Sun, November 30

Taking It to the Streep—5:45 PM

If you're like me, you probably thought, "An EW cover profile on Meryl Streep? Good for her – I like her and all – but I probably don't need to read that." Well, you were wrong, friends!

Streep hopes her box office clout can pave the way for younger actresses. She's slated to shoot a movie directed by Nancy Meyers (Something's Gotta Give) in which she plays a woman being wooed by both her ex-husband (Alec Baldwin) and a new beau (Steve Martin).

Even if it turns out this movie doesn't cure cancer or fight communism (and I'm not suggesting it won't), this may be the best movie ever! Having seen Steve and Alec spar on SNL and 30 Rock, I think we are in for some serious fun.

If you didn't love Something's Gotta Give, Meyers is also responsible (with ex-husband Charles Shyer) for the Steve Martin remake of Father of the Bride and the Lindsay Lohan remake of The Parent Trap (one of the few Lindsay Lohan movies that doesn't leave you pitying her). So I am ready to believe that this movie will cure cancer, or at the very least end our dependence on foreign oil.

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Fri, November 21

Frogurt Still Cursed Dept.—1:00 PM

People, it's a mixed bag from EW's Michael Ausiello today. On the one hand, I am thrilled to learn that Dirty Sexy Money is coming to a close. I have tried since the beginning to quit watching this show, but Natalie Zea is just too phenomenal. She's very sexy (and the show takes great advantage of this) but the real draw is her flighty performance. The rest of the show is kind of irritating and strains plausibility in an attempt to create maximum drama, so I'm glad I can give up on it pretty soon without missing any fun Zea moments. That's good!

But, ABC is also nixing Pushing Daisies, which is not just an excellent show, it's a different show, and there are so very, very few of those any more. If you look at the shows that premiered this year, only True Blood even comes close (though Worst Week and Life on Mars might, if they weren't remakes). It's a damn shame ABC never found a way to make people watch this show, because it's not for everyone but it's too good to have as much ratings trouble as it's had. I will miss it terribly. That's bad!

Still, I was thrilled to find out that Ausiello is capable of writing useful and interesting TV coverage that does not come with the dipshit "reader pleas" aspect that characterizes his magazine column. ("Jennie from Boise writes: Do you have any Grey's Anatomy scoop? I'm dying over here!!") It's just a normal update about some TV shows. That's good!

In related news, I have kept the Family Guy 100th episode extravaganza on TiVo since it aired last year, and I watched it again last night. The clip-show part is as annoying as it is on any series – maybe more so because the style of Family Guy is practically like a clip show every week. But the interview segments with focus group participants who hated Family Guy are unbelievably entertaining and fascinating. I don't want to sound like a typical America-bashing leftie (okay, let's not kid ourselves; I don't know how to sound like anything else) but if you're ever curious why your favorite show got canceled, it's because TV networks are in the business of pleasing people like this.

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Whenever anyone says “I can’t,” it makes me wish he’d get stung to death by about ten thousand bees. When he says “I’ll try,” five thousand bees. (“I can,” one bee.)