Ellen Degeneres

MONDAY

There’s hope! Striking writers and the networks that loathe them have agreed to resume contract talks after Thanksgiving. But then, it's kind of a TV weekend. How to avoid the many repeats this holiday week? For starters, Ellen Degeneres may have canceled her trip to New York City this week—being protested would be such a bummer!—but she (and her contract with Warner Bros.) promise all new shows this week (NBC, 4:00 PM). Today: her guests are the Backstreet Boys! Oh, joy. Who needs writers?

Seriously, though. Tonight, you can avoid the networks and the work of writers all together and just stick to that old-school reality programming: documentaries. The Sundance Channel will be showing the Maysle brothers’ masterpiece Grey Gardens (7:15 PM) for the millionth time, while I Am an Animal: the Story of Ingrid Newkirk and PETA (HBO, 8:00 PM) will debut. It appears Sheila Nevins is starting to blur the lines between the titles of her Real Sex documentaries and, y’know, the ones that nobody watches.

TUESDAY

ABC kicks off Tuesday with the repeat to end all repeats! It’s a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (8:00 PM), written in 1973. They follow that up with He’s a Bully, Charlie Brown (8:30 PM), based on the last original script penned by Charles Schulz. Of course, a dead writer can’t strike. He's hired!

Truth be told, most all network programming is brand new tonight, including House (Fox, 9:00 PM). But if you’re finding Tuesdays a bit tedious—I surely am—perhaps it’s time to invest some money in—gulp—Showtime, which is sporting the promising programming trio of Brotherhoood (8:00 PM), Dexter (9:00 PM), and Weeds (10:00 PM and 10:30 PM). Whatever happened to Shannon Tweed? Oh, right, that’s Cinemax. (Whatever happened to Cinemax?)  read more »

It’s been a week since we last spoke with celebrity life coach Patrick Wanis, Ph.D., so we called him earlier today to dish about some of this week’s hot goss. Starting things off with the Writers Guild’s inside enemy-number-one, talk show host Ellen DeGeneres (also a W.G.A. member), who canceled plans to tape her show in New York next week. Michael Winship, president of the W.G.A.’s East Coast branch, responded to the news by saying he was “delighted” Ms. DeGeneres would no longer be hitting Manhattan, where she was sure to face a fresh crop of protesters.

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Not long after Ellen DeGeneres beckoned bile from Writers Guild members for crossing picket lines, the talk show host has killed plans to tape The Ellen DeGeneres Show in New York next week. Among those “delighted” with her decision—Michael Winship, president of the Guild’s East Coast arm. “She knows that the Writers Guild East would have been there to protest her lack of solidarity, not only with her Guild writing staff but all the striking members of the Writers Guild, of which she is a member,” Ms. Winship said.

Ellen DeGeneres cancels NYC show tapings [AP via Yahoo]  read more »

Iggy, the dog that launched a thousand tears, is doing fine. In the wake of Ellen DeGeneres’ on-air breakdown over the pup’s forced return to an animal shelter, the Affenpinscher mix is following the TV host’s lead by hitting the airwaves to promote pet adoption awareness. According to an attorney who represents Mutts and Moms, the canine is “doing famously well and in a loving home.” All health and happiness aside, Iggy has probably had to settle for a less-than-Hollywood-ready do since being removed from Ms. DeGeneres’ hairdresser’s loving home.

Ellen DeGeneres’ Old Dog Iggy Stars in New Commercial [US]

It doesn’t quite match up to the horror of last month's YouTube phenomenon created by that Britney Spears fanatic, but today’s Ellen DeGeneres Show features the beloved host weeping--actual tears!--over Iggy, a dog she rescued from a shelter last month. Instead of letting Iggy shack up chez Ellen, Ms. DeGeneres decided to give the maligned canine to her hairdresser, who has two children in desperate need of a puppy to call their own.

But…in a cruel twist of fate, the shelter rang up the daytime-TV-dancing-queen to check on the dog. Learning that it now resided with her coiffeur, the protective shelter demanded Iggy’s immediate return.

A clip of the heart-wrenching sob-sequence can be found by clicking on the link below.

Ellen Sobs For The Return Of Confiscated Pet [Huffington Post]