Debra Messing

CHICAGO – Since it slid in weeks two and three, viewers who fell in love with NBC’s “Smash” have been biting their nails like an ingenue waiting to see if she makes the cut for callbacks. Good news, “Smash” fans: NBC renewed the show for a second season today.

CHICAGO – After months of hype and expectations that increased with every creative and ratings failure that NBC trotted out this season, the premiere of “Smash” is finally here. Is this the show that saves NBC? Is it the next “Glee” or the next “Cop Rock”?

CHICAGO – In our latest edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: TV, we have 38 admit-two VIP party passes up for grabs to the special sneak screening of the premiere episode of Steven Spielberg’s “Smash” on NBC starring Debra Messing!

CHICAGO – Many editions of the DVD Round-Up have featured a different genre and focus for each title within it. This week seems a little more thematically linked as we have a trio of foreign horror films and a few more independent films than usual. Of course, there has to a holiday comedy to spice things up.

CHICAGO – The long-delayed remake of “The Women”, the 1939 classic film that has been in the pipeline for years, should have stayed in terminal development hell.

CHICAGO – When it was still called “Humboldt Park” and was probably more closely related to Chicago’s thriving Hispanic neighborhood, Alfredo De Villa’s “Nothing Like the Holidays” was probably a lot more interesting than the cookie-cutter dramedy that ended up on the big screen.

CHICAGO – Luis Guzman, Freddy Rodriguez and Elizabeth Pena were in Chicago on a snowy Dec. 1, 2008 for the red-carpet premiere of the new Chicago-filmed movie “Nothing Like the Holidays” at the Music Box Theatre.