charlie.mason

Who Should Play Frasier's Maris?

After a decade as the most talked-about character on NBC's Frasier, if not in television history, Maris Crane may finally be ready to show her face. "About a third of the way through this season," teases executive producer Christopher Lloyd, "there's a big, life-altering event involving Maris once again making trouble in Niles's life"  and, he adds, there's "a chance" that we'll at last get a gander at the mystery woman. Ah, but who could possibly portray her, given the seemingly impossible qualities she is said to possess? "It's virtually impossible to find a human being who contains all [of Maris's] attributes," Lloyd acknowledges. Nonetheless, we've come up with a few unusual suspects: Calista Flockhart: The McNugget-eschewing erstwhile

Tue, Jul 29, 2003

Birds' Fine-Feathered Superfriends

Can we please get a big "Oh, you poor dears!" for the superbabe crime-fighters of the WB's glossiest new guilty pleasure, Birds of Prey (making its debut Oct. 9). Not only is the dynamic trio entrusted with the thankless job of cleaning up New Gotham without Batman's help, but they do their perp-busting while wearing to-die-for duds that are better suited for bar-hopping than leaping tall buildings in a single bound. For instance, no Joker... er, joker... would argue that Ashley Scott looks anything but arresting in the corseted dominatrix outfit she wears in the premiere. However, says the newcomer, who plays the Huntress, the love child of the Caped Crusader and Catwoman: "I couldn't breathe [in that gear]! It's sexy, but good God, is it uncomfortable! "And to fight in... " she continues. "Well, it's not very realistic." We'll s

Tue, Oct 1, 2002

Jordan Frieda Makes Wills a Prince Charming

Winning as high-profile a role as the lead in ABC's buttoned-down Prince William biopic would have sent many a young Briton running for his mum and dad. But not Jordan Frieda. Even though he's a bit of a royal himself  his folks are pop singer Lulu and renowned hairstylist John Frieda  the fair-haired bloke headed in exactly the opposite direction. Blimey, he wouldn't even let Pop trim his bangs! "I haven't let my father cut my hair in years!" he tells TV Guide Online, horrified. "The problem is, he can be the best hairdresser in the world, but because I'm his son, he makes my hair look all preppy and conservative. He could've just come from a fashion shoot, but to do my hair, his personality changes and he becomes a father." Luckily, Frieda didn't need much parental guidance, anyway. Having matriculated at Eton College alongside Chuck and Di's No. 1 son, he'd gotten the lowdown on his highness long bef

Fri, Sep 27, 2002

Emmy Shows Couch Potatoes a Good Time

You know, we're supposed to believe that watching the Emmys on TV is the next best thing to being there, but damn  last night's live broadcast of the 54th annual award ceremony sure didn't make it easy. During his opening monologue, host Conan O'Brien joked that, in hopes of sending ratings through the roof, NBC had asked him to become smitten with someone in the audience right then and there. He balked, of course. Then, as the opening strains of "Total Eclipse of the Heart" began to play, he caught sight of Jennifer Aniston blowing him a kiss  and, a moment later, a surprisingly game Brad Pitt glowering. So, on O'Brien quickly moved to alluring

Mon, Sep 23, 2002

Never Laugh at Julia Roberts's Brother!

His relation to America's sweetheart notwithstanding, Eric Roberts is best known for appearing in films like Final Analysis and The Specialist as hooligans who would sooner crack skulls than jokes. So you can understand his agents' incredulity when he asked them to get him a sitcom audition. "They laughed at me," the tough guy recalls. "So I fired them. [Eventually] I got a new agency, and they laughed at me, too. So... I went away and made a bunch of action-adventure B movies about killing people." Now, at long last, Roberts has won the chance to slay us in an altogether different fashion  and forever shed his rough-and-tumble image  by playing Will, an egomaniacal TV anchorman, on Popular

Thu, Sep 19, 2002

Agency Head: Who's In, Who's Out, What's Next

Think real-life politics are hard to follow? Just try keeping track of the comings and goings of the CIA operatives that keep the revolving door spinning on CBS's sophomore series The Agency. Luckily, TV Guide Online wouldn't dream of letting you turn on the Sept. 28 season premiere without first updating your scorecards  and neither would the show's executive producer, '70s teen idol-turned-Joss Whedon wannabe Shaun Cassidy. Here, the former pop star reveals the changes in personnel  and direction  that he hopes will make sure the sleeper still rocks 'n' rolls for us.Good-bye, Gil Bellows. "[It's] no reflection on Gil," says Cassidy of the Ally McBeal casualty who played Matt Callan. "Gil's terrific. But it's sort of l

Mon, Sep 16, 2002

Formula One: Time Travel Returns!

The fall TV season has only just begun, yet you might well find yourself crying, "Reruns already?!" Why? Although ABC's That Was Then and WB's Do Over differ a bit in tone  the former is earnest to a fault; the latter, sweetly goofy  the comedies have the same premise: grownup gets zapped back to the 1980s to relive his adolescence. And the parallels go way beyond greed-decade music cues and retro fashions. THAT WAS THEN Hapless hero: Travis, an almost-30-year-old door salesman, wonders, "Is it wrong when an 11-year-old is cooler than you?" Shock treatment: Travis wakes up in 1988 after lightning sends a jolt of electricity through his stereo headphones. Dorky sidekick: Travis breaks it to tress-obsessed chub Pinkus that he eventually goes bald. Dream girl: A poster of Heather Thomas hangs on Travi

Tue, Sep 10, 2002

Elvira's Big-Screen Nightmare

For a party ghoul who's spent two decades scaring up laughs as Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, Cassandra Peterson sure does spook easily. In fact, the mere mention of the Rumanian shoot for her blood-curdling new comedy Elvira's Haunted Hills (having its New York premiere Friday) sends a chill down her spine. "It was really brutal... one of the most difficult things I've ever done in my entire life," she tells TV Guide Online without a hint of the cheekiness that is her stock in trade. "Everyone had to work under unbelievably awful conditions  horrible food, horrible rooms... There were moments when you thought you were just going to fall down and cry because you weren't going to make it." On the rare occasions when day-to-day hardships didn't give Peterson nightmares, Haunted Hills still made her toss and turn  she not only stars

Mon, Sep 9, 2002

Witchblade Cutie Laughs in the Face of Fear

After making a killing in blockbusters, A-listers such as Brad Pitt and Ren&eacute;e Zellweger tend to go pale whenever their old slasher flicks turn up on cable. Yet, no matter how successful John Hensley becomes, the Witchblade co-star isn't likely to scream bloody murder over a broadcast of his indie gorefest, Campfire Stories (which bypassed the multiplex and recently went straight to video). "I did it right after the pilot for [ABC's ill-fated 2000 Gabriel Byrne sitcom] Madigan Men," the 25-year-old tells TV Guide Online. "It was described to me as being just as comical as it is gruesome, and the idea of getting splattered and all that sounded

Wed, Sep 4, 2002

That Girl Is an Old Friend

Jennifer Aniston gives a great performance in the black comedy The Good Girl. But that's no surprise, considering that the Emmy nominee's Friends job has basically been one big, eight-year-long rehearsal for her to play Justine, the movie's woebegone heroine. In fact, if only Justine had a better hairdresser and Rachel a Texas twang, they'd have loads more in common than even twin sisters Phoebe and Ursula.  Charlie Mason RACHEL Wage slave: Wrangles discounts on designer duds working in Ralph Lauren's Big Apple headquarters. Significant other: Was briefly wed to Ross, a college professor who likes talking about prehistoric rocks. Boy on the side: Jeopardizes her future with Ross by accepting a marriage proposal from much dumber ex-roommate Joey. Girl talk: Claps her hands when daffy Phoebe sings that smelly

Thu, Aug 29, 2002

Buffy Casualties: Dead and Loving It!

Most TV stars get scared to death when the Grim Reaper makes a guest appearance  with good reason. Anybody hear from NYPD Blue fatality Rick Schroder lately? ER flatliner Kellie Martin? Didn't think so. However, Buffy the Vampire Slayer cast members know that being killed off isn't necessarily a grave matter. In fact, a little tomb raiding among the recent arrivals at Sunnydale Cemetery reveals that at least a few actors' careers actually blossom after their characters start pushing up daisies. And the others? Well, may they rest in peace.The dearly departed: Kristine Sutherland, a five-season Buffy vetera

Wed, Aug 28, 2002

New Bionic Woman on the Assembly Line

They have the technology... they can rebuild her... and now they are! USA Network's script doctors are busy in the operating room stitching together an update of the The Bionic Woman, ABC's campy 1976-78 Six Million Dollar Man spinoff about a tennis player-turned-secret agent who's part human, part machine and all babe. But what modern-day actress could possibly overload our circuits like Lindsay Wagner, who was the original series' artificially-girl-powered heroine, Jaime Sommers? If you ask us  and USA certainly should  any of these contenders compute.Anna Kournikova: While she's known as much for her curves as her serves, the courts pin-up would still give a whiff of believability to Jaime's pre-op "love" life. Plus, she could break into a whole new, ahem, racket by tackling the lead in a

Fri, Aug 23, 2002

Simon Rex, Destiny's Child

Had destiny not smiled upon Simon Rex during his late-1990s run as MTV eye candy, he easily could have suffered a fate worse than death  becoming the next Downtown Julie Brown. But before he fully committed himself to a career as a small-screen personality, he received a call that would forever alter the course of his life. "Gus Van Sant requested to meet me for Good Will Hunting," the 28-year-old San Francisco native tells TV Guide Online. Although the onetime skin-flick star didn't get cast, he did get ideas. "I said to myself, 'Okay, I can stay [and keep introducing videos] or I could go down this [other] road, because this looks like it might happen. So I went down the other road." In no time, thanks to roles on WB's Felicity

Tue, Aug 20, 2002

Gwyneth: 30th B-Day Won't Be the Death of Her

While most folks dread their birthdays, especially in youth-obsessed Hollywood, Gwyneth Paltrow is actually looking forward to blowing out the candles on her cake come September 28  and this year, she'll be facing quite a bonfire. "I cannot believe that I'm turning 30," exclaims the big-screen scene stealer, coming off as incredulous as a teenager who has just gotten away with using a fake I.D. "It sounds so grown-up." At the same time, hitting the three-decade mark also feels quite right to the Shakespeare in Love Oscar winner. "My 20s have been action-packed," says the tabloid favorite, whose little black book reads like a Who's Who of A-list actors. "I think I've lived more in my 20s than most people live in a lifetime, and in a way, I'm sad to let go of it. In [another] way, I'm relieved to sort of enter into the next ph

Thu, Aug 15, 2002

Sara Sex Change: What's in a Name?

A million times over, the old adage has been proven true: Sex sells. But despite the fact that Mandalay Entertainment's long-on-the-shelf Serving Sara (opening Aug. 23) probably needs all the help it can get, studio founder and chairman Peter Guber decided against using the world's most surefire marketing tool to turn on movie-goers to the Matthew Perry/Elizabeth Hurley flick: He signed off on a title change from the more titillating Servicing Sara. "There was a connotation to that title that didn't play into our core audience," he explains to TV Guide Online. "In other words, this wasn't an NC-17 film about sex. Normally 'servicing' somebody has a double entendre meaning. This was about a process server." You'd think that would be all the

Tue, Aug 13, 2002

Seven Silly Questions for Kermit the Frog

In a showbiz career that spans a quarter of a century and includes television (The Muppet Show), film (The Muppet Movie) and theater (Muppets on Ice), Kermit the Frog has never given a performance that was less than, uh, ribbeting. Now, at last, the consummate professional is being given his due: Come fall, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce will award him a star on the Walk of Fame, and almost as exciting, today TV Guide Online is asking him seven questions that are so silly, they just might get us hired as a gag writer for his pal Fozzie Bear.TV Guide Online: Congratulations on your star. But tell the truth  aren't you relieved that receiving the honor won't involve making webbed handprints in cement? Kermit the Frog: I'm thrilled about being the first amphibian to be honored on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Frogs aren't usually that comfortable being so close to a busy road, but in

Mon, Aug 12, 2002

Berlin's Terri Nunn: Oops... She's Doing It Again

Watch your back, Britney Spears  Berlin vocalist Terri Nunn is about to hit the pop charts, baby, one more time. That's right, although it's been more than 15 years since she shot to No. 1 with the love theme from Top Gun, the New Wave siren can still take our breath away. In fact, on Voyeur, her revamped group's first full-length album of original material (out Sept. 3), the once-and-future MTV star, hotter than ever at age 41, tears through 11 tracks that are as provocative as the original line-up's classics, "Sex (I'm a... )" and "No More Words." Plus, she tells TV Guide Online that after this month's video shoot for the disc's first single, "Blink of an Eye," she aims to make the recording industry safe once again for every other female artist who is not a girl, not yet an old woman

Thu, Aug 8, 2002

John Woo Introduces the Next Action Hero

When John Woo gets his casting right, he gets it so right. Sure, the Face/Off director couldn't possibly have known during tryouts just how perfect leading man Shawn Christian was to trade blows with Vivian Wu (The Last Emperor) in his rock 'em, sock 'em USA Network movie Red Skies (premiering Wednesday at 8 pm/ET). But the Tremors 3 star is, in fact, the ideal actor to play a wisecracking FBI agent who never lets the bad guys see him sweat  because he's so cool that he simply doesn't sweat. Here's why: 1. Christian is as brave as they come. In fact, he didn't even run for cover when baby boy Kameron decided that the mall was the perfect place

Mon, Aug 5, 2002

Seven Silly Questions for William Shatner

Be afraid. Be very afraid. First, the Sci Fi Channel made a deal with cheese whiz Charles Band to broadcast a whole bunch of his company's creature features, among them Shrunken Heads and Castle Freak. Then, the cable network retained as ringmaster of the B-movie showcase one of the most shameless thespians in history: William Shatner. Now, the prospect of tuning in each week to William Shatner's Full Moon Fright Night (starting Saturday at 11 pm/ET) has given us such a terrific case of the willies that we wonder how we'll ever stop our teeth from chattering long enough to ask the erstwhile Star Trek captain seven silly questions.TV Guide Online: A lot of people may not realize it, but you are uniqu

Fri, Aug 2, 2002

Chazz Palminteri: May I Have This Lap Dance?

In the unexpectedly insightful Showtime movie Women vs. Men (premiering Sunday at 8 pm/ET), bosom buddies Christine Lahti and Glenne Headley throw out their husbands, Joe Mantegna and Paul Reiser respectively, after catching them at a lap-dance club. But, director Chazz Palminteri suggests to TV Guide Online, that's no reason for the gals to get their knickers in a knot. "My personal take on lap dancing is, if you were out with the boys and you did it once  or a few times  it's no big deal," says the married father of two, who is best known as a tough-guy actor (Bullets Over Broadway, The Usual Suspects). "If you make it a steady habit, though, and you're spending more time [with the strippers] than with your family and your wife, then it's a problem." Despite Palminteri's liberal stance on simulated sex, the onetime Oz helmer won high marks from Women vs. Men's leading ladi

Mon, Jul 29, 2002

Rob Lowe: Replaceable You

Oh, Rob Lowe  what are you thinking? It hasn't been that long since a certain X-rated videotape nearly eclipsed all the hard work you did in 1980s flicks like About Last Night... and Class, and now you're leaving your comeback role of the White House's deputy communications director Sam Seaborn on The West Wing. Are you nuts? "It's going to be a big [transition]," the president himself, Martin Sheen, tells TV Guide Online. "It's a very difficult show to do because it's all acting. We talk a lot, and it's dependent on each other. I don't know how we're going to fill that void. "But," he adds, "Aaron Sorkin [the series creator] is a

Fri, Jul 26, 2002

The Perks of Being Popular

The saying goes, you keep the friends that you make in high school forever  and for rising starlet Leslie Grossman's sake, we hope that it's also true of the friends that you make while portraying a high school student. "[Popular executive producer] Ryan Murphy and I are still very close," says the actress, who played psychotic cheerleader Mary Cherry on the schizoid 1999-2001 WB dramedy. "In fact, he just took me and Tamara Mello, who played Lily [the show's resident tree hugger], to Hawaii as kind of a thank-you for all the years we worked together." Although Grossman already has her next gig lined up  she's a scene-stealing second banana in NBC's midseason Jason Bateman comed

Thu, Jul 11, 2002