matt.webb.mitovich

Meet Invasion's Otherworldly Beauty

Tonight at 10 pm/ET, ABC hopes to capitalize on the Lostapalooza with Invasion, another supernatural-tinged drama in which a Florida town is forever changed — not so much by a hurricane, but by the ominous something-or-others that covertly arrive with it. Playing doctor amidst the din is Canadian Kari Matchett, a relative newcomer to U.S. audiences, as Mariel Underlay, one of the first apparent victims of... whatever. (As Mariel's daughter eerily notes, "Mommy, you smell different.") TVGuide.com caught up with Matchett to discuss her deliciously different leading men, the sad state of the NHL and whether or not Invasion's hurricane hits too close to home. TVGuide.com: I just finished watching the premiere, and I have to say, that is some creepy stuff!Kari Matchett: Good, good. TVGuide

Wed, Sep 21, 2005

Duhamel Calls "New" Vegas a Sure Thing

Just as a hung-over couple wonders what the fallout will be from their drunken vow-exchange at the Viva Las Vegas Wedding Chapel, the cast and crew of NBC's Las Vegas have to wonder what sort of impact several cast additions and subtractions, as well as glitzy new set-piece attractions, will have on the series' future. On board for Season 3 (premiering tonight at 9 pm/ET): The Practice's Lara Flynn Boyle as Monica Mancuso, the newly renovated Montecito's savvy, sexy new owner; Rachael Leigh Cook (She's All That) as Penny Posin, a potential new love interest for Josh Duhamel's Danny McCoy; and a massive (40,000 square-foot) new casino set as, well, a massive casino. Now missing from the action: original cast member

Mon, Sep 19, 2005

Will Threshold Get Lost in the Crowd?

Surface. Invasion. Night Stalker. Supernatural. There's a whole lot of eerie goings-on going on in prime time this fall. But the three executive producers of CBS' Threshold (premiering tonight at 9 pm/ET) remain steadfast that there is room for everyone. And who better to throw their hats in the ring than Brannon Braga (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Voyager and Enterprise), David Heyman (the Harry Potter films) and David Goyer (a writer for Batman Begins, Dark City and the Blade films)?  "Clearly, not all [of the supernatural-tinged shows] will survive," says Heyman, whose first TV-ser

Fri, Sep 16, 2005

The Case of the Missing Peter Falk

If you're a Peter Falk fan, you may be wondering why the five-time Emmy winner hasn't been gracing the small screen much in recent years. Since his last turn as America's most diligent detective (in 2003's Columbo Likes the Nightlife), save for a pair of TV-movies in which he played an angel named Max, Falk sightings have been scarce. Regarding his next appearance in Columbo's trademark trench coat, Falk tells TVGuide.com, "There's a bit of a problem. The script that I like, the network doesn't like. The script that they like, I don't like." What, we ask, is not to like about the follow-up that Falk favors? "That is a good question. A good question," he says, nodding. ABC wants Columbo's next case to center around the world of lingerie models, "so you can see why they would prefer that one." Sure, other material com

Fri, Sep 16, 2005

It's Serenity Now for Firefly Doc

Pink Lady and Jeff. Manimal. Hello, Larry. None of those short-lived TV series ever commanded feature-film follow-ups. But Fox's Firefly — woefully promoted, questionably handled and then unceremoniously yanked off the air after just 11 episodes in 2002 — is big-screen bound. Serenity, which hits theaters Sept. 30, catches up with the transport ship's crew, led by Captain "Mal" Reynolds (Nathan Fillion), as they fend off big-government interest in some precious cargo they are carrying. Tending to the occasionally wounded is the Serenity's Dr. Simon Tam, played by Sean Maher, who was more than happy to speak with TVGuide.com about the revival of little show that

Fri, Sep 16, 2005

Smallville Set for Thursday-Night Fight

It doesn't take a Brainiac to see that Clark Kent has his hands very full this fall. Even Smallville executive producer Al Gough wishes Superman could do that "world-spinning" trick and turn back time to when the series had a cozy time slot. But until that happens, Smallville is prepped to take on Survivor, The O.C., Alias and the new-but-buzzworthy Everybody Hates Chris in its new Thursday home (Season 5 premieres Sept. 29 at 8 pm/ET). What's the plan? Well, it involves a space princess, the reunion of some good ol' boys and, last but not least, some super sex. TVGuide.com: What was your reaction when you were bumped from Wednesdays to your new, most unenviable t

Thu, Sep 15, 2005

O'Donnell, Goldberg Crazy for Head Cases

On Wednesdays this fall, while CBS' CSI-ers and NBC's Law & Order keepers serve up justice with pensive, stone-faced seriousness, Fox will take a walk on the lighter side with Head Cases (premiering tonight at 9 pm/ET), an hour dramedy about an A-list lawyer about to go off the deep end, an "explosive disorder"-addled low-rent attorney who's already there and the halfway point at which they must meet to fight the good fights. Playing the former — fallen hot shot and family man Jason Payne — is movie star Chris O'Donnell. Portraying Jason's unlikely new law partner, the outburst-prone Russell Shultz, is fellow film actor Adam Goldberg (A Beautiful Mind

Wed, Sep 14, 2005

O'Donnell, Goldberg Crazy for Head Cases

Paul Reiser Is Mad About Peter Falk

For Paul Reiser, landing Peter Falk to play his pop in The Thing About My Folks (opening Sept. 16 in select cities) was a decades-long dream come true. "I was playing with this [script] for, like, 20 years and always hoped Peter would be in it," shares the actor-writer-producer, best known to TV audiences for his seven-year run on Mad About You. "I even bumped into him a few times, but never told him. I figured the best he would say is, 'Great let me see it' — and then I'd have to go write it!" As it was, each time Reiser went to flesh out his germ of a film idea — in which a father and son learn some hard truths about each other over the course of an unplanned extended road trip — he put the unfini

Wed, Sep 14, 2005

Supernatural Aims for Superbig Scares

I remember this one time, when I was baby-sitting for a couple down the street, I started getting these scary phone calls. I reported the calls to the phone company and they told me they were originating from inside the very house! What, you don't believe me? OK, did I ever tell you about the time an escaped mental patient came at me and my date with his hooked hand? WB's Supernatural, premiering tonight at 9 pm/ET, takes its lead from such urban legends and adds a whole lot of scariness, as brothers Dean and Sam Winchester — played by Jensen Ackles (Smallville) and Jared Padalecki (Gilmore Girls) — face down all manner of American folklore frightmongers while searching both for their MIA dad and the truth about what (and I do mean what) killed

Tue, Sep 13, 2005

Sopranos Star Loves the Goomba Life

Has there really not been a new episode of The Sopranos since June 2004? Season 6 doesn't arrive until March. One of the HBO crime-drama's stars, Steve Schirripa, has made the most of his downtime from playing Bobby. In addition to steady gigs on Spike TV and The Tonight Show, the author of The Goomba's Guide to Life and The Goomba's Book of Love has a third book hitting stores on Sept. 13, Nicky Deuce: Welcome to the Neighborhood. And get this — it's for kids. When Schirripa's rep pitched TVGuide.com an interview with him, it was an offer we could not refuse. TVGuide.com: You've got a lot cooking these days!Steve Schirripa: Yeah, we got a lot of s--- going on. I try to stay busy, brother. TVGuide.com: So

Mon, Sep 12, 2005

Would Eugene Levy Like Some More Pie?

Eugene Levy: action hero? Uh, not quite. Although the SCTV vet — best known for the American Pie movies as well as being one of Christopher Guest's go-to guys — does a little running and a bit of jumping in the new action-comedy The Man, he has since decided to leave such heroics to pros such as costar Samuel L. Jackson. "I've never been a physical kind of comedian," Levy acknowledges. "All of the physical stuff [in The Man] I tried to make look fairly credible, and give it a bit of a comic spin — if you're running down the alley and getting shot in the ass, you don't want to make it too painful for the a

Mon, Sep 12, 2005

Rapaport Armed for The War at Home

Fox's Simpson, Hill, Griffin and Smith families are getting a funny new neighbor: the Golds of The War at Home (premiering Sunday at 8:30 pm/ET). Playing pop to a trio of challenging teens (blossoming Hillary, sexually misunderstood Larry and videogamer Mike) is Michael Rapaport (Small Time Crooks, Hitch), whose previous TV run was as a firebrand teacher on Boston Public. TVGuide.com got a few minutes during the busy actor's lunch break to discuss fatherhood, films and his real-life friend in need. TVGuide.com: What did your three-season stint as Boston Public's Danny teach you?Michael Rapaport: It taught me that good work is good work, and having the opportunity to act every day is a really special thing. That's what I walked away [with]. TVGuid

Fri, Sep 9, 2005

Samuel L. Jackson Plays Funny Man

At long last, America's curiosity about what a Samuel L. Jackson-Eugene Levy film would be like can be sated. That's right, the man known as Mace Windu aka John Shaft aka Pulp Fiction's proverb-spouting Jules Winnfield is making laughs with no less than the American Pie dad in The Man (opening today). The 48 HRS.-esque action-comedy presents Jackson as Derrick Vann, a Federal Agent who, in the midst of trying to clear the name of his disgraced dead partner, crosses paths with Andy Fiddler, Levy's mild-mannered dental-supply salesman. The very odd couple then must work together to thwart som

Fri, Sep 9, 2005

New O.C. Neighbor Has Killer Concept

Those teen ne'er-do-wells on The O.C. have a new neighbor this season, and one that is different in so many ways. Fox's Reunion, premiering tonight at 9 pm/ET, spins a murder mystery involving six friends and told in flashbacks encompassing one year per episode, inching forward each week as it gradually revealing not just whodunit, but who was done in. The concept, while bold, begs big questions. Like, how do you do a murder mystery while keeping the victim's identity under wraps? (The deceased is referred to in present day as, well, "the deceased.") And what happens in Season 2, if there is one? Luckily, creator/executive producer Jon Harmon Feldman is armed with answers. Addressing the latter, most-asked question, he says, "If we're lucky and get to Season 2, the goal would be to use one of our [original six] characters to transition to a new group of friends and tel

Thu, Sep 8, 2005

Lucy Lawless Raids the Galactica

Xena is back, and she's taking names. Well, OK, not exactly. Lucy Lawless is back in the fantasy/sci-fi fold, playing D'Anna Friel, a pesky investigative journalist on Friday night's episode of Battlestar Galactica (airing at 10 pm/ET on Sci Fi Channel). Not only will the former chakram-throwing warrior princess look a bit different in her outer-space existence — Xena gone blonde, yo! — but Lawless will be brandishing her native New Zealand accent for the first time ever on screen. "I've always been hesitant to do that, because it felt kind of gimmicky," she says of going Kiwi with a character. "But because D'Anna is a journalist and has kind of, but not exactly, a tabloidy edge to her, I thought that going in with that kind of Australian tabloid/British-y thing was appropriate."

Thu, Sep 8, 2005

E-Ring an Easy Choice for Hopper

With the new fall series E-Ring (airing Wednesdays at 9 pm/ET, beginning Sept. 21), NBC promises a behind-the-scenes look at the global crises and critical decision-making that keep Pentagon intelligence officers on their toes. The drama boasts silver-screen luster not only in Benjamin Bratt (Miss Congeniality, The Great Raid), as U.S Army Major "J.T." Tisnewski, but also in two-time Academy Award nominee Dennis Hopper (of Easy Rider and Blue Velvet fame), who plays Colonel McNulty. Although largely associated with his many counterculture film characters, Hopper says that, aside from having to "stand a little straighter and get a haircut," stepping into the Colonel's spit-shined shoes was not as difficult as some might think. Stepping away from filmdom

Wed, Sep 7, 2005

Exclusive Peek at Big Battle Twists

Tonight at 9 pm/ET, in the fourth of Battle of the Network Reality Stars' six episodes, a big twist (followed by a bigger one) will shift the playing field for the remaining contenders. We already know that The Love Boat's Ted Lange will be stopping by, and that a new team will be added into the mix. So what are we talking about here, putting piranhas in the dunk tank? Better yet, a surprise visit from The Fall Guy's Heather Thomas in the dunk tank? Andrew Cohen, Bravo's vice president of production and programming, gave TVGuide.com an exclusive preview of what's to come. TVGuide.com: What have you got cooking tonight?Andrew Cohen: Well, it's Episode 4, and the big news is that the episode starts with a bang, as each team has to send two players packing. I'm not going to tell you everybody who gets kiboshed, b

Wed, Sep 7, 2005

Jason Lee Makes a Name for Himself

Is silver-screen wiseacre Jason Lee done Chasing Amy, living the life of an Almost Famous rocker and hanging with the Mallrats beneath that bizarre Vanilla Sky? Yes... and no. Yes, the affable actor is braving the frontier of episodic TV, but no, his starring role in NBC's My Name Is Earl (premiering Sept. 20 at 9 pm/ET) does not signal the end of his film career. So why the switch? Are Kevin Smith and Cameron Crowe simply not churning out enough movies for him to

Tue, Sep 6, 2005

First Female Apprentice Gets to Work

Kendra Todd has been very busy since Donald Trump named her the first female winner of NBC's The Apprentice — working with good ol' Carolyn Kepcher at the Trump National Golf Club in Westchester County, N.Y., is but one of her many projects. Her day planner is only going to get more jammed up more in the coming months as she dives into her primary Apprentice project: overseeing the renovation of Palm Beach Mansion one of Trump's oceanfront properties. Still, she made time for a few questions from TVGuide.com. (That is, after she put me on hold for a few minutes. Grrr.) TVGuide.com: So, were you closing a blockbuster real-estate deal, or ordering new golf balls?Kendra Todd: I'm getting ready to launch a couple of projects for my own company,

Tue, Sep 6, 2005

Don Johnson Suits Up as Legal Eagle

When Jonathan Shapiro started to create the new WB series, Just Legal (airing Mondays at 9 pm/ET, beginning Sept. 19), he drew on a subject close to home: his own brother, who finished law school at the top of his class while still in his teens. (Undeclared's Jay Baruchel plays the role on screen, as apprentice to Don Johnson's veteran lawyer.) Adding to the show's pedigree are Shapiro's stints as a federal prosecutor and assistant U.S attorney in Los Angeles, where he worked such high-profile cases as Rodney King's and the Waco siege before writing for Boston Legal and The Practice. In other words, Just Legal isn't just any legal series. "My goal here is to try to tell as many absolutely real stories as we can," says Shapiro, noting that the pilot features a case based on one he once prosecuted. "This show is different than other procedurals and o

Mon, Sep 5, 2005

Panic Room Star Dares Not Speak

In a rare move, both Showtime and Lifetime will simultaneously air the film-festival favorite Speak tonight at 9 pm/ET. Based on the acclaimed novel of the same name by Laurie Halse Anderson, Speak stars Kristen Stewart as a high-school freshman so traumatized by being date-raped that she literally retreats into a mute, almost wordless world. Taking on a role so reactive and lacking in dialogue  was, in a way, familiar ground for Stewart, who was holed up and terrorized with on-screen mom Jodie Foster, in 2002's Panic Room. "In that sense, in that I didn't have a whole lot of dialogue, the films are very similar," she tells TVGuide.com. "But really and truly, I could not have been in two more different movies. From the peop

Mon, Sep 5, 2005

Will Threshold Get Lost in the Crowd?

Surface. Invasion. Night Stalker. Supernatural. There's a whole lot of eerie goings-on going on in prime time this fall. But the three executive producers of CBS' Threshold (airing Fridays at 9 pm/ET, starting Sept. 16) remain steadfast that there is room for everyone. And who better to throw their hats in the ring than Brannon Braga (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Voyager and Enterprise), David Heyman (the Harry Potter films) and David Goyer (a writer for Batman Begins, Dark City and the Blade films)?  "Clearly, not all [of the supernatural-tinged shows] will survive," says Heyman, who

Fri, Sep 2, 2005