matt.mitovich

Britney Lashes Out at "Old Fart" Judge, Later Loses Child Visitation Rights

"Why Should I Be Sad," described as "one of the most personal songs" off Britney Spears' forthcoming album Blackout, is said to illustrate how betrayed she feels by ex-husband Kevin Federline, with lyrics such as "Vegas... only brought the playa out of you." "The song is definitely about... when they were married," a source tells People. "Britney entertains the idea that she stayed home taking care of the kids while Kevin was out partying. The track... will be very revealing." Us, meanwhile, is reporting that Brit was overhead saying, "I hate my [custody case] judge" during a recent shopping spree. "He is so mean. Just an old fart.... He paid me no respect at all."UPDATE: No truer words! Superior Court Commissioner Scott Gordon has ruled that Spears may no longer visit her two sons, not until she complies with a court order. Though the court did not specify what directive Spears dissed, TMZ reports that she did not provide the folks doing her mandatory drug testing with proper conta...

Thu, Oct 18, 2007

Britney Lashes Out at "Old Fart" Judge, Later Loses Child Visitation Rights

Barking-mad DeGeneres Nixes Friday Show for Long Weekend

Ellen DeGeneres says she only had her dog's best interests in mind when she passed li'l Iggy off to a friend, incurring a backlash coming from the adoption agency Mutts & Moms which she deems "surreal." Speaking to E!'s Ryan Seacrest, Ellen says, "Iggy's health and safety has always been No. 1," then details how when M&M owner Marina Batkis ostensibly visited DeGeneres' friend to "evaluate" the home, Batkis picked up and did not release Iggy for three hours, before declaring she was removing him from the house. The fallout from the incident "[seems to be] about punishing me, and that's fine," says Ellen. "[But] seven million dogs are euthanized each year, and [the focus here] should be about rescuing dogs."Batkis has since placed Iggy with another family, and received death threats as a result. Says Ellen, "People are acting out, and this is not about getting back at Marina. I just want the dog to go back to [my friend's] family."UPDATE: DeGeneres is giving herself a breathe...

Thu, Oct 18, 2007

Hannah Montana Hits Theaters  in 3-D!

Some salvation for the moms and dads who couldn't swing that second mortgage to score tickets: The sold-out "Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour" is being filmed for the purpose of a 3-D theatrical release to hit theaters for one week and one week only, starting Feb. 1, 2008. The concert pic will be shot at several venues during the 54-city tour using state-of-the-art 3-D technology.Unreliable sources tell me there was a similar plan to do a 3-D HSM2, but Corbin's hair was traumatizing children in the first few rows.

Thu, Oct 18, 2007

John Goodman Checks Out of Voluntary Rehab

Roseanne patriarch John Goodman has checked out of Malibu's Promises Treatment Center, following treatment for an undisclosed reason, says ET. "For my family and myself, I voluntarily took the necessary steps to remain sober the rest of my life," Goodman says in a statement.On a related topic, the TV Guide News Report has new details on Dirty Sexy Money star Samaire Armstrong's outpatient treatment for personal issues.

Thu, Oct 18, 2007

Scrubs Doc Awaits Baby Delivery, More Love Notes

Scrubs star John C. McGinley (who has been known to occasionally post here on TVGuide.com... ) and his wife Nicole are expecting the birth of their first child together  a girl  on Feb. 2, 2008, the actor tells People. McGinley has a 10-year-old son from a previous marriage.... Tracey Edmonds is teasing a "romantic" wedding "before the end of the year" for her and Eddie Murphy.

Thu, Oct 18, 2007

Scrubs Doc Awaits Baby Delivery, More Love Notes

Daily Show, Spice Girls and More Short Cuts

At noon today Comedy Central will launch DailyShow.com, a new online destination boasting 16,000 clips, nearly the entire video archive from the past nine years. (Simultaneously, workplace productivity nationwide is expected to drop 85 percent.) Per the Reporter, Kilborn-era material could be added by early 2008.... The reunited Spice Girls will give their debut TV performance on The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, airing Dec. 4 on CBS. Kanye West and Seal will also croon alongside the balconette bras.... Jamie Foxx will duet with the group Rascal Flatts on "She Goes All the Way" during the CMA Awards airing Nov. 7 on ABC.... Boogeyman 2: Unrated Director's Cut arrives on DVD Jan. 8, 2008.

Thu, Oct 18, 2007

Fox's Nightmares Continues as One of the CW's Ends

Your favorite local eatery has been warned. Fox has placed its order for a second season of Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, which in its freshman run has improved on its time slot's year-ago delivery by 21 percent in key demos.Conversely, The CW has given the hook to Online Nation. The "what's hot on this Internet thing" series has been drawing roughly the population of the last Mitovich family reunion. Its Sundays-at-7:30 pm slot will be filled with encores of Aliens in America.

Thu, Oct 18, 2007

Fox's Nightmares Continues as One of the CW's Ends

24 Premieres Clock Teaser Next Thursday

Fox's 24 will world-premiere a Day 7 trailer on Thursday, Oct. 25, at 1 pm/ET on the Panasonic jumbo screen in Times Square. For those of you who don't work a half block from the New York City landmark (and thus don't have to navigate around aimless tourists on your way home), the preview will also unspool at 24Trailer.com. That night, the first promo for the seventh season (launching Jan. 13 and 14) airs during Game 2 of the World Series.Here's the bullet on 24's return, from Fox (Spoiler alert and all that): "Set in Washington, D.C., Day 7 opens with CTU dismantled and Jack Bauer on trial. Bauer's day takes an unexpected turn when former colleague Tony Almeida returns. Meanwhile, President Allison Taylor (Cherry Jones) leads the country alongside White House Chief of Staff Ethan Kanan (Bob Gunton) and First Gentleman Henry Taylor (Colm Feore). A national security crisis prompts an investigation by a team of FBI agents including agents Janis Gold (Janeane Garofalo), Renee Walker (A...

Thu, Oct 18, 2007

Lucas Reveals Live-action Star Wars Series... Weeks Ago, to TV Guide

Film auteur George Lucas has announced his plans for a live-action Star Wars TV series, it was reported elsewhere (and with much circumstance) in the press on Wednesday. Of course, Lucas gave TV Guide an in-depth look at this smaller-screen follow-up  set in the same universe, but using peripheral characters  a good four weeks ago, here on TVGuide.com. So, Stars Wars fans, though you probably already inhaled every morsel of that Q&A... four weeks ago, when it first came out... I link you to it again, since a bout of amnesia seems to be going around. (Damn Jedi mind tricks!)

Thu, Oct 18, 2007

X-Cellent: Scully and Mulder Finally Reunited!

The truth isn't out there, it's right here: X-Files leading man David Duchovny recently hooked up with Gillian Anderson and their former series' creator, Chris Carter, to discuss a second movie follow-up, SCI FI Wire reports. (Go ahead and plotz. I'll wait.) "It was more emotional than I would have thought it was [going to be]," he said of the confab. "If you spend that much time with people and go through that much, there's a lot of residual feeling." X-2 is tentatively scheduled to shoot in December, with Carter directing from a script that he penned with X-phile Frank Spotnitz. "I want us to go out and do what the show always did best, which is really smart, scary, ultimately ambiguous stuff," Duchovny said. "There's been a lot of shows and movies that kind of tread the same area, or tried to, and I think we always did it best. And I hope we can go out and do it best again."Wednesday's Today's News was written by Ben Katner.

Wed, Oct 17, 2007

X-Cellent: Scully and Mulder Finally Reunited!

Fox's Terminator Activated as Prison Takes Its Break

Fox at last has given Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles a premiere date: Monday, Jan. 14, 2008, at 8 pm/ET. To make room for the big-screen spin-off, Prison Break will serve up a fall-finale cliff-hanger on Dec. 17, then return four months later on April 14. At that point, just as 24 will, the babes-behind-bars drama will air all original episodes into June.  Ben Katner

Wed, Oct 17, 2007

Fox's Terminator Activated as Prison Takes Its Break

And in This Corner: Stephen Colbert for President

Hey, what's one more joker in the Oval Office? On last night's Colbert Report, the Comedy Central funnyman announced, "I shall seek the office of the Ppresident of the United States." And just so we'd know he was serious, he arrived on set via a bicycle pedaled by Uncle Sam, then produced a bale of hay and a bottle of beer  you know, proof that he's "an average Joe." "After nearly 15 minutes of soul-searching," some of them presumably in a row, the former Daily Show correspondent said, "I have heard the call." Now it's up to us to answer that call. Well, at least those of us who live in his home state, as he added that he plans to run in South Carolina "and South Carolina alone."  Ben Katner

Wed, Oct 17, 2007

And in This Corner: Stephen Colbert for President

Spamalot Rolls Out the Red Carpet for Claymates

Following in the footsteps of American Idol alumna Fantasia, Tamyra Gray and Diana DeGarmo, Clay Aiken is Broadway-bound. On Jan. 18, 2008, he'll appear for the first time in Monty Python's Spamalot as Sir Robin the Chicken-Hearted. For those unfamiliar with the character, lily-livered Sir Robin "nearly fought the dragon of Angnor" and "nearly stood up to the vicious chicken of Bristol," thus making him the perfect counterpart for Aiken, who "nearly beat Ruben Studdard." — Ben Katner

Wed, Oct 17, 2007

Spamalot Rolls Out the Red Carpet for Claymates

Doggie Adoption Takes DeGeneres to Ellen Back

Life's a bitch for Ellen DeGeneres. According to TMZ, when the talk show host and her girlfriend Portia de Rossi adopted a Brussels griffon mix named Iggy from Mutts and Moms, they thought everything would be hunky-dory. It wasn't  the pooch didn't mix with their cats. So they let DeGeneres' hairdresser have the mutt for her two kids. Again, they thought everything would be hunky-dory. It wasn't. M&Ms informed them that DeGeneres had violated the terms of their agreement by giving away the dog without informing them. Furthermore, a rep for the agency told the AP that DeGeneres was "trying to tell a story to make herself look good." He added, "She got rid of the dog not because it didn't get along with the cats. She didn't like the dog." Y'know, if it were a Britney or a Paris who was playing round robin with an animal, I'd say, "By all means, move in and take action  now!" But Ellen and Portia... uh, I think their judgment can probably be trusted.  Ben KatnerPO...

Wed, Oct 17, 2007

Jennifer Garner's New Alias Is Nothing to Sneeze At

The actress whose winning smile made a married man of Ben Affleck has been chosen to be the poster girl for... influenza? Yes, that's the disease that the American Lung Association has chosen her lovely mug to represent in a series of PSAs. Personally, I think Abe Vigoda would have been the more logical choice. He could scare me into getting immunized. Sydney Bristow? Not so much. — Ben Katner

Wed, Oct 17, 2007

Business, Funny and Otherwise

CBS president and CEO Leslie Moonves has sealed a new deal to stay on at least through Sept. 30, 2011.... Foot-in-mouth poster-deejay Don Imus is thisclose to finalizing a contract that would bring him to Citadel Broadcasting, which owns ABC Radio Networks.... Per Variety, in a move that makes as much sense as adding bananas to peanut butter, Knocked Up laugh machine Judd Apatow has been made a partner in Will Ferrell and Adam McKay's comedy website FunnyorDie.com. — Ben Katner

Wed, Oct 17, 2007

Starter Wife Restarted and More Short Cuts

USA has renewed The Starter Wife, thus enlightening me to the fact that miniseries even could be renewed. Debra Messing will return in the title role.... Per Reuters, on Nov. 14, the last in Garth Brooks' string of nine sold-out pre-retirement concerts will be simulcast from the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri, to over 300 movie theaters.... Jenna Elfman and, like, half the creative team behind Dharma & Greg are suing 20th Century Fox for $15 million they claim they are owed in profit-participation payments.Wednesday's Today's News was written by Ben Katner.

Wed, Oct 17, 2007

Starter Wife Restarted and More Short Cuts

Heroes' Kristen Bell: My Bad Girl Has No Boundaries

Here we are, now less than a week away from Kristen Bell's arrival on Heroes, and a few more morsels of intel are trickling in about her enabled alter ego, Elle. "She's a little messed up in the head, which makes her manipulative and out to get what she wants," the former Veronica Mars shared in a Tuesday conference call. That, Bell notes, is "really interesting... because [Heroes'] whole first season was about these fairly good-natured people trying to embrace these abilities and being very conflicted as to how they should be using them. Elle is not that way at all. She very much enjoys her power and the emotional power it gives her over other people." Series creator Tim Kring adds, "Elle was raised within the Company, and this is in some ways a cautionary tale about what would happen to any of our characters had they lived with powers their whole life."As for Elle's ties to the canvas, Bell reveals that in addition to "a little bit" of a connection to Suresh, "There's a very inter...

Tue, Oct 16, 2007

Heroes' Kristen Bell: My Bad Girl Has No Boundaries

DVR Ratings Might Not Perform CPR on Dying Shows

Will time-shifting viewers ride to the rescue of NBC's time-tripping Journeyman? As the first batch of live-plus-seven DVR ratings are digested, network Nielsen-crunchers are careful not to suggest that the observed "lifts" could bring a flatlining show back to life.While 15 shows saw increases in the million-viewer-plus range, Bionic Woman, Journeyman and Private Practice were the only freshman series to enjoy any measurable increase. Outside of those three, however, no boosts were noted "that would save a show or make a show look even stronger," Fox's scheduling chief tells the Hollywood Reporter. NBC's own research chief echoes that cautious optimism (skepticism?), warning that live-plus-seven "is not the magic bullet that will make a struggling program into a success. They're not going to get a miracle."Related: DVR Ratings: Grey's, CBS Each Claim Bragging Rights

Tue, Oct 16, 2007

DVR Ratings Might Not Perform CPR on Dying Shows

Ratings: ABC Says, "Samantha Woo-hoo!"

This Monday, as Dancing with the Stars averaged 19.19 million total viewers and Fox's baseball coverage drew 9.6 mil:8 pm/ETNBC's Chuck placed second with 8.23 million, up 1.1 mil week-to-week, besting CBS' Mother (7.96 mil) and Big Bang Theory (8.15 mil), each of which slipped just a hair. The CW's Chris (2.57 mil) was on par with last week, while Aliens in America (2.23 mil) saw a slight gain.9 pmSamantha Who? helped ABC win the hour, hooking up with 14.9 million viewers in its debut. (That's better retention out of DWTS than The Bachelor was delivering.) CBS' Men (13.8 mil) rebounded from last week's dip with an 800K surge, while lead-out Rules of Engagement (11 mil) gained 300 thou. At 11.26 mil, Heroes was up a half mil (and again dominated the demos). Girlfriends (2.4 mil) and The Game (2.64 mil) showed little movement.10 pmCSI: Miami and Speedle's strange little "return" was watched by 15.4 mil, a 10 percent week-to-week increase. Bachelor trailed with 9.3 mil (down 600 thou)...

Tue, Oct 16, 2007

In the Works: Benjamin Bratt Cleans Up, and More

Benjamin Bratt (E-Ring, remember that one?) will star as The Cleaner in an A&E pilot about an addict who makes a pact with God to set himself straight in prison and then forms a team of extreme interventionists, says the Reporter.... Will Smith is hot to turn the 2005 film Hitch into a TV sitcom, which he would exec-produce.... The CW is developing The Collection, a drama drawing from the real-life experiences of designer Isaac Mizrahi. Do not expect Scarlett Johansson to guest-star.... NBC has ordered a pilot for Man of Your Dreams, a comedy from Conan O'Brien's production company that is centered on a womanizer who uses his "expertise" to help romantically challenged ladies.

Tue, Oct 16, 2007

Pinhead Raises His Ugly Self, More Movie News

Following the recent success of Rob Zombie's Halloween reboot, Dimension Films is resurrecting Clive Barker's Hellraiser, says the Hollywood Reporter.... Burn Notice's Jeffrey Donovan, Colm Feore and John Malkovich have joined Angelina Jolie in Changeling, the Clint Eastwood-directed true-life drama about a woman whose son goes missing in 1920s Los Angeles.... Oscar winner Hilary Swank has signed on for a biopic about (Spoiler alert) ill-fated pilot Amelia Earhart, says Page Six.

Tue, Oct 16, 2007

matt.mitovich

Britney Lashes Out at "Old Fart" Judge, Later Loses Child Visitation Rights

Barking-mad DeGeneres Nixes Friday Show for Long Weekend

Hannah Montana Hits Theaters &#151; in 3-D!

John Goodman Checks Out of Voluntary Rehab

Scrubs Doc Awaits Baby Delivery, More Love Notes

Daily Show, Spice Girls and More Short Cuts

Fox's Nightmares Continues as One of the CW's Ends

24 Premieres Clock Teaser Next Thursday

Lucas Reveals Live-action Star Wars Series... Weeks Ago, to TV Guide

X-Cellent: Scully and Mulder Finally Reunited!

Fox's Terminator Activated as Prison Takes Its Break

And in This Corner: Stephen Colbert for President

Spamalot Rolls Out the Red Carpet for Claymates

Doggie Adoption Takes DeGeneres to Ellen Back

Jennifer Garner's New Alias Is Nothing to Sneeze At

Business, Funny and Otherwise

Starter Wife Restarted and More Short Cuts

Heroes' Kristen Bell: My Bad Girl Has No Boundaries

DVR Ratings Might Not Perform CPR on Dying Shows

Ratings: ABC Says, "Samantha Woo-hoo!"

In the Works: Benjamin Bratt Cleans Up, and More

Pinhead Raises His Ugly Self, More Movie News

Hannah Montana Hits Theaters in 3-D!