Archive: October 2011 (235-247 of 342)

Oct 11 2011 01:08 PM ET

Michael Douglas to play Liberace in HBO movie

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Categories: Deals, Television

HBO announced today that Michael Douglas and Matt Damon will star in Behind the Candelabra, a behind-the-scenes look at the relationship between Liberace and his younger live-in lover, Scott Thorson. Directed by Steven Soderbergh (Traffic) from a script by Richard LaGravenese (Water for Elephants), the film will feature Douglas as Liberace and Damon as Thorson.

Jerry Weintraub (Oceans 11 franchise) will executive produce. “I’ve wanted to make a film about Liberace for a very long time, and after the amazing experience I had with HBO on His Way, I knew that they were absolutely the right place for this movie,” Weintraub said in a statement. ”I am thrilled that we have the incomparable Michael Douglas to inhabit the role of Liberace, as well as the exceptional Matt Damon to play the pivotal part of Scott Thorson. Putting these two fine actors in the creative hands of Steven Soderbergh – it doesn’t get any better than that!”

The movie will start production in the summer of 2012, with locations in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Palm Springs.

Read more:
Matt Damon on Liberace movie…and how to destroy George Clooney

Oct 11 2011 01:07 PM ET

'Justified' casts Neal McDonough and Mykelti Williamson as season 3's baddies -- EXCLUSIVE

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Categories: Justified, Television, TV Scoop
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Image Credit: Katy Winn/AP Images; Chris Hatcher/PR Photos

Fans of FX’s Justified have been wondering since May’s second season finale how producers would match Margo Martindale’s Emmy-winning performance as Mags Bennett. Well, now we know: Desperate Housewives‘ Neal McDonough and 24‘s Mykelti Williamson, who both starred on Justified EP Graham Yost’s brilliant-but-canceled NBC drama Boomtown, have been cast as the awesomely named big bads of season 3. McDonough will recur as Quarles, a Detroit mobster in a sharp suit who comes to Kentucky with visions of becoming a crimelord. Williamson will play Limehouse, a man who lives in a small black town in Harlan County and who will do whatever it takes, legal or otherwise, to protect his holler.

We’ll meet both characters early in season 3, which premieres in January. The show — which also earned Emmy nominations for stars Timothy Olyphant and Walton Goggins and guest actor Jeremy Davies, who’ll return — began production on the first of 13 new episodes Monday.

Read more:
‘Justified’ season 2 finale: Walton Goggins talks ‘Bloody Harlan’
It’s official: ‘Justified’ renewed
Graham Yost talks Bennett-Givens feud
Timothy Olyphant talks ‘Justified’ and his evolving career

Oct 11 2011 12:28 PM ET

'Two and a Half Men' comes down to earth, 'Dancing with the Stars' trips

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Categories: Dancing With the Stars, TV Ratings, Two and a Half Men
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Image Credit: CBS

The hype over Ashton Kutcher and Two and A Half Men has finally settled down and the ratings are starting to show it: The sitcom posted a 5.8 rating/13 share and 15.8 million viewers on Monday — down 7% to its lowest rated episode this season, according to early results. But hey, the competition should be so lucky to report such “dips” in the ratings: CBS still won the night in the key 18-49 demo (3.9/9), even though all of its comedies — and one drama — posted season lows. How I Met Your Mother earned a 3.9/11 and 8.9 million, followed by 2 Broke Girls (4.2/10, 10.5 million), Mike & Molly (4.0/9, 11.7 million) and Hawaii Five-0 (2.6/6, 9.7 million). READ FULL STORY »

Oct 11 2011 12:04 PM ET

Fox sets 'Terra Nova' finale, 'New Girl' pushed to November

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Categories: Glee, New Girl, Raising Hope, Terra Nova
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Fox’s grand dino experiment has set a (first season?) conclusion: As Futon Critic first reported, Terra Nova will finish its 13-hour run on Monday, Dec. 19. The show will finish how it ended, with a two-hour episode (see last night’s recap, “What Just Happened,” here). Last night’s Terra Nova ratings were disrupted by Fox’s baseball coverage, but it looks like, after holding steady the first two weeks, the show might have dipped a bit.

In other Fox scheduling news, the network is expanding another edition of X Factor next week to two hours for the “judges house” episodes (producers ended up with a lot of good footage, a rep explains). Combined with previously announced Factor expansions and baseball, that means the network will hold off on airing new episodes of New Girl at 9:30 p.m. until Nov. 1 (fellow Tuesday shows Glee and Raising Hope are also not scheduled to return until next month, either). All this sort of shuffling is common for Fox in the fall due to baseball pushing around the schedule, and shouldn’t be taken as a diss of New Girl, which is performing great.

Oct 11 2011 12:03 PM ET

Larry King finally lands Johnny Depp for rare interview

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Categories: TV Biz

Larry King will interview Johnny Depp in his next CNN television special on Sunday, Oct. 16, at 8 p.m. ET. The 77-year-old had hinted at his plans to interview the Pirates of the Caribbean star back in the spring — calling Depp “high on the list” of subjects he’d never corralled — but today, he tweeted the news himself, including a photo from their recent sitdown.

Read more:
‘The Rum Diaries’ poster
Johnny Depp and Tim Burton team up for ‘Dark Shadows’

Oct 11 2011 12:44 AM ET

'Dancing with the Stars': Ricki Lake earns some 10s ... and feels like an idiot at the same time

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Categories: Dancing With the Stars, On the Scene

Ricki Lake scored this season’s first set of 10s on Dancing with the Stars Monday, but the talk show host was kicking herself for muttering something during rehearsal that ended up into Monday’s video package.

While practicing the paso doble to the Psycho theme, Lake got so frustrated with herself that she whined, “I want to quit, like I totally want to quit.” After her performance with partner Derek Hough earned a 29 from the judges, Lake expressed regret afterwards for breaking down at practice. READ FULL STORY »

Oct 11 2011 12:26 AM ET

'Dancing with the Stars': Cher was there! (Not that Chaz Bono noticed)

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Categories: Dancing With the Stars, On the Scene
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Image Credit: ABC

All eyes may have been focused on Cher — who lived up to the hype by finally attending a taping of Dancing with the Stars Monday — but Chaz Bono wasn’t among those ogling the diva who was positioned next to David Arquette’s daughter.

In fact, Bono kept his attention off his family, including stepmother Mary Bono, who was also in the house. “When we’re dancing I try to just focus on [Lacey] and what we’re doing,” said Bono, who performed a Rocky-themed paso doble with partner Lacey Schwimmer that earned a standing ovation from a teary-eyed Cher. ”It was great to have everyone here. It pumped me up. I know my mom was really proud of me and that was awesome. I’m glad that whatever we’re doing is touching people. READ FULL STORY »

Oct 11 2011 12:02 AM ET

ABC's 'Apartment 23' restores original bitchy title

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Categories: TV Biz
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The ‘Bitch’ is back.

After ABC changed a new show’s mildly profane title during development, upcoming comedy Apartment 23 has now more-or-less reverted to its original head-turning name.

The official new title of the show is Don’t Trust The B—- in Apartment 23, dashing out the letters of the curse in an attempt to soften its impact (not unlike how CBS dealt with the short-lived Shit My Dad Says last season, substituting the non-word “$#*!”). READ FULL STORY »

Oct 10 2011 07:48 PM ET

Tim Allen in ABC's 'Last Man Standing': Survey says...you'll watch

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Categories: Television
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Image Credit: ABC

Tim Allen may not be headlining a trendy period piece or chasing after a prehistoric creature in the way distant past, but evidently, the 58-year-old actor didn’t need a gimmick to get viewers interested in his primetime return.

According to Zeta Interactive — a company that tracks online and social media chatter — Allen’s comedy Last Man Standing is generating the most buzz out of all of the new fall shows. (Take that, Ashton Kutcher). Words and phrases like “excited” and “can’t wait” have been used to describe Standing, a multi-camera comedy about the manly head of marketing for an outdoor store in Colorado who’s raising three outgoing — and very lippy — kids with wife Vanessa (Nancy Travis). The series, which is from Emmy-winning scribe Jack Burditt (30 Rock), debuts Oct. 11 and marks Allen first TV show since Home Improvement wrapped in 1999.  READ FULL STORY »

Oct 10 2011 05:44 PM ET

Discovery orders Steve Jobs documentary with 'Mythbusters' hosts -- EXCLUSIVE

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Categories:
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Discovery has ordered a documentary on the life of the late Steve Jobs, with the Mythbusters duo on board to host. The network is teaming with NBC’s Peacock Productions for iGenius: How Steve Jobs Changed the World, a one-hour special. Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman, who celebrate the spirit of innovation on Discovery’s hit Mythbusters, will host the show.

“Someone once said that to follow the path that others have laid before you is a very reasonable course of action, therefore all progress is made by unreasonable men,” Savage said. “Steve Jobs was an unreasonable man. He didn’t simply give the public what they wanted, he defined entirely new ways of thinking about our lives in the digital space: productivity, creativity, music, communication, media and art. He has touched, directly and indirectly, all of our lives.”

The special has already lined up interviews with several key names to talk about the Apple co-founder and CEO, including: READ FULL STORY »

Oct 10 2011 05:10 PM ET

'Game of Thrones' casts wild beauty Ygritte -- EXCLUSIVE

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Categories: Scoop
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Image Credit: Getty Images

You know nothing about the casting of Ygritte! Until now: HBO is ready to unveil the final significant player added to the Game of Thrones second season cast.

Downton Abbey actress Rose Leslie has landed the key role of a Wildling woman that Jon Snow meets during during his adventures beyond the Wall. Ygritte is described as “strong-willed, witty, skilled in battle and survival in the wilderness. An unconventional beauty, skinny but strong with red hair (which the Wildlings consider ‘kissed by fire’).”

Leslie’s arc on Abbey wrapped at the end of its successful first season on PBS. She played Gwen, a maid who eventually snags her dream job as a secretary. It’s unclear whether she’ll return to the Emmy-winning series, which returns to PBS in January.

Leslie joins a rather huge season two cast for Thrones. The HBO drama also added a mercenary pirate, a lecherous Northerner and one of his pet wives, as well as a faceless assassin, Theon’s fierce sister, an heir to the Iron Throne and his sorceress, the Onion Knight a female wannabe knight and a proper princess.

Game of Thrones returns for 10 episodes in the spring.
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Oct 10 2011 04:02 PM ET

'Breaking Bad' finale rises from last season

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Categories: TV Ratings

Breaking Bad‘s amazing fourth season finale (which was so satisfying it could have worked as a series finale) rose in the ratings from its last closer.

Bad delivered 1.9 million viewers in its first airing, up 19 percent from its third season finale last year. Including repeats, Bad clocked 2.9 million viewers, with 1.8 million of those in the adult demo. Overall, season four is the show’s most-watched yet, up 23 percent on average from the prior season.

So Bad continues to buck the usual downward trend of aging serialized dramas by growing its audience (even if the number is smaller than fans believe the show deserves). EW recap here.

Oct 10 2011 02:41 PM ET

'Apartment 23' scoop: Kevin Sorbo and Dean Cain to guest-star as themselves -- EXCLUSIVE

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Categories: Casting, Casting Scoops, EW Exclusive, Scoop, Television, TV Biz

ABC’s Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23 doesn’t premiere until midseason but the show has already garnered buzz for star James Van Der Beek’s comedic portrayal of himself (the series is about two girls who live in an apartment building with the Beek as their neighbor). Now, the former Dawson’s Creek actor is going to have some other ’90s stars to contend with on the sitcom: EW has exclusively learned that Kevin Sorbo (Hercules) and Dean Cain (Lois & Clark) will both appear on separate episodes of the comedy, portraying themselves. Sorbo will be tricked into being a wedding date for one of the roommates, Chloe (Krysten Ritter), while Cain will show up as Van Der Beek’s rival.

Follow Tim on Twitter: @EWTimStack

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