matt.mitovich

In the Works: Billy Campbell Hits the Circuit, and More

ABC Family has greenlit the TV-movie The Circuit, starring The 4400's Billy Campbell as a stock-car racer whose career is on the decline — to the point that he's now competing on the track against his daughter (Michelle Trachtenberg).... Sissy Spacek, Alfre Woodard and Men in Trees' James Tupper will star in Hallmark Channel's Pictures of Hollis Woods, based on a novel about a 12-year-old girl bounced around the foster-care system.... Judge Lynn Toler and a panel of experts, including psychologist Tara Fields (Intervention), will help couples try to endure relationship rough patches in the reality program Decision House, debuting in September on MyNetworkTV.... CMT's Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders: Making the Team shakes its pom-poms for a second season starting Sept. 14.

Mon, Jul 16, 2007

In the Works: Billy Campbell Hits the Circuit, and More

High School Musical 3 (Yes, 3) Has Disney "Optimistic"

Disney Channel on Saturday unveiled its plans to premiere High School Musical 2 with the fanfare of, say, an Eva Longoria wedding or a Paris Hilton jail stay. The follow-up film, which your rugrats and/or onetime coworker Angel Cohn have long been pestering you about, first airs Aug. 17 at 8 pm/ET, with a telecast hosted from a backyard BBQ by its stars and director Kenny Ortega. On Aug. 18, an encore airing will be accentuated by an interactive online chat with cast members. Then, on Aug. 19 — because let's face it, your kid is watching it three nights in a row anyway — the repeat will be fashioned as a sing-along, with lyrics flashed on your screen.But wait, there's more. Literally. Disney Channel Worldwide's prez is already teasing a HSM No. 3, saying, "We're working on a script and talking to talent.... We're happily optimistic we'll pull everybody back together."

Mon, Jul 16, 2007

High School Musical 3 (Yes, 3) Has Disney "Optimistic"

Harry's Potter of Gold Reaches $140 Million

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix topped the weekend box office with a $77.4 million haul, bringing its five-day total to a cool $140 mil. The previous Potter pics enjoyed $88.4 to $102.7 mil opening weekends, but first hit theaters on Friday, so... apples, oranges.Rounding out the top five were Transformers ($36 mil, $223 mil to date), Ratatouille ($18 mil), Live Free or Die Hard ($10.9 mil) and License to Wed ($7.4 mil). Elisha Cuthbert's Captivity, the weekend's only other new wide release, debuted at No. 12 with $1.55 mil (aka Harry Potter's wand budget).

Mon, Jul 16, 2007

Harry's Potter of Gold Reaches $140 Million

Ugly Beauty Weds Jerry O'Connell, More Love Notes

How refreshing. A low-profile celebrity marriage ceremony. Held in mere America, no less! Ugly Betty beauty Rebecca Romijn and Crossing Jordan cutie Jerry O'Connell tied the knot on Saturday in an intimate ceremony in quant li'l Los Angeles. "It was a perfect celebration, and Jerry and I couldn't be happier," Romijn, who previously was wed to John Stamos, tells People.... Courtney Thorne-Smith is expecting this winter her first child with husband Roger Fishman. An ABC spokesperson has yet to respond to TVGuide.com's request for comment on how this will coincide with the production schedule for According to Jim, which was only recently uncancelled.

Mon, Jul 16, 2007

Price Is Right Update, Scrubs and More Short Cuts

According to the New York Daily News and as of today, Drew Carey is the front-runner to take over The Price Is Right  pending the success of his Power of 10, premiering next month.... What fall series has you counting the minutes until its return? Choose from our list and vote here (bottom right).... Scrubs and Without a Trace have each been granted two-year syndication renewals.... Maury and Jerry Springer have been picked up through September 2010. Unemployed and paroled potential studio audience members cheer.... The King of Queens' Season 9 DVD set streets Sept. 25.

Mon, Jul 16, 2007

Price Is Right Update, Scrubs and More Short Cuts

X-Files 2: The Script Is Out There

David Duchovny, in the course of talking up his new Showtime series Californication, also wound up discussing infestation, mutation and alien invasion  that is, the status of the always-looming second X-Files movie. "I'm supposed to see a script next week," the erstwhile Agent Mulder revealed at the TCA summer press tour. "[X-Files creator] Chris [Carter] will direct it. Gillian [Anderson] is on board, and that's all I can tell you."The original film follow-up hit theaters some nine years ago. What say we kill two birds with one stone, merge two TV franchises, and call the movie "X and the City"?

Mon, Jul 16, 2007

Lindsay Lohan Out of Rehab... and Out of Her Clothes?

Good news, bad nudes for Lindsay Lohan. On Friday, the starlet celebrated the completion of her six-week rehab stint and checked out of the Promises facility, says People. To better foster her ongoing sobriety, Lohan is wearing an alcohol-monitoring bracelet, which, according to my own Googling, is capable of randomly testing skin vapors for traces of the sauce, then sounding a remote alarm should she imbibe. (And yes, it also goes ballistic if tampered with.)"Alas," liberated Lindsay came home to a PR headache. Apparently nude photos of her (snapped by sometime gentleman caller Callum Best) have been snatched from her laptop and fallen into nefarious (meaning HTML-proficient) hands. "Anything is possible," her rep tells the New York Post's Page Six. "I know nothing about it, but her lawyers have been notified."

Mon, Jul 16, 2007

Lindsay Lohan Out of Rehab... and Out of Her Clothes?

Snoop Dogg, Catty Hilton Each Getting Reality Series

E! Entertainment announced on Friday a series that will follow around Cordozar Calvin Broadus Jr, whom you perhaps better know as hip-hopper Snoop Dogg. Eyed for a late-2007 premiere, the "hilarious and heartwarming" project will detail "the juggling act that Snoop faces day-in, day-out between career and family".... Per the Reporter, VH1 is said to be ordering six episodes of What Perez Says, a still-being-formulated series fronted by celebrity blogger Mario Lavandeira (aka Perez Hilton).

Sat, Jul 14, 2007

Snoop Dogg, Catty Hilton Each Getting Reality Series

Little Britain and a Lotta Sex on Tap at HBO

HBO's development slate, as spelled out at the TCA summer press tour, includes the following: From American Idol creator Simon Fuller, an American adaptation of the hit BBC comedy Little Britain. Season 7 of Curb Your Enthusiasm premieres Sunday, Sept. 9, at 10 pm/ET. Leading into Curb is Tell Me You Love Me, a racy drama that has come under fire for seemingly  seemingly  depicting actual sex among its actors. (Responds the series' creator, "They are actors first and they will not ask anything of themselves, nor will I ask anything of them, that they are uncomfortable doing.") Real Time with Bill Maher, which resumes its fifth season on Aug. 24, got a Season 6 pickup, while The Wire will launch its final season in 1Q 2008. The WWII miniseries The Pacific is slated for a 3Q 2009 bow.

Sat, Jul 14, 2007

Little Britain and a Lotta Sex on Tap at HBO

Paris Hilton, Special Favors in Jail? Sheriff Goes, "Hmm...," Looks into It

The Los Angeles County sheriff has launched an investigation into claims that Paris Hilton received (no!) special treatment during her 23-day jail stay. A sheriff's department spokesperson, promising, "We're going to... get to the bottom of it," tells the AP the internal probe (ooh, that's hot) will look into whether the heirhead: was given free access to a cordless phone instead of being forced to wait in line for a pay phone was furnished a new jail uniform instead of the recycled togs typically given to inmates had her mail delivered by a hunky jail captain instead of inmate trusties.You'd think this investigation could be wrapped up by the time I finish typing this, no?

Fri, Jul 13, 2007

Paris Hilton, Special Favors in Jail? Sheriff Goes, "Hmm...," Looks into It

Lifetime Faces Reality This Fall, and Makes Date with Di

Lifetime's fall slate, as revealed at the TCA summer press tour, includes a Friday-night block of reality programming: the returning Lisa Williams: Life Among the Dead, followed by the new competition series America's Psychic Challenge (the winner is the one who knows they've won before it begins...?).The cabler also set air dates for The Murder of Princess Diana (starring House's Jennifer Morrison; Aug. 25) and Custody (starring James Denton and Rob Morrow; Sept. 8), while More of Me (with Molly Shannon times three) and the miniseries The Gathering (with Peter Gallagher and Jamie-Lynn Sigler) get fall bows.

Fri, Jul 13, 2007

Lifetime Faces Reality This Fall, and Makes Date with Di

Harry Potter Enjoys a Record-setting Humpday

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix scored the biggest Wednesday opening of all time, taking in $44.2 million from 4,181 locations. The boy wizard is magically delicious abroad as well, delivering, for example, the second-highest opening day France has ever seen ($5.9 mil). The fifth Potter also marks the best bow for any Warner Bros. pic, besting the $42.5 first-day haul of Matrix 2.In related news, Harry's creator, J.K. Rowling, granted the U.K.'s ITV1 exclusive access to her world as the focus of the first entry in its new A Year in the Life documentary series. The footage of Rowling includes the actual moment she finished penning Deathly Hallows, tossing down her Papermate as she chuckled, "Suck on that, rugrats."

Fri, Jul 13, 2007

Harry Potter Enjoys a Record-setting Humpday

Movie News: Who Has the Next Harry Potter?

Who will spellbind young moviegoers once Deathly Hallows has come and gone? Warner Bros. has picked up the big-screen rights to the seven-book Septimus Heap series, while Relativity Media has acquired Tunnels, a children's fantasy series out of the U.K.... Also per Variety, Aaron Sorkin is penning three films for DreamWorks, kicking off with The Trial of the Chicago 7, which Steven Spielberg hopes to direct.... Per the Reporter, Naomi Watts will star opposite Clive Owen in the thriller The International.... Tim Robbins and Martin Landau have joined the fantasy feature City of Ember, starring Bill Murray.

Fri, Jul 13, 2007

Movie News: Who Has the Next Harry Potter?

On the Lot, Fall TV Poll and More Short Cuts

Fox's On the Lot welcomes guest judges Antoine Fuqua (Training Day) and Brad Silberling (Lemony Snicket) on July 17 and 24, respectively.... Molly Stanton (Twins, Passions) has inked a talent holding deal with 20th Century Fox TV, to either front a pilot or join an existing series.... Brian McKnight makes his Broadway debut when he steps into the role of Chicago's Billy Flynn starting Oct. 8.... Why is Sarah Michelle Gellar suddenly the paparazzi's favorite poser?.... What fall series has you counting the minutes until its return? Choose from our list and vote here (bottom right).

Fri, Jul 13, 2007

Deadwood Films Now Deemed "Doable, but Daunting"

The outlook for that pair of Deadwood wrap-up TV-movies is looking as bleak as Deadwood itself, now that so much time has passed, cast members have moved on, and, perhaps most significantly, series creator David Milch is busy getting John from Cincinnati off the ground (so to speak). "It's certainly on our books as something we're still interested in," HBO president Michael Lombardo said at the TCA summer press tour. But with Milch "exhausted" by his new baby, the exec allowed, "It will be daunting" to get the pics  which were originally slated to start lensing this summer  put together as planned. Especially if John gets a second-season pickup (so to speak).Lombardo has yet to broach the topic with the otherwise-engaged Milch, but when he does, "if David's game for this, then we will figure it out."

Fri, Jul 13, 2007

Deadwood Films Now Deemed "Doable, but Daunting"

Simon Cowell to Angry Kelly: "Kiss and Make Up!"

Refusing to walk away from her beef with her record label, Kelly Clarkson tells the August issue of Blender that during one of her face-offs with BMG/RCA boss Clive Davis, she said, "I don't know you very well, and I am not a bullsh---er. I get [that] you don't like the album. You're 80; you're not supposed to like my album." The 25-year-old's harsh diss of the music legend, who had been vocal with his concerns about her new material, doesn't sit well with the American Idol's onetime judge and jury, Simon Cowell. "Clive Davis at 80 is better than 99 percent of the people in the music business in their twenties, thirties and forties. And he's not [even] 80, he's less than 80," Simon tells TV's Extra. The Brit's advice to Kel? "Kiss and make up, decide what's best, get on with it!" And then write us a nice catchy song about it.

Fri, Jul 13, 2007

Simon Cowell to Angry Kelly: "Kiss and Make Up!"

ER's Goran Visnjic Cops to Affair: "It's Not Something I'm Proud Of"

Speaking to the Croatian women's magazine Story, Goran Visnjic confirmed that yes, he did have an affair with Mirela Rupic, the 36-year-old woman who earlier this week filed a paternity suit claiming that the ER star is the father of her 4-month-old daughter. "It is not something that I am proud of, of course," says Visnjic, who has been wed to Ivana Vrdoljak since 1999. "But I am ready to accept all the consequences of my act" and agree to a paternity test.

Fri, Jul 13, 2007

ER's Goran Visnjic Cops to Affair: "It's Not Something I'm Proud Of"

Nip/Tuck Mystery Solved, Rosie Spin-off Update

At FX's TCA press tour session, the veil was lifted on Bradley Cooper's oft-teased-by-Ausiello "mystery role" on Nip/Tuck: The Alias alum will be playing a self-obsessed ladies'-man plastic surgeon (gee, sound familiar?) on the TV show-within-a-show that factors into the new season. (Christian and Sean, now transplanted to L.A., consult on the fictional Nip/Tuck-esque series. As previously reported, Oliver Platt has an arc as an executive producer.)As for "instantly popular" 2006 guest star Rosie O'Donnell, not only will she reprise her role as Dawn Budge for "several" episodes, but the prospect of a Nip/Tuck spin-off still looms. "We've spoken about it," says series creator Ryan Murphy. "It's an ongoing discussion."

Fri, Jul 13, 2007

Nip/Tuck Mystery Solved, Rosie Spin-off Update

CBS Boss Calls Couric Replacement Talk "Insulting"

Offering Katie Couric some much-needed support in the wake of a New York Magazine profile that got tongues wagging about the Evening News anchor's days being numbered, CBS News president Sean McManus said he plans to see Couric fronting the newscast into 2010. "She has a five-year contract with CBS to anchor the evening news," McManus tells the Associated Press. "All of us, including Katie, expect her to be anchoring the evening news in her fifth year." McManus takes issue with news-biz bloggers who went so far as to solicit reader votes on who should replace Couric in the event she is ousted, calling such speculation-for-sport "absurd" and "insulting." (Whew, glad I stopped short of posting that particular poll!)

Fri, Jul 13, 2007

CBS Boss Calls Couric Replacement Talk "Insulting"

Craig Ferguson Monologue Interrupted by Bad Break

Late Late Show viewers wondering why Craig Ferguson's opening monologue is now interrupted by an early commercial break need be perplexed no longer. A CBS rep tells the New York Post the change is "a proactive response to an upcoming ratings system" that, come the new TV season, will measure how many people are actually watching commercials. Ferguson, who on Tuesday's show referred to it as an "experiment," has been "extremely agreeable" to the move, says CBS. Uh-huh.The thinking is that Late Late Show will gradually steer more ads toward the front of the show, when fewer people have dozed off more people are watching. As the Eye rep puts it, "We want to... see if the first commercial [break] works creatively and provides more value for our advertisers." Judging by viewer reaction to Ferguson's now crudely cleaved spiel, the answer to the first part there is a big no.

Thu, Jul 12, 2007

Craig Ferguson Monologue Interrupted by Bad Break

Sopranos Star Makes Oprah's Day, More Casting News

Emmy winner Michael Imperioli is set to star alongside Oscar winner Ellen Burstyn in the ABC TV-movie Oprah Winfrey Presents: Mitch Albom's For One More Day, about a despondent former baseball star who is magically granted a 24-hour reunion with his deceased ma.... A&E's Ridley and Tony Scott-produced four-hour adaptation of The Andromeda Strain now counts Ricky Schroder, Eric McCormack, Andre Braugher and Benjamin Bratt among its cast, says Variety.... Charles S. Dutton will direct and star with Elizabeth Peña in Racing for Time, a Lifetime pic inspired by the true story of Noel Chestnut, a prison guard who created a sports program for hard-core female juvies.

Thu, Jul 12, 2007

Sopranos Star Makes Oprah's Day, More Casting News

Jessica Simpson, Sex and More Movie News

Jessica Simpson is at boot camp in Louisiana this week to prepare for her role in the Private Benjamin-esque Major Movie Star.... Also per the New York Daily News, Kim Cattrall is off to London to lens the Sex and the City film.... Per the Reporter, Idol runner-up Katharine McPhee is a pregnant hippie in a feature comedy starring Anna Faris as a Playboy Playmate turned sorority house mom.... Now in production: American Pie: Beta House, starring some Band Camp returnees as well as Bradford Anderson (General Hospital) and Meghan Heffern (Flight 93).... Don Cheadle is a CIA operative working undercover with a terrorist group and Guy Pearce is an FBI agent in the thriller Traitor.

Thu, Jul 12, 2007