O’Neal’s scheduled appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show today will mark her first full interview since that drug bust. She’ll reportedly discuss not only the very public — and very embarrassing, I’m sure — ordeal, but details about her recovery and also an unexpected conversation she had with Farrah Fawcett, who reached out to her.

If you plan to catch this interview, take a look at the teaser promo after the jump and check your local listings for The Oprah Winfrey Show’s syndicated air time in your area.

Post from: Grrl TV

Set in sports-loving Texas, the movie recounts the unbelievable story of five little cheerleaders who somehow managed to rule their high school. I swear, looking at the scrawny girls involved, I don’t know how they accomplished that. Either the grown-ups at their school must have been really helpless and/or blind, or the cheerleaders involved had some kind of supernatural powers, like the women on Charmed or in The Craft.

Whatever the case was, in real life and in the movie, the girls cause havoc so major, the school’s principal, one of the girls’ mother, ultimately resigns over the scandal when a brave new cheerleading coach says, “Hell, naw! I’m not taking this crap from some pimply, snot-nosed, miniskirt-wearing little brats!”

In the movie, the principal is played by recently troubled Rescue Me cast member Tatum O’Neal, while the courageous cheerleading coach who blows the whistle is played by Jenna Dewan. New York Post television critic Linda Stasi calls the movie “[i]nsane and inane and perfect for a slow Saturday night,” which means I must watch, of course.

Follow the jump to get to know the cast members of what looks to be a worthwhile weekend guilty pleasure.

From L to R: Stephanie Honore, Aimee Fortier, Ashley Benson, Jessica Heap, Ashlynn Ross

Ashley Benson (center) stars as head cheerleader Brooke Tippit, the leader of the Fab Five

From L to R: Stephanie Honore, Jessica Heap, Ashley Benson, Aimee Fortier, Ashlynn Ross

Cheerleading coach Emma Carr (Jenna Dewan) steps in to break up a fight between the Fab Five and some of the other girls on the squad

Post from: Grrl TV

According to TV Guide, it’s like nothing has happened when it comes to the people who run her most recent show, the FX dramedy Rescue Me. O’Neal plays the substance-abusing, loudmouthed sister of star Denis Leary’s character on the series, and cocreator Peter Tolan expects the actress to return to complete relevant filming on its upcoming fifth season, which won’t premiere all the way until Spring 2009, incidentally.

Says Tolan: “We want to bring her back, and I haven’t heard anything about why she wouldn’t be available to us. It’s a misdemeanor, so she’s not going to do time, and nobody has said to us we can’t insure her or anything like that. So I’m assuming she’s available to us and it’s ‘business as usual.’”

You know what I really like about that quote? [sarcasm] How obvious it is that Tolan cares so much about O’Neal’s physical health and mental well-being. [/sarcasm]

Nobody wants her to get fired, at least not in my camp. Yet for him, the situation appears to be nothing but, as he himself says, “business as usual.” With a boss like that, I wouldn’t be surprised if it takes no time for O’Neal to get back in the news for trying to score more crack. I hope Tolan is a smidgen more concerned about his show’s cast members in private than he is when speaking to entertainment reporters.

Post from: Grrl TV

Recently, Actress Tatum O’Neal has been seen mostly in her recurring role on Denis Leary’s FX dramedy Rescue Me. The 44-year-old daughter of Ryan O’Neal is also the youngest Oscar winner ever following her win for Paper Moon at the tender age of ten. Now the ex-wife of tennis legend John McEnroe can add crack and cocaine arrestee to that impressive resume after getting caught red-handed yesterday buying the drugs from a dealer near her upscale apartment in lower Manhattan.

Shocking as the arrest alone is, the embarrassing part I refer to above is O’Neal’s reported response upon getting busted. After asking officers, “You know who I am, right?” the former heroin addict allegedly proceeded to claim she was conducting research for a role as a junkie.

When that didn’t fly, she then resorted to begging. Local newspaper the New York Daily News has her saying to officers, “I’ve been clean for a long time. Today was the first time I was relapsing, but you guys saved me! Can you let me go?”

I feel bad for the actress, whether she’s telling the truth or not, and I know she feels bad, too, because she was charged with seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, a misdemeanor offense. In addition, she now has to endure the embarrassment of this incident being reported and mocked all over the world ad nauseam.

Yes, Tatum, if they didn’t know who you were before, they do now. Everybody does, and no one will be forgetting anytime soon either, unfortunately. That’s yet another argument against buying illegal drugs in public areas, not that doing it in private is any better.

Oh, and the “suspected” dealer, 33-year-old Alan Garcia, was arrested and charged, too.

Post from: Grrl TV