August 2007 Archives

Monday nights on NBC looks to me like it is shaping up to be a great night. There is of course "Heroes" returning for its second season, at 9pm, which promises to be just as good, if not better than the first. Then at 10pm there is the very interesting time travel drama, "Journeyman." Leading off the night is "Chuck" which I guess I'd describe as a Sci-fi meets comedy meets action sort of show.

The pilot was funny, silly and fresh but by far the best part was it's star Zachary Levi. My first thought when I turned it on was "Hey, isn't that the guy who played the preppy, annoying guy on 'Less Than Perfect'?" Why yes it is. He played that role very well but this seems to be the role he was born to play, Chuck Bartowski, an everyman type of guy who's sort of a nerd yet kind of cute in his own way.

As "Chuck" he gets caught up in a whole lot of spy games after he views an email filled with government secrets that gets burned into his brain.

I traveled out to Malibu (rough day at the office!) on Monday where they were filming a portion of episode four. If you are ever having a bad day go hang out on the set of "Chuck." I was coming off some personal drama and everyone from the publicist to the producers, the makeup artists, the actors, the extras made me and my crew feel completely welcome.

This is not always the case when you go to a set. Most of the time we are just in the way and causing stress because we need to get the interviews and the director needs to get his shots.

We did wait around for five hours, I kid you not, to actually get our interviews because they truly were fighting the light as it was an all outdoor scene but in between they fed us, plowed us with coffee and made us laugh. Plus, the house was on a cliff overlooking the ocean so the view was incredible.

When it comes to "Dancing with the Stars", ABC always likes to throw a few members of the family into the mix. This year three of the twelve dancers have ABC ties. First, there is Cameron Mathison who plays Ryan Lavery on ABC's "All My Children". Then there is Sabrina Bryan who is part of Disney's wildly popular “Cheetah Girls" franchise. There is also Mark Cuban who starred in the very short-lived reality show for "ABC" called "The Benefactor." Remember that one? Probably not. Regular Dish readers know I'm a huge DWTS fan. So, lets dish about the twelve new contestants and their dance partners.

Jane Seymour showed she has got some spunk in that very funny jaw-dropping scene in "Wedding Crashers" where she flashed her private parts to Owen Wilson. "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman", what are you doing! Poor lady, because I know that for the next couple of weeks that is all anyone is going to be asking her about, "how shocked were you about Owen?" I'd rather talk about the fact that she is 56 years old and tackling this huge challenge. Can you see her doing the cha cha? Jane's paired up with Tony Dovolani who danced with Leeza Gibbons last season. He must know how to work the older women.

I wish I could tell you I was actually there taking in all the action at this weekend's Teen Choice Awards.

It looked like a ton of fun but unfortunately my dog had to have surgery on his leg. So, I was home playing nurse to my 75-pound baby who was milking it for every single second of extra attention. Cross your fingers that his biopsy comes back negative because I don't know what I'll do if it turns out he has cancer. Anyway, this is not why you clicked into this blog.

You want to know what's going on with "High School Musical 3," how are Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens dealing with life since their romance became public and what was everyone wearing.

Will all the main stars be back, specifically Zac and Vanessa to HSM3? I watched both interviews and to be perfectly honest there is not much new information. Obviously it's not a done deal at all. Everyone pretty much keeps saying the same thing: that they really want to do it and hope to return. Since I know everyone is interested though, here is what each had to say about the sequel last night...

I'm from the school of thought that any publicity is good publicity even if it's negative. If they are talking about you, if they are talking about your TV show, your movie, your book, your CD or even your Internet site it's never a bad thing. In our society controversy sells tickets, it gets you to the turn on your TV or buy a theater ticket or click on a certain webpage. So, I can only imagine that anyone over at CBS involved with "Kid Nation" is quietly smirking to themselves this week. Heck, for all I know maybe they are high fiving one another.

It all started with an article in the New York Times, last Saturday, that painted a very unflattering picture of this show about 40 school aged kids who are dropped off in a New Mexico ghost town to try and start their own adult free society. First there were claims of unhappy children one of whom suffered a burn while shooting. Then there were claims that since New Mexico, at the time of filming, didn't have strict child labor laws, similar to states like California, the kids were potentially abused, neglected or mistreated. Abuse? Neglect? Mistreatment? Those are strong words. Terrible words. Most likely the words that got news outlets all over the country to pick up the story on Monday morning.

A lot of people have been asking me if there will definitely be a "High School Musical 3." It was officially announced, albeit prematurely, back in February 2007 that plans were in the works for a Halloween themed feature film the studio dubbed "Haunted High School Musical." Though when I asked the stars about this proposed sequel when I was on the St. George set none of them knew about it. I guess that's because somewhere between then and now the plans changed. Unfortunately, no one told anyone in the media.

Today, Disney says they have scrapped plans for the Halloween theme and instead will focus on the senior year of key characters at East High. The original writer from the first two films, Peter Barsocchini, is writing the script. The original producers and director Kenny Ortega are also on board.

Thanks to a bunch of gossip reports today claiming that stars Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens are holding out on the big screen version for more money, Disney, I guess felt obliged to address these rumors. Walt Disney studios today released the following statement; "There is no contractual obligation for any of the cast members to return. That said, we are in active negotiations with all the principle cast members and are feeling optimistic."

There is life after "Dancing with the Stars!" TV Guide Network announced today that they just signed ex *NSYNC'er and current host of NBC's "The Singing Bee", Joey Fatone, to co-host its Red Carpet programming through 2008 with Lisa Rinna.

Both stars of course hoofed it up on "DWTS" in separate turns around the ballroom dance floor. . Lisa in season two and Fatone last season. They will team up for the first time together in September for the Emmy Awards and in addition will cover the Academy Awards, Golden Globe Awards, Grammy Awards and Screen Actors Guild Awards together.

Rinna was hired to replace Joan Rivers and her daughter Melissa on Red Carpet patrol in April 2007, which had me saying hallelujah. I can't vouch for Joey's red carpet interviewing skills but Rinna is a different story. She was hired by Access Hollywood two years ago to be a special fashion correspondent first at the 2006 Golden Globes, then the Oscars and later the 2006 Emmys. Let me tell you the lady did an amazing job, which should come as no surprise considering she was nominated for a Daytime Emmy for her now cancelled talk show, "Soap Talk." She was personable, fun, funny and most importantly knew who every star was that came up to talk to her (or at least faked it really well). This is not something I can say for Joan Rivers. Being in this business where I interview celebrities practically on a daily basis, I pride myself on knowing a little bit about a lot of people. I do my homework. I study the lists of nominees so I know what they were nominated for and in what category. I know who came just to be a presenter, who came just to show support or who came as part of a nominated film or TV show. I would hope that any entertainment reporter would see this as part of their job.

Wow guys. You really shocked me over the weekend. I knew "High School Musical 2" was going to pull in excellent ratings for Disney Channel. I never in my wildest imagination figured over 17 million people would tune in. My best guess was that around 12 million (which would have been a good 5 million more than the first HSM) might have tuned in. I've got dozens of emails and talked to tons of parents about the fact that they were holding HSM2 parties on Friday night. So, I'm absolutely certain that this 17 million is probably closer to 20 million or so. It helps that Disney has been hyping this film up for so many months. Anticipation was at a fever pitch. It's rare that a TV series or a TV movie for that matter would do that much promotion four or five months before a film even premiered.

Lest you think my job is so glamorous here at Access Hollywood, let me dispel that myth for you right here. This morning I was up at the horrible hour of 4am to do what we call a phoner in the business with MSNBC. They of course wanted to talk about why HSM 2 was so successful. Considering I was the only TV reporter on set, I was the perfect person to answer this question. So, from my pj's this morning I croaked out as much information as I could. It was so early neither of my dogs moved a muscle when I got up. That three-hour time difference to the East Coast is rough for us out here on the West Coast. It's part of the job, though, so we do it.

by Scott Mantz, Access movie guru

You never know when inspiration is gonna strike. Not 20 minutes ago, I glanced at my blackberry while trying to keep cool on a ridiculously hot Sunday afternoon, and I noticed an intense debate going on between my colleagues over the box office failure of Nicole Kidman's sci-fi thriller, The Invasion.

As if it wasn't hot enough outside, this unfair attack on Kidman made me boil. So I weighed in with my own perspective, and it helped me cool down (a bit)...

We interrupt this debate to bring you an important perspective...

Not fair to use the failure of The Invasion as a barometer of Kidman's popularity. It was plagued with problems that called for reshoots with a different director, and Warner Bros. didn't do anything to dispell the bad buzz when it dumped the film at summer's end without the usual fanfare of a junket and red carpet premiere.

I'm thrilled that so many of you decided to come out to Disneyland for the premiere of "High School Musical 2" after I posted the info. I forget sometimes being in the media that not everyone has access to the same information we do. Despite the heat it was a lot of fun. So, I had this elaborate plan where I was going to come armed with all your email questions. While at the premiere I also decided to let some of the fans in line ask questions. We showed up with our recently purchased camera we bought just for Accesshollywood.com shoots.

We shot a ton of different kids ranging in age from 7 to 14 asking questions like, "what's your favorite scene in the movie?", "what is it like being at the second premiere?", "do you have any advice for anyone trying to become an actor?" and even "Zac will you marry me?" I planned to ask the questions to Zac, Ashley, Vanessa, Monique, Chris, Lucas and Corbin. Then I would show the answers in a piece for the website. Despite not having the best camera position and only getting a couple of questions for each person, I was able to get a bunch of footage.

Here it comes, everyone!

Another powerhouse performance by Oscar winner Denzel Washington.

We felt we had hit the jackpot!

I was attending the National Association of Black Journalists’ conference in Las Vegas and I looked in my goody bag to find that we were being treated to a special advanced screening of “American Gangster” starring Washington and fellow Oscar winner Russell Crowe.

Now, I never volunteer to see violent movies and I prefer Denzel when he’s playing the nice guy - someone who is saving the world instead of destroying it. But, there has been so much buzz surrounding this movie that it was opportunity that I just could not pass up.

I knew I was in for quite a ride. This is a true story about, well, an American Gangster. But, what we didn’t realize was that we would become mesmerized and intensively curious about the charismatic man at the center of this film - even long after we left the theater.

That’s where the debate ensued.

Last night was the big "High School Musical 2" premiere. The plan was to ask as many questions as I could from the emails and comments that were sent to me. As you'll read in this play by play of my day, sometimes your plans don't always go the way you want. I did get a bunch, though, so check HSM2 landing page for the video.

2:20 Arrive at Downtown Disney. It's a cool 95 degrees outside. Cool compared to the 102 degree temperature at my house when I left!

2:25 Find the blue carpet. An hour and a half before it even opens, the fans have begun to line up. The lucky ones are literally on the opposite side of the media. It’s really great fan access. The line stretches all the way into Downtown Disney.

2:30 The cast, minus Corbin Bleu (who had a previously scheduled concert date) sits for a press conference. The first question is asked by a teen magazine to Lucas Grabeel and Zac Efron about what special skills they have. Lucas offers, "I have impeccable control over my toes. I can pick up things." Then he proceeds to bounce up and down on his toes. Very odd. Zac says he has no answer.

2:33 The cast is asked how they get gorgeous. Monique Coleman smartly quips, "I think the best way to get gorgeous is to be yourself" Ashley Tisdale adds, "and be confident."

2:35 Vanessa Hudgens is asked how she has changed since the success of the first one and jokes, "I don't think I've changed. I think I've been shopping a little more."

by Eric Anderson, AccessHollywood.com Senior Content Editor

I'm a huge fan of smart television. I really am.

While we all inevitably try and try (usually with varying degrees of success), nobody likes being able to figure out the twist before the entire plot line plays out on their favorite show.

Then, on the complete opposite end of that genial spectrum is HBO's now defunct "John From Cincinnati," where no one had any clue whatsoever what was going on.

In case you haven't heard, the show has been cancelled. It's not coming back.

So for anyone else who labored through 10 head-scratching weeks with John, Butchie, Dylan McKay, Zach Morris and the rest of the dysfunctional-at-best Yost clan, I have one simple question for you…

WHAT DID ANY OF IT MEAN?

T minus 6 hours until tonight's "High School Musical 2" premiere at California's Disneyland Resort. If you happen to be some of the local area fans who plan to brave the crowds outside the premiere bring water, a fan and lots of sunscreen. It's going to be a hot one. Temperatures are expected to be in the '90s. So, if seeing Zac Efron for the first time in person doesn't make you faint than the heat might!

Unfortunately, due to technical difficulties we will not be able to stream the premiere live to our website. I mentioned it might be a possibility but we just couldn't foresee some issues that arose. There will however be plenty of video to watch from the red carpet beginning late tonight and of course tomorrow. Billy Bush will have a special platform for interviews and I will have a second position where I will be taking your questions with me as well as getting questions from the fans in attendance.

Be sure and check my blog tomorrow where I will have a minute-by -minute play by play of what went down with all the stars on the red carpet (actually it's a blue carpet I'm told) and inside the after party. Besides the HSM 2 cast I know that Miley and Billy Ray Cyrus are confirmed to attend along with Emily Osment. The Cheetah girls are also confirmed too.

Thanks for all your great questions you sent along. I will try and get as many of them asked as I can. A big shout out to the members of Orkut.com, especially the ones in Brazil who made a serious campaign to ask me to get the HSM2 cast to say hi to them on camera. I will absolutely do my best to make that happen.

Zac Efron is positioned to enjoy a Leo sized career. First off, he is balanced and aware of the pitfalls fame offers. He is multi-talented. He is both good looking and nice.

I asked Zac if he felt the pressure to do a heavier, more dramatic film next, given that his most recent big screen film was 'Hairspray'.... not that far off from HSM2.... he acknowledged that as a good idea.

What was most telling, however, was that he did not feel he had to retreat from this ‘High School Musical” phenomenon. If they do a 3rd movie it will be on the big screen first and if the script is right and all the other principles agree, he'd be wrong not to. He seems to understand that an "all for one" approach is the way to go. If Zac held up the film because he demanded much more money or he went another way creatively, he could risk alienating a huge fan base of kids.

He's not that guy and I'm pretty sure of it.

Last night Access Hollywood staff members and their family were treated to a very special early screening of "High School Musical 2." Right on our stage we set up a screen, movie theater style chairs and pillows on the floor for the kids. We even had popcorn, candy and snacks just like a real movie theater (minus the outrageous prices!). If you ask me it was the best way to see it, since the actual film will premiere on television. Unless you have a really, really, really big plasma TV it's just not the same.

Our special guests for the day were two of the stars of the film, Zac Efron and Ashley Tisdale. They came in early to co-host our weekend show with Tony Potts and introduce the pieces we shot while on location with them in St. George, Utah. Check your local listings for that this weekend.

Zac looked cute in a blue t-shirt and skinny jeans. Ashley was showing off her long lean legs in sky high heels, a gold mini sequined skirt and black blouse. They did a great job with their co-hosting duties and were playful even when messing up. For some of the outtakes be sure and check our HSM 2 landing page. It's got lots of cool stuff on it including photos, articles, all my HSM 2 blogs and videos.

With train wrecks like Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears spontaneously combusting (as I like to call it) each and every day it makes you wonder what the heck is wrong with young Hollywood. Is everyone falling apart right now? Fortunately no. So far, there seems to be a few young folks that have been able to keep on the straight and narrow like Amanda Bynes, Ashley Tisdale, Zac Efron and "Heroes" Hayden Panettiere.

This morning in a conference call with reporters Hayden mused on how she has been able to survive the pitfalls of finding fame as an actress at a young age, "I think that I approach acting because it's something that I love. It's something that I respect and something that makes me want to be respected for what I do. In order to be a respected actress there are certain things you just can't do. I think unfortunately in this business when people start getting all the perks they can lose track of what's important."

Since "Heroes" became a success, Hayden's star has been on the rise and the celebrity hungry wolves have been chasing her too. When asked what super hero power she would like to possess like her character, Claire Bennett (who can regenerate) she did not hesitate, "The ability to be invisible. Oh yeah. I think you know obviously we can blame most of it on the people who are doing the bad things that they are not supposed to be doing but you know at the same time when you have cameras in your face all the time it leaves you no room to mess up even slightly and things get turned around on you. If I could walk out my door or drive my car out my door and not be followed by paparazzi I'd be very happy."

I just watched 'The Waitress' starring Keri Russell on the plane. If that is a "chick flick", I wear hanky panky's.

There is nothing I like more than a movie that makes me stop, think, reflect, be thankful and grateful, self loathe for a minute....you get it.

I left this movie blown away by Keri's performance. I also left feeling validated that I am a good husband and have a happy wife and best friend. I am relieved that Nathan Fillion (Firefly) has landed in a great movie, because he was great too as the sensitive, stumbling doctor who teaches her to expect and accept only considerate love.

Man tears welled in the eyes...they did not hit the cheeks and roll.

Despite a terrible track record when it comes to making love last, ABC's "The Bachelor" just won't die. The show is returning for it's 11th go round thanks to a boost in the ratings it got with "Dancing with the Stars" as its lead-in on Monday nights last season. 34 -year-old Brad Womack will be the new guy looking for love. Womack is described as a "self-made entrepreneur" who currently resides in Austin, TX and co-owns four bars with his brothers.

Womack swears he is ready to settle down and is looking for his soul-mate. My cynical side says maybe Brad is looking for a little publicity for his four bars as well. A little digging revealed the names of those establishments.. "The Chuggin' Monkey", "Dizzy Rooster", "Uncle Flirtys" and "The Marq." Does someone who owns a place called "The Chuggin' Monkey" really want to find true love? Photos on the bars website reveal this is no laid back bar. It's pure party time there. "Bachelor" junkies have already begun debating this guys sincerity all over the internet on various message boards. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt since two of his brothers (including a twin) are married. Let's just hope that the producers don't throw too many 21 and 22 year old bachelorettes at him. I can just see the tequila shots flying.

Can't remember what happened to the rest of the Bachelors? Here is a recap. It's a tangled web! Right now they are 3 for 10.

Well, I'm back from a nice long two-week vacation, which included a glorious eight days in Hawaii. You realize how little most people care about train wreck celebrities like Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton when you leave Hollywood. I had not heard their names uttered one time. Of course it helped that I ignored the tabloid magazines and entertainment shows and chose to leave the TV off most of the time.

I did however spend a little time catching up on "Friday Night Lights" via my iPod on the airplane. I've had so many TV critics and other folks force-feeding me hype about how "great" and "well-written" the show is. I like it. It's interesting but I'm pretty sure most of these critics are men. It must be the football element that gets them. Either it's a way to relive their glory days or ponder what it might have been like had they made the team. It's not the best written show on television by any stretch of the imagination. It's a solid show with extremely watchable actors. If anyone wants to challenge me and further what the critics think, I'd be interested to hear why this show has such a cult following.

I've just finished reading all the comments I've gotten about "High School Musical 2." You have all made me chuckle. I wish I could take you all with me to the Disneyland premiere (which I have learned is on August 14th, not the 15th as previously mentioned). Somehow I'm going to guess that this would not be allowed by team legal as it might pose some type of security issue. The red carpet will be setup in Downtown Disney just outside the AMC Theater. This means you don't have to buy a ticket to actually go to Disneyland to try and see the festivities. I'm sure thousands of fans will line up to catch a glimpse of the stars from roped off areas. So, if you live in the LA area you might try that, but be sure and get there early. The screening starts at 6pm, which means the cast will probably hit the red carpet around 5pm. If you can't be there live and in person then you can at least feel like you are there. As of right now AccessHollywood.com is planning on streaming the premiere live on the 14th. More details to come soon on that. Also be sure and check out our brand new "High School Musical 2" landing page that has exclusive interviews and other fun stuff.