Almodovar gets Banderas, Carrell gets a slice of Bacon, Hot Docs gets Ghomeshi and Louise gets un-stuck

OUR TOWN: Host-with-the-most Jian Ghomeshi returns to helm tomorrow night’s Hot Docs Festival awards at the Isabel Bader … after flying across the pond to premiere the new

PITRE: back to T.O.

Benny Andersson-Bjorn Ulvaeus musical Kristina at Royal Albert Hall, show-stopping stage diva Louise Pitre got ‘stuck’ in London for an extra three days due to that pesky cloud of volcanic ash. “London’s not a bad place to be stuck in!” she adds, especially since her hubby Joe Matheson had taken a week’s holiday from his on-stage gig with still-thriving Jersey Boys to join her. Mamma Mia alumnus Pitre’s now home again, safe and sound and  shooting Season 2 of Star Portraits for Bravo! … popular public relations pro Shelagh O’Donnell is the ROM’s new Head Of Communications … George F. Walker’s hit comedy Featuring Loretta makes its second debut  to the Factory Theatre tonight, officially kicking off the Factory’s 40th (!!!) Anniversary celebrations. Longtime Walker cheerleader Ken Gass directs Monica Dottor, Lesley Faulker, Kevin Hanchard and Brandon McGibbon in this brand new production … and the bad news is, Yorkville haunt Michelle’s Brasserie, the café  in

FARMIGA: going outlaw

Renaissance Square just off Cumberland, has closed. Good news is, Crème, a new French bistro devised by Ricardo Sousa (Cibo, Lolo) and chef Ricardo Roque (Magna Golf Club, Bistro 990,) is now underway and is tentatively set to open June 1.

NO PEOPLE LIKE SHOW PEOPLE: Young Lily Collins, so good as Sandra Bullock‘s daughter in The Blind Side, is set to co-star with Taylor Lautner in Abduction, a new thriller … Kevin Bacon has signed on to guest star in Steve Carrell’s next project … Pedro Almodovar alumnus Antonio Banderas is set to star in the director’s next opus, La piel que habito … Up In The Air seductress Vera Farmiga

AGRON: new sci-fi role?

is set to portray a wild west outlaw in A Thousand Guns … watch for an announcement linking about-to-depart Global TV anchor Kevin Newman with a major new digital platform initiative … and don’t bother inviting Phil Collins to your Canada Day BBQ this year. He’s already booked to open the 44^th annual Monteux Jazz Festival with a special July 1 concert.

NO BIZ LIKE SHOW BIZ: Glee star Dianna Agron has signed on for  a leading role in the sci-fi film I Am Number Four … living room favourites Peter Mansbridge, Brian Stewart and Adrienne Arsenault are in London today, continuing to deliver CBC’s in-depth play-by-play of today’s General Elections in the U.K. …  Shia Labeouf is set to play Charlie in the dark comedy The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman … Mireille

JEAN-BAPTISTE: in Central Park

Enos (Big Love) is reportedly signed to star in AMC’s new series The Killing …  bright young things Emma Roberts and Freddie Highmore are set to co-star in a new indie feature, Homework … Nurse Jackie scene-stealer Anna Deavere Smith is taking her New York solo show Let Me Down Easy on the road. Hope she brings it here …  what becomes a legend most? Hard work. Which is howcum Ann Rhomer is still a household favourite after more than three decades on local TV. We’ll miss her after she exits CP24‘s morning show next month … and although you know her best from her role as an FBI agent in Without A Trace, did you know that Anthony LaPaglia sidekick  Marianne Jean-Baptiste was the first British black actress nominated for an Oscar, for Mike Leigh‘s 1996 drama Secrets & Lies?  Ah yes, how quickly we forget. The gifted Mme Jean-Baptiste is spending her summer vacation in rep with Al Pacino, performing Merchant Of Venice and The Winter’s Tale in Central Park..

TOMORROW:

All about Liona Boyd, Zero Mostel,

Piper Laurie (yes, Piper Laurie!) and more.

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New shows for Pitre and P. Diddy, mobile phone mania, and underwater training tips from Kirstie

TUBE TALK: Bravo! is making the most of Canadian celebs next season with two new original weekly series.  Mamma Mia and Les Miz showstopper Louise Pitre is hosting Star Portraits, which combines portrait-painting with

PITRE: portraits

biography. And The Great Canadian Bio-Series promises in-depth individual biographies of Canadians who have made a difference, including Glenn Gould, Yousuf Karsh, Ian Tyson and Gordon Pinsent … P. Diddy comes to MuchMusic with two new reality series, Making His Band and Starmaker, while Diddy’s predecessor, MC Hammer, joins the MuchMoreMusic line-up with Hammertime … new series for Family Channel include a half-hour comedy series from Temple Street Productions. Created by former Dead Troll In A Baggie troupe member Frank van Keeken, Angel on Campus is a live-action comedy series about a devil-may-care16-year-old Angel-In-Training who hopes to get his wings by turning the class loser into the most popular kid at school … and CP24 is going all out to give their predecessor, citytv’s Breakfast Television, a run for its ratings, with original BT host Ann Rohmer anchoring the news channel’s daily 3½ hour morning show.

CODY: twitterbug

QUOTABLE QUOTES: “I’ve been listening to Taylor Swift. I think she knows more about life than I do. She certainly knows more about having rad hair.”

The speaker? Oscar winning screenwriter Diablo Cody (Juno,) on Twitter.

SORRY, WRONG NUMBER:  They measure TV, so why not cell phones? And the results are in: 21

21 percent of Canadian mobile consumers using their mobile phones to browse the Web and access their e-mail accounts, according to Nielsen Online, a division of The Nielsen Company. Windows Live Mail was the No. 1 website accessed on a mobile phone in Q1 2009, with 1.4 million unique visitors. Google Search (850,000), Facebook (784,000), The Weather Network (674,000) and Yahoo! Mail (652,000) rounded out the top five. The Weather Network was the only Canadian broadcast or specialty service website listed in the Top Ten.

Nielsen is the first third party audience measurement company to release findings specific to the Canadian mobile market.

ALLEY: ooops

HOUSE CALLS FOR KIRSTIE: The unsinkable Kirstie Alley still works with a trainer who makes house calls. And when she twitters to her more than 40,000 Tweet Peas (her phrase, not mine,) she clearly prefers stream-of-consciousness to regular new-fashioned streaming.

“I need to work on technique … I love weight training … HELL, I AM SUCH A LIAR …thus, I need (a) helper … I DO love water training. Heated up my pool and am going to put on two sets of sweats and run in the pool … tremendous resistance … no impact … I actually do love weights … I trained with them daily from age 8 to 16 … then off and on … love to work arms… ”

She pauses to mention that she will be eating lunch in half-hour with a “really hot Italian guy … too young for me … anyone want him?”

Caring and sharing. That’s our Ms Alley.

-/-