1) His character on the show was as close as any gay man will come to resembling me on television ... slightly overweight, geeky, wasted.
2) This tweet from today (click here). I wonder which one? The left one? Right one? People need to know!
3) A post from December 2008 I wrote about The IT Crowd's Matt Berry coming all the way to America to be on Sarah's show and what he got when he got here. Click here for that.
And, new episodes of the show on FX (the show's sixth season) start again ... well, eventually. Can't find a return date for them there but I know the show is renewed through season seven.
If you've never tasted any of It's Always Sunny ... here's some, an episode from season five called The World Series Defense which I just loved.
I'm sure there are many ways to describe this show, but I think mine is pretty cogent, it's The Three Stooges plus sex plus drugs plus Danny DeVito, though you won't see DeVito in the earliest episodes to run tonight on Comedy Central. He wasn't added till a bit later.
As my OCD feeds on being able to watch stuff from the beginning, I'm kvelling about having four eps each Monday night of this show to consume, especially considering all my Monday shows will now be in repeats.
And, I'll admit to a little bit of a crush thing on Rob McElhenney and Glenn Howerton (above left). Especially in these costumes from a season five episode called The Nightman Cometh which you also need to see and isn't posted at Hulu, unfortunately.
More for you on the show at this TV.com link.
It is amazingly simple to see and incredibly obvious that the man who should direct a Doctor Who movie written by Russell T. Davies and starring Doctor 10 David Tennant and Billie Piper as Rose has been, is and will always be Guillermo Del Toro.
(Sorry Euros Lyn, I know you'd like to get the call.)
Spend ten minutes watching clips form Pan's Labyrinth or either of the Hellboy movies and it's obvious he would have the feel for the script and the performances and for the elaborate effects work that would need to be done to bring the show to your local cinemas.
And now, Del Toro has some room on his schedule as he's pulled out of the two-film Hobbit series being produced by Peter Jackson in New Zealand.
So, Jane Tranter (pictured here above right with DT at the BAFTA TV Awards in 2009) I encourage you today or tomorrow (okay, take a day off and eat something fried with cheese, it's a bank holiday ... in fact I'll join you!) and maybe just let the word get out to some close industry friends that a team could be put together fairly quickly for this enterprise and if you work fast we might have something for a 2013 production date.
And just to get you thinking this way, Jane, watch the Hellboy 2 trailer again, click this and watch. He's really perfect for the job and getting him, especially now, would cement the fanboy furvor for the project.
Plus DT and Billie won't be available for this forever, you know. They'll need to get on with it, eventually.
Am I right or am I right? I'm right.
Meet her via Hulu by clicking this link. Do you love her now? Well, you'll lurve her after you watch this and hear how she landed this gig with a bit of Beyonce magic.
Also more about that in this clip from Live Starring You at YouTube.
I know we're all looking for more Brittany coming this Fall. A lot more Brittany. Best of Brittany clip from misstruevamp at YouTube by clicking here.
Read their summary of the Eurovision finals in full, certainly, but in particular I loved this part (It's Mark Savage for BBCNews.com):
At the other end of the scale, UK entrant Josh Dubovie will be drowning his sorrows after taking last place, with a measly 10 points.
His fatal mistake was to cling stoically to decades-old Eurovision cliche, in a year when the contest finally dragged itself into the 21st Century.
That Sounds Good To Me was written by Pete Waterman and Mike Stock - bankable hitmakers in their heyday, but that heyday was 20 years ago, and their song sounded like it had been pulled off a shelf marked "Jason Donovan rejects (1988)".
You can decide for yourself by watching a March 12 performance of the song by Dubovie. Click here.
Bland song, that last pair of lyric lines don't even rhyme, and the boy from Essex has no character to his voice. He's what Cowell would call a cruise ship singer, and maybe Cowell did. The guy auditioned for both X-Factor and Britain's Got Talent and got neither.
Point of trivia: Josh auditioned for the role of Freddie on Skins, according to Wikipedia, and of course Luke Pasqualino got that part.
Germany won. The singer is this 19-year-old named Lena Meyer-Landrut who with no previous professional credits entered a reality show of Germany's ProSieben channel (the company that's co-producing the new series of Primeval) and the public broadcaster ARD, so it was a really big deal apparently. and won. Point of trivia: Her grandfather was the West German Ambassador to the Soviet Union, according to Wikipedia.
And she's cute as getout, huh? The same BBC News article is headlined: Germany drags Eurovision into the 21st Century. I heard the song , called Satellite, and it's good, I offer it for you at this link.
I don't think it's EVER happened before, but I think we might see some US airplay for a Eurovision winner. I think she has a kinda Duffy with dark hair meets Ute Lemper thing going.
For some context, here's what the poster of this Jason Donovan clip on YouTube said was one of his better efforts. Meh.
You can watch all the official Eurovision YouTube accounts clips right here, with the winner's reaction, etc. Click this link of that widgety thing.Make sure you check out some of the BBC clips from Eurovision with your host Graham Norton by clicking the previous link. They'll just start in the screen that pops up and keep going for as long as you can stand it, there are 56 clips in the playlist, so go wild!
Oh, btw, Dubovie won his spot at Eurovision on a TV show, too. I guess, maybe, they all did. We should have sent Lee DeWyze, just for giggles.
I wonder if they're allowed to use auto-tune. Oh, I know, now it's meow me, huh?
For the record, I loved the girl and the song from Iceland, though on the Facebook chat I was in while watching it at the Eurovision website I was disappointed with all the rude comments about her weight. I thought Europeans were more accepting.
Watch her song, Je Ne Sais Quoi, by clicking this link. The singer is Hera Bjork (sorry, I don't have the ... uh oh, ignorance about to so ... I don't have the dots above the O in her last name). She's actually had a pop singing career in Iceland and does theatre and has participated here before, apparently to great national notoriety.
I was very intrigued by the fact that almost all the singers I saw sang in English. Also a little disappointed. I'd hate to think they're all hoping some A&R guy at Arista is gonna send a tape to Clive Davis.
That would be sad.
UPDATE: Hey, the YouTube playlist won't create a widget in Apture, or at least it won't today, and I'm not gonna sit here and take an hour constructing one for the site, so watch some here and then click over the YouTube for the rest of 'em and some semi-final clips and ... also make sure to go outside this weekend and get some sun.
Exsqueeze me, but can someone tell me what business someone this age has writing a memoir?
What's he gonna say? I'm an LDS church member and my dad's a bit of an ass?
Is there anything more?
I guess I should expect such from a pop culture that would welcome him making a Christmas album as his second release, but I still don't get what he's gonna fill a book with. And at 21 I'm sure he's not done any amount of living that would qualify for the memoir treatment.
Yeah, yeah, I know, he partially lost his voice in 2004, at the age of 14. Not worthy for a memoir, sorry.
There are plenty of actual writers out there who have something to say, please buy their books first. But if you have to buy this one, click here to buy it from Amazon and with the tiny pittance that I get from the click I'll save it up and send him to Thailand for a weekend of inappropriate amusement.
It'll take a while though, it's really quite the small pittance, after all.
For you Americans or ex-pats who are interested, I put together a list of the Twitter accounts I follow that are tweeting the Eurovision finals right now.
Just click this link.
And you can watch the proceedings live if you like online, though it requires an additional plug-in, which I loaded without problem. Click here for the live feed from the Eurovision website.
Heigl was on Current's The Rotten Tomatoes Show promoting her upcoming trainwreck Killers starring her and Ashton Kutcher.
I love the headline on the HuffPo Entertainment splash page regarding the movie, it reads: How HORRIBLE is This Movie?
If someone tells you that their five fave films are these (click this link, watch the clip) just imagine how badly they choose their OWN projects.
Watch Brett Erlich and Ellen Fox on TRTS on Current Thursdays at 10:30 eastern .
If you really need to see the trailer for her new movie, click this. I warned you, though.
From the website of Petersen's group A Minor Consideration:
In 1980 we filmed a movie with Gary, "Scout's Honor," me and Lauren Chapin, Jay North and Angela Cartwright. Before we shot our first scene, Gary had to go behind the set and throw up. I was concerned and said so."Oh, don't worry about Gary", I was told. "He's always been sick."
If you remember nothing else about Gary Coleman, remember that. He gave you everything he had. He lived twice as long as the doctors thought possible. Gary Coleman. A good man gone.
Click over for his complete statement.
BTW, the kitten was not one of the items for barter. Neither was Russell.
I told you about this on Wednesday, here's some footage from the event posted by punkrooster1210 on YouTube. Russell also had a film crew there to document the event for an upcoming documentary he's doing on happiness.
Warning: punkrooster1210 seems to be a fan of Paul Greengrass, the director of the last two Bourne movies. Take your dramamine if you have them.
Get Him to the Greek opens June 4th in your local theatre. If you like movies where Jonah Hill struggles to keep a balloon of heroin up his ass (and who doesn't) watch the redband trailer for it by clicking here. Not at all suitable for work, but it's a holiday weekend so you're probably at home anyway.
This just hit my email from NBC. Boris is awfully scrummy, isn't he? Just in case you don't know the set up for this series, Kodjoe and British actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw play a couple of former spooks who have moved on and opened a catering business and then get pulled right back into the spy game.
Gugu was, as Doctor Who fans will remember, Martha Jones' sister Tish.
Nice behind the scenes clip of an action sequence shot on top of the Biltmore Hotel in downtown LA.
Check it out by clicking this link. The series preems in September on Wednesdays at 8 eastern.
Check out an extended clip from the pilot by clicking this link.
Or are these kids just the "street team" for the PR firm MTV has hired to promote their series based on the movie?
I so want it to be that, but I'm pretty sure it isn't.
Kids, you're starting to concern me. It's only a movie. That Lautner guy isn't really a werewolf he's just an 18-year-old actor with a six-pack and, imho, just a bit of a gay affect.
Just a bit, maybe it's just his age.
Better chance he's a friend of Dorothy than a real werewolf, though.
Watch this bit of local Texas news from last night's episode of infoMania from Current TV last night. Your host is Conor Knighton, also not a werewolf. Click this.
Someday? Eventually? Before the DVD comes out?
Yes, I'm buying the DVD, I already have season one and it ends up being a cheap series to complete, unfortunately.
Daniel Fienberg at Hitfix has the details, it all comes down to how many games the NBA finals go. We're rooting for the finals to go six games or less.
While we're talking BOT, let's take a look at our core cast and what they'll be doing in the near future.
Jay Harrington -- Nathan vs. Nurture didn't make it to series.
Portia de Rossi -- That Arrested Development movie is at the top of her IMDB page. I'm still not convinced. Too much Boy Who Cried Wolf for me to deal with. Oh well, she has Ellen and, of course, Portia's horses (say that three times fast, just try).
Andrea Anders (one of Toby's favorites) -- Mr. Sunshine, the Matthew Perry series, got picked up by ABC, we'll see her in September.
Jonathan Slavin -- Upcoming in the very very serious film Dirty Girl and was in the Rob Riggle pilot for CBS, Team Spitz, which maybe possibly might be added in midseason? Maybe? Anyone?
Malcolm Barrett -- The Fox pilot Most Likely to Succeed didn't make it onto the sked, he's currently shooting the film Larry Crowne directed by Tom Hanks and starring Tom, Julian Roberts, Rami Malek (who I loved in Fox's The War at Home a couple seasons ago), Bryan Cranston from Breaking Bad and a big wonderful cast. Check the rest of the cast out at this IMDB link, or right here in the image above right, all the leads' headshots. I have no idea why this image exists on the 'net but it does. And yes, that's Peter Scolari under Hanks in the second row.
I'm very excited for Barrett, it's a real breakthrough in his career and I thought he was a really nice guy when we spoke about BOT in a phoner back at the end of season one.
I have no idea what Victor Fresco is working on right now, but he created this and Andy Richter Controls the Universe and I'll watch anything he brings to TV. Hell, I even enjoyed Life on a Stick.
There are still the last five episodes of the show at Hulu and they are right here after the jump in a widgety thing for you. Have at it! Sorry, Hulu is US Only here.
Continue reading "Hitfix -- There Are Two Eps of Better Off Ted We Haven't Seen. Will We?" »
The now-controversial Newsweek pop culture columnist was in the studio today to talk about Memorial Day movies and the Today Show apparently didn't even consider broaching the subject, though when Cynthia Nixon was on a bit back they asked her all about it.
Watch that interview at this link.
They had him right there on camera and ... nothing. Nothing. NOTHING.
I'm just saying I would have made the time. If it was important enough to ask a lesbian actor to stop promoting her film (such that it is, I certainly won't be seeing SATC2, still haven't seen the first and I think the whole enterprise is just a way to separate women and gay men from their money because it's an unneccesary expansion of the story) it's important enough to ask the guy who started it all.
And ... one more thing.
Can someone explain to me why the producers of SATC2, some of the most noted gay people in the entertainment industry, decided to set most of this movie in Abu Dhabi, a country that has serious civil rights issues when it comes gays and lesbians? I get that they didn't shoot it there (they shot in Morocco instead), but I also know they wanted to and the film will end up being somewhat of a commercial for an anti-gay theocratic regime.
I had to say it. If I'm gonna be down on Russell T. Davies and the Doctor Who production team for shooting in Dubai I have to say something about Michael Patrick King and his crew doing the same. At least the Doctor Who shoot didn't promote anything but sand dunes (and metal eating alien lifeforms creating a wormhole between the Planet of the Dead and London).
I don't know how many of you watch the BBC Manchester series Ideal starring Johnny Vegas as a really really really downmarket weed and hash dealer in Salford, England. Here in the States the show airs on IFC and we're in the fourth series of the show (for you UK readers who have seen all of series five please don't leave spoilers in the comments, I hate that).
If you're not watching, you should. It is the best example of how you can produce fun, interesting and sometimes even moving television on a budget much lower than the US networks.
Written by Graham Duff (left), who also co-stars as Brian, Ideal all takes place in the apartment building of the dealer in question, Moz (Vegas). The show never strays from Moz's place, the hallway outside and the two apartments on either side.
One is inhabited by Judith (Joanna Neary, Skins and Notting Hill) who started out a necrophiliac but is currently living and sleeping with Cartoon Head, the most identifiable of the characters ... because he has the head of a cartoon mouse. Seriously. Here's a clip, click this.
The other apartment is occupied by Fist, and although I know a little too much about him already from researching this post (DAMN, the spoilers you run into when another country has seen stuff before you, DAMN!) I've watched to the point that Fist has made the acquaintance of Kim and Miko, friends of Yasuko, who was a friend Moz's ex Nikki from a trip to Thailand where they had a three-way.
(Yes, it's convulted and the cast is huge, but it all works. Duff weaves all these characters into a lovely cloth.)
And there's Nikki (Nicola Reynolds, right) who I just hate. Not the actress, the character. Granted I have a certain affinity for Moz because he's a man of size and we need to stick together (though frankly I don't quite qualify as a man of size as much as I used to but old allegiances die hard) but Nikki is a bitch, a liar and a serial philanderer.
She's been sleeping with Moz's policemen pal PC (character's birth name is Phil Collins, wouldn't you go by initials?) since the beginning of the series. During Moz's birthday party she has sex with PC, Moz and DJ Kuldip who got her pregnant.
She left Moz to believe that the kid was his up until the birth, when it was obvious that the kid was Kuldip's. And she had a lesbian relationship with Sangita. Man, I hate Nikki.
Not that Moz is a catch. Fat, high and tethered to your TV does get you ... hey, wait a minute, am I describing myself in my college days? Well, yeah, but I digress. Moz is no prize package, he's hit on almost every single woman who's entered his place to buy weed or hash (which, btw comes from PC who makes regular trips to the evidence locker at work to supply Moz with inventory.
The inventory doesn't go too quickly, what with everyone buying as little as possible. I said Moz was really really really downmarket. The aforementioned Brian stops by regularly with some young guy he's dating (except for the one time the guy was older, everyone needs to switch it up a bit) and is the reason I've started using the word scrummy here on the blog.
And there's Moz's most upmarket clients, two local kids played by Primeval's Andrew Lee Potts and Tim Fallows, who are in a bands called Silicon Valets. Get it? It's like Silicon Valley without an L and adding a T, like parking your car. And they explain it to everyone they meet, because ... well, they have to.
Click over the jumperoo for more of this post ... and clips. Non-spoilery clips for the US audience.
Continue reading "Video -- The New Series of Ideal on IFC & the Amazing Sinead Matthews" »
He wrote:
Lee asks, “What would you do if I sang out of tune?” Answer: Let you win American Idol
Click the link to read his post. It is also fantastic.
(Shortest post I've ever written. Oops, now it's not. Oops, now it really isn't. I should just hit the Publish button. Done.)
Ah, the critical moment, at 9:57 (tv time) when the winner was revealed. The first of many image, click over the jump for the rest of this photo feature.
The American Idol season nine winner is Lee DeWyze during the AMERICAN IDOL GRAND FINALE 2010 at the Nokia Theatre on Weds. May 26, 2010 in Los Angeles, California. © 2010 FOX BROADCASTING CR: Vince Bucci/FOX
Continue reading "My American Idol Finale Photo Album (with pics courtesy Fox Television)" »
Disney announced today that SOAPnet is going to be replaced on most of our cable and satellite systems by a channel Disney is gearing toward children from two to seven called Disney Junior.
The company will launch Disney Junior, a 24-hour channel devoted to preschool-age children (age 2-7). The move will expand Disney Channel's current daytime programming block, Playhouse Disney, into its own network. The network will make its debut in 2012, taking advantage of the 75-million-home distribution of SoapNet.
And of course, taking advantage of those parents that use TV as a babysitter. A channel that hooks your kids into the Disney culture whose job it is to feed them into Disney Channel after age seven and to all those branded products with the names Jonas and Lovato and Gomez on them that go with the shows, which also have music elements and DVDs and concerts and theme park attractions.
I'm not a big fan of how the Disney organization markets to kids, it smacks of insidiousness. They're not as bad as McDonald's certainly. I guess I have a problem with any kind of aggressive marketing to children, it's so amped up from when the time I was a kid.
And about SOAPnet, it was a good idea before the DVR but I gather that anyone who's dying to see the soaps, the ones that are left on the air, have a machine.
More in today's NY Times business section at this link.
Yes, according to Damian Holbrook at TV Guide, Kelly and Fantasia in a duet and the GLAAD.org blog reports Christina Aguilera (though this surprises me as she just announced that she's canceling her Summer tour and the first single off her new album is selling only tepidly) and Kris Allen will be on hand (because I love songs sung in the key of beige).
Lee & Crystal will both perform with some big music industry heavyweight types, but they are unknown at present. And they'll sing a duet, per the Seattle Times.
And, there's a rumor that Paula Abdul might show up for Simon's final appearance.
And they'll make a big deal of Simon leaving, which as I said earlier is just foolish, because he's not going anywhere.
And, although the results show is for suckers, I do watch this one, if only for the star power.
This is fascinating to me. And clearly timed to happen around the premiere of Russell Brand's new movie, Get Him to the Greek, but also quite the idea, especially in that it's gonna happen at a shopping mall.
Russell will be at the Beverly Center tomorrow and wants you to bring stuff from home that you don't need, even if you originally bought it at the Beverly Center.
(Man, I have some shirts from the late 80s that I got there that no one needs to see or wear. What they need is a match and some oxygen.)
From the event's website (banner pictured above):
Many of us are guilty of buying things we don't necessarily need or updating products before the previous model is truly defunct. With this in mind the shop offers customers an opportunity to put those unwanted items to good use by offering them in exchange for something they actually need.
The shop will initially be stocked by donations from Russell, his friends (some celebrity) and companies prepared to contribute end of the line / out of season items. We are also welcoming donations from the public.
On the day Russell will act as vendor greeting customers and managing exchanges. Ideally we'd like the day to serve a genuine purpose and therefore hope that customers will bring items of some value, not in terms of their financial worth but with regard to their function. However, don't let this put you off bring your unwanted items and get prepared to swap.You can offer donations by emailing info@buylovehere.com - we will arrange drop off and collection.
I strongly recommend anyone who shows up for this brings a video camera and upload something to YouTube. Send me a link & I'll post here.
No word on Katy showing up, but maybe some of her stuff will?
The event has a Facebook page, too. Click here.
You know her, you love her from the Maddow Show and you can't live without her political analysis which is all over the web from Twitter (of course, see above) to her personal site to Facebook to Playboy.com.
Thanks, AMC, and right back atcha with the love.
To which Jon Hamm asks, "Griffith Park?"
No I'm not kidding, you can watch it for yourself, click this link.
Note to you, readers ... don't get high in Griffith Park in LA, kids play there. If there's a Merry Go Round someplace, you shouldn't be getting high there.
Not to worry, Ray isn't getting high in Griffith Park. He was talking about acting to the Hollywood Reporter with some other guys (Alex Skarsgard, Bryan Cranston, Matthew Fox, the very lovely -- and eyeglass-wearing -- Matt Bomer) who might be up for Emmys in the Outstanding Actor in a Drama category.
Romano? Yeah Romano, did you watch any of Men of a Certain Age? Because he tore it up and I didn't expect that, either. But he did.
Bomer? I love the guy but the role is a little too lightweight I think for the Emmy voters. Cranston, yes. Hamm, yes. Skarsgard? Lead actor? That's a bit of a stretch.
Finally from the group there's Fox, who I think might have harshed his chances at a nom earlier this year by making such a big deal about saying he was no longer gonna do TV. TV people don't like hearing that, makes them feel less than.
(Plus, I don't see Matthew Fox bringing anything to your local movie screen that isn't already being provided by other actors. If he gets roles I think it'll be because he comes in at a lower price point and those roles won't rise to the level of Oscar bait, certainly.)
For those of you who didn't partake, here's a clip of Ray from the show, click this. No embed code but the link will take you to the clip's YouTube page.
Modern Family's Sofia Vergara and our Joel McHale (yes, ours. Or at least mine in the sense that I have not missed one episode of The Soup, ever, even when it was called the WTF Awards) announce the nominees on the morning of July 8, Emmys handed out in Hollywood on August 29 hosted by Jimmy Fallon on NBC.
Here's the Emmy site link, have at it!
Here's how Linda Holmes at NPR's Monkey See blog sees it, in a nutshell. With fewer people interested in the show this year (and that's just a fact) the people who end up voting are the diehards who she purports are largely more prone to voting for a cute guy than a roundfaced young woman with dreads.
That leaves even more of the voting to die-hards than you'd otherwise find. It's always a die-hard sort of pursuit, voting for a show like this, but the less the casual fan is paying attention, the more you leave the entire thing to power-voting superfans.
(Click that link above to see performances from last night as well.)
Linda makes a good point. Though she also makes me feel a little guilty for not devoting a whole lot of time to the show this year. Hey, Linda, you're not getting paid to guilt trip me by Nigel Lythgoe, are ya?
Honestly, I'm not feeling very guilty at all. There's so much pop culture to consume and this brand is now aging. Like any young pretty thing that lives hard it's really showing its age.
Like Lindsay Lohan, but without the inappropriate mother and the monitoring bracelet.
I gotta believe at this time next year we'll be talking about whether American Idol has jumped the shark.
Okay, so no one really cares as much as they used to about who wins American Idol. And that makes some sense, I guess, nine seasons in. We've seen them come and go, for every Carrie and Kelly there's a Ruben and a ... who was that Soul Patrol guy again?
No matter, he'll be opening a new AM/PM MiniMart somewhere and someone will write about it and I'll remember.
But geez, there's no there there this year. As much as I think Crystal gets the win I can't get really excited about her or Lee or about Simon leaving.
Simon's not really going anywhere, of course. It's the same ol' act, just a different show. Idol, X-Factor, tomato, to-mah-to.
Not sure I can care about this any less? Watch me.
Can't say I watched the whole show, I fast forwarded through the garbage and just watched the performances.
Best performance? Will Young. And he's not competing. Still trying to make it in the US, though, bless his heart (and Simon's). I just don't think it's gonna happen for Will here, as much as I enjoy his voice.
It's all over but for the counting of the votes. They do count the votes, right? They don't just decide amongst themselves backstage by tossing a coin or ... their craft services catered lunch, do they?
Yeah, I'm just not ... into it anymore. It's not the best way or even a good way to find the next pop superstar, but it does make for a lot of hours of TV. And so will X-Factor, by the way. I gotta think that the three talent shows they will have running concurrently will put a serious dent in original comedy and original drama development.
And that's almost as bad as putting Jay on every night at 10.
Almost as bad.
Wanna see 'em? They're all at this link.
Less than six months until Conan returns to our TVs on TBS, show premiere date is November 8.
I was just looking at this image above and wondering what would have happened if I decided to cruise the hallways of Valley Stream Central High School wearing the minstrel costume from Once Upon a Mattress.
I think my books might have been not only knocked out of my arms but would have then been set afire and the ashes force fed to me.
Ah, high school. What a character building experience that was. Glad it's over.
You gotta figure this will be one of the highlights of the show's first season, the music is way over the top great for a show choir and the costumes and the issues raised by the issue of theatricality ... I'm certainly tuning in.
Watch a preview of the episode by clicking here. Only this episode left before the season finale.
I'd also like to note here that I totally called the plot points surrounding Rachel and Shelby, the New Directions leader (Idina Menzel).
Because I'm just that kind of guy. You know, the kind of guy who loves being right about stuff.
Ask anyone in my high school class.
Oops! No, not him. But I do love him. Seriously, one of the best cartoon kids ever drawn. Love him almost as much as Stewie.
The Dexter in question, however, it the one on Showtime, the murdery guy that we seem to love despite ... you know ... all the murdering.
Yeah, this guy.
And this is such a spoiler that I'm not even gonna tell you what it is, you'll go to Ausiello's blog at EW and get the scoop you crave at this link.
Don't tell me I didn't warn you. This is HUGE! I don't even know how they're gonna pull this off.
Hat tip to Tom O'Neil's Gold Derby blog at the LA Times, which notes that just because some comics have received the prize in twilight of their careers doesn't mean it's a lifetime achievement award.
Tina's 40. Still deserving. And look at it this way ... we give it to her now and she's done, can't get it again, and you know eventually she would, so not a problem.
Gotta wonder what Sarah Palin has to say about this. She'll probably be spouting about how mean-spirited and anti-woman it is just ... about ... now.
Okay, maybe later, I just checked her Twitter feed and apparently she hasn't heard yet. I would tweet this post to her but there are some multisyllabic words here that might confuse her.
I will take this opportunity to post the 30 Rock season finale, click here for that. Features the outstanding talents of one Michael Sheen who is just everywhere these days; on film, on TV ... I expect any day he'll show up at my front door in a package from FedEx.
The money quote from Tina, via AP: "I assume Betty White was disqualified for steroid use."
More from Michael Cavna at his Washington Post blog at this link.
First thing you need to do is read Mariana Van Zeller's blog post about Harvey Milk Day and the connections she makes between the U.S. Evangelical movement and the anti-gay bill being discussed in Uganda. That's at this link.
Then click this link and watch the whole hour of Current Vanguard ahead of its TV premiere.
Then call all your friends and neighbors and family members and tell them to watch.
Then we'll talk about it.
So get clickin', folks.
First the news (though I'm sure you've gotten your text message to the effect already from your bestie) from People Magazine:
Joe Jonas is back on the market!The singer, 20, and girlfriend Demi Lovato, 17, have called it quits, a source tells PEOPLE, but will still be hitting the road together this summer, starting July 27 in Dallas.
Okay now, young girl cruising the web ... don't get too excited or too depressed but you probably won't be the next. No, you probably won't.
Have you been running into Joe Jonas in your daily life? No. Does he go to your school? No. Does he live in your neighborhood? No.
Are you an underage custodial engineer at one of the many recording studios where Joe might show up to ply his trade? Do you work for the craft services company that does the catering on his Disney Channel show? No you're not and if you were it would make me sad.
(BTW, I've seen an episode of that show and these kids are not actors.)
I'm not saying this because I don't like you or because that girl in study hall is paying me to ruin your day. It's just a reality check. So, don't break up with your perfectly good boyfriend who's still the same ol' nice boy he used to be just so you can tell Joe on Twitter that you're available.
And keep studying for finals. They're more important that that cute boy who wears the purity ring from New Jersey.
Thanks, Today show, I wasn't interested in those waffles anyway.
Couldn't you just tell me about it? Or, maybe at least give me a moment of two of warning before you show me the stumps two young men who were accused of stealing in the lawless, goverment-less country and had their hands brutally chopped off?
What's a quick moment of warning between friends. Yes, I do consider us friends ... I've been visiting you since I was a very little boy, every morning without fail. Never CBS or ABC but you guys, the chime crew, the peacock people.
Maybe I've misconstrued our relationship? Shall I reassess? It would be easy for me to find something else to do in the morning.
Consider this a reminder that you are a show that people start watching before they've even finished their coffee.
Don't get me wrong, it's an important story that people need to hear, but maybe you give them a little warning first, or you air the piece later in the day, like during Nightly News. I'm sure Richard Engel wouldn't mind that.
So important, in fact, that I'm posting it here. Watch it by clicking this link.
But be warned, it's tough to see.
Also, I notice Donny Deutsch is back at Rockefeller Plaza. Not long after he was dumped from his week at MSNBC for the de facto claim that MSNBC talent (Olbermann) is angry and part of the problem with the political process.
Donny, that was just a dumb move for you and your producer. You deserved to be tossed out the building. Now that you're back (with Hoda on the fourth hour of this show subbing for KLG) try not to diss the people you work with on air.
It's unseemly.
You know him, you love him, you can't think of Robert Webb without thinking of him. But, he does this one thing alone (well, more than one thing I'm sure but I'm not counting personal grooming and other ... stuff).
David does this series of clips for The Guardian UK and then they're also uploaded to YouTube and you can see all of them by clicking this link or see the most recent one, a treatiste on how we Yanks abuse the Queen's English. Click this to see that one.
Yeah yeah, I could care less. Or couldn't I?
Series four of Peep Show continues on BBC America Wednesday nights at 9 eastern.
Watch a short excerpt from this past week's ep by clicking here.
So last night I watched some of Idol. Not the hometown video packages or the introductions because that's almost as much of a waste of time as the results show, which as we have all learned ... everybody join in ... "is for SUCKERS!!!"
(Which, of course, I won't be watching. But you suckers go ahead and tune in.)
When I saw Lee come out for his second number and then realized it was gonna be the Leonard Cohen Hallelujah ... with choir no less ... I just kinda exhaled and slumped.
The fix was in.
I hate when they do this. There's always a moment each season (maybe more than one, I only watch a little of the show, as little as I can to discuss the performers with some intelligence) where you can see how they're manipulating the audience to ramp up the excitement.
Did he do a better job than stony ol' Jason Castro from season 7? Yeah. Did it eclipse the most recent big public performance of the song, by k.d. lang at the Vancouver Olympics? Not a chance, of course.
I would have been wary of the comparison there. You can do that yourself by clicking here and watching k.d. perform the song, albeit not from the Olympics (they have YouTube cops preventing their content from being uploaded, which imho is so antithetical to the spirit of the Games). the version here is from the 2005 Juno Awards.
Casey chose one ho-hum song for himself and then the judges picked John Mayer's Daughters for him to sing, which didn't come close to the drama of Lee's second song nor Crystal's cover of Maybe I'm Amazed, the McCartney tune, which was her second and best of the night (better than her version of Melissa Etheridge's Come to My Window which I think was also a song choice mistake because she's too similar vocally to Melissa).
It was nice to see Crystal get away from the mic and the instrument and work the stage on her second song.
I'm guessing Casey's going home tonight. It's okay, he'll get a record deal ... he's awfully scrummy.
That leaves Lee and Crystal in the finale I think, and it'll come down to song choice and how much the judges push for Lee in a one-on-one with Crystal.
America, you are easily swayed by authority figures, even in the form of TV talent show judges.
Hey, let's recreate the Milgram experiements from Yale with just American Idol voters and see what happens!
Why? Because it only stands to reason that her home network will have the footage you want to see from Laura's and Euna Lee's trip to the China/North Korea border and their subsequent incarceration, and she'll be most comfortable talking to her work colleague Mariana Van Zeller.
It's tonight at 10 eastern on Current TV. Check your cable or satellite program grid.
Of course the following Wednesday at 10 is the premiere of the new season of Current Vanguard which takes us to Uganda where anti-gay radical religious zealots from the US including a nasty li'l guy named Scott Lively traveled to affect policy in another country and make it a crime punishable by death to do the thing that makes one gay or lesbian.
See a preview at this link.
And they did so using the lies of people like Richard Cohen the alleged ex-gay therapist (unlicensed, unqualified, but therapy still ...) that Rachel Maddow raked over the coals a few months ago.
(You can check out my post on that interview and the whole interview by Maddow at this link.)
Though of course, as usual, most of the attention was on the purported horror which is sex between two men.
And sure, sometimes it is a horror, but it has nothing to do with the sex act. Some guys just aren't good in bed and I think that's horrible. Thank you, I'll be here all week, please tip your waiters and waitresses.
If you follow me on Twitter (and you should, click here) you have seen me tweeting about this album and this artist for a while now.
I found Janelle Monae first on Ovation TV a few months ago, I think, on a pilot fo a show that some alt publication had produced. I haven't stopped thinking about her, her music, her look and her attitude since.
She, btw, can do it all. She can't be pigeonholed into any genre, she's ... well, words fail me, frankly.
Check out some of her stuff, from this cover of the classic standard Smile (live on stage in London last year, watch it by clicking here) to the radio hit off this album pictured above called Tightrope, featuring Big Boi from Outcast (which you can click here and watch).
Much more about her at the NPR All Things Considered site where you can read or listen to the feature on Monae from Michele Norris. At this link.
You might as well get on the bandwagon now and impress your friends instead of being a late arrival. This artist is gonna blow up in a big way.
Check out the whole album which is streaming at that old relic called Myspace at this link.
On top of all that, she's conscious of the world and those around her and she cares about stuff, illustrated in this clip she shot before Election Day 2008.
Total package, keeps her friends close via her Wondaland Arts collective in Atlanta, can make you swoon and dance with the same voice ... I think you can now understand why I'm so high on her.
Go buy the album, either on iTunes or Amazon or your local indie music dealer if you like ('cause they need the biz), and remember where you heard about her.
We will now return to the usual TV stuff.
Here's the short version ... The Good Guys is all the great stuff about Burn Notice that you love without having to look at the poor unfortunate actress that can't seem to afford food. And it's set in Dallas instead of Miami.
It's fueled on guy stuff (cops and robbers, cars, facial hair) but it's certainly not just for the testosterone set. There's fun for anyone with a brain.
The show, previewing in a special event Wednesday before the Idol results show at 8 on Fox, gives you a whole new way of thinking about Bradley Whitford.
Usually the buttoned down guy in some office setting or a wielder of influence, in this case he's what I believe we'll find out is just a regular guy (or maybe one with some personal impediments) named Dan Stark who was in the right place at the right time and became a totally not-reluctant hero who has been trading on that moment ever since.
And Colin Hanks totally nails it as young cop Jack Bailey who, because of his smart (actually smart, as in college-educated) mouth gets assigned to babysit Stark, a guy we find out has already driven one partner (literally) crazy.
The guy-on-annoyed-guy chemistry works perfectly. Whitford sports the 'stache and the aviators like an older David Starsky (as in Starsky & Hutch) nursing drinking and libido issues as he trades on his local celeb status while eyeing every woman who walks by (including a funny Nia Vardalos in the episode airing Wednesday).
Like Alan and Charlie on Two and a Half Men, but they have guns, too.
More, including behind the scenes clips and a preview of the episode that airs Wednesday, after the jump.
Reports today from the Fox upfront presentation that they plan to shorten the Idol results show to a half hour.
Even at a half hour, though, as I always say, "The results show is for suckers!" Especially if you live on the left coast, as I do.
I can't even be in the same room as my wi-fi connection without results downloading into my brain without my permission, so why would I sit and watch the damn results show when I can just log on and get the answers?
However the usual one hour long Tuesday show will be expanded to 90 minutes next year, so you can get your fill of Ford commercials and Coca-Cola glasses sitting in front of what Kara would call her and "the guys."
(Ellen, why do you put up with her/that anyway? I'd throttle her, bikini body or not.)
They'll start the evening on Wednesdays with the new Martha Plimpton fronted single-camera family comedy Raising Hope from Greg Garcia (see cast above left) featuring Cloris Leachman and Garret Dillahunt (The 4400, T:SCC, John From Cincinnati).
The de facto lead of the show is a guy who comes out of Steppenwolf in Chicago named Lucas Neff (with Dillahunt in the image above left). Almost no solid credits short of a guest spot on A&E's The Beast in 2009 and a John Sayles film that will come out soon and co-stars Dillahunt.
You might remember seeing Plimpton is a recent episode of Fringe as a rural sherriff helping Peter Bishop out with a rash of shape shifters. She's spent a lot of time recently on stage, she's garnered three straight Tony Award noms starting in 2007 for the Tom Stoppard trilogy The Coast of Utopia. Great to see a very talented actress (and not just a hot body with a publicist) getting some series work.
Idol has launched (or attempted to launch) a bunch of hour long shows for the network, now it can do something for a comedy with a great cast. I hope it's smart and I hope it works.
In the long term, however, these shows have to stand on their own. I hope the network learned its lesson with 'Til Death.
And I hope we never see that show again.
Of course this all begins this coming January and things change all the time in the TV biz. A lot can happen before then.
What a perfect day for Craig to be celebrating his birthday.
Today the Peabody Awards are being presented so it's doubly celebratory for the Late Late Show gang. And tonight Craig is running the Desmond Tutu interview with a new pre-taped intro so Craig has the night off to ... hang with Geoff?
Speaking of Geoff, he sounds like a combo of George Takei and Tim Gunn.
Watch a Tim Gunn style tip by clicking here. '80s edition!
Craig's guests the rest of the week include Jon Favreau, Jakob Dylan, Dennis Quaid, Holly Hunter, Ben Kingsley and Sarah McLachlan.
Watch Friday's monologue by clicking here, it's the best in late night.
Well that seems somewhat ... out of the box, huh?
I would have thought maybe one of the returning dramas or ... even more out of the box a gift to their FX Network by slotting an episode of cablers Sons of Anarchy or Justified.
I would suggest a Finn-centric episode but I don't think that's the way Ryan Murphy's brain works ... I expect he'll be pushing the envelope to breaking point with the crowd that holds on after the game.
And he should ... forget about who you might be able to wrangle into the audience and just do the best work you can.
In the meantime I guess it's time for me to catch up with last week's ep on the DVR before tomorrow night. Having said that I'm posting a trailer for this week, which is the Neil Patrick Harris (left) episode without watching it (spoilers, those damned spoilers) and you can watch by clicking here.
In the episode, Will's old rival returns and Rachel reveals a cassette tape of her mother. Will that mother look like Mr. Shue's counterpart at Vocal Adrenaline? Someone we're used to seeing green?
And where are her two gay dads, anyway? I wanna know those guys.
If not, imho we can just assume that the Academy has an anti-genre show bias that's just preventing them from honoring this extraordinary performance.
Seeing defense secretary AltWalter Bishop juxtaposed with "our" Walter just amplifies what a great actor this man is and how he deserves the nomination.
And, fortunately, I have been seeing For Your Consideration ads on the entertainment trade sites for the show with Noble's image prominent. So, let's get that nom going with a ... Twitter campaign?
Use the hashtag #EmmyNom4Noble. I'll try to get Roco at Fringebloggers and some of the other Fringe site admins to join in.
Oh, and tell your friends on Twitter. Also, speaking of the tweety place, click over there and follow me at this link.
Great episode last week, you can check out Roco's recap at this link. Take the poll in the right hand column while you're at it, too. I gave the first hour of the finale a 9, if only because I thought I should save the 10 for the second hour.
After the ol' jumperoo, things I loved about the episode and two clips you need to see before the second half of the season finale.
Continue reading "Video -- @FringeOnFox Finale: Can We Please Get an #EmmyNom4Noble?" »
You know her, you love her, you can't think of Cheetos without thinking about her.
Or prison jumpsuits.
Though, one has to note here that Snooki would look terrible in a prison jumpsuit, it would accentuate her short legs and she'd need to belt that thing to within an inch of her life.
Belt it and pull it tight, right Wendy Williams? Hey, why hasn't an SNL cast member broken out a Wendy impersonation, anyway? I think it's a natural for them.
Kenan? Oh, Kenan?
Watch the clip (Bobby Moynihan at his best) by clicking this link.
I had a "Come to Jesus Lizard" moment last night while I was watching V on my DVR (yes ABC, I watch the show more than three days after I record it, sorry about your ratings numbers).
Anna is faux-comforting her daughter Lisa in front of Erica and the FBI crowd after she identifies hot British guy and dumpy glasses-wearing guy as the people who attacked her (which of course they didn't) and you see Anna's face and she turns toward the camera and the evil smile of "we're putting one over on you guys" appears.
Really, V writers? I thought Anna (especially Anna, the V's leader) and the lizard people weren't supposed to have emotions. Looked like some contented bemusement to me. I get that Lisa and that Fifth Column guy Joshua from the ship are losing their V-ness, we know that because they looked knowingly during that session of Anna's bliss at the end of the episode.
Anna should not be happy, however. Or sad. Ever. Not Morena Baccarin's fault, of course, it's the writers that wrote that smile.
On top of that? I still can't get with the trying to make the show look like New York City thing, which here comes off worse than it does on Castle, even.
And ... Morris Chestnut is just not a good actor. He's scrummy certainly but he's better with his mouth closed. When Joel Gretsch is looking like Olivier in comparison there's just something wrong.
(A shame, too. So, so many African-American actors that are remarkably good and they went with this guy, who I guess has a fanbase but not in the sci-fi universe. Mahershalalhashbaz Ali from Scott Peters' previous show The 4400 would have been a much better choice.)
Chestnut isn't even the worst casting choice, that would have to go to Scott Wolf who seems to have never watched a news reporter before taking the role of ... a TV reporter. Who is he emoting to when he reads his news copy to the camera? Why does he put on that ridonkulous voice-over announcer tone?
So, I'll stick around to the season finale, but they only have one more episode to convince me to sign up for a second season. There's too much good stuff on the air to be wasting my time on a show that lacks focus and certainly isn't anywhere near as smart at the ratings-sputtering FlashForward, which ABC in their infinite wisdom canceled in favor of this show.
I think that choice might have much more to do with where the shows are shot and how much they cost than they do quality.
If you must, you can watch the entire episode of Tuesday's episode by clicking here.
And some of my new stuff is pictured above.
Sorry I've been lame about posting the last couple days. I've been busy with her. Her name's Sandy and she's a year old and very active.
Got her at the Rancho Coastal Humane Society in Encinitas. They are wonderful and you should consider a rescue dog, always.
She needs to be fixed, that happens on Wednesday at RCHS, as I wouldn't want Bob Barker pissed at me. Also it's the right thing to do.
I love her. Loved her instantly. Her adjustment period was about ... 30 minutes.
We watch our first episode of Doctor Who together tonight on BBC America. Don't know if she'll actually watch but she seemed very interested in Cesar Millan yesterday (seriously, she was transfixed).
Back Monday and I'll write about all the pilot pickups I'm excited about.
Blogger, DVR superuser, comedy fan, sci fi guy, occasional period drama enthusiast, newshound ... also at http://www.facebook.com/TVJoe.
Recent Comments