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After years away from the competition show, The Challenge: All Stars Rivals brought back former Real World roommates Frank Sweeney Fox and Sam McGinn.

While many fans likely didn’t consider them favorites to win the season, Frank’s social gameplay in the house assisted him and Sam in reaching the final and having a shot to win.

However, the final brought difficult circumstances as Sam suffered an injury, making it difficult for her to give the effort Frank might have hoped for.

Ultimately, they finished in third place, taking less prize money than the show’s winners.

Former Road Rules and All Stars 4 castmates Adam Larson and Steve Meinke earned the most money as they finished first.

Frank recently shared why he believes he won All Stars 5 even if he didn’t win the first-place prize money.

Frank explains why he ‘won’ the All Stars Rivals season

While speaking...

Many of The Challenge fans have criticized which cast members appear in the All Stars spinoff, and that’s become a more immense contention with All Stars Rivals.

The fifth season of MTV’s spinoff show featured cast members paired with castmates with whom they had a feud or rivalry.

It also is the first season of the spinoff to feature cast members who weren’t only originally from MTV reality TV shows.

Big Brother stars Amber Borzotra and Faysal “Fessy” Shafaat, international Survivor star Turabi “Turbo” Camkiran, and 12 Dates of Christmas’s Corey Lay are competing.

Amber and Turbo are former winners on MTV’s The Challenge, while Fessy is a multi-time finalist.

Corey reached the final of Battle For a New Champion, which was only his second MTV season. He recently defended his participation in All Stars despite his limited history on The Challenge.

Corey addresses fans claiming...

Zach Nichols didn’t hide his opinion about one of The Challenge’s former winners.

The former Real World: San Diego star and Battle of the Seasons 2012 winner hosts the Zach Nichols Podcast and regularly reviews the MTV competition show, its players, and its seasons.

He recently had guest Kyland Young on his show, who officially reached his first-ever final during MTV’s Season 40, aka Battle of the Eras.

Kyland, a former Big Brother houseguest, debuted on CBS’ The Challenge: USA spinoff, but he wasn’t a finalist because he was eliminated before that.

He then got a spot on the flagship show for MTV’s Season 39, aka Battle For a New Champion.

That season was bittersweet for Kyland, as he had a showmance with Melissa Reeves but also found himself in multiple eliminations. Nonetheless, he said it helped him with his Challenge career.

Zach blasted The Challenge champion during...

Jemmye Carroll called out comments from her former castmate, who suggested he flirted with her to stay relevant even though he might not be genuinely interested.

The former Real World star hasn’t appeared on The Challenge since the All Stars 3 spinoff, and she’s wondering why she keeps getting mentioned on a particular podcast.

A recent episode of Zach Nichols Podcast featured Nehemiah Clark, fresh off his appearance on MTV’s Battle of the Eras.

During the episode, Nehemiah said he focused on each of his appearances on the competition show as if it were his last.

Therefore, he would do whatever was necessary to stay relevant as part of the show’s cast.

That seemingly included talking to people he usually wouldn’t and flirting with Jemmye while on the show.

Nehemiah mentioned his flirting with Jemmye during All Stars was for the camera

Nehemiah told Zach and...

Zach Nichols knows about finding love on The Challenge, as he married castmate Jenna Nichols and is raising a family with her.

He’s also witnessed castmates form power couples and later break up due to relationship difficulties.

In his last appearance on MTV, he saw an epic proposal as Jordan Wiseley got down on one knee after winning an elimination to present Tori Deal with an engagement ring.

The couple remained engaged up until things unraveled during the Double Agents season. Despite that, they somehow remained amicable.

That allowed them to co-exist in several seasons after the breakup, including Ride or Dies and The Challenge: USA.

Both returned as part of Era 3 for The Challenge: Battle of the Eras, and even though the game changed from Era teams to everyone for themselves, Zach believes these two are “unstoppable.”

Zach comments on ‘unstoppable’ Season 40 castmates

During the Zach Nichols Podcast,...

The Challenge star Zach Nichols explained why he felt bad for Horacio Gutierrez after watching how things went on Battle of the Eras.

Viewers saw host Tj Lavin announce the Eras Invitational, where competitors who finished last in the opening challenge, automatically went to elimination.

Unfortunately, Nurys Mateo had a subpar performance, sending her from the Era 4 team to The Arena.

During deliberation, she called out her rival, Olivia Kaiser, and the Era 4 daily challenge winners, Horacio and Michele Fitzgerald, granted Nurys’ request.

Unfortunately, Nurys didn’t get an elimination that benefited her, as she went into Hall Brawl against Olivia.

While Nurys gave it a decent effort, she was outsized and outmatched by Olivia, who ousted her from Season 40 early as Horacio watched.

Zach says he felt bad for Horacio and Nurys during Battle of the Eras

In an Instagram clip from his Zach Nichols Podcast, the former Challenge...

Zach Nichols doesn’t hold back his opinions about former castmates he doesn’t consider the best competitors on The Challenge and recently reacted to Veronica Portillo’s remarks about him.

Zach, a former 2012 Battle of the Seasons winner, currently hosts the Zach Nichols Podcast, which features Pierre Caball as co-host.

They’ve conversed with various reality TV stars, mainly from The Challenge, to discuss their experiences on the show.

Some of their guests included former show winners Laurel Stucky, Cara Maria Sorbello, and Brad Fiorenza.

Brad was among the most recent guests, fresh off his All Stars 4 appearance ahead of him appearing on The Challenge Season 40.

Based on recent remarks from Zach’s former castmate, three-time Challenge winner Veronica, she turned down requests to appear on the podcast and revealed why she won’t ever be a guest.

Veronica shared why she turned down Zach’s podcast

Earlier this week,...

Laurel Stucky recently achieved her second win in a season of The Challenge by claiming the victory for All Stars 4.

She bested finalists, including Cara Maria Sorbello, Steve Meinke, Nicole Zanatta, and Leroy Garrett, to survive checkpoints and reach the finish line first.

Although her season didn’t include any elimination appearances, she won several daily challenges. She also used a unique strategy for gaining trust and favor with various castmates, which helped her during the final.

Fans called out Laurel’s win because she received an advantage during the final, based on eliminated finalists handing over their Stars before exiting the final.

While many fans were upset, one of Laurel’s former castmates recently suggested she’s the “female Challenge Goat” due to her All Stars 4 win.

Another castmate defended her win despite agreeing with the fans to an extent about the advantage she received.

Laurel’s castmate calls...

After The Challenge Season 40 cast reveal, fans likely have their wishlists of competitors they felt were snubbed or deserved a spot in the epic 40-person cast.

Viewers mentioned a former champion who hasn’t returned to the show since a previous incident.

Zach Nichols, who hasn’t appeared on the show since War of the Worlds 2, might be another former champion that fans would’ve liked to see.

He’s since moved on to podcasting, where he discusses The Challenge with his co-host, Pierre Bacall.

During a recent installment of his Zach Nichols Podcast, Pierre mentioned MTV’s Season 40, The Challenge: Battle of the Eras.

He jokingly said the “biggest snub” was Zach’s former The Real World and The Challenge castmate, Frank Sweeney, before saying it was Zach.

Zach reacts to not being part of the Season 40 cast

During the Zach Nichols Podcast, Zach’s co-host suggested that anyone...

Cara Maria Sorbello respects many of her castmates from The Challenge but shared she is “uncomfortable” around one in particular.

That’s because the two-time champ called her castmate “paranoid” about how she acts when they play a game.

Cara recently appeared in The Challenge: All Stars 4 on Paramount+, where she was a finalist in her full-season return for the competition series’ spinoff show.

Throughout the season, she was mostly alone in the game, with very few allies to work with.

According to Cara, a lot of that may have been due to her castmate Laurel Stucky, who worked to turn castmates against Cara.

Cara didn’t realize what Laurel was doing until she could watch the episodes herself. While Cara no longer wants anything to do with Laurel, she also dislikes being around Laurel’s ex.

Cara calls out ‘paranoid’ and ‘weird’ All Stars 4 castmate

During her recent appearance on the Zach Nichols Podcast,...

Speculation recently arrived that The Challenge couple Paulie Calafiore and Cara Maria Sorbello may have broken up due to social media activity.

An update has arrived suggesting they may not have split up but are facing some issues with their relationship.

The popular couple began dating after appearing on MTV’s The Challenge: Final Reckoning season.

They continued their relationship after appearing last on War of the Worlds 2, before they had a hiatus of multiple seasons, leading to rumors they might never return to the show.

However, the couple eventually returned, with Paulie the first to appear on CBS’ The Challenge: USA 2 spin-off. Cara was next, briefly appearing on MTV’s Battle For a New Champion.

After Cara’s full-season appearance for The Challenge: All Stars 4, rumors about her and Paulie’s relationship emerged, which a rep has now addressed.

Paulie and Cara Maria are ‘working things out,’ rep says...

According to Brandon Nelson, he was single going into The Challenge: All Stars 4 and left the show just as single.

The spinoff show features MTV OGs competing for Stars and ultimately a cash prize by winning the final.

However, sometimes showmances and hookups occur, such as Alton Williams and Jisela Delgado on All Stars 1 or Jordan Wiseley and Nia Moore on All Stars 3.

With All Stars 4, the showmance focus has been on exes Nicole Zanatta and Laurel Stucky, potentially rekindling their romantic relationship.

There’s also the engaged power couple Leroy Garrett and Kam Williams, but beyond that, showmances haven’t appeared much in the episodes.

Brandon revealed that he was interested in one of his castmates, but another of his All Stars 4 castmates “swooped in.”

Brandon said All Stars 4 castmate was ‘good to look at’

Brandon was a guest on the Zach Nichols Podcast, where he spoke about his...

"All great literature is one of two stories; a man goes on a journey or a stranger comes to town." -- Leo Tolstoy

Two of today's hottest shows -- Tracker and Reacher -- are keeping the tradition of the "traveling stranger" alive and well by providing comfort viewing with a kick.

There has always been room on television for the archetype of the helpful loner traveling from town to town.

In the 1960s, James Garner's Maverick featured a wisecracking cowboy poker player with a heart of gold.

That show's campy cousin, The Wild, Wild West, had two Secret Service agents in tight trousers solving cross-country crimes from a swanky steam engine (the original Airstream?).

In the 1970s, The Incredible Hulk put a contemporary spin on the traveling stranger theme, complete with that decade's anxiety over nuclear power.

The show's hero, Dr. David Banner (Bill Bixby), was not out on...

Former show sinner Zach Nichols may have confirmed he won’t appear on any more seasons of MTV’s The Challenge.

The Real World: San Diego star currently hosts a podcast alongside his friend Pierre, where they discuss reality TV shows primarily focusing on The Challenge.

Zach appeared in multiple seasons of the competition series with castmates that included Chris “Ct” Tamburello, Johnny Bananas, Jonna Mannion, and Cara Maria Sorbello.

He also met the love of his life, Jenna Compono, while appearing on the show, with some of the seasons putting a spotlight on the ups and downs of their relationship.

Both have appeared in multiple finals on The Challenge and won prize money, with Zach winning one season with several castmates.

However, based on his recent remarks, he seems no longer interested in participating in the competition series.

Zach says he won’t go on The Challenge if they...

Clockwise from top left: The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert (MGM), Tangerine (Magnolia Pictures), The Birdcage (MGM), Moonlight (Lionsgate)Graphic: AVClub

June means Pride Month, and Pride Month means celebrating queer art—which we could all use more of given the current state of things. In the spirit of 2023 Pride,...

Shudder‘s next original horror movie is Spoonful of Sugar, a cinematic LSD trip directed by Mercedes Bryce Morgan and coming exclusively to Shudder on March 2, 2023.

In the film, “A disturbed babysitter experiences a sexual awakening while using LSD to alternatively treat a seemingly “sick” child from a family with dark secrets of their own.”

Watch the official trailer for Shudder’s Spoonful of Sugar below.

The cast includes Morgan Saylor, Kat Foster, Danilo Crovetti, and Myko Olivier.

Mercedes Bryce Morgan is an award-winning queer Latina director. Mercedes just completed her feature debut, Fixation, premiering at TIFF. Mercedes has directed series’ for studios such as MGM, Facebook Watch, Snapchat, New Form, Eko, and Project Greenlight/ Adaptive.

As a screenwriter, Mercedes’ script, B1, made Tracking Board/ Launch Pad’s 2017 Hit List, as well as winning runner up at the 2018 Script Pipeline Competition and BET’s Project Create. Her script, Esc was...

“She just loves everything around her and really cherishes life,” Caroline Aaron shares about her scene-stealing character Shirley Maisel on Amazon Prime’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” In the fourth season, Shirley certainly delights in celebrating her grandson Ethan’s birthday at Coney Island, not to mention her recurring efforts to find a girlfriend for her son Joel (Michael Zegen), much to his surprise. Watch our exclusive video interview above.

Aaron has had a storied career, working on countless films including “Heartburn” (1986) with screenwriter Nora Ephron and director Mike Nichols. Reflecting on those singular artists, Aaron says “Maisel” creator Amy Sherman-Palladino and her partner Dan Palladino “are television auteurs,” because “every single thing you see, down to the napkins at the table, are Amy and Dan’s choice.” The duo are known for their rapid-fire dialogue, and Aaron reveals that in translating their words to the screen, “You don’t change a comma,...

Sad news today, as Romy Walthall, best known for her roles in TV series Murder One and the movies Face/Off and The House of Usher, has died at the age of 57. The news was confirmed by her son, the actor and director Morgan Krantz, who shared Variety's post with the comment, "Love you, mom". The actress passed away on the 19th of May following a cardiac arrest. A memorial service was held in Malibu in her honor last week.

Love you mom ❤️‍...

Exclusive: Max Greenfield, Marisol Nichols, Betsy Brandt, and legendary Mexican screen and television icon Carmen Salinas are the latest to board the Lionsgate English-language remake of the French hit The Valet, joining stars Eugenio Derbez and Samara Weaving.

Richard Wong is directing the film, which is in production. The original version was written and directed by Francis Veber.

Weaving stars as Olivia, a movie star who enlists Antonio (Derbez) – a parking valet – to pose as her lover to cover for a relationship with a married man. As a valet, the hard-working Antonio usually flies under the radar, but his ruse with Olivia thrusts him into the spotlight and brings him to see himself more clearly than ever before.

Greenfield, from TV’s The Neighborhood and New Girl, will play Vincent Royce, the charming, boyishly handsome business mogul. Nichols, who is known for the CW’s Riverdale and appears in Lionsgate’s upcoming film Spiral,...

Exclusive: Paramount Pictures is broadening its A Quiet Place franchise. The studio has set Jeff Nichols to write and direct the third film, which is based on an original idea by John Kraskinski. Studio has set a 2022 release date. Krasinski co-wrote and directed the original, and wrote and directed the sequel, which was pushed from its March 20 release date by the Covid lockdown, with Paramount slating it for an April 23, 2021 release.

They are keeping details of the new plot under wraps, but I would not be surprised if this was not a straight sequel, but rather broadened the world that the original introduced, plopping viewers in a post-apocalyptic world where survivors are struggling to stay alive by being quiet, as monsters with ultra sensitive hearing hunt them. The movie progressed so quickly you barely had time to ask how the world got that way, and whether the creatures might be defeated.

Livingston, Mont.– Actress Margot Kidder had a roller coaster ride of a life, which ended in Montana on May 13, 2018, at the age of 69. From her modest beginnings as a Canadian performer in TV and B-movies, to her work with Brian De Palma, and her peak as Lois Lane in the first set of “Superman” movies, Kidder forged her own path. That path included a bipolar disorder that plagued her later years.

She was born Margaret Ruth Kidder in Canada, and graduated from Havergal College, a boarding school in Toronto. She made her film debut in a short film called “The Best Damn Fiddler from Calabogie to Kaladar” in 1968, and followed that up with her American debut in “Gaily Gaily” (1969). She also did television for the Canadian Broadcast Company during that era, and was a semi-regular on “Nichols” (1971) with James Garner. She relocated to Los Angeles, and began a string of appearances in notable films,...

Margot Kidder, the actress who helped immortalize Lois Lane in the 'Superman' series, has died at age 69. Kobal/Rex Shutterstock

Margot Kidder, the actress who portrayed Lois Lane in four Superman films, died Sunday at her home in Livingston, Montana at the age of 69.

The Franzen-Davis Funeral Home & Crematory first announced Kidder's death, which was later confirmed to the Hollywood Reporter by the actress' representative. No cause of death was provided.

During the Seventies and Eighties, Kidder's most prolific decades, the actress starred in films like Brian De Palma's Sisters,...

Margot Kidder, who is probably best known for portraying Lois Lane opposite Christopher Reeve in the 1970s and ’80s Superman movies and starred in many other films including The Amityville Horror while struggling with mental illness, has died. She was 69. The Franzen-Davis Funeral Home in Livingston, Mt, said she died Sunday but did not reveal a cause of death.

Kidder appeared with many of Hollywood’s leading men during her 50-year career, including Robert Redford and James Garner, it was her role as the plucky Daily Planet reporter with a penchant for finding trouble in Superman (1978), Superman II (1980), Superman III (1983) and Superman IV (1987) that shot her to fame.

Born on October 17, 1948, in Yellowknife, Canada, Kidder started her career in TV in the late 1960s, guesting on such shows as McQueen and The Mod Squad. She starred opposite Gene Wilder in the 1970 film Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx...

Filtered through her experience as an unequalled comic performer, writer-director Elaine May scores a bulls-eye with this grossly underappreciated gem, fashioned in a style that could be called ‘black comedy lite.’ And that’s the release version mangled by the producer. What might it have been if May had been allowed to finish her director’s cut?

A New Leaf Olive Signature

Blu-ray

Olive Films

1971 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 102 min. / Street Date December 5, 2017 / available through the Olive Films website / 29.99

Starring: Walter Matthau, Elaine May, Jack Weston, George Rose, James Coco, Doris Roberts, Renée Taylor, William Redfield, David Doyle.

Cinematography: Gayne Rescher

Original Music: Neal Hefti

Written by Elaine May from a story by Jack Ritchie

Produced by Hilliard Elkins, Howard W. Koch, Joseph Manduke

Directed by Elaine May

Olive’s next title up for Signature Collection status is A New Leaf, the directing debut of comedienne-writer Elaine May. It’s certainly a worthy title.

What can you say to such success? Mike Nichols and Buck Henry's sex satire defined 'the generation gap' for the sixties. Dustin Hoffman sprang forward from obscurity and Katharine Ross was the object of California desire. Anne Bancroft's Mrs. Robinson freed the image of the 'complicated woman' from the clutches of the Production Code Stone Age. The broad comedy scores with every joke, and there's a truth beneath all the odd things that ought not to work. The Graduate Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 800 1967 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 106 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date February 23, 2016 / 39.95 Starring Anne Bancroft, Dustin Hoffman, Katharine Ross, William Daniels, Murray Hamilton, Elizabeth Wilson, Buck Henry, Brian Avery, Walter Brooke, Norman Fell, Alice Ghostley, Marion Lorne, Eddra Gale, Richard Dreyfuss, Mike Farrell, Elisabeth Fraser, Donald F. Glut, Elaine May, Lainie Miller, Ben Murphy. Cinematography Robert Surtees Film Editor Sam O'Steen Production Design Richard Sylbert...

Ann-Margret movies: From sex kitten to two-time Oscar nominee. Ann-Margret: 'Carnal Knowledge' and 'Tommy' proved that 'sex symbol' was a remarkable actress Ann-Margret, the '60s star who went from sex kitten to respected actress and two-time Oscar nominee, is Turner Classic Movies' star today, Aug. 13, '15. As part of its “Summer Under the Stars” series, TCM is showing this evening the movies that earned Ann-Margret her Academy Award nods: Mike Nichols' Carnal Knowledge (1971) and Ken Russell's Tommy (1975). Written by Jules Feiffer, and starring Jack Nicholson and Art Garfunkel, the downbeat – some have found it misogynistic; others have praised it for presenting American men as chauvinistic pigs – Carnal Knowledge is one of the precursors of “adult Hollywood moviemaking,” a rare species that, propelled by the success of disparate arthouse fare such as Vilgot Sjöman's I Am Curious (Yellow) and Costa-Gavras' Z, briefly flourished from...

Kino Lorber resurrects the obscure and fascinating 1974 Blaxploitation gem Truck Turner this month for the first time on Blu-ray. One of Isaac Hayes’ most notable acting performances, it’s a head above the general trend of similar genre titles of the period, even though the film features a familiar narrative already well re-tread by the time of its release. Hayes fashions his own soundtrack for this retro classic, an oddity begging to be rediscovered.

Truck Turner (Hayes) is a football star turned bounty hunter, in the midst of hunting down a vicious, sadistic pimp named Gator (Paul Harris) with the help of his sidekick, Jerry (Alan Weeks). But Gator proves a hard target to pin down, leading up to a dramatic showdown where Truck is forced to kill the pimp in self-defense. His death causes a ripple in the criminal community of Los Angeles and forces the aggressively violent Madame...

ETonline is paying tribute to the stars that passed away in the past year with our "Oscar: In Memoriam" fan art collection. Check out some of the highlights below and check back in on the Et Tumblr page for more.

Photos: In Memoriam: Stars We Lost In 2014

Robin Williams

The legendary comedian committed suicide on August 11, 2014.

http://entertainmenttonight.tumblr.com/post/111579349675/oscars-in-memoriam-et-tumblr-remember-robin

Maya Angelou

The inspirational author and poet passed away on May 28, 2014 at age 86.

http://entertainmenttonight.tumblr.com/post/111580360805/oscars-in-memoriam-et-tumblr-remember-maya

Lauren Bacall

The actress, who was Humphrey Bogart’s real-life wife and on-screen co-star in iconic films like The Big Sleep, passed away one month before her 90th birthday on August 12, 2014.

http://entertainmenttonight.tumblr.com/post/111580366120/oscars-in-memoriam-et-tumblr-remember-lauren

News: Was Joan Rivers Snubbed in the 2015 GRAMMYs In Memoriam Segment?

Joan Rivers

The legendary comedian and fashion critic died at age 81 after complications during surgery on September 4, 2014.

http://entertainmenttonight.tumblr.com/post/111583267412/oscars-in-memoriam-et-tumblr-remember-joan

James Garner

The Maverick and Rockford...

Here's a sampling of what's new on Warner Archive Instant for August 2014!

Warner Archive Instant, the streaming video service that features hundreds of movies and TV shows from Warner Bros.' extensive catalog, just added some great titles for August, including James Garner's critically accalimed western series Nichols and a personal favorite, the Hanna-Barbera live action animal disaster film The Beasts Are On The Streets. Yeah, you read that right - a live-action animal disaster film from cartoon greats Hanna-Barbera. You can click right here to read my review of the DVD for Cinelinx. It's cheesy 70's fun.

If you aren't currently subscribed to Warner Archive Instant, you can click right here to get a free two week trial. Trust me, if you love classic movies and television, it's worth it.

Here's what's new:

Nichols: The Complete Series (1971-72) James Garner stars as Nichols, an Army lifer who...

After nearly 60 years on the flickering box and the big screen, Time reports actor James Garner has passed away. The iconic star of the TV series "Maverick," who also appeared in the feature film adaptation of the same name starring Mel Gibson, died Saturday night. A cause of death is unknown, but at 86 years old, anything could have happened. After all, the actor hadn't been seen on the big screen since 2007, and his most recent work was lending his voice to a DC Comics animated short in 2010. But the reason we all know Garner today is for his stellar career that took off in the 1950s with the aforementioned western series. Garner also found great fame as the star of the 70s crime drama "The Rockford Files," and his work on the series actually resulted in him winning an Emmy in 1977. Other TV work saw him in the series "Nichols...

©2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved

Oscar-nominated actor James Garner has passed away at the age of 86.

From AP:

Garner, whose whimsical style in the 1950s TV Western “Maverick” led to a stellar career in TV and films such as “The Rockford Files” and his Oscar-nominated “Murphy’s Romance,” was found dead of natural causes at his home in the Brentwood area of Los Angeles Saturday evening, Los Angeles police officer Alonzo Iniquez said early Sunday.

Police responded to a call around 8 p.m. Pdt and confirmed Garner’s identity from family members, Iniquez told The Associated Press.

There was no immediate word on a more specific cause of death. Garner had suffered a stroke in May 2008, just weeks after his 80th birthday.

Although he was adept at drama and action, Garner was best known for his low-key, wisecracking style, especially with his hit TV series, “Maverick” and “The Rockford Files.

Veteran actor James Garner, who won two Emmy Awards throughout his prolific TV career, died Saturday night. He was 86.

The cause of death is not yet known.

Though Garner amassed quite a list of TV and film credits throughout the years, his breakout role on the small screen was that of gambler Bret Maverick in the 1950s Western Maverick. He also starred in 1970s crime drama The Rockford Files, a role that landed him his first Emmy in 1977. (The other came in 1987, for his work as a producer on CBS’ Hallmark Hall of Fame movie Promise.)

Other highlights from the...

There have arguably been bigger stars in television history than the late James Garner, but none who ever made it look quite so easy. Garner, who reportedly died in his home on Saturday at the age of 86, first hit it big in 1957 with "Maverick," a comical Western in which he played Bret Maverick, a Wild West cardsharp who was as quick on the draw as he was with a quip. At a time when TV was dominated by Westerns — and very solemn ones, at that — Garner was happy to play the same material lighter, to occasionally be the clown or the guy who gets punched in the face, and yet always made it clear that Maverick could easily kill you if he wanted to — it just wasn't his preferred way of doing things. Garner left Maverick after only a few seasons (and had spent much of that time alternating episodes...

The actor who played shopkeeper Nels Oleson on Little House on the Prairie, Richard Bull, died yesterday morning in Calabasas, California. He was 89.

A prolific character actor, Bull appeared on numerous episodes of Mannix, Nichols, Felony Squad, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and Barnaby Jones, as well as many other shows.

He was best known of course for playing the hen-pecked shopkeeper married to Harriet Oleson (Scottie MacGregor) on Little House for more than 145 episodes.

Little House co-star Melissa Gilbert tweeted, "This man will be missed. Goodbye Richard working with you was such a joy but nearly as joyful as being your friend."

Bull's TV daughter, Alison Arngrim, tweeted about his passing as well. She first wrote "Aw crap." and then, "Goodnight Pa." She later scribed, "I just want to say, I am...

By Lee Pfeiffer 

As Cinema Retro gets inundated with DVDs to review during the course of any given year, it's virtually impossible to keep up with all of them in a timely manner. Here are some notable titles you should be aware of:

Cabaret Blu-ray (Warner Home Video): Warner Home Video has inherited the rights to Bob Fosse's classic 1972 film adaptation of the stage production that, in turn, was based on Christopher Isherwood's Berlin Stories. The Blu-ray comes packaged in one of those irresistible hardback book formats that is loaded with wonderful photos from the movie. The movie itself holds up superbly even after 40 years. The decline of Germany's Weimar Republic amidst the rise of National Socialism in the 1930s is seen through the eyes of nightclub singer Sally Bowles (Liza Minnelli) and her constant companions (Michael York, Helmut Griem) . Fosse's decision to emphasize the sleaze elements...

Like most humans presently stalking the Earth, I’ve been watching teevee ever since my eyeballs could focus. Being a fanboy collector, I do my share of possessing odd and great stuff. Sadly, there were two teevee shows I absolutely worshipped that I could not find, even from collectors who obtain their DVDs through questionable means.

The first is T.H.E. Cat, Robert Loggia’s jazz-based New Orleans cat burglar private eye show. It only lasted one season, it was in black-and-white, and each episode only ran 30 minutes. So it’s half-life in syndication was roughly the same as Lawrencium. There are some truly awful bootlegs around, 12th generation dubs of a kinescope shot off of teevee set that desperately needed rabbit ears. I haven’t given up, but the challenge is undermining my otherwise natural sense of happy optimism.

The second is Nichols, the post-western western about a pacifist who...

While most sci-fi fans are over the moon about "Star Trek Into Darkness" and the whole J.J. Abrams reboot, you may be surprised to learn that there are still quite a few "Star Trek" traditionalists who decry the new films as a monstrous blasphemy. A self-professed "Star Wars" fan turning "Star Trek" into a shoot first and ask questions later action franchise? No way.

And that got us wondering: Which is actually better, the new "Star Trek" or the old "Star Trek"?

Of course, the two versions of Gene Roddenberry's beloved creation are very different in tone and story, so it's a little like comparing apples to tribbles. But one thing they do share is the same characters. So in order to decide which version of "Star Trek" holds the edge, we've decided to match up the old and new versions, actor against actor, mano-a-mano.

Let the battle commence.

Back in college in the 1990s, Jeff Nichols had an idea for a movie, about a fugitive named Mud hiding out on an island in the middle of the Mississippi River. The man was dirty and mysterious, with a tattoo of a coiled snake slithering up his right arm. He also looked a lot like Matthew McConaughey. “I’d seen Lone Star in college, and it was like… ‘That guy,”‘ says Nichols. “I’d seen Dazed and Confused as well, and there was something about this guy that I liked. He was funny and serious.”

More than a decade after Nichols’ initial brainstorm,...

Lionsgate, a leading global entertainment company, and Roadside Attractions have together acquired U.S. distribution rights to Nicholas Jarecki's Arbitrage. The announcement was made jointly by Steve Beeks, President and Co-coo of Lionsgate, and by Roadside Attractions' Co-Presidents Howard Cohen and Eric d'Arbeloff. The acquisition was made following the well-received world premiere of the film at the Sundance International Film Festival.

Arbitrage is a taut and alluring suspense thriller about love, loyalty, and high finance starring Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon, Tim Roth, Brit Marling, Laetitia Casta, and Nate Parker. The film was written and directed by Nicholas Jarecki, and is his first narrative feature. It was produced by Laura Bickford (Traffic, Duplicity), Kevin Turen, Justin Nappi, and Robert Salerno (A Single Man), and executive produced by Brian Young, Mohammed Al Turki, Lisa Wilson, Stanislaw Tyczynski, Lauren Versel, Maria Teresa Arida and Ron Curtis.

Arbitrage will be a Lionsgate/Roadside Attractions release,...

Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions have together acquired U.S. distribution rights to Nicholas Jarecki’s Arbitrage. The announcement was made jointly by Steve Beeks, President and Co-coo of Lionsgate, and by Roadside Attractions’ Co-Presidents Howard Cohen and Eric d’Arbeloff. The acquisition was made following the well-received world premiere of the film at the Sundance International Film Festival.

Arbitrage is a taut and alluring suspense thriller about love, loyalty, and high finance starring Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon, Tim Roth, Brit Marling, Laetitia Casta, and Nate Parker. The film was written and directed by Nicholas Jarecki, and is his first narrative feature. It was produced by Laura Bickford (Traffic, Duplicity), Kevin Turen, Justin Nappi, and Robert Salerno (A Single Man), and executive produced by Brian Young, Mohammed Al Turki, Lisa Wilson, Stanislaw Tyczynski, Lauren Versel, Maria Teresa Areda and Ron Curtis.

Arbitrage will be a Lionsgate / Roadside Attractions release, continuing the...

Actor often seen in unsympathetic roles

Although she rarely had a leading role, the actor Neva Patterson, who has died aged 90, made the most of the parts she was given. She had a great line in cold, uptight, probably sexually repressed women. In the romantic comedy An Affair to Remember (1957), she played an heiress, Lois Clark, waiting on the dock in New York for a playboy (Cary Grant) to arrive from Europe to marry her. But she had not reckoned that he might have fallen for another woman (Deborah Kerr) on board. Although her character is spoilt and controlling, Patterson elicited some sympathy as Lois gradually realises that she is losing her fiance.

To a degree, Patterson was typecast in the movies. In the delightful comedy The Solid Gold Cadillac (1956), she is Judy Holliday's prim secretary, with her hair in a bun and dressed in a severe suit. Holliday...

The following is a list of accredited, degree-granting acting programs at colleges and universities in the United States and the United Kingdom. It includes schools that grant either a degree in acting or a degree in another major that has an acting component or concentration. In general, B.A.and M.A.programs are more academic in nature (though they may offer a performance component or concentration),while Bfa and Mfa programs focus on training professional performers.An A.A.is a two-year junior-college degree.The list also includes nondegree acting programs that have a structured curriculum.THEATERUndergraduateALABAMAAuburn UniversityDepartment of Theater, 211 Telfair B. Peet Theatre, Auburn, Al, 36849-5422. Dan Larocque, chair, theatre@auburn.edu; http://media.cla.auburn.edu/theatre; (334) 844-4748; B.A. in theater, Bfa in musical theater, performance, design/tech, and management. Auburn University, MontgomeryDepartment of Communication and Dramatic Arts, P.O. Box 244023, Rm 223 Liberal Arts, Montgomery, Al,...