TVSquad

The first Sex and the City movie wasn't just a hit. It was a big, big hit. The worldwide box office was $400 million, which even in today's inflated dollars is an awful lot of cash. Therefore, it was no surprise that New Line has green lighted a sequel to the feature based on the HBO series for release in 2010.

Debra wasn't thrilled with more Sex features, but I have faith in Michael Patrick King. However, there is another issue; while all the ladies are inked for the Sex and the City sequel, Chris Noth is not, which may -- or may not -- be a "big" deal.

Actor and comedian Jim Gaffigan has come a long way from driving down the stock price for Hot Pockets.

He landed his own short-lived sitcom on CBS, thanks to David Letterman, called Welcome to New York and a co-starring role on the hit TBS' dramedy My Boys, which returns for a third season on March 31.

He also racked up a long resume of funny and dramatic roles on hit shows like Sex and the City, Flight of the Conchords, and That 70's Show. He is also one of the few actors to score appearances on all of the Law & Order series if you don't count the spinoff that hardcore L&O cultists are forbidden to say out loud.

I just watched the Sex and the City movie for the first time last night. I was a big fan of the TV show, and I really enjoyed the movie. Just like Serenity, it's always fun when a favorite TV show makes it to the big screen.

Coincidentally, this week I also learned that there is a Sex and the City movie sequel in the works. The girls have officially signed on ... but for what? Here's where the problem lies for me: Sex and the City was a great series and a decently entertaining movie. Can they really pull it off again?

I am always wary of sequels, but this case really gets me quaking in my boots. They are so lucky they pulled the movie off as a success. I loved seeing Carrie and Big finally tie the knot, I wept for Charlotte who finally has the life she's always dreamed of, and Miranda finally came around and accepted being a part of a family. And Samantha? Well, we got to see her acknowledge her selfishness, but at least it was in character. Why should Samantha evolve? I even loved Jennifer Hudson as Carrie's assistant.

It took years after the series ended for the first Sex and the City movie to get made yet it took only a few months for them to decide to make a second movie. Money talks, eh?

E! reports that Kim Cattrall said the sequel would go into production next summer, and a Warner Bros. Studios representative confirmed that the negotiations with the actresses for the sequel have begun.

Somehow, I never imagined that Sarah Jessica Parker's next TV gig after Sex and the City would be a reality show about art. In fact, it makes me a little sad thinking she'll be doing that instead of some fabulous new series with big stars and groovy music.

But, here you have it: Bravo has picked up an art competition reality show from Parker's Pretty Matches production company and producers Magical Elves. They're expected to announce the deal today at the Television Critics Association press tour, so Joel might have more info on this later.

The hour-long show is described by Elves' Dan Cutforth and Jane Lipsitz as a Project Runway-style competition, only with art instead of fashion. Aspiring artists compete to produce various styles of artwork, including painting, sculpting, etc., which is then judged by a panel of experts.

I think that would be called Holding Hands in the City.

Hannah Montana herself tells TV Guide that she wants to make a younger, cleaner version of the HBO hit show (and now movie hit, too) Sex and the City. Not sure if she's ever seen the show, but sex was a rather big, important part of the lives of Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte, and Samantha. It's even the first word in the title of the show. Maybe she actually meant to say that she wants to remake Saved by the Bell: The College Years.

Other words of wisdom from Cyrus: her most important things in the world include her mommy (no word on daddy?), her black Chuck Taylor Converse sneakers, grilled cheese sandwiches and the Bible. I'm kind of the same way when it comes to those last two, only I'd change them to pizza and Esquire magazine.

[via TV Tattle]

What's happening on other blogs via the interweb.

• Hmmm...maybe we are a little closer to a strike after all.
• Is a cast member of Ugly Betty leaving the show for CBS' new show Harper's Island?
• TV Newser has reactions to the death of Tony Snow.
• Yes fans, it looks like there will be a Sex and the City sequel.
• Stephen Collins says that Hallmark Channel would be a perfect place for a 7th Heaven movie.
• Ed McMahon is recovering from yet another neck surgery.
• Variety has some ideas on how to improve The CW.
• Broadcasting & Cable has a roundtable of TV critics: what if they ran the networks?

Looks like a Dead Zone movie is possible. Anthony Michael Hall, who starred in the USA network sci-fi show, told SCI-FI wire that he'd be interested in doing a Dead Zone movie. Hall, who played psychic Johnny Smith for the show's six-season run, reminds everyone that he's not optimistic a Dead Zone movie will be made. "I don't think we had the size of a cult following that, let's say, The X-Files did. You look at Sex and the City or The X-Files, these movies were done long after the shows pumped out their last episodes," says the actor. Also, The Dead Zone having a previous incarnation as a feature film might preclude any new attempts. (In the film, which was released in 1983, Christopher Walken starred as Johnny Smith.)

Whatever the case may be with the possible movie, Anthony Michael Hall remains grateful about the opportunity to star in The Dead Zone. "I would certainly be open to the potential for [a reunion feature]. I would never turn my back on what [the show's late producer] Michael Piller did for me. He gave me this incredible opportunity. When I look back at [my] career, I view him and John Hughes as almost guardian angels of my career," Hall says.

[via PopCandy]

Another week, another list issue of Entertainment Weekly.

I'm not sure what to make of all of these lists. We do them here too, but it seems to me the more giant lists that are done the more meaningless they become. This EW issue is "The New Classics," the 1000 best TV shows, movies, books, and music of the past 25 years. Since this is a television blog, I won't get into their book, movie, and music picks (but if I can just say as a side note, they pick both Clueless and The Naked Gun before L.A. Confidential?!), but let's talk about their TV choices.

And argue about those choices in the comments, of course.

Kim Cattrall is hot. Hot as in busy as well as in looking good. She's also smart, funny, observant and remarkably candid. Recently, I spoke with her for TV Squad about the success of the Sex & the City movie, her new HBO project Sensitive Skin, and a whole lot of other things, including Star Trek, aging, Universal TV in the 1970s and more.

Allison Waldman: When Sex & the City ended, you didn't want to do the movie. Now it's done and it's a huge success.

Kim Cattrall: It's extraordinary. I look back four years ago when this was a runaway idea, I just did not feel ready to do it. We had reached such a high point, I wasn't sure I had anything else to say. I also had incredible personal challenges. My marriage was coming apart, also, my dad was diagnosed with dementia. I really needed a time out.

AW: How did the movie come back around?

KC: Michael Patrick King called and said, 'I'm writing something and I think you're going to love it. ...I think you were right to say no when you did because of whatever reasons you had.' See, I had never been public about my reasons I felt that it was nobody's business.

Sex and the...carpool lane? That's what TBS is going for with their new microseries, Commuter Confidential, debuting Monday, June 2, during the sanitized Sex and the City at 11 p.m. EST.

But they're not fooling us. It's advertising, not a series, micro or otherwise. The 2-minute pods feature four women who, while trapped in a car together to and from work every day, yap about sex, death, bodily fluids, celebrities, politics, and their experiences with Match.com, all while applying Revlon makeup.

Daisy (Keri Lynn Pratt) is the aspiring artist, fresh out of college and ready to take on the world. Carmen (Idalis DeLeon, pictured) is an attorney who brings home the bacon while her loser hubby sits home and cracks open the brews. Former beauty queen Paula (Dorie Barton) is kvetching over the breakup of her marriage. And Sylvie (Dee Ryan) cares for her aging mom while running a Montessori school and wondering why the hell she ever gave up her investment banking job.

The half dozen things that TV Squad readers - and TV fans in general - will be talking about this week. A new feature every Monday.

1. The Lost season finale. Spoiler: they're all robots! (Thursday at 9 on ABC)
2. The Sex and the City movie. I don't see why this show needs a new movie (on the big screen anyway), but I'm sure there will be a bunch of people who go see it. Warning: movie theaters don't sell martinis so you'll have to wait until after the movie. (Starts this Friday)
3. Battlestar Galactica. Yup, some of the biggies still have new episodes (Friday at 10 on Sci-Fi).
4. The new reality shows from Denise Richards and Dina Lohan. I started to cry a little when I wrote that sentence. (Starts tonight on E!)
5. TV fans in a holding pattern. We're in that weird time of year, after most of the season finales have aired, and we're waiting for the new summer shows (Burn Notice, Mad Men, Californication, Law and Order: CI, etc) to start. Go outside and eat a salad, or whatever it is that healthy, TV-less people supposedly do.
6. Moment of Truth returns. This was the #1 new show last season. And it's all your fault. (Returns tomorrow at 8 on FOX)

• At 8, FOX has the season premiere of So You Think You Can Dance.
• ABC has the season finale of Ugly Betty at 8, followed by the season finale of Grey's Anatomy.
• NBC has a new Deal Or No Deal at 8, then the season premiere of Last Comic Standing.
• HGTV has a new Designed To Sell at 8, followed by new episodes of Myles of Style and Divine Design.
• At 8:30, ESPN has the NBA Playoffs.
• At 9, Cartoon Network has a new George of the Jungle.
• At 10, Spike has a new TNA Impact.
• At 10:15, HBO Comedy has a new First Look at the Sex and the City movie.
• At 10:30, Comedy Central has the season premiere of Reno 911.

Check your local TV listings for more.

Now that we know that Ugly Betty is coming back next season (it was never in doubt) and that the Ugly Betty production is moving to New York, executive producer Silvio Horta has shared a few more bits of news and tidbits about Betty and company.

For starters, the producers are determined to streamline the show, taking advantage of being in NYC and sharpening the focus of the show. Horta said the goal for the Ugly Betty writing team for season three is "to make the show more about Betty's journey and to weave the characters into more unified, emotionally grounded plots."

I tried and tried to get into Sex and the City, but two things stood in my way. One, I have testicles, and two, I just don't think the narrative was that strong. I thought I'd like it because it was about NYC and had sex and women in it and the main character was a writer, but it just never happened.

Of course, we now have the big screen adaptation of the series coming on May 30, and people who have never seen the show, but plan on seeing the movie (not sure who that would be, but maybe there are some), and fans of the show who haven't watched it in a while might need a primer. Well, BuzzSugar has taken care of that for you. They list the 12 essential episodes you have to watch before you see the big screen flick. There are two episodes from season one, one from season two, three from season three, two from season four, one from season five, and three from season six (this is in addition to the first and last episodes).

How many of you are planning to see the movie?