Paula Abdul spent much of yesterday in talks with ABC network boss Steve McPherson (who, it should be noted, she previously dated back in the day) to try and figure out if there is a way for her to take a job at the network. Last weekend it was reported that Dancing with the Stars was hoping to nab Abdul as a judge, guest judge or competitor but because she and Dancing judge Carrie Ann Inaba don’t really get along, that deal might never come to fruition. Now the talk is that Paula will do a guest stint on Ugly Betty … which would be a nice bit of turnabout considering Victoria Beckham previously appeared on Ugly Betty and just took over Paula’s judging position (in a guest capacity) on American Idol. Apparently job-switching is hot right now in Hollywood:

At long last, someone to tell Betty she’s beautiful! Former American Idol judge Paula Abdul is in talks to guest star on Ugly Betty, sources confirm to me exclusively. Details of Abdul’s role are being kept under wraps but an Ugly insider tells me that she’d be playing a new temp at Mode who bonds with Becki Newton’s Amanda. If a deal can be made, this would mark Abdul’s first official post-Idol gig. (Her upcoming appearance on Lifetime’s Drop Dead Diva was brokered before she twittered her resignation.)

I would love to see Paula on Ugly Betty, it would give me a reason to watch the show again. In all honesty, I think this high-profile job shopping is a way to try and force FOX to give in and give Paula her asking price to return to Idol. It is my understanding that quiet behind the scenes negotiations are still taking place between the network and Paula’s people … if Paula gets her $10 million asking price, she will be back. I still think it’ll happen. If she’s savvy enough, she might get both the guest stint AND her Idol job back. We shall see …

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Last January we learned some troublesome news about ABC’s TV series Ugly Betty that made it seem like the network has lost faith in the show and that it might headed for an early end. Today, to the relief of many fans, we learn that things are still going well for UB now that ABC has decided to renew the show for a 4th season next year:

This just in: ABC confirms that “Ugly Betty” will be back for another season. News comes from actor Michael Urie — the ever-fabulous Marc St. James — via his official Twitter on Thursday morning: “Ugly Betty gets official season 4 pick up!!! Whohoo!” This follows the most excellent news that Christopher Gorham will be reprising his role as Henry before the third season ends. Sorry Matt, we’re Team Henry all the way.

And Twitter strikes again … seriously, it seems as if all of the late-breaking information these days is coming straight from the horse’s mouth (which is one of the reasons why I love Twitter). Despite the worry caused by ABC’s actions earlier this year, I had a feeling that Ugly Betty would be back for at least one more season. I personally stopped watching the show before this current season got underway but I am glad to know that the show is coming back. I know many people who love the show and should be excited that the series will be back for more.

Additionally, TV Guide is reporting that Heroes will, too, return with another season next year … but unlike previous seasons, NBC is ordering fewer eps of the series:

Heroes’ life span will be a little shorter next season. NBC plans to cut the number of episodes of its superhero drama from 25 this season to 18 to 20 in its fourth season, Ad Age reports. The reasons for the cutback are legion: Though the show’s latest episodes have reinvigorated many fans, a series of complicated and wide-ranging storylines cost the show ratings in Season 2 and earlier this season. Also, NBC will have five fewer prime-time hours to fill in 2009-10 season, thanks to Jay Leno’s new hour-long program at 10 pm weeknights. And other networks are also experimenting with condensed seasons: ABC’s Lost has kept to 16 or 17 episodes in recent seasons, and CBS’s Harper’s Island has a 13-episode format that could be repeated (with a new setting and cast) if the murder mystery succeeds with viewers. Though Heroes debuted to strong ratings in 2006, since the 2007-08 writers strike its viewership has slipped to about 7.7 million viewers on average, four million fewer than it earned before the work stoppage, according to Nielsen.

Heroes is another show, unfortunately, that I have sorta given up on. I still DVR the show and have a box full of eps but I haven’t watched the show in months. There have been so many false starts and so many skewed storylines that I totally lost interest in all of the confusion. But, I am happy that the show will return next season. I deffo plan to watch the eps I have saved on my DVR. Hopefully there’ll be something there to re-inspire me to watch again. Do any of y’all still watch Ugly Betty and Heroes? Are you happy the shows are coming back?

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Is a Peace the Spork Out in order for ABC’s irreverent TV series Ugly Betty? Possibly. Michael Ausiello of Entertainment Weekly magazine is reporting that Ugly Betty has been “benched” from the ABC TV schedule in order for the network to “try out” a couple new sitcoms in the Thursday night timeslot. While this news isn’t absolutely proof that the show is done for, the fact that ABC will not reveal when Ugly Betty is scheduled to return to the television airwaves … and that is what’s got everyone worried:

Things are looking pretty gloomy for Ugly Betty. In a just-announced Thursday night scheduling tweak, ABC is benching Betty beginning March 26 and replacing it with episodes of Samantha Who? and the new Megan Mullally-Cheryl Hines comedy In the Motherhood. The network’s release concludes by saying, “Ugly Betty will return to Thursday nights at 8:00 p.m. following the run of In the Motherhood and Samantha Who?” After crunching the numbers, that puts Betty’s return (provided Sam Who/Motherhood don’t tank) sometime around (gulp) June — a.k.a. outside the regular season. Now, granted, Betty hasn’t exactly been killing it in the ratings this season, but it’s still one of ABC’s signature shows. At least I thought it was. “The Thursday night block is a good opportunity to launch these comedies,” counters an ABC spokesperson. “That said, Betty is a solid performer and there is no question that it will definitely be back to complete its season, just without repeats.” But when will it be back? The net’s not saying, and that’s the part that has me worried. Do you share my concern? Or is there a silver lining here that I’m just not seeing?

This is not a good sign for Ugly Betty. Why IN THE WORLD would ABC take the show off the air at this point in the year in order to “try out” other sitcoms?? And then “bring the show back” after who knows how many months off the air? This makes no sense … other than the demise of Ugly Betty is nearly upon us and we’ve yet to be told. I cannot imagine how this plan of attack is a good one for the show or the network as a whole. Even if the show does eventually come back … will the audience still be around to watch? This is a terrible idea … one, my gut tells me, is the first step in announcing the cancellation of Ugly Betty :( What do y’all think … are you happy with any of this news?

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E! News is reporting a breaking story concerning Lindsay Lohan this AM. According to E!, Linds has been somewhat unceremoniously fired from the ABC series Ugly Betty. You may recall that Linds signed on to appear on the show in a cameo role last season and has since re-signed with the show to develop her guest starring role into a more featured character this season. It is now being reported that Lindsay is unwilling to actually develop her Kimmie character into one palatable for the series and, as a result, has been axed from the show. She’s dunzo, y’all:

It’s true. Sources close to ABC’s Ugly Betty confirm to me that Lindsay Lohan has been cut from the show. “They don’t plan to have her back for more episodes,” says a high-level insider. “And they are cutting her out of the episodes they have already shot.” According to my sources, the main driving force for this decision is that Lindsay was not gelling creatively with the series. “She was not so interested in creating a character,” another reliable insider close to Betty tells me. “She was more interested in just playing herself, and that doesn’t work on a show like this with such heightened reality.”

LOL. I love that the criticism of Lindsay’s performance on the show is that she is reportedly “more interested in just playing herself”. To be totally honest, I can absolutely believe this contention. I can also see how a parting of the ways might be better on both ends. I thought it was awesome that Lindsay was doing her guest role on the show last season but I was a bit surprised to learn that she would not only be reprising her role this season but would be appearing in a more featured capacity on the series. I just never pegged Linds as a TV person at this point in her career … not yet, anyways. It kinda sounds like it was fun for a while and then the job got in the way of more funner stuff. And really, the total elimination of her character from the show won’t adversely impact a thing. While it was cute to see L. Lo on the show, her Kimmie character had yet to really add to the series. Ah well … c’est la vie. I doubt either Lindsay or ABC will lose much sleep over this axing.

UPDATE: Pink reader Brooke gave me the head’s up that Page Six is reporting that Lindsay’s firing from the show had more to do with unruly behavior rather than E!’s report of disinterest in developing the character:

IT got so ugly on the set of “Ugly Betty” between Lindsay Lohan and the popular ABC show’s star, America Ferrera, that Lohan was cut from an agreed-upon six episodes to four. One production source said, “It was a mess. Lindsay would show up every day with an entourage of people. She smoked 24/7, and after she left, they had to repaint her dressing room it was such a mess.” In addition, Lohan “would obsessively cut pictures of herself out of the tabloids like she was creating some sort of scrapbook and refused to go on set until America was there – it was a power play.” One episode, titled “Granny Pants,” was about how Lohan, playing Betty’s high school nemesis, would “de-pants” Ferrera. But Ferrera exacts her revenge and pulls down Lohan’s pants instead. “Lindsay wasn’t wearing any underwear,” the source said … The pal blames Ferrera for any issues, saying, “America was mean to Lindsay. Producers give her too much power. Lindsay didn’t do the last two episodes because America didn’t like her and got her kicked off.” Ferrera’s rep would only say, “America is grateful to have had her on the show and thinks everyone should tune in to see how great the episodes are.” Lohan’s rep said, “Lindsay was scheduled for six episodes and is appearing in four but had a lovely time.”

Honestly, I call bullshizz on the Page Six report. While the more salacious of the two reports, I think the Page Six report is just trying to garner attention in much the same childish manner that was highlighted in their report. The bottom line is that Lindsay is Ugly no more.

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Here are a few cute pics of everyone’s fave celeb couple Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson enjoying a fun afternoon of shopping together in SoCal this week … the couple were snapped shopping for various items when a fun and funky pink skull caught the ladies’ attention … oooh, pretty:

Aww … adorable. Linds looks so happy … like she doesn’t have a care in the world … like the furthest thing from her mind is that restraining order that she is slapping on her overzealous, fame-hungry and estranged father Michael Lohan:

ANOTHER day, another Lohan family drama. Lindsay , who told us several days ago that her father, Michael, “needs to be on medication,” is so scared of him, sources said, that she’s “taking out an order of protection. He’s behaving so erratically that she’s terrified he’ll do something to her. She’s contacted her lawyer to arrange this.” Lindsay’s sister, Ali, “already has an order of protection against him, as does [mom] Dina. No one is speaking with him until he gets help.” Lindsay’s rep declined to comment.

It’s so nice that Lindsay can rely on Samantha at times like these. Whether or not she is actually “scared to death” of her psycho father, it’s nice that L. Ron have one another to depend on. Also, did any of y’all watch Ugly Betty last night? Linds was featured heavily in last night’s season premiere ep … and she did a great job. Life appears to be going very well for Lindsay these days … are her happy days due solely to Sam’s influence? Mebbe. There is no denying that life has been lookin’ up for L. Lo since she and Sam started hanging out. I just love them together.

[Photo credit: X17; Source]

Here are a few pics of Ugly Betty stars Ana Ortiz and Eddie Cibrian filming new scenes for the upcoming third season of the show on location in Queens, NY earlier this week:

Now, while these pics would be much more … enjoyable … if Eddie were shirtless (which is really what everyone is waiting for whenever he shows up on TV), I can make do with his bulging muscles showing thru his tight shirt. I’m so glad he joined the cast of the show last season … I look forward to many more scenes of him mackin’ on Ana’s character Hilda … hopefully shirtless and hopefully often.

[Photo credit: Splash News]

Production has begun on the new season of the ABC show Ugly Betty in NYC this week as new scenes featuring America Ferrara began filming on the streets of Brooklyn, NY today. As you may recall, it was announced that production of Ugly Betty would be moving from LA to NYC for the new season and it looks like the relocation has already taken place. Here are pics of Amercia lookin’ her Ugly best on set earlier today:

It makes total sense that the show, which is set in NYC, would move production to the Big Apple. Now they can capitalize on the same sort of free publicity that TV shows like Gossip Girl and Lipstick Jungle get to enjoy. You know, it just occurred to me how symbolic the last season finale was … the last shot of the ep was of Betty on an airplane bound for destination unknown (would she be going to Arizona for Henry or to Rome with Geo?) … but I suppose it was also the show’s symbolic way of saying, We’re leaving LA, bitches — see you in NYC! I’m sure the show can only benefit from being set on the real streets of NYC. From the looks of things thus far (ie. Betty’s Glinda the Good Witch meets the Wicked Witch of the East outfit) everything appears to be in order.

[Photo credit: Splash News]