Thursday, March 27, 2008

March 27, 2008 - A Ton Of Buffy, How I Met Your Mother, Jericho, The Hills, & More

A lot of attention was on PaleyFest this past weekend for the long awaited Buffy The Vampire Slayer reunion live on stage. The proof of how anticipated this was is in the proof of how much tickets were going for on Ebay. This is something that I would have LOVED to attend. On the panel were Joss Whedon, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Nicholas Brendon, James Marsters, Emma Caulfield, Michelle Trachtenberg, Charisma Carpenter, Amber Benson, Seth Green, and executive producers, Marti Noxon and David Greenwalt. Before the panel discussion, a screening of the Buffy Musical, Once More With Feeling, was played for the people in attendance. The panel was then asked questions for a while. Here are some of the highlights of it. Sarah said that she had to read for the role of Buffy eleven times and she said that Joss told her the basic feel of the show saying "I remember him saying the basic principle of the show is you take all that is horrible about youth and all that is scary, and we literally made them into monsters. But I think anyone can relate to what high school is like and how that is the worst monster for you and the worst nightmare, and it was something that was so relatable. I think that was the whole key to the show, was yes, not everyone faced 'the hyena', but essentially we did, and I think that was what was so beautiful about the pain and about the story." The cast was asked about two of the most famous episodes of the show's run with that being Once More With Feeling and also Hush. James Marsters talked about how a lot of the cast was scared with singing in the musical but that he and Anthony Stewart Head were a little more comfortable with it because they had been recording music with their own careers. Marsters put over how great the cast was with getting the musical all together and making it a great episode. Talk turned to Hush with Sarah saying that when she read the script, she thought it would be an easy episode cause of there being no dialogue. Whedon mentioned how tough writing that episode was and how hard it was to get the timing down on scenes cause of there being no dialogue. James did say that he always said that he didn't feel like he was working hard enough if he didn't get scared badly every year with something going on with the show. Sarah was asked about what she thought of season six and the darker turn for the season especially with her character and had this to say about it: "It was definitely tough for me. It's so hard to separate myself from her, so it was tough for me to see these situations and think, 'But Buffy wouldn't do this...' And I felt pressure from the force of the fans. I know Joss and Marti both particularly talked me down from a ledge a couple of times, because it just felt so far removed for me at the time. And maybe that was the point – maybe I was struggling in the same way that she was struggling to find who she was. It just felt so foreign to me." The character of Buffy was very gloomy through a lot of season six and it appears that the decision from Sarah and the producers were made at the same time that it was time to bring her back strong from her sad state. Noxon said that season six was planned to be about the time after high school where you lose yourself as a person. A question was asked about the possibility of there ever being a reunion movie or something similar and Joss replied saying "There's so many stars that would have to align, but there's a reason I worked with all of these people for so long. They're awfully talented. Clearly, from the comic book, it's a story that I can't let go. I think it would be really cool." Charisma was asked about whether she was nervous when leaving to move over to Angel and she said "I was and I actually said that. First off, Joss asked me to take a walk with him, which is always a frightening thing." The panel discussed how Joss would joke with the cast at times saying that he wanted to take a walk claiming that he was about to kill them off or something. He offered Angel to her and she wanted to know what would happen if Angel didn't take off. She was promised a return to Buffy if things didn't work out so she was all for giving Angel a try. The producers also said that they absolutely couldn't do the spinoff without her. Joss also gave us a tip that Oz would be making a return in the season eight comic series which had Seth Green asking "Am I gonna be making out with a girl?" LOL. When talking about the relationship between Willow and Tara, Amber said that she thought they "Had the best relationship on the show. They raised or helped to raise Dawn. I think they were there for her." Sarah then spoke up saying, "Hey, I was there! I participated. I was a little dead, but I participated!" That got Seth to say back to Sarah, "you were kind of like the cool uncle who shows up. 'Hey guys, I got you guys a snow globe!'" Anyway, this is just some of the quotes. There are a ton of live reports from the event out there and it's been fun reading all of them. Just do a search for the PaleyFest show and some are bound to pop up.

How I Met Your Mother did its best ratings of the year this past Monday night. I'm sure a lot of it had to do with curiosity on how Britney Spears would do as a guest star. I thought she was really funny. If you missed it, the episode focused around Ted trying to get a date with his dermatologist named Stella played by Sarah Chalke. He was going to get his tattoo removed that he got at the beginning of this season which would take ten sessions to fully remove. That gives him ten sessions to get a date with the dermatologist. She tells him early on that there is no way that he will get her to say yes to a date. The episode sees him use many different techniques to try and win her over. One of these techniques includes trying to show what a classy guy he is to her receptionist, played by Britney Spears. Only problem is that she falls head over heels for him which brought in a lot of funny comedy. Anyway, the ending was very good where we find out why Stella was so hesitant to take Ted up on the date as she has a daughter and no time on her hands. The quick two minute date at the end was very well done and just a fun way to close the episode out. One of the best episodes of the season so far.

The week in Big Brother. Here are the happenings. Last week, Matt was evicted from the house. HOH came down to Adam and Chelsia with Adam winning. The vengeance was on for Matt's eviction. Adam put up James and Chelsia for eviction. That led to the veto competition which was hosted by Big Brother 8 winner, Dick. I've got to say that I was happy to see him cause it brought me back to last season which I really liked compared to this season which I really don't like. LOL. The veto players were picked at night leading the houseguests to think that an early veto competition could be taking place. Dick quietly entered the house as the houseguests were sleeping. My pleas were answered when he went to the kitchen to grab a pot and pan. He roamed the house waking up the houseguests banging on the pot and pan. With how I feel about this season overall, I was hoping for more of a rowdier pot and pan wake up but oh well. LOL. The houseguests had to drink several mixes of drinks of his with the more that they could get down, the more shots they got at the upcoming croquet type challenge. James got the lead getting ten shots and ended up edging Adam to win the veto. He of course used the veto on himself. Earlier, Josh had talked to Sharon about volunteering herself to go on the block against Chelsia to assure their safety and Chelsia's eviction. Sharon went to Adam and told him to put her up as the replacement to assure Chelsia would leave. James used the veto on himself and Adam replaced the nomination with Sharon. It was no secret that it sealed Chelsia's fate in the game. Chelsia was voted out on a 5-0 vote including James. Chelsia proceeded to give a final speech on the live show that was pretty much what she has been doing on the live feeds over the last few days. On the way out the door, she talked some trash on various houseguests and hugged some of them goodbye. The HOH competition was held which was won by Natalie. Natalie is the new HOH.

What You Missed On The Live Feeds:
Well, Chelsia sure didn't handle her eviction well. She had a major breakdown or whatever you want to call it saying that she just didn't care anymore and was going out with a bang. She ruined the houseguests Easter eggs that they had painted. Also, people weren't happy with her in the first place cause she hard boiled ALL the eggs instead of just doing it with two or so for them to decorate for Easter. Anyway, she smashed all the eggs and threw them in the garbage. For the next while, she proceeded to talk a ton of trash and just pretty much say whatever she felt. The look on Josh's face was priceless as this was going on as he just looked around at everyone else to see what their reaction was. A lot of it was shown on TV but just take what was shown, combine it with what you saw out of her on the live show, and imagine it being worse. LOL.

What Has Happened Since Last Night's Live Show:
SPOILER ALERT!! I haven't watched the live feeds much since last night's show. The food competition was held today and the houseguests are all on slop except for Natalie as the HOH and also Adam. Natalie has made her nominations and they are James and Josh. No surprise there. I figured it would be James and either Josh or Sharon.

The top ten performed this week on American Idol. The theme of this week was "when you were born". The contestants had to sing songs from the year that they were born. Here are the voting results of the week. The bottom three were Chikezie, Syesha Mercado, and Jason Castro. Jason was sent back to safety leaving a bottom two of Chikezie and Syesha with Chikeze going home. I thought this week was definitely better than last week. David Cook's version of Billie Jean was very good as he sang a different version of the song. I liked Kristy Lee Cook's performance of God Bless The USA. Funny comment from Simon when he said that it was one of the most brilliant song choices ever. LOL. Ramiele Malubay broke out "Alone" which has always been a tough song to compete with since Carrie Underwood's incredible performance of it back in season four. I also judge a little tougher on that song cause that performance of Carrie's is one of my favorite Idol performances ever. I guess that's really all I have to say about this week's Idol stuff.

Movie box office numbers for last weekend.
1. Horton Hears A Who! - $25.1 million. 2. Meet The Browns - $20.0 million. 3. Shutter - $10.7 million. 4. Drillbit Taylor - $10.2 million. 5. 10,000 BC - $8.7 million. 6. Never Back Down - $4.9 million. 7. College Road Trip - $4.6 million. 8. The Bank Job - $4.1 million. 9. Vantage Point - $3.8 million. 10. Under The Same Moon - $2.6 million.

Tonight's Smallville saw me react with a cheer when I heard the voice in the opening segment and the voice was of James Marsters. Brainiac returned and wanted Kara but he didn't get what he wanted. So, he made his point by hurting Lana. Kara did eventually leave with Brainiac as she was told it was the only way that Brainiac would save Lana considering he is the only that can undo the damage to her. How sad was that last scene with Clark looking at Lana and then Chloe walking in on it? I haven't been the biggest Lana fan lately but that was sad!! Two Luthors have two different keys and each of them need the others key. Showdown time. Smallville returns with a new episode on April 17th and it will probably be a big one.

After a HUGE fan campaign got the show back on the air for a second season, CBS has once again canceled Jericho. Nina Tassler, of CBS Entertainment, had these comments on the cancellation: "Without question, there are passionate viewers watching this program; we simply wish there were more. We thank an engaged and spirited fan base for keeping the show alive this long, and an outstanding team of producers, cast and crew that went through creative hoops to deliver a compelling, high-quality second season.... We're proud of everyone's efforts." Can the fans do something to keep the show going again? Anything is possible with a passionate fan base. I've never actually seen Jericho but I hear great things about it. I love it when fans pull together for a show so I'm all for supporting their efforts. Here is a site to check out if you want to get more info on the campaigns ongoing for the show.
http://www.jerichorallypoint.com/home/

Well, this looks like we may be able to count one character out of the 90210 spinoff. Jennie Garth has been signed on to star in a new CBS sitcom pilot called My Best Friend's Girl.

Fox has picked up Prison Break for a fourth season.

I had gotten behind on my Buffy season eight comics and I've got to say that I enjoyed them even more with reading five issues all right in a row. It was easy to get into the story. So, here is what has happened. What we are seeing in these issues is how the plan for all the potential slayers becoming slayers now has gone wrong. Some of the slayers are using the power for bad instead of the greater good. Faith was sent on the secret mission by Giles to take out a slayer named Genevieve. However, Genevieve has a mission of her own. Genevieve's mission is to take out Buffy so all slayers no longer have to answer to someone. Faith's mission is to take out Genevieve. However, the two realize that they are very similar and hit it off. Faith finally realizes what Genevieve's plans are and their talks have feelings of hatred toward Buffy brought back for Faith. Buffy ends up being brought into their conversation when she is magically transported. Buffy knew nothing of the mission of Faith and Giles so she is furious to see Faith with this other slayer who has killed other slayers. Faith helps Buffy in the battle with Genevieve but all gets twisted when Buffy's feeling of not being able to trust Faith are brought back. The two battle each other for a moment as Faith's feelings of always being the bad person when Buffy is around come back. Faith strangles her under the water but then comes to and releases her. Buffy is then zapped out of there as Willow brings her back to slayer headquarters. Buffy of course gives a furious call to Giles that she was not informed of this mission. Genevieve and Faith then have it out when Genevieve realizes that Faith had been lying to her. Genevieve ends up being accidentally killed in the battle and Faith pleas upon Roden, who is the power behind Genevieve, to bring her back to life using a spell. He says that there is no point cause she obviously wasn't strong enough for his plan to take out Buffy. He does offer Faith the opportunity to join with him but she turns him down. Roden looks very powerful with his spells until Giles shows up and outsmarts him. That is the end of Roden and of course Genevieve. Faith is offered a ticket out from Giles but she decides to stick around saying that she thinks she can help out slayers who have went the wrong direction and might be able to bring them back. We learned that the big bad in this season is apparently Twilight whose plan is to pit everyone against each other including the slayers and shut down the power of magic. LOVED the Faith storyline arc. Great stuff. I really enjoyed issue ten which focused on Buffy and Willow finding more info out about this war that is about to occur. It is going to be a battle between the humans and magic which puts Buffy and Willow in an awkward position. While they visit a Sephrilian, they learn of each other's secrets that are revealed to them during their visit which includes Willow's feelings of guilt over Tara's death thinking that it occurred because they brought Buffy back. If Buffy hadn't been brought back, Warren wouldn't have been there looking for revenge and catching Tara in the middle of it. Each of them have their decisions that they've made brought back to where they question whether they did the right thing. Interesting twist there. In the next issue, Buffy reveals that she knew who kissed her to bring her back a few issues ago. Remember that it had to be someone who truly loved her. Well, it was another slayer. I kid you not that they end up in bed together but the comedy that ensues when they are caught is very funny stuff and just had a classic Buffy comedy feel to it. Sarah actually had this twist revealed to her at the reunion this past week and everyone got a good laugh out of it. We learned more about this Twilight that is leading the army against the slayers. He is working on attacking the slayers by morally attacking them to weaken them. Twilight pointed out to Buffy that he sees that she was trying to do good by awakening all these slayers but that it has turned out extremely bad so it has to be stopped. Twilight knows all about Buffy and the gang so he knows that her strong point has always been that she is fighting for good but by pointing wrongs out to her that it makes her question her bigger confidence of whether she is now fighting on the right side. Xander does point out to her the confidence that has been brought to the girls that they have with them becoming slayers. She does appear to be gaining confidence as a leader but continues to realize the sadness that goes along with that. Other happenings include finding out just how Dawn got herself in trouble with being turned into a giant. It turns out that she wasn't the victim in the whole deal as she opened up to Xander about what really happened to cause all of this. It took me about an hour to read these issues and I had a GREAT time reading them. I think I almost prefer reading them in a row instead of one issue at a time.

Who do fans think Clark Kent should end up with? Here is a poll for you to get involved with where you can pick between Lana, Chloe, or Lois. I will put my vote in for Chloe.
http://www.eonline.com/gossip/kristin/detail/index.jsp?uuid=488ad5fe-0c3e-4490-8059-b43532fec1bd

I'm very interested to follow the casting news of the new Joss Whedon show, Dollhouse. The show already has former Buffy alum, Eliza Dushku, on board. Could more Buffy/Angel alums be on the way? Joss sure didn't rule that out at PaleyFest. He seems open to casting either new people or some of his valued cast members from years past. Can I please suggest Amy Acker? I miss her being on TV. There was news today on four additions to the cast of Dollhouse including Tahmoh Penikett, Fran Kranz, Dichen Lachman and Enver Gjoka.

The Kristen Bell fan in me will have me checking out that new movie, Forgetting Sarah Marshall. It does scare me though that it is likely going to be like Knocked Up as I just really didn't like that movie at all.

The only show that I watch on MTV, The Hills, returned on Monday night with new episodes. It returned big drawing the biggest ratings ever for the show averaging 4.8 million viewers. It was a fun premiere which saw Lauren and Whitney's trip to Paris, Spencer tracking down Heidi at home to try and get her back, Lauren's knowledge that Brody has a new girlfriend, and it appears that Whitney is ready to move on from her current job to do something else. Nice touch by MTV to put the titles of songs on the screen as they played during the episode. There are several times where I'll hear a song on the show that I like but don't know what it is. The music really is such a huge part of that show. There are several songs that I haven't liked in the past and then change my mind when I hear it played with a good scene in the show. The production value of this show looks amazing and I've bragged about that since the Laguna Beach days. It is always something that brings me in.

Fox has already cancelled The Return Of Jezebel James after just two weeks. This was the show written by Gilmore Girls creator, Amy Sherman-Palladino. The show just did not do good ratings but it didn't help that it was on Friday nights either. The show seemed to be doomed before it even premiered as Fox showed all kinds of signs that they had no confidence in it.

TV on DVD releases for Tuesday, April 1st.
Becker (Season One), Father Knows Best (Season One), John From Cincinnati (Full Series), Law & Order: SVU (Season Six), Martin (Season Four), Murder She Wrote (Season Eight), New Street Law (Season Two), That 70's Show (Season Eight).

TV Lines Of The Week:
From The Big Bang Theory. Leonard and Sheldon talking about Penny's singing that they hear upstairs.
"What is that?" - Leonard
"I don't know. If cats could sing.......they'd hate it too." - Sheldon


You Tube Videos Of The Week:
Missed the Buffy reunion at Paley Fest? Well, here is a little taste of it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SejSbnkQEMo - PaleyFest Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJuFDcLmT-Y - Charisma talks about the move from Buffy to Angel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyWMkZ7-Usg - Joking about Buffy in the comic
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2e8rKmP6T_A - Michelle comments on The Body episode
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erzpR6pHWt4 - The difference in age between Buffy and Angel

That is all I've got for you this week. Have a great weekend!! Take care and God bless!!

Thursday, March 20, 2008

March 20, 2008 - How I Met Your Mother Returns, NCAA, Survivor, Smallville, Big Brother, & More

Ah, the NCAA tournament is underway. This is a lot of fun to watch every year. The first rounds are my favorite with the crazy upsets. Nothing happening today made me shred my bracket picks. There is always tomorrow though. LOL.

How I Met Your Mother returned Monday night with a very funny St. Patrick's Day episode. Ted's night out with Barney went, well, like most nights end up when you're out with Barney. LOL. The stuff with Lily and Marshall's crooked apartment was funny stuff. They were set to move into their apartment when they realized a problem with it. Well, Marshall and Robin actually noticed it when Marshall's picture wouldn't hang on the wall straight. The whole apartment was at a slant. They put the Champaign on the floor and it rolled all the way to the wall. To not freak out Lily, Marshall came up with the idea to tell her that they saw a ghost. Why the panic? They had spent all their money on this new home. Anyway, it turned out pretty funny which resulted in them rolling on a skateboard out into the hallway. They're back in the old apartment till they get the other one fixed. Yellow umbrella alert. The future woman that we've been waiting to meet that ends up with Ted was at the same party that Barney and Ted were at. The end of the episode saw him find the umbrella and use it leaving the building. Next week's episode is the episode featuring Britney Spears guest appearance (wow, that was a quick turnaround to shoot that and get it on the air) and there is also something I read earlier in the week that we may see a return to the Robin Sparkles story in the future this season.

The week in Big Brother. This week was a revenge week for James as he looked to get even for his eviction last week. James won HOH in the endurance competition last week that lasted over four hours. James and Natalie fought it out for HOH at the end. Natalie was looking strong throughout but she faded at the very end when she got dehydrated. Natalie made a deal with James that if she dropped, James wouldn't put up herself or Matt. James agreed and Natalie bailed out. James spent several days trying to figure out who the three votes were to keep him out of the house. Sheila admitted to being one of them. Ryan was the other. So, that left him with Matt or Adam on being the vote to keep him out. James put up Ryan and Sheila on the nomination block. The veto competition was held and it was won by James as well. That left him being able to do whatever he wanted to do. He originally thought that Adam was the one that was the vote against him coming back. However, Sharon figured it out and told James that it was indeed Matt who didn't vote James back in. James took that as lying saying that ruined what was going to be their starting with a clean slate. James used the veto on Sheila and put up Matt in her place. The results of that saw Matt break down crying conceding defeat. Matt got fired up by Adam and put into motion a plea to keep himself in the house. His talk did work on Sheila. He talked to Sharon, Chelsia, and Sheila asking him what he had actually done to the three of them to make them vote him out especially with Ryan having either put them up on the block or taking money away from them. It won Sheila over and she voted for Matt to stay. The voting saw a tie vote of three a piece with Sheila, Natalie, and Adam voting to evict Ryan while Sharon, Chelsia, and Josh voted to evict Matt. That left it up to the HOH to cast the deciding vote. James voted to evict Matt. Next up was the HOH competition that came down to Adam and Chelsia. Adam wins and is the new HOH.

What a difference one week makes in the house. The results of the veto ceremony played out with Matt put up for eviction by James. It's funny that the people that were loving life, laughing, and doing all kinds of taunting last week suddenly had the same thing happen to them that they did the week before. However, they weren't taunting this week. Things weren't tense though this time around with the results but then there wasn't a big taunting display over the move in the game either. I just don't get how Matt, Natalie, Ryan, and Adam didn't think that James wouldn't hold anything against them for his eviction. Matt also told Natalie during the HOH competition to take James's deal saying that she could go back on it. I said this last week but this is how it always plays out in Big Brother, everything is fine and fair game until it happens to the target. Interesting that Julie revealed to the houseguests that Alex was the vote winner to come back in the house. The reaction was fun to watch. If I'm not mistaken, James told the houseguests last week that it was Jen that was voted to come back. I'm pretty sure I remember him saying that. Last night's show did a segment on catching up with Dick and Daniele. It is interesting to hear what previous houseguests have to say about this season. Whether you like Dick or not, he speaks what he thinks. I've enjoyed listening to him on House Calls cause he definitely calls it like he sees it.

What You Missed On The Live Feeds: Not a whole lot really. The stuff following Matt's veto replacement was interesting. I figured things would be very ugly in the house just like last week but it really wasn't. Matt gave up immediately thinking he had no chance in staying. Natalie was upset. The show did some interesting editing with Matt's plan of trying to stay in the house. They tried to show it like Adam's speech was before he tried the tactic of the birthday deal. His plea of not wanting to be alone on his birthday was something he talked about not long after the veto ceremony as he was still crying about everything.

What has happened since last night's live show: SPOILER ALERT!! I am wondering if Adam meant to win HOH or not. He did tell Josh that he didn't want to win it. He got his HOH room and began to talk immediately to house guests on their opinions of who should go up. Adam targeted James and Chelsia to go up. A luxury competition was held at midnight Big Brother time with Sheila and Josh winning a movie night. Nominations have been made with James and Chelsia on the block. The veto competition is set to take place tomorrow morning and the host appears to be the winner of Big Brother 8, Dick. I don't know what truth there is to it but there is talk that he may be waking the houseguests up for it. I'm hoping that its true and please give him some pats and pans. LOL.

Survivor was moved to last night due to the NCAA tournament. The show had two people eliminated once again with one having the game finally just wearing them completely down and the other with the usual tribal council. The reward challenge had Malakai win which gave them a spa treatment. However, they had to send someone to exile island and then one of their own. Jason was sent to exile while Tracy was asked to take one for the team and volunteer to go. She reluctantly agreed. While Malakai was enjoying their reward, Airai was getting beaten up by the terrible weather. It looked absolutely miserable and it was Kathy's breaking point. She had been struggling already but that bad weather night just broke her. The next morning, she told the tribe that she was going to have to leave the game cause she couldn't take it anymore. Jeff Probst was brought out on the boat where he talked to Kathy and to the tribe. He said that he wasn't there to talk her out of it but was instead there to figure out exactly what was going on. So, Kathy left the game. Airai goes into the immunity challenge with another member down yet on a winning streak. Airai makes a comeback and wins immunity. Who would get voted out? The wheels seemingly started to turn on getting rid of Ozzy as far as the editing goes. Cirie seemed all for it as she had already clashed with him earlier on in the episode over going out farther in the boat than she wanted. There was also talk about how close Erik and Ozzy had become. Ami seems ready to turn on Ozzy but just keeps waiting for the right moment. The moment was not in this episode as Tracy was voted out. Cirie was cracking me up in this episode with her interview footage especially where she was talking about the shower stuff with Ozzy, Amanda, and Ami during the spa reward. It was also funny hearing her talk about the relationship between Ozzy and Erik.

Tonight's Smallville saw some big happenings going on that leave me wondering just what is going on with Lionel Luthor anyway? Is there more going on with him that we didn't know about? It sure seems that way. Was he protecting Clark or was Patricia trying to help Clark? Chloe and Lana worked together in what was a nice flashback of previous seasons. They tracked down Kara and then Chloe took her to the fortress to plea for her powers and memory to be given back so she could help save Clark. It was nice to see Kara get to save the day for Clark. Clark is definitely seeing that he can't trust the Luthors at all. Is a Luthor power play about to be made?

This week's American Idol saw round two of McCartney stuff. It seems like the overall opinion from fans was that one week was enough. The performances were a lot of fun last week but just didn't have that fun this week. I'd say that most of the contestants struggled and some of the contestants weren't taking the criticism of the judges well. Not sure if it was the song choice that got them or if the performances themselves weren't as good. With some, it could be either. I said how Carly is my favorite so far this season but I wasn't liking her performance this week. The song just didn't match up with her. There weren't actually many of the performances that I liked and, to back that up, I don't even have one that pops into my head at the moment. Anyway, bottom three this week was Kristy Lee Cook, Amanda Overmyer, and Carly Smithson. Wow, I was thankful to see Carly get sent back cause the competition would have lost a lot of punch without her in it. Going home this week was Amanda. With this bottom three, it just goes to show that anything can happen as always. Keep voting for who you like cause you never know who may end up going home regardless of whether you think someone is safe or not.

Movie box office numbers for last weekend. 1. Horton Hears A Who! - $45 million. 2. 10,000 B.C. - $16.8 million. 3. Never Back Down - $8.6 million. 4. College Road Trip - $7.8 million. 5. Vantage Point - $5.5 million. 6. The Bank Job - $5.1 million. 7. Doomsday - $4.9 million. 8. Semi-Pro - $3 million. 9. The Other Boleyn Girl - $2.9 million. 10. Spiderwick Chronicles - $2.3 million.

I've been watching basketball for a long time but never have I seen a scene like what happened Friday night at the SEC tournament. If you missed it, a tornado struck downtown Atlanta during overtime of a SEC tournament game at the Georgia Dome. It was definitely a scary scene there and I can't imagine being either one of those teams that had to go out there and finish that game after going through something like that. My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone in Atlanta that is dealing with the effects of those nasty storms. Here is a video of the SEC game that has the footage as it happened live.


Carrie Underwood is set to become a member of The Grand Ole Opry. She will be inducted on May 10th in Nashville. I was actually thinking about a year or so ago that with as many appearances that she does there that she should definitely be invited to become a member. Now, she will be. I'm sure she has to be thrilled with that news.

A follow up to last week's 90210 spin off news. It definitely appears to be happening and things could get very busy with it very quickly. I've read some stuff about what the overall story is going to be like and it appears to be very similar as far as profiles to what the original cast was like when attending West Beverly High with a modern spin on them. There is talk that there may be original cast members participating in it somehow. I am interested to see if they tie the original series to it much. I guess they could always have the younger family members in it if they chose to such as maybe Andrea's kid or, hey, even Kelly's little sister. They'd be around high school age by now. It's got my interest.

I was hoping to have some Buffy season eight comic thoughts for you this week but I haven't had the opportunity to do some reading. I'll see what I can do for next week.

Add the A-Team to the latest show making a comeback. I say show but it is being turned into a movie. John Singleton is directing the movie which will be released in theatres in 2009.

I got an email last week wanting to let my readers know about a new show on HGTV called Myles Of Style. The show features Design Star 2 winner, Kim Myles using her talent to help people change the design of rooms from ordinary to anything but ordinary. She'll also do this change on a smaller affordable budget. The show airs on Thursdays at 7:30pm central time on HGTV. For more info on the show, head over to: http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/shows_hmofs

TV on DVD releases for Tuesday, March 25th. Arthur (Season Ten), Baldwin Hills (Season One), The Invisible Man (Season One), Painkiller Jane (Complete Series), Party Of Five (Season Three), Sliders (Season Four), The Vice (Season One), Wings (Season Six).

You Tube Video Of The Week: Scary Maze reaction. Who hasn't been emailed that Scary Maze trick? The maze that you do and try to avoid hitting the sides only to have a scary woman come up on the screen and scare you. Yeah, I think my reaction to that maze trick involved having my heart jump into my throat. LOL.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuG0mYH0VOs

Wishing everyone a great and safe weekend!! Take care and God bless!!

Friday, March 14, 2008

March 13, 2008 - CBS Comedies Returning, 90210 Returns?, The WB Returns...Sort Of, Idol, Survivor, Apprentice, BB9, & More

I figured I'd switch things up a bit this week and lead off with something else besides the normal in this week's Wrap Up.

I am so happy to say that two of my favorite comedies are coming back on Monday night with new episodes. The Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother return. Don't forget that Big Bang Theory is now leading off Monday night on CBS at 7pm central time followed by How I Met Your Mother. How I Met Your Mother made quite a bit of news this week with the announcement that Alicia Silverstone was going to appear as a guest star later in the season. Later in the week, the talk was that she had backed out of the appearance after Britney Spears was booked to appear on the same episode. Alicia's reasoning seems to be that she knows that Britney's appearance will be a circus. The reports have Alicia as wanting to badly appear on the show and that the show is looking for another role for her in another episode. Sarah Chalke has been given the role that Alicia Silverstone was going to have in that episode. The news this week definitely got some attention on the show which is very well deserving cause the show is great!! Neil Patrick Harris said in a recent Q&A that Britney's people came to them instead of the show going to her so it isn't a ratings attempt. How I Met Your Mother has been one of my favorites since the premiere. It has given many catchphrases to pop culture, created one of the best characters on TV in Barney, and every time I hear "You Give Love A Bad Name", I think of Barney playing the song in the limo. LOL. The Big Bang Theory is my favorite new show of this season. The promos for the show got my attention and I thought it could be a very funny show. I was right cause it is a very funny show. I think I laugh at that show more than anything else on TV right now. Great cast and fun episodes. Give both of these shows a shot on Monday night if you haven't seen them.

Hold off on the casting news on Smallville. Ausiello over at TV Guide is saying that talks are still ongoing with Michael Rosenbaum and Kristin Kreuk to appear on next season. He also mentioned a report saying that Allison Mack isn't "officially" signed on either for next season but all are likely to come back especially Allison as the producers are very much wanting her back. The talk is that Michael and Kristin could definitely be back but just not appear in every episode. They would be in the majority of them. Talks are still ongoing so we'll have to wait and see. Here is a link to his article and scroll down to the Smallville stuff to get more info. http://www.tvguide.com/ask-ausiello

Thursday has become my busiest night of TV of the week. That is how it used to be back several years ago and Smallville, Survivor, and sometimes Idol have made Thursday a fix some food and kick back while watching TV night again. Tonight's Smallville saw a returning face as Pete returned to Smallville but has changed since the last time we saw him. That is some doublemint kind of gum. Ok, so it wasn't doublemint gum but instead a kryptonite mix that let Pete go all go go gadget arms. Inspector Pete, I mean Pete (LOL) returned and ended up saving Kara from a speaker falling on top of her after using his go go gadget arms. Basically, Pete had an elastic type power. Jimmy got a picture of Pete saving Kara with his arms all stretched out. It was a fun reunion time seeing Pete getting back together with old friends. When Pete walked in to see Lionel in Clark's house with Clark and Lana, he was stunned at Lionel being friends with them and being behind in all the happenings. My first thought was, geez Clark, way to keep in touch with your friends!! LOL. That was later explained as Pete had not ever returned Clark's phone calls. Pete blamed Clark for what his life had become cause he said that he is always looking over his shoulder wondering if he will have to protect Clark's secret. Pete wanted to be a hero of his own and have a different style of it which was telling everyone about it. He wanted to do interviews or whatever and be different from Clark. Kara continued to try and figure out why her past is being kept a secret from her as she still suffers from losing her memory. The question was where is her bracelet? Well, a lot of people were trying to track it down. Lex showed her the symbols that had appeared in Smallville over the years including it appearing on her bracelet. Who had the bracelet? Lionel did in his safe. Lex found this out and blackmailed Pete for him to go get it for him. Lex threatened to expose Chloe's secret and Pete wouldn't let that happen. Pete avoided Clark who tried to stop him but Pete was on his own mission to protect everyone's secret by one way and that was taking Lex out of the equation. Clark destroyed all the kryptonite gum supply so Pete only got to use his power on Lex for a few seconds. Clark made the save and all was well. Pete apologized to everyone as the gum did have an effect on him but it was clear that protecting Clark's secret had been tough on him over the years. So, Kara has now moved in with Lex after not feeling that she can trust Clark and Lana with them continuing to lie to her. Pete being on tonight's episode had a lot of great flashback stuff with such little things as the basketball game between Clark and Pete. Nice to see Chloe and Pete together again as well. Clark made it clear to Lionel that they were going to talk about some things after he found out that Lionel secretly had Kara's bracelet. Clark has it now hidden in the barn. Hope you like One Republic cause we got a ton of their music in this episode including them performing. I'm a big fan of their song "Stop and Stare" so it was cool to hear it in the first scene.

American Idol moved to the new and improved big stage this week with the top 12 portion of the season. The stage looked very impressive as did all the new graphics and show open. Very impressed and it was nice to tweak it up a bit. This week saw the contestants getting their first shot at the Beatles library. Enjoyable week of performances with some stepping up while others struggled. I do now officially have a favorite in the competition as I really look forward to hearing Carly Smithson every week. Powerhouse voice. Carly moved on and survived the week. How about Chikezie this week??!! Where had that performer been hiding all this time? He was incredible. Up until this week, he had been really low key in the competition and he jumped out big time. We'll have to wait and see if he can build off of the momentum. I like Brooke White more and more every week. Really liked her performance this week. The bottom three this week was David Hernandez, Kristy Lee Cook, and Syesha Mercado. Not a really surprising bottom three but I was bummed to see Kristy there cause I've liked her so far. Going home this week was David Hernandez. It was nice to see Katharine McPhee perform on Wednesday's results show as she performed with David Foster.

I didn't expect this 90210 news today that has been breaking all over the place. There are a ton of reports saying that there are plans for a new Beverly Hills 90210 TV show. The talk is that the new show will appear on The CW. What is this 90210 show going to be? No, it's not the original cast and its not a remake either. This is going to be a spinoff with a new cast of characters at West Beverly High. To bring even more interest to this, Rob Thomas is said to be the guy that is in discussions to be given the head position of getting this show together. Rob Thomas is of course the master mind behind one of my favorite shows, Veronica Mars. Well, this is all very interesting. 90210 was a show that I grew up with and watched every week. I am not sure what to make of this cause you just never know what to expect with bringing a franchise back. I am all for giving this a chance and seeing how it turns out. Opinions among fans is all over the board as you would expect. Isn't it interesting how The CW goes back to Rob Thomas too? The CW is making a lot of interesting moves in the last few weeks. Speaking of Thomas though, ABC has announced that they picked up a pilot of his show, Cupid. With all of this news, I'm thinking that the Veronica Mars comic isn't going to happen. Well, either that or he's going to have no time to do anything else including essentials like eating and sleeping. LOL.

Movie box office numbers for last weekend. 1. 10,000 B.C. - $35.8 million. 2. College Road Trip - $13.6 million. 3. Vantage Point - $7.3 million. 4. The Bank Job - $5.9 million. 5. Semi-Pro - $5.7 million. 6. The Spiderwick Chronicles - $4.7 million. 7. The Other Boleyn Girl - $4 million. 8. Jumper - $3.6 million. 9. Step Up 2 The Streets - $3 million. 10. Fool's Gold - $2.7 million.

There will now be eight movies in the Harry Potter series. An official announcement was made that the final Harry Potter book is going to be split up into two movies. The first of the movies will be released in November 2010 and the final movie will be released in May 2011.

Hulu has made its full launch. Hulu is a You Tube type site that was formed to actually compete with You Tube as deals were made with networks and all to get full episodes of shows put up on the site. Hulu has of course been around for a while but you had to register for it to get to use it. It is now up online for everyone. Hulu offers MANY free TV shows for viewing including current and older shows. The site also has many movies up for viewing as well. I've been watching stuff on Hulu for a while now and it is an impressive site. Lots of variety of shows and the quality of the video is very good. You do get commercials but each break lasts normally thirty seconds so it isn't long at all. Give it a look and you might find some things on there that you've been wanting to watch. Here is the link: www.hulu.com

The WB is returning!!! Well, sort of. The Hollywood Reporter has news on The WB returning as a website. The Warner Brothers Television Group is reviving the network and placing it online. It is going to offer new programming in the form of mini episodes but also feature classic WB programming. Free viewing will be available for shows including Gilmore Girls, Everwood, What I Like About You, and more. The site will apparently be wb.com with a possible small launch for the site next month but the full launch coming in the fall. There is talk on whether Buffy or Angel could be included since they are actually produced outside of Warner Brothers but aired on The WB. The site will be ad supported to help pay for it like all the other streaming video sites and is said to be something like the Hulu site. I am very excited for this cause the more that I actually watch The CW (which is very little especially after the cancellation of Veronica Mars) the more that I miss The WB. I'll keep you updated on any more news on this website.

To quote Jessica from last season. This house, these people, this game. A strange thing happened in the Big Brother house this week. The houseguests figured out that this was a game and started playing. LOL. I watched House Calls this week and Dick and Gretchen were talking about how great Tuesday's episode was. Dick's reasoning? It was about the game and not about who can hook up with who. I completely agree as I thought Tuesday's episode was the best of the season as it was about game play. Last week, Ryan and Allison were evicted from the house. A twist in the game had them remain in the house but still have one of them be evicted. Allison was evicted and Ryan remained in the game. Ryan then won HOH. The house was divided. Going up on the nomination block was Sharon and Chelsia. After the veto competition was held, Chelsia had won the veto. Other prizes were also given out in the veto competition. Sheila at one point had a motorcycle but Adam traded his prize of $10,000 with her. However, Ryan got his prize and it was a unitard made famous by Jen last season. Ryan traded the unitard to Sheila taking the $10,000 away from her which devastated her. Sharon walked away with a slop pass but it was again Chelsia who left with the veto. A plan was put into place by several in the house to backdoor Matt and get him out. The plan got into motion when Natalie got hurt by Matt once again and went to the other side telling about stuff he had said about her. The plan was made to get Matt out. The problem was that Natalie went and told everything to Matt. Ryan made a deal with both sides with one saying that they'd get Matt out and promise him two weeks of safety if he did it. The others wanted James out. Sheila actually was the one that talked to Ryan and got things in motion to keep Matt in the house. The veto ceremony saw Chelsia use the veto on herself taking her off the block. Ryan chose to put James up on the block which set into motion a very nasty afternoon in the Big Brother house all of which was not shown on TV. If you want to know what was cut out which amazed me that they cut it out, scroll down to the What You Missed On The Live Feeds section. James had no chance of staying as the votes were already decided. Last night's live show saw James evicted as he only got one vote to stay which was from Chelsia. Here comes the twist though. Big Brother promoted all week for viewers to vote who they want to have a chance to come back into the Big Brother game of all the evicted houseguests. Alex got the winning vote followed by Parker in second place. Alex gets to go back in. Wait a minute. The twist is announced to the house that someone is returning but it is up to the house on what they want to do. The houseguests can either vote James back into the house or vote for the mystery returning houseguest that the viewers voted for. Ryan, Adam, and Matt vote for the mystery person but the rest vote for James to return including Natalie. James returns to the house so basically we're right back to where we were in the game. What a lame twist is all that I could think. All that voting for nothing so the game could just return to the same thing that it was last week. The HOH competition was an endurance competition last night and continued on after the show ended. Want to know what happened before the next show airs? Keep reading on.

Thoughts and other happenings in the house this week.
So, James offered up Chelsia to the boys to put on the block against Sharon and then ends up on the block himself when Chelsia uses the veto. He got hit with some Big Brother karma there. Oh Natalie. Wow, they are making her look bad on this show as they were clearly making her look like the stalker girlfriend of Matt's. Natalie is going to be so sad when she gets out of the house and realizes how Matt wants to get away from her all the time. The thing is that Natalie has been told this over and over by people in the house that he is playing her but she keeps going back to him. I can't see anything else happening other than him eventually turning on her and causing her eviction. That is my prediction anyway. Natalie keeps referring to Matt as her partner but the partners are over. She seems to be the only one in the house that doesn't get that. The theme for the house this season seems to be that it is ok for any houseguest do anything in this game as long as it is you doing it. If someone does something to you, everything is going to break loose. LOL. Chelsia and Josh would have absolutely been rubbing in things if Matt had gotten up on the block with the veto. Then, it went back at them when James went up. I'm not just speaking about that though. That theory of it's ok as long as I'm doing it pretty much goes with anything going on in the house. This has been an odd season to watch as I don't really like anyone in the house. I like Sharon. She is a gamer and just keeps her mouth shut while letting everyone else do their calling out and yelling. She is really the only one that I like in there. When watching a random argument play out on the feeds, I will be on someone's side for five minutes and then jump over to another side cause of something the other person did or said. LOL. It is interesting to watch though when you only have one person that you are cheering for. Watching it neutral is different.

What Has Happened Since Last Night's Live Show:
The HOH competition took place last night which began as the show ended. If you want to know the results of the HOH competition, scroll down the page as I did live updates as the HOH went along:
Also, here is your nominations for the week. SPOILER ALERT!!! James made his nomination picks tonight and I actually predicted this right after thinking about it last night. James put up Sheila and Ryan for eviction.

What You Missed On The Live Feeds:
It was kind of humorous to watch the show last night showing what happened after the veto ceremony. I say humorous cause everyone was furious on the show but they didn't even show why everyone was so tense. It was funny reading the message boards as we all waited for the veto ceremony to end cause we knew it was going to be ugly once the feeds came back on as it was known by viewers what was about to happen with James going up. Here is how it played out. On the show, Matt was shown celebrating and rubbing it in about remaining in the house after the house tried to backdoor him. We then saw Chelsia go to Ryan immediately furious over him going against their plan. What you didn't see on the show and was seen on the feeds was things getting way out of hand in the kitchen. Lots of mocking of both sides. Chelsia was told of stuff that Natalie had said about her. She went in and confronted Natalie. They yelled at each other for a while or it was more of a making fun of each other in a mocking voice. Natalie was really playing up how she got things changed up in the game keeping her "partner" here saying that no one is splitting up her and her partner. James and Josh got fed up with Natalie with James pouring pickle juice on her while Josh poured water/ice on her. That got several furious in the house and there was a lot of tension for the next few minutes. Matt stood up for Natalie saying that you don't treat girls like that. Matt called out Sharon in the backyard basically saying how can you stand by someone who acts like that and Sharon kept saying that she couldn't control what he did adding that she didn't like what Josh did either. Matt confronted Josh on what happened with Natalie but things stayed pretty cool after that. It was a very tense hour or so in the Big Brother house. Other feed stuff this week. Josh ripped on Natalie constantly over the weekend for her misspelling of cereal. Yet, Josh goes up in the food competition and misspells chicken. LOL. I thought I would add some more to the conversation that got shown on Tuesday's episode where Natalie got insulted by all the negativity and left the room. I watched this whole conversation as it happened and what really got her fired up was her telling the people in the room what she was wanting to do with the fame after the show. She talked about being an actress and other things that she wanted to do. The room especially Matt told her that it would never happen. That is when she got mad and left the room saying she didn't want to be around the negativity telling the others in the house that you should never shoot down other people's dreams. The veto competition with the pool table looking deal was given to the houseguests the night before. I watched several of them practice on it for a while as Big Brother said they could practice as long as they wanted, even all night. There was an oops moment last night on the live feeds when they accidentally leaked audio of Chelsia getting interviewed in the diary room. Someone messed up by letting that audio leak out over the feeds but it was fun to listen to how they conduct the interviews. About 25 minutes was how long the audio leak went on for!! We heard the whole thing.

Tonight's Survivor had an injury sending one competitor out of the game, another asking to go home, and talk about blindsiding a strong player to send them home. First, Jonathan had to leave the game due to his leg injury. He toughed it out for a while including him staying really tough during that reward challenge that he helped Airai win. He was checked by the medic who told him that the treatment so far had not worked as the infection was spreading. If it continued to spread, it could have ended up being life threatening. He left the game and there were a lot of tears. It's always disappointing to see someone have to leave the game under those circumstances and he was tough battling that injury. Jason and Chet were sent to exile island. Jason found Ozzy's fake immunity idol and then returned to his tribe before the immunity challenge declaring to the whole group that he thought Ozzy had the idol. Now, Ozzy has the real one and Jason has the fake one. Immunity went to Airai who went with a strategy of James and gang holding that pole solid getting Eliza and Parvati across the water. You were supposed to use two of them to get them across but they were able to use one. WOW!! Chet asked his tribe to send him home complaining about his foot which he thought had problems as well. However, Erik and Tracy tried to talk him into staying and blindsiding Ozzy. Ami said that she'd vote that way as well if they could talk Chet into staying. They couldn't though and Chet was voted out.

Janet Jackson had to back out of her appearance on this weekend's Saturday Night Live due to the flu. Well, SNL has already made a replacement and has gotten Mariah Carey to replace her as the musical guest.

I've been reading stuff saying that ER may be coming back next season on NBC. Talks are reportedly underway with Warner Brothers to bring the show back.

TV on DVD releases for Tuesday, March 18th.
Adventures of Robin Hood (Season One), Battlestar Galactica (Season Three), Bionic Woman (Volume One), Married With Children (Season Eight), McHale's Navy (Season Three), The Untouchables (Season Two - Volume One), The Wild, Wild West (Season Four).

You Tube Video Of The Week:
A clip of my favorite rookie show of this TV season.


That's it for this edition of the Wrap Up. Have a great and safe weekend!! Take care and God bless!!

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Big Brother 9 Update - 3/12/08 - HOH Competition Underway

I'll be updating the happenings of the HOH competition as it goes along tonight. Tonight's Big Brother saw a house guest evicted and a house guest brought back. First, the episode itself saw a lot of stuff cut out of what happened after the veto ceremony. A LOT. I'll get into that tomorrow in the regular edition of the Wrap Up. As far as the live results of tonight's show, James was evicted from the house on a 5-1 vote. The results of the viewer voting was revealed where America got to choose which evicted house guest that they wanted to see return to the game. The picks were between Jacob, Jen, Parker, Alex, Amanda, and Allison. The viewers voted for Alex to get the chance to return while Parker finished second. However, there was another twist as the house got to pick whether to bring James back or to bring back the unknown previously evicted house guest that got the vote. The surprise house guest got three votes while the rest of the house voted for James to return. James returns to the Big Brother house. First thought was what a lame twist. All that voting and the one voted doesn't even get to return. Now instead of a game that would be switched up a bit, we've got the same game that we had last week. I'm sure tonight's HOH will be very intense especially with the house divided. Stay tuned on the happenings of the HOH competition as I'll be updating as I watch it play out on the live feeds.

SPOILER ALERT!! HOH Competition Updates:

8:15pm Update. Feeds just came back on. Adam and Josh are already out of the HOH. Lots of talking going on between James and Natalie. Kind of funny considering that Natalie voted to bring him back in. LOL.

8:30pm Update. Matt is out of the HOH. Still up in the air are James, Sharon, Chelsia, Sheila, and Natalie. Sharon and Natalie look strong up there so far.

8:45pm Update. Sheila is out of the HOH. She had been complaining for the last ten minutes that she was feeling sick to her stomach saying that she didn't eat enough before this competition. A few minutes ago the guys on the sideline were trying to figure out the votes and Matt seems to think that Natalie was one of the votes to bring back James. Natalie is probably going to take a ton of heat over that vote to bring back James.

9:30pm Update.
Nothing has changed. It's still Sharon, Chelsia, James, and Natalie. Everybody seems to be doing fine. Big Brother is going to have to throw a twist in this thing soon cause they're going to be up there for a long time at this point.

10:15pm Update. We're about two and a half hours into the HOH competition. These four have been very strong up there. Sharon just dropped out. She said she couldn't hang in anymore. Down to three people. Natalie is immediately telling James and Chelsia that they aren't her target this week. James is saying that he doesn't care and is staying up anyway. She was also telling James earlier to not be mad at her saying that she did vote him back in. James replied that he wasn't thinking about being voted in but being voted out. James is definitely on a mission to win this thing. Ryan and Matt have been talking and definitely aren't happy with the votes to bring James back in.

11:00pm Update. Three hours into the HOH competition now. All three remain. Big Brother has just made the competition tougher letting them only stand now and they can't squat anymore. Matt and Ryan are hanging out talking to them.

11:03pm Update. We're down to two. Chelsia just slipped off and is out. We're down to Natalie and James.

11:35pm Update. The two of them are still going. James is looking really rough and Natalie looks solid. I don't know if there is any way that James can win. They keep talking about making a deal every ten minutes or so. Natalie promised that James and Chelsia are safe from nominations this week. James is not wanting to quit and is really trying hard to stay up there. The odds are definitely against him right now just by watching the shape that each of them are in up there.

11:45pm Update. James just offered a deal to Natalie saying that he would drop if Natalie would put Ryan on the block. She was ready to take the deal and Ryan was not happy about it. Matt whispered to Ryan saying that she should take the deal but not actually do it. James then backed off saying that he'd rather win this on his own. Really interesting that the person that is struggling between the two is the one offering deals. It seems like Natalie should be offering the deals cause she is clearly in control of this competition at this point.

12:15am Update. My how things have changed. I said that Natalie was looking the best but shortly after my last update, things went the other way. Natalie is getting dehydrated and she's been pushing for deals. James looks solid up there now and he is determined to win after what happened with his eviction. She asked if she was safe trying to work a deal. She asked about Matt and he said that Matt would be safe too. Natalie is saying that she is feeling sick and is barely hanging on at this point.

12:17am Update. The HOH competition is over. James has won it and Natalie finally had to bail out. The competition lasted for about four and a half hours. Incredible effort from both of them!! A deal was made that James would not put up Natalie or Matt on the nomination block. After the competition was over, he told everyone that came up to him that he was holding to that deal saying that he wasn't going to do to others what happened to him last week. He said he has learned from getting a second chance in the house. Natalie is very upset about not being able to win it. Josh, Sharon, and Chelsia were also telling Natalie before it was over that they promised her safety as well. These endurance challenges are always amazing to watch every year cause they are tough.

Saturday, March 8, 2008

Big Brother 9 - Live Feed Update - 3/8/08

12:00am - SPOILER ALERT!!! Slow day for me today so I've been watching the feeds for most of the day. I really do wonder about the lack of game play of most of this cast at times. Here is some of the recent happenings in the house. The veto competition has taken place and the veto was won by Chelsia. She is currently up on the block against Sharon. Other happenings of the veto competition was that Sheila has to wear a unitard for a week just like Jen did last season. It also appears that Adam won a motorcycle while Ryan won some money. Sharon won a slop pass. The veto ceremony has not taken place yet. What will happen now that the veto is in play? Well, I have no clue. I've said over and over how this house flips every hour. There was talk about putting Matt up in Chelsia's place but, so far, that doesn't appear to be happening. In fact, the latest talk is that Ryan is going to put James up in Chelsia's place and the plan would be to evict James. That appears to be happening without a doubt at the moment but that could change an hour from now. Chelsia's mood changed dramatically after returning from the diary room at one point tonight leading to speculation from live feed viewers that the diary room leaked some information that James may be going up. The diary room would never do that. LOL. They only did that several times last year. Chelsia has been roaming around very nervous and has Josh all panicked cause she feels like things are about to get turned on them. Her and Josh were pointing out how Ryan, Matt, and Natalie have been hanging out a lot more than they normally do. Chelsia is planning on talking to Ryan about things but she can't get him alone cause Matt has been glued to him all day. Chelsia is saying that she is thinking about telling Ryan that she feels that she has the votes to stay and not use the veto on herself to see how Ryan would react. If Chelsia even thinks about pulling a Marcellas and not using the veto, it would likely be a game ending decision for her getting her voted out. Sharon has been mostly laying low today with either sleeping or reading. With the mood in the house tonight, it is really clear where the alliance lines are as some are their regular selves while others are looking very nervous and quiet. We'll find out more of what the plan is as the veto ceremony gets closer.

7:00pm - Update - Veto ceremony is over. Chelsia used the veto and Ryan put up James in her place. James against Sharon on the nomination block and it appears that James will be going home. Some of them were completely blindsided by the decision by Ryan and the veto meeting stirred up a lot of things. It also showed who was on whose side. The turn in the game got tempers immediately going after the conclusion of the veto ceremony and has continued all afternoon which resulted in name calling, pouring drinks on a house guest, hiding belongings, etc. I feel my maturity level plummeting down the longer that I watch these people. LOL. I like one person in the house and that is Sharon who just stays out of all this craziness. If you like drama, this has been the day to watch on the feeds. You really just keep watching wondering what in the world can possibly happen next? LOL

Thursday, March 6, 2008

March 6, 2008 - Idol Top 12, CW Renewals, NBC Summer, & More

Let's get into this week's edition of the Wrap Up. Got some various things to talk about from the TV world.

Last night's rules change in Big Brother could shake this season up for me. I haven't enjoyed this season much at all. Splitting into pairs could make these people actually, well, play the game. Maybe this will see the Real World season of Big Brother get changed up in the rest of the game. I'm hoping that this puts a kick into this season. First, let's talk about what all happened this week.

Happenings of the week. Last week, Josh and Sharon won HOH in an easy effort. They put up Ryan & Allison and Matt & Natalie for eviction. The veto competition takes place and it is won by Matt & Natalie. They used the veto on themselves and Josh & Sharon put up Adam & Sheila in their place. The houseguests got a letter earlier in the week saying that a twist was coming and to gather in the living room when they hear the siren that was played for them. Last night's live show saw the rules changed for this season. Allison and Ryan get voted out on a 2-0 vote but the door is locked not allowing them to get out the door. The siren finally sounds and everyone gathers back in the living room including the evicted houseguests. Julie Chen announces that the couples are now over as it is now everyone playing individually for the rest of the game. Also, one member of the evicted couple is still going home after a live vote. Well, anyone besides me say bye bye Allison after hearing that news. LOL. It was easy to know that she was going home after what had occurred in the house this week. Allison gets evicted on a 6-0 vote. The first individual HOH competition takes place and the winner ends up being Ryan. Ryan goes from out the door to the new HOH. That is the way things go in the Big Brother house over the years. That happened a ton last year with people being almost evicted right to the power position. The twists aren't over though. A twist was announced at the end of the show where someone will be coming back in the house. This was NOT told to the houseguests though. The viewers get to vote between all six evicted houseguests with which one you want to see come back into the game. Interesting that the voting does not close until March 11th so that means that the returning houseguest won't happen until next week. Here is the link to vote on who you want to vote back into the house: http://www.cbs.com/primetime/big_brother_9/contest/vote_back/index_2.php
Now, the question is who turns on who? Who will stick together as an alliance? I could see Josh and Sharon sticking together. Sheila and Adam are done. Matt and Natalie are done. James and Chelsia will likely stick together but I tend to think that something will happen that will separate them. Did you notice on the live show how quickly people moved on the couches after the couples are done announcement? Matt could not have moved to the other side more quickly and Natalie looked very sad.

Other thoughts on the Big Brother week. Wow, Allison had no chance. Remember when I said that Amanda had been stirring up way too much stuff which led to her eviction. Well, take what Amanda did and times it by about ten. LOL. She stirred up a ton in the house and Josh was completely ready to put her up for eviction. She tried all kinds of planning to save herself throughout the week but kept telling everyone something different. Just bizarre strategy from her through the whole game. Everyone had figured out her lies and no one believed anything that she said anymore. So, an evicted houseguest is returning. If I had to guess on who it would be that returns, I will say Amanda. Either her or Alex. I don't know if the viewers are that into the other four. I'd be stunned if Allison returned. I would be interested to see what kind of game that Alex could play on his own. It was funny to see Matt flirting with Sharon this week kissing her for game play. Well, Sharon isn't being played. Her talk on the show about Matt's game playing was very funny. She's playing the game right back at him.

What You Missed On The Live Feeds:
Hey new trivia!! What is that? The non-live feeders may be asking that. When there is a competition taking place, the feeds go to Big Brother trivia. We've been reading the same trivia questions for years now. Last night, the trivia was updated with recent seasons and a new background behind the questions as well. About time!! Allison was working that house big time trying to get votes to stay. Funny moment when she went to James and Chelsia to figure out how they were voting. They wouldn't tell her and she said that she'd like to at least know. They then pointed out that Allison wouldn't tell Amanda last week. Allison got that play of hers put right back at her. She confronted Josh multiple times asking why he was so mad at her. He told her the same thing multiple times as well. Most of the week of the feeds was Allison working on trying to get votes. Not a whole lot of anything else going on.

What Has Happened Since Last Night's Live Show: SPOILER ALERT!!
The food competition was held earlier today and some of the house is now back on slop. Sheila, Josh, Chelsia, and Sharon are on slop for the week. Nominations were made tonight and Ryan put up Sharon and Chelsia. Ryan told Chelsia earlier in the day that she was going up but would be the pawn. You know what happens in this game with being pawns. Chelsia is not happy at all being the pawn but people are assuring her that she is fine. It does appear so far that Sharon is Ryan's target this week. With pawns in Big Brother history, I know I wouldn't feel good about being the pawn to get someone else evicted.

If you are a DirecTV subscriber and want to watch more Big Brother without having the live feeds, you're in luck. DirecTV is offering a free preview this weekend of Showtime that has already begun tonight. Big Brother After Dark is a three hour live feed show that is shown on Showtime 2 from 11pm-2am central time every night. It's like watching the live feeds but having it on TV instead of your computer. It is unedited and uncensored. I will warn you ahead of time that you NEVER know what is going to be happening in that house over night. So, tune in to After Dark knowing that ahead of time. Things have been calm in the house for the last few nights though.

I will be so glad when some scripted shows start coming back with new episodes following the strike. I feel like all there is to talk about is reality TV for the last few months. There isn't much else going on in the entertainment world.

As a Smallville fan, I am so happy with the news from The CW this week. The CW announced season renewals for several of their shows for next season which included Smallville. Other shows returning for next season include One Tree Hill, Supernatural, Gossip Girl, America's Next Top Model, and Everybody Hates Chris. I've got to say that some of those surprise me especially with renewals this early on. Some of those shows don't get renewed until the week before the upfronts. The CW has also made some midseason moves with their schedule. Beginning Monday, April 21st, The CW will have One Tree Hill and Gossip Girl on the same night. That will be the first night that they will be paired together although One Tree Hill will move to Monday nights beginning on April 7th.

Don't forget that Smallville returns with new episodes one week from tonight on March 13th. A familiar face that we haven't seen in a long time will be making a return on that episode. It looks really good by the previews.

NBC is going to be getting their summer season going earlier than normal this year. Part of the reason is due to the Summer Olympics happening on NBC in August. NBC announced that American Gladiators will return on May 12th. Other shows include: Last Comic Standing (May 22), Fear Itself (May 29), Nashville Star (June 9), Celebrity Circus (June 11), America's Got Talent (June 24), The Baby Borrowers (June 25).

The final twelve is set on American Idol and next week will begin the real competition. Guys and girls competing against each other for the first time beginning next week. Tonight saw two guys and two girls going home. Not any absolute stunners but I was surprised at the outcome of one of them. The girls going home were Kady Malloy and Asia'H Epperson. The guys going home were Luke Menard and Danny Noriega. I was surprised to see Danny go home especially being against Chikezie who has had a tough time so far in the voting rounds. He even looked surprised that Danny was going home. Not surprised to see Kady go home but there was something about her that I liked. This week's American Idol had an 80's theme to it with the contestants singing 80's songs. I really enjoyed this week as the guys and girls were both good. After watching the girls perform on Wednesday night, I didn't really have anyone that I thought should go home. My front runners that I am liking the most are Carly Smithson and Kristy Lee Cook. Really liked Carly's performance of "I Drove All Night". Also, I really liked Amanda's version of "I Hate Myself For Loving You". Ramiele Malubay won me over this week with her version of "Against All Odds". She is just this little girl with this powerhouse of a voice. I wasn't sure what to make of Paula's critique of Brooke White's version of "Love Is A Battlefield". Paula wasn't crazy about it because it was very different from the original as she is a big fan of the song. That was what I liked about it was that it was a different version. It was this nice acoustic version that I wasn't expecting at all. The rest of the judges liked it. When I was watching her perform it, I was thinking that she definitely made that song her own. That is my problem with the judges sometimes. They say over and over to make the song your own. When they do it, like Brooke did, they get critiqued for it cause it wasn't like the original. With the guys, Jason Castro got my attention this week with his performance. I also thought David Cook was a standout this week as well. This is the first week for me where the guys stood out more from each other. Most of the guys performances have just kind of run together for me and I have yet to figure out some of their names. I know just about all the girls names at this point cause they are quite a bit different in style, performance, and personality. Like I said, this was the first week where I enjoyed the guys' performance show as much as the girls' performance show. Here is your top twelve: Carly Smithson, Ramiele Malubay, Kristy Lee Cook, Brooke White, Syesha Mercado, Amanda Overmyer, Jason Castro, David Cook, David Hernandez, David Archuleta, Michael Johns, and Chikezie. Get to voting for your favorite next week!!

Survivors, you may drop your buffs. The tribes are shaking up. Jeff Probst had that announcement tonight as things switched up on tonight's Survivor. Everyone was given a bag to pick balls out of to see who would be the leaders of each tribe. Airai had Natalie as the leader while Malakai had Ozzy. They started picking tribe members in a school yard style. The only catch was that they had to pick someone opposite of them such as either favorite or fan. Each person that was picked was then the next one to make the pick on who would also join the team. This is how it all shook out. Malakai has Ozzy, Joel, Amanda, Eric, Ami, Tracy, Cirie, and Chet. Airai has Natalie, James, Alexis, Jonathan, Jason, Parvati, Kathy, and Eliza. Airai immediately got a camp upgrade when the favorites realized how bad the shelter conditions were there. The favorites joining the tribe had a plan and executed it immediately making things much better. James had a comment seeing how they set up their fire right by the rising water tide saying he was surprised that the tribe "was still alive". Rough reward challenge that saw teams of two competing in a tag like event where you had to grab the flag off of the duo that you are chasing. Several injuries in this one cause you were basically being dragged along by who was running first. Parvati, Ami, and Jonathan all got hurt with some worse than others. Joel and Chet ended up losing the last round to Eliza and Parvati which gave Airai the victory. The loss mostly resulted form Joel dragging Chet along and ramming him into stuff which also saw him hit his head at one point. Jonathan was treated by the medics later for his leg. The previews for next week show that things may get much worse with an infection with his leg. The immunity challenge saw Airai get another victory with Eliza helping call the shots on putting the puzzle together. Chet was doing the puzzle calling on the other side but didn't get a lot of help from Joel who began calling the shots on his own. It was decided by several to vote out Chet. However, a change was on the way in the way of Cirie who saw that the weaker people were being targeted which she included herself in. Cirie went to Chet and Tracy to get things going to get Joel voted out. Well, it worked and it caught several by surprise. Joel is voted out and was completely stunned. Next week's Survivor preview showed Jonathan getting more bad medical news while it appears that Jason may be finding Ozzy's fake hidden immunity idol. Looks like a can't miss episode next week.

Movie box office numbers for this past weekend. 1. Semi-Pro - $15.1 million. 2. Vantage Point - $12.8 million. 3. Spiderwick Chronicles - $8.7 million. 4. The Other Boleyn Girl - $8.2 million. 5. Jumper - $7.6 million. 6. Step Up 2 - $5.7 million. 7. Fool's Gold - $4.4 million. 8. No Country For Old Men - $4.1 million. 9. Penelope - $3.8 million. 10. Definitely Maybe - $3.4 million.

Friday Night Lights may still have life after all. This show is definitely the little engine that could. Much respect to the fans and everyone that are trying to keep this show alive. There is said to be a deal almost in place between NBC and DirecTV to produce a new season of the show. No word on how the show would air with this arrangement but I've read different speculation on it. This is definitely good news for all the Friday Night Lights fans.

I forgot to mention this last week but new episodes are now airing of Little People Big World on TLC. New episodes premiered this past Monday night.

It looks like fans of 24 will get something this fall to watch. A movie is said to be in the works that would be a prequel to season seven. The new season of 24 won't premiere until January.

Ten years ago. What were the top ten movies at the box office on this weekend ten years ago? Well, here you go. 1. Titanic - $17.6 million. 2. US Marshalls - $16.8 million. 3. The Wedding Singer - $6.1 million. 4. Twilight - $5.8 million. 5. Hush - $5.7 million. 6. The Big Lebowski - $5.5 million. 7. Good Will Hunting - $5.1 million. 8. As Good As It Gets - $3.2 million. 9. Dark City - $2.8 million. 10. The Borrowers - $2 million.

TV on DVD releases for Tuesday, March 11th.
Slow week with TV on DVD releases. Love, American Style (Season One - Volume Two), The Mod Squad (Season One - Volume Two).

You Tube Video Of The Week:
Does this ever happen on your newscast? LOL.

That is all for this Wrap Up. Just not a lot happening in the entertainment world this week overall. I hope each and every one of you have a great weekend!! Take care and God bless!!

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Big Brother Update - 3/5/08

Well, the picture pretty much sums up the last few days. Allison trying everything she can to stay in the house but it was all for nothing. Remember when I said that Amanda stirred stuff up? Well, Amanda has nothing on Allison. That girl has stirred up the house so much that she had no chance when it came to the single eviction tonight. I could never really figure out what her plan was as she lied to everyone in the house while the house this year is like a real life version of the game, telephone. Tonight's live eviction show had the twist revealed. Allison and Ryan were evicted with a 2-0 vote. They weren't able to leave as the door would not open followed by the siren going off. The siren was the unveiling of the latest twist. Julie Chen announced that the couples are no longer playing as two. It is now an individual game and the couples part of the game is over. However, either Ryan or Allison was still going home and the now single competitors would be deciding in a live vote on who would be leaving the house. Allison was sent home on a 6-0 vote. The first individual HOH competition took place and Ryan won it. Ryan goes from being out of the door to now being the HOH. Julie also announced (but not to the houseguests) that an evicted houseguest would soon be returning to the house. Who? Well, that is up to the viewers. Viewers choose from all six evicted houseguests. Vote at this link: http://www.cbs.com/primetime/big_brother_9/contest/vote_back/index_2.php
I'll have more thoughts on the Big Brother week in tomorrow's regular edition of the Wrap Up.

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Superman Celebration 2008 In Metropolis, IL

I wanted to go ahead and get this news up for all of you Smallville fans. The 2008 Superman Celebration held in Metropolis, IL has announced a lineup for their show coming up this summer. Scheduled to appear are Allison Mack (Chloe on Smallville), Ned Beatty (Otis in the Superman movies), and Noel Neill (Lois Lane and the first lady of Metropolis). This will be the 30 year anniversary of the celebration and will be held June 12th-15th. For more info on the Superman Celebration, head over to http://www.supermancelebration.net/

Big Brother Over The Top - Week One Thoughts

I hope many of you have floated over to Big Brother Over The Top like I have.  Tonight, we will be one week into this game and this new plat...