Maura Tierney was forced to back out of Parenthood last year after she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Tierney underwent treatment and has since returned to the television industry. She will appear on Rescue Me, on which she appeared as Tommy Gavin’s love interest in the fantastic Season 5. Tierney, somewhat shockingly, will return to Tommy’s life having just received treatment for cancer.

Peter Tolan, along with Denis Leary (who plays Gavin), co-created the show and after Tierney was cleared to return to work, Tolan talked with the actress about returning to the show to play a cancer survivor…

Tolan says Tierney, who will appear with what he calls a “buzz cut,” even helped fine-tune the story.

“We wrote like dopes. We haven’t had cancer, and we wrote stuff that was a touch melodramatic perhaps,” Tolan says. “She got me on the phone one time, and we had the most fascinating conversation. She tried to explain to me what it felt like and what was going through her mind. … It actually took me a long time to figure out what she was saying.”

“It’s about survival and anger — it is anger at survival,” Tolan says of the new story line. “That was one of the things that Maura said. Even though she got a clean bill of health, her initial response was not relief. It was anger and, ‘Why did I have to go through that?’ And that fits right into Tommy’s, ‘Why did I have to experience what I’ve experienced? Wouldn’t it have been easier to just die than to go forward in fear?’

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This post was written by Eric Van Dril. For more of his writing, visit his Twitter.

ABC rolled out their cast for season 11 of Dancing With The Stars last night and one of the members of the cast is Jersey Shore’s Mike Sorrentino.

The Situation, amazingly, is one of the show’s biggest stars and figures to add a certain amount of intrigue to the show on a weekly basis. I may even watch because of him.

The problem for Sitch and the Dancing producers is that he’s currently filming the third season of Jersey Shore and won’t be available to start training until two weeks before the Dancing season starts. The other contestants begin rehearsal next Monday in preperation for the Sept. 20 premiere.

The first day Sitch will be able to start training will be on Sept. 20.

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This post was written by Eric Van Dril. For more of his writing, visit his Twitter.

Will Forte quietly announced last week, via his publicist, that he would be leaving Saturday Night Live after eight seasons.

Forte had not opened up as to explain why until an interview with JoBlo.com where he said that he left to be closer to his family and also because eight years is just a long time to do the same job week-after-week.

It seems like everybody always says that their goal is to be closer to their family when they leave a prime entertainment job like Saturday Night Live, but with SNL it has to be different. The hours are notoriously brutal and the collective fear and tension of having to produce a show from scratch has to particularly brutal.

Forte was pretty adament in his desire to leave, but show creator Lorne Michaels tried to convince him to stay for one more season…

“SNL” producer Lorne Michaels attempted to convince Forte to stay one more year but Forte says he had already extended his original seven-year contract an additional year and that, in the end, “Eight years is just a long time.” Michaels, Forte says, was “incredibly supportive” of the decision to leave.

Though Forte says he’s “really going to miss” being a part of the cast, he may not have to wait long to return. “Oh my God, I would do anything ["SNL"] asked me to do! If they ever wanted me to come back and do a “MacGruber” for one episode, I would do whatever they want…I don’t plan on being a stranger from those guys.”

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This post was written by Eric Van Dril. For more of his writing, visit his Twitter.

How does a company keep a mom and pop store feel while expanding?

That is the conundrum Trader Joe’s is currently facing, with the franchise’s popularity skyrocketing but with the example of Starbucks’ over-expainsion looming at the forefront of the company’s mind.

In CNN’s piece called “Inside Trader Joe’s,” Beth Kowitt unmasks the business philosophy behind Trader Joe’s and it’s fascinating even for someone (me) who doesn’t particularly enjoy reading about such sophisticated topics.

The story, which you can read here, dives into how Trader Joe’s serves yuppies and brands itself as an organic-loving independent grocery store, yet has many of its products produced by companies like Pepsico.

Though those types of things are what sticks out to me, CNN’s article isn’t an attack piece. It’s a piece that shows the brilliance behind Trader Joe’s and truly takes you into the world of Trader Joe’s with hundreds of hours of solid reporting.

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This post was written by Eric Van Dril. For more of his writing, visit his Twitter.

There is a perceived pecking order within Radiohead of which most fans of the band are familiar.

Thom Yorke is the catalyst within the band, the brains and brilliance of the operation and Jonny Greenwood is arguably the most talented and diverse member in the band. Greenwood, the younger brother of bassist Colin, is probably the most vital part of Radiohead’s sound.

Aside from Jonny and Yorke, the talents of the band’s other three musicians are much more under-the-radar. Bassist Colin Greenwood might just be the best bassist in the world right now, but because of the instrument he plays there isn’t the instant ‘Oh my goodness’ quality to his contribution within Radiohead.

Ed O’Brien is the band’s second guitarist and often gets stuck with some of the non-guitar parts and is used in such ways that make a Radiohead song as enjoyable to listen to on the 150th time as the first.

And then you have Phil Selway, who is a talented drummer, but takes a back seat to the other four members of his band. Selway is the unheralded member of Radiohead, in charge of keeping time in order for Greenwood and Yorke to add their unique brilliance to each song. Selway is also the least heard-from member of the band and somebody I’m absolutely fascinated with.

Selway is currently in the process of releasing a new record called Familial in which he brances off from Radiohead in order to work as a solo artist and release a record of songs completely different from what his core fanbase knows him for.

The Radiohead drummer is currently in the process of promoting his solo record and, as a result, recently talked to US Magazine…

US: OK. This record has the same brooding vibe; it’s got the darkness to it but very poetic at the same time. How is it different from the stuff that you’ve done with Radiohead?

PS: I suppose if you’re suggesting musically on the whole, Radiohead operates on a much larger picture, if you like. Musically, there is a lot of space and you have these delicate layers, delicate detailed layers all on top of each other, and in the middle of that I suppose there’s me, which is a different side of me from what’s emerged in Radiohead. It filled something that is identifying me in there, which I don’t think would be a very appropriate thing for me to do in Radiohead.

US: Do you like being front and center as opposed being in the back with the drums?

PS: It’s something I’m learning about, really. It has its fun moments. It certainly sheds a different light on yourself as well. That whole sense of actually moving on and learning more about yourself, yeah. It’s a good process to go through. It’s all part of the same grand plan, isn’t it? From a performance point of view, it’s all stagecraft; it’s just learning a different kind of stagecraft.

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This post was written by Eric Van Dril. For more of his writing, visit his Twitter.

With an increasing splinter in today’s TV, it’s a good year for the Emmys when they just match what they did the previous year.

Behind that logic, the 2010 Primetime Emmys must feel good that the Jimmy Fallon-hosted show matched 2009’s ratings with 13.5 million people watching small (but breathtaking) cable shows like Breaking Bad and Mad Men take home the biggest awards of the night.

One of the biggest things that helped the Emmys’ ratings was the move to August, which meant less serious competition from other programs, specifically regular season Sunday Night Football.

The NY Times has the details…

In the ever-more-fragmented world of television, that’s a victory for NBC. About 13.5 million viewers tuned in, according to the preliminary data, up just 32,000 viewers from last year’s telecast.

Those extra tens of thousands are enough to make Mr. Fallon’s Emmys the “top-scoring Emmy Awards in total viewers in four years,” NBC said, if the preliminary numbers hold, that is. The awards sank to an all-time low of 12.2 million viewers in 2008.

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This post was written by Eric Van Dril. For more of his writing, visit his Twitter.

Dancing With The Stars is one of the most beloved shows on television and it has seemed to fall into a groove about how to properly pick contestants that a wide array of people will be excited to watch dance.

This year figures to be no different with the following celebrities set to star in the ABC show’s 11th season. The most surprising thing is the amount of young celebrities who will compete this year. Here’s the list…

The women are actress-singer Brandy, “Dirty Dancing” star Jennifer Grey, comedian Margaret Cho, Audrina Patridge of “The Hills,” “Brady Bunch” star Florence Henderson and Bristol Palin, daughter of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

The men are singer Michael Bolton, Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino of “Jersey Shore,” David Hasselhoff, former quarterback Kurt Warner, Disney Channel star Kyle Massey and former basketball star Rick Fox.

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Grey figures to be the early favorite because of her role on Dirty Dancing, but she’s now 50 so this competition should be pretty wide open.

Are you planning on watching? Which contestants stand out?

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This post was written by Eric Van Dril. For more of his writing, visit his Twitter.

Well Project Runway fans, we saw the many faces of Gretchen this week. And how! The challenge they were given this week was breaking the final twelve into two teams of six. They then had $1000 budget to create a six look collection.
Michael Costello was the first person called to pick since he had immunity from last week. And….then he made what most would call the fatal mistake of picking Gretchen. April cracked me up in her little testimonial as she chided Michael for picking Gretchen, likening her to Hitler in terms of being a dictator.

April was the person called to begin assembling the other team. In the end Team #1 consisted of Michael C, Gretchen, AJ, Ivy, Christopher, and Andy. Team #2 was April, Mondo, Casanova, Valerie, Michael D and Peach.
The two teams were given various trends to pick for Fall 2010 and then were given their choice of textiles. Team #1 became “Team Luxe” with Menswear that women can wear and the choices of camel and gold. Team #2 became “Team Military/Lace” with the military vibe accentuated with Lace. Cream, Blue, and Black. So given that Team Luxe had won 4 challenges amongst them and Team Military/Lace was sitting on a goose egg with zero wins you would think Gretchen and her merry band of designers would have walked away with the win right? Not so fast….

Team Military/Lace pulled off the upset. And it was awesome. Not only did they mesh as a team and respected each other, but their collection was cohesive and told a story complete with the military accents. Team Luxe, while their collection had six individual looks – from an awful shirtdress to clothes that the proportions on all of them were just out of whack. There was no cohesiveness. And it showed.

When Heidi, Michael, Nina and guest judge Georgina Chapman, co-founder of Marchesa started questioning the losing team Gretchen acted as spokesperson as she had through out most of the challenge. Basically bullying everyone to fit her concept and not theirs. Gretchen pleaded with the judges at first that they were a group and were united together. Once they realized one was going home since they couldn’t pawn the loss off on Michael Costello since he had immunity, Gretchen started pointing fingers at everyone but her. The final two came down to Gretchen and AJ, and sadly since AJ had made the horrible shirtdress he got the boot. Gretchen deserved to go on her behavior alone.

There was a fantastic bright spot from this challenge. Casanova, who had shown no reason why he should even stick around, ended up winning from the Team Military/Lace. It was a great lace shirt with an open back and military inspired cream pants with the gold military buttons. He pulled one out, even after his diva moment, when it looked like the whole team might have to pick up his slack.

The show this year has been having more of Tim, and though I have said it once, I will say it again. MORE TIM! They showed him yelling at Team Luxe about allowing Gretchen to manipulate them the way they did. It is refreshing to hear more of his input and opinion. Especially when calling out Gretchen for being a bit of a snot. Till next week………….

Oprah Winfrey will end her talk show next September after 25 years and is planning on going out in a big way.

Winfrey is reportedly already planning a star-studded end to The Oprah Winfrey Show and is also planning on shooting her final show in an open-air football stadium.

At the moment, the stadium that would make the most sense for Winfrey would be Chicago’s Soldier Field. The Bears’ home stadium holds 61,500 people and is just minutes away from Winfrey’s Chicago home and where she shoots her talk show.

How do you like this idea?

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This post was written by Eric Van Dril. For more of his writing, visit his Twitter.

Ushered in almost immediately after The Strokes broke worldwide, The Libertines were one of Britain’s most well-known rock acts until they split up in 2004 after just two albums.

The band, led by Pete Doherty, has reunited for the 2010 Reading and Leeds festival and, once the festival concludes Sunday evening, they will decide whether this was a one-off experience or if they will stay reunited for additional shows.

“I think that decision will actually come at that point of time,” drummer Gary Powell said before adding that the band “would love to continue doing this”, if the shows are on par with what The Libertines did from 2001-2004.

One of the main reasons for the band’s breakup was in-fighting between frontman Doherty and Carl Barat. Barat spoke before the show and assured the band’s fans that he and Doherty are getting along as fine as ever.

“As people, we’re the same as ever,” he said. “It’s like gentle fires are warming the corridors of our hearts that have been cold since the splitting up.”

Stay tuned.

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This post was written by Eric Van Dril. For more of his writing, visit his Twitter.