Image Credit: MTV
This is not a prank: Ashton Kutcher is coming back to host a special episode of Punk’d, the show he created in 2003.
The one-time-only return engagement will air June 3 as part of the 2012 MTV Movie Awards pre-show. Last week, MTV announced that Russell Brand will be trying his hand as a first-time Movie Award host, after hosting the MTV Video Music Awards in 2008 and 2009.
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CBS pilot verdicts are in: Four dramas, two comedies — including a Sherlock Holmes detective series and sitcom about working at Groupon. The network also picked up a reality show from Mark Burnett.
CBS has given a half-dozen scripted projects series orders for next season, starting with Elementary, a modern-day New York City-based drama series that’s sounded like a no-brainer for the network’s brand since it was first developed. Jonny Lee Miller plays Sherlock, Lucy Liu gives a feminine twist to Watson. Aidan Quinn co-stars.
The network’s most intriguing-sounding new drama is Vegas, a period piece set in the 1960s centered around the true story of Ralph Lamb: rodeo cowboy turned longtime sheriff of Las Vegas. On paper, this one seemed like a long shot given the way fellow recent ’60s-set dramas Pan Am and Playboy Club fared in the ratings. But if you’re going to dip into the past on CBS, you can’t get much safer than doing a Vegas-set crime drama — you could almost call it a CSI prequel. Plus the cast is great: Dennis Quaid is the sheriff, Michael Chiklis is a mob fixer, plus there’s Jason O’Mara and Carrie-Ann Moss. READ FULL STORY »
As expected, CBS has renewed Two and a Half Men for the fall season.
Warner Bros. TV, which produces the hit sitcom for CBS, has already inked deals with stars Ashton Kutcher, Jon Cryer, and Angus T. Jones.
Men wraps its ninth season this month. It is averaging 15.0 million viewers, up 13 percent from last season, and a 5.2/13 in adults 18-49, up 27 percent.
Men is CBS’s fifth comedy and 19th series to be renewed for next season.
Ashton Kutcher may be all about the laughs on Two and a Half Men, but the funnyman suits up and gets serious for Monday’s CNBC special Stay Tuned: The Future of TV. After executive producing more than a dozen shows including Punk’d and galvanizing Twitter, Kutcher has some thoughts on how TV and the Internet will work together to better cater to audiences in the future. He also has ideas about Apple, Google, and more. Watch after the jump. READ FULL STORY »
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Four days after blasting his Two and a Half Men replacement Ashton Kutcher, Charlie Sheen posted an open letter of apology to Kutcher on his website:
Dear Ashton-
My bad.
I was disrespectful to a man doing his best. READ FULL STORY »
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The man who believes his face should be in the dictionary next to the phrase ‘too much swag’ is about to get his chance to shine: MTV will premiere Pauly D’s Jersey Shore spin-off, appropriately titled The Pauly D Project, on March 29 at 10:30 p.m. The series will take viewers away from Seaside Heights as Mr. Delvecchio pursues his DJ dreams, scoring a record contract with 50 Cent’s G-Note Records and opening for Britney Spears on her “Femme Fatale” tour, all while palling around with his closest friends from his home state of Rhode Island. READ FULL STORY »
Scruffy Ashton is out. Clean-cut Ashton is back. The actor has shed his much-debated hipster beard and cut his long-ish hair for next week’s Two and a Half Men. “These guys wrote a screenplay that dictated I cut my hair and shaved my beard,” Kutcher explained to critics at CBS’ press tour event in Pasadena on Tuesday (photo below). “Watch on Monday, it’s a real good show.”
Kutcher’s character Walden Schmidt changes his look, producers hinted, due to his current romantic relationship on the show. “It was great to have a lead character that didn’t look like any any lead character on television,” noted executive producer Chuck Lorre about Walden 1.0.
But the bigger issue raised during the network’s Men panel was whether Kutcher (and the show) will return next season? READ FULL STORY »
A new generation of celebrities are gonna get Punk’d.
After months of rumors, MTV is officially reviving the hidden-camera prank classic, ordering a new version of Punk’d to series. Jason Goldberg and Ashton Kutcher are back on board as executive producers. But the show’s host is…
… a different question. MTV plans to announce the show’s host/hosts during its New Years Eve party live telecast next week. Access Hollywood reported months ago that a new show was in the works, using different celebrity hosts for each episode — and noting in the premiere that Justin Bieber is the man in the van. READ FULL STORY »
Ashton Kutcher knows what a tough day is like. Demi Moore announced that she’s ending their marriage, and Kutcher earned a slap from his top CBS boss for a controversial Twitter posting. During a Q-and-A session Thursday at a TV industry meeting, CBS Corp. chief Leslie Moonves said he’s pleased with the ratings for revamped Two and a Half Men and with new star Kutcher — “aside from his comments about Penn State,” Moonves added.
Last week, Kutcher condemned the firing of Penn State football coach Joe Paterno and then recanted the Twitter posting after it drew a flurry of criticism. The actor said he’d been unaware of the child sex-abuse scandal engulfing the university.
On Thursday, the 49-year-old Moore announced she was splitting from Kutcher, 33, the subject of rumors of alleged infidelity. The couple wed in 2005.
Read more:
Ashton and Demi: A marriage made (and unmade) on Twitter
Ashton Kutcher hands Twitter over to management after Joe Paterno comments
Image Credit: Matt Hoyle/CBS
After apologizing and temporarily shutting down his Twitter feed after a controversial tweet about Joe Paterno yesterday, Ashton Kutcher announced today that he’s handing his Twitter account over to his management. After criticizing Twitter’s shift from “a conversation” to “volatile fodder for critics,” he defensively explained the circumstances of his lightning rod post last night.
Still, he apologized to his 8.2 million followers, “I truly am sorry if I offended anyone and more over [sic] am going to take action to ensure that it doesn’t happen again.” He expressed regret that he will no longer have a one-on-one relationship with his fans, but said, “Clearly the platform has become to big to be managed by a single individual.”
Read more:
Ashton Kutcher jumps blindly into Joe Paterno firestorm, shuts down Twitter account after apologizing
Ashton Kutcher wants to talk truth
Ashton Kutcher’s strange recent tweets: What does it all mean?!
James Hibberd
@James_Hibberd
Lynette Rice
@EWLynette
