But considering the way his Ocean's 11 pals George Clooney and Brad Pitt have had to campaign for him for the last six years, you'd think he's gotta be kinda embarrassed, right? Wrong. "You've given an aging suburban dad the ego boost of a lifetime," Damon tells People. Come back when you've got a vodcast as spiffy as Mitovich's, Damon, and then we'll talk aging-suburban-dad ego boosts. — Ben Katner
If Fox goes ahead and airs a new Family Guy this Sunday without creator Seth MacFarlane's seal of approval, although the net is within its rights to do so, Seth says it will be "a colossal d--k move" and "damaging to our relationship".... In a curious show of support for strikers, Curb Your Enthusiasm's Jeff Garlin handed out adult-film DVDs at a rally in L.A., the New York Post reports. Thankfully, he wasn't actually in the videos.... NBC is bailing on the Television Critics Association's winter press tour, reports Variety. The other networks are still debating the pros and cons of unveiling shows like "The Bachelor 12: Dumber Than the Last 11, But Check Out Those Abs" and "Wife Swap: The Rudy Giuliani Edition." — Ben KatnerMore WGA strike coverage:• Producers Blast WGA's Use of "Fear and Intimidation"• CBS News Writers May Join Walkout Come Monday• Indie Film Producers: Hey, We're Not the Bad Guys!
Headline Newswoman Nancy Grace, who gave birth to twins earlier this month, has been hospitalized with complications from her pregnancy, People reports. "Her doctors found two blood clots in her lungs, which occurred as a result of the pregnancy," explains a spokesperson for the show. — Ben Katner
On Friday starting at 8 pm/ET, TV Land will count down the 50 greatest TV icons, from Larry Hagman to Johnny Carson, then give a special shout-out to the legend who draws the most text votes during the show. Go, Donna Pescow! (I've always loved a long shot).... Voting is now under way for the Funniest Commercials of the Year: 2007 at VeryFunnyAds.com. The winners will be featured on a Dec. 26 TBS special hosted by Weeds' Kevin Nealon.... Dancing with the Stars' Cameron Mathison and Edyta dance live on today's The View.... Rosemary's Baby author Ira Levin died Monday at the age of 78 from natural causes. His other classic thrillers include The Stepford Wives and The Boys from Brazil. — Ben Katner
Variety reports that Clifton Collins Jr. (Thief) and Chris Hemsworth (I've got nada) have joined the cast of J.J. Abrams' Star Trek feature, playing the right-hand man to Eric Bana's villainous Nero and Captain Kirk's father, George (George?!), respectively.... Entourage's Kevin Dillon is Lisa Kudrow's husband in Hotel for Dogs, a kid flick in which an orphaned Emma Roberts runs a sort of B&B for strays.... Marcus Nispel, who revved up the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise in 2003, is thisclose to signing on to reboot Friday the 13th. Please tell me he's gonna get Harriet Sansom Harris to play the Betsy Palmer part. She'd be wild! — Ben Katner
James Marsters has been cast as the heavy in Twentieth Century Fox's live-action adaptation of the Japanese manga Dragonball, which is apparently about as popular over there as Harry Potter is, um, everywhere. Justin Chatwin — aka Tom Cruise's sulky son in War of the Worlds — has been tapped to play the good-guy lead, and X Files alum James Wong will direct the pic, which has been given a tentative release date of Aug. 15.In related news, Marsters has just been signed to appear at every Comic-Con from now until doomsday. — Ben Katner
Well that didn't take long. As covered in the new Ausiello Report vodcast, Viva Laughlin's Eric Winter is returning to ABC's Brothers & Sisters. "He's coming back for a few episodes — for now," series boss Greg Berlanti told TVGuide.com on the picket line Tuesday, aka "Take Your Stars to Strike Day."Though the writers are striking, B&S still has two episodes left to shoot, and Winter first returns to the set a week from Thursday (albeit not in time for Kitty and Robert's wedding, airing Nov. 25). Jason's resurfacing after an extended and incommunicado stint in Malaysia, Matthew Rhys previews, "will open up Kevin's love life, and Kevin can start having some fun again."
Two law firms based out of Pittsburgh and Memphis on Tuesday filed a class-action lawsuit against Interactive Media Marketing and Smiley Miley Inc., the handlers of the Miley Cyrus Fan Club, claiming they failed to fulfill a promise to give members first crack at concert tickets that have since become impossible to come by. "They deceptively lured thousands of individuals into purchasing [$29.95 annual] memberships... based on the understanding that... they would be able to purchase Hannah Montana concert tickets before they were offered for sale to the general public," says a lawyer for the New Jersey woman who led the charge. The suit alleges the fan club should have known that its membership exceeded the number of available tickets.According to the AP, neither defendant has yet to respond to the legal action.
If you’re wondering what makes a legend, consider this: The morning after Wayne Newton was voted off Dancing with the Stars, "I was diagnosed with pneumonia," he says. "I spent about a week going through all kinds of physical tests with my personal doctor, [famed heart surgeon] Dr. Michael DeBaky — not for heart stuff, just breathing stuff. I've had asthma my whole life, but I hadn’t had an attack in maybe 20 years."Newton's close call spooked fellow contenders. After she collapsed on air — also from breathing problems — Marie Osmond says, "All I could think was, 'That could have been Wayne.' I was so worried about him."Newton, though, is made of tough entertainer stuff, and as such looks forward to not only returning for the DWTS finale, but also the national tour kicking off in mid-December. Toward that goal, this week he says he will seek "a clean bill of health from my doctors." — Reporting by Deborah Starr Seibel
This Monday, as Dancing with the Stars partnered with an audience of 21.8 million total viewers (up 740,000 week-to-week):8 pmIn the No. 2 spot, both CBS' Mother (8.58 mil) and Big Bang (9.39 mil) dipped 290K. Chuck came in third with 7.55 mil (down a hair), while Prison Break's fast-tracked "fall finale" (7.19 mil) dropped 650 thou. The CW's Chris (2.7 mil, +380K) and Aliens (2.2 mil, +440K) both saw gains.9 pmSamantha Who? delivered an impressive 14.34 mil, but was down a mil from its last decipherable 30-minute numbers. CBS' Men (14.17 mil) was up a hair, while lead-out Rules (11.53 mil) gained 510K. With an audience of 11.07 mil, Heroes rebounded from its slide with a 13 percent surge and bested ABC in demos. K-Ville sank to 4.73 mil, down 22 percent from its last fresh outing. Both Girlfriends (2.2 mil, +200 thou) and The Game (2.55 mil, +300K) were up.10 pmCSI: Miami added 1.27 mil to top the hour with 15.36 mil. The Bachelor (9.16 mil) dropped the same 900 thou that Journeym...
The View host phoned the talk show yesterday to reveal the name of her newborn son: Taylor Thomas Hasselbeck. So not Dubya after all, huh? Another office pool lost.... Rock Star ringleader Brooke Burke and her fiancé, Melrose Place alum David Charvet, are expecting a son — their second child together and Burke's fourth overall — this spring, People reports. — Ben Katner
Blackout poster girl Britney Spears is auctioning off an autographed copy her new album on eBay, with the proceeds going to UNICEF, says Us. I can't be sure, but I presume someone has informed her that UNICEF is not the name of her favorite bartender at Tao. In more traditional Twitney news, Fed-Ex's lawyers are said to be considering subpoenaing TMZ video footage of the train-wreck singer running a red light with her kids in the backseat. (Buckle up, boys!) TMZ also is reporting that a "spotter" — a paparazzo who doesn't carry a camera but tails subjects of interest — was seriously injured Monday while chasing Spears on a motorcycle. — Ben Katner
Even though he brought sexy back, what the ex-'N Sync-er wanted all along was to be the next... Bob Hope? Weird but true. When the hotsie-totsie singer hosts the first of five PGA Tour events he's signed on for, the all-star tee party is going to be rechristened the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. No word yet on whether the gig comes with its own fez.... Boy George has been charged with falsely imprisoning a Norwegian chap. Which is why it's always important to have a safe word. "Rosebud! Rosebud!" — Ben Katner
Paul Verhoeven will direct Pierce Brosnan but sadly not Rene Russo in a sequel to The Thomas Crown Affair remake. Me, I'm boycotting unless Famke Janssen gets the female lead.... Jada Pinkett Smith will make her directorial debut with The Human Contract, a rom-com whose description makes it sound an awful lot like the old Melanie Griffith/Jeff Daniels movie Something Wild.... Juno director Jason Reitman and writer Diablo Cody are reteaming for Jennifer's Body, a horror comedy about a man-eating cheerleader.... Ridley Scott has signed on to helm Stones, a Stonehenge spookfest. — Ben Katner
His run for the Oval Office ended faster than a discussion of gay marriage in the White House, but KFC has invited the Comedy Central personality to serve as its president for a day, TMZ says.... E! has renewed Keeping Up with the Kardashians for a second season. Suddenly, I'm wistful for the bygone days when TV was a safe haven for intelligent fare like The Simple Life.... Us reports that Dancing with the Stars pro Karina Smirnoff got a nose job earlier this month. "She had health reasons for doing it," said her beau, Mario Lopez. — Ben Katner
The man who gave us Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood and, um, William Hung — Simon Fuller — will receive the Producers Guild of America's Visionary Award on Feb. 2 at their awards dinner. Sadly, his beef tenderloin will still be overcooked, and his mashed potatoes lumpy.... For his charity work, Richard Gere has been given the Marian Anderson Award by the city of Philadelphia. — Ben Katner
At last, a bit of pop-music humiliation that doesn't require typing the words "Britney" or "Spears." Oops... I did it again. Well, anyway... though Michael Jackson's rep denied that Neverland Ranch was in foreclosure, TMZ has obtained a Notice of Default and Election to Sell notice from his mortgage company. Which isn't entirely surprising, seeing as the paperwork states that he's more than $23 million behind in his payments. He's bad! — Ben Katner
Gretchen Mol (3:10 to Yuma) rounds out the cast of Lifetime's adaptation of Kim Edwards' The Memory Keeper's Daughter, playing a woman who gives birth to twins, one of which has Down syndrome and is secretly raised by another woman. Dermot Mulroney and Emily Watson also star.... Get that sweet image of a bicycle flying against the moon out of your head. Henry Thomas has been cast as a thug who goes into the witness protection program and ultimately becomes a NYPD patrolman in Under, an A&E drama pilot directed by Charles S. Dutton.
Turns out that Ausiello's grapevine was ripe when it reported on this five weeks ago. FX has ordered not one more but two new seasons of the critically acclaimed Damages, for a total of 26 episodes. "To be able to tell 26 more hours of mind-blowing stories with Todd A. Kessler, Daniel Zelman and Glenn Kessler is an incredible position to be in," says Jamie Erlicht, Co-President of Programming and Production, Sony Pictures Television. "FX has continually shown enormous support for both this show and for Sony, and it's evident in this extended renewal."As revealed in my Damages "burning questions answered" Q&A with Zelman and the Kesslers, Glenn Close, Rose Byrne and Tate Donovan all were originally contracted for six seasons and are definitely on board for Season 2, though the fate of Ted Danson's Frobisher remains in the air.
The CW has set a date for the launch of its new reality series Crowned: The Mother of All Pageants. The mother/daughter competition will begin Dec. 12 at 9 pm/ET after the season finale of America's Next Top Model. The remaining seven episodes will air Wednesdays at 8 as the CW plans to keep Gossip Girl running at 9.Carson Kressley, former Miss USA Shanna Moakler and Cynthia Barrett are the judges for Crowned, which the CW is calling a "no-holds-barred beauty pageant." — Reporting by Stephen Battaglio
Officially addressing Ellen DeGeneres' decision to cross picket lines and continue with her daytime talker (see Strike Watch blog), the Writers Guild of America East has sent out a letter expressing its "extreme disappointment" in the comedienne/host, saying, "We find it sad that Ellen spent an entire week crying and fighting for a dog that she gave away, yet she couldn't even stand by writers for more than one day. We ask Ellen to cease doing shows immediately."Easier said than done. A rep for Ellen producer Telepictures tells the Reporter that the daytime series — unlike The Tonight Show or Letterman (which are contracted to their respective networks) — is at risk of losing its time slot in markets or being sued for breach of contract if it stops delivering original content. The rep adds, "We also wish to preserve the 135 jobs of the staff and the crew whose livelihoods depend on the show continuing."Related:• Ellen Defends Crossing of Picket Line But Still Gets Di...
Nearly every industry professional points out that the strike not only affects the writers, but everyone in entertainment. That notion struck Gabrielle Union squarely. Attending the two-year anniversary party for Tao in Las Vegas, Union told TV Guide, "We were trying to work out a little part [for me in] Ugly Betty, and then the strike came!" If she gets the chance, Union will play "Wilhelmina's younger sister, who's crazy! Hopefully we'll be able to work it out soon, and squeeze her in somewhere!" — Reporting by Stefanie Szlamkowicz
