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Archive: June 2010 (201-210 of 584)

Jun 21 2010 05:50 PM ET

Jason O'Mara to star in Fox's 'Terra Nova': The next 'Lost'?

Categories: Casting, Television, Waiting

jason-omara Image Credit: Bobby Bank/WireImage.comJason O’Mara, star of ABC’s 1970s-set Life on Mars, has officially been cast in the Fox midseason series Terra Nova, from executive producers Brannon Braga (FlashForward, 24, Star Trek: Enterprise), David Fury (24, Lost, Angel), and Steven Spielberg. According to Variety, the show revolves around “humans from the year 2149 who are forced to find a way to save the human race — and discover a rip in the time-space continuum that can send them back to pre-human Earth.”

“Writing the character of Jim Shannon, we’ve thought of Jason O’Mara as something of an archetype,” Braga told the trade. “He has an everyman quality to him, but there’s something dangerous underneath.”

In May, EW’s Hollywood Insider blog got a peek at the first script. (Fox has given the show, which will start shooting this summer in Australia, a 13-episode commitment.) “The scene: a large group of settlers are preparing to leave the apocalyptic world they live in to time travel back millions of years via a massive, high-tech contraption,” EW’s Lynette Rice wrote. “Their goal is to see trees, enjoy a blue sky, eat real food — basically, to start over in this so-called Eden. But what they find is unlike anything they were expecting.”

Does this sound like the next Lost to you? Personally, I would be fine seeing O’Mara grace EW’s cover wet. (Australia = water, right?)

Jun 21 2010 05:20 PM ET

Game-show host cameos and Alex Trebek's extensive movie career

by Kerrie Mitchell

Categories: Games, Genres, Television

Ugo.com has up a fun gallery of game-show hosts and the movie roles they’ve played, both as themselves and — in some cases — in dramatic acting roles you might never have envisioned them in. (Dick Clark as a robber in 1968′s Killers Three? Ack!) What’s most notable to me, though, is the regularity with which Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek once popped up in various movies, from quick drive-bys in 1991′s Dying Young and 2000′s Charlie’s Angels to — my favorite — a hefty subplot in White Men Can’t Jump concerning Rosie Perez’s trivia savant character. (Jeopardy! announcer Johnny Gilbert: “A former disco queen, originally from Brooklyn, N.Y….Gloria Clemente.” See clip after the jump.) READ FULL STORY »

Jun 21 2010 05:00 PM ET

Amanda Bynes' retirement: We'll always have 'What a Girl Wants'

by Mandi Bierly

Categories: Movies, Unfortunate Developments

Image Credit: Everett CollectionReading about Amanda Bynes’ decision to “retire” at age 24 because she no longer loves acting made me sad — even if a late-night declaration on Twitter does seem somewhat reversible. It was two years ago that we reported Bynes was searching for a new agency and suggested she return to series TV and find a smart role that didn’t require a pratfall. By spring 2009, she had a comedy pilot, Canned, at ABC (which ended up nowhere). Since then, she’s been best known for that Twitter account, where she talks cryptically (and not so cryptically) about her feelings on love, and posing for Maxim‘s February 2010 cover, which was supposed to prove she’s all grown up and ready for sexy films. The movie she has waiting in release? This September’s Easy A, in which she plays a religious Mean Girl hoping to save Emma Stone’s soul and get her expelled because she’s (pretending to be) promiscuous. Easy A actually looks good, but it’s clear Bynes’ career hasn’t gone according to plan. “I’ve never written the movies & tv shows I’ve been apart of I’ve only acted like the characters the producers or directors wanted me to play,” she wrote on Twitter, an hour before her retirement tweet. Maybe that’s the direction she’s headed. I have no idea if she can write, but it seems like she owes it to herself to try. If you’re not getting offered the kind of role you want, create it.

I also hope Bynes doesn’t regret her acting career. At least not She’s the Man (totally enjoyable and fearless) and What a Girl Wants (starring opposite Colin Firth, in a movie that sucks some of us in every time it’s on cable — not bad).

Jun 21 2010 04:45 PM ET

It all makes sense: Ke$ha is a huge 'Star Trek' fan

by Annie Barrett

Categories: Geekery, Magic, Music, News You Can Use, PopWatch Dance Party, Ridiculata, Sci-Fi, Space, Star Trek, Strange Bedfellows, Television, Things That Are Awesome!, Viral Video!!!, YouTube

Thanks to a YouTube mashup of “Tik Tok” and Star Trek originally posted in April, we can now confirm that the beloved sci-fi franchise was what inspired the wise and poignant lyrics of a pop star with a dollar sign for a name. (The Willy Wonka line “I have a blueberry for a daughter!” just popped into my head. We have a dollar sign for a pop star!) She and the Star Trek guys face the same issues every day! Drinking, dressing oneself, the faint promise that one might never come back. It’s just that “feeling like P-Diddy” ended up being more relatable to 12-year-olds than “feeling like the crew of Federation Starship Enterprise. Whatever, Ke$ha. READ FULL STORY »

Jun 21 2010 04:40 PM ET

'Glee' Exclusive: Creator Ryan Murphy says there are NO plans for a 'Glee' movie

by Tim Stack

Categories: An EW Exclusive!, Glee, News You Can Use, Television

If you were hoping to see your favorite Glee characters on the big-screen, then dream on Gleeks. Despite Internet reports, Glee creator Ryan Murphy tells EW that there are no current plans to transfer the hit Fox series to the big-screen. Says Murphy, “There will be no Glee movie in the foreseeable future. Despite overtures, I and the studio (Fox) have decided we want to put our energy into the second season with no distractions for the cast.”

What do you think PopWatchers? Are you bummed about Glee staying on the small-screen? Or happy to see the series to stick to its roots?

Jun 21 2010 04:15 PM ET

'Puss In Boots' spin-off details revealed. Why this could be the cat's meow.

by Kate Ward

Categories: Animals, Cute Cat Videos!, Movies

Yes, reviews for Shrek Forever After were a tad lackluster. And sure, most movie spin-offs tend to be a bit, well, disappointing. (See: The Scorpion King, Evan Almighty.) But can I help it if I’m actually excited for Puss In Boots, the Shrek spin-off starring Antonio Banderas’ charmingly cute feline?

I have my reasons. The facts are these (aw, R.I.P. Pushing Daisies), based on DreamWorks’ recently launched website featuring details:

1) Any cat who accessorizes will never not be cute.

2) The film — which comes out November 2011 — co-stars (or is co-voiced by) Salma Hayek as the “street-savvy” Kitty (pictured above), and Zach Galifianakis as Humpty Dumpty, both of whom try to help Puss “steal the famed Goose that lays the Golden Eggs.” And I would see an elementary school production of Cats, as long as it starred Galifianakis. (Actually, how awesome would that be?)

3) I’d rather have a Puss spin-off than a movie about the Nasonex Bee.

4) And…okay, I have nothing else. Just look at this face, and tell me you wouldn’t watch 90 minutes of (SQUEE!) animated cuteness.

How are you feeling about the Puss In Boots spin-off, PopWatchers? Are you actually petting your screen like I am? And, because it’s Monday, here’s a video of a kitten wearing a tiny hat…eating a tiny ice cream cone. (Take that, Speedo!) READ FULL STORY »

Jun 21 2010 03:07 PM ET

'American Idol' source: Don't necessarily expect Simon Cowell replacement by July 17 audition kickoff

by Michael Slezak

Categories: American Idol, Simon Cowell

This morning’s news that American Idol will launch its season 10 auditions July 17 in Nashville, Tenn., raised the inevitable question: When will Fox’s venerable ratings warhorse name a replacement for its departing superstar judge Simon Cowell? The cranky Brit, of course, made his Idol swan song during the May 26 season 9 finale, with no plans to return to U.S. television until the fall 2011 debut of the American version of his X Factor singing competition.

But don’t jump to conclusions and assume the July 17 audition kickoff is a hard and fast deadline for a Cowell replacement announcement, says a source close to the show. READ FULL STORY »

Jun 21 2010 02:21 PM ET

Mary Murphy to 'Burn the Floor,' Michael Shannon on 'Premium Rush'

by Kate Ward

Categories: Books, Casting, Deals, Excess Hollywood, Movies, So You Think You Can Dance, Stage/Theater

Michael Shannon has been tapped to star as a dirty cop in Premium Rush, about a bike messenger (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who is chased by Shannon’s character after he picks up an envelope at Columbia University containing this picture. [THR]
Burn the Floor producers announced in a press release that former So You Think You Can Dance judge Mary Murphy will guest star in select cities during the show’s national tour. So, select cities: Bring earplugs.
Mary Steenburgen will star in FX’s drama pilot Outlaw Country, which centers on organized crime in the South. Steenburgen is set to play a country music icon and is likely to sing in the role. Here’s hoping FX plans some cross-promotion involving “Dayman.” [Deadline]
We get a kick out of this news: In a press release, the Roundabout Theater Company confirmed Anything Goes — starring Sutton Foster — is set to return to Broadway in February.
Warner Bros. has nabbed the rights to Ready Player One, which is based on the manuscript for an Ernie Cline young adult novel that follows an outcast teen who escapes to an Avatar-esque “virtual utopia.” [THR]

Jun 21 2010 01:50 PM ET

'Eclipse': Today in clips... Still loving Bella's comforter, and now Victoria's snarl

by Mandi Bierly

Categories: Eclipse, Kristen Stewart, Movies, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner Bicep Watch, Twilight

Image Credit: Kimberley FrenchThe Twilight Saga: Eclipse marketing machine continues to tease us. Naturally, you’re gonna wanna play the clip below titled “Bedroom” first. We’ve seen a part of this chat on Bella’s bed before — she wants to know why Edward is really so reluctant to turn her into a vampire. The danger with knowing this story so well: You get bored with all the talking. You can tell this when you start complimenting her comforter in your head.

There’s also a new TV spot focusing on Victoria’s army of new vampires coming for Bella, and the werewolves and vampires joining forces to protect her. We get to see more of Victoria and the CGI wolf pack in action. Remember how in the first film, they had to tone down the vampire snarling because they looked kind of ridiculous. Victoria makes that work. Well done, Bryce Dallas Howard. READ FULL STORY »

Jun 21 2010 01:28 PM ET

'American Idol' audition sites announced. Let's hear it for East Rutherford, N.J.!

by Kerrie Mitchell

Categories: American Idol, TV Shows

Image Credit: VisionsofAmerica/Joe Sohm/Photodisc/Getty ImagesThe next edition of American Idol is all ready to start chugging away, with season 10 auditions kicking off July 17. (Be sure to read Michael Slezak’s despairing post about the decision to lower the minimum age to 15.) Among the hallowed, music-mad cities that are hosting Idol hopefuls: Nashville, Tenn., New Orleans, La., Austin, Texas, and…East Rutherford, N.J.

I sense you’re laughing. You should stop. East Rutherford — like much of New Jersey — has a long, storied history of disrespect, living as it does in the shadow of New York City. But the facts are these: The city is home to the Meadowlands Sports Complex, which includes the new Giants Stadium and the Izod Center (where the Idol auditions will take place). The New York Giants and the New York Jets don’t even acknowledge their New Jersey-ness in their names, and even the Meadowlands teams that do can’t burnish East Rutherford’s reputation. At one point in 2003, both the New Jersey Nets basketball team and the New Jersey Devils hockey team were vying for their respective championships and, according to the NY Times, the mayor still had to deal with questions from reporters who asked “What is East Rutherford?” (The Nets are in the process of leaving the Meadowlands, and, eventually, the state, but surely one cannot blame the people of East Rutherford.) Now that Idol is planting a flag in New Jersey soil, can we all rise up in defense of East Rutherford as the new MusicTown U.S.A.? Anyone?