Perez Makes Her Debut on a High-Rated Premiere Episode of ABC’s “The View”

Posted on September 17, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

Rosie Perez has taken her seat at the table and her place in television history…

The 49-year-old Puerto Rican actress, dancer and community activist, who was announced as the newest member of ABC’s The View, made her debut on the daytime talker on Monday as the show’s first-ever Latina co-host.

Perez is considered the panel’s most under-the-radar addition despite being an Oscar, Emmy and Golden Globe nominee. She served as a guest host on The View in February. And she’s been a guest on Rachel Maddow’s MSNBC program, formerly executive-produced by Bill Wolff, the ABC talker’s new executive producer.

Monday’s premiere, which also saw the return of the polarizing Rosie O’Donnell registered 3.902 million viewers — the show’s biggest opening audience in eight years — which is also the time when O’Donnell joined the show the first time back in 2006.

Monday’s opening was the long-running show’s second-biggest opening on record and hit a three-year high in target demos of women 18-49 and 25-54 with year-to-year opening leaps of 15% and 20%, respectively. In the younger demo, Monday’s debut logged 683,000 viewers and in the older it posted 911,000.

In addition to the two Rosies, former Republican political operative Nicolle Wallace also joins the The View. Whoopi Goldberg, meantime, is the only returning host from last season.

Wallace and Perez replaced Sherri Shepherd and Jenny McCarthy.

Perez to Serve as the First-Ever Latina Co-Host on ABC’s Long-Running “The View”

Posted on September 4, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

Rosie Perez is changing the view on television… And, she’s making history in the process.

The 49-year-old Puerto Rican actress, dancer and community activist will join ABC’s The View when it returns for its eighteenth season on September 15.

Perez, who is set to appear on Broadway early next year in Larry David’s Fish in the Dark, becomes the first-ever Latina host in the daytime talk show’s history.

“Excited to be a part of an amazing show and a great team of women,” tweeted the Oscar-nominated actress after the announcement was made.

In addition to Perez, political commentator Nicolle Wallace will also join The View next season. A former communications director for George W. Bush, she appeared on the daytime talker last month as a guest co-host.

The women join a show with a very different makeup following the recent exits of Barbara Walters, Sherri Shepherd and Jenny McCarthy. Whoopi Goldberg is the only member from the previous season returning, while Rosie O’Donnell is coming back to the show after having held a seat in the 2006-2007 season.

The View has generally had five women in the mix, though Walters was not featured in every episode during her final years on the show.

Gonzalez Among the Frontrunners to Join ABC’s “The View”

Posted on August 9, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

It looks like October Gonzalez may be sharing her view(s) with the world…

Gonzalez, the wife of retiring football star Tony Gonzalez is reportedly one of the frontrunners to join Whoopi Goldberg and Rosie O’Donnell on ABC’s The View when the daytime talk show returns in September.

Gonzalez, who famously posed naked with her husband for PETA to discourage fur wearing, was among the prospects that ABC chemistry-tested Thursday on the set of The Chew before a test audience.

If selected to serve on the panel, the self-described “Mommy, Wife, Sister, blogger and love of life” would become the show’s first Latina to co-host the daytime talker.

“It’s all speculation at this point — we don’t have any announcement; no decisions have been made,” a rep for The View told Deadline.com.

Gonzalez and the other semi-finalists have done practice rounds with Goldberg and O’Donnell for the express purpose of chem-testing them to reach some conclusions as to how to best cast a new panel that includes the two hosts who are set to return — O’Donnell after a several-season break.

Other contenders include MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace, CNN Crossfire’s S.E. Cupp, CNN contributing legal analyst Sunny Hostin, CNN political contributor Ana Navarro, Bloomberg TV managing editor Stephanie Ruhle; ESPN anchor Sage Steele, ESPN.com columnist Jemele Hill, and Good Day LA co-host Lauren Sanchez.

Show producers are reportedly searching for their first Latina as well as a more conservative voice to join the panel – a seat once filled by Fox and Friends co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck.

Sanchez Forms Pursuit Productions with Dan Friedkin

Posted on July 30, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

Lauren Sanchez has launched a new production company.

The 44-year-old Emmy-winning news anchor/entertainment reporter has formed Pursuit Productions with Dan Friedkin.

The company will focus on telling compelling real life stories from around the world.

Pursuit Productions already has its first documentary feature in the works, Found, and closed a deal with Mark Monroe to pen the film.

The documentaryfollows the search for those pilots whose planes were lost in The Battle of Peleliu during World War II. Also joining the search for the missing pilots in the film is former United States Navy Seal Marcus Luttrell, whose memoir Lone Survivor was adapted into the 2013 Universal Studios film of the same name starring Mark Wahlberg.

Friedkin and Sanchez, in conjunction with Imperative Entertainment, are also filming a pilot, On the Road, which follows the death-defying adventures of The Horsemen, the world’s only vintage P-51 aerobatic flight team.

Sanchez, who served as a guest-host on ABC’s The View this morning, is considered a frontrunner to join the daytime talk show as a co-host.

Brillon Signs with William Morris Endeavor

Posted on May 30, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

Gina Brillon is one step closer to getting laughs on a bigger stage…

The Bronx-born Puerto Rican comedienne has officially signed with William Morris Endeavor (WME), according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Brillon has been performing stand-up since she was 17, serving as a headlining act at clubs throughout the country, including Caroline’s, The Comedy Store and both Los Angeles and New York City outposts of The Laugh Factory.

Montreal’s prestigious Just For Laughs international comedy festival selected her to be part of its New Faces Class of 2013, and the year before she became the first Latina to receive top honors at Stand-Up NBC, an annual showcase for diverse comedians whose alumni include Hannibal Buress, W. Kamau Bell and Brandon T. Jackson.

Her television appearances include The View, Comedy Central’s Live at Gotham, E!’s Chelsea Lately, AXS’ Gotham Comedy Live and NuvoTV’s Stand Up and Deliver.

Earlier this month she generated laughs with a special set at the upfront presentation for the Jennifer Lopez network.

Brillon, who also has published poetry in The New York Post and the Daily Newsand as a singer served as the opening act for artists including Ne-Yo, will appear in comedian Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias’ upcoming documentary The Fluffy Movie, and is preparing to shoot her first one-hour special later this year.

Rivera Launches Online Mini-Series “Chiquis Confidential”

Posted on April 3, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

Chiquis Rivera is so confidential…

The Mexican American daughter of the late Jenni Rivera launched an online mini-series that crashed moments after going live.

The debut of Chiquis Confidential was so strong that chiquisonline.com went down moments before the start of the four-minute premiere at 3:00 pm PT on Tuesday.

“It’s a good thing,” said Richard Bull of The Sixth House, who manages Rivera. “That’s what happens when a server gets hit that very second. Everything becomes affected.”

But Rivera’s fans didn’t need to worry because they were eventually able watch the premiere episode online.

Chiquis Confidential can be seen on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays for 16 weeks. A total of 48 episodes will air and can also be seen via Twitter, Facebook and, once the series is completed, it will also live on YouTube.

Earlier this year, Rivera released “Paloma Blanca,” a banda-themed song dedicated to her mother, who died in December 2012 when her small plane crashed after a performance in Northern Mexico.

The song was also posted on the ChiquisOnline channel. Two official videos of the song combined have received about 4 million views.

At the recent BMI Latin Awards show in Las Vegas, Rivera told Billboard that she was definitely going to pursue a recording career and is actively working on a new album. The new online mini-series will chronicle the entertainer as she makes music, Bull said.

Rivera is no stranger to the spotlight as she’s had her own reality show on cable network Mun2 and in recent years has expressed interest in fashion, beauty and entertainment. In 2013, she was a guest host on ABC‘s The View, where she sat with Barbara Walters and talked about her mother, career and life.

Rivera also wrote the song for her new series, which will be heard on each episode. During the premiere episode, which is produced by Bull as well, the singer talks about why she launched the series.

“I’ve come to realize that sharing my feelings with others is helping me heal the wound that I don’t think I’ll ever completely get over, but I do want to start that process,” Rivera said.

Sánchez to Produce Latina-Themed Talk Show for BMP Latin

Posted on February 2, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

Lauren Sánchez could soon be bringing generations of Latina women to television…

The 44-year-old Latina news anchor and entertainment reporter has signed deal with Bunim/Murray Productions’ BMP Latin to executive-produce and host a syndicated talk show Generations (working title).

The former Extra correspondent star’s project will feature a multi-generational panel of Latin women discussing everything from personal issues to social and pop culture topics.

Sanchez has appeared as a contributor on Larry King Live, The Joy Behar Show, Showbiz Tonight and The View.

It’s one of the latest Latin-themed deals for the production company behind The Real World, Project Runway and Keeping Up With The Kardashians.

Along with signing a development deal with Adam Rodriguez, BMP Latin is currently producing Combate Americas, the first Spanish language Mixed Martial Arts competition reality series for mun2.

The company also has development deals with former The X Factor judge Paulina Rubio, multi-platinum reggaeton singer Daddy Yankee and the Leonardo Lopez family, a successful Mexican-American family living the dream in Encino, California.

Bailon’s Daytime Talk Show “The Real” Inching Toward Reality

Posted on December 10, 2013 by Tom Castaneda

Adrienne Bailon is thisclose to a full-time speaking gig next fall…

The 30-year-old Puerto Rican and Ecuadorian American singer/actress’ daytime talk show The Real, which had a successful four-week test run on seven Fox-owned stations this summer, has been cleared in more than 70% of the country.

The one-hour daily talk show, hosted by Bailon, Tamar Braxton, Loni Love, Jeannie Mai and Tamera Mowry-Housley, has been been bought by select stations from the Cox, Sinclair, Gannett, Local TV, Meredith, Raycom, Media General, Gray, Sunbeam, Griffin and Schurz groups.

The Real is similar in scope to ABC’s The View and CBS’ The Talk, but geared towards a younger and more ethnic audience, with all five hosts under 40.

The Warner Bros. Television Distribution/Telepictures series will also launch on all of the Fox-owned stations, as previously announced.

Bailon Reportedly Forming Part of a New Daytime Talk Show

Posted on May 31, 2013 by Tom Castaneda

It’s about to get real for former Cheetah Girl Adrienne Bailon…

The 29-year-old Puerto Rican and Ecuadorian American singer/actress will reportedly form part of The Real, a new syndicated daytime talk show, according to Deadline.com.

Bailon will join actress-singer Tamera Mowry, singer Tamar Braxton, television personality Jeannie Mai and comedian Loni Love on the new talk panel, which will be getting a trial run this summer on some of the Fox-owned stations.

The exact markets and time periods are still being ironed out, the Telepictures-produced talker is reportedly looking at a July 8 launch date.

The Real is reportedly similar in scope to ABC’s The View and CBS’ The Talk, but geared towards a younger and more ethnic panel, with all five hosts under 40.

The Real is looking to follow in the footsteps of another Telepictures syndicated talk show, Bethenny, which had a successful summer run on Fox stations last summer before getting a nationwide launch this fall.

Estefan to Replace Joy Behar on “The View”?

Posted on March 13, 2013 by Tom Castaneda

Could ABC’s long-running daytime talk show The View finally be ready to hire a Latina to sit at the co-host table?

ABC executives are looking to replace Joy Behar, who recently announced she’s leaving the show at the end of the season, with a Latina, according to The Daily Mail UK.

Gloria Estefan, who is currently working on a Broadway show about her life, is allegedly one of the top contenders. The 55-year-old Cuban-born Latin music icon has appeared as a guest co-host in the past.

But she’s not the only Latina singer apparently under consideration…

Cuban Christian singer Jaci Velasquez, a devout Christian, is said to be in the running.

The website reports that ABC executives want to spice things up and think a feisty conservative Latina with views similar to host Elisabeth Hasselbeck would be an appropriate candidate to star alongside the show’s creator Barbara Walters.

Meantime, staunch Republican Rachel Campos-Duffy, who is married to Sean Duffy, a Republican Congressman in Wisconsin whom she met while filming the MTV hit reality series The Real World: San Francisco, could finally get a spot on the show.

She’s previously tried out twice for The View. She’s currently a stay-at-home and a devoted Catholic.

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