On vacation
Diane Holloway is off this week. Her TV blog will return Tuesday, Oct. 14.
Austin360 blogs > TV Blog > Archives > 2008 > July > 17
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Cheetah Girls Go Bollywood, Katherine Heigl locked into ‘Grey’s’
If the only thing you know about the Cheetah Girls is that Sabrina Bryan was on “Dancing with the Stars,” well, you haven’t been listening to the high-pitched squeals of millions of tween girls.
The Cheetahs — Dorinda, Chanel and Aquanetta — are bona fide superstars and not just on the Disney Channel, where their two movies reign. These singing/dancing hip-hoppers tour in sold-out concerts all over the world. Ask any girl with a sparkly pink cell phone, and she’ll tell you.
Next stop for the Cheetahs? Their third Disney Channel movie, “Cheetah Girls: One World,” coming in late August. Filmed in India, the story finds the trio of best friends pursuing their dream of starring in a Bollywood musical.
In real life, Sabrina (Dorinda), Adrienne Bailon (Chanel) and Kiely Williams (Aquanetta) are best friends who giggled, talked over and in unison with each other and seemed totally unaffected by hordes of reporters trying to interview them at a midday gathering today.
“The best part of this movie is that we got to go to India together,” bubbled Sabrina. “Our friendship is so incredible, and to be able to travel the world with your two best friends is just so awesome.”
Adrienne and Kiely happily acknowledge that Sabrina, thanks to her “Dancing with the Stars” stint, is the better dancer, and they’re “like so incredibly excited” (shrieked in unison) that she can pick up new choreography so quickly and help them.
Bouncing up and down in their chairs, the girls rattled off their favorite things about filming in India - “like crashing five weddings and dancing in the streets,” according to Adrienne. (Actually, I think they all three said it at the same time.)
Sabrina said the hardest part was climbing up on an enormous elephant and then staying on for the ride.
“She’s like super-super big, and when you get up there you’re on this roller-coaster with no tracks because she rocks and sways from side to side when she walks,” she said as her friends giggled and added their own squeals of delight and horror.
If the energy flying off the Cheetah Girls could be harnessed, the need for electricity would be like sooo yesterday.
ABC exec dishes on returning ABC shows
Stephen McPherson, ABC’s entertainment president, concedes that an overhaul is needed in the “Grey’s Anatomy” spinoff “Private Practice.” The show debuted last fall with high expectations as Kate Walsh’s character left Seattle Grace for a high-end private clinic in Los Angeles.
Before the strike interrupted, the show had decent ratings, but the initial buzz quickly fizzled.
“The best episodes were the real medical dramas,” McPherson said. “There was too much talking about angst in the characters’ personal lives. This season, Kate will go back to doing actual surgery.”
And speaking of “Grey’s,” McPherson dubbed Katherine Heigl’s complaints “unfortunate” but insisted that she’s not leaving the show and that her character, Izzie, will have a prominent story line in the new season.
Heigl, you might recall, declined to submit herself for Emmy consideration (she won a supporting actor Emmy last year) because she said the writers didn’t give her good enough material. Speculation has been rampant ever since that she would leave “Grey’s” and concentrate on her movie career. But apparently not - a contract is a contract, and she’s staying.
McPherson seemed less than thrilled with the latest season of “Dancing with the Stars,” acknowledging complaints that winner Kristi Yamaguchi was just too much better than her competitors from the get-go, thanks to her Olympic figure-skating skills. He also implied the contestants were just too nice.
“They were all nice, sweet personalities,” he said. “I think we need more conflict, more edge and a better casting mix.”
Last night, by the way, some of the pros from “Dancing” attempted to lure clumsy, left-footed critics onto a dance floor to cha-cha. I’m proud to say I resisted, but the guys who wound up with stunning Edyta Sliwinska, draped in fabric the size of a washcloth, have memories to last a lifetime.
Next up: The “Desperate Housewives” arrive tonight, which practically guarantees a paparazzi war in the hotel lobby. Maybe I’ll wind up on the cover of Star by accident.
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Emmys ignore ‘Friday Night Lights’ … again!
A best drama series Emmy nomination didn’t happen for Austin’s own “Friday Night Lights,” but at least we were in good company. HBO’s much-heralded drama “The Wire,” which ended its run last season, also got snubbed. (Well, except for one tiny nod for casting.)
When the Emmy nominations were announced before dawn here in LaLa Land, “Mad Men,” AMC’s super stylish saga set in the 1960 advertising world, and FX’s taut thriller “Damages,” raked in best drama nominations - a first in basic cable history.
The biggest winner of all, however, was HBO’s historical miniseries “John Adams,” which stacked up 23 nominations, including best mini and best actor for stars Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney.
As expected, cable dominated the drama series nominations, which included Showtime’s “Dexter,” Fox’s “House,” and ABC’s “Boston Legal” and “Lost.”
Why “Lost” made it and “Friday Night Lights” didn’t is a head-scratcher, but Academy members must prefer sci-fi over heartfelt drama.
And seriously, if anybody had bothered to watch the performances, Connie Britton and Kyle Chandler from “FNL” would have been nominated. Britton surely topped the perpetually sobbing Sally Field in “Brothers & Sisters,” and Chandler trumps Gabriel Byrne in HBO’s “In Treatment” any day. Robbed, I tell you. They were robbed.
At least one Austin citizen is in contention for an Emmy: Mike Judge’s animated comedy “King of the Hill” received a nomination, along with “The Simpsons,” “Creature Comforts,” “Robot Chicken” and “SpongeBob SquarePants.”
The big comedy honoree was NBC’s “30 Rock,” with 17 nominations. That’s no surprise. But the good news here is that “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “Entourage” and “The Office” got nods. The bad news? Nothing for HBO’s quirky “Flight of the Conchords” and more unwarranted praise for the creaky, standard-fare “Two and a Half Men.”
It must really gall comedy writers when Larry David can stay away from TV for two years, return with only a handful of episodes and come away with an Emmy nomination for “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”
The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences tends to pick nominated actors to announce the Emmy list, and today was no exception. Kristin Chenoweth, recognized in the supporting actor category for “Pushing Daisies,” and Neil Patrick Harris, nominated for his supporting role in “How I Met Your Mother,” stumbled through the list.
When will the Academy realize that it’s too early in the morning for even the most gifted actors to do this.
The Emmy Awards ceremony will be telecast Sept. 21 on ABC.
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