Celebrity Apprentice’s Bret Michaels Faces Biggest Challenge Yet: Donald Trump’s Boardroom
- Mar 13, 2010 12:24 PM ET
- by
Kate Stanhope
Celebrity Apprentice
Bret Michaels has performed in front of thousands of screaming fans, night after night, for more than twenty years, and proudly put his crazy love life on national television. But the Poison lead singer says nothing has been more nerve-wracking than Donald Trump’s boardroom.
“I never sweated as much as I do in that boardroom,” Michaels said in a conference call with reporters about the new season of Celebrity Apprentice. Michaels is just one of 14 famous faces who will sweat it out in Trump Towers for the series’ third season (premiering Sunday at 9/8c on NBC).
New Celebrity Apprentice cast revealed
This year’s contestants — all playing for their favorite charity —
Game of Thrones Heading to HBO
- Mar 2, 2010 06:05 PM ET
- by
Natalie Abrams
Sean Bean
Game of Thrones, a fantasy series based on George R.R. Martin’s novels, has gotten a greenlight from HBO, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Check out photos of Sean Bean
HBO picked up the show, written by David Benioff (Troy, X-Men Origins: Wolverine) and D.B. Weiss, for a total of 10 episodes slated to debut next spring.
The series is set in a fictitious land called Westeros and follows Eddard Stark (Sean Bean) as he becomes a king’s right-hand man.
Idol’s Alex Lambert Has a Dirty Mouth
- Feb 26, 2010 06:42 PM ET
- by
Natalie Abrams
American Idol - Alex Lambert
Shocked and angry American Idol fans apparently weren’t the only ones cursing during Thursday’s elimination show.
Read our American Idol recaps
Near the end of the show’s broadcast, when host Ryan Seacrest revealed that 19-year-old Alex Lambert would be staying in the competition over Tyler Grady, four seconds of audio were censored. The apparent cause: Lambert’s celebration contained some choice words not suitable for television.
A rep for the Fox reality series told TVGuide.com “that the audio was dropped by broadcast standards due to language.”
In addition to Grady, America’s votes eliminated Ashley Rodriguez, Janell Wheeler and Joe Munoz.
Fox Boss Says He Needs to Be Convinced Conan Could be Profitable
- Feb 2, 2010 10:47 PM ET
- by
Douglas J. Rowe
Rupert Murdoch
Fox executives are mulling the possibility of a late-night show hosted by Conan O’Brien, but their boss, Rupert Murdoch, says they have to convince him it would be profitable.
“We’re giving it a lot of thought and a lot of examination,” said Murdoch, head of Fox’s parent company, News Corp.
Ratings: 10.3 million tune in for O’Brien’s final Tonight Show
Fox owned-and operated TV stations and affiliates (a total of 205, according to The Wall Street Journal) now generally air reruns of syndicated sitcoms from 11 to midnight that make them a lot of money.
So, Murdoch said, executives Peter Rice and Kevin Reilly need to “show us we can do it and be fairly confident of making a profit.”
Fox network president: “I love Conan”
The 78-year-old media titan — whose conglomerate owns 20th Century Fox movie studio, the Fox network, Fox News Channel, satellite services in Britain and Asia and several newspapers including The Wall Street Journal and New York Post — said there have been some conversations with O’Brien’s people, but no “real negotiations” have taken place.
Murdoch’s comments echoed those that News Corp. Chief Operating Officer Chase Carey and Fox Television Stations boss Roger Ailes made to the Los Angeles Times last month about the chances of O’Brien being signed to a deal.
NBC dumps Conan for $45 million payoff; reinstates Jay as Tonight Show host
O’Brien opted to leave as host of NBC’s The Tonight Show rather than move the franchise to a half-hour later and clear the way for Jay Leno’s return to 11:35 p.m. from prime time.
“I’m sure we’d have difficult renegotiations,” Murdoch said of trying to gain approval from affiliates to put O’Brien on the air.
He said there were “different opinions” at the network about moving forward — but, if it “could make a profit, we would do it in a flash.”
TBS Picks Up New Comedy Pilot
- Jan 29, 2010 12:06 PM ET
- by
Gina DiNunno
TBS
TBS has ordered up a new hour-long comedy pilot from the director of Wild Hogs.
Written by Walt Becker (Wild Hogs) and Michael LeSieur (You, Me and Dupree), Glory Daze revolves around four incoming freshman in the 80s, who pledge a frat at a Wisconsin college, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Gilmore Girls creator returning to the CW for new pilot
TBS recently picked up the mystery comedy Uncle Nigel from Monk co-creator and executive producer
Mega Buzz: Scoop on Lost, Grey’s, Housewives and More!
- Jan 27, 2010 12:25 AM ET
- by
Mickey O’Connor and Adam Bryant
Lost, Grey’s Anatomy, Desperate Housewives
Every week, editors Mickey O’Connor and Adam Bryant answer your burning questions. Want some TV scoop? Please send all questions
Conan O’Brien Gets Justice on NBC
- Jan 26, 2010 10:44 PM ET
- by
Natalie Abrams
Conan O’Brien
Conan O’Brien is again in business with NBC. The network has greenlit an hourlong pilot from his production company, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
NBC dumps Conan for $45 million payoff; reinstates Jay as Tonight Show host
Justice follows an ex-Supreme Court justice who quits to open his own practice. The pilot comes from Conaco and UMS production companies.
Part of O’Brien’s $33 million contract states that his NBC-based company would continue to operate until the end of development season.
Conan O’Brien says goodbye to Tonight Show
O’Brien will executive-produce with John Eisendrath, Jedd Ross and David Kissinger.
Hallmark Moment: Martha Stewart Moving Show to Cable Channel
- Jan 26, 2010 01:17 PM ET
- by
Joyce Eng
Bill Abbott, Martha Stewart, Charles Koppelman
Martha Stewart will move her talk show to the Hallmark Channel as part of a new multi-year deal announced Tuesday.
Currently broadcasting in syndication, The Martha Stewart Show will air exclusively on Hallmark starting in September. Following the series, Hallmark will air another 90 minutes of original Martha Stewart programming to be created by the lifestyle maven’s production company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia.
Martha Stewart: What Rachael Ray does is “not good enough for me”
“This is a match made in TV heaven. We couldn’t be more excited about welcoming Martha Stewart to the Hallmark Channel family,” Bill Abbott, president and CEO of Hallmark Channels, said in a statement. “She is the undisputed leader in cooking, home d
How I Met Your Mother Gets a Sixth Season
- Jan 25, 2010 09:56 PM ET
- by
Natalie Abrams
It’s time to suit up: How I Met Your Mother has been renewed for Season 6, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
How I Met Your Mother creators developing new sitcom
Now that Mother has been picked up, executive producers Carter Bays and Craig Thomas will soon be pulling double duty. On Monday, the network announced that the creators reupped their contract, along with developing a new series for CBS.
After a slow start, Mother’s ratings have grown; it posted a season high in its last outing with 10.52 million viewers.
Gene Roddenberry’s Son Resurrects Decades-Old Pilot
- Jan 22, 2010 11:00 AM ET
- by
Joyce Eng
Gene Roddenberry
A pilot by late Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry has been picked up — nearly 40 years after it was originally conceived.
Roddenberry’s son, Rod Roddenberry, will team with Ron Howard’s Imagine Entertainment to develop The Questor Tapes, a Gene Roddenberry sci-fi pilot from the early 1970s that was never ordered to series, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Majel Barrett Roddenberry, “first lady of Star Trek,” dies at 76
“My father always felt that Questor was the one that got away,” Rod Roddenberry said. “He believed that the show had the potential to be bigger than Star Trek.”
Questor focuses on an android with incomplete memory tapes that searches for its creator and the meaning of its existence. The pilot ultimately aired as a TV movie in 1974.
The final frontier: Roddenberrys’ ashes going into space
Gene Roddenberry, who was posthumously inducted in the Academy of TV Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame Wednesday, died in 1991 at age 70. Some of Roddenberry’s ashes were shipped into space in 1997, and his remaining ashes will be launched into space this year, along with those of his wife, Majel Barrett Roddenberry.