Britney’s rep has confirmed reports that she will make a guest appearance on the CBS sitcom “How I Met Your Mother.” Britney previously appeared as a guest on former CBS sitcom “Will and Grace” in early 2006 and by some reports was considering a career in acting full time. She was also said to be in talks for an ongoing role in a sitcom around that time, but nothing came of that.

Paris Hilton will have a guest spot on “My Name is Earl” in an episode to air on April 3. It sounds like the television networks are getting desperate by calling in the tabloid darlings to bring in ratings after the writer’s strike.

Here’s a clip of Britney on “Will and Grace” back when she still sort-of had her act together. It’s not as bad as you might anticipate. She’s annoying, but so was “Will and Grace.”

Britney is seen out shoe shopping on 3/8/08.

Lately everything Justin Timberlake touches seems to turn to gold. Well, with the exception of Britney Spears of course. But pretty much everything else associated with Justin seems to do well, and now he’s decided to branch out into television production. I have no idea what he’s ever done that makes him qualified to produce TV, but apparently people that know a lot more about television than I do (Hi Jeff Zucker!) seem to think Timberlake’s got what it takes. And/or they’re hoping he’ll bring sexy back. Sorry, it’s hard not to make that joke. Justin is executive producing a new show for NBC called, “My Problem with Women,” an American adaptation of a Peruvian comedy.

Timberlake will serve as an executive producer for the first time on a scripted television project.

“I am very excited to be collaborating with Reveille to bring this hugely successful format to NBC,” Timberlake said.

The show is about a young bachelor who sees a therapist to try and figure out his romantic problems. It is based on Mi Problema con las Mujeres, which has been sold to 20 countries around the world.

The American version will be produced by Reveille, Frecuencia Latina International and Power

[From Broadcasting & Cable]

Adapting one show in multiple countries has become incredibly popular in the last ten years. There are a ton of shows that didn’t really translate, but a few notable ones that have done exceptionally well, like “Ugly Betty,” and “The Office.” Howard T. Owens, one of the other executive producers, says Justin’s on board because “We think he is one of the best artists in the world across different platforms, and we want to tap his creative energy and storytelling abilities.” Huh. Most of the storytelling I’ve heard Justin Timberlake do involves seducing women, one night stands, and laughing at Britney Spears when she found out that Kevin Federline did to her what she did to Justin. Ain’t that the way it goes.

Here’s Justin leaving Butter in New York City on February 5th. Images thanks to Splash.

Jerry Seinfeld is making a comeback. Insert groan here ________. Thanks. Jerry’s going to be doing another show about nothing, or something close to it. Supposedly it’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm” but with Jerry. Which is weird because “Curb Your Enthusiasm” was very much Seinfeld-like but with Larry David, and all the personality quirks and swear words amped up so it was “edgy” and fit for HBO. So essentially these two guys have one idea between them, and they just keep volleying it back and forth. Though we’ve been promised no insane “Bee Movie” promotion, I highly doubt that’ll actually happen, seeing as how yesterday when I was in Midtown Jerry Seinfeld was wandering up and down the sidewalks on 36th Street mumbling “Bee Movie Bee Movie Bee Movie Bee Movie I’m Jerry Seinfeld Bee Movie Bee Movie,” over and over again. But hey, at least this time he wasn’t wearing the costume.

Sources tell PageSix.com that the 53-year-old comedian is in talks for a new series on his old net. The show is being pitched as “just like Curb Your Enthusiasm, but with Jerry, instead of Larry.”

We guess it’s better than a show about nothing!

The series, which is aiming for a June premiere, will be set in New York and will feature Jerry Seinfeld playing himself in an exaggerated reality. The whole thing is a bit confusing for us — if Larry David in Curb was what would have happened had Seinfeld been called Costanza, what happens when Seinfeld goes Curb?

Thank goodness that as we speak, NBC is hiring people to answer these tough questions.

[From Page Six]

Awesome. Because what America really needs is more of this hack. I used to love Jerry Seinfeld until he got married. Why? Because 1) he first met and seduced his wife Jessica while she was on her honeymoon with her first husband and 2) several years later, said wife blatantly plagiarized a whole cookbook and 3) Seinfeld’s reaction to it was to call the plagiarized author, Missy Chase Lapine, a complete whackjob and make fun of her on Letterman even though Lapine had not made or commented publicly on the plagiarizing claims. What a class act.

In related news, Missy Chase Lapine eventually filed a very well-deserved lawsuit against both the Seinfelds – Jessica for plagiarizing the books, and Jerry for slandering her on Letterman – which the Seinfelds recently tried to have thrown out. Jerry claims that he was exaggerating for comedic effect – and while that was possible true, Lapine had done absolutely nothing to deserve being the victim of his barbs. She had at that point been silent while Jessica Seinfeld stole her ideas and made money off them! Interestingly, Jessica Seinfeld has the same literary agent - Jennifer Rudolph Walsh – as another plagiarizing author, Kaavya Viswanathan. Kind of makes you wonder.

Header of the Seinfelds at Madonna’s “A Night to Benefit Raising Malawi and UNICEF” (cough cough fake Kabbalah cult cough). Images thanks to PR Photos.

Update by Celebitchy: NBC and Seinfeld’s rep have both denied this report and say there is no show in the works.

Katherine Heigl is anxious to continue her film career and doesn’t want to be tied to the role that made her famous, Dr. Izzie Stevens on the hit show Grey’s Anatomy. - possible spoiler alert -

Word has it that Heigl has asked producers to kill her off her character on the show because she doesn’t want to be known as just a television star, and wants to break into movies full time.

After starring in the hit films Knocked Up and 27 Dresses, Katherine believes she has outgrown the small screen - and her agent is working overtime so she can devote herself full time to movies, sources say.

“Katherine has even suggested to ‘Grey’s’ producers that they kill her character Dr. Izzie Stevens in dramatic fashion so her exit could bring in huge ratings,” a pal of the 29-year-old Emmy winner told The Enquirer. Newly married to rocker Josh Kelley and riding high on her box-office appeal, Katherine has formed a production company with her mother Nancy, whos her manager, and she’s being swamped with movie offers, said the pal.

But leaving “Grey’s Will be an uphill battle because her contract with Touchstone and ABC is ironclad for the next two years, according to another source.

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, March 10, 2008]

The article goes on to say that Heigl might have to fight this out in court if producers don’t agree to let her out of her contract. You can see her trying to do this, and given all the stories that have come out about the fighting and sniping on the Grey’s set, it’s probably not the easiest place to work. Heigl said earlier that she didn’t know where producers were going with the series and called her character Izzie’s storyline a “ratings ploy.”

Heigl was really nervous as a presenter at the Oscars and her voice was shaking and cracking. She said afterwards that she felt out of her league and like a fan rather than someone who belonged there. “It was kind of surreal. I just felt very out of my league, you know? I was sitting behind Cate Blanchett and Jack Nicholson and sitting next to Renee Zellweger. I kind of wanted to get out my iPhone and take pictures.”

She’s explaining why she was nervous, and that’s nice I guess, especially considering how much smack she normally talks whenever she has an audience. I think she’s full of herself and courts the paparazzi too much. Other people like her because she’s so outspoken, but she shares too much for my tastes.

Splash had some photos of the police arriving at Heigl and her new husband Josh Kelly’s house on Tuesday. A neighbor had called them because he was sick of the paparazzi hanging around outside all the time.

Here’s Heigl having lunch with her mom and two interior designers yesterday. I hate it when people smoke when I’m trying to eat. Even when you’re outside it still gets in your space and makes your hair and clothes smell. Thanks to Splash News.

I always enjoy reading stories about what Hollywood folk did to entertain themselves during the WGA strike. A lot of them worked the picket lines, until that got boring. Many took tropical vacations. A few did some lovely charity work. The creator and producer of NBC’s “My Name Is Earl” did something no one else did – he worked the counter at a fast food restaurant. No he wasn’t strapped for cash – at least that’s not the reason he’s going with. Greg Garcia says that as a producer and writer, he spent so much time cooped up in his office that he had lost touch with his fan base. And that didn’t help him be a good writer. So he spent the month of January working as a cashier and janitor at a local restaurant, which he declines to name.

This stemmed from an idea I got while I was working on ‘Yes, Dear,’ ” Garcia says. “I’ve wanted to do a book about taking different jobs and what it was like to do them. This was the first. It may be a while before I do the second. But it’s just about the fact that we live behind gates and work behind gates, and as a writer you start to lose touch with the audience. You start running out of life experience.”

It likewise was perhaps an opportunity for Garcia to mine story ideas for his NBC comedy series, though he downplays that idea. What he’s enthusiastic to promote is how fulfilling his adventures in minimum wage turned out to be.

“This wound up a really positive thing,” Garcia said. “It didn’t turn me off from fast food. In fact, it was really the opposite. The place was unbelievably clean. The people whom I worked with were great. And the work itself was fun. Really. I worked hard — cashiering, cleaning the bathrooms. A few days in, they liked me so much they asked me to join their management team.”

[From the Hollywood Reporter]

The experience will probably lend itself to more writing ideas than sitting on his ass in Jamaica. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. But it’s pretty cool for a big producer and writer to not just be willing, but actually want, to spend his days at a McDonald’s, or some version thereof. Garcia kept his real occupation to himself, with the exception of the managers. At first they were worried he was doing an expose, but once he explained his real purpose, they were on board. When he left, he told his coworkers what he really did for a living. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Garcia had closely befriended one co-worker. Upon his departure, he gave them a check for $10,000.

That’s a pretty cool way to spend your downtime. I’ve actually had several friends who claimed they enjoyed working at fast food restaurants back in the day. Supposedly it’s a good fit if you’re really into teamwork and such. Greg Garcia has a really good point: it’s going to be hard to write accurately for and about the average guy when you spend all day sitting in a fancy office. It’ll be interesting to see how he incorporates his experiences into the plot line of “My Name Is Earl.”

Header of the cast of “My Name Is Earl” at Academy of Television Arts and Sciences October 2006. Below is Greg Garcia and his wife at the Emmys in 2006. Images thanks to PR Photos.

We just got an e-mail from a guest on The Tyra Banks show who said that she was treated very rudely by Tyra’s staff and had an awful experience. She said:

Just found your Webside and read about how cheap Tyra Banks is…..and I have to agree…My 11 year old daugher and myself have been on her Show last week,and we got lied to and humiliated….Tyra is a fake and very mean,she is so cheap we did not get to meet her befor or after the Show and my Child who idolises her did not even get an Autograph!!!!! How rude.

[Sent via e-mail. We will not publish the sender’s first name until we get confirmation that it’s ok.]

This guest of Tyra’s isn’t the only one who was left feeling used and humiliated after an appearance on Tyra’s show. Despite all the female empowerment Tyra preaches, there are other guests who also felt hurt and betrayed after an appearance on her daytime talk show, one of whom was a cancer victim who was forced to sign a non-disclosure agreement when she complained to staff.

39 year-old single mother of two, Jodi Hughes, has stage 4 cervical cancer and Lupus. She was on Tyra’s show for a scheduled makeover set up by her children. Her kids were not allowed in the studio when she was getting the makeover, and were left to sit on the curb for hours without ever being fed or checked up on. Her ten year-old boy is even legally blind. Hugh’s makeover was just a new dress, makeup and very painful hair weave that left her with severe complications. She was told exactly what to say about how Tyra made her feel like a woman again, but all she felt was tired and used. Then she got dropped off at the airport with her kids eight full hours before her plane left.

Jodi, who lives in Bettendorf, Iowa, says things went bad the minute they stepped off the plane in Los Angeles to tape the show.

Jordan, 17, and Nick, 10 - who is legally blind - were left sitting on a curb outside the studio lot for hours with no food, no phone and no money while Jodi underwent her “transformation” - which included nothing more than the services of a professional makeup artist, a new dress and a cheap, painful hair weave, she says.

Tyra’s producers scripted her lines for the show, Jodi says. “The producers told me to say: “Thank you, Tyra, for making me feel like a woman again.’ That was the most humiliating part.”

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, February 18, 2008]

Hughes had to get the extensions surgically removed in the emergency room when her scalp became infected. She said she spent months growing out her hair after chemo and that the extensions ruined it. She may not have had it the worst though, there was another makeover recipient on the show with her, a woman with handicapped arms. Her prize for going on the show was a purse! Hughes is quoted as saying “All they kept telling her was: ‘You should be grateful - that’s a $500 purse!’”

Hughes was a guest on Tyra’s show in 2006, but she wasn’t able to tell her story until now. When she complained about it, she was served with a gag order from Tyra’s lawyers that kept her from talking about her terrible experience for a full year.

This makes me so mad I cannot tell you. It only takes some common courtesy to make sure people are fed and comfortable before they go on your stupid television show. Just talk to the kids, make sure they get subs or some soda and sandwiches, and let them sit inside. Ask the guests if they want extensions in their hair before you do it. And for God’s sake don’t give a purse to a woman without arms! That’s asinine.

Tyra Banks is shown at fashion week on 2/4/08, thanks to PRPhotos.

Say what? Jane Fonda and new BFF/”Vagina Monologues” playwright Eve Ensler appeared this morning on “The Today Show” with Meredith Vieira to promote V-Day, a global awareness campaign that happens every Valentine’s Day. V-Day is a worldwide project that includes readings/performances of “The Vagina Monologues” to build awareness of violence against women. Jane was talking about how she was reluctant to perform the play at first because she hadn’t seen it. “I was asked to do a scene called ‘Cu*t,” she told a shocked Meredith Vieira. “I don’t do cu*t!”

I was watching the broadcast, and let me tell you, I nearly choked on my morning coffee! At first, I thought I’d misheard. But after seeing the video, I can confirm that Jane Fonda dropped the C word on national television. I guess she didn’t want to be outdone by another older actress, Diane Keaton, who let an F-bomb slip on Good Morning America a few weeks ago.

Maybe the TV sensors were asleep this morning? At any rate, I have to admit, it was pretty awesome.

Note by Celebitchy: Thanks to Redlasso for the video clip above. It seems like it’s the hot older chicks who are swearing on the talk shows lately. They must not give a shit.

Kevin Federline had an acting stint on CW’s teen drama “One Tree Hill” last night in a bit part as a douche musician. I’ve never watched this show, but according to Wikipedia, one of the characters started a record company which signed Federline’s character’s band.

While producers praised Federline’s professionalism on set, it’s pretty clear that he can act about as well as he can rap.

An earlier clip had Federline performing on stage, and if that’s his real voice he’s not half bad.

Update Federline had a bit part on CSI in October, 2006 in which he played the leader of a gang who targeted tourists. He also got punched out on that show.

I’m feeling pretty badly for Lily Allen right now. Apparently her new television show, Lily Allen and Friends, was so bad that her audience - chosen from her online ‘friends’ - walked out during the taping for BBC three. The show was to be a major launching pad for the revamped network, but might not be quite what they were looking for.

More than a third of the studio audience refused to watch the entire recording of Lily Allen and Friends because it was “horrible” and “limp”, according to the Daily Mail.

“We were all told when to clap and laugh but a lot of people, including me, were very uncomfortable,” one disappointed fan said.

“I do think she’s got a nice voice but she didn’t sing at all — I think everyone was expecting she would.”

A jammed autocue saw the ‘Smile’ singer revert to handwritten cue cards, but only to launch into an attack on the criticisms people had dealt her on online chat forums during her interview with comedian David Mitchell from British sitcom Peep Show.

“It was terrible: even David Mitchell had to remind her not to criticise the very people who would be watching the show,” another fan said.

ninemsn

The show then relied on a YouTube-style video of animals mating for laughs. Cuba Gooding Jr, another guest on the show, summed it up pretty accurately by saying “I don’t know what’s sicker, animals having sex or you clapping.” Then again, this is what the internet has brought us, along with endless spam about ‘Forward this on or you’ll die in the next 3 days and your dog will turn into a squirrel and you’ll switch genders at the mortuary.’ It’s not entirely inappropriate to use internet footage when the show is being marketed as an interactive show, tied in with a website, and is youth orientated. After all, America’s Funniest Home Videos uses endless reams of footage of men getting hit in the crotch.

Also, given what Lily has been through in the last few weeks, it might be nice to cut her some slack. She’s just suffered a miscarriage, split up with her boyfriend, and now she is performing on her first ever episode of a television show that had technical problems. I suspect that the reason many people left was due to how long it took to record the show, rather than actual issues with the content.

Although, I could be wrong. Check out the BBC three promo for the series below. It looks a little strange.

Picture note by Celebitchy: Lily Allen and her unnamed guest are shown outside Finch & Partners’ Pre-BAFTA Party on 2/9/08, thanks to WENN. She looks a little worse for wear.

It’s over! Bring on “The Office,” “30 Rock” and “Dirty Sexy Money.” Well, not so fast. Yes, the three-month strike by the Writers Guild of America (WGA) has reached a resolution. But reports are surfacing that we won’t see the results of the agreement for at least another eight weeks.

A deal has been reached to end the Hollywood writers’ strike, according to a U.S. media report.

“It’s over,” former Walt Disney chief executive Michael Eisner told CNBC. “They made the deal, they shook hands on the deal. “

[From The National Post]

The terms of the agreement have not been released, but the WGA has stated several times throughout the strike that they would only sign an agreement that gives TV and film writers a percentage of the residuals from DVD sales and Internet downloads of programs - a market that has been raking in billions of dollars and that producers, studio heads and actors already receive. However, Eisner did say that many of the media production companies, especially the smaller, independent ones, were expected to make some cutbacks in staff. He also said many of the writers who went on strike are unlikely to return to the same big-money contracts they’d had as individuals with the studios.

So, what’s next for the writers– and more importantly, when do the “little people,” such as film crews, production assistants and such, get to go back to work? Many industry insiders think the production process will start slowly.

Churning out fresh episodes of hit dramas and comedies after a lengthy production shutdown is more complicated than simply hitting the “power-on” button of a remote control.

Industry executives say it will likely take eight weeks to restore favorite shows like House, CSI, Grey’s Anatomy, and Desperate Housewives to prime time once the strike ends.

Not all of the roughly 65 scripted series bumped off prime time by the writers’ strike will come back this year.

With dramas and single-camera comedies unlikely to get more than six weeks on the air from the time they return until the end of the broadcast season in late May, network programmers have some tough choices to make.

Hits like CSI, House and Grey’s Anatomy, are “no-brainers” to bring back this spring, one network executive said.

Lower-rated shows whose futures already were in doubt will either be placed on hold for possible relaunch in the future or be canceled altogether, in part because networks lack the time to build up marketing campaigns for them, he said.

Scripted series that come back will share the airwaves with many of the reality TV and game shows that have flooded the networks in recent weeks as strike-proof programming.

[From Stuff magazine]

The WGA has not issued an official statement saying they’ve accepted the agreement, but if Michael Eisner is talking about it, something must have happened. Hopefully everyone will be able to get back to work– and we will be able to watch some decent television before the summer hiatus.

Note by Celebitchy: This means the Oscars will be happening after all. They’re set to air on February 24. The Vanity Fair Oscar Party has been canceled, though, so celebs will have to get wasted at another venue that night.

Photos are of the WGA march on Hollywood Boulevard on 11/20/07, thanks to PRPhotos.