, the Housewives team will be downstairs transforming the home she moved into just months ago into a likeness of Bree's orderly abode. "They are painting the walls, moving in props and furniture from the set...," says a source from the set. "They're basically making Marcia's house into Bree's." To read...

Wed, Jan 10, 2007

Trump to Rosie: "You Have Good Reason to Be Angry"

And the saga continues. Here is a (love?) letter from Donald Trump to Rosie O'Donnell, obtained by Extra and regarding the latest salvo in the pair's war of words. (I know I've been backpocketing this brouhaha, but this is actual, tangible correspondence. Don't let my re-typing of it be for naught.)"Dear Rosie:I hope you had a wonderful vacation with your wife  you needed the rest.An article in today's New York Post indicates that you blew up at Barbara Walters for being a "liar." Actually, I dont blame you, but in fact she lied to both of us! After your maniacal and foolish rant against me two weeks ago, Barbara called me from her vacation in order to apologize for your behavior. She had heard that I was going to retaliate against you and tried to talk me out of it. She very much wanted me to go on the show as soon as she got back so she could "patch things up" (I said no). To be exact, she said that "working with her is like living in hell" and, more pointedly, "Donald...

Wed, Jan 10, 2007

Suzanne Somers on Burned Home: "We Will Rebuild"

Suzanne Somers is choosing "to look at the glass half-full" after her house and car were destroyed in the Monday fire that razed four Malibu homes. As the actress (who, like husband Alan Hamel, was not on the premises at the time) tells Extra, "I don't have a son or daughter in Iraq. I haven't lost a loved one. We will rebuild, and I truly believe we will learn something great from this experience."

Tue, Jan 9, 2007

Got Milk? Protracted American Idol Sked Revealed

Here is the itinerary for our upcoming collective lives, as delineated by our friends at Fox:Tuesday, Jan. 16, 8-10 pm/ET: American Idol season premiere, Part 1  Minneapolis auditionsWednesday, Jan. 17, 8-10 pm: season premiere, Part 2  Seattle auditionsTuesday, Jan. 23: Memphis Wednesday, Jan. 24: New York City (bring gas mask)Jan. 30: Birmingham Jan. 31: San Antonio Feb. 6: Los Angeles Feb. 7: "Rest of the Best"Feb. 9: Paula's first display of decided loopiness Feb. 13: Hollywood round, Part 1Feb. 14: Hollywood round, Part 2  Top 24 semifinalists announcedFeb. 20: Top 12 males performFeb. 21: Top 12 females performThursday, Feb. 22, 8 pm: First results show  two male and two female contestants voted off; Simon and Ryan's first "heated"/homoerotic exchangeFeb. 27: Top 10 males singFeb. 28: Top 10 females singMarch 1: results show; first excruciating sponsor plug featuring singers March 3: First contestant's criminal record surfaces at TheSmokingGun.comMarch ...

Tue, Jan 9, 2007

Future History: Leonard Nimoy Hosts Star Trek Doc

The History Channel announced on Tuesday that Leonard Nimoy will host Star Trek: Beyond the Final Frontier, an exclusive look at one of the world's (universe's?) most popular entertainment franchises. Premiering Feb. 19 at 9 pm/ET, the two-hour special will feature original interviews with Nimoy, Patrick Stewart, Kate Mulgrew and Avery Brooks, among others, as well as a moment of silence for the 287 red shirts who died in the name of the Federation throughout the years.

Tue, Jan 9, 2007

Ratings: Apprentice Can't Trump Previous Premiere

This Sunday's ratings highlights: The premiere of NBC's Grease: You're the One That I Want averaged 11.59 million total viewers  not enough to beat The Simpsons' football-goosed numbers (13.88 mil) in its first half hour, but good for a third-place finish from 8:30 to 9:30. UPDATE: Per NBC, "In total viewers, this is NBC's top non-sports result in the time period with series programming since February 8, 2004." Desperate Housewives (18.52 million) clobbered Cold Case (14.1 mil). At 10, Without a Trace (14.23 million) bested Brothers & Sisters (12.06 mil).  Averaging an audience of 9.1 million over its own hour-and-a-half run, the debut of The Apprentice: Los Angeles fell 660,000 heads shy of the series' previous season opener, though viewership did swell each half hour (reaching a 10:30 pm tally of 9.45 mil).UPDATE: Speaking of The Apprentice, USA Network's Monday Night Raw wrestling will pit Donald Trump and Rosie O'Donnell against each other (or a...

Tue, Jan 9, 2007

New Fox Shows Plumb Courtrooms, Hospital

Fox on Friday gave the green light to a pair of legal dramas, as well as a dramedy set in a hospital. Per Variety, Supreme Courtships (produced by Prison Break's Marty Adelstein and Michael Thorn) revolves around the professional and personal lives of six court clerks, while Canterbury's Law (from Denis Leary's production shingle) centers on a wave-making female attorney. The third, untitled pilot is pegged as a comedy-drama about nurses in a big-city hospital.

Mon, Jan 8, 2007

House Cues Up Dave Matthews

As you undoubtedly first read on Sunday in the never-sleeping Ausiello Report, Grammy-winning recording artist Dave Matthews is being admitted for a House call, guesting on a March episode as a savant and virtuoso pianist who suffered a neurological impairment as the result of a childhood accident. That '70s Show's Kurtwood Smith plays Matthews' father — a former physician, natch — who is faced with a potentially life-altering decision about his son's treatment.

Mon, Jan 8, 2007

Age-old Story: Trump Sued for Discrimination

A New Hampshire man is suing Donald Trump for age discrimination, claiming that, at age 49, he was dismissed as too old to even be considered a contender when he tried out for The Apprentice in 2005, the New York Post reports. Joseph Hewitt, who also names reality-TV impresario Mark Burnett as a defendant, is seeking class-action status for his suit. The Donald, astonishingly, has yet to comment.

Mon, Jan 8, 2007

New Year's ZZZs May Cost Britney $$$s

Britney Spears' collapse due to no, not boozin', but the exhaustion of diligent motherhood, may force her to take a "pay cut" as host of PURE nightclub's recent end-of-year bash. Sources tell the New York Daily News that Spears, who was to fetch, by some accounts, almost a half mil as front person for the fete, instead may "only" pocket 200 thou  enough to, in theory, cover her two kids' college educations. In theory.

Mon, Jan 8, 2007

Trace, Nine Creator Inks Deal with NBC

Hank Steinberg, who gave CBS Without a Trace and cocreated ABC's The Nine, has inked a seven-figure, three-year deal with NBC Universal, Variety reports. As part of the lucrative pact, which commences in June, Steinberg will focus full-time on developing new projects for the Peacock. Sources tell the trade mag that the writer-producer's parting with Warner Bros., where he started his series-TV career, was amicable, and that NBC's impressive success with such hits as Heroes and Friday Night Lights partly fueled his switch.Speaking of [cough] properly cultivated freshman series, here's that status report on The Nine I teased a few days ago: Discussing the on-hiatus drama, ABC programming chief Steve McPherson recently told MediaVillage.com, "I love the show, but honestly, we don't have a set game plan right now."

Mon, Jan 8, 2007

Box Office: Museum No. 1, Happyness 2, Yada Yada....

While Night at the Museum ($24 million, for a to-date tally of $124.2 mil) and The Pursuit of Happyness ($13 mil) claimed the top two slots for a third (yawn) straight week, the rest of the weekend box office's top five were as follows:3. Children of Men ($10.3 million)4. Hilary Swank's Freedom Writers (debuting with $9.7 mil)5. Dreamgirls ($8.8 mil)Among other new offerings, Happily N'Ever After ($6.8 million) opened at No. 6, while Code Name: The Cleaner ($4.6 mil) came in at No. 11.

Mon, Jan 8, 2007

Road to Oscar: Labyrinth A-mazes Major Critics' Org

The National Society of Film Critics has spoken, and named Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth best movie of the year. United 93's Paul Greengrass, meanwhile, took best-director honors. Forest Whitaker and Helen Mirren (or "WhitMer," as the shippers on YouTube are calling them) claimed the lead-actor slots, with Mark Wahlberg (The Departed) and Meryl Streep (The Devil Wears Prada) sweeping supporting.

Mon, Jan 8, 2007

At the Movies: Here Comes Da Sweeney Todd Judge

Per the Hollywood Reporter, Alan Rickman (Smallville Die Hard) has been cast as Judge Turpin opposite Johnny Depp's titular barber in Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd adaptation.... Per Variety, now that Steven Spielberg has prioritized Indiana Jones 4 over his Abe Lincoln biopic, Liam Neeson will while away the delay by playing a Civil War soldier whose daughter is kidnapped by slave masters in Taken.

Mon, Jan 8, 2007

Short Cuts: The View, Ugly Betty and More!

Rosie O's motormouth translated into a 13 percent bump in total viewers for The View versus 4Q '05, a record high since the show's inception.... ABC's Ugly Betty has been added to the iTunes store.... Yin Yang Yo!, the highest-rated animated series on Toon Disney's Jetix programming block, has been picked up for a second, 26-episode season, one that will explore new powers for Yin and Yang and introduce new villains.... Lifetime has bought basic-cable rights to The Lake House (ouch), Rumor Has It (eek), Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (better... ) and North Country (... now we're talkin').

Mon, Jan 8, 2007

Love Notes: House Mates Engaged

Jennifer Morrison and Jesse Spencer, who play Dr. Allison Cameron and Dr. Robert Chase on Fox's House, got engaged over the holidays in Paris, reports People.... Former Saturday Night Live funnyman Chris Kattan got engaged to model Sunshine Tutt on Christmas Day.FYI, there's a funny gas smell in Midtown this morning, and they're now not letting anyone into the office building  lucky me got here early!  so if you don't hear from me again, tell ScarJo I never meant for it to end this way.

Mon, Jan 8, 2007

Children of Manchild: Britney, K-Fed Agree on Custody

Britney Spears and Kevin Federline have reached an agreement to share custody of their two children  at least for the rest of the month, and once Spears returns with 16-month-old Sean Preston and 4-month-old Jayden James from a week-long jaunt to Miami. After that, Federline will be allowed to visit the kids at Spears' home from noon to 4 pm on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays  undoubtedly cutting into Dad's own nap time, yeah  while Spears will make her "best efforts to ensure that no third party" interferes with the father-sons bonding. (Why is everyone staring at Paris?) Brit and K-Fed have not worked out any custody arrangements beyond Jan. 31, because that's just how they roll, y'all.

Sun, Jan 7, 2007

Lindsay Lohan Goes Under the Knife

Is there no limit to the lengths Lindsay Lohan will go to grab a headline? Not feeling well as of late, the starlet checked into a hospital Wednesday night and is heading into surgery this afternoon to have her appendix removed. "She will be recuperating for a few days," Lohan's rep tells E! Online, "but then she will be totally fine." I venture to say that this is the closest a gent with a postgrad education has gotten to La Lo's hoo-ha.

Fri, Jan 5, 2007

Ratings: Sugar Bowl Is Sweet for Fox

As Fox's Wednesday-night coverage of the Sugar Bowl (averaging 14 million total viewers) scored a No. 1 ranking in each prime-time hour... King of Queens/a Two and a Half Men repeat (8.5 mil) placed No. 2 at 8, followed by According to Jim's season opener (7.28 mil) and Friday Night Lights (which, with 6.28 mil, enjoyed its best numbers since that special Monday, Oct. 20, outing, and its third-largest audience ever). Never underestimate the power of umpteen marathons! Beauty and the Geek's two-hour return averaged 4.9 million viewers, just 400K fewer than time-slot predecessor Top Model's season premiere. The debuts of ABC's Knights of Prosperity (7.18 million) and In Case of Emergency (6.29 mil) placed fourth in the 9 pm hour, but (obviously) trumped poor li'l Day Break's final numbers. At 10, trailing a CSI: NY repeat (10.41 mil), Medium (9.33 mil) was down 600,000 from its previous fresh, season-high outing.

Thu, Jan 4, 2007

O.C.-free Josh Schwartz Sires Another Pilot

Fresh off the news that Fox will air The O.C.'s series finale on Feb. 22, and that series creator Josh Schwartz has booked a pilot at NBC, comes word that Schwartz, with fellow O.C.er Stephanie Savage, has received a green light from the CW for a second pilot. This one, titled Gossip Girl, is based on a series of books, and concerns the world of New York City teens and their parents, as told through the eyes of a blogger.

Thu, Jan 4, 2007