VIDEO: Kate Walsh Tells Letterman About Her Sheer Dress

Kate Walsh (Addison Shepherd on ABC's Grey's Anatomy) stopped by The Late Show with David Letterman last night and told him a story about her sheer dress incident in Italy.

From Zero To "Hiro"

Geeky Japanese office worker Hiro Nakamura on NBC's Heroes has quickly become one of the most beloved characters on network television. For Masi Oka who plays Hiro in the hit series, it is a dream come true.

The actor who was originally born in Japan and moved to the US at the age of six has, just like his on-screen alter ego, always been passionate about comic books. That is why it does not get any better than being on a show that feels looks and feels like one.

Oka's breakout character has generated a lot of buzz as Heroes became the #1 new show this season not only across a variety of demographic groups including teenagers, but also among viewers overall. The show has recently crossed the 16 million mark.

Enjoying his new-found fame, Masi Oka has made several public appearances, including the one on NBC's morning show "Today". As pictured above, the actor (with his co-star Milo Ventimiglia) "showed off" the time-bending and teleporting talents of his character, or rather the facial expressions that accompany the use of those talents, right in the heart of New York City, where Hiro started his journey to save the cheerleader and the world.

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Eva Longoria Enaged

Gabrielle Solis may have divorced her husband Carlos on ABC's "Desperate Housewives", but publicist Liza Anderson has confirmed - Eva Longoria, the actress who plays her, is engaged to marry her boyfriend 24-year old Frenchman and basketball star Tony Parker.

"Tony flew into Los Angeles last night after his game and surprised Eva at her home as she got off work," Liza Anderson told The Associated Press on Thursday via e-mail.

"The proposal was romantic and perfect. The couple plans to wed in France in the summer of 2007 in what they describe as a big, happy ceremony with lots of family and friends."

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In other news:
PETA Calls Longoria's Character A Slut
Evangeline Lilly Goes Christmas Shopping
Christmas "Housewives" Strikes Nielsen Gold

The O.C. Is Not Cancelled! Yet.

The Internet buzz that FOX was canceling its troubled teen drama "The O.C." after the show's truly underwhelming return to FOX Thursdays was put to rest this week by the show's creator Josh Schwartz who confirmed production of episode 11 (out of 16) was under way.

Although he declined to comment whether the network would pick up the show for a full season of 22 episodes or if he was writing a season (or series) finale, it is safe to assume (given the show's truly hideous ratings) the drama might be singing its swan song by the end of February sweeps.

On tonight's episode:

When Taylor learns that Ryan cant sleep, she comes up with her own therapeutic plan to help him get over his insomnia.

Meanwhile at Brown, Summer and Che take their activism to a new level, resulting in more freedom than they expected.

Kaitlin, after being served by her own mom in tennis lessons, volleys back at Julie but helps save the dating service.

And when all of Taylors schemes backfire, she turns to Kaitlin for help with Ryan and in the end gets her way.

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Must-See TV Returns Tonight!

After two years of messing around with the most lucrative night on television, NBC hopes to revise "Must See TV" tonight with four sitcoms settling into their new time slots.

In their regular time slots, "My Name Is Earl" (8/7c) finds the hero making it up to a former schoolmate whom he used to terrorize by taking his lunch, and "The Office" (8:30/7:30c) deals with a new employee who's also an ex-con.

New to NBC's Thursday night lineup is "Scrubs" (9/8c), which returns for a sixth season and finds J.D. still reeling from last season's news that he's going to be a daddy. Also, the Blue Man Group makes a guest appearance.

On Tina Fey's "30 Rock" (9:30/8:30c), Liz decides to get back together with her ex-boyfriend (Dean Winters).

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ABC's "Day Break" A Major Flop

There are no more excuses. The show that replaced "Lost" on ABC Wednesdays is officially a loser. In fact it is now one of the lowest rated new shows on network television. Will ABC pull the plug?

When Taye Diggs' new drama "Day Break" premiered two weeks ago, it had the luxury of airing after one of the highest rated programs of the season, the 3rd season finale of ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" which concluded its run scoring over 27 million viewers.

Those inflated numbers gave "Day Break" a very good sampling - 13 million viewers tuned in to see what the new show was about. Unfortunately for ABC, over 5 million of them were gone by the time the confusing premiere ended.

Last week, the show's second episode plummeted scoring less than 6 million viewers. The cautious ratings analysts pointed to pre-Thanksgiving low viewing levels. After all, even megahits Grey's Anatomy and CSI lost millions of viewers during the holiday.

Last night, however, the show continued to sink scoring 4,75 million viewers, not even being able to hold on to the shabby 7,67 million viewers of its under-performing lead-in William Shatner's game show "Show Me The Money".

Last weekend ABC quietly pulled its struggling 10pm drama "The Nine" and replaced it with a 20/20 special, but that show did equally badly scoring 7,05 million. That means taking "Lost" off the schedule may have been the worst programming move of the season.

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ABC Wednesdays Falling Apart
ABC Pulls The Nine
Evangeline Lilly Goes Christmas Shopping

Snow And Passion Explode on "Ugly Betty"

As we have already told you earlier this week, Christopher Gorham is coming back to "Ugly Betty" on tonight's Christmas-themed episode of the ABC comedy. Gorham who plays the nerdy, but cute accountant with hots for Betty, may join the series as a regular.

ABC has released several additional images of tonight's holiday-themed episode of their hit comedy series which prominently feature Gorham as Henry, the Mode Magazine accountant.

The actor whose previous credits include Party of Five, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Felicity, CSI, Jake 2.0 and a number of other prime-time hits will be a recurring character for the rest of the season and may join the show as a series regular next year.


Similarly to other shows, ABC will not air any new episodes of "Ugly Betty" during the month of December (one notable exception being "Brothers and Sisters"). The network will repeat early episodes of the series starting with the pilot next week.

On December 21, ABC will repeat the episode "Fey's Sleigh Ride" in which Mode Magazine staff run into trouble with their big Christmas photo shoot when another magazine copies their ideas.

Earlier this week, ABC.com began posting episodes of the hilarious telenovela that may be seen in small clips on the actual show. Every week ABC will add a new episode on their website.

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Read more about UGLY BETTY:
Love Is All Around For "Ugly Betty" At Christmas
"Ugly Betty" Gives Tom Brady a Makeover
Thursdays Are Getting Ugly

"Grey's Anatomy" Back On Sundays

Do you miss watching Dr. McDreamy and the gang on Sunday nights? Beginning January 7, the doctors at Seattle Grace Hospital will once again be making weekly house calls every Sundays at 11pm on Lifetime Television .

As previously reported, the cable network will begin reruns of ABC's Emmy-Award nominated medical drama with the first season and on a weekly basis. The series will air daily as of 2009. It is believed Lifetime is paying as much as $1,2 million per episode.

Isaiah Washington (Dr. Preston Burke), Kate Walsh (Dr. Addison Shepherd) and Justin Chambers (Dr. Alex Karev) are pictured above attending last week's American Music Awards ceremony.

The cast recently appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show where Isaiah sat down between T.R. Knight (Dr. George O'Malley) and Patrick Dempsey (Dr. Derek Shepherd) admitting that the incident occurred on the set of the series, but blamed it on 'trying too hard to focus on work' and referred to his co-stars as 'beautiful men'.

The appearance was one in a series of activities designed to do post-brawl damage control.

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Ellen Pompeo Engaged
A Gay-Friendly Isaiah
Dr. McSteamy's Trashy B-Flick

"Desperate Housewives" Top Show With TiVo Users

According to the latest TiVo ratings, the top show in America among families that own the DVR system is by a large margin ABC's sudsfest "Desperate Housewives". The chart that monitors both live and recorded viewing also names "Studio 60" and "Prison Break" among the top-10 shows.

The popular consumer device that allows users to capture TV programming to internal hard disk storage for later viewing (the so-called 'time-shifting') is currently present in 4,4 million US households.

Although that is only a fraction of the total viewing public in the US, the TiVo ratings chart gives a good idea of what shows the self-selected group of sophisticated people from sought-after demographics that make up TiVo customer base prefer.

ABC's "Desperate Housewives"topped the chart for the week ending November 25 with a 26,6% viewing. "Grey's Anatomy" came in second with 17,9% and NBC's sci-fi smash "Heroes" was the close third with 17,8%.

Rounding out the Top-10 are: 4.House(Fox, 15,9%); 5.CSI: Miami(CBS, 13,7%); 6.The Amazing Race 10 (CBS, 13,4); 7.Studio 60 on the Sunset strip (NBC, 12%); 8.Prison Break FOX, 11,1%); 9.College Football (ABC, 10,9%) and 10.Two and a Half Men (CBS, 10,9%).

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Donald Trump To Battle "Desperate Housewives"

NBC has confirmed the sixth cycle of Donald Trump's reality contest would go against ABC's monster hit "Desperate Housewives". Can The Donald survive a clash with those vampy sexy shady ladies on Wisteria Lane?

When NBC's "Apprentice" premiered in January 2004, it quickly rocketed to Nielsen super-stardom scoring over 20 million viewers in its inaugural season.

The network had been so thrilled with its success and so afraid of the loss of "Friends" that it destroyed its long-running two-hour comedy block "Must-See-TV" on Thursday nights and gave The Donald and his wannabe apprentices prime position on the schedule.

But the novelty wore off during the 2004-2005 season as NBC kept the series going all year round unleashing not one, but two new cycles.

To make matters worse, in the fall of 2005, NBC - desperate for better ratings - launched Martha Stewart's version of the series that failed miserably and may even have hurt the original series whose ratings plummeted to a little over 10 million.

In March, 2006 NBC removed "The Apprentice" from lucrative Thursdays for a brief run on Monday nights.

Now NBC has decided to use the same strategy that made "American Idol" such a blockbuster. It rested the series all summer and fall long scheduling its return for January 7, almost 7 months after the last finale.

Will the viewers who used to watch Sunday Night Football tune into the new edition of the series that moved production to Los Angeles or will some of them flock to Wisteria Lane making "Desperate Housewives" an even bigger hit than it already is?

In related news, Microsoft has announced earlier this week that they have hired Carolyn Kepcher to help them find the best small-business idea in America.


The winner of the Redmond, Washington-based company's "Ultimate Challenge" contest will get $100,000 in seed money, a storefront or other space in Manhattan for a year rent-free, and software to help get their business started.

Kepcher and fellow judges began hearing ideas on Tuesday in a computer-equipped recreational vehicle parked in Midtown Manhattan.

Dozens of people waited in line for a chance to make their pitch.

A long-time manager at the Trump Organization, Carolyn parted her ways with Donald Trump earlier this year for undisclosed reasons.

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PETA Calls Longoria's Character a Slut

PETA has issued their 6th annual "Worst Dressed Celebrity" list giving Nicole Richie (E!'s The Simple Life) the top spot on the list as the cruelest to animals by way of fashion choices. The organization also criticized "Desperate Housewife" Eva Longoria calling her character a slut.


The organization which is known for its passion for protecting animals as well as offensive sarcasm directed at celebrities they deem cruel and irresponsible, said in a statement about Longoria:

You’d think she’d be more sympathetic to the plight of rabbits considering the way she screws around like one on Wisteria Lane".

Actress Christina Ricci who last season made a notable guest appearance on ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" in the infamous "bomb episode" also made the list.

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Read more about DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES:
Wisteria Lane Punches Up Jokes
'Desperate' Christmas Strikes Nielsen Gold
The Cast at the Claire Adair Handbag Launch Event
New Mystery Recap

NBC To Move "Lights" to Wednesdays, Keep "Studio 60" on Mondays

NBC has just issued a press release announcing mid-season changes to their schedule including an expected move for freshman drama "Friday Night Lights" and not-so-expected decision to keep Aaron Sorkin's struggling new series "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" on Monday nights at 10pm.

In the press release, NBC also announced the January launch of their new reality series "Grease: You're The One That I Want" as well as the new cycle of Donald Trump's reality contest "The Apprentice", for the very first time set in Los Angeles.

Despite industry buzz that "Friday Night Lights" would be moving to Sunday nights once the NFL season is concluded (the somewhat naive reasoning being football fans would continue to tune in on Sundays), the rookie drama set in the heart of Texas will return in its new timeslot on Wednesday, January 10 at 8pm where it would face Bones on FOX, as well as a new cycle of "Dancing with the Stars" on ABC and post-apocalypse drama "Jericho" on CBS in the spring .

As previously reported, "Dateline NBC" will take over the Tuesday at 8 spot on December 26, and the second edition of the news magazine will be added on Sundays at 7pm as of February 11.

"The Apprentice" returns for its sixth cycle on January 7 at a special time 9:30-11pm. The first two episodes will be 90 minutes long. The show will then move to its regular spot on January 21 and air for the rest of the season from 9-10pm (apart from occasional super-sized sweeps installments). "Crossing Jordan" returns in the post-Apprentice slot at 10pm on January 21.


NBC's new reality show based on the popular motion picture starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John "Grease: You're The One I Want" also premieres on January 7 with a 90-minute installment from 8-9:30pm. The show will switch to one-hour format from January 21. The series is produced by BBC Worldwide.

Also worth noting is that NBC's struggling Monday night drama "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" about production of a live television sketch show from Aaron Sorkin, the creator of "The West Wing", will remain on Monday nights at 10pm, a decision that might raise several eyebrows.


The show is considered to be incompatible to its lead-in, the popular sci-fi series "Heroes" and it now regularly loses more than half of its audience. The drama is however very popular in the more affluent and highly-educated households for which reason NBC will stick to it for at least the rest of the season.

Previously announced mid-season entries "The Black Donnellys" and "Raines" have not been given a new timeslot as yet. Although the former series about Irish mafia brothers living in New York was originally to replace ER during a limited winter run on Thursday nights, the network will now be looking for a new home for the series, given ER's surprising new strength.

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Comedy Abounds On Wisteria Lane

"Desperate Housewives" writer and consulting producer Jeff Greenstein (Friends, Will & Grace) has explained in an exclusive interview to The Futon Critic why ABC's hit drama is abound with comedy in year three.

When Marc Cherry and the new writing team behind "Desperate Housewives" put together their ideas for the third season, they made a decision to move the show in a more comedic direction, making sure it returned to that unique blend of comedy and drama that made it a hit in its early days of season 1. The writers also decided to flash forward six months in order to clear out the old storylines faster and concentrate on new twists and turns.

The decisions were made following strong backlash from both viewers and critics during the show's sophomore year; a year plagued with a poorly executed mystery and wasting of talent of Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actress Alfre Woodard.


The poker scenes and the iced tea sessions returned as the core characters became more entangled in a new central mystery and their lives intertwined. Although it may be a challenge to come up with a compelling mystery in each new season, the writers have successfully created a story that looks and feels different from what they had done in the past. And the viewers have given them the much-needed bode of confidence as they rewarded the show with stronger ratings.


Season to date, the drama ranks #2 on the Nielsen chart overall, and in the past five weeks it topped the chart four times, closing in on last year's breakout hit "Grey's Anatomy".

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'Desperate' Christmas Strikes Nielsen Gold
VIDEO: Felicity Huffman on Ellen
Housewives at Cate Adair Handbag Launch
ABC Was Scared Of 'Pedophile' Storyline

Not a "Big Day" For ABC

Uh-oh! The "Dancing with the Stars " curse continues to plague the Disney network. Now that the juggernaut reality competition wrapped up its third season, not only has ABC Wednesday fallen apart, but Tuesdays are now in trouble, too ,as the Alphabet net plummeted from the first to the fourth place in the Nielsen ratings.

Last night, ABC kicked things off with a beloved holiday classic "A Charlie Brown Christmas" scoring over 13 million viewers. Not too bad for a cartoon dating back to 1965. At 9pm, however, it all went downhill.

ABC's much delayed sitcom "Big Day" premiered to less than stellar 7,37 million viewers (a third of what "Dancing" used to pull in) before "Help Me Help You" hit series low at a little over 5 million. So much for "the #1 new comedy of the season". "Boston Legal", however, managed to spark things up a bit at 10 with almost 10 million.

Over on CBS, the absence of "Dancing with the Stars" helped NCIS soar to almost 18 million viewers. In the battle of low-rated dramas NBC's "Friday Night Lights" beat out FOX's "Standoff" (6,17 vs. 5,79 million). That did not stop FOX's mega-hit "House" soar to over 17 million viewers at 9pm, becoming the 2nd most watched program of the evening.

Congratulations to "Veronica Mars" which hit season high across all demos and posted the second highest rating ever with 3,49 million viewers on the modestly-rated CW. Perhaps the fourth season renewal is not that far away after all.

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Evangeline Lilly Goes Christmas Shopping

Have you already gotten down to Christmas shopping this year? Evangeline Lilly (Kate) has. The star of ABC's drama "Lost" spent the day before Thanksgiving shopping for Christmas presents in Hawaii before joining her boyfriend Dominic Monaghan (Charlie) for lunch.

Here are more images of Evangeline clearly not enjoying her shopping duties (or being photographed, that is) as well as the loving couple having a quiet lunch together.

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Holiday TV Guide

Last Sunday, a not-so-welcome Santa Claus crashed the Wisteria Lane bloc party and last night Charlie Brown and the gang celebrated the holidays in their timeless 1965 special on CBS. The holidays have arrived on network television and here is a little taste of what's to come.

Christmas at Rockefeller Center(Tonight, 8-9pm, NBC) Today's Al Roker and Ann Curry host the annual lighting of the Christmas tree. With special performances from Christina Aguilera, Sting, Bette Midler and Sarah McLachlan.

Ugly Betty: Fake Plastic Show (Thu, Nov. 30, 8-9pm, ABC) Its Christmastime at Mode, as Betty questions her relationship with Walter and her feelings for Henry, the accountant.


The Polar Express (Fri, Dec.1, 8-10pm, ABC) Can children still believe in Santa Clause? In the Academy and Golden Globe Award-nominated The Polar Express, one doubting child gets the surprise of his life.

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip: The Christmas Show (Mon, Dec.4, 10-11pm, NBC) A holiday show is prepared and Matt is determined to bring Christmas spirit to Los Angeles while Danny wrestles with his true feelings for Jordan.


The Victoria Secret Fashion Show (Tue, Dec.5, 10-11pm, CBS) This year's fashion spectacular, broadcast from Los Angeles for the first time, features headliner Justin Timberlake performing songs from his new album, FutureSex/Love Sounds.

Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer(Fri, Dec.8, 8-10pm, CBS) The longest running holiday special in television history celebrates its 42nd anniversary.

Frosty the Snowman/Frosty Returns (Fri, Dec.8, 9-10pm, CBS) Frosty, that "jolly, happy soul" whose old silk hat full of magic has turned him into a musical Christmas legend, once again demonstrates his unique showmanship. Narrated by Jimmy Durante.

Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas (Sat, Dec.9, 9-11pm, ABC) Jim Carrey stars as the Grinch in this 2000 live-action film based on the classic Dr. Seuss book.

The Simpsons (Sun, Dec.10, 7:30-8pm, FOX) The Simpsons spread holiday cheer with an encore of last years Yuletide trilogy.

Brothers and Sisters: Light the Lights (Sun, Dec.10, 10-11pm, ABC) Sarah, Tommy and Saul make a crucial misstep in their approach to retrieve funds to save the familys business, and Nora overcompensates for the familys loss for the holidays.

How I Met Your Mother: TBA (Mon, Dec.11, 8-8:30pm, CBS) When Ted's lingering resentment towards Lily results in him calling her the worst name imaginable, the gang's Christmas is nearly ruined.

Two and a Half Men: TBA (Mon, Dec.11, 9-9:30pm, CBS) Charlie finds himself throwing an unplanned, unwanted holiday party while Evelyn attempts to keep him from bedding his date.

Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas (Tue, Dec.12, 8-9pm, ABC) Celebrating its 40th Anniversary this year, the 1966 animated holiday story loved by all tall and small, based on the classic children's book by the legendary Dr. Seuss takes viewers inside a snowflake to Whoville, the magical land of the Whos.

House, M.D. : Merry Little Christmas (Tue, Dec.12, 9-10pm, FOX) Its doesn't seem like it'll be a happy holiday for House after Wilson comes clean to Detective Tritter (guest star David Morse) about Houses Vicodin habit in the all-new Yuletide installment of HOUSE.

The O.C. : Crismukk-huh? (Thu, Dec.14, 9-10pm, FOX) What the? Huh? Its Chrismukkah once again in The O.C., complete with a unique holiday visit from Jimmy Cooper (guest star Tate Donovan).


It's A Wonderful Life (Sat, Dec.16, 8-11pm, NBC) Frank Capra's 1946 classic is also described for the visually impaired by former president George Bush.


Elf (Sat, Dec.16, 8-10pm, CBS) Will Ferrell, James Caan and Mary Steenburgen star in this comedy about a man raised as an elf at the North Pole who is sent to New York in search of his true identity.

Cops: Ho! Ho! Ho! (Sat, Dec.16, 8-9pm, FOX) Turning to who's naughty and not so nice, FOX offers up an irreverent take on the holidays featuring working girls caught in the act.

The Santa Clause 2 (Sun, Dec.17, 8-10pm, ABC) Scott Calvin, a.k.a. Santa Claus, has two issues on his mind - first, his mischievous son, Charlie finds himself on the naughty list due to bad behavior, and second, it appears - according to the regulations - that Santa Claus has to be married. Starring Tim Allen and Elizabeth Mitchell (Lost).

The Simpsons: Kill Gill (Volumes I and II) (Sun, Dec.17, 8-8:30pm, FOX) The Simpsons are stuck with an unwanted house guest after they open their home to Gil for the Christmas holidays in this all-new yuletide episode.

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (Sun, Dec.17, 8-10pm, TBS) Chevy Chase stars as the patriarch of the Griswolds as they try to make the best of a disastrous holiday.

I Want A Dog For Christmas, Charlie Brown (Tue, Dec.19, 8-9pm, ABC) This holiday season, ABC will again air this PEANUTS Christmas special, produced and animated by the same team that gave us the other, now classic cartoon specials based on Charles M. Schulzs famed comic strip.

A Christmas Carol (Wed, Dec.20, 8-10pm, TNT) Patrick Stewart stars in TNT's adaptation of Charles Dickens' perennial tale of Ebenezer Scrooge and his visitation by the ghosts of Christmas.

A Home For The Holidays (Fri, Dec.22, 8-9pm, CBS) Grammy Award-winner Rod Stewart headlines this touching new entertainment special that tells moving stories about adoption. Guest performers include Five For Fighting, John Legend and Katharine McPhee

The Sound of Music (Sat, Dec.23, 7-11pm, ABC) Maria (Julie Andrews), while waiting to take her vows, is sent to the home of the widowed and retired navy Captain Georg von Trapp (Christopher Plummer) to care for his seven rambunctious children. Airs in HDTV.

Mad TV (Sat, Dec.23, 11-12pm, FOX) Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother) guest-stars, and in one hilarious skit, plays the new boss when Sean Gidcomb (Michael McDonald) decides to leave the office.

Spider-Man (Sun, Dec.24, 7:30-10pm, FOX) A genetically engineered spider bites teen science wiz Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) and alters his body chemistry to superhuman spider-like qualities.


Walt Disney's Christmas Parade (Mon, Dec.25, 9-11am, ABC) Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa host Walt Disney World's 23rd Annual Christmas Day Parade telecast from the heart of the Magic Kingdom. Ryan Seacrest will lead the parade. Performing are Beyonce, Daniel Powter, Andrea Bocelli, pop sensation RBD, Michael Bolton, American Idol finalists Elliott Yamin, Paris Bennett, Mandisa Hundley, Ace Young, and other.

Pirates of the Carribean: The Curse of The Black Pearl (Mon, Dec.25, 8-11pm, ABC) Elizabeth Swann is kidnapped and taken to Isla de Muerta by the treacherous crew of the Black Pearl, who believe that she can deliver them from the looming curse haunting them. Determined to save the love of his life, Will is forced to team up with the disreputable rogue pirate Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp).


Sweet Home Alabama (Thu, Dec.28, 8-10pm, FOX) Reese Witherspoon, Josh Lucas and Dr. McDreamy himself, Patrick Dempsey, star in the romantic comedy.


Dick Clark's Primetime New Year's Rockin' Eve 2007 (Sun, Dec.31, 11:35pm-2:05am ET) Ryan Seacrest and Dick Clark co-host the 35th edition of Dick Clarks New Years Rockin Eve, live from Times Square.

New Year's Eve Special (Sun, Dec.31, 11pm-12:30am ET Live / PT tape-delayed) FOX will feature musical performances by todays hottest artists, celebrity interviews and a look back at 2006s most memorable moments in pop culture.

The Tournament of Roses Parade LIVE (Mon, Jan.1, 11am-1pm ET, 8-10am PT, ABC)

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"Heroes" Marathon Tonight, Cliffhanger Monday

The hottest new show of the season is NBC's Monday night sci-fi drama "Heroes" that concludes its fall run next Monday with a startling cliffhanger. For those who have missed out on this spectacular new genre series, The Sci-Fi Channel has scheduled a special marathon of reruns beginning at 6 PM tonight.

The cable network which is a part of the NBC Universal family airs reruns of the drama every Friday night at 7/6c. Now, Sci-Fi will give new and casual viewers of the series an opportunity to catch up on the show's first six episodes. The airs from 6 p.m. ET until midnight.


Next Monday on NBC, the drama sets the stage for the second half of the season (scheduled to begin on January 22) with a midseason cliffhanger. According to Dynasty veteran Jack Coleman who plays the mysterious Mr. Benett or H.R.G. (Horned-Rim Glasses), the story gets really big and really expensive with large ramifications for the rest of the season.

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'Prison Break' Ratings Challenged

"Prison Break" came to an explosive climax last night as FOX aired the drama's fall finale. Sucre survived his jump from the plane and landed safely in Mexico. Bellick ended up in Fox River Penitentiary joining Tweener's former molester Avocado.

Revenge-hungry T-Bag shocked Mrs. Hollander and agent Kellerman turned against The Company and in a surprising twist shot agent Mahoney helping Michael and Lincoln escape. So, how has the second season of the manhunt drama done in the ratings so far?

Although the drama seems to have a loyal fan base of over 9 million viewers making it a rare FOX hit this troublesome fall for the network, the ratings are actually about 10% down from the last fall. Has the show become preposterous as some critics have suggested causing about a million people to abandon the drama this year, or has the competition become a lot tougher and it is much harder to do well?

The storytelling may have played a minor role in the decline, but the fact of the matter is that Prison Break's target audience has a lot more choice in the timeslot this year. NBC's Deal Or No Deal has helped the network reach new highs on Monday nights, last night's installment scoring 17,56 million viewers. And then there is Monday Night Football that moved to ESPN this year and starts half an hour earlier at 8:30pm.

But the truth is that "Prison Break" is very important to FOX at this time as it struggles through a truly rough fourth quarter. As we have reported earlier, the network's prime-time schedule has failed to generate a single new hit and some of the former shows are doing much worse. Therefore FOX has decided to pair the drama with their blockbuster thriller "24" from the very beginning of that show's sixth season.

And with American Idol returning on Tuesday and Wednesday nights and "House, M.D." and "The Simpsons" still going strong, FOX might finally get that ratings muscle they so desperately need.

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VIDEO: Sky One Interviews LOST Cast

Matthew Fox, Elizabeth Mitchell, Michael Emerson and others share their thoughts about the third season of LOST which airs on Sunday nights at 10pm on Sky One in the UK.

"Brothers and Sisters" To Cast William Walker's Love Child

Everwood alum Emily VanCamp is a strong contender for the role of Rebecca on ABC's Sunday night drama "Brothers and Sisters", but she is only one of the actresses auditioning for the part as the filming of episode #12 gets under way this week.

Rebecca, the secret child of the late patriarch William Walker and his lover Holly will first appear in an episode scheduled to air in January. After last night's unfortunate pre-emption, the drama will be back this Sunday with a rerun of the first episode produced by the current showrunner Greg Berlanti, episode #3 "Affairs of State".

The following week (December 10) ABC premieres an all-new Christmas episode of the series entitled "Light the Lights". According to the network's press release, Sarah, Tommy and Saul make a crucial misstep in their approach to retrieve funds to save the family's business, and Nora overcompensates for the family's loss for the holidays.

As for Kevin (Matthew Rhys) and his much discussed love life, he will meet a closeted soap-opera actor at an exercise boot camp, but that relationship will run its course after only three episodes. He will then meet someone special through his sister Kitty (Calista Flockhart) who goes on to work for the Republican senator played by Rob Lowe.

There has been speculation on the Internet that either the senator himself or the "Red, Hot and Blue" talk show host may be future object of Kevin's attention. But TV Guide dismissed these rumors last week by revealing the man in question will be someone who has not appeared on the show yet.

Elsewhere, Saul and Holly's relationship will take a surprising turn.

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Read more about BROTHERS AND SISTERS
Kevin's To Get a New Lover
Scotty May Return
Rob Lowe Joins 'Brothers and Sisters'

Dateline Replaces "Friday Night Lights"

NBC may have shown support for their struggling freshman drama "Friday Night Lights" by ordering a full season of 22 episodes, but the series will be looking for a new home come December 26 when "Dateline NBC" takes its place.

As previously reported, NBC is aware that their fragile football drama would get completely decimated by FOX's juggernaut American Idol. That is why there is no doubt "Friday Night Lights" will air in a new timeslot in 2007.

Despite rumors that the drama would end up on Sundays following the conclusion of the current NFL season (as a lead-in to the new cycle of The Apprentice: L.A.), the network is still considering other options.

In the meantime, Dateline NBC will take over the timeslot. At least three new episodes are scheduled to air as of tomorrow through December 12.

Tomorrow night, Tim Riggins (Taylor Kitsch) and Lyla (Minka Kelly) watch from the stands as Jason (Scott Porter) takes part in his first quad rugby game, one that will end with a vicious confrontation between him, the woman he loves, and his best friend in the world.

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Love Is All Around For "Ugly Betty" At Christmas

Styrofoam snow and holiday wishes fill the office at "Mode Magazine" as ABC's "Ugly Betty" questions her love for Walter and realizes the extent of her feelings for Henry, the cutest accountant on television. It all happens this Thursday on yet another holiday edition of ABC's brilliant comedy "Ugly Betty".

As Kristin at E! Online reported last week, Jake 2.o favorite Chris Gorham not only returned to the Ugly Betty set for the Christmas episode, but he is sticking around becoming a part of the "Ugly Betty family".

Does that mean our beloved Betty will be ditching the man who cheated on her only to come back squeaking for forgiveness? Although there will be a strong connection and a future for Betty and Henry, do not expect things to go too smoothly, as they after all never do in Bettyland.


Elsewhere, Daniel is sure of his love for Sofia (Salma Hayek), despite her doubt, and Marc frantically tries to win over Wilhelmina (Vanessa Williams) in fear of losing his life. Meanwhile Amanda vies for Bettys position as Daniels new assistant by planning and executing a perfect Mode holiday party.

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'Prison Break' Ends With a Shocker!

FOX has confirmed it is bringing "Prison Break" back from its winter hiatus two months earlier than last year. The drama goes out with a bang as the manhunt reaches a shocking climax on tonight's fall finale "The Killing Box".


As Mahone is about to execute Michael and Lincoln, border patrol arrives to the scene and salvages the brothers. Sylva Kelegian guest stars as a postal worker unfortunate enough to cross paths with a handless T-Bag, who is searching for Mrs. Hollander still seeking revenge. Bellick is denied bail and returns to Fox River, this time as an inmate. As the authorities lock on to the plane carrying Sucre to Mexico, Kellerman makes a decision that changes everything.



Following tonight's exciting conclusion to the drama's fall run, FOX will give "Prison Break" a seven-week hiatus pre-empting the series with holiday and sports programming and the second part of the four-hour season premiere of "24" on January 15. The following week, the network will air a one-hour clip-show reviewing the drama's complex conspiracy and manhunt storylines. New episodes will return January 29.

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Read more about "PRISON BREAK":
Prison Break Stars Enjoy Their Success
Prison Break Stars in Cannes
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"Desperate" Christmas Strikes Nielsen Gold

Shocking twists and turns filled the Christmas hour of "Desperate Housewives" on ABC last night as Lynette realized her neighbor was indeed a pedophile and Alma, the former wife of Orson Hodge we presumed dead, was revealed to be very much alive and plotting behind the scenes with her former mother-in-law, Gloria. The episode soared to the top of the Nielsen chart last night scoring 21,39 million viewers.

"Brothers and Sisters" was dearly missed at 10pm as "Boston Legal" took over its old timeslot for one night only scoring similar numbers to "Brothers and Sisters".

CBS successfully replaced procedurals with a made-for "Candles on Bay Street" which averaged almost 13 million viewers from 9 to 11pm.

Over on FOX, NFL Overrun helped the network get some of the best prime-time numbers in recent weeks (21,10 million).

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ABC Wednesday Falling Apart

As previously reported, ABC has announced that it is pulling the ratings-challenged Wednesday night drama "The Nine". But the rest of their line-up is not doing much better. Will the network return "Lost" earlier than previously announced?

Last May, ABC addressed the concerns of the loyal fan base of their hit-series "Lost", who were getting increasingly annoyed by the constant repeats sprinkled throughout the season, by announcing that the third season of the island mystery drama would be split into two parts. The first six installments would air as a mini-season in the fall 2006 and the remaining 16 episodes would air non-stop over 16 consecutive weeks beginning in February 2007.

Mixing all-new original episodes with repeats is nothing new in the US television industry. In fact it is the industry standard that has worked well for the networks for many decades. For economic reasons, the networks usually do not order more than 22-24 episodes of a series per season.

The season however begins after the summer holidays in September and ends the following year in May. That means there are 35 weeks in a season, that is at least 13 weeks will be pre-emptions or reruns (if, of course, the show is successful enough to air throughout the entire season).

This model works for most of the sitcoms and procedural dramas with self-contained episodes that are always resolved by the end of the hour. But highly serialized soap operas or mystery series and thrillers, such as "Lost" or "24" do not to well in repeats due to the nature of their storytelling. For this reason, the networks have started experimenting with non-stop seasons, usually by bringing the show later in the season and then burning if off within five months or so.

ABC may, however, have made a mistake of gigantic proportions by shelving one of their prime assets for 3 months. As many have predicted, the new Taye Diggs thriller "Day Break" with a somewhat confusing time-shifting premise did not strike a chord with masses.

In fact viewer erosion for the pilot episode (13 million to 8 million, all within one evening) as well as the embarrassing 5 million viewers who tuned into the second installment this week, means we will most probably be saying good bye to this series very, very soon.

But, with "The Nine" already gone from the 10 PM hour, "Day Break" on the way out and the new Williams Shatner game show pulling in this week less than 40% of what "Dancing with the Stars" used to average in the timeslot, ABC's advertising revenues are in serious trouble. "Lost" is scheduled to return on February 7.

Obviously, the drama will not be returning in December. ABC should give "Day Break" another chance and December is normally filled with reruns and special holiday programming anyway. But unless ABC is able to pump some life into the anemic 9pm series, the beloved mystery drama might be coming back to ABC as early as January.

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See also: ABC Pulls "The Nine"
Matthew Fox to Host SNL
Lost 2007 Spoilers
Others Housekeeps Linked To Desmond
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ABC Pulls "The Nine"

ABC has announced today, in the midst of a holiday weekend, that they are pulling their Wednesday night bank robbery drama "The Nine" effective immediately.

The network has aired only 7 installments of the series which premiered in October (following "Lost") scoring about 13 million viewers for the pilot episode. The drama went on to lose viewers each week it was on the air despite strong critical praise.

After it was reduced to about 8 million viewers, ABC pre-empted the show on November 15 airing the second hour of an extended premiere of the new Taye Diggs series "Day Break" in its place.

Without the strong lead-in of "Dancing with the Stars" and "Lost" the show plummeted even further to catastrophic 4,10 million viewers this week earning instant hiatus.

ABC which, similarly to other networks, is reluctant to use the word "cancellation", will most likely discontinue the production on the series.

Although they have promised to burn off the remaining 6 episodes at some point later in the season (Thursday's "Six Degrees" was given the same treatment) it is not clear when this will happen.

A special edition of "20/20" will take its place on Wednesday, November 29.

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Rachel Bilson And Hayden Christensen Get Arrested In "Jumper"

Television stars tied into multi-year contracts are not generally given flexibility to make films outside their scheduled breaks. Unless, of course, they are Rachel Bilson. The 25-year-old actress is shooting the female lead in Doug Liman's sci-fi adventure "Jumper" in Toronto, while filming the fourth season of "The O.C." in Los Angeles.

The fact that the two productions are willing to accommodate Bilson speaks volumes. Bilson is locked into "The O.C." on a seven-year contract, the norm for most American TV shows. On the other hand, Liman, known for Swingers (starring Vince Vaughn), The Bourne Identity (starring Matt Damon) and Mr and Mrs Smith (starring Angelina Jolie opposite Brad Pitt) is the director young actresses are more than happy to work with.

Liman is an old friend of Bilson's, having directed "The O.C.'s" pilot episode back in 2003, but it is unlikely that her turn as spoilt, cocky Summer was her ticket to the role. More likely, it was her assured performance as a student besotted with a guy she can't have (Zach Braff) in the new "dramedy" The Last Kiss.


Television stars often rush to cash in their new-found fame by taking roles during filming breaks, however,The Last Kiss is Bilson's first film. "I was definitely patient," she says. "It's so important to do the right kind of movie for your first one, especially coming from a teen drama. I felt that was really important in order to be taken seriously and maybe respected a little more in the film community."

As for "The O.C." the actress says: "Everything I have is because of this show and I'm so grateful for that. I'm just along for the ride."



Here are some recent images from the filming of "Jumper" in Toronto. In the scene, Bilson and her co-star Hayden Christensen get arrested by the police.

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