NBC has greenlit a sixth season of The Biggest Loser, to premiere in the fall. The plan is to repeat the current cycle's concept of casting teams of two.... FX has announced a March 18 Season 2 premiere for The Riches, which this time around will serve up only seven episodes.... Shrek: The Musical brings the big green guy to Broadway Dec. 14, with previews starting Nov. 8. Shrek and Donkey have yet top be cast, while Sutton Foster (currently Young Frankenstein's Inga) is onboard as Fiona. My wallet already feels $500 lighter.... OK, this is fun.
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As entertaining as the big green guy and Donkey are, for this pop of twin 5-year-old boys, it's the ancillary fairy-tale critters who make the Shrek films full of adult-targeted chuckles. On the occasion of ABC's Shrek the Halls special premiering tonight at 8 pm/ET, TVGuide.com chatted with Conrad Vernon, the voice behind Gingy the Gingerbread Man, and the director of Shrek 2 and the much-anticipated Monsters vs. Aliens.
TVGuide.com: When I stopped to think about it, it dawned upon me that Christmastime cannot bode well for the Gingerbread Man.Conrad Vernon: [Laughs] No, it doesn’t. It doesn’t. I haven't seen the whole [ABC special] yet but I've definitely seen my part in it, and it's kind of horrifying — but that’s fine.
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Rosie O'Donnell makes her first (consensual) television appearance since exiting The View on today's The Martha Stewart Show. Read into it what you will, but Ro will be dressed as Queen Elizabeth (sic?).... Charisma Carpenter's Big Shots debut currently is rescheduled for Nov. 29, with the Angel alumna playing (typecasting alert!) an "increasingly irresistible" woman.... ABC premieres the animated special Shrek the Halls Nov. 28 at 8 pm/ET. (My Jared and Jacob are getting into an advance screening!).... Speaking of me, the Mitovich Mega Minute vodcast premieres today on our homepage.
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Though it closed only three years ago, the New York Post says the Roundabout Theater Company is planning to revive their Tony-winning revival of Cabaret with the original creative team and star Alan Cumming intact.... Steven Culp (Desperate Housewives, ABC's upcoming Traveler) has a new gig, says Playbill.com, playing a pedophile in a West Coast take on the controversial drama Blackbird.... Jason Patric has exited Neil LaBute's soon-to-bow In a Dark Dark House due to "creative differences," and will be replaced by Frederick Weller.... Are you an ogre-achiever? Want to make an ass of yourself in front of NYC tourists? If you have what it takes to play the big guy or Donkey, the producers of the upcoming Shrek musical want to hear from you. Details at IWantToBeShrek.com. — Reporting by Raven Snook
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Although in recent years theatrical movies have been largely relegated to the Saturday-night death slots, NBC is hoping to help them make a comeback — and gambling big to do so — by scheduling three of them for lucrative Sunday berths during May sweeps. Besides a last airing of Shrek, the Peacock will run the broadcast premieres of Along Came Polly and National Treasure. Try to contain your excitement.Today's news was written by Ben Katner.
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