Bruce Willis needs his “Friends.”
And so the movie-star guy will slum in prime time for three episodes of the hit NBC sitcom. If we need to tell you the appearances will air in time for the May sweeps, then you need to brush up on your tele-literacy.
Willis will play the father of Ross’ (David Schwimmer) new girlfriend. He got the gig the way you get gigs in Hollywood — through connections. According to Daily Variety, Willis bonded with “Friends” friend Matthew Perry during the shoot for their big-screen comedy “The Whole Nine Yards,” and the rest is a sitcom guest-spot history.
Willis was to tape his first episode today. Of course, with his “Moonlighting” genes — “Moonlighting” being the 1980s P.I. show that was notoriously deadline-challenged — there’s no telling when the episode will really make the air, but NBC tells us the three-episode arc is scheduled to begin unspooling April 27.
GONE TO HELL: NBC’s Salt Lake City affiliate is refusing to air the Peacock’s upcoming animated comedy series, “God, the Devil and Bob” — and not because the show makes fun of Bob.
“We found some of the humor tasteless,” KSL-TV general manager Al Henderson tells Variety, insisting, however, that the objections are not on religious grounds.
“God, the Devil and Bob,” about God (voice of James Garner), the Devil (Alan Cumming) and a Detroit auto worker (French Stewart), is scheduled to premiere on March 9. Except, you know, in Salt Lake City.
HEART PUMP: Back-from-the-dead David Letterman killed Jay Leno during his first week back on the late shift following heart surgery. CBS’ “Late Show” with Letterman topped NBC’s “Tonight Show” with Leno by more than 1 million viewers during the TV week Feb. 21-25, Nielsen Media Research says. It was Letterman’s biggest victory since July 1995. There’s a reason “break a leg” is a show-biz term for good luck.
