Archive: March 2009 (381-390 of 518)

Mar 9 2009 07:00 PM ET

'Twilight' poll: Dakota Fanning is Jane, who should be Alec?

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Dakotafanning_lNow that Dakota Fanning’s casting as vampire Jane in the Twilight sequel New Moon is official, we can resume our discussion about who should be cast as her bloodsucker brother Alec in a manner so serious that the PopWatcher who posts as "Sgt. Hatred" will be forced to once again comment, "This article, fans of this series and any others involved in it are the cancer that is killing worthwhile entertainment." Keep in mind that actors can play younger than their age, dye their hair, and survive a Disney career — and vote in our reader-generated poll below.

 

More ‘Twilight’:
‘Twilight’: Dakota Fanning will star in ‘New Moon’
‘Twilight’: If Dakota Fanning is Jane, who should be Alec?
‘Twilight’ star Robert Pattinson talks ‘New Moon’ at the Oscars
‘Twilight’ stars, Dakota Fanning talk ‘New Moon’
Dakota Fanning offered role in ‘New Moon’
‘Twilight’: Taylor Lautner keeping Jacob role
‘Twilight’ sequel: New details on ‘New Moon’
‘Twilight’ sequel: Chris Weitz to direct ‘New Moon’
Twilight sequel: Who would you recast?
Twilight Trivia Challenge
Twilight: The EW Photo Album
EW’s Twilight Headquarters

Mar 9 2009 05:52 PM ET

'Bones' star David Boreanaz brought in for PopWatch reader questioning!

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Bones_lFox’s Bones returns Thursday, March 12, with a run of 11 straight new episodes, the first of which puts David Boreanaz (Special Agent Seeley Booth) in the director’s chair. (The episode is called "The Bones That Foam" — already promising. Watch a clip below.) On March 11, Boreanaz will find himself in the hot seat when he sits down with PopWatch to answer your questions about the show. So, post ‘em below. They can be specific (finally, I we will get to the bottom of Booth’s beer helmet!), general (see: our continuing debate on the importance of character and case), or futile (how are we you going to get him talking about Ausiello’s latest spoiler?).

Submit your question(s) by noon ET Wednesday. Come back Thursday for his responses.

More Bones:
Ausiello’s Bones scoop
PopWatch’s Bones coverage
David Boreanaz takes the EW Pop Culture Personality Test

Mar 9 2009 05:45 PM ET

Yeah Yeah Yeahs' new 'Zero' video: What do you think?

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You may already have heard that the NYC art-rockers’ latest record was bumped from an April 14 release to March 10. Why? As they put it themselves on their website: "The cat’s out of the bag after It’s Blitz! escaped from our clutches into the big bad world last week…Leaks are NO FUN but it’s out of our hands."

That means the new video for lead single "Zero" (one of five new spring tracks we recently wrote up) drops only a day before the album does, digitally. It’s exclusive to AOL’s Spinner blog for now, so you can watch the clip here. It’s a pretty straightforward performance piece, basically "all the world’s a stage," with Karen O and Co. taking the song to the nighttime streets of San Francisco. But O tells Spinner that two of her personal favorite videos are the all-time icon "Thriller" (not embeddable, but you can always watch it on YouTube) and Bjork’s nouveau-classic "All Is Full of Love" (embedded below). Clearly, "Zero" is not in the same category of either wildly ambitious clip, but can you sense the influence anywhere in the YYYs catalog? What do you think of "Zero"? Does it have you psyched for the new record?

Bjork, "All Is Full of Love"

Mar 9 2009 05:39 PM ET

Ashlee Simpson on 'Melrose': Sydney 2.0

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Ashleesimpson_lAshlee Simpson is headed to Melrose Place. Um, yay?  I’ve already expressed some of my trepidation about the new show, and the addition of Mrs. Wentz doesn’t necessarily bode well. Not that her work on 7th Heaven wasn’t dandy, just…she’s a better reality star than she is actress. But that’s okay because…

Simpson will be playing Violet, "a character whose disarming naivete masks the calculating, shrewd sex kitten within," according to EW’s own Michael Ausiello. Sound familiar, fans of old-school, original blend, real thing Melrose Place? Sydney. This is me heaving a sigh of relief because Ashlee Simpson is already Sydney from Melrose Place. So no real acting required. Behold:

• Older, blonder sister, whose perfect-seeming marriage eventually crumbled
Check and check.

• Often finds herself under the creepy control of other people
Sydney joined a cult in the third season, lured to its compound by her roommate Rikki (Traci Lords, never better). Ashlee has Papa Joe Simpson.

• Had a wedding that raised some eyebrows
Sydney’s blackmail-induced wedding to Michael — his second of four marriages on the series; Syd’s first of two — made us all feel terrible for poor, sad, older sister Jane. His first wife. Ashlee’s black eyeliner–bedecked shotgun wedding to rocker Pete Wentz, while ethically sound, was still kind of weird, perhaps because Simpson’s father officiated.

• A long list of different jobs
Sydney’s jobs: prostitute, stripper, con artist, a work-release gig that made Jane her boss, etc. Ashlee’s: nose, dye.

All righty, PopWatchers: Does Simpson’s casting make you more or less excited for this project?

More ‘Melrose Place’ reboot:
Ausiello: Ashlee Simpson moves into ‘Melrose Place’
Three reasons I’m concerned about the new version of ‘Melrose Place’
Ausiello: The CW planning ‘Melrose Place’ reboot

Mar 9 2009 05:39 PM ET

Clip du jour: 'Forrest Gump' in One Minute, in One Take

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Sure, the accent’s a little off, but that in no way diminishes how awesome it is:

Mar 9 2009 05:18 PM ET

Will 'Bachelor' dumpee Melissa get you to watch 'Dancing' tonight?

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Melissabachelor_l Shine that spotlight back on her lips; they’ll wither without it! Former Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader Melissa Rycroft will compete on ABC’s Dancing With the Stars instead of Nancy O’Dell. The Access Hollywood host backed out due to injury along with singer-songwriter Jewel, who’ll be replaced by The Girls Next Door‘s Holly Madison. Melissa and Holly will both compete in tonight’s two-hour premiere despite netting insufficient rehearsal time with their professional partners, Tony Dovolani and Dmitry Chaplin, respectively.

The emergence of Melissa’s "star" quality extends all the way back to last week, when she "won" The Bachelor only to get dumped minutes later on After The Final Rose by single father/highly functioning chimpanzee Jason Mesnick. (When asked to comment on Melissa’s new fame game, Jason told Extra, "I am so excited for Melissa. I know she has danced her whole life." That is categorically not what any DWTS viewer wants to hear, not that anybody wanted to hear from Jason anyway.)

Whether or not you consider Melissa Rycroft a star, this is a brilliant move byABC. Last week’s Bachelor finale scored the network its highest ratingsin the coveted adults 18-49 demographic in over two and a half years.The average age of a Dancing With the Stars viewer skews over 50.

At this point, I’m somewhat regretting my decision to abandon The Bachelor around the time Tooth Nazi performed her original rap, but I have complete faith that ABC will bestow us with cleverly edited clips of Melissa’s time on one reality show in a way that demands that we take pity on/vote for her in another. Will Melissa get you to tune in for Dancing With the Stars? And will she wear sequins or fringe tonight? The heart, it flutters.

Read more:
‘DWTS’: Who goes home when?
‘The Bachelor’ photo gallery: Where are they now?
Chris Harrison blogs ‘The Bachelor’ finale and ‘After the Final Rose’
‘The Bachelor’ recap: This is (not) your wife

Mar 9 2009 04:47 PM ET

'Celebrity Apprentice 2' recap: Comic-book madness -- EEE-gads!

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It’s all for charity. It’s all for charity. It’s all for charity.That’s got to be the mantra for any (ahem) self-respecting contestanton The Celebrity Apprentice. Why else would anyone endure thehumiliation of such a schlockfest? The egos, the idiocy…the egos. Itmakes for train-wreck TV that truly puts to the test the motto thatthere’s no such thing as bad publicity. That’s why it was so easy to settle into last night’s show: The firstsegment didn’t deal with the contestants and their personalities. Itshadowed Joan Rivers as she delivered the check from last week’s win toher charity, God’s Love We Deliver. Even a clearly manipulatedgoodwill tour such as this was a welcome counterbalance to the rest ofthe show. 

READ FULL STORY »

Mar 9 2009 04:45 PM ET

Pilot season: Is The CW hosting a 'Degrassi' reunion?

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Pilot_lThe CW has clearly found its go-to secret stash of plucky teens ripe for casting: Corporate cousin The N’s Degrassi! First they stole Shenae Grimes (formerly Degrassi’s resident Christian girl Darcy) for 90210, and now Nina Dobrev (model/cheerleader/mom Mia) is heading to that Kevin Williamson Twilight-for-TV drama Vampire Diaries, according to The Hollywood Reporter. She’ll play the lead, a girl caught in a love triangle with two (take that, Bella!) vampire brothers. Now can somebody give the delicious Jake Epstein (formerly Degrassi‘s manic-depressive rocker Craig) a job, please?

Sci-fi geeks, meanwhile, will be unequivocally thrilled (I think, though you never know with that crowd) to hear that Firefly‘s Morena Baccarin has landed a lead in ABC’s drama based on the seminal ’80s miniseries V. She’ll play Anna, the leader of the invading aliens known as the Visitors. Here’s to hoping that the casting of a Whedon-verse alum is a sign that this latest network TV attempt to capitalize on a beloved ’80s franchise won’t go the way of, say, Knight Rider.

So which castings are you most excited/deeply offended by? Do these stars make you more psyched for Vampire Diaries and V?

Mar 9 2009 04:15 PM ET

ShePop: Sarah Jessica Parker and Elisabeth Moss, together at last!

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Elizabethmosscasting_lElisabeth Moss and Sarah Jessica Parker are costarring in an upcoming romantic comedy called Did You Hear About the Morgans?, and as far as I’m concerned, that pairing couldn’t be more apropos. Not because I care so much about this particular movie itself (something about SJP and Hugh Grant being a high-powered couple who witness a murder and are banished by witness protection to a small town — hilarious culture clashes ensue, etc.). It’s because it puts Mad Men‘s Elisabeth Moss on-screen alongside her spiritual godmother, career-wise. Among the many cultural impacts of Sex and the City was its casting of not-totally-model-perfect women in roles that dared to be unlikable at times. (Even the biggest Carrie defenders spent a season or two wanting to punch her in the face. The Aidan breakup, for starters…). The trail of Emmy-bait women’s roles on cable TV leads right back to Ms. Bradshaw and friends, and none more so than Moss’ wonderfully complicated Peggy Olson, who’s nothing if not the ’50s/’60s embodiment of the SATC spirit. Turns out being a single career girl looking for love in the city wasn’t all pink drinks and pretty shoes then (it was more surprise childbirth and sexual harassment), and the sometimes-pretty-sometimes-not, sometimes-sympathetic-sometimes-not Moss renders the constrictions of the time perfectly. And suddenly a "whatever’ Hugh Grant movie has our attention…

What do you think of SJP and Elisabeth Moss teaming up? Does it make you more excited about Did You Hear About the Morgans?

Mar 9 2009 03:57 PM ET

Happy 50th birthday, Barbie!

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Barbie50_lIt’s that anatomically perfect, American icon’s 50th birthday today, and in honor of it, we’ve decided to dig up a few crazy facts (from Barbie’s official website) about the 11.5 inch-tall, 7.25-ounce doll to remind all of you out there just what kind of an impact Barbie has had on pop culture since her birth on March 9, 1959 at the International Toy Fair in New York:

• During her first year in stores, about 300,000 Barbies were sold at $3 a pop.

• The average price it would cost you to get one of those original dolls in good condition today: $27,450.

• Three Barbies are sold somewhere every second (and sales total around $1.5 billion a year). So just in the time it took you to read this sentence, about nine dolls were sent on their way home from the toy store.

• The best selling model ever? 1992′s Totally Hair Barbie. Yes, as in the one sporting a Pucci-inspired  mini-dress, hot pink stilettos, and hair flowing all the way down to her ankles. (I’ll admit it — I owned one! Only I’m the moron who cut her hair, thus negating her purpose in the first place.)

• In her 50 years, Barbie has tried out more than 108 different careers. Among my favorites: pet doctor, Miss America, and Rock Star.

• The toy has represented 50 nationalities thus far. That’s more than most TV networks can say.
Due to the fact that its used somewhere around 105 million yards of fabric to outfit Barbie, Mattel is considered one of the largest apparel manufacturers in the world.

• Barbie, it seems, spends more time at the "salon," than most females do: her hair is made up of seven shades of blonde, weaved together to get that token golden look.

• Ninety percent of little girls in the U.S. (ages 3 to 10) own at least one Barbie.
Still, being a fan of the doll herself isn’t limited by age: There are about 8 million Barbie collectors in the world today.

Basically, Blondie has ingrained a giant place in history for herself, and her popularity seems to be continuing to grow (there apparently are 1,000 YouTube channels dedicated to the girl. Who knew??). PopWatchers, do you hold a special place in your heart for Barbie as well? Or are you surprised at all of the above numbers because she’s, well, just a freaking doll?

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