private practice

Blind Item: Which TV Cast Is Full Of Narcissist Fruitcakes Who Can’t Stand Each Other?

9:46AM Seth | It’s time now for everyone’s favourite midday mini-mystery, aka a blind item guessing game. Today’s comes to us from EW’s Michael Ausiello, who broke the Grey’s Anatomy CallicaGate story, and so who knows from TV set histrionics. On this particular “sophomore drama,” “all the stars have the disposition of Linda Blair pre-exorcism.” Each actor is crazier than the next,” whispers a staffer employed behind the scenes at the war-torn program. “And they all pretty much hate each other.” More »

‘Pushing Daisies’ Now Doing Just That In The Ratings

4:00AM Kyle Buchanan | Though it premiered last year to huge numbers, the whimsical dramedy Pushing Daisies may soon need its hero’s touch of life, if last night’s ratings are any indication. The second season premiere of Daisies fell a whopping 55% from its year-ago totals, the biggest drop on a night of mostly bad returns for ABC (Private Practice fell 38%, and the troubled, endlessly tinkered-with Dirty Sexy Money fell 31%). Might ABC be rethinking it decision to hold all three shows until the fall after last year’s writers strike interrupted their freshman seasons? And if a shirtless Lee Pace (above, having bees poured on him) can’t resuscitate Daisies, can anything? [THR] More »

Trade Roundup: WGA Fires Warning Shot Above Studios’ Heads

4:30AM Defamer Hollywood | The WGA, in an aggressive measure meant to show the studios that the protracted ball-tickling session that’s defined the negotiations until now must come to an end, has redrafted and broadened their strike rules to now allow for “pug-faced studio types so much as looking at us funny.” [Variety] Hollywood’s dreamy consciences George Clooney and Leonardo DiCaprio may team up for Warner Bros.’s adaptation of Farragut North, a play loosely based on the Howard Dean campaign. (Sorry Jake, torture-lovers not invited to the party.) [Variety] More »

Trade Roundup: Hillary Locks Up Crucial Meathead Endorsement

5:15AM Defamer Hollywood | Rob Reiner officially endorses Hillary Clinton, immediately embracing her campaign’s talking points on Barack Obama: “Based on the experience I have had in politics, and I have been on the front lines in a lot of these fights, I came around to realising that we do need the most experienced and most qualified person to run the country.” [Variety] The much-anticipated premiere-night Nielsen deathmatch between NBC’s Bionic Woman remake and ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy spin-off is won by Bionic; meanwhile, Kid Nation dropped off from its unspectacular debut numbers of last week. [THR] Mark your calendars, Michael Bay fans, because giant fucking robots are coming again, eventually: Paramount and DreamWorks have staked out June 26th, 2009 for Transformers 2. And the project stays even if Spielberg and his pals go. [Variety] Bonnie Hunt is getting a daytime talk show. [THR] And on the development battlefront, NBC and ABC set up competing, Famesque projects about young people chasing their performing arts dreams in NY. [Variety] More »

US upfronts: ABC Betting On Cavemen, Horny Doctors

2:55AM Defamer Hollywood | With ABC having already spoiled Upfront Christmas by unwrapping its much-anticipated pick-up of Cavemenâ„¢, A Race Parable Brought To You By Geico a few days early, giving the disgruntled, recently cancelled stars of its comedy past an opportunity to decry the network’s pro-Neanderthal prejudices, the actual announcement of its Fall schedule was bound to underwhelm. They’ve installed Private Practice, the horny-doctors-in-Santa-Monica supplement (”I am going to kiss you. With tongue. Later, I am going to sex you. With penis.”) to their horny-doctors-in-Seattle Nielsen juggernaut, at 9 p.m. on Wednesday night to anchor a block of all-new dramas, allowing the brain-deadening buzz derived from ogling the goodies of various hyperverbal, McAttractive physicians to linger for two consecutive evenings. More »