TVSquad

The new fall pilots don't excite me very much, what with all of the cops, doctors and lawyers. But I know networks, and original ideas aren't exactly the "in" thing.

So, why can't we design some spin-offs? You know, the networks might go for some ideas based on hit shows, and we can make them a little bit unique, right? Let's add in some elements that excite us to some familiar characters and see if we can't create some new spin-off pilots better than the actual ones.

It looks like guest-starring on Chuck isn't the biggest thing going on in Nicole Richie's TV career. The former Simple Life star has just announced that a TV show based on her 2005 novel is in the works. Richie's roman à clef, titled The Truth About Diamonds, follows Chloe Parker, the adopted daughter of a rock star who runs around with a bad crowd in Hollywood. Throughout the novel, Parker faces struggles with the law, drugs and her friends. Sound familiar?

Not only is Richie planning on producing the show, but she'll be appearing in it as well. Even though she based Chloe Parker on herself, Richie says that she won't necessarily be playing the lead, "I would definitely produce and definitely be in the show, [but] I don't know if I need to be the star of this show." Since production is still in the early stages, the details surrounding the series remain unclear, such as what network it will be on, and whether or not it will be a drama or a comedy.

Like Darth Vader before her, good things can even come out of a person like Paris Hilton. The wealthy socialite best known for her role on television's The Simple Life as well as an amateur porn video has made an "extremely generous" donation to Children's Hospital Los Angeles for the construction of a medical building. No exact amount was specified. The new building, called the Children's Center for Cancer and Blood Diseases, will open in 2010.

"The children I have met through my involvement with Children's Hospital have truly touched my heart," Hilton said in a statement. "I am proud to make a donation and lend my name to the fundraising effort to help children who are facing terribly serious illnesses."

Far be it from me to be a cynic in light of such charity, but this is a woman who has lived such a life of debauchery that the gossip rags have their own special section regarding her. I'm not sure what to think.

So what do you folks think? Actual generosity, or publicity stunt? Or maybe a little of both?

This fall Special Agent Sarah Walker will get a blast from the past as she attends her ten-year high school reunion and comes face-to-face with her old nemesis. Nicole Richie will play a spiteful and sarcastic character who tortured the special agent for years. Sarah Walker has to go to the reunion for a mission; her date, of course, is Chuck.

Executive producer Josh Schwartz says Nicole Richie is actually quite funny: "Nicole auditioned for the part and was very funny. This role is a great opportunity for her to show off her comedic skills and be diabolically evil and kick some butt."

A day hasn't gone by where we haven't received some sort of tip or email asking us, the TV Squad, how to get on [insert reality show here]. Unfortunately no, Simon Cowell does not work for us, and Donald Trump isn't my BFF, so we really can't help all that much.

The folks at RealityWanted.com often send us a list of new and existing reality shows that are looking for new, er, talent, and they've given us permission to make mention of them here. We'll try to make this a regular feature as often as we get a new list.

This time we have The Bachelor, The Pick Up Artist, Teen Dream and other new shows.

Paris and Nicole, we hardly knew ye.

Actually, we knew ye way too much. But that won't be a problem anymore (at least on a weekly TV show basis). E! has canceled The Simple Life. US Magazine is reporting that producers think that everything happening in the girls' private lives is overshadowing the show. Funny, I would argue that the success of the show is based only on what happened in their private lives. Why else are people watching these two?

A source tells the mag that Nicole was also really hard to work with, saying "Paris was the one willing to do anything. Nicole was the diva."

[via TV Tattle]

• At 7, CBS has a new 60 Minutes.
• NBC has a new, two-hour Dateline at 7.
• CNN has a debate between all the Democrati candidates for President at 7.
• At 8, The CW repeats the pilot episode of Hidden Palms.
• Lifetime has the new movie Write & Wrong, with Kirstie Alley at 8, followed by the series premiere of Army Wives.
• MTV has the (live) MTV Movie Awards at 8 (repeated at 10).
• At 9, PBS has a new Mystery!
• There's a new Gene Simmons' Family Jewels on A&E at 9.
• HBO has a new Sopranos at 9, then the season finale of Entourage.
• Also at 9: Food Network has two new episodes of The Next Food Network Star.
• At 10, MSNBC repeats this morning's Meet The Press, if you missed it.
• HGTV has a new Bought & Sold at 10, then a new My First Place.
• E! has a new Simple Life Goes To Camp at 10, followed by a new Sunset Tan.
• Showtime has a new ep of The Tudors at 10.

Check your local TV listings for more.

Hey, Brigitte here with TV Squad Daily. I'll be covering the TV stories I find interesting each day, Monday through Friday, in this video blog.

Today on TV Squad Daily:

• Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie are soon to be "fat camp" counselors in the new season of The Simple Life.
  
• It's time to choose a new Miss USA, but not before wallowing in Tara Connor's guilt one last time.
  
• So much responsibility! The writers at Days of Our Lives are letting you choose Sami's wedding presents.
  

The video's embedded below, or you can download the file directly (Quicktime required). You can also subscribe to this podcast via our feed.

Are headlines like that even surprising anymore?

The Simple Life's (emphasis on SIMPLE) Nicole Richie was arrested early this morning in Burbank, CA for going the wrong way on the 134 freeway. Witnesses called the police, and when police got to her car, she admitted she had taken Vicodin and smoked pot. But she wasn't drunk on booze, thank heavens, which means she's being responsible.

Two interesting aspects to this story: one, the police have told TMZ.com that they aren't going to release Richie's mug shot, which means it can't be added to the Hall of Fame. And two, the police report lists her height as 5 feet 1 inches and her weight as 85 pounds. Which basically means she weights nothing, and when she turns sideways she vanishes completely. She should join Heroes!

Update: the TMZ.com story has been updated with Richie's booking photo.

Every year around this time, the year-in-review and best and worst articles start showing up in newspapers and magazines and blogs, and so do the predictions for the following year. Here are my predictions for 2007 concerning TV personalities and shows.

1. Rachael Ray, in the middle of pouring EVOO in a skillet for the 11,000th time, will suddenly scream "fuck this!", throw the bottle against the wall, walk over to her elevator, say "I'm sick of all the shows and the books and the appearances...so long suckers!" and get into the elevator and disappear.

The E! network is the latest to make its shows available on iTunes. No, you can't buy 100 Biggest Celebrity Oops or 100 Most Starlicious Makeovers (who would want to?). But, you can buy some of its other original programming like The Girls Next Door, Dr. 90210, The Simple Life, and The Soup. Joel McHale on my video iPod? Hot damn!

Episodes cost the usual $1.99.

Being talentless, rich and stupid is still enough to keep Paris Hilton and Nicole Ritchie on television. E! just announced that it'll bring the witless wonders back for a fifth season of The Simple Life. The show, where Paris and Nicole make people feel stupid for having family, jobs and an education, is currently in its fourth season. FOX dropped it after three seasons, but E! picked it up. This season, The Simple Life: 'Til Death Do Us Part, is apparently successful enough to warrant another round. According to Variety, the show tripled E!'s primetime ratings when it debuted on June 6.

Remember how Paris Hilton was going around telling everyone that she wasn't going to let Nicole Richie do another season of their Fox reality show, The Simple Life? That their friendship was SO OVER, and that she was totally replacing Richie with her other blonde celebutante friend, Kimberley Stewart? Well, apparently, Fox has other ideas. Both Richie and Hilton are under contract for a fourth season of the rich-ditzes-out-of-water series, and the network intends to hold them to it. The new plan? To document each gal's upcoming wedding (Hilton is engaged to Paris Latsis; Richie is enfianced to DJ AM). By sending seperate camera crews to follow each seperate series of preparations leading up to each seperate ceremony, they're thinking they can cobble together a new season, and still keep the cat-fighting stars seperate. Both Hilton and Richie's publicist say that no decisions have been made, but a member of Richie's camp tells US Weekly that Nicole "is really into the idea -- she really wants this." And why wouldn't she? After all, ridiculously extravagant weddings don't pay for themselves ...