TCA Talk

Some of the hot talk so far from this year’s summer Television Critics Association (TCA) press tour:

TV’s New “It” Girl: Olivia Munn
The sexy, sassy and completely unfiltered Olivia Munn provided the laughs at a press conference this week for G4’s live interactive series, “Attack of the Show,” airing weeknights at 7pm ET/PT. Munn, along with Kevin Peira, say their series is targeted to young men and focuses on everything they need to know about technology, games, TV, gadgets, comic books, internet culture and more. Munn, the show’s standout, says she does receive a lot of fan mail. “I get a good amount of fan mail and presents, and it’s all, like very nice. I did get a life-size bear, which we were convinced my fan was inside of it. I didn’t change around it for a long time because I thought there was video cameras in it. I get the sweetest stuff, and I’m so thankful. I get notes and cards, and I get pajamas. No one’s sent anything dirty, like dildos or lingerie. It’s like, teddy bears or candy.”

Kardashians Provide Plenty Of Material For Joel McHale
E!’s Joel McHale, host of The Soup, admitted his parent network provides him with plenty of material when it comes to ridiculous behavior from the stars and outrageous reality TV moments. “I don’t know what we would have done without The Girls Next Door or Denise Richards: It’s Boring … Complicated. Excuse me.” Surprisingly, he doesn’t get much backlash from those he candidly mocks. “I ran into the Kardashians, and I thought they were going to jump me. And they said they love the show. And I was like, ‘I’ve called you dead behind the eyes, like 300 times.’”

Once in a while, however, a network exec will ask him to back off on talent. “We’ll piss Hef off some week, and they’ll say ‘Hey, can you lay off him next week? You can go at him the next week, but just lay off him a little bit.’ They’ve been really great.”

No More “Dr. Quinn” For Jane Seymour

Jane Seymore in Dear Prudence
© Chris Large Photography. Courtesy of Hallmark Channel.

When asked if there ever will be another “Dr. Quinn” movie, Jane Seymour said: “No. Les Moonves does not want to make any more Dr. Quinn’s.” Instead, the actress says fans of Dr. Quinn will enjoy her newest role as a humorous Martha Stewart-like advice columnist who gets embroiled in a murder mystery in the new movie franchise from Hallmark Channel — Dear Prudence (premiering Aug. 23). “Ever since Wedding Crashers, I’ve loved doing comedy. I think my husband said ‘Can we kind of, you know, slow down on the cougars.’ I don’t know how often he wanted to see me naked,” Seymour laughs. “I just felt that Prudence was a really fun character, and there was just a long way I could go with her.”

Chandra West Didn’t Get “John From Cincinnati” Either
David Milch’s short-lived HBO series John From Cincinnati confused even the star of the series. “I think the only person truly who can respond to what the show is about is David Milch.” While she raved on Milch’s brilliance, when pressed on if she really got it, she replied: “I think to put a fine point on it, the short answer is no. … sometimes I’d be listening to him and going ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about.’” West stars in the upcoming Hallmark Channel original movie For The Love of Grace.

Florence Henderson Can Fix The Toilet, But Not Brady Son
America’s favorite mom Florence Henderson’s next role is in the Hallmark Channel original movie Ladies of the House, debuting Oct. 18. In the film, Henderson, Donna Mills and Pam Grier star as three women who take on the daunting task of renovating a run-down house in order to raise funds for their church. In real life, Henderson says she can do some basic handiwork. “I know how to work a plunger, you know, fix a toilet that doesn’t flush. Beyond that, I’m kind of useless. I mean, I know how to take the top off the back of the toilet and get that round thing to come back up.” When it comes to fixing relationships with her former Brady children that’s a different story. Chris Knight (Peter Brady) asked Henderson if she would counsel him and his fiance before their wedding. “I said, ‘No, but maybe I’ll come and counsel the divorce.’” Henderson did later agree to appear as a therapist in their reality series Knight was starring in at the time. “I had never done reality television and I did it, and I don’t have to do it again.”

Eric La Salle Prefers To Leave “ER” Behind
Eric La Salle, Michael Michele and Michael Breach, all ER alums, star in the upcoming Hallmark Channel original Relative Stranger. As for the early years of ER, La Salle says, “Look, it was a defining moment for a lot of us artists. You know, it was a show that was a little bit ahead of its time. We had a great time doing it. I don’t know what else to say. I’ve talked about the show so much. I prefer to talk more about Relative Stranger.”

Cho Show
© VH1

Margaret Cho Returns To TV
After being dissed by ABC almost 10 years ago, VH1 offers Margaret Cho a new home to showcase her Asian family and quirky lifestyle in The Cho Show, premiering Aug. 21. “I’m very proud now to bring the second Asian-American family to television. I’m actually #1 and #2. One of the things that I remembered [about her ABC experience] was after I did my first screen test, one executive freaked out and said ‘please, never, ever, ever show your stomach in public ever again. Never.’ So, that’s why I’m like naked in the show all the time. It’s wonderful to be working with VH1, who have been incredible in really allowing us to be ourselves.”

David Alan Grier Offers Some “Chocolate” News
Comedy Central’s new series Chocolate News, a hilarious take on pop culture events, makes no apologies for its extremely biased approach to covering the news. In Living Color alum David Alan Grier serves as host of the show and plays multiple characters in the show’s investigative reports. “This has been my dream show, because every other show that I’ve been on has been someone else’s vision that I have been trying to interpret,” Grier says. “Even on In Living Color, where I had the most freedom, probably, of everything I’ve done, it still was filtered through Keenen [Ivory Wayan]’s vision. This one I wrote the original pilot, created it myself and submitted it.”

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