News

Most of the main "Seinfeld" cast struggled a bit in the years after the show ended. After you've created one of the biggest sitcoms of all times, what's next? Julia Louis-Dreyfus' first attempt at a new sitcom, "Watching Ellie," was cancelled after one season. Meanwhile it took nine years before Jerry Seinfeld could make his cinematic masterpiece, "Bee Movie." And as for Michael Richards? Well, let's not talk about him. 

Jason Alexander, who played arguably the show's standout supporting character George Costanza, has never landed a role even close to the same level. That's not to say he's a failure of course; he's still had countless roles in TV, film and theater. He's one of those actors who will stop by your favorite show for an episode or two, and no viewer will ever be upset to see him there. My personal favorite surprise Jason Alexander appearance is when he...

The Batman villain Harley Quinn made her debut on the "Batman: The Animated Series" episodes "Joker's Favor", where she was voiced by actress Arleen Sorkin. The character was envisioned as a clown-like moll for the Joker, and was given a ditzy personality and a broad Noo Yawk accent. She proved to be so popular that she was eventually incorporated into Batman comic books, and soon grew to have titles of her own. Over the years, Harley Quinn has appeared in multiple TV shows and movies, most recently played in live-action by Lady Gaga in "Joker: Folie à Deux." 

Fun trivia: Harley Quinn was actually preceded by a very, very similar character called Prank (Corinne Bohrer), a clown-like moll to a very Joker-like villain named the Trickster (Mark Hamill) on a 1991 episode of "The Flash." Whether or not the makers of "Batman: The Animated Series" were aware of Prank is a matter of speculation.

Art imitates wife, as they say.

True Blood vet Lauren Bowles will play wife to her real-life husband, Patrick Fischler, in an upcoming episode of CBS’ NCIS: Origins prequel spinoff.

More from TVLineShifting Gears Enlists Nancy Travis for Last Man Standing Reunion With Tim Allen - Watch Exclusive Sneak PeekJay Leno to Reunite With Tim Allen on Shifting Gears - Get a First LookMatthew Rhys to Lead Widow's Bay Series for Apple TV+

As my Inside Line column reported just last week, an upcoming NCIS: Origins episode will introduce viewers to Special Agent in Charge Cliff Wheeler’s wife Shelly...

One of the biggest TV shows in the history of entertainment, Seinfeld is still as famous as ever. Created and starring Jerry Seinfeld as a fictional character, it was the series’ witty writing and impeccable comedic timing that made it as popular as it is now. No less than a phenomenon, the series eventually inspired a bunch of lingo and even a curse.

Seinfeld

Coined after the extremely famous lead actors of the hit NBC show failed to have any successful shows following the end of Seinfeld, the Seinfeld curse is a term specifically used to refer to the feats of the three Seinfeld actors- Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jason Alexander, and Michael Richards following the end of the show. And among them all Louis-Dreyfus fought particularly hard to break it, only for her show to brutally crash.

When Julia Louis-Dreyfus Tried to Break the Seinfeld Curse Julia Louis-Dreyfus in Seinfeld

Julia...

Julia Louis-Dreyfus was one-fourth of the power quad that made up the core cast of “Seinfeld,” the beloved and notorious ’90s sitcom. Still, that doesn’t mean she knows anything about a potential new ending to the series.

After Jerry Seinfeld told an audience he “has a little secret” a secret about the show, Louis-Dreyfus told The Guardian, “Yeah, I just saw [that news] last night. And I don’t know what the hell he’s talking about.”

Seinfeld made his announcement during a stand-up set in Boston on Oct. 7. In reference to the series finale, he said, “Something is going to happen that has to do with that ending. It hasn’t happened yet.”

He added, “Just what you are thinking about, Larry [David] and I have also been thinking about. So, you’ll see.”

In May, Louis-Dreyfus admitted she endured a “real grief period” when “Seinfeld” ended in 1998. In spite of that,...

You Hurt My Feelings is one of those delightful films in which you could honestly envision a whole movie about each character, and would want to watch it. Even tangential characters, like the couple who want a refund for years of unsuccessful therapy (a hilarious David Cross and Amber Tambyln) are interesting and fun enough, in their own way. But it's the main four characters of Nicole Holofcener's new instant classic that obviously stand out the most here. They're delightful company in one of the best films of the year.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus plays Beth, a writer whose new literary efforts are frequently rejected by her publisher. Her husband, Don (Tobias Menzies), is a therapist who is beginning to doubt that he's actually effective or good at his job. Beth's sister, Sarah (Michaela Watkins) is an interior designer for the frequently indecisive and picky upper echelon clientele of New York.

It’s Benes, you jackass–and while we’re at it, there’s no Seinfeld Curse! Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who played Elaine Benes on the sitcom, can’t believe such an idea exists, let alone that people went along with it.

The Seinfeld Curse refers to much of the core cast’s inability to maintain another sitcom in the years following Seinfeld going off the air. But despite some evidence for theorists to bring to the table, Louis-Dreyfus says it’s about as interesting as The English Patient. Speaking with Rolling Stone, the actress said, “It was invented by the media. They thought it was clever. You don’t need me to prove it wrong, it was ridiculous! It made no sense. I was amazed that it had legs, because it was so moronic. I don’t know how else to say it!”

Here are the primary exhibits in the case...

Did you feel disappointed with Seinfeld’s finale? Julia Louis-Dreyfus totally gets it. Originally airing for nine seasons on NBC between 1989 and 1998, Seinfeld stands tall as one of the most popular and most acclaimed television shows of all time. Years past its television run, the series has continued to be watched regularly by fans thanks to reruns and streaming.

But, as it has happened with many other great television hits, the ending wasn't the most satisfying for fans. With the audience constantly revisiting the show (especially with its inclusion on Netflix), the comments about the conclusion and its perceived failures are more present than ever. And Julia Louis-Dreyfus agrees.

Speaking to The Daily Beast, the actress confessed that she perfectly understands how the fans feel about the finale:

“Well, I will say that just from a purely emotional point of view, it was really a delight to sit there in...

Julia Louis-Dreyfus became a comedy icon for playing Elaine Benes on nine seasons of NBC’s “Seinfeld,” but the role wasn’t completely fulfilling for her when the show first got off the ground. Speaking to The Daily Beast, Louis-Dreyfus revealed she regularly urged series creators Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld to give her character more to do on the show.

“Well, I never really approached it from the perspective of my gender, per se. I wanted to just play ball with everybody,” Louis-Dreyfus said about the role. “I’m not going to lie, in the beginning, I didn’t always have a lot to do in certain episodes. And I would go to Larry and Jerry multiple times and say, ‘Hey, you guys, write me more, I need to be in this show more.’ That’s what I just kept doing. And they did.”

“But you see, they didn...

Julia Louis-Dreyfus has some thoughts on the so-called Seinfeld curse, the idea that the cast of the hit sitcom was unable to find success after the show ended.

However, Louis-Dreyfus proved that there was no such curse starring on Emmy-winning shows like The New Adventures of Old Christine and Veep.

“It was invented by the media,” Louis-Dreyfus told Rolling Stone in an interview. “They thought it was clever. You don’t need me to prove it wrong, it was ridiculous! It made no sense. I was amazed that it had legs, because it was so moronic. I don’t know how else to say it!”

The alleged curse was fueled by the short-lived projects of some of its cast members after Seinfeld ended its successful run on NBC after 9 seasons. Louis-Dreyfus went on to star in Watching Ellie for the peacock network in 2002. The first season of the single-camera comedy...

Julia Louis-Dreyfus said in a recent interview with Rolling Stone that the media invented the “Seinfeld curse,” a term which was used to describe the alleged lack of success for “Seinfeld” stars Jerry Seinfeld, Louis-Dreyfus, Michael Richards and Jason Alexander following the end of the iconic NBC sitcom.

“I think any time a project ends, it’s gutting for me,” Louis-Dreyfus said. “And that’s true of movies and TV shows. There is a focus and a camaraderie that’s very much present when you’re working hard on a project that you believe in, and when the circus leaves town, it’s a huge transition. There’s a real feeling of sadness for me. ‘Where did all my buddies go?’ ‘Where are my friends?'”

When Rolling Stone brought up the curse, Louis-Dreyfus added: “It was invented by the media. They thought it was clever. You don’t need me to prove it wrong,...

Let’s take a moment to give Julia Louis-Dreyfus some much-deserved praise. As HBO’s “Veep” ends its run — and aims to add a coda to its already amazing haul over the years at the Emmys — the actress is poised to make history one more time this September.

All signs point to another win in the lead comedy actress category for Louis-Dreyfus, which would make her ninth as a performer overall. That would place her ahead of Cloris Leachman, with whom she’s currently tied, at eight each. Louis-Dreyfus already is in the books for winning the most acting Emmys in the same role and on the same series — six, for playing Selina Meyer on “Veep.”

That makes it all the more funny to think that once upon a time there was such a thing as a “‘Seinfeld’ curse.” In the years that followed the 1998 series finale of “Seinfeld,” the...

Washington, D.C. — Actress and comedian Julia Louis-Dreyfus accepted the Kennedy Center’s 21st annual Mark Twain Prize Sunday with heartfelt thanks to the cadre of colleagues gathered to pay tribute to the “Veep” star during in a warm and spontaneous evening that recounted her illustrious career. Not surprisingly, some of the event’s most pointed material was aimed at the Trump administration.

“I grew up in the D.C. area during the quaint, old-fashioned Rule of Law period,” Louis-Dreyfus said during comments upon accepting the honor from Kennedy Center Chairman David Rubenstein – a small bust of author Samuel Clemens.

Louis-Dreyfus noted that she attended the private Maryland girls school Holton Arms, “which has been in the news lately” (in connection with new Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh). Recalling her performance there in a play, she said she still remembers every detail of the occasion. “But I don’t remember...

Meg Ryan is attached to produce–and potentially star–in a single-camera comedy series currently in the works at NBC.

The project is titled “The Obsolescents” and takes place in a New Jersey suburb where the facade of peace and civility is disrupted by the shocking death of a long-time Township Council member.

The series hails from writer and executive producer Andrew Gottlieb, with Lorne Michaels and Andrew Singer also executive producing via Broadway Video along with Ryan. Universal Television will produce along with Broadway Video, which is currently under an overall deal at the studio.

Should the project move forward with Ryan starring, it would mark one of the few TV roles the actress has taken on in her career. She is known for her film roles, having starred in features like “When Harry Met Sally,” “Sleepless in Seattle,” and ‘You’ve Got Mail.” It was also announced last...

Sitcoms don’t really lend themselves to ambition, and the the ones that have strived for more nontraditional presentations (The Good Place notwithstanding) tend not to have the best track record—just look at Mixology or Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ misbegotten Watching Ellie. Character and comedy are the driving forces of a…

Read more...

Julia Louis-Dreyfus was already a comedy legend before Veep – but it turns out she was just hitting her prime. The actress has spent five years on HBO's D.C. satire as foul-mouthed President Selina Meyer, who claws her way to the Oval Office just to lose it again. The 56-year-old started out on Saturday Night Live before reaching stardom as Elaine on Seinfeld, the most spongeworthy of sitcom heroines. In the new Veep season, she's as fearsome as ever, snarling political observations like, "This election is going down like Eleanor Roosevelt at Dinah Shore Weekend.

Meg Ryan is making the best of a bad vacation.

The actress, famous for her work in big-screen romantic comedies like You’ve Got Mail and When Harry Met Sally, will star in Epix’s half-hour comedy series Picture Paris, our sister site Deadline reports.

Based on the 2011 short film of the same name — which originally starred Julia Louis-Dreyfus in Ryan’s role — Picture Paris follows a couple of suburban empty nesters whose trip to the City of Lights doesn’t go exactly as they expected.

RelatedGet Shorty Series Ordered at Epix

Brad Hall, who wrote and directed the original Picture Paris,...

For this week’s spotlight piece, I wanted to look at someone from the cast of the upcoming movie Foxcatcher. I had three incredibly talented men to choose from, but I ultimately went with Steve Carell, a talented comedic actor finally getting his time to shine dramatically. The man has been snubbed for Oscar attention before, but this very well could be the year that he finally breaks through and gets an Academy Award nomination. That would cement him not only as the A-list comedy star, but as a truly respected dramatic performer as well. As such, he’s a perfect candidate to shine a spotlight on today. Carell first got his start on the small screen, showing up on television programs like The Dana Carvey Show, Over the Top, Watching Ellie, and of course The Daily Show. The latter was where he really made his initial mark, playing a correspondent.

The digital age has changed television dramatically within the past two decades. With the advent of cable channels, home video media, dish on demand and the internet, the average TV viewer has a variety of venues to access television programs. With all these ways to access television shows, the viewing audience has become more aware of repetitive story lines, inconsistency in character development and continuity errors. In short, these advances in technology have made for a more sophisticated casual television viewer, therefore allowing for the progression of serialized storytelling.

Today’s television writers have a landscape to develop complex narratives beyond the limitations of the episodic format, and now that audiences have better accessibility to these shows, there is a higher demand for serialized storytelling where there wasn’t one before.

Although there have been many television shows that have contributed to the overall progression of the modern serialized television series,...

From Oscar-winning to Homeland and more, here's what the cast of My So-Called Life have been up to over the past 2 decades...

Twenty years has passed since we were first introduced to the characters of My So-Called Life, twenty years! Where has the time gone? And more importantly when did I get so old?

While most of you won’t really care too much what I’ve been up to since the show finished, let’s take a look at what the actors have been up to in the years since the cancellation of what is frankly the greatest teen TV drama ever.

Claire Danes (Angela Chase)

After breaking out in My So-Called Life, Danes focused on her film career first with a leading role in 1995’s Little Women and then supporting roles in smaller but interesting films like Home For The Holidays, How to Make An American Quilt and...

Julia Louis-Dreyfus is wearing absolutely nothing but the immortal words of America's founding fathers on the cover of the next issue of Rolling Stone, which hits newsstands this Friday.

Watch Julia Louis-Dreyfus and the Veep cast's 25 best insults

Contributing editor Vanessa Grigoriadis scored an equally revealing story from the 53-year-old star of the HBO political satire Veep, who has anchored two other shows since her smash success in Seinfeld – Watching Ellie and The New Adventures of Old Christine – and recently appeared opposite James Gandolfini in his final film, Enough Said.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus pulls up to the mouth of the Temescal Canyon hiking trail in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles in her gray Tesla, then jumps out in a flurry. Standing barely five-feet-three and mostly made of muscle mass, with wowee brown eyes, a heart-shaped face and energy as coiled as her hair, it’s hard to believe she’s in her mid-fifties. This is the morning ritual Louis-Dreyfus prefers: a stout hike after rising from bed around 6 a.m.; a sadistic fitness class involving cardio and weights; or,...

Everyone — stars included — has that one show or movie they believe hasn’t received the attention it deserves. EW asked some celebrities, ranging from director John Waters to actress Allison Janney, what shows or movies they think are criminally underrated. Here’s what they said:

John Waters, director Hairspray, Serial Mom

“Bruno Dumont’s movies, which are all long, depressing, French art movies about farmers and the earth and misery [such as Humanité]. I love a feel-bad movie. I hate to feel good at a theater. There is such honesty in the pain he puts on screen.”

John Lasseter, director Toy Story, Cars...

“Modern Family” executive producer Danny Zuker has signed a new three-year overall deal with 20th Century Fox Television. Under the terms of the agreement, Zuker will continue to exec produce the ABC hit comedy. He will also develop new television projects for network and cable. Zuker earned producer and executive producer credits on “Grace Under Fire” and “Just Shoot Me!,” respectively. He also worked on “Coupling” and “Watching Ellie.” Also read: Fox Renews ‘Bones’ for Season 10, ‘Kitchen Nightmares’ Season 6 “Danny is someone every showrunner and network wants to work with,” said Gary Newman, chairman and chief executive officer, 20th Century Fox TV.

The Raising Hope gang is spending Halloween discovering the local gay bar.

As you might expect after last night, the schedule is still in flux. Tonight's episodes of Go On and The New Normal have already been preempted for storm coverage.

News

Castle just did a bit of last-minute recasting to the guest-cast of an upcoming episode, adding Mark Deklin to an episode that already has soap vets Nancy Lee Grahn and Jack Wagner.

Canadian channels Movie Central and The Movie Network have ordered a six episode season of a North American version of British comedy Sensitive Skin. I don't usually follow Canadian TV developments, but this remake will star Sex and the City alum Kim Cattrall (who previously tried to sell the series to HBO) which makes it likely it'll travel south and air in the states. The series (which originally starred Joanna Lumley) follows a hip London couple...

Julia Louis-Dreyfus has little to prove after starring in two successful comedy series, Seinfeld and The New Adventures Of Old Christine. But the actress is on her way to a three-peat with her latest show, HBO comedy Veep. Louis-Dreyfus today landed a lead comedy actress nomination for the series, in which she plays U.S. Vice President. “I’m thrilled to be nominated and if I win I promise to lower taxes,” she said. “And I’m not just saying that. That’s not an empty promise or an attempt to bribe the voters.” The Armando Iannucci-created comedy also earned a best comedy series nom, which Louis-Dreyfus shared in as a producer on the show, which has already been renewed for a second season. This marks Louis-Dreyfus’ 13th Emmy nominations, following seven for Seinfeld and five for Old Christine. She won once for each show. Related: Emmys Analysis: Big...

Walter Cronkite brought us the evening news for decades; we watched in awe. Uncle Walter packaged stories of import that made tens of millions stop, sit, lean forward, and grab it in. There was never a doubt that Cronkite was in charge.

These days we have Brian Williams presenting segments that are for the most part neatly packaged promos with a tie-in to Universal and Comcast. NBC's daddy has a huge portfolio of lower-rated cable networks that Comcast feels must be showcased on the network news. These include the Weather Channel, NBC Sports Net, USA Network, Cloo, and even a new African American storytelling site (theGrio), all of which are mentioned in more than half of what's covered in News With Brian Williams (not including the previews of NBC's Dateline).

Where a sacred shroud of church and state existed during Cronkite's day -- entertainment programming knew nothing about the news...

As a producer, Julia Louis-Dreyfus has a good eye for talent. Her first post-“Seinfeld” gig as producer-star was “Watching Ellie,” which featured none other than Steve Carell as a series regular. Louis-Dreyfus says Carell was the obvious choice the moment she saw his tape. And her series “The New Adventures of Old Christine” boasted a cast of supporting players that included Clark Gregg, Wanda Sykes, and Hamish Linklater. For “Veep,” the producers and casting director Allison Jones have assembled another fantastic cast of players to portray the vice president’s staff.Sufe Bradshaw as Sue Wilson, executive assistantA prominent stage actor, Bradshaw has been seen on such comedies as “Mind of Mencia” and “The Hard Times of Rj Berger.” Says Louis-Dreyfus, “Sufe came in and was so comfortable with improvisation. She makes it look easy.” Anna Chlumsky as Amy Brookheimer, chief of staffThe former child star (“My Girl”) appeared on “In the.

Confession time -- I love network television. Love. Lurrrrve. I know it's not super-sophisticated, and because I write about all kinds of TV shows, I should be more turned on by what cable offers, but I just don't. I like being able to watch a show, enjoy it, and not have to take it so seriously. Reading that back, it sounds like a backwards compliment, but there's something so ... I don't know, comforting about the longing between Castle and Beckett, the banter between the "Big Bang" nerds, and the singing on "Smash."

But I'm not a total cable snob. While I hate blood and gore and nudity, two of my favourite shows are "The Walking Dead" and "House of Lies" (aside: I can't explain why walkers don't freak me out, but Freddy Krueger still lives in my basement; nor am I Prudence McPrude, mayoress of Prudytown when it comes to...

It has been more than a decade since Julia Louis-Dreyfus hung up her sensible oxfords as Seinfeld’s Elaine Benes. In the intervening years, she’s starred in two other network sitcoms (the failed Watching Ellie and The New Adventures of Old Christine), and she’s deeply excited to be heading up her first premium cable show: Veep, a profane, hilarious show about a scheming vice-president named Selina Meyer.Veep was created by Armando Iannucci, by now an old hand at trenchant political satire — he also created the British series The Thick of It, and he directed and co-wrote the movie In the Loop. (See Matt Zoller Seitz’s review of Veep here.) We spoke with Louis-Dreyfus about the hours she logged watching C-span in preparation for her role as vice-president, the perks of working in premium cable, and how much better television has become for women since her days on Seinfeld.

10 years ago, NBC programs ranked among the most watched on television. In 2001/2002, the peacock had launched successful new series such as Law & Order : Criminal Intent, Crossing Jordan and Scrubs, not knowing that in the following 4 years, they would produce only 5 successful new shows while countless failed, prefiguring the crisis they're into since 2007, a crisis they don't seem to be able to get out of.

In 2002/2003, American Dreams was the only new show that worked, all the other were cancelled : sitcoms In-Laws (15 episodes), Ausa (12 episodes, 4 unaired) and Hidden Hills (18 episodes, 5 unaired), and dramas Kingpin (6 episodes) and Minister Sterling (10 episodes). Both Boomtown and Good Morning Miami were renewed for a second season scheduled for 2003/2004 but halfway through it, they were both cancelled, they ended in December 2003.

During the 2003/2004 season, Las Vegas was the only successful new series, the others were axed : dramas Miss Match (18 episodes, 7 unaired) and The Lyon's Den (13 episodes,...

W00t! In the second female-centric HBO pilot pickup of the season (the first being Lena Dunham's Girls), the network has greenlit Veep with Julia Louis-Dreyfus, the comic actress who somewhat evaded "The Seinfeld Curse" that befell her male co-stars. Though she's mostly appeared in sh*tty shows since (Watching Ellie, The New Adventures Of Old Christine), we've been waiting for Louis-Dreyfus to shine again, and HBO might just be the network to let her.

Louis-Dreyfus plays an American senator who becomes the vice-president of the United States. Amusingly, Anna Chlumsky (bite-sized star of '90s tearjerker My Girl!) plays Louis-Dreyfus' chief of staff. It also co-stars Tony Hale, Sufe Bradshaw, Reid Scott, Tim Simons and Matt Walsh.

read more...

Avatar and Game of Thrones references included, last night’s Chuck was quite entertaining.

Confirming that Vivian (Lauren Cohan) was not a killer proved to be quite a challenge for Chuck (Zachary Levi) after getting played by Alexei Volkoff (Timothy Dalton). The decisions that General Beckman (Bonita Friedericy) and those above her have been making regarding the team’s cases has been highly questionable this season. The entire team thought so this week when Beckham released Volkoff from being imprisoned for the case at hand. What a brilliant decision that turned out to be. After Chuck’s life was almost gambled upon a game of Uno (classic moment for the writers), Volkoff turned on Vivian, and Vivian worked with him only to play him as well…that left only one winner tonight…Vivian. Now that there is no doubt of Vivian’s ability to kill and with the knowledge of...

It was a week late for its Valentine's Day theme, but "Chuck Versus the Masquarade" had enough going for that I was able to look past that.

This was the third straight quality standalone episode, but it also delivered the possibility of more involved arc: dealing with the daughter of Alexei Volkoff. 

Vivian is the heir to the Volkoff empire, but what will that mean moving forward? Will she be the next big bad? Or will she actually assist Team Bartowski?  Maybe this leads to a reunion between Daddy and Daughter Volkoff by the end of the season.  I definitely won't complain about a return of Timothy Dalton.

It had long-term implications, but "Chuck Versus the Masquerade" also worked quite well on its own. Put on your lingerie with wings and then we can take a look at how the Chuck Triple Threat played out...

Action

Not much this week.

I was hearing all over the Interwebs yesterday that this week's Chuck was the best of the season. 

While I enjoyed it, "Chuck Versus The First Fight" won't come anywhere near my Top Ten Chuck Episodes list.  It had an all-time great ending twist, but any ep the lacks the presence of Jeffster just can't be historic.

So, who had money on Mama Bartowski as a septuple agent?  Seriously, how many times are Linda Hamilton and the Chuck writers going to be able to trick me into thinking she's either good or bad?  At this point, I'm convinced she's still good, but when she played Chuck that video and Tuttle showed himself to be Volkoff, I once again had serious doubts.

It wasn't just the Mama B that confused me.  The key was adding an entirely new character that also gained my confidence, and then ripped it away.  Not only...

Fangbangers, our first look at Alcide is here! While we’re waiting for season three of HBO’s “True Blood” to begin, here are some sexy goodies for you to bide your time. As for Alcide, played by Joe Manganiello (“One Tree Hill”), he and telepathic waitress Sookie (Anna Paquin) heat up the screen this next season as Alcide “helps” Sookie search for her vampire boyfriend, Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer). Here’s our first look at him with Sookie:

Executive producer, Alan Ball explains how this relationship evolves:

“There is definitely some [sexual] energy between the two of them. It’s not like either one of them is looking for romance, but they’re thrown into several intense situations [and] it’s hard not to bond on a deeper level.”

Of course, these days, werewolves must be absolutely ripped and Manganiello does not disappoint. Ball has a man-crush of sorts on Alcide:...

Merlotte's is adding yet another wackadoodle to its payroll: Lauren Bowles has been cast in the major recurring role of Holly, an oddly prescient single mom who gets hired as a waitress at Sam's watering hole. Look for Bowles, whose credits include Watching Ellie, Seinfeld, and The New Adventures of Old Christine (she's the half-sister of Julia Louis-Dreyfus), to debut midway through True Blood's upcoming third season and possibly return as a series regular in season 4. Thoughts?...

Tuesday was another rough outing for NBC's Frasier. The veteran 9 p.m. comedy was beaten by repeat of ABC's According to Jim in the key adults 18-49 demographic, according to Nielsen Media Research. The 9 p.m. Jim rerun averaged 8.3 million viewers and 3.4 rating/9 share in adults 18-49, compared to 9.3 million viewers and 3.2/8 in 18-49 for the original Frasier installment. At 9:30 p.m., NBC's Watching Ellie slipped to 7.5 million viewers and 2.8/7. In fairness, Frasier didn't get much support in the 8-9 p.m. hour from back-to-back episodes of Just Shoot Me, which opened the night for NBC with an anemic 4.9 million viewers and 1.7/5 in the demo. The 8:30 p.m. episode averaged 4.9 million viewers and 1.9/5 in 18-49. Fox had no trouble winning the night (16 million, 7.5/20) with its regular lineup of American Idol (20.1 million, 9.3/26) and 9 p.m. drama 24 (12 million, 5.7/14). CBS was a solid second in total viewers (13.2 million, 3.0/8) with its regular Tuesday drama slate of JAG, The Guardian and Judging Amy.

Ellie's back -- and she's bringing a studio audience with her. NBC will schedule six new episodes of Watching Ellie, last season's sitcom starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus as a harried lounge singer, in the Tuesday 9:30 p.m. post-Frasier slot, starting April 15. However, viewers will notice some big changes in the NBC Studios show, which most recently aired in April. Last season, Ellie was a single-camera comedy that took place in real time, complete with an onscreen clock. Now the series is shot in the traditional multicamera format in front of a live audience. Scenes set in the jazz cabaret where Ellie works have been reduced. NBC entertainment president Jeff Zucker said the revamped Ellie will maintain "a few single-camera elements," a la Louis-Dreyfus' alma mater Seinfeld, but will now have "a much quicker pace."...