TV Week tells us that after clearing 85% of the market with a few last-minute sales, including to one of my local stations in St. Louis, The Bonnie Hunt Show is now able to get things in order for a Fall 2008 launch. Hunt filmed a pilot in June of 2007 and was picked up with a two year commitment in September.

Bonnie Hunt is one of those Hollywood names everyone knows, everyone in the industry likes, and she's been around forever, but she's never been in anything "big-time." Her biggest TV role was probably her Emmy-nominated performance in the short-lived ABC series Life with Bonnie, in which Hunt played ... a TV talk show host ... well, that's kind of weird. I guess all she's really wanted to do is direct-- I mean, host a talk show. Sorry, they all want to direct, of course. Goes without saying. So I probably shouldn't have.

I've been wondering when actress Bonnie Hunt was going to return to television. She's had several short-lived sitcoms (all rather good and different - Grand, The Bonnie Hunt Show, Life with Bonnie, The Building) and beyond her movie work (Cars, Cheaper By The Dozen) I heard she had also signed a deal to create another comedy show.

But that's not going to happen anytime soon, because Hunt has just signed a two-year deal for her own talk daytime talk show. The show will premiere in syndication in the fall of 2008 on NBC stations.

Fake news must be Comedy Central's bread-and-butter these days. The network has no fewer than three fake news shows: The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, and The Showbiz Show with David Spade. Now it's considering a fourth faux news program for its lineup. This time, it's The Chocolate News, starring David Alan Grier.

David Alan Grier is one of the funniest comedians out there right now, but nothing ever seems to stick for him. He was hilarious on Bonnie Hunt's short-lived show, Life With Bonnie, and on In Living Color back in the early 1990s. Mostly, though, he just plays great supporting roles or guest stars on current television shows.

Grier is currently rounding up writers and other talent to appear in the pilot he's pitching to Comedy Central. He has also agreed to host a new improv show on NBC this spring called Thank God You're Here.

[Via TV Tattle]

Let me ask our male readers a question: have you ever had a woman in your group of friends who was super cool, one that drank with you and made jokes and was a complete riot? You always thought she was attractive, but her personality and humor were what you saw first. Now, did one day that woman come to lunch or work wearing a skirt, or with different hair or makeup, and you were just blown away by how hot she was? Well, that's how I think of Bonnie Hunt.

Bonnie's a funny gal. Really funny. She's quick on her feet, and is particularly adept at improvisation, telling funny stories about her life and the people she knows inside and outside show business. Those improvisational skills made the show-within-a-show scenes on her ABC sitcom Life With Bonnie extremely funny, since they were largely unscripted. Those scenes also showed that she could hold her own with comedy's finest, since many of the guests on her fictional morning show were played by improv legends like Jonathan Winters.