Actor George Clooney testifies during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing regarding Sudan at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington March 14, 2012.BENJAMIN MYERS/Reuters
HERE'S GEORGIE!
George Clooney will appear with the primary cast of Downton Abbey in a charitable TV special.
As reported by The Guardian, the Oscar-winning actor will appear on the beloved period-piece series in a sketch for a special fundraiser slated to air on ITV next Christmas.
In the fundraiser broadcast, which will air under the banner of Text Santa, Clooney will reportedly play an American character who attends a wedding at the sprawling Highclere Castle, which serves as Downton Abbey's primary filming location.
According to the Guardian, Clooney has already filmed his scenes in which he plays opposite Abbey mainstays Hugh Bonneville (a.k.a. Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham) and Michelle Dockery (Lady Mary Crawley).
From all reports, Clooney is reportedly a big fan of the British series that launched in 2010, and has become close friends with Bonneville, with whom he co-starred in the recent film Monuments Men.
A few months back, there was rampant media speculation that Clooney and his fiancée, Amal Alamuddin, were considering holding their upcoming wedding at Highclere Castle.
Those rumours were reportedly a ruse invented by Clooney's handlers after he was spotted at the castle to film the fundraiser special.
And don't bother searching for any further details about Clooney's interaction with the Downton Abbey cast.
A source recently told The Sun newspaper: "All the plans have been shrouded in secrecy because George was determined for his role not to leak out."
Meanwhile, the entire world wants to know: Are Clooney and Alamuddin really planning to tie the knot in a top-secret London ceremony?
NEW FACE
Comedian Michael Che will replace Cecily Strong as Weekend Update co-anchor on the upcoming season of Saturday Night Live. Comedy veteran Che, who previously worked as a correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and joined SNL as a writer last year, will join the anchor desk when the late-night sketch show kicks off its 40th season on Sept. 27. Strong will remain on the show as a repertory player.
Source: Us
FINDING WORK
Ex-NFL prospect Tim Tebow will join the Good Morning America team as a regular on-air contributor. Tebow, who played briefly for the New York Giants, will join GMA on Sept. 15 with a "Motivate Me Monday" segment on the morning show. The recurring segment will spotlight heroic individuals and their "amazing stories of triumph" according to an ABC release. GMA added former NFL player Michael Strahan to its lineup earlier this year.
Source: Media Bistro
MR. GENEROUS
You can call Charlie Sheen a lot of things, but don't call him cheap. Earlier this week, the Anger Management star pledged a gratuity of $1,000 (U.S.) to a waiter at a Philadelphia restaurant who claims he was stiffed on a tip by NFL player LeSean McCoy. According to media reports, McCoy left a 20-cent tip on a $61.56 bill when he visited the restaurant last Monday. On Wednesday, Sheen pledged the tip to the unidentified server via Twitter along with the comment, "just wanna help."
Source: Us
ENOUGH ALREADY
Better enjoy Ellen Pompeo on Grey's Anatomy while you can: The 44-year-old actress is already making noises that she'll retire from acting when the show wraps. "I definitely don't have a strong desire to act after Grey's," said Pompeo, 44, at a Buzzfeed panel earlier this week. "I don't find acting terribly empowering. For the place I am in my life … I don't necessarily want to work for other people."
Source: Us
NEXT CHAPTER
ABC will spin off the popular entrepreneurial-search series Shark Tank. The network will mount a new series titled Beyond the Tank, which will follow up on entrepreneurs who successfully plied money from Kevin O'Leary, Robert Herjavec and the other Sharks. The new show will track the next stages of the start-up products as they try to find their way into the marketplace.
Source: New York Times