We can't seem to get enough of Rib Hillis around the Daytime Confidential/Pop Confidential universe. The likeable ex-soap hunk (ABC's Port Charles; NBC's Passions)-turned-reality TV handyman ( ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Editiion; A&E's $100 Makeover) is just so, well—real— we just love chatting with him! This time Hillis opens up about what it's like being a single, Hollywood dad to 7-year-old twins Dane and Hannah. Hillis shares how essential it has been to keep a healthy, supportive relationship going with his ex-wife Melissa Blackler, as they navigate raising kids in Hollyweird.  He also gives us a glimpse into a typical day at the House of Hillis.

Pop Confidential: In addition to being an in demand model, TV host and actor, you're also a single father, sharing custody of your twins, Dane and Hannah. How do you balance auditioning, walking the runway and hosting shows like A&E's $100 Makeover, with raising a pair of tykes?

Rib Hillis: A lot of caffeine and a lot of help. But seriously, juggling a career and family is hard work, as any working parent will tell you. I try to schedule my work around when my kids are with their mother, but that is not always possible. When there is a scheduling conflict, I have a tremendous support system of close friends. I am also extremely close to my ex and her family, so we all just do our best to make it work out. Dad doesn't get as much sleep as he would like....but in the end, I would gladly sacrifice sleep to see my kids happy...and they are. READ MORE

One of the coolest perks to being a blogger is that it sometimes allows you the opportunity to chat with some of your childhood, pop culture idols. Recently I had the chance to do just that when I interviewed Francine Pascal, the prolific creator of the Sweet Valley series of novels, featuring Southern California's most soaptastic identical twins ever—Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield.
 
Pascal, who along with her late husband John, got their start writing for the ABC Daytime soap opera The Young Marrieds, and initially pitched Sweet Valley High as a daytime sudser, talks about her upcoming adult novel Sweet Valley Confidential, which will revisit the saga of Jess, Liz, their friends, lovers and frenemies, 10 years after they graduated from high school. Is Pascal worried fans of her original YA series will have a hard time adjusting to Liz and Jess now talking about and having orgasms? Not even!

Speaking of YA readers, one of the most successful authors of all time weighs in on the current phenomenon of novels aimed at teens and tweens basically kepping the publishing industry stable. She also dishes about her role as a creative consultant for the 2012 big screen adaptation of Sweet Valley High, which is being written by Oscar-winner Diablo Cody. The next few years will be the back-to-back Years of Sweet Valley and this fanboy couldn't be happier.

Pop Confidential: The Sweet Valley Universe is making quite the comeback! Diablo Cody is penning a big screen version of Sweet Valley High, and in March 2011, your long-anticipated novel Sweet Valley Confidential, which picks up with the lives of Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield 10 years after they graduated from high school, will be released. How did these new projects come about?

Francine Pascal: I had the idea for Sweet Valley Confidential a long time ago. Of course, delving back into the world of Sweet Valley all these years later was a long and at times, challenging endeavor. But the process was quite magnificent and I’m hoping the fans will approve! As for Diablo Cody’s movie version, it all just fell into place naturally and I couldn’t be more thrilled!

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In the 1980's, Dynasty's Linda Evans told us 40 wasn't fatal in order to move hair products. Two-and-a-half decades later, Desperate Housewives scene stealer Kathryn Joosten could star in her own series of commercials—Life Doesn't Stop at 60, or even 70 for that matter!

I briefly caught up with the actress, who since 2005 has portrayed Wisteria Lane's nosiest neighbor, Karen McCluskey, as she was preparing to host ACME Saturday Night this weekend at the ACME Comedy Theatre in Hollywood (135 N. La Brea Ave Hollywood, CA 90036). In just five, quick questions the outspoken TV star, who began her  career at 40 and didn't land her breakout role as President Bartlett's secretary on the NBC drama The West Wing until she was in her 60's, sounded off on everything from enjoying doing comedy as much as the audience does watching it, to ageism in Hollywood and how her battle with lung cancer caused her to seek out therapy. You can bet I'll be talking to this courageous, fiery spirit again!

Pop Confidential: Fans of Desperate Housewives are already well aware of the fact that you know your way around a funny line. Are you nervous about doing comedy live when you host ACME Saturday Night this weekend?

Kathryn Joosten: No, not at all. I get as much fun out of doing comedy as the audience hopefully does out of watching. And then I found out they would be using teleprompter so I wouldn't have to worry about memorizing four sketches. Besides, when the mood strikes, I just start improvising.

PC: What kind of sketches will you be doing? Will any of them spoof Desperate Housewives?

KJ: Now that would be telling. I'm sure some kind of mention of DH will come up. READ MORE

I'm hearing from reliable sources that Andrew Miller, creator of the 2008 You Tube hit Imaginary Bitches, has been tapped to develop and write a 90-minute movie/back door pilot for the SyFy channel, based on the comic book Ball and Chain by Scott Lobdell.

Described as the comic book world's first romantic comedy when it made its debut, "Ball and Chain centers around a young, hot, fiery couple, who on the night of their break-up are hit by a meteor and receive superpowers— which only work when they're together!"

Miller also recently sold a pitch to the CW. His screenwriting credits include the 1999 Dane Cook flick Simon Sez and Boys and Girls, a 2000 rom com starring Freddie Prinze, Jr., Claire Forlani and Jason Biggs. Miller is married to The Young and the Restless actress Eden Riegel, who also starred in Imaginary Bitches.

Whether she's tormenting Matthew McConaughey in Ghosts of Girlfriends Past or stealing scenes as J.Lo's employee in The Back-Up Plan, Noureen DeWulf is doing it with a combination of bombshell good looks and impressive comedic timing, which has made her a favorite of lad magazine editors and casting directors alike.

 

Tonight at 9pm PST, the Indian American beauty, who ranked among Maxim's Hot 100 in 2007, will try her hand at Improv, by appearing in Unscripted Hollywood Dream Role at ACME Comedy Theater (135 N. La Brea Ave Hollywood, CA 90036). I caught up with DeWulf for Pop Confidential to chat about the "nerve wrecking" experience of performing in front of a live audience and how Hollywood finally seems to be coming around to Indian American actors, thanks to thesps like Kal Penn, Aziz Ansari and De Wulf. I also find out how she balances her sexsational image, with her comedic endeavors. Is she more a Bardot or a Ball? Her answer may surprise you.

Pop Confidential: You're doing Unscripted Hollywood Dream Role at ACME Comedy Theater tonight. How did the gig come about?

Noureen DeWulf: I love ACME theater and Charles Riley, who helps rope in talent, saw me a while ago and asked me if I would like to come and guest star in a show.

PC: Hence the name, Unscripted Hollywood Dream Role, you will like totally be doing this without a script! We know you can get your funny on, thanks to roles in movies like Ghosts of Girlfriends Past and The Back-Up Plan, but are you at all nervous about flying without a script?

ND: Yes, absolutely. It's always nerve wrecking to get in front of a live audience and perform without a script, and with a script! READ MORE

SoCal will be even hotter than usual this Saturday night, Sept. 19, not to mention funnier! That's because big screen funny man Jonathan Bennett will be hosting ACME Saturday Night at 8 pm PT, at the ACME Comedy Theater (135 N. La Brea in Los Angeles).

Bennett made teen girls everywhere swoon opposite Lindsay Lohan in the monster hit romantic comedy Mean Girls. However, it's raunchy roles like the titular Van Wilder, whom the actor played in the Direct-to-DVD prequel Van Wilder: Freshman Year—currently being shown in heavy rotation on Comedy Central—that Bennett admits he has much more fun playing. I caught up with Bennett as he was getting ready for his sketch comedy debut.

Movie Junkie: So you're hosting ACME Saturday Night, how did that come about?

Jonathan Bennett: Well, Van Wilder: Freshman Year has been airing a lot on cable, so I think that's where the idea for me to host ACME came from.

MJ: Sweet, now this is the third Van Wilder film, will there be another, and if so, will you be in it?

JB: That's the plan, to do another prequel. READ MORE