Articles by Lori Acken

Having wrapped his 13-episode chat and sing show Spectacle: Elvis Costello With…, Elvis Costello is enjoying some well-earned time off at his Canadian home. Occasionally a dog barks, or one of Costello’s twin sons with his wife, the Canadian jazz chanteuse Diana Krall, tests the power of his two-year-old lungs. Nervous about having interrupted his family sabbatical, I’m instead rewarded with — and awed by — a relaxed, contemplative Costello who is genuinely happy to discuss the joys and occasional pains of creating the one-of-kind Spectacle, coming to your TV beginning Dec. 3. There are legions of music fans who’ve […]

Ready for some good news from the feds for a change? A&E has it. On Dec. 9, the network that redefined unscripted television debuts its newest effort, Manhunters: Fugitive Task Force. The series is the result of exclusive access granted to A&E by the United States Department of Justice, allowing the network to film real-life manhunts led by the New York/New Jersey unit of the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force. The force, mandated by Congress in the wake of 9/11, combines 92 federal, state and local agencies into a single crime-fighting unit with nationwide jurisdiction. Since its inception in May […]

Nearly an hour into my chat with Brotherhood star Jason Isaacs, I’ve learned this much about Season 3 of the Peabody Award-winning Showtime series: There will be a scene in which his character, Michael Caffee, drives his car down the road at a ferocious rate of speed. I know this because the actor has sequestered himself inside said vehicle between takes to do our interview. And as our allotted 15 minutes has long since come and gone, I also learn that the crew is peering impatiently at him through the windshield. And so, until the new season premieres Nov. 2, […]

As film projects go, few seem quite as preordained as Lifetime‘s powerful new docudrama, Living Proof. And here’s the proof. The script, based on the nonfiction bestseller Her-2, which chronicles Dr. Dennis Slamon’s fight for his revolutionary new breast cancer drug Herceptin and the dying women depending on it, wound up in the hands of film star Renée Zellweger — whose own publicist, Nanci Ryder, was successfully treated by Dr. Slamon just a few years before. The actress immediately signed on to executive produce, tapping Harry Connick Jr., her friend and costar in the upcoming feature Chilled in Miami, as […]

“All I know is I’m not done with this business yet,” says Hulk Hogan of the advent of his new CMT reality show Hulk Hogan’s Celebrity Championship Wrestling, debuting on the net Oct. 18. The series — which pits Hulk’s two best pals, Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake and Brian “Nasty Boy” Knobbs, against each other to turn D-list celebs (Dennis Rodman! Danny Bonaduce! Trishelle Cannatella!) into top-tier wrestlers — is actually the brainchild of Hogan and his former boss Eric Bischoff in response to a sports-entertainment genre they think has gone soft. Lest you have any doubt, why yes, Hogan […]

I first met Jack Ingram more than 10 years ago at Shank Hall, about the closest thing to a legendary music club as you’re going to find in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Back then, he was the guy fronting the Beat Up Ford Band, and I … well, I was a fan of the guy they were opening for, Jack’s good friend Todd Snider. Given that the town is more about Tesla than Texas barroom country, there were maybe 25 fans in the room — and after the show, a handful of us stayed to drink beers with the bands till the […]

If you’ve been a longtime viewer of his 24-year-old network, A&E president and general manager Bob DeBitetto knows what you may be thinking: “Where’d the ‘Art’ go in what was once known as the Arts and Entertainment network?” Thing is, he’s also betting most viewers might just be too entertained to care. Brought onboard as head of programming in 2003 to address the network’s uniquely puzzling quagmire — an audience that was fiercely devoted but, at a median age of 61, far north of the most profitable demographics in an increasingly competitive market – DeBitetto knew the road to success […]

When the new season of The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency bows Aug. 26 on Oxygen, expect to see our favorite supermodel turned superagent up to her ears in some supersized changes. For one, she’s helming the agency by herself, with a boost from a brand new partner. For two, she’s sold the agency at Hollywood and Highland to take up residence in a surprising spot. But the, uh, biggest adjustment of all, says Dickinson, comes at the hands of her own 21-year-old son, Nathan Fields, who runs the agency’s commercial division. The lad decides it’s time for his old-school mama […]