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Aaron Ruben, a comedy writer, producer and director whose five-decade career included producing "The Andy Griffith Show" for the first five seasons and creating the spinoff series "Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.," has died. He was 95. Ruben, who devoted much of his later life to being a court-appointed advocate for abused and abandoned children, died Saturday of complications from pneumonia at his home in Beverly Hills, said his son Tom. A Chicago native who began his comedy writing career in radio after serving in the Army during World War II, Ruben wrote for the Dinah Shore, George Burns and Gracie Allen,...

Defendant Rodney Alcala says the 1978 video shows that he was wearing an earring that police said he had taken from the body of a slain 12-year-old in 1979.The 20-second video clip shown to an Orange County jury Tuesday was a brief moment out of time. In it, serial murder suspect Rodney James Alcala, bachelor No. 1 in a 1978 episode of "The Dating Game," and the young woman who chose him blow kisses to the audience and dance in place. His hair is shoulder-length, straightened and feathered. His brown suit has wide lapels and his white shirt has...

Oscar-winning actor Louis Gossett Jr. says he is being treated for prostate cancer. Gossett, who made the announcement Tuesday, says the disease was caught early and he expects to make a full recovery. The 73-year-old actor says he is going public about the disease because there is not enough emphasis in the African-American community on fighting it with preventive examinations and early treatment. Gossett has appeared in dozens of films. He won an Oscar for best supporting actor in 1983 for his portrayal of the no-nonsense Navy flight school sergeant who whips Richard Gere into shape in "An Officer and...

"These people survive on us coming down and spending money and coming here to these beautiful places. It sort of made sense to sort of say, 'Hey, let's help out Mexico.' " Take that, Angie!

Who do you want to play the lead in the Lifetime movie? Sarah Palin Rogue Agent FoR Change

Twentieth Century Fox's film and TV studios are conspiring to finally bring hit television series "24" to the bigscreen. The film side has hired scribe Billy Ray ("State of Play," "Flightplan") to pen the script for the feature version. Ray's pitch, which takes Jack Bauer to Europe, was a hit with Fox execs and producers of the high-concept television series. Ray also wrote and directed "Breach" and "Shattered Glass." Script is said to have come through "24" star Kiefer Sutherland, who's also an exec producer on the series -- and is said to be eager to turn the long-running TV...

Watching TCM this morning - One of the 31 days of Oscar promos talks about the Oscar being like the Medal of Honor.

Frank N. Magid, 78, the television "news doctor" whose survey research and advice to local television stations in the 1970s resulted in co-anchors who chatted between stories, fast-paced graphics, sports tickers and live shots, and a heavy reliance on both crime coverage and feel-good segments, died of lymphoma Feb. 5 at Santa Barbara [Calif.] Cottage Hospital. "Action News," as Mr. Magid dubbed his format, revolutionized broadcast news operations from Cedar Rapids to Kuala Lumpur. At a time when most local TV news shows featured a single anchorman reading the news from a sheet of paper in front of a static...

The crew of braying jackasses on Morning Joe today had much merriment with Sarah’s crib notes, as they continue to whistle past the graveyard of the coming annihilation of the Democrat Party this fall. And CNN explicitly compared Sarah’s palm to the TelePrompter of the United States. So… Hand vs. TOTUS – you be the judge! First the hand: And now ladies and gentlemen, the TelePrompter of the United States:

Former Melrose Place star Andrew Shue and Weekend Today anchor Amy Robach were married Saturday afternoon in New York City. "It was the most beautiful night in every way," Shue and Robach tell PEOPLE. "Despite snow, high winds, flight and train delays, every guest made it to the night to share our in our new beginning." The couple, who met last April at a book party and got engaged in September, exchanged vows at The Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers, adjacent to the Hudson River. And it was an extra special occasion for Robach, who walked down the aisle on her...

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Alleged Huntington Beach serial killer's trial to take strange turn with "Dating Game" evidence A murder trial in which a suspected serial killer was defending himself could become even more unusual Monday when jurors are likely to see a video of the defendant as the victorious Bachelor No. 1 on "The Dating Game'' in 1978. The nearly 10-minute video of Rodney Alcala on the game show surfaced Thursday on YouTube, and Alcala plans to show it to jurors Monday, according to Deputy District Attorney Matt Murphy. Alleged Huntington Beach serial killer's trial to take strange turn with "Dating Game" evidence...

Weekly Sci-Fi Thread (02/07/10) Mon: 8/7 -- Chuck -- NBC 9/8 -- Heroes -- NBC Thru: 9/8 -- Fringe -- Fox Sat: 8/7 -- Survivors -- BBC America Syndication: Legend of the Seeker -- Check your local listings

As long as Vin Scully can still fog a mirror, we can't say, in good conscience, that Jon Miller is the finest baseball broadcaster in the known universe. But as far as second place goes? There's no one else in sight.

Greg D’Alba, evp and COO of CNN ad sales, is taking an unprecedented first step, telling buyers he’ll guarantee away-from-home deliveries in this year’s upfront. If CNN gets any takers, it will mark the first time a network will write business based on its viewership in bars, restaurants, hotels and third-party residences. A glance at CNN’s fourth-quarter deliveries suggests that there’s a good chunk of money to be made in nontraditional venues. According to Arbitron’s ARB-TV service, away-from-home viewing gave CNN a 40 percent lift in the core news demo (adults 25-54), while boosting the network’s delivery of viewers 18-49...

Ian Carmichael, the actor, who has died aged 89, personified with affection and hapless charm the affable, classical silly ass Englishman in scores of revues, light comedies, films and television programmes... ...it is probably his portrayals on television of P. G. Wodehouse's dithering Bertie Wooster and Dorothy L. Sayers's elegant Peter Wimsey which etched his gift for the light English comedy of manners most deeply on the nation's imagination...

I haven't seen any mention of this in any of the reviews of James Cameron's "Avatar" which I've seen so far... Somebody told Cameron that there was such a thing as shooting a heavy bow with two fingers and with the hand holding the arrow turned upside down, similar to the manner in which street punks hold pistols in television crime programs: That doesn't happen in real life. In real life traditional archery shooting gloves cover three fingers for a reason i.e. you need that third finger on the string to spread the pressure out enough so you don't immediately...

It is difficult to know where to begin when one is considering the insidious nature of the film-award ceremonies. Roughly 82 years in, praising mediocrity and pandering to the white liberal elite are the norm. Still, somehow, this past weekend’s Golden Globes left me feeling particularly distraught and a bit flabbergasted. Among the many issues I had — from the Christina Hendricks weight comments to the absurdly excessive parade, while hundreds of thousands go days without food or water — I feel compelled to elaborate on the focus of the evening’s events. Avatar, a film that examines white guilt in...

Just started getting the 'Storm Fade' effect from "Snowmageddon"..have lost most of my DirecTV channels to one degee or another. Still getting my local channels though (off my roof attenna no doubt, but still digital. I gotta admit i'm curious as to how long it will last (the outage) considering the intensity of the storm. But considering my usual TV fare for Friday nights, is Ghost Whisperer, Medium, and Numb3rs, that and a large list of movies at Netflix to watch instantly, i'm not all gthat put out. Shame Hulu doesn't have a deal with CBS, so that if the...

I'm watching a new version of "FAMILY FEUD" right now(with host John O'Hurley) with my son on the Ion Channel, and one of the questions the host asked the families was the following: "What Person Has Made A Difference In Our Lives?" There were 5 answers to the question, and the answers were, in order of importance, as follows: 1 - Martin Luther King, Jr. 2 - Oprah Winfrey 3 - Bill Clinton 4 - Benjamin Franklin 5 - Jesus I was aghast. First of all, I want to know who the hell they surveyed. If this show surveys 100...

Click Here For Obama Trek

James Cameron's Avatar has sailed past his blockbuster Titanic to become number one on the all-time US domestic box-office chart. Avatar climbed to $US601.1 million ($A678.29 million) domestically on Tuesday, putting it a fraction ahead of the $US600.8 million ($A677.95 million) haul for Titanic. With more than $2 billion worldwide, Cameron's sci-fi sensation shattered the global box-office record of $US1.84 billion ($A2.08 billion) held by Titanic last week. Avatar still has plenty of box-office life left. It passed $US600 million ($A677.05 million) domestically on its 47th day of release. Back in 1998, Titanic was at barely half that amount -...

...When I started out as a sportswriter, I was able to meet several sports figures I had always held in high esteem. A precious few withstood the test of unrealistic expectations. One, though, surpassed every improbable hope...

They are three of the biggest stars in Hollywood. They are also black. Denzel Washington, Will Smith and Tyler Perry are money machines, although each is unique in operation. As bankable entertainers, there are few who can match them for consistent box-office clout. That probably isn’t something that could have been said 20 years ago — or even 10 years ago. .................................................... Yet Kara Keeling, assistant professor of critical studies at the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts, said that, as far as Washington and Smith are concerned, some of their acceptance has to do with their parts....

Two dips with your chips.Katie Couric will interview the president live during the CBS pre-game show. I will only countenance this if the NFL on Fox dancing robot gets to interview Obama. The dancing robot's disapproval numbers, if one were to take them, are likely lower than the president's, but I like him. I like it when he does high knees. I like it when he does the Electric Slide. I think he's got a lotta personality. His name is Cleatus. Dance on, Cleatus. robot

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Former teen idol Leif Garrett was released on bail on Wednesday, after being arrested and booked for heroin possession by police who saw him "shaking and sweating" on a subway platform, a law enforcement spokesman said. Garrett, a 1970s child actor and pop star whose disco-era hits included "I Was Made for Dancing," was arrested on Monday when police approached him on a subway platform in Los Angeles because he was exhibiting "pronounced symptoms" of drug dependency, such as "shaking and sweating," said Steve Whitmore, a spokesman for the L.A. sheriff. Officers searched Garrett and found...

Tiger Woods could be out of sex rehab and back on the links in two weeks, an Australian newspaper reported Wednesday. Woods is "poised to make a shock return to competitive golf" in the upcoming Accenture Match Play Championship in Arizona, according to the Herald Sun of Melbourne, which did not cite a source. The top spokesman for the PGA Tour would not confirm the Herald Sun story. "We have no comment," Ty Votaw said. Still, if true, this would mark the first time Woods competed in a golf tournament since the sex scandal that ruined his good-guy reputation exploded...

CBSNEWS anchorwoman and 60 MINUTES contributor Katie Couric faces a dramatic pay cut at the network, insiders tell the DRUDGE REPORT. CBS boss Les Moonves is determined to save money and trim expenses -- from top to bottom -- at the former crown jewel of broadcasting.

The charity anthem "We Are the World" has been rerecorded by 80 artists who came together in the same Hollywood studio where the original was cut 25 years ago. Pink, Natalie Cole, Kanye West, Jennifer Hudson, Celine Dion, Brian Wilson and others stood shoulder-to-shoulder on risers at Henson Recording studios Monday night to raise money for Haiti earthquake relief. "This one, the enthusiasm, I've never seen anything like it," said Lionel Richie, who wrote the original with Michael Jackson and oversaw the new version with music mogul Quincy Jones, 76. Jones, who produced the 1985 anthem, announced last week that...

David Brown, an urbane New Yorker whose publishing background was the foundation of a producing career in Hollywood, with films like “The Sting,” “Jaws,” and “The Verdict,” and on Broadway, died Monday at home in Manhattan. He was 93.

1. Best Picture: "Avatar," "The Blind Side," "District 9," "An Education," "The Hurt Locker," "Inglourious Basterds," "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire," "A Serious Man," "Up," "Up in the Air." 2. Actor: Jeff Bridges, "Crazy Heart"; George Clooney, "Up in the Air"; Colin Firth, "A Single Man"; Morgan Freeman, "Invictus"; Jeremy Renner, "The Hurt Locker." 3. Actress: Sandra Bullock, "The Blind Side"; Helen Mirren, "The Last Station"; Carey Mulligan, "An Education"; Gabourey Sidibe, "Precious: Based on the Novel `Push' by Sapphire"; Meryl Streep, "Julie & Julia." 4. Supporting Actor: Matt Damon, "Invictus"; Woody Harrelson, "The Messenger"; Christopher Plummer,...

Lost Season 6 Episode List Episode 1: LAX Episode 2: LAX (2) Episode 3: What Kate Does Episode 4: The Substitute Episode 5: Lighthouse Episode 6: Sundown Episode 7: Dr. Linus Episode 8: Recon Episode 9: Ab Aeterno Episode 10: The Package Episode 11: Happily Ever After Episode 12: Everybody Loves Hugo

ANy LOST fans out there in FReeperland? Tonights the night...

Vampires, aliens, Cylons and more—the latest sci-fi TV shows have something for everyone. But which something is your favorite something? Which series has become appointment TV?

Farscape creator Rockne S. O'Bannon has a Twitter feed, and he's been busy updating it with teasers for his comic book and the much-anticipated webisode sequel series:

What is with O"Reilly and his liberal guest?

Taipei - Hong Kong director John Woo plans to make a film about The Flying Tigers, the US volunteer group which helped China fight against Japan during World War II, a newspaper said Monday. The China Times, quoting an unnamed source, said Wu plans to spend 150 million US dollars on making the film to recall how The Flying Tigers helped the Chinese Air Force transport arms and supplies during WWII. Animation of the film will be made in the United States, indoor scenes will be shot in Taiwan, and outdoor actions will be filmed in China, it noted. Top...

Rip Torn appeared in a Connecticut court on Monday, facing burglary and firearms charges after police allegedly found the actor intoxicated and armed inside a local bank. Police said the 78-year-old actor was arrested on Friday night after authorities allegedly found him inside the Litchfield Bancorp in Salisbury with a loaded revolver. The "Men in Black" actor was held in lieu of $100,000 (£63,000) bond. Last year, Torn was given probation in a drink driving case and granted permission to enter an alcohol education programme. He also has two previous drink driving arrests in New York.

We are very sad to report the passing of former NWA World Heavyweight champion and WWE Hall of Famer Jack Brisco this morning at the age of 68.

It was a stand out moment that many considered to be the highlight of the Grammy awards, and one that the rest of the night's performers were hard pushed to top. With their late father absent from proceedings, Michael Jackson's children Prince Michael and Paris took to the stage at the Staples Centre to accept the lifetime achievement award on their father's behalf.

Avatar Gives Film Fans the Blues By Stephen Jones Epoch Times Staff A luminescent, idyllic world populated by peace-loving aliens may have captivated cinema audiences across the world, but for some the 'immersive' experience of watching the film Avatar has threatened to overshadow their own lives. Hundreds of fans of James Cameron's blockbuster 3-D epic have complained that they feel despair after leaving the cinema that they can never live in a world like the mythical Pandora, in the film. An online discussion board, titled “Ways to cope with the depression of the dream of Pandora being intangible,” has received...

WASHINGTON – Sen.-elect Scott Brown says he'd like daughter Ayla to have another crack at "American Idol," where judge Simon Cowell once described her performance as robotic and empty. The fledgling recording artist, a 21-year-old student at Boston College, made it to the show's final 16 singers in 2006. Her father told ABC's "This Week" that Ayla was so new to it all back then that she had never put on makeup until she did "American Idol." He also says that Cowell's critique, while harsh, was on target. The Republican lawmaker says having his daughter back as a contestant would...

THE television landscape is a universe of opposites. The Travel network (get up and go someplace!) is the opposite of HSN (sit on your couch and buy stuff!). Syfy (fantastical things that haven’t happened yet) is the opposite of History (moderately interesting things that have already happened). The Golf Channel (sedentary activity watched by sedentary old duffers) is the opposite of Nick Jr. (frenetic activity watched by frenetic young children). But one pair is more striking, more revelatory, than all the rest: Spike versus Lifetime. Guys versus Gals. XY versus XX. And with each channel offering new fare this month...

Kim Kardashian will reportedly be chauffeured in a tank/limo hybrid during the Super Bowl weekend.

Weekly Sci-Fi Thread (01/31/10) Mon: 8/7 -- Chuck -- NBC 9/8 -- Heroes -- NBC Thru: 9/8 -- Fringe -- Fox Fri: 9/8 -- Caprica -- Syfy Syndication: Legend of the Seeker -- Check your local listings

It is early February 2020. You walk into your living room, ready to fire up that TV and root for the Cleveland Browns to win their third Super Bowl. Hey, folks, this is the future. Anything is possible. We're speculating here, and we're playing with the bank's money, so why not dream big? What does the future look like? Well, for starters, that TV screen is as big as one of your living-room walls, yet it's only 3 millimeters thick and using far less energy than it takes to power your refrigerator. No need to search for the remote. You've...

"Call it "a live-action 'Call of Duty.'" Call it "fast, smart, hard." Call it a remake, a reimagining, whatever. The new "Red Dawn" is high on our list of action flicks that have us pumped about the 2010 cinema schedule. And while the updated version will make some key changes to the 1984 flick's storyline, the original's red, white and blue center will stay just the same."

The classic TV series, not the remake:http://www.amctv.com/videos/the-prisoner-1960s-video/

Thanks to all for your comments about the Glenn Beck show. I couldn't respond to every single person, but I read them all and am honored that you watched. A Patriot's History of the United States was #19 on Amazon last I looked, second only to Zinn. It perhaps is fitting that he passed away this week, and maybe this means a changing of the guard.

Miss America Live on Saturday @ 8 PM ET