Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul got the old band—and by "band" I mean "crystal meth operation"—back together for a fake pawn shop reality show to promote the upcoming Emmys. 2013 Best Actress in a Comedy Julia Louis-Dreyfus also appears, playing 1996 Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
Veep is an HBO comedy of political ill-manners, currently in its second season. It was created by mastermind architect of vicious profanity, Armando Iannucci, about Vice President Selina Meyer, played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Meyer presides over a staff—including actors Anna Chlumsky, Tony Hale, and Reid Scott—that spends their time leaping and bounding from one political fuck-up to another.
HBO has renewed Veep for a third season. This is wonderful news! Created by curse-generating genius Armando Iannucci, Veep follows Vice President Selina Meyer, played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and her bumbling staff, helmed by Anna Chlumsky, as they narrowly avoid an endless onslaught of political catastrophes.
If you live in Los Angeles and are a forgetful person, trips to the grocery store are about to get 100 percent more annoying.
The new sitcom from Armando Iannucci (In the Loop), Veep, debuted on HBO last night. It's hilarious. Led by Julia Louis-Dreyfus as the decidedly non-Palin-esque Vice President of the United States, Selina Meyer, the cast has a kinetic energy that feels equally reminiscent of Christopher Guest's factory and Broadcast News. (Everyone's great, but Arrested Development's Tony Hale and former child star Anna Chlumsky stand out.) Not unlike the dearly departed Eastbound & Down, the show manages irreverence via characters of varying despicableness – they mocked the death of a pervy senator, and a major plot point came about when Selina made a joke about the guy who ran her Twitter that was a play on the phrase "hoist by one's own petard" (as seen in the clip above). The resulting "Retardgate" was eventually solved by blaming it on the person Selina and her team stole joke from in the first place (a senator Selina had met earlier in the episode). Nice, right?
Tonight, 30 Rock was live! And it was good, too. Inside, catch the first few minutes of the episode, featuring Julia Louis-Dreyfus as a younger Liz Lemon, Rachel Dratch as a crazy cleaning lady, and *drumroll* a Brett Favre joke!
Grey's Anatomy star Patrick Dempsey turns 44 today. The show's creator and head writer, Shonda Rhimes, is turning 40. Party-hopping author Jay McInerney is 55. Orlando Bloom is turning 33. Julia-Louis Dreyfus is 49. Former Citigroup chief Chuck Prince turns 60. Actress Penelope Ann Miller is 46. Former Seventeen editor Atoosa Rubenstein is 38. And season three American Idol reject William Hung turns 27 today.
• A&E has agreed to acquire Lifetime, which means it's not entirely out of the realm of synergistic possibility that Duane Chapman of Dog the Bounty Hunter will make a cameo on Project Runway sometime next season. Yay. [THR, NYT]
• The Daily News has dropped its restaurant critic, Danyelle Freeman, and doesn't appear to be making any plans to replace her. [P6, NYT]
• Another luxury magazine is coming! The Financial Times plans to bring its quarterly glossy, FT Wealth, to American shores this October. [Crain's]
• It's been nearly two years since Oprah announced plans to launch a cable channel, and the venture's been riddled with problems ever since. [LAT]
• Italian officials are now investigating Google for its "lack of transparency." Yes, the same Italy that's governed by a man named Silvio Berlusconi. [NYT]
• Larry David will be bringing the cast of Seinfeld together for a multi-episode appearance on the new season of Curb Your Enthusiasm. Which makes sense considering it's not like Jerry Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jason Alexander, or Michael Richards have anything better to do, now do they? [EW, LAT]
• It was clear that Michael Wolff was a bad husband and a bad boss. But now it looks like he's a lousy son, too. Wolff is being sued by his poor 85-year-old mother-in-law for trying to evict her from her one-bedroom apartment so he could sell it and collect a profit. [P6]
• Chris Brown appeared in court yesterday and was charged with assault and making criminal threats. He faces four years in state prison if convicted. [NYP, Us]
• Marc Anthony touched the leg of a woman other than JLo, which means he was either "flirting with danger" or just being nice to a "longtime friend." [Star]
• Just another typical Friday: Amy Winehouse has been charged with assault for punching a fan last year. [Reuters]
Author Jay McInerney turns 54 today. Nutty editor Atoosa Rubenstein is celebrating her 37th. Orlando Bloom is 32. Grey's Anatomy star Patrick Dempsey is turning 43. Grey's creator, Shonda Rhimes, is 39. Julia-Louis Dreyfus is turning 48. Former Citigroup CEO Charles Prince is 59. Former Hillary Clinton advisor (and now Citigroup exec) Lisa Caputo is turning 45. Socialite Renee Rockefeller is 41. And legendary American Idol reject William Hung celebrates his 26th birthday today.
We're not exactly sure when Ellen took a complete detour into surreality, but it might have happened on today's show, when Ellen DeGeneres asked vice presidential nominee Joe Biden to perform the charity-inspired task of throwing balls at a dunk tank. And who would be sitting in said tank, ready to be pitched into the cold water below should one of Biden's balls hit the target? Seinfeld actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus, because why not.The resulting spectacle was like a Republican's fever dream of what could happen should the Obama/Biden ticket make it to the White House: Democrats stoning/drowning innocent straight women in the public square as gay-married lesbians cheer them on. If we only could have brought out Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid to do an awkward dance while DJ Tony Okungbowa played "Me So Horny." Next time, guys!
We're not sure whether Julia Louis-Dreyfus is angling for a "guest actress on a talk show" Emmy that doesn't exist, but she's certainly put in game performances over the past week, whether she's enlisting in the Letterman/McCain War or stealing from Tina Fey on the advice of a mischievous Conan O'Brien. Louis-Dreyfus's latest target was The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and she smoothly changed promotional gears to talk about the newest storyline on her sitcom The New Adventures of Old Christine, which finds her character entering into a gay marriage with Wanda Sykes to help the latter stay in the country (even though immigration is a federal issue that California's same-sex marriage laws can't circumvent). Naturally, Ellen had a few Prop 8-related words to say on the subject — though, Ellen? Money talks, too. [The Ellen DeGeneres Show]
After the landmark ratings success that was the 2008 Summer Olympics, NBC was anxious to capitalize on the momentum they had built leading into the fall. However, despite all that promotional exposure, Beijing Ben and the NBC team haven't yet been able to convert in the ratings department: Knight Rider tanked, Chuck and Life both saw their ratings dip from their 2007 premieres and The Office could only muster a third-place finish in its lovey dovey season premiere last week. However, there is a bright spot; the network has gotten big bumps in both the awareness and ratings department thanks to the white-hot star power of homegrown talent Tina Fey. While fans will have to wait until the end of the month for 30 Rock to return to the air, NBC has been satiating America's desire to see its new Emmy sweetheart by repeatedly trotting her out during its late night lineup. She has appeared as Sarah Palin on SNL not once but twice and, last night, she made a cameo appearance along with Julia Louis-Dreyfus in a bit that can only be described as the ying to Ricky Gervais' and Steve Carell's faux Emmy duel yang. Watch NBC's clear cut MVP hitting another one out of the park after the jump.
David Letterman continued to hammer John McCain last night, taking obvious glee in the fact that he has finally found an adversary worthy of supplanting former bête noires like Les Moonves and the entirety of NBC Broadcasting. If you'll remember, McCain incurred Letterman's wrath by canceling a Late Show appearance under the guise of heading immediately to Washington D.C. — something Letterman debunked by cutting to a live feed of McCain's interview with Katie Couric just down the street. Last night, after taking shots at McCain in his monologue ("He loves bailouts — he bailed out on me"), Letterman welcomed guest Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who promptly swore her allegiance to the Late Show host, then demonstrated it with another live feed cut to a lonely Katie Couric. Clip above. [CBS]
Kate Winslet picking up her kids from school with her ex-husband, Jim Threapleton ... David and Victoria Beckham shopping on Fifth Avenue ... Michelle Williams' daughter Matilda walking in the rain with her nanny ... Mariska Hargitay walking on the street ... Ali Larter outside the Today show ... Katie Holmes, Tom Cruise, and Suri leaving Alice's Tea Cup on East 64th Street ... Jennifer Hudson showing up to an appearance on BET's 106 & Park ... Michael Cera and Julia Louis-Dreyfus outside the Letterman show ... Jennifer Lopez making an appearance at Macy's in Herald Square for the launch of her new fragrance ... Rapper T.I. leaving the Waverly Inn ... and Britney Spears leaving Serendipity 3 with a bunch of handlers.
