News

Wendy Pepper, who appeared on the first season of Project Runway, has died. She was 53.

The designer, whose real name was Anne Eustis Pepper Stewart, died peacefully on Nov. 12, surrounded by her loving family, according to an obituary in The Washington Post. The cause of death is unknown.

Pepper was a finalist on the first season of the designing competition show in 2004 and came in third place. During her time on Project Runway, she had the chance to sell one of her designs at Banana Republic and designed Et's own Nancy O'Dell's Grammy gown.

"We are saddened to hear of the passing of another member of the Project Runway family, designer Wendy Pepper, this year," Lifetime said in a statement. "Wendy was one of the original designers that sent creations down the catwalk, paving the way for other designers to come. We wish her family and friends peace during this difficult time."

Related: Stars We've Lost...

The Horror, the Horror!

Why isn’t there a quality, poker-themed horror movie? The title, "Poker Night: Dead Man's Hand," is a bit campy, but so are many horror movies. Imagine eight college grads uniting on a remote island for a night of boozing and strip poker. The plot writes itself. One by one, the clothing layers are removed and one by one, the players get lured from the table and slaughtered in a most grizzly fashion.

At the end, there is only one person left, and she (it has to be a she) is forced to play our killer in a poker game to the death. All you can see is the killer’s eyes behind a Yoda mask (or any other mask that terrifies you), as he deals the cards on the blood-soaked table. The girl shivers, forced to face her fears while playing the most important game of her life.

News

TVLine has the scoop on the proposed Supernatural spin-off. The series will follow a new hunter who comes to realize that Chicago is under the control of five monster families and the tensions from their attempts to consolidate power while maintaining the peace. I have to admit, that sounds a lot soapier than I’d expect out of a Supernatural spin-off.

When Adult Swim’s fake news show Newsreaders returns for its second season, it will feature a new host — Alan Tudyk. I’ll miss (previous Newsreaders host) Mather Zickel but Alan Tudyk getting a chance to be goofy is generally a good thing.

Too bad “goody and naked” isn’t likely on a fake news show.

The Newsroom and Smash alum Grace Gummer has joined the cast of CBS’ summer series Extant. The series stars Halle Berry as Molly, an astronaut who returns from earth after a long mission in space.

By Lou Carlozo

Chicago, Oct 3 (Reuters) - Ask Macy Gray about her net worth, and the Grammy-winning R&B singer and songwriter is not sure - though she is perfectly willing to help out with a little online research. She stops the interview to trawl celebritynetworth.com, where she plugs her name into a search engine and pulls up a number. A very large number.

"Wow!" exclaims Gray, 45, an Ohio native who calls Los Angeles home. "It says here I'm worth $38 million. But I don't know where they got that figure from, because I don't even know how to figure that out. But if it's right, I'd go cash that in right now and go shopping."

Gray debuted with the multiplatinum album "Oh How Life Is" in 1999, and musical stardom also translated into movie appearances in "Spider-Man" and "For Colored Girls." But her life as a star has not been perfect.

The Us singer on classmate Marilyn Manson, owning a naked statue of herself, and acting with Nicole Kidman

Hi Macy, where are you and what can you see?

I'm at home in La. [Sounds sleepy] I can see some trees. I'm looking out of my window.

Oh, are you still in bed?

Hm-hmm.

Have I woken you?

No, I'm awake.

Do you still live in that amazing house you had on MTV Cribs (1)?

Oh no, we moved actually, to a house I like a lot better.

What happened to the fish, Justin Timberlake and R Kelly?

Oh, the guy that bought the house wanted the fish. He bought the fish. It was in the contract.

Did he like the leopard-print bath suite you had installed?

No, he didn't like that. He liked the glass rug and he wanted a table ... He wanted a bunch of stuff.

Is it true you went to school with Marilyn Manson?...

I just got finished reading a fantastic article on THR called The Secret World of Hollywood Poker. I enjoy playing the game of poker, I love movies based around the game, but these people are in a completely different league than me, and everyone else for that matter. I can only imagine what it would be like to sit in on one of these games.

You've got big A-list stars and major Hollywood players gathering together at four-star hotels, homes, and casinos and the players include people such as Tobey Maguire, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Nick Cassavetes, Gabe Kaplan, New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez, Jon Landau, Jeffrey Katzenberg and several others. "They are among the highest of the high-stakes players in this moneyed town: A-list actors, Hollywood hangers-on and businessmen who can shell out $50,000 just for a seat at the table. With eight or nine gathered, they...

You may remember Joshua Malina as the incredibly astute, fast-talking, and endearingly nerdy Jeremy Goodwin on the short-lived-but-brilliant Sports Night, or as the masterful wordsmith Will Bailey on The West Wing. Since then, Malina has created his own series, Celebrity Poker Showdown, and played several bit parts and smaller roles.on Numb3rs, Psych, and In Plain Sight, to name a few.

His latest project is a web series called More >>...

There isn’t much to recommend The Strip, a new indie movie that opened in select theaters last weekend. The comedy about minimum wage employees at a strip mall is practically begging for comparisons with the cult hit Office Space but actually comes across like a less funny Employee of the Month. The Strip would be guaranteed a spot in the dustbin of late-night cable if it wasn’t for a surprisingly touching performance by Dave Foley. Foley plays the middle-aged manager of Electri-City, an electronics store in a desolate, possibly Californian strip mall. His character is a caricature at best, but there are flashes of genius in Foley’s performance. When an Electri-City employee violently shakes one of Foley’s collectible snow globes, Foley becomes flustered by the unexpected chaos. “Why don’t we wait for this to settle,” he says, apparently needing the flakes to settle down before he can think clearly.

Bravo has given a multi-project development deal to "Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List" production house Picture This Television.

The first-look agreement covers unscripted series and specials from Picture This, whose co-owners Bryan Scott and Lisa M. Tucker executive produce the Emmy-winning "D-List."

"Bravo has enjoyed a long and fruitful partnership with the talented producers at Picture This Television," said Frances Berwick, executive vp and general manager, Bravo. "We are looking forward to teaming up with them once again on new ventures that will have the same stamp of excellence as our previous collaborations."

Picture This Television also produced six seasons of Bravo's "Celebrity Poker Showdown," "Sex ... with Mom and Dad" and "The Cooking Loft."...

Cable network Bravo has given a pilot pickup to Paycheck, a game show that challenges the cultural bias of first impressions and snap judgments.

In Paycheck, based on a new U.K. format from IDTV, seven players must guess each other's salaries, based on questions about pop culture, observations about their opponents, surprising and revealing "factoids" about each player and their own intuition. The player who matches all six opponents to their correct salaries can win as much as $25,000.

Picture This Television, the producers behind Bravo's Emmy-nominated series Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D List, will produce the pilot, with Bryan Scott and Marcia Mule serving as executive producers. Picture This TV also produces Bravo's Celebrity Poker Showdown.

It's yet to be determined whether Paycheck will be a half-hour or hourlong project.

Bravo has ordered other game show pilots in the past, but none has made it to series.

Casting information: castingtrivia@gmail.com.

NBC Universal cable channels Bravo and Trio are shuffling development executives in the wake of a departure at Bravo. Amy Introcaso-Davis has been appointed vp development and production for Bravo. She replaces Jamila Hunter, who left the network and is said to be in negotiations with 20h Century Fox Television to join their comedy development team. Fox declined comment. Introcaso-Davis previously led development and production on the East Coast, but will add the West to her responsibilities. Her credits include Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, Boy Meets Boy and Celebrity Poker Showdown. She reports to Frances Berwick, senior vp programming and production, at Bravo. Berwick also has recruited two of sister channel Trio's executives to shore up Bravo's ranks in anticipation of bulking up on original programming.

Friends of newly-single superstar Ben Affleck fear he is spending too much time gambling, following his split from fiancee Jennifer Lopez. The Paycheck star's love of poker and other gaming pursuits is said to be part of the reason Lopez called time on their 18-month relationship. And, now he is on his own again, Affleck is indulging his hobby even more. A source tells British tabloid The Daily Mail, "He has been at the tables an awful lot since things started going bad with Jennifer. "You can get an incredible high from playing cards and there is no doubt this is his latest obsession. He has got more money than he knows what to do with, so if he loses a quarter of a million, it doesn't matter." And Affleck, 31 - who has battled alcohol addiction - has now appeared twice on American show Celebrity Poker Showdown, much to the surprise of program makers. A show insider says, "We never thought Ben would come on again, but he was more than happy. It's a bit sad really. You're left thinking, 'Hasn't he got anything better to do?'"...