BuddyTV - USA - Dominic Bowden, famed New Zealand TV host, has been pegged to host FOX's upcoming reality series The Next Great American Band.  American Band will mark the first stateside gig for the Seacrest-y Kiwi, a move that FOX hopes will turn Bowden into hot commodity.  American Band is the newest project from American Idol executive producers Simon Fuller and Nigel Lythgoe, whose basic premise can be described as American Idol for bands.  The announcement of Bowden's involvement with the project  is the first we've heard regarding personnel on American Band.  There is no word yet on who will act as the

Lovetripper.com - Austin, TX, USA - In the weeks leading up to their scheduled September walk down the aisle, E! News co-host Giuliana DePandi and her fiance, reality TV personality Bill Rancic, took time to unwind at the St. Regis Resort Monarch Beach, a 400 guestroom retreat in Dana Point, California featuring an Italian-inspired facade that inspires romance. According to People magazine, the Tinseltown twosome booked a Swedish couples massage during their stay, which was administered by the healing hands of Spa Gaucin's technicians.

The mid-August mini-vacation for the soon-to-be Mr. and Mrs. followed an April outing which was chronicled in the summer 2007 edition of InStyle

USA Today - USA - Danny Forster was procrastinating on his Harvard graduate thesis when a Craigslist ad seeking a television host caught his attention.

Forster, an architect and erstwhile stand-up comic with no TV experience, sent a three-minute audition tape that led to his hiring last year on Discovery Channel's Extreme Engineering, a series that became this season's Build It Bigger (tonight, 10 ET/PT).

Bigger kicked off the first of 14 episodes in July, with Forster checking out the engineering behind roller coasters. He also has traveled to sites ranging from an Alabama plant that refurbishes Abrams battle tanks to the 100-story-plus World Financial Center, one

Emediawire (press release) - Ferndale, WA, USA - Paradise Earth and Jimmy Kristie Productions finalized agreements today for production of a weekly television series and a documentary covering the building of Paradise Earth. Mandarich Media Group www.mandarichmediagroup.com released the announcement today.

The weekly series will feature Paradise Earth creator and visionary, David Calvin, and Craig Allison, the nationally syndicated television host (The Carefree Gardener) of Jimmy Kristie Productions. The two will co-host this entertaining and educational television series, featuring Paradise Earth, the plant and animal species that will be housed in the rainforest environment, issues about preserving the environment and going green. Guests will include experts in rainforest, birds,

Monsters and Critics.com - Glasgow, UK - After a bilious summer so far of "Hey, Paula" and "America's Got Talent", I need the laser sharp thorn in the religious rights side, Bill Maher, my favorite misogynistic connoisseur of black strippers and weed to stir things up again on the tube.

Maher isn't for everyone.  But he is undeniably one of the few people with the huevos to keep it real (from his perspective) and walk his talk.  He isn't pandering and doesn't care if you hate his guts.

"Real Time With Bill Maher," his interesting HBO show is returning from hiatus on August 24th.

His show opens with a topical

Washington Post - United States - Between a late-night show on CBS and a 2006 Emmy nomination, it's not as if comedian Craig Ferguson needs the validation of a live crowd. He's appearing at the Warner Theatre on Saturday, part of a one-week, five-stop comedy tour, because stand-up is in his blood.

"Once you do it, it's always on your mind," the 45-year-old host -- and sometime actor, novelist, screenwriter and director -- says from Los Angeles, where he tapes "The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson."

Indeed, standing behind a live microphone gives him an opportunity a national television slot does not. "Once you're onstage you don't

New York Post - New York, NY, USA - 'LATE Late Show" host Craig Ferguson was forced to take an un precedented commercial break in the middle of his Tuesday- night monologue - under a new mandate from management.

CBS, Ferguson's net work, is trying to goose the ratings by cramming ads into the hourlong broadcast earlier, since Nielsen will begin measur ing commercials for view ership this fall.

"This is a proactive re sponse to an upcoming rat ings system that will be put in place for the new season," says CBS spokes person Chris Ender.

"We want to get ahead of the game and experi ment to see if the