  Carla Gugino |
PASADENA — Worked one last press tour party, the Fox “White Hot Winter” blast at the Villa Sorriso.
Fox usually does a good job of getting the stars out and this year was no exception.
Kiefer Sutherland and Prison Break’s Wentworth Miller and Dominic Purcell worked the red carpet early, although all three split early. Also making the scene were Minnie Driver, The Shield’s Michael Chiklis, ’Til Death’s Brad Garrett and Joely Fisher, Kevin Sorbo (who helps wrap up The O.C. next month) and most of the cast of House, except main man Hugh Laurie. Powers Booth, so good on Deadwood, was there because he’s joining 24 next week playing the U.S. vice president.
For the second time this tour we saw Carlo Rota, 24’s latest Canuck. Did he hear from anyone at CBC after I let him vent in the Sun about all those Little Mosque scheduling snafus? That would be yes, but forget it, he said,
“As long as people keep writing about Little Mosque, it’s all good.” He added that Episodes 3-8 of the new CBC sitcom are “fantastic.”
Around one of many corners of the crowded bistro was the man himself, Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons. (Voice of Homer Dan Castellaneta was also at the party.) Groening was happy to talk about his other baby, Futurama, coming back with four new DVD features. They’ll also be cut down into 16 new episodes airing in the U.S. on Comedy Central. Hopefully someone in Canada will snap them up.
“All the cast was excited about coming back — Katey Sagal, Billy West, all of them,” said Groening, who never hides his displeasure at Fox’s premature cancelation of the edgy sci-fi ’toon.
Told Groening my kids, 16 and 14, have never known life without The Simpsons, now in its 18th season and closing in on 400 episodes. He laughed when I told him my son Daniel, when he was around 7, ran into the room once yelling, “Dad, there’s a guy on TV who sounds just like Mayor Quimby!”
Turns out it was a clip of John F. Kennedy giving his inauguration address.
“Let me offer you an apology,” joked Groening.
Spotted Bones’ David Boreanaz and had to ask: Is it true his dad was Buffalo WKBW legend and Rocketship 7 host Dave Thomas? “Yes, that’s my dad,” confirmed Boreanaz, who waited for the stunned grin to disappear from my face; he gets it a lot, he says.
Rocketship 7 aired from 1962 until Thomas left the station in 1978. Torontonians over 40 might remember Thomas was also the daytime host of Dialing For Dollars (a low-budget phone-in show lampooned in the early days of SCTV).
Boreanaz says he often visited the set, which was home to the boxy Promo The Robot, a $1.95 version of the robot from Lost In Space.
Boreanaz says his dad is still in the business as a Philadelphia weatherman and now goes by the name Dave Roberts.
Bones’ co-star Emily Deschanel looked radiant in party black. That eye-catching hand necklace she wore during the first season is called “The Hand Of Fatima” and was made for her by the show’s costumer, she said.
Said hi to Ricky Blitt, a Montreal native who has created a new comedy for Fox called The Winner, starring The Daily Show’s Rob Corddry. Blitt blurted to critics earlier that day that the series, about a 32-year-old virgin, was largely autobiographical.
Blitt used to write for horrible CBC shows such as Hangin’ In and Learning The Ropes. “No wonder you never got laid,” I told him after the session. “There’s your lead,” said Blitt, laughing.
Party winding down, I made one last sweep around the many rooms that made up the restaurant. I was looking, of course, for The Next Mrs. Brioux, Carla Gugino. She wasn’t there; I may have to come back.
