Jimmy Kimmel Set to Host New Game Show
Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Comedy, Games, Late Night, ABC,
In addition to Jimmy Kimmel’s late night show, he will also be hosting a game show on ABC, called Set for Life. The new show starts production next week—pitting contestants against each other as they compete to win a monthly cash amount for the rest of their life. Kind of a different twist on game show winnings, but a nice way to ensure that your winnings aren’t spent the second you win them. How much is up for grabs? Well, it appears that millions of dollars are a possibility, with a “last-minute twist” that can alter how much cash is ultimately won. Kimmel is no stranger to game shows, having played sidekick to Ben Stein on Comedy Central’s Win Ben Stein’s Money. That show was so much fun—I wish they still showed it in re-runs. According to David Goldberg of Endemol USA (creator of the game show), “Jimmy’s a very funny and witty entertainer and at his best in front of a live audience. I think he has that everyman quality and a genuine accessibility that should help him as he deals with ordinary people tempting to become set for life.” Well, he’s no Howie Mandel—you make the call on whether or not that’s a good thing!
Read More 
| Reality TV World
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Cast Reductions Announced for SNL
Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Comedy, Late Night, NBC, Saturday Night Live, News,
Since a press conference last month where Lorne Michaels announced upcoming cuts from the Saturday Night Live cast, many have been speculating about who would be going. Zap2it.com is reporting that at least three members of the cast will be leaving, with the likelihood for a fourth to depart as well. At present, it’s reported that Chris Parnell, Horatio Sanz and Kenan Thompson have been tapped to leave. Discussions of a fourth casualty are circulating about Darrell Hammond, who has had the longest run on the show. Hammond brings his impmeccable impressions to the table (including Donald Trump and Bill Clinton), but perhaps little new material. Horatio Sanz has been riding the SNL gravy train for far too long, as has Parnell—I’m most surprised by Kenan Thompson, who seemed to be featured in a lot of sketches last season. The fate of SNL‘s Weekend Update is also a hot topic, as Lorne Michaels auditioned cast members to take over for Tina Fey, who recently left the show, and Amy Poehler. It’s rumored that new cast member Jason Sudeikis (pictured at right) will be taking over the Update desk. Of course, none of this is confirmed—an NBC spokesman declined to comment.
Read More | Zap2it
Have you ever wondered how Hurley manages to keep up his weight despite being on a ‘deserted’ island? Well, now you can sample what he’s been eating.
In an attempt to keep up the intrigue about the show, the promoters of Lost are now giving out the infamous ‘Apollo’ chocolate bars. A.K.A. the candy left behind by the Hanso Foundation.
If you’re lucky enough to be in Seattle or New York this Thursday—you might be able to snatch up one of the limited few.
Read More | Apollo Candy
Scrubs: The Musical?
Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Comedy, Music, Prime Time, NBC, Scrubs,
Here’s some good news for fans of both Scrubs and musicals—the series’ sixth episode this season will be a musical. For non-musical fans, this may not be such a great thing, but I’m curious to see how they pull it off. TV Guide’s Michael Ausiello had the opportunity to interview Scubs creator Bill Lawrence about the episode. Apparently, Lawrence called on the talent behind the Broadway musical Avenue Q to help out with the logisitics, which he calls “a big pain in the ass”—with additional rehearsals and recordings necessary to pull the whole thing off. Scrubs diehards are likely to think this is a genius move, since the series already incorporates its fair share of music and dancing (anyone catch Turk’s air guitar number?). The cast is for the most part excited about the prospect, with only some grumblings from Sarah Chalke—according to Lawrence, she’s not allowed to sing (I guess she’s not as good as the other cast members), but he needs to find a way to incorporate her character into the whole musical madness. The plot of the episode centers around a woman who has an aneurism and sees everything as a musical. According to Lawrence, this is based on an actual medical case where a woman who suffered an aneurism thought every time someone spoke to her, they were singing. Now the question—when will the episode air? With the series not set to start until mid-season, we will need to wait until early 2007 to check this out.
Read More | TV Guide
Survivor Plays the Race Card
Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Prime Time, Reality, CBS, Survivor, News,
I had read a couple of days ago that the new season of Survivor would pit races against each other, but quickly dismissed it as rumor. Now I see the story has been confirmed by People magazine, reporting that Survivor‘s new twist this season will be to divide the contestants by ethnicity. The cast of Survivor: Cook Islands will have 20 contestants divided into four tribes: black, white, Asian and Latino. Said creator and executive producer, Mark Burnett, “We’re going to take some heat for it, but it’s a great cast.” Take some heat for it? It may generate a lot of discussion and, therefore, more interest (translating to higher ratings), but it also may come back to bite them. Since the show is in its 13th season, perhaps there are fewer innovative twists to introduce, but this seems a drastic approach. Host Jeff Probst said of the new season, “Some people will think this is controversial. Others will think, ‘What’s the big deal?’ Either way, it’s going to be very interesting.”
The diversity of this season’s cast was a result of ridicule that the show has been largely comprised of white contestants. Said Probst of the lack of diversity, “Most of the people who apply are white—that’s just a fact.” This season will pit the races against each other and perhaps have each group tackling racial stereotypes. With a pirate theme, tribal councils are set to take place on a shipwreck built on the coast of the island.
Survivor premieres on September 14th.
Read More | People
Fewer Gay Roles This Season
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: Comedy, Prime Time, ABC, NBC, Showtime, Degrassi, Desperate Housewives, ER, The Office,
The ending of Will & Grace has taken away two gay roles from our boob tubes this season—and those who care about equal representation for gays should be concerned.
Did you know that of all the regular characters on major networks last year, less than 2% of them in primetime were gay, lesbian or bisexual? And the numbers don’t fare much better this year. GLAAD (The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) has been analyzing the numbers for several seasons now. Of the 95 Fall shows announced so far (for ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, CW and MyNetworkTV), only 9 of the regular characters are gay or lesbian. That’s down one from last year. In other words, out of the 679 roles—only 1.3% are homosexual.
Keep in mind—this study only applies to the major networks. Maybe that’s why cable is increasing in popularity. We need to turn to shows like The L Word and Degrassi to see greater diversity.
Trivia question: Of the 9 gay/lesbian roles this fall—only 3 are from returning shows. What are those shows? Answer: Desperate Housewives (Andrew), ER (Carrie) and The Office (Oscar - the closeted gay).
Read More | Houston Chronicle
Zach Braff Leaving Scrubs?
Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Comedy, Prime Time, NBC, Scrubs, News,
Say it ain’t so… the rumor mill is buzzing about the possibility of Zach Braff leaving after this season of Scrubs. Braff was quoted in Premiere magazine, saying “My guess is that this will be my last season. Whether or not they continue without me, I don’t know. I have had this amazing run on the show and I love it and I’m so grateful, but I want to make movies full time.” Well, that sounds fairly official—coming from the horse’s mouth and all. Part of me, however, doesn’t want to believe it could be true. Scrubs has been such a reliably funny show, in large part because of Braff. While the ensemble is a strong group, I’m not sure if the series could continue to be as good without Braff’s character. Then again, there’s speculation that this just might be the last season of Scrubs since their renewal was announced late and the show will again be returning mid-season—both indicators that NBC isn’t that invested in the show. Braff certainly has talents elsewhere with writing and directing, so it’s not surprising that he would want to pursue that more and continue to grow his career in that direction. Still… his crazy JD character will be sorely missed.
Read More | TV Squad
Paul Giamatti to Play John Adams in HBO Miniseries
Posted by Christina Furtado Categories: Mini Series, Prime Time, Cable, HBO, Talent,
Yesterday, Variety reported that Paul Giamatti will play John Adams in a seven episode HBO miniseries based on the David McCullogh bestseller John Adams. Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman are executive producing the project, which begins filming in Virgina in January, and is slated to air in seven hour-long parts starting in March 2008.
The miniseries will focus on Adams’ time as a Massachusetts lawyer working behind the scenes to facilitate the American Revolution rather than on his time as the second President. I have not read McCullogh’s book, but apparently it is partly based on the famous correspondence between Adams and his wife Abigail during the period (these letters are also immortalized in the musical 1776).
I’m very excited by the idea of this project, and I think Giamatti is a great choice to play Adams. I was just rewatching Cinderella Man, a highly underrated movie, last night, and he’s great in it. I’m glad he’s moving on to bigger and better things after the fiasco of Lady in the Water. I also can’t wait to see who else will be cast. This almost makes up for the cancellation of Deadwood, HBO—but only almost. Actually, no, it doesn’t, but it’s a good start at getting back in my good graces.
Read More | Coming Soon
Cartoon fans, take note. Your beloved characters are not safe from the Smoking Police—- not even abroad.
Due to a complaint from one viewer, a British TV channel has resorted to censoring their cartoons. The two Tom and Jerry episodes in question involved incidents of tobacco usage. Those scenes—more than 50 years old—are now on the cutting room floor. Additionally, the Boomerang Children’s channel has decided to go through their entire library to rid all their ‘toons of ‘glamorized’ smoking. Other affected cartoons could include The Flintstones, The Jetsons and Scooby-Doo.
Seriously—they might as well drop Scooby-Doo altogether. Once they edit out all the van scenes, there won’t be much of a plot left.
Read More | Canadian Press
Federline’s TV Rap Debut Receives Mixed Reviews
Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Award Shows, Music, FOX, Internet,
K-Fed made his rappin’ debut on Sunday night’s Teen Choice Awards. The verdict is in—and it ain’t good. Introduced by his scantily clad (and very preggers) wife, Britney Spears, Federline commanded the stage in a less-than-thrilling rap performance. Performing his new single “Lose Control”, the kids at the awards show seemed to receive it fairly well, but critics and internet message boards were buzzing with the lame attempt by Federline. Case in point, check out this lyric: “Don’t hate because I’m a superstar! And I’m married to a superstar! Nothin’ come between us no matter who you are!” Ugh. The train-wreck that is Britney and K-Fed is still chuggin’ along, or so it seems. Youtube.com even has the performance, if you are so inclined to check it out. While bloggers and online posters with any speck of taste critiqued the rap debut, hip-hop folks were even less kind. Elliot Wilson, editor in chief of XXL magazine, made this comment: “I just think we ignore him. He’s a joke, basically. I just don’t think he gets it. He doesn’t get that he’s Britney’s man and it’s hard to take him seriously.” Time will tell if this live showing will have any positive impact on his record sales. The release of his album is set for October.
Read More | Yahoo! News
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