The Who plan to present a medley of their classics at halftime of the Super Bowl. (Bradley Kanaris / Getty Images)
Pete Townshend, longtime guitarist for The Who, told Billboard magazine about the “compact medley” the band will be playing at Super Bowl XXIV at Sun Life Stadium.
The set was conceived by lead singer Roger Daltrey, along with Pete’s brother and longtime Who collaborator Simon Townshend, executive producer Ricky Kirschner and director Hamish Hamilton.
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Sarah Palin’s 19-year old daughter appeared on Friday’s Oprah show and confirmed her pledge of abstinence.
In a recent In Touch magazine interview Bristol said, “I’m not going to have sex until I’m married. I can guarantee it.”
LOS ANGELES (AP) — James Mitchell, who for nearly three decades played gruff patriarch Palmer Cortland on the ABC soap opera “All My Children,” has died, his longtime partner said Sunday night.
Mitchell died Friday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, partner Albert Wolsky said. Mitchell had suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease for years, complicated by a recent bout of pneumonia.
Mitchell appeared in more than 300 episodes of the popular soap from 1979 until a 40th anniversary episode this month. He was a regular on the show until 2008. Read the full story
SANTAQUIN, Utah (AP) — Actor Gary Coleman was arrested in Utah on a warrant for failing to appear in court, police said.
The 41-year-old former “Diff’rent Strokes” actor was booked into the Utah County Jail Sunday, said Santaquin police officer Shawn Carter.
He said early Monday that he didn’t have details on the warrant or know if Coleman was still being held. He said more information would be released later in the day. Read the full story
It would’ve been very easy for Conan O’Brien to end up cynical after all of what’s happened in the last month.
Easy and, as we learned about O’Brien on his final Tonight Show, the last thing he’d be.
“I hate cynicism,” he said in a closing monologue. “It’s my least favorite quality and it doesn’t lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen.”
Instead, O’Brien’s final show was mostly full of fun and great moments — he continued his “crazy expensive” sketches, using what appear to be massively costly items and sticking NBC with the tab. On Friday, O’Brien brought out what he said was the skeleton of a “giant ground sloth” borrowed from the Smithsonian, which sprayed “beluga caviar” on a “Picasso.” Cost to NBC: $65 million.
(Then, nice guy that he is, O’Brien admitted the whole thing was fake. Again, it’d have been so easy to do that for real, but then the lawsuits… etc.)
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On his final “Tonight” show, Conan O’Brien said walking away instead of accepting a demotion is the hardest thing he’s ever had to do.
Despite the rancor that led to his $45 million buyout, the red-haired comic urged fans not to be cynical and said their support made a sad situation “joyous and inspirational.” He thanked his viewers and even thanked NBC for more than 20 years of employment but not before getting in a few final jabs during an earlier monologue.
O’Brien will be replaced March 1 by the man he took over for seven months ago – Jay Leno. In the interim, reruns will fill the slot, followed by Winter Olympics programming next month.
Faced with the flop of its prime-time Leno experiment, NBC sought to move him back to 11:35 p.m. and asked O’Brien to move “Tonight” a half-hour later, past midnight. O’Brien refused, opening buyout negotiations that ended early Thursday, and triggering a remarkable period of late-night comics taking brutal shots at NBC and at each other.
Despite his sense of loss, O’Brien told fans Friday that “I really feel this should be a happy moment.
“Every comedian dreams of hosting the `Tonight’ show and, for seven months, I got to,” he said. “I did it my way, with people I love, and I do not regret a second. I’ve had more good fortune than anyone I know, and if our next gig is doing a show in a 7-Eleven parking lot, we’ll find a way to make it fun.”
Tom Hanks, Will Ferrell and Neil Young joined O’Brien for his final show.
His future is uncertain. Fox has expressed interest in having him do a late-night show, but the network is checking with its affiliates to see if they would support it. Under his exit deal, O’Brien is free to start another show after Sept. 1. He’s not allowed to give interviews or make other television appearances for three months.
During his monologue, O’Brien tossed around a few ideas about what NBC might do with the studio it constructed for him when he moved to California from New York in the middle of last year.
One suggestion: “Leave the studio cold and empty and rename it `the world’s largest metaphor for NBC programming.’”
O’Brien told the audience that “we have exactly one hour to steal every single item in this studio.”
As soon as fans had been let in the studio, workers walked around to unscrew and remove signs posted all over that said “Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien: Audience.”
Although NBC had sought to keep O’Brien, who hosted the 12:35 a.m., New York-based “Late Night” for 15 years while waiting for his shot at “Tonight,” executives said the network was losing money with his show. O’Brien had lost half the audience that Leno had drawn in the time slot, slipping behind CBS’ David Letterman in the ratings. O’Brien’s managers said he needed more time and blamed some of the ratings troubles on the sinking fortunes of Leno and the local news programs that preceded “Tonight.”
Fans waiting to see the final show expressed their support. Three fans from San Diego put up a tent and camped overnight in the rain to get in.
“He’s just generally a likeable guy,” said Lesley Vamous, a fan from Australia. “I think that’s why I like him and I watch him. He seems like an approachable guy, and most of the things he does are kind of funny.”
Juliet DiFranco of West Toluca Lake, Calif., said she couldn’t watch Leno like she did before. “He just seems like such a jerk for not retiring,” DiFranco said.
O’Brien didn’t mention Leno in his closing statement, according to a transcript.
He asked his viewers not to be cynical.
“I hate cynicism,” he said. “It’s my least favorite quality and it doesn’t lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen.”
NEW YORK (AP) — Beyonce and Madonna have been added as performers to Friday’s multi-network “Hope for Haiti Now” telethon, and Denzel Washington, Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio and former President Bill Clinton are among the participants.
A statement released Thursday said Beyonce would perform from London, and Madonna from New York City. The list of musical performers already includes such heavyweights as Bruce Springsteen, Alicia Keys, Stevie Wonder, Taylor Swift, Justin Timberlake and Keith Urban. Read the full story
Related: ‘The Office’ irony: CFO a real financial adviser
After a long wait, fans of “The Office” finally got a new episode Thursday.
Well, not really …
“The Banker” revolves around an investment banker who visits Dunder Mifflin Scranton to sign off on the sale of the branch. Michael makes some “cosmetic tweaks” for a more appealing office environment, using the same principals “that made Lady Gaga a star or any number of drag queens.”
Inside the office, Michael shows off his Segway and Computron, which sounds strangely like Dwight.
Pam plays along as the branch’s international salesperson, although she does show some reticence when it comes to Fake Stanley, “although I get it.”
Ryan, meanwhile, remains banished to his closet office and is ignored when he asks for a space heater. As for Toby, he is delayed in his favorite stall, reading the “Best American Mystery Stories of 1999″ before emerging to learn Dwight has stolen his identity. Read the full story
Related: The “return” of ‘The Office’ proves a letdown
Apparently, Andy Buckley’s real-life business acumen hasn’t helped him in his TV-life role as Dunder Mifflin CFO David Wallace.
In Thursday’s Wall Street Journal, Buckley discusses his day job at an unnamed wealth-management advisory firm in Los Angeles. Buckley seems perfectly happy to have a full-time career in finance and part-time career as an actor.
“Instead of playing golf, this is what I do with my time away from the office,” Buckley told The Journal.
Video: Shareholder Meeting* episode after the jump
* Michael feels honored when David Wallace invites him to New York CIty to speak at a shareholder’s meeting and invites Oscar, Dwight and Andy along for the ride.
Now that the Jay Leno-Conan O’Brien-NBC is finally jumping over the line from speculated story to what amounts to a small bit of history, the obvious question on some folks’ minds is “Who could’ve predicted this?”
Colby Hall of Mediaite has the answer for you. Who could’ve predicted this? Howard Stern. More than three years ago.
