Stars shine at Screen Actors Guild Awards

Actress Christina Hendricks, nominated for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series in "Mad Men", poses on arrival at the 15th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards in Los Angeles January 25, 2009.

Stars shine at Screen Actors Guild Awards

Actress Saffron Burrows arrives at the 15th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards in Los Angeles, California January 25, 2009.

Stars shine at Screen Actors Guild Awards

Actor Steve Carell nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series for "The Office" arrives with his wife Nancy Walls at the 15th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards in Los Angeles January 25, 2009.

Stars shine at Screen Actors Guild Awards

Actress Jennifer Morrison arrives at the 15th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards in Los Angeles January 25, 2009. Morrison is nominated for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series for the television series "House."

Stars shine at Screen Actors Guild Awards

Actress Eva Longoria Parker and her husband NBA player Tony Parker (background) arrive at the 15th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards in Los Angeles, California January 25, 2009.

Beatles films inspire new Jonas Brothers TV show

The Jonas Brothers (L-R), Kevin Jonas, Joe Jonas and Nick Jonas pose backstage after presenting at the 66th annual Golden Globe awards in Beverly Hills, January 11, 2009.

Could the Jonas Brothers become the next Beatles? Or merely the new Monkees?

The chart-topping teen idols, who elicit piercing shrieks from their young fans wherever they go, are starring in a Disney Channel series inspired by the Beatles' movies as well as the zany American made-for-TV group the Monkees.

The Jonas siblings -- Kevin, 21, Joe, 19, and Nick, 16 -- will appear as themselves in the barely fictional comedy series "Jonas," premiering on the cable channel in May.

The squeaky clean brothers, beloved by the young daughters of President-elect Barack Obama, play members of a popular band trying to live normal lives at a regular school, despite being trailed by throngs of ardent fans.

Described as a fusion of situation comedy and music video, the show also features hitherto unknown brother Frankie, 8, (known as the "bonus Jonas") playing their younger brother.

The TV show originally was envisioned as a spy series, but producers said on Friday the concept was changed as the Jonas Brothers became a global teen phenomenon over the past 12 months.

"It's hard not to make parallel comparisons to the Beatles in 1962 and 1963 when you see the kind of response that the Jonas Brothers' fans have to them. It's a force of nature," executive producer Roger Schulman told reporters at a preview.

He said the Fab Four's 1964 big-screen romp, "A Hard Day's Night," was "very much a template," as was their 1965 follow-up, "Help!" Another inspiration was the Monkees, who spawned a short-lived series in the mid-1960s, delirious fans and a succession of hit singles.

"Any time you have a group of talented musicians who got along together, were kind of a family, and had a sort of air of being insubordinate and a little subversive, you can't ignore that," Schulman said.

The Jonas Brothers previously starred in the Disney Channel's "Camp Rock," which debuted last June and became one of the family-friendly network's most successful TV movies with more than 100 million viewers worldwide.

But Nick Jonas said the transition to acting in a 21-episode series was daunting.

"This gives us a great opportunity to have acting and music involved," he said. "Acting is something that's totally different for us, and going into it we were pretty nervous."

Disney said on Friday a "Camp Rock" sequel was already in the works. The "Jonas Brothers -- The 3D Concert Experience" feature film opens in the United States on February 27, three weeks after the Grammy Awards.

The brothers will vie for the coveted best new artist award, a prize that went to the Beatles in 1964.

As for the Obama girls, the Jonas Brothers revealed that Sasha, 7, and Malia, 10, had already fulfilled one of their dreams. The girls met the pop band in private last September after mother Michelle appeared on a TV talk show.

"They were very excited. It was very cool to meet them after knowing they were fans," Nick Jonas said. "We played ping pong. They beat me!"

Sienna Miller set for her Broadway debut this fall

The Roundabout Theatre Company says Sienna Miller will make her Broadway debut this fall in its production of "After Miss Julie," playwright Patrick Marber's riff on a 19th-century Strindberg classic about class, sex and power.

The three-character play will be directed by Mark Brokaw. Other casting, the performance schedule and theater will be announced later.

The play, relocated by Marber to Britain in 1945 as Labour come to power, will open at the Roundabout Theatre's American Airlines auditorium on 42nd Street in September.

The 27-year-old Miller will portray the title character, a wealthy young woman involved with a family manservant.