TVSquad

I admit it, I've been watching The Celebrity Apprentice and I have been entertained by every minute of it. Yes, it doesn't take much to amuse me on Sunday nights, as you can see, but those of you who do watch the show must agree that this season's crop brings the drama!

The cast may not include Omarosa and Piers, last season's winner, but Dennis Rodman, Clint Black, Annie Duke, Joan and Melissa Rivers stepped up to the drama plate.

Warning! If you haven't watched last night's episode yet, stop reading this post now and come back once you've watched it because I know you'll want some place to discuss the boardroom drama.

If there's one thing we can count on with General Hospital, it's the mob. Other soaps lean on corporate shenanigans, the fashion business, medical drama. GH used to be about the latter, but that was a long time ago. Now, the hospital storylines are thriving more on Night Shift, General Hospital's SoapNet spin-off. But on GH proper, the mother ship if you will, the main thrust remains Sonny, Jason, the Zaccharas and mob wars.

They're bringing in a new actor to the scene, and he carries major TV mob credentials. Vincent Pastore is joining General Hospital as Maximus Giambetti, father of Sonny's two main bodyguards, Max and Milo. Vinny is best known as Sal "Big Pussy" Bonpenserio on HBO's The Sopranos. On GH, Maximus comes to Port Charles to see his boys, under the false assumption that Max and Milo are running the syndicate in town.

Even if you don't watch The Celebrity Apprentice, it's pretty much a given that you watched this week's preview (after the jump) during which we see Stephen Baldwin tell Donald Trump that he can't continue working with Piers Morgan.

Let's face it, Baldwin and the America's Got Talent judge have not been seeing eye to eye from the very beginning of the show. Even if they somewhat worked well together on the tasks, their business relationship was pretty much a hate-hate one or at least a "I'm tolerating you because I have to." But in light of the Vincent Pastore fiasco from last week, Baldwin has had enough and may give The Donald his resignation... or will he?

If you watched The Celebrity Apprentice this week, you probably still are thinking and talking about that boardroom scene (and I use that latter word here to mean both "a subdivision of the episode" and "an exhibition of anger or indecorous behavior"). Even if it looked childish at times, we have to admit that this was one of the most entertaining boardroom ever!

In short, during the task America's Got Talent's Piers Morgan, who was project manager for the men's team, sent The Sopranos' Vincent Pastore over the women's team to spy on them. Of course, it backfired: Vinnie, who did it willingly (see the first video after the jump), eventually admitted to the ladies that he was sent there to spy but that he now wanted to be a double agent; and, later on the episode, Vinnie and Piers had a major argument about the "rat project". In the boardroom, Vinnie revealed to Trump what had happened. This was followed by more argument between Piers and Vinnie, and comments from the women, the other men, Trump and his children.

I didn't expect Tom Cruise or Julia Roberts or even Teri Hatcher to sign up for this, but since when is Omarosa a "celebrity?" She's known for...um...The Apprentice!

And now she's going to compete on NBC's Celebrity Apprentice along with Marilu Henner, Carol Alt, softball player Jennie Finch, and America's Got Talent judge Piers Morgan. I think they were either going to do Celebrity Apprentice on a late night informercial or a cable reality show.

To be fair, there are some good names here, including Vincent Pastore and Gene Simmons, but overall the cast really leaves me cold. Not that I'm a regular viewer of The Apprentice (the first season interesting, and I watched the Martha Stewart version, and then...), but I would have definitely tuned in to this if they had gotten some more interesting celebs. But what do I know. This will probably be a massive hit.

(S06E15) Last week's promos showed Paulie in what looked like a rough situation or two, most of which featured Tony's glare right on him. That all started after Paulie made a snide remark, or more specifically was talking about himself, when the guys were toasting to Johnny Sack's life after he had passed away from cancer. As it turned out, he was absolutely in the sights of Tony when it came to life and death. And in an episode when someone is having loose lips and putting the boss in a tough situation as the body of the person that he killed to "make his bones" more than two decades earlier was apparently being dug up by the feds, the focus on Paulie being a chatterbox about his entire life story was more than appropriate.

One of the cooler things we got to see this week was Vincent Pastore's mug, as he was hanging out in the kitchen in Paulie's dream, a dream that made him want to step up to the plate, and realize that he was on his boss' bad side. Whether or not Tony just couldn't do it when it came to whacking his friend and onetime mentor or that he realized he was making a rash decision wasn't quite clear. What did happen was that we got the do-si-do from Chase & Company, who had us flat-out staring at the Jersey Crew while the New York team was about to head in another direction.

Joe Pantoliano does not want his infamous The Sopranos character to be remembered as "a head in a bowling bag". Access Hollywood obtained a letter that "Joey Pants" wrote to Sopranos creator David Chase, expressing his anger over a photo spread appearing in the April edition of Vanity Fair (see the photo here).

The photo, taken by Annie Liebowitz, features the legendary characters who've been whacked over the years, including actors Drea de Matteo, Vincent Pastore, Annabella Sciorra, and Steve Buscemi. Pantoliano refused to appear in the photo, so Liebowitz improvised by having a headless mannequin hold one of the actual head molds used from the episode where Tony kills Ralphie and puts his head in a bowling bag.

John Ratzenberger is stepping in to the open slot on Dancing with the Stars. He'll replace Vincent Pastore, the actor who played "Big Pussy" on The Sopranos, who dropped out of the competition after just one week of rehearsals. His reason? He can't give it his all.

Cliffie, on the other hand, is totally up to the challenge. Apparently ABC has been trying to recruit the former Cheers star for a while but he always had scheduling conflicts (probably voicing various characters for Pixar). He'll join the rest of the Stars this week with a bit of a disadvantage. By the time the competition airs, he'll only have three weeks of rehearsal while everyone else will have rehearsed for four weeks. His good-natured attitude will probably help him through the opening round elimination.

Ratzenberger's partner will be Edyta Sliwinska, who danced with Joey Lawrence last season. Dancing premieres on Monday, March 19th.

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:

• Darnit. The AP's ban on publishing Paris Hilton news didn't last long.
  
• John Ratzenberger (best known as "Cliff" from Cheers) will replace Vincent Pastore on Dancing with the Stars.
  
• American Idol's new source of revenue is selling Happy Meals, ice cream, candy bars and potato chips to kids.
  

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

Some mobsters turn the other direction when they know they are going to get whacked.

Vincent Pastore, the actor who played "Big Pussy" on The Sopranos, is adding some credibility to his character's name after announcing today that he is dropping out of the upcoming season of Dancing With the Stars.

According to the actor, "Unable to put forth my best effort, I felt it appropriate to step aside and give someone else the opportunity."

My first question for you sir is ... AGAIN?!

Does anyone remember...

It just gets stranger and stranger...

This morning, ABC announced the new slate of celebrities that will be participating in this upcoming season of Dancing with the Stars, which starts on Monday, March 19.

Some of the rumored selections, like Ian Ziering of 90210, and Billy Ray Cyrus of Hanna Montana, and Paul McCartney's bitter one-legged ex, Heather Mills, were right on the money. The other participants? Well, how would you like to see Big Pussy cutting a rug? Thaaat's right, Vincent Pastore is on board. So is basketball great Clyde Drexler, Olympic gold medalist Apolo Anton Ohno, former Entertainment Tonight host Leeza Gibbons, former supermodel Paulina Porizkova, former *NSYNCer Joey Fatone, Miss USA 2004 Shandi Finnessey, and boxer Laila Ali (yes, she's Muhammad Ali's daughter).

The full press release is after the jump. And the full story and photos are on the Good Morning America web site.

Man, these actors from The Sopranos just can't stay out of trouble. In real life, I mean. Now, two more members of the cast have had separate run-ins with the law. John Ventimiglia, who plays chef Artie Bucco, is charged with drunk driving and drug possession. Officers pulled him over as he was weaving in and out of traffic in Brooklyn. He had a blood-alcohol level of .12 (legal limit is .08) and a bag with cocaine residue. He was arraigned yesterday, and today his attorney released a statement saying that Ventimiglia "feels terrible and embarrassed."

Or so his ex-fiancée says. The former Sopranos star (Pastore played Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero until he got whacked for wearing a wire) was already ordered to attend anger management classes after he admitted to "attempting to assault" the same woman last spring. Now the former flame (her name is Regina) has slapped ol' Vinny with a civil suit, demanding $5 million in damages for all the pain he caused. She claims to have been abused physically, emotionally, and professionally. Now we know he physically hurt her - or at least he attempted to. And emotional pain would be expected. But how does one injure a person professionally? She's trying to pursue an acting career... but if she's no good and can't get a job, then how is that Pastore's fault? I don't know, I mean don't get me wrong - I'm not supporting abuse against woman here or anything but it seems to me like Regina is trying to squeeze this for all she can while it's still fresh.