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Tag: the odd couple

  • Julia Roberts Honors Late Director Mike Nichols, Calling Him Her ‘Most Cherished Friend’

    Julia Roberts Honors Late Director Mike Nichols, Calling Him Her ‘Most Cherished Friend’

    Julia Roberts has joined the throngs of entertainers to remember legendary director Mike Nichols, who died Wednesday at the age of 83.

    “There are so few heroes in our world. So few impeccable craftsmen, so few people who personify unconditional love and friendship. Mike Nichols was like no other. In every way he was remarkable and amazing,” Roberts said in a statement to People Magazine.

    The 47-year-old actress worked with Nichols on his last two films, 2004’s Closer and 2007’s Charlie Wilson’s War.

    “His musings were like pearls, his jokes were timeless and perfectly placed, his stories – detailed and wholly entertaining, his warm embrace was where you wanted to live forever,” Roberts said in the statement.

    “He savored life and friends and French macarons. He always, always told the truth. He loved Diane utterly, immeasurably, magically,” Roberts said of Nichols’s marriage to ABC News anchor Diane Sawyer.

    “He was my most cherished friend.”

    The entertainment industry is still reeling from the news of Nichols’ death from an apparent heart attack.

    ABC News President James Goldston announced the famed director’s death Thursday morning.

    “He was a true visionary, winning the highest honors in the arts for his work as a director, writer, producer and comic and was one of a tiny few to win the EGOT-an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony in his lifetime,” Goldston said in the statement.

    “No one was more passionate about his craft than Mike.”

    Some of Nichols’ most noted films include Barefoot in the Park, Annie, The Odd Couple, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and The Graduate.

    Earning an Oscar for best director for The Graduate, he also directed Carnal Knowledge, Working Girl, and The Birdcage.

  • Katharine McPhee, Matthew Perry in new CBS Shows

    CBS has announced the pick-ups of five new dramas and two new comedies, bringing Katharine McPhee and Matthew Perry back to the small screen.

    McPhee will star alongside Robert Patrick and Eddie Kyle Thomas in Scorpion, a drama that follows an eccentric genius (Patrick) and his international network of super-geniuses out to battle threats of the modern age.

    Matthew Perry will take on the role of Oscar Madison — originally played by Jack Klugman — in a remake of the 1970s iconic series The Odd Couple. The Friends actor co-wrote the first script and will serve as an executive producer. Thomas Lennon will take on the role of the iconic neat freak, Felix Unger, made famous by Tony Randall.

    Hunky Josh Duhamel and Dean Winters will play detectives with very different world views on Battle Creek, and Tea Leoni has signed on to play Secretary of State Elizabeth McCord in the political drama Madam Secretary.

    Another family comedy, McCarthy’s, will star Laurie Metcalf and Tyler Ritter as members of a big, sports-crazed Irish Catholic family in Boston.

    The Following‘s Kevin Williamson brings a new psychological thriller to the lineup with Stalker. The series stars American Horror Story‘s Dylan McDermott and Nikita‘s Maggie Q as two detectives handling stalking cases for the Threat Management Unit of the LAPD.

    And, yes, there will be new CSI and NCIS spin-offs with the new CSI: Cyber, staring Partricia Arquette as Special Agent in Charge at the Cyber Crime Division of the FBI Avery Ryan, and NCIS: New Orleans, starring Scott Bakula as Special Agent Dwayne Pride.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Courteney Cox to David Letterman: No ‘Friends’ Reunion

    Courteney Cox recently told David Letterman that a Friends reunion show is “not gonna happen.”

    Cox appeared on The Late Show Monday night and Letterman asked the inevitable question: will there be a Friends reunion?

    Cox said she can’t even get the six former cast members together for dinner due to conflicting schedules and the fact that they all live on opposite coasts now. If she hasn’t been able to accomplish that – and she claims to have been trying since the show went off air – how could a reunion show or movie happen?

    Cox is still on the west coast, living in Malibu with her nine-year-old daughter Coco and boyfriend, Snow Patrol rocker Johnny McDaid.

    Cox has played Jules Cobb on Cougar Town since the series premiered in 2009. She’s also worked as a director on the show since 2012.

    Former Friends star Jennifer Aniston has continued to be a household name in the years since the series ended in 2004, but what about the other cast members?

    Matthew Perry is still involved in television. News broke in December that he would write, produce, and star in an Odd Couple reboot on CBS.

    “Ever since seeing the movie The Odd Couple when I was 10 years old, it has been a dream for me to play Oscar Madison,” Perry said. “To be given the opportunity to develop a modern version of it for CBS has put a permanent smile across my face.”

    Lisa Kudrow recently voiced a character in Lovesick Fool: Love in the Age of Like. The animated short co-stars Janeane Garofalo and Fred Willard. It’s written and directed by Dominic Polcino who is well-known for his work on Family Guy, King of the Hill, and The Simpsons.

    Kudrow is also collaborating with Scandal’s Dan Bucatinsky and Dan Savage on the documentary series It Got Better, after having made a few guest appearances on Scandal herself in 2013.

    Matt LeBlanc has starred as a fictional version of himself on the BBC/Showtime series Episodes since 2011. In 2012 he won a Golden Globe for the role.

    Finally, David Schwimmer is voicing a character in The Penguins of Madagascar which is slated for a March 2015 release. Benedict Cumberbatch, John Malkovich, Chris Rock, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Ben Stiller will also lend their voices to the film.

    Image via YouTube

  • George Wendt: Chest Pains Send Him To Hospital

    George Wendt, famous for his role as Norm on the long-running sitcom “Cheers”, was hospitalized on Sunday after chest pains caused him to leave rehearsals for the play he’s working on in Chicago.

    Wendt will be replaced in a production of “The Odd Couple” by Marc Grapey, but more importantly, he is expected to make a full recovery.

    “George is family to us at Northlight and we wish him well for a complete and speedy recovery,” Odd Couple director B.J. Jones said. “He will be missed in the rehearsal room and on stage.”

    Jones went on to say, “We are so fortunate to have the brilliant Chicago actor Marc Grapey on our team, who was in the Broadway company of ‘The Odd Couple,’ covering for both Nathan Lane and going on for Matthew Broderick. Marc will step in to the role and we couldn’t be more pleased to have his talent and energy in the cast.”