Dan Harmon Interview About 'Community'

Jim Rash with Dan Harmon at Paley Fest in March.

When you interview someone, you never know how circumstances will change over the course of several months.  When I interviewed Dan Harmon at Paley Fest 2012 back in March, the big news was about the return of Community to the NBC lineup after an unplanned hiatus. Well, several events including a public spat with Chevy Chase lead to his dismissal from the show last week.  Watch my interview with Dan before he was let go from the show:



I would love to hear your thoughts about the controversy.  Hit me up on Twitter or Facebook.

The Friday Five

The Friday Five is back!  Here are some pop culture moments from the week for you to mull over.....



1. Jennie Garth:  The news about Jennie and her husband, Peter Facinelli, proved not to be a surprise for a lot of us in Hollywood as there were rumors about them for almost two years. However, I was sorry to hear that they were splitting up.  Jennie is incredibly nice, so let's give her some good press this week.  Check out the interview I did with her last fall for Starpulse.

2. Shealeigh Daily:  This sweet and talented girl won Radio Disney's NBT late last year.  She kindly gave a shout out to my niece and her pal yesterday, so I hope you all stand up and take notice because this gal is going places.  Here's my interview with her from December.

3.  85th Annual Academy Awards:  Okay, the show stays in the same place next year, the last Sunday in February, but the nominations move up a week.  Watch out, Golden Globes, the Oscars are trying to steal your thunder......and make the award campaign season one week longer.  Oh my!



4.  Community:  The NBC show finally made its return to the lineup last night.  Did you watch?  I interviewed the cast a few weeks ago at the Paley Fest and they were chomping at the bit to get back to the fans who supported their show tremendously during their hiatus.

5.  Luck:  This week in Hollywood was anything but lucky for this HBO series which was cancelled after a swift series of horse fatalities on set.  I heard rumors that they were using older horses for challenging racing scenes which may have contributed to the deaths, but in the end, the ratings weren't great. Either way, HBO acted quickly to put this series down. Was it the ratings or the heat from PETA?  What do you think of this week's hottest TV controversy?

That's it for this week's Friday Five.  Let me know what you liked or didn't like this week in the comments section below.  Join the conversation with me on Twitter, Facebook, or Google Plus.

Paley Fest 2012: Community

Joel McHale and Alison Brie

If you caught my coverage of the first night of the Paley Fest,  you know the fans of some of the most beloved shows are rabid for more.  Well, night two was no different as it was the long awaited return of NBC's Community.  They had a rough start to Season three when NBC placed them on a forced hiatus after their fall episodes.  The fans banded together to make sure NBC knew how much they loved their show.  The cast kept working through this hiatus and the network finally announced the return of the show:  March 15th.  Catch up with the cast and find out what they have been up to including Jim Rash, his Oscar, and the most famous leg in the entertainment industry. 

 Gillian Jacob and Dan Harmon

 Jim Rash and Dan Harmon

Danny Pudi

Paley Fest 2012: American Horror Story

Jessica Lange

We go back to our regularly scheduled program since we have laid Oscar to bed for 2012......welcome to Paley Fest 2012!  This is an incredible annual series the Paley Center puts on honoring some of the best series in television.  Last night, the festival kicked off with a tribute to American Horror Story, an anthology-based series on FX that has become a television game-changer this season. The big question of the night involved cast members and character who would be returning for Season 2 given the fact that many characters were killed in Season 1.  Jessica Lange has already signed on for Season 2, but I was curious about Sarah Paulson and I think I nailed it in my first question. Yep, she's returning.  Check out my interview with her, Jessica Lange, Alexandra Breckenridge, Connie Britton, and Frances Conroy on the red carpet last night. (And come back tomorrow for my interviews with the cast of NBC's Community.)

 Alexandra Breckenridge

 Sarah Paulson

 Connie Britton

Frances Conroy

Chevy Chase Crashes The Set!

As you read this, I will be soaring high over the friendly skies to Paris. I will be checking in from time to time with a post and a picture or two.  You can always follow me here on Twitter or Facebook for further updates.



In the meantime, take a look at who stopped by my shoot at Paramount Studios:  Uh......Chevy Chase!  He films Community on the lot (I also saw a few of the Glee kids too.) and he completely crashed our set about 5 minutes before we went LIVE with the launch of the new 2012 Toyota Camry for Live Connect.  I so wish he stayed when we began the show, but alas, he had a tour group to photo bomb next.  It was hilarious and a pretty cool moment with a comedy legend.

Yes, he's real and not a wax figurine from Madame Tussaud's.  

36th Annual Gracie Awards

Last night was another dream of a lifetime:  The 36th Annual Gracie Awards.  The Gracies honor "programming for Women, by Women, and about Women".  It is presented each year by The Alliance for Women in Media Foundation and it is a powerhouse event.  What do you do when you have a room filled with your broadcast heroes?  It took all of my might not to burst into tears while interviewing Meredith Vieira.  Instead, I begged her to stay on The Today Show.  She's still leaving.  Okay, at least I got to interview the gal.  Many of these women paved the way for me to have a career in broadcasting from Meredith to Shaun Robinson to Linda Ellerbee and I had the opportunity to interview them for Mingle Media TV.  Here are the magical photos from the evening:

 A dress I pulled from the back of my closet and my vintage Via Spiga shoes. 

 Shaun Robinson from Access Hollywood.

A supermodel looks excited to meet me! Christy Turlington.

 A true pioneer in the industry, Linda Ellerbee.

 Holly Robinson Peete from The Talk.

 Yvette Nicole Brown from Community.  I think we should be friends, she's a lot of fun.

 The figure skating geek in me is dying here. Peggy Fleming and Gracie honoree, Anne Thompson from NBC.

 Kimberly Locke from American Idol performed.

 I just wanted to say, "Whoa", into the mic, but I didn't want to scare Blossom....er, I mean Dr. Mayim Bialik.  Yep, Blossom is wicked smart.

 Morgan Fairchild looks like she is 30-years old.  I don't know what she is doing, but it looks good.  She told me she is held together by "superglue".  Ah, the girl has a sense of humor!

 I just want to go for a cocktail with Access Hollywood Live's, Kit Hoover.  She's pretty cool.

One of my sports broadcasting heroes, Hannah Storm, and her awesome biceps.

By the way, I will be a guest on Diva Talk Radio with Kelli Claypool and Gina Parris today at 11AM PT/2PM ET.  Come join in on the discussion. You can listen here.

Photos courtesy of Mingle Media TV.