Archive: May 2011 (11-20 of 457)

May 31 2011 03:50 PM ET

'Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition': Is it too much like 'The Biggest Loser'?

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Tags: , , , About Last Night, Reality TV, TV
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Image Credit: Greg Zabilski/ABC

If you watched the series premiere of Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition last night on ABC, you probably felt one major thing (well, besides the lingering guilt about all the food you consumed over Memorial Day weekend): Déjà vu.

That’s because the series, which chronicles the weight loss of morbidly obese people over the span of a year, felt a lot like another inspiring reality show (and no, not Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, as a screaming Ty Pennington was nowhere to be found). That’s right, The Biggest Loser. READ FULL STORY »

May 31 2011 03:25 PM ET

Jay Leno accused of lifting joke from Fox News program

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Tags: , , , , , , Television, To Care or Not to Care, TV

Some say that Jay Leno hit bottom during his failed primetime show and the subsequent Conan O’Brien imbroglio. Which is really saying something for someone who used to crack skulls with Pat Morita. But now, he’s being accused of stealing jokes. From Fox News.

On Saturday night’s Red Eye, a wee-hours Fox News show hosted by Greg Gutfeld, ombudsman Andy Levy pointed out that Leno had made a joke on Thursday night that used virtually the same set-up and punchline as one Levy said on the air earlier in the week. Both bits were pegged to the news in California that a court ruling would require the state to free thousands of inmates from its prisons, leading both joke tellers to mention how this was great news for the Oakland Raiders! Hey, now! READ FULL STORY »

May 31 2011 03:00 PM ET

'Two and a Half Men' not submitted for Outstanding Comedy Emmy consideration: Should it have been?

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Tags: , , , Television, TV, Two and a Half Men
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Image Credit: Greg Gayne/CBS

Sources have confirmed that CBS’ sitcom Two and a Half Men will not be submitted in the Outstanding Comedy category for the upcoming Emmy Awards, a decision made by producing studio Warner Bros. Television. That may not be that much of a shocking news bulletin, considering that star Charlie Sheen put the show through the ringer earlier this year, before he was fired and replaced by Ashton Kutcher. READ FULL STORY »

May 31 2011 02:42 PM ET

'Cougar Town' name change: Round 2!

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Tags: , , Television, TV
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Image Credit: Matt Kennedy/ABC

Last Friday, Cougar Town co-creator Bill Lawrence announced via Twitter that he was back at work plotting the show’s third season and starting the year with the “traditional ‘should we change the title?’” conversation. “How many of you (if you like show) have had trouble getting others to watch due to crappy/lame/cheesy title? Curious,” he wrote. Apparently, enough of his followers piped up, because he later followed up with, “Screw it. I’m changing it…. Seriously, we just decided.” Of course, ABC has yet to sign off on that. (The network had no comment when contacted by EW.) But Lawrence makes a solid case on Twitter: He says he wanted to change the title last year to Sunshine State or Grown Ups, but the network balked because it already had Mr. Sunshine (which has now been canceled) and there was that Adam Sandler movie Grown Ups (which we’ve now all forgotten). He also explains that there’s more behind reigniting this debate than the widely acknowledged feeling that the title doesn’t represent the show: “The ratings suck (2.0 in the [18-49] demo for last two weeks) and show will go away if they don’t get better next year,” he tweeted. “Part 2: research shows a large number of people who won’t/haven’t tried show out because of… The title.”  READ FULL STORY »

May 31 2011 02:17 PM ET

How has 'Hunger Games' star Donald Sutherland not been elected to faux-office more often?

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Image Credit: Andreas Rentz/Getty Images

As many of you have agreed in the comments sections, the decision to cast Donald Sutherland as the sinister President Snow in The Hunger Games is nothing short of an inspired choice. And while there’s no doubt that Sutherland’s brilliant and versatile decades-spanning career landed him the part of the ruthless ruler of Panem, the one flick that may have really helped to get him there was… Astro Boy?!

Yes, it turns out during his impressive career, Sutherland has only played President once before (Bwuh?! How?!), and it was as a baddie leader in the 2009 animated feature. READ FULL STORY »

May 31 2011 01:33 PM ET

Summer Movie Body Count Update: 'Kung Fu Panda 2' throws fists of confusion at tally

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Image Credit: Dreamworks Animation

Week 3 of EW’s 2011 Summer Movie Body Count continues with Kung Fu Panda 2, featuring the voices of Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, and Gary Oldman. Click here for a reminder of our extremely precise definition for what counts as a death, and how we’re counting them. And since we’re going to be talking about deaths here, the requisite spoiler alert should almost go without saying, but we’ll say it anyhow: SPOILER ALERT!

Walking into the theater to tabulate the number of deaths in Kung Fu Panda 2, I was convinced my job would be simple. Surely the only characters that would perish in this family-friendly animated film would be the movie’s big baddie, and perhaps a wise mentor or two. Heck, I wasn’t even convinced that the PG film wouldn’t make sure the grand tally would equal zilch. But who knew that Kung Fu Panda 2 would have the most complex death count to tally? This film had enough twists and turns to be a San Francisco street! READ FULL STORY »

May 31 2011 01:23 PM ET

Tonys 2011: Nominee Judith Light on Broadway, Community, and her first Tony nod

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Image Credit: Joan Marcus

There are 39 actors contending for Tonys this year — but only one nominee is also an ’80s TV icon who helped bring a football play (Lombardi) to Broadway and has an entire Community plotline dedicated to one of her sitcoms. Judith Light called EW recently to talk about the nod (her first), Lombardi’s closing, and reviving some of her classic characters.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: You’ve had a bittersweet few weeks — you learned you were nominated for a Tony and that your play was closing.  
JUDITH LIGHT: It all happened in the same day. I found out about the Tony nomination in the morning and then I found out we were closing that night. So bittersweet is the accurate description of how I felt.

Were you hoping for a Tony nod?
My God, I absolutely was praying to be nominated. I am over the moon. It’s been a long time coming for me. READ FULL STORY »

May 31 2011 12:10 PM ET

'The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo': Like what you see in the teaser??

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Tags: , , , Books, Movies

The hotly-anticipated American adaptation of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo doesn’t hit theaters until December, but the first teaser for the film appeared on the internet over the weekend, in a shaky-cam bootleg video that looked positively wiki-leaked. (Or maybe not: Oh, clever studios and their viral campaigns!) The teaser quick-cuts throughout the movie, plummeting between austere snow-covered landscapes and people covered in blood. But the question is: After reading the book and watching the much-praised Swedish film, does this first peek at the new movie leave you wanting more Tattoo? Rewatch the teaser here, and then take our poll after the jump… READ FULL STORY »

May 31 2011 11:43 AM ET

Why did 'The Hangover Part II' make such an ungodly amount of money?

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The Hangover Part II was always going to have a successful first weekend at the box office. The first film was a gleeful national landmark of bad behavior — remember when it had semi-serious Oscar buzz? — and it was the only non-superhero non-animated R-rated dude comedy in theaters (and will be until the decidedly weirder-looking Horrible Bosses arrives in July.) Still, even optimistic prognosticators have to be a bit surprised by just how well the film performed: as reported by EW’s John Young, the movie earned $137.4 in five days, the best opening frame ever for a live-action comedy and the second-biggest R-rated haul in history, behind only The Matrix Reloaded. And Reloaded was a mysterious, highly-anticipated sci-fi extravaganza four years in the making; Hangover 2 was essentially a remake-plus-Bangkok of a film that was basically Dude, Where’s My Car: Weekend in Vegas. READ FULL STORY »

May 31 2011 09:33 AM ET

'Hobbit' titles: Tolkien touch or Lifetime drama?

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Tags: , , , , Movies
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On the same weekend that the blandly labeled The Hangover Part II was cleaning up at the box office, Peter Jackson revealed the titles for his two Hobbit films: An Unexpected Journey and There and Back Again. Many Tolkien fans rejoiced, as There and Back Again was the subtitle for the original 1937 novel, and An Unexpected Journey echoes the title of the book’s chapter, “An Unexpected Party.”

But are these epic movie titles, on par with The Fellowship of the Ring, and The Return of the King? Because An Unexpected Journey and There and Back Again could also pass as Lifetime movies starring Meredith Baxter.

Did Jackson nail it, or are you crinkling your nose at these titles? Vote below. READ FULL STORY »

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