The Downsizing of Mandy Moore
Once a movie actress, she's now doing TV. Also today: Americans can't make anything original, French Stewart has been located, and How to Be a Gentleman has been put out to stud.
The Plague of Michelle Trachtenberg Is Finally Upon Us
We've been dreading it for a long time. And now she might get her own TV show. Repent! Also today: Some news about Conan's new show, some news about other TBS shows, some news about Kelly Ripa, and you're Dushku'd.
Ellen Page Is Obsessed With Nikki Finke
Oh, no, sorry not Nikki Finke. "Tilda," the Hollywood blogger character on HBO's new show. Also today: the Logan's Run remake passes its Carousel, Jesse Eisenberg lands another role, and a new teen comedy could be good or awful.
A&E Buys Lifetime; Another Luxury Magazine Launch
• A&E has agreed to acquire Lifetime, which means it's not entirely out of the realm of synergistic possibility that Duane Chapman of Dog the Bounty Hunter will make a cameo on Project Runway sometime next season. Yay. [THR, NYT]
• The Daily News has dropped its restaurant critic, Danyelle Freeman, and doesn't appear…
Happy Birthday
Josh Schwartz, the man responsible for bringing you The OC and Gossip Girl, turns 33 today. Jim McGreevey, the man responsible for bringing New Jersey its most embarrassing political scandal—up until two weeks ago, that is—turns 52. Director M. Night Shyamalan is turning 39. Karenna Gore Schiff, the novelist daughter…
Gossip Girl: The 80's Were Just Like Today, Only Much Worse
Oh look. The CW built us a time machine. And, hey, a date's already programmed in. It says "sometime in the 1980's." Huh. That's sorta vague and unfocused. Oh well. Let's step in.
Bright Lights, Big City, Old Ideas
Movie deals for funny men, a TV deal for a funny woman, AMC branches out, SAG and AFTRA become friends again, and The Simpsons make the mail.
The Times, Jon Stewart & The Gossip Girl Spin-Off
• Got an idea for how Arthur Sulzberger Jr. might be able to rescue the struggling New York Times? He now says he'll "consider anything." [NYO]
• Hachette plans to leave Midtown for cheaper space near Wall Street. [NYP]
• Josh Schwartz is finishing the pilot for an as-yet-untitled Gossip Girl spin-off that will be…
Like, Omigawd! XOXO, Valley Girl
Duck and cover, Los Angelenos: it's just been announced that the long-rumored Gossip Girl spinoff will be set here. In the eighties.
'X-Men' Latest Franchise To Be Hit By The CW-ing Of Sci-Fi
· The O.C. and Gossip Girl creator Josh Schwartz has been hired to write X-Men: First Class, featuring a "younger set of mutants." Pyro's gonna go totally psycho on Rogue and burn all her dress designs! [Variety] · McCain-stumping cultural barnacle Patricia Heaton continues to work, this time in ABC sitcom The Middle,…
Happy Birthday
New Jersey's former governor—and gay American—Jim McGreevey turns 51 today. Also celebrating: The man who brought Gossip Girl to TV, Josh Schwartz, turns 32. Publishing queen Jamie Raab turns 55. Creepy director M. Night Shyamalan is 38. The man to blame for all those celebrity-laden American Express commercials, Amex…
'Gossip Girl' Actresses Quietly Starting To Mimic Their Bitchy On-Screen Personas
As we've been told time and time again, life often imitates art. And while we'd refrain from calling Gossip Girl "art," Leighton Meester has allegedly been using her on-screen character's controlling and manipulative tendencies behind the scenes as well. Nan Zhang, who played suspected Gossip Girl scribe Jenny, has…
"Every Ball Has A Backdoor"
"To me, one of the biggest differences between the ['The O.C.' and 'Gossip Girl'] is that New York City is a character in 'Gossip Girl," according to both shows' wunderkind creator Josh Schwartz. And: sure! Especially if you mean "the only difference" and "Vancouver or Toronto or a soundstage is a character." Anyway:…
At the premiere of Gossip Girl, an overly excited The OC fan provides series creator Josh Schwartz with a chilling preview of his epitaph: "Oh my God! He's the genius behind Ben McKenzie!" [Gatecrasher, 2nd item]
The 'Gossip Girl' Premiere Party
Tonight's arrival of the new television show Gossip Girl on the CW is at least the most important event of the week. It is a real-life doomsday scenario for us, in which the lives of 10 wealthy Upper East Side teenagers somehow become intangibly yet irrevocably ingrained into our consciousness. Last night I went into…
'Lost' Writers Have Just 48 More Episodes To Figure Out What's Going On
· Lost's producers officially get three more years to pretend that they have any clue what's happening on that island, as ABC gives the series an advance order for three more 16-episode seasons. As currently scheduled, all loose ends involving smoke monsters, polar bears, and Jack and Kate finally getting it on…
