day 27

poehler says goodbye

amy poehler has officially said goodbye to saturday night live, after almost 8 years on the show.  poehler gave a tearful, yet comical, goodbye during her final "weekend update" segment.  click here to see the clip.  now that poehler is officially gone, off to work on her nbc sitcom (set to debut in april), who will take her place at the news desk? there are a variety of option.  seth myers could continue the special solo, like colin quinn did for years; or, another cast member could step in to take poehler's place.  my money (and my wish) would be on cast member kristin wiig, who is probably a combination of poehler and other departed cast member tina fey.   we shall see what happens when the show returns in january. 

ledger globes up for acceptance

if heath ledger were to posthumously win the golden globe for best supporting actor for the dark knight, who will accept the award on his behalf? ledger's father, kim, is apparently pushing to accept the award.  however, the hollywood foreign press, who is responsible for the awards, is hoping to go for the tear jerking factor - they want michelle williams, mother of heath's son matilda, to accept the award on behalf of the little one.  i don't know, but it seems like this is all a little overkill.  ledger may not even win the award and, even if he does, the only reason his role garnered so much attention was because of his death.  

another watts/schrieber boy 

australian actress naomi watts welcomed a second child, a son, into the world on saturday.  naomi and boyfried liev schrieber are now the proud parents to two boys, including older son alexander pete. no details on the baby's name or what magazine will get the exclusive pics first has been released. now if only these two crazy kids would get married...

day 20

twilight dims?

catherine harwicke, the director of thirteen and the new breakout twilight, will not be returning to direct the sequel, new moon.  hardwicke and summit entertainment released a statement today saying that hardwicke would require more time to bring her vision to the screen than the studio wants to spend; the studio is looking for a "rush release" for late 2009 or early 2010.  this sounds like hardwicke was a little too demanding for the studio, so they kicked her to the curb to me.  and, maybe this will make the second movie a little better? first place to start would be to get kristin stewart some acting lessons and robert pattinson to loosen up? he seemed more focused on covering up his british accent than delivering a good performance. click here to read the whole press release.  

poehler back on snl

amy poehler returned to saturday night live on the 6th to open the show as newly appointed secretary of state hilary clinton.  click here to watch the clip.  it seems like poehler may pull the tina fey card, returning to the show to play hilary in a couple of skits over the next few seasons while she's under contract for her new nbc show, set to debut next april.  to replace poehler and fey, the execs at nbc recently brought in two new female regulars, who have slowly been becoming a larger part of the show.  hopefully amy will be able to keep the ratings momentum going on snl and bring some ratings to the fourth place peacock net.   

heath ledger wins aussie oscar

heath ledger was posthumously awarded australia's equivalent of the oscar, the australian film institute's best actor award; his sister was present to accept the statue.  does this mean heath is  set to be nominated and then awarded for the little gold man? not necessarily.  superhero flicks aren't known to be awarded for that prestigious of those awards.  as well, it seems like heath got more attention and praise for the role due to his death.  if he were still alive, the performance probably would not have garnered as much attention.   the academy awards will air live february 22nd of next year.