There's some good news and some bad about The Golden Girls. First the good: Betty White will be returning to The Bold and the Beautiful to resume her recurring role as Stephanie's mother, Ann Douglas. She'll be appearing on a few episodes of B&B, but it could be extended even longer depending on storyline developments.
Sadly, the bad news is that Betty's Golden Girls costar, Rue McClanahan had to cancel a Castro Theater event in San Francisco on November 14 -- a salute in her honor called "Golden: A Gala Tribute to Rue McClanahan" -- because she's had to undergo heart bypass surgery in New York.
This is either great news if you like Martha Stewart and Rachael Ray or a warning if you don't like them, but it's interesting news nonetheless: Martha is going to do Rachael Ray's show and then the very next day Rachael will be on Martha's* show.
Yup, Martha will appear on Rachael's show on November 12 to show Rachael how to make a Thanksgiving centerpiece, and then on November 13 Rachael will appear on Martha's show and Martha will teach her how to make a Thanksgiving dessert. Notice that on both shows it's Martha who will be doing the teaching?
Wouldn't you love to know who's giving actor James Franco career advice these days? I'm not knocking him or her, but I'd love to figure out the strategy. Or maybe this is just Franco being Franco (like Manny being Manny, for you baseball fans out there)?
James has just started filming his two-month arc on General Hospital -- check out the first pic (right) -- and now Michael Ausiello reports that James Franco will do a guest spot on 30 Rock.
How's that for a career trajectory -- from box office bonanza (Spider-Man) to Oscar feature (Milk) to daytime soap (General Hospital) to Emmy-winning sitcom (30 Rock). He's like a human pinball machine looking for a perfect score!
My first thought whenever O'Reilly visits The View is Joy Behar. She always looks like she'd rather be anywhere else but sitting next to him. But I suppose she puts up with it -- and has no choice in the matter -- because O'Reilly and Barbara Walters have been friends for a long time, and Barbara, of course, has the final say on who gets on the show and who doesn't.
This is all speculation, of course. I have no idea what goes on behind the scenes. Just reading the body language, which I've learned a little about while watching Tonya Reiman on O'Reilly's Fox show, The O'Reilly Factor.
Something about the syndicated Who Wants to Be a Millionaire seems off this season. It might be the gimmicky "Tournament of Ten" that they've been building towards; it starts next week. Or it might be the bumped-up money tree they've instituted, paired with tougher questions; now it's easier to get the first safety level (now $5,000) but much more difficult to get to the second (still $25,000).
But what might also be off is that the producers have been mixing in some very young contestants into the show, and when they're on, the program screeches to a halt.
Why? They're too young. Even if they're the most book-smart kids on the planet, their knowledge of pop culture and historic events goes back maybe ten years, and those questions are a large part of the stack most contestants get.
One last Halloween post. Bill O'Reilly appeared on The View on Friday, dressed as Dracula. It's a basic costume, but it suits him. Of course, the talk turned to the Fox News vs. the White House story, and then O'Reilly, for some bizarre reason, calls Whoopi "jealous" because he has a best-selling book. But what's equally odd is Whoopi's response, where she lists the awards she has won. I think that has been boiling inside her for a while (that part happens about 7:48 in).
And what's with all the weird mugging and looking around that Whoopi is doing? She's actually kinda of an odd person, isn't she?
Practical jokes are funny, to a certain extent. Until someone loses an eye or something.
This clip is from an episode of Ellen last week. Taylor Swift was the guest so Ellen decided to sneak up on her as she went into her dressing room's bathroom. It doesn't look like a set-up, as Swift looks truly shocked, so my question is this: what if Swift had broken her ankle or slipped and hit her head on the toilet? She comes really close. What an embarrassing way to die that would have been. Yeah, really funny Ellen, you killed America's sweetheart in the toilet!
This morning, the Today gang dressed up for Halloween like they do every year, and this year it was a Star Wars theme. Besides the characters mentioned above, we have Meredith as Princess Leia, Kathie Lee as C3P0, Natalie as Amidala, Al as Han Solo and many Storm Troopers.
There's an awkward silence a couple of minutes in as each character is introduced. Lauer gets off a funny line about why he was late.
Well, while he was still in exit mode, the show wrote Victor out. In the storyline, Victor is recovering from a heart transplant and has decided to go to a clinic in Belgium to rehabilitate. This week he's been tying up loose ends before leaving.
If things don't work out for Project Runway winner Christian Siriano in the fashion biz, he might want to consider a full-time gig as a talk show diva. As the number one guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show today, Christian was fierce, fun and oh-so-comfy that at times I thought Ms. O had her own little Ed McMahon or Andy Richter... but with a lot more style.
Oprah devoted the show to reality TV and the big get was Adam Lambert, the runner up in last season's American Idol. You wouldn't have guessed he was second place based on the assertion by Oprah that he was the top choice of her viewers when asked which reality star they wanted to see on her show.
I know I'm cynical, but I think it was planned. Adam's album is coming out on November 23 and there's already been lots of buzz, including the CD cover.
I used to be a devoted fan of General Hospital, and some of my favorite episodes involved Luke and Laura, and later, their son, Lucky. In fact, now that I think about it, I started to stray from the show about the time that Jonathan Jackson, who played the first Lucky, left the show in 1999.
The other actors who played Lucky -- Jacob Young and Greg Vaughan -- did a fine job, but I so associated the role with Jackson that it was impossible for me to accept anyone else as Lucky.
As luck would have it, I just happened to flip on One Life to Live yesterday and saw a promo for Jonathan Jackson coming back to General Hospital as Lucky. What a stroke of "luck" for me!
Tuesday was Jonathan Jackson's first day back on General Hospital in the role of Lucky Spencer. It's a role he originated (as a youngster), coming onto the show in 1993 when Luke and Laura -- Anthony Geary and Genie Francis -- made their much-heralded return. Jonathan stayed on General Hospital till 1999, winning three Daytime Emmys in his tenure, and basically stamped the character as his own. That's why when he decided to return now, it's been a big deal.
I'll admit it: I like Martha (the show and the person). Unlike a lot of daytime shows that feature cooking and other how-to segments, it's not so heavily tilted towards women that men can't get into it. Unlike Rachael Ray, which has way too many segments on makeovers, relationships, and what shoes you should wear.
Today she has Mad Men's Joan Holloway herself, Christina Hendricks. It says in the summary for the episode that Hendricks is going to mix Halloween cocktails and hors d'oeuvres. Whenever someone from Mad Men is on Martha they make cocktails. Last season Bryan Batt (Sal Romano) was on and made Manhattans and Rob Roys.
Here's a sneak peek. It doesn't really show too much, except that most of the episode is all about spiders. I hate spiders.
Allison told you that contract negotiations between Braeden and Sony had come to a standstill. Braeden has been on the show for 30 years and knew that he had to take a pay cut (like everyone in the industry is doing these days), but they couldn't come to terms on what that pay should be, and Braeden felt that Sony had reneged on what they had promised. But it's all in the past now. Braeden will stay with the show.
When Eric Braeden walked out of The Young and the Restless, it was my belief that the powers that be would find some way to reach a compromise with him and Victor Newman would remain an integral part of Genoa City. However, the negotiations between Braeden and the folks at Sony turned cold.
Cold as in heartless. Considering the character Braeden has played for nearly 30 years, Victor Newman, he should have understood the daytime TV business had changed. Instead, he was insulted and -- apparently -- grew stubborn. So instead of a compromise, it looks like Braeden is really leaving.
However, today's news suggests that while he walked from a job that was asking him to take a pay cut from $1.5 million a year to $1 million a year, other actors are interested in filling Braeden's shoes. The question is this, though: can another actor play Victor Newman?
There's some good news and some bad about The Golden Girls. First the good: Betty White will be returning to The Bold and the Beautiful to resume her recurring role as Stephanie's mother, Ann Douglas. She'll be appearing on a few episodes of B&B, but it could be extended even longer depending on storyline developments. 
This is either great news if you like Martha Stewart and Rachael Ray or a warning if you don't like them, but it's interesting news nonetheless: Martha is going to do Rachael Ray's show and then the very next day Rachael will be on Martha's* show.
Wouldn't you love to know who's giving actor 
It's always fun when Bill O'Reilly visits 
Something about the syndicated 
It's been a 
If things don't work out for 
I used to be a devoted fan of 
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When 
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