Good news for the Fame remake nobody really thinks is necessary: The high school's faculty will include Bebe Neuwirth (dance), Kelsey Grammer (orchestra), Megan Mullally (voice), and Broadway actor Charles S. Dutton (acting) in the 2009 film. Debbie Allen, who played the hardass ballet teacher in 1980 (and in the ensuing TV series), will be the school's principal. That's quite the principle part! Teachers didn't play a huge role in the original film, but since the remake's high schoolers will be played by relative unknowns, it can certainly benefit from some bigger names. For extra intrigue, the producers may wish to change the movie's title to The Faculty 2: Singing the Body Electric.
Does this casting news make you more or less excited for the Fame remake? Full disclosure: I just became 1000% more jazzed myself after a cursory look at IMDB, because I noticed that So You Think You Can Dance alum Kherington Payne will be playing "Alice." [Cue Cat Deeley voice] "It's...Kherrrrrrrrrrrrrringtonnnnnnn." She's gonna learn how to fly!
Kudos to this year's American Medley Music Awards for showcasing as diverse a field of artists as possible within the inevitable limits arising whenever anything is controlled largely by the voting public/record sales, and putting everyone's best foot forward in the process! The winners of the actual super-stabby crystal trophies of death can be found after the jump, but in my opinion tonight's real victor was the music business itself, as singer after singer took the mic and, with a couple glaring exceptions, proved themselves worthy of the airtime.
I'm more than a bit of a naysayer when it comes to the chart-topperz of the day, and when they said this was to be the youngest AMAs in history, I must admit I shuddered with dread. But the evening flowed smoothly -- in part thanks to the complacent consistency of host and noted Kanye West enthusiast Jimmy Kimmel, in part just thanks to the breakneck pace they had to maintain to get everyone on stage -- and if there was embarrassment to be had, it was mostly claimed by the 30-and-older set. (Note to Jamie Foxx, Scott Weiland, Billy Ray Cyrus, and Aerosmith: don't forget to tip your servers.)
We didn't get a song from newly anointed Artist of the Year Chris Brown (pictured), although I can think of at least one act out of the 19 that did appear who could have been excised to make room for him. Still, there's less than I thought there would be to complain about, and my only overriding quibble is with the fact that no one took the time to thank their choreographer. Keep reading for my three bests and three worsts of the night, "three" being an arbitrary number chosen by my editors to keep me from nattering on like I did after the CMAs. It's really just as well.
Las Vegas Prince tribute band Purple Reign kicked off The Late Show's cover band week last night with a rousing performance of "Let's Go Crazy" (unfortunately, the video clip is no longer available). I dunno. Singer "Jaysun" has the 1984 Prince and the Revolution-era guitar-strum-shimmy down pat, and you gotta give them credit for putting it all out there by taking on one of His Royal Badness' best-known songs. But still, with a male second guitarist they had zero of the Prince-Wendy chemistry (no small omission), and musically, the performance was a bit off, especially when Jaysun botched the first guitar solo. To be fair, there are few performers in history who can rival Prince during his Purple Rain era, and watching Purple Reign made me run out to find the original performance, which perhaps is exactly what a good tribute should do. (Although it really isn't even fair to these guys, I've embedded the original below.) What'd you think, PopWatchers? Does Purple Reign do Prince justice, or is he just too untouchable for a solid cover band performance? Is this Vegas cover act the first step toward Asian Prince cover bands and other Elvis impersonator-like monstrosities?
Michael Flatley, whom I have somewhat affectionately labeled "DANCLRD" for that one week he filled in for DANCMSTR Len Goodman on this season's Dancing With the Stars, will host his own dance series on NBC. Hmmm...how can we title this sucker so that it's basically a synonym for 'DWTS' but also kind of one-ups it a bit...Macy's Stars of Dance: The Series? People Who Really Are Stars DANCE? Dance Superstars? Nope. Flatley's show will be called Superstar Dancers of the World. The WORLD! Oh, they went there. American Idol evil genius Simon Fuller and So You Think You Can Dance? judge/troll Nigel Lythgoe are to blame for this mess.
In other words, yes, I will be watching. Don't worry. I hate me, too.
Assuming you're still following the antics of Federal Agent Jack Bauer et al, it'll take SIX hours of viewing to bone up for 24's upcoming seventh season. As an appetizer, there's the two-hour prequel movie, 24: Redemption, airing Sunday, Nov. 23, ostensibly to bridge the sizable gap
between 24's sixth and seventh seasons. Then, nearly two months later, the four-hour season premiere will finally be served as a two-day feast, on Sunday, Jan. 11 and Monday, Jan. 12 at 8 p.m. This begs two questions:
1. With the ubiquity of DVRs, the ease of renting DVDs and streaming shows online, are we accustomed to consuming bigger blocks of shows in single sittings?
2. Thanks to the writers' strike, 24 has been off the air for nearly two years. Do we care enough to devote six hours to it, as the writers play catch-up with viewers? I'm not sure I do, but feel free to convince me otherwise below.
Aside from a mortifying stint on Celebrity Fit Club, the majority of Maureen McCormick's new memoir reads like a generic checklist of bad things that can happen to child stars, mixed with tedious musings about being "blessed and cursed by the same thing." Don't feel like shelling out $20 to hear the story of Here's the Story? Well, in short order:
—McCormick had a wild crush on set on Barry Williams (Greg Brady); he, in turn, had a crush on Florence Henderson.
—She got miffed when a much-younger Eve Plumb began to develop breasts first.
—She quickly lost interest in schoolwork and "ordinary" friends. Drinking, shoplifting, ice-skating with Michael Jackson: These were the norms of her celebrity-studded adolescence.
—After her high school graduation, The Brady Bunch came to an end, and McCormick's life devolved into a predictable and toxic Hollywood cocktail of alcohol, drugs, abortions (at least two), serious depression, bulimia, and more.
I don't want to demean what happened to McCormick, which is very sad, but if there ever was a book that didn't need to be written, it's this one. If you think you've read it before, well, you have—or something exactly like it. Which got me wondering: Which celebrity memoirs have you actually found worthwhile? Make your recommendations in the comments section below, and spare a Brady Bunch fan from hours of ennui.
It's so rare that anyone in Hollywood apologizes for anything they've foisted on the public that we're always bowled over when it happens. The latest such blue-moon apology comes from the makers of Fox's new sitcom Do Not Disturb (starring Niecy Nash and Jerry O'Connell, pictured). The Sept. 10 debut episode (which was not the pilot) was not up to snuff, the producers acknowledged in a letter to TV critics. According to Variety, the DND-ers apologized in their letter "for being the perpetrators of such bad television."
Granted, the acknowledgment was a bit tongue in cheek, and was made in the hopes that TV critics will give the show another chance. Besides, to give the producers their due, DND isn't unwatchable, just very mediocre and undistinguished, a comfort-food show in a genre (the workplace comedy) we've been spoiled to expect a lot more from nowadays, thanks to 30 Rock and The Office. (I'm not buying the excuse that we would have liked the episodes better if they'd been shown in order. Episode 2 last week wasn't any better.) Still, I give them props for candor and humility. Now, go forth and sin no more.
Just wondering: Which of you have watched Do Not Disturb? What did you think? Was an apology necessary? If so, do you accept it? Will you give the Fox sitcom another shot when it airs tonight?
During my lunch break today, I decided to walk up to Wollman Rink in Manhattan’s Central Park to check out David Blaine’s latest stunt. I have better things to do with my time, to be sure, but I’ve always been curious about David Blaine: Not in that “Oh, he’s so amazing” way, but in that “What is this guy’s deal?” way. Apparently, I’m not the only cynic around. I overheard a few middle-aged ladies walking ahead of me, saying, “He’s just doing a stupid stunt; he’s not a magician.”
I couldn’t have said it better myself. And it isn’t a matter of stripping Blaine of his magician-ship, it’s that this particular event — Blaine suspended upside down, in the air, for 60 hours, the two-hour finale of which will be aired on ABC tomorrow night — is not magical. It’s a stunt. For publicity. (In the last 24 hours, I’ve received at least four press releases about the event.)
Before you call me a hater, this was the scene at the rink: Scaffolding everywhere, people snapping pictures, at least seven camera crews standing by for a press conference, security guys in suits with Secret Service-like earbuds, and red rope separating the public from Blaine. Meanwhile, the stuntman was not hanging. Nope.
And now for your never-enjoyable-or-even-interesting View Rumor of the Month...Elisabeth Hasselbeck could be straying from the gaggle for an anchor position at Fox News. Which has us thinking: Since the current View lineup boasts the aural equivalency of a bunch of pots and pans tumbling off a wall, Hasselbeck's potential replacement should really be some sort of item you can buy for much more than it's worth at Williams-Sonoma. I'm thinking a large, stone mortar and pestle, to represent the uncontrollable teeth-grinding that occurs whenever I have to tune in. Having the sound effect there permanently would just make the show more true-to-life. Any other ideas?
Bet you didn't guess "The Twist." Last month, Billboard celebrated the 50th anniversary of their all-important Hot 100 chart, so they crunched a lot of numbers and found out that Chubby Checker's immortal 1960 ode to vaguely uncomfortable-looking dance moves (below) came in ahead of all other singles from the past half-century. The rest of their "Hot 100 All-Time Songs" is online here for your perusal, and a whole bunch more cool historical info can be found here. Billboard's methodology was a little strange -- they based their point values on a combination of chart position and length of time spent on the chart, then weighted everything so that older songs scored higher than new ones. (Their reasoning for that was something about wanting "to compensate for the differences in the faster turnover rates from those earlier decades...") So that's how "The Twist" landed in first place, even though it only spent three weeks total at No. 1 on the real Hot 100 at the time and has since been massively outsold by lots of other songs. Meanwhile Mariah Carey, who holds the record for most No. 1 singles by a solo artist on the Hot 100, doesn't come in here 'til No. 9 ("We Belong Together"), a full four spots below the flippin' "Macarena."
But hey, numbers don't lie! Or something. So head over to Billboard's list and chime in: Which songs are you surprised to see there? And what do you think is missing from their charts -- are there songs that you think ought to have been more richly rewarded in terms of radio play and sales?
Nicole Kidman tops Forbes' second annual list of the Most Overpaid Stars (up from No. 2 last year). Given Kidman's cold streak (a pattern we noticed a while back), it's no surprise that Forbes finds her grosses-to-salary ratio the riskiest return on investment in Hollywood. It's also no surprise to see Tom Cruise or J. Lo on this list (Forbes goes by the earnings of each star's last three movies). On the other hand, Jennifer Garner? Are her grosses that low, even with her modest salary, that she belongs on this list? And Will Ferrell? (Maybe if the list took Semi-Pro into account, but it doesn't.) I've questioned the list's methodology before, but even if it's accurate, I doubt it's going to change any studio executive's mind about paying these stars their asking price. As far as Hollywood and the public are concerned, Kidman is a glamorous, Oscar-winning A-lister, Garner is the next Sandra Bullock, and Ferrell is the king of lowbrow comedy, no matter what the number-crunchers say.
But we know better, don't we, PopWatchers? Who would you say is overpaid in Hollywood? Who's earning their keep? And who is a bargain?
Last weekend, ABC debuted At the Movies, the successor to At the Movies with Ebert & Roeper. The new show takes the basic concept that Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert pioneered 33 years ago -- two guys debate the week's film releases -- and tries to update it for a younger, hipper audience. And it doesn't really work.
First is the matter of the hosts themselves: Ben Lyons, the 26-year-old "film expert" from E! Entertainment, and Ben Mankiewicz, the 41-year-old host for Turner Classic Movies. Unlike Siskel and Ebert, neither of these men are newspaper film critics. While Siskel and Ebert honed their criticism skills by writing about movies at great length, Lyons and Mankiewicz are more comfortable in the realm of the sound bite. As a result, the dialogue between the new hosts sounds more like a series of scripted quips than a real conversation.
And then there's the show's hasty editing. The program moves at a bam-bam-bam pace that feels artificially forced and awkward. This is especially apparent during the "Critics Roundup" segment, in which three additional critics provide their opinions via satellite. The segment could be a venue for a dynamic five-person discussion, a la ESPN's Around the Horn. Instead, each guest critic has barely enough time to deliver a complete thought.
However, At the Movies' most baffling flaw might also be the easiest to fix: The show presents movie clips in a widescreen format, with bright orange bars on the top and bottom. Within the bars are animated shooting stars and other strange oscillating lines, and the effect is flat-out distracting. Instead of being able to focus on the clip, I couldn't stop staring at those bizarre psychedelic bars.
Devotees of Siskel & Ebert and Ebert & Roeper, what do you think of the new At the Movies? Do you miss the old hosts, or enjoy this format better?
Here at PopWatch, we like to fondly think on the geeky pop culture possessionswe prize above all else. So to mix things up a bit, I thought I'd talk about the keepsakes I don't want -- namely, an item currently in the news cycle: Bob Dylan's spittle-covered harmonica. For a mere $25,000, you can be the proud owner of one of a set of seven Marine Band harmonicas that were personally played by the iconic folk musician. Meaning he spat in them. I guess possessing the instrument that might've produced the mellifluous strains of "Tangled Up in Blue" is...cool? But you know what's cooler, and way more hygienic? Owning the actual music!
Also making my "Will Not Purchase" list are the following eBay items:
* CHRIS FARLEY's Bobbie Jones polo style golf shirt and a pair of Rochester men's linen pants, which still feature Farley's name on the attached laundry tag. Proceeds to benefit the Chris Farley foundation for substance abuse prevention. Yes, a good cause, but still kind of creepy. Can't we just cut them a check? Current bid: $99.00
*AUTHENTIC KIANA TOM FITNESS SOCKS worn on Kiana's Flex Appeal on ESPN2. The seller has a 100% eBay approval rating. Not much else going for these socks, unless you're excited by the fact that they "were worn many times on television and are the thick fitness socks that scrunch down on the lower calf." Gross! And, totally the kind of socks I used to wear when getting humiliated in high-school gym class for refusing to jump over the hurdle. Thanks for the memories, Kiana! Current bid: $9.95
* SHOPPING ADVICE FROM CARSON KRESSLEY Again a good cause -- proceeds go to Stand Up to Cancer -- but this only buys you Carson's fabulous advice, not the actual goods. And I'm not sure how fabulous he could make me with my Forever 21 budget. Current bid: $753.21
*INDEPENDENCE DAY MOVIE BUTTON Wow, a button promoting a movie that came out 12 years ago. Though it might nicely complement my "ET phone home" and "I Like Ike" buttons. Current bid: $0.99
How about you? Is there pop culture memorabilia your friends are gaga over that you just don't get?
Happy post-Labor Day, everyone. Along with "Everyone Pissed To Be Back At Work, School" and "Michael Phelps Returns To His Tank At Sea World," John Mayer and the blonde waitress are the hottest news on the planet today. Now go spill something thick and colorful on your horrifyingly all-white outfit, and you can headline the Internet, too!
No, I'm not referring to their Burnt Sienna-tinted flesh -- your eyes will have to wait exactly one month to be singed by that. Gossip Sauce has posted Dancing With the Stars' season 7 cast -- it's not confirmed yet, so take it with a grain of salt or, more appropriately, one lone sequin.
UPDATE, August 25: According to ABC's official release, Rocco DiSpirito
will replace Mark McGrath, who faded away sooner than predicted. Other than that, for the next few months....THIS IS YOUR LIFE! Erica Kane! Frau Blücher! Jefferson from Married...With Children! My early allegiance has to go to Misty May-Treanor, who along with partner Kerri Walsh, pounded the Chinese into a sandy pulp last night to become back-to-back Olympic beach volleyball gold medalists. I am DIGGING this news, you guys. She's going to ACE this competition. Maybe she will KILL someone. Okay, that's enough. Here's some quick evidence of Misty's already-perfect dance moves. My obnoxiously flippant initial reaction to the complete cast list is below.
Kim Kardashian: Ugh. Lance Bass: Of course. Toni Braxton: "Say you love me a-geh-ainnnnn..." Brooke Burke:Her? Maurice Greene: Do not spray-tan this man. Cody Linley: Who? Susan Lucci:This does not bode well... Warren Sapp: Mmm...beef. Misty May-Treanor: :-* Ted McGinley: Oh, cool -- the series will be cancelled post-season and I'll get my life back! Mark McGrath: "...and fade away..." Rocco DiSpirito: His legs look like nice-uh spaghett-iiii Cloris Leachman: EMTs, stand by. Jeff Ross: Ha?
Rainn Wilson (second from right) hopes you're sufficiently intrigued (read: freaked out) by his attempt to hold Jenna Fischer hostage in the trunk of his car -- enough to go out tonight and see his new movie, The Rocker (check out Owen Gleiberman's review, here). The Rocker's just the latest in a string of Wednesday releases (Pineapple Express, Traveling Pants 2, Tropic Thunder) in August. I've become vaguely aware of this trend, but never seem to actually pick up on it until the Friday after the film's early release. I suddenly feel more out of it than James Franco attempting to carry two giant slushies and a bevy of snacks -- something I believe I witnessed solo at a Monday-at-midnight showing at the Quarry 14 cinemas in Hodgkins, Illinois. (Let's hear it for flying home for a week-long vacation only to realize your friends won't do anything fun with you because they have in-state jobs!) Anyway, do you guys go to movies on Wednesdays now? Is Wednesday the new Friday? Is ash the new black? I have to know.
And who's excited for The Rocker? I'd personally rather marathon through all 22 of the classic rock 'n' roll movies featured in today's EW.com gallery, but that's just me. Is your jam pumped up? (Sorry.)
Fans, Hollywood welcomes your support, but it's not worried about your wrath. Even if you get massive numbers of people to join the cause (and you won't, because everyone wants to see Harry Potter and Watchmen and Wolverine, and most people will go on opening weekend or watch soon after when the movies are released on DVD), all you'd be doing is taking a bite out of the ever-shrinking slice of profit pie that is the domestic box office. In the case of Potter and Wolverine, you're talking about billion-dollar franchises, with worldwide revenue streams from cinemas, TV, DVD, publishing, and merchandise, of which the next Hogwarts and X-Men movies' domestic ticket sales are just a drop in the bucket. You're spitting in the wind.
If it's any consolation, I believe that Fox, no matter what the studio says now about preferring to suppress Watchmen and receive no profits, will ultimately decide that a percentage of something is better than a percentage of nothing, and I believe (as my colleague Jeff Jensen does), that the movie will come out even if Warners has to pay Fox a settlement. I also believe that, by the time Half-Blood Prince comes out next summer, much of the current grumbling will be forgotten. With any luck, the movie will be great (as will Watchmen and Wolverine), and we'll all have moved on to some other controversy.
Maybe it's just me and The Soup who are excited about this, but after a six-week trial period in four major cities (read our Spot Inspection here),The Wendy Williams Showwill be syndicated in mid-2009. What a wonderful day for people who enjoy frank penis discussions and hate Omarosa -- conveniently, everyone! Wendy's patented brand of bitchery is still not quite "household" status beyond the greater NYC area, so after the jump, for your listening (dis)pleasure, is the classic (give or take "classic") Wendy vs. Whitney Houston interview from WBLS in 2003. The whole thing's a half-hour long, but if you're in the mood for some whacked-out background noise that'll surely cause you to gape at your screen at inopportune times and last night's episode of The Hills isn't doin' it for you, by all means, go for it.
Three film projects I'm not sure I'm excited about:
1. The Howard Stern-produced remake of Rock 'n' Roll High School. Stern (pictured, left) has been talking about doing this for at least six years (along with a remake of Porky's), but now he's hired a screenwriter: actor-turned-filmmaker Alex Winter. (Winter knows from satirical high school movies, having played Bill opposite Keanu Reeves' Ted in the Bill & Ted comedies.) No word yet on which band will sub for the stars of the 1979 cult movie, the Ramones, though maybe Stern could make it a period piece and star as his lookalike, Joey Ramone... nah. Feel free to suggest in the comments section a present-day analog to the then-rising punk act for Stern and Winter to cast in the update.
2. A Spider-Man 3 spinoff centering on the villainous Venom. Except it doesn't look like Topher Grace (center) will star (or Tobey Maguire, for that matter), so essentially, the filmmakers will be creating a new character named after a villain in a comic book series whose hero is not likely to make an appearance. The last time Hollywood tried that, we got Catwoman.
After the jump: one more follow-up project no one asked for...
Who's ready for more Cheech & Chong (pictured)? Given that pop culture is currently busy inhaling the fumes from Pineapple Express, Harold & Kumar, Weeds, et al, it seems the time is ripe for a reunion tour for the original stoner comics. Aside from a joint appearance (sorry) at the Aspen Comedy Fest in 2005 and a plan for a new movie that went up in smoke (sorry again) after Chong's bong bust in 2003, the two buds (d'oh!) haven't been able to muster up a reunion plan for nearly 25 years, but now, Live Nation says it's booked the pair on their own stand-up tour, dubbed, "Hey, What's That Smell?"
But does anyone still want to see these two again in 2008? Will they have new material or just greatest hits (heh, heh)? Me, I used to think their stuff was hilarious — when I was 14. Now, I'm not so sure I'd want to see them hash it out (damn, it's hard not to pun with this story) one more time. Who among you, PopWatchers, wants another trip in the van with these senior stoners?
We're barely halfway through 2008, and already, Variety is complaining that we've hardly seen any Oscar contenders. Sure, there are likely animated feature nominees in WALL-E, Kung Fu Panda, and Horton Hears a Who, and EW's Ken Tucker (among others) thinks Iron Man merits a golden man or two. Still, aside from Richard Jenkins' (pictured) lead performance in the modest indie hit The Visitor, no acting turns have emerged as consensus potential nominees.
Of course, distributors tend to assume Oscar voters have short memories and save their likeliest contenders for the latter half of the year, as everyone knows (including Variety, whose article contains a helpful schedule of the Oscar-baiting movies due out over the next six months). Still, let's play along and ask: which movies and performances have you seen so far in 2008 that you think might be up for Oscars at the end of the year?
Forbes has put out its annual celebrity power list, and as usual, it's a puzzlement. The big shift this year is the addition of many tween stars, including some names you might expect (Miley Cyrus, Zac Efron) and some you might not (Ashley Tisdale, Lauren Conrad). Other shifts, closer to the top of the pecking order, are similar headscratchers. Radar does a good job of deconstructing the list, but other questions remain, such as: Why is Beyoncé (pictured) ranked No. 4, just below Angelina Jolie? She out-earned Angelina last year by a factor of six, and besides, if La Jolie is so powerful, how come she couldn't sell tickets to A Mighty Heart? Oprah ranks at No. 1 (natch), yet J.K. Rowling out-earned her this year (the Harry Potter author took in a staggering $300 million) and has to settle for ninth place. Anyway, read through the list, then come back and see if you can explain it to the rest of us.
Jumpers who teleport. A disfigured, masked Tom Cruise with a whack-job lover. Hungry raptors on the loose. These films -- namely Jumper, Vanilla Sky, and Jurassic Park -- all sound good, in theory. But these sci-fi stinkers, along with fourteen others, made our list of the worst in science-fiction cinema, from Vin Diesel's character assassination in The Chronicles of Riddick to the dim-witted aliens in Signs.
Here's your change to sound off about sci-fi flops we may have left off the list. Think the box-office bomb Battlefield Earth deserves a shout out? Have a least favorite Star Trek installment? Been itching to vent your hatred of Mars Attacks since 1996? Let us know below!
Judging by the CW's new 90210 promo (below), which introduces the cast and characters of this fall's reboot, I'm guessing the show will please fans of the original more than the younger viewers who are its ostensible audience, since the whole thing has a squeaky-clean, sunny, turn-of-the-'90s vibe that recalls the old show's earliest years more than it does the mercenary, jaded, up-to-the-minute sensibility of Gossip Girl. Yeah, I know, the actors tell us that every character has a secret; I think the secret is that they're all clones of characters from old 90210 episodes and John Hughes movies. There's the fish-out-of-water nice girl dipping her toes into the supposed shark pool of West Beverly, her even fishier brother, the Heather, the goofy jock, the boho chick, the media-savvy ethnic striver, the cool mom, and the cooler grandma — thank heavens for Jessica Walter. (Alas, no sign of Melrose Place alum Rob Estes, whose casting as the cool dad apparently occurred after this promo was shot, or returning West Beverly grad Jennie Garth.) So the show could be really dated or really fun, especially if we raise a glass in honor of the former Lucille Bluth and start thinking up 90210 drinking games now.
1) Two weeks after Jay Leno's cringeworthy interview with Ryan Phillippe, in which he asked the actor to relive his earliest gig (as a gay teen on One Life to Live) by offering the camera his "gayest look" (see clip below), the Tonight host has issued an apology to gay people and whoever else was offended. Which is nice, but Leno's done this before (just a couple years ago) and may well do it again, given the opportunity. Dude's giving up his chair to Conan in a year; what's he got to lose? Kudos to Avenue Q playwright Jeff Whitty, who first confronted Leno this time (and two years ago, as well), but it seems doubtful that anything is going to change, or that any Leno fans who were truly outraged will do anything as drastic as switch allegiance to Letterman.
2) A few days after New York magazine's film critic David Edelstein peed on the fresh grave of director Anthony Minghella, Edelstein is apologizing, sort of. He essentially suggested that, after Minghella's brilliant, personal, small-scale first film Truly Madly Deeply, Minghella devolved into a middlebrow hack who made overrated Oscar-bait movies (The English Patient, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Cold Mountain), for which devolution Edelstein blamed the heavy hand of then-Miramax co-chief Harvey Weinstein. In his apology, Edelstein's not backing down from his opinion of Minghella's work, but he's sorry for blaming Weinstein, though he insists that the famously arm-twisting mogul did not twist his arm to wrest this mea culpa.
Now, reasonable people can disagree on the merits of Minghella's work (if anything, argues EW's Mark Harris, Minghella didn't get enough credit for the careful crafting of his movies), and a lot of folks (a la Seinfeld's Elaine) really didn't get The English Patient and found it long-winded and boring. Of course, that's another argument against Edelstein's earlier thesis that "Harvey Scissorhands" snipped Minghella's work too eagerly in the editing room. So what Edelstein's concession seems to say is: Sorry, Harvey, that I blamed you for your recently deceased friend's hackery; apparently, he became a hack all by himself. That's supposed to sound less rude and insulting?
UPDATE: And now, it's time for my own apology, to David Edelstein, who, in the comments below, writes that I have mischaracterized his initial article and accused him of saying something he explicitly did not say. I apologize for my use of the words "hack" and "hackery," which overstate Edelstein's description of what he sees as the decline in the quality of Minghella's post-Truly work. I should have taken him at his word that he did not mean to go so far as to call Minghella a hack, just as I am willing to take Edelstein's word that no Weinstein arm-twisting prompted his apology. By the way, no arm-twisting prompted mine, either.
The Olsen twins, "actress" Mary-Kate and style "icon" Ashley, have "announced" in the "press" that they will "author" a new "book." Influences will reportedly be about the other "celebrity" types who have — thank Uncle Jesse and all the saints for this! — influenced them. And here I was, calling this a slow "news" day
So the Smashing Pumpkins just debuted a new video for the studio version of "Superchrist" on MySpaceTV, and yes, I am filing this item under 'The Eh List' category.
I'm not saying it's a bad song. Even the totally out-of-place violin bridge sorta fits, à la Wim Wenders, with the angel wandering forlornly around the set — but what's up with the leering bass player and the scantily clad nurse quartet? It's as if Billy & Co. decided in the middle of filming that they needed some visual Viagra to counterbalance all that dude hair.
I loved the Pumpkins back in the day, even when MTV tested my patience by playing "Today" to death (experience a flashback after the jump). But does the "Superchrist" video mark a return to form for the Pumpkins? Who else misses D'arcy and James Iha? And speaking of hair, Billy Corgan with some?
Who knew that insurance was such a compelling movie topic? Just in time for the Oscars, the Insurance Information Institute, an industry lobbying group, has compiled a list of the best films ever made featuring insurance agents and claims adjusters as major characters, and it has some excellent movies on it, including Double Indemnity, Memento, and To Catch a Thief. Still, it's a curious list, considering that almost all the movies on it portray the industry and its workers in an unflattering light. In these films, insurance folk tend to be killers, adulterers, or scam artists. They sleep with their policyholders (or, like Rene Russo, pictured, in The Thomas Crown Affair, with the targets of their investigations), plot to defraud their employers, or heartlessly deny benefits to desperate claimants. Kind of surprising that these movies would get the ringing endorsement of insurance lobbyists. Maybe insurance folk, like everyone else, long for the wish fulfillment of the cinema, where everyone's lives seem a little bit more glamorous, dangerous, and exciting. If Hollywood filmmakers can do that for insurers, they can do it for anybody.
There must be a little-known proviso in the Writers Guild rules that permits striking TV writers to pen scenarios for shows other than their own in snarky magazine articles. So it is with New York magazine, which cross-assigned teams of writers from various strike-afflicted shows to dream up season-ending arcs for other strike-afflicted shows. (Hat tip to TV Barn and TV Tattle for the link.) The results aren't as funny as I'd have hoped, though I did enjoy the Simpsons crew's apocalyptic take on The Office. I'd still like to see what, say, Tina Fey's 30 Rock-ers could do with House or Heroes. How about you, PopWatchers? What TV writer swaps would you like to see?
The sexiest celebrity smile belongs to... Ryan Seacrest? So says a panel of experts who compiled Victoria's Secret's 2009 "What Is Sexy" list, which names several celebs with sexy attributes. I won't argue with picks like Eva Mendes, Josh Holloway, or Rihanna, but Ryan Seacrest? Granted, the grinning host is practically named after a brand of toothpaste, but I've always found his choppers more unsettling than sexy. They're two perfect semi-circles of gleaming marble slabs; they look like the World War II memorial in Washington. Read a little further into the AP article linked to above, and you'll see that Victoria's Secret is presenting the list next month in a TV special on E! that'll be produced by... Ryan Seacrest. Ah, well...
Patrick Dempsey has undergone what one could call—if one is prone to understatement—a bit of a career rejuvenation. The dude once best known for silly teen romantic comedies like Loverboy and Can't Buy Me Love has matured into a legitimate TV actor and full-blown star.
And with this newly discovered currency, what kind of movie does McDreamy choose as his big star vehicle?
The same type of silly romantic comedy he made as a teen.
Yes, it's My Best Friend's Wedding, with the sexes swapped. And it's called Made of Honor. Which, by all indicators, this movie is not. Why not spread your wings and make a drama, or a straight-ahead romance, or something—anything—that doesn't involve serial pratfalls? Are you with me on this one?
Remember vaudeville? Yeah, me neither. You know why? Because it's a form of comedy that has become extinct. There actually used to be TV shows featuring a ventriloquist and his dummy. Not any more.
Humor evolves. What we found hilarious 25 years ago induces yawns today.
So can someone explain this:
It's a dude who can do voices. Near as I can tell, that's it. Passable impersonations of people we've heard done for years: Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Sean Connery, George Bush. And, lo, Frank Caliendo gets himself a TV show (debuting Nov. 20 on TBS).
Which I will never watch. Because I don't live in the main ballroom of the Sands Hotel and Casino circa 1967.
Tell me, do you like movies? Do you really like movies? How about lifting weights? Well, the new 90-disc United Artists 90th Anniversary Prestige Collection Gift Set is the product you've been weighting for! (The puns... they never stop.) Coming in at a hefty 22.5 lbs (as verified by an elaborate series of experiments involving 10 DVDs and my bathroom scale) and costing a coronary-inducing $869.98, the set boasts an assortment of MGM/UA's classic flicks of the past almost-century.
As for which films are in this boulder of a box, the selection is puzzling. While you get a whole mess of undeniable classics — like Some Like it Hot, West Side Story, The Manchurian Candidate, Dr. No, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Midnight Cowboy, Rocky, Raging Bull, Leaving Las Vegas, and Hotel Rwanda — there are a couple of puzzlers. Instead of giving us, say, Goldfinger, we get Dalton's Bond dud, The Living Daylights? Does one need both Red Dawn and Road House? And does anyone truly need to watch Baby Boom again?
Hey, if you've got almost a grand lying around and nothing better to spend it on, go for it. Then again, you could also buy a crapbox car... that could, you know, take you places.
Man, I really want season 7 of 24 to be good, especially after the disappointment that was Day 6, but this trailer doesn't give me a lot of hope. (Warning: Trailer is full of spoilers.) I mean, it's enough of a stretch that Tony Almeida is coming back from the dead, but to make him a rogue agent on top of that? Also, it's nice to see daylight and a change of scenery (CTU is apparently history, and Jack is in Washington, testifying before professional curmudgeon and former That '70s Show dad Kurtwood Smith), but the terror plot — a computer hack attack — is snoozeville. Tell me, Bauer-philes, am I missing something? Is there something in this clip that makes you eagerly anticipate the Jan. 13 season 7 premiere?
With anticipation high for Jay-Z's soundtrack to American Gangster (due in stores Nov. 6), it's no wonder people are mulling over, once again, the question of what makes a good soundtrack. Too many soundtrack songs are chosen for marketing reasons, not because they actually complement what's happening on screen. At the same time, you'd like an album that holds together conceptually, that you can listen to without watching the movie. I used to think that, when it came to matching images with the ideal found songs, Martin Scorsese and Jonathan Demme had no peers, but lately, such directors as Quentin Tarantino, Sofia Coppola, Zach Braff, and Wes Anderson have joined that list.
We know you PopWatchers obsess over soundtracks as much as we do, so we wonder what you'll think of the latest contribution to the discussion, this one from Vanity Fair. The magazine has compiled a list of the 40 best soundtracks of all time for its next issue, but the top 10 have been made public. Hard to argue with Prince's Purple Rain (pictured) at No. 1, but this list does skew kinda old. Aside from Tarantino's Pulp Fiction and Danny Boyle's Trainspotting, no other movies from the last 20 years cracked the top 10, which otherwise consists of such (admittedly unassailable) Boomer favorites as A Hard Day's Night, The Harder They Come, American Graffiti, Saturday Night Fever, and The Big Chill. Still, where's Braff's Garden State? Where's The Matrix? And where's hip-hop? (No 8 Mile or Hustle & Flow?)
Maybe Jay-Z will make VF wish they'd waited for American Gangster, or maybe it won't merit a place on the list. Tell us, PopWatchers, what you think the best soundtracks are. Pick ones you still listen to, that have earned a place of honor in your CD collection or on your iPod.
We're a few weeks into the season, long enough to watch at least three episodes of every show in the new TV crop. And now's the time when us TV junkies have to start making some hard choices: specifically, what shows to jettison from our DVR?
Me? I'm just about done with Journeyman (pictured; it's like Quantum Leap, without QL's terrific, baseline premise: he's always hoping the next leap will take him home) and Dirty Sexy Money (I just don't have room in my life for a wacky evening soap, no matter how good it may be). I'm on the fence with Reaper (loved the pilot, but the second episode whiffed something fierce) and Chuck (the producers are working overtime trying to find ways to shoehorn a tech-wank into the spy-drama-of-the-week, and the strain is starting to show).
And, despite TiVo-ing the pilots for Cane and Moonlight, I didn't watch either. Every time I went to my Now Playing menu, those yellow exclamation points were just taunting me...to the point where I deleted them to avoid that harsh glare.
Usually, I can't bring myself to care much about the American Music Awards, the Dick Clark-created alternative to the Grammys that (thankfully) has about 90 fewer awards categories. Usual suspects Justin Timberlake, Beyoncé, and Linkin Park, along with recently-Idol-minted hitmaker Daughtry, landed three nominations apiece yesterday for the 35th annual ceremony, which Jimmy Kimmel (pictured) will emcee for the fourth time on Nov. 18 on ABC. (Fans may vote until Nov. 1 via the Internet; a list of nominees and an online ballot are posted at ABC's AMA Web page.) In other words, no big surprises here. Still, a handful of burning questions remain:
• How come there's no Favorite Female Artist award in the Rap/Hip-Hop category?
• Daughtry is Adult Contemporary? Really?
• Linkin Park is Alternative? Really?
I could probably think of more questions (Where's Kanye? Will he show up just to complain he got robbed?), but again, I can't bring myself to care.
Celebrity A-List Bloopers, hosted by John O'Hurley (Dancing with the Stars Season One, Seinfeld), celebrates hilarious bloopers and outtakes from celebrities including Mel Gibson, Goldie Hawn, Paris Hilton, Eddie Murphy, Will Smith, plus the cast of According to Jim...
Welcome to The "Eh" List, a roundup of stories I read but then lost interest in as yesterday afternoon wore on. Its original title was "Things We Couldn't Bring Ourselves to Care About," but that would have negated itself once it was posted for all the world to see, links and everything, and I try not to be a liar on the Internet. In real life, if I lie I can just take it back right away, but editing a PopWatch post involves multiple steps, multiple people (ew), and is therefore a way bigger hassle. I know what you're thinking: Zzzzzzzz. I know. Happy Friday!
-Posh & Becks (pictured) will invade America. He signed "the biggest deal in global sport history" to play with Los Angeles' Galaxy. Will this make soccer popular in the States? And what will this mean for our great nation? Kidding -- I just wanna see how much tackier California can make the retired Spice Girl.
-Laura Innes talks about leaving ER after 11 seasons in a very cool, down-to-earth interview. Awww. Four or five years ago, I would have cared a lot, but at this point, eh. I recorded a few eps this fall to see if the reunion of Freaks and Geeks' Kim Kelly and Lindsay Weir (Busy Philipps and Linda Cardellini, who now work together on ER), would be funny. It wasn't. Sniff.
-The city of Chino, Calif. doesn't care that The O.C.'s been canceled. For real? This is a story? Who cares what Chino thinks?
Good news for the Fame remake nobody really thinks is necessary: The high school's faculty will include Bebe Neuwirth (dance), Kelsey Grammer (orchestra), Megan Mullally (voice), and Broadway actor Charles S. Dutton (acting) in the 2009 film. Debbie Allen, who played the hardass ballet teacher in 1980 (and in the ensuing TV series), will be the school's principal. That's quite the principle part! Teachers didn't play a huge role in the original film, but since the remake's high schoolers will be played by relative unknowns, it can certainly benefit from some bigger names. For extra intrigue, the producers may wish to change the movie's title to The Faculty 2: Singing the Body Electric. 
Kudos to this year's American 
Michael Flatley, whom I have somewhat affectionately labeled "DANCLRD" for that one week he filled in for DANCMSTR Len Goodman on this season's Dancing With the Stars, 
Assuming you're still following the antics of Federal Agent Jack Bauer et al, it'll take SIX hours of viewing to bone up for 24's upcoming seventh season. As an appetizer, there's the two-hour prequel movie, 24: Redemption, airing Sunday, Nov. 23, ostensibly to bridge the sizable gap
between 24's sixth and seventh seasons. Then, nearly two months later, the four-hour season premiere will finally be served as a two-day feast, on Sunday, Jan. 11 and Monday, Jan. 12 at 8 p.m. This begs two questions: 
Aside from a mortifying stint on Celebrity Fit Club, the majority of Maureen McCormick's new memoir reads like a generic checklist of bad things that can happen to child stars, mixed with tedious musings about being "blessed and cursed by the same thing." Don't feel like shelling out $20 to hear the story of Here's the Story? Well, in short order:
During my lunch break today, I decided to walk up to Wollman Rink in Manhattan’s Central Park to check out David Blaine’s latest stunt. I have better things to do with my time, to be sure, but I’ve always been curious about David Blaine: Not in that “Oh, he’s so amazing” way, but in that “What is this guy’s deal?” way. Apparently, 
And now for your never-enjoyable-or-even-interesting View Rumor of the Month...
Nicole Kidman tops Forbes' second annual 
Last weekend, ABC debuted 
Here at PopWatch, we like to fondly think on the geeky 
Happy post-Labor Day, everyone. Along with "Everyone Pissed To Be Back At Work, School" and "
Rainn Wilson (second from right) hopes you're sufficiently intrigued (read: freaked out) by his attempt to 
Maybe it's just me and The Soup who are excited about this, but after a six-week trial period in four major cities (
Three film projects I'm not sure I'm excited about:
Who's ready for more Cheech & Chong (pictured)? Given that pop culture is currently busy inhaling the fumes from 
POPWATCH QUIZ: Which bit of Screech news is lamer? 
We're barely halfway through 2008, and already, 
Forbes has put out its 
Jumpers who teleport. A disfigured, masked Tom Cruise with a whack-job lover. Hungry raptors on the loose. These films -- namely Jumper, Vanilla Sky, and Jurassic Park -- all sound good, in theory. But these sci-fi stinkers, along with fourteen others, made our list of the 
The Olsen twins, "actress" Mary-Kate and style "icon" Ashley, have "announced" in the "
Who knew that insurance was such a compelling movie topic? Just in time for the Oscars, the Insurance Information Institute, an industry lobbying group, has compiled a list of 
There must be a little-known proviso in the Writers Guild rules that permits striking TV writers to pen scenarios for shows other than their own in snarky magazine articles. So it is with 
The sexiest celebrity smile belongs to... Ryan Seacrest? So says a panel of experts who compiled 
Tell me, do you like movies? Do you really like movies? How about lifting weights? Well, the new 90-disc United Artists 90th Anniversary Prestige Collection Gift Set is the product you've been weighting for! (The puns... they never stop.) Coming in at a hefty 22.5 lbs (as verified by an elaborate series of experiments involving 10 DVDs and my bathroom scale) and costing a coronary-inducing $869.98, the set boasts an assortment of MGM/UA's classic flicks of the past almost-century.
With anticipation high for 
We're a few weeks into the season, long enough to watch at least three episodes of every show in the new TV crop. And now's the time when us TV junkies have to start making some hard choices: specifically, what shows to jettison from our DVR?
Usually, I can't bring myself to care much about the American Music Awards, the Dick Clark-created alternative to the Grammys that (thankfully) has about 90 fewer awards categories. Usual suspects Justin Timberlake, Beyoncé, and Linkin Park, along with recently-Idol-minted hitmaker Daughtry, landed three nominations apiece yesterday for the 35th annual ceremony, which Jimmy Kimmel (pictured) will emcee for the fourth time on Nov. 18 on ABC. (Fans may vote until Nov. 1 via the Internet; a list of nominees and an online ballot are posted at 
Welcome to The "Eh" List, a roundup of stories I read but then lost interest in as yesterday afternoon wore on. Its original title was "Things We Couldn't Bring Ourselves to Care About," but that would have negated itself once it was posted for all the world to see, links and everything, and I try not to be a liar on the Internet. In real life, if I lie I can just take it back right away, but editing a PopWatch post involves multiple steps, multiple people (ew), and is therefore a way bigger hassle. I know what you're thinking: Zzzzzzzz. I know. Happy Friday!