The original cast of 'Beverly Hills 90210': (clockwise from top right) Luke Perry (Dylan), Shannen Doherty (Brenda), Jason Priestley (Brendan), Gabrielle Carteris (Andrea), Brian Austin Green (David), Tori Spelling (Donna), Jennie Garth (Kelly) and Ian Ziering (Steve).

Today, fans of a certain 1990s teen soap opera took one look at their calendar and realized today would be like no other.

You see, today is 9/02/10. And so, for the only time this century, a glittering Darren Star-created drama is celebrated — it’s 90210 Day.

(Oops. Sorry Facebook group: That’s International Beverly Hills 90210 Day.)

(Full disclosure: I never completely jumped headlong into the Beverly Hills 90210 drama. I was trying to remember what I watched instead, then realized I was working nights during the show’s entire run.)
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The former television producer who tried to blackmail David Letterman over the comedian’s office affairs has been freed from a New York City jail.

City Department of Correction records show Robert “Joe” Halderman was released Thursday. He served four months of his six-month sentence and got time off for good behavior.

The former CBS News producer admitted he demanded $2 million in hush money last fall to keep from revealing personal information about Letterman. The case spurred the “Late Show” host to reveal on-air that he’d had sex with women on his staff.

Halderman’s lawyer says his client is glad to put jail behind him and is looking for work. Meanwhile, he has to complete 1,000 hours of community service.

Jon Gosselin reportedly attempted to extort money from Kate Gosselin by threatening to call Child Protective Services on his then-wife.

Gosselin’s ex-girlfriend Hailey Glassman claims the former star of “Jon and Kate Plus 8″ repeatedly demanded money from Kate Gosselin before their divorce was finalized, according to RadarOnline. Glassman said she has the hand-written notes Jon used to extort Kate over the phone. “We were in bed and Jon called Kate on speaker phone,” she said. “He wrote down what he wanted to say to her and then he read from his notes. He told her, ‘You either give me money, or I’m going to call CPS.’” Read the full story

(Photo by Geoff Stokes / flickr)

The family that I live with recently made some changes in their TV-viewing habits and there’s just one thing I have to say about it.

Holy crap.

A few of you out there know what I’m talking about because once we switched – Uh-oh. You caught me. I’m writing about me again. – I started talking about this new service that we now buy from a major corporation that I will simply call Three Letters and an Ampersand.

Think about this for a second, and you’ll get it.

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Robert Van Winkle, better known as rapper Vanilla Ice, is filming a home makeover series for the DIY Network. (Allen Eyestone/The Palm Beach Post)

Photos: Vanilla Ice rehabs Wellington house

“Come on in! Want some pizza?”

The friendly man in the sharp suit inviting you to stay for a slice seems like a normal married father hosting a gleefully busy gathering of friends and family at a well-appointed Wellington home.

He also looks a lot like Vanilla Ice, famous and infamous early ’90s rapper, motor sport enthusiast, hard-core rocker and surreal reality show hell raiser.

So what’s a rap icon doing in this refined setting, shaking the mayor’s hand and cutting an official-looking red ribbon with those really big ribbon-cutting scissors?

Well, for starters, he’s making a TV show. And enjoying his hobby of rehabbing houses. And, maybe, saving a neighborhood. So, yeah, he’s kinda busy.

“And later,” says Rob Van Winkle, “I’m gonna jump a car through a ring of fire!”

Clearly, some habits survive even the fanciest of suits, which is probably why Van Winkle, 42, was a keen choice for a show on the DIY Nework. Slated for Oct. 14, The Vanilla Ice Project follows Van Winkle and a crew of friends and home improvement professionals as they renovate a 7,000-square-foot house in the Versailles community, one that had been “trashed” by its previous owner, he says. Read the full story

Don Draper (Jon Hamm), Joan Harris (Christina Hendricks) and Roger Sterling (John Slattery) wait to see if their agency won a Clio.

By the time this season of Mad Men ends, the fifth episode, where Don maneuvers his agency into an account with Honda with the ability of the first three seasons, will seem like the exception rather than the rule.

With the sixth episode under its belt, clearly this season is about the hard fall of Don Draper.

In fact, contrasting the fifth-episode Draper with this one is pretty startling. In the last episode, Don was back in master-of-the-universe mode. He faked out a competitor while putting aside the alcohol and understanding his firm’s Japanese suitor.
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There’s Madonna, Oprah and now … “Conan.”

Conan O’Brien took the simple approach Wednesday in announcing the name of his new talk show on TBS.

“Conan” will kick off Nov. 8.

He posted a YouTube video announcing the show’s name to his fans. He scrawled the name on a white sheet of paper using a black marking pen.

O’Brien has finished a comedy concert tour. He was nominated for an Emmy Award for his short-lived stint as NBC “Tonight” show host that ended amid much drama in January, but lost to Jon Stewart and Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show.”

Thankfully, our local weather guys won’t be acting like this if a storm blasts into Mexico.

Hurricane Bound For Texas Slowed By Large Land Mass To The South
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Season 11's 'Dancing with the Stars' cast: (front row) Brandy, Jennifer Grey, Margaret Cho, Audrina Patridge, Florence Henderson, Bristol Palin; (back row) David Hasselhoff, Kurt Warner, Kyle Massey, Rick Fox and hosts Brooke Burke and Tom Bergeron. (Not pictured: Mike 'The Situation' Sorrentino and Michael Bolton) (ABC MediaNet)

On Tuesday’s Extra, R&B singer Brandy gushed that she’d been matched with the best partner for Dancing with the Stars, though she couldn’t say who that would be.

Now, we know why Brandy was so happy — she’s going to be working with Maksim Chmerkovsky.

Chmerkovsky has been, over the years, one of the show’s more well-known partners, along with Julianne Hough, Derek Hough, Cheryl Burke and Edyta Sliwinska. And though he’s never taken a partner all the way to the mirror-ball trophy, he’s had three top-three finishes — runner-up with Mel B and third place with Laila Ali and Erin Andrews.

The entire field’s partnerships were announced on ABC’s Good Morning America (via Zap2It).
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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jennifer Esposito is joining the force.

CBS said Wednesday that Esposito will guest star on several episodes of “Blue Bloods,” a new drama about a family with deep roots in law enforcement.

The series’ ensemble cast includes Tom Selleck, Donnie Wahlberg and Bridget Moynahan. Esposito will be featured in several episodes as Wahlberg’s partner in the New York Police Department.

Esposito’s TV credits include “Rescue Me” and “Samantha Who?” She is scheduled to appear on “Blue Bloods” around mid-October.

“Blue Bloods” debuts Sept. 24 at 10 p.m. Eastern. The drama’s creators are Mitchell Burgess and Robin Green, who have worked on shows including “The Sopranos” and “Northern Exposure.”