IAmATVJunkie.com is a Torchwood Spoiler Free Zone Until July 20

Video -- Friday's Craig Ferguson Clip is An Unpredictable Monologue

One thing about Craig's monologue as opposed to any of the rest, it seems more dangerous, like anything could happen at any moment.

That's why I watch Craig.

LINK

HBO's Hung With Our Gay On-The-Set Insider, Will Ray Have Male Clients?

What, you thought I forgot, right? Nah, I watched the Hung pilot, and I'm watching again right now. No, no Dirk Diggler moments at the end of the pilot, you cheeky li'l ...

Anyway, back in the pre-show hype period I started trying to get in touch with the creators of the show, Colette Burson and husband Dmitry Lipkin (The Riches, pictured left), explaining that obviously a show about a guy with a big dick was gonna interest gay men and I wanted to get some inside info.

What Colette did (via Facebook, which is always my ace in the hole) was kindly thank me and refer me to her and her and Dmitry's assistant, Powell Weaver.

Gay.

Inside.

On the set.

BINGO!

I sent Powell some questions back before the premiere (which is almost two weeks ago, I can't figure out for the life of me why they would start a new series the weekend BEFORE Independence Day, but whatev) , and he'll be available to me each week for some inside info and maybe a question or two from readers. So, start thinking about that.

So, first out of the gate ...

First of all ... Tom Jane? Nice. We likey. How's he doing with being 'the guy who's Hung"? Was there a lot of joking during development, on the set?

Thomas Jane is great.  They looked at literally hundreds of auditions for Ray, from actors all over the world.  There were a million ways to go, and I personally was so excited when they cast Thomas because he was hands down the hottest man's man who came in!  And he completely sells the character of Ray.  He's so watchable in every way.

I have to agree here. I certainly didn't plunk down my eight bucks to see The Punisher because of Travolta, or because I bought the comic. I didn't even know it was a comic.

More than that, though, the guy can act, and I've known that since I saw him in The Last Time I Committed Suicide playing Neal Cassady. In the movie he's so effortlessly sexy I couldn't take my eyes off him.

Of course in Hung his character Ray Drecker is just plumb outta confidence. He peaked in high school, an injury ended his pro sports aspirations, the teams he coaches at that same high school are failing, his marriage is over, his kids think he's a jerk and when he finds himself sitting in a hotel/motel ballroom taking a class that tries to help him find that tool that will turn things around.

(BTW, that motivational speaker pictured left, played by Steve Hytner [Seinfeld]? He's also been a co-star of yours truly. High school, can't ever get away from high school.)

By now you know that Ray runs into a previous lover at the seminar, Tanya (Jane Adams, Frasier) who will eventually volunteer to be Ray's pimp of sorts.

Actually, the job she's doing is more like being a mec (see the story from James Lipton's biography where he discusses acting as a mec for French prostitutes, or just click this link for the Conan O'Brien interview with him for more info).

When I heard HBO was doing a show about a male hooker, I immediately considered that the character might take on some male clients, so I asked:

Of course, a lot of my readers are wondering if there will be male customers for Ray. Is there at least talk of that or about that in the show?

I would love to see male customer's for Ray too!  The idea has been raised in the writers room.  It could end up happening or not happening.  There are so many factors that go into television storytelling - you want to tell the most organic, natural story you can and not burn up any plot that could be potentially used to greater effect down the road.  Ray is a macho man, a former baseball star and current basketball coach.  It would go against Ray's character to agree to a male customer in first season - we just wouldn't buy that he would actually do that.  But as we get to know Ray over the next few years and watch him change and learn, who knows - he might find himself with a male customer if the price is right.

So, nothing this season but not ruled out.

You know what I was just thinking? Gigolo is a much easier word to hear than manwhore. Plus when I think of manwhore I immediately think about that guy Jeff Gannon who was in all those White House press conferences during the Bush years.

Anyhow, after the jump I have a webisode thing from HBO called Tanya's Diary, where she tells you what plans she has to market her new product and the body it's connected to. Tanya not only has plans to market Ray but to improve the product as much as she can.

Episode two of Hung airs Sunday at 10, moving to its standard half-hour format, followed this the season premiere of Entourage, on HBO.

Video -- Hayden Panettiere on Catty Schoolgirls, Waning Heroes, Her New Movie, Raccoons

With the gang from the KTLA Morning Show here in Los Angeles.

The Heroes stuff comes toward the end. She claims that the bar was set so high the first season that it's been hard to rise back to that level. I say Tim Kring shot his load early and has failed to keep a staff stable (Bryan Fuller just left, AGAIN!) or learn to innovate.

I beginning to believe that he got lucky with a great pitch and then "lost his abilities" and became a producer only worthy of Crossing Jordan-type stuff once again.

Hayden clip after the jump. She's with Sam Rubin, Mark Krisky and that skinny blonde woman they have in the AM that's kind of shrill.

Anniversaries -- The Great Movie Year of 1939, Moon Landing, Mets Win First World Series

It's a Summer with lots to commemorate, and my three favorites all have a television component.

Turner Classic Movie has pitched in their part with a new documentary hosted by Kenneth Branagh called 1939 ... (from the press release):

... an all-new documentary created for Warner Home Video and narrated by acclaimed actor/filmmaker Kenneth Branagh (Henry V).  It includes new interviews with film scholars/critics Leonard Maltin, Daniel Selznick, Molly Haskell and Scott Eyman, as well as impressive archival interviews with Claire Trevor, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Francis Lederer, Maureen O'Hara, Ann Rutherford, George Cukor, Howard Hawks and more.  The documentary chronicles the year, when the studio system reached its zenith as a well-crafted infrastructure and how each studio approached the year's product.

If you don't know (and you really should, this always comes up at parties) 1939 was an outstanding year for English-speaking cinema with The Wizard of Oz, Gone With The Wind, Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, Stagecoach, The Women (all gay men are required by law to see this movie), and Wuthering Heights, among many others.

Just check this entry at Wikipedia.

TCM is devoting Thursdays to the year, which, yes, I do realize was yesterday. This Thursday's films, however, are Stanley & Livingstone, Beau Geste, Golden Boy and Gunga Din, one of my dad's faves.

Click below to purchase The Women from Amazon.

The first clip after the jump is the trailer for this documentary, which is currently on my DVR and airs next on July 30, check your listings.

Secondly, it's the 40th anniversary of the moon landing, which if my great grandfather Walter Keperling was still alive he would tell you never happened. It was all staged on a movie set, he kept saying.

All I know is that I can still remember exactly where I was (my parents' house in Valley Stream, on the couch, ready to cover my eyes because I was sure something bad was going to happen. Aliens? Technical errors that result in a man's head exploding inside a helmet? I don't know what I thought, but I remember being relieved when it all turned out okay.

Click here for a whole bunch of stuff from Discovery.com about the anniversary. Right here, an excerpt from Irene Klotz's interview with Buzz Aldrin, second man to stand on the moon:

IK: Why did you say that NASA's current plan to the moon is a detour?

BA: It's going back to do the things that we have done before and other nations are capable of doing that right now. It seems to me that we leave ourselves open to other nations being able to claim that 'Oh look, we beat the Americans back to the moon. They're just not going to be leaders in the 21st century.' We need to chart what I think is a new course.

IK: So you're saying that the United States wouldn't be respected for doing the same thing that it did before. It needs to do something different to gain world respect?

BA: I don't think we get our money's worth out of investing and doing something that other people can do, when there's rather questionable return -- commercial return or the knowledge that we get -- by having humans back on moon to justify the large expense of their habitation.

This is why I was so flummoxed by our former President's announcement in 2004 that he wanted to go back to the moon. But I decided to presume that he meant himself and I was happy for a while.

After the jump, watch Neil Armstrong set his foot down on the lunar surface and say those famous words, and what happened for the next minute and some.

Finally, in 1969 I was a little boy on Long Island and the NY Mets were about to do what anyone and everyone thought was an impossibility, the ragtag group under Gil Hodges beat the Baltimore Orioles to win the World Series.

My brother Bill was at the final game and was one of many who grabbed a piece of Shea Stadium turf. My dad planted a fig tree in that ground and that tree is still with him here in Southern California, it made the trip with us.

I would certainly hope that there will be some programming around the anniversary, but for now we have some interview footage from a recent Mets alum reunion in Yonkers, with, interestingly, Ron Swoboda (who was famous for an amazing catch in that series, see the image above) talking about both the Mets AND the moon landing.

Clips after the jump.

Craig Ferguson Video -- White Lines Opening Shows Puppets In Action

And ... if you're going to vote for favorite puppet you have to see their work, right?

Note, guitar guy in clip not a puppet, that's Chris without the harness in a big blond wig.

Now, I can't embed the clip because the song is copyright protected (Duran Duran cover version which I had never heard before and it rocks) and the clip would be removed from YouTube and CBS doesn't provide embed code for the clip because they want you to click this link and see it there, which I completely understand.

I don't like it, but I understand it.

While you're there, click this link to vote.

I guess I'll need to go with another clip here. After the jump, I'm posting the segment featuring the Chenbot. Don't watch it if you're looking for a whole lot of Big Brother scoop, though, Craig doesn't really quite get around to it.

But you will meet Sonya the CBS photographer.

More on the new season of BB at TV.com at this link, however, with Julie giving you a tour of the all new all "green" BB house.

Chenbot!

That's Mrs. Chenbot Moonves to you -- hey, they should name the kid Chenbot!

Clip after the jump.

Video -- It's Wendy Williams Day in Manhattan, For Realz!

For realz = My freshman year roommate Tony Gale's favorite exclamation.

"How you doin'!" It's Wendy Day on the isle of Manhattan, check out the YouTube clip below.

Yes, it's safe, she has her show hair on. Wendy returns triumphantly to your TV (syndication, check your local listings) next week.

You just never know what she might say, who she might say it to, or what might happen because of it.

I'm just getting you ready for what I think is going to be a big deal in daytime. I have the sense that she's really gonna shake things up, like TMZ did in early fringe and Ellen did in the afternoon. Like her or don't like her, she's gonna change things.

Clip after the jump. Start date for the show is July 13, check your listings or the Wendy show site at this link.

2 Clips -- Craig Ferguson "Let's Make Up For Yesterday" Post

Two clips, Craig tells you all about his trip to Kosovo and Germany for the USO.

Once again, from the One Craig Ferguson Clip a Day Until You Start Watching collection. And, lucky you, you can help the Craig Ferguson audience decided which puppet is their favorite.

Watch the second clip after the jump and then send an email to CraigFerguson@CBS.com or go to the website and leave a note there.

Watch both clips for details on Matt Baetz and the stolen Sarah Palin letter, also.

LINK

Second clip after the jump.

Video -- Do Not Look Here for Torchwood Spoilers, We Start July 20

My blog, my rules.

I'm trying to do a solid for the fans out there that don't have the wherewithall to have already seen the first night of Torchwood Children of Earth, as it aired in the UK last night.

And, I must suggest that you take great care in surfing the web today as the Brits have seen the first hour and there's stuff all over the place.

I will only say that the reviews that I've seen so far have been outstanding. And the ratings, per the Guardian, indicate that over a quarter of the British television audience watched the first hour, that's 5.9 million viewers.

Anyhow, until it airs here I'll have nothing but previews and trailers and as usual nothing that will harsh your enjoyment. Please let the people who are telling you this story tell it to you in the way they deem the most effective. They're trained professionals who know what they're doing.

Knowing what will happen ahead of time doesn't really make you more clever than the rest, it just means you have more time on your hands.

In the meantime, after the jump the Torchwood gang has a laugh at Eve Myles' expense. Very funny, you gotta click over to see it.

Talker Wendy Williams in NY Times, Larger Than Life Itself (or at least her new boobs are)

You must click this link right now. A new window or tab will open with the photo. Go, look.

Yes, it's a better photo than the one to the right, it's a profile shot.

Okay, you're back? Now, the last time you saw Wendy Williams, which for some of us was during the six-week trial of her talk show (it returns this month in syndication, check your listings) I know she didn't have these giant cans.

From the article that accompanies the photo (because with a photo like this the text is just a curiosity, no more):

It's no secret that Wendy Williams wears a wig. Oh no, honey, she talks about it all the time on her radio show, four hours of daily gab and gossip broadcast nationally from New York. Of course there is little about the statuesque Ms. Williams that is under wraps; there is even a taxonomy to her hairpieces. “Ones that might be thinning a bit because they’re older, I wear those if I’m outside washing my car in the driveway,” she said. “Then you have a gym wig — a gym wig and a Target wig are the same thing — and the ones I wear to the mall on the weekend with my family.”

There is what she calls an “airport-schlepping wig” and a shorter one she reserves for days out with her son, Kevin, 8. “You can’t be flinging long fake hair around at a birthday party,” she said with a deep laugh.

Okay Wendy, but how about the outsized rack? Does that get in the way at a kid's birthday party? All that bending over and straightening up, I would think there'd be some pain. Or, there's always the dreaded nipple dragging across a birthday cake. Ah, she's probably inscribing her own name as well.

Of course, this is the woman who taught me (via television, who said TV's not educational!) about the "feminine V," the line that a woman's jeans make when fitting properly that create an arrow pointing right at her vagina. She likes her feminine V to be prominent.

And I don't know why I find that fascinating, but I do.

I also don't know why I find her so compelling, but, again, I do.

I guess it makes sense then that my gay bretheren nominated her for a NewNowNext Award on Logo. After the jump, watch Wendy's own video of the event from the limo to the red carpet to inside.

She returns on July 13, Monday. Can't wait to see what outrageous thing she will say. Plus, think about this -- the Whitney Houston comeback coming at the same time Wendy returns to TV?

It's a mitzvah I tell you.

"One Craig Ferguson Clip a Day Until You Start Watching" Returns With Neil Diamond and The Boston Pops

Craig Ferguson, American on Purpose, returns to the US from his USO tour to Kosovo and Germany with Matt Baetz (image of him in Kosovo above) and immediately runs to the Boston where for the last three years he's hosted their Fourth of July celebration on the Esplanade with the Boston Pops and Neil Diamond.

Because he's just that kind of guy.

I stole this pic from the USO website. Go there and give them some money to help me alleviate my guilt over that. I just did. If you donate in honor of Craig he'll get a little card with your name on it, I presume. But you have to know his address, so for those who would like to ...

CBS Television City
7800 Beverly Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90036

Clip from last night's telecast after the jump.

Craig returns live all next week with guests including Eric Idle, Evan Rachel Wood, Big Brother's Chenbot Julie Chen, Michael Ian Black (new Comedy Central show with Showalter), Jeff Goldblum, Jackie Collins, Michael Buble and Ray Romano.

And if that's not enough, there are puppets and Salvador Dali (Ooooooooh!, see him left) and Chris dressed in a harness and leather shorts.

It's a party, every weeknight at 12:37 am. And starting in September I think were gonna start campaigning to see Craig in HD, because maybe they'll have to fix the leaky roof if they go that way.

I would try to pull some strings for Craig with my fellow high school alum Les Moonves but he graduated years before me. He has no idea who I am.

Yet.

Maybe I get invited to the first HD taping?

Clip after the jump.