November 26, 2004 |
"Judy Garland" Meets Columbo
Actress Tammy Blanchard — a 2001 Emmy winner as young Judy in Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows — says her golden statuette still holds an honored place at home. "Right now, it's in my china closet in my dining room," the 27-year-old tells TV Guide Online. "That's pretty much where it's going to stay forever. My family likes to see it when they come over, so I just leave it out in the open." Blanchard isn't resting on her laurels, however. This Sunday, she'll pull our heartstrings even more in When Angels Come to Town (9 pm/ET, CBS). Miss Tammy appears opposite Columbo's Peter Falk in the third jolly holiday film about an angel named Max and his mischievous miracles. Surprisingly, Blanchard reveals she's got something of a crush on her 77-year-old leading man. "He's the most handsome man in the world," she declares, "so good-looking in person." On the set, Falk's youthful antics made Blanchard, well, blanch. "There's a scene where he plays a woman," she chuckles. "He was sitting outside with his legs open, and I could see right up his dress! I told him, and he started laughing hysterically. I just ran away." Now before you go thinking she's weird, we should point out that the actress's Falk fascination comes from a totally wholesome place. "Peter was one of my dad's favorite actors," she shares. "About three days after my dad died, I had a dream that he was at a party, wearing a tux. He saluted me and disappeared." Eerily enough, it turns out Falk has a similar send-off at the end of Angels. "I really felt like that was my dad telling me that he's here, watching over me and that he's OK." Next up, Blanchard plans to costar with Leonardo DiCaprio in The Good Shepherd, directed by Robert De Niro. She plays a deaf girl who encounters Leo at two important moments in his life. Like Garland, this character's another ordinary girl who does something extraordinary. It's a persona that Blanchard seems to embody easily. "Actors act with their hearts, and whatever's in there, that's what you use," she says thoughtfully. "It's a blessing when a role comes along that fits your personality." |
Apprentice Babe Blinks
Donald Trump was running a two-for-one special on last Thursday's The Apprentice. Not only did he fire 28-year-old investment manager Wes Moss, but he also terminated 31-year-old marketing guru Maria Boren. Adding insult to injury, the pair didn't even get their own cabs! Luckily, TV Guide Online's Michael Ausiello doesn't believe in sharing, so he gave Maria her very own Q&A and devoted a portion of this week's "Ask Ausiello" to Wes. Simply put, everyone's a winner! TV Guide Online: OK, what the hell happened to you in Thursday's episode?
Maria Boren: At the photo shoot, we were all feeling the pressure of making a deadline. And Wes had actually come up to me on a couple of different occasions and said, "We really need to see this happen." The point where I actually flew off the handle at him was when he came over one last time and said, with added passion, "We have got to finish this up." And he just, quite honestly, felt that I wasn't hearing him. And looking back on it now, he was right. TVGO: Your freak-out kinda reminded me of Stacie J.'s 8-Ball meltdown...
Maria: That was completely different. Hers was complete paranoia. Mine was, "Listen, we're trying to get this done. I'm trying to help you here. Back off, I will deliver!" Mine wasn't a crumble-under-pressure, consulting-an-8-Ball episode. TVGO: It kinda looked like the same thing to me. It was two women cracking under pressure.
Maria: But you only saw a few minutes of [Stacie's freak-out]. That actually went on for 45 minutes. TVGO: OK, what's the deal with the blinking?
Maria: It's a low-blood sugar thing. It's low blood sugar mixed with literally no sleep. TVGO: Some of our readers thought you had a tendency to blink more when you were caught in a lie.
Maria: Oh, that's simply B.S. TVGO: Really?
Maria: Complete B.S. I blinked when I was tired. I blinked when I was sitting at a table and people were talking. I blinked when we were working on Day 1 of our task and it was 4 o'clock in the morning. TVGO: Are you aware of it when it's happening?
Maria: I'm totally aware of it when it starts happening. Unfortunately, I might not have the opportunity to get some apple juice. TVGO: What about during the QVC segment?
Maria: It's interesting. I ended up doing about half of the segment because Jen's mind went dead, so... TVGO: So you were given a raw deal?
Maria: Absolutely. TVGO: Why did you let Wes do all the talking in the taxi?
Maria: Immediately my thought process was to self-assess. So I was processing everything that had happened and how I could have made it better. TVGO: Given your very conservative alma mater, did you have any apprehension about doing that racy Maxim cover?
Maria: The Maxim photo shoot was an opportunity for some added exposure in the area of modeling and some fashion things, so I didn't have a problem doing it. TVGO: You want to be a model?
Maria: Not so much modeling as marketing of women. I'm more about empowering women to not just develop their outward look, but their inward as well. TVGO: Speaking of superficial beauty, last week your fellow contestant Chris Russo ranked all of the Apprentice ladies on a hotness scale: ten being hot, one being not so hot. First of all, he gave you the highest mark — a nine.
Maria: He did!? God bless him. TVGO: Wanna turn the tables and rank the guys?
Maria: You're kidding me, right? TVGO: No, I'm totally serious.
Maria: This is not fair... TVGO: Oh, come on...
Maria: No, I'll do it. TVGO: Great. Kevin?
Maria: I would say probably an eight. TVGO: Raj?
Maria: Probably an eight. TVGO: John?
Maria: Probably a seven. TVGO: Chris?
Maria: Probably a seven. TVGO: Bradford?
Maria: Probably a six. TVGO: Ouch. Wuss, er, I mean Wes?
Maria: Definitely a seven. TVGO: Andy?
Maria: Definitely a five. TVGO: Yikes! And last but not least, Rob?
Maria: Probably a six. What about Kelly? TVGO: Oh, right. Kelly?
Maria: Probably a seven. TVGO: Great! Thanks for playing!
Maria: No problem. |
TRL Host Seeks Kilborn's Job
The four-man race for Craig Kilborn's vacated desk on CBS' The Late Late Show is heating up. This week, MTV's TRL host Damien Fahey, 24, has returned for a second stint as guest host. How hungry is he to land Kilby's old job? Very. A final decision is expected to be made sometime next month. Here, he sits down with TV Guide Online to size up the competition and figure his chances. TV Guide Online: We enjoy the bedhead haircut you're sporting on Late Late Show.
Damien Fahey: It's like a 45-minute procedure to make it look this messy. It's all done with mirrors like a David Blaine trick. TVGO: So your rivals for the host gig are Ed's Michael Ian Black, sitcom star D.L. Hughley and... who's the other guy?
Fahey: Craig Ferguson. TVGO: Who the hell's that? He probably has no chance if I can't even remember his name.
Fahey: (Laughs) There you go. We're actually doing a sketch on the show tonight called "Who Is Craig Ferguson?" He's actually Drew Carey's boss on The Drew Carey Show... No, no, you're not gonna lure me into bad-mouthing the other guys. TVGO: In all seriousness, do you really have a prayer of getting hired permanently?
Fahey: David Letterman and the folks at [his production company] World Wide Pants have a big say. I've been told I have as much chance as anyone else, which is kinda wild because I am 24. So if this actually happened... Obviously, it's awesome for my career, but personally, this is a dream come true and surpasses anything I thought I'd accomplish in my life. TVGO: So you thought you'd live out your days as a well-paid niche-cable TV sub-lebrity?
Fahey: No. From Day 1, I was always convinced I'd have a couple of bad focus groups and that'd be it. I'd be out the door and operating a tollbooth on the Jersey Turnpike. So I'll always try to step it up and do better. If I get this, I'll be satisfied, happy and confident in my longevity. But obviously, you worry. The track record is more MTV VJs going the way of Jesse Camp. TVGO: True. Your next stop could be Game Show Network, like Kennedy!
Fahey: (Mock horrified) Please no. That'd be like hosting Sabado Gigante in Spanish on Univision. TVGO: Hopefully, you'll be the one to replace Kilby. Not sure I liked him much. The guy always had that cocky, frat-boy date-rape gleam in his eye. You're odd, too, but definitely sweeter than he was.
Fahey: (Laughs) So I don't have the date-rape gleam? OK, very good. Maybe I just have more of that jaywalking look in my eye. Like I might cross against the light, but that's the extent of it. |
|
|
|
