Archive: May 2010 (341-350 of 596)

May 12 2010 06:01 PM ET

What should 'Cougar Town' be called instead?

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Filed under: Food and Drink, Television and tagged: , , , ,

In an interview with HitFix, Cougar Town creator Bill Lawrence expressed distaste for the comedy’s title. “I’d like to (change it), and the studio has been talking about it…partly as a result of common sense and partly from their research,” he said. “They find too many instances of testing of people saying they would never watch a show called Cougar Town — ‘I don’t want to see some show about a 40-year-old woman nailing younger guys’ — and then they screen an episode, and people go, ‘Oh, I would watch this show.” Unfortunately for Lawrence, an ABC rep tells EW there are “no immediate plans to change the name.”

Regardless, the title Cougar Town has always made me die inside a little, so I’ve come up with some alternate options: Top It Off (pictured), Wining and Whining, Busy Philipps is the Greatest, It’s Really All About Sex, Oh S— I Have a Baby?, and Situations. EW’s Tanner Stransky and I both believe there needs to be a show — or at least a bar — simply called Situations. Because it’s always a situation, you know? Everything.

I also like People‘s suggestion of The Family Jules. Nominate your potential Cougar Town re-titles in the comments!

Annie on Twitter: @EWAnnieBarrett

May 12 2010 05:56 PM ET

'Lost': Dead characters speak from the grave!

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Filed under: Lost, Television and tagged: ,

Harold-Perrineau-lostDeath by shooting. Death by stabbing. Death by explosion. Death by chocolate. There are thousands of ways to die, and we’ve seen a bunch of them on Lost. (Except for the chocolate one. That’d be sweet.) With so many characters biting the big one over the years, we decided to gather our dearly departed for a cool photograph that would be featured in EW’s Lost special issue, which is currently on newsstands. Those able to resurrect themselves for the occasion were: Ian Somerhalder (Boone), Harold Perrineau (Michael), Elizabeth Mitchell (Juliet), Rebecca Mader (Charlotte), William Mathoper (Ethan), Cynthis Watros (Libby) Mira Furlan (Rousseau), Marsha Thomason (Naomi), and Daniel Roebuck (Arzt). In addition, John Young and I interviewed the actors about their demise. Highlights from those interviews appear in the magazine, as well as in the video after the jump. And check out this gallery of photo outtakes from the shoot. READ FULL STORY »

May 12 2010 05:25 PM ET

V: The most right-wing show on TV?

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Filed under: Television and tagged: , , , ,

v-obamaImage Credit: Bob D'Amico/ABC; Janet Mayer/PR PhotosThis season of V is drawing to a close — the finale is next Tuesday — and I’m still waiting for the queen alien to gulp down a live guinea pig, the way the reptilian Visitors did in the original 1983 ABC miniseries.  But the more I watch, the more I realize there’s something else happening on the new V besides the classic extraterrestrial invasion plotline. On the original miniseries, the aliens would peel away their human faces to reveal the lizard underneath. In this new version, the face beneath the mask looks more like Barack Obama’s. Indeed, V may just be the most wildly paranoid and insanely reactionary TV show since Glenn Beck got a time slot on Fox News. Stick with me here. READ FULL STORY »

May 12 2010 05:09 PM ET

'Happy Town': See you soon. Or not.

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Filed under: Television and tagged:

happytownImage Credit: Bob D'Amico/ABCWhen news broke yesterday that ABC would be pulling Happy Town after tonight’s episode for the rest of May Sweeps — the show is scheduled to return June 2, with the first of five remaining episodes — I wasn’t surprised. Ratings aside, I’d seen the first two episodes and had no idea what was happening on the show. When I told that to star Geoff Stults (newly-appointed sheriff Tommy Conroy) before the drama’s premiere, he said that was the proper response: “It’s not CSI, where at the end of the episode, you’re like, ‘Oh, that was the killer.’ That’s not what we’re going for. We want people to be along for the ride.” He said the writers had thought about how to create a slow-build mystery that still gives people enough to get them invested so they keep coming back. That’s why starting with tonight’s third episode, we’d be given “mini resolutions to things” in each hour — culminating in the identity of the Magic Man in episode 8.

If that’s true, and tonight’s episode improves, it’s a shame ABC pulled it. Whatever momentum the show did have — even if it was the horsepower of a Moped — will be gone by June. ABC has angered the fans who were committed. To quote an IM I received yesterday: “Happy Town was pulled??? It’s a freaking mystery they promoted the hell out of. NOT FAIR PULLING IT.” All I can do is hope that said friend sticks it out. I have the same problem with Happy Town that I had with the creators’ October Road — the dialogue just isn’t tight or clever enough to keep my interest, no matter how much I like the actors involved. I was counting on her to tell me how it all ends.

Will you stick with Happy Town now, hope that a friend does, or totally cut and run?

Read more: Geoff Stults talks Happy Town



May 12 2010 04:57 PM ET

'Music By Prudence' to air on HBO tonight. Time to put all that Oscar drama behind us and focus on the film!

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Filed under: Movies and tagged: , ,

Roger-Ross-WilliamsImage Credit: Craig Sjodin/ABCHey, PopWatchers, remember this? That WTF moment during the Oscars when Music By Prudence producer Elinor Burkett pulled a Kanye and interrupted director Roger Ross Williams while he was accepting the award for best documentary short? (Burkett told EW in March that the duo, who had been feuding due to creative conflict over the film, had not discussed which would speak on stage if the documentary had won, and she stepped up in order to thank the film’s subjects: “There’s this assumption that [Roger] had more of a right to speak than I did. His Oscar is not bigger than my Oscar.”)

Well, hopefully we can put all the drama behind us, now that we’ll get the opportunity to actually focus on the film behind it all. Tonight, at 8 p.m. ET, HBO is airing the documentary short, which follows Prudence Mabhena, a Zimbabwean singer who suffers from a disability called anthrogryposis. And based on the trailer — embedded below — the short is a must-see. Though the teaser doesn’t give away much, we see enough to know we’ll all be suffering from inspiration overload. Says Prudence about her art and her fellow band members, who all suffer from some form of disability: “My music comes from my heart. We share the same things. So we compliment each other.” Sob! READ FULL STORY »

May 12 2010 04:36 PM ET

Little girls tackle 'Single Ladies'; make me extremely uncomfortable

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Miley, you’ve got nuthin’ on these girls. I’ll admit that these little single ladies, who are supposedly seven, have some serious dance skills. But if little girls must gyrate on stage, is it absolutely essential they wear midriff tops? (Todders & Tiaras fans nod yes.) Even Beyoncé and her back-up dancers were more covered up than this!

That being said, I’m glad these gals are “Single Ladies,” because seven is far too young to have a boyfriend.

P.S. How much is Teresa Giudice’s Gia wishing she was part of this? [Buzzfeed] READ FULL STORY »

May 12 2010 04:01 PM ET

Why Beyonce should play Wonder Woman

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beyonce-is-wonderwomanImage Credit: Kent Miller/PR Photos; DC ComicsCasting a superhero is a tricky. The actor has to personify a character with decades of history, but also look fantastic in skimpy attire. (Most of the best mainstream comics ever made could easily be subtitled “Muscular People with Personal Problems.”) Christian Bale and Robert Downey Jr. have done it, but there’s a whole graveyard of Brandon Rouths and Jennifer Garners who tried and failed. Playing a superhero is just plain hard, but it also has to be fun. And that’s why, when the time comes to finally cast the long-developed Wonder Woman movie, there’s only one real choice to play the Amazon: Beyoncé Knowles.

READ FULL STORY »

May 12 2010 04:00 PM ET

Please apologize, 'Newsweek.' Quickly.

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Filed under: Glee, Movies, Television and tagged: , , , , ,

In a most egregious example of opening one’s mouth and inserting an entire typewriter, Newsweek‘s Ramin Setoodeh notoriously used his criticism of Sean Hayes in the Broadway production of Promises, Promises to conclude that openly gay actors are nearly incapable of playing straight characters. The subsequent outrage has been furious, with Glee creator Ryan Murphy recently urging a boycott of Newsweek until the magazine delivers a sufficient apology. My guess is that a well-crafted mea culpa is forthcoming, but the only thing nearly as anachronistic as Setoodeh’s bizarre soft-bigotry is a boycott of Newsweek, which currently has the same number of subscribers that it had in 1966. The news magazine lost $28.1 million last year, and last week, The Washington Post Co. announced plans to sell the 77-year-old news weekly. With that in mind, I ask: For the love of Johannes Gutenberg, please please do not boycott Newsweek. I read Newsweek. Not as much as Time, of course, but I do read it. I need my Scope front-of-the-book. I need my Howard Fineman. People have reason to be upset, but I’m hoping this tension diffuses before I’m forced to decipher The Economist on the train.

Newsweek: Apologize. Quickly. Pretend it was a Koran in the toilet instead of a misguided, insensitive, and offensive essay about human sexuality and the arts. Angry Newsweek readers: Don’t hold a grudge. I’d hate to see a Conventional Wisdom entry for Newsweek permanently fixed in the down direction just because of one really rotten apple.

More ‘Newsweek’ flap:
‘Newsweek’ and Sean Hayes: You say too gay? No frickin’ way!
‘Glee’ creator Ryan Murphy pushes for ‘Newsweek’ boycott
Newsweek travels back to 1952 to argue against gay actors in straight roles


May 12 2010 03:48 PM ET

Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer appear in horror flick 'Open House.' Think I'll stick to 'True Blood.'

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Filed under: Movies and tagged: , , ,

Looks like Open House, a horror movie that features Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer and is about a real estate venture gone terribly wrong, will be coming soon to a theater near you. (Variety reported earlier today that LionsGate division Grindstone Entertainment has picked up all domestic distribution rights.) Despite their presence in the trailer (and every news release regarding Open House), the True Blood costars (and real-life couple) don’t seem to have very big parts in the flick, which was directed by Anna’s brother Andrew Paquin. (See trailer embedded after the jump.) READ FULL STORY »

May 12 2010 03:34 PM ET

'Lost' auction preview: What would you bid on?

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Filed under: Food and Drink, Lost, Television and tagged: , , ,

Profiles in History has already listed 100 items in its ‘Lost’ Auction Preview! (Bidding starts this summer.) If Dharma-branded snacks and Virgin Mary statues presumably not stuffed with real heroin aren’t your speed, perhaps you’d prefer the Swan/Pearl computer or film projector, Locke’s wheelchair, Kate’s little airplane, Faraday’s journal, Sawyer’s reading glasses, Sun’s Pearl Necklace #1, or Crate of Approximately Two Dozen Crystallized Dynamite Sticks from the Black Rock?

I’m a little sad that Charlotte’s Messenger Bag didn’t get the “hero” status applied to Desmond’s Hero Backpack and Hurley’s Hero Striped Canteen — it seems Charlotte was not a hero; nor was Hurley’s portable CD player. (Kidding; I know what “hero” means and that all portable CD players are heroes.) Meanwhile, I’m guessing they’ll have to pay someone to take Nikki and Paolo’s Matryoshka Dolls Used to Hold the Stolen Diamonds.

Things I’m surprised to not see on the list: Hurley-size chicken bucket, life-size donkey wheel, that amazing blue VW van, and the oatmeal and chocolate brown blankets used to wrap up the Jacob and Man in Black babies in last night’s episode. (Touched by an Allison Janney!) Which Lost props would you want in your home…or garage?

Annie on Twitter: @EWAnnieBarrett

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