FOX's "24": Season 7 Production Problems

Production on the upcoming season 7 of FOX's clock-ticking action drama "24" starring Kiefer Sutherland will be shut down as of next week giving the writers 3 weeks to come up with better scripts.

The show has been plagued with problems ever since its concluded its Emmy-winning 5th season in 2006.

The follow-up season "Day 6" was a ratings and critical failure despite a very promising opening featuring such over-the-top storylines as a nuclear explosion in Los Angeles.



For this reason, "24" producers decided to refresh the series by taking Jack Bauer out of L.A. and putting him into an exotic location.

FOX executives however nixed the original choice because of an over-inflated budget required for shooting the series in Africa and ordered that the scripts be re-written and the new season set in Washington, DC instead.

This caused a costly delay in production schedule last summer. When the new season of "24" finally began filming, the writers' strike brought it to another halt after only 8 episodes had been completed.



At this point FOX decided not to air a new season of "24" in 2008, as they were no longer able to complete all 24 episodes in time for the January-May schedule, thus postponing the new season till January 2009.

After re-starting production earlier this year and filming a 2-hour prequel movie (scheduled to air on Sunday, November 23) and 10 additional episodes (for a total of 18), lights will go off again come September 15.

FOX is hoping the 3-week hiatus will help improve the quality of the final 6 scripts. When the prequel movie premieres in November, the show will have been off air for 18 months. Will the viewers be back?

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PTC Shocked by "90210" Oral Sex on the CW

Uh-oh. There they go again. Foaming at their mouth. Calling for advertisers' boycott. Trying to find their remote controls which went missing back in the 70s. The Parents Television Council are disgusted by a 10-second alleged fellatio scene in the new "90210" spin-off.

Several minutes into the broadcast of last week's pilot, the boy played by Dustin Milligan appeared to be enjoying a morning session of oral sex with a girlfriend in his truck on the parking lot of West Beverly High before the classes began.

PTV statement reads: "They shocked viewers during the family hour by depicting high school children engaged in oral sex in their car. It's such a sucker punch to viewers and a lot of families. No one tuned in to 90210 thinking, 'Hey, maybe I will get to see (oral sex).'"

PTC are of course still upset that The CW showed them the middle finger earlier this summer when they used their critique of "Gossip Girl" which called the series "mind-blowingly inappropriate" to actually promote the show as part of a brilliant marketing campaign.

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Will "Prison Break" End After Season 4?

Wentworth Miller once said he thought FOX's "Prison Break" could run for many years, just like hit procedurals such as "C.S.I.". After Monday's dismal numbers for season 4 premiere, the writers might want to think how to bring the over-the-top drama to a satisfying conclusion this year.


The 2-hour episode reunited Miller's character Michael Scofield with the love of his life, Dr. Sara Tancredi, whom the writers brutally killed off last year, after contract renegotiations with actress Sarah Wayne Callies failed. Dismayed by Sara's decapitation and "Prison Break's" increasingly contrived storylines some fans abandoned the series.


The audience erosion appears to have continued this year. After averaging 9.5 million viewers in season 1 in 2005, the drama has been losing about a million viewers each season. For the time being, it seems this year will be no exception, as "Prison Break" is now down to about 6.5 million viewers.



For this reason, the time may have come to finally bring down "The Company" and let brothers Scofield/Burrows catch their breath and put their battle against the invisible and lethal syndicate to rest. Providing there is another regular high-profile job waiting for the hunky Miller, of course.

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VIDEO: Swingtown's Grant Show (Interview)

Ex-Melrose Place hunk Grant Show whose horny pilot Thomas Dekker of porn-moustached species gets to do a bit of wife-swapping every Thursday night at 10pm (and not many CBS characters can say that!) recently sat down with TV Guide to talk about his adult summer drama "Swingtown". Plus my take on recent episodes.



The ratings for "Swingtown" keep on going south (the most recent episode lured only a little over 5.5 million viewers, down 3 million from the June 5 premiere), so I think it is safe to say that season 2 can now be ruled out. That is a shame because the show has actually become deeper and more compelling. Not to mention more entertaining.


Those who were shocked by the show's bold premise never watched. Those who expected Showtime-type shenanigans may have been disappointed. But the most recent episode (also the first post-strike episode, written and produced after that whole WGA chaos) may have been its best yet.


The characters have been given plenty of depth, especially the brilliant Miriam Shor's conservative housewife Janet Thompson, who came out of her rigid shell bonding with people we'd never thought she'd be able to relate to, while not compromising her own set of values. Also, is there another show where adults are rollicking fun and kids are a snoozefest? Oh... "Desperate Housewives"... Never mind...



Despite the drop in the ratings, "Swingtown" continues to deliver some of the best 18-49 demo ratings on a repeat-filled CBS summer schedule, so I do hope we at least get to enjoy this fun show in its entire albeit limited 13-episode run.

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Has Sienna Miller Broken "Brothers & Sisters" Star's Marriage?

Fashion designer Rosetta Millington has fled her posh Nichols Canyon home taking her 4 children to Italy, after learning her husband, "Brothers & Sisters" star and oil multi-millionaire Balthazar Getty, was unfaithful to her with actress Sienna Miller, British tabloids reported on Sunday.


Getty may have gotten inspired by his on-screen character Tommy Walker on the ABC drama who last season cheated on his depressed wife Julia. Unlike the show, where Tommy's indiscretion was forgiven because of Julia's own illicit affair, Getty appears to be in a more complicated predicament.


Brit Sienna Miller, who also dated Getty's "Brothers & Sisters" co-star Matthew Rhys ("Kevin Walker") while shooting a movie with him in Britain in 2007, is said to have gone to great pains to arrange secret meetings with Getty in Europe and last week in a Hollywood home.



Matthew Rhys introduced Miller to Getty at the Chateau Marmont hotel in 2007. The couple however began meeting only recently, after Miller ditched fellow British actor and Notting Hill star Rhys Ifans whom she dated after breaking up with Matthew Rhys. After Getty's wife Rosetta learned of the coupling, she hopped on the first plane to Italy taking their 4 children with her.



Former "Alias" star Getty is the great-grandson of J.Paul Getty, the late industrialist and founder of the Getty Oil Co. who had a somewhat troubling coming of age.

His father John Paul was kidnapped as a 16-year old boy. During the ordeal, his ear was severed and sent to his family that initially refused to pay ransom.

After he fathered Balthazar at the age of 18, John Paul succumbed to heavy drug use, that resulted in stroke in 1981, leaving him paralyzed and almost blind at 25.

Balthazar himself became a heroin addict in the 1990s, before going to rehab and starting a new life with Milligton.

Former model and children's fashion designer Rosetta Milligton, who recently launched a niche fashion label for women, gave birth to her and Balthazar's fourth child last year. The couple have been married since 2000.

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The Chace Crawford VideoMix

I obviously have too much time on my hands. But then again, I do have to find ways to get my Chace fix, while "Gossip Girl" is on hiatus. So here's a little video compilation of Upper East Side's hottest hunk's best moments in season 1 of The CW's addictive guilty pleasure. Chace fans, go nuts!

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Hayden Panettiere & Milo Ventimiglia Canoodling on "Heroes" Set

The filming of season 3 of NBC's sci-fi drama "Heroes" has recently begun in Los Angeles, CA, reuniting its stars and real-life lovers Hayden Panettiere, 18, and Milo Ventimiglia, 30, who appeared to be sharing a tender moment on Friday.


Ventimiglia, who plays Panettiere's uncle on the show, never gets to enjoy locking lips with his teenage girlfriend on-screen.



According to a recent interview in the British Glamour Magazine, the petite actress experimented with her girlfriends while growing up, perfecting her kissing techniques. No wonder her boyfriend is an eager little beaver.

Season 3 of "Heroes" kicks off with a 3-hour premiere on Monday, September 22 at 8/7c on NBC.

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"Grey's Anatomy" Stars @ Butterfly Ball

Grey's Anatomy star Eric Dane, his wife Rebecca Gayheart ("Ugly Betty"), co-stars T.R. Knight (with boyfriend Mark Cornelsen), Katherine Heigl (with husband Josh Kelley), "Private Practice" star Kate Walsh, "Sex and the City" stud Jason Lewis and "Brothers & Sisters" hunk Eric Winter (with girlfriend Rosalyn Sanchez) were some of the celebrities who took part in Saturday's Butterfly Ball in L.A.

The ball is organized every year by Chrysalis, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit organization, which helps the homeless and others find work. The event reportedly raised over $1 million on Saturday.

Newlyweds Charlie Sheen and Brooke Mueller who met at the Butterfly Ball in 2006 also made an appearance having tied the knot in a small ceremony on Friday.

Out actor T.R. Knight walked the red carpet hand in hand with his young boyfriend Mark Cornelsen. Apparently some losers take the issue with the cute couple's age gap, for which reason I applaud T.R. for showing off his love with pride.

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90210's Jason Priestley Meets Gossip Girl's Chace Crawford

Teen soap universes collided when former 90210 hunk Jason Priestley posed for photographers with Gossip Girl's cutie Chace Crawford at Nintendo’s daytime block party at the Nintendo World store in NYC’s Rockefeller Center on Saturday.




The 38-year old actor who was chosen by People Magazine as one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world in 1991 (time sure takes its toll), most recently appeared in the summer 2007 Lifetime series "Side Order of Life."

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