Filed under: Celebrities, Casting, Reality-Free, Burn Notice

‘Burn Notice’ just ended its third season and now comes word that they’re adding a new regular character to mix with Michael, Fiona, Sam, and Madeline.

Coby Bell, who had regular roles on such shows as ‘Third Watch,’ ‘The Game,’ and ‘L.A. Doctors’ (no, I don’t remember that 1999 show, though it sounds like something that should have been a hint, doesn’t it?) will join the cast as Jesse Garcia.

The Hollywood Reporter describes the character as “a cocky and sarcastic counterintelligence expert with a chameleon-like ability to assume different cover identities and an intense desire to see bad guys punished.’ Wait, that sounds a lot like Michael! He finds himself in Miami, too, and hooks up with the gang for what I’m assuming will be lots of action.

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Filed under: TV Royalty, Saturday Night Live, Celebrities, Reality-Free

Facebook fans, your plan has worked: Betty White has confirmed that she’s going to host ‘Saturday Night Live.’

There’s no word yet on when she will host or under what circumstances, but White tells People that she is indeed going to host the show. She says she “doesn’t know why or how, but it’s been wonderful.”

There was talk that because of her age (she’s 88), she would be a part of a “Women of Comedy” episode of ‘SNL,’ but producer Lorne Michaels says that’s not true.

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Filed under: Late Night, Video, Watercooler Talk, Celebrities, Talk Show, Reality-Free

‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ has a post-Oscars live show every year and last night he had a variety of guests, including Christoph Waltz, Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner, Matt Damon, John Krasinksi, Ted Danson, Rob Lowe, Keith Urban, Sting, Matthew McConaughey, and many others. He also showed one award they didn’t show on the Oscars, the one for “Best Actor in Real Life.” I think the right guy won.

[Watch episodes of ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ and other shows at SlashControl.]

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Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Celebrities, Celebreality

It turns out that Hollywood’s man for the mentally dysfunctional and perpetually codependent has someone who is addicted to him.

Police have charged Charles Pearson on suspicions that he stalked and threatened Dr. Drew Pinsky and his family on more than one occasion.

Pearson stands accused of posting threatening messages towards the doctor. He also showed up at a radio station event in Los Angeles where Dr. Pinsky does his nationally syndicated “Loveline” show on KROQ.

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Filed under: Daytime, Celebrities, Reality-Free

TV Guide is reporting that ‘Today’ co-host Meredith Vieira has signed a new deal with NBC that keeps her in the co-anchor seat alongside Matt Lauer until the end of 2011.

The fact that Vieira re-upped with ‘Today’ isn’t surprising (she has settled in quite nicely over there), though it is a little surprising that she only signed on for one more year. I don’t know what type of contract Lauer has with the show (though The New York Times says his last contract extension in 2006 was for five years), or Robin Roberts at ABC or Harry Smith at CBS, but I would have thought that the network would want to lock Vieira in with a multi-year deal. So the fact that Vieira is staying with ‘Today’ isn’t news, but I think the length of her contract might be.

Maybe she just wants to take it year by year and see how things go.

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Filed under: Industry, Programming, Celebrities, Casting

She’s already done stand-up comedy during ‘The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,’ but now it looks like Sarah Palin is teaming with über-reality producer Mark Burnett to bring you a series about Alaska. No network is involved with the series yet, but Fox News would be a good place to start.

Seriously, when one does a “reality television show” about a state, it’s usually called a documentary or a tourism video. If that’s the purpose, then this is a good idea. Sarah Palin could host a documentary about Alaska. She’ll likely be on script, so there are no dangers of fielding questions from reporters and given her fame, it would likely be a boon to the state in terms of tourism. They would want to see the sort of place that would produce someone like her.

However, this show will more likely focus on the ex-Governor herself as well as her family and their experiences within the state. It is interesting how she wants the media to leave her family alone but has no problems parading them in front of the camera for her own ends.

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Filed under: OpEd, Celebrities, Casting, Reality-Free

Grace is ready to try again. Actress Debra Messing has signed for a new television show called ‘Wright vs. Wrong,’ a sitcom for ABC, and if you think this is going to be anything like ‘Will & Grace,’ think again. (Although if they’re smart, it better be just as funny!)

The premise of the pilot for ‘Wright vs. Wrong’ is that Debra plays Evelyn Wright, a strong-minded, ambitious political personality who espouses the conservative, right-wing agenda. However, while she has this tough, conservative personality for the public, behind the scenes she’s consumed by her foibles and flaws.

So she’s half-Grace Adler, the flawed, foibled part. Grace’s politics, at least what she tried to articulate in her goofy way, was of the liberal lefty variety.

Continue reading Debra Messing Will Be All ‘Wright vs. Wrong’

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Filed under: OpEd, Celebrities, Casting, Reality-Free, Parks and Recreation

Weeks ago when it was announced that Rob Lowe was leaving ABC’s ‘Brothers and Sisters,’ the spin from ABC was that they desperately wanted to keep Rob in the fold and would be working to develop a new television project for him.

Guess what? That was all a lot of hooey. Or exaggeration to the point of sounding more optimistic than true. Today, Michael Ausiello of Entertainment Weekly reported that Rob Lowe will be joining the NBC sitcom, ‘Parks and Recreation.’ This is a great move by Rob, turning to comedy rather than jumping into another dramatic series. And if you think Rob’s not good at comedy, you don’t remember his letter-perfect imitation of Robert Wagner’s character #2 — as a younger man — in ‘Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me.”

Continue reading Rob Lowe Heading to ‘Parks & Recreation’

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Filed under: OpEd, Celebrities, Casting, Reality-Free

Grace is ready to try again. Actress Debra Messing has signed for a new television show called ‘Wright vs. Wrong,’ a sitcom for ABC, and if you think this is going to be anything like ‘Will & Grace,’ think again. (Although if they’re smart, it better be just as funny!)

The premise of the pilot for ‘Wright vs. Wrong’ is that Debra plays Evelyn Wright, a strong-minded, ambitious political personality who espouses the conservative, right-wing agenda. However, while she has this tough, conservative personality for the public, behind the scenes she’s consumed by her foibles and flaws.

So she’s half-Grace Adler, the flawed, foibled part. Grace’s politics, at least what she tried to articulate in her goofy way, was of the liberal lefty variety.

Continue reading Debra Messing Will Be All ‘Wright vs. Wrong’

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