Hulu Subscription Service Adds 'The Cosby Show,' Other Classic Sitcoms

Frazer Harrison/Getty ImagesEwan McGregor Ewan McGregor has been tapped to star in HBO's drama pilot The Corrections. The Star Wars and Moulin Rouge actor will co-star alongside Dianne Wiest and Chris Cooper in Noah Baumbach and Scott Rudin's adaptation of Jonathan Franzen's best-seller, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. McGregor will play Chip, the middle child of an elderly Midwestern couple (Cooper, Wiest) who reunite the family for one last Christmas. STORY: Dianne Wiest Set, Chris Cooper in Talks for HBO's 'The Corrections' Rudin optioned the film rights for Paramount to the National Book Award-winning novel in 2001 and would executive produce the project. STORY: Noah Baumbach to Take on Jonathan Franzen's 'The Corrections' for HBO Baumbach and Franzen will pen the project and exec produce, with Baumbach directing the drama, which is currently in production. McGregor's TV work includes guest starring on NBC's ER in 1997 as well as appearing as himself in the U.K. TV docuseries Long Way Down. McGregor's upcoming features include The Impossible and Jack the Giant Killer. Email: Lesley.Goldberg@thr.com; Twitter: @Snoodit Ewan McGregor TV Development

FCC Moves To Close AT&T Acquisition Of T-Mobile

The merger in the wireless companies have been round the ropes following a Justice Department mentioned it could challenge the sale in the courtroom. Now FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski is circulating a draft order which will add an important additional barrier for the deal: It could request an administrative law judge to consider when the combo would serve everyone interest — following a finish in the Justice trial, due to originate from February.Which will significantlydelay and complicate the AT&T and T-Mobile’s merger plans. The ultimate time the FCC did this — in 2002 when Echostar preferred to merge with DirecTV — the companies scrapped their plan. Genachowski’s proposal followsa conclusion by FCC staff thatconsumers might be hurt if AT&T and T-Mobile merge. The organization learned that it could trigger less competition in 99 in the 100 finest areas (the exception is Omaha). Staffers also found the final outcome the offer wouldn't improve deployment of 4G services, and would result in substantial job deficits from AT&T’s efforts to reduce costs. Once the FCC decides not to approve a merger similar to this, it must send the problem to have an administrative law judge for just about any court-like hearing which will have a look at when the deal would serve everyone interest. The judge’s conclusion would return fully FCC for just about any election.

Chloe Moretz, 'Hugo' Star, on 'Dark Shadows': Tim Burton Goes 'Back to his Roots'

If individuals neverending paparazzi photos of Tom Sturdy as Bane around the group of 'The Dark Dark night Rises' haven't given a obvious enough picture of Batman's most existence-threatening foe yet, great news: the The month of january problem of Empire Magazine features Sturdy-as-Bane on its cover, in most his muscle-bound glory. Also, Christian Bale, as Batman, holding a ray-gun. Very little more details to glean from all of these covers, but, hey: pretty awesome. Within the problem, Sturdy calls Bane a "terrorist" in addition to "a very horrible good article.Inch Best of luck, Batman! The The month of january problem of Empire has already been at the disposal of customers take a look at Not Far Off for many scans. [via Empire] 'The Dark Dark night Increases' Hits NY See All Moviefone Art galleries » Follow Moviefone on Twitter Like Moviefone on Facebook

VIDEO: The Muppets, Paul Rudd and Olivia Wilde Crash Jason Segel's SNL Party

Just in case anybody had question what Jason Segel was marketing on Saturday Evening Live, the The Way I Met Your Mother star wasted virtually no time in offering his colorful co-stars in the Muppets movie. Throughout his monologue, Segel made the decision to sing about how exactly he could not believe he's hosting SNL, when Kermit, Miss Piggy and also the gang hi-jacked his song and assumed that they are all hosting the show together like a group. (I am talking about, hello, the Muppets understood executive producer Lorne Michaels when he still stated "aboot"): Watch more videos from Saturday Evening Live Segel's I Really Like You, Guy and Failing to remember Sarah Marshall co-star Paul Rudd also stopped through the show to experience Segel's brother in the newest sketch concerning the oddly affectionate Vogelchecks: Olivia Wilde's cameo was much simpler to overlook inside a 1980s-inspired digital short concerning the strategies of influencing women through chess, checkers, jenga, eating glass and employing a prostitute: SNL required the chance to kick-start the quest for Regis Philbin's alternative on Live!. Potential substitutes incorporated Ough Gervais (Jason Sudeikis), the "adorkable" Zooey Deschanel (Abby Elliot) and - the guy behind the Nasonex bee voice - Antonio Banderas (Segel):

Kevin Clash, the Man Behind Elmo, on Jim Henson, Puppetry, and Jason Segel's The Muppets

The Muppets are legendary TV and film characters, but there’s something about Sesame Street’s giggliest resident, Elmo, that makes small children perk up. Constance Marks, the director of the new documentary Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey, put Elmo’s appeal this way: “Kids sit up, pay attention, and turn on. There’s that bright red fur and adorable bulgy eyes, but it’s the soul of the puppeteer that people are responding to. It’s an amazing gift.” That soul belongs to Kevin Clash, Elmo’s Emmy-winning creator and a Muppet veteran since 1983. As the subject of Marks’ documentary, Clash is a solid, seemingly unflappable performer who has enjoyed a tremendous run as a puppeteer: He began as a youngster in Baltimore who tore up coats to build puppets, ended up honing his craft alongside Jim Henson, and watched awestruck as the Tickle Me Elmo phenomenon took over Christmas in 1997. We phoned Clash to talk about his favorite Muppets, the influence of Jim Henson (and Henson’s amazing memorial in 1990), and Elmo’s single proudest accomplishment. At the beginning of the documentary, you say that Grover was your favorite Muppet as a kid. Why? Oh man. Listen, I was lucky first of all to see him on television and love the character, but to watch Frank Oz perform Grover was just amazing to me. He was very, very funny. The manipulation, the silliness he’d do with the character was amazing to me always. There seems to be a great bond among puppeteers. Do you find that puppeteers approach the work the same way As far as the way we create a character and the sense of humor, yes, because there’s a limit that we can go to as far as we go with the edginess — but we learned that through Jim. As far as our work ethic, we all block our scripts in different ways and manipulate the puppets in different ways. But as how we perform? That’s the same. We try to crack each other up. Jim Henson is truly Christlike to certain fan contingent. All these years after his death, do his voice and influence linger over your work? When you said that, I thought, “Jesus Christ! Superstar!” You know, we never looked at him that way, because he never acted like our boss. He just wanted to collaborate with us and have a good time. I just think we were lucky to have a boss who was the ultimate boss, the type of boss you want, the type of boss who wanted to have everyone work together and make it fun and make it something that everyone else can laugh at and enjoy also. And that’s why when we don’t talk about him like [laughs] this “Christ” character, because it was always a lot of fun. Another thing that Jim did, because it was such a deifferent medium and everyone respected what he did, when he said, “This is the way you shoot a puppet for TV or film,” everyone respected him. For all of us who worked under him, it was not a challenge. We had one person who said how to do it in puppet and film, and we miss that immensely. He had that vision and helped all of us that way. Jim Henson’s memorial service is one of the most emotional things I’ve ever seen. There’s a clip of it in the documentary. Can you reflect on that day? That memorial service ran for five hours, and everyone walked away from that memorial service saying it felt like a half an hour. It was the most beautiful and most unbelievable moment of love, respect, and emotion for this man who’d be missed. It was an unbelievable evening. It definitely takes me back every time, even with the short clip that’s in the doc — where I was at, who I was with, who I came with, what we talked about that day. It was packed at that church, and everybody became one. Another thing that was amazing that day, Big Bird walked out in that church and sang “Being Green,” Kermit’s signature song, and then Bird looked up to the top of the church and said, “Thank you, Jim.” It was the most poignant and beautiful and emotional thing. We all crumbled after that, seeing Big Bird say that. Is there a strong desire to come up with new characters? That’s the direction that all the puppeteers are going. Jim and Frank, Steve Whitmire, Dave Gold, Jerry Nelson, and Richard Hunt created The Muppet Show, and Jim wanted those characters go on, but those characters are Jim and Frank, and we know that. That’s why we love that Dave is still around to do Gonzo and Steve Whitmire is around to keep Kermit going, but we all want to go in the direction of creating new characters, the new Kermit and Miss Piggy for this generation and others. We’re all looking forward to creating new characters. That’s where Elmo originally came from. In the documentary, we see you teaching puppetry to a couple of kids. Is there a “You have it or you don’t” quality to puppetry, in terms of who can be successful at it? You’re right. It is “You have it or you don’t.” We find a lot of time the potential is there, and as you begin to train and add more to what you need to know, sometimes it goes away with certain puppeteers. Others keep striving and building and building. So definitely there are some stages that will happen. You get really excited at the beginning, like “Wow! That’s really cool! It’s there!” Then sometimes [laughs] in the next two or three steps, it goes away. The really exciting ones, you see the potential and it just grows. What do you think of the approach of the new Muppets film? Frank Oz was critical of it. It’s a new era and a new time. Jim is not there and everybody felt that, but he really thought these characters should go on. What I’m hearing with the final, the puppeteers are excited about it. Do you worry about the vitality of puppetry? Are there ways for the medium to grow and evolve? Well, that’s one of the main reasons I said yes to doing the doc. Over six years ago, we had challenges as far as the last few movies that had come out — they didn’t do very well. I saw the surge of computer generation projects that were happening definitely in film but also on television. There are so many animated programs that do really well, the same with Pixar. That medium was overshadowing puppetry, and that’s one of the main reasons I said yes to Connie — to talk about puppetry and kind of “cheerleader” puppetry. You say in the documentary that you develop a character voice well after the puppet is built — almost as a secondary trait. That surprised me. A lot of the times over the years I’ve been given the title “Voice of Elmo.” That’s not what we do! We use our hands. The voice was always secondary. Jim always thought that way. It was all about creating a character and a personality. The voice would always come second. That’s the way we were trained, and that’s how Jim saw it. If you can get a good character or personality out of a puppet, the voice comes. That’s why voice acting is not what we do. Mel Blanc was brilliant at it, and he said so many different voices, but he was a “voice actor.” He didn’t use his voice. What was the height of Tickle Me Elmo’s mania like for you? It was a challenge for me because I had never done that many interviews before. I’d done interviews, but man, when that hit? I was in and out cars going back and forth to different talk shows going back and forth for, like, three weeks. It was during the winter, so my voice got kind of compromised. That was a challenge. I thought I was going to lose my voice. Once it slowed down, I ran to a throat doctor to make sure everything would be cool. It was amazing to me, the amount of press that happened with Tickle Me Elmo. Finally, what’s Elmo’s proudest accomplishment? Elmo’s proudest accomplishment is writing his name for the first time and also counting one to ten, definitely. He almost lost his mind on both of those occasions. Being Elmo is in select theaters now.

Regis Philbin Reflects On His Career, Fame and "the Tweeter"

Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa What's warmer than being timeless? On Friday, our fave curmudgeon Regis Philbin will depart Live! With Regis and Kelly, a 28-year NY gig that's aided land him inside the Guinness World Records since the artist with several hours on U.S. television. And that he is not, repeat not retiring! Here Reege reflects on his awesome success as well as the changing occasions.TV Guide Magazine: You're 80 but nonetheless relevant. Explain yourself. Philbin: I've been as of this TV factor 50 years. In my opinion I've experienced this type of very long time because it needed me this type of very long time to acquire here - I won't quit! However don't get worried about remaining on top of items. Maybe that's my secret. I have not learned the net yet. Or perhaps the Tweeter. And i'm fine with this particular. Who needs it at this time around? This is why It's my job to use diagrams around the program to explain myself for the audience and suggest to them what went wrong throughout my existence yesterday. You have a classic little bit of pressboard and scribble about it getting a marking pen. Works well with me!TV Guide Magazine: What's the secret for the great chemistry with lady cohosts? Philbin: I'd no choice! [Laughs] When I used to be doing talk shows in La - we're speaking 35 in the past - The trainer told us the organization was changing which each and every male host or news anchor would after that be sitting alongside a girl. Therefore I handled to obtain my opportunity to ensure that little chemistry factor happened with every lady I labored with, from Mary Hart and Sarah Purcell and Cyndy Garvey to Kathie Lee Gifford now Kelly. Clearly, a lot of the borrowed funds visits them.TV Guide Magazine: If you leave Live!, who'll continuously help help remind us that Dean Martin was the best star ever? Philbin: [Laughs] Also bear in mind Perry Como! They were the irreplaceables, the indestructibles. You understand, Elvis was Dean's finest fan. He familiar with hideout inside the shrubbery within the Riviera Hotel in Vegas only to watch Dean swing inside a basketball. People were the leaders! I used to be lucky later on up with time comprehending the stars who made real impact.TV Guide Magazine: And offer day stars? Philbin: Several options are pretty, they're fun, whatever. It's a little better to become star today. There is a large voice, you're going to get round the X Factor. Or be described as a Real Housewife and without warning you're the talk from the u . s . states! Dean and Como labored their in position using the ranks for several years before they increased being true stars. They acquired it. Look, I don't mean to discourage anybody which can be found today. I'd rather not put anybody lower. That is what's happened towards the business, and God bless people who causes it to be.Television Guide Magazine: Many of us are being such spoiled brats relating to your exit. It's all about us! Philbin: I'd not considered it by doing this but you're absolutely right! It's changed into some a circus, hasn't it? A couple of from the audiences are kind of upset. "You can't do this to us!" It's like individuals needing to pay my salary. [Laughs] But, with techniques, I guess they are!Join TV Guide Magazine now!

Fake 'Jack and Jill' Twitter Account: More amusing Compared to Movie?

Since the day would not be complete without another 'Jack and Jill' publish: some merry pranksters have setup an imitation take into account the significantly-destroyed film on Twitter. "NO SPOILERS, there is however an enormous athlete cameo in 'Jack & Jill,'" reads the feed. "His title rhymes with Paquille So Real, but that is all we are saying!!!! Please RT." Lolz. Or, as @JackNJillMovie would say, "LOL. Just considering something from #JackAndJill LOL!!!" Not sure who's manipulating the fake Twitter account (regrettably, it most likely is not Armond Whitened), but, well performed all involved. You are able to stick to the fake account for your snarky 'Jack and Jill' needs on this link. 'Jack and Jill' is within theaters now. EARLIER: The only real reviews that are positive for 'Jack and Jill' [Photo: The new sony] Follow Moviefone on Twitter Like Moviefone on Facebook