Archive: July 2009 (311-320 of 444)

Jul 13 2009 06:58 PM ET

Andy Rooney's '60 Minutes' piece yields key question: What is your favorite fruit?!

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Filed under: About Last Night, Food and Drink and tagged: , , , ,

Andy Rooney fixed his sights last night on an issue plaguing our nation, one that haunts us and confuses us each and every day: What is the deal with fruit?

"I think we would eat more fruit if we knew it was going to be any good when we bought it," Rooney says because total confusion is definitely the reason American diets are so effed. There are lots of serious issues about fruit, starting with OMG WTF is a papaya?!, and including the baffling concept that people work at grocery stores. "How'd you like to have the job of stacking fruit in a fruit store?" he chuckles. Also on Rooney's radar: Lemons are "one of the great fruits," melons are the money-sucking con-artists of the produce aisle, and green apples get DQ'd from the great fruit debate on account of being green!

Eight million people watched 60 Minutes last night, PopWatchers. We could marvel at that fact alone, but instead, we choose to spin this story forward in the comments section by asking you: What is your favorite fruit?

Jul 13 2009 06:45 PM ET

Twitterverse going nuts with Dunkleman jokes

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Filed under: American Idol and tagged: ,

Ryan Seacrest just signed a three-year contract estimated at $45 million for his continued American Idol hosting duties. Congrats to that stinkin' rich so-and-so. But! Before you, dear reader, attempt to make a joke, realize that everyone — truly, everyone — has beaten you to the Dunkleman punchline. Everyone on Twitter at least. Our favorite comes from @BrianLynch: "Sure Seacrest is getting 45 million dollars for doing AMERICAN IDOL, but half of that goes to Dunkleman via alimony payments." Oh, snap!

Jul 13 2009 06:33 PM ET

Ryan Reynolds as Green Lantern: Fine, but where's my Wonder Woman?

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Filed under: Movies and tagged: , , , , , ,

Ryan-renolds-green-lantern-casting_l Much has been made of the frenzied casting of Hal Jordan, the former fighter pilot who gets enlisted into an interstellar peacekeeping corps and protects Earth from enemies at home and abroad as Green Lantern. For, like, half an hour, it was the hottest role in Hollywood — names like Justin Timberlake, Bradley Cooper, Jared Leto were bandied around — and Ryan Reynolds snagged it. Hot off both his role as Deadpool in Wolverine (which showed he could walk the superhero walk) and Sandra Bullock's love interest in The Proposal (proving his cache with female audiences), Reynolds made sense. Plus, I think he's a decent actor, one who's come a long way from Van Wilder.

But the apparent movement on Green Lantern has me asking another superhero movie question. It's not "How are they gonna explain to civilians the differences between Green Lantern and Seth Rogen's Green Hornet?" or "What's gonna happen to the Deadpool spin-off?" or "Why didn't they give the role to Nathan Fillion, who'd have crushed it?" No, I want to know where that Wonder Woman movie is.

Here's a character you don't have to educate the layperson about, one who has immediate name recognition, and one who still stands as a feminine icon. Plus, she's one of DC Comics' "trinity" — along with Superman and Batman, she stands as a pillar of that universe; a heavy-hitter in every comic book she appears in. Joss Whedon was tapped to bring her to life a few years back, but that went…badly. Since he left the project, it's just been lying fallow.

Money on the table, if you ask me. If you cast that movie right, get a creative team passionate about the character, and put some promotional muscle behind it, the potential is there for a Wonder Woman film to make more money than four Green Lanterns put together. And, not to be chauvinistic, but from a body-part marketing perspective, abs will always be trumped by boobs.

Which would you rather see? Green Lantern or Wonder Woman? And was Reynolds a good choice?

Jul 13 2009 04:27 PM ET

Sci-fi Hotties of '09 Update: Summer Glau, Jensen Ackles in the lead

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Sci-fi-hotties_l We interrupt your regularly scheduled Monday to bring you this update on EW's Sci-fi Hotties of '09 polls. Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles' Summer Glau is currently topping the ladies' list with 35 percent of the vote. Smallville's Erica Durance sits in second place with 16 percent. (WALL-E's Eve, for the record, finds herself in 10th — behind Lost's Evangeline Lilly but in front of Terminator Salvation's Moon Bloodgood. Ouch.)

Supernatural's Jensen Ackles, meanwhile, is dominating the men's side, with 44 percent of the vote, followed by my pick Star Trek's Zachary Quinto (19 percent).

Make your voice heard — or just look at the hot photos — by clicking here for the ladies gallery and here for the men.

Come back to EW.com on Tuesday, when we unveil the candidates for Action Hotties of '09, and on Thursday, when we name our Comedy Hotties hopefuls.

Jul 13 2009 04:17 PM ET

'Harry Potter' fans: Accio fun stuff!

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I went to a Harry Potter-themed improv comedy show Saturday night, and it was great — Slytherin vs. Griffyndor, aaaaaall kinds of Hogwarts jokes, a “ghost of Cedric Diggory” bit that was met with cries of “too soon,” etc. It was a big ole nerdcon, and I felt at home among my people, which got me thinking about why I geek out so hard on Harry Potter stuff. And I’ve decided that it’s all your fault.

In a good way! Harry Potter fans seem to be an unusually creative people. Yeah, we have a lot of material to work from, but people are making golden snitch pasties (SFW) for goodness sake. Are other fandoms doing that? Inquiring nipples want to know. Remember the Harry Potter musical? The entire genre of “wizard rock”? There was a Harry Potter PostSecret this weekend, proving that our favorite junior wizard saves lives, and there’s the What Would Dumbledore Do? philanthropic movement to “carry on his lessons on the importance of laughter and playfulness, working for equality, speaking up about the real issues, allowing oneself to grieve, to trust, and most of all to acknowledge love as the only rational act.” Amazing.

Is this my imagination, PopWatchers, or have you noticed a delightful abundance of Harry Potter fan-made awesomeness, too? Are you a mere observer, or have you created some Harry Potter works of art?

Jul 13 2009 03:26 PM ET

Jackson family reality show: Good idea?

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Jackson-family_l Today, The Hollywood Reporter reported that A&E had been shooting a reality show — tentatively titled The Jackson Family — which followed Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon, and Randy Jackson as they prepared to release a new album and launch a tour. (The one-hour special the network had already filmed would serve as a "backdoor pilot" for a series.) Of course, since all the footage had been shot prior to Michael Jackson's death, one has to imagine that the network will have to somehow amend the program to acknowledge the obvious tragedy within the family. (A&E has yet to return EW's calls.) Though I would be intrigued by a special boasting new interviews with the family about the recent, tragic changes in their lives, an entire series balancing on Jackson's death would seem a bit unsettling. No doubt, A&E would score an enormous ratings boost with a show like this, and they do have a history of airing a somewhat classier brand of reality show than those on, say, E! (Then again, it IS the same network that aired Dog the Bounty Hunter.) Still, with all the over-saturation regarding Jackson's death, maybe A&E should simply shelve the idea for a while, and allow the family to grieve behind the cameras for once.

Your thoughts, PopWatchers? Does the idea of a Jackson reality show make you queasy? Or do you think A&E would handle it as yet another fitting tribute to the late King of Pop? Would you want a show like this to focus on all Michael, all the time, or would you like to see it take a different direction?

More Michael Jackson:
A&E Jackson reality show: What now?
Michael Jackson dies at age 50
MJ memorial: See it on our live blog
LaToya Jackson claims Michael Jackson was murdered
Ken Tucker: Mariah Carey apologizes for her Michael Jackson memorial performance: Why did she do that?!

Jul 13 2009 10:21 AM ET

'Ruby' recap: A welcome change

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Filed under: About Last Night, Television and tagged: ,

Since The Biggest Loser isn’t returning until the fall, I’ve had to look elsewhere for my feel-good weight-loss show fix. After watching last night’s Ruby on the Style Network (I know, I’m a season late to the party), I think I’ve found it. The show, about an obese woman from Savannah, Ga. on a quest to get healthy and drop a few hundred pounds, is a nice respite from the continuous competition-based series. It’s really refreshing to see someone trying to get healthy for her own sake, and not because she wants to beat someone out for a million dollars.

Last night’s episode featured a trainer showdown, the likes of which BL has never seen. Ruby, having become bored with her usual workout regime of treadmill, weights, repeat, saw a so-called ”fitness guru” recommended by her doctor to shake up her routine and suggest some exercises that would be less stressful on her bad knees. When she brought up the new ideas from the “guru” (they kept calling him that, and I kept thinking about that terrible Mike Myers movie), her trainers, Erin and Reese, freaked out. Erin even said, “There’s a special place in hell for him, I’m certain of it.” Yikes.

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Jul 13 2009 02:29 AM ET

Must List Live!: Who's the hotter 'True Blood' vampire, Bill or Eric?

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Blond or brunette? Cold and calculating, or proper and polite? Walking dead or, uh…walking dead? Watching True Blood’s Eric and Bill verbally spar in a Dallas hotel bar tonight got us thinking—which one of these guys is a hotter vampire? (We’re guessing Sookie and Lafayette have a definite preference.) Today on Must List Live!, Jessica Shaw and I weigh the pros and cons of the two badass bloodsuckers, and pick a side. Sink your teeth into the video below and see if you agree, then check out Ken Tucker’s reaction to the latest episode.

Jul 12 2009 11:33 PM ET

Goodbye forever, 'Eli Stone,' but here's to burn-off programming

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Filed under: Television and tagged:

Eli-stone_dl Last night, ABC aired the very last Eli Stone, and I'm one of a tuh-huh-huh-iiiiny number of people who gives a crapola. But I liked that show! I need more whimsy in my life, and whimsical lawyering is perhaps the very best kind of lawyering. The finale, while not my favorite episode of the often compelling series, provided some nice resolution for Eli and his dad, and I finally grew to like Jordan and Matt's smarmy relationship, just in time for the show to fully vanish. Alas, alas.

As it happens, Eli Stone isn't the only show that was canned months ago with left over episodes still turning up on the network's airwaves: Earlier this season, ABC burned off remaining episodes of Pushing Daisies, which was much sadder because that was a better canned show. Even as someone who consumes lots of TV online, watching the final episodes on the Internet just isn't the same for me. Plus there's, oh, a big fat nothing on TV a lot nights this summer, so padding my TiVo with the last episodes of gone-but-not-forgotten-series is a relief, a welcome oasis from the brutal desert of summer reality shows.

Ideally, our favorite shows would never be canceled, but until the unicorns overthrow the patriarchy, I'll settle for a burn-off schedule. Are you with me, PopWatchers? Do you want the finale episodes of your canceled-but-loved shows to air sometime, anytime, please oh please? Or do you prefer just waiting for the DVDs?

Jul 12 2009 04:50 PM ET

'Drop Dead Diva' star Brooke Elliott: Three reasons we're loving her

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Filed under: Television and tagged: ,

On Lifetime’s new series Drop Dead Diva (premieres tonight at 9 p.m. ET), superficial model Deb (Brooke D’Orsay) dies and her soul returns to Earth in the plus-size body of brilliant attorney Jane, played by Broadway vet Brooke Elliott. As “Jane’s” internal brains vs. beauty battle rages, the winner is clearly Elliott, who effortlessly embodies both. Watch the preview below, then find out three other reasons we’re already fans of Elliott…

• She was a member of the Chicago-based theater company Babes with Blades, whose productions showcase the strength, vitality, and proficiency of women in the art of stage combat. “The show I did with them, they took a scene from The Miracle Worker, a scene from Heathers, and a scene from Robin Hood,” she says. “In Robin Hood, I did quarterstaff fighting. In Heathers, we did all hand-to-hand, so it’s punching, Aikido rolls, and hair-pulling, of course. And they created a brilliant fight for the dinner table scene in The Miracle Worker. It was so fantastic.” Will we get to see her using that skill set on Drop Dead Diva? “I don’t get to do my stage combat, although I’ll talk to [creator] Josh Berman about it, because I would love to,” she says.

• She’s appropriately giddy when naming the guest stars who’ve already lined up to be on her show. “I love Delta Burke! I just did a scene with Liza Minnelli, and I was like [sings] I’m in a scene with Liza!” Burke and Minnelli play a pair of psychic sisters. Rosie O’Donnell, who gave Elliott her Broadway debut when she produced the Boy George musical Taboo, will recur as a judge. Other guests include Tim Gunn, Nia Vardalos, Kathy Najimy, Teri Polo, Jorja Fox, Chuck Woolery, Sharon Lawrence, Mark Moses, Diedrich Bader, and Paula Abdul (who appears in a midseason dream sequence in which Elliott shows off her singing voice). ”The list is truly mind-boggling,” Elliott says. “I feel like it’s a testament to the worth of this show, that it’s a message that they also want to get out. At first glance, it focuses on the weight aspect of Deb trying to settle into Jane’s body and dealing with how differently she’s treated and how differently she feels about herself, but that’s only one aspect of self-acceptance. This show is so much more. It’s something that everyone can relate to.”

• She’s as crazy as we are when it comes to The Bachelorette. We found this out when she stopped by our office last Wednesday. “I didn’t see it Monday! I didn’t see it Monday! So don’t tell me what happened! I didn’t see it! It’s DVR’d! Ohmygod, did something big happen? Oh god, I can’t handle it! Ugh! Oh, don’t tell me! Don’t tell me!” She’s less embarrassed to admit that she’s a fan of The Office, 30 Rock, Grey’s Anatomy, The Biggest Loser and American Idol. “I did Wicked with Adam Lambert, so I was a big pusher for Adam this season,” she says. “I was like, Right, that’s Adam’s voice, and yet, at the exact same time, I was like, He’s unreal. I already know how he sings, but it gets me every time.”

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