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Interview: Chi McBride Talks Comedy and Knitting

BuzzSugar — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 08:30:00 -0700

In the whimsical world of Pushing Daisies, it's nice to have a straight-talking detective like Emerson Cod to cut everyone down to size. Emerson's real-life alter ego, Chi McBride, was hanging out on the show's set when I visited back in July, and I stole a few minutes with him to talk about Emerson's dry humor and love for yarn crafts. Here are highlights:

Does Emerson's function on the show shift at all this year?
He's on a mission to find his daughter, but he's going to go about it in a very unconventional way. He's also a huge fan of pop-up books, and he wants to create a pop-up book that will lead a little girl who reads it to find her father. He feels sure that some little girl is out there wondering, "Where's my daddy?" And so he writes this book to try to see if he can get her to find him since he can't find her, so that's his mission this year. And in the meantime, if he happens to make a couple bucks, well, good! It's not just about getting stacks and stacks of money. I think that him being a provider, or not being able to be one, probably has a lot to do with why he's so obsessed with money. He just takes on a completely different tone once you start peeling those layers and finding out what he's really after.

Do you feel like it's a problem to have been off the air for so long?
I hope not, I really do. That's one thing I really wish people would wake up and understand, is that . . . audiences do not like to be played with. Sometimes I think we're in this business and we take it for granted -"Aw, everybody wants to go to the movies! What are you worried about?" Look, the audience does not like to be fooled around with! When baseball went on strike, it took years and a juiced ball and steroids to get everybody back. . . . Television's the same way. People take this stuff really seriously. They want to get home, they want to kick their shoes off, they want to watch their television shows. You start messing around with that, especially when you can make reality shows for nothing and get any schmo off the street to open his train wreck of a life, and people are saying "Hey, what's that?"

Lots more on Emerson's witty one-liners and that knitting, so just read more.

How many of Emerson's one-liners come in the script, and how many come from you?
The writers and I have a really good relationship. Most of the stuff they write, I say - 99.9 percent of the stuff. Every now and then, I'll do something a little different, and nobody will come back to tell me not to do it, so I'll just keep doing it. They give me a little bit of rope, and I try not to string myself up with it.

When you were looking for your next role after The Nine, were you looking for something that would have a comedic element to it?
Yeah, I didn't want to do any more crying. I didn't want to do any more hand-wringing and holding my head in disgust - I just didn't want to do it. It's really hard work! Comedy's hard too. But, you know, comedy's something that I started with and got away from for a long time. You make choices in your career for different reasons. I got into drama so people would take me seriously as an actor. And then, you know, when you want to do comedy again, people go, "He's not funny." So I was really glad to come back to comedy, but it had to be something good. No "You gettin' on my last nerve! Pow!" I didn't want to do that.

How much did you know about Emerson coming in, and were there things that came up in the first season that surprised you?
I knew everything! I pitched the story about Emerson - I pitched a story to Bryan [Fuller] that Emerson became a PI to find his daughter; his ex ran away with his daughter, and he wants to find her, and that's why he's so obsessed with money, because he wasn't a good provider. Bryan loved it. He had a completely different story. I don't even think he remembers what it is now.

I love all the details of his character, like the knitting.
It's a pain in the ass, though. You know, I learned it, and I can stitch one stitch, which is great, so I can make a scarf that will reach from here to the moon. But that's the one thing about the strike - that knitting, man. It's not like riding a bike. It just doesn't come back.

Interview: Michael Urie on Amanda, Cliff, and Moving Mode

BuzzSugar — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 07:30:14 -0700

Ugly Betty had barely finished its move to New York when the cast was called back to LA for this Summer's TCA press tour. Luckily, Michael Urie, who plays the delightful and scheming Marc, was able to make the trip. At an ABC party, I pulled him aside to get some quick insights into Betty's third season, which airs its second episode tonight. Here are highlights:

How do you get along so well with Becki Newton? Did you know each other before?
We'd never met before. We must have known each other in another life - we just connected immediately.

The No. 1 thing I always hear about the show is, "I want more Marc and Amanda." So, are we going to get more Marc and Amanda?
There's a lot of Marc and Amanda. I don't think they'll go an episode without us being together anymore. That was hard - we had to go like three or four apart, and it was not easy.

Other than Amanda, do you have a favorite character to play off?
Other than Wilhelmina and Amanda and Betty, I love working with Christina. That's a great dichotomy, too. You can't put two characters on that show together and something interesting doesn't happen.

For lots more from Urie, just read more.

How's being back in New York?
It's like what we were always meant to be doing. I was working there [before Betty], I went to school there, and it was like seven years. I'm into the theater, the subway, the pizza . . . The authenticity is going to be really reborn. We shot the pilot there, and it was on the streets of New York - New York fashion, New York look. And then we went away!

Did you have to rebuild Mode?
Yes, and it didn't fit! They had to redesign.

Patricia Field is doing the costumes now. Have you been dressed by her yet?
She did the pilot as well, and it was so nice - she's great, she's amazing, she's so bizarre. The things that she chooses, you're really like, "That will never work." And then you put them on, and it works, for whatever reason. It's just bizarre and weird and odd and it works.

What's coming up for Marc and Cliff?
It's a great relationship. It's different from where you would expect Marc to go. I think there's lots of room for conflict in that relationship . . . It's definitely going to continue.

Do you have a dream for a potential Marc and Amanda adventure?
I want Amanda to audition for Xanadu on Broadway.

A Visit to the Scrumptious Set of Pushing Daisies

BuzzSugar — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 05:30:27 -0700

By far, my favorite moment of the TCA press tour this Summer was getting to wander around the set of Pushing Daisies, which returns tonight for its second season. As lovely and fanciful as the Daisies world looks on television, it's even more wonderful in person, filling up two full sound stages on the Warner Bros. lot. The entire set wasn't open, but I did get to slide into a Pie Hole booth, check out the aunts' stuffy living room, and see the confessional in the nunnery where Olive will be starting the new season. To hear what the insanely detailed rooms looked like up close, just read on:

The Pie Hole
It makes total sense that the Pie Hole set doesn't have a top; how else would they get the cameras in for those overhead shots? But it was still funny to see this huge, looming pie crust edge with nothing in the middle, like a Gorg had come along and scooped out a bite. Inside, it's a surprisingly roomy restaurant, with cushy booths, lights shaped like giant cherries, and a spacious kitchen with a walk-in fridge (no bodies this time; I checked).

In one corner, candy jars and waffle cones are piled high; in another, there's an antique mirror where diners can check their hair on the way out. If you want a slice of pie at the Pie Hole, it'll cost you $5.95, but there's a pretty wide range of choices (four berry, Dutch apple, strawberry rhubarb, lemon meringue, sweet potato, three plum, peach, and derby). And if for some reason pie's not your thing, their butter pecan ice cream is apparently also world-famous.

To read about Emerson's office, the nunnery, and the aunts' place, just read more.

Emerson Cod's Office
With its hardwood floors, big metal safe, and framed artwork, Emerson's office looks ornate at first . . . until you notice all the knitting. There's a basket stuffed with yarn and needles just to one side of his desk chair, and he's clearly put it to use - on his desk, there's a knit cozy for his tissue box and another for his coffee mug. The man does love his money: a frame on the wall holds several old bills. In another frame, there's a certificate of proficiency from the Small Arms Firing School.

The Aunts' House
Here's one rule for Lily and Vivian's house: If it can be covered with fabric, it is, and the more layers the better. This was the tiniest and most crowded set we visited, stuffed with furniture upholstered heavily in velvet and brocade. It's the sort of place that always feels dusty no matter how clean it is, and there's barely room for two people to move around, much less a full cast and camera crew (one production guy saw us emerge and said, "Now you know why every time we shoot in there, the characters are sitting down"). Outside, there's a garden hose and blooming flowers; inside, it's just as dingy as it looks on screen, but purposefully so. Knick-knacks and birdcages are stacked everywhere - or, rather, everywhere there's not already furniture, as they've somehow crammed three couches, six armchairs, and a daybed into the tiny space.

The Roof
I didn't actually get to climb up onto Chuck's beekeeping roof, but it was one of my favorite corners of the whole set, with a sweeping blue screen representing the sky taking up the better part of two walls. A dozen gold beehives take up most of the rooftop, interspersed with pink, purple, and orange flowers. A bunch of old TV antennas loom over the roof, artfully tangled.

The Nunnery
We haven't actually seen this set in action yet, but just know this: It's spectacular. It's the largest of all the rooms I saw on the set, with several components: a large, monk-like dining hall with spartan tables, wooden chairs, and religious paintings lining the walls; a cavernous sanctuary with huge banks of candles along the wall (and several melting at the altar); and a confessional booth draped with thick, red, velvet curtains. The whole thing is decorated in shades of orange, red, gold, and gray, with a fleur de lis theme. I can't wait to see how it pops on screen.

Interview: Paul Adelstein on Being Private Practice's "Big Kid"

BuzzSugar — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 06:30:01 -0700

Private Practice had its ups and downs last year, but there was one consistent good thing about the show for me: Paul Adelstein as Oceanside Wellness's pediatrician and unlucky-in-love bachelor, Cooper. When I spotted Adelstein after the Private Practice session at the TCA press tour in July, I convinced him to stop for a quick chat. In person, he was quite charming (and even laughed off my good-natured ribbing about his bright-white sneakers), and he gave me some hints about what's coming up for Cooper, who's still involved with the uptight Charlotte (KaDee Strickland) when season two begins. Here are highlights from our chat:

I hear from a lot of people that Cooper is their favorite part of the show. Does that surprise you?
Yeah, that surprises me. I think that one of the things with Shonda [Rhimes]'s writing - being a longtime Grey's fan - is that people identify with different characters differently, and I think that everybody has a favorite Grey's character, and so on. But it's nice to hear! I'm a little surprised - I don't think I'm my favorite character.

What are some of the things you do like about Cooper?
As an actor, it's a great gift to have to show up to work as loose as possible because that's who your character is. It's a challenge as an actor to try to be really loose and present, and when the character is loose and present, it's easier to do that. It kind of demands that you come and have a good time, and so that's a nice way to go to work every day.

Is the whole idea that he is the comic relief? And does that come from you, or is it kind of built in there?
I really try not to think about it that way because you never want to be the schticky guy. But I think Cooper is a funny guy. I think he uses humor as a defense. You try not to think about how it's fitting into the show too much, 'cause I think you can drive yourself crazy and go down the wrong path, so I just try to do whatever he's doing and hope that it translates. You know, last year, I think that we were all struggling a little bit with the tone of the show because [Rhimes's] writing is so good, you can play things very differently. I think that we're better at figuring out where we all sit this year.

To hear about the real pediatricians he met while preparing to play Cooper and what might be coming down the pipeline romantically for his character, just read more.

Cooper's also a character where it makes total sense that he's the pediatrician.
When I first got it, I thought, "Well, is the big kid really the pediatrician?" And then I met with some pediatricians, and I found that the people who are drawn to that profession, to that specialty, really do, more times than not, have a certain personality, which is easygoing, fun, they're certainly not in it for the money because pediatricians don't really make money. It makes a lot of sense that he would be drawn to that, and we'll see this season there are some more specific explanations for that.

I was wondering what you did to get into that character, because I like that he's a pediatrician who's not all, "Talk to the puppet!"
Yeah, we were really careful - we tried to make it a Patch Adams-free zone. We didn't want that to happen. The best people that work with children are the people that don't talk down to them, and I think he has this ability to be empathetic with children, maybe even more so than he does with adults. And it's unfettered for him. When I was talking to the different pediatricians I met with, that was the kind of thing I tried to draw out. And you really saw - two of three pediatricians that I talked to cried when I talked to them, which, you know, I always think, "Well, doctors are going to have a certain distance," but they're just very empathetic, and that felt like permission in a lot of ways to let Cooper be Cooper.

I love that the sort of big-kid-ness carries over into his personal life, like "Can we be boyfriend and girlfriend?"
Yeah, he does have a little bit of an adolescent view of that thing.There were a few times last year, and I think this year too, where he's surprisingly mature. I think that he's sometimes more mature than his co-workers because he takes kind of a child's eye view of things. Sometimes things are black and white, it's not a gray area, and he can be the stickler for some of that stuff

Does he have to change at all to be with Charlotte?
Yeah, sure - we're [shooting] episode five now, and we're just starting to see ways in which he does, some of which I think are healthy for him and some of which aren't.

Do you have people you really enjoy playing off of? Shonda was saying she loves seeing all the guys together.
Well, I did most of my heavy lifting with Amy [Brenneman] last year, and that was a dream. She's a dream, she's an amazing actress, so that's just a blessing. It makes your job so much easier. This year so far my personal stuff has been with KaDee, and that has been equally as fun. There are some people I haven't had that much to do with - I don't think there's a scene I've had with just me and Audra [McDonald].

It doesn't seem like there's a whole lot of Cooper and Addison either.
There hasn't been - although [we're shooting] a thing where it's the first time we really get in each other's faces. I'm looking forward to that.

Shenae Grimes on Being "The New Brenda" (or Not) on 90210

BuzzSugar — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 09:30:10 -0700

One week from today, we'll get to see what this updated 90210 is really all about. For some more hints, I spent some time at the TCA press tour chatting with star Shenae Grimes - who previously played Darcy Edwards on Degrassi: The Next Generation - about her role as Annie Wilson, the new girl in the hottest zip code around. Here are highlights:

Did you ever watch the original 90210?
Yeah, my mom raised me on that show. I watched it all my life.

So what did you think when you first heard there was going to be a new 90210?
I thought, awesome! Super excited to watch it. And then when they called me to audition on tape, I was like, ha! OK, whatever, if I can find the time - it doesn't matter if I put it down or not, cause no one's gonna see it, whatever. And I crammed to put it down one day, got a call the next day saying - I actually auditioned for Silver originally, and then I got a call the next day saying, "They want to try you out for Annie." I was like, what? Whoa, hold on, step back for a minute. Literally never thought I'd hear anything ever again. I didn't even think the tape would get watched. But things happened, and here I am, and it's the most surreal thing in the world for a kid from Canada.

You did several seasons on Degrassi. Being a kid from Canada, where Degrassi is a big deal, what was that like?
Degrassi's the be-all and end-all for Toronto's youth actors. There's not a lot of great material at home, and the stuff that there is, it's cute, but you're always playing 14-year-olds. No one has roles that are hearty and challenging for young actors there. So Degrassi was really it. I mean, that's the show that everybody's trying to get on. I finally did, and I had to work my way up the food chain, and it took me a few years to "prove myself" for my producers, but I finally did, and I felt like, seventh season, I had the best storylines in the world. It doesn't get much more challenging than that. I felt like it was time for me to, you know, step off a little bit and let some of the new kids come in, cause it's the pinnacle for young actors.

More from Grimes on Degrassi and 90210, so read more.

The sense that I always had is that Degrassi in Canada is sort of like what 90210 was here.
Oh, absolutely. And I couldn't be more proud of both. I look at Degrassi as like my boot camp to prepare me for this. It was a groundbreaking thing. You couldn't throw more at a high school student, and they did it - they brought things to the table that people hadn't seen on TV before.

So, tell me a little bit about Annie.
Annie's the Kansas City gal who's been picked up by her dad and thrust into the Hollywood life for her grandma. The whole point is you're watching her and the journey that she takes, this crazy new world, the transition that she's making and how she handles it all. It's a big, big change. Everyone's asking me, "What did you do to prepare for the role?" and I'm like, "I'm doing it right now, man!" I'm from this small town and coming to Hollywood. And we don't have celebrity back home, there's no such thing as that! So this is a new world for me, too, and I'm trying to meander my way through it.

A lot of people are looking at the show and going, "Oh, she's the Brenda." Do you think that's fair? Can you do that with this show?
No - I mean, obviously, it's a family, and I'm the daughter, and so they will say that, which is totally cool and fine. But no, all the characters are very new and very different, not based on anybody. They've got a lot more layers, and they're not as stereotypical and one-note, necessarily, as they were before because kids have a lot more going on these days than they did back then.

Were any of the people in your cast people you had watched as a fan? I know for us in the US, Lori Laughlin is Full House -
Aunt Becky, are you kidding me? I saw her at the screen test, and I was like, "Oh my God, I saw Aunt Becky!" I didn't even put it together that they were casting her as the mom, and we totally look alike! I couldn't ask for better fake parents - I'm very flattered. And I've got Rob Estes as my dad. Hello, I watched Melrose Place growing up, so I was a big fan. And, you know, Freaks and Geeks with the producers, and I'm catching up on The Wire now.

OK, so sell me on the new 90210. Best reason to watch?
Everything about it's going to be amazing - the clothes and the music and the storylines and the actors. If that all doesn't entertain you, there will be much more that will. It's going to be a hot, hot show, and we're going to live up to everyone's expectations and then some.

Photos Source and courtesy of The CW

Tristan Wilds on Moving From Baltimore to Beverly Hills

BuzzSugar — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 08:15:49 -0700

One of the biggest reasons I'm excited for the new 90210 is the casting of Tristan Wilds. For two seasons on The Wire, Wilds played Michael, a tough and complex kid from the Baltimore streets. It was an incredibly nuanced performance from someone so young, one that had me hanging on his every word. When I heard someone that talented was making 90210 his new TV home as Dixon, the adopted son of Debbie and Harry Wilson (Lori Loughlin and Rob Estes), it made me take notice.

At the CW's party at the TCA press tour, I chatted with Wilds about making the transition from Baltimore to Beverly Hills. Here are highlights:

How did you find 90210 - or how did 90210 find you?
My manager called me and told me about 90210. I was a little skeptical about it, but I definitely wanted to show that I had a broader range than just Michael. Of course, when I went out for it, I found out that Dixon isn't really that much different than Michael. They both grew up with a really bad beginning - Dixon has been in and out of group homes his whole life, landed in Kansas, got into a little fight over something that got him in real trouble and that was going to send him to a juvenile detention center until the Wilsons came in and rescued him. They adopted him, so they saved him in a place where Michael really needed to be saved.

When you told your friends from The Wire that you were going to be on 90210, what did they say?
Actually, all they were saying was, "Really, you're on 90210? Wow!" They were all giving me accolades and all that. It was great.

What's it like going from a show like The Wire, which had a lot of acclaim but maybe not the viewers, to something like 90210 that has so much buzz?
It has so much buzz, and the way that we're shooting it - it's going to be edgy, it's going to be a little bit racy, but it's going to show the real lives of teenagers. Every character is a different aspect of teenagers' lives. I think that every teenager will be able to identify themselves with at least one character on the show.

To learn whether Wilds watched the original 90210 and what his experience was like on The Wire, read more.

Did you watch the original 90210?
To keep my manhood intact, I don't want to say I watched it too much, but I've seen a couple episodes. I've done my research on it. But of course, you know, you always have that time where you want to watch cartoons and your big sister puts you in the headlock and makes you watch TV with her - so yeah, I've seen it a couple of times.

When you were working on The Wire, in those moments, did you realize how big and important the show was?
I was a big fan of The Wire from the beginning, from season one when the cops beat the kid until he was blind in one eye. I was a really big fan; I was really into it. Season four - I didn't know how big it would be, because it was always such an underground thing. You would see people every now and then talking about how good The Wire was, but you never knew how big it was going to be until after it came on and everybody was watching it, and I was like, "Wow. We have a fan base like this?" And it was so diverse, which is why I love it so much.

After The Wire, what were you looking for in your next role?
I think the main thing I was looking for was growth. I was trying to build myself as an actor, which is why I was going to acting classes . . . When this came along, I was like, all right, maybe this will take me to the next level. I'm praying this is what it is.

Are there things you get to tap into with Dixon that you couldn't with Michael?
I get to show the playful side of me. I get to show that troublemaker. I get to show the suave ladies man, if you will. Dixon portrays all of this. Michael didn't really get a chance to because he was a kid stuck in his ways.

What would you say to people who are fans of yours from The Wire who might be rolling their eyes at 90210?
I would say to them, "Just watch." Just like Michael was a three-dimensional character, Dixon is a three-dimensional character . . . You get to see life through another kid's eyes who lived like Michael did but got another chance at life.

If I looked at your TiVo right now, what would I see?
You'd probably see America's Best Dance Crew, two episodes of Tom and Jerry, the whole season of Family Guy, and probably Ugly Betty, 'cause I watch it with my mom.

Source and courtesy of The CW

Yvonne Strahovski on Playing a Nerd and Pining for Chuck

BuzzSugar — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 08:15:31 -0700

It's slightly unnerving to talk to Yvonne Strahovski after watching her for a full season on Chuck. She's proven herself so adept at spying, knife-throwing, and other forms of physical intimidation that it seems wise not to make any sudden movements.

Luckily for me, Strahovski didn't seem at all interested in beating back the line of reporters who wanted to talk to her about the upcoming season of Chuck at NBC's TCA press tour party last month. In fact, she was strikingly sweet as she talked about playing a teenaged Sarah in an upcoming episode, bringing out the romantic side of her character, and training for those fight scenes. Here are highlights:

It's been a while since we've seen Chuck. What can you tell me about where we are when the new season picks up?
We pick up with the same sort of dynamic between Chuck and Sarah - they have feelings for each other, but of course they have a job to do. We do get a taste of what it might be like if Chuck wasn't the intersect and if Sarah didn't have to protect him. And then we get to see into Sarah's past in episode four, when Nicole Richie's character comes into the show. She was like the mean girl at high school and Sarah has to deal with that all over again. And it brings up a lot of demons for her because Sarah wasn't the cool spy chick that she is [now], that we all know her to be. She was a daggy, dorky, braces, bad hair girl, and to see Nicole Richie's character come back in her life, you know, it's tormenting in some ways.

Do you get to play the young Sarah?
I do.

What was that like?
I had braces, as the 17-year-old Sarah Walker, and that kind of brought back old memories for me, because I used to wear braces when I was 12, and having them back on, you know, the fake ones - it was really weird. It's amazing how much younger i look with just the braces on. We put a wig on, as well, and had bangs and brown hair. Sarah wasn't so confident when she was in high school. We see how she evolved into the agent that she is today.

More from Strahovski about the future of Chuck and her favorite fights, so read more.

When the last season ended, things weren't looking so good for Chuck with the new intersect almost running. Is he in danger?
In the first couple of episodes when we return, that is addressed - when the new intersect is being built and we have to find the final chip to make the new intersect work. But, you know, a whole bunch of things happen, and things might not go the way people assume they might.

What were some of your favorite things to play in season one?
I loved, loved, loved the fight that I got to do with Matthew Bomer, who plays Bryce, when we did the fight scene that was back to back in the Buy More. I love the really intimate scenes between Chuck and Sarah; I love that Sarah can't say what she wants to say. Those sorts of scenes are great, they're heartbreaking and I love those.

What was it like working with Nicole Richie?
It was actually great. She was really nice, her baby is super cute, and actually my parents were visiting at the time and my parents really liked her too. They got on really well. I was really genuinely impressed. She has a dancing background as well, so learning those fight scenes, it didn't take very long. Sometimes it can take a while to shoot them, but we worked them out really quickly, she didn't miss a beat, and we had tons of fun.

We've heard a lot about Zachary Levi and Joshua Gomez playing video games on set. Have you gotten sucked into any of that?
No - while they play their video games I have to go train for my fight scenes.

I heard you have a new cover job this season. What's your new cover outfit like?
Let's just say, I prefer the outfit to the Weinerlicious one. I like this one better, and I like the color scheme better. It's an odd color scheme but it works.

Source and courtesy of NBC

Shopping at the Buy More . . . I Mean, Visiting the Set of Chuck

BuzzSugar — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 06:30:00 -0700

My first instinct upon stepping into the Buy More was to reach for the brochure for the store credit card. Hey, maybe I could get even better deals at the green-and-yellow big-box store if I just got one of the store-branded pieces of plastic . . .

I pulled my hand back just in time - the brochures, like everything else, were props on the set of Chuck during my visit on the TCA press tour. But it was hard to convince myself we were on a set, not just a Best Buy or CompUSA that had given the Warner Bros. TV crew the go-ahead to film there that day. As much as the set of ER felt like a real hospital, the set of Chuck felt even more like a place I might go to pick up some new DVDs and an extra controller for my Wii.

"We went to a lot of Best Buys, a lot of CompUSAs," said Paul Marks, the Chuck producer who oversees the set. "Just so it looked as real as possible."

There aren't a lot of signs that the 17,000-square-foot store isn't real, so to hear more about it, just read more.

The walls are lined with 50 TVs of various size and screen quality, all on. Every computer is functional, as are the video games. Even the DVD racks are full of real movies - "If you have so many choices, it doesn't feel like you're favoring one thing," said executive producer Josh Schwartz. When the show was first getting started, the producers needed an entire sound stage just for shipping and receiving, painstakingly cataloging each product for three weeks. To film the season one episode where there's a shootout at the Buy More, the crew took the entire store apart, transported it wholesale to a hangar at the Santa Monica Airport, and reassembled it in exactly the same layout.

Chuck embraces the geek love for Hello Kitty, with one whole end shelf dedicated to pink-and-white Sanrio products. There's also a big display for the RoboSapien and another with various guitars for Guitar Hero and Rock Band. It doesn't look like it would be a soul-sucking place to work. In fact, it looks . . . kinda awesome.

"We don't want it to feel like a bummer every time you go to the Buy More," Schwartz said. "For us, we go into a Best Buy and it's really fun - there's lots of cool new stuff you can buy, there's video games, there's music. It's a fun world. That's what we wanted to reflect here."

It certainly worked for this busload of critics, who wandered around flipping through CDs, checking out the HD TV displays, and reading the rules for deployment of a Nerd Herd car. I leaned in to read the fine print on one sign, which listed a special deal where you could have your own personal Buy More nerd set up your computer, and came across this little gem: "Additional Charges May Apply. Like Felony Possession of a Really Lame Computer."

Photos courtesy of Warner Bros. TV

Interview: Diane Ruggiero on The Ex List, Superheroes, and Veronica Mars

BuzzSugar — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 16:30:17 -0700

I don't crouch down on the ground to interview just anyone. But when Diane Ruggiero, the executive producer of the upcoming CBS series The Ex List, asked a group of reporters if it would be all right if she sat down while we talked to her, we all sat too - even though it meant getting cozy with the cold cement floor of a Hollywood night club.

That's how much we wanted to talk to Ruggiero, who earlier in the day had completely won over the room at the TCA press tour with her rambling stories and witty retorts. The former Veronica Mars writer immediately proved her coolness by having a friend take a picture of the half-dozen of us huddled - literally - at her feet. She seemed shocked that she could attract such a crowd, but she shouldn't be; talking with her was one of the highlights of this year's TCA. She filled us in on some details of her show, which stars Elizabeth Reaser of Grey's Anatomy as a woman told by a psychic that she's supposed to marry one of her ex-boyfriends, plus talked about writing kick-ass women characters and working with Mars boss Rob Thomas. Here are some highlights:

This is not a typical CBS show. It's a very women-centric show. Why CBS? And does that worry you?
No. It's so funny, because I get [the concern]. But I know Nina [Tassler, the CBS entertainment president]. . . . If I met her outside CBS, and you said, "Would Nina like the show?" I would say, "Of course she would, it's totally her thing!" And I'm excited that they're giving it a try.

What about the viewers, though? How do you get them to tune in?
I have to go door to door and pretty much be like, "You know that show Numb3rs? Well, if you tune in a little earlier . . . " I don't know how that's going to work. I did a show, same time period, several years ago, and no one was [watching] - it was like, my mom, and a couple aunts . . . but it's a different world now, with TiVo, and I'm hoping that it will get a nice buzz, and then they'll TiVo it and that will kind of help it. I personally am home on Fridays at nine, so it's not a big deal for me. My shows that are on, if I don't get a chance to watch them [live] I still watch them - that's why God invented TiVo.

More from Ruggiero, including her superhero pilot and working on Mars, so read more.

What did you think when you first saw the Israeli original?
My pilot that I had got force majeured during the strike. And it was a superhero kind of deal, right? And so they call me and they're like, there's this show, Mythological X [the show's original title], and I'm like, "Right on, it's a superhero show!" And then they tell me what it was about, and I couldn't think of what to expect. It's awesome. It's like 11 little independent movies. They're shot really raw, and it's cool. It's shocking that that's on Israeil television. That woman has sex with, like, everybody!

How did you find Elizabeth Reaser for the lead?
Apparently, when you do these things, there's a very short list. And they give you some names where you're like, "If this person says my words, I will hang myself." And then they give you some other names, and you're like, "Really, are you serious, can that happen?" And you find out really quickly that it's just, they're dangling a carrot. But then there's this short list, this very intense short powerful list of the chosen "about-to-pop-ers," and there's like two people. And it was like Elizabeth and - it's out of my head, but she's about to pop. My little wheelhouse is so small that I was just like, can we get the chick from Battlestar?

What was the show you were working on before the strike?
It didn't have a title yet, but - I'm gonna do it still. I think I might do it as a movie. It was two neighborhood girls from Jersey who were kind of down and out, and they went to a female-empowerment seminar, like a Marianne Williamson "unleash the power of the goddess" thing, and there's an accident and they do. So like, by day, they're kind of just ambling about trying to make it happen, and by night they're superheroes. . . I had the idea because I was leaving Veronica Mars one day, and there was this guy who kicked his dog, and I started yelling at him, and all of a sudden, I see he's walking out to my car and he had a brick in his hand. I had this brief fantasy - and I had a soundtrack and everything - of me just stopping and getting out and like shutting the door and busting some move on him and kicking his ass and taking the dog. That was my big fantasy, and that's how I had this idea - wanting to see me at the moment where I'm like, "'I'm taking the dog."

Did you put any of those superhero qualities in Bella for The Ex List?
I did want her to be a girl that can hang out with guys, the whole surfing aspect of it - I wanted her to be cool and strong and tough, but I didn't put any of that [superhero stuff]. The show doesn't necessarily call for it yet. She doesn't necessarily need it now, but when she does, I'm not a shrinking violet kind of person.

You've had your own shows, and you've also worked for other people on their shows. What did you learn from that experience?
Working for Rob [Thomas, on Veronica Mars] was amazing. You serve one master - all I had to do was make Rob laugh, all I had to do was make Rob happy. Rob loved me - the second we started working together, he was like, "You're mine." He would joke, "If you listen to Veronica, who does she sound like?" Rob is so genius and smart and so great at story. That's what I aspire to. I'm still like the "I can write now, it's raining!" girl.

Photos Source and courtesy of CBS

Joe E. Tata Kisses and Tells How He Came to the New 90210

BuzzSugar — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 05:45:43 -0700

I'm just gonna come right out and say this: Joe E. Tata, aka Nat from the Peach Pit on 90210, kissed me. Twice. They were both just pecks on the cheek, but that doesn't change the facts: That Nat, he's a kisser.

At the time of the kisses, Tata was presiding over a Peach Pit-themed breakfast to promote the 90210 spinoff at the TCA press tour. Besides his more romantic inclinations, Tata also chatted with me a bit about his return to the Zip code that made him famous. Here are some highlights:

What was it like getting the call saying, "We're bringing 90210 back, and we want Nat"?
I was on the ceiling. First of all, when I heard that - they always said, "We're gonna do a movie." Well, eight years went by, and I'm still waiting for the movie! Where's this movie?

What have you been doing for the past eight years?
I went to Europe, did a couple of films there. I was so glad to come home.

There was a rumor seven or eight years ago that you were going to open up a string of Peach Pit restaurants. What happened there?
We had a giant, big attorney. It took too long. . . . We had the plans and everything done, and then, the attorneys!

To see what Tata had to say about the new cast, just read more.

How much of the new cast have you met so far, and do any of them remind you of the original cast?
I met four or five people, and they're all different. There's a couple of devils in there, I like that much. They're going to be fun.

There isn't a whole lot of precedent for a show being completely recast and brought back from the dead like this. is that a gamble?
I would think so. But then again, it's up to the stories, and it's up to if [people] like and connect with the cast. That was the whole thing on our show - we had good words, and they liked the characters, every one of them.

Are you a good cook in real life?
You bet your ass.

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