Ox Notes: September 11, 2007

TV Guide posted an interview with Jane Seymour -- the first of their Dancing with the Stars Preview articles. And ESPN.com has an article about Floyd Mayweather Jr. worth reading for the interesting background information on his dance partner, Karina Smirnoff -- including the fact that Mario Lopez's pet name for her is "The Ukrainian Hammer."

DwtS vet George Hamilton is returning to Broadway on Friday in the role of Billy Flynn in Chicago. He's also looking to get hitched: "Being alone is not as much fun as one might imagine."

Bravo's bringing even more dancing to television with a competition show called Step It Up, from the makers of Project Runway. Interested dancers can find application information here. Open casting calls start on September 22 in Los Angeles, with other open calls planned for Chicago, New York, and Atlanta.

When the Creative Arts Emmy Awards Presentation is broadcast on E! on Saturday, Kathy Griffin's acceptance speech will be censored. E! caved in to religious groups who were offended when Griffin took the podium and said, "Can you believe this shit? I guess hell froze over. … a lot of people come up here and thank Jesus for this award. I want you to know that no one had less to do with this award than Jesus. So, all I can say is, ‘suck it, Jesus.’ This award is my god now."

Now if E!'s really interested in catering to religious conservatives, they ought to consider censoring shows like The Girls Next Door, Sunset Tan, The Simple Life, Dr. 90210...

Speaking of offensive things, Survivor's Jonny Fairplay is going to be a father. His girlfriend, America's Next Top Model's Michelle Deighton, says of her pregnancy, "Oops."

Finally, here are two sites to help get you ready for fall: Variety's Season Pass has early reviews of many of this season's new shows, and Zap2It's Fall Preview 2007 has everything you need to know about show's new and old.