Watching Showtime

Turns out stars like to talk about all the things they’re good at besides just acting, and in a recent Macon article, some of Showtime’s stars sounded off on this very topic.

David Duchovny (”Californication”) is good at sports or “anything like that. I’m terrible at anything mechanical. I can’t work anything. I’m stupid at it, and I’m impatient and every machine we get breaks. Both of us (he and his wife, actress Tea Leoni) - every computer, every television, every phone breaks. And we do not know how to work it. Not only do we not know how to work it, but we break it. Tea is terrible too. I’m not even good with cars. She can fix a car. It’s pretty impressive. I make a good sandwich.”

Michael C. Hall (”Dexter”): I think I’m really good at communicating, listening. I think I’m good at being a friend. Yet that’s the very thing I would say I’m bad at, but the thing I want to be better at and continue to cultivate. What I’m sometimes bad at is in my desire to be with another person, to communicate with them, is losing myself. What I’m bad at, what I’d like to get better at is maintaining that sense that I’m a good listener, communicator but also holding on to part of myself that can’t be touched and I maintain in spite of whatever goes right or wrong. It’s kind of an esoteric answer. What I’d like to get better at is having a sense of where this is all coming from and who I am.”

Cybill Shepherd (”The L Word”): I’m really good most of the time at talking to my children and defining limits … I’m hopeless at cleaning up the house. I’m a slob. I just always find something better to do like read or watch a movie or `Let’s go swimming!’”

The Weeds cast and crew have officially started filming the fourth season, and they’re on a tight schedule this time. The season is set to air on Monday June 16, paired not with Californication as it was last year, but instead with the British import Secret Diary Of A Call Girl. Fans of the two shows aired back to back will be a bit disappointed, but bringing the Botwin clan back to our televisions is a good thing any way we can get it!

There’s also a cast update being leaked on E! Online. Apparently Albert Brooks has signed on to appear in at least 4 episodes as Len, the father of Judah and Andy Botwin. And it sounds like the addition of a father-in-law isn’t the only surprise the fourth season has to offer. Showtime’s press release had this to say:

“Nancy & Co. relocate to the fictional beach town of Ren Mar on the San Diego/Mexico border to set up shop with a new front biz that’s…pregnant with possibilities.”
Good Lord, Nancy’s pregnant with Conrad’s baby! Here’s hoping that means Conrad stays on the show! Either way, I cannot wait to tune in … just two months to go!

Looks like Jennifer Carpenter kept herself busy between Dexter seasons, filming a new horror film called “Quarantine”.

Carpenter plays a television reporter assigned to spend the night shift with the LA Fire Department, and get the story of their lives when they’re sent out to an apartment where a woman who has been infected with something is screaming uncontrollably. Before they can escape, they find out the CDC has quarantined the building, and so they’ve been ostensibly cut off from everyone. By the time the quarantine is lifted, the only way to know what happened to the people inside is the news crew video.Sounds like Jennifer’s sticking to the dark-themed thrillers with this movie. Too bad she’s probably going to die in it, but I’m betting it’ll be a good one!

Here’s a few stills that have been released so far.

For all you die-hard Jonny fans out there, your best move would be to Pittsburgh for a few weeks. Reports are coming in that filming for his latest movie “Shelter�? has begun, and while the camera crews are upsetting bus lines and such (welcome to filming), Jonny’s been spotted in his downtime at such swank establishments as Dave & Busters. That’s right, Dave & Busters. A forum post on IMDB talks about seeing him there, his sporting facial hair like he does on The Tudors, and how his pecs are to die for. Too bad he’s not filming where I live!

As stills start to show up from filming (or maybe even a candid of Jonny out and about in Pittsburgh?!), I’ll post them up here. For now, just this older photo from the premiere will have to suffice.

For those of you as excited as I am for The United States Of Tara to make it’s way to Showtime, you’ll be happy to know that the first official filming day was today! This means we might just get to see pictures of the cast hard at work on Diablo Cody’s site. And to add to the coolness, Leah Peah will be posting regular updates on the status as well … she’s been hired to consult on the set, helping ensure things are as “reality based�? as possible when it comes to dissociative disorder.

Sounds like the show’s going to be amazing, and they’re just filming the pilot! If this show doesn’t make it to regular series, there’s going to be a large group of people, myself included, who will be super pissy about it!

The tenth anniversary of The Vagina Monologues saw stars show up in droves to New Orleans for the huge finale of events that have been happening around the country for the last few months. At the kickoff in LA were several L Word stars, and the same was seen at the huge wrapup party. Here’s some great pics of the event!

Daniella Sea and Jennifer Beals pose with Ilene Chakin and another woman (I know I should know who she is, but I just don’t right now, and she’s not named with the picture).

The entire cast of The Vagine Monologues poses on stage. That’s Ilene on the left in the first row and Daniela next to her. Jennifer’s hiding towards the back rows, on the right.

Eve Ensler, Kerry Washington, Faith Hill and Jennifer Beals, in a moment backstage.

Jane Fonda joines Eve Ensler, Kerry Washington, Faith Hill and Jennifer Beals with a young friend backstage.

Jennifer Beals, in mid-performance. Notice the awesome fishnets with her knee-high boots and killer red dress!

Jennifer Beals, in mid performance with her L Word friends Daniela Sea and Ilene Chakin (and again, with the ohte woman I can’t name for the life of me. She played Helena’s film-making love interest in the third season, however).

Kerry Washington, Rosario Dawson and Jennifer Beals, after the show.

Conrats ladies on a job well done, and on celebrating ten years of vagina-friendly behavior and prose!

It’s one of the great mysteries of The L Word. Once the writers feel they’re done with a character, he or she is written out of the story without much thought. The whole cast seemed to move on from the death of their friend Dana with surprising resiliency, and Marina got ditched pretty fast as well. So when Papi didn’t show up for season five, none of us should have been surprised. Her larger role in the fourth season didn’t guarantee she would continue on the show: she wasn’t dating one of the main characters and her pseudo rivalry with Shane never really caught on. Never mind she and Tasha were pretty much best friends, her presence was no longer needed.

This doesn’t mean fans of the show haven’t been wondering what happened to Papi. And while I have no definitive answers (I’m betting a lot of sex is in there somewhere, however), I can tell you a few things that have been going on in the life of Janina Gavankar, the woman who brought Papi to life.

According to What’s Worth Watching, she’s been cast in at least one episode of the 5th season of Stargate: Atlantis. She’ll be part of an all-female SGA team, which is pretty cool, although there’s no word yet as to the role’s potential for recurring. It sounds like at least one member of the team is already getting a recurring role, so here’s hoping Janina’s character isn’t killed off. Either way, I’ll try to find out when her episode airs and let you all know!

While I don’t really see what the big deal is, people are getting their panties in a serious bunch over Michael C. Hall and Jennifer Carpenter dating. On-screen, the pair play Dexter and Deb Morgan, siblings both working for the Miami PD on Dexter. Off-screen, the pair have enjoyed a quiet romance for at least several months. While on set, they keep things professional, but once the cameras have stopped, they take their romance public.

The latest spotting of the couple came just hours after it was announced that Dexter had garnered a coveted Peabody Award. They were spotted having a romantic dinner at the Sunset Tower, drinking champagne and “clearly celebrating” according to one source.

Personally, I’m happy for the pair, and can’t wait to see more pics of the couple surface.

Every day, E! Television gives a “top five” list, and Henry Cavill was featured! Check out his top five shoot locations here! (I can’t copy the movie, only link to it … sorry!)

Looks like we have some bad news on the Weeds front … Mary-Louise Parker and fiance Jeffrey Dean Morgan have split after two years together. They were only engaged for a short time after their on-again, off-again relationship of two years seemed to take a turn for the better, but the pair have supposedly mutually called it quits. They met while working on Weeds together (he plays her dead husband, and so is only seen in flashbacks and home movies), so I wonder how much their breakups and makeups coincided with the filming of the series.

Incidentally, the fourth season is set to premiere on June 16, and with Shane having started seeing visions of his dead dad, I wonder how much Morgan will be on this season. Here’s hoping Parker’s two kids are doing okay with the breakup, and that these two private actors will bounce back quickly.

While you have to be a subscriber to Diva Magazine to read the article on Mia Kiershner and her alter-ego Jenny Schecter, the mag gives us a taste of the article on it’s website. And makes me want to become a subscriber just so I can read all about Mia’s adventures off-screen, which seem so much better than Jenny’s on-screen antics.

For example, did you know that Mia’s writing a book about the displaced peoples in the Far East, and will be donating the profits from it to Amnesty International?! Neither did I! But there she is Mia Kirshner, proving there’s more to her than Jenny leads us to believe. And tomorrow I’m off to the bookstore to buy the issue!

On April 11 and 12, the Superdome is being transformed into a space for free concerts, performances, storytelling circles and more, all as the culmination of the V Day tenth anniversary celebrations that have been going on around the country. Eve picked New Orleans because, since the Katrina Disaster Ensler has been working with organizations such as the Newcomb College Center for Research on Women and Katrina Warriors. I’m assuming then, that at least some of the proceeds of the event will go to these organizations.

Ensler will be busing in over 1,200 women for the event, at which stars such as Oprah Winfrey (reading a new piece entitled “Hey Miss Pat!”, about a woman who used to cook out of her home for the homeless before the disaster) and many cast members of The L Word, including Jennifer Beals.

Pregnant while the hurricanes were ripping apart the city she loves, Beals recalled memories of her first visits to the city in an interview with the Times-Picayune. “I feel a great affinity for New Orleans,” Beals said. “It was the first time I saw myself reflected in someone else’s face other than my own family.”

Tickets to the event range from $25 to $1000 and are available through Ticketmaster. With celebs such as those above, and musical performances from the likes of Faith Hill and Jennifer Hudson, if you’re in the area it sounds like it’s an event not to be missed!

Now that he’s been given supreme authority over the church, it’s only a matter of time before Henry and Anne are married. And now that he’s banished Katherine, I’m betting it’ll happen as soon as they have the chance. But first? A visit to France and to the King and his wife there. And what of the assassin who has been hired by the French Ambassador? In real history Anne lived beyond any potential assassination attempts, but I wonder how close they got?

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I have a very serious love for This American Life. Particularly Ira Glass, the man. Apparntly I have a thing for Jewish men, because I also love Josh Bernstein. And with This American Life set to return in June for it’s second season on Showtime, I’ve got all the more reason to be excited.

Tickets have just gone on sale for “This American Life — Live!” which will be broadcast in high-definition to cinemas nationwide the evening of May 1. Originating from New York University’s Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, it will include previews of the TV series, as well as Glass to talk about it.

This is one way Ira and his show are breaking through television and radio boundaries, and for those that get tickets for the show, there’s one more surprise waiting for them. A segment that won’t ever make it to the television show!

“We found some eighth and ninth graders who decide they’re going to be comedians, so they do standup for a summer,” Glass explained. “It doesn’t sound like much of a premise, but, truthfully, hearing them talk about it is amazing, and watching the standup routines is pretty interesting. It’s very funny and very moving.”

How jealous am I that I might not get to see this “lost” episode? Pretty freakin’ jealous. But maybe there’ll be a showing in Omaha (doubtful, but you never know), and if not, maybe the episode will be offered up on Showtime at some point.

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With Tracey Ullman pulling no punches on her new show State Of The Union, one of her many characters is Renee Zellweger. When asked how she came up with the character, she has been quoted saying, “I just put these eyelashes on and tried to think of Lamb Chop from Shari Lewis.” Rude!!

So it was only a matter of time before Renee was asked what she thought of the impression. Letterman was the first to ask the question, and last week when Renee was on his show promoting her new film Leatherheads, she had this to say in response. “My reason for calling a therapist for the next six months… the reason I’m growing my hair out. Every time I look in the mirror I see Tracey Ullman.”

Here’s hoping Renee was kidding when she said those things, although she’s been open before about her sensitivity to the Hollywood meanness that can happen. I just can’t believe Tracey would have been so callous in how she came up with the character.