TVSquad

Do you have a special person in your life that is eternally optimistic?

When you've got a bad case of the Mondays, is there some annoyingly perky person at your workplace who is always chipper and talking about what a great day it is?

Then perhaps you can relate to this commercial as much as I did.

There's not a lot of information just yet, but apparently Barbara Walters will be honored with a star on the Walk of Fame on June 14. Of course, I don't know how much information you really need: she's getting a star, end of story.

But why Barbara Walters? According to IMDb she appeared on an episode of Maude, but I'm not sure that really qualifies her to be on the walk of fame. Though I suppose she is famous in her own right, even if it is for her work in news and daytime yakfests.

It looks like Kirstie Alley may have a post-Jenny Craig career after all. The Emmy Award-winning actress will head the cast of Fox's comedic pilot The Minister of Divine. Alley will play a renegade-turned-preacher who returns to her small hometown as a woman of the cloth. The show is based on BBC series The Vicar of Dibley.

Feel free to insert your own joke about ministers counseling the faithful on the caloric content of the Saturday night fish fry, but I've got faith in Alley. She came back from Look Who's Talking. She can come back from the Oprah tankini dance. I feel like Alley may age into one of my favorite female archetypes - the "I don't care what you think of me," "seen it all" dames of the Elaine Stritch, Kathleen Turner and Kiki and Herb mold. Technically, Kiki's a drag queen, but you know what I mean.

Interesting piece of news on Ricky Gervais' web site ("RickyGervais.com: The website of Ricky Gervais... obviously."). We already knew that the American version of The Office has been picked up for a fourth season, but the "News" section of Ricky's site claims that the show has been picked up for a fourth and fifth season. Here's the quote:

"Ricky has scored further success in America, with NBC deciding to make two more series of the US version of his comedy The Office. Network boss Kevin Reilly said that The Office represented 'the best of what we consider quality shows'. This will bring the total number of episodes to 94."

Even if you're not a Whedonite yourself, you've got to give it up for the fans of Joss Whedon. The Buffy, Angel and Firefly fanatics have created a community that has held multiple nationwide fundraisers for Whedon's favorite charitable organization Equality Now and single-handedly acted as the grassroots marketing engine behind Whedon's directorial film debut Serenity. Let's just say, they're a nice bunch.

A group of those fans has now turned its attention to honoring Whedon with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Their collective reasoning is sorta sweet. "It's a tangible way to show respect by giving him something else to add to his legacy and to show how much he means to us...It's not all about Joss...It's about family, not the one we are born into by blood, but the one that Joss created out of his work...We cannot give him the prestigious awards; most of us are not on any academy boards, nor people that have a choice of nominations." Sorta makes you tear up a bit, doesn't it? Pop culture making the connection. The people's star.

For 2007, it looks as though the Hollywood Walk of Fame is going retro! This year's recipients in television have been busting their chops for decades. Former C.H.i.P.S star (and current reality television fodder) Erik Estrada is getting one. So are Jerry Stiller, Kiefer Sutherland, Barbara Walters, and Law & Order creator Dick Wolf. There were more than 200 nominees (also in movies, recording & theater) and the committee in charge of Hollywood immortality chose 23 stars.

Other recipients include P. Diddy (or whatever they're calling him now), Matt Damon, Jamie Foxx, Michelle Pfeiffer, Shania Twain, Lily Tomlin, and Crystal Gayle. The full list is here.

Well, I mentioned it back in October, but in case you forgot, game show host Wink Martindale (who can be seen these days in commercials for Orbitz) recently got his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Martindale, who's real first name is Winston, has hosted about fifteen game shows in his lifetime. Having grown up in the 80s, I mostly remember him as the host of The New Tic Tac Dough. His other game shows included High Rollers, Trivial Pursuit, and Gambit. Martindale got his start in radio as a young man in Tennessee, and can still be heard today, hosting the syndicated program "Music of Your Life." So congrats, Wink, you deserve the recognition, and you also have one of the best game show host names ever.

I can't believe Vanna White didn't already have a star on the Hollywood walk of fame. I mean, her star power used to be pretty strong back there in the 1980s when she got to do that goddess movie. Now, all of a sudden, she gets a star? Even Pooh got one before her.

Vanna White by the Numbers:

• Vanna began turning letters on Wheel of Fortune in 1982;
• Her star is the 2,309th in Hollywood;
• Vanna is 49.

Winnie the Pooh, the silly ol' bear of very little brain who first came to life in the 1920s in a series of books by A.A. Milne and later became a Disney icon and a permanent fixture in the subconscious of toddlers everywhere, was honored with a star on the Walk of Fame yesterday. According to reports, Pooh was also joined by Eeyore, Tigger and Rabbit. Apparently Piglet, Owl, Kanga, and Roo couldn't care less about their pal. Way to be supportive, guys. Geesh.

Pooh first hit the big screen in 1977's The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. Over the next several years this was followed by about eighty-gajillion more movies, TV specials, videos and TV series such as Welcome to Pooh Corner, The Book of Pooh, and The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. He was originally voiced by the inimitable Sterling Halloway, who passed away in 1992. In subsequent years Pooh's voice was provided by voice actor Jim Cummings.

 

If you guys just don't know what to watch on TV tonight, might I suggest checking out Naked Science on the National Geographic Channel this evening at 9? Tonight marks the premiere of "Death of the Sun" which will explore the eventual expansion and demise of the sun, and, consequently, the burning of our adorable little planet to a charred crisp. I've been endlessly fascinated by this concept since I was a kid, if not for the scientific aspect than for the not-so-subtle reminder that the sun is not only what gives us life, but also what will ultimately destroy us. Unless, of course, we somehow create a new bomb and manage to beat the sun to the punch. Heck, we've been trying to destroy ourselves for years, why should the sun get to have all the fun?