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Link Time - Vince Vaughn Heads to Old St. Louis

BuzzSugar — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 13:30:00 PDT

Vince Vaughn in talks for Old St. Louis; Chloe Moretz may play his daughter - PopWatch
In other Moretz news, she may also star in The Rut - Cinema Blend
Brilliant! Stephen Colbert reenacts Real Housewives of New York - Vulture
TNT renews The Closer, Rizzoli & Isles, and Leverage - The Wrap
Miramax finally sells - Slash Film
A new Social Network trailer, now with more Andrew Garfield! - GeekSugar
Will Ferrell and Adam McKay to develop I Don't Care About Your Band for HBO with Lizzy Caplan (who will also star) - Collider
Lost's Terry O'Quinn to appear in a Lifetime movie opposite Taraji P. Henson - TV Squad
A new Michael Jackson album hits shelves in November - Rolling Stone

Buzz Readers' 5 Favorite Basic Cable Shows

BuzzSugar — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 09:00:00 PDT

When TNT's new series Rizzoli & Isles premiered this past week, I asked you if you had love for any other basic cable shows. Once a home for reruns and educational programming, these channels are now a haven for quality original series. Here are the five most talked about shows from you guys.

Buzz News Roundup, 8/28

BuzzSugar — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 13:30:27 PDT

Kristin Chenoweth will be a guest judge on the next season of American Idol. - Zap2it
Mad Men's Christina Hendricks will join Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel in Life as We Know It. - Variety
Laura Linney will star in The C Word, a new comedy pilot for Showtime about a suburban wife battling cancer. - The Hollywood Reporter
Robin Williams will star in the romantic comedy Wedding Banned. - Reuters
Brandon Routh, most famous for his role in Superman Returns, will have a recurring role on the upcoming season of Chuck. - Entertainment Weekly
Daniel Craig will star in the psychological thriller Dream House. - Coming Soon
TNT has ordered a third season of Leverage. - Variety
Helen Mirren has signed on for a film adaption of Graham Greene's Brighton Rock. - Variety

First Look: Leverage Season Two

BuzzSugar — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 11:30:43 PDT

TNT's Leverage earned its spot on my list of monthly must haves because it seems like a perfect show to watch with your feet up and a frosty drink in hand. The series focuses on a band of well-meaning criminals, each with a particular skill that lets them rob the rich, fix injustice, and possibly make some money for themselves along the way. The mastermind of the operation is Nathan Ford (Timothy Hutton), a man with a checkered past and a drinking problem that's supposedly under control when this new season begins.

The show returns to TNT on July 15, with Nathan grudgingly bringing the team back together for yet another mission. Even if you didn't watch the first season, it shouldn't be hard to dive in - the producers have tried not to make a show that loses you after one missed episode. But just in case, TNT's put together a season one recap video that introduces the characters and shows off their skills. Will you give this show a shot next week? You can watch the recap and a first sneak peek of the season two premiere if you

Photo courtesy of TNT

Buzz News Roundup, 2/2

BuzzSugar — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 13:30:01 PST

Daniel Day-Lewis, Benicio Del Toro, and Gael Garcia Bernal are reportedly circling Martin Scorsese's next drama Silence, based on the Shusaku Endo novel. - Variety
TNT has renewed Leverage for a second 15-episode season, which should air later this year. - TV.com
Kung Fu Panda swept the Intnl. Animated Film Society's Annie Awards this year, while Wall-E went home empty-handed. - Variety
Meanwhile, Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle won the top award from the Directors Guild of America this year. - AP
And speaking of Slumdog Millionaire, star Dev Patel is joining the cast of M. Night Shyamalan's live-action film The Last Airbender. - ComingSoon
Kristen Johnston is "99.9 percent" going to play Patsy in Fox's Absolutely Fabulous remake pilot, while Kathryn Hahn is on board as Edina. - Entertainment Weekly
Both Faith Hill and Jennifer Hudson recorded their Super Bowl performances in advance. - New York Times
ABC Family has renewed Greek, cut Kyle XY, and picked up three new shows, including the series based on 10 Things I Hate About You. - TV Guide

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Buzz Interview: Timothy Hutton and His Leverage Crew

BuzzSugar — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 06:30:16 PST

Leverage, TNT's new heist show, starts Sunday night, and it's a pretty good time - there's some Ocean's Eleven flavor mixed with a little bit of The A-Team and some Robin Hood for good measure. Last month, TNT invited me to Los Angeles to interview the cast - including star Timothy Hutton, who plays Nathan Ford, the mastermind who helps a crew of thieves steal from the rich and greedy - and executive producer John Rogers. Here's some of what I learned:

Leverage isn't taking itself too seriously. "[Executive producer Chris Downey] and I were drinking in our garage, which is not as sad as it sounds, and were talking about how heist shows at the time had gotten really grim and gritty - you missed half an episode even and you were lost," Rogers said. "We talked about the shows we liked - Rockford Files, The A-Team, Mission Impossible - and why not do one of those?"

Keeping track of elaborate heists can be tricky. "In the writing room, that can get a little hairy," Rogers said. "We have different colored cards and everything . . . Everything gets spot-welded together, and there are times when we look at the board and are like, where the hell did the bad guy go?"

To see more of what I learned about the series, including what's coming up for Hutton's character, just

Nathan Ford might not stay virtuous forever. "As the season goes on, he's more and more tempted by [the thieves] and enjoying the life that they come from," Hutton said. "I sort of looked at it like, he draws a line here, and by the third choice it's 'Well, maybe we'll make it here,' and the line keeps moving. But in the end, he feels OK about it because he's helping people."

Playing different characters within the show's heists is a blast . . . "It's been nothing but playtime," said Aldis Hodge, who plays the computer hacker Alec Hardison. "I think that's part of the fun of what we get to do - we're never really one character for too long."

. . . but it's not always easy. "My first instinct is always to say, 'No, I can't do that,'" said Gina Bellman, who plays the con woman Sophie. "In one of the episodes they gave me, I was playing English, Southern belle, and had three conversations in Mandarin. I went to John and said, 'I can't do the Mandarin, I absolutely can't do it' . . . which then gives you the encouragement to go away and do it."

It's supposed to be fun to watch, too. "The entire show was meant to refute the grim, gritty, serialized crime drama," Rogers said. "You know what? I got an hour a week to be maybe not so pissed off at the world. I should have some fun and watch Leverage take down some of the scumbags that I wish had it coming to them."

Photos courtesy of TNT

First Look: Leverage on TNT

BuzzSugar — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 12:38:34 PST

I have a huge soft spot in my heart for Timothy Hutton (mostly thanks to Beautiful Girls). But while he's what initially attracted me to the new TNT series Leverage, which premieres in December, he might not be the only reason to stick around.

Leverage focuses on a group of criminals who are, essentially, the high-action version of Robin Hood: They use their schemes and skills to take revenge on those who use their power and wealth for evil. Hutton stars as Nate Ford, who once recovered millions of dollars in stolen goods for his corporate employer - and then finds himself wracked with grief and anger when his employer denies his son's insurance claims, allowing the boy to die. Ford assembles a team of henchmen who are experts at hacking, stealing, and lying and who can use their skills to fight against corporate greed and evil.

Gina Bellman, Christian Kane, Beth Riesgraf, and Aldis Hodge (who briefly played Voodoo on Friday Night Lights!) round out the cast. The show will kick off with a commercial-free premiere on Dec. 7 before moving to its regular timeslot, Tuesdays at 10 p.m., on Dec. 9. I'll be interviewing some of the cast and crew this weekend, so to check out some promos and pass along any questions you might have about Leverage, just

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LSD in the 1960s

Annie Scudder — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 10:40:46 PDT

Neurotic Roger Sterling finds truth on this week's episode of Mad Men with the help of LSD. Thanks to his experimental much younger wife, Jane, Roger reluctantly attends a dinner party, which becomes much more interesting once acid comes into the mix.

As expected, this season of Mad Men is full of historical references from 1966. If you paid close attention to Roger's one-liners, you may have heard him say, "Well, Dr. Leary I find your product boring," after his early reaction to LSD leaves him less than entertained. Roger, who eventually comes around to the drug during his trip, wasn't talking about Jane's professor friend hosting the party. Dr. Timothy Leary was a Harvard psychologist who founded the League for Spiritual Discovery (LSD) in 1966. The holy sacrament of the religion was LSD, and Leary hoped to get it legalized under freedom of religion. As an ad man like Roger Sterling could appreciate, Dr. Leary was the face of the LSD brand, and his one-liner "turn on, tune in, drop out" was meant to work like an advertising slogan.

Before the counterculture of the 1960s, LSD captured the interest of the US government. The CIA conducted experiments, hoping it could leverage the drug for mind control or chemical warfare. Also beginning in the 1950s and gaining popularity during the '60s, psychotherapists used it as a way to get to a patient's subconscious. By 1967, the Beatles had released "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds." Although John Lennon denied the title was a reference to the psychedelic drug, the BBC banned the song. Soon came a more significant ban. In 1968, the US made LSD illegal. Take a look at some photos of Dr. Leary and his following from the 1960s now.

Ashley Judd Calls Out Attacks on Her Appearance as Sexism

Tara Block — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 11:30:00 PDT

While some women - celebrities and otherwise - may not be able to find the right words to fight back against mean-spirited comments about their appearance, when Ashley Judd was hit with remarks that attacked her "puffy" face and weight gain, she had a great response. During the last month or so, Ashley has been in the public eye for her swollen-looking face that some have concluded must mean she's getting plastic surgery done. But the sad reality is it's really a side effect from the steroid medications she's been taking for illness. Ashley Judd wrote a piece on The Daily Beast that took the rebuttal to a whole new, feminist - and empowered - level. In the smart essay, she takes on the naysayers by pointing out how our culture's obsession with women's outer looks are a misogynistic attack on our sex. Here are some of our favorite points:

For women, it's all about the outward appearance: "We are described and detailed, our faces and bodies analyzed and picked apart, our worth ascertained and ascribed based on the reduction of personhood to simple physical objectification. Our voices, our personhood, our potential, and our accomplishments are regularly minimized and muted."
Sexism against women comes from both sexes: "Patriarchy is not men. Patriarchy is a system in which both women and men participate. It privileges, inter alia, the interests of boys and men over the bodily integrity, autonomy, and dignity of girls and women. It is subtle, insidious, and never more dangerous than when women passionately deny that they themselves are engaging in it."
Striving for beauty is a lose-lose situation: "I ask especially how we can leverage strong female-to-female alliances to confront and change that there is no winning here as women. It doesn't actually matter if we are aging naturally, or resorting to surgical assistance. We experience brutal criticism. "
This constant critique of women's appearance affects more than we realize: "It affects each and every one of us, in multiple and nefarious ways: our self-image, how we show up in our relationships and at work, our sense of our worth, value, and potential as human beings."

Bread Winner: The Easiest Loaf You'll Ever Bake

Sara Yoo — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 10:40:45 PST

If bread is the staff of life, then this cook has been wobbling on shaky legs for much of her culinary career. What is it about baking bread that's so daunting? I suppose I've rationalized my bread-baking evasion by telling myself it takes too long and my spaghetti-noodle arms can't knead well enough. But I recognize those are silly excuses, so this week I set about tackling the easiest bread recipe I could find.

About five years ago, New York Times journalist Mark Bittman introduced the baking-phobic world to Jim Lahey's no-knead bread recipe and - in typical Bittman fashion - wowed us again by reducing the 24-hour process to a mere five hours. Camilla valiantly (and very successfully, I might add) took a stab at the original, but for those of us who can't plan further ahead than tonight's dinner, this may be the closest we'll come to a lovingly leavened, rustic loaf.

Bittman's recipe calls for a wet dough with plenty of yeast and leverages that high water content to steam the dough in a heavy lidded pot before browning the loaf. This process results in that crisp, crackly crust and fluffy, chewy interior that you crave in a rustic loaf, and all this without a single kneading stroke. Someday I'll pursue the weight training that will get my arms in bread-kneading shape. But until then, I thank Mr. Bittman for fostering my lazy side. For the recipe, keep reading.