"Mad Men" Kicks off Season 3 This Summer

AMC confirmed yesterday that season 3 of its critically acclaimed period drama "Mad Men" about womanizing chain-smoking Madison Av. admen in the 1960s will return on schedule this summer, despite the ongoing and unresolved negotiations with series creator Matthew Weiner.


A true gem of television production, known for its meticulous attention to detail and historical authenticity as well as thought-provoking character depiction, "Mad Men" has won several awards, including two Golden Globes and six Emmys. The exact premiere date has yet to be determined.

Victoria Beckham Guest Judge on Tonight's "Project Runway" Finale

Victoria Beckham is the "secret guest judge" on tonight's season finale of Bravo's hot reality contest "Project Runway" (airs at 10/9c).

Posh Spice says she will be honest, but will avoid being mean, because the contestants have worked very hard.


Earlier this week, the fashionista was not so posh as she went for some low-key shopping at a Target store with her son Romeo.

The former Spice Girl has recently returned from Canada where her girl band's reunion tour came to an abrupt end following rumors of a bitter feud and flagging ticket sales.



The 33-year old mother of three boys continues to market her dVb fashion line, which is expected to bring her $30 million this year.

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Courtney Cox's "Dirt" Returns March 2

Former "Friends" star Courtney Cox returns as ruthless tabloid magazine editor-in-chief Lucy Spiller in the second season of FX's critically-panned series "Dirt" on Sunday March 2.



Only 7 of the 13 episodes ordered have been filmed due to the recently concluded writers' strike. The network has however opted not to film any additional episodes this season regardless of the strike developments.



ABC Studio produces the drama with Cox's own production company Coquette Productions, which the actress owns with her husband David Arquette who is listed as the executive producer of the show.



The 1st season ended with Lucy being attacked with a knife and bleeding to death. In concluding moments of the episode, she makes a phone call to ensure that pictures of her bleeding make it onto the front page of the next issue of her magazine.



Cox's former "Friends" co-star Jennifer Anniston made a special guest appearance earlier in the episode. The stint, which included a lesbian kiss between the two ladies, was part of an effort to create additional buzz about the wannabe-controversial series.



Despite the poor reviews the show averaged 5-6 million viewers and it also did well in a number of international markets. The 2nd season may however end without a proper conclusion, as the writers' strike shut down production after completion of episode 7.

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VIDEO: James Masters & John Barrowman Kiss on BBC's "Torchwood"

BBC America's brilliant John Barrowman-fronted series "Torchwood" begins its second "bigger, sexier and deadlier" season (or so the network promises) on Saturday, January 26 at 9 p.m. just days after the UK premiere. James Masters, who also returns to The CW's "Smallville" this winter, joins the drama and gets to make out with the star.

Masters plays a charismatic-but-psychopathic Captain John Hart. It all begins with a kiss when the two Time Agents, who obviously have history together, come face-to-face in a violent encounter. Check out the clip as well as the official stills from the second season. 5 episodes will air. Season 1 DVD will be released prior to the premiere.

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Kathy Griffin Is My God Now

SEPTEMBER 11, 2007: One of the most hateful people in the world I had the misfortune of intoxicating my airwaves, Bill Donohue of the Catholic League, launched an attack on the glorious comedian Kathy Griffin for her Emmy acceptance speech on Saturday night, causing the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences to edit the taped event for airplay this Saturday on the E! Network.

The cable network may of course have also been eager to comply with the call for censorship as they had fired Griffin from her red carpet hosting duties following a joke about child actress Dakota Fanning in 2005.


On Saturday as she accepted her award for Best Reality Program for her Bravo series "My Life on the D-List" Griffin said: "A lot of people come up here and thank Jesus for this award. I want you to know that no one had less to do with this award than Jesus. Can you believe this shit? Hell has frozen over. Suck it, Jesus, this award is my god now!"

Well, Kathy, you are my god now and congratulations on the long-deserved win!

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"High School Musical 2" Premieres in Disneyland

AUGUST 15, 2007: Could this guy get any more adorable? Well, I didn't think so either. That is until I saw these snaps taken at last night's premiere of the "High School Musical" sequel in Disneyland. The cutest actor in Hollywood, Zac Efron gets a little help on the red carpet from a couple of very special friends. The world broadcast premiere of the highly anticipated movie is this Friday at 8 on the Disney Channel.

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Steamy "Tudors" Bring The Sexy Back

APRIL 1, 2007: Enormously talented Jonathan Rhys Meyers stars as bare-chested and oversexed Henry VIII in the $38 million historical soap opera "The Tudors" premiering tonight on Showtime as the priciest show in the pay network's 30-year history.



When the production studio decided to turn an English dynasty into a TV soap opera, the plan was to take "The Tudors" to CBS.


When the Eye network passed on the project saying the would never do a historical drama and they were not planning on starting now, Showtime emerged as a much more appropriate platform.



But will the period drama set in the polite precincts of the British empire and replete with naked frolicking and dramatic violence eclipse "Rome"?



"The Tudors," debuts tonight at 10 p.m., and features Meyers as a hunky Henry VIII facing revolts, falling in love and fighting wars.



In the show, the king mourns the death of his uncle, declares war on France and jumps into bed with two squealing ladies - all in the opening 15 minutes.



And as the images suggest, there's plenty of sizzle in this lavish 10-part drama, a feast for one's eyes.

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"Monk" & "Pysch" to Air on NBC

They have begun. The networks have begun cherry-picking the best of what their cable siblings have to offer and putting it on scripted content-starved primetime. After adding "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" to the line-up, NBC has now decided to "repurpose" cable's "Monk" and "Psych" from USA Network to Sunday nights, beginning in March.

NBC is the first to follow up on the recent rumors that cable shows may end up on broadcast networks' prime-time schedules to fill the slots vacated by the scripted dramas which were forced into shutting down production due to the writers' strike. CBS prexy Les Moonves said Showtime hits like "Dexter" or "Weeds" may air on CBS.

"Monk" and "Psych," which air back-to-back on USA on Friday nights (9-11 p.m.), regularly lure over 2 million adults 18-49. Some scenes of these shows are however expected to end up on the cutting room floor before airing on NBC, as the Peacock must conform to much stricter standards.

The exact premiere date in March has yet to be confirmed.

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AMC's "Mad Men" Renewed for Season 2

AMC's critically-acclaimed period drama "Mad Men" set in the Madison Avenue advertising world in 1960 has been renewed by the cable network for a second season. "Mad Men" is AMC's debut effort in the scripted drama category.



The quality soap opera which was praised for successfully recreating pre-Kennedy America will be back next year in June for another 13 episodes. The drama's first season finale is expected to air Thursday, October 18, 10:00-11:00 p.m.


Although the ratings have been somewhat modest averaging about 1.1 million viewers, the drama has gone up 31% in the course of the season. 9 episodes have aired thus far. AMC will air a repeat tonight; new episodes resume next Thursday.

Variety reports that the production of the show will remain in Los Angeles and not move to Gotham as previously suspected.

Set and costume designers have overcome challenges to recreate an accurate vision of the early 1960s New York paying attention to such details as unfiltered cigarettes, period correct watches, license plates, pens, etc.

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HBO, Tom Hanks to Develop Kennedy Mini

HBO Films and production studio Playtone run by Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman and "Big Love" star Bill Paxton will develop a 10-episode mini-series based on Vincent Bugliosi's "Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy."

As Hollywood trade press reports, the studio which produced "Band of Brothers," the upcoming "The Pacific" and HBO's polygamist series "Big Love" believes Bugliosi's riveting book will make a very powerful transition to the screen.

New York Times best-seller "Reclaiming History" disclaims many conspiracy theories and suggests that Lee Harvey Oswald was the sole party behind the 1963 Kennedy assassination.

Martin Sheen starred in a high-profile 1983 Golden Globe-winning mini-series titled "Kennedy." Both he and Blair Brown who played Jacqueline Kennedy won a Golden Globe for their performance.

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WGA Strike: US Nets May Air Foreign Shows

Fearful of WGA strike, executives at ABC and NBC have begun discussions with foreign producers about airing finished episodes of their existing series, something they have never done before.

US shows regularly air on major networks across the globe, but US broadcast networks never air foreign-produced shows, mainly out of fear US viewers wouldn't tune into shows with non-American accents.

If WGA strike does occur (it may happen as early as Nov.1), as Variety reports, US nets could get desperate and forget about those concerns.

Nothing has been purchased yet, but both ABC and NBC are seriously looking into that option.

Recent months have shown viewers would not tolerate an unlimited amount of reality programming, so should networks lose their original production, they will be forced to come up with an alternative.

Nets will of course also look to their cable sister channels - after all ABC Family's "Kyle XY" and Sci-Fi Channel's "Battlestar Galactica" have already been successfully sampled on ABC and NBC, respectively.

Of course, if shows like "Weeds" (Showtime), "The Closer" (TNT) and "Damages" (FX) do end up on broadcast networks, the viewers will be seeing a toned-down version of these envelope-pushing dramas.

Still, the question remains - British hits such as "Footballers' Wives" (season 1 cast pictured above) have worked well for cable nets such as BBC America. But could they do the same on free-to-air broadcast networks?

Come fall, nets may have no alternative but to find out.

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"Kyle XY" Spoilers #2.13: "Leap of Faith" (Season Finale)

ABC Family may have ordered as many as 23 episodes of "Kyle XY" this year, but only 13 will air this summer. The season finale is scheduled for Monday, September 3 and the remaining 10 episodes will air this winter.


Meanwhile, on the season finale titled "Leap of Faith," Kyle and Jessi may finally find out the truth behind their connection (possibly much stronger than they had thought), as well as their creation.



Kyle gambles with his safety and the Tragers', but will his hunch about Jessi turn out to be true, or will she - now that she knows the whole truth about where she came from and what her mission was - disappoint him?



Meanwhile, the Tragers come together to try and figure out the secrets that Kyle has been hiding.


Writer/producer Julie Plec says: "As everybody starts to put the pieces together of the things that just don't make sense when it comes to this boy, it comes to a point where Kyle realizes that, although he's been trying to protect his family all along by keeping them in the dark, eventually in order to be a true family, you need to be honest about who you really are. And that is where we're heading by the end of the season and at the beginning of the next."

In other words, one should come out to their family. Right?

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Disney's "High School Musical 2" Cash Cow

Disney may not have initially anticipated what kind of a global phenomenon their original production "High School Musical" would turn into, but now that the sequel has premiered, the Mickey Mouse marketing engine is ready to turn this gem into even more dough.

As Hollywood press reports, the original movie was only one of the ten original movies slated to premiere on the Disney Channel in 2006 as a modern day "Grease" with a modest budget of $4,2 million.

After the film became a major hit seen by over 200 million people in over 100 countries around the world and its soundtrack turned into the best selling album of 2006, Disney knew the marketing for the big-budgeted sequel set in a ritzy country club would have to be very different.



A North American stage show adapted from the franchise opened on August 1, and an ice-skating show launches next month. But that's only the beginning, as over 100 products including video games, ring tones and backpacks will hit stores in 2007.

The New York Times said the movie was mediocre and the actors badly fake-tanned, and went on to say the movie had "haphazard charm." Oh, snap. But does anyone really give a damn? The sequel had been a guaranteed smash even before the premiere last night.

A third movie set in a haunted house should debut in 2008, possibly in movie theaters, where - as it appears - a franchise of the "High School Musical" caliber truly belongs.

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