90210 Spinoff Adds Three More to Its Cast

BuzzSugar — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 10:41:04 -0700

Yeah, yeah, I rolled my eyes a little too when I heard Lori Loughlin had been cast as the mom in the 90210 spinoff. But today's spate of casting news has me feeling much, much better about this little project. Witness the following:

Canadian cutie Shenae Grimes will play the lead teen, Annie Mills, an emo drama nerd trying to make it big with the cool crowd. OK, so that might not mean anything to you . . . unless you're a big fan of Degrassi: The Next Generation. Her character, Darcy, was stalked online, drugged at a party, and involved with breaking another cheerleader's leg on purpose, so she should be well prepared for the craziness of Beverly Hills. (Also, this was the role the producers were reportedly hoping Hilary Duff would take - so, whether this is good or bad news might depend on your feelings about Hilary Duff.)
Jessica Walter, aka Lucille Bluth, will play family matriarch Tabitha Mills, the alcoholic ex-actress who was linked to Warren Beatty in her heyday. She's the impetus for bringing her son, Harry, and his wife (Celia, Loughlin's character) back to 90210. See, I told you it was a good week for Arrested Development alumni.
There aren't a lot of details about this last piece of news yet, but Ryan Eggold - whom I fell a little bit in love with as Farber Kaufman on Dirt this season - has apparently also been cast. TV Guide describes his role just as "the teacher," Ryan. But just knowing I have another place to catch Eggold is good enough for me.

Does any of this warm your heart toward the spinoff? Or are you still a skeptic?

Source and Source

TV Tonight: Dirt

BuzzSugar — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 10:00:00 -0800

As has now been pretty well documented, I didn't make it all the way through the first season of Dirt. That's the bad news. The good news is, when I say I really enjoyed the first episode of the new season, it really means something.

Lucy (played, of course, by Courteney Cox, who I recently interviewed) is back after being stabbed at the conclusion of the first season. Don is getting his schizophrenia under control. And there's a host of new characters entering the Dirt atmosphere to make things interesting. Here are the top five things that worked for me in tonight's premiere:

Lucy is back - and she has a reason to be a little nice sometimes, or at least a little more conflicted about what she's doing. After all, it got her stabbed. She's still tough, and she'll still do anything for a picture, but now she's seen the dangers of it close up, which I think makes her a more interesting character.
Don is a little less crazy. He's on medication for his schizophrenia, which means fewer faux-artsy visions - though, at least
in the first episode, he still talks to his cat.
Farber Kaufman. This new character, played by Ryan Eggold, is my favorite of the new additions - both because of his journalism-golden-boy-gone-to-the-dark-side story and his flirty relationship with Willa.
The ripped-from-the-headlines plot lines are an improvement, as far as I'm concerned - including one that introduces the recurring character of a starlet who seems like Paris, Britney, and Lindsay all rolled into one teeny blond body.
A character points out that Don Konkey's name sounds like "Donkey Kong." It's a little thing, sure, but it immediately made me like the show about three degrees more.

Dirt premieres tonight at 10 p.m. To check out a preview and a clip from the first episode, just read more.

Photo courtesy of FX