Our final Winter TCA blog
Dishing on divorce
The final hours of the press tour wound down with an ABC party on Wisteria Lane. Of course a trip down that famous “Desperate Housewives” street wouldn’t be complete without a little domestic gossip.
Before Brad and Jennifer split, the tabloids loved spilling the minute-by-minute marriage breakup of John Stamos and Berkeley native Rebecca Romijn.
“I don’t like seeing myself in those magazines,” John says. “But then I turn around and read them and think, ‘I can’t believe Brad Pitt said that to her.’ “
John says he’s angry at the press dogging his now-grown-up “Full House” co-stars Mary-Kate and Ashley. Both, he says, are doing just fine.
“I’m so impressed with the two of them and what Mary-Kate is doing is so inspirational,” John says of her decision to go public with her eating disorder. “Mary-Kate is now working as (photographer) Annie Liebovitz’ assistant, and Ashley is helping design a friend’s restaurant.”
`NYPD Blue’ musings
So just how badly did producer Steven Bochco (“NYPD Blue”) want to get his series “Blind Justice” on the air?
“I told ABC to put it in the ‘NYPD Blue’ spot after it went off the air, and they kept saying they weren’t sure,” Bochco says. “So I told them I would give them $2 million (basically the cost of the pilot) to put it on. They finally agreed.”
Jimmy Kimmel’s Uncle Frank, a fixture on the late night talk show, was excited to meet Bochco. He told the producer that he was an ex-cop and said there were only two TV series that accurately reflected life as a New York cop: “NYPD Blue” and “Barney Miller.”
`Alias’ star gets a girl
“Alias” co-star Greg Grunberg is a happy man: He finally get a girlfriend on the series.
His new gal is the beautiful Nadia (Mia Maestro), sister of Sidney (Jennifer Garner). Nadia is the daughter of evil genius Arvin Sloan.
“It’s pretty funny. In one episode I go to dinner at Sloan’s house and call him Arvin,” Greg says. “He stops that right away.”
`Desperate’ rumors
Ah, the rumors. Now that “Desperate Housewives” is such a success, quite a few actresses are claiming they turned down parts in the series.
Not so, says creator Marc Cherry.
Heather Locklear, in the very early stages before the pilot had been sold, had been briefly mentioned.
“In defense of Ms. Locklear, the creator actually did talk about her (although she was never offered a roll),” Cherry says. “In reference to the other actress whom you’ve mentioned, let me be clear. No offer was tendered.”
Cherry said when Nicollette Sheridan heard of Locklear’s interest, she said it would be fine if she got a guest shot as Edie’s sister.
But let us be clear. “Edie’s OLDER sister,” she says.
Sit on it
Heeeyyy, it’s the Fonz coming down the street.
Henry Winkler, who now plays a crooked lawyer on Fox’s “Arrested Development,” was at the ABC party because the network’s doing a “Happy Days” reunion show.
So what else has Henry been up to?
“I write children’s books, and the character is Hank Zipzer, ” Henry says. “My latest is being published by Penguin/Putnam.”