TV Guide News Report

Academy Award-nominated actor George Segal (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?) will soon be visiting Oceanside Wellness — as a guest star on ABC's Private Practice. Segal has been cast as the grandfather of receptionist/midwife William "Dell" Parker (played by Chris Lowell).

Segal's episode is currently in production, so even with the writers' strike, Private Practice viewers should be seeing it this season. —Reporting by Stephen Battaglio

See your favorites, if not up close, certainly in person: Dancing with the Stars celebs and their professional partners will twirl their way through 37 North American cities on a winter tour starting Nov. 18.

Wayne Newton, Marie Osmond, Sabrina Bryan, Karina Smirnoff, Drew Lachey, Joey Lawrence, Monique Coleman, Cheryl Burke, Edyta Sliwinska, Kym Johnson, Mark Ballas, Jonathan Roberts, Derek Hough, Alec Mazo, Brian Fortuna and others will kick off the traveling event, SoftScrub® Presents Dancing with the Stars, at Key Arena in Seattle, Washington.

The third Dancing with the Stars tour features a rotating cast of popular competitors, in new combinations: Dancers from previous seasons will trip the light fantastic with those from the current season. New pairs include Wayne Newton with Cheryl Burke, Marie Osmond with Jonathan Roberts, and Sabrina Bryan with Mark Ballas; Season 3's Joey Lawrence with Edyta Sliwinska and Monique Coleman; professional dancers Derek Hough, Alec Mazo and Brian Fortuna; as well as special appearances throughout the tour from Season 2's winner, Drew Lachey.

In addition to dancing, Wayne Newton will give audiences — who attend the select shows Newton dances in — a special treat: a musical performance. Surprise guest stars from previous and current seasons will make appearances as well.

The two-hour show features a larger-than-life re-creation of the TV show's actual stage and set design — complete with intimate cabaret-style VIP table seating on the floor, allowing fans unprecedented sightlines to all the action. Fans can visit iloveallaccess.com for information to VIP seating.

As with the network show, each dance number is accompanied by a live band. Two giant video screens to the left and right of the stage will show never-before-seen rehearsal footage, behind-the-scenes interviews and outtakes. Dancing with the Stars alum Louis Van Amstel will serve as choreographer.

Tickets go on sale Nov. 10. For more information, visit
ticketmaster.com, ABC.com and the tour's website.

Those who feared that The L Word's Jenny (Mia Kirshner) may have drifted out to sea for good can now stop guessing. Jenny is back and ready to start production on her movie "Les Girls." She's hooked Wallace Shawn — best known as Vizzini in The Princess Bride — as the financier of her "fictional" flick. Shawn, who will play William Halsey at the start of Season 5, has a four-episode story arc on the Showtime drama.

Also joining the cast as a recurring guest star is Top Gun's Kelly McGillis, who will appear as a military lawyer handling a "Don't ask, don't tell" case. The L Word returns in January. —Reporting by Carita Rizzo

Oprah Winfrey said in a press conference in Chicago yesterday that the alleged abuse at her multimillion-dollar academy for girls in South Africa "was perhaps the most devastating moment of my life. It has shaken me to my core." Former dormitory matron Virginia Mokgobo was arrested last week on charges that included verbal, physical and sexual assault against the students in her care. Winfrey, who said she cried for a half hour when she first heard the allegations, has dismissed the head mistress and given each girl at the school a cell phone programmed with her own phone number. But despite the recent problems at the academy, Winfrey says, "I don' think that as a school we have failed the girls. There are systems within the school that failed the girls." The media queen turned philanthropist went on to say, "I don't feel that it has harmed my personal reputation because I have done nothing wrong."

Rosie O'Donnell may be getting a new platform to spout her views. Cable news channel MSNBC is reportedly in talks with the comedienne/View alumna about a nightly prime-time show that would pit her against CNN's Larry King Live and the Fox News team of Hannity & Colmes. An NBC News executive confirms that discussions have taken place but on Tuesday morning said that the two sides "are not close as of this moment."

O'Donnell has not had much of a presence on television since her stormy departure from ABC's The View in May. Once she became available, NBC programming chief Ben Silverman expressed an interest in her, offering her a role at the network as the host of a game show or a talk program.

Danny Glover’s much-anticipated eight-episode arc on ABC’s Brothers & Sisters, as love interest for the family matriarch (played by Sally Field), may be cut short due to the writers' strike (which Glover supports).

He’s already grown attached to his character, an advisor hired by Kitty (Calista Flockhart) to help Robert’s (Rob Lowe) campaign. "I like his sensibility. He’s funny, he’s witty, he’s basically a good guy," says Glover.

Despite the uncertainty caused by the strike, he says, "I’m having a good time. I love acting, so it’s not a chore. It’s just something I love doing."

Glover tells TV Guide he’s shot only three of his episodes. While he once did a four-episode turn on ER, he says it’s been a while since he’s done episodic television, explaining that he had not done TV "in a long time, except very early in my career, and so I don’t know how it works, with rewrites. There seem to be a lot of rewrites. But I don’t know how it works." — Reporting by Carita Rizzo

Not only does it look like the writers’ strike will cap the fourth season of Grey’s Anatomy at only 11 episodes, but Patrick Dempsey says the relationship that has kept viewers on the edge of their seats for three years may have finally reached its expiration date.

"The next couple of episodes are going to be completely different with what happens with Meredith and Derek," Dempsey revealed to TV Guide exclusively while he promoted his new film, Enchanted, in L.A. on Nov. 4. "I’m looking forward to that change and that movement."

After three years Dempsey is ready for his character to move on — potentially to the new character brought in as his love interest. "I just want the characters to continue to grow and to work things out realistically," Dempsey says. "Derek and Meredith’s relationship has gone as far as it can go. I don’t think it’s going to go unless she commits to marrying him or goes into therapy and starts working on herself. We’ll have a cliff-hanger with this last show and there will be a resolve that seems to be permanent." — Reporting by Carita Rizzo

Newlyweds Jerry O'Connell and Rebecca Romijn play against type (fans hope) when Romijn guests on her hubby's ABC series Carpoolers. Romijn plays Joannifer, O'Connell's womanizing Laird's much-maligned ex-wife.

Creator/exec producer/writer Bruce McCulloch (Kids in the Hall) says Romijn was a frequent set visitor, since her Ugly Betty set is nearby. "She started to hang around, she was laughing, we were buying her sushi," and he told O'Connell, "We gotta get her on the show."

While Laird's ex has often been mentioned — he reportedly received "the worst divorce settlement" ever — she has yet to be seen, until now.

Romijn "is a force of nature," so she's perfect for the role of Joannifer, who McCulloch describes as "ferocious," but also "vulnerable and emotional." Basically, she's mercurial: "Part of the fun of playing Joannifer is she's sweet one moment, but can turn on a dime."

It didn't hurt that the couple has real-life chemistry. "It's an added thing that they're married in real life, and here they're playing characters who are divorced, with this crazy love-hate, wildly sexual relationship."

Having the couple on the set was fun, says McCulloch. "There was a scene at the end in which they were supposed to basically have a stare-off, when Romijn and O'Connell got into the spirit and "started throwing chairs at each other!" But despite online reports to the contrary, notes McCulloch, "It was in no way" a real fight — just great acting.

And we can expect Romijn to come back. McCulloch points out, "She's an artist in her own right. She likes working not only with Jerry, but with the other characters, so when she returns we are going to have her interacting with the other characters."

Romijn's episode, "A Divorce to Remember," was shot between Sept. 10 and 14 and airs Nov. 6 at 8:30 pm/ET on ABC. —Reporting by N.F. Mendoza

Talk-show queen Oprah Winfrey is poised to rule the Internet as she partners her Oprah Winfrey Show with YouTube.

An all-Oprah channel — offering behind-the-scenes footage taken by Oprah herself, as well as exclusive guest interviews and a sneak peek inside her studio green room — debuted on YouTube Nov. 2.

To formally kick off the venture, YouTube founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen will drop by Oprah’s show on Nov. 6 to discuss their creation, and will be joined by select stars of the viral video website. — Reporting by Rob Moynihan

The WGA has spoken. After brief recaps of the status of negotiations by Guild president Patric Verrone, Negotiating Committee chairman John Bowman and lead negotiator David Young, it was announced Thursday night that the committee will recommend an immediate strike to the Guild Board to vote on Friday morning. UPDATE: The vote has since been taken, and the writers will strike on Monday, Nov. 5.

Actor Alan Rosenberg was there to express SAG support and was well received. The meeting was held at Los Angeles’ Convention Center.

Verrone acknowledged that the only remaining issue to be decided is not whether the strike will take place but how soon it will commence. (It appears that Monday is likely.)

The most significant issue driving the strike is the AMPTP's refusal to negotiate payments for new media delivery. “There seems to be a consensus among even the most conservative strike-adverse members of the Guild that this is a compelling reason for the work stoppage,” an attendee told TV Guide.

The meeting was attended by more than 3,000 members.

Among those who didn’t attend were television writers scrambling to complete production work before their shows were shut down. Many shows do not yet have the scripts necessary to complete their orders from the network.

“It’s a very apprehensive time here,” a producer of a network one-hour drama told TV Guide.

Just before the meeting took place Thursday night, a WGA member told TV Guide that many writers are frightened of the strike, noting “it doesn’t just affect the writers, it’ll affect everyone in production."

The mood of the crowd “was serious and committed” in the face of a possibly long and financially draining action, according to one attendee. Those who strongly support the strike believe that a positive result for the WGA will likely benefit future members more than current ones.

Looks like Drew Carey can add another job title to his growing repertoire: medical-marijuana spokesman.

The host of The Price Is Right and Power of 10 can be seen in a video, released on the website Reason.tv on Thursday, arguing the benefits of accessible medical marijuana and voicing his opinions about the government’s role in controlling it.

“I think it’s clear by now that the federal government needs to reclassify marijuana,” Carey says in the video. “People who need it should be able to get it, safely and easily.”

Carey also visits an herbal pharmacy in Los Angeles, complete with a “deli-like” counter where customers can purchase many different forms of marijuana, including ice cream and brownies.

“Smell that smell?” Carey asks the camera as he enters the shop. “Smells like freedom.”

CBS had no comment about their star’s new endorsement. — Reporting by Rob Moynihan

Disgraced shock jock Don Imus is getting another chance. Citadel Broadcasting has announced that Imus will return to the airwaves over its New York flagship WABC starting Dec. 3.

Imus has been off the air since April after he made racist and sexist remarks about the Rutgers University women’s basketball team. Imus apologized for the remarks, but was fired by CBS Radio and by cable network MSNBC, which simulcast his program.

Imus, who will be reunited with newsreader and longtime partner Charles McCord, will take over the morning-drive shift from current hosts Curtis Sliwa and Ron Kuby. There's been no word on whether the new show will have a TV simulcast. But TV advertisers are much more sensitive than those for AM radio, so it’s expected to be a tougher sell. —Reporting by Stephen Battaglio

Stephen Colbert’s presidential campaign appears to be over. The South Carolina Democratic Party decided against allowing the Comedy Central’s faux political pundit to be on the ballot for the state’s presidential primary in late January.

Colbert paid the $2,500 fee to enter the race as a Democrat (he chose not to run on the Republican line because the party required a $35,000 fee), but party officials had the right to reject him if they determined his candidacy wasn’t viable. Colbert has said he doesn't want to be president — he only wanted to run for president in South Carolina, his native state.

Even though Colbert showed up in some presidential polls, it now looks like the gag has run its course. —Reporting by Stephen Battaglio

Duane "Dog" Chapman has apologized for his racist rant recorded in a phone call to his son, who is dating a black woman.

The bounty hunter says he "has utmost respect and aloha for black people who have suffered so much due to racial discrimination and acts of hatred." Despite his protest that he was taken out of context, Dog goes on further to say, "I’m ashamed of myself and I pledge to do whatever I can to repair this damage I have caused."

Before Chapman’s public recanting, A&E said they have suspended production on his popular reality series, Dog the Bounty Hunter, now filming its fifth season. The network says it will "take appropriate action" after an inquiry into the tirade. — Reporting by Ileane Rudolph

UPDATE: If you've been wondering who taped and leaked Dog's damning tape, it was his pup Tucker, who apparently already was well aware of his bounty hunting dad's hatred for his son's African-American girlfriend. Reportedly Tucker sold the private phone conversation to the National Enquirer for $15,000, which Chapman Sr. learned when he apologized to Tucker and his squeeze. Wonder if anyone was taping that exchange!

Smallville is expanding its superhero roster this winter. Executive producer Al Gough confirms for TVGuide.com that Black Canary will make her first appearance on the CW series in the Jan. 10 episode. Playing the role will be Canadian actress Alaina Huffman, who had a supporting role in Sci Fi Channel’s Painkiller Jane.

As comic fans know, where there’s Black Canary, the Green Arrow can’t be far behind. Indeed, the episode, titled “Siren,” will feature the return of the Emerald Archer (played by popular guest star Justin Hartley), last seen in January heading off with his newly formed Justice League.

In DC Comics lore, the two crimefighters have a long and complicated romantic history. But in a unique twist, Smallville will pit them against each other — at least initially. “When we meet her, she’s a vigilante working for Lex Luthor,” Gough says. The Justice League “has been keeping their eyes on Lex and trying to thwart him at every turn.” Fed up, Lex “will say to Black Canary, if you can bring me the head of the Green Arrow, I’ll make it very much worth your while.”

Like her comic-book counterpart, Smallville’s version is a martial-arts expert whose superpower is a “canary cry” — a high-pitched scream that can shatter objects and take down opponents. And, yes, she will sport the fishnet stockings that are a trademark of the character’s costume.

So will romance eventually bloom between Green Arrow and Black Canary? “It’s the very beginning of their relationship,” Gough says. “At the end of the episode you clearly see that they have some sparks.” —Reporting by Rich Sands