American Dreams- News Archive

BET nabs small-screen rights to "Dough Boys"

"It's hard to find someone that'll believe in you enough to put money up to back your dreams," first-time director Nicholas Harvell said. "Preston didn't just talk about it, he did it."

The film, which follows four troubled city youths and the poor choices they make, was written by Wilmore. It stars Arlen Escarpeta ("Friday the 13th"), Cory Hardrict ("Gran Torino," "He's Just Not That Into You"), Maurice McRae ("The King"), Lorenzo Eduardo ("The Hammer"), Wood Harris ("The Wire") and Sticky Fingaz ("Blade, "Doing Hard Time").

Paramount Home Video will distribute the DVD.

Whitmore wrote, produced and directed "This Christmas," starring Delroy Lindo, Chris Brown, Idris Elba and Loretta Divine.

Sighting

Dick Clark still rockin' New Year's Eve

And he's hardly surprised by the current state of the music industry he helped build - he predicted this, after all.

Clark, who turned 79 last month and has been in front of the cameras for 61 years, said in a recent interview by e-mail that his involvement in "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2009," is a labour of love and "not really a job."

"Obviously, I'm not able to be as actively involved as I used to be out on the street, up on a platform and interacting with the crowds in Times Square" in New York, Clark wrote.

"Thank goodness my friend Ryan Seacrest is able to handle that end of the activity on the show these days.

ABC's 3 1/2-hour live extravaganza will include performances by Natasha Bedingfield, Fall Out Boy, Jesse McCartney, Ne-Yo, Pussycat Dolls, Solange and Robin Thicke. Fergie hosts the Hollywood segments.

Clark woke up with right-side paralysis on Dec. 6, 2004.

"Your life changes overnight," he said. Clark still uses a walker or wheelchair, and speaking is difficult.

"I am one of the fortunate ones who survived and have been minimally impaired, so I'm just thankful I'm still able to enjoy this once-a-year treat of bringing in the New Year."

The "American Bandstand" icon and longtime producer of the American Music Awards, Academy of Country Music Awards and Golden Globes has long considered them "my television kids."

He's also watched their ratings plummet in recent years.

"There was a time when they attracted a huge audience," Clark wrote. "The audiences have dropped off as the years have gone by because of increasing television competition.

"What we are seeing is more and more talent and less emphasis on people getting awards. Television's award shows have now become gigantic showcases for variety."

Clark was there at the birth of rock n' roll ("American Bandstand" kicked off July 9, 1956), and he's watched dramatic changes in the music industry. Not that those changes would come as much of a surprise.

"I can remember writing an article several years ago where I let my imagination run wild," Clark wrote. "I said we'd see the day when music is delivered directly to our homes, and delivered to us in some form of wireless communication.

"The fun of actually holding a record in our hands will disappear and we'll all have our own individual library of our favourite songs that we'll listen to at home, at work, in the car wherever we happen to go."

These days, Clark divides his time between his Malibu home and Burbank office. There's an hour-long therapy session each morning, then he answers mail and phone calls, attends meetings and reads.

The day ends with his devoted wife Kari.

"My wife and I may join friends for dinner at a restaurant, attend a movie or just grab a bite to eat by ourselves away from home," Clark wrote.

"Occasionally, we'll attend a music concert. Recently we've seen Barry Manilow, Bette Midler, Frankie Valli and Cher."

Dick Clark orders "Chicken Soup" for small screen

"Now more than ever, there is a desire for uplifting, positive and inspiring themes, and the 'Chicken Soup for the Soul' books are the perfect embodiment of this," DCP president Orly Adelson said.

The "Chicken Soup" franchise has sold more than 112 million copies.

Nominees for the 2009 People's Choice Awards

FAVORITE STAR 35 & UNDER
Amy Adams
Drew Barrymore
Beyonce
Orlando Bloom
Chris Brown
Chace Crawford
Miley Cyrus
Leonardo DiCaprio
Zac Efron
America Ferrara
Ryan Gosling
Jake Gyllenhaal
Anne Hathaway
Scarlett Johansson
Angelina Jolie
Alicia Keys
Keira Knightley
John Krasinski
Shia LaBeouf
Blake Lively
John Mayer
Eva Mendes
Daniel Radcliffe
Rihanna
Taylor Swift
Justin Timberlake
Carrie Underwood
Usher
Milo Ventimiglia
Pete Wentz
Kanye West
Reese Witherspoon

DICK CLARK'S NEW YEAR'S ROCKIN' EVE

Fergie Will Host West Coast Party and Perform; Kellie Pickler is Times Square Correspondent

For the 37th consecutive year, "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2009" will lead America into the New Year when Dick Clark and Ryan Seacrest host specials starting at 10:00 p.m., ET, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 31 on the ABC Television Network.

Singer/songwriter Fergie returns to perform and host the West Coast party portions of the specials, and for the first time country star Kellie Pickler will be the Times Square correspondent, reporting on other happenings in and around New York City. This year will include performances from both New York and Hollywood, and the American tradition of Dick Clark counting down to midnight will once again take place during the three-and-a-half hours of specials from Times Square in New York City.

The festivities will kick off with "Dick Clark's Primetime New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2009" from10:00-11:00 p.m., ET, featuring performances live from New York's Times Square.

During "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2009, Part 1" (11:35 p.m. - 1:05 a.m., ET), in addition to reporting on the final minutes of 2008 and the traditional Times Square countdown to midnight, the show will feature music performances from both Hollywood, California and Times Square in New York.

Wrapping the night's activities will be "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve 2009, Part 2" (1:05-2:05 a.m., ET), when musical acts will continue the party into the early hours of the New Year with additional performances from Hollywood.

Multi-platinum, three-time Grammy award-winning, international superstar Fergie, who joined The Black Eyed Peas in 2002, released her solo debut, "The Dutchess," in 2006. "The Dutchess," which spent an astounding 94 weeks on the Billboard 200 albums chart, sold over 6 million copies worldwide and achieved triple-platinum status in the United States. Its success was propelled by the hit singles "London Bridge," "Fergalicious" (#1), "Glamorous" (#1), "Big Girls Don't Cry" (#1), "Clumsy (#2)" and "Finally." Fergie is the first artist since Christina Aguilera (in 2000) to score three #1s from one album.

Singer/songwriter Kellie Pickler continues to entertain us since her debut on "American Idol" in 2006. Her first album sold more than 800,000 copies, and she made history with her self-titled, sophomore album upon its release in October this year, when she became only the sixth country artist to have her first two albums debut at #1 on the Billboard Country Album Chart. The multi-nominated and awarded Pickler's current single is "Best Days of Your Life," which she wrote her friend and fellow artist, Taylor Swift.

"New Year's Eve with Dick and Ryan is a time honored tradition and all of us at dcp and ABC are delighted that Fergie will once again host our West Coast event, and thrilled that Kellie Pickler will be amidst the revelry and party goers at Times Square," said Orly Adelson, president of dick clark productions.

Stars and politics meet on Madison Avenue

Madsen, who made a splash in movies like "Sideways" and "Candyman," has hit the airwaves to spread the word about a couple of seemingly disparate matters of interest to women -- encouraging them, via a public service announcement, to get involved in the political process, and selling them, via a highly visible multimedia campaign, on the benefits of a popular, wrinkle-combating drug.

Allergan, manufacturer of Botox, of which Madsen is the face, partnered with the League of Women Voters on an initiative called Freedom of Expression Through Film. Playing off the Botox tagline, the drugmaker calls the public-awareness campaign "dedicated to voter education and self-expression." Madsen played a major role. Beyond the PSA, the actress crisscrossed the country on a 10-city tour this summer on behalf of the 88-year-old nonpartisan League.

Fighting the effects of aging and inspiring political involvement would not seem to have much in common. But Madsen ties it all together. "It really is about the total woman," she said. "We're complicated creatures. There are so many aspects to us, so many different choices we have as women today with our bodies, our minds, beauty, brains -- and one of the most important choices we have this year is voting."

CELEBRITY POLITICS

In a historic political year in which celebrity has played a starring role -- from Oprah Winfrey and Paris Hilton to the megawatt impact of Barack Obama and Sarah Palin -- the Madsen-Allergan-League partnership made for an ingenious and increasingly common intersection of celebrity, politics and commerce. And with our celebrity-fixated electorate engaged in the pursuit for the White House like never before, it's no wonder advocacy groups, marketers and media brands have sought to cash in on that heavy consumer interest.

Another high-profile, celebrity-centered link-up encompassing politics, marketing and civic awareness was initiated by Declare Yourself, a nonpartisan voter-registration group founded by TV producer Norman Lear, a notable Hollywood liberal. Its eye-catching campaign to encourage voter involvement roped in young stars like America Ferrera, Zac Efron and Jessica Alba, whose arresting, duct-tape-bound image got tongues wagging when it rolled out a couple of weeks ago.

"The celebrity involvement this year is more intense, more visible and more pragmatic," said Declare Yourself executive director Marc Morgenstern. "They feel very strongly about this election -- it's not a casual thing. They're going out of their way to use their appeal to get out the youth vote."

Corporations jumping on the Declare Yourself bandwagon include American Eagle Outfitters, which marketed a Declare Yourself T-shirt, and Apple's iTunes, which featured an exclusive cover of Alice Cooper's "I'm Eighteen" by Sean Kingston. "Working with partners like this gives us a bigger footprint, and that's critical," said Morgenstern, whose organization reports registering some 2 million voters since 2004, about 750,000 of them this election cycle.

CHEEKY CAMPAIGNS

While those examples had civic mindedness at their core, most brands have taken a cheekier approach. Unilever's politically themed iteration of the long-running "Axe Effect" campaign had Hillary Clinton donning both Obama and McCain buttons during the primaries. Another lighthearted entry was the "presidential campaign" of Captain Morgan, mascot of the Diageo rum brand, who made appearances at both political conventions after the marketer secured sponsorship rights.

Meanwhile, Miller High Life, a MillerCoors brand, had a beer delivery guy touting his "Common Sense Party" via the Web and appearances at sporting events and nightclubs. And the restaurant chain Denny's launched a "Vote for Real" contest seeking best look-alikes of the presidential candidates.

Flipping channels, it's evident the range of entertainment-media brands that have -- along with some of the marketers whose messages they carry -- aligned themselves with this year's presidential contest. Forerunner Comedy Central continues to break ratings records with its "Indecision 2008" coverage on "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report." Following suit, Nickelodeon, MTV, BET, Lifetime, CMT, Spike and Logo have capitalized on the public's fascination with the campaign with dedicated programing, candidate debates, town halls, streaming video, user-generated content, even made-for-TV movies.

Rainbow Media's We cable network has made a voter-registration drive (goal: 1 million women) the center of its branding campaign, enlisting the likes of Geraldine Ferraro, former U.S. Rep. Susan Molinari and entertainers Kelly Ripa, Ricki Lake and LeAnn Rimes.

Sibling network IFC, which took only a toe-in-the-water approach in previous elections, this time rolled out news specials, audience polls, on-demand content, streaming video, primary and convention coverage and blogs. "We've never done anything of this magnitude before," says Evan Shapiro, president of IFC and the Sundance Channel.

Syndicated entertainment shows -- known more for chasing Britney Spears and Brangelina than for their political coverage -- also devoted more time to this star-studded election cycle. "Access Hollywood" found ratings gold with its interviews of Obama and his family.

"These politicians are the biggest stars out there right now," executive producer Rob Silverstein said.

For Hollywood stars to link with political causes and candidates is nothing new, of course. But that trend certainly seems to have hit a saturation level in 2008, with Winfrey's powerful endorsement of Obama as the tipping point. The question -- for the political parties marketing their name-brand candidates as well as brands and nonpartisan groups aiming to take advantage of the spotlight -- remains: Is a celebrity's involvement good, bad or inconsequential?

A cause or a campaign with a big-time star on its side can most assuredly raise money, draw crowds and generate buzz, but there can be a downside. "If you use celebrities in your campaign, you'll be tarred as an elitist," said Howard Bragman, CEO of the public relations firm Fifteen Minutes and author of the forthcoming "Where's My Fifteen Minutes?"

Darrell West, political science professor at Brown University and author of "Celebrity Politics," thinks that at the end of the day, celebrities have little real influence. "There's not a lot of evidence, historically, to show that celebrity endorsement has an impact on how people vote," he said. "Most people in middle America and elsewhere look to celebrities for entertainment, not for advice on presidential politics."

'Ex' is spot for TV, film up-and-comer

She packed her bags, went to the airport in Chattanooga, Tenn., and bought a one-way ticket to New York City to begin her acting career.

“I looked around in New York and didn’t know one person in the entire city,” says Boston, realizing how imposing that was.

Almost 10 years later, Boston is making her mark. She co-stars in the comedy “The Ex List” at 9 p.m. Fridays on CBS.

The series stars Elizabeth Reaser as Bella Bloom, a woman searching for her romantic destiny. Boston plays Daphne, Bella’s happily married sister.

In many ways, Daphne’s self-assured ways echo Boston’s confidence. But unlike Daphne, Boston is single.

The star, 26, attended New York University and did voiceovers and dog-watching to make ends meet.

After graduation, she moved to Hollywood and auditioned for NBC’s “American Dreams.” Her first big break, she was on it from 2002 to 2005. Later, she landed bit parts on “The Closer,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and “Grey’s Anatomy.”

She was shooting the upcoming film “The Ghosts of Girlfriends Past” with Matthew McConaughey and Jennifer Garner this year when she got the script for “Ex List.” She liked the bond between Bella and Daphne, best friends despite how different their lives are.

“I got this part really fast,” she says. “I like that because, sometimes when things take awhile, you have too much time to overthink things. This was fluid. Before I knew it, I was shooting a scene, jumping around in a backyard.”

Though she now lives in Hollywood, Boston says she is always keeping her suitcases packed. When she goes to Tennessee for a visit, Boston hangs out with gal pals, most of whom are married and with children.

“I have that hopeless romantic in me,” she says of dating. “If I can find someone who is happy with me living out of a suitcase, I’d be happy.”

Sighting

Sighting

Alison Sweeney Auctions Off Celebrity Jeans in Times Square for Charity

For those unable to attend the event, the celebrity jeans will be available for auction at www.clothesoffourback.org immediately following the live auction, with all proceeds benefiting the Clothes Off Our Back Foundation. With more than 50 pair of celebrity jeans available for auction online, some include Ryan Seacrest, Miley Cyrus, Nick Lachey, Ashlee Simpson, Lauren Conrad, Rachael Ray, Minnie Driver, Debra Messing , Brittany Snow, Terrence Howard, Forest Whitaker and the cast of "How I Met Your Mother" (Josh Radnor, Neil Patrick Harris, Jason Segel, Alyson Hannigan, Cobie Smulders). In addition, a sweepstakes for a washer and dryer will be held online at www.washingmyjeans.com

As a busy TV actress and mom, Alison Sweeney treasures her free time at home. "With a 3-year-old and a new baby on the way, laundry is the last thing I want to worry about; so of course I was excited that the new GE Profile set holds six months of detergent and washes 17 pair of jeans in one load," said Sweeney. "But more importantly, I'm glad to be part of this event today auctioning 17 pairs of celebrity jeans to benefit charity. In fact, I'm donating one of my favorite pair of jeans that I've worn to several movie premieres today," said Sweeney.

The event marks the launch of the GE Profile frontload washer and dryer boasting the first-ever SmartDispense laundry technology that holds up to six months of detergent and fabric softener and dispenses just the right amount -- saving loads of time. In fact, if every household in New York City had a Profile frontload pair, the city could wash the entire nation's jeans in just 34 days.

"With the popularity of jeans today, we're excited to offer a revolutionary frontload washer and dryer that can clean 4,420 jeans before needing a refill," says Lynn Pendergrass, Vice President of GE Consumer and Industrial. "The secret is the SmartDispense technology. It knows exactly how much detergent to dispense so your clothes come out perfect without wasting detergent or water. It's a win-win situation for Americans and the environment."

This innovative washer and dryer features state-of-the-art clothes care with advanced technology exclusive to GE Profile, including:

-- SmartDispense(TM) Technology pedestal system that holds up to 6 months of detergent and fabric softener then dispenses just the right amount based on soil level, load size, water hardness and fabric type

-- Stain Inspector(TM) technology that recognizes and treats more than 40 different tough stains

-- Reverse Tumble and DuoDry(TM) System that provides exceptional results in a fraction of the time of traditional models

-- CleanSpeak(TM) communication where the washer electronically tells the dryer what items to expect, so you'll have fewer interruptions and extra time to enjoy your life

For more information about the new GE Profile frontload washer and dryer with SmartDispense technology, visit www.washingmyjeans.com. For high-resolution photography and product press releases, visit here!

DICK CLARK'S NEW YEAR'S ROCKIN' EVE WITH RYAN SEACREST (12/31)

Seacrest Will Continue to Co-Host the Newly-Titled "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest"

Ryan Seacrest will continue as co-host and one of the executive producers of ABC's iconic New Year's programming when the newly-titled special, "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest," airs this holiday season. Ryan joined the show December 31, 2005 (ringing in 2006). Dick Clark will also continue to co-host and executive-produce the popular program.

"Watching 'Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin Eve' is an American tradition. Ryan has been a tremendous part of the show the last couple of years and we're thrilled he'll be part of it for years to come," said Stephen McPherson, president, ABC Entertainment.

"The name change of the program to 'Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest' reflects the success of the co-hosting responsibilities of one of America's most time-honored traditions. We are thrilled to extend Ryan's contract as co-host of the 'party of the year' with Dick," stated Orly Adelson, executive producer and president of dick clark productions.

TV's No. 1 New Year's show each year, the special handily beat its combined network competition last year when 29 million viewers tuned in to watch the ball drop at midnight on ABC. The telecast traditionally ranks among top programs on all of television during the week it airs, and last year the show featured performances in Times Square by Miley Cyrus, The Jonas Brothers and Carrie Underwood. The popular Hollywood party segments were hosted by Fergie. The primetime portion of the show achieved its highest viewership in six years.

The show marks its 37th anniversary Wednesday, December 31, 2008 when Ryan and Dick Clark lead America into the New Year at 10:00 p.m., ET with three-and-a-half hours of specials and the legendary countdown to midnight from Times Square in New York City.

The specials are presentations of dick clark productions, inc. Executive producers are Dick Clark, Ryan Seacrest and Orly Adelson. Larry Klein produces.

Brittany Snow Defends Arrested Nikki Blonsky

"Of course I was surprised," Snow, 22, told PEOPLE Sunday at the Teen Choice Awards in Los Angeles.

"Nikki is one of my really dear friends, and she's not a person that I would ever expect to have that controversy … surrounding her," says Snow.

"But at the same time, you know things get misconstrued in this business," she adds. "I really hope the best for her, because ... she's one of the sweetest girls I've ever met, so I just hope it works out – and it will, because she's a good person, and good things happen to good people."

Blonsky, 19, and her father, Carl Blonsky, were arrested following a brawl involving the family of America's Next Top Model contestant Bianca Golden in the departure lounge of the Providenciales International Airport in the Turks and Caicos Islands. Golden was also charged with assault.

Although Snow has not spoken to Blonsky, their Hairspray costar Zac Efron had. "Zac talked to her for a while."

Snow also said, "I don't know how it happened or what exactly went on, but my heart goes out to her, because I really do love her, and I know she didn't mean to hurt anybody – and nor did her dad. Her family is amazing!"

Milo Ventimiglia discusses 'Heroes,' Mideast trip

He met many soldiers who were familiar with his show, and had strong opinions about his character's nemesis, Sylar (played diabolically by Zachary Quinto).

"When I was over in Iraq and Afghanistan, a lot of soldiers were like, `Dude, will you just kill Sylar already? Will you just get rid of him?'" Ventimiglia told The Associated Press during a telephone interview this week. "And I'm like, `Man, I don't know if you're gonna want that just yet. I think you're going to be very surprised as to what happens.'"

NBC-released video teasers for the series' third season, premiering Sept. 22, promote the theme of the next "Heroes" chapter, titled "Villains." In one clip, these ominous words pop up: "Good will battle evil. Because in every hero, there could be a villain."

In that case, could Peter — one of the so-called good guys — wind up swapping places with Sylar?

Ventimiglia said he wouldn't disagree with that theory. He also said Volume Three will be "so good" — a step in the right direction from season two, which was criticized heavily by fans for its draggy plotlines, among other complaints.

"I'm a tough critic," Ventimiglia said. "The first season, I remember the producers would come up to me ... after we'd all watch an episode, and they'd say, sort of, `What do you think?' And I'd either hem or haw or say it was good or not. They kinda won me this year. The scripts are great, the feeling on set is nothing but fun. I mean, we're really just doing some good work that I'm very proud of."

The 31-year-old actor said returning to Los Angeles — and to work on "Heroes" — feels surreal after his weeklong USO tour. His travel compantions included NFL players Drew Brees, Osi Umenyiora and two Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders.

Blinded by the football star power, some soldiers would "look at me like I was an AP photographer because I was carrying around this gigantic camera with me all the time," joked Ventimiglia, who snapped a "bunch of great shots" during his trip.

'Amanda' takes a wry look at seamy side of Las Vegas

While a few characters are intentionally extreme, writer-director Peter Tolan (TV's Rescue Me) doesn't seamlessly fuse the outlandish and the believable in this comedy about unshakable compulsions and the failure of good intentions.

Matthew Broderick is low-key and droll as Taylor Peters, a television writer on a downward spiral. His various addictions have derailed his career and his current show, starring Ed Begley Jr. (uncharacteristically playing a Hollywood prima donna) is barely limping along. Taylor's long-suffering wife, Lorraine (Maura Tierney), has just learned he has fallen off the wagon and lied about gambling at the track.

Lorraine is about to leave him, so Taylor tries to win her back by promising he'll retrieve their errant 20-year-old niece Amanda (Brittany Snow) who is living in Las Vegas.

Once Taylor sets foot in the city, however, his plan goes awry. Temptation is everywhere. Steve Coogan is very funny as Jerry, an unctuous casino official who treats Taylor like a beloved old pal, schmoozing him until the money runs dry.

Taylor tries to persuade the ditzy Amanda to come back to Southern California with him and check in at a Malibu clinic. But, in the process, he can't resist gambling.

Meanwhile, Amanda is in denial about her boorish boyfriend (Peter Facinelli). Taylor sees through him immediately and scenes featuring the two men are particularly funny.

Broderick has the film's most clever lines, but Snow is quite funny and is convincing as an innocent lured by the promise of easy money. It's nice to see Broderick taking a more nuanced role in an indie film, after his forays into the world of big-budget musicals. His performance here recalls his effective turn in 1999's Election, though Amanda is not of the same caliber.

The film's tone shifts jarringly from superficial broad comedy to something far darker. And the hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold scenario is as old as the profession itself.

Some of the funnier moments center on Taylor's TV show, a milieu that Tolan knows all too well. The movie could have used more scenes in this arena, and not as many in the familiar Vegas world of sex and sleaze.

Finding Amanda
* * 1/2 (out of four)
Stars: Matthew Broderick, Brittany Snow, Peter Facinelli, Maura Tierney
Director: Peter Tolan
Distributor: Magnolia Pictures
Rating: R for strong sexual content including graphic dialogue, pervasive language, drug content and brief nudity.
Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes
Opens Friay in select cities

"Amanda" a muddled comedy about teen prostitution

Trying to win laughs by making women appear stupid and crass, it even features a gag about a woman getting raped by a member of her family: "And I thought I was a bad uncle," quips the hero in reply to the news.

Why Tolan, who worked on such smart and sassy TV shows as "Murphy Brown" and "The Larry Sanders Show," would debut with material that makes even "Larry the Cable Guy" seem sensitive is a mystery.

Matthew Broderick plays a TV writer with a gambling addiction who goes to Vegas to save his teenage niece (Brittany Snow) from prostitution. When he gets there, he finds that she enjoys prostituting herself and taking drugs so much that she doesn't want to change. Instead, she thinks he should go into rehab for his gambling addiction.

The only thing the film's got going for it is the generation gap. The teen prostitute sees nothing wrong with the idea of sex for sale -- it's just a way to make a living -- while Broderick's middle-aged character is shocked. But even then, he's not too shocked to stop joking about it at length. Even the easygoing Broderick can't inject any lift or charm into the story.

Box office potential is mediocre as the subject of teenage prostitution just isn't good material for a cheeky comedy. Problems are compounded by a few scenes of drama, including one that features a beating. Suddenly the film isn't a comedy anymore, and that's confusing. A speedy transition to DVD looks probable.

British comic Steve Coogan's veritable talents are wasted in a poorly written minor role.

Brittany Snow: I 'Refuse' to Diet, Am 'Done' with Trainer

"Done with the trainer. I canceled my trainer," Snow, 22, told PEOPLE over the weekend at Stride Gum's Longest Day of the Year party in West Hollywood.

"I refuse to do the whole diet, fitness, style thing anymore," Snow says. "I just kind of go and have fun. I know what I like, I know what makes me feel good, and that's just what I do."

Asked how she's staying healthy, the Prom Night star says, "I think more than anything, the thing I've learned in being here is that everything else doesn't matter as long as you're taking care of yourself and you're having fun. Just hanging out with my friends and trying to take care of myself, I think that's the biggest thing."

Snow adds, "I go to the gym everyday, I eat really well, I buy dresses by myself. I want to work and be with my friends. That's all I really care about."

Snow told PEOPLE in 2007 that she had been diagnosed with anorexia, exercise bulimia, depression, and body dysmorphic disorder as a teenager – and had dipped to 85 pounds at one point.

The former American Dreams TV star has reportedly credited friend Sophia Bush for helping to coach her on body image issues.

2008 Teen Choice Award Nominees

Choice Movie Actress: Horror/Thriller
Brittany Snow, Prom Night
Jessica Alba, The Eye
Liv Tyler, The Strangers
Odette Yustman, Cloverfield
Shannon Sossamon, One Missed Call

Choice TV Show: Action Adventure
Heroes
Lost
Prison Break
Smallville
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

Choice TV Actor: Action Adventure
Josh Holloway, Lost
Matthew Fox, Lost
Milo Ventimiglia, Heroes
Tom Welling, Smallville
Wentworth Miller, Prison Break
Choice TV Actress: Action Adventure

Pink Panters

ABC Picks Pair for Pilots

Former "Soul Food" star Nicole Ari Parker has signed on to "Never Better," where she'll play the wife of Wayans' character. Robinson ("Dreamgirls") will play a cop on "Good Behavior," according to The Hollywood Reporter.

"Never Better" stars Wayans as Keith, a recovering alcoholic who's trying to be a better husband and father to his family. The pilot has also cast Matt Winston ("John From Cincinnati") as the leader of the AA group Keith attends.

Parker co-starred in "Welcome Home, Roscoe Jenkins" earlier this year and has a couple of films in the works, including the Eddie Murphy comedy "Nowhereland." She played Teri on Showtime's "Soul Food" and also starred in the UPN sitcom "Second Time Around."

"Good Behavior," an adaptation of the New Zealand series "Outrageous Fortune" from "Veronica Mars" creator Thomas, is about a woman's (Catherine O'Hara) efforts to get her criminal family to go straight after her husband is sent to prison. Robinson, who's coming off FOX's "Canterbury's Law," will play a police officer who's friendly with O'Hara's character.

His credits also include FX's "Over There" and NBC's "American Dreams."

Joey Lawrence Masters a Hosting Gig

TLC has tapped Joey Lawrence, fresh from either shore leave or the third season of Dancing with the Stars, to host Master of Dance, the latest edition to the show-us-your-moves canon.

Only this time, a contestant will be halfway through a dance when the powers that be switch the music, forcing the hoofer to prove he/she can really go with the flow. The person who can do that most proficiently will win $50,000 at the end of the six-part series, which premieres June 8.

"The winner of this show will be that person at the wedding or party that always has the right moves and knows every popular dance," said executive producer Craig Piligian.

Well, better that person than the guy who throws up on the bride or spills his drink on the stereo.

Zuniga heads down aisle for "Mail Order Bride"

The "Melrose Place" veteran will play a woman whose friend dies before coming out West to be a mail-order bride. Her character takes her place in order to escape from a mobster (Greg Evigan) who "owns her" and keeps her involved in illegal activities that she does not want to do anymore.

Zuniga most recently had a recurring role on the CW's "One Tree Hill."

Iron Stomach

'Prom Night' gob-smackingly stupid

It would be unfair to compare blonde-du-jour Brittany Snow's wooden performance as the target of a psychostalker in the painfully predictable and clunky Prom Night with Jamie Lee Curtis's iconic screaming in the 1980 Canadian slasher classic of the same name.

For starters, all these films share is a title and a lot of teenagers getting down with their bad selves on the dance floor on the most important night of their lives, while a killer picks them off like ungulates in the video game Deer Hunter.

The plot is entirely different, and -- in one of about a dozen major doofus flaws that could have been fixed in the script stage -- our heroine doesn't even know she's emperiled through most of the movie. In fact, nobody does, except the most inept police force on the planet, led by Det. Winn (Idris Elba, who went from American Gangster to this). When practically nobody on the screen is scared, it tends to understate the terror of the experience (the movie doesn't even have a sense of humour to offset its lack of tension).

So, acting assignment-wise, Snow (Hairspray) is not exactly playing on a level playing field with '70s scream-queen Curtis. Not that she gives much indication she could scream her way out of a paper bag.

The plot, dictated to us in clumsy expositional dialogue by Det. Winn, involves the escape from a mental home of Richard Fenton (Jonathon Schaech), a former high school teacher who, three years earlier, literally went nuts over one of his students, Donna (Snow), killing her family to win her over.

It takes three days for the local cops to find out Fenton is free. He has killed a guy and stolen his car and Visa. Still, even though the victim has been reported missing, his card isn't flagged when our psycho-killer checks into the same hotel where Donna and her friends Claire (Jessica Stroup) and Lisa (Dana Davis) and their dates are enjoying the most important night of their lives.

Naturally they've booked a suite where they can break away from the dance and drink/fool-around. And naturally, the apparently now-unrecognizable Fenton is checking in just as the girls' third floor keys are handed out. And naturally, the clerk asks Fenton a question I've never been asked in about a thousand hotel check-ins: "Do you have a preference which floor your room is on?"

But then Fenton is not your ordinary killer. He's able to stab someone to death on a bed, and within minutes (seconds in one case) hide the body and leave not a trace of blood on the bed or anywhere else.

Much of Prom Night thus consists of Fenton waiting in the suite for the next misbehaving teenager to come along, the better to bide his time for the big move on Donna. Now if you've had three years to plan, it might occur to you that every time you kill someone inconsequential, you put yourself at risk of getting caught before you've accomplished your mission.

But then, he does have the advantage of matching wits with the DUH-PD, who eventually spirit our heroine -- not to a safe house -- but the one place she'd be most likely have to face her wannabe killer in a ridiculous climax.

Even for the low expectations of this genre, Prom Night is gob-smackingly stupid.

Brittany Snow goes to her fantasy prom

Brittany in ... In the movie

The night before prom: Her character, Donna, sees visions of her entire family being slaughtered by an obsessed teacher.

Gown: A champagne-colored, corseted number with pink and gold beads.

Flowers: A pink wrist corsage with white ribbon; white rose boutonniere for her date.

Date: Hunky jock Bobby (Scott Porter, who also plays Friday Night Lights' hunky paraplegic Jason Street).

Transportation: Black stretch limousine packed with trampy, horny friends and blasting loud music.

Location: The glamorous Pacific Grand Hotel with a crazed stalker on the loose.

Theme: “The Time of Our Lives,” complete with student slide show, disco ball and non-stop falling silver confetti.

Evening's end: The bodies of slaughtered students are discovered.

Brittany in ... In Snow's fantasy

The night before prom: “I’d like to have a sleepover with all my girlfriends where we did face masks and gave each other pedicures and manicures, with lots of candy.”

Gown: “I spent three months in that corseted dress, so I’d like something a little more comfortable and easier to move in on the dance floor. Probably something strapless and blue.”

Flowers: “I’d want a simple white rose for me and for him. When I went to my homecoming dances, I always saved my flowers and my date’s, too, to make potpourri out of them. The boys never cared about flowers; they just wanted to throw them off and go dancing or drinking.”

Date: “I have a crush on Ashton Kutcher, so him. And Demi (Moore) could come, too. I wouldn’t mind taking turns (dancing). It would be really fun!”

Transportation: “We would take a sailboat to prom with all my friends. And the waiters and bartenders could drink and have a good time, too.”

Location: “It would be on the beach lit by lights connecting sailboats. There would be a bonfire with tropical drinks — virgin, of course, since it’s high school. And I just took up photography, so I would want to take pictures and make up books for everyone.”

Theme: “It’s funny because “The Time of Our Lives” sign was in green cursive letters that made it look like it said “The Lime of Our Lives.” So that would be my theme. We’d have limes on all the tables and a signature lime margarita virgin drink, and Coronas for anyone over 21. There’d be lots of lime-colored streamers. But nothing too cheesy.”

Evening's end: “I would understand that Ashton and Demi would have to go home together. So I’d give them both hugs and kisses on the cheek and let them go their merry way. Nothing crazy would happen between the three of us.”

Brittany Snow: 'I still get that I look like I'm 14'

Snow plays Donna, a high school senior whose magical night turns gruesome when the obsessed stalker (Johnathon Schaech) who killed her entire family three years earlier escapes from a mental institution and decides to crash her big event -- and finally claim his true love.

The actress, who starred in last year's "Hairspray" remake but is best known for playing girl-next-door Meg Pryor in the '60s-set TV series "American Dreams," says she was initially hesitant about turning to the dark side. "I read the script and was like, 'Ehh. I don't know,' " she says. "I didn't want to do the stereotypical cheesy horror flick."

What changed her mind, she says, was the opportunity that director Nelson McCormick ("CSI," "Prison Break," "Nip/Tuck") gave her to weigh in on the music, the wardrobe, the cast, even her character. "I liked the fact that my character got to be not just a regular girl who's in high school but somebody who's actually dealing with a real issue: post-traumatic stress disorder."

With saucer-size blue eyes and cheerleader good looks, the Tampa, Fla., native certainly doesn't bring to mind broody slasher queen Jamie Lee Curtis, who starred in the 1980 original. Snow points out that comparisons aren't necessary. "It's not a remake," she says. "It actually just has the same title. But it's a completely different story."

This "Prom Night" sets its cat-and-mouse game in the context of today's super-proms, with the action taking place in a swanky hotel (the Park Plaza Hotel stands in for the film's fictional Pacific Grand Hotel), where couples walk the red carpet for adoring townsfolk and floor-to-ceiling flat screens capture the dance-floor drama.

The role was more than just a sartorial challenge for Snow. "It's hard to make [the terror] real," she says. "That you're being chased by somebody when the person isn't even there -- and there's like 20 crew members staring back at you. There are no footsteps in the distance. And craft services is right around the corner."

Snow's upcoming roles will also stretch her acting muscles: She'll play a prostitute in "Black Water Transit," the Tony Kaye crime drama, and a drug addict in "Finding Amanda," a black comedy costarring Matthew Broderick, which premieres this month at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Snow says she's excited about getting grittier roles -- and playing characters closer to her age. "I still get that I look like I'm 14. Sometimes I cannot get a glass of wine because I look so young," she says, laughing. "At the same time, high school's really fun to play too -- a lot goes on during that time."

Why Milo Ventimiglia Is Dressed as a Crazed Bunny on YouTube

Ventimiglia and Cundiff have 29 videos posted on the site, which range from lightsaber fight scenes between the two pals to clips of Ventimiglia brushing his teeth, shining his shoes and even watering the yard (before the Golden Globes, according to the title!). Many of them are tribute videos in response to short clips posted by fans of the actor, who call themselves DiVide Social Club, a rep for Ventimiglia tells PEOPLE. (The latest video to gain attention features a seemingly crazed Milo dressed as a bunny, an homage to this clip.)

No word on whether Ventimiglia's girlfriend and costar Hayden Panettiere will make a guest appearance on one of the videos anytime soon.

Keith Robinson Previews Juicy Conflicts on Canterbury's Law

TVGuide.com: Now that we've seen the first episode, what can we expect in the coming weeks?

Keith Robinson: You're just going to get a lot deeper into the storylines, and you're going to see more of the shocking ways that we come to conclusions in proving our clients' innocence. I think we up the ante every week with how far we'll go as lawyers to prove our point, even if that means sometimes going outside the lines. My storyline, in particular, doesn't really pick up until the second or third episode. We get into my relationship with my dad, how I became a lawyer so young, and the issues I have to take on in my own life.

TVGuide.com: We know your character is the son of a congressman who wants nothing to do with his father's politics. Will we get to know why soon?

Robinson: To say the least, Chester and his father have butted heads, and he's eager to prove that he's not like his father, when actually he's exactly like him. They both have an intense desire to gain power. Some of his father's antics end up getting him in hot water, and he has to come to Chester for help to get out of it. He has to bite his tongue and swallow his pride, so their relationship becomes very intense and conflicted throughout the course of the show.

TVGuide.com: Since Canterbury is such a strong woman, will that desire to gain power make it harder for Chester to listen while she's barking orders at him?

Robinson: I think eventually, some issues definitely come to a head. But in the next episode, they get into an intense discussion of why Chester would even want to study under someone like her. Even though they do have different views, they're alike in a lot of ways and there's a mentor-apprentice respect they both have for each other. It's a hot-and-cold relationship.

TVGuide.com: We've seen previews that depict Chester's father warning him to get away from Canterbury. Will she find herself in trouble?

Robinson: I'd say that's it in a nutshell. Chester's father is so well connected and is always one step ahead of him. It's irritating, and he doesn't always give advice that Chester wants to hear, but sometimes it's necessary, even if it comes from his father. In this case, it does involve the woman Chester works for.

TVGuide.com: What was it about the legal aspect of the show that drew you to this role?

Robinson: I am a fan of the law. As an actor, I think it's one of those roles you dream of playing — being in a courtroom trying to win over a jury. It's kind of like taking the stage and trying to persuade people to see things your way. You're having to tell a story, which is a lot like being an actor, period. I think lawyers and actors do have a common denominator, an underlying objective.

TVGuide.com: What sets this show apart from other lawyer series?

Robinson: We're not afraid to show the imperfections of our characters as lawyers. On a lot of law shows, the lawyers are the ones coming to the aid of the flawed human beings. In this case, we are just as flawed as our clients. And we ourselves even break the law to establish the law, which is kind of a paradox in itself. For me, that makes it really interesting and edgy.

TVGuide.com: You were also in the recent CBS miniseries Comanche Moon. How was that experience?

Robinson: It was great. It was different — I got to ride a horse! Again, it's one of those roles you dream about. Being in a Western is like playing cowboys and Indians as a kid, but to get to do it in your professional life is a great experience.

TVGuide.com: Was it hard playing a character Danny Glover created in Lonesome Dove?

Robinson: It was a challenge. But more so, I think there was a level of respect and expectation because the character has already been established. It's such a historical piece, and I wanted to make sure I did it justice. So there was definitely a little pressure there.

TVGuide.com: You were once signed to Motown Records. How did you get into acting?

Robinson: I was in a band when I was signed, and the deal went south. I'm now a solo artist and have my own album coming out this year. As for acting, I moved to Los Angeles, and — long story short — I walked into an acting class that didn't have enough readers and the teacher suggested I read with them. The teacher liked me and told me to read for a role on a new Power Rangers show, and it worked out.

TVGuide.com: I'm sure your singing past helped you earn your spot in Dreamgirls.

Robinson: Yeah, I did all my own singing. I am a vocalist first — that's really why I got into show business in the first place. Dreamgirls was right up my alley, and it let people know who I really was as an artist, so to speak. It opened up a lot of doors.

TVGuide.com: And performing at the Oscars with Beyoncé and Jennifer Hudson is a pretty good gig, right?

Robinson: [Laughs]. Not a bad gig at all! I couldn't think of a better one.

TVGuide.com: With the new show and album, it sounds like you've come a long way from Power Rangers.

Robinson: [Laughs] Definitely.

Milo: Romance Talk with Hayden 'Makes Me Smile'

"You know what, man – it makes me smile," Ventimiglia tells GQ, when told by the reporter that bloggers have nicknamed the couple "Halo."

Smiles aside, the actor still maintains he wants to keep a lid on his private life. "When you're in the public eye, you try to keep whatever you can private," he says. "People can speculate and talk. But what can you do – stop living your life?"

New Brittany Gig

Adam Scott (HBO's "Tell Me You Love Me") will play the brother; the role of the boyfriend has not been cast.

Writer/director Lee Toland Krieger will make his feature debut on the project, which begins filming in Connecticut next month.

Dancing Tour: Joey and Edyta on the Road Again

First, let's check in with Joey Lawrence....

TVGuide.com: Why did you sign up to tour again?
Joey Lawrence: Because they treat us great. They give us a beautiful ride [to] travel across the country. The bus is just incredible. It's just a big party out there. It's fun.

TVGuide.com: You've covered a lot of miles. Were there any close calls on the road?
Lawrence: No. But we got stuck in about six feet of snow in the bus one night. We were somewhere in Colorado. We passed out from exhaustion and when we woke up, we were literally in the middle of the mountains with snow on every side. It was a winter wonderland. Every window you looked out, it was amazing. But they had to come dig us out because we were on the side of the road for about eight hours.

TVGuide.com: Weren't you cold?
Lawrence: The satellites and the power still worked, so we were fine.

TVGuide.com: What's the difference between dancing on the show and dancing on tour?
Lawrence: On the show, even though it's a smaller room, you feel the magnitude of what you're doing. You see the people in the audience. The nerves were outrageous. When you're on the road, you know the show. You're not having to learn a new routine every five seconds. And it's a lot larger in terms of the number of people. When there are 7,000 or 10,000 people, it's just loud. And there are lots of lights, so you don't see anyone and it becomes one big blur. Edyta and I just go out there and we do our thing. And at the end, you hear the applause and it's awesome. Ten thousand people make a lot of noise.

TVGuide.com: How's your body holding up since you did the show (Season 3)?
Lawrence: I'm an athlete, so I always keep myself in as good a shape as possible. It's just part of my life. I don't lose weight and put it back on. If you're going to work your ass off to get in great shape, why would you want to do that over and over again?

TVGuide.com: Do you get any physical therapy on the road?
Lawrence: They provide massage therapy at every stop. I know it sounds sort of ostentatious, but you really are an athlete when you're doing this every night. You kind of need it.

TVGuide.com: Who travels with you on the road?
Lawrence: My family. My wife, Chandie, and my daughter, Charli. My mom will come with us this time, as well. For Charli, this will be her third time out, too. The first time, she was only 8 months old. Now she's 17 months and it's going to be a lot easier, because she's walking and talking. I'm lucky to have such a great family. It's great to have 8 to 10 weeks to spend together. It's a lot of work to get ready for the shows, don't get me wrong — and a lot of work every night — but it's great.

And now, Edyta Sliwinska's turn....

TVGuide.com: What's the difference between training for the show and rehearsing for the tour?
Edyta Sliwinska: Rehearsing for the tour is more mentally tiring, because you have to be here many, many hours. When you're competing on the show, you train physically very hard for three hours, for example, but then you are done. Here, we have to spend the whole day in rehearsals, eight hours, and maybe it's not so intense, but it's eight hours of being on your feet.

TVGuide.com: Do you do anything special for your sore feet?
Sliwinska: I call these my grandma shoes because they have very low heels and are very comfy. They've kind of molded to my foot.

TVGuide.com: When you're on the road with Joey, do you two fall right back into step, or do you have to teach him all over again?
Sliwinska: Oh, no, I do have to teach Joey. We have all new routines. He's in great shape. He's a freak about his body. So I'm not worried about that. But I am worried that he's going to forget stuff.

TVGuide.com: The celebrities find that their bodies change very quickly when they stop dancing. Does that happen to you, too?
Sliwinska: What's changing is that I'm going up and down in weight very quickly. If I have a couple of days off, I can gain quickly. But when I'm dancing, I can lose five or ten pounds in a week.

TVGuide.com: Do you like touring better than competing on the show?
Sliwinska: Oh, yes. I can perform, but there is none of that sick tension and [none of] the pressure of trying to be the greatest or winning the championship.

TVGuide.com: When do you find out if you'll be dancing Season 6, which starts on March 17?
Sliwinska: We only find out two weeks before the training starts. We're released from our contract if we're not picked up for the show. But I love the show. It's kind of comfortable to have [dancers] who know what they're doing, and then once in a while, to bring in a new [pro] dancer.

TVGuide.com: You've done all five seasons of the show and all three tours — you've had almost no time off. What do you do when you have a vacation?
Sliwinska: I go to Poland. But the last time I went, it was like a tease, because the minute I started to feel that I was really relaxing, it was time to go.

TVGuide.com: Do you ever think it's too much? You got sick during the last tour and had to miss three performances.
Sliwinska: That was really tough because there's really no one who can replace you. You just have to dance through the pain. But it's an incredible experience to perform live and see the appreciation of the audience. I can rest later. I wouldn't change it for anything.

Milo Ventimiglia & Hayden Panettiere Are an Item

Having previously denied a relationship, the two Heroes stars are now considered an item.

"Hayden's mom adores Milo. She thinks he's so cute," a family friend tells PEOPLE. "She tells her friends that he's her boyfriend. She's very proud."

On a December trip to New York City, Ventimiglia hung out with the entire Panettiere family. "He's even met her grandparents. He fits in perfectly with the family. Milo jokes around with her little brother," says the source. "They're buddies."

When the couple are together, "they're very affectionate and very comfortable around each other. He really takes care of her, even down to the little things like giving her a back massage and going with her to work things."

A rep for the actress said: "We do not respond to inquiries from the media regarding Ms. Panettiere's personal life."

'Not Afraid to Show Affection'

Since cozying up at an Emmys party in September, the two had dodged rumors that they were dating – even though, by mid-November, they already were clearly close, being together publicly at benefits and other events.

When asked shortly before Thanksgiving about the reports of his possible romance with Panettiere, Ventimiglia chuckled then paused before saying, "She and I are close friends. It's only natural that people are going to couple us together."

"They're not afraid to show their affection around her family and their friends," says the friend.

As for the existence of a mini generation gap – Ventimiglia's 30, while Panettiere's 18 – the friend adds, "At first it doesn't seem like there's a big age difference, but then you do see it. ... He's more proper and reserved, and she's still playful and very girly."

Milo Ventimiglia Trying to Keep His Fans Happy

"For the most part, people still walk up to you with smiles on their faces saying, 'I love it. I love it. I love it,' " the 30-year-old actor tells Entertainment Weekly. "Occasionally, you get somebody who kinda looks at you and thinks, 'Eh, first season was better, but I still watch you guys. You're doing pretty good.' "

What does he tell those fans? "As a person that's on the show as well as a fan of the show ... I'm hoping we get back to the feeling of the first season," he says.

Other fans recognize Ventimiglia from his earlier roles on Gilmore Girls and American Dreams. In fact, in a new animated video (part of a series Ventimiglia has produced for American Eagle Entertainment), a Claymation version of the actor is seen being hounded by a Gilmore Girls fan on an airplane – a scene apparently snipped from real life.

"I get it all," Ventimiglia tells EW. "When people call me Chris Pierce from American Dreams, it definitely gets a big smile from me."

As for the Golden Globes snub, Ventimiglia says that's just added motivation for the cast.

"I think it's one of those things that's going to make us work harder, make us be a little more focused," he says. "I remember when we didn't win [last year], I turned to the table and raised my glass and said, 'It's a pleasure and a privilege to work with you guys.' We all kind of bonded over that."

Ventimiglia has no clues about `Heroes'

In the second season finale, Ventimiglia's character, Peter Petrelli, destroyed a virus capable of annihilating most of mankind while Nathan Petrelli, Peter's high-flying brother, appeared to be assassinated at a press conference.

Ventimiglia isn't sure if Nathan (played by Adrian Pasdar) is dead.

"I really hope he's not going anywhere," Ventimiglia told The Associated Press during a telephone interview Wednesday. "That would be really disappointing to me to lose a brother and an amazing scene partner. I'm sure it's all going to work out the way it's supposed to."

Ventimiglia says he didn't watch the finale.

He wasn't alone. Ratings for Monday's episode were down from the previous week, and the conclusion of Volume Two was the lowest-rated finale episode for the show yet, according to Nielsen Media Research.

The second season of "Heroes" was cut short after the Writers Guild of America went on strike.

Ventimiglia says he's seen no scripts and has no clues about what will happen when the show returns.

"We ran out of stuff to shoot," he said. "That's basically what it boils down to."

Meanwhile, the 30-year-old actor is producing and starring in the first episode of a series of holiday-themed stop-animation short films for American Eagle Outfitters. The digital shorts also feature Lil Jon, Kristen Bell, Pete Wentz and Adrianne Palicki.

Ventimiglia, whose hair was famously chopped on "Heroes," opted for his puppet counterpart to have his longer 'do.

"I thought we should go with the bangs because they're more recognizable," he says.

Divide Pictures, Ventimiglia and partner Russ Cundiff's production company, has also optioned the movie rights to "Blades of Glory," John Rosengren's book about the Bloomington Jefferson Jaguars, a championship Minnesota high school hockey team.

Ventimiglia says he'll appear in the upcoming films "Game" and "The Chaos Theory."

"I try and take a break and take a vacation," he says, "but I keep getting wrapped up in jobs."

Gail O'Grady stars in TV holiday movie

The 44-year-old actress, a three-time Emmy nominee for "NYPD Blue," and her brother Michael opened their gifts Christmas Eve while growing up in the Chicago suburb of Wheaton, Ill.

"We never wanted a big holiday dinner because it just meant more time before we could tear into our gifts," she said in a statement from the Hallmark Channel. "So it became our tradition that we ate hot dogs on Christmas Eve. Pass the pickles!"

O'Grady's latest project is her first holiday movie, "All I Want for Christmas," airing Saturday on the Hallmark Channel. She plays a single mother whose son wins a Christmas wish contest and asks for a new husband for his mother.

The chance to add some wholesome holiday fare to her resume was important to O'Grady because it was something she could share with her 3-year-old son Michael.

"I wanted to do something that we could enjoy together," she said. "The movie is about loving and giving, and it's a wonderful thing to be able to share with him."

O'Grady's other credits include "Boston Legal" and "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation."

Milo Ventimiglia: Hayden and I Are 'Close Friends'

Two months later, the duo some call "Halo" are still close, hanging together at Wednesday's Race in the Fight Against Epilepsy fundraiser, in Calabasas, Calif. But could these Heroes be a couple?

When asked about the reports of romance, Ventimiglia, 30, chuckled then paused. After a few seconds, he answered, "She and I are close friends. It's only natural that people are going to couple us together."

The actor and Panettiere, 18, hung together outside the bash while awaiting their fellow Heroes costars. And although they spoke closely in a shadowy corner, they remained strictly hands-off. (Once inside, the two were ushered into a private VIP room.)

In September, Heroes costar James Kyson Lee, who plays Ando on the NBC series, told PEOPLE of the prospective pairing, "The rumor is not true. Let's just end it there."

Panettiere and Ventimiglia attended Wednesday's party to support costar Greg Grunberg, whose son Jake suffers from epilepsy.

DICK CLARK SET TO HOST ROCKIN' EVE 2008

The American tradition of Dick Clark counting down to midnight will once again take place during the three-and-a-half hours of specials from Times Square in New York City. This year will include special performances from both New York and Hollywood. Additionally Marysol Castro, "Good Morning America Weekend's" weather and features correspondent, will return to report on other happenings in and around New York City.

The special programming will kick off with "Dick Clark's Primetime New Year's Rockin' Eve 2008" from10:00-11:00 p.m., ET, featuring performances live from New York's Times Square.

During "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve 2008, Part 1" (11:35 p.m. - 1:05 a.m., ET), in addition to reporting on the final minutes of 2007 and the traditional Times Square countdown to midnight, the show will feature music performances from both Hollywood, California and Times Square in New York.

Wrapping the night's activities will be "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve 2008, Part 2" (1:05-2:05 a.m., ET), when musical acts will continue the party into the early hours of the New Year with additional performances from Hollywood.

The specials are presentations of dick clark productions, Inc. Executive producers are Dick Clark, Ryan Seacrest and Terry Bateman. Larry Klein produces. Barry Glazer and Bruce Gowers direct. Production designer is Bruce Ryan. Talent producer is Melissa Trueblood.

'Hairspray' star talks about breast cancer

Snow, who starred in "Hairspray" and "John Tucker Must Die," chatted with amNewYork about breast cancer and young women.

What did you know about breast cancer before you got involved with Reebok?

I didn't know that much about it, especially for younger women because it is viewed as a thing that your mom talks about. But the more studies that are coming out and the more that I'm learning about it, girls that are my age, even sometimes younger, are detecting breast cancer.

How did you learn more about the disease?

IWhen I found out I was going to be doing this event [for the Avon Walk], the first thing I did was go to my mom. I was like, "I don't even know how to check." And she gave me the full rundown, which was a little weird. It was weird because I never really knew about it. There's not an infomercial on it or anything like that. And she started talking about her best girlfriend who died of breast cancer. It was a very emotional conversation.

Why are you involved in this cause?

IReebok is a foundation and a company that is very strong in their views about women and young girls believing in themselves. All their campaigns and messages are about fulfilling your goals and believing in yourself -- things I strongly believe in.

What advice do you have for girls who are struggling with confidence?

IBelieving in yourself and having confidence is not something you can wake up one day and feel. It's doing these little things that make you feel really good about your life. We get so caught up in everything that's not happening or going to happen that you don't really realize you're healthy, you have amazing friends, things like that.

What do you do to boost your confidence?

II still should do it but I've been a little busy, but I used to do a grateful list every morning, where I would write 10 things I was grateful for. It put me in a good mindset because I was like, "Oh yeah, I really do appreciate coffee in the morning," or "Oh my gosh. My lipgloss is awesome." Stupid stuff, like my best friend is the coolest. Little things you just pass by, but if you think about it before you start your day it makes you feel a lot better.

Ex-Tonic Singer Emerson Hart, Wife Have a Baby

Lucienne weighed in at 7 lbs. 11 oz., and is doing well at home in Nashville, a rep for Hart says.

Hart, 38, the former frontman for the band Tonic, talked with PEOPLE in September about the idea of being a dad – a daunting notion for a man whose own father was an abusive schizophrenic who abandoned the family 27 years ago.

"I hope my kids can always count on me," Hart said. "You have to forgive. If you don't, you carry it around. That's too heavy. I'm at peace now."

Hart worked through his issues on his solo debut, Cigarettes and Gasoline, released in July. He is currently on tour with Collective Soul and Live.

Lucienne joins a family that also includes two cats and three rescue dogs. In September, the Harts also mentioned that they were interested in adopting.

Brittany Snow: Dieting Was 'My Best Friend'

"I remember looking around at all these women who were on the soap opera who were working out and dieting," Snow says.

Taking their cue, a 12-year-old Snow tried her first diet, called Eat Right 4 Your Blood Type. "I took it to the extreme," the Hairspray star admits, which included a two-month stint when she "lived on pineapple."

After losing 10 lbs. on the diet, Snow says she heard compliments and felt accepted from those around her. Soon it was a feeling she couldn't get enough of.

"It kind of progressed into this thing where I needed to always be dieting and losing weight and more weight," she says in the site's interview series Half of Us, which addresses mental health issues and ways to get help. "It became my life and I didn't have any friends and this was definitely my best friend and I held on to it really tight."

At 15, Snow was stepping onto the scale 10 to 15 times a day and weighed only 85 lbs.

"I knew that was a really low number and I knew that my hair was falling out and I had really weird skin. My face looked really weird and I was getting this fuzz on my face and I was always cold – always to the point of uncontrollably shaking," she says. " But "I was more scared that 85 lbs. wasn't good enough. I wanted to be lower."

Rock bottom came when Snow began cutting herself. "I would look at the scars and what I had done to myself and that would convince me not to eat," she says. "I also was crying for attention and I also really wanted someone to see my scars and help me and give me a hug."

By 19, Snow was in rehab and things took a turn for the better. She stopped cutting and got help for her depression. "But the eating stuff was still really hard to deal with," she says. "It's still a struggle."

Her advice to girls who are going though a similar situation is to take baby steps. "It's very important to talk to anybody. Maybe the first step is just to talk to a friend about it," she says. "Probably they'll relate in some way."

Love Denials: Hayden-Milo Rumors Nixed, Helena Scoffs at Heath Stories

First, a costar of Heroes' Hayden Panettiere and Milo Ventimiglia shot down recent rumblings (as well as a YouTube video that was closely analyzed by fans) that the 18-year-old actress and her 30-year-old costar were getting closer.

"The rumor is not true," costar James Kyson Lee, who plays Ando, told PEOPLE at Tuesday's Lift Up America Meet Me in Miami premiere in Hollywood. "Let's just end it there."

He added about the romance talk: "I think we were just surprised because they're 12 years apart – for people to even conceive that. I know there have been a lot of jokes, Hayden turning 18 and whatnot. At some point, you just have to let it go, and respect their privacy."

Also on rumor control Tuesday night was Helena Christensen, who scoffed at reports that she recently hooked up with newly single Heath Ledger.

"It is so annoying," the model, 38, told PEOPLE at the premiere of Control in New York. "I can't even tell you. The funny thing is that they write, 'just out of a relationship with Josh [Hartnett] and now with Heath [Ledger].' Josh is one of my dearest friends. ... And in several different tabloids they wrote that we were biting each other's faces off or something like that."

O'Grady & Germann land cable TV roles

The movie, set to premiere December 1, centers on a single mother (O'Grady) with no time for dating who suddenly finds herself with thousands of potential suitors.

Driven Snow

She's in "Hairspray," one of the top five movies in the country. She's starring opposite Oscar nominee Laurence Fishburne in the gritty thriller "Black Water Transit," now filming in New Orleans. She has a handful of other movies set for release next year, including one with Matthew Broderick.

This girl, she's got a career.

But it's not necessarily what she has that distinguishes her from her peers in Hollywood -- it's what she doesn't: She doesn't have a rap sheet or an unflattering mug shot popping up in newspapers and newscasts. She has had no public meltdowns or dates with rehab.

In short, she's no Lindsay.

Or Paris.

Or that other Britney.

That's not to say Snow hasn't sipped at New Orleans' nightlife since arriving in town July 20 for "Black Water Transit" -- she's poked her head in at d.b.a. and the Republic, among other places -- but this young actress is more excited about the film she's working on than about the city's round-the-clock nightlife.

"These 24-hour bars are really blowing my mind," Snow said with a laugh last week, during a day off from filming. ". . . And also that you can walk around with drinks here. I can't do it. I tried, and it felt so wrong."

Go-cups? Wrong? Welcome to New Orleans.

Snow was chatting on a sofa at the Melange restaurant in the Ritz-Carlton, just a zoom-lens away from the hotel bar. Her drink: diet soda.

She credits her family and strong network of friends for keeping her grounded in what can be a pressure-packed industry. But she also realizes that she's been dealt a rare hand.

"I know I'm very, very lucky to be in this business and be working, and to take that for granted and have the ego that it's always going to last and that you can always show up to work late and keep people waiting, it's just not a way that I want to live my life.

"In this kind of business, it can go away at any second, and so I'm trying to do the best work that I can because I'm very grateful. Also, (hard partying) just doesn't appeal to me as much as I'm sure it appeals to other people, and that's just a lucky thing, I guess."

. . . . . . .

Snow's got her vices, though. She's a Florida Gators fan, for one. And a Tampa Bay Buccaneers fan, for another. Beyond her questionable football loyalties, though, it's hard to take many shots at the Tampa native.

In Hollywood, that kind of squeaky-cleanness could lead to too many good-girl roles and the dreaded t-word: typecasting.

After her run as young Meg Pryor on the '60s-set NBC series "American Dreams" (in which her character had her sights set on being a dancer on "American Bandstand") and her turn as Amber Von Tussle in the feature film "Hairspray" (in which her character is a dancer on an "American Bandstand"-type show), she seems to be making something of an effort to stretch herself professionally.

In "Black Water Transit" -- set to wrap in mid-August -- she plays a world-weary prostitute named Sardoona who finds herself in the middle of an arms deal involving two men she loves, played by Laurence Fishburne ("The Matrix") and Karl Urban ("The Bourne Supremacy"). It's a "trippy, eccentric" movie, she said. And that's one of the things she likes most about it.

"It was a very long and drawn-out auditioning process to get this role, because I had to break down a lot of barriers of what people have always thought of me as being," Snow said. "I was really, really intrigued by the character."

With Fishburne on one side and director Tony Kaye ("American History X") on the other, the experience has shaped up as something of a master class in acting.

"Working with Tony Kaye on the character and developing her has probably been the most in-depth process that I've done so far for a movie," she said. "This film is different from anything I've ever done, and probably anything I'll ever do, because Tony Kaye, he is a one-of-a-kind when it comes to his directing style. He's very, very open to basically the fact that anything goes and you can do whatever you want.

"He said to me when I got the part, 'I'm going to empty you out,' and that's basically what this role has been doing. There's a lot of digging going on for sure, which is great and therapeutic and exactly why I love acting in the first place. Teen comedies are very fun, and I think everybody needs to do comedies, but every once in a while you need a great script that you can just dig into and just go for it."

Judging by her recent projects, Snow is all about going for it -- and shattering expectations in the process.

Between the time "Black Water Transit" wraps and is released, another film of Snow's will be in theaters, a dark comedy titled "Finding Amanda" and starring Matthew Broderick. Her role in that film: prostitute.

After that comes "Prom Night" -- which is not, Snow stresses, a remake of the 1980 Jamie Lee Curtis slasher flick. She likens the thriller to the 1998 Reese Witherspoon nail-biter "Fear."

She wrapped on "Prom Night" two weeks before coming to New Orleans, so Snow admits a bit of physical and emotional fatigue -- a vacation, to somewhere tropical, is in the offing -- though she said she wouldn't trade the collective experience she gained on her recent films, particularly on "Black Water Transit," for anything.

"I'm little by little showing myself that I can handle a movie like this and handle a role like this," she said. "You're so nervous that you're going to have to do this crazy scene -- there's no script and I have to be crazy and dancing and singing and playing with my shadow and coming up with things on the top of my head and running up on top of cars and basically, anything you can imagine. And then, after the scene, you can't describe the feeling. You're like, 'Wow, where did all that come from?' I'm so thrilled I get to do this every day."

Brittany has four days off.

She's been burning the midnight oil with a string of night shoots on "Black Water Transit," but now she's got a friend in town, use of a car and four days in which to blow off some steam.

There probably will be some antiquing involved, since she collects old jewelry and has found a shopping heaven in the French Quarter. ("The stores are all so full of history, and they're so genuinely nice -- very different from L.A., for sure.") Maybe another trip to Frenchmen Street or Magazine Street.

Her eyes widen at the suggestion of a possible trip to Saints training camp in Jackson, Miss. As a sports fan in general -- and NFL fan in particular -- there is obvious allure to the idea of scouting a rival of her hometown Buccaneers. Besides, a chance to meet Saint Reggie himself, running back Reggie Bush, holds appeal to any real NFL fan.

She's open to anything, really -- just eager to experience New Orleans -- so she's liable to turn up any number of places. Except, she promises, the police blotter.

THE BRITTANY SNOW FILE

Age: 21.

Resides: Los Angeles and Tampa, Fla.

Current projects: "Black Water Transit," with Laurence Fishburne, being filmed in New Orleans; and "Hairspray," with John Travolta and Michelle Pfeiffer, in theaters.

Coming up: "Finding Amanda," a dark comedy co-starring Matthew Broderick; and the thriller "Prom Night" (no relation to the 1980 slasher flick), both set for 2008 release.

Notable past roles: Feature films "John Tucker Must Die" and "The Pacifier," and the NBC series "American Dreams."

'I wear nothing' in 'Black Water Transit', says Brittany Snow

The 21-year-old, who plays a troubled hooker, Sardoonah in the film, revealed that her character made out with everyone and wore nothing in the entire film.

"Basically, I have sex with everybody in the movie. I wear nothing the entire time," US magazine quoted Snow, as saying.

Meanwhile, the 'Hairspray' actress who celebrated a three day birthday bash this year insisted that she was not looking forward to just becoming a celeb and enjoying parties, but wanted to show people her acting talent.

"I'm really excited to show people that I am an actual actress, not just wanting to be a celebrity and go to this party and that party," she said.

Apart from 'Black Water Transit', Snow also set to play a lead role in upcoming flick 'Prom Night', a remake of the hit horror film of the same name, starring Jamie Lee Curtis.

This Brittany searches for identity beyond name

The 21-year-old Tampa, Fla., native doesn't party with any of Hollywood's various Jessicas or skip work due to "exhaustion." The closest Snow comes to tabloids is when she's standing in a supermarket checkout line.

But watch her in "Hairspray," playing the conniving coquette Amber von Tussle, who can't believe anyone would prefer the chubby heroine to her own sleek blondness. Hear that voice, see those heels kick and feel free to hiss her disdain of anyone she isn't.

You get the feeling that Snow is on the way to stardom, for all the right reasons.

"Some people are more interested in their names than their work," Snow said from New York recently, hours before Hairspray's official premiere. "But I would so much rather be known for my work.

"I try not to get too involved with the celebrity aspect, or get caught up in the Hollywood aspect because it's too confusing for me and it doesn't interest me that much."

Besides, staying out all night in Los Angeles nightclubs simply isn't her thing.

"It's just not who I am," she said. "I definitely go out and have a good time when I'm in L.A. I do what I do, then I show up on the set on time and do whatever needs to be done. It has a lot to do with how I was raised."

Snow's parents still guide her decisions. Mother Cinda is nearby in Los Angeles and father John holds down the Tampa fort. Snow doesn't get back home as often as she'd like: "Maybe three or four times a year, so I miss my dad" and friends from Gaither High School and regional stage performances.

Those beginnings led to modeling jobs, 15 commercials, a role on the soap opera "Guiding Light" and eventually her breakout role on NBC's set-in-the-'60s drama "American Dreams." Now she is wearing those New Frontier fashions and doing the Mashed Potato again in "Hairspray."

"I'm sure ("Hairspray" producers) saw me in 1960s makeup and things," Snow said. "But 'Hairspray' is a lot different from 'American Dreams.'"

Certainly the moods are different. Snow likes the fact that both capture an era of important social change, especially with regard to civil rights.

"There aren't many chances as a teen actress to be a part of two projects that make such strong messages about a huge part of history," she said.

Snow's visibility will get a big boost from "Hairspray." After all, a big role in a movie version of a Broadway smash with John Travolta and Michelle Pfeiffer can't possibly hurt.

"It's a little strange," she said. "I'm working with these stars who have been my favorites growing up and who are icons. Just being in the same room with them when we're doing interviews is very surreal.

"As far as people taking notice of me, it really hasn't changed yet. Maybe something will change when the movie comes out. I'm just going to handle it day by day with whatever happens."

Snow is keeping busy while the world catches on. Four of her movies are slated for 2008 release, including "Black Water Transit," currently filming with director Tony Kaye ("American History X") in New Orleans. Three more are in the can: a dark comedy with Matthew Broderick titled "Finding Amanda"; the low-budget indie "On the Doll"; and "Prom Night," a horror movie that Snow assured isn't a remake of the 1980 slasher flick.

"Black Water Transit," "Finding Amanda" and "On the Doll" all share a common thread suggesting that her girl-next-door days are numbered. In each, she portrays a prostitute, exactly what nobody expects from wholesome-looking Brittany Snow.

"That's always the most rewarding type of part, the ones that people don't normally see you in but you find it within yourself," she said. "I definitely don't look like a prostitute. I know that for a fact. But I like playing girls who are very complex with addictions and inner demons.

"I have to believe that if I keep doing things I'm passionate about and do the best I can, people will know me for who I am and not just another Brittany."

Review: `Hairspray' is innocent fun

Having said that, this new brand of "Hairspray" is a hybrid of its predecessors: enormously entertaining but with only faint traces of Waters' signature dark, kitschy humor. It is, in a word, safe — one you would ordinarily never use to describe Waters' work.

Director and choreographer Adam Shankman keeps the tone light, the hair high and the pacing snappy, even while delivering the film's segregation-is-bad message, which seems archaic and obvious 45 years after the movie's setting. (Shankman certainly shows a more deft touch here than he did with "Bringing Down the House" and "The Pacifier.")

But there is something refreshing in the innocence of the film, written by Leslie Dixon based on both Waters' script and the 2002 Broadway hit. No winking, no mugging — just earnest, wholesome, knock-your-socks-off fun. You'll probably be tempted to burst into applause at the end of the splashier numbers, as several people in the audience did during a recent screening in Hollywood. (The music comes from Marc Shaiman with lyrics by Shaiman and Scott Wittman, Tony winners for the stage version.)

Much of the movie's charm radiates from 18-year-old newcomer Nikki Blonsky, an absolute delight as the film's plus-sized protagonist, Tracy Turnblad, the role that made a then-unknown Ricki Lake a star 20 years ago. She's just so darn perky, so unflappably sunny as she belts her way through the opening tune, "Good Morning Baltimore," she makes it impossible to resist getting caught up in her enthusiasm.

Tracy's greatest dream is to make it as a dancer on "The Corny Collins Show," which she and best friend Penny Pingleton (a cute but stiff Amanda Bynes) scurry home to watch on TV after school — that is, until she discovers the racial discrimination that plagues the program. The show's regulars are billed as "the nicest kids in town," but they're not exactly a diverse bunch. That's why there's Negro Day with host Motormouth Maybelle (Queen Latifah), which only comes once a month — though, as Tracy gushes, she wishes every day were Negro Day.

She gets her chance to shake things up when Corny (a perfectly slick James Marsden) notices her during a dance competition. This allows her to show off the new moves she learned from the black kids in detention, including Seaweed (Elijah Kelley), who happens to be Maybelle's son. Kelley, whose biggest role before this was as a dancer in the forgettable "Take the Lead," is hugely charismatic — great-looking, likable, a talented singer and dancer and as much of a discovery as Blonsky herself.

Trouble is, the brittle station manager Velma Von Tussle (Michelle Pfeiffer) isn't terribly fond of chubby girls or blacks, and feels especially inspired to unleash her wrath when Tracy starts stealing attention from her daughter, Amber (Brittany Snow), the show's spoiled star. From there, it doesn't take long for Tracy to attract Amber's boyfriend, the dreamy Link Larkin (the dreamy Zac Efron from "High School Musical"). Scheming, romance and race riots ensue — and, of course, more singing and dancing.

Sitting at home in her robe, ironing and watching all these developments from the safety of her row house with a mixture of apprehension and excitement, is Tracy's tubby mother, Edna, played famously by John Travolta in drag. As inhabited by Divine in the original film and Harvey Fierstein on Broadway, the part is intended to be portrayed with high camp.

With Travolta, though, there's no sense of fun. He plays it straight, for lack of a better word, and with a touch of pathos. The joke is completely lost, and you never lose sight of the fact that you're watching the star of "Grease" and "Saturday Night Fever," this time brandishing his trademark dance moves while wearing a fat suit.

"Hairspray," a New Line Cinema release, is rated PG for language, some suggestive content and momentary teen smoking. Running time: 117 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.

More cast changes at "Boston Legal"

Additionally, former regulars Mark Valley and Rene Auberjonois will return for multiple episodes on the ABC series' upcoming fourth season.

Saffron Burrows and Gail O'Grady also will appear in multiple episodes of the drama, which is undergoing a major cast overhaul this summer.

Last month, the options on four regulars -- Valley, Auberjonois, Julie Bowen and Constance Zimmer -- were not picked up. Emmy winner John Larroquette and Tara Summers joined the show as regulars, while recurring player Christian Clemenson was upped to a regular.

Larroquette will play Carl Sack, a senior partner from the New York offices of Crane Poole & Schmidt who transfers to Boston. Henson will portray a high-powered corporate litigator out of the New York office whom Sack brings in to help wrestle more political sovereignty within the firm. The character will be introduced later in the season.O'Grady, who appeared on several episodes this year, will reprise her role as Judge Gloria Weldon, who is in a heated relationship with Shore.

Auberjonois will return as CP&S senior partner Paul Lewiston and Valley as attorney Brad Chase, who will go up against one of the firm's lawyers in court.

The show also stars Candice Bergen and William Shatner.

Henson next stars opposite Don Cheadle in "Talk to Me." Burrows recently appeared in the feature "Reign Over Me."

'Hidden Palms' Finale Moves Up

The summer drama series will have its remaining six episodes burned off with back-to-back episodes in order for the season finale to air on July 4, no doubt when families will be out watching fireworks, digesting BBQ or other activities that don't normally involve watching TV.

On Wednesday, June 20 and 27, the CW will air two new "Hidden Palms" episodes and then conclude at 8:00 p.m. on Independence Day.

Another change besides this accelerated schedule is the removal of the repeat episodes on Sundays, which will now feature repeats of "7th Heaven" to accompany two back-to-back "Reba" episodes and a "Supernatural" repeat.

"Hidden Palms" centers on the experiences of Johnny (Taylor Handley) who moves to Palm Springs with his family after witnessing his father's suicide and subsequently going through rehab. The only problem is that the denizens of the town, including Greta (Amber Heard) and Cliff (Michael Cassidy), seem fairly unbalanced themselves, and a mystery concerning the boy who used to live in Johnny's new home may have far-reaching consequences.

Keith Robinson the long arm of "Law" for Fox

Julianna Margulies ("ER") head the cast as a rebellious defense attorney who pushes the boundaries of the law to protect innocent clients. Robinson will play her co-worker, Chester Fields. The role was played in the pilot by Jocko Sims.

Robinson, who played songwriter C.C. White in "Dreamgirls," will next be seen in the CBS miniseries "Comanche Moon," which airs in November.

Virginia Madsen in spirit of "Haunting"

The film tells the true story of a family forced to relocate near a clinic where their teenage son is being treated for cancer. There, they discover that the home they have rented is a former mortuary with a dark history that might account for the extraordinary manifestations of the boy's illness and the supernatural events that threaten the family.

Peter Cornwell is directing the Gold Circle Films project. A late summer start is being eyed.

Madsen, who was nominated for an Oscar for her performance in "Sideways," most recently appeared on the big screen opposite Jim Carrey in "The Number 23."

Virginia Madsen: My Botox Confession

Pointing to the bridge between her eyes, the Sideways Oscar nominee, 45, told a New York press luncheon that "over the years" she's put the wrinkle-erasing product to use in order to deal with her "11" lines, and "more recently," she said, she's also used Juvéderm to correct the creases at the sides of her mouth.

"As I started to talk about it and as it ended up in print there was such an overwhelming response from friends and family, lots and lots of actors, people on the street," said Madsen, who is the new spokesperson for Allergan, Inc. – the maker of Botox and Juvéderm. "They were surprised that I looked so 'normal.' "

Madsen, whose mother, Elaine Madsen, was at her side, said: "That is how it should be. I don't have that sort of frozen look that we have talked about."

Addressing some of the dangers occasionally encountered treating wrinkles, Madsen said she was turned off by Botox parties "at someone's home that maybe I didn't know" and by "discounted treatments at hair salons."

After she's used Botox, she said, "What was really surprising to me and somewhat alarming was that no one ever asked me who my doctor was. Or where I had them done. They would ask me where on my face [I was treated]."

Approached by Allergan to work for its campaign called "Keep the Wisdom. Lose the Lines," Madsen said that the National Women's Health Resource Center also shared its research with her about the misinformation when it came to aesthetic injectable treatments.

"I knew that I could join them, and I could turn my openness about my treatments into a potential call to action for people who were interested in maintaining their looks, but [who] need to know how to do this in the right way."

Stressing that "Botox and Juvéderm are medicines – they are prescription medicines" – Madsen said, "I think a lot of people have lost sight of that with the growing popularity of these products. I don't think anyone would ever consider having their eyes examined anywhere else but in a doctor's chair. It is very similar."

She also suggests moderation when it comes to partaking of the products. "I am not using these injectables to look 25," she said. "I don't want to be 25. I just want to look like me. I am 45, and I am in the best shape that I have ever been in my life."

Madsen, who says she does her best to stay fit partly to keep up with her 12-year old son, Jack, said, "I made a lot of choices to keep myself youthful and strong. I work out. I eat good foods. And I also get injectables, and I just felt like it was really important for us to discuss the safety issues. ... I lost the lines, but I still look like me, which is the result that I think many people want to experience."

For more on Virginia Madsen, pick up PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday.

Ventimiglia outfits Web series for American Eagle

"It's a Mall World" explores the lives and relationships of a greeter/salesgirl at an American Eagle store, two employees at a fictitious independent record store, a "slightly psychotic" girl who works in a similarly ersatz lingerie store called Glorious Chest, and a "bad-boy poseur from the requisite mall juice bar," American Eagle said.

The series will consist of 12 five-minute "webisodes" that will air weekly at American Eagle's web site (http://www.ae.com), starting August 2.

It will premiere on MTV in the summer, as part of American Eagle's overall media buy with the network, and in American Eagle stores in the form of three-minute "minisodes."

Joey Lawrence Dances with the Devil on CSI: NY

TVGuide.com: So, you do the "dancing monkey" act and you get your career jump-started, eh?
Joey Lawrence: Yeah! You never know why or where or when or how things happen, you just have to roll with it. I took some time off and [Dancing with the Stars] came up, and it worked out good!

TVGuide.com: Is this the first serial killer you've ever played? The first killer of any kind?
Lawrence: Yep. It's my first dark sort of role like that. They called me and said, "We have this story we'd love to have you play, if you're into it," and they sent me the script and it was great. I thought it was something that could be really cool. Playing opposite Gary Sinise, who I'm a huge fan of, was a great opportunity, and to play someone as dark as this was a lot of fun.

TVGuide.com: Working opposite Gary, did you feel an added pressure to bring your "A game"?
Lawrence: I always try to bring the "A game," man, whether it's an indie or anything. But for sure, I wanted to do the best I possibly could playing opposite such a great actor.

TVGuide.com: What are you at liberty to reveal about your character? I know there's a certain amount of secrecy surrounding the story line.
Lawrence: Um.... Clay Dobson was caught by Mac five years ago and convicted of murdering five women. The cop who was going to testify to make sure I stayed in jail forever turned out to be a dirty cop, so Mac had to deal with the issue of, "Do I put this dirty cop away, or do I let him slide and keep Clay in jail?" Of course he puts the cop away, losing them their key witness, and then as soon as I get out of jail, these two bodies pop up, and they look similar [in style of death/presentation], but with a twist. Mac tries to convince his superiors it's me, and I'm suing the department, so they're like, "Leave it alone."

TVGuide.com: Sounds like Mac takes justice into his own hands....
Lawrence: I was talking to Gary about it, and he said it was really cool because he and I had the biggest fight sequence he's had on the show, and it's neat to see him "out of character" like that. He said, "I'm usually in the lab looking at the bodies, so for me to be able to throw away a weapon and just say, 'Come on, boy,' like John Wayne, is pretty cool.

TVGuide.com: When was the last time you had a fight scene?
Lawrence: Oh, never like this, man. They had like 15 cameras up there, and we had to shoot all the fight sequences in one day. It was really incredible. It took us like three hours to set up one shot that lasted, like, 10 seconds. [Laughs] But it was a good time, and it's going to set up a good cliffhanger for the end of the season. It's good for Gary, too, because Mac ends up in some hot water....

TVGuide.com: Is Clay cocky, does he feel he has the upper hand...?
Lawrence: He's a very calm and collected and smooth operator. He doesn't lose his cool. That's how all the great serial killers are. Their other side is a very normal guy.

TVGuide.com: Well, yeah. If they ran around drooling and with crazy eyes, they'd be much easier to catch.
Lawrence: You're exactly right. But Clay Dobson has this switch that goes off and takes him to the darkest places.

TVGuide.com: Do you regret not cutting your lush locks sooner?
Lawrence: You know, I wanted to cut my hair for so many years, and for one reason or another I didn't....

TVGuide.com: You probably had people advising you, "Joey, it's part of who you are, it's what the people know."
Lawrence: Of course, and finally I just said, "F it" and shaved it off. And as soon as I did that I got these two cool little indie movies, and I've got this Warner Bros. movie that hasn't come out where I play this Easy Rider kind of throwback cop. And then this Dancing with the Stars thing came up and they wanted me to keep it shaved. Even the CSI: NY people said, "Would you mind shaving it back down?" It's gone from, "Don't do that" to "Would you mind keeping it that way?"

TVGuide.com: Drew Lachey resurfaced on DWTS last week for a quick encore with Cheryl Burke. Would you — could you — do the same?
Lawrence: I'm actually doing something [on April 13] a huge Race to Erase MS fundraiser where Ray Romano is the emcee and Whitney Houston is going to sing.... There's a big fashion show that Tommy Hilfiger does and [DWTS partner] Edyta [Sliwinska] and I are going to dance to the opening of that. After all that training, I can hold my own in terms of picking steps up. I don't know if I'll go back on the show, but if I need to use it on other things, like Broadway, it could come in handy!

CW Reveals 'Hidden Palms' Premiere

.The dark one-hour drama "Hidden Palms" will make its premiere on the fledgling network on Wednesday, May 30 at 8 p.m. ET, announced CW chief Dawn Ostroff.

Ushered to the CW by Kevin Williamson ("Dawson's Creek," "Scream") and Scott Winant ("Huff," "My So-Called Life"), the series revolves around the troubled yet bright Johnny Miller, played by Taylor Handley, better known as crazy Oliver of "The O.C." fame. Reeling from his father's suicide, Johnny turns to alcohol and drugs. Like Britney Spears, he's fresh out of rehab and looking to begin anew.

With his mom and new dad (Gail O'Grady, D.W. Moffett) Johnny moves to the affluent paradise of Palm Springs. Feeling immediately out of place, our hero makes friends with his neighbors Cliff (Michael Cassidy) and Liza (Ellary Porterfield) and the beautifully enigmatic Greta (Amber Heard). But there's something strange going on that Johnny can't quite put his finger on, but it's somehow linked to the tragic death of Cliff's best friend, who just happens to have lived in Johnny's house.

The cast also includes Tessa Thompson, Sharon Lawrence, and Leslie Jordan.

Boston, Yasbeck headline ABC news comedy

"American Dreams" alumna Boston will play a rising star at the station who was recently promoted to executive producer of all news programs. Yasbeck, who recently co-starred on "Life on a Stick," will play a co-anchor.

New Show For Vanny

The untitled CBS project, from David Kohan and Max Mutchnick, is about two friends and writing partners, one straight and one gay (Green), and the women working with them (Jessica Capshaw, Vanessa Lengies). The project is loosely based on Kohan and Mutchnick's friendship.

Green most recently co-starred on ABC's comedy "Freddie." Capshaw has been recurring on Showtime's lesbian drama "The L Word," while Lengies co-starred on Lifetime's "Monarch Cove."

"Dreamgirls" star recruited for Fox cop drama

Robinson will play one of the leads, a decorated officer who is deeply religious. He plays C.C. White in "Dreamgirls."

'Prom Night' Remake Is a Snow Job

In the Paul Lynch-directed 1980 original, a group of high school seniors are terrorized by a mask killer whose motive appears to have something to do with the death of a young girl six years earlier.

Nelson McCormick is directing the new "Prom Night," with Neal Moritz producing.

Although Variety doesn't specify, Snow will presumably take on the Jamie Lee Curtis role.

Probably best known for her wholesome turn on NBC's "American Dreams," Snow has been working against that image with a recurring turn on "Nip/Tuck" and in features like "John Tucker Must Die." She's already completed work on "Finding Amanda" and a supporting role in "Hairspray."

Clark, Seacrest will rock in new year

Clark, 77, made his first appearance since a stroke in December 2004 at last year's New Year's Eve celebration in Times Square. Ever since, he has been battling back with daily therapy sessions.

Last month, he said in an Associated Press interview that he remembered being surprised on the morning of Dec. 6, 2004.

"I woke up in the morning and my right side didn't work. I thought a dog had slept on my side," said Clark, whose wife then drove him to the hospital. "Your life changes overnight," he told the AP.

"I am happy that I'm alive, that I'm reasonably well," he said. "I'm sad that I'm impaired with my walking and my speech is impaired. But I'm happy."

He did not take part in a news conference call to talk about the show that will ring in 2007. Ryan Seacrest, heir apparent to the Clark throne, spoke for him: "He's looking forward to this show. He loves being on the air on New Year's Eve. There's nothing that's going to stop him from being there."

The highlight of this year's show will be a record-high 19 performances, Seacrest says. Among them: Rihanna, Ludacris, Christina Aguilera, Rascal Flatts, the cast of Jersey Boys, Natasha Bedingfield, Meat Loaf and RBD.

They'll all be part of the ABC festivities that start at 10 p.m. (live ET, tape-delayed PT) with Dick Clark's Primetime New Year's Rockin' Eve 2007.

Seacrest saw Clark within the past month and said he looked "relaxed" and was "joking."

Seacrest added: " I think he has definitely improved. He has improved since we've seen him at the Emmys (in August). He's obviously still recovering, but I think you'll see improvement on the New Year's Eve show."

Seacrest says there has been no talk of him doing the show without Clark. "As far as I'm concerned, Dick can do it and will do it as long as he wants to."

He could not say what Clark's role will be this year. "It is up to Dick." Seacrest plans to do one thing: "Be there for as much as he needs me for."

Seacrest said he was happy to have Clark back on the air last year.

"It made me more comfortable to have him there. It's his show. It's his platform. I think it made it much easier for me to know he was going to carry what he was going to carry. It showed a lot of strength and courage for him. He's a fearless individual."

Brittany Snow Cast in Finding Amanda

Shooting will begin January 3 in Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

The film revolves around a strung-out TV producer (Broderick) who is sent by his wife on a mission to save their niece Amanda (Snow), who's a hooker and stripper living in Las Vegas.

Snow next stars in New Line's musical adaptation Hairspray in the role of Amber Von Tussle.

Dick Clark auctions 'Bandstand' mic

The famed host auctioned off a number of items from his personal collection of musical memorabilia, including a microphone he used beginning July 9, 1956 — his first day on the rock 'n' roll show that made him famous. The microphone went for $33,000 Wednesday at Guernsey's auction house.

Other items sold in the two-day auction included Madonna's bustier worn during the video for "Open Your Heart," for $11,400; a cape belonging to Elvis Presley, for $24,000; and Bob Dylan's harmonica, which went for $18,000, auction president Arlan Ettinger said. A pair of red and yellow boots worn by Elton John sold for $9,600.

Lithographs that John Lennon gave his wife Yoko Ono as a wedding gift were sold for $54,000. The drawings were first exhibited in January 1970 at the London Art Gallery, but the exhibition was closed on the second day by Scotland Yard, which said they were too sexually explicit.

Clark, 76, described himself as "a pack rat" since childhood and said his scripts and memorabilia had filled 28,000 square feet in a California warehouse. Clark, who suffered a stroke in 2004, still goes to work daily and undergoes therapy, Ettinger said.

The auction was held at Jazz at Lincoln Center in Manhattan. Guernsey's said it would be a no-reserve auction, with everything selling for the highest bid.

Much of the profits from the sale were to go to the T.J. Martell Foundation, which was founded by the music industry to raise money for research on cancer and AIDS, Ettinger said.

The buyer's fee was 20 percent.

NEW YEAR'S ROCKIN' EVE INCLUDES RECORD NUMBER OF LIVE PERFORMANCES

"Dick Clark's Primetime New Year's Rockin' Eve 2007" (10:00-11:00 p.m., ET)
"Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve 2007," Part 1 (11:35 p.m. -1:05 a.m., ET)
"Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve 2007," Part 2 (1:05-2:05 a.m., ET)

GENE SIMMONS: DICK CLARK 'Was Kind Enough To Us In The Beginning When No One Else Gave A Squat'

"Right before we were to go on, Clark came into our dressing room," continues Simmons. "He put his arm around our shoulders and said, 'Anything you want, just ask me.' He was kind enough to us in the beginning when no one else gave a squat. Dick Clark was, is, and continues to be a gentleman of the highest order."

Clark progressing two years after stroke

Clark, who turns 77 next week, knew there was something wrong when he awakened on Dec. 6, 2004.

"I woke up in the morning and my right side didn't work. I thought a dog had slept on my side," said Clark, who sounded upbeat and could be clearly understood. "My wife said, `I think you had a stroke,' and she drove me to the hospital."

Doctors at Burbank's Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center kept him hospitalized for weeks. Rehabilitation therapy sessions have continued ever since.

"Your life changes overnight," he said.

Recently, Clark has been busy promoting the Dec. 5 and 6 auction of his memorabilia at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City. The self-professed pack rat plans to attend.

"I keep everything. It's one of my problems. I'm a saver," Clark said.

Throughout his rehabilitation, Clark's devoted wife, Kari, has been at his side, as she has throughout their marriage.

"She's one of a kind, thank God," Clark said.

"I am happy that I'm alive, that I'm reasonably well," he continued. "I'm sad that I'm impaired with my walking and my speech is impaired. But I'm happy."

Besides preparing for a Thanksgiving Day meal for 18 of her relatives, Kari Clark was also organizing Tuesday evening's "American Music Awards" after-party. Clark, who has produced that show for decades, said he almost considers it one of his children.

"I watch it," Clark said. "Sure, I'm interested. I created that thing 34 years ago. You can't just dismiss it (from your life)."

He's also produced the "Academy of Country Music Awards" and " Golden Globe Awards" shows for years.

Next month's auction includes some prized mementos from Clark's classic "American Bandstand," including the microphone he used on July 9, 1956, when he kicked off the rock 'n' roll show that made him famous.

Arlan Ettinger, the president of Guernsey's auction house, expects it will fetch between $10,000 and $100,000.

Other items on the block include a bass guitar that Paul McCartney played when he was a Beatle, a Michael Jackson beaded glove and the harmonica that Bob Dylan played in "The Last Waltz."

Clark has a 28,000 square foot warehouse full of stuff.

"I didn't want to get rid of any of it. But there comes a time to clean the closet," Clark said, adding there had been some thought to creating a Dick Clark Museum. "Nothing ever came to fruit."

Much of the auction profits will go to the T.J. Martell Foundation, which was founded by the music industry to raise money for research on cancer and AIDS, Ettinger said.

Brothers take flight in NBC's `Heroes'

"Eyes, nose," they exclaim, their words bouncing into each other's.

"Look at these two eyes," Pasdar gestures.

"The color thing, and everything," says Ventimiglia, as, side by side, they widen their eyes.

"Exactly the same color," affirms Pasdar.

"Like build and body," Ventimiglia continues.

"It's all right there," interjects Pasdar.

Pasdar is the older sibling, Nathan Petrelli, an ambitious overachiever running for political office. Ventimiglia is Peter Petrelli, a male nurse, who is something of a dreamer.

All the main characters in this fantasy drama are ordinary people with extraordinary talents. Both Petrelli brothers can fly — something Nathan's not too keen on voters finding out about.

Additionally, Peter is able to pick up on the abilities of other super-powered people. Those include Hiro Nakamura (Masi Oka), a computer enthusiast who can time travel; Isaac Mendez (Santiago Cabrera), a drug-addicted artist who can paint the future, and Claire Bennet (Hayden Panettiere), a cheerleader who cannot die.

There's also Niki Sanders (Ali Larter), a Las Vegas stripper and single mom who discovers secrets through her mirror image, and Matt Parkman (Greg Grunberg), a Los Angeles cop who can hear people's thoughts. Sendhil Ramamurthy plays Mohinder Suresh, a genetics professor from India who discovered the heroes.

With the series' interwoven elements just beginning to mesh, Ventimiglia wasn't yet sure how close his character has to get to others to pick up their skills. He also was unclear "whether he can retain them."

"It's not like testing your car alarm to see how far you can get before you can turn it off or on," he says, grinning, as he and Pasdar wait for a rehearsal call in their trailer.

What both know is that it's fun to fly, even though it's not as easy as it looks.

"If we didn't have the physical acumen that we have, I think the show would have a different feel, at least in terms of our input, because the flying stuff is difficult to pull off and make look real," says Pasdar.

The actors feel they should take what opportunities they can to inject a semblance of reality, and sometimes even humor, into their flight scenes — moments that might include unsteady landings, cold shivers, tears in the eyes and maybe even bugs in the teeth.

"The truth is, the show is very reality based," says creator and executive producer Tim Kring. "The show is really about what would happen if you or I woke up one day to discover we had some sort of special ability. ... How would we fold it into our normal lives."

Kring believes "Heroes" has caught on with viewers because, "I think everybody deep down feels they are special in some way, and if they don't feel that then they wish that they did."

He adds: "We live in a very complicated and confusing world and the thought that there might be people who would be coming along and may be able to deal with some of those complicated issues, and perhaps solve them, is, I think, a very intriguing idea right now."

A few years ago, Pasdar went in to read for the role of Ventimiglia's father in a planned but then aborted spinoff of "Gilmore Girls," the series in which the younger actor had costarred.

That idea would have been something of a stretch, since Ventimiglia is 29 and Pasdar is 41 (and married to Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks and the father of two young sons).

"Ultimately they said, when he (Pasdar) walked out of the room, `Wow, he's really good. You guys should play brothers,'" Ventimiglia recalls.

They met again on the set of "Heroes" on which Ventimiglia had been the first main character cast and Pasdar the last.

"He's the bow on the gift" Ventimiglia says, causing the actors to laugh about the bribe that might have been needed to make him say that.

CBS Offers Online 'Smith' Closure

The network announced on Thursday (Nov. 9) that the four remaining episodes of "Smith" will be available on CBS' streaming broadband channel Innertube. In addition to the three episodes that actually aired, viewers can watch seven "Smith" hours on Innertube and also download them at AOL, Amazon and Apple's iTunes Store.

But if that's not closure enough, CBS has also gotten the show's producers to write a brief synopsis of how the series, which starred Ray Liotta, Virginia Madsen, Simon Baker, Amy Smart, Jonny Lee Miller, Franky G, Chris Bauer and Shohreh Aghdashloo, would have ended.

After its three Wednesday night airings, CBS pulled "Smith" on Oct. 6, helping the series achieve the dubious honor of beating The CW's "Runaway," NBC's "Kidnapped" and FOX's "Happy Hour" to the shelf. CBS will premiere its "Smith" replacement, the medical drama "3 Lbs.," on Tuesday, Nov. 14.

Dick Clark returning for '07 show

Seacrest, the 31-year-old host of "American Idol," handled co-hosting duties last year and is expected to eventually succeed Clark as the show's host.

Clark originated the New Year's Eve program back in 1972. The only show he missed followed his Dec. 6, 2004, stroke.

Dick Clark plans to auction memorabilia from American Bandstand in December

The famed host is auctioning off a number of items from his personal collection of musical memorabilia, including the microphone he used beginning on July 9, 1956 - his first day on the rock 'n' roll show that made him famous.

"It's tough to part with that one," Clark said of the microphone, which was valued by Arlan Ettinger, president of Guernsey's auction house, at between US$10,000 and US$100,000.

Other items to be sold include a bass guitar that Paul McCartney played when he was a Beatle, a beaded glove that Michael Jackson wore in his moonwalking phase and the harmonica that Bob Dylan played in "The Last Waltz."

The host of "New Year's Rockin' Eve", now 76, described himself as "a pack rat" since childhood and said his scripts and memorabilia had filled 2,520 square metres in a California warehouse.

"I've got every Life magazine that was ever printed, because my grandmother saved them for me," he said. "I've got most of the Playboy magazines. I've got Fortune - lovely photographs in there. I saved everything."

Clark, who suffered a stroke in 2004, still goes to work daily and undergoes therapy, Ettinger was quoted as saying by the New York Times in its Wednesday edition.

The auction was planned for Dec. 5 and 6 at Jazz at Lincoln Center in Manhattan. Guernsey's said it would be a no-reserve auction, with everything selling for the highest bid.

Much of the profits from the sale are to go to the T.J. Martell Foundation, which was founded by the music industry to raise money for research on cancer and AIDS, Ettinger said.

CBS' 'Smith' first new show to bite dust

Networks don't like to use the word "cancel" — it sounds so messy — but the show's producers have been given no promise that it will return.

Its last episode had only 8.4 million viewers on Tuesday, according to Nielsen Media Research. It faced tough competition in the time slot from NBC's "Law & Order: SVU" and ABC's "Boston Legal."

Meanwhile, NBC announced the sort-of cancellation of its Wednesday night serial comedy "Kidnapped," which stars Jeremy Sisto. NBC gambled by putting the show in the time slot held for a long time by "Law & Order," and it failed miserably.

"Kidnapped" will be moved to the television purgatory of Saturday nights, starting Oct. 21. Its producers have been told to wrap up the serialized drama's story lines by the end of the show's 13-episode order, NBC said.

Networks have been wrestling with how to satisfy fans who've gotten involved in serialized dramas when the ratings are poor enough for the show to be canceled.

Fox has put its new comedy "Happy Hour" on hiatus, but insists it will return.

'Heros' Gets Full-Season

"'Heroes' has delivered exceptional ratings since it's premiere and we're even more impressed with the quality of the upcoming episodes," said Reilly. "We have complete confidence in creator-executive producer Tim Kring. The best is yet to come over the course of a full season with this newest drama sensation."

"Heroes" is averaging a 5.7 rating, 14 share in adults 18-49 and 13.5 million viewers overall, making it the #1 new series this Fall in adults 18-49, tied with ABC's "Brothers & Sisters." "Heroes" is the #1 show in its competitive Monday 9-10 p.m. (ET) slot in adults 18-49, generating a 43 percent increase on NBC's non-sports average for the time period last season.

From creator-executive producer Kring (NBC's "Crossing Jordan") comes "Heroes," an epic drama that chronicles the lives of ordinary people who discover they possess extraordinary abilities.

They include a genetics professor (Sendhil Ramamurthy, "Blind Guy Driving") in India who is led by his father's disappearance to uncover a secret theory - that there are people with super powers living among us. Also featured are a young dreamer (Milo Ventimiglia, "Gilmore Girls") tries to convince his politician brother (Adrian Pasdar, "Judging Amy") that he can fly. A high school cheerleader (Hayden Panettiere, "Ice Princess") learns that she is totally indestructible. A Las Vegas single mother (Ali Larter, "Final Destination") struggles to make ends meet to support her young son (Noah Gray-Cabey, "My Wife & Kids") and discovers that her mirror image has a secret.

In addition, a fugitive from justice (Leonard Roberts, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer") continues to baffle authorities who twice have been unable to contain him. A gifted artist (Santiago Cabrera, "Empire"), whose drug addiction is destroying his life and relationship with his girlfriend (Tawny Cypress, "Third Watch"), can paint the future. A down-on-his-luck Los Angeles beat cop (Greg Grunberg, "Alias") can hear people's thoughts, which puts him on the trail of an elusive serial killer. In Japan, a young man (Masi Oka, NBC's "Scrubs") develops a way to stop time through sheer will power.

Their ultimate destiny is nothing less than saving the world.

Joining Kring as executive producer are Dennis Hammer (NBC's "Crossing Jordan") and Allan Arkush (NBC's "Crossing Jordan"). The drama is produced by NBC Universal Television Studio.

Familiar crime mystery adds family twist and runs with it

Not that Runaway is a great show — it's one of those midlevel, decently entertaining dramas you're most inclined to watch when nothing else in the time slot excites you. But it does have two top-level stars in Donnie Wahlberg and Leslie Hope and an intriguing, easily grasped family-on-the-run premise. And it's new, a welcome rarity on a network otherwise mostly devoted to recycling and resurrecting.

Wahlberg is Paul Rader, a successful lawyer but not-so-successful family man who goes on the run when he's accused of murdering a young female attorney. Unlike The Fugitive, however, he takes his family with him.

As the show opens, he's off to small-town Iowa with his wife, Lily (Hope), and their three children: Henry (Dustin Milligan), Hannah (Sarah Ramos) and Tommy (Nathan Gamble). The plan is to hide out there until Paul can figure out who is trying to frame him.

The premise certainly gives the writers multiple story lines to explore. There's the mystery, as Paul travels in the coming weeks from Iowa to Chicago to Washington, tracking down clues to the case. There's the domestic drama, as Paul and Lily try to reunite a family that had grown used to living separate lives. And finally, there's the typically WB-ish teen drama, as the two older children, Henry and Hannah, adjust to a new high school and new adolescent romantic entanglements.

The problem is that all three shows and all five stars are not created equal. Wahlberg and Hope are by far the show's best assets, and they drive the most interesting plots. Indeed, the strain that life on the run puts on them as parents provides the show with its most intriguing dilemmas: How do you get medicine for your son without medical records? What do you do if a foolish act threatens to put your child into the legal system and onto the FBI's radar?

The weakest story, as you might expect, is the too-familiar teen-angst drama. The good news, though, is that the high school story may not be as awful as the premiere would lead you to believe. Milligan's Henry, in particular, is unendurable tonight, but the character does become less whiny and self-centered as the show progresses.

The tossup is the mystery, which would seem to be awfully hard to sustain over the long haul. Can Paul really spend year after year trying to crack the case? As for his family, the longer they stay in one place, the less suspense the series can generate; but do you really want to see those kids yanked from high school to high school?

Too much of that, and the Raders won't be the only ones running away.

'Heroes' has the power to engage and confuse

Dense, dark, a little dreary and yet oddly intriguing, Heroes seems destined to attract an audience that is more loyal than large. A distinctive, dark-knight comic book brought to life, Heroes clearly isn't for everyone, but that's all right: Every show doesn't have to be for everyone. What matters is that Heroes is likely to please viewers who like genre series, even when those series take themselves a tad too seriously.

They will, however, have to get past a pilot that is so devoted to setting a tone that it ignores the need to establish its characters or move along its story. And the pretentious twang to that tone is set by the opening credits, with their Star Wars-type graphic crawl and the promise that we are entering Chapter One, Volume One of an "epic tale." It's hard enough to get people to take high-concept shows seriously; there's no need to actually invite derisive laughter.

The concept here is that a group of people scattered around the globe have evolved to a higher genetic level and developed superpowers. They don't all understand their powers and they may not all put them to heroic purposes. Over time, however, many of them will realize that it's their destiny to save the world.

Like Six Degrees, destiny seems to be a large part of the Heroes mythology, as the characters continually cross paths — no easy task considering how spread out they are at the start.

Mohinder (Sendhil Ramamurthy) is a genetics professor in India; Peter (Milo Ventimiglia, finally playing a likable character) is a nurse in New York; Hiro (Masi Oka) is an animé fan in Tokyo; Claire (Hayden Panettiere) is a cheerleader in Texas.

All of them speak English, except for Hiro, whose dialogue requires subtitles, yet another demand from a show that makes an awful lot of them.

The show spends much of its first two episodes revealing the characters' powers, so it seems unfair to give them away here. Let's just say some are more mental — telepathy, empathy, an ability to stop time or see into the future. Some are more physical, from an ability to fly to an inability to be hurt. And some either haven't been revealed or I haven't figured them out, which may explain why some of the characters are of much greater interest than others.

And that's part of the problem with Heroes: It isn't always clear whether the show is being intentionally mysterious or is simply unintentionally confused. Heavily serialized fantasies like Heroes are particularly hard to carry off, and you don't leave the first three episodes convinced that the actors and producers are up to the challenge.

Yet you don't leave bored, either, and that's no small accomplishment. If nothing else, Heroes shows an early knack for coming up with the kind of surprise, episode-ending cliffhangers that will keep some viewers coming back for more.

Make no mistake, it will attract a cult. Whether the cult will be large enough is a question only one of the Heroes could answer.

New CW drama unlikely to be "Runaway" hit

That they do so practically despite themselves cracks the foundation on which the series was built. At times, things veer so far off center that running from the feds seems like a distraction from the more important story of teen romance and angst, just another annoyance like a sudden zit or a dropped call.

Technically, the feds are after only Dad, Paul Rader (Donnie Wahlberg), a successful lawyer who jumped bail rather than face overwhelming circumstantial evidence in a murder trial. The wife and three kids are along for the ride because, as we learn late in the pilot episode, whoever framed Dad is threatening them as well.

There's another new series, "Six Degrees," in which a character running for her life seeks anonymity in New York. In "Runaway," the Rader family takes the exact opposite tack, hiding from the law in a small Iowa town. Which strategy works better? We'll find out by who gets captured last. Or canceled first.

Intuitively, it would seem that prying small-town eyes would focus long and hard on these strangers with no identification. Mom (Leslie Hope) gets around all that by telling everyone they were caught off guard by Hurricane Katrina, an explanation that works much better for her than it did for FEMA.

Although it's the father who's in the biggest pickle, this is the new youth-oriented CW (indeed, this is the very first new CW series), and creator-writer Chad Hodge keeps closer tabs on the two teens in the family: sullen and angry Henry (Dustin Milligan) and sweetly sociable Hannah (Sarah Ramos).

That, in turn, considerably dilutes the suspense from any story about people trying to escape authorities. While Mom and Dad weigh every word and gesture, Junior is busy using traceable anytime minutes to call the squeeze he left behind. Sis, meanwhile, is concentrating on looking hot for her new social circle. Danger? What danger?

The Toronto area stands in nicely for Iowa, and director Peter Markle is skillful at juggling flashbacks with real time, as well as finding some interesting angles. Wahlberg and Hope show some emotional range, with their expressive faces perhaps the most palpable indication of danger throughout the pilot. The show will get a boost from its "7th Heaven" lead-in, but if NBC's "Heroes" catches on in the same time period, the only option for the Rader family will be surrender.

Cast:
Paul Rader: Donnie Wahlberg
Lily Rader: Leslie Hope
Henry Rader: Dustin Milligan
Hannah Rader: Sarah Ramos
Tommy Rader: Nathan Gamble
Gina Bennett: Susan Floyd
Agent Huntley: Karen LeBlanc

Executive producers: Darren Star, Ed Zuckerman; Co-executive producers: Chad Hodge, Susie Fitzgerald, Dana Baratta; Producers: John E. Pogue, Luke Schelhaas, Abram Hatch, Lynn Raynor; Director: Peter Markle; Creator-teleplay: Chad Hodge; Director of photography: Ron Stannett; Production designer: Ian Brock; Editor: Scott Vickrey; Set designer: Ian Wheatley; Casting: Susan Forrest, Sharon Forrest.

NBC has hit on its hands with "Heroes"

Creator-writer Tim Kring is anything but coy about his ambition. An advisory at the start of the pilot tells viewers that "Heroes" is about "a seemingly random group of individuals" who "will not only save the world but change it forever." The opener mostly introduces us to people in the midst of discovering their superpowers (or "special abilities," as Kring puts it); the following episode spells out the nature of a huge disaster they soon must prevent.

Among others, there's Peter Petrelli (Milo Ventimiglia), a nurse who can't shake the feeling that he can fly; Claire Bennet (Hayden Panettiere), a Texas high school cheerleader who instantly heals from any injury; Isaac Mendez (Santiago Cabrera), an artist who unconsciously paints future disasters; Hiro Nakamura (Masi Oka), a Japanese office drone who can bend the space-time continuum; and Niki Sanders (Ali Larter), a sexy Vegas webcam girl and single mother who, when she blacks out, is capable of unimaginable strength and brutality.

Some embrace their powers; others fear them. Hiro rejoices that he is no longer just a cipher. Claire is bummed that her recuperative power sets her apart from her schoolmates. The varying reactions are as much a part of the series as any future small or large battles between good and evil. What's more, Kring has repeatedly said these heroes will remain, for the most part, individuals and not become members of some"X-Men" or "Justice League of America" consortium.

The only certain thing they have in common is an indirect link to Mohinder Suresh (Sendhil Ramamurthy), a geneticist from India who is pursuing the work of his murdered father in the fields of mutations and human potential. Dad was figuring out how to identify and locate these mutant people. Mohinder tries to make sense of the research, fully aware that he is being observed and menaced by someone whose interest in the subject is less benign.

"Heroes" has been smartly cast, but the story is king. People connect with one another at odd times and in unpredictable ways. Scenes jump from place to place halfway around the world, but director David Semel keeps it from getting confusing.

Cast:
Peter Petrelli: Milo Ventimiglia
Mohinder Suresh: Sendhil Ramamurthy
Simone Deveraux: Tawny Cypress
Niki Sanders: Ali Larter
Claire Bennet: Hayden Panettiere
Nathan Petrelli: Adrian Pasdar
Hiro Nakamura: Masi Oka
Isaac Mendez: Santiago Cabrera
Micah Sanders: Noah Gray-Cabey

Executive producers: David Semel, Tim Kring, Dennis Hammer; Producer: Skip Beaudine; Co-producer: Lori Motyer; Director: David Semel; Teleplay-creator: Tim Kring; Director of photography: Adam Kane; Production designer: Curtis Schnell; Music: Wendy Melvoin, Lisa Coleman; Set designer: Crista Schneider; Casting: Jason La Padura, Natalie Hart.

`Heroes': fresh and skillfully executed

After school in a small Texas town, a teenager still in her cheerleader's uniform takes a fall of her own, then dashes into a burning building. Within moments, her broken bones and sizzled flesh repair themselves, confirming her fearful suspicions.

A nerdy Tokyo office worker convinced he's meant for better things is training his mind for higher functions. One grand day he teleports himself to bustling Times Square.

What do these people have in common?

For starters, they're characters on the new mystic thriller "Heroes," which premieres at 9 p.m. EDT Monday on NBC.

But they're not the only ones. A drama that rightly bills itself as epic, "Heroes" is loaded with seemingly ordinary people from all over who bear out the theory of a genetics professor in India. His Human Genome Project declares that minute variations in genetic code are exhibiting themselves more and more — and turning more lives upside down.

A Las Vegas stripper and single mother discovers that her reflected image in mirrors has startling secrets to share. An artist is haunted by the realization that he can paint the future.

The professor was working on a systematic formula for identifying these "special" people. But then he is murdered by villains who are out to use his research for their own evil purposes. Now they are after his defiant scientist-son. Who are they, and what's at the root of their sinister mission? Will it put the people who display these eerie gifts in danger — and mobilize them to fight back?

The first episode of this fascinating series sets forth its trippy premise and introduces a number of its newly empowered (the huge ensemble includes Adrian Pasdar, Sendhil Ramamurthy, Milo Ventimiglia, Ali Larter, Santiago Cabrera, Masi Oka and more).

What happens next, and how the paths of these chosen might cross, are questions left hanging by the premiere. And they're delicious ones to ponder.

"Heroes" is, on the one hand, a meditation on unsuspecting humans who, to their delight or horror, are vaulted to extraordinary levels of potential. How will they cope with it? How will they make use of it? Is this some sort of legion of superheroes in the making?

At the same time, their process of self-discovery appears to be unfolding in an apocalyptic context. Something bad seems to be on the horizon. Are they meant to be a global rescuing force?

There seems plenty in just the first hour to snag a viewer's interest — and start the questions flowing. And at least one dandy twist will whet the appetite of conspiracy theorists in the audience.

The expansive vision and population of "Heroes" offers boundless promise for what may lie ahead. It's a show whose freeform, existential mysteries could trigger scores of fan sites.

Something fresh and skillfully executed, "Heroes" is like nothing else on TV. Unless it's an obsessed-upon ABC hit about a large group of people likewise trying to make sense of their world under pressure. With "Heroes," could NBC have found its "Lost"?

Heist caper "Smith" too smart for its own good

The complex pilot of "Smith" introduces each of the half-dozen or so members of the team led by Bobby Stevens (Ray Liotta), as well as Stevens' wife, Hope (Virginia Madsen). After presumably extensive planning, the team strikes, and we're not talking about convenience stores. In the opener, they score three masterpieces from a museum in Pittsburgh.

The cinematography is stylish, and the action sequences compare favorably to those shot for larger screens. The acting is good, sometimes even inspired, and yet there is a big problem with the show. Put simply, most of these characters are distasteful and sometimes downright repulsive.

One commits a double homicide where a normal person might merely take offense and walk away. Another not only steals credit card numbers but cheats the person who supplies them. A third is addicted to gambling to the point that his family is endangered. It's not that these people are morally complex. Tony Soprano is morally complex. The lead in Showtime's "Dexter," which starts October 1, is morally complex. These folks are just plain evil. Nonetheless, "Smith" asks viewers to become emotionally invested in them week after week.

If they do, Liotta deserves much of the credit. Within this group, Bobby, a suburban dad whose cover is a sales job for a disposable cup manufacturer, is the only one bothered by this secret life of crime. Although he conceals his freelance work from his family, there are indications that his wife is, at the very least, suspicious. Liotta, among today's most watchable actors, expresses his moral ambiguity in small and large ways, and his character is the focus of every scene in which he appears.

It is particularly hard to assess "Smith" from the pilot alone. For starters, the version available to critics is at least a few minutes longer than the one that will be broadcast. Of greater importance, exec producer John Wells said most episodes, unlike the pilot, will involve planning for the big caper and not carrying it out. Finally, the group, and Bobby in particular, will become the focus of an FBI investigation. Agent Dodd (Chris Bauer) knows Bobby only as "Smith," the name given to all anonymous criminals. That part of the story gets only a few seconds in the pilot.

That said, Bobby's biggest challenge might not be the FBI but NBC and ABC. The show will compete against popular dramas "Law & Order: SVU" and "Boston Legal." If that wasn't enough, this predominantly male-appeal show also will face off against the relocated NFL game on ESPN. Breaking all those tackles might be harder than pulling off the heists.

Cast:
Bobby Stevens: Ray Liotta
Hope Stevens: Virginia Madsen
Annie: Amy Smart
Jeff: Simon Baker
Tom: Jonny Lee Miller
Joe: Franky G.
Agent Dodd: Chris Bauer
Charlie: Shohreh Aghdashloo
Shawn: Mike Doyle

Executive producers: John Wells, Brooke Kennedy, Christopher Chulack, Scott Gemmill; Producer: Patrick Ward; Director: Christopher Chulack; Writer-creator: John Wells; Director of photography: Jonathan Freeman; Production designer: Hilda Stark; Editor: Adam Wolfe.

CW, MSN team on sneak previews

Premiere episodes from "America's Next Top Model," "Everybody Hates Chris," "Supernatural" and the new drama from "Sex and the City" creator Darren Star, "Runaway," will be offered free and without commercial interruption on msn.com for one week before their on-air broadcast.

The first hour of "Model" will be available beginning September 13 until its official launch September 20, while "Runaway" will debut online September 18, the second-season opener of "Supernatural" on September 21 and "Everybody Hates Chris" premiering on the site September 24.

They join previously launched series on MSN, Fox's "Prison Break" and "Vanished."

Dick Clark humbled by Emmys tribute

Fortunately, Dick Clark is here, though still battling the effects of a stroke suffered in late 2004. He was honored Sunday night on the Emmy stage for his vast contributions to the television business, particularly the iconic weekly music series "American Bandstand."

Introduced by Simon Cowell of "American Idol" fame -- perhaps something of an odd choice -- Clark, 76, received a thunderous standing ovation that seemed almost to embarrass him. "Sit down, sit down, please," he implored.

Clark's remarks were short but poignant. Speaking haltingly, he said: "The Emmy people called and asked if I could walk out and say thanks. My wife joked, 'Walk? He's just begun to learn to walk again. This show might run a little long."'

He added: "Before I had my stroke, I was thinking about all of the things I had become involved with over my life: music, comedy, drama, game and talk shows, even reality TV. I now realize that I have accomplished my childhood dream: to be in show business. Everybody should be so lucky to have their dreams come true. I've been truly blessed. I thank you very, very much."

And with that, Clark walked off of the stage -- a little bit slower than he used to be but at the same time seemingly walking on air.

The singer, who performed a tribute to Dick Clark during the show, praised the TV legend backstage. "He introduced us to all sorts of great music," said Manilow, who co-wrote the "American Bandstand" theme song. "We wouldn't have the music we have if it weren't for Dick Clark continually fighting to introduce pop music to the public."

Dick Clark makes rare post-stroke TV appearance during special Emmy tribute

Dick Clark, still recuperating from a 2004 stroke, seemed moved by the warm standing ovation he received, then regaled the crowd with his old smile and self-deprecating jokes.

"Please, sit down," he said, faking a grimace and tapping his left wrist as if pointing to his watch. "Please, the producer will have a fit. You've got to sit down."

Dressed in a tuxedo, his face finally showing the passage of time, Clark sat on a stool behind a podium and joked about a request he received from Emmy producers that he "walk out" onto the Shrine Auditorium stage.

"I've just begun to learn to walk again and the show might run a little long," Clark said.

Clark spoke with a slur but embellished his appearance by gesturing with his arms and hands, slapping old friend Barry Manilow on the back after the singer serenaded Clark with Bandstand Boogie.

It was Clark's first TV appearance since co-hosting New Year's Rockin' Eve last December. He had a stroke in December 2004 and was hospitalized for more than seven weeks.

"Before I had my stroke I was thinking about all of things I've been involved with all of my life - music, comedy, drama, even talk shows, even reality TV," Clark told the crowd. "And I realized that I have accomplished my childhood dream to be in show business. Everybody should be so lucky to have their dreams come true."

Before Clark was introduced, American Idol judge Simon Cowell showed clips from Clark's TV career, including several decades of American Bandstand, which started in the 1950s. The clips showed a seemingly ageless Clark introducing acts ranging from Neil Diamond to Aretha Franklin, Michael Jackson to Madonna.

"Music is the soundtrack of our lives," Clark said. "Thank you for being a part of my life."

Cowell Leads Emmy Tribute to Dick Clark

Cowell is part of the latest group of presenters at the Emmys, which will air Sunday, Aug. 27 on NBC. Freshly added presenters also include father and son Martin and Charlie Sheen -- who will present together, Bob Newhart, nominee Candice Bergen and Ray Liotta.

Jeffrey Tambor and John Lithgow, the stars of NBC's new comedy "Twenty Good Years," will also hand out an award.

Clark is being honored at this year's awards for his long and storied career in television, as the host of the iconic "American Bandstand" (among many other shows) and as a producer whose credits range from "Bloopers" specials to the Golden Globe Awards. This year is also the 50th anniversary of "Bandstand's" premiere as a local show in Philadelphia.

Barry Manilow, who sang and co-wrote the lyrics to the "Bandstand" theme song, will perform during the tribute.

Charlie and Martin Sheen are both nominees this year, Charlie for "Two and a Half Men" and Martin for both "The West Wing" and a guest appearance on his son's sitcom. Bergen is nominated for her work on "Boston Legal" and has won five times in the past for "Murphy Brown."

Liotta and Lithgow are also past winners, and Newhart and Tambor have both been nominated numerous times.

'Runaway' melds '24,' '7th Heaven'

The concept: A man wrongly convicted of murder goes on the lam with his family while trying to prove his innocence.

The challenge: Giving a new network a jump-start.

A man in a troubled marriage is wrongly convicted of murder. With his wife and three kids in tow, he goes on the lam, and the family assumes new identities and takes refuge in small-town Iowa, where they hide as he seeks to find the true killer and exonerate himself.

That's the setup of Runaway, one of just two new shows that will usher in the CW network. Due Sept. 25 (9 ET/PT) as a Monday companion to 7th Heaven, the show is a hybrid: The family drama gussied up as a thriller.

"I wanted to find a way to marry the two," says 29-year-old creator Chad Hodge (Tru Calling). "We can tell those same stories but with a twist. It's a family drama with the screws tightened."

Why? "There's not just one man running around trying to prove himself or go from town to town to town," says Donnie Wahlberg (Boomtown), who plays imperiled Paul Rader. "There are five different people who are trying to survive in this situation. And so there's a wealth of stories to be had in that because each person has their own dilemma." Leslie Hope (24) plays Rader's wife, Lily.

Like many other series this fall, Runaway is serialized, and weekly episodes slowly unravel the murder mystery. But identifying the real killer won't solve Rader's problems: "Just when he thinks he has solved this case, something turns and there's another huge reason why he has to stay on the run," says Hodge, who was inspired by the real case of a fugitive family and his own father's jailing for a white-collar crime.

The show pairs executive producers Darren Star, known for family soaps such as Beverly Hills, 90210, with Ed Zuckerman, who tackles the criminal elements from his years on Law & Order.

"It's about a family under these trying circumstances," says Star, which is "familiar turf for me, but the suspense elements are something I haven't been involved with. There are more interesting thematic and character developments in this show."

CW president Dawn Ostroff doubts "a plain family show these days could launch and sustain the way it could a few years ago. This is something that makes people feel like there's an urgency to watching, a ticking clock. They need something to be driving them." At least until another ticking clock, 24, returns in January.

Hamlin, Lawrence Go 'Dancing'

Come September, the couple will switch spots, and Hamlin will take his own turn on the dance floor. The former "L.A. Law" star and "Veronica Mars" bad guy is among the new crop of celebrities on "Dancing with the Stars" this season. Rinna helped unveil the lineup on Monday's "Good Morning America."

Hamlin will be part of an eclectic group that also includes a pair of former teen heartthrobs -- Mario Lopez and Joe Lawrence -- as well as MSNBC host/conservative pundit Tucker Carlson, talk-show maestro Jerry Springer, country music star Sara Evans and NFL legend Emmitt Smith, who will try to better fellow football great Jerry Rice's third-place finish last season.

"High School Musical" star Monique Coleman, actress Vivica A. Fox ("Kill Bill"), pop singer/Lingerie Bowl participant Willa Ford and former Miss USA and "Meet the Barkers" star Shanna Moakler round out the field.

Several of the show's professional dancers will return for the new season, along with some new faces. Judges Carrie Ann Inaba, Len Goodman and Bruno Tonioli will also be back, as will hosts Tom Bergeron and Samantha Harris.

"Dancing with the Stars" is scheduled to premiere Tuesday, Sept. 12 on ABC.

Weekend Box Office - Aug 4 to 6

1. Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, $47 million.
2. Barnyard: The Original Party Animals, $16 million.
3. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, $11 million.
4. Miami Vice, $9.7 million.
5. The Descent, $8.8 million.
6. John Tucker Must Die, $6.05 million.
7. Monster House, $6 million.
8. The Ant Bully, $3.9 million.
9. The Night Listener, $3.6 million.
10. You, Me and Dupree, $3.6 million

Miami Vice speeds to weekend box office victory over the Pirates

The film, which pairs Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx as the iconic TV characters Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs, took in $25.2 million US, compared to $20.5 million US for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, according to studio estimates Sunday.

"It's nice to be number one," said Nikki Rocco, president of distribution at Universal Pictures.

The gritty, dark action film was directed by Michael Mann, who created the 1980s TV show. The movie was especially attractive to older audiences, with 62 per cent of the audience over 30, according to the studio's exit polling.

The audience was pretty evenly split between men and women, the polling showed.

"It's what our expectations were," Rocco said. "We tried to do something different. There has been a lot of criticism regarding unoriginal product. We took a TV series and made it very different."

The news was not necessarily bad for The Walt Disney Co., which produced Pirates.

In its third week, Pirates has earned $358.4 million US to become the highest grossing film in Disney's history, passing the $339.7 million US earned by the Pixar Animation Studios film Finding Nemo.

"After posting the biggest opening weekend of all time, it is living up to the promise created that opening weekend," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Exhibitor Relations.

Pirates is on track to break the $400-million US mark in the coming weeks, Dergarabedian said.

The Pixar film Cars has also raked in $234.6 million US to date. And while the film is no longer in the top 10 at the box office, its cumulative gross makes it the second highest grossing film of the year, giving Disney the top two spots so far.

"It's a very happy weekend," said Chuck Viane, Disney's head of distribution.

The teen flick John Tucker Must Die from 20th Century Fox debuted in third place with a respectable $14 million US.

The film, with a budget of about $18 million US, attracted a predominantly young female audience with its story of four high school girls who seek revenge against an unfaithful boyfriend.

The Ant Bully, an animated film from Warner Bros., opened with a mere $8.1 million US.

The film featured the voice talents of Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts and Nicolas Cage and was produced by Tom Hanks. But it just couldn't compete against a crowded field of family pictures.

"It's much less than what we had wanted," said Jeff Goldstein, general sales manager at Warner Bros. "The marketplace is crowded. The kids have been bombarded."

The independent film Little Miss Sunshine opened strongly in limited release.

The quirky film starring Greg Kinnear and Steve Carell, took in $356,863 US in only seven theatres in New York and Los Angeles for a per screen average of $50,980 US.

Overall, box office revenue was up 6.3 per cent and attendance was up 3 per cent.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theatres, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. Miami Vice, $25.2 million.
2. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, $20.5 million.
3. John Tucker Must Die, $14 million.
4. Monster House, $11.5 million.
5. The Ant Bully, $8.2 million.
6. Lady in the Water, $7 million.
7. You, Me and Dupree, $7 million
8. Little Man, $5.1 million.
9. The Devil Wears Prada, $4.8 million.
10. Clerks II, $3.9 million.

NBC MAKES 'HEROIC' AND INNOVATIVE CROSS-PLATFORM MARKETING EFFORT TO LAUNCH NEW SERIES 'HEROES'

The announcement was made by John Miller, Chief Marketing Officer, NBC Universal Television Group.

Beginning September 1st, iTunes will offer a free and exclusive download of "Heroes" - in its entirety - in addition to other bonus content from NBC, including series trailers and behind-the-scenes footage from the filming of "Heroes."

"We have an unusual opportunity to team with several excellent corporate partners to let moviegoers be the first to experience this daring new series with its own theatrical feel to it," said Miller. "We want to generate buzz across a variety of platforms long before 'Heroes' ever airs on NBC."

"Once again, NBC is using the cinema to enhance the movie going experience for our patrons with a fun and compelling promotion allowing everybody to have an even better time at the movies," added Cliff Marks, National CineMedia's president of sales and marketing. "Our marketing and content partnership with NBC continues to show how America's two favorite entertainment forums - TV and movies - can team to create exciting consumer engagement opportunities for cinema enthusiasts."

As the exclusive sponsor of the series broadcast premiere, Nissan will present the episode with limited commercial interruption.

Jan Thompson, VP Marketing Nissan North America, related her enthusiasm for the program as part of an ongoing approach for the automaker "This program is just one example of our strategy to engage consumers by delivering content to them in entertaining, high impact environments where we believe the contextual experience is as important as the message."

In advance of the broadcast premiere, NBC and Nissan will also create three million co-branded promotional "Custom Cards" to be distributed exclusively at AMC, Cinemark and Regal Entertainment Group theaters nationwide through box-office handouts. Moviegoers will be encouraged to view the free download and sample the wide-screen appeal of the "Heroes" premiere on iTunes before its broadcast on NBC.

Each co-branded card will feature a unique pin code that NCM patrons can redeem online at a special iTunes NBC Fall Season "preview site" that will provide a free download of "Heroes" plus a backstage look at its filming and the NBC preview trailers of other network series for Fall 2006.

The massive campaign includes a 10-second "First Look" tease produced by National CineMedia that will run on 5,654 digital screens in 428 theaters during August, informing moviegoers to return to the theater in September to obtain their free download card.

To coincide with the in-theater card handouts in September, NBC will air a schedule of co-branded 20-second promos on the network touting the free preview download of "Heroes" on iTunes and NCM, courtesy of Nissan.

In addition, "Heroes" will receive major in-theater play in August with a two-minute and 30-second content piece playing on select AMC, Cinemark and Regal Entertainment Group big screens. Additionally, the series will be represented throughout participating theatres with a 30-second spot featured on NCM's Lobby Entertainment Network plasma screens and will be branded on popcorn bags, among other promotional items, completing the integrated cinema marketing campaign.

From creator/writer Tim Kring (NBC's "Crossing Jordan"), "Heroes" (Mondays, 9-10 p.m. ET beginning this Fall) is an epic drama that chronicles the lives of ordinary people who discover they possess extraordinary abilities.

"John Tucker Must Die" -- great title, bad movie

The teenage girls at the center of a revenge plot against a high school lothario are too unimaginative or maybe just too nice for the job. Writer Jeff Lowell and director Betty Thomas should have screened "Mean Girls" or "Heathers" if they wanted to see how these things can be done with real bite. Because instead of mean girls, they give us mild girls.

Young females are the clear target audience. With an attractive though underutilized cast, "John Tucker" should open with average or above-average numbers as counterprogramming to "Miami Vice" and "The Ant Bully."

The film begins with two seemingly unrelated situations. In one, Kate (Brittany Snow) suffers from "invisibility." Her single mom (Jenny McCarthy) moves to a new town every time a man dumps her -- which apparently is often -- so that Kate is the perennial anonymous newcomer at every school. She comes and goes without a ripple.

The other situation revolves around the amorous exploits of one John Tucker (Jesse Metcalfe, Eva Longoria's boy toy on "Desperate Housewives"). Rich, handsome and smooth-talking, the basketball star has his pick of the hottest girls in school. And he usually picks them in threes. Because he is careful to select his girlfriends from different school cliques, no one is any the wiser to his serial dating.

Then his current trio -- head cheerleader Heather (recording star Ashanti), school reporter Carrie (Arielle Kebbel) and vegan fast girl Beth (Sophia Bush) -- all wind up in detention with our Kate. A subsequent exchange of information among these three results in the declaration that is the movie's title. But they only want John Tucker to die of humiliation.

This is where Kate comes in. Having watched her mom date one John Tucker after another, she knows his type backward and forward. The trouble is, all her schemes to bring John down backfire.

Now desperate, the trio persuades Kate to let them turn her into John Tucker's dream girl. They certainly know enough about his tastes and moves to do so. Their plan is for Kate to get John to fall for her, then kick him off her love boat with a concrete life jacket.

Here the movie turns into standard-issue teen romance, albeit one in which the girl has a tiny camera clipped to a bra strap so her advisers can monitor and record every stage of the romance. And here, too, the blandness of the characters is telling. John is so obvious and almost innocent in his serial dating that you wonder why anyone cares. You get what you buy into. And Kate is essentially too nice, never really that determined to crush this guy despite all her mother's disappointments in love. You never believe her capable of going through with the scheme.

The film's timidity is best expressed in a shot of two girls kissing in a car that is being exploited in the trailer. In the context of the movie, the scene is a hit-and-run, over so fast you may miss it. If you're going to go there, then go there.

Meanwhile, the filmmakers seem far too removed from the world of high school and social cliques to draw a convincing portrait of either. The twentysomething actors, besides not looking right, don't really have roles based in any reality. About as close as anyone comes is Penn Badgley, who plays John's younger brother Scott, who takes a fumbling, hesitant liking to Kate.

Production values on this Canadian-based production are serviceable.

Cast:
John Tucker: Jesse Metcalfe
Kate: Brittany Snow
Heather: Ashanti
Beth: Sophia Bush
Carrie: Arielle Kebbel
Scott: Penn Badgley
Lori: Jenny McCarthy

Director: Betty Thomas; Screenwriter: Jeff Lowell; Producers: Bob Cooper, Michael Birnbaum; Executive producers: Karen Lunder, Marc S. Fischer; Director of photography: Anthony B. Richmond; Production designer: Marcia Hinds; Music: Richard Gibbs; Costumes: Alexandra Welker; Editor: Matt Friedman.

John Tucker characters treated with more respect than usual teen fare: review

Instead, you're treated to a dose of the cutes, but the movie still is a cut above the typical adolescent farce. For teenage girls, there's a quartet of likable young women who bond in a positive fashion rather than cat-fighting their way through cinematic high school cliches.

As a bonus, girls also get to see Jesse Metcalfe, Eva Longoria's gardening hunk on Desperate Housewives, shirtless and even dressed in nothing but a thong, while for the guys who are dragged along to the movie, that quartet of young women is very, very easy on the eyes.

Director Betty Thomas and screenwriter Jeff Lowell refreshingly sidestep the gross-out gags that litter most youth comedies. Though the movie strays deep and often into saccharine country, the filmmakers treat the characters with more respect than teen protagonists normally get in Hollywood.

Metcalfe stars as John Tucker, the captain of the basketball team, the hottest guy in school and, through meticulous scheduling, a youth blessed with three girlfriends unaware their man is triple-timing them.

On John's hook are head cheerleader Heather (pop singer Ashanti), academic and extracurricular overachiever Carrie (Arielle Kebbel) and vegan animal-rights activist Beth (Sophia Bush).

All have been chosen by John because they belong to different cliques, and so are unlikely ever to speak to one another. But when the truth comes out, the three conspire with a misfit school newcomer, Kate (Brittany Snow), to take revenge on John.

After initial ploys backfire, they hit on the ideal payback: Make John fall hard for Kate, then have her break his heart.

Kate's lived an itinerant life with her single mom (Jenny McCarthy - yes, the former Playmate of the Year as mother to a teenager), who packs up and moves the household after her fleeting relationships with men inevitably end badly.

Never in one place long enough to connect with people, Kate's thrilled to have a circle of friends, even if it's a gang of teen harpies playing Henry Higgins to her Eliza Doolittle to make her more attractive to John.

Predictably, the romantic sparks misfire, with Kate torn between a growing crush on John and feelings for his cool but generally unnoticed younger brother (Penn Badgley).

Screenwriter Lowell's background in TV comedy is obvious throughout. The humour in John Tucker Must Die is sitcommy and episodic, quick sight gags and an overload of dialogue delivered breathlessly fast to disguise the fact that most of it's not funny.

Likewise, the actors mostly project as though they're in a sitcom, a little too over-the-top, a little too stiff and stylized. But Snow, Ashanti, Kebbel and Bush's characters all have distinctly perky personalities that blend well together.

Thomas (Doctor Dolittle, The Brady Bunch Movie) maintains a pace brisk enough that even for parents forced to take their kids to see John Tucker Must Die, the pain will be over quickly.

Two stars out of four.

EMMYS TO SALUTE DICK CLARK

Clark is one of the most recognized and popular personalities in American entertainment, as well as a successful and well-regarded business executive and entrepreneur. He began his entertainment career at age 17 at WRUN Radio in Utica, New York. After graduating from Syracuse University with a bachelor of science in business administration, he became a news anchorman at television station WKTV. In 1952, he moved to Philadelphia to work for WFIL Radio and Television. Four years later, he became the host of the local television station's show, "Bandstand."

In 1957, Clark founded dick clark productions, inc. and convinced the ABC Network to carry the show nationwide and, within weeks, "American Bandstand" was the country's highest-rated daytime show. To this day, "American Bandstand" still holds the record as television's longest running music/variety program. It has earned many awards and honors, including two Emmy awards. The show also served as the foundation upon which Clark rose to national fame and built a multi-faceted entertainment company which still today produces such hit shows as "So You Think You Can Dance," "The American Music Awards," "The Golden Globe Awards," "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve," "The Academy of Country Music Awards" and "Bloopers" specials.

Since his breakthrough with "American Bandstand," Clark has gone on to host many special broadcasts including the annual "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve" specials, the "Bloopers" series and specials, and numerous retrospective specials centered around his history-making "American Bandstand" television series. Clark is also well known for his live behind-the-scenes interviews at such prestigious events as the annual "Golden Globe Awards" and "The Academy of Country Music Awards."

Clark's many other on-air credits include the popular "Pyramid" game series, as well as other game show series. He has been master of ceremonies for many beauty pageants including "Miss Universe," "Miss USA" and "Miss Teen USA." He has co-hosted historic, worldwide broadcasts such as "The Olympic Flag Jam '94," "World Cup: The Final Draw" and "Live Aid." He is the only personality to host top-rated series on all networks and in syndication at the same time.

He has hosted nationally syndicated radio shows (including "Rock, Roll and Remember" and "The US Music Survey"), live "Good Ol' Rock 'N' Roll" shows, and various rock and roll video collections. He has co-authored several books including "Rock, Roll and Remember," "The History of American Bandstand" and "Dick Clark's American Bandstand."

Clark's accomplishments have been recognized by many organizations over the years. Honors include his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame. He also has received the Distinguished Service award from the National Association of Broadcasters. In addition, he has won many other awards, including six Emmys, an Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Lifetime Achievement Award and a Grammy award.

Snow Gets Naked

The celebs will be taking it all off for Jane magazines August issue. Don’t worry; it’s for a good cause. The stars will be auctioning the clothes they’ll be stripped out of to benefit children’s charities. The affair will also be about the article – not just the articles of clothing. The ladies will talk about taking it all off and their level of comfort in being nude in front of strangers.

The clothing auction begins today at www.ClothesOffOurBack.com. The magazine hits newsstands next week on July 25.

Seeing more of Lathan, in a manner of speaking, is a few months away. The actress will soon be working on the TV production of “A Raisin in the Sun.” Based on the play by Lorraine Hansberry, Lathan stars as Beneatha Younger to Phylicia Rashad’s Lena Younger and P. Diddy’s Walter Lee Younger. Lensing for the project begins in December.

A 'Gilmore' Breakup

If your first response to the above news was, "They were dating?," don't feel too bad. Although they were a couple for three-plus years, Bledel and Ventimiglia managed to avoid having a harsh spotlight cast on their relationship.

Their parting was apparently similarly low-key. A spokesman for Ventimiglia tells People that the actor "is currently single," but that's about it as details of the breakup go. Both are preparing to work on TV series in the fall, Bledel continuing her role as Rory on "Gilmore Girls" and Ventimiglia in the new NBC show "Heroes."

The two met when Ventimiglia joined the cast of "Gilmore Girls" early in the show's second season as Jess, the not-all-that-bad-boy nephew of Luke Danes (Scott Patterson). Jess became a love interest for Rory fairly quickly, but the two didn't start dating in real life until the end of Ventimiglia's stint as a regular on the series.

He made a couple of guest appearances on the show last season, the last of which signaled an end to the characters' relationship. Ventimiglia also starred in another WB series, "The Bedford Diaries," last season before moving on to "Heroes."

In addition to "Gilmore Girls," Bledel's credits include "Sin City" and "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants."

Hairspray Film Finds Its Tracy; Snow May Play Amber

Variety reports that 4-foot-10 Nicole Blonsky has won the role of Tracy Turnblad, which was created on Broadway by Marissa Jaret Winokur, who won a Tony for her performance. Blonsky joins the previously announced John Travolta as Edna Turnblad, Queen Latifah as Motormouth Maybelle and Amanda Bynes as Penny Pingleton in the New Line Cinema film, which will be directed by Adam Shankman.

Blonsky, according to Variety, has performed in several musicals in the Great Neck area, including Sweeney Todd; Kiss Me, Kate; and Les Misérables. She has also sung "God Bless America" and the National Anthem at several local events.

The industry paper also says that Brittany Snow, who played Meg Pryor on the NBC series "American Dreams," is currently in negotiations to play the role of Amber.

Featuring a screenplay by Leslie Dixon, “Hairspray” — with a score by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman — should hit movie theatres in summer 2007.

Hairspray, based on the 1988 John Waters film of the same name, currently plays the Neil Simon Theatre. The show won 2003 Tony Awards for Best Score (Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman), Best Book (Thomas Meehan and Mark O'Donnell), Best Actress in a Musical (Marissa Jaret Winokur), Best Actor (Harvey Fierstein), Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Dick Latessa), Best Costume Design (William Ivey Long), Best Musical and Best Direction of a Musical.

Longtime American Bandstand director Edward J. Yates dies at 87

He died Friday at Fair Oaks nursing home in Media, where he had been for two months, Donohue Funeral Home said in a statement.

In October 1952, Yates volunteered to direct Bandstand, a new show on Philadelphia's WFIL-TV. The show, featuring local teens dancing to the latest hits, debuted with Bob Horn as announcer and took off after Dick Clark, already a radio veteran at age 26, took over in 1956.

It was broadcast live in its early years, even after it became part of the ABC network's weekday afternoon lineup in 1957 as American Bandstand. Yates pulled records, directed the cameras, queued the commercials and communicated with Clark.

"Ed was an extraordinary director. ... He managed to grab every exciting moment on American Bandstand," Clark told the Philadelphia Inquirer in a telephone interview Monday. "The pictures he created influenced a whole generation of young people across America."

As the show became a hit, Clark became a household name and the mostly working-class teens who were regulars on the show were bombarded with fan mail.

Fans jammed the sidewalks outside the West Philadelphia studio to win a spot in the bleachers. Once inside, they hoped to catch the eye of a regular and get to dance on the show.

In 1964, Clark moved the show to Los Angeles, taking Yates with him.

Yates retired from American Bandstand in 1969, and moved his family to West Chester in the Philadelphia suburbs.

Yates became a still photographer after graduating from high school in 1936. After serving in the Second World War, he got a job as a boom operator at WFIL. He was later promoted to cameraman and earned a bachelor's degree in communications in 1950 from the University of Pennsylvania.

Season Program Rankings

The CW Fall Schedule

Stars: Donnie Wahlberg ("Boomtown"), Leslie Hope ("24"), Dustin Milligan ("The Butterfly Effect 2"), Sarah Ramos ("American Dreams"), Nathan Gamble, Susan Floyd, Karen LeBlanc

Studio: Sony Pictures Television

Producers: Darren Star ("Sex and the City"), Ed Zuckerman ("Law & Order")

Hidden Palms (Midseason Drama)
Premise: Think "The O.C." in Palm Springs, as a teen coping with his father's death begins to slowly notice the secrets held by the people in his outwardly flawless neighborhood.

Stars: Michael Cassidy ("The O.C."), Taylor Handley ("The O.C."), Amber Heard ("The O.C."), Sharon Lawrence ("NYPD Blue"), Gail O'Grady ("American Dreams"), Ellary Porterfield ("The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio"), D.W. Moffet ("Thirteen") Studio: Lionsgate Television

Producers: Kevin Williamson ("Dawson's Creek"), Scott Winant ("Huff")

CBS Picks Up Madsen, Page Dramas

Stars: Ray Liotta ("Narc," "Goodfellas"), Virginia Madsen ("Sideways"), Amy Smart ("Starsky & Hutch," "Felicity"), Simon Baker ("The Guardian"), Jonny Lee Miller ("Aeon Flux"), Franky G ("Jonny Zero," "The Italian Job")

Studio: Warner Bros. TV

Producers: John Wells ("The West Wing")

Shark (Drama, Thursdays 10pm)
Premise: A celebrity lawyer gives up private practice to become a prosecutor.

Stars: James Woods ("Rudy: The Rudy Giuliani Story," "Ghosts of Mississippi"), Jeri Ryan ("Boston Public," "The O.C."), Sam Page ("Point Pleasant"), Sarah Carter ("Smallville," "Numb3rs"), Alexis Cruz ("American Family," "Stargate SG-1"), Danielle Panabaker ("Empire Falls"), Romy Rosemont ("CSI," "Friends with Money"), Sophina Brown

Studio: 20th Century Fox TV, Imagine Entertainment

Producers: Ian Biederman ("Crossing Jordan"), Ed Redlich ("Without a Trace"), Brian Grazer ("The Da Vinci Code"), David Nevins. Pilot directed by Spike Lee

NBC Picks Up 'Heroes'

Premise: A group of people discover that they have extraordinary powers, ranging from the ability to fly to hearing other people's thoughts.

Stars: Greg Grunberg ("Alias"), Ali Larter ("A Lot Like Love"), Milo Ventimiglia ("Gilmore Girls"), Hayden Panettiere ("Ice Princess"), Adrian Pasdar ("Judging Amy"), Leonard Roberts ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer"), Santiago Cabrera ("Empire"), Tawny Cypress ("Third Watch"), Masi Oka ("Scrubs"), Noah Gray-Cabey, Sendhil Ramamurthy

Studio: NBC Universal TV

Producers: Tim Kring ("Crossing Jordan"), David Semel ("House," "American Dreams"), Dennis Hammer ("Crossing Jordan")

'Heroes' will air Mondays at 9pm on NBC.

MySpace page helps "Stick It" at box office

While Box Office Mojo forecast that "Stick It" would make $5.7 million, the movie surprised boxoffice observers by collecting $11 million and a $5,301 per-screen average when it opened last weekend.

While the Walt Disney Co.'s Touchstone Pictures promoted "Stick It" in a condensed two-week television campaign -- with 10- to 15-second television spots on syndicated shows like UPN's "America's Next Top Model" -- the movie had no outdoor marketing, minimal radio and one print ad in the Los Angeles Times on Friday.

But behind the scenes and online, Bendinger and one of her stars worked as evangelists to woo potential fans. Through niche sports outlets and a MySpace page, Bendinger and crew hoped to rally fans to hang up their gym bags and keyboards and turn up in droves at the 2,000 theaters playing her gymnastics movie.

"I tried to do some missionary work, but it's hard, you don't want to piss people off," Bendinger says of taking some of the movie's marketing into her own hands. "Disney's a very political place, and I'm a straight shooter."

Nevertheless, the first promotional opportunity she seized upon came to her in a roundabout manner.

In January, actress Vanessa Lengies (who plays the snotty and boy-deprived Joanne Charis in "Stick It") asked Bendinger whether it was OK to set up a MySpace page for the movie.

"I knew MySpace was a cool thing, but I hadn't had the time at that point to investigate it myself," Bendinger says. "So Vanessa built her own really cool, primitive MySpace page."

A few weeks later, Bendinger hired a person to work on the site full time. Out of her own pocket, she paid a freelancer $100 a day for four weeks to get friend requests, leave friendly comments, send out birthday messages and build targeted traffic for the page (http://www.myspace.com/stickitmovie).

"We really strategized about our audience," Bendinger says. "First we sought out gymnasts, then cheerleaders who are likely to be familiar with 'Bring It On,' then people who like (the band) Fall Out Boy (because) it's all over the movie and then gay guys."

Through those efforts, Bendinger's homegrown team was able to build up to 6,000 friends on the "Stick It" page.

"It was really a way to soothe my anxiety and to feel like I was doing something in this purgatory period between after the picture was locked and before the campaign was launched," Bendinger says.

Disney took over the MySpace site when the official campaign began two weeks ago by adding special features. A TV campaign that kicked off around the same time helped the site grow to more than 10,000 friends by Friday.

Still, Bendinger is under no illusions that one Web page, no matter how targeted or graphically snazzy, was enough by itself to vault "Stick It" to gold during the weekend.

"MySpace is not going to be what the movie hinges on," she says. "Is 10,000 enough to open a movie? No. However, 10,000 friends who have anywhere from 50 to 3,000 friends each who are seeing that page -- the awareness certainly helps a great deal."

In a parallel effort to drill down to her constituency, Bendinger hired gymnastics writer John Crumlish to write press releases for all of the NCAA gymnasts who appear in the movie. The releases were used to launch a campaign with college magazines and newspapers, and Disney is using them on the movie's official Web site.

Bendinger also worked with Disney to package a special mailing of the "Stick It" trailer and the Missy Elliott video "We Run This," the first single from the movie's soundtrack, to International Gymnast's 30,000 subscribers. Many of the recipients represented the movie's target audience: the 3,000 private gymnastics clubs in the U.S.

"I wanted to do what I could for my own piece of mind," Bendinger says. "And I was definitely covering my butt and the movie's butt as best I cold given our limited resources."

Boxoffice Top 10

1. "RV," $16.4 million.
2. "United 93," $11.6 million.
3. "Stick It," $11.3 million. (Vanny's movie)
4. "Silent Hill," $9.3 million.
5. "Scary Movie 4," $7.8 million.
6. "The Sentinel," $7.6 million.
7. "Ice Age: The Meltdown," $7.05 million.
8. "Akeelah and the Bee," $6.25 million.
9. "The Wild," $4.7 million.
10. "The Benchwarmers," $4.4 million.

"Stick It" a showcase for lithe teenage girls

Yes, there is an inspirational plot of sorts in the film, which mainly involves advising young people to defy the rules of their chosen sport and seek only personal satisfaction and glory rather than strive for discipline and honor.

The central character is 17-year-old Haley Graham (Missy Peregrym), a rebel without a cause who, after getting into some trouble with the law, is sentenced by a judge to do time at an elite gymnastics academy. (Apparently, Texas, where the story is set, has loosened its forms of punishment).

Thus, Haley is reunited with the same girls she let down when she abruptly walked out of a championship competition years before. Given a dose of tough love by her new, hard-nosed coach (Jeff Bridges), she reluctantly takes up the sport again. Despite the ire of her teammates, particularly her chief competitor Joanne (Vanessa Lengies), Haley finds herself inspired to again lead her group to the championships.

It comes as no surprise that the director, making her feature debut, has music video experience because "Stick It" is filmed in a hyperkinetic, in your face style that will induce headaches in anyone who has passed their teens. Equally assaulting is the ultra-loud rock soundtrack, featuring music by the likes of Missy Elliott, Electric Six, K7 and My Morning Jacket.

The film might well inspire young girls to take up the sport, especially because its egregious climactic segment features the characters engaging in routines more inspired by "Flashdance" than anything ever seen at the Olympics.

On every other level, the film is thoroughly ordinary, with the only distinction being Bridges' typically unaffected and engaging performance. Still, as with Tommy Lee Jones' recent "Man of the House," it's depressing to see this distinguished actor, a four-time Oscar nominee, playing second fiddle to skimpily dressed teens.

Peregrym displays some charisma, as well as her firm physique, in the central role, and among those adult performers showing up as aggrieved parents are Julie Warner, Jon Gries and Gia Carides.

Cast:
Burt Vickerman: Jeff Bridges
Haley Graham: Missy Peregrym
Joanne Charis: Vanessa Lengies
Wei Wei Yong: Nikki Soorhoo
Mina Hoyt: Maddy Curley
Frank: Kellan Lutz
Poot: John Patrick Amedori
Brice Graham: Jon Gries
Mrs. Charis: Julie Warner
Alice Graham: Gia Carides

Director-screenwriter: Jessica Bendinger; Producer: Gail Lyon; Executive producers: Gary Barber, Roger Birnbaum, Jonathan Glickman, Derek Evans, David Crockett; Director of photography: Daryn Okada; Production designer: Bruce Curtis; Editor: Troy Takaki; Costume designer: Carol Ramsey: Music: Mike Simpson.

Stick It more watchable than you'd think, thanks to Missy Peregrym: review

It trots out a cornucopia of sports-movie cliches: the tough-love coach, the training montage, the stubborn athlete in need of a life-affirming realization which will (of course) take place during the big championship competition.

It panders shamelessly to its attention span-deprived target audience with quick edits and jump cuts, sequences that have been sped up and slowed down and tricky extreme sports manoeuvres, all to the tune of catchy, blaring guitar riffs. (Though the choice of Renegade by Styx, while an amusing blast from the past, came out way before anyone in the theatre was born and as such is, like, lame.)

And yet, Stick It is way more watchable than all that would suggest, thanks to the presence of Missy Peregrym.

The Canadian actress, who could be Hilary Swank's twin, is a perfect mix of beauty and tomboyish strength. She's quick, she's natural, she has a radiant smile that makes her utterly engaging; she even makes the potentially cloying moments tolerable. Until now, Peregrym has done some bit parts on TV, so you've probably never heard of her, but that should change after Stick It, and that's probably the film's only redeeming quality.

(The similarity to Swank is especially noticeable as Peregrym's Haley Graham trains for the big gymnastics meet with veteran Texas coach Burt Vickerman, played by Jeff Bridges with more intelligence and nuance than you'd expect from a movie like this. With her brunette ponytail and her muscular back and shoulders rippling under her jog bra, she brings back vivid memories of Million Dollar Baby.)

The film from Jessica Bendinger, who wrote the script and directs for the first time, does have its share of clever lines. As in Bring It On, Stick It feels contemporary but very much has its own language, which the attitudinal girls use to call each other out and bring each other down. At times the writing is snappy to the point of being sitcommy, though, as in bad-girl Haley's reaction to the disciplined disciples at Burt's academy: "Is he keeping your brains in jars? Or should I be concerned about the water?"

The profuse use of voiceover also gets a little overbearing and obvious. As if we couldn't figure out for ourselves that Haley was a rebel, from her elaborate mountain-bike stunts to her K-Feddish wardrobe of trucker hats, punk band T-shirts and cut-off camouflage pants, she informs us: "In the world of gymnastics, hating me was a sport, in and of itself."

And as if Haley's backstory weren't contrived enough - she was a stud gymnast who choked at the world championships, and has been a pariah and a recluse ever since - her reason for showing up reluctantly at Burt's training centre is even worse. She gets into trouble for trespassing with her Bill-Ted type goofball pals at a construction site, and this is her punishment.

She and all her pixieish, stage-mothered teammates (including Vanessa Lengies, who gets some laughs as the diva who's prone to malapropisms) will learn lessons about sticking up for themselves and sticking together, whether or not they stick their landings, hence the title.

But the twist that prompts these realizations is laughably implausible. We won't give it away - we'll just say that any aspiring Olympian who has devoted her entire life to training from the moment she could walk wouldn't do it.

Tween and teen girls will love it, though. And regardless of age (or gender), it does make you want to put down the Junior Mints and head to the gym.

Two stars out of four.

Insider Buzz on Fall's New Shows

At The Movies

The "Laguna Beach" MTV reality star is expected to continue her inexorable media push with "Fingerprints," which will be directed by Henry Basil and will begin production in mid-April in Oklahoma.

According to Variety, Snow will star as a gal who gets out of rehab and moves back in with her parents and her sister (Cavallari) and begins to look into some weird urban legend and its relationship with some paralyzed residents of her town.

Since completing work on "American Dreams," Snow has done a guest stint on "Nip/Tuck" and will appear in the features "On the Doll" and "John Tucker Must Die."

Cavallari was last seen on an episode of "Veronica Mars." That guest appearance was intended to promote her UPN reality show "Get This Party Started." Unfortunately, UPN had already pulled the plug on that low-rated offering.

Sam Page Gets CBS Pilot

Ventimiglia Grows Up for 'Bedford Diaries,' 'Rocky'

"Thank God," he says, over a pasta lunch (he's a lifelong vegetarian) in a Santa Monica, Calif., restaurant. "In 'Rocky,' I'm playing 28, so that's unbelievable."

In "Bedford Diaries," created by Tom Fontana ("Oz," "Homicide: Life on the Street"), Ventimiglia plays Richard Thorne III, a former bad boy who edits his New York college newspaper and attends a human behavior and sexuality seminar taught by professor Jake Macklin (Matthew Modine). Playing his classmates are Tiffany Dupont, Penn Badgely, Corri English, Ernest Waddell and Victoria Cartagena.

In the 2007 feature film "Rocky Balboa," the sixth "Rocky" movie, again written and directed by its star, Sylvester Stallone, Ventimiglia plays Rocky Balboa Jr., son of the legendary Philadelphia boxer.

Ventimiglia has also signed on for an NBC pilot called "Heroes," about people who discover they have superpowers.

It may seem odd to do a pilot when one already has a series, except that The WB recently announced it was merging with UPN this fall to create a new network called (for the moment) The CW.

"I called Tom," Ventimiglia says, "and I'm like, 'So?' He's like, 'I've never been on a network that's been canceled.' We started laughing about it. Who knows? I mean, it could work out. Ten years into the business for me, I'm like, 'Cool,' if it doesn't, what are you going to do about it?"

Although Ventimiglia and Badgley play classmates in "Bedford," there's about a decade's difference in their ages, which worked out to the relief of Fontana.

"I was very concerned about Penn," Fontana said in a January interview. "If I was 18, if I had money from a TV show and looked like Penn Badgley, and I was in New York, I would go wild. I got very parental, which is not very much like me.

"But it was Milo who took him under his wing. ... Milo was like the great older brother."

"Penn's a bright guy," Ventimiglia says. "He didn't need me or anybody. There is that concern because he's 18 going on 19, but if you know Penn, he's not capable of putting himself in a position where he's going to get hurt, arrested or in trouble.

"The reason that Penn and I even discussed living together was saving money. When Tom got wind of it, he was like, 'Thank you so much for doing this.' The funny thing was, Tom was like, 'Julie [Martin, an executive producer] was so worried.' I'm like, 'Julie wasn't worried. You were worried.' He really deeply cares about everybody and the process."

Ventimiglia is equally impressed with Stallone after shooting "Rocky Balboa" with him in Los Angeles and Philadelphia.

"The first time I met him," he recalls, "he had a big smile on his face. He's physically twice me, just big. His hands are huge, and he's got that deep, booming voice that just engulfs you. It's very intimidating. But he's also just quiet at times and soft, just a normal guy.

"Of course, I respect the guy because he's done a lot of work; he's a talented writer."

The two even share a crooked lower lip, in both cases the result of nerve damage at birth.

"[During the first meeting] I started laughing," Ventimiglia recalls, "and he looks at me, then he leans over to the casting director and says, 'His lip even hooks down like mine does.' I'm like, 'That's way too close!'"

Everyone knows the iconic visual image of Rocky dancing on the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and that can overshadow the fact that Stallone wrote not only the "Rocky" movies, but several of his other films, and directed four of the "Rocky" movies.

"He's my director, and he's playing my father," Ventimiglia says. "There are so many odd lines of approaching the work. In that sense, Rocky's a little slow, and my character's a pretty bright kid, so he talks to him like an 8-year-old.

"When I saw him turn Rocky on ... Sylvester talks, very animated, really bright. Then when he gets into the character of Rocky, he goes" -- Ventimiglia lets his expression go slack -- "and then he starts looking around. He has this simple smile on his face, and he gets very slow. He does this before every take."

And it's not just Stallone's acting that impressed his young co-star. "When I read the script, I was impressed by it. I said, 'This is a really good story, even if it wasn't a 'Rocky' film. It's written well; it's funny; it's heartfelt.

"Then being on set with him, seeing how hard he works to get the shots cinematically. It's a beautiful, beautiful film. He did such a good job with it."

Ventimiglia also has ambitions behind the camera with his own production company. "We're going out with three TV projects this year," he says. "It's so much work. We just got this option on a book. It's one of those things where my partner and I were like, 'If we don't get it, don't have to work so hard.' Now we're like, 'Great.' Oh, my God, I'm going to go gray and bald in the next year, just working on this story as well as three other films and three other TV shows we have."

While Ventimiglia might appear in some of these projects, don't expect to see his girlfriend, "Gilmore" star Alexis Bledel.

"Separate church and state," Ventimiglia says. "It's just best to keep all that separate."

Milo Ventimiglia Fans, Rejoice!

TVGuide.com: Dude, have you ever had so much to talk about? I don't know where to start.
Milo Ventimiglia: Dude, start somewhere, dive in. Whatever you want to start with.

TVGuide.com: In Bedford Diaries, you're playing a bit of a snake in grass.
Ventimiglia: Yes. Yes, I am, yet again. Richard Thorne III, kid who comes from money, formerly of a drinking and drug problem... has since cleaned up and now nobody likes him.

TVGuide.com: And he has some sort of a past with one of the lead girls?
Ventimiglia: His past is with Corri English's character, Natalie, a girl who tried to kill herself. We don't really know the reason she tried to kill herself, but it had something to do with whatever was going on in her relationship with Richard.

TVGuide.com: Based on the pilot, this show seems to want to push the envelope a bit, doesn't it? The language is a little salty.
Ventimiglia: It does want to push the envelope, and it's kind of come under criticism for it. [Last week, WB decided to air a sanitized, more FCC-friendly version of the pilot.] Like at the TCA press tour for Bedford, we had a bunch of people grilling [executive producers] Tom Fontana and Julie Martin....

TVGuide.com: About what? Like, the [oral sex] reference?
Ventimiglia: Stuff like that, for the WB, is so racy. Finally, a couple of us piped in to say, "Look, we're not showing rape, we're not showing murder, we're not showing homicide or any form of killing like you see on CSI or any of those shows. What we're talking about is the reason why every single person in this room is alive — through sex."

TVGuide.com: Intentionally or not.
Ventimiglia: Exactly, man, intentionally or not.

TVGuide.com: I dunno, this may be the show that shuts down WB once and for all.
Ventimiglia: [Laughs] It's going to be a nice closing bell.

TVGuide.com: You're also attached to the fall NBC pilot Heroes, which sounds fun and interesting.
Ventimiglia: That's a second position. I got attracted to that by David Semel, who was an executive producer on American Dreams. They were having a hard time casting this role of Ethan....

TVGuide.com: Is he the junkie-superhero whose ability is to paint images from the future?
Ventimiglia: No, that's Isaac. Ethan's the guy who thinks that he can fly but he actually has a bit of clairvoyance and can tell other people what their powers are, while it seems like he has none of his own.

TVGuide.com: He thinks he can fly and has clairvoyance — so, he can foresee himself crashing into buildings
Ventimiglia: [Laughs] There you go.

TVGuide.com: Explain to people the "second position" thing.
Ventimiglia: If Bedford Diaries gets picked up, I go back to New York and back to Bedford, and someone else plays Ethan.

TVGuide.com: We get Scott Baio or something.
Ventimiglia: Exactly. Or, if Bedford doesn't go any further and Heroes gets picked up, then I jump on Heroes.

TVGuide.com: And Milo keeps up with his mortgage payments. Now somewhere in here you found time to do the new Rocky Balboa film.

Ventimiglia: Yeah, I finished that [in early February], when everybody was on hiatus.

TVGuide.com: You're playing Rocky Jr. Is he a lover or a fighter?
Ventimiglia: Neither, man. He's a Philadelphia corporate businessman in really dumpy suits that have pleated pants.

TVGuide.com: That's what he's become? In Rocky V he was this punk with a bad earring.
Ventimiglia: Yeah, the earring that hung down to, like, his shoulder. No, now he's trying to find his way in corporate America and not wanting anything to do with the world he grew up in. Then his dad starts talking about wanting to fight again.

TVGuide.com: Is Rocky Sr. going to die in this one?
Ventimiglia: Uh... I don't know.

TVGuide.com: You're also in Stay Alive [which hit theaters March 24]. I assume it's not based on the board game with the marbles?
Ventimiglia: It is not, no. I think they are releasing a video game with it, though.

TVGuide.com: The cast looks like the fourth- and fifth-network all-star team.
Ventimiglia: Let's see, we have two reps of Fox with Frankie Muniz (Malcolm in the Middle) and Samaire Armstrong (The O.C.), you've got myself and Sophia Bush (One Tree Hill) from the WB.... I get killed, though. But it's a pretty good death.

TVGuide.com: Lastly, you squeezed in a Gilmore Girls return, airing April 11. What compelled you to do that?
Ventimiglia: It fit with my schedule. They asked if I wanted to come back, and I said sure. It's always fun to go back and see the crowd.

TVGuide.com: What plot point is Jess serving?
Ventimiglia: Does Jess ever really serve plot points? [Chuckles] I think he did a little the last time, in getting Rory thinking about her ex-boyfriend. [This time] I pop in, I have a nice scene with Scott Patterson, and I have a good scene with Rory, Alexis Bledel.

TVGuide.com: Does it go without saying that your dance card is too full to ever go back to Gilmore full-time?
Ventimiglia: I wouldn't do it. It's not that bad to go back and forth once or twice a year, but I couldn't go back to [being a] regular.

TVGuide.com: So leave us with this: Who is the better match for Rory, Logan or Jess?
Ventimiglia: I really used to like Logan, but he's been kind of an a--hole. [Snickers] I think it has to be Jess or somebody else.

Warner Bros. shooting TV pilot starring Ray Liotta, Virginia Madsen

Warner Bros. officials declined to discuss the crime drama, titled, Smith. The pilot is a project of John Wells, a Carnegie Mellon University graduate who has worked as an executive producer and writer on the NBC dramas ER and The West Wing.

Two of the pilot's stars are Ray Liotta, best known for his role in the film Goodfellas, and Virginia Madsen, who was nominated for an Oscar for her role in Sideways.

Crews will be filming Sunday through Thursday in the city's Oakland section.

Pittsburgh was chosen because officials connected to a Chicago art museum wouldn't let it be shot there, said Dawn Keezer, director of the Pittsburgh Film Office.

Casting About

Dave Semel Helming Heroes

CBS Pilot News

Milo Gets New Pilot

'Hot Properties' O'Grady, Vergara land pilots

O'Grady will star in the CW's untitled Kevin Williamson drama, an ensemble soap centered on a troubled teen who moves with his family to Palm Springs, California. O'Grady will play the boy's mom.

O'Grady's TV credits include the series "American Dreams," which NBC canceled last year after a three-year-run, and the telefilm "Sex & the Single Mom."

Vergara, meanwhile, has been tapped for ABC's untitled comedy starring Donal Logue. The project centers on a group of blue-collar guys in New York who decide to rob a celebrity.

In addition to Vergara, Kevin Michael Richardson, Lenny Venito and Josh Grisetti also have been cast in the pilot.

Vergara has appeared on the big screen in "Chasing Papi" and last year's "Four Brothers."

Snow falls into 'Kingdom II' video game

The game franchise blends well-known characters from classic Walt Disney Co. films with original characters from Japanese game maker Square Enix. In this sequel, for example, Braff again will star as Chicken Little, Woods brings Hades to life, and Ming Na will play a virtual Mulan, The original "Kingdom Hearts" game, which shipped in 2002, has sold more than 5 million units worldwide. Osment will reprise his role as Sora, the lead character in the role-playing game, who journeys through Disney film worlds accompanied by Goofy and Donald Duck. He will be joined by David Gallagher as Riku and Hayden Panettiere as Kairi. Christopher Lee, Brittany Snow and singer Jesse McCartney also play featured characters.

Suvari will portray Aerith, a popular character from Square Enix's best-selling "Final Fantasy VII" game. Other big-screen talent joining her include Steve Burton and Rachael Leigh Cook.

In a first for the franchise, the new game will add characters from such live-action movies as "Tron" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl." A trailer at last year's E3 video game convention showed the likeness of Johnny Depp's Captain Jack Sparrow within the "Kingdom Hearts II" game world, for instance.

"Kingdom Hearts II" also features the worlds of "Hercules," "Beauty and the Beast," "The Lion King," "Aladdin" and "The Nightmare Before Christmas."

In addition to the original game, a Game Boy Advance spinoff called "Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories" sold 2.5 million copies worldwide to date. "Kingdom Hearts II" shipped December 22 in Japan (minus the Hollywood voice talent) and has sold more than 1.1 million units. Square Enix expects the worldwide total of this game to sell 10 million units by the end of its run.

Madsen, Liotta Team for CBS' 'Smith'

Oscar nominee Virginia Madsen and Emmy winner Ray Liotta will head the cast of the show, which is being executive produced by John Wells, the man behind "The West Wing" and "ER." Amy Smart ("Just Friends") and Franky G ("Saw II") have also signed on to the cast.

"Smith" is a crime show told from the point of view of the criminals, the showbiz trade papers report. Wells is writing the pilot in addition to executive producing, and frequent collaborator Christopher Chulack ("ER," "Third Watch") will direct it.

Liotta, who won an Emmy last year for a guest role on "ER," has long been a sought-after star for TV producers, but "Smith" would be his first work as a series regular (he was attached to a pilot at NBC a couple of seasons back that didn't make the cut). The "Narc" and "Goodfellas" star has several film projects on tap this year, including the Vegas mob flick "Smokin' Aces" and the romantic comedy "Comeback Season."

Madsen, who earned an Oscar nomination for her role in "Sideways," stars with Harrison Ford in the thriller "Firewall," which opens this week. Her TV credits include recurring parts on "Frasier" and "American Dreams."

In addition to "Just Friends," Smart has starred in "Varsity Blues" and "The Butterfly Effect" and had recurring roles on "Felicity" and "Scrubs." Franky G starred in Wells' short-lived FOX series "Jonny Zero" last season.

FOX Fingers 'Reunion' Killer

It was so intricately plotted, in fact, that the question of who committed the murder at the show's center was still up in the air.

That, at least, is the word from FOX Entertainment president Peter Ligouri, who on Tuesday (Jan. 17) addressed the show's early demise with reporters at the Television Critics Association press tour.

'Reunion' was particularly cumbersome in terms of trying to provide an ending for the audience," Ligouri says of the show, in which each episode represented a year in the life of six friends, one of whom ends up dead. "How [creator Jon Harmon Feldman] was laying out the show to gap those additional 14, 15, 16 years was an incredibly complex path. There were a number of options, and he didn't make a definitive decision on which option he was going to go with as to who the killer was, and there was just no way to accelerate that time."

Feldman himself hinted at that in a statement following the show's cancellation, saying that solving the mystery of who killed Samantha (Alexa Davalos) was "partially reliant on characters we haven't yet met -- and events we haven't seen."

Ligouri says the network and the show's team talked about several ways to go with the killer's identity, but "the best guess was at that particular time that it was going to be Sam's daughter," whom she gave up for adoption early in the series. The why of the murder remains a mystery.

Despite the failure of "Reunion" to grab an audience -- it averaged 4.3 million viewers in its time on the air -- Ligouri says FOX won't shy away from different forms of storytelling in the future.

"It is regrettable when stories end before their time. I don't think that should stop us from being ambitious with serialized storytelling," he says. "... We put these shows on and we're going to continue to put these shows on every year with every good intention to end them, but eventually the audience votes."

Virginia Madsen draws 'Number 23' with Carrey

Elisabeth Shue had been cast in the wife role in November but recently stepped down when she learned she was pregnant. New Line Cinema then entered talks with Nicole Kidman, but a deal was never reached because of scheduling conflicts. The movie begins shooting Monday in Los Angeles.

In the film, Carrey comes across an obscure book titled "The Number 23." As he reads it, he becomes increasingly convinced that the book is based on his own life. His obsession with the number 23 starts to consume him to the point that he soon realizes that the book forecasts far graver consequences for his life than he could ever have imagined.

Madsen's character is Carrey's wife, who also is a character in the book. Danny Huston ("The Constant Gardener") will portray the couple's mutual friend, whom Carrey thinks is after his wife, while Rhona Mitra ("Boston Legal") will play a character in the book called Suicide Girl.

Madsen was nominated for an Oscar for her work in the arthouse smash "Sideways" and next appears opposite Harrison Ford in the thriller "Firewall," which opens February 10.

20 Million Watch Dick Clark's New Years

More people watched the ball drop at midnight in Times Square with Clark than any program in prime time that week, Nielsen Media Research said Friday.

Clark, who co-hosted with Ryan Seacrest, was appearing for the first time on television since suffering a stroke nearly 13 months earlier. His voice occasionally was difficult to understand, but many people praised his bravery, including other stroke victims.

Clark's two main competitors — Carson Daly on NBC and Regis Philbin on Fox — drew a combined total of 13.7 million viewers, Nielsen said. Philbin was seen by 18.2 million people when he subbed for Clark on ABC last year.

Stroke Survivors Inspired by Dick Clark

Stroke survivors and their advocates said Tuesday they were cheered and inspired by Dick Clark's New Year's Eve appearance, ringing in 2006 a year after his debilitating stroke.

"I think it's awesome," said Leean Hendrix, who was 26 when she had a stroke three years ago. "It was a tremendously courageous thing to do."

Hendrix, a former Miss Arizona who lives in Phoenix, echoed a hope common among stroke survivors interviewed: that the public might begin to treat them with the respect and admiration given those who've overcome cancer or heart attacks.

"Survivors of those other diseases seem to wear a badge of honor," said Hendrix. But a stroke, with its obvious impairment, "maybe isn't a pretty thing to look at. It's definitely not a sexy disease."

"So for him to get up on national TV and say: "This is what I am now" — I have nothing but respect for him," she said.

Diane Mulligan-Fairfield of the National Stroke Association, a public education organization, called Clark a "hero" for showing the world his condition.

"Hero is not normally a word we associate with stroke survivors," she said. "We are trying to change that."

Clark's appearance on "New Year's Rockin' Eve" came a full year after the December 2004 stroke that forced him to miss last year's show. There had been intense speculation beforehand whether he'd be up to the task. The 76-year-old entertainer has given no interviews since his stroke.

On New Year's Eve, seated inside a studio at Times Square, Clark began by immediately acknowledging his condition, saying it had been a "long, hard fight" learning to walk and talk again. But, he said, "I wouldn't have missed this for the world."

His words were muffled, but he kept a quick pace and was, for the most part, easy to understand during his brief appearances sprinkled through the telecast. At midnight, he counted down the seconds as the ball dropped, then kissed his wife, Kari, sitting next to him at his desk.

While some found the appearance moving, others seemed to find it inappropriate or depressing to see the ever-boyish, handsome Clark display his impaired condition in a TV universe where appearance is everything.

"Viewers ... may well have been hoping the famous giant ball was the only thing that would drop before the night was over," wrote Washington Post TV critic Tom Shales. He said Clark looked "seriously debilitated," and called his appearance "a gesture likely to strike some observers as courageous and others as morbid."

In the New York Times, reviewer Virginia Heffernan called Clark's description of his speech ("not perfect") an "understatement," and wrote that sometimes, "his impaired speech seemed comical," although mostly it was touching.

The negative comments deeply angered Karl Guerra of Annapolis, Md., who has been recovering from a stroke for the last five years. For the first three years, he spent 10 hours a day working on his speech. He called Clark's recovery so far "remarkable."

"Let's face it, there are certain aspects of a stroke that make people feel uncomfortable, and one of those is speech," Guerra said in a telephone interview. "But he's doing a great job as far as I can tell. For me, he epitomizes the 'Go out there and make it happen' spirit."

A doctor who treats stroke survivors said Clark's determination to go ahead with his appearance is just the kind of goal that often helps patients with their recovery.

"In many diseases the emotional component — the determination to fight and pursue recovery — is part of the recovery itself," said Dr. Pierre Fayad, medical director of neurology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

One stroke survivor said he would have preferred to see Clark use his appearance to spend some time promoting stroke awareness. "It's great to see that he's come back, but it doesn't tell the whole story," said Haven Moses, a former NFL player with the Buffalo Bills and Denver Broncos who suffered a stroke at age 56.

Though it may be unusual to see a celebrity like Clark display impairment from a stroke so publicly, other well-known entertainers such as Kirk Douglas, Julie Harris and Patricia Neal have done so. Both Douglas and Neal appeared in films following their strokes. A rehabilitation center in Tennessee is named after Neal.

Preliminary ratings from big-city markets showed that Clark's broadcast on ABC drew more people than competitors Carson Daly on NBC and Regis Philbin on Fox combined, according to Nielsen Media Research. "New Year's Rockin' Eve" ratings were up 15 percent over last year, when Philbin filled in.

Television analyst Marc Berman of Media Week Online said that while Clark's appearance was brave, he's not sure ABC would want him to continue playing a major role in future New Year's Eve broadcasts if his condition doesn't improve markedly. ABC and Clark's production company have already signed a long-term deal with Ryan Seacrest, who co-hosted this year, to make the "American Idol" host the New Year's Eve heir apparent.

"We've already seen what (Clark) looks like," said Berman. "The curiosity factor is gone."

As for Clark himself, he was in a "terrific" mood after the show, said his spokesman, Paul Shefrin. "He got done and five or six of us went out for a hamburger," he said. "He absolutely feels like he did the right thing." He said Clark will likely sit down in the next few weeks to decide what he wants to do about the future.

"He has never said this would be his last year," he said. "It's up to him."

On the Net: National Stroke Association: http://info.stroke.org

Dick Clark Returns to TV to Mark New Year

Clark, sitting behind a desk with the street scene in the background, sounded hoarse and occasionally was hard to understand, but he said, "I wouldn't have missed this for the world."

"Last year I had a stroke," he explained. "It left me in bad shape. I had to teach myself how to walk and talk again. It's been a long, hard fight. My speech is not perfect but I'm getting there."

Clark introduced a musical performance by Mariah Carey.

After his Dec. 6, 2004, stroke, Clark had to sit out "New Year's Rockin' Eve" last year for the first time since starting it in 1972. Regis Philbin was his emergency sub.

Clark, 76, declined interviews and television appearances as he rehabilitated, and his spokesman said the former "American Bandstand" host viewed New Year's as his personal coming-out party. Tabloid pictures of Clark using a cane or wheelchair led to questions about whether he was up to it.

With increased competition, it sometimes seemed as if Times Square was a giant television studio.

Philbin was back, this time for Fox. Carson Daly was host of an NBC party. News anchor Anderson Cooper was amid revelers for CNN, and Stuart Scott was on ESPN2. Kanye West was the featured guest at MTV's soiree.

But with Carey crooning for Clark, "New Year's Rockin' Eve" figured to be the dominant TV party of the night.

ABC and Clark's production company this year made plans to keep the show alive when Clark can no longer do it, signing "American Idol" host Ryan Seacrest as his successor.

Seacrest opened "New Year's Rockin' Eve" with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and introduced Clark.

Clark Ready for New Year's Eve Return

It will be the 76-year-old Clark's first TV appearance since his stroke, which forced him to bow out of last year's show.

"I'm not a doctor and I'm not his wife so I don't see him on a daily basis, but he will not be in a wheelchair on the telecast," Seacrest told AP Radio in a recent interview.

Seacrest, who will make his debut as co-host of the New Year's Eve special, said Clark "has gotten better and better each day. I don't think he is a hundred percent but I think he's better than he was last week and better than he was six months ago."

As for Clark's voice, Seacrest said: "It's not exactly as it probably sounded when he was his healthiest and before the stroke, but it definitely sounds like Dick and I think that he's been working on his speech and making sure that it's as good as it can be on the night."

"I know that he is one of the most driven and focused individuals on the planet," the 31-year-old Seacrest said of Clark. "And so when he puts his mind to something and when he wants to do something like this television show and be there for everybody to see him, he'll do it."

Seacrest and Clark will appear from New York, where the ball will drop in Times Square in the traditional countdown to midnight. Co-host Hilary Duff will anchor and perform at the Hollywood segment of the show.

The 34th annual "New Year's Rockin' Eve" will air Saturday starting at 10 p.m. (EST).

Unhappy Reunion

Actress walks on wild side on FX

But she's not telling.

"All I can say is, you won't be disappointed," says Snow. "That's what I can say. The final episode is so brilliant. I have my friends bribing me and paying me and wanting to take me out, and I'm like, 'No, I can't even tell you, because I won't be able to explain it as good as it is.' It's amazing. I think people are going to be really impressed."

Word on the street has it that even the most ardent "Nip/Tuck" fans may not be able to guess. "It isn't (guessable)," Snow says, "but it all makes sense. It's so perfect."

Snow has had a recurring role this season as Ariel, the new girlfriend of perpetually troubled teen Matt McNamara (John C. Hensley), who was raised by plastic surgeon Dr. Sean McNamara (Dylan Walsh), but is actually the biological son of his partner and best pal, Dr. Christian Troy (Julian McMahon).

The role has been a revelation for Snow's fans, who are used to seeing her as the apple-cheeked, wholesome Meg on NBC's "American Dreams."

As Ariel, the loyal daughter of a white supremacist (Brian Kerwin), Snow donned black clothes and eyeliner, sported Teutonic jewelry and spouted neo-Nazi slogans.

"It's actually the most rewarding role I've had in a while," Snow says. "This is the thing where I went to work every day just scared out of my mind, because it's so unlike me. What I found is it's actually really sad. I do feel for the character.

"It's not really her choice, it's what she's been brought up with. Ariel is trained to think this way. She loves her father so much, and she wants to do what he says. There's definitely an underlying subtext storyline of her father being abusive. She's scared that he will hurt her. The relationship is a very unhealthy one. They're so enmeshed and involved with each other that she just goes with anything he says in fear of him not loving her."

Now that the job is over, Snow hasn't held on to Ariel's viewpoints, but has kept a bit of her fashion sense.

"I took some of the black combat boots," she says. "I'm pretty preppy in real life, so it can look really cute."

Even though he tried to get Ariel help for her psychological problems in the most recent episode, Matt has often crossed moral and legal lines, even resorting to violence.

"The funny thing is," Snow says, "John is just such a great guy, and he's so unlike his character. He is such a sweetheart, the sweetest, most generous, most professional actor. Working with him was always fun and great. So to see his character, watching him on the show, was just, wow. I was blown away by him. He's very cute."

The relationship between Matt and Ariel rapidly became sexual, and that was another change for Snow.

"Considering that John and I became really good friends during the shooting, it was very easy," she says. "We just made fun of each other. By the time we had the love scenes, I knew the crew, and I was comfortable.

"It's really awkward, but you've got to do it. It was definitely something new for me, but it was something that I was definitely glad it was over with, when it was over."

No End in Sight for 'Reunion'

The series is for now set to play out its original 13-episode order, which would put its end date sometime in January. When FOX announced the cancellation last week, Warner Bros. TV, which produces the show, wasn't sure whether it would be able to wrap up "Reunion's" plot-driving murder mystery by then.

The answer, according to "Reunion" creator Jon Harmon Feldman, is no. Because of the show's unique structure -- in which each episode covers a year from 1986 to 2006 in the lives of six high-school friends -- Feldman says there's no way to resolve the mystery of who killed Samantha (Alexa Davalos).

"The show was intricately plotted over 22 episodes to tell the full story of our characters' lives (and deaths)," Feldman says in a statement. "Because the events of Samantha's murder are partially reliant on characters we haven't yet met -- and events we haven't yet seen -- there is no way to solve the mystery of her murder without being able to complete the full arc of our story through present-day."

Episode 13 would leave the characters in 1998, eight years before the murder investigation that drives the flashbacks.

"I greatly regret that this question along with many others that the series has posed will remain unsolved, and I am deeply grateful for the support of viewers who share this regret," Feldman says.

"Reunion" has struggled to hold on to the audience from its lead-in, "The O.C.," in the highly competitive 9 p.m. Thursday hour. It's averaging about 4.3 million viewers per week and draws a similarly small number in FOX's target demographic of adults 18-49.

Gail & Will's Shows Both Cancelled

Sources said ABC has opted not to pick up additional episodes of the Gail O'Grady comedy "Hot Properties," which has completed its original 13-episode order and will stay on the air through December. The Friday entry revolves around four men-obsessed women in a Manhattan real estate office.

After a sluggish start in its original Friday 9 p.m. slot and equally soft results from the trial move of "Threshold" to the Tuesday 10 p.m. slot last week, the alien-invasion drama will be taken off the schedule for the last Tuesday of the November sweep this week, replaced by a repeat of CBS' promising new crime drama "Criminal Minds." "Threshold," from " Harry Potter" producer David Heyman, starred Carla Gugino.

The drama "Reunion," about six friends caught up in a murder mystery, has struggled in the killer Thursday 9 p.m. slot (opposite CBS' "CSI"), dropping significantly from its "The O.C." lead-in.

ABC, CBS and Fox declined comment on the cancellations Monday.

Robinson joins Condon's cast in 'Dreamgirls'

Robinson -- whose credits range from "Fat Albert" to the recent FX series "Over There" and NBC's "American Dreams" -- will play the composer C.C., brother of the pivotal character of Effie. The casting represents a particular coup because at one point R&B heartthrob Usher was reported to be in negotiations for the part, though no deal was reached.

With filming on the DreamWorks/Paramount Pictures production set to begin in January under the direction of Bill Condon ("Kinsey"), the rest of the cast is quickly taking shape.

Last week, DreamWorks announced that Jennifer Hudson, a former "American Idol" contestant, will play Effie, the role made famous by Jennifer Holiday in the original 1981 Broadway show when Holiday belted out her signature tune "And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going."

Along with Hudson, Beyonce Knowles and Anika Noni Rose will play girl group the Dreamettes.

Jamie Foxx is set as their manager, Curtis Taylor, and Eddie Murphy is playing the headliner James "Thunder" Early.

Condon has adapted the screenplay from the show's original book by Tom Eyen. Lyrics and music are by Eyen and Henry Krieger, respectively.

Ventimigiia in ring for new 'Rocky'

Milo Ventimiglia, best known for playing Jess on the WB Network drama "Gilmore Girls," has signed on to star as Sylvester Stallone's adult son in "Rocky Balboa," the sixth installment of the feature franchise about the mythic Philadelphia boxer.

In the latest version, Rocky has long since retired but is drawn back to the ring one last time. He is challenged by a powerful new champion, by personal tragedy and ultimately by himself.

Rocky's son, Rocky Balboa Jr., was introduced into the franchise in 1979's "Rocky II," when his birth was a pivotal moment in the film. The role most recently was filled by Stallone's real-life son, Sage Stallone, in 1990's "Rocky V."

Shooting is slated to begin next month in Los Angeles and Philadelphia. Columbia Pictures will distribute.

Ventimiglia also stars in the WB midseason replacement "The Bedford Diaries" and alongside Sophia Bush in the upcoming thriller "Stay Alive."

Dreams' Meg Is a Nip/Tuck Neo-Nazi!

TVGuide.com: Congratulations on landing Nip/Tuck. Are Doctors McNamara and Troy going to take a scalpel to you?
Brittany Snow: Not exactly. My character's name is Ariel and it's symbolic that she's named that, actually, because everything she stands for is Aryan. She's a white supremacist and a neo-Nazi.

TVGuide.com: You're scaring me.
Snow: It's more psychologically frightening than anything. Ariel has extreme views and really believes that what she says is right. When you listen to the character, you may find yourself saying, "Well, she does have a point...." I don't think Ariel is correct, but she justifies it in such a way that it is chilling. And I'm dressed all gothic — black clothes, black eyeliner.

TVGuide.com: Now you're really scaring me... more than those darn Boohbah blobs.
Snow: Well, I wanted to do something challenging.

TVGuide.com: Your character hooks up with Matt (played by John Hensley)?
Snow: Yes. Ariel manipulates Matt into thinking that he likes her. I mean, she pierces his ear with a swastika earring and brainwashes him by using her strong viewpoints and sexuality.

TVGuide.com: Do you curse on-screen?
Snow: Yes.... And I have sex.

TVGuide.com: What?!
Snow: [Laughs] It's all suggestive — you can't see Ariel and Matt, but you can hear the characters during, and afterward I come out wearing just a shirt and no pants. Believe me, my dad is dreading the day it airs. But hey, everyone has a dark side, even me.

TVGuide.com: Let's see about that. Ever snuck into a movie?
Snow: Yup.

TVGuide.com: Cut in line?
Snow: No.

TVGuide.com: Cut class?
Snow: Never.

TVGuide.com: Just one out of three — that's weak.
Snow: I go out clubbing with my friends, and a lot of them are big-time nightlife people. I'm not into it as much as they are, but I do the occasional partying at the Hollywood clubs, which, I guess, is the worst you're going to get on me.

TVGuide.com: You've redeemed yourself somewhat.
Snow: Thanks. Lately, though, I've just been chilling. I have a new boyfriend who is a singer-songwriter.

TVGuide.com: Ah, a rebellious musician type. Now we're getting somewhere.
Snow: No, no. He's really sweet and down-to-earth — not the stereotypical "crazy" rocker type.

TVGuide.com: To follow the mantra of Nip/Tuck: Tell me what you don't like about yourself.
Snow: There are a lot of things.

TVGuide.com: Do you not like that it mentions your expert skills as a clog dancer in your official bio?
Snow: Yeah. That's really bad.

TVGuide.com: It must take a lot of energy to do all that clogging.
Snow: I'm actually kind of proud that I can clog dance.

TVGuide.com: But back to the original question....
Snow: I'm too hard on myself and I wish I had a bit more confidence.

TVGuide.com: What other projects do you have coming up?
Snow: I'm going over a bunch of scripts for independent movies as well as a few features that are in the works. I want to be really choosy about my next role. I just wrapped John Tucker Must Die up in Vancouver with Ashanti, Sophia Bush (One Tree Hill) and Jesse Metcalfe (Desperate Housewives).

TVGuide.com: Do you go all Aryan in that, too?
Snow: No. [Laughs] I play a girl named Kate who is new at school and gets mixed in with this group of girls who are all dating the same guy (Metcalfe). They want him to fall in love with Kate — and then have her dump him to get back at him for wronging them.

TVGuide.com: Who took longer in the makeup chair — the girls or Jesse?
Snow: I think he would get mad if I told you the truth. [Giggles] I'm kidding! The girls did, but Jesse does like to primp.

TVGuide.com: And he looks good after doing so.
Snow: He's honestly the coolest guy. I've known him for such a long time and we had so much fun [filming].

TVGuide.com: Speaking of fun, American Dreams fans are not having much of any, what with the extended series finale being pulled by NBC. What gives?
Snow: It's so weird. NBC said it was going to air it and then they changed their minds. To just leave everything unfinished is unfair.

TVGuide.com: Did Meg come home from protesting the war in Berkeley?
Snow: [The unaired extended finale] takes a look at life for the Pryors three years later, and yes, Meg comes home. They're very heartfelt scenes.

TVGuide.com: Quick! You were a straight-A student in school, would you let me cheat off of you?
Snow: Of course!

TVGuide.com: OK, you're a bad-ass in our book.

'American Dreams' Star Snow Drifts to 'Nip/Tuck'

Snow is set to appear in a multi-episode arc of FX's "Nip/Tuck," playing a girl whose ugly worldview contrasts with her outward appearance. She'll make her debut on the for-grownups-only show Tuesday (Nov. 22) and is scheduled to appear in the next four episodes as well.

Her character, Ariel Alderman, will be the source of further misery for the already deeply disturbed Matt McNamara (John Hensley). Matt begins dating her, and her racist beliefs -- in Tuesday's episode, she compares plastic surgery to work done by Nazis -- lead him into a deeper hole.

This comes, of course, after he found out at the end of last season that the woman he loved had previously been a man, on top of numerous other calamities.

Prior to "American Dreams," Snow appeared on the CBS soap opera "The Guiding Light" for three years. She co-starred in the feature film "The Pacifier" earlier this year and will appear in the feature comedy "John Tucker Must Die," which is scheduled for release next year.

Actor happy to join this 'Reunion'

It gives the actor best known for his role as J.J. Pryor on the late NBC drama "American Dreams" a leading role in prime time again, but it is also a short-term gig.

"I didn't know that when I auditioned," he says, "but I found out later. It's OK with me. You'd be surprised how many things you find out last as an actor.

"You never know how long you'll be around on a series anyway. But, hopefully, this will be a springboard for other projects."

Because "Reunion's" story will be told at the end of what's expected to be this season's 22 episodes, a second season of "Reunion" will revolve around a different story and another cast.

"Reunion" (9 tonight, Fox) is about six friends who come together for their 20th high school reunion. One of them -- revealed last week to be Samantha (Alexa Davalos) -- is murdered, and all of them become suspects. A detective traces their turbulent and secretive lives back, spanning 20 years to find which one had the motive.

"It's a genuine coming-of-age story," Estes says, "but you also find out it's a murder mystery."

Estes plays Will Malloy, a good boy from the wrong side of the tracks who goes to prison for a crime he did not commit and can never quite get the girl.

"He's just a guy with a good sense of himself. He just makes a lot of mistakes," Estes says.

Malloy has a lot of skeletons in his closet. Before the 1980s were finished, he fooled around with his best friend's girl and orchestrated a shady real estate deal. By present day, we see Will has become a priest and is a major suspect in the murder investigation of his friend.

Estes got his start on the NBC soap opera "Santa Barbara," when he was 8 years old. Before graduating from high school, he acted in numerous TV projects such as "The New Lassie" and the cartoon "Jonny's Golden Quest."

Despite finding steady work in an unsure profession at an early age, Estes says, he almost gave up acting when he graduated from high school, which he completed mainly through tutoring.

"I was running around thinking I was cool, driving my car and listening to Carlos Santana," says the 27-year-old bachelor.

"I thought I'd give up acting ... but when I really thought about it, acting was what I wanted to do."

He dropped out of a Los Angeles-area junior college after getting a role in the submarine movie "U-571." It allowed the then-teenage Estes to live in Rome for several months.

He wanted to do "Reunion" because he knew Jon Harmon Feldman, the show's creator, who was a writer on "Dreams."

Although he'll be looking for his next series soon, Estes has no regrets.

"This is a great time in my life," he says. "I am having fun and looking ahead. As an actor, that's all you can do sometimes."

Amanda Righetti on Reunion Castmate Will Estes

Answer: Will [Estes] (American Dreams). When I first met him, he was so quiet, but he is such a funny guy and you would just never expect that from him. Some of the stuff that comes out of his mouth and these looks that he has... it makes you laugh. He's a really interesting character. I've never met anyone quite like him.

TVGuide.com: What Would Have Been

Ausiello: Well, if you think you love me now, just wait until you hear what I have in the works. (Still can't discuss as nothing is official.) In the meantime, as I promised last week, here are some tidbits about what would have happened to your faves had Dreams seen a fourth season:

J.J. and Beth: "I was going to send J.J. to Berkeley to get his sister back and, while there, get exposed to a lot of the antiwar stuff," says series creator Jonathan Prince. "He would eventually come home and work harder on the space program. And Beth was going to go back to school to get her degree."

Meg and Sam: "Everybody wanted them to be together, which is why I think they couldn’t," says Prince. "I was going to give Sam a really serious girlfriend." Meg, meanwhile, would have fallen for Joey Lawrence's Bandstand successor, "a guy who seemed superficial on the top and ended up being deeper than that. That's who she would have ended up with. A local guy. The least likely guy you’d figure."

Helen and Jack: Helen was going to get busted for helping potential draftees slip off to Canada, leading to a rift between her and Jack. "They would have separated," says Prince. "But, obviously, they would have gotten back together.

FX Withdraws from 'Over There'

The cable network took the unusual step Tuesday (Nov. 1) of announcing it wouldn't pick up "Over There," about a squad of inexperienced soldiers in Iraq. Typically networks don't choose to draw attention to shows that are being cancelled.

In explaining the cancellation FX chief John Landgraf takes pains to note that the "beautifully produced, acted, written and directed" show was axed solely due to the realities of the TV business, not for any creative reasons.

"That decision was motivated entirely by 'Over There's' ratings performance and our belief that the numbers were reflective of what the show is about, rather than its quality or entertainment value," Landgraf says. "While are passionately committed to fostering great television, we are an advertiser-supported network, and the size of our audience is vital to our bottom line."

"Over There" averaged 2.1 million viewers over its 13-week run, well below the levels of its other drama series. "Rescue Me" drew 2.8 million viewers per week this summer, while "The Shield" and "Nip/Tuck" each bring in more than 3 million.

After starting strong with an audience of 4.1 million people for its premiere, "Over There" dipped in subsequent weeks. It took a further hit over its final four episodes, when it aired opposite new episodes of highly rated broadcast-network shows like "CSI: NY" and "Law & Order"; during those four weeks it averaged only 1.6 million viewers.

Chris Gerolmo and Steven Bochco created "Over There," which was the first TV series to dramatize a war that was still going on while it aired. Landgraf also has kind words for them and "their immensely talented and dedicated team of collaborators, whose artistry was reflected in each episode."

TVGuide.com: Finale Update & Spoilers

Ausiello: Well, the first half of your wish came true, LJ. Chris is definitely out of Meg's life. And I know this because — brace yourselves, Dreamers, — I've seen the elusive epilogue! Jonathan Prince sent a DVD copy to me via armored vehicle late last week and all I can say is it more than lived up to the hype. Now, before I present you with the highlights, let me assure you that, come hell or high water, you will see the ending, too. Worse case scenario: You'll have to wait for the Season 2 and 3 boxed DVD set, which will hopefully street sometime in '06. "We're in negotiations now," Prince says of the DVD. "And the epilogue would absolutely be included." But there's slight chance you won't have to wait until then. I can't get into specifics, but a top-secret plan is afoot that could bring the ending to you much sooner and cement my status as an American hero in the process. Hopefully, I'll have more to share in the coming weeks. In the meantime, here are some interesting facts/tidbits/spoilers about the climax to whet your appetite.

Stop reading now if you prefer to wait for the real deal.

* The flashback-heavy capper is 10 minutes long, edited down from 20 minutes of raw footage.

* The only Dreams principals appearing in new scenes are Brittany Snow, Gail O'Grady and Tom Verica.

* Most of the epilogue takes place on a bus, with Meg — now a junior at Berkeley — heading to New York to visit Sam at Columbia. "This would have been the first time she's seen Sam in three years," says Prince.

* Meg meets a friend on the bus, and it's during their conversation that we learn that Patty went to Radcliffe, Roxanne married Luke and had a son named Woody Allen, and J.J. and Beth also married and had a son.

* At the last minute, Meg decides to get off the bus in Philadelphia, where she returns home and reunites with her mom and dad for the first time in three years.

Next week, Jonathan reveals what would have happened had Dreams gone a fourth season. (Hint: It's splitsville for Helen and Jack!)

'Gilmore Girls' Gets Lots of Sweeps Visitors

"Gilmore Girls" will welcome back a couple of familiar faces, plus a top-secret new one, during sweeps. The WB series will also take strides toward mending the season-long rift between mother Lorelai Gilmore (Lauren Graham) and daughter Rory (Alexis Bledel).

Milo Ventimiglia is set to reprise his role as Rory's ex-boyfriend Jess on Tuesday, Nov. 8. He comes back to town and tells Rory about an "impressive accomplishment" that makes her rethink her current Yale-dropout, guesthouse-living situation.

Ventimiglia, last seen in the there-and-gone teen flick "Dirty Deeds," stars in The WB's midseason series "The Bedford Diaries." He also had a recurring part on NBC's "American Dreams" last season.

Two weeks after that, David Sutcliffe will make an appearance as Rory's dad, Christopher. He'll be part of a Thanksgiving episode in which Rory gets some unsettling news about her current beau, Logan (Matt Czuchry).

In between, on Nov. 15, someone from Luke's (Scott Patterson) past will turn up in town, throwing a big wrench into his relationship with Lorelai. Speculation has been that Lorelai maybe isn't the only single parent in their relationship, but the network isn't divulging any further details.

Interview: "Reunion" with Will Estes

Life Is 'Beautiful' for ABC Family

'Waiting ...' unfunny, unappetizing

The comedy uses gross-out "humor" with little inventiveness to ply the familiar territory of twentysomething limbo and workplace hell. Despite a solid ensemble, this would-be "Kitchen Confidential" for the chain-steakhouse set, which boasts as many producers as cast members, doesn't serve up enough laughs to build a theatrical following but could find life on video as a takeout item.

There comes a moment for many thinking people when job security takes on life-threatening proportions: a clear-eyed look at unhappy co-workers and the inept boss signals something's gotta give. For 22-year-old Dean (Justin Long), that moment of truth occurs four years into his job waiting tables at ShenaniganZ. Obsessed with the apparent success of a former classmate -- helpfully brought to his attention by his mother -- Dean feels himself languishing at work and at the community college where he and best friend Monty (Ryan Reynolds) are on-again, off-again students.

Dangling benies and "power" before him, clueless manager Dan (David Koechner), who conducts dispiriting staff meetings by the Dumpster, offers the hard-working but directionless Dean a promotion to assistant manager. He is shocked when Dean asks for time to think it over. Where this is headed is as predictable as the dinner-hour rush.

The ShenaniganZ staff spend most nights partying together after long days slinging baked potatoes, and co-worker couplings are inevitable. Dean avoids commitment to earnest waitress Amy (Kaitlin Doubleday), while Dan and Monty eye the underage hostess ( Vanessa Lengies). Monty, whose snarkiness is his identity (a cameo by Wendie Malick as his mother makes clear where he gets it), also spends time being humiliated by his feisty ex, waitress Serena (Anna Faris), and showing the ropes to wide-eyed new guy Mitch (John Francis Daley).

Mainly the ropes consist of learning how to play a behind-the-scenes time-waster that Serena rightly calls "an exercise in retarded homophobia." Sleazeball cook Raddimus (Luis Guzman), the mastermind of the Penis-Showing Game, provides demos for Mitch using raw chicken parts. Besides workplace dystopia, this exhibitionist stupidity is the script's central thread.

First-time writer-director Rob McKittrick demonstrates a feel for the systematic hysteria of restaurant dynamics, but his observations lack the absurdist edge of "Clerks" and the truly idiosyncratic detail that would make his characters three-dimensional. Within limited roles, the cast does what it can. Chi McBride, an actor capable of sublime understatement, plays the sage philosopher-king dishwasher, dispensing wisdom to a crew that includes two gangsta-wannabe pothead busboys (Andy Milonakis and Max Kasch), the angriest waitress in the world (Alanna Ubach) and a spineless virgin (Robert Patrick Benedict). Is it any wonder that -- in the film's funniest gag -- their birthday serenade to a young boy makes him cry?

Filmed in New Orleans but with no sense of the place, "Waiting . . ." unfolds mainly within appropriately generic restaurant interiors. Refreshingly, McKittrick doesn't lean on canned pop tracks as mortar, but neither does he craft enough of a story to hold together the shtick.

Cast:
Monty: Ryan Reynolds
Serena: Anna Faris
Dean: Justin Long
Dan: David Koechner
Mitch: John Francis Daley
Tyla: Emmanuelle Chriqui
Amy: Kaitlin Doubleday
Nick: Andy Milonakis
T-Dog: Max Kasch
Naomi: Alanna Ubach
Calvin: Robert Patrick Benedict
Natasha: Vanessa Lengies
Bishop: Chi McBride
Raddimus: Luis Guzman
Monty's Mom: Wendie Malick

Director-screenwriter: Rob McKittrick; Producers: Adam Rosenfelt, Stavros Merjos, Jay Rifkin, Jeff Balis, Rob Green; Executive producers: Chris Moore, Jon Shestack, Sam Nazarian, Malcolm Petal, Marc Schaberg, Thomas Augsberger, Paul Fiore; Director of photography: Matthew Irving; Production designer: Devorah Herbert; Music: Adam Gorgoni; Co-producers: Chris Fenton, Dean Shull, Randy Winograd; Costume designer: Jillian Kreiner; Editors: David Finfer, Andy Blumenthal.

ABC's "Properties" may be too hot to handle

With the addition of "Hot Properties," a spicy sexcom about a female-operated real estate office, the last vestige of TGIF is "Hope & Faith," which precedes this new series. It's kind of like serving some chicken soup before hot chicken wings.

Actually, the food analogy is even more apt when you consider that, for many, "Hot Properties" surely will be an acquired taste. The nonstop sexual references will please some and annoy others. And then there will be a few who wonder how network standards and practices ever signed off on the line spoken by beauty Sofia Vergara, who plays Lola, about her family of carpenters: "I spent my life surrounded by men with wood."

Gail O'Grady stars as Ava, the owner of the real estate agency, a fortysomething dish who has managed to keep her exact age a secret from her new (and unseen) 25-year-old husband. (Cue the stamina jokes.) Nicole Sullivan plays Chloe, man-hungry to the point of desperation (Cue the frustration jokes.) Then there's Lola, divorced for six months after 10 years of marriage to a gay man (Cue all the jokes that didn't fit in the other categories.)

The real estate agency shares a receptionist, " Bob Newhart Show"-style, with the other offices on the floor, including crude plastic surgeon Dr. Charlie Thorpe (Stephen Dunham) and easygoing therapist Dr. Sellers Boyd (Evan Handler), neither of whom get much face time in the premiere.

In the opener, all three agents show a property to newly engaged Emerson Ives (Christina Moore), who shares with complete strangers that she and her fiance have saved themselves for marriage. Two of the agents have personal knowledge to the contrary about her fiance, which leads to the end of the engagement and the addition of Emerson to the agency.

The "B" story has Lola mourning the death of her pet chicken, which ingested a bath oil bead. Seriously.

This is sassy and superficial but also entertaining, and that's really all it aspires to be. What's more, the cast seems to enjoy themselves and all the goofiness while it squeezes every drop of laughter from each bawdy punchline. Anyway, the only other network comedy on at the same time, WB's "Living With Fran," won't exactly provide refuge from sexual innuendoes and double-entendres.

Cast:
Ava Summerlin: Gail O'Grady
Chloe Reid: Nicole Sullivan
Lola Hernandez: Sofia Vergara
Emerson Ives: Christina Moore
Dr. Charlie Thorpe: Stephen Dunham
Dr. Sellers Boyd: Evan Handler
Mary: Amy Hill
Graham Currier: Greg Cromer

Executive producers: Suzanne Martin, Andy Ackerman; Co-executive producer: Jay Daniel; Director: Andy Ackerman; Creator-writer: Suzanne Martin; Director of photography: Nick McLean; Editor: John Fuller; Music: Jeff Roma; Set designer: Jim Walters; Casting: Dava Waite.

TV Guide: Dreams Finale DOA

Ask Ausiello: It's officially DOA. In a statement released exclusively to Ask Ausiello, an NBC rep says, "Unfortunately, due to postproduction issues, NBC will not be able to broadcast the 12-minute alternative ending of last year's American Dreams finale." And as easy as it would be to pin the blame squarely on Jeff Zucker's shoulders, I hear the guy tried his best to make it happen. Not only were there music-clearance issues — apparently Jonathan Prince packed enough classics in those 12 minutes to bankrupt a third-world country — but sponsors were unwilling to get behind a show that had already been canceled. There's still a glimmer of hope, though: The alterna-capper could be included on Dreams' third-season DVD, whenever the hell that comes out.

"Dreams" done.

Though NBC Universal TV top gun Jeff Zucker said in July that he would rerun Dreams' series finale but with an alternative ending this summer, it never happened.

As for it ever happening, well, chances are slim and none. And slim just left town.

NBC decided that it wasn't worth the hassle to scratch up sponsors for the episode and get music clearances for the alternative ending, according to a network executive close to the show.

Officially, NBC "is working on the episode. We have no decision," says a network rep.

The acclaimed Dreams, set in Philly during the turbulent 1960s, was canceled in May. It revolves around the Pryor family, with Dick Clark's American Bandstand serving as a backdrop.

In the season cliffhanger, we saw Meg Pryor (Brittany Snow) defy her father (Haverford High grad Tom Verica) by zooming off to California with her draft-dodger boyfriend on his motorcycle.

The 12-minute alternative ending takes place three years later, in '69. On the day of Neil Armstrong's walk on the moon, Meg returns home and faces her family.

TV review: Bones

"House" has the prickly, disconnected and world-weary Dr. Gregory House, and "Bones" has Dr. Temperance Brennan (played with sass and attitude by Emily Deschanel), a headstrong and very Type-A forensic anthropologist in D.C., who admits to having a better relationship with dead people than the living. It's always a risk to build a series on the back of a protagonist who's so unapologetically negative, but the hour hits the ground running with a vibe that's instantly engaging, if not yet quite addictive.

While "Bones" has too much "X-Files" and "CSI" going in the pilot to feel completely original, it's nonetheless a taut, well-constructed, character-rich procedural with genuine potential. It purports to have been inspired by the real-life story of scientist Kathy Reichs, who studies skeletons as well as penning best-selling novels in her spare time. The show that pays her homage stars Deschanel as a skeletal sleuth who writes books on the side and David Boreanaz of "Angel" fame as FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth, who works in the Homicide Investigation Unit.

Dr. Brennan is the true believer in this equation, Agent Booth the confirmed skeptic who mistrusts science and the geeks who subscribe to it (whom he derisively calls "squints"). So, in true "X-Files" fashion, the two must join forces to compensate for one another's weaknesses. She likes to read clues in bones. He digs old-fashioned investigative police work. This means lots of mistrust and clashing, but fortunately Deschanel and Boreanaz have sufficient chemistry to make their need to work together seem rather like fate than a typically convenient plot contrivance at the outset.

Creator/exec producer Hart Hanson, most recently a writer for the canceled "Joan of Arcadia" and, before that, for "Judging Amy," penned the premiere episode that finds Brennan and Booth linking up to identify and determine the cause of death of a woman who turned out to be an ex-aide to a D.C. congressman. The teleplay is flush with snappy dialogue that brings the personalities into sharp focus, people who include Brennan's Jefferson Institution colleagues like the bawdy Angela (Michaela Conlin), the geeky Zack (Eric Millegan) and conspiracy nut Dr. Jack Hodgins (T.J. Thyne). All the performers acquit themselves well.

Augmenting the straightforward science and darkly comedic tone is some nifty holographic visual effects imagery that's used to attach an identifiable human form to the bare bones of the deceased. It's all pretty cool stuff that's driven on the shoulders of TV's newest cool couple in Deschanel and Boreanaz. They've got some real heat in their partnership that elevates "Bones" above the standard "CSI"-derivative drama as it leaves the starting gate. Now we'll see if they, and the writers, can sustain it while keeping Dr. Temperance from turning too shrill. So far, DNA and PMS make for a surprisingly watchable mix.

Cast: Dr. Temperance Brennan: Emily Deschanel; Agent Seeley Booth: David Boreanaz; Zack Addy: Eric Millegan; Dr. Jack Hodgins: T.J. Thyne; Angela Montenegro: Michaela Conlin; Dr. Daniel Goodman: Jonathan Adams; Olivier Laurier: Chris Conner; Peter St. James: Dominic Fumusa; Sen. Bethlehem: Larry Poindexter; Ken Thompson: Sam Trammell; Ted Eller: Tyrees Allen; Sharon Eller: Bonita Friedericy.

Executive producers: Barry Josephson, Hart Hanson; Producer: Jim Chory; Associate producer: David Jeffery; Creator-writer: Hart Hanson; Director: Greg Yaitanes; Director of photography: Dermott Downs; Production designer: Vaughan Edwards; Costume designer: Bobbie Read; Editor: Harry Miller; Composer: Peter Himmelman; Music supervisor: Billy Gottlieb; Casting: Vicky Rosenberg and Associates, Alexis Frankozara, Christine Shevchenko.

New O.C. Neighbor Has Killer Concept

The concept, while bold, begs big questions. Like, how do you do a murder mystery while keeping the victim's identity under wraps? (The deceased is referred to in present day as, well, "the deceased.") And what happens in Season 2, if there is one? Luckily, creator/executive producer Jon Harmon Feldman is armed with answers. Addressing the latter, most-asked question, he says, "If we're lucky and get to Season 2, the goal would be to use one of our [original six] characters to transition to a new group of friends and tell their story over 20 years.

"I have a lot of ideas on [how to do that] that are as compelling as Season 1," he insists. "We're ready to hit the ground running if we have that opportunity."

While you might think that an actor would be hesitant to sign on for the obviously limited run that Reunion offers most of its original cast members, the opposite is true. "[It's an] actor's dream," says Sean Faris (Life as We Know It), who plays rich kid Craig Brewster. "It's awesome to be able to play a role in which the character changes every episode and yet at the same time you don't feel like you're locked away for five years doing the same thing over and over." Alexa Davalos (Angel, The Chronicles of Riddick), who plays Faris' on-screen sweetheart, concurs: "It gives the show a bit of the energy of a film, because we knew the beginning and we know that there is an end, and that leaves you a lot of freedom."

One of the most familiar faces on Reunion is that of Will Estes, who was actually cast on the Fox drama before NBC's American Dreams (on which he played J.J.) was truly and sincerely 100 percent dead. Being tapped to go retro yet again, he says, is funny. "I think every actor has, like, a best era for him. I don't know if Burt Reynolds is going to be any better than he was in the '70s, know what I mean? But me, I love the '80s, so I feel more at home here."

Mathew St. Patrick, fresh from getting gunned down in Six Feet Under's series finale epilogue, is the one temporal constant on Reunion, playing the present-day detective out to solve whoever's murder. "To move onto this show is a wonderful experience," he says. "24 started with this kind of concept in terms of expanding what the [TV] hour [can] embrace. For this show to take it the next step is ambitious."

But again, how do you plumb a season-long murder mystery without naming the dead? "There are two mysteries — who's dead and who killed them. The first one we're going to [reveal] not too far into the season," Feldman promises. "After that, the gloves are off as we track all the clues and motives and suspects."

If Reunion doesn't get picked up for the full season, then what? Says Feldman, "If I get a call that says, 'You're only doing 13,' will I wrap it up? Absolutely."

Uncool state of the 'Reunion'

Giving credit where it's due, Reunion sports one of the riskiest and most novel premises of the new season. This serialized Fox companion to The O.C. locks six friends into a season-long murder mystery that takes them from 1986 to the present, with each episode covering one year along the way.

It's an intriguing concept, but people don't watch concepts. They watch shows. And as a show, Reunion doesn't amount to nearly enough.

Tonight's premiere opens in the present at a funeral and then leaps back 20 years to a high school graduation. The narrator/funeral orator introduces us to the show's six reuniters: Jenna (Amanda Righetti), Carla (Chyler Leigh), Aaron (Dave Annable), Will (Will Estes) and "the perfect couple," Craig (Sean Faris) and Samantha (Alexa Davalos).

Apparently, the writers put so much effort into inventing their original concept that they had no energy left for the characters, who come straight out of the teen-soap playbook.

Carla is smart but innocent; Craig is rich and handsome; Will is Craig's impossibly noble working-class best friend who may also be the father of Samantha's baby.

Then there's Aaron, the budding writer who has a crush on Jenna, the fast girl who wants to be a star. And just to complete the standard soap triangle, Carla has a crush on Aaron, though of course he doesn't know.

Given the clichéd characters, it's almost inevitable that one of them will propose a toast to the hope that everything always stays "as perfect as it is right now." Of course, things immediately go disastrously wrong - though not murderously wrong, a development that comes in a later episode.

The opener introduces the present-day cop who's investigating the murder (Six Feet Under's Mathew St. Patrick). But it doesn't tell us who did it or who got done.

You expect a high-concept show to make some logical leaps, but there's not a moment of Reunion that doesn't feel ridiculously contrived. And if the plot doesn't get you, the corn-pone dialogue will - as witness this gem of an exchange between Jenna and Aaron: "I'm not some virgin who's angry at the world because he can't convince any girl to sleep with him." "Not any girl, Jenna, not any girl."

Yeesh.

Even should its scripts improve, Reunion still faces a major hurdle: its cast. Were this show merely another teen soap, you could be reasonably confident that the young cast could carry it off.

But Reunion's complex structure requires each actor to play what amounts to multiple characters: the characters as teens, the adult characters they become, and whoever they are in between. And that stretch seems to be beyond the reach of some of the actors.

Granted, the only transformation we see tonight is Carla's jump from 18 to 38. But this introductory glimpse does not bode well for the show's future.

Leigh is actually sweetly disarming as the young Carla, but her transition into the older version is reminiscent of a high school girl playing Dorothy Parker.

If they want viewers to have a weekly reunion with this show, they will have to do better than that.

'Reunion' groups old friends

The concept: Following six high school pals from graduation day to their 20th reunion.

The twist: Each episode ages the cast one year, and there's a murder mystery solved in the season finale.

Talk about a logistical nightmare.

Reunion, a prime-time soap about a group of close friends, asks its actors to age from 18 in the first episode to 38 in the season finale, and all that makeup won't even ensure job security. If the show succeeds, viewers will see a mostly new cast next season.

The drama, the latest companion for The O.C. in a tough Thursday time slot, begins in 1986 as the characters don caps and gowns. It jumps forward a year in each episode.

The opener, as well as future episodes, includes present-day scenes, starting with the funeral of one friend, a murder victim. That person's identity isn't revealed until the fifth episode, due in November when Reunion returns from a break for post-season baseball.

The murder mystery, solved in the finale, is a major element of the series, but mixed in are soapy staples: a romantic triangle, an unplanned pregnancy and the jailing of one pal for a crime committed by another.

"So often in episodic drama you struggle to find incidents for your characters," says executive producer Jon Harmon Feldman (Tru Calling).

"When you're essentially telling one or two or three stories every year, you get to sort of mine the big watershed moments: Birth, marriage, divorce, adultery. What I like to think is we're jumping to the most interesting part of these people's lives."

"It reminds me of The Breakfast Club with an action murder mystery," says Will Estes, who plays a pal from the wrong side of the tracks.

Estes is familiar with period pieces: He played the military-bound son in American Dreams.

So is Chyler Leigh, who starred in the short-lived spinoff That '80s Show and dons a wig and wrinkle makeup in Reunion's pilot. To act older, the 23-year-old "changed my posture and lowered my voice," she says.

The cast also includes Amanda Righetti (The O.C.), Sean Faris (Life as We Know It), and Mathew St. Patrick (Six Feet Under), who plays a detective investigating the murder in the present-day scenes, which make up about 20% of each episode.

"There's a lot of manipulation, a lot of betrayal, a lot of lies and cheating," says St. Patrick. "I'm the guy that's knocking on every door, rattling as many cages as possible, figuring out who did it and why."

Fox Entertainment chief Peter Liguori says he'd be happy for the "bold, audacious" show to last long enough to solve his own mystery: how to handle Season 2 after Reunion has already tied up its loose ends.

Feldman has a plan: "Late in Season 1, we'll introduce a character who is significant enough - a wife or a husband of one of the characters - and in Season 2, we'd flash back with that person to 1987, whatever different city they're from, and tell a story with that group of friends over 20 years."

The actors, currently with one-season contracts, say they enjoy the freedom of not being tied down by long-term deals.

But though Feldman says a few might survive for a second season, "shows like Survivor and The Real World have shown that audiences will tune into a new cast if they're intrigued by the concept."

FOX Hosts a Troubling 'Reunion'

Some possible answers play out in "Reunion," an intriguing Fox drama marking one of the new television season's earliest series debuts when it follows the season premiere of "The O.C." Thursday, Sept. 8. (The pilot episode will have an encore the following night.)

An attractive cast of young actors charts the highs and lows of a tight-knit group from 1986 to the present ... but one initially unidentified character won't make it all the way through. The resulting funeral sparks the premiere, which was directed by feature-film veteran Jon Amiel ("Entrapment," "Copycat").

Played by Sean Faris ("Life as We Know It") and Will Estes ("American Dreams"), pals Craig and Will have a car accident that sets off many of the events, but privileged Craig's girlfriend, Samantha (Alexa Davalos, "The Chronicles of Riddick"), has a secret known only by friend-to-all Carla (Chyler Leigh, "The Practice"). Also in the gang is Aaron (Dave Annable, "Little Black Book"), who's anxious to become more than friends with aspiring actress Jenna (Amanda Righetti, "North Shore").

Extended flashbacks are standard in "Reunion," which covers a different year each week; 1987 is the backdrop of the second episode, 1988 the third, etc. Often, those segments are cued by questions from Detective Marjorino (Mathew St. Patrick, "Six Feet Under"), the policeman probing the murder. Those he interrogates have to look as much as 19 years older than they do in the sequences set earlier, necessitating careful casting by executive producer Jon Harmon Feldman ("Tru Calling," "Dawson's Creek").

"Part of making that transformation is physical," Feldman acknowledges, "but a large part of it is acting. The first few episodes turn over one card, or one character, per episode. They age differently, but it's also a matter of how the actor inhabits the character.

"In the pilot, Chyler just becomes that character at 38, in how she carries herself and changes the tenor of her voice. As an 18-year-old, Carla is the sweet 'flat-chested friend,' as she calls herself; by 38, she's been hardened and she's carrying around some baggage. Part of the fun of the show is exploring how the characters change over the years."

Big performance swings can follow for the "Reunion" actors. "My manager and a lot of my friends call me 'The Chameleon,'" actress Leigh muses, "because I can basically look like anyone in any time period. I'm very grateful for that because it gives me such variety, whereas other people can have a hard time adapting to a certain look or style. When we see Carla at 38, she has much heavier makeup and a different posture, in a sense. By 38, you really know who you are. At 18, you're still exploring, and there's a certain naivete."

Just as he was last fall in ABC's "Life as We Know It," Faris is in a show pitted directly against the CBS ratings juggernaut "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," but he has faith in "Reunion." In playing a charmer who persuades others to suit his agenda, the actor days, "I looked at two friends of mine and took different personality traits from both of them. My character means well and has good intentions; he just doesn't realize his selfishness. He's had everything all his life."

And do his friends know they've served as living research for Faris? "Not in the least. I would never, ever bring that up."

The ensemble movies "The Big Chill" and "St. Elmo's Fire" might seem like touchstones for "Reunion," but Feldman credits fellow executive producers Steve Pearlman and Andrew Plotkin with the idea to follow six friends over 20 years.

"Immediately, that concept felt so rife with possibility that I went off and brought back these characters and ideas." Feldman then fleshed out the murder-mystery aspect. "I just thought, 'Wouldn't it be great if there were additional stakes?' It's not uncommon that when you're 38, the innocence you felt at 18 has left. A death brings that home, but the murder is only one part of the show, and it only comes into play in the present day. Most of the stories we tell are distinct and separate from that."

Period music also plays a big role in "Reunion," with hits by the original artists -- including Robert Palmer's "Addicted to Love" and Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time" -- informing the first episode's soundtrack. As with other series like CBS' "Cold Case," the rights to such songs can add a lot to a show's budget, and Feldman is ready for that. "It's no secret that the wish list comes with a price tag," he says, "and we'll have to lose some of them, but my goal is to maintain the essence of that music. I think we'll be able to keep more than you might think."

Some critics already have voiced doubts about "Reunion's" longevity, since the one-year-per-week premise might seem to exhaust the storytelling possibilities in just one season. Feldman disputes that, maintaining he would still have plenty to explore about the characters for a second season ... and possibly beyond.

"What I think I'm drawn to is the chance to write young people as adults," he says. "They don't think of themselves as not having the depth of feeling or thought that adults do, and one of the nice things in writing them is to try to accurately portray that."

TV review: Reunion

"Reunion" has that, all right, but it goes to the next level as well, adding to the mix a murder mystery and a different concept of series storytelling. Although it will be hard to match "The O.C.'s" ratings, particularly against the blockbuster competition of the time period ("The Apprentice" and "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation"), the "Reunion" pilot offers a more intriguing and creative form of entertainment.

Exec producer/writer Jon Harmon Feldman opens the premiere with a funeral service. The deceased is one of a group of six friends, all members of the high school graduating class of 1986. One of them has been murdered, and Detective Marjorino (Mathew St. Patrick) has some questions for another member of the group after the service ends. Flashbacks sparked by the responses dramatize the lives of the sextet through each of the ensuing years. The game plan is that, at the end of the season, the murder mystery will be solved and the series will move on to a new group of characters. (Acting contracts were for one or two years only.)

But first things first. "Reunion" starts out in fictional, rustic Bedford, N.Y., where relations between and among the six friends approach the limit of probability permutations. Rich kid Craig (Sean Faris) is on the cusp of proposing to flirty Samantha (Alexa Davalos), except that, unbeknownst to him, she's pregnant by his best friend, working-class Will (Will Estes), the result of a one-night stand when Craig and Samantha had a brief split. All-around sweetheart Carla (Chyler Leigh) is in love with preppy Aaron (Dave Annable), who only has eyes for Jenna (Amanda Righetti), an aspiring actress.

The more intriguing dramatic dilemma occurs when an inebriated Craig collides with a pickup. Will is a passenger in the car, but both were out of the vehicle by the time help arrived. If Will takes the rap, it might save Craig's future plans without causing Will serious problems. It is a complex issue in which friendship, guilt, morality and justice all play a part, and it is explored vigorously in the premiere. That alone more than makes up for the wussy way the pregnancy issue is handled.

This is an effective cast. Faris manages to keep Craig from being easily dismissed as just a stereotypical rich kid. Estes registers strong emotion with his expression and movement. Leigh gives depth and dimension to a character that might otherwise be part of the background.

Jon Amiel directs with a deft touch, moving smoothly among teen frivolity, gutty drama and the darker tone of the murder investigation. Feldman ends the premiere with a promise of more explosive drama, taking full advantage of TV's increasing permissiveness toward serialized storytelling. Whether or not "Reunion" can hold up in its killer time period, Fox certainly is not shrinking from the challenge.

Cast: Aaron: Dave Annable; Samantha: Alexa Davalos; Will: Will Estes; Craig: Sean Faris; Carla: Chyler Leigh; Jenna: Amanda Righetti; Detective Marjorino: Mathew St. Patrick.

Executive producers: Jon Harmon Feldman, Steve Pearlman, Andrew Plotkin; Producer: Robert Lloyd Lewis; Creators: Jon Harmon Feldman, Sara Goodman; Director: Jon Amiel; Teleplay: Jon Harmon Feldman; Story: Jon Harmon Feldman, Sara Goodman; Director of photography: Adam Kane; Production designer: Steve Wolff; Editor: Mark Manos; Music: John Frizzell; Set decorator: Linda Cooper; Casting: Susan Edelman.

A Decade of Dinner Together: Gail O'Grady and National Pork Board Celebrate 10th Annual National Eat Dinner Together Week

Through a decade of great change, dinner remains at the heart of the family. In celebration of the 10th annual National Eat Dinner Together Week (September 18-24, 2005), a recent survey by the National Pork Board uncovered this comforting truth amidst all the sensory stimulation of 21st century life.

This year, more than three out of four people surveyed (78%) said that it is very or extremely important to enjoy an evening meal together as a family, up five percent from 1996. And, more than half (52%) said they eat dinner as a family five or more times per week.

Ten Years Strong

In 1996, America's Pork Producers and the National Pork Board established National Eat Dinner Together Week as a forum to develop and nurture relationships with family members.

"America's Pork Producers remain committed to celebrating the natural connection between food and family by providing tools and solutions to make dinnertime more enjoyable," says Pamela Johnson, Director of Consumer Communications for the National Pork Board. To help families focus on connecting during dinner, the National Pork Board supports busy parents by providing recipes, time management tips and family activity ideas at TogetherForDinner.com.

Additionally, to help raise money for hunger relief, the National Pork Board is sponsoring a special celebrity-designed dinner plate auction, benefiting America's Second Harvest - The Nation's Food Bank Network. O'Grady and other celebrities will donate personalized dinner plates that will be available via this special online charity auction, hosted on eBay®, The World's Online Marketplace™, from October 3-13, 2005. For more information, check out TogetherForDinner.com.

Reality: It's Not Like TV

To mark the 10th annual National Eat Dinner Together Week, Gail O'Grady, star of ABC Television Network's "Hot Properties" and formerly of NBC's "American Dreams," is helping the National Pork Board salute the importance of shared family dinners. "For my family, time spent around the dinner table is among the most precious time in my day. It's a chance to recap the day's happenings and keep connected with one another's lives," says O'Grady.

As a busy mom, O'Grady says she prefers menus that offer satisfying flavors and relatively simple preparations. To make the most of mealtime, O'Grady says she also feels it's important to consider preparation and clean-up as fair game for family involvement.

"I tend to gravitate towards easy-to-prepare meals -- whether I'm grilling or sautéing -- and pork is a delicious option that's very versatile," says O'Grady. "My favorite recipe is pork tenderloin with apricots and fennel." One of O'Grady's family favorite recipes is a sweet and savory Brandied Apricot Pork Tenderloin.

Special Web Site Honors a Decade of Dinner Together

To draw attention to the importance of sharing the dinner meal, the National Pork Board also has launched a new Web site -- TogetherForDinner.com -- to celebrate the 10th annual National Eat Dinner Together Week. The site features 30 recipes that can be prepared in 30 minutes or less, meal management tips, family activity ideas and more.

Imagine and Win

Visitors to TogetherForDinner.com will also have the opportunity to banish the blahs by entering the "Imagine and Win" sweepstakes for a chance to win a dream family getaway including air travel, lodging and spending money -- a total trip value of $10,000. If you can imagine it, you can win it. Whether your family dreams of enjoying Southern barbecued ribs at Graceland in Memphis or a family reunion pig roast on a Hawaiian beach, there'll never be another family dinner like it! Just provide your family's favorite dinnertime tip for a chance to win. Complete details and entry information can be found at TogetherForDinner.com.

Go to `Reunion' to see how friends change

Some possible answers play out in ``Reunion,'' an intriguing Fox drama premiering Thursday at 9 p.m. on FOX. (The pilot episode will have an encore the following night.)

An attractive cast of young actors charts the highs and lows of a tight-knit group from 1986 to the present. But one initially unidentified character won't make it all the way through. The resulting funeral sparks the premiere, which was directed by feature-film veteran Jon Amiel (``Entrapment,'' ``Copycat'').

Played by Sean Faris (``Life as We Know It'') and Will Estes (``American Dreams''), pals Craig and Will have a car accident that sets off many of the events, but privileged Craig's girlfriend, Samantha (Alexa Davalos, ``The Chronicles of Riddick''), has a secret known only by friend-to-all Carla (Chyler Leigh, ``The Practice''). Also in the gang is Aaron (Dave Annable, ``Little Black Book''), who's anxious to become more than friends with aspiring actress Jenna (Amanda Righetti, ``North Shore'').

Extended flashbacks are standard in ``Reunion,'' which covers a different year each week; 1987 is the backdrop of the second episode, 1988 the third, etc. Often, those segments are cued by questions from Detective Marjorino (Mathew St. Patrick, ``Six Feet Under''), the policeman probing the murder.

Those he interrogates have to look as much as 19 years older than they do in the sequences set earlier, necessitating careful casting by executive producer Jon Harmon Feldman (``Tru Calling,'' ``Dawson's Creek'').

``Part of the fun of the show is exploring how the characters change over the years,'' Feldman said.

Milo Ventimiglia Movie Opens Today

Dick Clark is back

'Dream' lives on for one more episode

But if there's anything TV executives hate more than TiVo or Shannen Doherty, it's spending even a nickel on a show that's already been consigned to the junk heap.

That's why ABC viewers, who were invited to vote on which of the three female characters on Two Guys, A Girl and A Pizza Place would become pregnant never learned exactly who they knocked up at the end of the 2001 season. And why Fox viewers to this day ask Dominic Purcell the real identity of the brilliant but amnesiac character he played in John Doe before the show was abruptly canceled in 2003.

Sometimes the producers actually embrace the mystery. In 2003, the final episode of CBS' excellent CIA drama The Agency ended with a swirl of dust and debris after a North Korean bomb exploded with three characters huddled around it. Last month I ran into Shaun Cassidy, The Agency's executive producer, and asked which characters would have survived if the show had come back for another season.

''I can't tell you that,'' he said, looking like I'd asked him for a naked photo of his mom.

But at last a network executive has shown evidence of a heart. Well, a small, shriveled one, anyway. NBC President Jeff Zucker isn't willing to bring back American Dreams, the 1960s family drama his network canceled in May. But he has given the go-ahead to air a revised version of the show's season finale that ran in April, one that will neatly tie off American Dreams' most raggedly dangling thread: What happened to Meg?

A sweet teenage girl-next-door who fell under the influence of a violent anti-war radical, Meg was last seen on the back of his motorcycle, headed off to Berkeley, which depending on how you remember the 1960s was either the triumphant capital of an ascending counterculture or a bottomless hellhole seething with drugs, communism and deviant sex. (Parents, including the fictional ones in American Dreams, tended to hold the latter view.)

So what was Meg's future? Would she have snapped out of it and returned to Philadelphia? Or become some kind of hippie den mother? Telegraph Avenue junkie? Weatherman bomber? In my more paranoid moments, I could even imagine her winding up in the Symbionese Liberation Army, the real-life Berkeley radical group that kidnapped Patty Hearst and murdered establishment figures with cyanide-tipped bullets.

Well, I needn't have worried -- at least, not that much. Meg went through some rough times; her boyfriend joined the terrorist wing of the anti-war movement, planting bombs and fighting cops. She had other unsavory experiences. But, three years after she disappears, her older brother J.J. heads to Berkeley to rescue her.

That's the plot of the new 13-minute ending to the season finale. NBC doesn't have a firm air date yet, but it's expected before the new fall TV shows roll out in mid-September.

''It's all edited and ready to go,'' says American Dreams creator Jonathan Prince. ``All they've got to do is decide whether they want to use the 60-minute version, or the 90-minute version -- I did it both ways.''

American Dreams, which followed two middle-class families -- one black, one white -- as they were washed along by the cultural and political tidal waves that swept through the 1960s, was an instant critical success when it debuted in 2002. It was consistently NBC's highest-rated show in critics' polls, including one taken this summer after the show had already left the air.

Unfortunately, the high ratings that count most with network executives are the ones from Nielsen, and American Dreams was never better than so-so there. The show floated uneasily on the cancellation bubble every year, and once even fell through.

''Nobody knows this, but Dreams was canceled last year, just before Christmas,'' says Prince. NBC executives told him to shut down production, that they would air only the 13 episodes already completed. Prince thought it over a moment, then replied: ``I'm not OK with that.''

He wangled a promise from NBC that he could complete his scheduled 17 episodes if he could come up with advertising support for them. After some intense negotiations, Prince struck product placement deals with Kraft cheese and Oreo cookies. (The latter was particularly memorable: Without ever mentioning the cookie's name, American Dreams dad Jack Pryor and son Will had a long, funny on-screen argument about the best way to eat Oreos.)

''Through the whole thing, the scripts kept coming in, everybody showed up for work, and the actors never knew we'd been canceled,'' Prince says. ``And of course, once we got the deals with Kraft and Oreo, we weren't canceled.''

But Prince knew the show's chances to return for a fourth season were dwindling. He didn't want to shoot the last episode as a series finale -- that would be like inviting cancellation -- but he didn't want to leave fans dangling, either. So he went to Zucker and Kevin Reilly, NBC's chief programmer, with an odd request.

''I asked them for money for an extra day and a half of shooting,'' he recalls. ``I said, if the show gets canceled -- if -- we'd be able to put a satisfying conclusion on it for the fans. I think they were a little surprised, but they gave me the money.''

Prince's original plans called for Meg to spend only the first six episodes of next season in Berkeley before her Vietnam-vet brother J.J. went to rescue her. But for his secret ending, Prince altered the story. The epilogue he shot takes place in 1969, three years later.

''It was really touching,'' he says. ``We had Gail O'Grady and Tom Verica [who played Meg's parents] in updated clothes, and we used makeup to age them, so they look really different than you saw them through the run of American Dreams. I think Gail and Tom were a little weirded out by the abrupt change of their look, and they were genuinely upset because shooting this really brought home the idea that the show might be canceled.

``The result is really, really emotional -- I promise you that anyone who watches will be weeping. If there are 15 lines of dialogue in the new ending, I'd be surprised. We use a lot of pictures, a lot of music, and a lot of silences. I think silences say a lot.''

The new ending almost didn't have to be used. A letter-writing campaign by Dreams' maniacally devoted fans -- they even hired a plane to buzz NBC headquarters here, towing a banner demanding that the show return -- came tantalizingly close to success. But in the final week of preparation of NBC's fall schedule, American Dreams got the ax. Though not before Prince tried one last gambit, which he cheerfully admits was a little dirty.

With American Dreams on the bubble, its cast was given permission to audition for other shows, with the understanding that they'd have to back out of them if Dreams returned. Three actors -- O'Grady, Will Estes (who played son J.J.) and Jonathan Adams (who played Henry Walker, patriarch of Dreams' black family) -- got important roles on new series on other networks.

''Because I'm not a very nice person, I called Kevin Reilly and said, `Hey, if you pick up our show, you not only get American Dreams, but you can screw over Gail's new show on CBS and Will and Jonathan's shows on Fox,'' confesses Prince.

It didn't work. But thanks to Prince, American Dreams viewers didn't get screwed over, either.

Gilmore Guy Returns

Life Is Beautiful for Melrose Alum

Zuniga can relate to the upheaval. "I did the reverse, which is just as horrific," she tells TVGuide.com with a laugh. "When I was in high school I moved from the big city" — in this case, San Francisco — "to a tiny village of 500 people in Vermont. It was like The Waltons!"

Beautiful People isn't just about the Kerr women. No, the girls of course are magnets to cute boys and, wouldn't you know it, once in the Big Apple Zuniga's designer-wannabe character bumps into the college sweetheart (Rescue Me's James McCaffrey) who broke her heart years ago. "He says to me, 'Wow, Lynn Kerr — the one that got away,' and I say, 'Yeah, only I didn't go anywhere,'" relates Zuniga. "It's a great line."

"Great" is also a word she used to describe her TV daughters, Sarah Foret (Clubhouse) and Torrey DeVitto. "A lot of the times we have been finishing shooting at 5 am, and they have never complained," she marvels. "I have to shut my mouth. 'Daphne, calm down, the girls are doing just fine... and you can, too.'

Long shoot days aside, Zuniga is definitely a People person, and hopes against hope that the series lives beyond its original eight-episode commitment. "I would absolutely love that," she enthuses. "I hope it does go a long time."

Not that any new role is likely to make fans on the street forget Jo or Princess Vespa anytime soon. "I usually get recognized for Spaceballs," she says, adding that she'd be open to doing, but has heard no details about, the new Star Wars trilogy-inspired sequel Mel Brooks reportedly has been pondering. "When people recognize me for that, they have this gleam in their eye and they're happy, and that makes me happy. It's nice to be a part of that."

1 Emmy Nomination

The 57th Emmy Awards are scheduled to air Sept. 18 on CBS.

TV review: Beautiful People

The weekly scripted "People" follows the story of a single mother and her two teenage daughters after they move from a small town to the big city and learn the ways of more sophisticated folk. The series focuses on family values that are predictable but not too cumbersome in their bid for wholesomeness.

Daphne Zuniga is the mom who moves her family from Esperanza, N.M., to New York when her daughter Sophie (Sarah Foret) receives an academic scholarship at a prestigious private school there. Mother and daughters (including Torrey DeVitto as the older teen, Karen) face the usual demons one finds in a big city: big crowds, congestion and traffic, but the series focuses mainly on Sophie and her coming of age in her new school. As would be expected, some of the kids (especially the "Beautiful" people, the in-crowd) are horrors in their own right. The adjustments are sometimes hard to make for Sophie, but the series takes its time navigating in and out of crises and successes as Sophie learns to hold her own in Manhattan. It's all easygoing stuff here -- a little too sweetened in some places and more realistic in others.

Zuniga Is Among 'Beautiful People'

After her final-season stint on "American Dreams," the former "Melrose Place" star is bouncing back fast in an ABC Family drama series premiering Monday, Aug. 8. "Beautiful People" casts her as deserted wife and aspiring designer Lynn Kerr, who relocates with her two daughters from New Mexico to New York after youngest offspring Sophie (Zuniga look-alike Sarah Foret) lands a private-school scholarship. Older sibling Karen (ex-Ford model Torrey DeVitto) struggles to continue her modeling career in Manhattan.

With former "Dawson's Creek" producer Paul Stupin on its staff, "Beautiful People" suits Zuniga's desire to be fully back in the acting business after a self-imposed hiatus. "I had been through a whole cycle of fear of being so well known," she reflects, "but now I can look at it in hindsight. I wanted to go deeper inside myself, and I did meditation retreats and yoga, and made real connections with people who were liking me for who I was as a human being in that place and time. I just had to go for all of that, and I came out with a real fearlessness and a joy for what I do."

Zuniga is pleased to be working with two younger actresses with whom she can share her experience ... and experiences. "I can see this look in their eyes that I remember. What they bring to the table refreshes me. These are long hours, and sometimes you forget the magic because your clothes aren't fitting right or the coffee is bad or whatever. Then, Sarah and Torrey walk in, and what I see in their faces reminds me why I'm here. I'm so grateful to have them. It's a gift."

Had NBC given "American Dreams" another season, Zuniga would have tried to continue her Playboy Club-hostess character on that show while also working on "Beautiful People." She says "Dreams" creator-producer Jonathan Prince "was trying to work out other angles for it to come back, because it was really his baby and he was just so in love with the show. I really was grateful Jonathan cast me, so I told him, 'I'll do whatever you need.' Then this came up, and it was just perfect timing."

On "American Dreams," Zuniga also was the single-parent mother of a teenager. She muses that previously, "I'd been hearing, 'You're too young for that kind of part.' I don't even notice that big a difference, because both the moms I've been cast as are really cool, young-at-heart gals who just happen to have kids. There's also this maternal streak in me, so it didn't feel like I had to do any research. Having grown up myself with a single mom, I understand it is not a traditional relationship. It is very much like being sisters."

When she returned to Los Angeles after working on the new series in Toronto (which doubles for New York), Zuniga was taken by friends to a mall to see a giant "Beautiful People" poster of all three stars. "What I saw," she says, "was the Daphne who loves to love. I haven't had a chance to be a mom [in real life], but I love kids. When I'm holding [Sarah and Torrey], I love them. We're going to be on this great adventure together."

Already, some have confused the adventure for true life. Zuniga reports she took her young co-stars to "their first red-carpet function, and pictures of us ended up online with the caption 'Daphne Zuniga with daughter and friend.' My publicist called to correct it, before everyone thought, 'Where's the secret daughter Daphne has been hiding all these years? And who's the dad?' In a way, though, it was a sign of how organically perfect this project has been.

"I read the script, then went into my usual 'I hope I can get in on this' mode then I found out I was the producers' first and only choice. Everything just fit, but I don't believe there are accidents. Everything is broken down into physics or energy. I went in for the 'American Dreams' audition and was hired pretty much on the spot; I was so much that character, apparently, because I was comfortable with myself."

Also a published writer now -- through articles on environmental concerns that she has done for Oprah Winfrey's magazine O -- Zuniga adds, "I know that place of being an actor and wishing and wanting for things to happen for you, but the the truth is that it happens inside. Then you show up and someone else responds. I was so happy last year, and things have just continued to happen."

In fact, Zuniga is happy just to still be working, having started in such iconic 1980s movies as "The Sure Thing" and Mel Brooks' "Spaceballs." She notes she recently "ran into several people I knew from the beginning, and they all said the same thing: 'This is a business about survival, and the fact you're still here is amazing.' It's like a marriage, for better or for worse. It's not like reaching the pot at the end of the rainbow, which you might think at first. It's a life that goes on, a work in progress, and it makes you feel good to be part of this family of survivors."

Good Ratings For Will's Lifetime Movie

Lifetime scored a pair of hits with its movie "The Dive from Clausen's Pier" and the debut of the short-run series "Beach Girls." The movie, based on Ann Packer's novel and starring Michelle Trachtenberg ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer"), brought in 4.23 million viewers in its July 25 premiere, placing it among the five most-watched cable broadcasts of the week ending Sunday, July 31.

"Beach Girls," meanwhile, averaged just over 3.6 million viewers for its two-hour debut. The five-week series, based on Luanne Rice's book and starring Rob Lowe and Julia Ormond, is the highest-rates series premiere in the channel's history.

Elsewhere, "Over There" debuted to an audience of about 4.1 million people on FX, making it the second-biggest series premiere for the network (tied with "Rescue Me" last year).

The debut for "Wanted," though, has to rank as a little disappointing. The crime show drew 3.73 million viewers, not much more than a good episode of "Law & Order" on TNT. It's also only a little more than half the audience for the premiere of "The Closer," which averaged more than 7 million viewers in June.

"The Closer" continues to chug along, hitting the top spot in the cable rankings again last week with 5.2 million viewers.

One more time for American Dreams

Executive producer Jonathan Prince, talking Friday with a handful of critics at the close of the Television Critics Association summer meeting, said NBC has agreed to air a revamped series finale for the show that was canceled in May. A broadcast of the re-edited one-hour finale can be expected sometime in August or early September and will include 12 minutes of new footage that will wrap up the series, Prince said.

Snow, who has gone on to a movie career and is filming in Vancouver, Canada, will figure prominently in the new ending. The new segments pick up three years after viewers last saw Snow heading to Berkeley, Calif. in 1966. She has changed, but she is ready to go home, Prince said.

The extra minutes will conclude the series properly, he said. Still undetermined is where and exactly when the finale will air, whether it will be on NBC or on a sister station such as cable outlet Bravo. Prince said the episode is complete, although some music fees have to be paid for songs he has never used on the series.

"I promise you, there will be weeping," Prince said. "It is a beautiful and sad thing to watch."

Prince said Dreams drew advertising dollars well throughout its run and had broad critical support, but it never got the viewership numbers it needed to keep NBC executives satisfied. The network was getting "creamed" on Sunday nights, and the entire evening had to be revamped from the network's standpoint, he said.

It was actually canceled in December, Prince said. As producer, he told no one, and instead forged deals with Kraft foods to incorporate Kraft cheese and Oreo cookies in two episodes, for a fee, that ensured the show would finish out the season. Viewers who remember the scene where a child makes a cheese mask out of his slice can now know the shot was bought and paid for.

By March, as the shooting wrapped up, Prince said he had a bad feeling. On the last days of shooting, he shot an extra 12 minutes, without explaining to Snow or the others why they were going to have to wear different clothes than they normally wore. It took a day and a half to prepare, and then Prince said he put it aside.

It was his secret. He said he didn't want to let on to network executives because there was still a chance the show could be saved for a whole new season.

"I smelled a rat," Prince said. "I just sort of smelled the low ratings."

Whoa, UPN Gets Joey

For at least six episodes this fall though, Lawrence will play Dee Dee's (Essence Atkins) co-worker at her first post-law school job on UPN's Monday night comedy "Half & Half."

The actor's last stint as a series regular was The WB comedy "Run of the House." In March, he co-starred as Jennifer Love Hewitt's gay best friend in Oxygen's original movie "Confessions of a Sociopathic Social Climber."

"Half & Half" premieres Monday, Sept. 19 at 9:30 p.m. on UPN.

Teen Choice Nominees

MOVIES

Choice Comedy
"Are We There Yet?"
"Guess Who"
"Hitch"
"Kicking & Screaming"
"Meet the Fockers"
"Napoleon Dynamite"
"The Pacifier" (with Brittany Snow)
"The Longest Yard"

TV Guide: Ending To See Light Of Day

Sightings

'Pacifier' video able to fight off 'Black Woman'

"The Pacifier," which grossed a surprisingly strong $112.5 million in theaters, is the third $100 million-plus comedy to hit video since April. The film topped VideoScan's First Alert sales chart for the week ending July 3 and Home Media Retailing's rental chart for the same week.

The big surprise, however, was the strong showing made by Tyler Perry's box office champ "Diary of Mad Black Woman," from Lions Gate Entertainment. The film, which grossed slightly more than $50 million in theaters, finished a strong No. 2 on the sales chart. Perrymania was so strong that two direct-to-video plays released by Lions Gate that same week, " Madea's Class Reunion" and "Madea's Family Reunion," finished in the top 10 as well.

"The Pacifier" scored an easy victory on the rental chart for the week with an estimated $11.63 million in revenue. Last week's top renter, Sony's "Hitch," held its own, however. Despite a drop to No. 2, the film's weekly take of $10.17 million was just 1% behind its rental gross the previous week.

TV Guide: Ask Ausiello

Ausiello: First, let me say you exceeded AA's newly imposed 50-word question limit. (Celebs, as always, are exempted from this rule.) Second, let me explain that I made an exception in this instance and only in this instance because you started off by giving me mad props. But third — and most important — don't let it happen again. In case you haven't heard, I've got Acronym Contests to organize a lot on my plate. But back to your question: An NBC spokesperson says "we would like to give the fans closure" and a Dreams wrap-up special "is under discussion." Translation: Don't hold your breath.

Film review: The Perfect Man

Many in its core audience of young women and maybe a few lonely single moms will respond to the message of female empowerment and positive self-image. It's a chick flick with a vengeance but even in its most sentimental moments, stars Hilary Duff and Heather Locklear make this feel-good-about-yourself movie feel . . . well, good. Boxoffice for this counter programing effort should be at or above average with perhaps greater prospects in home entertainment.

The premise itself is weak. An audience has to buy that Locklear's character, Jean Hamilton, gets dumped by every guy she dates. And whenever this happens, she immediately moves her family to another part of the continent. An opening sequence, which sets up their nomadic lifestyle, takes Jean, a pastry chef, along with her teenage daughter Holly (Duff) and her adolescent sibling Zoe (Aria Wallace) from Wichita, Kan., to Brooklyn. (It's actually Toronto and doesn't much resemble Brooklyn.) Given the spacious apartment she lands, Jean is at least moving up in the world real estate-wise.

On her first day in the new high school, Holly meets Amy (Vanessa Lengies) and Adam (Ben Feldman). Both figure prominently in Holly's improbable scheme to cheer up her mom. Because Jean is only happy when she is dating, Holly decides to invent a mysterious suitor. The guy sends her mom flowers and romantic e-mails but doesn't in fact exist. Well, actually he sort of does because he is a carbon copy of Amy's restaurateur uncle Ben (Chris Noth), who is both handsome and an expert in what women want.

Gina Wendkos' screenplay (based on a story by Michael McQuown, Heather Robinson and Katherine Torpey) dives into sitcom quickly enough, but at least it attempts to explore a few feminine issues along the way. The tack taken is too on-the-money, but the film does demonstrate the pitfalls of arranging one's life to attract the opposite sex.

As mother and daughter, Locklear and Duff bring plenty of vivacity to their roles. Duff conveys the vexation of a teen whose mom flirts far too often with far too many men as well as the genuine love she bears this woman. Locklear can't make you forget she is beautiful, but she does persuade a viewer that this is a woman who sees flaws in herself that no one else does.

Noth and Feldman are able to rise above the blandness of their roles occasionally, and Lengies shows spunk and charm as Holly's best gal pal. Mike O'Malley has a few inspired moments as a well-meaning but Wrong-with-a-capital-W suitor for Mom. Of course, in a different kind of a movie, he might be mistaken for a stalker. Carson Kressley has fun with a gay waiter in Ben's bistro despite rampant gay cliches.

Mark Rosman's direction lacks imagination, veering into the predictability and colorlessness one finds in TV comedies. Similarly, tech credits are routine.

Cast: Holly: Hilary Duff; Jean: Heather Locklear; Ben: Chris Noth; Lenny: Mike O'Malley; Adam: Ben Feldman; Amy: Vanessa Lengies; Gloria: Caroline Rhea.

Credits: Director: Mark Rosman; Screenwriter: Gina Wendkos; Story by: Michael McQuown, Heather Robinson, Katherine Torpey; Producers: Marc Platt, Dawn Wolfrom, Susan Duff; Executive producers: Billy Higgins, Adam Siegel; Director of photography: John R. Leonetti; Production designer: Jasna Stefanovich; Music: Christophe Beck; Costumes: Marie Sylvie Deveau; Editor: Cara Silverman.

Fire and Pain

Brittany Snow decorates pants for charity

Inspired by the jeans featured in the film, each pair of Levi's jeans will be personally decorated by prominent female celebrities as an expression of individuality as well as allegiance to one another as women -- in friendship and philanthropy. They will be individually created with distinctive items, colors and themes symbolizing the events, interests and accomplishments that have helped make these special women what they are today.

Emma Watson, who plays Hermione in the Harry Potter films, will be one of the celebrities participating in the project. Also participating are the Sisterhood film's stars, Amber Tamblyn, America Ferrera, Blake Lively and Alexis Bledel, plus Ann Brashares, author of the novel on which it is based. They are also joined by Courteney Cox-Arquette, Selma Blair, Brandy, Katie Couric, Vivica Fox, Jennie Garth, Mary Hart, Jill Hennessy, Lauryn Hill, Angelina Jolie, Ashley Judd, Queen Latifah, Virginia Madsen, Nancy O'Dell, Leah Remini, Annasophia Robb, Raven Symone, Jessica Simpson, Amy Smart, Brittany Snow, Jamie Lynn Spears, Lara Spencer, Kirsten Storms, Charlize Theron, Amber Valletta, and Estella Warren.

Each pair of pants will be auctioned on eBay, with proceeds benefiting Girls Inc. Beginning Monday, May 23rd, and running through Thursday, June 2nd, online bidders can access eBay's Sisterhood Pants auction page directly via www.ebay.com/sisterhood.

Estes' Reunion Added To Fox Fall Lineup

Not surprisingly, the January schedule is based around the return of "24" and a little talent show called "American Idol." The fall schedule -- which will launch before FOX cuts away for playoff baseball and will pick up afterwards -- is built on five new dramas and two new comedies, which impact every night of the week.

On the drama side, FOX is adding "Prison Break," "Bones," "Head Cases," "Reunion" and "The Gate," with "Kitchen Confidential" and "The War at Home" leading the comedy front.

"FOX has achieved an amazing set of milestones this season, including finishing as the No. 1 network in Adults 18-49 for the first time in the network's 19-year history. This success is a testament to the dedicated team at FOX," says Peter Liguori, FOX's new entertainment president. "Additionally, we're launching a bold, balanced and stable schedule. We'll have returning shows on all seven nights of the week, and we're scheduling 12 comedies this fall - far more than any network. There is no question that we plan to be aggressive and competitive with this spectacular and youthful year-round schedule."

Starting in the fall, "Arrested Development" will kick things off on Mondays, setting up "Kitchen Confidential," a loose adaptation of Anthony Bourdain's memoir starring Bradley Cooper ("Alias"). The high concept drama "Prison Break," a heavily serialized offering about, fittingly, a prison break, takes the 9 p.m. ET hour.

Tuesday will be all about drama, starring with "Bones," a darkly humorous offering about a forensic anthropologist, with Emily Deschanel and David Boreanaz ("Angel"). The hit medical drama "House" keeps its 9 p.m. slot to start the season.

Wednesday kicks off with returning comedies "That '70s Show" (now missing Ashton Kutcher and Topher Grace) and "Stacked," which will be used to set up the frequently renamed legal series "Head Cases," which features Chris O'Donnell and Adam Goldberg as slightly unhinged lawyers.

"The O.C." has given FOX its best Thursday traction in years and on Thursday it shall stay, now serving as a lead-in to "Reunion" (featuring former "O.C." co-star Amanda Righetti), a high concept series that spans 20 years in a single season.

On Fridays, FOX will start with an hour comedy block of "The Bernie Mac Show" and "Malcolm in the Middle," which moves from Sunday. "The Gate" (formerly "Deviant Behavior"), about deviant criminals and the cops who fight them in San Francisco, will follow in what has affectionately become known as the "Friday Death Slot." Good luck to series stars Johnny Messner and Marguerite Moreau ("The O.C.").

Thankfully, FOX may never get rid of "COPS" and "America's Most Wanted" on Saturdays. Sunday, though, is almost entirely animation, beginning with random animation encores at 7 p.m., flowing into "King of the Hill." "The Simpsons" stars at 8, followed by "The War at Home," a live action comedy with Michael Rapaport. "Family Guy" and "American Dad" will continue to hold the 9 p.m. hour.

The beginning of the week changes come January.

In January, FOX moves "House" from its stable Tuesday home to Monday, where it will take the 8 p.m. hour, providing a strong lead-in for a new -- and presumably uninterrupted -- season of "24" in its 9 p.m. home.

No matter how bad the fall may be for FOX, "American Idol" returns to its Tuesday 8 p.m. lair, which means that everything will be alright. Provided it doesn't tank fast, "Bones" will be the lucky beneficiary of the "Idol" might, moving to 9.

On Wednesday, "That '70s Show" and "Stacked" will stick around, with "Idol" returning to fix things at 9. The new comedy "The Loop," with Bret Harrison, will be lucky enough to go in the 9:30 slot.

Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday will remain the same.

FOX has the comedy "Freebirds" on hold for midseason, while unscripted offerings "Nanny 911" and "Trading Spaces" are ready to fill in whenever something fails. "The Simple Life" will also return somewhere at some point.

ABC's Hot Properties with Gail O'Grady

In the tradition of "Designing Women," "Golden Girls" and "Sex and the City" comes an uninhibited comedy with real career women trying to have real relationships. One of the Emmy Award-winning producers of the mega-hit "Frasier" reveals just how exciting the world of New York real estate can be.

Cast:
Audra Blaser: Emerson
Stephen Dunham ("Monster-in-Law"): Charlie
Evan Handler ("Sex and the City"): Sellers
Gail O'Grady ("NYPD Blue"): Ava
Nicole Sullivan ("King of Queens"): Chloe
Sofia Vergara ("Chasing Papi"): Lola

Credits:
Executive Producer/Writer: Suzanne Martin ("Frasier")
Production Company: Interbang Inc. in association with Warner Bros. Television
Look for the debut this fall on ABC

NBC Execs Offer Postmortems for 'Dreams,' 'Jury'

Perhaps no show departing the airwaves will be as mourned by its fans as "American Dreams." Unfortunately, after three seasons of good faith from NBC, "Dreams" was only averaging 7.3 million viewers, an audience that didn't improve when the network temporarily moved it from Sunday to Wednesday. Even though Zucker was one of the period drama's most outspoken supporters, there just wasn't room for "Dreams" on a network trying to change directions.

"It just becomes, unfortunately, the contradiction of America, I guess," Reilly says. "People say they want quality, family-friendly shows at 8:00 and yet you put them on and what they really want to watch is 'Desperate Housewives.' Ultimately, we are in a business here. We love the show... It just was not pulling the ratings to really justify the cost of the show or to justify another year on the schedule."

As badly as "American Dreams" performed on Sundays, the heavily hyped "The Contender" drew an even smaller audience (which explains why NBC has transplanted Emmy-winning institution "The West Wing" to Sundays next fall). The boxing series, from industry heavyweights Mark Burnett and Jeffrey Katzenberg, weathered numerous delays and the tragic death of one of its contestants, but it was probably just knocked out by its subject matter.

"I think that at the end of the day, it was about boxing and that was a pretty high bar to get over," Zucker says.

Although its weekly audience has been sub-"Dreams," "The Contender" delivered stronger demographic numbers than its time slot predecessor and also produced a fervent base of young, male viewers.

"I think it was a damn good show," Reilly says. "I think they delivered on the show they pitched and the fans that watched it were very passionate about it and thought it was fantastic. I make no apologies for the quality of the show."

Another NBC show that wilted under the weight of high expectations was "Law & Order: Trial by Jury," the fourth permutation in the reliable Dick Wolf franchise. Averaging 11.2 million viewers in a slow Friday time period, "Trial by Jury" was one of the network's most surprisingly cancellations, but its departure reflects on the network's diminished status.

"'Law & Order: Trial By Jury' was ordered last year while we were still the No. 1 network," Reilly explains. "In that kind of environment, it felt like we could sustain four 'Law & Orders.' This spring, we find ourselves in a different situation and it really looked like we needed to open up some more time periods for some new shows."

Readers will have to check back next May to see if those new shows -- including "Inconceivable" and "Fathom" -- have fared any better.

New Brittany Snow Movie

The actresses are in final negotiations to star in the revenge comedy "John Tucker Must Die" for 20th Century Fox.

The project stars Bush as one of three girls who vow to get back at their mutual ex, the school's lothario Tucker (Metcalfe), who has broken their hearts. Their vengeance takes the shape of a new girl (Snow) who is supposed to turn the tables on him and dump him after he falls for her.

Snow, 19, recently starred opposite Vin Diesel in the domestic comedy "The Pacifier."

Bush, 22, appeared in "Van Wilder" and will star in the upcoming "Supercross," due out in August.

NBC has officially cancelled American Dreams

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