Friends

CHICAGO – ABC’s new sitcom “Happy Endings” is undeniably yet another “Friends” rip-off, an attempt to make a pal-com about relationships, misunderstandings, and good buddies. I’ve seen enough of these things that I automatically get a bit defensive when they appear on my desk. If you sat through junk like “Traffic Light” and “Perfect Couples,” you would too.

CHICAGO – Playing the same beloved character for a full decade tends to make an actor typecast for life, regardless of one’s range or ability. That’s the challenge facing all six stars of David Crane and Marta Kauffman’s lovable and addictive sitcom, “Friends.” Each cast member has had varying degrees of success when attempting to break out of their familiar onscreen personas.

CHICAGO – The failure of the romantic comedy on the big screen (no genre is in more dire straits right now creatively) has definitely crept into television as well with a continuous parade of bad relationship comedies, including two already in 2011, NBC’s “Perfect Couples” and the even-worse “Traffic Light,” debuting tonight on FOX.

CHICAGO – In the annals of showbiz-skewering shows about shows, few of them have been as funny right off the bat as “Episodes.” This Showtime/BBC co-production is blessed with one of the best premises of the season, and as evidenced in its first three episodes, the premise only gets funnier as the story progresses, reaching new heights of lunacy.

CHICAGO – High wattage star power lit up the red carpet on October 18th at the Chicago International Film Festival.

CHICAGO – The programming executive that thought “Better With You” would fit well between the reasonably-good “The Middle” and the spectacular “Modern Family” clearly has no idea how television comedy has changed in the last few years. To call “Better With You” — with its laugh track, cheesy music, and horrible punchlines — old-fashioned is an insult to nostalgic comedies. It’s just bad.

CHICAGO – Morgan Fairchild was a memorable presence during her early career in various appearances on 1970s and 1980s TV screens. She and also starred in a couple of nighttime soap operas including “Flamingo Road” and “Falcon Crest”.

CHICAGO – Following Lisa Kudrow’s wildly successful, 10-year run as Phoebe Buffay on 238 episodes of “Friends,” the 46-year-old Encino, Calif. native is hardly the spacey blonde from 1997’s “Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion”.

CHICAGO – “Twilight” and “New Moon” fans will have a reason to flock to the theaters on Aug. 14, 2009 for the release of the new film “Bandslam” with Vanessa Hudgens, Alyson Michalka, Gaelan Connell, Lisa Kudrow (from “Friends”) and Tim Jo.

CHICAGO – “My Boys,” which is a set-in-Chicago television comedy series on TBS, recently began its second season. The popular comedy stars Jordana Spiro as P.J. Franklin. She’s a Chicago Sun-Times sports writer who filters her life through bonding with her male buddies.

Three of the “boys” – Michael Bunin (Kenny in the show), Kyle Howard (Bobby) and Reid Scott (Brendan) – were recently interviewed by HollywoodChicago.com.