Patricia Heaton and Neil Flynn star in the ABC comedy The Middle, and we sat down with them at a recent press event in LA to get the scoop on season four, and the less glamorous jobs they held prior to the show. They also filled us in on what's to come for the Heck family and joked about why the writers have it easy. Find out more from the funny duo in our interview. The Middle airs Wednesdays at 8/7 C.
OK. That's not an entirely fair headline, but seriously, Patricia Heaton was on Who Wants to Be a Celebrity Millionaire trying to win charity money for Sierra Leone last night. The Ohio State graduate, however, could not do basic math. I'm no mathlete either, but this is one of the most excruciating episodes of this show I've ever watched. She positively luxuriates in her refusal to figure out a simple conversion of US dollars to euros back to US coins. And her European husband (ha!) couldn't figure it out either. Start at 3:03 . . . if you dare!
It's no secret that some Tinseltown parents have political leanings. Matt Damon has been hitting the Obama campaign trail hard while Elisabeth Hasselbeck works it for Sarah Palin. Check out the slideshow to see if you know which box some of Hollywood's hippest parents will check next Tuesday!
Source and Source
As a blogging mother, I can hardly knock the internet. But, I do worry about how my child will use the information super highway in the future as predators and creepy people lurk on it.
Patricia Heaton was on The View yesterday chatting about the pros and cons of the world wide web. To see what she said, read more
The latest show to get a full-season pickup: Back to You, the Kelsey Grammer/Patricia Heaton comedy on Fox. The show was one of the first to be picked up by any network last spring, so I suppose it only makes sense that Fox would be standing by it now.
The network has ordered 11 more episodes of the show, bringing the total number of episodes to 24 for the season. Its ratings haven't been great — it hovers somewhere between 6.5 and 7 million viewers each week — but it's been consistent. And, as was recently pointed out with the pickup of Gossip Girl, networks are changing their standards for what's considered a hit show in the first place.
In other news:
I'm a little surprised we haven't heard about any of the NBC shows yet. All of the other networks have picked up at least one key series (Back to You for Fox, Gossip Girl for the CW, Pushing Daisies and Private Practice for ABC, The Big Bang Theory for CBS). None of NBC's series has been a huge hit, but I figured at least one of them would have gotten the network's support by now.
The networks have announced their fall schedules, but which of the series will actually be worth watching? Throughout the summer, as I watch the pilots, I'll be posting my first impressions. A lot can change before a show makes it to air, so these aren't comprehensive reviews, just quick thoughts on how the shows look now. Today's installment: the Fox comedy "Back to You."
What's it about? A disgraced news anchor returns to the smaller market where he once was a superstar and must work again with his former co-anchor, who's not thrilled to have to share the spotlight with him.
Who's in it? Kelsey Grammer, Patricia Heaton, Fred Willard
The good: I'm an ex-"Fraiser" fan, and this show reminded me that I really do like Kelsey Grammer. For a traditional sitcom — and, don't get me wrong, it is very traditional — it had more laughs than I was expecting. It feels very professional, by which I mean that you can tell that everyone from the lead actors to the writers to the peripheral cast know what it takes to make a comedy work.
The bad: "Back to You" doesn't break any new ground; I've seen all these jokes and plot lines before. The pilot has a supposedly shocking twist that Fox begged reporters not to reveal, but it's the kind of thing that anyone over the age of 12 could figure out easily.
Will I watch? Doubtful, but not because it's bad, per se — it's just not my style.
To watch a video and see a gallery of photos, read more
Fox rounded out the week of Upfronts with their party to announce the new fall schedule. Parker Posey and Lauren Ambrose's (from Six Feet Under, the finale of which I have still not recovered) new show, The Return of Jezebel James, does not look nearly as funny as it should considering the cast, but I have hope. Rashida Jones from The Office was also there to introduce her new pilot, which is expected to be a midseason replacement. We'll see what that means for her in Scranton (more on that later). The hilarious Spike Feresten was also around to celebrate his "TalkShow." Happy it's renewed, but Fox should really give it a better timeslot! Check out clips from a bunch of the new shows here! Whee!
To see tons more pics of the party including more Emily Deschanel, David Boreanaz, Jeff Foxworthy, Omar Epps, and lots lots more just read more
