If love means never having to say you’re sorry, then that may explain a few things on Wisteria Lane.
Ryan O’Neal, who uttered that famous (if suspect) line in “Love Story,” will guest-star on an episode of “Desperate Housewives” later this season. Marla Sokoloff, late of “The Practice,” is also scheduled to appear on the ABC hit.
The actor, who starred in NBC’s “Miss Match” last season, is currently filming his episode, in which he plays Lynette Scavo’s (Felicity Huffman) father-in-law, Rodney Scavo. He pays Lynette, his favorite daughter-in-law, her husband, Tom (Doug Savant), and their four unruly kids a visit.
O’Neal earned an Oscar nomination in 1971 for his work in “Love Story.” His up-and-down career also includes “Paper Moon” (with daughter Tatum), “Irreconcilable Differences,” “The Main Event,” “Zero Effect” and “Malibu’s Most Wanted.”
Sokoloff, meanwhile, will appear in the Sunday, Dec. 12 episode of “Housewives” as a potential nanny for Lynette’s kids. She played secretary Lucy Hatcher on “The Practice” for five seasons and has also starred in “Dude, Where’s My Car?” and “Sugar & Spice.”
CNBC has nothing but love for tennis star John McEnroe and his low-rated self-titled talk show. Unfortunately, as McEnroe very well knows, in tennis terms, “love” means “nothing.”
Employees at CNBC were recently alerted late this week that “McEnroe” will end its truncated run at the close of the year. New episodes will tape for the next two weeks.
Sources close to the show confirm that McEnroe was given the option of immediately halting production or running through the final two weeks of shooting. The star opted to give his staff two weeks of future employment as the holidays approach.
The talker debuted in July with a so-so audience of around 266,000 viewers, miniscule by network standards, but within CNBC’s expectations. After that debut, though, viewership suffered as “McEnroe” failed to hold the audience from its “Dennis Miller” lead-in. On several occasions, “McEnroe” earned Nielsen’s accursed 0.0 rating, meaning that fewer than 75,000 households were turning in.
No word on where McEnroe, the winner of 77 singles titles (including seven Grand Slams), and co-host John Fugelsang will next pop up.
“McEnroe” will be replaced by “The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch,” which has been airing at 8 p.m. ET on Wednesday nights.
If the tabloids are to be believed, Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey are on the verge. If the blowback from her disastrous “Saturday Night Live” performance is to be believed, Ashlee Simpson has reached a nadir of artistic credibility. Even if the entire Simpson-Lachey clan is on the verge of some sort of breakdown, MTV wants to be there when it happens. The former music network has picked up new seasons of “The Ashlee Simpson Show” and “Newlyweds: Nick & Jessica” and has also greenlit a pilot tentative called the “Nick Lachey Project,” just so that nobody is left out.
Despite the absence of anybody from the Simpson clan, MTV has also ordered “Meet the Barkers,” a new show starring Travis Barker of Blink-182 and wife Shanna Moakler, a former Miss USA. They too are wild and crazy stars in love.
“Roughly 10 years ago, MTV broke the traditional fall and spring programming cycles and became the first channel to introduce a summer line-up.” says MTV Entertainment President Brian Graden. “Once again, we’re breaking the traditional TV model by introducing a constantly changing roster of original series 52 weeks of the year. ‘Newlyweds’ and ‘Ashlee’ and then Nick and the Barkers will be paired together and will represent the first wave in our move towards 52 weeks of originals in the 10 spot.”
The third season of “Newlyweds” and the second installment of “Ashlee” will return in January 2005 with Nick and Jessica trying to maintain their healthy marriage, while spending all of their time working on projects apart. Viewers will also get to see Jessica prepare to don short-shorts for the upcoming movie adaptation of “The Dukes of Hazzard.” Meanwhile, fans will experience Ashlee’s rise to fame as a singer rather than as a WB supporting actress, but will also get to share in the embarrassment and rationalization surrounding the “SNL” acid reflux debacle.
“The Nick Lachey Project” follows Lachey as he tries to rebound from reality stardom and a number of guest starring television appearances to try to become a singer again. He’ll hire producers and writers and do whatever it takes to make an album he’s proud of. If she isn’t off doing other things, wife Jessica will probably make appearances and hilarity will probably ensue.
“It has been amazing to see the immediate connection between our audience and Jessica, Nick and Ashlee,” says Lois Curren, MTV’s executive vice president of series entertainment. “With the upcoming seasons of ‘Newlyweds’ and ‘Ashlee’ and the new ‘Nick Lachey Project,’ we’ll take fans even deeper into their lives.”
Credit: Zap2It
