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When "Star Trek: The Next Generation" first began in 1987, LeVar Burton was probably the biggest star in the cast. He had already been nominated for three Emmys, once in 1977 for playing Kunta Kinte in the celebrated miniseries "Roots," and two more in 1985 and 1986 for hosting the beloved book-based kid program "Reading Rainbow." The latter show would end up netting him 12 Emmy wins between 1990 and 2007, and cement his reputation as one of his generation's preeminent TV celebrities. The fact that he would be selected to play chief engineer Geordi La Forge on "Star Trek" only more deeply entrenched Burton in the public's awareness. 

Geordi La Forge was, more than anything, a nerd. He was deeply interested in machines and engines, and Burton was given the lion's share of NextGen's nonsensical polysyllabic technobabble. He was also notoriously undersexed. Geordi was equipped with a visor that tapped directly into his brain, feeding him...

Before securing the role of Data on "Star Trek: The Next Generation," actor Brent Spiner was perhaps most widely recognized for his recurring role as Bob Wheeler on the sitcom "Night Court." He also had one-shot appearances on various other hit TV shows like "Tales from the Darkside," "The Paper Chase," and "Ryan's Hope." He also had a bit part in the excellent cult musical "Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains" and was one of the background students in "Grease 2." Spiner had been acting in Broadway productions throughout the 1970s.

Data was a boon to his career, making him a household name, and giving him a role that he would continue to revisit for decades. Spiner has always felt ambivalent about Data, however, loving the fame, but resenting how he had been typecast. He has since referred to Data as a double-edged sword. That said, his post-"Star Trek...

Michael Preece, the script supervisor turned director who called the shots on multiple episodes of series including Hunter, Dallas and Walker, Texas Ranger, died Thursday. He was 88.

Preece died of heart failure at his Brentwood home in Los Angeles, his daughter, Gretchen Preece-Newman — wife of two-time Oscar-winning singer-songwriter Randy Newman — told The Hollywood Reporter.

Preece directed 19 episodes of NBC’s Hunter from 1984-90 during the show’s first six seasons; 62 installments of CBS’ Dallas from 1981-91 (seasons four through 14), plus the 1997 reunion telefilm War of the Ewings; and 70 episodes of CBS’ Walker, Texas Ranger during its nine-season, 1993-2001 run.

Preece also worked on The Bionic Woman, Barnaby Jones, Fantasy Island, Flamingo Road, T.J. Hooker, The New Mike Hammer, Riptide, Knots Landing, Falcon Crest, MacGyver, 7th Heaven and many other series before calling it a career in 2007.

Michael Conway Preece was born in Los Angeles on Sept. 15, 1936. His mother, Thelma, founded...

Warning! This post contains spoilers for Woman of the Hour.

Woman of the Hour reveals that Sally Field was once a contestant on The Dating Game, making it hard not to wonder who else participated in the TV game show before making it big in Hollywood. In its one-and-a-half-hour runtime, Anna Kendrick's true-story thriller, Woman of the Hour, walks through several murders committed by Rodney Alcala. However, even though it unfolds in several different timelines, its primary focus remains on the serial killer's appearance in The Dating Game and his encounter with Sheryl Bradshaw.

Before Woman of the Hour's Dating Game arc ensues, Sheryl is portrayed as a struggling actress who finds it hard to land auditions and secure her place in Hollywood's competitive world. Her agent eventually tells her about The Dating Game and promises her that her appearance on the game show will pave the way...

Tony Lo Bianco, who played the key role of Sal Boca in Best Picture Oscar winner The French Connection and appeared in more than 100 films and TV shows during a 60-year screen career, died Tuesday of prostate cancer at his home in Maryland. He was 87.

A rep confirmed his death to Fox News today.

Lo Bianco got his start guesting on 1960s TV series including The Doctors, Get Smart! and N.Y.P.D. before landing a big-screen star turn in 1970’s The Honeymoon Killers. That led to his signature role as Salvatore “Sal” Buco in William Friedkin’s seminal New York crime drama The French Connection the following year. His character is at the center of a drug deal followed by NYPD Detective Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle (Gene Hackman). The film won five Oscars including Best Picture and Lead Actor for Hackman.

Roy Scheider, left, and Tony Lo Bianco in ‘The French Connection,...

At the 27th Academy Awards, Oscar helped Edmond O’Brien win an Oscar.

O’Brien played sleazy show biz publicist Oscar Muldoon in 1954’s “The Barefoot Contessa,” which starred Humphrey Bogart and Ava Gardner. Bogart had been crowned Best Actor of 1951 for “The African Queen,” and had also contended for the same award for 1943’s Best Picture, “Casablanca.” Gardner was coming off of her first and only nomination, for Best Actress in 1953’s “Mogambo.” “The Barefoot Contessa” was written and directed by Academy favorite Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who had won back-to-back Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay Oscars for 1949’s “A Letter to Three Wives” and 1950’s Best Picture, “All About Eve.”

”The Barefoot Contessa” didn’t fare quite as well at the Oscars as “Letter” or “Eve.” Neither Bogart or Gardner received nominations, though Bogart was cited for his role in that same year’s Best Picture entry “The Caine Mutiny.

Erich Anderson, a prolific television actor perhaps best known for his portrayal on Felicity as the title character’s father, died of cancer June 1 in Los Angeles. He was 67.

His death was announced on social media by wife and actor Saxon Trainor.

Launching his film career in 1984 with a role in Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, Anderson was also featured at the same time in the TV series Bay City Blues. TV guest appearances kept him busy for the next years, with roles on The Paper Chase, Tour of Duty, and Quantum Leap, among others.

In 1990 he landed a recurring role that would become one of his most recognizable: On seven episodes of thirtysomething, he played Billy Sidel, a romantic partner for Polly Draper’s Ellyn Warren. After a sometimes rocky path, the two characters were married late in the series.

The ’90s also saw appearances on Star Trek: The Next Generation...

Meg Bennett, a Daytime Emmy Award-winning soap actress and writer whose credits included Santa Barbara and The Young and the Restless, has died. She was 75.

According to her obituary, Bennett passed away of cancer on April 11.

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Bennett played Megan Richardson in 1989 on NBC’s Santa Barbara, a soap centered on the Capwells, a wealthy Californian family. Bennett’s Richardson was an author tasked with writing a biography about C.

Normally, when you think of the kinds of roles that lend themselves to Oscar nominations and wins, it’s the big, splashy attention-getters that usually come to mind. Playing a historical figure or an A-list celebrity in a biopic is usually a good bet, for example, as is any prestige role that can bury an actor under latex and prosthetics. But if you take a quick look at many of the professions of the characters that have led its actors to Oscar nominations, you’ll find one route that might surprise you — play a teacher.

In a way, that makes sense, because teachers are, in their own way, performers, communicating facts and ideas in the most persuasive way possible. Even so, there is a wide array of personalities drawn to teaching — from nurturing caregivers (John Keating in “Dead Poets Society” comes to mind) to borderline sociopaths — that have proven to...

Normally, when you think of the kinds of roles that lend themselves to Oscar nominations and wins, it’s the big, splashy attention-getters that usually come to mind. Playing a historical figure or an A-list celebrity in a biopic is usually a good bet, for example, as is any prestige role that can bury an actor under latex and prosthetics. But if you take a quick look at many of the professions of the characters that have led its actors to Oscar nominations, you’ll find one route that might surprise you — play a teacher.

In a way, that makes sense, because teachers are, in their own way, performers, communicating facts and ideas in the most persuasive way possible. Even so, there is a wide array of personalities drawn to teaching — from nurturing caregivers (John Keating in “Dead Poets Society” comes to mind) to borderline sociopaths — that have proven to...

Every school has that certain teacher who is a bully, heartless and at times sadistic. Everyone must take their class, but no one finishes the course unscathed. Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti) of Alexander Payne’s acclaimed comedy-drama “The Holdovers” is one such instructor. Set in 1970, “The Holdovers” revolves around the by-the-books classics professor teaching at the same New England boarding school he had attended. Hunham is hated by his students, as well as his fellow teachers. And he’s also in hot water, after he failed one of the school’s largest donor’s son in his class. During the Christmas break, he is forced to supervise the “holdovers — -the students who for various reasons must stay on campus. He ends up sharing the holidays with one troubled student (Dominic Sessa) whose mother recently remarried; and the cafeteria administrator (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) grieving her only son’s death in the Vietnam War.

At the dawn of the 1980s, John Travolta was among the biggest film stars in the world. However, by the end of the decade, Travolta was in desperate need of a comeback.

The most logical explanation for the extended career slump that John Travolta experienced between the mid-1980s and mid-1990s is that Travolta stopped appearing in good films and, accordingly, made the public forget about the electrifying screen presence that Travolta projected in the films Blow Out, Grease, Saturday Night Fever, and Urban Cowboy.

Regardless, it stopped being cool to like Travolta. The flashpoint for Travolta’s stunning fall from grace in the 1980s was the 1985 romantic drama film Perfect, which, in addition to being a commercial and critical failure, also had the effect of turning Travolta into a proverbial joke.

After Perfect, Travolta didn’t appear in another feature film until the ill-fated 1989 comedy film The Experts,...

On December 26, 1973, horror fans endured long lines for the theatrical premiere of The Exorcist – a film that’s now considered by many to be the scariest movie ever made. Directed by William Friedkin and based on the bestselling novel by William Peter Blatty, The Exorcist broke box office records in its first week of release. Theater employees reported that moviegoers were passing out, becoming ill, and heading for the exits before the credits rolled because the subject matter was so disturbing and intense.

The creation of the classic horror film, which is the gold standard for movies dealing with possession and the devil, begins with Blatty’s novel published in 1971. Blatty’s story focused on a 12-year-old girl named Regan MacNeil who went from a happy-go-lucky, horse-loving preteen to a foul-mouthed, head-spinning nightmare after being possessed by a demon. Coming to Regan’s rescue were two Catholic priests who eventually...

19 years after filmmaker Alexander Payne and actor Paul Giamatti teamed up on Sideways, one of the finest films of the 21st century, the duo have reunited on The Holdovers, a 1970s period dramedy that had its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival’s Werner Herzog Theatre on Thursday afternoon — and might well bag Giamatti the best actor Oscar nom of which he was robbed for his prior collaboration with Payne.

Giamatti plays a pompous and sadistic teacher — reminiscent of the one in 1973’s The Paper Chase that brought an Oscar to John Houseman, a similarly great character actor — at the New England all-boys boarding school he once attended. He lands the undesirable assignment of overseeing preppy students who can’t go home for the holidays and can’t stand him, and winds up spending most of his time with one particularly smart but rebellious juvenile (talented newcomer Dominic Sessa...

Shelley Smith, the statuesque super model who starred alongside Martin Short on a sitcom and was a regular on game shows like The $10,000 Pyramid before she launched an egg-donor program to assist infertile couples, has died. She was 70.

Smith died Tuesday at Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital, her husband of 18 years, actor Michael Maguire, tearfully announced on social media. She had been in a coma after experiencing cardiac arrest three days earlier, and her health had deteriorated in the past year, he said.

On the 1979-80 ABC comedy The Associates, a sequel of sorts to The Paper Chase from creators James L. Brooks, Ed. Weinberger, Stan Daniels and Charlie Hauck, Smith played a sharp, upper-class Bostonian who works at a Wall Street law firm.

The show, which also featured Short, Joe Regalbuto, Alley Mills and Wilfrid Hyde-White — with whom she graced the cover of TV Guide in November 1979 — lasted just 13 episodes.

The 5-foot-9 Smith then played Capt.

John Wright, the film editor who received Oscar nominations for his work on Jan de Bont’s Speed and The Hunt for Red October, one of six movies he cut for John McTiernan, has died. He was 79.

Wright died April 20 at his home in Calabasas after a battle with prostate and bone cancer, his wife of 57 years, Jane Wright, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Wright’s résumé also included such other high-profile films as Sam Peckinpah’s Convoy (1978), Paul Michael Glaser’s The Running Man (1987), Stan Dragoti’s Necessary Roughness (1991), John Woo’s Broken Arrow (1996), Bryan Singer’s X-Men (2000), James Gartner’s Glory Road (2006) and Louis Leterrier’s The Incredible Hulk (2008).

He collaborated with directors Mel Gibson on The Passion of the Christ (2004) and Apocalypto (2006); with Graeme Clifford on Frances (1982) and Gleaming the Cube (1989); and with Randall Wallace on Secretariat (2010) and Heaven Is for Real (2014).

Wright was nominated for an Emmy...

The 2020 Best Supporting Actor lineup, which included performances that ranged from 43 to 56 minutes long, proved that high screen times are fairly common in the category. Six actors have won the award with over one hour of screen time, while an additional 18 nominees have passed that mark. Here is a look at the 10 performances that rank as the longest of them all (and here are the 10 longest winners):

10. Jeff Bridges (“Thunderbolt and Lightfoot”)

1 hour, 6 minutes, 23 seconds (57.74% of the film)

After Mickey Rooney and Sal Mineo, Bridges became the third man to receive two acting Oscar nominations by age 25, and there has not been another in the 45 years since. His second bid for playing the titular Lightfoot also earned him a spot on this list and was the 11th nominated supporting male performance to have over one hour of screen time. Bridges finally scored his first win at age 60, as a lead in “Crazy Heart,...

Hey, Oscar pundits: Don’t count out Bill Murray just yet to win Best Supporting Actor for his role in the A24/Apple TV+ release “On the Rocks.” Over the years this specific category has been the equivalent of the veterans achievement award, with 10 men claiming victory after the age of 70 (see below). Murray just turned 70 in September, which makes him one of only two septuagenarians in Gold Derby’s Top 8, the other being 73-year-old Paul Raci (“Sound of Metal”). Could Murray’s decades of experience in the industry give him a secret advantage in this race?

Murray plays Felix in “On the Rocks,” a caring father who gets involved in the marital troubles of his daughter Laura (Rashida Jones) and her possibly cheating husband Dean (Marlon Wayans). Sofia Coppola wrote and directed the dramedy film, which serves as a reunion of sorts between she and Murray. The first time...

Mike Fenton, the legendary casting director who worked on the “Back to the Future” franchise, “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and scores of other classic movies and TV shows, has died. He was 85.

Fenton co-founded what is now known as Casting Society of America in 1982. He was a prominent casting director for more than 40 years, with a mile-long resume that stretched from “The Andy Griffith Show” and “That Girl” to “Chinatown,” “American Graffiti,” “The Godfather II,” “Blade Runner,” “A Christmas Story,” “Norma Rae,” “Footloose,” “Honeymoon in Vegas” and “Chaplin.”

“Working with Mike Fenton was like working in a candy store — he made casting a blast,” Steven Spielberg said in a statement. “His fervent support of actors was the stuff of legend, and after landing a part, any actor’s smile was rarely as wide as Mike’s. He didn’t just support actors, he launched crusades.

There are many who champion the idea of the Best Supporting Actor Oscar category honoring traditionally secondary roles and lament the fact that it has fallen out of fashion. Still, plenty of performances short on screen time have prevailed in the category’s 84-year history. Here is a look at the 10 shortest of all time, including the record holder:

10. James Coburn (“Affliction”)

17 minutes, 10 seconds (15.03% of the film)

After a prolific acting career, James Coburn was finally rewarded in 1999 with his first Oscar nomination and win. At 70 years old, he was the oldest acting nominee of the year, as well as the only first time nominee in his lineup. His overdue narrative certainly helped him win, but so did the skillful quality of his performance. After four decades of portraying characters with limited screen time, Coburn made abusive father Glen Whitehouse the role of a lifetime.

9. Hugh Griffith (“Ben-Hur”)

16 minutes, 51 seconds...

Who was your favorite teacher? I ask that, and have no doubt that a special educator from your past instantly pops to mind. I could also easily ask, who was your least favorite teacher? Weirdest teacher? That one teacher who seemed to live at the school with no social life whatsoever?

SEE40 best TV doctors of all time, ranked

And, I bet if I asked who the most memorable educator from television is, someone will come to mind as well. Some of these fictional teachers seem like they would have been really neat to have as our own – like zany Ms. Day (“New Girl”) or the cool Mr. Kotter or Mr. Moore (“Head of the Class”), the kind but firm Mr. Feeny (“Boy Meets World”), or the challenging Mr. Schue (“Glee”). Or, ones like Professor Kingsfield (“The Paper Chase”) – who would make you shake in your shoes, but you wanted...

Who was your favorite teacher? I ask that, and have no doubt that a special educator from your past instantly pops to mind. I could also easily ask, who was your least favorite teacher? Weirdest teacher? That one teacher who seemed to live at the school with no social life whatsoever?

And, I bet if I asked who the most memorable educator from television is, someone will come to mind as well. Some of these fictional teachers seem like they would have been really neat to have as our own – like zany Ms. Day (“New Girl”) or the cool Mr. Kotter or Mr. Moore (“Head of the Class”), the kind but firm Mr. Feeny (“Boy Meets World”), or the challenging Mr. Schue (“Glee”). Or, ones like Professor Kingsfield (“The Paper Chase”) – who would make you shake in your shoes, but you wanted his class because he was the best. Then...

A version of this story about Thomas Newman and the Newman family first appeared in the Down to the Wire issue of TheWrap’s Oscar magazine.

When you think of the first families of the Oscars, you might think of the Coppolas, with nominations for director Francis Ford Coppola, his father Carmine, his daughter Sofia, his son Roman, his nephew Nicolas Cage, his former son-in-law Spike Jonze and his brother-in-law David Shire; or the Hustons, with Walter, his son John and John’s daughter Angelica all nominated.

But no family has more Oscar nominations than the Newmans. This year, the Academy’s most honored family received its record-breaking 91st, 92nd and 93rd nominations: a pair in the Best Original Score category for Thomas Newman’s “1917” and his cousin Randy Newman’s “Marriage Story,” and an additional nomination for Randy’s song “I Can’t Let You Throw Yourself Away” from...

The Best Supporting Actor Oscar category notoriously skews old — the top 10 oldest are at least 70 with an average of 75.1. That average could tick up this year if the statuette goes to Sam Elliott (“A Star Is Born”), who would be the sixth oldest supporting actor champ ever.

Elliott will be 74 years and 199 days old on Oscar night, and he would knock back Jack Palance (“City Slickers,” 1991) who was 73 years and 41 days old when he showed off his one-handed push-up prowess. The category’s oldest winner, of course, is Christopher Plummer, who was 82 years and 75 days old when he triumphed for “Beginners” (2011) and is also the oldest acting winner in any category. Plummer dethroned George Burns, who was the only other octogenarian supporting actor champ at 80 years and 69 days.

See ‘A Star Is Born’ at the Oscars: How did each version fare with the academy?

Often nicknamed the Career Achievement Award...

Songwriter Norman Gimbel, whose works won him an Oscar, Grammy and admission to the Songwriters Hall of Fame, has died. He passed on Dec. 19 at his home in Montecito, Calif. at age 91, according to a tribute posted by Bmi. Gimbel’s lyrics to Roberta Flack’s Killing Me Softly and Jim Croce’s I Got A Name were just some of the highlights of a catalog that reads like a compilation of 20th century hits. His lyrics graced the English language version of The Girl from Ipanema and the TV themes to Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley; he earned an Academy Award with David Shire for Jennifer Warnes’s It Goes Like It Goes; he was the Best Original Song winner for 1979’s Sally Field starrer Norma Rae; and shared the Grammy Song of the Year with longtime writing collaborator Charles Fox in 1973 for Killing Me Softly.Gimbel and...

The Best Supporting Actor Oscar race could be one for the ages. Timothee Chalamet (“Beautiful Boy”) could become the second youngest winner in the category, but on the other end of the spectrum, Sam Elliott (“A Star Is Born”) could become one of the oldest.

Elliott, who will be 74 years and 199 days old on the Feb. 24 ceremony, would become the sixth oldest Best Supporting Actor champ, dethroning Jack Palance who was 73 years and 41 days old when he did those one-handed push-ups. He’d be a few years off of the fifth spot, held by “Cocoon” (1981) Don Ameche, who was 77 years and 297 days old, and eight years shy of the record set by Christopher Plummer, who became the oldest acting winner in any category at 82 years and 75 days old when he prevailed for “Beginners” (2011).

See Sam Elliott (‘A Star Is Born’) on how he reacted when Bradley Cooper stole his voice...

This article marks Part 2 of the Gold Derby series reflecting on Horror Films at the Oscars. Join us as we look back at the spine-tingling movies that earned Academy Awards nominations, including the following films from the 1960s and 1970s.

Alfred Hitchcock‘s “Psycho” (1960) was met with enormous critical and commercial success upon release emerging the second-highest grossing film of the year, just behind Stanley Kubrick‘s “Spartacus.” Alas, the film was also greeted to a somewhat cool reception at the Oscars. “Psycho” did muster four nominations, in Best Director (Hitchcock’s fifth and final career bid), Best Supporting Actress (Janet Leigh), Best Art Direction and Best Cinematography. Notably absent was Anthony Perkins, unforgettable as Norman Bates. Leigh, who won the Golden Globe for her performance, was ultimately defeated by Shirley Jones (“Elmer Gantry”). The film also failed to win on any of its other three nominations.

The following year,...

The 1970s provided many older actors with their first Oscars, particularly in Best Supporting Actor. The decade also included what remains the only instance of an actor winning back-to-back Oscars in a supporting category. So which Best Supporting Actor Oscar winner of the 1970s do you like the best? Look back at each year’s winner and be sure to vote in the poll below!

John Mills, “Ryan’s Daughter” (1970) — Mills started the decade off with an Oscar win for playing the town fool Michael who uncovers a secret in “Ryan’s Daughter.” This was Mills’ only Oscar nomination and win, despite a very long career in film and television.

SEEJack Nicholson (‘Terms of Endearment’) blasts off after being voted top Best Supporting Actor Oscar winner of 1980s [Poll Results]

Ben Johnson, “The Last Picture Show” (1971) — Johnson would win his Oscar for “The Last Picture Show” in which he plays Sam the Lion,...

All but inventing the ‘new liberal exposé’ suspense format, James Bridges’ smart and effective thriller began as a star showcase with a political message. Its fictional nuclear accident hit screens just before a similar real nuclear accident happened in real life, at Three Mile Island. Historical synchronicity? Box office serendipity? One thing is certain — the show strongly affected the way we view the ‘miracle’ of nuclear-generated power.

The China Syndrome

Blu-ray

Powerhouse Indicator (UK)

1979 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 122 min. / Street Date June 18, 2017 / Available from Amazon UK £14.99

Starring: Jane Fonda, Jack Lemmon, Michael Douglas, James Hampton, Peter Donat, Wilford Brimley, Richard Herd, Daniel Valdez, Stan Bohrman, James Karen, Michael Alaimo, Donald Hotton.

Cinematography: James Crabe

Film Editor: David Rawlins

Production Design: George Jenkins

Written by James Bridges, Mike Gray and T.S. Cook

Produced by Michael Douglas

Directed by James Bridges

In 1979 Saturday Night Live was the hottest ticket on television; we were...

A lot of great TV horror movies rely on a final image, a real shocker, to hammer home the fear. But not all of them. When Michael Calls (1972) is a telefilm that measures out its chills, leading to a logical conclusion (for a small screen sinner) instead of an iconic screen shot for nostalgic viewers. Regardless, this one provides a platform for a solid thriller with a pedigree behind and in front of the camera.

Originally broadcast on Saturday, February 5th, as the ABC Movie of the Weekend, When Michael Calls had the normal competition from CBS’ New Dick Van Dyke Show/Mary Tyler Moore Show and NBC’s Saturday Night at the Movies. But ABC’s Movies of the Week (on Tuesday’s, and here) almost always won out with viewers, providing exciting, original fare. This one is no exception.

Let’s crack open our fair weathered faux TV...

When the residents of Stars Hollow reconvened for Netflix’s highly-anticipated revival series Gilmore Girls: A Year In the Life, one key member of the Gilmore family was missing: Edward Herrmann.

The actor, who played the distinguished family patriarch Richard Gilmore for seven seasons on the original Gilmore Girls series, passed away in 2014 at age 71 after a battle with brain cancer.

In the revival, which debuts Nov. 26, the cast and crew made certain he was there in spirit. His character Richard has also died on the show — but his memory provides key story points as his family processes his loss.

Somewhere, Jaime Sommers’ enhanced right ear is burning.

TVLine has learned that TV’s erstwhile Bionic Woman, Lindsay Wagner, will guest-star on CBS’ NCIS — as Agent Ellie Bishop’s mother.

Related2016 Renewal Scorecard: What’s Coming Back? What’s Getting Cancelled? What’s on the Bubble?

Wagner will appear in the most watched drama’s final sweeps outing, airing Tuesday, Nov. 24, when Bishop has cause to take a Thanksgiving-time trip back home to Oklahoma.

“I’m super excited about it, because I’m a huge Lindsay Wagner fan going back to The Paper Chase,” NCIS showrunner Gary Glasberg told us.

We take a look back at 1988's The Naked Gun, its timeless brand of comedy, and Leslie Nielsen's superb performance...

Detective Frank Drebin's outside his Los Angeles police precinct, squeezing off shots into the receding backside of his own car.

How this came to happen almost defies description. Having driven his Ford Crown Victoria into a couple of bins outside the building, Drebin stumbles out, seemingly oblivious to the airbags going off inside. One airbag knocks the car into drive and off the vehicle goes, almost running Drebin over as it rumbles downhill.

As an orchestrated bit of comedy cinema, it's the knockabout equivalent of the famous scene in The Untouchables, where Brian De Palma expertly wrings every drop of suspense from a pram thudding down a flight of stairs at a train station.

On the spur of the moment, Drebin comes to the conclusion that there's a criminal...

Heeeeere's Johnny! Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining" is just one title being added to Amazon Prime: Instant Video in June 2015. Classics like "Roman Holiday" and "Apocalypse Now" are also coming, along with more random additions like "Troll" (and "Troll 2"!) and "Leprechaun: Origins." Most of the additions are arriving June 1, which is just a couple of weeks away at this point, but here's the full list:

June 1

"The Shining"

"Roman Holiday"

"Apocalypse Now"

"Apocalypse Now Redux"

"Something Wild" (1986)

"Sid & Nancy"

"Sucker Punch"

"Troll"

"Troll 2"

"Rep: The Genetic Opera"

"The Island of Dr. Moreau"

"Seven Psychopaths"

"The Paper Chase"

"People Will Talk"

"Far From Home: The Adventures of Yellow Dog"

"Murder of a Cat"

"Nine Months"

"Word and Pictures"

June 12

"Life of Crime"

June 13

"Transformers: Age of Extinction"

June 15

"Leprechaun: Origins"

June 19

"A Most Wanted Man"

June 22

"Lucky Number Slevin"

June 24

"Covert Affairs" - Season 5

June 26

"Katy Perry: The Prismatic...

On March 27, 2005, ABC debuted a new hospital drama from executive producer Shonda Rhimes. Ten years and multiple accolades later, Grey's Anatomy is going strong at the network, and Rhimes is one of the industry's most influential showrunners. The Hollywood Reporter's original review of the show is below: For nearly a year, ABC preserved Grey's Anatomy in the network jar of formaldehyde, waiting for the right moment. Turns out that for this overdosed blend of The Paper Chase and ER, the right moment was about three decades ago. As a medical drama, the show has more in common with the sweetly

read more...

Edward Herrmann: Distinguished actor Edward Herrmann, who became best known for his role as a loving paternal figure on TV's Gilmore Girls, has died at the age of 71. Herrmann first scored with supporting roles in The Paper Chase and The Great Gatsby in the early 1970s, and remained busy throughout his long career, often playing establishment characters with great flair and humanity -- not to mention his delightful turn as a vampire in The Lost Boys. [CNN] Exodus: Gods and Kings: As we noted recently, Morocco has banned Ridley Scott's Exodus: Gods and Kings, but the government's decision has sparked unexpected controversy. Reportedly, the movie was banned because it portrays God in a scene, which is forbidden by Islam. Politicians, however, have raised objections...

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Edward Herrmann: Distinguished actor Edward Herrmann, who became best known for his role as a loving paternal figure on TV's Gilmore Girls, has died at the age of 71. Herrmann first scored with supporting roles in The Paper Chase and The Great Gatsby in the early 1970s, and remained busy throughout his long career, often playing establishment characters with great flair and humanity -- not to mention his delightful turn as a vampire in The Lost Boys. [CNN]   Neill Blomkamp:...

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By Lee Pfeiffer

The year 2014 has proven to be one of the cruelest in terms of depriving us of notable people in the arts. The year's morbid streak has continued  to the bitter end with the announcement of the death of noted character actor Edward Herrmann. The 71 year-old actor has passed away after a months-long battle with brain cancer. Herrmann, who was both an Emmy and Tony award winner, had worked steadily in films, TV and on stage since he first made his mark in the early 1970s. His feature film credits include "The Paper Chase", "Brass Target", "The Lost Boys", "The Great Gatsby", "The Purple Rose of Cairo", "Nixon" and "The Aviator". His TV credits include "Eleanor and Franklin", "The Practice" (for which he won an Emmy in a recurring role), "The Gilmore Girls", "The Good Wife", "How I Met Your Mother" and "M*A*S*H". For more on his life and career,...

We’re sad to report that Edward Herrmann has passed away at the age of 71.

According to Deadline, Edward Herrmann passed away in New York this morning of brain cancer. About one year ago, Herrmann was diagnosed with a “Stage 4 glioblastoma brain tumor.”

When you think of Herrmann’s 40+ year acting career, the words “durable”, “eclectic”, and “classy” may come to mind. A Bucknell University graduate, Herrmann cut his teeth in theatre before making his credited feature film debut in 1973’s The Paper Chase. Later that same decade, Herrmann portrayed two iconic real-life characters in TV movies: United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1976’s Eleanor and Franklin and 1977’s Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years and New York Yankees legend Lou Gehrig in 1978’s A Love Affair: The Eleanor and Lou Gehrig Story.

Herrmann stayed busy throughout the early to mid-1980’s, guest-starring on the “Heal Thyself” episode of M*A*S*H,...

Character actor Edward Herrmann has died at the age of 71. The news was first reported by TMZ and confirmed by Buzzfeed. Herrmann's career spanned over four decades and it's no wonder that he's being memorialized today in different ways by different generations of film, TV and theater audiences.  Most recently, Herrmann was beloved for his performance as Richard Gilmore on The WB's "Gilmore Girls." The performance capped years as one of Hollywood's go-to actors for roles as patrician parents, lofty corporate board members and other ostensibly rigid WASPs. The catch with Richard Gilmore was that while he was introduced as seemingly out-of-touch and disapproving when it came to daughter Lorelai, his warmth for both his estranged progeny and for granddaughter Rory was a key source of "Gilmore Girls" heart. Herrmann and Kelly Bishop's parts could have been marginalized, what with The WB's focus on young female viewers, but the...

Edward Herrmann, an Emmy-winning character actor best known for his seven-season run on Gilmore Girls and his long run as the voice of the History Channel, died today at a New York hospital where he was being treated for brain cancer. He was 71. The actor’s manager, Robbie Kass, told Deadline Herrmann died a year after being diagnosed with a Stage 4 glioblastoma brain tumor. “Besides being an accomplished actor, Ed was also a true gentleman and a scholar, as well as being an incredibly kind and decent man,” Kass said. “He will be sorely missed.”

Herrmann worked in TV and films for more than 40 years, racking up more than 120 credits. He began his career on the big screen in such movies as The Paper Chase, The Great Gatsby and The Great Waldo Pepper before landing the role of Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the 1976 ABC telefilm Eleanor And Franklin, playing the...

Long-time character actor Edward Herrmann has lost a battle with brain cancer and has died at the age of 71. Herrmann was known for his strikingly tall physical presence, kind and sympathetic demeanour, and distinct voice. He is best remembered for his countless supporting parts in numerous films and TV shows.

Amongst his big screen works are key roles in films such as "The Lost Boys," "Overboard," "The Aviator," "The Cat's Meow," "Nixon," "Annie," "Reds," "The Great Gatsby," "The Betsy," "Intolerable Cruelty," "Born Yesterday," "The Great Waldo Pepper," "Harry's War," "Rko 281," "The Paper Chase," "Big Business," and "Richie Rich".

On the small screen he is best known for his regular role as Richard Gilmore on "Gilmore Girls," narrating countless History Channel docos, and guest starring roles galore on shows like "The Practice," "Oz," "Grey's Anatomy," "30 Rock," and two "Eleanor and Franklin" TV movies for which he scored Emmy nominations. He...

Long-time character actor Edward Herrmann has lost a battle with brain cancer and has died at the age of 71. Herrmann was known for his strikingly tall physical presence, kind and sympathetic demeanour, and distinct voice. He is best remembered for his countless supporting parts in numerous films and TV shows.

Amongst his big screen works are key roles in films such as "The Lost Boys," "Overboard," "The Aviator," "The Cat's Meow," "Nixon," "Annie," "Reds," "The Great Gatsby," "The Betsy," "Intolerable Cruelty," "Born Yesterday," "The Great Waldo Pepper," "Harry's War," "Rko 281," "The Paper Chase," "Big Business," and "Richie Rich".

On the small screen he is best known for his regular role as Richard Gilmore on "Gilmore Girls," narrating countless History Channel docos, and guest starring roles galore on shows like "The Practice," "Oz," "Grey's Anatomy," "30 Rock," and two "Eleanor and Franklin" TV movies for which he scored Emmy nominations. He...

We couldn't get through the final day of 2014 without losing another recognized face from film and television as we remember character actor Edward Hermann who has passed away at the age of 71. Hermann succumbed after a long battle with brain cancer, depriving the world of stage and screen of another performer. Hermann began his career in the 1970s working on films like The Paper Chase, The Great Waldo Pepper, and Robert Altman's M*A*S*H. In his career, he worked with everyone from Woody...

Netflix giveth and Netflix taketh away.

While everyone's favorite subscription streaming service is adding a ton of awesome movies and TV shows in December, it's also yanking a huge list of popular titles from its library. Below is said list. I'm especially sad to see "Dirty Dancing" and "The Talented Mr. Ripley" go. Those movies are the sh...

Watch them while you can!

Movies Being Dropped by Netflix on December 1st

"1941" (1979)

"The Apostle" (1997)

"Audrey Rose" (1977)

"The Believers" (1987)

"Better than Chocolate" (1999)

"Blood & Chocolate" (2007)

"The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" (2008)

"Chaplin" (1992)

"The Choirboys" (1977)

"The Cockeyed Cowboys of Calico County" (1970)

"Coffee and Cigarettes" (2003)

"The Cold Light of Day" (1996)

"The Constant Gardener" (2005)

"Count Yorga, Vampire" (1970)

"Cry-Baby" (1990)

"Dirty Dancing" (1987)

"Double Indemnity" (1944)

"En la Cama" (2005)

"Event Horizon" (1997)

"Eye for an Eye" (1996)

"Fairy Tale: A True Story" (1997)

"First Knight" (1995)

"Five Easy Pieces" (1970)

"Foreign Student" (1994)

"Free Men" (2011)

"Funny Lady" (1975)

"The Ghost and Mrs Muir" (1947)

"The Girl from Petrovka...

Last night's premiere of How to Get Away With Murder lit up Twitter like crazy and further solidified Shonda Rhimes's position as ABC's Mvp. Viola Davis stars as the super-intimidating lawyer and law-school professor Annalise Keating, who bounces between terrifying her (often wimpy) students and winning high-profile cases through questionable courtroom strategies. She's brilliant! She's tough! And she wears leather jackets in business-formal settings, so you know she's serious. On the whole, Murder is a dark, zippy murder-mystery series — though fans of legal fiction might find the pilot pretty familiar. Some moments were straight out of The Paper Chase, another recalled 12 Angry Men, but the two biggest overlaps are Damages and Legally Blonde. And it's a lot like both.Davis is the star of Murder, but we see a lot of the show through the eyes of law student Wes Gibbins (Alfred Enoch, a.k.a. Dean Thomas from...

First, the good news: Viola Davis, the marquee name headlining ABC's new procedural How to Get Away with Murder, is every bit as commanding as you figured she'd be. And the show around her is lively. Executive-produced by Shonda Rhimes and created by Peter Nowalk (who has written for Rhimes's Grey's Anatomy and Scandal), it feels like a hip, bouncy version of one of the countless CBS crime series built around a mercurial and assholish fortysomething genius surrounded by gifted but unseasoned whippersnappers.Davis's character, law professor and defense attorney Annalise Keating, is John Houseman from The Paper Chase crossed with Alan Dershowitz (who's named-checked in an early scene in which the show's erstwhile protagonist, Alfred Enoch's Wes Gibbins, first enters the heroine's classroom). She's cool and imperious and wears a brownish-red leather jacket that might have been filched from Tyler Durden's closet. She interrogates her students as if...

There are two shows at war with each other inside "How to Get Away with Murder," which joins an all-Shonda Rhimes night of programming (though this one is only produced by Rhimes; Pete Nowalk created it) on ABC tonight at 10. One is a formulaic legal procedure in which yet another brilliant, inscrutable master of the profession with questionable social skills mentors a group of impressionable young students, each week closing a new case and imparting a new lesson. The other is a complicated serialized mystery with a fractured timeline designed to keep the audience on its toes as to who did what, and why, and whether we should be pulling for any of them to live up to the show's title. If I've correctly read the fine print on the back of my membership card to the TV critics club, I believe I'm supposed to prefer the second show.

Often called “The Prince of Darkness” for his tendency to artfully cloak onscreen characters in ominous shadows, cinematographer Gordon Willis was the closest thing Hollywood had to a Rembrandt. His playful visual style, daring use of chiaroscuro, and seemingly effortless ability to conjure a mood of unsettling paranoia made him the ideal Director of Photography for the 1970s — a glorious filmmaking decade when Technicolor artifice was swept aside for New Hollywood naturalism.

Whether working with Francis Ford Coppola on The Godfather saga, Alan J. Pakula on his dizzying Watergate-era conspiracy thrillers All The President’s Men and The Parallax View,...

One of Hollywood's most celebrated and influential cinematographers has died. Gordon Willis was 82. Suzanne Berestecky of the Chapman Cole & Gleason funeral home in Falmouth, Mass., confirmed Monday that he died and that the home is handling arrangements. Details on Willis's death were not immediately available. Willis was nicknamed The Prince of Darkness for his subtle but indelible touch on such definitive 1970s releases as The Godfather, 'Annie Hall and All the President's Men. He retired after the 1997 movie The Devil's Own. Through much of the 1970s, Willis was the cameraman whom some of Hollywood's top directors relied on during one of filmmaking's greatest eras.