The problem with networks taking shows off the air for months? Viewers realize they can live without it. The problem with Samantha Who? having a great final two episodes? Viewers realize just how much they'll miss it.
Melissa McCarthy (Dena), I'll miss your breezy delivery of lines that we ourselves could never get through: After Chase (Rick Hoffman) said he should be allowed to accompany Dena to Andrea's marrieds-only wedding because they are in a committed relationship, she answered, "Yes we are, unless I meet someone off my free-pass list, of course. Considering most of them are characters from Lord of the Rings, I think you're pretty safe." Priceless delivery. Love her. WHERE DENA ENDED UP: At the airport with Chase (and her dogs), destination unknown. He spiraled into an identity crisis after Dena finally let it slip that Samantha had suffered from amnesia, not a trip to rehab. If she could be the company's top performer without her memory, what did that say about her job? His job? He wanted them to get away and find out what's real.
By "brand new," I mean "badassier" (which was meant to mean "more badass," but ended up looking like a French word Tyra Banks would make up in her head and then over-pronounce as badass-ee-ay). Denzel Washington is a post-apocalyptic action hero in the new trailer for The Book of Eli. I'm told by a person who plays videogames that the Hughes brothers' new project, out in January 2010, is "so obviously the movie version of Fallout 3." Denzel seems rather Will Smithian with the "lone warrior out to save the world" job description and rugged swagger. I'm particularly digging his delivery of the line: "Put that hand on me again, you won't get it back." Honestly? It might be worth it.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, far away from pop culture, you know that Mrs. Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes, performed a tribute to Judy Garland on Fox’s dancefest competition So You Think You Can Dance last night. Party to celebrate the show’s 100th episode, partly to shill her new Dizzy Feet Foundation, partly for the universe’s critique. And, partly for reasons that we as viewers will probably never understand: Why would Mrs. Cruise put herself up for such scrutiny? (One guess could be that she’s gunning for a big Broadway role and wanted to impress some casting-type person.)
EW’s “dance-television critic” Annie Barrett summed up the performance perfectly in her TV Watch about last night’s show. “We watched Katie Holmes lip-sync her way through ‘Get Happy’ in a gam-orous tribute to Judy Garland,” she wrote. “Prior to this pre-recorded music video, Katie and Catty engaged in an interview that appeared to have taken place on the set of a 1992 Clearasil commercial.” Gam-orous! Her legs were on display! Get it?
In case you missed the performance and interview, take a gander at her gams (and her dancing) here:
One detail I’m obsessed with: Katie Holmes is apparently BFF with a chchoreographer on the show, Tyce Diorio. What?! Intriguing. Like, how’d they become friends? Is that common Katie Holmes knowledge I was never privy to before? Celebrities are always friends with the most other random (pseudo) celebrities. I should accept that as fact.
Anyway, the point of this all was to hear what you, the PopWatch universe, thought of Katie’s performance: Good? Bad? A slap in the face to Judy Garland? A slap in the face to Cat Deeley and Mary Murphy and all us Dance fans? Or were you pleasantly surprised by the homage? Do you think it should have been live, rather than pre-recorded? Tell us what you think!
Funnyman and current it-guy Zach Galifianakis was his typical goofy self on the Tonight Show last night, technically to promote G-Force, but mostly talking about the megahit moneymaker The Hangover. Come for the strangely sticking up hair, stay for the peeking-out ankles and boat shoes!
Unsurprisingly, Galifianakis had some bang-up one-liners: On being relatively bare around a real tiger: "The thing that makes you a male? It doesn't shrink. It goes into your small intestine." On being a party animal: "There are those mornings you wake up, and you're like, Where's my intervention?" On changing his look: "If I shaved my beard, I look like a fat Jodie Foster." Funny line, but he said the same thing to us back in June.
I'm crazygonuts about Galifianakis, but I couldn't shake the feeling that I'd seen this interview before. I guess we all recycle our best material, and Conan was covering some well-worn territory in the interview, but I was hoping for something a little fresher.
What'd you think, PopWatchers? How'd Zach do on The Tonight Show?
Okay, not quite. But this news is close: A concert version ofStar Wars is set to go on tour in North America starting Oct. 1 in Anaheim, Calif. Primarily a showcase for John Williams' scores, the two-hour-plus show is backed by George Lucas and will feature a live orchestra playing music from all six films as clips are projected on a giant screen. C-3PO himself, Anthony Daniels, will narrate the show live and there'll be an accompanying exhibit with costumes and props. It sounds like an intriguing venture, but I admit, my interest was more piqued when I first read the headline and thought someone was producing an actual musical version of Star Wars. (From the same makers as Spider-Man, perhaps?) Still, I'll concede that Lucas might be the only man in America who can find the sweet spot between Star Wars fans and symphony goers. What do you think? Would you buy a ticket to the symphony…to hear the "Emperor's Theme"?
WOW! I don’t know about you, but I have mental whiplash trying to keep up with all of this week’s events in the Big Brother house. I thought about a monster recap, but so many websites already do that (thank you, BB viewers and fans!), so I’ll go in a different direction. More observations and some recaps, but I'm also including actual quotes said by the Houseguests over the past week…example:
CHIMA on RELATIONSHIPS:"Never leave a relationship without a handbag."
What can I say…that statement is so off the charts that it made me laugh. Okay, overall, let’s face it…the clock was ticking on the amount of time it was going to take for Ronnie’s House of Cards to fall apart.
It was nice to see Big Brother 10 winner, Dan, back again to host the “Have/Have Not” Competition. I’m told he’s still living in Michigan and has been very responsible with his winnings. He’s looking at possible real estate opportunities, hoping to support their local economy…good for him! Regarding the competition, when Casey and Chima won the opportunity to screen the upcoming feature film, “The Ugly Truth,” I think the baby kicked when I saw all those sweets and could only imagine the sugar high those two must have been on! Personally, I haven't had any unusual cravings during my current pregnancy, but I think that's because I've always had a healthy appetite, and now is no different. Seeing those sweets, however, DID make me want a jumbo pack of red Twizzlers and a giant box of Milk Duds with an ice cold glass of skim milk.
You don't have to be at Comic-Con to participate in this poll, but it might help since you can catch each of the nominees in the flesh in San Diego. Tell us: Has the reign of Twilight's Edward Cullen finally come to end? Is the choice for hottest "new" vampire (sorry, Angel fans!) now between Bill and Eric on HBO's True Blood? Are you counting the days until the brothers begin duking it on The CW's The Vampire Diaries(premieres Sept. 10!)? Or is it BBC America's Being Human (premieres July 25!) being marked on your calendar? That show is about a vampire sharing a home with a werewolf and a female ghost. We're already wondering if a vamp would be able to have sex with a ghost — do ghosts have sex? — so don't count him out… Vote now!
"It is the most isolated landmass on the planet." And it's where we've been keeping Kate Beckinsale. Behold the trailer for Whiteout*, the upcoming thriller based on the graphic novel by Greg Rucka and Steve Lieber. As the first 30-some seconds pedantically inform us, this movie takes place in Antarctica. CGI! Explosions!
Beckinsale plays a U.S. Marshal who must solve the shocking mystery of the continent's first murder. But let's all be honest and say that the most important/only lingering element of that trailer is that Antarctica is not so cold and desolate that Kate Beckinsale cannot enjoy a nice hot shower. Collective sigh of relief, P-Dubs?
Peter Jackson held court at the Solamar Hotel in San Diego on Thursday, following an advance screening of Neill Blomkamp's gritty South African sci-fi flick District 9. While celebration of the $30 million film was the reason for the gathering ("We live in a world where $30 million is a small amount of money," Jackson said), the prolific New Zealand director opined on the numerous projects filling up his busy schedule. What's most pressing? The first Hobbit script. Jackson and his writing partners, director Guillermo del Toro, Philippa Boyens, and Fran Walsh, will deliver the first of the two Hobbit scripts to the studios in the next three weeks. As for casting, Jackson said, "We don't have a budget. We don't have a green light. We can't offer any actors roles til then."
Jackson had a little more to offer with The Lovely Bones, including a sneak peek at the film. The film's trailer debuts on Aug. 7 with Sony's Julie and Julia, but yesterday Jackson showed a 4 1/2 minute clip of the movie, which tells the devastating tale of 14-year old's Susie Salmon's murder. But rather than highlighting the morose, depressing aspects of the story, Jackson attempted to create more of a thriller-type feeling focused on Susie, played by Saoirse Ronan, the lively protagonist. "She's wonderfully funny," says Jackson. "She feels no self pity and makes ironic, wry observations." We also learned that when Jackson created Susie's heaven, in a 1973 world, he went through the Partridge Family television show archives as a reference.
"You've slipped into my life as easily as vermouth into a glass of gin: Quickly, and just a bit too smooth. Your life is a locked file cabinet of dark, ugly secrets. I have it on excellent authority, by way of every hair-burner in West Hollywood, that the favors you receive are not only courtesy of the ladies, but les garçons as well." –Angela Arden (Charles Busch) taunting highly paid jeee-go-lo Tony Parker (Jason Priestley) in Die, Mommie, Die! (Jump ahead to the 3:21 mark to watch the camp brilliance unfold!)
