Holmes does song-and-dance for 'Eli Stone'

By NEAL JUSTIN, Star Tribune

Last update: July 16, 2008 - 8:31 PM

Katie Holmes and Courteney Cox will both be members of the ABC family -- at least temporarily. Holmes will sing and dance on the season premiere of "Eli Stone," reuniting her with executive producer Greg Berlanti, a former writer for "Dawson's Creek."

"Her first day shooting was yesterday, and it was great," Berlanti said Wednesday at the TV Critics Association press tour. "She's an incredible actress and a good friend."

Cox will appear in at least three episodes of "Scrubs," which is moving to ABC after seven seasons on NBC. She'll play the hospital's new chief of medicine. "The great thing about Courteney is that she's game for anything," said creator Bill Lawrence. "While we're here, she's shooting a fantasy scene right now in which she's face down in the stomach of a corpse and she's covered in goo."

In other "Scrubs" news, star Zach Braff said it's "my sense that this is my last year" on the sitcom. Lawrence said the series will be weaving in new, younger characters and that it could go on without Braff. "I originally pitched the show as 'ER' as a comedy with some revolving characters," he said.

Others addressing the press Wednesday included Ashton Kutcher, who is producing a new ABC reality show, and two-time "Dancing With the Stars" winner Julianne Hough, who performed her new country single, "That Song in My Head."

NEAL JUSTIN