Three entirely unrelated entertainment notes before we shut 'er down for the day. First off, as we predicted, there will be no Big D on the CBS schedule any time soon. As expected, the set-in-Dallas, shot-in-Burbank
sitcom wasn't announced during CBS's upfront presentation this week,
and we received confirmation late yesterday from a network publicist
that the comedy's a goner. "As of now, it has not been ordered for
broadcast," says Phil Gonzales. It was just one year ago that HBO axed its Dallas-set comedy, 12 Miles of Bad Road, before it ever saw the light of cathode ...
Tomorrow, the Los Angeles Times catches up with Dorothy Malone to talk Peyton Place, just now making its DVD bow. Malone, you may not know, actually lives in Dallas -- has most of her life, matter of fact, ever since her folks moved here from Chicago in the mid-1920s. She attended the likes of Ursuline, Hockaday, Highland Park High and SMU, only to become a Yank and TV Guide cover girl (with Ronald Reagan and all by her lonesome), Bogie co-star, Academy Award-winner and a former Mrs. Jacques Bergerac. (In January, upon the occasion of her 84th birthday, Film Noir Photos ran quite the photographic history of Malone's estimable career.) Her two daughters with Bergerac, including Mimi Vanderstraaten, still live here as well: "She wanted to get us out of the crazy [Southern California scene] and grow up where she grew up," says Mimi, wife of SMU Alumni Board member Bill Vanderstraaten...
Then, finally, this odd note: I was watching the trailer for the latest Bruce Willis potential craptacular, Surrogates, when I spotted something particularly odd at the 1:45 mark -- a shot of downtown Dallas, featuring the Bank of America Plaza, Memorial Auditorium, the Merc and a certain neon, winged horse. Dunno why -- the movie certainly wasn't shot here and doesn't appear to be set here. Or maybe the movie takes place in RoboCop's Detroit. The trailer's after the jump if you're curious.
