TV FunHouse

Sopranos star JAMES GANDOLFINI is now engaged. An HBO spokesman says the actor and his longtime girlfriend, former model DEBORAH LIN, got engaged during the holidays. No wedding date was announced...

Actor/director MARIO VAN PEEBLES is joining the cast of ABC's daytime drama All My Children. Van Peebles will play Samuel Woods, a U.S. District Attorney who's running for the Senate. Van Pebbles film credits include New Jack City and Baadasssss. His first air date in January 29th...

Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve attracted an average audience of 18.05 million total viewers -- 29 percent more viewers than NBC's New Year's Eve with Carson Daly and Fox's New Year's Eve: Times Square 07 combined. Dick Clark's audience saw an increase of ten thousand viewers over New Year's Eve 2006...







ABC is recommitting itself to The Bachelorette. According to Variety, the dating show could return to television as soon as this summer. The Bachelorette, which reverses the premise of The Bachelor by having a female choose a new love from a group of several men, hasn't aired since 2005...

TV Hodgepodge

DICK CLARK will celebrate the start of 2008 with RYAN SEACREST in Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve on ABC this December 31st. The specials will include performances from New York City, where Clark will lead the countdown, and Hollywood. Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve is airing for its 36th consecutive year...

The new CW reality series Crowned: The Mother of All Pageants will premiere on December 12th. Billed as a "no-holds-barred beauty pageant," the show will feature several mother-and-daughter teams competing for a 100-thousand-dollar cash prize and a set of tiaras. Crowned: The Mother of All Pageants will feature three judges: Queer Eye for the Straight Guy's CARSON KRESSLEY, former Miss USA SHANNA MOAKLER and TV's CYNTHIA GARRETT...

FX has renewed the GLENN CLOSE legal drama Damages for two seasons, consisting of 13 episodes each. The first season of Damages ended last month...

Spike TV will broadcast the 2007 Video Game Awards on December 9th. The actual ceremony will take place December 7th in Las Vegas. Nominations for VGAs came out yesterday, and Halo 3 and BioShock set the pace with seven nominations each, including one apiece for Game of the Year...