Ok, it was exciting the first time. Interesting the second and third time. Now, I am almost bored of Heroes casting news. Seriously, how many more people can they add to this cast? The budget over at NBC must really be 'uge -- that is Donald Trump for large, according to my Trump to English dictionary.

Just earlier this week we heard that Stark Trek's Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) was added to the expanded cast for the second season. Only three days later, NBC has confirmed that Bratz's Janel Parrish has been brought on board. I guess producers are trying to add some more cute teen factor. As if Hayden Panettietre wasn't enough.

Why isn't it enough to just be a fast-rising television star on a popular series on a major network? Are our young up-and-coming thespians that much of an overachieving set that they can't just take their earnings and buy themselves a new car or hang out at Louis Vuitton? It seems young television starlets everywhere are giving a new meaning to the term "triple threat." The real threat being that we'll be surrounded by examples of their talents being spread too thin and have it simultaneously shoved up our noses in multiple places.

Move aside Hillary Duff. Hayden Panettiere wants some of that hoopla too, and the proof is in her new music video for the straight to DVD Disney's Cinderella III: A Twist in Time.

If we knew that this was how you were going to repay the masses by saving your life on Heroes, then maybe we would have asked our beloved Heroes to do something else.

(S01E13) They got stuck on a roof?

Really?

Seriously?

They got stuck on a freaking roof!?

Just let that sink in a second. Aaron Sorkin, boy genius, reviler of all things "lowest common denominator", actually had his two love interests... get... stuck... on... a roof.

Excuse me while I go find something to jam in my eye. Repeatedly.

Yesterday we told you about the controversy surrounding the change that NBC was making to the character of Zach, Claire's friend on Heroes that seemed to be gay. Now, creator Tim Kring has sent an e-mail to the web site that posted a long piece about the controversy that we linked to yesterday.

You can read his full e-mail at the link above, but it seems that he's saying that they did try to make the character gay, but that they didn't want to pursue that any further after some discussions with NBC execs. He says it was "too complicated behind the scenes to push this issue further," which I think is interesting. Some of the comments after the article show that some people are ticked off at this decision, especially if they have some plot where Zach's sexual orientation is changed because of the memory wipe he experienced in the fall finale. I can't imagine that happening. It's my guess that they'll just simply not mention anything he has said to Claire before or any other hints to Zach being gay and just leave it at that.

It's hard to say how long Thomas Dekker will stay with the show, since he has signed on to play John Connor in the Terminator series next fall.

[via TV Tattle]

Here's an interesting little tidbit from the world of Heroes: it looks like NBC has changed their mind about Zach.

It certainly looked to fans like Zach (Thomas Dekker) was gay, for four reasons: one, when Claire's nasty cheerleader friend made a remark about Zach, he said something to Claire along the lines of "I'm comfortable with who I am." Two, NBC's recap of that episode says he is. Three, the character's MySpace page lists his orientation as "not sure." And four, creator Tim Kring talked about the character being gay (and what happened with an NBC exec) in this interview.

So people are wondering: did NBC change the orientation of the character? Did Dekker? Did the writers change it? Here I was going to say "oh, it doesn't really matter if he's straight or gay," and if this was real life it wouldn't, but if someone actually changed his orientation for some reason (or reasons) on a TV show, that's worth talking about.

[via Pop Candy]

Yesterday, I mentioned the fact that garbage disposal manufacturer Emerson was suing NBC over how its In-Sink-Erator product was portrayed in the pilot of Heroes. They weren't happy when Claire the cheerleader (Hayden Panettiere) sticks her hand in a disposal clearly marked with the ISE brand, and her hand emerges all cut up (never mind that it all quickly returns to normal due to her superpower of indestructability). They wanted all references to their product cut from all replays.

Well, it looks like NBC decided to avoid all the hassle of a lawsuit by cutting the scene from all future broadcasts of the show, including reruns on NBC Universal cable networks. Don Kaplan of the New York Post reports that network officials said that, "While we do not believe there is any legal issue with the episode as originally broadcast, we nonetheless have decided to edit the episode for future uses." Like I said yesterday, it doesn't pay to piss off those small-appliance manufacturers; they seem like they have more lawyers than the tobacco companies.

It's Cheri Oteri, the actress who spent five years on Saturday Night Live playing different variations of the same character. She always played it wide-eyed and hyper. Want examples? Sure! There's Ariana the cheerleader, prescription drug lady, old lady on the porch (was that Rita Delvecchio?), and even Mickey the Dyke. Although, I did enjoy her in the morning news spoof she did with Will Ferrell when the teleprompter went out and they resorted to cannibalism. And, I know the women haven't received a fair shake on the show, but she's downright annoying. Give me a Best of Jane Curtin or Jan Hooks or Nora Dunn!

I've already got the Christopher Walken (just for the cowbell) and Will Ferrell 'best of's and if I were to add a DVD to my collection, it would have to be Phil Hartman. Best character actor. Ever.

[Via Pop Candy]