Former "Will Grace" star Megan Mullally says her rudest awakening as a nascent talk-show host on daytime's "Megan Mullally Show" has been "how tricky publicists can be. You'd think I would know that, but it was a real eye-opener for me." In fact, she says she's been amazed by certain celebrity publicists' attempts to control interviews.
"I was like 'Oh, my God, are you kidding me?' I was naive because I've never really been like that. If someone asked me to be on their show when I was on 'Will Grace,' I'd be like, 'Yeah, I'll be on your show.
' I never had a criterion about what I would or wouldn't talk about. I feel really dumb, but I don't blame any of these publicists ..
. for some reason that's the way it works, and in spite of all that, we've gotten great guests." Mullally is shooting two segments a day of the talker and has already taped more than 50 episodes out of the 160 she's slated to do.
"It's very much like falling into the vortex," she says. "A lot of my homework involves watching people's TV shows and reading their books, but I've gotten a little overboard, I think. We have great producers, and they give me great notes, but I want to be prepared and not let anybody down.
I want to have that extra information
"That first season was like a championship season. We were there all the time. To a large extent, we were making it up as we went along," he notes of the cast, which included John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Gilda Radner and Dan Aykroyd.
"They were fearless. We all sort of knew that there was this moment to do it, and everybody was determined to try and get it right. Once the season was over, the Emmy Awards came, and we were nominated and we won a bunch of them.
Then everything changed. There's a state of grace that we were in during that first season that was never the same again." Michaels' look back at that 1975 season has everything to do with the fact that on Tuesday, Universal is releasing it on DVD for the first time.
The eight-disc set includes audition footage and a "Where are they now?" segment. So why did it take so long?
"It's a fairly complicated process because we wanted to make sure we had everything the way it was originally broadcast. It took a long time in terms of clearances," Michaels responds. "The episodes haven't been seen like this in 30 years because they were always edited for reruns.
There are times that are brilliant, but we didn't just leave the brilliant things in. There are lots of things that aren't, but the fact that the DVD exists is the most pleasing thing..
" NOT GONNA FLY NOW: Fans of "Heroes" star Milo Ventimiglia will get to see the actor in a different light come Dec. 22, when he plays Rocky Balboa's stuffy son in the "Rocky" franchise's newest movie. "My character is a Philadelphia businessman who wears off-the-rack suits and wants nothing to do with the world of boxing," explains Ventimiglia.
"He is actually a little distant from his father, embarrassed by his father's celebrity because he feels like he's lived in his shadow. It seems like every time he gets ahead, people keep bringing up the fact that he's Rocky Balboa's son." Looks like somebody needs to loosen up and listen to a little "Eye of the Tiger"!
AT LAST!: "Prison Break" regular William Fichtner reports that "The Amateurs" formerly "The Moguls" ) with Jeff Bridges, Ted Danson, Tim Blake Nelson and Jeanne Tripplehorn, is finally going to see the light of day. "It's my favorite thing I ever did in my whole life," declares Fichtner of the film about some losers in a small town who decide the way to change their fortune is to make a porn film.
"It's had a little bit of a rough ride, but hopefully it comes out in January." FOR THE RECORD: Jose Feliciano's song from his upcoming "Soundtracks of My Life" CD about his 14- and 10-year-old sons' response to their dad's music is called "It's Just Dad," not "It's Just Sad" as we inadvertently had it the other day. "I see them listening to other music and they're all excited, but when it comes to me, I'm just dad," says the multi-Grammy-winning singer/guitarist with a laugh.
"It's something you have to accept. I read a famous quote in a book called 'The Prophet': 'Your children are really not your children. They're just life longing for itself.
' " With reports by Stephanie DuBois and Emily Feimster.
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