TVSquad

A roundup of TV people from in front of the camera and behind the scenes who have passed away.

• Mel Harris: He was an exec at both Paramount and Sony Television who helped launch USA Network, Star Trek: TNG, and Entertainment Tonight. He was also one of the first executives in the 70s to push the idea of selling movies to the public on videotapes. He died of cancer at age 65.

I've written many times here about how much I hate the tabloid shows, whether it's Access Hollywood, TMZ, or Entertainment Tonight. One of the worst is ET's sister show, The Insider. Besides having a despicable host (Pat O'Brien -- what's with that little fake laugh he does all the time?) and the lamest writing this side of a junior high student newspaper, it's also evil and dumb.

Take last night's episode. I don't watch the show, but I didn't get to my remote quick enough to change the channel after the news ended and I caught the teaser opening. They showed singer John Mayer with a gun to his head, a rather raw photograph that looked like it was taken across the street from a bank. Was Mayer being held hostage in a holdup? Was one of Jennifer Aniston's exes there telling him not to see her anymore? OMG! Stay tuned to this breaking news!

Sometimes it's really easy to forget that some of your favorite stars are getting up there in age. For example, Rockford Files/8 Simple Rules star James Garner.

The veteran actor, now 80, suffered a minor stroke the other day. Entertainment Tonight is reporting that he had surgery and will be home later this week. No other details are available at this time (even that ET page above is rather brief), but he seems to be doing well. I'm sure the TV show will have more information later today.

Older fans will remember Garner from such shows as Nichols. Really old fans will remember him from the '50s western Maverick (a role he reprised in the early '80s series Bret Maverick). Checking his credits, I completely forgot that he played God in the short-lived animated series God, The Devil, and Bob in 2000. Of course, I forget that show in general.

[via TV Tattle]

There's going to be a new lady swinging down Wisteria Lane this spring. Entertainment Tonight reported that Justine Bateman has signed onto Desperate Housewives for a few episodes. The actress, who will forever be remembered for playing Alex P. Keaton -- Michael J. Fox's -- sister Mallory on Family Ties, will be playing "a hip artist living with Gabby and Carlos."

Word on the street is that Donny and Marie Osmond may be returning to TV. After being prominently featured on ABC's Dancing with the Stars, the brother and sister duo have found a new audience.

Marie came in third place in the latest season of DWTS and Donny made appearances on the show as well as working for Entertainment Tonight as a special DWTS correspondent.

Several months ago I made a promise that I was never going to watch the daily tabloid shows again. And I held on to that promise for a long time, and didn't watch Entertainment Tonight, The Insider, Access Hollywood or the other shows. Until last night, that is. I wanted to see if there was any news on the Owen Wilson story (though these shows claiming they have "breaking news" is truly laughable in this day of the web and instant info). I just want to report that these shows are still disgusting, ridiculous, and sleazy.

Example: On The Insider, Pat O'Brien showed clips of the hospital, with Samuel L. Jackson arriving and also Owen Wilson's brothers driving in a car to or from the place. And then they show "last known photos of the actor" (taken, um, August 8), and O'Brien describes Wilson as "running his hand through his hair," and you see Wilson with a serious look on his face. O'Brien is clearly implying that they can decipher something from a quick photo taken weeks ago on some street. Give me a break.

It looks like the long search for the new host of The Price Is Right is down to two: Sarah Silverman and David Hasselhoff.

Just kidding! The New York Post is reporting that producers have narrowed it down to two contestants: Mark Steines and Todd Newton. Steines is a host on Entertainment Tonight (he'll keep the job if he gets the PIR gig), and Newton has hosted several game shows, including a PIR show in Las Vegas. The pay for the job is reportedly near $3 million a year. Nice.

Hmmm...I'm not sure about this. But I guess they're both competent hosts. It looks like producers are going for the safer choices (male, slightly older, experienced) than going with someone like Mario Lopez or Ian Ziering.

And I second that. I'd love to see a Moonlighting reunion movie. Now all Cybill Shepherd has to do is convince Bruce Willis.

Shepherd tells Entertainment Tonight that she still thinks Willis is "hot" and that she would be up for doing Moonlighting again. Of course, Willis is really busy doing movies these days and who knows if he wants to look back like that, especially since the two had a lot of tension on the set (though I think Willis would be more up for it now than, say, 10 years ago).

I thought there was something fishy about this David Hasselhoff drunk tape nonsense. It smelled of publicity to me, though why anyone would want to be filmed drunk and slobbering over a cheeseburger and potentially hurt his relations with his family is a mystery.

But guess what? The Hoff has an autobiography coming out May 15! I'm sure it's just a coincidence though.

The title, by the way, is Don't HassleThe Hoff. Jeez, it's one thing for others to call you "The Hoff," but calling yourself that? The book has a lot of (supposedly) juicy details, including Hasselhoff's revelation that he knows that Baywatch was a sexist show. The above link includes an excerpt from the book.

Seriously. Mario Lopez is supposedly one of the three finalists in the running to take over for Bob Barker when he retires from the long-running CBS game show later this year. The other two finalists? Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Donald Trump.

OK, I'm kidding about those last two names. But would they be more of a ridiculous choice than Dancing with the Stars star Lopez? What do producers see in him that they say, "you know, he might be a good replacement for Bob?"

I promised myself - promised, promised, promised - that I wouldn't write another story about Anna Nicole Smith. But then I saw this video, and I had to post this. If it stops just one person from watching another second of Entertainment Tonight, then this post is worth it.

The video is from Entertainment Tonight, who had EXCLUSIVE! access to the funeral in the Bahamas (*cough* $$$$$ *cough*), and while we get all of the expected weeping and slow motion and doves being released, we also see various friends and relatives of Anna Nicole taking a shovel and grabbing dirt out of the back of a wheelbarrow. I'm sure this is done at funerals, but it just seems odd to have everyone at the funeral grab the shovel and join in. After a while it seems like less a tribute than just doing some maintenance work at the cemetery.

Pay special attention to the job Anna Nicole's mom does.

"It was wrong for people to portray Anna, they way they did, after she passed away." - Howard K. Stern

Reprimand her mother all you want, but tell me something Howard, is it not wrong to consistently try to make money selling any sound bite you hawk to Entertainment Tonight? You alone are keeping Anna in the spotlight to be portrayed with exclusive coverage every night since Daniel's death.
It would be speaking too soon if we said that this is the last we will hear of the circus. Since Anna's passing, Howard has stated in court that he has no one to live off of but his parents, it's apparent that he will do anything to make a dollar.

By now you would have heard about the exclusive interview that Howard K. Stern has granted to Entertainment Tonight. If you had a chance to catch the interview, I have one thing to ask you.

Is he fake crying?

My gut instinct is to say that he is in fact being genuine with his tears, and that he's been put through the emotional ringer for the last six months. There is no doubt in my mind that witnessing deaths and births around him is an extremely trying time since he's taken on the roles as Anna's legal advisor, father, husband and now widow.

Yet...

If you've been wondering where Pat O'Brien was the first few days of this month on The Insider (luckily I don't have to worry about such things anymore as I've stopped watching the show), the host fell and hit his head. He had to get stitches and was out for three episodes of the show. He hasn't said much about the accident, except that he fell and got hurt, and no one at Paramount is saying anything either.

This is the part of the post where I would normally talk about his past drug use and bizarre voicemails and drinking, but all that probably had nothing to do with this accident so I won't even mention it.

O'Brien is back on the show, reporting on Anna Nicole Smith's death.

[via TV Tattle]

Before Jennifer Hudson announced her hate of American Idol, Simon Cowell told Entertainment Tonight that he was one of her "main supporters" when she began on Idol. And while he may have been harsh to her at times, Simon feels he was equally nice, as well.

And he's happy to take full credit for Hudson's amazing success, stating, "If it hadn't have been for Idol, she wouldn't have been picked to do Dreamgirls."