Grace Kelly
By Tony Rizzo
HOLLYWOOD — “Desperate Housewives” fans will not be disappointed when they visit Wisteria Lane for the last time. Most shows leave too many unanswered questions when they end. In a stroke of genius, producer Mark Cherry has invented the anti-cliff hanger! If all goes as planned, on Sunday, May 13, not only will you know what happens on Wisteria Lane, but you’ll see where the ladies will be, through a flash-forward, two decades from now. This beautifully sets up a possible big screen spin-off that will fill in the blanks of what happened in the interim. “Sex and the City” proved loyal fans will support a TV show transferred to the big screen, and certainly “Desperate Housewives” has that kind of following!
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Why do networks insist on pitting popular shows against each other? NBC just HAD to move “The Voice” against “Dancing With the Stars.” The average match-up finds “Dancing With the Stars” with 16.3 million viewers, while “The Voice” has 9.9 million viewers. “DWTS’s” lead-in helps “Castle” get 11.5 million viewers, outpointing “Hawaii Five-0” with 6.l million viewers and “Smash” with 5.9 million.
“Smash” is having a tough time finding an audience against two long-running, successful series. Some feel the making of a Broadway musical doesn’t interest a lot of viewers outside the big cities. The producers of “Smash” lack the confidence to follow their original plan of showing what it takes to mount a Broadway musical, without melodramatic cliche subplots. The musical is about Marilyn Monroe; wouldn’t telling her tragic story attract more viewers? After all, she’s still the most enduring icon in pop culture today!
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Nicole Kidman, Oscar winner for “The Hours” (2003), is set to play Grace Kelly in “Grace of Monaco.” Director Olivier Dahan, who guided Marion Cotillard to her Oscar win in “La Vie en Rose” (2008), will show Grace’s transition from movie star to princess. I met Grace Kelly in l964, after she’d been to a matinee of Richard Burton’s “Hamlet.” I waited for her at The Plaza Hotel, expecting her to arrive by limo, but instead saw her walking down 59th Street with two older women. As she approached, I asked if I could take her picture. The two older ladies moved to protect her, and one said, “I beg your pardon young man, you are addressing Her Serene Highness, Princess Grace of Monaco.” I said, “To me and millions of other Americans, she’ll always be little Gracie Kelly from Philly.” Laughing, Grace brushed them aside and said, “It’s OK, go ahead. I’ll pose for a few pictures for this boy.” You might say I got the royal treatment!
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© 2012 King Features Synd., Inc.