75-year-old talk show king Regis Philbin announced on this morning's Live with Regis and Kelly that he will undergo heart bypass surgery later this week. "Well, listen, I gotta tell you something... I had been feeling chest pains, you know, and, uh, shortness of breath and all those little symptoms you hear about," Philbin revealed. "Darn it, I don't want to do it. Nobody wants to do it, I guess. And I had a second opinion, I did all those things, and so they're all in agreement that it should be the bypass," Philbin told the show's audience, after explaining he'd hoped he could just have an angioplasty. "And so that's what I'm gonna do."
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Rosie O'Donnell will keep her spot at the View table for at least another year. "Rosie is going to get her own show - but it's too late to do a show for September 2007, so she will re-up for one more year at the View and then do her own show that debuts in September 2008," says an ABC insider, who claims the network wants to hold on to O'Donnell. "She revived a ten-year-old show that was on its last legs," says another source, and since O'Donnell began last September, viewership is up a reported 75,000 viewers a week. However, there might be a catch to the job extension - "She wants [executive producer] Bill Geddie out. They hate each other," said an insider. "She'll stay if he leaves."
I was hoping Star Jones Reynolds was done with TV...but in the same week her guest spot on Law & Order: SVU was announced, Court TV confirmed they have given the View castoff her own daily talk show. The new show will cover celebrity criminal justice issues and begin airing this summer or fall. "The public is fascinated by the intersection of the legal world and the pop-culture world, and we hope to tap into that fascination as part of our overall strategy to broaden the appeal of the network's daytime lineup," said a rep from Turner Entertainment.
Love MTV reality shows? Here's your chance to be the next Kristin Cavalleri or Lauren Conrad.
From the producers of Laguna Beach & The Hills:
If you are 21-28, outgoing, ambitious and passionate about all aspects of the fashion industry and need that big break...we'd like to hear from you. YOU MUST BE AVAILABLE TO SHOOT THE PILOT MARCH 19-20 IN NYC and the SERIES JUNE-JULY-AUGUST-
SEPTEMBER. Compensation and housing will be provided. We will relocate someone from the West Coast if you turn out to be the perfect person for the project. Please send a fun description of yourself along with a recent photo ASAP to subs@barbarabarnacastin.com.
Former Wings actor Tim Daly will appear on a special two-hour episode of Grey's Anatomy this spring, and his guest turn could serve as a springboard for a part on the show's spinoff series, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Daly's character will be "handsome, sincere, like a McDreamy."
Laguna Beach alum Jason Wahler was sentenced to two months in jail today for assault. Last September, Wahler was in a car with friends when they were blocked by a tow-truck, and Wahler got out and punched one of the truck drivers as well as a city employee - both of whom are African-American. Wahler is also charged with spouting racial slurs during the incident. The reality show star pleaded no contest and was ordered to attend a one-day program at the Museum of Tolerance along with his jail time.
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The View flunkie Star Jones will return to the small screen this May with a guest appearance on Law & Order: SVU. Jones will play a lawyer consulted on a case in an episode that will also star Ludacris.
Talks are in the works for Pamela Anderson to once again star on the small screen. Fast on the heels of her failed sitcom Stacked - which was yanked after just one season - Anderson is reportedly teaming up with Baywatch producers for another Malibu-based show. The series would be a "fantasy-based drama" that takes place at a beach club. Oooh, sounds like a keeper.
Could yesterday's View slapfest prompt Elisabeth Hasselbeck to leave the show? "Elisabeth, you are very young and very wrong," co-host Rosie O'Donnell said to Hasselbeck after the Survivor alum voiced her right wing views. The reprimand is said to have left Hasselbeck in tears. "Elisabeth can't take it any more," says a show insider. "Her days there are numbered. She is looking to leave." The insider hinted that Hasselbeck is hoping for a spot on the E! network. O'Donnell was obviously feeling sorry about her outburst, and blogged on her website, "i said some of elisabeth's comments were ignorant which was ignorant itself." O'Donnell's rep denies any talk of a strife. "They get along great," she says. "They have differences of opinion, but that's what makes The View so great and newsworthy."
There is more drama on the set of Grey's Anatomy. Sources say most of the cast are upset by the news that a spinoff series is in the works that would follow Kate Walsh's character, Dr. Addison Montgomery-Shepherd. "The rest of the cast seemed instantly resentful of [Walsh]," says an insider. "They each thought they'd be the one chosen to get their own show, and now they're giving Kate the cold shoulder." Lead actress Ellen Pompeo "seemed particularly peeved because she felt that, as the star, she should have been consulted," adds the source. People mag is reporting that Katherine Heigl has now dropped out of contract talks with show producers over salary issues. "Katie is disappointed and hurt that [producer] Touchstone doesn't value her as much as her other co-stars, especially Sandra Oh and Isaiah Washington," an insider told the mag. A rep for ABC Touchstone had no comment.
Good news for Sex & the City fans - the big screen version of the hit HBO show may begin filming later this year. "I know the script is being written and I know it will be brilliant because [show creator] Michael Patrick King is writing it," Mario Catone, who played Charlotte's wedding planner on the show, told Australian press. "If it happens, we should film it in early fall I think, but I hope it stays on course, because I would love to do it... There are girls who come up to me in the street in tears and say, 'When's the Sex & the City movie happening?' If you look at The Devil Wears Prada, it was such a big success, this would do even better. Sex & the City has the audience and I think it's a good time to do it now, because enough time has passed since the series ended."
Wonder who will replace Conan O'Brien in the 12:35 talk show slot when O'Brien takes the Tonight Show helm from Jay Leno in a few years? The lucky contestant might just be...Jimmy Fallon. Fallon is currently in talks with NBC to sign a "holding" deal - one that would make any TV appearances the SNL alum makes exclusive to the network. One insider said the deal might include a chance at hosting "Late Night," though the seat is by no means guaranteed. Carson Daly would reportedly also like to be considered for the gig. "Anything can still happen here," said a source close to Fallon. "This is deal about bringing Jimmy back to NBC. But he could have a hit movie and not want to jump back into television." I think he might be a good choice, actually.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that ABC has plans to create a Grey's Anatomy spinoff starring main character Dr. Addison Montgomery-Shepherd, played by Kate Walsh. A two-hour pilot of the show is expected to air in May.
Reality show couple Trista and Ryan Sutter have announced they are expecting their first child this summer. "We are so happy after two years of trying," the former Bachelorette said of the news. "I've had tremendous morning sickness, but everyone says that is a sign of a healthy pregnancy." The couple met on The Bachelorette in 2002, and married on the air a year later (are they the only couple from that show still together??).
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Jennifer Lopez will reportedly perform on American Idol on April 11. Big names who appear on the show usually do so when they have a project to report, which in JLo's case could be her new Spanish language album or her MTV reality series DanceLife. A rep for Michael Jackson has shot down recent rumors that the King of Pop will appear on the show, saying, "There is absolutely no truth to the rumor that Michael Jackson is going to appear on American Idol. He has signed no agreements with anyone."
Indie movie fav Parker Posey is in talks to star in a new TV comedy from Gilmore Girls creator Amy Sherman-Palladino. In "The Return of Jezebel James," Posey would play a newly-single children's book editor who asks her estranged younger sister to be a surrogate mom for her when she discovers she can't conceive. Sherman-Palladino says they sent the Jezebel script to Posey knowing she had never accepted a TV pilot in the past. "I can't believe it's happening," the producer admits. "Because it's a comedy, the character runs the gamut of emotions from laughing to flipping out to breaking your heart in 22 minutes, and only one in a zillion people has enough skill and charm to pull that off. Parker Posey is that person."
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Vanessa Minnillo is looking to escape from her TRL hosting duties. The Entertainment Tonight correspondent will not renew her contract when it expires in April, and "MTV wants her out," according to an insider. Despite rampant media reports, reps for MTV insist the show has not been cancelled, but sources say the cancellation rumors and new opportunities are leading Minnillo to make the change. Reps for Minnillo and the network have not commented.
Meg Ryan will reportedly return to the small screen in a TV miniseries based on the Carrie Fisher memoir The Best Awful. Ryan will play bipolar actress Suzanne Vale in the sequel to Fisher's film and movie Postcards From the Edge.
Own a pint-sized Teri Hatcher or Eva Longoria! Aren't they creepy? Limited-edition dolls of the cast of Desperate Housewives were unveiled on Sunday in NYC. Replicas of Susan, Bree, Gabrielle, Lynette and Edie will go on sale in June for a whopping $129.95 each.
75-year-old talk show king Regis Philbin announced on this morning's Live with Regis and Kelly that he will undergo heart bypass surgery later this week. "Well, listen, I gotta tell you something... I had been feeling chest pains, you know, and, uh, shortness of breath and all those little symptoms you hear about," Philbin revealed. "Darn it, I don't want to do it. Nobody wants to do it, I guess. And I had a second opinion, I did all those things, and so they're all in agreement that it should be the bypass," Philbin told the show's audience, after explaining he'd hoped he could just have an angioplasty. "And so that's what I'm gonna do."
