television – News Stories About television - Page 50

Dec 19, 2008 8:42 AM CST

Actor Sam Bottoms Dead at 53

Appeared in Apocalypse Now , Outlaw Josey Wales

(Newser) - Actor Sam Bottoms, who appeared in Apocalypse Now and some 30 other films, died at his LA home this week of brain cancer at age 53, the Los Angeles Times reports. Bottoms began his film career at age 15 in The Last Picture Show and was cast as surfer Lance...

Star Gazing: 9 to Watch in '09

Dec 16, 2008 7:35 PM CST

Star Gazing: 9 to Watch in '09

Entertainment Weekly picks next year's breakout performers

(Newser) - With next year's big-name film and TV projects (including a new Star Trek and a fresh Tom Hanks movie) featuring some unknowns, Entertainment Weekly lists the rising stars of 2009:

Kara DioGuardi, American Idol: The songwriting force behind hits by Pink and Ashlee Simpson will sit at the show's judging

...

Disney Channel Coming to Russian TV

Dec 16, 2008 5:30 PM CST

Disney Channel Coming to Russian TV

Mickey and pals get first Western foothold in massive market

(Newser) - Disney has become the first Western company to crack the potentially lucrative Russian TV market, the Wall Street Journal reports. The company and a Russian broadcaster are finalizing plans to introduce Disney programming on 30 stations nationwide. Disney will have a 49% ownership stake in the deal with Russia's Media-One...

Oprah Seals Production Deal With HBO

Dec 16, 2008 4:35 PM CST

Oprah Seals Production Deal With HBO

Talk-show host's production company will do films, miniseries on cable mainstay

(Newser) - Oprah Winfrey has a production deal with HBO, ending a long-lived partnership with ABC, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. The exclusive, 3-year arrangement will allow Oprah’s Harpo Films more flexibility than before. “Being on a cable channel like HBO offers us a tremendous amount of creative freedom not seen...

Murder of
Most Wanted
Host's Son
Solved

Dec 16, 2008 2:46 PM CST

Murder of Most Wanted Host's Son Solved

Convicted pedophile who died in jail was behind brutal 1981 kidnap/torture case

(Newser) - The man who kidnapped and beheaded America’s Most Wanted host John Walsh’s son in 1981 has been identified, CNN reports. “Ottis Toole was the abductor and murderer of Adam Walsh,” Florida police said today. Toole, long suspected of the crime, died in prison in 1996. “...

Jack Black Lands Office Gig

Dec 16, 2008 10:22 AM CST

Jack Black Lands Office Gig

Comedian will star as himself

(Newser) - Not only did The Office score the sought-after post-Super Bowl slot, it will also feature Jack Black as a guest star. The comedian will play himself in a bootlegged movie the Dunder Mifflin workers try to watch, Entertainment Weekly reports. Black, who rarely appears in guest spots, is not the...

Bus Tour Too Much
Sex, Too Little City

GLOSSIES

Dec 15, 2008 12:55 PM CST

Bus Tour Too Much Sex, Too Little City

Trip down memory lane is one Vanity Fair scribe would like to forget

(Newser) - Carrie & Co. wouldn’t be caught dead on a bus tour of Manhattan, but the half-day trek to various locations used for Sex and the City—a sex shop, the Meatpacking District, the Magnolia Bakery—has become the guilty secret of misguided fans looking to relive scenes from the...

Why Oprah's
Weight Matters
to Millions

OPINION

Dec 14, 2008 7:49 AM CST

Why Oprah's Weight Matters to Millions

We're sharing in her long health struggle

(Newser) - Why do we follow Oprah’s battle with her weight so avidly? Because so many of us share the same battle, and identify so strongly with its ups and downs, writes Robin Givhan in the Washington Post. Oprah “may sell a million books, hand out scholarships and cars, build...

1940s Star
Van Johnson
Dead at 92

Dec 12, 2008 7:11 PM CST

1940s Star Van Johnson Dead at 92

(Newser) - Former film and TV heartthrob Van Johnson died today in New York of natural causes, Variety reports. He was 92. Johnson starred in many movies in the 1940s and 1950s, and was later nominated for an Emmy for his appearance on the TV show Rich Man, Poor Man. Dubbed the...

Will Abdul Kiss Idol Good-bye?

Dec 12, 2008 2:40 PM CST

Will Abdul Kiss Idol Good-bye?

Singer may leave show before new season starts, sources say

(Newser) - American Idol may not have Paula Abdul to kick around anymore, reports MSNBC's Scoop blog. Abdul, who seems perpetually ticked off at Simon Cowell and the show’s producers, doesn’t need them, anyway, says a friend: “Paula has a reality show on MTV and her jewelry line.”...

How Nerds
Can Save Network TV

Dec 12, 2008 11:44 AM CST

How Nerds Can Save Network TV

Big Bang Theory succeeds where less brainy sitcoms fail

(Newser) - Why is a physics-quoting comedy one of network TV's only successful sitcoms? And with so many Americans turning to cable, the Internet, and reality programming, what does that mean for the future of prime time? The Wall Street Journal looks at The Big Bang Theory, an unlikely hit that actually...

UK TV Broadcasts
an Assisted Suicide

Dec 11, 2008 10:38 AM CST

UK TV Broadcasts an Assisted Suicide

UK debates right to die after terminally ill patient euthanized

(Newser) - A documentary that aired on Sky TV last night showed an assisted suicide, stirring up a major debate in Britain about the right to die and the responsibility of television programmers, the Independent reports. Craig Ewert, 59, who suffered from motor neuron disease, traveled to a Swiss clinic, drank a...

Grey's to Lose Another:
'George' Wants Out

Dec 9, 2008 4:43 PM CST

Grey's to Lose Another: 'George' Wants Out

As role diminishes, Knight moves on

(Newser) - It's not time to turn off the lights just yet, but TR Knight is the latest actor to leave Grey's Anatomy. His character has been twiddling his thumbs this season, making it a good time to move on, insiders tell Entertainment Weekly. Knight's departure, date TBA, supposedly isn't linked to...

Boston Legal, Creator Bow Out, But Not Quietly

OPINION

Dec 8, 2008 12:28 PM CST

Boston Legal, Creator Bow Out, But Not Quietly

(Newser) - Tonight's final episode of Boston Legal marks a temporary end to creator David E. Kelley’s reign as “l'enfant terrible turned angry-older-guy of TV,” writes Lisa DeMoraes in the Washington Post. Kelley “has used his various prime-time series to prosecute cases against society's assorted ills—and sometimes,...

Small Screen's Biggest Brains

GLOSSIES

Dec 6, 2008 3:49 PM CST

Small Screen's Biggest Brains

Family Guy creator MacFarlane, ubiquitous Fey top list of TV smarties

(Newser) - It may be dubbed the "idiot box," but there are some bright bulbs behind TV's smartest shows and network deals. After polling Hollywood insiders, Entertainment Weekly lists the top 25 smarties:

Seth MacFarlane, executive producer, Family Guy, American Dad.
Tina Fey, executive producer, actress, 30 Rock.
Nancy Tellem,

...

Oprah
No. 1
Woman in
Film, TV

Dec 5, 2008 2:40 PM CST

Oprah No. 1 Woman in Film, TV

Angelina, Tyra, and Miley round out list of female dynamos

(Newser) - Even with Sarah Palin snubbing her, Oprah Winfrey is the most powerful woman in film and television, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The trade mag places the Harpo chairwoman atop its Power 100 list for “her dizzying array of Oprah-branded media and her immense cultural influence.” She was...

NBC Flatlines ER

Dec 5, 2008 4:52 AM CST

NBC Flatlines ER

The last patient will be rushed into County General on March 12

(Newser) - NBC will pull the plug on ER’s 15-season run with a March 12 series finale, reports Access Hollywood. The long-running medical drama, created by the late Michael Crichton, will be replaced by Kings—a series chronicling the life of King David in modern times and starring Deadwood's Ian McShane....

Heche, Boyfriend Expecting

Dec 4, 2008 1:01 PM CST

Heche, Boyfriend Expecting

Actor beau Tupper met Heche on ABC's Men in Trees

(Newser) - Anne Heche is pregnant, and both the actress and boyfriend James Tupper are ecstatic, Us Weekly reports. Heche has a son with her ex-husband, whom she left when she met Tupper on the set of ABC’s Men in Trees in 2006. He says they are happier now that they...

Liz Lemon
Dates a
Mad Man

Dec 4, 2008 11:38 AM CST

Liz Lemon Dates a Mad Man

Jon Hamm to guest on 30 Rock

(Newser) - Tina Fey will finally get a decent boyfriend this season on 30 Rock, Vanity Fair reports. Jon Hamm, who plays ad exec Don Draper on Mad Men, guest stars as a pediatrician with a fondness for pie-making documentaries and ice-cream makers. Hamm has filmed "a couple of episodes" and...

Obama Will Make
Adults 'Cool' on TV

opinion

Nov 30, 2008 9:14 PM CST

Obama Will Make Adults 'Cool' on TV

Prez-elect's calmness reflects rising popularity of adulthood

(Newser) - 60 Minutes is killing the competition, Mad Men is grittier by the episode, and even Gossip Girl's bimbos are growing up—thanks mostly to the adult air of Barack Obama, Mary McNamara writes in the Los Angeles Times. After 8 years of President Bush, whose folksiness and privilege inspired reality...