Nick Zaino
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Larry Charles Project Picked Up by CBS
According to both Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, Larry Charles and Ant Hines, the director and writer behind 'Borat' and 'Bruno,' are teaming up again for a new CBS pilot starring English comedian and actor Paul Kaye. The project, which the Reporter says stars Kaye as a "British low-life moving to LA to reconnect with his daughter who is a teen celebrity," is untitled. Charles has been much acclaimed for his work with Sacha Baron Cohen, as well as Larry David on 'Curb Your Enthusiasm,' Jerry Seinfeld on 'Seinfeld,' and Paul Reiser on 'Mad About You.' In Kaye, he has another talented comedian who likes to instigate trouble and who can move easily between characters.
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Everyone Loves Ellen on 'Idol'
Just about everyone seemed to love Ellen DeGeneres's debut on 'American Idol' this week, including viewers and fellow host Kara DioGuardi. TVWeek.com reports that ratings for Ellen's Tuesday night debut were up one percent versus last year's first episode in Hollywood (although they note that the first episode on Hollywood always gets a bump in ratings). The site also reported that 27.7 million people tuned in, the most viewers the show has had this season. DioGuardi lauded Ellen's debut to TV Guide, explaining that Ellen "knows more about music than you think she does" and saying she was a good judge of talent who speaks to contestants "with kindness, but also had criticism in there."
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'Bones' Creator Hart Hanson Brought Onto New Fox Pilot
According to the Hollywood Reporter, 'Bones' creator Hart Hanson is now attached to the pilot for 'Pleading Guilty,' a drama on Fox that already has an impressive roster of names. Hanson will serve as an executive producer on the show, which is based on the Scott Turow novel of the same name. Turow's books have been adapted before -- the big screen adaptation of 'Presumed Innocent' starred Harrison Ford and Brian Dennehy, 'Reversible Errors' was adapted for TV with William H. Macy and Tom Selleck, as was 'The Burden of Proof' with Hector Elizondo and Brian Dennehy.
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Sarah Silverman Talks Season Three and More
It may not have seemed that Sarah Silverman was busy in 2009, especially since the last time we saw 'The Sarah Silverman Program' on Comedy Central was December of 2008. But she was busy behind the scenes.Silverman filmed 'Saint John of Las Vegas' with Steve Buscemi, which played the festival circuit last year and gets a wider release this year, 'Peep World' with Michael C. Hall and Rainn Wilson, and wrote her memoir, 'The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption, and Pee,' which is due in April.
Silverman was also negotiating with Comedy Central for 'The Sarah Silverman Program.' Comedy Central wanted to cut her budget from $1.1 million per episode to $850,000, which was a non-starter for Silverman and her partners.
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Neil Patrick Harris Adores 'HIMYM'
If anyone was getting nervous that Neil Patrick Harris's new gig hosting the game show 'The Cube' might mean his interest in 'How I Met Your Mother' was waning, worry no more. On Tuesday, Harris Tweeted the answer to a question no one has asked yet, that he is staying put on 'HIMYM.'Harris's (subtly scatological) message, referring to 'HIYMYM' and 'The Cube,' both of which are CBS projects: "I'm never leaving HIMYM. That job rocks. This would just have me doing double duty on the Tiffany Network. (Huh, huh. I said double duty...)"
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Jackie Earle Haley On the Dark Side of 'Human Target'
As Guerrero on 'Human Target,' Jackie Earle Haley doesn't get to fly planes, parachute out of trains, or charm his way into an embassy party. That job goes to Christopher Chance, the title character played to perfection by Mark Valley. But Haley does get to play the more interesting character -- the mysterious guy behind the scenes, the one who can find any information you need about anyone or anything, the guy who, when threatened by thugs, will accept their initial beat-down and tell them in great detail who he will kill in their sleep first, offering condolences the wife and kids.
Through the first three episodes, there are few concrete details about Guerrero's past, and aspect of the character that Haley enjoys. "That's what's fun about this guy, it seems like we're kind of all learning it together." he said during a conference call with the media.
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BBC America 'Best of David Tennant' Video
For those of you still crying in your screwdrivers over David Tennant's exit from 'Doctor Who,' and waiting for Matt Smith to fill the void, BBC America has posted a three-minute video of "Tennant's greatest moments as the Doctor" to promote 'Doctor Who: The Complete Specials,' which is out today. The clip takes us from "new teeth, that's weird" all the way up to the Master's death, with a good number of clips from the specials in between. And of course, Daleks and Cybermen. There are some nice reminders of how good Tennant was at playing both drama and comedy on the show, including his back and fourth with Sky Silvestry ("Shamble bobble dibble dooble") from 'Midnight' from series four and his exchange with a would-be companion from 'Planet of the Dead' ("People have traveled with me and I've lost them, lost them all").
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New truTV Show Hyped with Troy Polamalu Super Bowl Ad
Now that the NFL has moved the Pro Bowl to the week before the big game, the Super Bowl will be the last TV event on the football schedule for the year. During Sunday's game, truTV will hype a new show, called 'NFL Full Contact,' with an ad starring Pittsburgh Steelers safety Troy Polamalu, or, as he is known in the ad, Punxsutawney Polamalu. In the ad, a mini version of Polamalu (by the magic of green screen, played by Polamalu and wrestler Steve Richardson, a.k.a. Puppet the Psycho Dwarf) gets pulled out of a tree stump and sees his shadow. Thus, six more weeks of football. Meaning, of course, six weeks of 'NFL Full Contact.'
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Review: Caprica - Rebirth
(S010O2) In one scene in the second episode of Caprica, Amanda Graystone holds a book that belonged to her daughter, called The Physics of Religion and Spirituality. The fact that she's holding it at a memorial for the victims of a terrorist attack, while mourning her daughter, Zoe, is more than a little ironic.We'll start with the fact that the book was given to Amanda by the mother of Zoe's boyfriend Ben, who strapped explosives to his chest and blew up the train in the name of one true god, killing Zoe and many others. When Amanda finds a religious symbol amongst the book and some photos, she is convinced that Zoe was part of the plot to bomb the train (she wasn't, although she shared some of the religious views that led to it).
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Sunday's SNL special to feature a healthy dose of Peyton Manning
Expect to see a lot of Peyton Manning this Sunday on SNL Presents: Sports All-Stars, according to Will Forte and Jason Sudeikis. Forte and Sudeikis are hosting the two-hour prime time show (Jan. 31, 9 p.m. EST) as Twinkle and Stink, their ESPN Classic sports announcer characters. All-Stars will feature the best of the show's sports-related sketches from the vaults. In a conference call with media earlier this week, Forte in particular was impressed with Manning, who will quarterback the Indianapolis Colts in the Super Bowl next week against the New Orleans Saints.
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Aziz Ansari: The ODB of 'Parks and Recreation'
TV 101: Wouldn't it be nice if HBO grew a pair?
Gone Too Soon: 'Freaks and Geeks'
