Tom Cruise and Robert Pattinson in MTV Movie Awards Promo

Oh wow. MTV is pulling out all the stops for next Sunday's Movie Awards. Not only did they get Rob to appear, but they got him to do a promo.

Tom Cruise revisits his Les Grossman character from the hilarious Tropic Thunder. How awesome would it be if Tom Cruise was really like his foul mouthed, slightly chubby, balding, hip hop dancing, cutthroat producer character in real life?

Really adorable promo. You know I can't resist anything with Robert Pattinson in it.

Tune in for the MTV Movie Awards next Sunday at 9pm. Let's hope Tom Cruise shows up as Les Grossman.

Finally! Kanye West's New Single, "Power"

Kanye West has been laying low and keeping himself under the radar since his appearance last September at MTV's Video Music Awards when he infamously cut Taylor Swift's Best Female Video acceptance speech short.

Since then, he's been quietly working on a new album, rumored to be titled 'Good Ass Job', a followup to 2008's '808s & Heartbreak'. Today his new single, 'Power', featuring Dwele, leaked.

Personally, I am a huge Kanye West fan, and I loved, loved, loved '808s and Heartbreak', and I have been awaiting a new album ever since. Regardless of his public or private behavior, this man knows how to pump out an amazing beat and make awe-inspiring music.

Long live Kanye!

Check out 'Power' feat. Dwele below. It's seriously amazing and has made me all kinds of excited.

"Sex and the City 2" Opens Strong

You just can't stop these women. The second installment of the Sex and the City movie franchise opened up to a strong $14.3 million on Thursday, setting itself up for big numbers this holiday weekend. The first Sex and the City movie made $26.7 million on its opening day (a Friday). By opening it up on a Thursday and giving itself an extra day in this holiday weekend, Warner Bros can expect a bigger weekend cumulative than the first movie. The original made $57 million its opening weekend. The studio is now expecting a $60+ mil opening for the 4-day weekend, and a $75+ mil opening for the 5 day holiday.

I love these girls, and I am a huge fan of the series, but let's hope this doesn't turn into a third, fourth, etc. SATC movie. I thought the first was fantastic, but this second movie was simply too fantastical. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed all the crazy antics and beautiful clothes, but I didn't feel as connected to this movie as I did to the first. It didn't have the same spark, but it sure did have alot of sparkle, glitter, and loud accoutrements.

Estimates Source.

Diane Keaton and Ellen Page sign onto HBO's "Tilda"

That's right: Oscar winner Diane Keaton and Oscar nominee Ellen Page are heading to television. Keaton will play the title role in HBO's Tilda, a comedy about a powerful, heavily linked in blogger in Hollywood, a role that sounds like it's suspiciously based on Nikki Finke's own life and career.

This should be interesting. Nikki is known for her no nonsense, cut the bullshit Hollywood scoop. A long time entertainment news reporter, Nikki is one of the most feared and most trusted news sources in Hollywood. Nikki's news is all meat, and no fat, which is exactly why I love her.

Also starring is Ellen Page, who is most notably known for her Oscar nominated role in Juno and can soon be seen in Christopher Nolan's Inception on July 16. She will be playing an assistant at a major studio, whose allegiance becomes tested as she befriends Keaton's character, Tilda.

Can't wait! I love Ellen, and you can't go wrong with Diane Keaton either.

2009-2010 Series Ratings Rankings

Upon my daily perusal of Nikki's posts, I found this to be quite interesting.

2009-2010 Ratings Rankings, adults 18-49 (ratings/share):

No surprise, Idol takes the top spots. What does surprise me is the great success of CBS' Undercover Boss, which airs on Sunday nights. I had no idea the show did so well. I guess it makes sense in this television day and age that a reality TV show would be ranked higher in ratings than original programming.


1 AMERICAN IDOL-TUESDAY FOX 9.1/24

2 AMERICAN IDOL-WEDNESDAY FOX 8.4/22

3 NBC SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL NBC 7.2/18

4 UNDERCOVER BOSS CBS 6.2/15

5 THE BIG BANG THEORY CBS 5.3/13

6 GREY'S ANATOMY ABC 5.1/13

6 LOST ABC 5.1/12

8 HOUSE FOX 4.9/13

9 DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES ABC 4.8/11

9 TWO AND A HALF MEN CBS 4.8/12

The rest of primetime adults 18-49 ratings under the cut, followed by primetime ranking by total viewers in the '09-'10 season.

More Upfronts News: FOX, CBS

It's that time of year! Upfront presentations season. All the major networks invite huge advertisers to preview their new fall schedules and eventually woo them into spending big bucks on airtime. Yesterday I posted NBC's new fall lineup, and today, FOX and CBS rolled out their lineups as well.

FOX:

• Lots of comedies. Tuesday will be their 'comedy night' with Glee moving to an 8pm timeslot to accommodate two new half hour comedies: Raising Hope, a comedy based on an irresponsible guy dealing with a baby that just dropped into his lap, and Running Wilde, a Mitch Hurwitz (a.k.a. the amazing man who brought us Arrested Development) production starring Will Arnett and Keri Russell and centered around a millionaire trying to woo back his childhood love. Preview both below:
  
  
  
  
• Watch out for the Steven Spielberg produced prehistoric series, Terra Nova. Should be interesting to see how this plays out. It could either crash and burn horribly or be a runaway hit, considering it's something no one's ever seen on primetime before.
  
• More show previews, including Mixed Signals (comedy), Bob's Burgers (animated comedy), Ridealong (drama), and Lonestar (drama), here.
  

CBS:

• Big news today: After a two and a half month will he or won't he debacle, Charlie Sheen has finally signed on for two more years on Two and a Half Men (phew--that's a lot of two's). Rumor is that he will be receiving over a million for each episode, more than each cast member of Friends made in their last season.
• Shocking news: CBS has canceled The Ghost Whisperer (starring Jennifer Love Hewitt) and The New Adventures of Old Christine (starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus), however, rumor is that ABC is in talks to pick up both shows if the price is right. In addition to the aforementioned shows, CBS has also canceled Cold Case, Miami Medical, Gary Unmarried, Accidentally On Purpose, and Numb3rs. No chance that those are being saved though.
  
• CBS has picked up &@!$ My Dad Says, a show whose main premise is based on, get this: a Twitter account. It was only a matter of time. It will star William Shatner. Shit My Dad Says, the Twitter account that is, is actually pretty entertaining. Hopefully the show will live up to its, er, Twitter account?! Geez, what has the world come to.
  
• In addition to Bleep My Dad Says, CBS picked up another comedy, Molly and Mike, and four dramas: Hawaii 5-0, Defenders, Blue Bloods, and Criminal Minds 2.

9 Clips from SATC 2!

10 days and counting!

(beware of minor spoilers in the clips)

Confused by NBC's upfronts

Today NBC officially unveiled their 2010-2011 fall schedule at their upfront presentation.

I have some concerns. The biggest of which involves Parks and Recreation, an amazing comedy which really took off creatively this season. Season one was pretty lukewarm, but I stuck with it and I made it a point to continue watching through season two. Season two has been beyond awesome and it's pretty safe to say that I'm basically obsessed with the show. I've replaced my Thursday night ritual of watching The Office followed by 30 Rock to watching Parks and Rec followed by The Office. Imagine my surprise when I discover that in order to make room for new original programming, NBC has moved Parks and Recreation to midseason. Seriously, NBC, seriously? That just baffles me. Parks and Rec has more than proved itself and it deserves to stay in the comedy line-up this fall. I'm really disappointed that I'll have to wait even longer than I anticipated for the return of the crazy antics of the Pawnee parks and rec department.

Another concern related to today's upfronts: NBC may continue on with The Office even after Steve Carrell leaves. Let's backtrack. If you haven't already heard, Carrell recently mentioned in a BBC radio interview that he would not be returning to The Office after his contract expires at the end of next season. Now, I have slowly been trying to cope with the devastating fact that The Office would be ending next season. Surely I thought NBC would foresee the potential train wreck that could be The Office following Carrell's departure, but Jeff Zucker recently remarked that the producers of The Office were preparing contingency plans for the show's continuance without Carrell. I can't even entertain the idea of The Office without Carrell. I am a HUGE fan of the show, especially its supporting cast, and I have been from the beginning, but The Office cannot stay afloat without Michael Scott. Who knows, I may be eating my words two years from now, but I honestly just don't see The Office without the man that made The Office what it is today in American pop culture.

I'm so struck by the above issues, that I'm totally indifferent to the new batch of shows hitting NBC this fall. Hopefully that will change.

Check out the full schedule below (new shows in caps), and check out Deadline Hollywood for full descriptions.

MONDAY
8-9 p.m. - “Chuck”
9-10 p.m. -- “THE EVENT”
10-11 p.m. - “CHASE”

TUESDAY
8-10 p.m. - “The Biggest Loser”
10-11 p.m. - “Parenthood”

WEDNESDAY
8-9 p.m. - “UNDERCOVERS”
9-10 p.m. - “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”
10-11 p.m. - “LAW & ORDER: LOS ANGELES”

THURSDAY
8- 8:30 p.m. - “Community”
8:30-9 p.m. - “30 Rock”
9-9:30 p.m. - “The Office”
9:30-10 p.m. - “OUTSOURCED”
10-11 p.m. - “LOVE BITES”

FRIDAY
8-9 p.m. - “Who Do You Think You Are?”/”SCHOOL PRIDE”
9-10 p.m. - “Dateline NBC”
10-11 p.m. - “OUTLAW”

SATURDAY
Encore programming

SUNDAY
7- 8:15 p.m. -- "Football Night in America"
8:15-11:30 p.m. -- "NBC Sunday Night Football"

SUNDAY (beginning March 2011)
7-8 p.m. - “Dateline NBC”
8-9 p.m. - “Minute to Win It”
9-11 p.m. - “The Celebrity Apprentice”

Inception / Up Trailer Mash-up

Once in awhile, when a great trailer comes along, fans and devotees will put together awesome mash-ups with movies that are very unlikely to be paired together.

The latest great mash-up? Inception and Pixar's Up. It's pretty damn good. Kudos to youtuber 'iwantmytvnow'!



And if you haven't seen the latest trailer for Inception, which debuted in Iron Man 2, then check it out below:



Who else is insanely excited for Inception? You just can't go wrong with Leo DiCaprio, Ellen Page, Marion Cotillard, Cillian Murphy (good god, how I love this man) and Joseph Gordon Levitt all under the direction of Christopher Nolan. Or at least I hope not.

Inception hits theaters July 16.

Conan O'Brien Pays a Visit to Google

Google and YouTube present a conversation with Conan O'Brien (with a special appearance from Andy Richter). 48 minutes long, but completely worth it!

"Damages" Canceled?

First and foremost, I have to state that this is quite possibly one of the saddest days of my life. I know it sounds superficial, and slightly crazy, to be this devastated over a TV show's cancellation, but Damages is one of the most well written, well directed, and well acted shows I have ever seen. Because of this, I never imagined it would be cut this short, especially after only three seasons on air. The ratings have been dismal, but there was a glimmer of hope last month when it was rumored that DirecTV may save the show, just as they did for Friday Night Lights when they were in a similar situation. However, word is that yesterday the cast and crew were given the bad news--that the show was getting the axe. No official announcement yet, but it's not looking good.

There goes one of the most intelligent, gripping shows on TV past, present, or future. Seriously, season one blew me away. I challenge anyone to watch it and tell me they weren't impressed. Glenn Close is seriously perfection on screen, and she gave some of the best performances of her career on this show, which led to two consecutive wins for best lead actress in a drama series at the Emmys. I just don't get why people weren't watching this show. Damages had the makings of a great TV show -- a great cast, dynamic story lines, gripping story telling, and a real heart, as black as it may have been. More than anything, this is the kind of show that we need to keep on TV. For all the content-less shows out there that we keep seeing on our televisions, we need at least a couple of great ones that can really make us sit back on our couches and make us feel like we've been entertained-- and not just because we just watched someone fall on their ass on national television or performed some other embarrassing act.

After news of its cancellation, my anger started to build and I really got to thinking about the lack of viewership for this show. Yes, it was an incredibly serialized show, but watch an episode or two, and it's hard not to catch on quickly. We need to be given the benefit of the doubt here, that the audience is more intelligent than we're usually treated, and I think Damages understood that. As much as we may be used to seeing mind numbing TV that requires little to no thinking, our intelligence as an audience shouldn't be underscored, and Damages always had that in mind. The serialized aspect aside, the only other real conclusion I could come to was that perhaps we were just afraid of seeing strong female characters on screen, especially as leads. We're used to seeing damsels in distress, women who are constantly seeking help or guidance, or women who are lost and clumsy, looking to be saved by their Prince Charming(s) on screen. Damages had a very unique distinction in that the lead characters were strong females, and the supporting characters were males. Is it that we're so hard wired to assume male-driven shows as the norm, that we can't appreciate strong, tough as nails females as, dare I say it, our main characters on screen?

Who can really say for sure what happened to Damages' viewership, but one thing's for certain. It's going to leave a bad taste in my mouth, but I'm saying it anyway, Damages is a cautionary tale. This just goes to show that money talks louder than anything else. Without the viewership, and in turn, money and support from the network, even the greatest of shows can be thrown wayside. I'm still in a state of shock at this point -- I can't even comprehend how this show is canceled, especially after a phenomenal season three finale. If they're going out, at least they're going out with a bang.

Regardless, I'm still nursing a broken heart.

Madonna for Interview Magazine

Agh. I can't even form coherent sentences when I look at this. This--this is the reason why Madonna is the queen of well, everything.

Photography by Marcus Piggot and Mert Alas. Read her interview with Gus Van Sant on Interview's website. Check out the behind the scenes video below.

Met Costume Institute Gala 2010: Best and Worst Dressed

The Met teamed up with Vogue and The Gap for this year's Costume Institute Gala, the theme for which was 'American Women: Fashioning a National Identity'.

This is one of my favorite fashion events-- it's a veritable mix of hot messes and hot dresses on the carpet. It's almost like a celebrity prom -- every year there are a handful of women wearing ridiculous looks hoping to look edgy and chic, and every year there are women who show up and really know how to work a dress.

My best and worst dressed picks:

Best Dressed:

Kerry Washington in Thakoon for Gap. The draping and that color against her skin tone is seriously perfection.
Coco Rocha in Zac Posen. How much do I love thee, Zac? Oh, let me count the ways. This dress is one of the reasons why.


Naomi Watts in Stella McCartney. Love this color on Naomi and love her hair with this dress.
Gwen Stefani in L.A.M.B. Of course Gwen would wear L.A.M.B. and of course, she would kill it on the carpet. Seriously, I don't think I've ever seen her look bad in an outfit, because I swear, she could wear a potato sack and still look damn good.


Jennifer Lopez in Zuhair Murad. I think Jennifer looks great here, as she often does, but I wish she'd mix it up a little. She always looks so polished, and she looks too much like a beauty queen. Sure this dress is pretty, but it's just pretty, and that's about it.
Jessica Szohr in Atelier Versace. The mermaid cut hardly works for anyone, but it works for Jessica here. It's a combination of a great neckline, a gentle pouf of chiffon at the bottom, and Jessica's killer bod.


Bar Rafaeli in rag&bone. Jesus, Bar is gorgeous. It's seriously scary how beautiful this woman is and in this rag&bone dress? Killer. I love that she went for the mini, and I fully understand why because if I had legs like that I wouldn't be hiding them either.
Zoe Saldana in Calvin Klein. Okay, one word: svelte. It's total understated elegance, which is exactly what Calvin Klein is.


Chloe Sevigny in Proenza Schouler. Chloe's been wearing alot of Proenza Schouler lately and I'm loving it because I love the boys at Proenza Schouler and I love Chloe. The two of them together is music to my ears, or rather, a feast for my eyes.
Carey Mulligan in Miu Miu. I can't help it. I love Carey in anything Prada or Miu Miu. She has that perfect, 60's twiggy style. Long live Carey's pixi cut!


Melissa George in J Mendel. I love this color, and I love the cascading ruffle, but what really sets this off is that sweep of one shoulder chiffon.
Sarah Jessica Parker in Halston Heritage. As the new creative director at Halston, we've been seeing SJP in alot of the namesake brand, and I'm totally not complaining.



Worst Dressed:

Kristen Stewart in Chanel. Someone please explain to me how you sit down in that dress without your hooha showing? Unless this is one of those dresses you never sit or bend in. The beaded sheath, the asymmetrical, pointy boob? I'm just confused.
Vera Farmiga in Sophie Theallet for Gap. I usually like what Vera wears on the carpet, but she just looks like a done up milk maid here.


January Jones in Yves Saint Laurent. Love that dress, but those gloves are just overkill.
Christina Hendricks in L'Wren Scott. I don't think I can even speak about this ensemble. It just hurts.


Joy Bryant in Marchesa. I can't really blame Joy here, because seriously now, how can anyone possibly pull this ensemble off?
Blake Lively in Marchesa. I love that she went for a mini to show off those great legs, but I don't think anyone wants to have their butt look like it's covered in blue moss.

Conan's '60 Minutes' Interview

I thought he was classy, self deprecating, heartfelt, and genuinely awesome. Most importantly, he was truthful, and wasn't afraid to express his pain and anger towards NBC. He also managed to crack an awkward joke or two, a trait that I love oh so much in dear Coco.


Watch CBS News Videos Online

Obama cracks a Leno joke at the White House Correspondent's Dinner

Yikes!



If there was ever a completely perfect moment to reference the 'Boom! Roasted!' joke from The Office, it would be right about now.

First Look at Conan's '60 Minutes' Interview

Here's a sneak peek at Conan O'Brien's first interview following the late night catastrophe, airing Sunday, May 2, on CBS' 60 Minutes. Conan's exit contract with NBC specified that he was forbidden to do any interviews on the matter until May 1. Hmm, what convenient timing to air this pretaped interview, 60 Minutes. One thing's for sure though, A LOT of people will be watching, including me.

Check out the clip below where he references Leno's move of taking back The Tonight Show and describes his relationship with NBC in the final hour as 'toxic'.



Also, check out Letterman's interview with Dr. Phil, where he's asked about the late night situation. He does an uncanny impression of Jay and calls him a 'boob'. Don't you love how Letterman can't seem to let go of the subject? Hey, it's still funny to me.