Author: Tanner Stransky (91-100 of 454)

Jan 30 2011 01:50 PM ET

Jane Lynch, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Jon Hamm, and lots more celebs make EW's pre-SAG Awards party a starry night

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Tags: , , , , , , , , , About Last Night, Mad Men, Modern Family, Movies, Television, TV

EW-SAG-PARTYImage Credit: Stefanie Keenan/WireImage.comWhere might one have spied what’s happening in this photo here, which features a TV-lover’s fever dream of Glee‘s Jane Lynch rubbing elbows with Modern Family‘s Jesse Tyler Ferguson? At Entertainment Weekly‘s pre-Screen Actors Guild Awards party, of course! The event was held last night in the garden of West Hollywood’s famed Chateau Marmont and lured out scads of Hollywood’s finest talent—everyone from Mad Men‘s Jon Hamm and Dexter‘s Michael C. Hall to Black Swan director Darren Aronofsky and The Town‘s Jeremy Renner, all of who were looking to celebrate a little before today’s actor-focused awards which will be simulcast live on TBS and TNT at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT. The cast of The Good Wife? Yup, most of them were there, including Julianna Margulies, Josh Charles, Archie Panjabi, and Matt Czuchry. Looking for a little Temple Grandin? Awards-season queen Claire Danes was there in full effect, too, as was everyone from Parks and Recreation‘s Amy Poehler to Glee‘s Chris Colfer. The list goes on and on…

Check back here at EW.com later for a gallery of photos from last night’s star-studded event.

Tanner on Twitter: @EWTanStransky

More from EW.com:
SAG Awards 2011 Seating Assignments: First look at who’s sitting where — EXCLUSIVE
Screen Actors Guild Awards on EW’s Must List
Awards Season Calendar 2011: See it here!
SAG Awards give ‘True Grit’ stars some love: A look at Oscar implications
SAG’s TV nominations: What did they miss?
SAG Awards: ‘Modern Family’ and Betty White(!) nab honors
Oscar predictions: Post-SAG rankings

Jan 25 2011 03:00 AM ET

'RuPaul's Drag Race' season premiere: Can you believe RuPaul brought [spoiler] back?!?

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Tags: , , , , , , , , , About Last Night, Reality TV, Television, TV

Rupaul-Drag-ShangelaIt was a foregone conclusion that RuPaul would eventually bring back a sashayed, old queen from a past season to be a contestant again on RuPaul’s Drag Race. In the reality competition world, that move is nearly older than RuPaul herself. But the gal that was chosen for this extremely illustrious distinction was completely out of left field: It was none other than last season’s polarizing first-episode cast-off, the delightfully named Shangela! “And it’s Shangela!” said fellow contestant Mariah, in reaction. “Halle-lou!” she added, referencing Shangela’s “famous” sound bite. Halle-lou, indeed!

Truthfully, I was hoping for the glorious return of EW fave Pandora Boxx! But, then I reconsidered: Everyone would have loved that—well, at least I would have—and such a move probably wouldn’t have gotten any tongues wagging. Instead, pick one of the most loved/hated contestants from last season, bring her back, shake it up, and stir! Instant drama. Those sluts producing Drag Race are smart. It was genius, too, when right after Shangela emerged from that huge gift box (see: the ridiculousness above), footage from last season popped on the screen showing the young queen getting booted in last year’s premiere, after she lip-synced atrociously against Sahara Davenport. “I have a feeling,” RuPaul intoned at the time, “we haven’t seen the last of you, yet.” What ominous foreshadowing that none of us could have seen! Did RuPaul know something then that she wasn’t sharing a year ago—or was it just coincidence that she said such a thing? I can’t wait to ask next time I chat with Ru. I’ll keep you all posted, of course.

The rest of the episode was your typical episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race—but super-sized into 90 full minutes of ridculata instead of the usual 60! Here are my quick, recappy thoughts about last night’s premiere:

READ FULL STORY »

Jan 20 2011 03:14 AM ET

'Hot in Cleveland' season 2 premiere: 'I'm in freaking jail!'

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Tags: , , , , , About Last Night, Mini TV Watch, Television, TV

Hot-in-ClevelandImage Credit: TVLandBetty White launched the season 2 premiere of TV Land’s Hot in Cleveland last night very fittingly—in an orange jumpsuit, singing quite the entertaining rendition of “Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen” from her jail cell. White just turned 89, and, as evidenced by her singing here, she has more panache than people one quarter of her age. As you might remember, her character Elka was arrested and booked at the end of the season 1 finale for possessing a cellar full of stolen goods that her husband had acquired while working for the mob. Later, we witnessed Betty doing Betty very well, reminding Wendie Malick’s pompous and out-of-touch soap actress character Victoria Chase, “I’m in freaking jail!” Indeed she was. READ FULL STORY »

Jan 17 2011 04:15 AM ET

Logo to air 'Dragtastic' comedy special tonight: Host Pandora Boxx gives EW a preview!

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Tags: , , , , , , Reality TV, TV

Pandora-BoxxImage Credit: LogoTonight at 10 p.m., Logo will air a comedy special called One Night Stand Up: Dragtastic, marking the extremely rare occasion in the history of the fledgling gay cable network where it features a bunch of really funny drag queens. Oh, wait. Who the hell are we kidding? Really funny drag queens—hello RuPaul’s Drag Race, which launches its third season a week from today!—are the bread and butter of Logo! And thus, why we here at EW are always glued to the network. One of the best parts about tonight’s stand-up special Dragtastic—even though we haven’t seen the TV cut yet—is the host: none other than EW fave and RuPaul’s Drag Race and RuPaul’s Drag U alum Pandora Boxx is the emcee. Remember Pandora’s killer Carol Channing impression from last season of Drag Race? To celebrate her shining moment back in the Logo spotlight, EW spent a few minutes catching up with Pandora when she was in NYC shooting the special last August. Enjoy:

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What exactly is One Night Stand Up: Dragtastic?
PANDORA BOXX: Dragtastic is a stand-up comedy special for drag queens, and they did one last year that was shot in LA and [RuPaul’s Drag Race season 1 contestant] Ongina hosted it, and the queens were Varla Jean Merman, Miss Coco Peru, and Jackie Beat, and they’re doing another one this year and it’s going to be hosted by me and it has four drag queens in it: Bianca Del Rio, Harmonica Sunbeam, Mimi Imfurst, Hedda Lettuce, and Kelly Mantle. [See photo.] Each queen is going to have their time out on the stage—it’s like a stand up comedy special, only with men dressed like ladies.

READ FULL STORY »

Jan 15 2011 02:55 PM ET

The Miss America Pageant is tonight on ABC: Did you realize that? Will you watch?

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Tags: , , , Television, TV

Miss-America-hosts-BrookeImage Credit: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images; Glenn Harris/PR Photos The 90th annual Miss America Pageant airs tonight on ABC, with ABC-tastic hosts Chris Harrison of The Bachelor and Brooke Burke of Dancing with the Stars (pictured here). To that I say: Really? I honestly had no idea that the show was even airing until yesterday. Maybe I haven’t been watching enough ABC or frequenting websites that teen girls regularly go to or am not reading the right magazines, but I haven’t seen a scrap of promotion for this year’s pageant. Where are the billboards? The magazine advertisements? The hosts and last year’s winner Miss Virginia parading through the morning-show circuit? The lack of all that—and the fact that the show has been decline for well over a decade—doesn’t bode well for its ratings, which have been in a tailspin for years. (I chronicled the Miss America woes one year ago in a story not-so-subtly titled Who Killed Miss America?) In lots of ways, it’s surprising that the pageant is even on one of the Big Four broadcast networks this year, since it had been on cable—first CMT, then TLC—for the past several years before even TLC gave it the boot after last year’s pageant drew only 4.5 million viewers. ABC last aired the pageant in 2004, which drew 9.8 million viewers—a far cry from the 33 million who tuned in in 1998. The point is: Very few people are watching this show today, but it’s not helped by the fact that it doesn’t seem to be very visible. And that it’s buried on a Saturday night. And is sort of antiquated.

All of this brings me to my question at hand. Like I said, I had no idea the pageant was even on ABC until yesterday.  Were you aware? Are you planning to watch? And most importantly: Why or why not? Sound off in the comments below please! Would love to hear your take.

UPDATE: Miss America 2011 winner is…

More from EW.com:
Who Killed Miss America?
Miss America 2010: Miss Virginia wins
TLC drops Miss America pageant

Jan 12 2011 07:49 PM ET

Glenn Beck passionately reviews Broadway's 'Spider-Man': 'This is better than Wicked!'

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Glenn-Beck-SpidermanImage Credit: Fox; Jacob CohlFox News personality Glenn Beck is never shy about serving up his opinion about most topics — that’s for dang sure — but this morning on his radio show, The Glenn Beck Program, he started in very passionately on a topic that we’ve rarely heard him be passionate about before: the theater. Specifically, Broadway’s new musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, which has been berdevilled with injuries and other problems during its previews. The somewhat surprising part? Beck absolutely loved the show, which has been largely panned by early reviewers. (Technically, no official reviews of Spider-Man are supposed to appear until the show’s official opening, which has been moved back twice but is currently slated for Feb. 7.) “This is better than Wicked!” Beck said, referencing the much-lauded Broadway show that was an instant success when it debuted in 2003. “This is much better than Wicked.”

READ FULL STORY »

Jan 9 2011 10:00 AM ET

'Change of Plans' starring 'American Idol' alum Brooke White: Squeaky clean TV makes a comeback!

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Tags: , , , , , , , About Last Night, American Idol, Music, Television, TV

change-of-plansImage Credit: FoxThe TV movie Change of Plans, which was presented by Walmart and Procter & Gamble on Fox last night, opened fittingly, when you consider it stars an American Idol alum: The first few moments capture an ebullient Brooke White — playing aspiring musician Sally Danville — on stage, strumming her guitar with a heavy dose of passion and singing at the top of her lungs. And you know what? As saccharine as it was, the song wasn’t half bad. I’d blast it in my car on a nice summer night for a good time. But then again, it’s no secret that White is very talented – at least at singing. READ FULL STORY »

Dec 17 2010 10:46 AM ET

Exclusive: 'Spider-Man' musical's new opening date set for Feb. 7

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spider-man-turn-off-darkThe unconfirmed reports that big-budget Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark will push back its opening night are indeed true, and EW has exclusively learned that the new opening night is now set for Feb. 7. “The creative team is implementing truly exciting changes throughout the preview process,” said producer Michael Cohl. “Due to some unforeseeable setbacks, most notably the injury of a principal cast member, it has become clear that we need to give the team more time to fully execute their vision. Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark is an extremely ambitious undertaking, as everyone knows, and I have no intention of cutting a single corner in getting to the finish line.” The much-delayed show, which has been in previews since Nov. 18, had most recently been slated to open Jan. 11.

Dec 6 2010 06:36 PM ET

'American Psycho' stage script nearly done: Can Broadway handle this gore?

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american-psychoImage Credit: Kerry HayesAmerican Psycho — the culty 2000 thriller starring Christian Bale as a wealthy, murderous New York investment banker who’s secretly, and increasingly, crazy — is stalking the Great White Way. That’s right: The axe-wielding Patrick Bateman is planning to give that demon barber Sweeney Todd a run for his money as the headliner of Broadway’s bloodiest show, according to the New York Post. Duncan Shiek, who’s famous for the 1996 single “Barely Breathing” as well as writing the Tony- and Grammy-winning score of stage hit Spring Awakening, is penning the tunes, and playwright Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa is writing the book. Aguirre-Sacasa assures that the show — he’s gone one act done, and the rest is set to be finished early next year — will be just as gory as the movie. “There are murders, and they are on stage in full view of the audience,” he told the Post. “An ax and a chef’s knife will be used. I think there’s going to be a lot of blood.” In addition to the gore, the playwright says he hopes to include scenes like the well-remembered sequence where Bale’s Bateman sizes up and fetishes his friends business cards at a swanky Upper East Side apartment. Shiek summed it all up by saying, “Obviously, it’s not for the people who want to see Elf.”

Are you all excited to see American Psycho liiiiiive? Stoked for Broadway to get a little gorier? And are you hoping Shiek can somehow work in some Huey Lewis and the News into the stage version of this scene?

Tanner on Twitter: @EWTanStransky

More on American Psycho:
EW’s F-grade book review of ‘American Psycho’
EW’s A-minus-grade movie review of ‘American Psycho’
The ‘American Psycho’ controversy

Nov 29 2010 05:45 PM ET

'Spider-Man' producer Michael Cohl on last night's messy preview: 'It went much better than I expected.'

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Tags: , , , , , , About Last Night

Spiderman-Turn-out-the-LightThe much-anticipated, much-delayed stage spectacle Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark held its first public performance last night at NYC’s Foxwoods Theater on 42nd St., and — as you could have guessed, judging from the years-long development of the most expensive musical in Broadway history — there were a few problems. Reports indicate that the $65 million show started 24 minutes late, stopped at least four times in the first act due to technical snags with several of the aerial stunts, and ran more than three hours long. (On the plus side, it also garnered a mostly favorable piece on last night’s 60 Minutes.)

The show, directed by Tony winner Julie Taymor (The Lion King) and featuring the music of U2′s Bono and The Edge, is clearly going through a very public birthing process before its official Jan. 11 opening. “It went much better last night than expected,” says producer Michael Cohl, a former Live Nation executive who’s worked on concert tours with the Rolling Stones and U2 and produced stage shows from Spamalot to La Cage aux Folles. “As far as the show is concerned, I’m ecstatic. We came within just inches of getting through the entire second half without a stop. In your first preview, I think that’s quite extraordinary. It is a preview. It is a look inside the process of creating what will be the final live show, and that show will be shown to the world on Jan. 11. Last night was by no means an opening.”

The show doesn’t have another public performance until this coming Wednesday, Dec. 1. So how will the producers fix the show’s problems? READ FULL STORY »

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