You think American reality TV can be mean? The Brits just had a series that whittled ten contestants down to three who were told they were becoming Britain's first space tourists. The winning would-be astronauts were whisked to "Russia" for training before blasting off into space. In reality, they never left England. Ipswich stood in for the cosmonaut training camp. Their "space ship" actually sat in a Suffolk warehouse. One of the red-faced almost-nauts said, "We're not astronauts. We're...
I've sat through some bad wrestling and some extremely stupid and annoying storylines, but tonight I did something I don't think I've ever done before. I turned off WWE Smackdown. Even random channel surfing had to be better than the embarrassing, car wreck, steaming pile of doo being broadcast into my living room. If you were unfortunate enough to be watching UPN this Friday evening, I bet you can guess the moment I reached for the remote. Yep, the "junior league." Has it really come do...
Remember when Geraldo was a respected ABC News journalist, back before he "opened Al Capone's vault" and earned sideshow status? Remember the good old days when you lost journalistic credibility after leaving ABC News? These days you cost ABC News its credibility by joining them. Ending months of speculation, ABC announced it will try to keep its late-night news program Nightline trudging along after the loss of anchor Ted Koppel. In a "one person can't follow that act!" move ak...
You thought Gwyneth Paltrow naming her daughter Apple was bad? Here's one more for the celebrity bad baby name files. Nicolas Cage and his wife of 14 months, Alice Kim Cage, just birthed their first child. And what did they name him? Kal-el Coppola Cage. For those not hip to comics, Kal-el is the birth name of Clark Kent, a.k.a. Superman. Maybe it shouldn't be surprising, considering daddy Nicolas (nee Nicholas Coppola) took his stage surname from the Marvel Comics character Luke...
Martha Stewart's version of The Apprentice premiered last Wednesday to extremely disappointing ratings. Having two Apprentice s on at once is stupid and suicidal. It can only harm the franchise. Since Trump had said he would only do two more iterations (meaning one beyond the current), they should have interleaved the versions, extending Trump's version into the next television season, and building momentum for a post-Trump continuation of the show. Instead, Martha is put in the impossi...
I guess you could call me a Don Adams fan. Even though it left the airwaves about the time I was born, I always loved the television show Get Smart as a child, watching every re-ran episode that came on, no matter how many times I'd previously seen it. I'm sure I was sadder than he was when the mid-90's revival got canceled. He claimed to have done it strictly for the money. I felt it was getting progressively better, with the last aired episode being not only the best, but worthy of the...
I'm beginning to wonder what American networks would do without English program creators to pillage. NBC in particular can't find the trick to successfully translating its British imports. The concept: Gather as many one hit wonders and has beens as you can and parade them before the audience to wonder over their sad reenactments of the one hit. The come-ons: "What do they look like now?" Mostly old and chubby. "Do they still have what it takes?" With a few exceptions, no. The hos...
Have you seen the new Hanes underwear ad? Alas, the Brunette Buttermilk Babes of Burger King have been displaced in my affection. I'm so fickle. This is officially my new favorite hear-the-music-and-run-to-stare-at-the-TV commercial. It's basically nothing but Marisa Tomei wandering around an apartment. But really, what more do you need in life? How can just looking at a pretty woman be so damned entertaining? (There's another version with a male actor, but I can't remember who he wa...
Everyone has something they fall back on when they don't know what to do or say. For the talentless and the newbie, that is often to just do what everyone else is doing. There was a time when a celebrity (particularly musicians) could not be interviewed without being asked, "Who are your influences?" You couldn't watch an interview without hearing, "Who are your influences?" Celebrities even began coughing up the information unbidden. "Well, as you know my influences are...." "That comes f...
From the time I was a child, up until my early 20's, I watched the Oscars every year. During that time I saw an injustice rise, an injustice that is getting too outrageous to continue. What are the Oscars about? They are about peers recognizing each other for their artistic achievements. That is the core of the Oscars' purpose. The greed merchants who currently oversee the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have corrupted and co-opted that purpose. When I was a child, everyon...
We're getting our first look at the new Superman, relative unknown Brandon Routh . Whilethese pics off his website aren't official (the Clark Kent one is a Halloween costume!) they dogive us some idea of what the new Man of Steel might look like. The tentatively titled SupermanReturns is set to begin filming in early March, for a Summer2006 release.
It's probably not wise to blog while overly emotional, but here Iam -- numb and in shock. "Johnny Carson Dead of Emphysema atAge 79" I woke up just after 6:30 this evening, realized it was time forthe NBC Nightly News , and felt around for the remote. It tookonly a few seconds to realize why they were talking about Johnny inthe past tense. There goes another large chunk of my life. Shove it in a pine boxand stick it six feet under. Whatever Isaid about Ronald Reagan a few months...
Attention, Jeopardy fans. Today should be the day longtimeJeopardy Champion Ken Jennings loses. After 74 straight wins and morethan 2.5 million dollars he will succumb on tonight's show --Tuesday, November 30th. (In areas where Jeopardy is delayed a daybecause of Monday Night Football it may be shown tomorrow --Wednesday, December 1st.) Ken Jennings' winning streak began on June 2nd. Interrupted onlyby the summer hiatus and several special theme weeks ( Kids Week,College Champion Week ) he w...
The new commercialfor M. NightShyamalan 's film "TheVillage" has a massive lie in it. It says, literally," Ebertand Roeper call it one of the year's best movies." The onlyproblem with that is Roger Ebert hated " The Village." Don't take my word, clickhere and listen for yourself. The one who thought it "was one thebest movies of the year" was Roeper, and Roeper alone. When they said"Ebert and Roeper call it..." they were referring to ...
This looked to bea fairly lame summer movie season for me. My must sees were prettymuch Spiderman 2 and Alien vs. Predator . (I didn't knowabout Exorcist IV till the commercials started playingrecently.) I've beenexcitedly looking forward to Alien vs. Predator. Then tonightI saw a commercial for it and caught something I hadn't heard before.It is PG-13. My reaction was, "It's PG-13?! OMG It...