Hugh Jackman

The new trailer for Baz Luhrmann's Austrailia has us a little dumbfounded. The film, Mr. Luhrmann's first since striking the fancy of Oscar voters seven years ago with his multiple nominated revisionist musical Moulin Rouge!, features so many references to other movies that it's actually hard to keep up.

Mostly Australia culls from African Queen; Hugh Jackman actually appears to be wearing Humprhey Bogart's wardrobe from the John Huston film, while Nicole Kidman seems to be reading Katherine Hepburn's dialogue. But there are also bows towards Casablanca, especially when the film kicks into World War II mode with massive aerial combat scenes and Mr. Jackman costumed in a white tuxedo.

We could go on naming other films referenced here too. The English Patient. Titanic. Raiders of the Lost Ark. Pearl Harbor. Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. Back to the Future Part III. Dances with Wolves. The entire trailer feels like an advertisement for one of those AFI top-100 lists.  read more »

Christina Applegate’s Samantha Who? (9:30 PM, ABC) debuts tonight, sandwiched in between Dancing With the Stars and The Bachelor. She plays a woman who wakes from an eight-day coma with retrograde amnesia only to slowly come to the realization that she was a total bitch. Perhaps a little amnesia is necessary on the part of viewers, who will need to forget Surviving Christmas in order to give this show a shot. (Who am I kidding?  read more »

Meet stewmurray47, the future of television! The network leader dosn't have a lot of room for new programming in its lineup, but it's doing what it can to keep up with the almost-universal television trends of 2007.  read more »

"We approached our development this year with a specific goal in mind—to be daring and different," said Nina Tassler, President, CBS Entertainment. "The Fall and mid-season series we have selected offer creativity and variety with great potential to excite and surprise television audiences everywhere."

They’re bringing us musicals, vampires and swingers!

But the big news broke yesterday: they’ll be renewing How I Met Your Mother, the hilarious show you’re not watching (fill up the Netflix queue with the first and second season). This morning came the official announcement of that decision, as well as confirming the new comedy and three new dramas added to their fall line-up.

Hugh Jackman is producing and starring in a mystery musical called Viva Laughlin, an American version of BBC’s Viva Blackpool, a wealthy casino entrepreneur and an ambitious businessman in Nevada.

The West Wing’s Jimmy Smits will lead Cane, a drama about an Cuban-American family who runs a rum and sugar cane business in Florida. This could be a snoozer, unless you knock back a few Long Island Iced teas while you’re watching.

Moonlight is some kind cross between the X-Files and Buffy the Vampire Slayer about a detective who investigates the undead. Spooky.

And the new comedy from the producer of Two and a Half Men brings two nerds (Johnny Galecki of Roseanne and Jim Parsons of Judging Amy) and a sexy mentor for The Big Bang Theory. A sultry Kaley Cuoco of 8 Simple Rules trades info about the birds and the bees for their knowledge about quantum physics. Seems like a Weird Science project to us.

Swingtown, a midseason series, is CBS’s biggest leap from their usually tame line-up. The director of Big Love will bring audiences into the suburban homes of 1970s swingers.

Click "read more" to read the whole press release.  read more »