Image Credit: Michael Underwood/WireImage.com’ AMC Mad Men
Weiner said he didn’t have an “actual conversation” haggling with the network until three weeks ago. The showrunner also confirmed he was asked to cut two actors from the show each year for three years, though at least one report disputes this. “Even though people have left the show, none of that has ever been about money,” he said. “I’ve brought the show in on budget. I’ve been a good producer.” READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: Claire Folger/ABC
Many of the Dancing with the Stars’ fans stuck around to see Body of Proof, the new Dana Delany drama that has her playing an icy medical examiner. The series earned an admirable 3.0 rating/8 share in the demo and 13.8 million viewers – enough for it to beat The Good Wife on CBS and Parenthood on NBC, according to early results.
Speaking of the Julianna Margulies drama, the Braverman clan seems to be catching up to her: Wife and Parenthood both earned a 1.9/5 in the demo, which was a series low for the CBS series. Wife averaged an 9.9 million while Parenthood lured 4.7 million (that’s all?).
After airing a special dubbed Dancing With The Stars: The Story So Far (?), the DWTS results show earned a 4.2/11 and 18.8 million viewers — enough to help ABC win the night in the demo (3.3/9) and total folks (15.1 million). CBS was second with a 3.1/8 and 14.4 million, with originals of NCIS (3.8/11, 18.2 million) and NCIS: LA (3.5/9, 15.2 million). Fox aired repeats of Glee and Raising Hope, followed by an original of Traffic Light (1.1/3, 2.6 million).
The CW aired repeats of One Tree Hill and Hellcats.
ABC News is changing its broadcaster lineup, according to the Associated Press. Good Morning America‘s newsreader Juju Chang will move to Nightline as a special correspondent and fill-in anchor. (Her duties will also include participating in the 13 primetime hours of Nightline that will air this summer.) Chang, who has worked almost exclusively with ABC News since 1987, will be replaced at Good Morning America by Josh Elliott, who is currently a co-anchor of ESPN’s SportsCenter.
Don’t ever underestimate the generosity of the American people when it comes to helping one late-night comedian force another late-night comedian to sing a 13-year-old girl’s song. On Monday night, Jimmy Fallon promised the world that if we could raise $26,000 for DonorsChoose.org, an online charity that gives money to schools in need, then his Best Friend For Six Months, Stephen Colbert would return on Friday to perform Rebecca Black’s “Friday” with the Roots.
Cha-ching. In less than 36 hours, the goal was reached. Fallon tweeted the news this morning, “Thank you, everyone!!! We did it!!! Stephen Colbert will (has to) sing “Friday” this Friday on our show!! Awesome!!” READ FULL STORY »
Here’s a provocative piece of casting news from CBS’ The Good Wife: The drama’s scribes tweeted Tuesday that Sarah Silverman will guest star in episode 222.
Sadly, there weren’t any more details so we’ll have to speculate, for now, what the comedienne will play. The judges on the drama have been particularly memorable (and funny), so Silverman donning a black robe would be a particularly awesome development. Stay tuned…
Image Credit: Getty Images
Nancy Travis has bagged the female lead role in ABC’s comedy pilot that stars Tim Allen in his potential return to primetime TV (in other words: The surest bet of any sitcom pilot competing for a fall series pickup).
She’ll play Vanessa, Tim’s “smart and loving wife who doesn’t miss much.”
The untitled project from 20th Century Fox stars Allen as traditional manly man in a progressive world. Travis is a sitcom vet with several titles under her belt, including Becker and The Bill Engvall Show, as well as guest spots on ABC shows like Grey’s Anatomy and Desperate Housewives.
Image Credit: Craig Sjodin/ABC; Ida Mae Astute/ABC
Dancing With the Stars left well enough alone with Chris Brown, who pre-taped two songs for Tuesday’s elimination show without talking to host Tom Bergeron.
The thought was that Brown would have to answer questions about the now infamous incident on Good Morning America. But instead, he came in early — Bergeron was nowhere to be found, though the judges were there — to perform “Yeah 3x” and a medley of “Forever” and “Beautiful.” The latter number was electrifying — quite literally, as Brown’s backup dancers were outfitted with special suits that lit up during the exhilarating number. Viewers won’t see it, but the performance actually required multiple takes because some wouldn’t illuminate. At one point, Brown quipped “I hope this is the last time!” It wasn’t, but at least it gave members of the studio audience a chance to yell things like “I love you, Chris Brown!”
His first performance was a real crowd pleaser, because Brown mixed up his smooth moves with several crotch grabs and a center stage back flip under the mirror ball. (Try following that up, Maks!)
After the taping, Brown scurried off the stage so the crew could prepare for the live show.
Read more:
‘Dancing With the Stars’: Should Tom Bergeron ask Chris Brown about the ‘GMA’ incident?
Chris Brown apologizes for ‘GMA’ meltdown
ABC News declines to press charges against Chris Brown
‘GMA’ reports on Chris Brown’s tantrum, and its invitation for him to return
Chris Brown still booked on ‘Dancing With the Stars’ despite incident
Chris Brown flips out, walks off set on ‘Good Morning America’
MTV’s TV series reboot of the classic ’80s comedy Teen Wolf, premiering on June 5 after the MTV Movie Awards, is set to be markedly different from the Michael J. Fox flick. For starters, there doesn’t seem to be a modern version of best pal and love interest, the awesomely named “Boof” (travesty!). Instead, the network is going for an edgier approach and hoping to attract the audience of two other supernatural classics. “When I first talked to MTV about it, I said what if we do it kind of like The Lost Boys with kind of the pace and fun of Buffy,” exec producer Jeff Davis (Criminal Minds) told EW in February. “We’ve had comparisons to Vampire Diaires. That’s a very brooding melodrama. This exists far closer to Buffy.” Watch the three minute trailer below and judge for yourself: READ FULL STORY »
Trey Parker and Matt Stone choose 15 artists to pay tribute to the 15th season of South Park at an art show that opened yesterday in New York City. Here’s the most eye-catching painting from the line up: A South Park-ified version of “The Last Supper”: READ FULL STORY »
Former Lost showrunner Damon Lindelof seemingly has weighed in on AMC’s Mad Men mess.
Apparently responding to reports that Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner is being offered a whopping $30 million to write the show for a three-year deal, Lindelof tweeted: “Not that I’m sour grapes, but TEN MILLION DOLLARS a year for 13 episodes of a single show seems pretty fair, no? #SOURGRAPES.”
Also, one report said that Weiner was being asked to cut not two series regulars, as has been previously reported, but rather two a year for three years. Nobody’s touching that one, but having to cut six characters seems rather extreme (and creatively ridiculous — what a way to zap a show of its narrative believability than to have to eliminate a certain number of characters each season like it’s a reality show).
Meanwhile sources say that a potential deal for a three-year renewal with Weiner on board could be only a few hours away… or maybe only a day… or, well, maybe more than that.
Image Credit: Getty Images
President Obama’s speech viewership keeps on slipping.
Monday night’s policy address on Libya delivered 25.6 million viewers, continuing the president’s trend of declining ratings for his issue-oriented telecasts.
The speech was down 12% from Obama’s address on Iraq last August (29.2 million), which fell 9% from his speech on the Gulf Coast oil spill in June (32.1 million), which in turn dropped 21% from his Afghanistan speech back in December of 2009 (40.8 million). Last night’s address could have been dinged by starting slightly before primetime, at 7:30 p.m. (which also kept Obama from making ABC choose between the commander-in-chief and airing Dancing With the Stars at its usual time).
The president’s telecast was carried across eight networks, including ABC, CBS, NBC, TEL, CNN, CNBC, Fox News, and MSNBC.
Goodness, aliens, I know we here on Earth have Twinkies, Slip ‘N Slides and Jon Hamm, but do you think you could just get out of our grills for once? Apparently, no — TNT has just released their latest trailer for the Steven Spielberg-produced Falling Skies, which follows a group of people (“the resistance”), led by Noah Wyle, who aim to fight back against an army of aliens who invaded and took over our planet six months prior. Based on the teaser, the show looks part Red Dawn (with, admittedly, a less cool resistance name), part Lost (the aliens are after the children! Not the children!), and part Independence Day — with a little Terminator and Battlestar Galactica trickled in. Says Wyle in the teaser: “[Falling Skies] is about how to try to retain your sense of humanity when just about everything has been taken away from you.” We’ll have to wait until the two-hour premiere June 19 at 9 p.m. to find out how the resistance plans to defeat the aliens. Where’s Randy Quaid when you need him? Oh. READ FULL STORY »
James Hibberd
@James_Hibberd
Lynette Rice
@EWLynette
