Michael Ausiello

There’s a reason that Michael Ausiello is often called “the most feared man in showbiz,” and his Winnebago-sized ego isn’t it (well, not entirely, anyway): Simply put, he knows the industry inside and out.

A born couch potato, Mike’s earliest memories are rectangular in shape, and, in fact, when he gets bored with one recollection, he reaches for the remote control and switches to another. Papa Smurf, J.R. Ewing, Flame Beaufort (if you have to ask, be ashamed… be very ashamed)… These are the personalities that shaped his young mind into what it is today, a steel trap, slightly rusty, but overflowing with knowledge of the tube - some of it practical; some… eh, not so much.

From the beginning, Mike dreamed of making a living in the business by which he lived and died. But how? Dammit, how?!

He tried acting, turning in a performance as Sandy in a Robert Gordon Elementary School production of Annie that was so convincing, he got fleas. He tried playing an instrument, rocking out on the clarinet as a member of the University of Southern California’s indefatigable Trojan marching band. But neither of those hats fit him quite as well as that of editor.

Upon graduating from USC, Mike gave up working as the TV critic/columnist for USC’s Daily Trojan newspaper and began riding the elevator to success. First he labored alongside John Tesh and Mary Hart (well, they were in the same building, at least) as a media relations coordinator for Entertainment Tonight. Next he so thoroughly schmoozed impressed the editors of Soap Opera Update that they had no choice but to give him a freelancing gig. Then he was added to the staff of Update’s sister publication, Soaps In Depth.

At In Depth, Mike interviewed all of daytime television’s greats, from Susan Lucci to Cynthia Watros to Vanessa Marcil. But soon, he was hungry for more. (Actually, since between high school and college he lost enough weight to equal any Gilmore Girl, including Edward Hermann, he might have just been hungry, period.) So in 1999, when he was invited to come aboard at TV Guide, he leapt at the opportunity, looking back only long enough to make sure he hadn’t left any Diet Raspberry Snapple in his wake.

Keri and Cheri, Mariska and Piggy… In no time, Mike was on a first-name basis with their publicists’ secretaries. Quickly realizing that they had a diva in the making star on the rise on their hands, Mike’s new bosses added to his responsibilities almost hourly: Before long, not only was he handling TVGuide.com’s news every day, editing the site’s Insiders and churning out one Ask Ausiello after another, but he was filing a weekly column for the magazine and writing the occasional Insider and feature.

Now Mike’s wit and wisdom continue to appear in his magazine column, The Ausiello Report, his Wednesday-morning TVGuide.com perennial, Ask Ausiello, and in his Insiders, features and, occasionally, conversations. His Press Tour Diaries have become a popular diversion when the Television Critics Assoc. convenes each summer, and on Fridays, when he can be seen dishing the week’s "Big 5" on the TV Guide Channel (at 8 pm/ET).

When he’s not working his moles to scoop his competition and bring his ever-growing fan base the latest news, Mike can be found thinking deep thoughts, coveting other journalists’ swag and fielding requests from his grandmother and Aunt Joan to take them to Red Lobster.

It has been said (and not only by Mike’s family) that he has matinee-idol looks that would serve him well in features. And certainly, his critically-acclaimed appearance on Gilmore Girls, plus his right elbow’s cameo on Felicity, are testaments to his chops. However, while he often ponders a return to the stage — where he last won kudos and nearly a Best Actor Award in 2000 for his portrayal of Arnold Epstein in The Villagers’ production of Biloxi Blues — he has no plans at present to resume his acting career in earnest. Apparently, even for the most feared man in showbiz, some things are just too frightening.