According to a  deadline.com article this week, Steve Carell, star of The Office said in a BBC Radio interview that he intends to exit NBC’s top comedy series at the end of next season when his contract is up.

Presumably, this move would pave the way for Carell to put all his focus on his movie career.

The transformation from TV star to movie star is a common one as well as a risky one.  Throughout history, we’ve seen careers built and careers flounder with this very maneuver.

In fact, just this week, the Radio Happy Hour welcomed back Amy and Nancy Harrington, the “Pop Culture Passionistas” of PopCulturePassionistas.com/ to share their lists of Top 5 Best (and Worst) TV Star to Movie Star Transformations.

The Pop Culture Passionistas come on at the 17:25 mark

PRESS PLAY –>
Or download to your computer

5 Best TV Star to Movie Star Transformations

5.   Bruce Willis

4.   Will Smith

3.   Bill Murray

2.   George Clooney

1. Tom Hanks (left)

5.   Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen

4.   Shelly Long

3.   Ellen DeGeneres

2.   The Cast of Friends except Jennifer Aniston

1.   David Caruso (right)

Do you agree? Disagree? We sure had opinions on the show.  Please share yours.

PRESS PLAY –>
Or download to your computer

Become a Radio Happy Hour subscriber

for free !

The Vince Flynn interview begins at the 6:50 mark
Hit Play–>

The Mitch Rapp ball is in Brad Pitt’s court.

According to #1 New York Times bestselling author Vince Flynn, the movie role of counter-terrorism operative Mitch Rapp, the character who appears in ten of his eleven novels,  is Pitt’s to accept or turn down.

“I’m not so sure he’s the right guy for it,” Flynn told the Radio Happy Hour this week, “but if Brad Pitt decides to play Mitch Rapp, I can’t really say no.”

One major positive a Pitt casting would bring, Flynn points out, is the amount of clout his name brings to a production.

“The big joke is the budget would practically double overnight” if Pitt agrees to take on the role.

Other names that have come as possible “Mitch Rapps” during the casting process are Denzel Washington and Will Smith.  Both surprising as Rapp is written as a Caucasian, albeit darker complexioned, man.

If Flynn had his way, Rapp would be played by Gerard Butler (right), who as Flynn explains has “enough clout now to finally open a movie” but not too well known that he’d overshadow the character of Mitch Rapp.

Flynn, who is set to release Pursuit of Honor next Tuesday, also confirmed that the screenplay for the first Mitch rapp movie is based on his 2005 bestseller Consent to Kill.

Since it was announced right here in February of 2008 that Lorenzo di Bonaventura (”Transformers”) and Nick Wechsler (“We Own The Night”) would be producing the Mitch Rapp films for CBS Films who optioned the rights for of the character with the intention of creating a action-thriller movie franchise, not much has been heard regarding the progress.

UPDATE: 10/7/09
Brad Pitt is Mitch Rapp. . .If He Wants It

Dr. Blogstein’s Radio Happy Hour owes a big thank you to the slow moving nature of Hollywood for introducing new listeners to our show.  For years and years countless internet surfers have discovered this site and thus the radio show by searching for updates on “Mitch Rapp Movies” or “Vince Flynn Movies” (or some variation there of.)

The longer it takes the brains in La-La Land to figure out that this is a franchise that their public wants to see in theaters right away, the more visitors this search will continue to send to this site.  As eager as we are to see progress made on this film, it’ll be pretty sad to see this pipeline of potential new listeners shut down!

To refresh everyone’s memory, Vince Flynn is a frequent guest of the Radio Happy Hour and author of the New York Times #1 Bestselling series of thrillers featuring counter terrorism operative Mitch Rapp.  Mitch Rapp was Jack Bauer before there ever was a Jack Bauer.

Since it was announced right here in February of 2008 that Lorenzo di Bonaventura (”Transformers”) and Nick Wechsler (“We Own The Night”) would be producing the Mitch Rapp films for CBS Films who optioned the rights for of the character with the intention of creating a action-thriller movie franchise, not much has been heard regarding the progress.

Now, Vince Flynn is about to release this statement in an email to his fans:

A lot interesting stuff is happening on the movie front.  Jonathan Lemkin who wrote the screenplay for has written a kick-ass script and is in rewrites.  Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Nick Wechsler have been talking to directors and are closing in on actor to play Mitch.  There are three or four in the hopper right now.  Some of them have been discussed in the past and there is at least one new one who I am really excited about.  These things always take time and until they start shooting nothing is a done deal. The second we sign someone I will let you know.

Could Jon Hamm of Mad Men be one of those three or four potential Mitch Rapps in the hopper?  Only time will tell, or perhaps Vince will tell when he returns as a guest on the Radio Happy Hour on October 6 when his new novel Pursuit of Honor hits bookstores.

According to today’s New York Post, Jenn Sterger, the mammary-ly enhanced “gameday host” for the New York Jets, is leaving “Gang Green” to pursue an acting career.

According to Page Six, Sterger recently finished a role in “Don’t Fade Away” with Mischa Barton.

On September 2, 2008, Sterger appeared as a guest on Dr. Blogstein’s Radio Happy Hour.

 The Jenn Sterger interview begins at the 46:00 mark
Just Click play–>

Become a Radio Happy Hour subscriber

for free ! 

He may be turning 92 next month, but Ernest Borgnine is showing no signs of slowing down in the, ah, potency department.

In an unbridled interview with Radio Happy Hour host Dr. Blogstein, the Oscar-winning actor reveals why he slipped up this summer and let the secret to his youthful appearance slip on live national television.

When Steve Doocy of Fox News Channel’s Fox & Friends asked Enrie in August, “You’re 91 years old.  You look fantastic… What’s the secret?” the McHale’s Navy star shot back, “I don’t dare tell you. I masturbate a lot.”

Now Ernie explains to Dr. B that he had no idea the retort would be heard ‘round the world.

“I’ve always said so many times, amongst friends, that’s what I do because it keeps me young. And everybody would fall down laughing for a while.  And that was it.  Everybody would get a good laugh.

“Well, this one fella kept it up at Fox News – ‘Oh, you gotta tell me! You gotta tell me!’ So, without remembering that I had a microphone on, I leaned over and I told him,” continues Ernie, whose autobiography, Ernie, was published in July.

“Well, you should have seen the fellas behind the camera. They fell on the floor! They couldn’t believe what I’d said.  And I looked at them and said, Why would they collapse like that? And suddenly I remembered the mic.”

Ernie also says that, despite being a nonagenarian, he has no aversion to playing a stud on the silver screen.

When Dr. B asks him, “If they were to write a good script, would you still play a love-story part?” Ernie’s replies:

“Hey, listen, if they could see me as a love story, believe me, I’d do it!”

For full Ernest Borgnine interview, press play below

Original post: http://blog.blogtalkradio.com/2008/12/24/ernest-borgnine-i%E2%80%99ve-always-told-friends-pleasuring-myself-is-what-i-do-%E2%80%93-because-it-keeps-me-young/