Steven Weber

Steven Weber is changing. Sure, he's still the same easygoing, lovable quipster Brian Hackett on NBC's "Wings" (making its season premiere Thursday). But last summer, movie audiences also saw a darker side of Weber, as Bridget Fonda's philandering fiance in the hit thriller "Single White Female." And come November, Weber gets really dark, playing real-life California serial killer Jon Dunkle in the CBS-TV movie "In the Company of Darkness."

Today's Highlights Wednesday, April 21, 2010 SERIES The New Adventures of Old Christine: Christine ( Julia Louis-Dreyfus) gets a notice that her car lease is up and realizes that her life hasn't evolved in the five years she has had the car. Eric McCormack costars as her therapist in this new episode (8 p.m. CBS). American Idol: In this season's "Idol Gives Back" episode, Elton John, Alicia Keys, Carrie Underwood, the Black Eyed Peas, Annie Lennox, Jeff Beck and Joss Stone are scheduled to perform (8 p.m. Fox)

As a kid, Steven Weber was surrounded by them: comedians, dropping by the house to see his talent-agent father, Stuey, or backstage visits to the New York clubs where Stuey's clients played. For a kid, it was heaven. "It was all very enthralling to me--like if you've ever met gangsters," Weber says. "When I was young, my father had a comic who opened for Sinatra. I met all these guys--the nicest people, funny and tough. They were all like Humphrey Bogart, very attractive."

After murdering her children in Euripides' classic "Medea," Annette Bening, with husband Warren Beatty, helped celebrate the launch of UCLA Live's Eighth International Theatre Festival at the play's opening-night party. No matter that the play is nearly 2,500 years old, Claudia Weill said, "the same issues are with us," including "disposability of women." Alan Schwartz, president of the Royce Center Circle, which supports UCLA's performing arts, said that although the university has presented plays for eight years, "Medea" was the first original production to be created by the UCLA Live series.

Today's Highlights Wednesday, April 21, 2010 SERIES The New Adventures of Old Christine: Christine ( Julia Louis-Dreyfus) gets a notice that her car lease is up and realizes that her life hasn't evolved in the five years she has had the car. Eric McCormack costars as her therapist in this new episode (8 p.m. CBS). American Idol: In this season's "Idol Gives Back" episode, Elton John, Alicia Keys, Carrie Underwood, the Black Eyed Peas, Annie Lennox, Jeff Beck and Joss Stone are scheduled to perform (8 p.m. Fox)

Its success turned it into something it claimed to despise: a mainstream American commodity, a brand name like IBM, but smaller. And with hippies. Now, enough time and psychic distance has passed since 1967 to make it work as nostalgia. "Hair" is back, with a bang, with a bong, with a fetchingly nostalgic plea for tolerance and peace--and, crucially, with a wealth of high-grade Broadway pop. Continuing through Sunday, this concert-style presentation of Reprise!

After murdering her children in Euripides' classic "Medea," Annette Bening, with husband Warren Beatty, helped celebrate the launch of UCLA Live's Eighth International Theatre Festival at the play's opening-night party. No matter that the play is nearly 2,500 years old, Claudia Weill said, "the same issues are with us," including "disposability of women." Alan Schwartz, president of the Royce Center Circle, which supports UCLA's performing arts, said that although the university has presented plays for eight years, "Medea" was the first original production to be created by the UCLA Live series.

Sorkin's return: The rest of its fall lineup is still being hammered out but NBC said Thursday it would definitely pick up a new series from Aaron Sorkin, creator of "The West Wing," about the making of a late-night comedy show. The stars of "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" will include Matthew Perry, Amanda Peet, Bradley Whitford, D.L. Hughley, Steven Weber and Timothy Busfield.

CBS has selected Aug. 1, the night before an industry conference in Los Angeles to discuss TV violence, to rerun "In the Company of Darkness" a TV movies starring Helen Hunt, Jeff Fahey and Steven Weber. As described by CBS, the movie, originally broadcast last January, "revolves around a police rookie whose undercover mission to stop a serial killer uncovers her own dark side,"

'Wings' Set to Fly: "Wings," a comedy created by former writers and producers of "Cheers," will debut April 19 at 9:30 p.m. on NBC. "Wings" stars Timothy Daly and Steven Weber as brothers who run a fledgling commuter airline on the island of Nantucket. It will replace "Grand" on the schedule, which will complete its 13-week run April 12.

Its success turned it into something it claimed to despise: a mainstream American commodity, a brand name like IBM, but smaller. And with hippies. Now, enough time and psychic distance has passed since 1967 to make it work as nostalgia. "Hair" is back, with a bang, with a bong, with a fetchingly nostalgic plea for tolerance and peace--and, crucially, with a wealth of high-grade Broadway pop. Continuing through Sunday, this concert-style presentation of Reprise!

As a kid, Steven Weber was surrounded by them: comedians, dropping by the house to see his talent-agent father, Stuey, or backstage visits to the New York clubs where Stuey's clients played. For a kid, it was heaven. "It was all very enthralling to me--like if you've ever met gangsters," Weber says. "When I was young, my father had a comic who opened for Sinatra. I met all these guys--the nicest people, funny and tough. They were all like Humphrey Bogart, very attractive."

Steven Weber is changing. Sure, he's still the same easygoing, lovable quipster Brian Hackett on NBC's "Wings" (making its season premiere Thursday). But last summer, movie audiences also saw a darker side of Weber, as Bridget Fonda's philandering fiance in the hit thriller "Single White Female." And come November, Weber gets really dark, playing real-life California serial killer Jon Dunkle in the CBS-TV movie "In the Company of Darkness."

Charity Players: The popular quiz show "Jeopardy!" will break new ground later this month by bringing on 15 celebrity participants who will play the game for their favorite charity, a first for the top-rated show that normally features non-pro contestants. During the week Oct. 26-30, host Alex Trebek will be facing Ed Begley Jr.

Dana Delany plays a calculating politician's wife in Beau Willimon's "The Parisian Woman," set in contemporary Washington, "inspired" by Henri Becque's "La Parisienne" of 1885. The world premiere production, co-starring Steven Weber, begins previews Sunday at South Coast Repertory and runs through May 5. The two-time Emmy winner also stars as acerbic medical examiner Dr. Megan Hunt in ABC's procedural "Body of Proof," now in its third season. Beau Willimon has a pretty dim view of people in politics.