day 135

the hills are alive

the the fifth and final (as we know it, at least) season of mtv's the hills premiering on monday, a lot of promotions and press have been going on lately.  first of all, the cast's final photos together were released today.  the big pic is above, but you can check out the rest here.  even though lc said the pic was taken all together on an mtv retrospective/interview that aired monday, it looks like photoshop had it's way - as can be seen here.  the ladies look like they took their pic separately as brody is noticeably absent.  lauren, always one to put her foot in her mouth, relayed to entertainment weekly that she was hoping last season's finale was her final bow, but the producers wanted her back to tie everything up...even though she "says" she doesn't have much going on in her life.  by the look of the pic above, lo bosworth, stephanie pratt, and justin bobby have all been added to the cast full time.  this is the first time the cast photo has included more than just lauren, audrina, heidi, and (formerly) whitney.  but, hollywood has definitely taken its toll on the ladies.  lookie here to see the ladies' first season promo.  everyone (well, with the exception of audrina) was smiley and happy and plastic surgery free! what happened? my only guess can be that spencer pratt got involved.  and speaking of spencer, he and his musical prodigy/girlfriend-fiance-wife hybrid heidi stopped by ryan seacrest's radio show this morning to premiere not one, but two singles.  head over the ryan seacrest's webpage to listen to them.  at least "your love found me" isn't horrible.  heidi's entire music catalog can be found there, too.  it's a good way to lost 15 minutes of your life.  and don't worry hills fans, lauren says she won't be done with tv any time soon. she's currently in the process of turning her yet to be released semi-autobiographical novel/series la candy into a scripted series.  apparently our budding fashion designer/writer/actress/reality vixen also wants to add producer to her many credits.  the show doesn't have a home (or any sort of development for that matter) yet, but mtv or the cw is sure to pick up on it in the near future.  the book hits shelves june 16th, but is available for pre-order over on amazon now.  

project runway finally gets home

the legal battle over mega reality series project runway is finally over! the show will head to lifetime (formerly television for women, now television for everyone) for its 6th cycle (and 1st in los angeles) after the weinstein company reached a deal with the show's former home, bravo/nbc-universal.  the weinstein bros sold the show over to lifetime after the shows contract with bravo expired last summer even though the contract had a clause in it that was supposed to allow nbc-universal to counter any other offer before the show runners made a decision on the show's future.  after almost a year in legal limbo and with the 6th season having finished filming earlier this year, the show was in desperate need of a home.  and now, all of us fans get a chance to see it! lifetime has yet to announce a premiere date for the series, but i can only imagine it will be very, very soon - probably this summer to capitalize on viewership.  this is a tough loss for nbc; they are constantly placing 3rd in their various markets and pr was one of their few success stories and they've now lost it to major competitor disney/abc, which owns lifetime.  no word yet on if the show's reruns will continue to air on bravo or if all rights will head to lifetime.  it will be interesting to see, as well, if viewers will follow the show over the female friendly net.  bravo is known for hip/cutting edge reality programming and lifetime, simply, is not.  i'm also looking forward to seeing how bravo's fashion successor, the fashion show, will do in the net's post runway era.  the show is currently in production with singer kelly rowland as host.  in a related story, kelly recently parted ways with columbia records.  

destiny returns?

all signs are pointing to a destiny's child reunion sometime in 2011.  while kelly rowland may have parted ways with columbia records as a solo artist, her john hancock is still on file as part of the world's most famous girl group.  kelly is reportedly set to reunite with beyonce and michelle williams next year to work on new material for a "reunion" album of sorts.  the girls are still contractually obligated to produce a final disc and the record label isn't looking for a get-out-quick scheme with a "greatest hits" album.  beyonce is currently on her "i am..." tour and won't be done into 2010 and michelle is still promoting her most recent release, unexpected, which features her surprise club hit "we break the dawn." the girls will head to the studio next year to crank out some new sure to be hits, even if they don't want to.  are you ready to here some new beats from b and her backup singers? 

day 72

angelina, fired

angelina jolie has lost the one of the roles that helped launch her career, lara croft.  the video game based franchise, which debuted in movie form in 2001, with a sequel in 2003, is getting a reboot after its rights were traded from paramount back to video game company originator, eidos.  eidos has since turned the franchise over to warner brothers, who owns a large stake in eidos and plans to completely relaunch the series with a third film.  the threequel, however, won't be a sequel at all.  the new movie will completely overhaul the story of the tomb raiding, artifact hoarding heroine, with a new backstory that will most likely move away from focusing on croft's  british upbringing.  as well, new villains and love interests for croft on her new adventures.  according to fans, the series is thought of as james bond-like, with lara never aging through time.  fans are also supporting the casting change, campaigning hard for jolie-alike megan fox to helm the new film.  no casting decisions have been made, but that choice would completely make sense.  the thing with lara croft is that, because she was originally a video game character, the actress kind of has to live up to that image, unlike james bond.  it will also be interesting to see if the new franchise will be successful - are people still interested in the character? the first two films made $275 and $157, respectively, and the video games have grossed over $1 billion since their inception in 1996.  

kelly rowland v. the knowles family

things could get real ugly, real fast now that kelly rowland, one third of destiny's child, has released beyonce's father, matthew, as her manger.  matthew has been kelly's manger since the beginning of her career with the girl group and will continue to manage destiny's child should a reunion ever occur, or any kind of material by the group is ever released.  while the two parties released statements that they are parting ways amicably and will always be "family," i still think some drama is going down.  i can understand kelly wanting to get out of the situation; her solo career hasn't really been all that great - just a few weeks of radio play here and there - and matthew is probably focusing on the money machine that is his daughter, beyonce, more.  it would just be interesting to hear what was the tipping point in the split? who talked to rowland? and where's rowland going to be represented from now on? we'll just have to wait and see, i guess.

tidbits

here's a few blurbs for ya...speaking of angelina, it appears that the actress wore her dress at the sag awards backward. intentionally....amy poehler's sitcom finally has a name, public service.  poehler and rashida jones were seen out and about filming the show this past week....kelly clarkson is breaking records.  the american idol star now holds the record she previously broke with her debut single, "a moment like this," for her song "my life would suck without you."  clarkson made the biggest jump by a female artist ever in a week on the billboard charts, jumping from spot #97 to #1.  the record was most recently broken by britney spears's "womanizer."...jennifer aniston and john mayer may or may not have broken up, yet again...