andPOP - Pop Culture With Substance

In a year littered with celebrity passings, one more soul was added to the list today as Houston-born actor Patrick Swayze died- after a nearly two year battle with pancreatic cancer.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the 57-year-old Dirty Dancing star passed away with family at his side.

“Patrick Swayze passed away peacefully today with family at his side after facing the challenges of his illness for the last 20 months,” said a statement released Monday evening in Los Angeles by his publicist, Annett Wolf. No other details were given.

Swayze first came forward about his diagnosis in spring 2008, but decided to undergo treatments at the Stanford University Medical Center and still continue working at the same time-most recently on A&E’s now cancelled series The Beast. The actor was told he had Intraductal Papillary Mucinous Neoplasm (IPMN), a rare stage IV pancreatic cancer.

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The New A&E Real Life Series “Tattoo Highway” premieres Wednesday, May 27, at 10PM ET/9C.

Tattoo Highway follows 15-year tattoo veteran and star of former A&E hit “Inked,” Thomas Pendelton as he takes his tattoo parlor on the road to cities like Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Salt Lake City to transform personal stories into living art. Pendelton and his business partner and wife Monica have transformed a 1970s tour bus into a tattoo parlor on wheels, featuring a swanky interior and top-of-the-line tattooing equipment. It’s a tattoo shop that can tattoo anyone, anywhere. Ride along as emotional limits and friendships are challenged and the persistent mechanical problems of a vintage bus are tested on the road, as “Tattoo Highway” proves to be one bumpy ride.

Visit http://www.aetv.com for more information.
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Patrick Swayze is set to star in the A&E drama “The Beast.”

“I have searched for quite a long time to find a character that is this multi-layered, unpredictable and downright entertaining, as well as a project this current and cutting edged,” said Swayze in a statement from the network.

Production on the show is set to begin this summer and will film on location in Chicago. In the show, Swayze will play veteran FBI agent Charles Baker who is assigned to teach his rookie partner his eccentric undercover crime-solving methods.

The show is scheduled to premiere early 2009. The “Dirty Dancing” star is said to be responding well to treatment for pancreatic cancer and is currently undergoing care at Stanford University Medical Center.

Dog The Bounty Hunter will be returning back to TV. A&E executives announced Wednesday that shooting for the shows fifth season has already begun.

The show was pulled off the air last year in its fourth season when a recording was released of bounty hunter, Duane “Dog” Chapman using racial slurs to describe his son’s African-American girlfriend.

Chapman says he has received counseling and was ashamed of his remarks.

A&E spokesman Michael Feeney said, “We know his heart. We know him and know he’s not a racist.”

A&E also cites viewer demand as another reason for the shows return.