day 241

emmy schmemmy

i don't have much to say about this year's nominations other than congrats to 30 rock, weeds, and the ladies of saturday night live. here's a complete list of nominees this year. the categories were expanded from 5 nods to 7, making room for a lot of unexpected contenders. the most unexpected? the best comedy series nom for fox's family guy. is it just me or is the show the same thing every week? same jokes, same story, same...everything. the - what i think is inane - cartoon series has been a big ratings winner (only god knows why) for the network and bypassed the line for animated series, straight into contention with shows like the office and how i met your mother. the primetime emmys air september 20th live from hollywood.

giving lindsay a run for her money

we all know that lindsay lohan is my numero uno hot mess. but, that might be changing quite soon. former oc star mischa barton just went up a notch on the crazy scale. the actress called the police - through the non-911 number - on herself last night for a "medical issue" and was taken straight to the hospital. according to us weekly, the actress had a major-minor meltdown and felt the need to call the authorities. because therapy is too expensive i guess? now this is where is gets complicated and you can guess which story i think is more interesting - and hopefully real. some reports claim mischa just had complications with the sockets left from her wisdom teeth removal earlier this month and that she didn't know what else to do. really? because i would just have called the doctor or a friend/family member to take me to the emergency room. but, i guess i'm not a washed-up(ish) tv star. the other (better) story is that mischa was picked up and taken to the hospital and was put on a - wait for it - 51/50 psychiatric hold. yes, some britney (circa 2007) shiz. that means she's being held against her will because she poses a threat to herself and/or others. woohoo! where she goes from here is unknown, but hopefully something will leak out soon. the actress is slated to resume production on her new cw show (a beautiful life) about supermodels living in new york. no word on whether this will delay said production. if it does, i'd say barton's replaceable.

day 187

no stories

i don't really have anything to talk about today, but i thought i'd post a ton of youtube videos.  how does that work for you?  first up, the trailer for vanessa hudgen's new movie, though it seems like the studio thinks aly michalka (of aly and aj) is the bigger star - she's billed first and featured more heavily in the promo.  it actually looks semi-good; like an age appropriate almost famous meets a battle of the bands competition.  

and, if you wanted a taste of the cw's new shows, clips from them have been released.  these are most likely the same ones the network showed at their upfront presentation earlier this week.  first up, the beautiful life - mishca barton's new drama.  yay! she's working again. though, it seems like the show is going to focus more on sara paxton (that blonde you recognize from various disney projects and children's movies).  i'm surprised no clips have been released that feature corbin bleu, since this is his first project away from the mouse house.  i'm surprised that in the theme of recycling old fox shows (90210, melrose place) that the ceedub didn't choose to title this models, inc, a short lived program that was spun off from melrose.  

and, speaking of melrose place, here's clips from it.   this show doesn't look to be as polished as 90210, which isn't a good thing.  it basically looks like a soap opera for primetime, instead of a primetime soap (and, trust me, there's a difference).  for example, desperate housewives = a  primetime soap.  hopefully they'll improve it a little between now and september when the show premieres.  things that bother me about this relaunch is that it won't take place in the same universe as the current 90210, even though the original series was a spin-off.  why?  because rob estes, now the dad/principal on 90210, was an original cast member on the fox version of the show, but now plays a different character in the zipcode show.  second, jessica lucas is a main cast member on the new show, but played a different character (drug detective kimberly) on 90210 in the middle of the first season.  oh well, it will probably still hold my attention for an hour.  and spoiler alert - laura leighton (as sydney, one of two returning characters to the rebuilt place) is getting killed off in the first 10 minutes of the series.  yes, they brought back an original cast member (they even brought her back from the dead - sydney was killed off in the first go around) just to kill her.  but, leighton will still be a recurring guest star, seen in flashbacks throughout the season.  okay, now that you've read my babbling, you can see the clips.

and, finally, the cw is getting on board with the twilight trend and launching a vampire series, based on the so-called "bestselling" (i hadn't heard of them until the series was being developed) vampire diaries books.  the network dived back into the canadian/degrassi casting pool to find their star nina dobrev, who most recently starred in mtv's high school musical rip off american mall (shenae grimes, who plays annie on 90210 is also a former degrassi star). dobrev is joined by former lost star ian somerhalder as the seemingly evil vampire and by paul wesley (the robert pattinson of this series), who you might know from his army wives role as the soldier who emmalin falls in love with.  here are the clips - the show looks like it's filmed really cinematically.  probably should have been a movie, but wouldn't have survived in a post-twilight world.  

day 116

melrose loses mischa 

mischa barton will not be joining the cast of the cw's melrose place 2.0, despite reports that she was confirmed to star.  instead, mischa is headlining another cw pilot that sounds like it'll be quite scandalous.  from the mind of ashton kutcher, a beautiful life follows a group of models living in a co-ed co-op together in nyc. marton will be the focus of the series, playing sonja, a supermodel struggling to hold onto her career.  well mishca's been struggling for a while so this should be easy for her to do, right?  i can totally see a gossip girl cross over with the show.  they could even cast mischa's former oc sister willa holland to reprise her crazy model character from gg.  the show should go into production in the next month or so, with a pick up yes or no decision by august.  the show could be paired with melrose place in the fall, especially because it sounds a lot like the failed melrose spin-off models, inc.  it's just good that barton has realized that she's not a movie star, but a teen tv star - no matter what show she winds up on on the cee dub.  in other casting news, it seems like bond may finally be getting back to its roots.  casting for the past few bond girls has focused on unknowns, but the hollywood "it girl" (think halle berry, denise richards, teri hatcher) may be making a comeback in the form of frida pinto.  the slumdog millionaire actress caught producers' eyes when they were casting for quantum of solice, but was considered too young.  now that the next blonde bond installment is in the works, frida is everyone's first choice.  her being in the movie might actually make me want to see it.  and, finally, one of my favorite, the cult classic heathers (think mean girls with guns), is getting the broadway treatment. the dark teen flick is currently undergoing readings for a stage transition with veronica mars star kristin bell in the lead role. if the show does happen, it will hit the stage - at the earliest - in 2010, hopefully with bell attached to star.  

day 113

mischa's melrose drama

with reports everywhere linking mischa barton to the cw's melrose reboot, people are wondering why the network hasn't confirmed her as cast.  well, apparently mischa's diva ways are getting in the way of a final decision being made.  the people behind the show have been pursuing the former oc star to take on a role but wanted to see the actress audition for the parts first.  here's the problem: mischa thinks she's above auditioning.  that's when interest in barton went from 100% percent to almost none - why would the producers of the show want to work with someone who isn't interested in going through the creative processes.  the kicker is that mischa is apparently desperate for a paycheck and has now asked (yes, asked!) to audition for the roles available.  the creative team wasn't going to appease mischa's diva behavior because the show is an ensemble drama and there is no one star.  if they had just given the actress a free pass into the cast, she would have then thought she was the star and the rest of the cast was beneath her.  but, because interest was once so high in nabbing mischa, i wouldn't be surprised if the network announced her casting in the next week or so, giving them not only one (ashlee simpson is already attached), but two, names to promote and bring buzz to the show.  

abc to get witchy this fall

the alphabet net has green lit a project that will bring 80s favorite the witches of eastwick to the small screen.  the simply named eastwick will meet somewhere between the updike novel and it's film adaptation, bringing both into modern day.  the story follows 3 witches in the suburban town of eastwick, rhode island, following their relationships and affairs. basically, its  a supernatural desperate housewives.  this will be the third time someone has tried to bring the witches to television.  the first time was in 1992, with 3 unknown actresses in the roles.  the second attempt, 10 years later in 2002, a pilot was filmed starring kelly rutherford of gossip girl, marcia cross of desperate housewives, and lori loughlin of full house and 90210.  that pilot was the jumping off point for this new version, which is set to star rebecca romijn of ugly betty, lindsay price of lipstick jungle, and jaime ray newman, who was most recently seen as a promiscuous medical intern on nip/tuck.  this is probably the most all star cast seen to date and abc is said to be very interested in the project.  it also puts the nail in the coffin of nbc's lipstick jungle.  price is the second star of the series to attach herself to a new pilot, with kim raver working on other projects.  however, if lipstick jungle does get renewed by the peacock net, price and raver will have to (probably begrudgingly) pull out of the pilot projects and return to the nbc drama.  i'm excited for this - it seems like abc is finally getting back to the sitcoms, which is something that's missing from tv.  when networks decided to get rid of the sitcom, they thought the medium was dead.  really, the audience just wasn't interested in what the networks were pushing - the sitcom has always been viable.  look at cbs's monday nights.