Category: Television

Craig Kilborn Signs Development Deal With ABC Studios To Write And Star In Comedy
Craig Kilborn is looking to return to TV, this time as the creator and star of a primetime comedy series. The former Daily Show and Late Late Show host has signed a development deal with ABC Studios to write a half-hour script, to which he is attached to star and produce. After a stint as anchor of ESPN’s SportsCenter, Kilborn was tapped as the original host of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show before segueing to CBS’ The Late Late Show, which he hosted from 1999-2004. He served as a writer on both shows. Kilborn, repped by Innovative Artists, stayed largely off the radar for six years before he did a talk show, The Kilborn Files, which ran on the Fox stations last year.

CBS announces ‘Big Brother’ season premiere date, debut of new celebrity reality series ‘Same Name’
CBS has announced the official premiere date for the 13th season of Big Brother. The houseguest competition series will return on Thursday, July 7, and will once again be broadcast three times a week on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays. (The weekly Thursday broadcast will serve as the live eviction show.)
The network also announced the premiere of a new reality series, Same Name, in which celebrities will trade places for one week with someone who shares their name. The new series will debut on July 24, forming a two-hour Sunday reality block with Big Brother.

This is it for ‘House’: Laurie
Hugh Laurie has hinted his hit TV show ‘House’ will come to an end after the upcoming eighth season.
The British actor shot to fame in America with his portrayal of grumpy doctor Gregory House in the popular medical drama.
He has completed seven series of the show and is due to start work on another this summer, but Laurie is convinced the programme will be over after its next run.
He tells Britain’s Radio Times, “The end of the (eighth) season, right now, looks like the end of the show. That is as far as they have got me for.”

Meredith Vieira Announces ‘Today’ Exit; Ann Curry to Replace Her
Meredith Vieira, near tears, announced her exit from NBC’s “Today” Monday after five years of co-anchoring with Matt Lauer. Ann Curry will replace her as co-anchor.
The changes had been expected for months at the top-rated morning show. Vieira has wanted to spend more time with her family, especially her husband, Richard, who is ill.
Curry, who joined “Today” in 1997, will be replaced as its newsreader by Natalie Morales. White House correspondent Savannah Guthrie, a frequent “Today” fill-in, will join the show as a co-host in its third hour.
“I’m going to try to hold myself together here. But after months of personal reflection and private conversations with my family and my friends, I’ve decided to leave ‘Today’ in June,” Vieira said. “And even as I say this and I know that it is the right thing, I’m really sad because for the past — I like to say 10 years but it’s only been five — this has been my second home.”
Curry said after Lauer announced her promotion, “I feel like the high school computer nerd who was just asked to the prom by the quarterback of the football team.”
Vieira replaced Katie Couric, who left the show to host the “CBS Evening News.”

Canada airs ABC’s cut bin Laden joke
LOS ANGELES – Days after President Obama announced that Osama bin Laden had been killed, an unlikely television series found itself in a bit of a bind.
ABCís comedy ìHappy Endingsî aired an episode Wednesday in which Zach Knightonís character compared an elusive mouse in Elisha Cuthbertís apartment to a ìbin Laden.î
During the airing in the U.S., Knighton told Cuthbert ó in discussing the hardships of trying to capture said mouse: ìHeís my bin Laden. … Jessica bin Laden, a super hot Arab girl I went to college with.î Then the audio cuts out, though Knightonís mouth is still moving.
The Hollywood Reporter has learned that there was more to the joke, with the silenced line being, ìShe was the one that got away.î
Given that the actual Osama bin Laden is no longer the one who got away, itís understandable why ABC cut the line, which was taped about two weeks ago. But it aired in its entirety on Canadaís Citytv, suggesting ABC was mindful of the particular sensitivities U.S. audiences might have to a joke about the al Qaeda leader.
Video on ABC.com goes even further than simply bleeping the line. The scene in question has been altered, with the camera awkwardly cutting away immediately after Knighton finishes the line about college.

Carellís weepy ëOfficeí exit
Steve Carell has confirmed his exit from The Office was an emotional moment as ìeverybody was cryingî.
The funnyman filmed his final scenes for the hit TV comedy back in March and the episode showing his character Michael Scottís departure aired in the U.S. on Thursday.
Carell has now admitted he was surprised by the outpouring of sadness as he left the series and said goodbye to his longtime colleagues.
He tells U.S. TV host Ellen DeGeneres, ìI had been preparing myself because I had known for about a year that I was going to be leaving this season, and I thought I was emotionally prepared. But, I was really surprised at how bittersweet it was. Everybody was crying.
ìIt was nice though – theyíre my friends… The difficult part of it is sort of moving on. I felt like I was a senior and everyone else is a junior, and I was graduating.î
Carell also reveals he has been taking time out from work after leaving The Office, enjoying quality time with his family.
He adds, ìIím so great at not having anything to do. I think that I am an intrinsically, extremely lazy person. An entire day will go by, I will have done nothing but drive my kids to school, pick them up, have a cup of coffee, read the paper and go to bed. And thatís it. I have nothing to show for a day.î
The Ellen DeGeneres Show interview is due to air in the U.S. on Monday.

FOX shelves weather-themed Seth MacFarlane crossover
Seth MacFarlane has rarely shied from controversial topics or from poking fun at things other people might find insensitive. FOX, on the other hand, has a threshold.
In light of the weather events that raged across the American South this week, leaving a swath of destruction and hundreds of casualties in their wake, FOX has quietly shelved this Sunday’s (May 1) three-episode “American Dad”/”The Cleveland Show”/”Family Guy” crossover.
The Animation Domination crossover, which had been promoted as unprecedented early this week, was set against the backdrop of a hurricane hitting Stoolbend, Quahog and Langley Falls.
For reasons entirely self-evident, FOX has decided that this may not have been the most appropriate weekend to showcase storm-set comedy.
A trio of repeats are now slated in place of the crossover. It’s hard to imagine FOX shelving the three original episodes permanently, but as of now, no official rescheduling has occurred.

Goodbye, Steve Carell: 16 of Michael Scott’s cringiest ‘Office’ moments

Katie Couric confirms CBS exit
LOS ANGELES – News anchor Katie Couric said on Tuesday she was leaving her job at ‘CBS Evening News” but said details of her next job were still being discussed.
Couric, 54, who became the first female solo anchor of a U.S. weeknight network newscast in 2006, said in an exclusive statement to People magazine that she was “looking at a format that will allow me to engage in more multi-dimensional storytelling”.
Details of when and where such a show would air had yet to be determined, she said.
“I have decided to step down from the ‘CBS Evening News.’ I’m really proud of the talented team on the ‘CBS Evening News’ and the award-winning work we’ve been able to do in the past five years in addition to the reporting I’ve done for ’60 Minutes’ and ‘CBS Sunday Morning.’
“In making the decision to move on, I know the ‘Evening News’ will be in great hands, but I am excited about the future,” Couric said in her statement.
Couric said earlier this month that she was considering other options after her five-year contract at “CBS Evening News” ends in early June.
Couric, a former co-host of rival NBC’s morning talk show “Today” for 15 years, has been unable to raise her CBS news broadcast out of third place in the ratings despite the initial media hoopla over her appointment.

Simon Cowell Confirms Paula Abdul, Cheryl Cole as X-Factor Judges
After months of speculation, Simon Cowell has confirmed that Paula Abdul and Cheryl Cole will join him as judges on The X-Factor.
The panel will also include Antonio “L.A.” Reid, who was previously the chairman of Island Def Jam Records.
“I’ve always wanted Paula. Always been very vocal about that. I missed her the second she left [American Idol],” Cowell, 51, told Deadline. “Always loved working with her even though she can be a pain. . .I don’t know what it is about her, but I’ve always clicked with her. You just have to get that chemistry, and she’s right. I’ve never found anyone better than her.”
As for Cole, who served as a judge on the British version of the show for the past three seasons? “I thought she was bright, cute, knew what she was talking about, ambitious. And you meet someone special a few times in your life, and this girl is special,” Cowell raved of the Girls Aloud singer, 27. “If people take to her like the British public did, I think she’s going to do really well in America. And FOX was desperate to hire her.”
Despite Cowell’s announcement, both Abdul and Cole are still in contract negotiations; FOX has yet to officially confirm their hiring.