"We both had bruises and we were comparing them. We were like, nice lives we've found ourselves in the middle of here." -- Jennifer Garner, after filming a fight scene on Alias the day her actor hubby, Scott Foley, performed pratfalls for a Scrubs appearance

© EW 2002

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ABC Upfront notes 5/14/02

"Alias" shows a behind-scenes clip reel interspersed with comments from Jennifer Garner, who reveals that in the pilot episode, she shot a scene with Ron Rifkind [sic] in which she grabs him by the lapels over and over. She noticed his eyes kept tearing up. Finally he said, "When you grab me like that, you're grabbing my chest hairs." Big laugh. Jennifer couldn't be with us today; she's shooting "Daredevil" with Ben Affleck.

© TV Barn 2002

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For those that missed the World Stunt Awards on May 31, 2002, Kate reported that Jennifer presented the award for 'Best Stunt Choreography'. Her name was announced, "lights went straight to the ceiling of the very tall! auditorium, and suddenly Jen comes down with Spiderman holding her arm. It must have been 40 feet up! She was holding on with one hand! They came down, hooked to a single wire." They then "unhooked Jen's wrist from Spiderman and hoisted him back up. Jen just stood there like, 'Ta Daaa!' She was smiling the whole time. It was great!" Thanks, Kate!

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Emmy Picks

In an article from USA Today, they had their picks of who should and shouldn't win the Emmy. Victor Garber, and a mention of Ron Rifkin, was named one of "Five Deserving Actors". Here's the caption:

While there's no question star Jennifer Garner merit's a nomination, let's hope voters also reward Garber's remarkably shaded turn as Sydney's conflicted father. He staked his series claim this year from the series very first scene, a courtesy call with his future son-in-law that became disquietingly discourteous. The only question is whether he and his equally deserving co-star, Ron Rifkin, split the vote.

The inside story, titled 'Jennifer Garner a nice surprise; 'Monica' definitely not', named Jennifer their Best Star Surprise. The caption reads:

As TV's most glamorous and yet emotionally rent spy, Garner rode her wigs, her run and her talent to become this year's cover girl. Condsidering how quickly we turn on sudden stars, the backlash should be well underway, and yet Garner seems to grow more appealing with each episode and each interview.

© USA Today 2002

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TV Gal Files Away the 2001 Season

by Amy Amatangelo
Zap2it.com, TV News

From Best Finales:
"Alias": Not only did we have three possible deaths and the revelation that the Man is the Mom, but we also got to see Vaughn is sex club fetish attire (where do I send a thank you note for that?). Plus Will, who fans have labeled wimpy all season, turned out to have some serious game.

Top Ten Television Moments of the 2001-2002 season:
10. Sydney takes down the bad guys in a parking lot in the series premiere of "Alias": Beautifully choreographed and filmed, we realized that perhaps we do need another hero.

© Zap2it 2002

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From the ABC section of "The Upside-Down Season"

by Dan Snierson

Vets "Monday Night Football," "The Practice," and "NYPD Blue" are down but not out (Nos. 10, 26, and 29, respectively), while everyone has their fingers crossed for toothsome Jennifer Garner's superspy series, "Alias" (No. 55). "The ratings do not reflect the buzz -- yet," opines (ABC Entertainment exec VP Jeff) Bader. "I think there's gonna be a big pop next fall. And the fact that Fox will not have [a] young-adult drama against us next year makes me even more confident."

© Entertainment Weekly 2002

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Coverage of the Playstation2 party at the Standard Lounge and Hotel in L.A. on May 22, 2002

Information submitted to us by Glenda. Thanks!

On May 23rd, GoodDay Live showed a "very brief" clip of Michael at the PS2/Standard party. He was referred to as a "PlayStation fanatic." He told a story about being one of the first people to get a PlayStation because he stood in line at the Beverly Center for about 4 hours to get one. By the way, he looked great but not as tanned as the "stills" would lead you to believe.

© GoodDay Live 2002

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Gossip: Liz Smith

DENNIS HOPPER, the perennial star of the classic "Easy Rider," knows how to give a birthday party for himself. In his Venice, Calif., loft, he brought out a host of Angelinos to celebrate his 66th last week. His wife, Victoria, welcomed politicians, stars and pals, and 100 people tango-ed and salsa-ed through the night to a Latin-themed band.

Hopper shared his evening by also honoring L.A. Philharmonic music director Esa-Pekka Salonen. At one point, the two of them stepped outside for cigars from Fidel Castro. The L.A. Museum of Contemporary Art's curator Paul Schimmell and director Jeremy Strick were also on hand.

Guests such as Steve Martin, Sean Penn, Selma Blair, Colin Farrell, Marisa Tomei, Debi Mazar, Kelly Lynch, Lori Petty, Balthazar Getty, Michael Vartan, Caroline Graham and James L. Brooks were just a few admiring Hopper's art collection. One said, "Dennis also has a museum in North Carolina and rotates his paintings, so it always seems there is something new on the wall."

© NY Post 2002

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Michael Vartan Clip

Thanks to Erin, Vartan Ho #40, for this transcript:

Just a heads up about a MV clip that is on Eonline as today's clip of the day. It is under the multimedia section and is actually a Wanda clip. She says, among other things, that he is under contract for next year and will definitely be back.

I transcribed the clip for those who can't view it. Wanda is basically standing there with a pic of MV in the background as she says:

"You gotta hand it to those die hard Michael Vartan fans. On Sunday, it looked as though his character may have drowned on Alias, and by Tuesday, the fans had organized full-blown campaigns to save him. Not to burst your SOS bubble, but Michael WILL be coming back next season. He has signed a contract. And the producers want him back. And he wants to be back. So how will his character Vaughn survive the massive tidal wave that appeared to take his life? Beats me. But don't forget, nothing, and I do mean nothing, is what is seems on Alias. Who knows, maybe that evil circumference thing will turn into a giant slip-and-slide. Stranger things have happened."

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Those of you that watched the May 18th Saturday Night Live probably caught the Alias mention on the "Weekend Update" segment. Tina Fey was going off on an article saying that women needed to have babies by the time they were 27. So she brought out some other female cast members to say what they thought of the article. During that bit, Maya Rudolph had a message to all the men out there: "Stop playing 'Grand Theft Auto 3' and holding out for the chick from Alias!" Tina added: "You're not getting the chick from Alias!"

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HBO has just scheduled the new season of The Sopranos for a Sept. 15 start. So that'll be some stiff competition for Alias. According to Zap2it.com, "That's about a week before the networks begin their fall seasons -- the Primetime Emmy Awards, which usually kick off the season, are scheduled for Sept. 22...."

However, the WB announced that it will definitely be moving Angel to Sunday at 9. Looks like there's going to be a run on VCRs this fall!

Fox has announced that Malcolm in the Middle will be moving to 9 p.m. on Sundays in the fall, followed by a new comedy, The Grubbs. Joss Whedon was apparently able to convince Fox that the retooling wouldn't take until midseason, and Firefly will air on Fridays.

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Television News: ABC renews ALIAS, sets DINOTOPIA series, more

X-FILES rip-off among shows coming

by CHRISTOPHER ALLAN SMITH, News Editor

ABC has announced its fall schedule, and far from being the genre wasteland the network has been in the past (along with two others in the big four), it’s got some points of life for genre fans. ALIAS, the freshmen spy spectacular by J.J. Abrams and staring break-out actress Jennifer Garner, will return this fall in its Sunday evening time slot. With the X-FILES gone, expect the show to get a bump in the ratings. I know I won’t have to agonize the choice anymore. The other big news, reported here months ago, is ABC has decided to turn its recent DINOTOPIA mini-series into a weekly airing Thursday at 8 p.m. For mid-season, the network has ordered episodes of MIRACLES, staring Skeet Ulrich as an (didn’t we just finish this?) FBI agent investigating weird paranormal occurrences.

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More ratings news now that the nationals are in:

The season finale of "Alias" stood as ABC's top-ranked program of the week among Adults 18-34.

"Alias" (9:00-10:00 p.m.) The season finale of "Alias" won its time period among Adults 18-49 (5.1/12) and Adults 25-54 (5.5/12).

"Alias" drew its largest audience (11.3 million) and posted its best ratings for Adults 18-49 (5.1/12), Men 18-49 (4.9/12) and Men 18-34 (4.2/11) in 7 months (since October 2001). The spy thriller also hit its best ratings since its debut episode in Teens 12-17 (3.4/10).

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TV Gal on Finale

From quotes section:

"Mom?" Sydney to The Man on the season finale of "Alias." Okay, so I was wrong about Agent Weiss, it actually was the obvious Officer Haladki who was the CIA mole. But I said months ago that I thought the Man could be the Mom, so I'm not going to stop with my fearless predictions. Now we thought we saw three deaths -- Emily, Haladki and Vaughn. But let's remember in all three cases we never saw a body. Did Jack commit murder? Whose glass of wine was Sloane putting medicine in? I'm only certain of one thing -- Michael Vartan's Vaughn is way too loved to be killed off.

© Zap2it 2002

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"Alias" (9:00-10:00 p.m.)

The season finale "Alias" won its time period among Adults 18-49 (5.1/12) and in each of the key Women demographics: Women 18-34 (4.9/13), Women 18-49 (5.4/13) and Women 25-54 (5.7/12).

"Alias" drew its largest audience (11.4 million) since its series debut episode (9/30/01) and posted its best Adult 18-49 rating (5.1/12) in 7 months (since 10/26/01). The spy thriller also hit its best ratings since its debut episode in Men 18-49 (4.9/12) and Teens 12-17 (3.3/10).

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By WADE KWON

[...]

Can these networks be saved? A quick look at their prospects:

ABC: Congratulations. As everyone in America predicted, you ran "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" into the ground. And yet you managed some surprises: Your clumsy attempt to woo David Letterman almost cost you Ted Koppel. And you managed to fall further behind in the ratings. Let's call the 2002-03 season a rebuilding year. You could practically scrap the whole lineup (except for Sunday: "Wonderful World of Disney," "Alias," "The Practice") and no one would notice, except your Disney overlords, who couldn't afford the replacement costs.

© Scripps Howard News Service 2002

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May Sweeps: Alias

SPOILERS!

ABC, Sunday, May 12, 9 p.m.

Every episode of J.J. Abrams' wildly complex spy drama ends with a cliff-hanger -- an exploding building, a ticking nuclear bomb, a fall from a ladder. The show's first season finale promises to be even more of a tease -- but Abrams isn't revealing much about it. ''It's a very funny, sexy, dramatic, urgent, and twisted finale,'' he says. ''The last moment will kind of give the whole year a focus.'' Abrams does reveal that the relationship between Sydney and her CIA handler, Vaughn, will deepen while Sydney and her dad work together to save journalist pal Will's life. Some burning questions (like the fate of Sloane's wife) will be answered, and brand-new ones will be asked. But with a long-dead prophet drawing pictures of Sydney (or is it her mother?), and Will getting leaks from a secret source, aren't there enough questions already?

© Entertainment Weekly 2002

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May Sweeps: Alias

ABC, Sunday, May 5, 9 p.m., "Rendezvous"

-Yesterday's Losers:
Stuart Little (ABC), Jamie Kennedy Experiment (WB), Alias (ABC), The X-Files (Fox)

-Ratings Breakdown:
NBC scored a huge victory last night with the network's 8-11 p.m. 75th Anniversary Special at a whopping 15.4/23 -- up 105 percent over its above average NBA lead-in (#2, 7.5/13) and 56 percent above the second highest rated show of the night, CBS's 60 Minutes at 7 p.m. (#1, 9.9/17). Although the ratings ball was clearly in NBC's court, CBS's competing made-for, Little John, a Hallmark Hall of Fame Presentation, held up well with a second place 9.6/15. Comparatively, Little John was up 28 percent over the season (and possible series) finale of Touched by an Angel (#3, 7.5/11) in its old Sunday 8 p.m. hour. If I had to guess, I would assume Touched by an Angel will be back next season in a series of two-hour made-for movies.

Over at ABC the news was less than stellar with 1999 theatrical Stuart Little (#4, 4.7/ 7) leading into a below average (and distant third place) 6.3/ 9 for Alias. At 10 p.m., the normally dominant The Practice slipped to a third place 8.6/13.

© Mediaweek 2002

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"Alias" - Episode 1.19 "Snowman" (9:00-10:00 p.m.)
Despite an unusually low lead-in, "Alias" moved ABC into competitive positioning among young adult viewers at 9:00 p.m. "Alias" surged from its lead-in by 2.5 million viewers (7.8 million vs. 5.3 million) and by 100% among Adults 18-49 (3.6/9 vs. 1.8/6). "Alias" won its time period among Women 18-34 (4.0/11) and placed a competitive second among Adults 18-34 (3.5/10).

"Alias" saw its audience increase substantially during the course of the program, especially among young adult viewers. From its first half-hour to its second half-hour, "Alias" gained 5% in Total Viewers (7.3 million to 7.8 million), 15% in Adults 18-49 (3.3/8 to 3.8/9) and 19% in Adults 18-34 (3.2/9 to 3.8/11).

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SPOILERS!

The $75 million "Daredevil" stars Ben Affleck as the blind attorney who seeks further justice as a costumed crime fighter; with Michael Clarke Duncan as his nemesis Kingpin and Jennifer Garner ("Alias") on board as his ninja-trained love interest Elektra: "I'm really looking forward to doing a love story," she says. "The scenes are really witty and romantic and sweet and always with a touch of darkness." Garner's deal includes options for two sequels-one of which will focus on Elektra.

© EW 2002

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Warner Bros.' "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" and ABC's "Alias" took top honors Wednesday for film and television publicity campaigns, respectively, at the 39th annual Publicists Guild Awards.

© Hollywood Reporter 2002

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Greg Grunberg (Felicity): "Akiva Goldsman must win for best screenplay for A Beautiful Mind. Not only for an incredible script, but he's a good friend and all my friends must win so they can hire me over and over again."

J.J. Abrams (creator of Alias, Felicity): "I'm rooting for Akiva Goldsman. He introduced me to my wife!"

© TV Guide Online 2002

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