Clooney gets The Fall of Bob on Showtime
To some people, George Clooney’s affable good nature and sincerity comes off as smug over-confidence. I fall into the former rather than the latter category.
I think George is ambitious and grateful to be working in the business. I think he remembers the years of struggling to become a star — those years on The Facts of Life and Riptide and E/R (the Elliott Gould sitcom, not the Emmy award-winning NBC medical drama).
Failures like Leatherheads have to keep him humble. Anyway, his efforts to expand as an actor and director and producer strike me as someone who is wisely not resting on his laurels. That said, today it was reported that Clooney’s production company, Smoke House, is behind a new pilot for Showtime called The Fall of Bob.
The title character of this half-hour comedy, Bob, is all about suicide. Actually, it’s about what’s happening while he’s attempting to commit suicide. Bob jumps off a building and as he’s plummeting to the ground, his life flashes before his eyes. In flashbacks, Bob narrates the stories of those flashback episodes. Presumably, those scenes will give us some idea why Bob has jumped in the first place.
Danny Zuker is the creator of this dark comedy. For obvious reasons, it’ll be shot in a single-comedy format, the current trend in Hollywood. Zuker’s been involved in all kinds of comedy, including Roseanne, Grace Under Fire, Coupling, and most recently, Pamela Anderson’s Fox series, Stacked.
Ed McMahon’s Money Troubles Continue
Ed McMahon apparently hasn’t been playing favorites when it comes to determining which banks not to pay.
Citibank sued the financially strapped TV personality earlier this month, claiming he failed to make good on a nearly $200,000 loan.
According to the complaint filed June 9 in Los Angeles Superior Court, Citibank wants $179,687 from McMahon, as well as attorney’s fees incurred while trying to recoup the debt.
McMahon’s rep said Friday that the former Tonight Show sidekick and his wife hadn’t yet been served with the lawsuit.
It was revealed earlier this month that McMahon was facing foreclosure on his Beverly Hills home after falling $644,000 in the hole on mortgage loan payments.
During an appearance on Larry King Live June 6, McMahon attributed his money troubles to the simple facts of life.
“Well, if you spend more money than you make, you know what happens,” the thrice-married 85-year-old said. “And it can happen. You know, a couple of divorces thrown in, a few things like that. And, you know, things happen. You want everything to be perfect, but that combination of the economy, I have a little injury, I have a situation. And it all came together.”
Actress Kim Fields Welcomes a Baby Boy
Former Facts of Life star Kim Fields has welcomed a son, Sebastian Alexander Morgan, her rep confirms to PEOPLE exclusively.
The boy, who will be called “Sam,” was born Friday at 11:30 a.m. (Fields was in labor for less than two hours.)
He weighed 6 lbs., 4 oz. and was 19″ long. Fields – whose pregnancy and delivery were “trouble free, sickness free, very smooth, perfect,” according to her rep – said upon first seeing her son, “Oh, my God. He’s gorgeous.”
This is the first child for Fields and her boyfriend, Broadway actor Christopher Morgan – who was in the delivery room, speechless and crying when his son arrived, said the rep.
Fields, 37, and Morgan, 30, who are engaged, have been together “a couple of years” and decided last summer to have a child, she told PEOPLE in December.
“We were on the subway one day and Chris said, ’I’m ready to start our family,’ ” Fields recalled. “It was beautiful and I started to weep.”
Had the new arrival been a girl, her name would have been Aria Grace, Fields said.
Fields played Tootie Ramsey on TV’s The Facts of Life throughout its run from 1979 to 1988. She also recently produced and directed a documentary about Grammy-nominated jazz saxophonist Najee called Najee: Sax in South Africa.
NBC stars sing about family - VIDEO
Oh, they don’t make ’em like this anymore.
After the jump is a video from the NBC 60th Anniversary show in 1986 (very interesting). It’s rather surreal. We get to see Bea Arthur, Nell Carter, Charlotte Rae (Mrs. Garrett from Facts of Life), Marla Gibbs, and Alfonso Ribiero sing a song about “family.” That’s the NBC family, that is, as all of them were starring on shows at the time (Facts of Life, Golden Girls, Gimme A Break, 227, and Silver Spoons). Punky Brewster herself makes an appearance too, but only to say three words and gives a thumbs up. Barbara Eden introduces the song. The most cringe-worthy moment isn’t any of the singing, it’s when Gibbs and Carter pass each other on the stairs and casually say that they love each other’s shows.
Can you imagine a network doing this now? I want to see Hugh Laurie, Stewie, the guys from Prison Break, Marge Simpson, and Gordon Ramsay get on stage at the next Emmy Awards and sing about the FOX family.