Stop the Presses! Courtney Love NOT Coming to American Idol

The rumors have been running rampant lately (ahem, US Magazine), that the producers from American Idol called bad-girl rocker Courtney Love to have her replace judge Paula Abdul. Not true says executive producer Nigel Lythgoe.

"I did not call Courtney Love, and am afraid someone may have misrepresented me. Courtney Love is a very talented artist, but the judges for American Idol are Paula, Randy and Simon. We have no plans to add to or replace any of them."

So there.

Photo from Fox.

Can't Get Enough of American Idol?

That's what the producers of Fox's popular show are hoping. They are undergoing a marketing blitz that just may rival the one Bill Gates is doing for Windows Vista. The famous blue-and-white American Idol logo will soon be displayed on games, toys, music software and even Dreyer's Slow Churned Ice Cream.

"People tend to watch Idol with their family and friends, and ice cream is something you eat along with it," says Keith Hindle, licensing chief for FremantleMedia. "Pizza didn't seem right for it."

AI will also get its very own game of Monopoly, and Nestle will be sponsoring a contest that will be sending the winners to Hollywood for the show's grand finale in May.

Photo from Fox.

Anderson Cooper to Stay with CNN

CNN anchor Anderson Cooper has just inked a new contract with the network, netting him the tidy sum of $14 million a year. This new deal more than doubles his salary and will allow him the flexibility to continue to contribute to 60 Minutes on CBS as well.

Photo from CNN.

Britney is Back to PWT

I guess it really was too good to be true. If this outfit isn't confirmation that Britney's comeback is at a standstill (or maybe going in reverse), I don't know what is. Well, we had to dream, right?

Photo from Us Weekly.

Will this get him kicked out of Hogwarts?

Daniel Radcliffe, who plays Harry Potter, of course, is currently starring in Equus, a play being show in London. The 17-year-old actor goes nude during the production, so there have to be some racy pictures, right? Here you go:





Photos from People.

Kevin Nealon is a Daddy

ET reports that Kevin Nealon and his wife, actress Susan Yeagley, became new parents on Monday. They now have a baby boy named Gable Ness Nealon, who was born in Santa Monica.

Nealon now stars on Showtime's "Weeds" and his wife, who he married in 2005, has appeared on "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and "World's Funniest Commercials."

Donny Osmond is Back!

Donny Osmand is jumping into reality tv by hosting a new show called The Great American Dream Vote. According to TV Guide, the show is "a new unscripted series in which eight people vie to have their grandest wish fulfilled, by courting favor with a ballot-casting studio audience."

Osmond's own site provides a few more details:

The show, from Warner Horizon Television and Mike Fleiss' studio-based Next Entertainment, features eight contestants who reveal a lifelong dream to the studio audience, explaining why they think it deserves to be fulfilled. Contestants will square off, and the studio audience will cast votes, eliminating entrants over several rounds.

By the end of each show, two finalists will remain. Then viewers at home will have the opportunity to vote on which of the two most deserves to have his or her dream realized, with the results being disclosed at the opening of the following week's episode.

The show is still waiting for its premiere date.....

Jennylee and Nate Get it On

TV Guide got some good dish on what's going on between Beauty and the Geek's Jennylee and Nate. TV Guide says that their kiss on Wednesday's episode won't be their last. They say they've fallen in "extreme, intense like" (as opposed to love or lust).

Nate says tht Jennylee liked him before his makeover: "A lot of the girls just saw our glasses and our hair. And tried to change us," says Dern. "But Jennylee really listened. She accepted my style and me."

We also learn that this is the third lovematch for the show:

The first season's odd couple Erika Ramsey and Brad Hooker dated for a few months before breaking up. And three months after Season 2 wrapped, "geek" Wes Wilson moved to L.A. to live with his "beauty" Cher Tenbush.

Don't start planning your trip to Nate and Jennylee's wedding though. She lives in LA and Vegas, while Nate lives in Boston, where he will graduate from Harvard in June. Here's what they said about their future: "We recognize that, for the time being, we can't really be together in separate places." But, adds Berns, "We talk on the phone a lot. I still get giddy when I talk to him."

If you think you have what it takes to be on Beauty and the Geek, now's your chance! The show is currently casting for Season 4.

Mario Lopez Gets a New Gig

Mario Lopez is joining the team on Extra as co-host of the weekend edition and daily show correspondent. The show's Senior Executive Producer Lisa Gregorisch-Dempsey said: "I've had my eye on him for years, and I am thrilled to officially welcome him to the 'Extra' family." Do you think she meant it to sound dirty?

Mario will also star in an original movie by ABC Family (meaning it's not a real movie) called Holidays in Handcuffs and he also signed a deal with the CW and hosted the 2007 Miss America Pageant. He guest starred on Nip/Tuck and will do the same on George Lopez's show. Busy boy!

Photo from Extra.

Fashion Police: SAG Awards 2007 (Part 3)

Was trolling the TV Guide site and found some more noteworthy fashion pictures from this week's Screen Actors Guild Awards. Here we go.

Chad Michael Murray from One Tree Hill. First, when posing for formal, red carpet pictures, his second jacket button should be buttoned. Period. Second, I'm still mad that he asked that girl in the picture, Kenzie, to marry him before the divorce from his first marriage (lasting a whopping 5 months!) was even finalized. She's 18 for pete's sake, you could have waited a little bit.

Debi Mazar from The Entourage, beautiful, classic, timeless.

I'm sure you recognize Doug Savant from his role on Desperate Housewives, but do you recognize his wife? That's Laura Leighton, who Melrose Place fans will remember as Sydney - that's where they met. She looks fantastic, even forgetting the fact that she only gave birth a few months ago.

I can't stand Melissa Rivers, and her mother, even less. But, for once, she gets the red carpet dress right. Good for her.

Merv Griffin to Debut New Show

Merv Griffin has a new show in the works, Let's Play Crosswords. You may remember that Merv is the popular creator of Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune. This new show is set to debut in the Fall, though they are still searching for a host. Merv is an admitted crossword puzzle addict, and has been working on bringing some sort of crossword puzzle show to television for the last 20 years.

Photo from Merv.com

The Sopranos - Get It While You Can

The popular HBO series, the Sopranos, is set to return on April 8th for it's final season. There will be a total of eight episodes, and then the series is done, so if you're a fan of Tony and Carmela Soprano and all their co-horts and misdeeds, this is your last chance to watch them in all their glory.

Photo from HBO.

Jerry Springer's Security Gets Spin-Off

Say THAT three times fast! If you're a fan of Jerry Springer, you probably know who Steve Wilkos is. He is a former Marine and Chicago cop, who have been the security guard on Jerry Springer's show for the past 14 years. This Fall, he's off for his own digs, as he's getting his very own talk show, which will be taped in the same Chicago studio as Jerry's show is. He's so quiet and low-key, I can't see him being a talk show host, but then again, Megan Mullally is the opposite, and look what happened to her!


Photo from Wikipedia; yup, believe it or not, Steve has his very own entry there.

It's Official: CSI: NY Actress Welcomes Baby Girl

Now it all makes sense. I was watching CSI: NY the other day, and Anna Belknap's character Lindsay was saying goodbye to everyone, because she had to go to Montana for a little while to be a witness in a murder trial. I was wondering why they were sending her away, just as her romance with Danny was going somewhere. Now it all makes sense. In real life, Anna just gave birth to a baby girl. She and her actor husband Eric Siegel welcomed their first child on January 14th. No name has been released yet.

Photo from IMDB.

Angelina Jolie Loses her Mother

People reports that Angelina Jolie's mother, Marcheline Bertrand, died on Saturday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Bertrand was 56 and fought cancer for over seven years. When she died, she was surrounded by Angelina and Brad Pitt and her son James Haven.

Photo from People.

AKA Career Suicide

Sigh. Another chapter in the story called: The End of Katie Holmes' Career Began with Tom Cruise. Us Weekly reports that Katie Holmes has turned down a reprisal of her role in the sequel to Batman Begins, The Dark Knight. The Wall Street Journal says the studio is looking for someone and they plan on paying $1 million to $2 million range to the lucky actress who will benefit from Katie Holmes losing her mind.

Holmes' spokesperson said: "Katie was offered [Dark Knight] but was unable to accept the role because of scheduling conflicts. She was in the process of negotiating for another project. In addition, when she returns to work, she would like to tackle a new character." Right. That and Tom won't let her out of the house.

Brandy Might Be Charged in Connection with Car Accident

As we reported last week, Brandy was recently involved in a fatal car accident and an apparent cover up of the accident, since the press didn't report it for weeks. Now AP reports that today the California Highway Patrol recommended that Brandy "be charged with misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter in a freeway crash that killed a woman motorist last month, a city attorney's spokesman said."

We'll keep an eye out and see if the City Attorney decides to press charges.

Photo from Breitbart.

Niki Taylor Sues E!

I guess no amount of positive wedding coverage was enough for Niki Taylor, who filed a slander lawsuit against E! on Friday, according to Fox News. The lawsuit is based on a new series called "Blvd. of Broken Dreams," which I probably never would have heard of unless she filed this lawsuit. The irony.

The show is based on allegations that E! reps claimed the show would focus on Taylor's current life, but that it will instead detail her previous hardships. The show characterizes her as someone "who risked everything ... and lost." Ouch. E! showed the episode despite requests from Taylor's lawyers to yank it.

And because it's always fun to hear the lawyers get all high and mighty, here's an excerpt from the complaint:

"They neglected their journalistic obligations to report truthfully and accurately; they violated express promises they made to the plaintiff, supermodel Niki Taylor; and they demonstrated a reprehensible disregard for the substantial harm their actions would cause to Ms. Taylor," the complaint said.

Photo from Fox News.

TR Knight Will Stay on Grey's Anatomy

MSNBC is reporting that TR Knight (George) may be leaving Grey's Anatomy. However, E! Online's Kristin Veitch begs to differ. Kristin says: "T.R. Knight is not leaving Grey's Anatomy. I repeat, T.R. Knight is not leaving Grey's Anatomy."

Word on the street was that T.R. was so mad about about the network handled all the drama with Isaiah Washington that he decided to call it quits. Such is not the case. Veitch spoke with reliable sources including T.R.'s publicist and they all report that T.R. is staying.

Rewind: The Apprentice 6

So last week, no one got sent home because Michelle quit in a surprising move. Last night's episode starts with Donald Trump calling both teams to tell them the news, and to let them know that someone from Kinetic is going to have to join Arrow to even things out a bit. Although no one was eager to leave Kinetic (and the cushy house), three members volunteered, and it was up to Arrow to choose. They went with Surya.

The next morning, the teams meet with Donald to learn their new task. Last season's winner, Sean, is also there, as well as Steve Carley, who is President and CEO of the El Pollo Loco restaurant chain, and Karen Eadon, the chain's Chief Marketing Officer. For this task, the teams have to create, promote, and sell a new version of their signature item, the Original El Pollo Loco Bowl. The team that sells the most wins. Sounds simple enough, right?

Aaron is the Project Manager for Arrow, and Heidi still is the PM for Kinetic. Arrow decides to go with a Chicken Tortilla Bowl and Kinetic adds mango and pineapple on top of the original bowl, dubbing it the "Paradise Pollo Bowl." Say it with me ... yuck.

On Team Kinetic, Marisa makes many largely ignored suggestions, the most memorable one was to have someone dress up in a chicken costume. One Team Arrow, business is bustling, and two team members go after bulk sales, getting an order for 22 bowls from a local car dealership.

When the final numbers for the day come in, Arrow wins by selling over 400 dollars worth of bowls compared to their rival's $313.54, and they finally get to move into the house. Good for them. The prize was a private concert from Andrea Bocelli on the beach, followed by fireworks.

Back in the boardroom, the usual arguing ensues about who was at fault, with most of the blame going to marketing, or lack thereof. Everyone picked Marisa as the one who should go home, and Heidi brings her back, along with Aimee. Trump fired Marisa, basically saying that he couldn't ignore the fact that the whole team thought she was the worst.

Photo from NBC.

Paula Strikes Again

People's special American Idol section features an interesting Paula Abdul story today. Paula was named Woman of the Year by the Nevada Ballet Theatre. Don't worry, that's not the interesting part.

The intertesting part is that Paula tried to poke fun at her crazy Seattle tv interview:"Don't ever give a swivel stool to someone who's very hyper and active because I will spin and spin and spin." She also had some zingers for her fellow American Idol cast:

"I couldn't do it without the three men in my life," she said of fellow Idol stars Randy Jackson, Simon Cowell and Ryan Seacrest, who flanked her. "Every time Randy Jackson opens up his mouth, I look like a Nobel Prize winner. Every time Simon Cowell opens his mouth, Borat sounds like a Nobel Prize winner..... Ryan, I really do love him; almost as much as he loves himself ?..These three brothers are the best thing a girl can hope for, just ask my therapists."

Photo from People.

The Bachelorette Pens a Book

Well, it stands to reason. If through one season of The Bachelor and then your very own season of The Bachelorette, you come out empty handed, you might as well write a book about it, right? Jen Schefft, from ABC's The Bachelorette, has written her first book, Better Single than Sorry. Here's a few excerpts. Want more? Use the link above and buy the book.

On Andrew Firestone: "When he asked me to marry him, my initial gut reaction wasn't Woo-hoo! It was, Whoa. It was panic. I really, truly cared about Andrew and will always be sorry it didn't work out." His take on her new book, "That's a pretty pessimistic attitude to relationships. They're hard work but worth it in the end!" Guess there's no love lost between the two. He has been dating model Ivana Bozilovic for 2 years now, and is opening up a new Firestone winery in Paso Robles, California.

On Jerry Ferris: "I thought he was so good looking, but that's as far as it went." Jerry says, "We haven't really spoken since the whole thing went down."

Can't Get Enough of 24?

If you're like most fans and can't get enough of the hit Fox television show, 24, you'll soon have another way to get a fix. Action figures of Jack Bauer (played by Kiefer Sutherland) will hit stores in August, brought to you by McFarlane Toys.

Photo from Fox.

James Denton Shoots Hoops?

James Denton, actor on the popular ABC drama, Desperate Housewives, will be playing in the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game, which will be airing on February 16th on ESPN. Apparently, he has played before, for his high school team back in Tennessee. He'll be joined on the courts by actors David Arquette and Taye Diggs, among others.

Photo from ABC.

America's Next Top Model 3 Lands Guest Spot

Eva Marcille (nee Pigford), who won the third season of America's Next Top Model, has landed a guest spot as herself on an upcoming episode of CW's The Game. Eva the Diva will be playing the ex-girlfriend of Saber quarterback Malik Wright (who is played by Hosea Chanchez). Eva's episode will air on February 19th.

Photo from Google.

Tim Gunn to Try Out His Acting Chops

Tim Gunn, he of Project Runway fame, will be trying out his acting chops in two upcoming episodes of ABC's hit television show, Ugly Betty. Although not too much of a stretch, Gunn will be playing a Fashion TV reporter covering a scandal that breaks during Mode's runway show.

Joking about when he spied Betty's wardrobe, "My jaw almost dislocated itself. You know what's so funny? She wears a lot of designer clothes. I guess you find wretched stuff with any price tag."

Gunn's episodes will air on February 1 and February 8.

Photo from Bravo TV.

Lance Bass: This Time It's for Reals

The road to true love is never a smooth one. 'N Sync boy band member Lance Bass broke up with his boyfriend, Reichen Lehmkuhl (from Amazing Race fame), back in December, but they had briefly reconciled. Well, it's turns out "brief" was the operative word here, and Lance has confirmed that the couple has split once again.

"We broke up last week," Bass told People Magazine, "but we're really good friends. Nothing bad at all – nothing bad at all to say."

Photo from People.

Ugly Betty Actress Ashley Jensen Elopes

Ugly Betty actress Ashley Jensen eloped last week, marrying her boyfriend, actor and writer Terence Beesley. Taking place in Big Sur, California, Ashley told People magazine, "It was in a forest. It was about our marriage. We didn't want to be worried about napkins, you know? It was about us." The 37-year-old has been with her boyfriend for over seven years, and the couple's dog, Barney, served as ring bearer.

"I fortunately had an episode off," she said. "I didn't have to go to work, (and) I thought ... let's seize the moment."

Photo from People.

Fashion Police: SAG Awards 2007

Ahh, the SAG Awards. They hold the dubious distinction of being the one that people hear and say: "the what awards?" All the stars get together and tell each other how great they are. Woo freaking hoo. At least there's some fashion to look at:

Ugly Betty's America Ferrara goes for the safe route.

If Anne Hathaway keeps looking this sophisticated, she'll be A-list in no time:

Why on earth did Ellen Pompeo wear this? This looks like it hurts.

I'm liking Eva Longoria's look. Put together but not trying too hard.

With her hooker shoes and minidress, Heather Graham looks like she's going to a naughty Homecoming Dance (she's not dressed up enough for prom).
Helen Hunt looks good, but this dress reminds me of every dress she wears to these things.
Am I the only one that's surprised that Will Smith isn't wearing a tie to match Jada's dress?

A very pregnant Jamie Pressley, showing off her baby boobs.

Jennifer Hudson's stylist needs a bonus. She looks so good at every one of these awards shows.

Katherine Heigl has the old Hollywood Glamour look down pat.

Rachel McAdams' Winter Legs are not ready for the world. And why did she wear a sparkly garbage bag?

Terri Hatcher looks good, but just like Helen Hunt, this looks like every dress she wears to these things.

Photos from Egotastic

Isaiah Washington Gets Shout-Out at the Sag Awards

When Chandra Wilson accepted the award for Best Female Actor in a Drama Series, she made sure to thanks her castmates, saying, "It's about those 10 cast members sitting over there and the other one in rehab. Y'all just hold me together."

And this outfit was worlds better than that dreaded pantsuit from the Golden Globes.

Photo from People.

Fashion Police: SAG Awards

Madison will be bringing you more Fashion Police coverage when the West Coast wakes up, but I'm going to get us started. From what I saw, there seemed to be very few fashion flops on last night's red carpet. A lot of black, a lot of color risks, a lot more conservative choices than usual, and many, many beautiful people. Let's get it started.

Demi Moore with husband Ashton Kutcher and House star, Hugh Laurie. Could she look any more gorgeous or ageless? Beautiful color and flow of the dress.

This picture of Cate Blanchett does not do her dress justice. I'll be searching for another one, but in the meantime, the gold shimmer of this one was gorgeous, without being tacky.

Kyra Sedgwick from The Closer keeps it simple, understated and elegant.

Vanessa Williams chooses a bright color that works really well for her. And the hair? SO much better than the Golden Globes tease she was trying to rock.

Kate Walsh and Patrick Dempsey. Interesting color choice for a red head, but I think it works for her.

Reese Witherspoon plays it safe, but manages to look as classy as ever.

Sandra Oh has a habit of nailing it, or being really far off the mark. This time? She got it. Beautiful, elegant with just the right touch of sparkle.

There is a full-length shot of Eva Longoria, but this tender picture of her and Tony Parker was too good to pass up.

Photos from People.