Not coincidentally, that date is the day after the 25th anniversary of her first nationally-syndicated episode, and she'll mark the anniversary on her last show. Bennett told WCCO that this decision was under discussion for months, but the decision ultimately came down to the big O herself.
If you're like me, and I know I am, you've wondered what it would like if the U.S.S. Enterprise descended on the Hollywood Hills.
Fortunately, Paramount held the big DVD and Blu-ray release party for J.J. Abrams' Star Trek movie at the Griffith Park Observatory Monday night, and the Enterprise took up a standard orbit around the famous planetarium landmark.
While the film's creators and cast mingled inside the observatory, a high-definition multimedia system projected video images of Trek visual effects up against the building's walls.
So, for a few moments, the Enterprise (almost to scale) swooped in for a visit before heading away at warp factor one.
Gretchen Mol, who was last seen in last season's short-lived American television version of Life on Mars and in the feature An American Affair, will be going to HBO for the series Boardwalk Empire. She's scheduled to have a recurring role as a showgirl. The series is being produced by Martin Scorsese.
Gretchen Mol was on Life on Mars with Michael Imperioli, who was also on The Sopranos on HBO and was in Scorsese's Goodfellas. Boardwalk Empire star Steve Buscemi also appeared on The Sopranos. In short, all these people know each other and it's definitely a case of cast inbreeding. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Seriously, Gretchen Mol is a terrific actress and was fantastic in The Notorious Bettie Page. Given the talent already behind Boardwalk Empire, it was likely to be a fantastic series. Now its volume just went up to 11.
There's a lot of speculation in the biz about what will Oprah do next. The daytime talk show giant supposedly made up her mind recently and decided that her syndicated show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, would end its run in syndication and move to OWN, the Oprah Winfrey Network (formerly Discovery Health). An official announcement is anticipated before the end of the year, but is that really was Oprah has decided? Nobody knows for certain.
There are pros and cons on either side. The companies that syndicated her talk show stand to lose a significant asset if she wraps up the current incarnation and abandons the market. Think of all those afternoon hours around that country that count on Oprah at three or four o'clock, or the morning slots where Oprah leads in to noon newscasts. Companies like CBS Distribution and the Tribune Company have feasted on the robust ratings Oprah has consistently delivered.
The cast of the FX sitcom It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia gathered a stone's throw from Beverly Hills this week to celebrate the release of the show's new Christmas special.
A Very Sunny Christmas arrives on Blu-ray and DVD November 17 from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. Fox teamed with Maxim Magazine to hold a festive bash last Thursday night at Guys and Dolls Lounge in the shadow of Cedar Sinai Hospital on Beverly Blvd. (Event gallery below.)
A modest red carpet set-up gathered a cramped collection of reporters and photographers together to greet the arrivals of show stars Danny DeVito, Kaitlin Olson, Rob McElhenney, Glenn Howerton and Charlie Day.
As if looking to mimic the bleak Philadelphia winter, rain sprinkled the LA streets in the hours leading up to the event -- and temperatures hovering in the low 50s made it a goose bumpy night for the several cocktail dress-clad ladies mingling in the crowd.
Gallery: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Christmas Special DVD
"Did you hear who's going to play during the Super Bowl halftime show?"
"No, who?"
"That's what I just said. Who."
"No, seriously. Which is the band that's going to appear?"
"It's Who."
"I'm not talking proper English. Which band will be on CBS's halftime show on February 7 at Landshark Stadium in Miami?"
"The Who -- you know, Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend. 'Tommy, can you hear me?'"
"Oh! Why didn't you just say that!"
Okay, I couldn't resist the nod to Abbott and Costello's Who's On First. But the fact is that Sports Illustrated has spread the word that The Who will star in the Super Bowl big, overblown half-time pageant. This follows the safe pattern the NFL has been employing since the Janet Jackson-Justin Timberlake costume malfunction; that is, stick with classic rock stars who are guaranteed to do their hits and not disrobe. That's why we've had Prince, The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney and now The Who. All superstar acts, no controversy.
Marti Noxon will be writing the remake of the cult 1980's flick Fright Night. For those who don't know, Noxon is a writer on the series Mad Men (for which she got a WGA nomination) among other shows. She is best remembered for her singing appearances on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "Once More With Feeling" (she was a writer and producer on that show too) and the Internet phenomenon Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.
Getting into movies for a moment, Fright Night was always a guilty pleasure of mine. Noxon is a good choice to write it too. Along with the diversity of her writing experience, she has used the same sort of combination of horror/humor when she wrote Buffy.
Of course, she's not the only Buffy alumnus writing a comedy horror. Joss Whedon himself is involved with project called Cabin In The Woods. He has the spare time to complete it now.
Is this a surprise? Not at all. In fact, a lot of people were rather surprised when the show was given a second season. I wonder how many fans of the first season didn't even bother watching the second season of the show because they knew it was a surprise that the show got renewed and they knew it was just a matter of time before FOX canceled it? Or maybe the Friday night slot was another reason a lot of people weren't watching.
The show will actually finish its whole 13 episode order, which is something a lot of canceled shows can't say. Now we'll just have to see if Whedon will have an actual ending for the show.
First off, thanks to ABC for canceling Hank, because I love it when headlines rhyme.
Second, yes, the network has canceled the struggling Kelsey Grammer comedy. It never really clicked with TV viewers or critics, and when ABC gave full season orders to all of the other Wednesday night comedies (The Middle, Modern Family, and Cougar Town) you knew the writing was on the wall and this show just wasn't going to be around for a second season. Of course, it's not going to be around for a full first season either. ABC is replacing the remaining episodes with holiday specials and repeats of their other sitcoms.
This might be a silly question to ask but ... is anyone out there going to miss this show? I have a high tolerance for sitcoms, even mediocre ones. But this show was mediocre, with a capital ocore. It just wasn't funny and the characters/premise just weren't interesting enough.
If you're watching television right now, congratulations. You are part of a new world record.
The Nielsen Company announced that TV viewing for the 2008-09 season reached a new high in average watching time. Now the average American spends four hours and 49 minutes every day in front of the idiot box and the average household spends more than eight hours a day watching television. ("God bless America, land where we loaf, staring down from, our favorite futon, all day and night at the light of HBO")
However, this doesn't mean everyone to celebrating. In fact, the big four networks (five if you count the CW) actually saw a decline in viewers because we have so many other choices now between cable and the Internet. Do you any of you actually watch that much television?
This might sound more overdue than According to Jim's cancellation, but one of TV's greatest creators is getting the Hall of Fame treatment.
Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry will join the ranks of the Television Academy's Hall of Fame next year at a special induction ceremony at the Beverly Hills Hotel.
Other inductees include Candice Bergen, production and art director Charles Lisanby, announcer Don Pardo, Tom and Dick Smothers and game show producer Bob Stewart. Is there anyone that they left off the list?
A lot of shows on the list won't surprise us: Hank, The Forgotten, Numb3rs, Gary Unmarried, and 'Til Death (each either gets low ratings or has been on for a while), but there are several that I think will actually make it to a another season, including The Good Wife and Parks and Recreation.
I don't want to say that I'm psychic or anything (I'm not, though I can bend spoons), but I had a feeling that Eastwick wouldn't last beyond one season after I saw the new shows at the ABC upfront. I don't know why or how I thought that, probably a combination of the plot, the time slot, the network it was on, and how programming on the networks is these days, but I just didn't think it would last.
There's more news coming from ABC too, and this is actually surprising: they've ordered 5 more episodes of The Forgotten. That's a show I thought would be gone quick too. It still could be, since ratings aren't great (though better than Eastwick's) and it hasn't exactly been critically-acclaimed.
Sometimes it's true that all's well that ends well. And sometimes to reach that happy ending, arms are twisted, feelings are hurt, and bad blood is spilled. In the case of The Young and the Restless and actor Eric Braeden, there was a good deal of acrimony on both sides. The fact that Braeden is back in the fold now and he will continue as Victor Newman for the foreseeable future, doesn't obscure the fact that it was a nasty situation.
Did the USA Network decide not to buy the Simon Baker series The Mentalist for syndication because it would conflict with their own psychic detective show Psych?
You have to wonder, because The Mentalist has been snatched up by TNT in a lush syndication deal. How lush? About $2 million per episode, a broadcast series record. (The overall record is HBO's The Sopranos going to A&E for $2.5 per episode.)
There had been lots of speculation that Oprah Winfrey was going to be giving up on her juggernaut of a syndicated talk show soon, but many of those rumors had been dismissed as negotiating ploys or some other silly rumor. Now, however, it seems like Oprah's departure from daytime is official: Tim Bennett, president of Harpo, confirmed that Oprah will announce on her show tomorrow that she will be ending the program on September 9, 2011.
Gretchen Mol, who was last seen in last season's short-lived American television version of Life on Mars and in the feature An American Affair, 
The cast of the FX sitcom It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia gathered a stone's throw from Beverly Hills this week to celebrate the release of the show's new Christmas special.
"Did you hear who's going to play during the 
Marti Noxon will be writing the remake of the 
This seems to be the week for cancellation notices. ABC 
First off, thanks to ABC for 
If you're watching television right now, congratulations. You are part of a new world record. 
This might sound more overdue than According to Jim's cancellation, but one of TV's greatest creators is getting the Hall of Fame treatment. 
A couple of weeks ago, I did a post about the shows that were "on the bubble," the ones in danger of being canceled. Now AOL TV has 
Did the USA Network decide not to buy the 
The TV Squad Podcast: The Prisoner, '80s TV, soap news and more
Let's talk about spoilers ...
The Prisoner -- An early look
