#Middlebury
Q: Is “Inside the Actors Studio” still on the air? I just realized the other day that I haven’t seen it in years. – J.K.
A: Yes, as a matter of fact it’s been running since 1994, but the esteemed host, James Lipton, announced last year that he was retiring. It’s hard to believe he’s 92 years old. When the new season begins in October, the show will have moved from Bravo to the Ovation channel and will use a rotation of hosts interviewing actors about their craft.
Ovation executive Scott Woodward said America’s arts television network is “perfect” as the new home for “Inside the Actors Studio.” “We plan to honor the legacy of James Lipton’s master class while also exploring the craft with eclectic, talented guests,” he said.
Students of Pace University’s Actors Studio MFA program will once again be audience members. I still remember seeing a young Bradley Cooper watching Lipton interview his guests. Cooper would one day be a guest himself on the show as well as a multiple Academy Award nominee.
The new season will debut Sunday, Oct. 13, at 10 p.m. ET. Guest hosts include Jane Lynch (“Glee”) interviewing fellow thespian David Oyelowo (“Selma”) and Alec Baldwin (“30 Rock”) interviewing Henry Winkler (“Barry”).
Q: Is Sophia Bush coming back to “Chicago P.D.”? I heard she was leaving for good. – D.B.
Sophia Bush (Depositphotos photo)
A: You are correct: Actress Sophia Bush isn’t returning to the hit series. She chose to depart, and her character left to take a job with the FBI. Bush has a development deal with 20th Century Fox TV that could have her starring in another series soon, but in the meantime, she has the upcoming film “Hard Luck Love Song,” with Dermot Mulroney.
Bush says she chose to leave “Chicago P.D.” due to intolerable conditions on the set. On Dax Shepard’s podcast “Armchair Expert,” she said they often had to film scenes for hours in below-freezing temperatures in Chicago and that people on the set were getting sick.
Bush also allegedly was verbally abused on the set: “When someone assaults you in a roomful of people, and everyone literally looks away … and you’re the one woman in the room, and every man who’s twice your size doesn’t do something, you go, ‘Oh, that wasn’t worth defending? I’m not worth defending?’”
According to TVline.com, at the end of the third season, she told producers that if conditions did not change by the end of season four, she was leaving.
Q: Will “Blue Bloods” be back next season? If so, when? – J.E.
A: Yes, “Blue Bloods” has been renewed by CBS for its 10th season. It’s not known at this point whether it will be its last, but either way star Tom Selleck has signed on for one more year. No premiere date has been set, but it will be back this fall.
Send me your questions at NewCelebrityExtra@gmail.com!
© 2019 King Features Synd., Inc.
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