Cougar Town star Busy Philipps has a serious issue with her BFF allegiances on Dancing With the Stars.

Who does she support: Good friend David Arquette, the ex of her Cougar Town co-star Courteney Cox? Or Chaz Bono, whose real-life partner Jennifer Elia is also very good friends with Philipps?

Cox sure seems to be keeping track of Philipps’ voting as the two have ventured to watch the ABC show together.

“Courteney said to me, ‘Are you better friends with Jen than you are with me? Maybe you should be voting for David more,’ ” Philipps says with a laugh. “I was like, ‘All right, Courteney, take it easy.’ ”

Sounds like a good episode of Cougar Town! Fortunately, Philipps told USA TODAY at Starz’s 15th annual Hollywood Film Awards Gala last night that she has a Solomon-like solution to the problem.

“I just vote for the max for both of them, I just split it down the middle,” she says. “Sorry.”

One thing is for sure: Philipps will never find herself on the stage, despite having a powerful performing gene. “Never,” she says. “I would be too terrified. I do a live stage show in front of 125 people. This is an audience of millions and millions. I would need a truckload of beta blockers.”

Source

Early this morning, the nominees for the 2011 Primetime Emmy Awards were announced. Sadly, neither Busy or “Cougar Town” were nominated! TV Line has a great write-up about the biggest snubs from this year – including Busy and the show!

Outstanding Comedy Series
Cougar Town

In its second season, the wine-soaked “Friends for grown- ups” really came into its own as an ensemble comedy rather than just a Courteney Cox vehicle. And it even poked fun at the icky title that long ago ceased to have anything to do with the series premise — not that Emmy took notice.

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
Busy Philipps, Cougar Town

The ongoing transformation of her character from trashy slut to semi-respectable but sensitive airhead has been both heartbreaking and hysterical. Unfortunately, she remains in the same boat as co-star Christa Miller: Emmy hasn’t yet realized that their show, much less they, exist.

Fun fact: The lady who plays Cougar Town’s delightful wackjob Laurie Keller—that would be Freaks & Geeks and Dawson’s Creek alum Busy Phillips—goes big at the Coachella Music Festival every year. (In fact, she’s probably rolling up there right about now.)

So considering that fact, and the fact that Cougar is returning from hiatus this coming Monday, April 18 in a special, we-need-viewers timeslot after Dancing with the Stars, we thought it more than high time to see what trips her fine-tuned musical trigger. (Surprise: She’s got a taste for indie rock!) Here’s what’s on Philipps’ iPod:

BEACH HOUSE, “WALK IN THE PARK”
“Victoria Legrand, who’s the lead singer, has more star power in her little pinky than I think anyone else I’ve seen on stage in the past year. She’s phenomenal and if you get the chance to see her live I highly recommend it. I love that song so much it’s even my ringtone. I love her voice. It’s ethereal and sort of mysterious and can kind of rock out as well.”

GRIZZLY BEAR, “READY, ABLE”
“I have kind of a commute to work, and I find myself listening to Grizzly Bear during that time. It’s like really great driving music in the morning with a cup of coffee. I just kind of zone out to the amazing vocal stylings of Ed Droste.”

JENNY AND JOHNNY, “MY PET SNAKES”
“My daughter Birdie, who’s two and a half, asks for it by name every time we get in the car, so I have probably listened to that song more than any other one in the past six months. I love it because it’s reminiscent to me of mid-’90s girl-guy music. Like, she [Rilo Kiley frontwoman Jenny Lewis] has a little bit of a Juliana Hatfield vibe about her music right now.”

THE BAND, “THE NIGHT THEY DROVE OLD DIXIE DOWN”
“This is a song that I go back to on my iPod when I’m running because it always gets me going. I just love that song. I hadn’t heard it for years and my husband had it on a playlist, and now it’s on the hard rotation of my iPod.”

SUFJAN STEVENS, “FUTILE DEVICES”
“It’s the first song on the album. I think Sufjan can be a little inaccessible for people sometimes, and what I love about that song is I feel that it’s very accessible, even for me. I’m a huge fan, and I love almost everything he does. When the album [2010's The Age of Adz] came out, that’s the song that I had on repeat and listened to it 10 times everyday for three weeks.”

Source

It’s been more than a decade since NBC’s Freaks and Geeks graced the small screen, but it certainly doesn’t feel like it.

The full house was treated to a rare reunion of most of the drama’s core cast (and a screening of the finale) — and even a message from Oscar-nominated actor James Franco. Fresh off his highly-criticized Academy Awards hosting gig, Franco joked that he and Anne Hathaway were now gearing up to host the Emmys and the NAACP Image Awards.

(Keep your eyes peeled for exclusive interviews with the cast and producers.)

Here are nine things that were revealed about the beloved high school series Saturday night at PaleyFest:

1. Creator Paul Feig noted that Freaks and Geeks, which featured a young cast — some of whom hadn’t gone through puberty yet — was NBC’s lowest-rated show when it aired from 1999 to 2000. It drew 7 million viewers, Feig said, and a hit today pulls in 8 million. So still not a hit show, Apatow joked.

2. The series ran for 18 episodes, but the finale wasn’t shot last. “We shot the finale halfway through the season,” Segel shared. “That’s such a Jew thing to do,” Apatow replied.

3. Cast member John Francis Daley, currently on Fox’s Bones, was 13 years old when he filmed Freaks and Geeks and appropriately, he experienced his first onscreen kiss. “First onscreen erection too, but no one talks about that,” Daley deadpanned. (What?!) John Daley still believed in Santa Clause, Rogen joked. “I also didn’t have pubic hair,” Daley said. (Double what?!) Busy Philipps, currently starring on ABC’s Cougar Town, had her first onscreen kiss with Franco.

4. Director Jake Kasdan detailed the auditioning process for the show, and though casting went on for weeks and weeks, there was one day where Linda Cardellini, Jason Segel and Franco all came in during the same session. Cardellini, who had never toplined a series before, recalled a time when she went into the bathroom and cried before clips from the pilot were shown. Segel and several members of the cast remembered that moment during the party all those years ago.

5. It was revealed that the network didn’t want to air “Kim Kelly Is My Friend,” and Samm Levine shared that the episode instead was broadcast on Fox Family Channel.

6. Several panelists reminisced about being on the set with Franco, who they said constantly carried around heavy books like Proust and Dante’s Inferno. Philipps shared a funny story of a time when Franco — a method actor — threw her to the ground during a scene. She prefaced the story by explaining that Franco had created a backstory to his character Daniel that no one was aware of. Daniel had maybe been abused by his father, Philipps explained to the crowd.

So when she said her line and grabbed Franco, he went bonkers. ” ‘Don’t you f—ing touch me!,’ ” Philipps recalled him saying. “And threw me to the ground.” While it was happening, Rogen didn’t know what was going on. “That story took 127 hours,” Segel said to laughs. Apatow added: “[Franco] is method. He is the only one among all of you to be nominated for an Academy Award.”

7. When Apatow got word that Freaks and Geeks would not be returning, Cardellini was about to appear on the Late Show With David Letterman to promote the series. Apatow called her beforehand and broke the news. “I said, ‘Letterman’s canceled?,’ ” Cardellini said laughing.

8. Apatow is known to use the same actors in his movies and TV projects, as witnessed by Segel and Rogen in both Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared. But it goes much further than that. “A lot of us have no higher education because of you,” Segel joked to Apatow.

9. If Freaks and Geeks did return for a second round, Feig and Apatow had several ideas cooked up. Martin Starr’s Bill was going to become a jock, Philipps’ Kim was going to do a school play while pregnant and in the Season 2 premiere, Cardellini’s Lindsay would be taken out of a Grateful Dead show on a stretcher.

Source

Before Movieline flees for the new year, one last year-end roundup is necessary: a retrospective of 2010’s funniest TV characters. Will Community’s kooks outrank Modern Family’s earnest in-laws? Will Parks and Recreation or Glee supplant 30 Rock for top honors? Join us for our biggest list yet.

24. Laurie Keller (Cougar Town)
Busy Philipps’ good-time girl makes Cougar Town worthy of the hipster following that’s rallied behind Parks and Recreation, but creator Bill Lawrence’s series is still waiting to be “cool.” A real shame, as Philipps is as good here as she was as the immortal Kim Kelly on Freaks and Geeks.

Source

Busy Philipps is lucky enough to have two jobs that she loves: One as an actress, on the hit show Cougar Town, and another as a mom to her adorable 2-year-old daughter Birdie. The small screen star recently chatted with Babble about childbirth and motherhood – and why having a baby made her star.

On her post-baby fame: “I only became a celebrity because I had a kid. Before I was pregnant, nobody cared. My husband has a theory that celebrity gossip feels so seedy, but if you can put a positive spin on it, like touting a new baby, then people somehow feel like it’s okay. I joke to my agent that having a baby made my career. ”

On Birdie’s birth: “I had a natural childbirth, which was something that I felt very strongly about. I don’t know what I thought was going to happen beforehand, but I was completely squatting and after my doctor got [Birdie’s] head and shoulders out she asked, ‘Do you want to pull your baby out? Give me your hands.’ I didn’t even know my midwife took this picture of me with my hands pulling my daughter out and then right onto my chest. It’s hard talking about it because it sounds like I’m taking away from how sacred it was. It was an incredible experience. I also want other women to know it’s possible to have a crazy, spiritual, amazing birth in a hospital. I was in a hospital. I had a doctor. I was also lucky because I had an amazing team. I had an incredible doctor and a really great midwife and my husband who, honestly, was the most traumatized. For him, seeing me in that much pain and not being able to help me — that loss of control was difficult for him. I also had this idea that I was going to have a natural childbirth and he would [look] up at my beautiful, angelic face and the birth would be happening below the waist and he wouldn’t see. Obviously that’s not how it goes down.”

On whether she wants Birdie to follow in her footsteps: “I always think that it’s weird when musicians and actors say that they don’t want their kids to go into this business because, dude, someone let you. My job as a parent is to encourage my kid to follow her dreams and passions and to help her figure out what those are. If her passion is [acting], believe me, my kid is going to know the ups and downs of it. I want her to be happy and I want her to be passionate about her job. I tell her every day when I go to work, ‘Your mommy is so, so lucky because I have two jobs that I love.’ The first one is the most important one — and that’s being her mom — and the second one is awesome because it’s what I’ve wanted to do since I was a little girl — and that’s be on TV. If she finds something that she wants to do and that happens to be on TV or in movies or writing movies, then I’m all for it.”

Source

Forget Dawson’s Creek and Cougar Town — Busy Philipps‘ greatest career move was none other than the birth of her daughter Birdie Leigh in Aug. 2008.

“I only became a celebrity because I had a kid. Before I was pregnant nobody cared,” the actress, 31, tells Babble.

“My husband has a theory that celebrity gossip feels so seedy, but if you can put a positive spin on it, like touting a new baby, then people somehow feel it’s okay. I joke to my agent that having a baby made my career.”

Unfortunately for Philipps, her increasing popularity comes with a price: public criticism. And although she “would like to say, ‘Oh no, I don’t even pay attention,’” the first-time mother admits the negativity can take its toll.

“Right after Birdie was born, I consciously tried not to look at what people were saying, [but] a relative forwarded me a link to people saying, ‘The name Birdie is stupid’ and ‘What a terrible made-up name,’” she recalls.

“First of all, she’s named after Lady Bird Johnson, and second of all, it’s not a made-up name; it’s an old-timey name … They use it on Mad Men for God sakes!”

Choosing to see the positive side of her celebrity status, Philipps hopes becoming a mother — and opening up about natural childbirth — will inspire women when it comes to choosing a birth plan.

“It’s hard talking about it because it sounds like I’m taking away from how sacred it was. It was an incredible experience,” Philipps reveals. “I also want other women to know it’s possible to have a crazy, spiritual, amazing birth in a hospital. I was in a hospital. I had a doctor.”

But, adds the proud mama, it was Philipps herself who essentially helped deliver her daughter!

“I don’t know what I thought was going to happen beforehand, but I was completely squatting and after my doctor got [Birdie's] head and shoulders out, she asked, ‘Do you want to pull your baby out? Give me your hands,’” she shares.

“I didn’t even know my midwife took this picture of me with my hands pulling my daughter out and then right onto my chest.”

Determined to go the same route with her future children, Philipps admits the experience of natural childbirth left her with a new found sense of power. “During the days and weeks afterward, I felt like I could do anything in the world; there was nothing in this world that you could present before me that I could not conquer,” she says.

“[Natural childbirth] is not for everyone. I totally respect that. The best thing for your baby is the best thing for you. I have some friends who feel really strongly about an epidural and I’m 100 percent behind that, but that was not my plan.”

Source