It was a tall order — literally — finding the right man to play opposite statuesque Jenna Elfman on CBS' Courting Alex, which makes its Wednesday-time-slot debut tonight at 8:30 pm/ET. In the end the sitcom opted to pair Josh Randall, the man formerly known as Ed's Dr. Mike, with the woman formerly known as Dharma. Here, Randall speaks with TVGuide.com about his alter ego's certain swagger and weighs in on how Alex avoided the grim fates suffered by Emily, Jake and that familiar Monkey.
TVGuide.com: Jenna is 5'10" and you're over 6 feet tall. I have to think that Courting Alex's casting office looked like basketball tryouts.Josh Randall: [Laughs] You know, I happened to come in at a
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Scoop! There's currently a Bold and the Beautiful audition script floating around that features an emotional scene between Ridge and Phoebe. This all but confirms longtime buzz that the CBS sudser will recast Phoebe and Steffy, who are Ridge and Taylor's identical teenage daughters. Even so, B&B's rep insists to TVGuide.com that "there is no truth to the rumor that we are recasting [the twins]. Alex and Addison Hoover are recurring in those roles." Well, for now, anyway.
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The fun (and confusion) never stops as the networks continue scrambling their schedules, with a new wave of mid-season changes kicking in the instant the Olympics and February sweeps conclude.
As a helpful guide to get you through the exhausting month of March, here's a night-by-night rundown of what to expect (until the next changes are announced):
March 1: After a 90-minute American Idol, Fox airs a preview of quasi-improvised slacker sitcom Free Ride (it will regularly air on Sundays starting March 12, replacing American Dad for a while). Invasion is preempted for the annual Oscar-themed Barbara Walters Special, which for the first time is not airing on Oscar night.
March 2:
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Question: First of all, I look forward to reading your insights every Friday and Monday. I wanted to get your opinion on CBS replacing Out of Practice with Courting Alex. I really think that this was a big mistake. The Courting Alex pilot was generic and unfunny, while Out of Practice had steadily been improving each week in quality, but CBS still pulled it off the schedule until March. I don't think Out of Practice is the best sitcom on TV, but it has greatly improved over time and seemed to be doing well in the ratings, too. I also think that Out of Practice is much more compatible with lead-in Two and a Half Men than Alex is. What is your take on this? Will Out of Practice return to Mondays if Courting Alex is a success?
Answer: I'm no special fan of Out of Practice, but I agree it has evolved and somewhat improved. Compared to Courting Alex, it's the next Frasier. (Disclosure: I've only seen Alex's pilot episode as of this writing, but it's hard to see any room for improvement
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Question: I've seen the many promos for the upcoming series Love Monkey and plan to watch because of Tom Cavanagh. My question is, do you know if Josh Randall (also from Ed) will be in any episodes? I've noticed him doing guest spots on a few different shows recently and would really like to see the two together again. Seriously, how much would you like to see the $10 bet at least one more time? The show looks funny enough to throw it in at least once. On a different note, I still don't agree with you that Battlestar Galactica is a top-ranked show. Sure, this half of the second season finally shows a little promise, but I think it's still nowhere near as good as Farscape or Firefly.
Answer: No disrespect to Farscape or Firefly (which should be obvious if you've ever read me before), but Battlestar is hardly comparable to those more fanciful sci-fi/fantasy series. (As with soaps in the earlier discussion, it's dangerous to judge shows against each other merely because they exist within
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