Issue Date: January 8, 2006
John Stamos, 42, hasn't had a date in at least nine weeks. "I've been spending a lot of time alone, working on myself," he tells me. "And I swear to you, I haven't been this happy in years. I finally feel like I'm performing at the top of my game." (Take that, Rebecca Romijn!) I tell him I can't believe someone so charming and handsome can't find a date, but he explains it's all about the quality of dating. That conversation gets complicated, so we talk about his ABC comedy, "Jake in Progress," which is about a guy like Stamos, single and trying to figure things out with a collection of wacky friends. The show has been tweaked since last year's midseason run. Among the changes: "NYPD Blue's" Charlotte Ross will be his love interest.
What do you know about Rhona Mitra, the sultry detective on "Nip/Tuck?"
Larry Sork, Oakland
She grew up between brothers, and Mitra, 29, says she has had to work on being girlish. "It was a lot of fun having brothers: watching "Star Wars," getting tackled. It toughens you," she tells us. "There is no room for nail painting or hair brushing." And you won't see Mitra chasing Hollywood standards of beauty. "I'm repelled by it," she says. "Wanting to be other people -- that is the ruination of mankind."
I miss the character Kate, who was written out of "NCIS." Can you tell me why she's gone?
Pat Recard, Horseheads, N.Y.
Sasha Alexander played Kate for two seasons but wanted out. So Mark Harmon enticed "Chicago Hope" colleague Lauren Holly to join the cast. Holly, 42, was living in Chicago with husband Francis Greco and their sons (ages 4, 3 and 2) and wasn't sure the job would fit her life. Now, she and the boys live in L.A. when she works; Greco maintains the Chicago base and travels to see them. The boys visit Mom on the set, but she tells us they like Harmon's trailer better.
Go to top
Samantha Ettus was barely 30 and already a business expert with two Harvard degrees when she started to write "The Experts' Guide to 100 Things Everyone Should Know How to Do." Now she's written "The Experts' Guide to Life at Home," a perfect sequel for those of us who make resolutions to do things right, or at least better. Ettus, 33, tells me she loves finding experts who aren't yet superhot, like the origami master who tells us how to fold a fitted sheet. I'm off now to re-stack my linen closet.
What ever happened to Lisa Beamer, wife of Todd Beamer, who was on Flight 93 when it crashed in Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, 2001?
Carol Evans, Sun City West, Ariz.
Beamer, who wrote a book about her husband and other courageous ordinary people, declined our request for an update interview, citing a wish for privacy. The charity she founded in her husband's name is called Heroic Choices and can be found on the Web at heroicchoices.org.
Go to top
It's hard to imagine the Goo Goo Dolls' Johnny Rzeznik, whose latest single, "Better Days," is from a CD that's due this spring, as a social studies teacher. But that's what he would be doing if the band's first hit song, 1995's Name, hadn't taken off. "I set a deadline for 30 that if [music] wasn't my full-time job and I wasn't making a living, I'd give it up. Twenty-nine came, and I was," Rzeznik, 40, tells us. But why the fallback plan to teach? "My mother was a teacher. I have good friends who are. I admire how much they do and how little they get for it."
With a new "American Idol" getting underway, I got to wondering: What happened to Bo Bice, who was runner-up to Carrie Underwood last time?
Michelle van Vulpen Colfax, Wis.
Bice will have a hard time topping his 2005. After "Idol," he put out his first solo album, married his long-time girlfriend and became a dad. Then there were the material perks. Bice, who tells us he was "used to living on $22,000 a year," bought a new home in Nashville, doubled his guitar collection to 36 and bought gifts for family members. His advice to the new "Idol"-ites? "Stick with it. Stay true to your heart. Work hard. Treat people like you want to be treated."
Go to top
Splitting time between the TV series "ER" and the new movie comedy "Grandma's Boy" was the best of both worlds, Linda Cardellini says. The movie offered a chance to "improv and have more freedom. Nobody can improv medical jargon." When we spoke, Cardellini, 30, and her boyfriend, "Grandma's Boy" director Nicholaus Goossen, were heading to California's Magic Mountain amusement park. "Maybe I should grow up," she says with a laugh. She knows, however, that her youthful look (she played a high school student on 1999's "Freaks and Geeks") has helped her career. "I'm just now getting to play roles that are more adult," including parts in "Brokeback Mountain" and "American Gun." "I have the rest of my life to grow up."
Go to top
BIRTHDAYS
January 8: Sarah Polley, 27
January 9: Dave Matthews, 39; Joely Richardson, 41; Joan Baez, 65
January 10: Shawn Colvin, 50
January 11: Amanda Peet, 34; Mary J. Blige, 35; Naomi Judd, 60
January 12: Howard Stern, 52; Kirstie Alley, 55
January 13: Orlando Bloom, 29; Patrick Dempsey, 40
January 14: Jason Bateman, 37; Emily Watson, 39
Contributing: Gayle Jo Carter
 Ask Lorrie Lynch a question about a celeb!
|
