I love a diva. So when I saw that Fuse was doing a special titled Top 20 Divas earlier this evening at 6 p.m., I immediately set my DVR to record. Truly, I had no idea what I was getting into: Would this be a video countdown with commentary? A VH1-style special that features talking heads—and sometimes the divas themselves—discussing what makes these Top 20 divas so damned special? A mix of the two?
Well, come to find out, it was just literally 20 videos from divas. But, honestly, it was one of the weirdest countdowns I’ve ever seen. To start with, let’s take a look at the show’s Top 20:
As all you regular Ugly Betty Bites readers know, I’ve been absolutely loving Ugly Betty lately. And last night’s episode is getting just as much love from me—the Mode staff’s trip to the Bahamas was fabulous and fun! Lots of it left me looking just as stunned as Marc and Amanda do in the photo above. Especially that amazing sequence where the camera panned through the bedrooms of all the couples that had hooked up at the end of the episode. I won’t spoil it for those of you who haven’t watched yet, but just know the whole thing was super, super good.
And I loved Shakira’s appearance, too! She’s so cute and flirty, and the music of hers that the producers used was well picked. But, we’re here for the best bites of the night—not to debate the merits of Shakira! So here were my favorite one-liners from the episode:
“Unitards don’t really scream sexy. More like 1970s magician.” —Daniel, after Betty presents a feature idea focused around unitard swimsuits
“This will be my last shoot at Mode. I’ve told you many times before that people will die at my hands if things are not perfect. And this time, I ain’t playin’.” —Willy, while planning her last photo shoot in the Bahamas
“Do I look like a girl?” —Willy, after Marc suggests that they talk about her recent issues like girlfriends
“One of the only c-words in the English language never used to describe you. The other one’s ‘cuddly.’” —Marc, after Willy asserts that she is not “cheap”
Looking for something else? Check out the EW.com Stage hub for up-to-date news and reviews; or consult this handy guide below, which includes links to all of our stage reviews of current shows. (Note: The reviews are typically of the show’s original casts.)
BROADWAY
The Addams Family — Musical; opens 2010
After Miss Julie — Drama starring Sienna Miller; opened 10/22/2009 – 12/6/2009; EW grade: C
Billy Elliot — Musical; opened 11/13/08; EW grade: B+
Burn the Floor — Musical; opened 8/3/09 – 2/14/2010; EW grade: A-
Bye Bye Birdie — Musical Revival starring John Stamos; opened 10/15/2009 – 1/24/2010; EW grade: C+
John Fincher sure made some curious moves in his last days on Survivor: Samoa. He refused to pull rocks in a tiebreaker, refused to share pie with his tribemates, and refused all forms of logic by making an alliance with the most untrustworthy person in the game, Russell. Now, the 25-year-old rocket scientist explains the method behind his madness as he joins Eliza Orlins (Vanuatu, Micronesia) and me on the latest edition of Survivor Talk. Does he regret not going to a tiebreaker? Does he wake up in the middle of the night and punch himself for not bidding higher for the auctioned-off immunity challenge advantage? And the pie? Seriously? He answers these questions and more, while also issuing public challenges to both Jaison and Dave Ball. Watch all the exciting action go down below. And then, to get all the Survivor scoop sent directly to ya, hop on over to Twitter (can you hop in cyberspace?) and follow me @EWDaltonRoss .
Variety reported yesterday that Johnny Depp, one of our recently anointed Entertainers of the Decade, is in negotiations to star in Seven Friends of Pancho Villa and the Woman With Six Fingers, a Spanish-language biopic of the Mexican revolutionary.
Depp is a famous chameleon, able to slip in and out of distinct roles so well that I sometimes have difficulty realizing it’s him (call it a lack of Depp perception – ha!), but does he have it in him to play another nationality in another language? Especially a character as iconic as Villa? I have faith in the actor, and I think he might make a rather neat-o bandito, but I’m also haunted by images of a man-tanned Charlton Heston playing a Mexican official no more Mexican than Moses in Orson Welles’ otherwise-masterpiece Touch of Evil.
Depp clearly possesses more versatility than Heston’s jamón-ing it up, and I suspect his performance might end up more comparable to Marlon Brando’s role as an equally famous South of the Border revolutionary in Viva Zapata! Plus, Depp has already tried playing an iconic Hispanic character whose name rhymes with “Ancho” in Terry Gilliam’s ill-fated Don Quixote movie, for what that’s worth. We should also keep in mind that Seven Friends is set to be directed by Emir Kusturica, the quirky two-time Palme d’Or-winning Serbian filmmaker who previously worked with Depp on 1993’s Arizona Dream. Kusturica’s films tend to dabble heavily in magicalrealism, so an American-accented Pancho Villa of questionable ethnicity might end up being the least strange thing about the film. Personally, I’m psyched to see the two of them back together after Dream, which was as delightfully weird throughout as the brief but crabtacularly surreal sequences in the third Pirates.
Depp has stated that he is slightly Cherokee, which may be what gives him that vague swarthiness that Hollywood producers love to take as license to cast actors as any ethnicity imaginable. It might also give him some justification for his possible turn as Tonto in Jerry Bruckheimer’s The Lone Ranger adaptation, or help to explain The Brave, although I’m not sure anything can really explain that movie.
What do you think? Is Depp good enough as an actor to play a convincing Eleanor Roosevelt, let alone Pancho Villa, or is there a better choice for the role? Should actors try to avoid playing other ethnicities and nationalities, or is that why they call it “acting”?
I wish I knew how this fit in exactly with Google’s world-domination strategy — or at least with Google Wave? — but for now I settle for sending a surprise snail-mail greeting. Please tell me you have a hilarious scheme that involves postcard-sending, PopWatchers.
Jersey Shore is like The Real World, but filled with super-skanky folks of Italian descent who want nothing more than to tan, drink, and hook up. What’s wrong with that? And, in this instance, just like The Real World, the people depicted on screen are there—tanned skinned, “juiced” muscles, gelled hair and all—on their own accord. These seemingly silly “guidos and guidettes” (their words, not mine) aren’t being forced to do anything—MTV just brought its cameras and let them do their thing. READ FULL STORY »
Anyone else feel like Lifetime doesn’t understand what a draw Cougar Town‘s Josh Hopkins is? He costars in 12 Men of Christmas (premieres Saturday, 9 p.m. ET) with Kristin Chenoweth, not that the network makes a big deal about it in the art (see him in a little ornament like he’s just one of the guys and not the leading man) or in the trailer, which yes, does feature him shirtless at :14, but doesn’t bother to name drop him.
I’ll admit that I only knew Hopkins as “Grayson on Cougar Town, who used to be on Swingtown” until he made our recent list of TV’s Best Bitches. But after I learned his name, I typed it in YouTube and spent 54 minutes watching him in old episodes of Cold Case (I recommend this and this) and Private Practice (thank you, AddieFan2008 for compiling his scenes in five parts).
Is Hopkins the reason you’ll tune in for 12 Men of Christmas (which we’ll be discussing Sunday on PopWatch, of course)?Or, like me, are you also a sucker for any movie that has a jaded city girl finding herself when she moves to the country — in this case, Montana, where she takes a PR job and tries to convince the men of an underfunded volunteer search-and-rescue team to pose semi-naked for a calendar to raise money for a new helicopter? Okay, I do sorta cringe reading that back…but watching the video below that has Hopkins (“Mr. December”) talking about modeling in chaps, and “Mr. May” Jessie Pavelka looking criminally hot, and My Girl‘s Anna Chlumskly working (yay!), I don’t really care.
It’s Friday afternoon, the weekend is upon us, and my dear mother, Judi Fratamico, has a message for you all. It concerns this past Sunday’s episode of Dexter. Here is what she has to say (spoiler alert if you haven’t seen that episode yet):
“Doesn’t anybody at EW do a Dexter blog? I need to let everyone know that there are no basements in Florida. And I’m not referring to the bomb shelter, but to the homeless family hiding in the basement of the empty house. Really now!!!”
The scene in question arrives approximately 32 minutes into the hour, when our eponymous serial-killer-of-bad-guys ventures into an underground room hoping to find Scott Smith (the kid Trinity kidnapped for nefarious purposes), only to discover a mother and two kids squatting the place. Trinity and Scott, meanwhile, were holed up in the aforementioned bomb shelter. Now, I’m sure that there are a handful of basements scattered across the Sunshine State, but they are as rare as silver unicorns, thanks to the high water table. They’re especially uncommon in Dexter’s hometown of Miami, which is essentially one big beach. So my mom, who lived in Sarasota most of her life before moving back north recently and was, for a time, more obsessed with South Florida real estate than she now is with Dexter, makes an excellent point. Basically, our guy stumbled upon a four-leaf clover in the form of a bungalow. Maybe that’s why that homeless lady was hiding out there! To tap into its magical powers of good luck!
Anyone else notice this sort-of goof last weekend? Or are you, like my colleague Tanner Stransky, reading this and asking yourself, “Who the hell cares about that much hair-splitting?”
Blake Lively is hosting SNL tomorrow, and the two current promos lay out what could happen on the show: Silly, goofy Samberg-iness,or just awkward talk about How Darn Pretty the host is. Please go with option A:
I love a diva. So when I saw that Fuse was doing a special titled Top 20 Divas earlier this evening at 6 p.m., I immediately set my DVR to record. Truly, I had no idea what I was getting into: Would this be a video countdown with commentary? A VH1-style special that features talking heads—and sometimes the divas themselves—discussing what makes these Top 20 divas so damned special? A mix of the two?
Cute promotion alert: 
