The late night TV wars have continued over the past week and it has been no holds barred. Well, today came the official news on what we were waiting for. Conan O'Brien is out as Tonight Show host and will be leaving NBC. Jay Leno will return to The Tonight Show and will take back over on March 1. Conan is going to receive $33 million from NBC and another $12 million is going to be split among his employees. Conan will be able to return to TV this September and the likely place appears to be Fox as they are very interested in bringing him in. One thing that I found kind of annoying is that he isn't likely to be able to bring over the characters that have appeared on his show over the years including Triumph saying that they are trademarked with NBC. The ratings have been up on the shows this week with people tuning in to see what will be said next. Conan has been very fun to watch as he is just ripping NBC for about the last two weeks. What will be interesting is to see what the reaction is as the change takes effect. How will The Tonight Show fare with Jay Leno back? Will people boycott the show and the numbers not be as high as they were before Jay left or even are now with Conan? How will Conan's ratings be when he returns to whatever network? Bottom line, NBC has taken a black eye in this whole situation. One thing that made me even more annoyed with NBC this week was Dick Ebersol's comments where he pointed all the blame at Conan for this whole experiment not working. That just baffled me and just made NBC look even worse. Ebersol was quoted as saying that it was "chicken-hearted and gutless to blame a guy you couldn't beat in the ratings". I just laughed when I read this thinking, yeah, you are probably not helping NBC's reputation here when people are furious over what is going on. Fans have rallied all across the country in support of Conan whether it is out in public or online. Conan is definitely the sympathetic figure in this whole thing. He was given The Tonight Show to him and when NBC's experiment with Leno didn't work, they immediately tried to throw him out. Yeah, they were going to keep Conan on there but they were moving him back 30 minutes. It was basically giving The Tonight Show back to Leno without the official title. Kudos to Conan for standing up and not taking it. Big credit to for him taking care of his staff as well. You have to remember that Conan moved his family and his staff out to California which was a huge move. Then, seven months later, it was all for nothing. I have to add again that I like Leno too. I don't fault him in this whole thing either. I put the blame on NBC. Leno was ready to walk from the network cause he wanted to keep doing what he was doing but had promised to leave in 2009 for Conan to take over. It was an experiment that was tried and failed. It has been great to see the guests coming on to Conan’s show and supporting him. Did you see Norm McDonald the other night bring the fruit basket that he was going to bring in June? LOL. It had a card that said congrats and said how he had earned the spot on The Tonight Show and how no one could take it from him now. It was really funny. NBC really is going to have to rebuild their reputation after this whole thing even more cause they look bad. I like Conan and I like Leno but NBC did Conan wrong in my opinion.The American Idol auditions continued this week with Tuesday’s episode taking place in Chicago and then it was Orlando for Wednesday night. Tuesday night’s show had Shania Twain as a guest judge. Chicago struggled as far as getting a lot of people through to Hollywood so there was a lot of bad auditions on this one. Highlight of the show for me singer wise was Charity Vance. 16 years old and sang Summertime. Really good voice and she came off really likable to me. The judges all found her to be interesting. How funny was Shania when she was commenting on John Park? She just kept getting herself in more trouble with the comments that she kept putting out there. Funny stuff. Angela Martin gets her third try at Idol. Things going on in her life had kept her from continuing on in previous years so she’s back to compete again. Strong performance and she of course gets four votes to move on. Overall, the episode was entertaining but the talent just wasn’t doing very well there in Chicago. Only 14 people got through to Hollywood. That gets us to Orlando where Kristin Chenoweth sat in as a guest judge on day one of auditions bonding with Kara immediately and bugging Simon to the maximum. Jermaine Purifoy was the first to really jump out at me. He didn’t make it after auditioning in season seven but it was good news for him this time as he made it on through. Shelby Dressel was a feel good story too with the story of how she was born with an undeveloped nerve in her face which keeps the right side of her mouth from moving correctly. She did well in her performance and then forgot the lyrics at the end letting out a curse. It was funny and the judges got a laugh out of it. She gets through. Fun moment with Jay Stone who was the beat box guy. Simon wouldn’t have anything to do with him but Kara liked him and convinced Randy to give the vote to let him through. It’s always a curious moment when siblings audition together because you wonder if one, both, or neither will get through. That gets us to the Desimone sisters and both got through. Simon said no to one of them while the others went for both of them. Matthew Lawrence finished up the episode which was a comeback story talking about how he was in jail for four birthdays after robbing a bank with a BB gun. The judges loved him and he went on through easily. Kara said that he would be top 12 after he left the room. Highlight of the week for me was Cornelius Edwards. Who was this if you don’t remember his name? One word, splits. That was hilarious. He did the splits which looked like it hurt a ton and then ripped his pants. Judges put him through just for the moment it seemed. It was a fun moment. 31 got through to Hollywood from Orlando.
The election of Scott Brown to the US Senate brought an Idol name out of the past this week. I was on Twitter and saw Ayla Brown's name as a trending topic and wondered why. Well, Scott Brown’s daughter is Ayla Brown. I still remember her from season five of American Idol and she just missed the cut to the final group. I still feel like she should have made it and got robbed. Most of the people that don't make the final cut often get forgotten about but I never have forgotten her name. Bottom line, she should have been in that final group.
Lost fans need to check out this video. I had not seen this until Damon Lindelof posted the link on Twitter today after he had seen it. Somebody on You Tube has made a video to the crash of Flight 815 in real time in a 24 type format. It is incredible!!! It has the time line of happenings in order as it happened from the plane crash, Desmond and the button, the “others” seeing the plane crashing, and more. Just incredibly edited!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKcKtjrL5bc
But...umm. If you watched this week's How I Met Your Mother, that line will get a laugh. After Robin thought she had all kinds of fans in the college kids, she later learned that they knew her because they played a drinking game while watching her shows. She says "but...umm" all through her interviews and everyone drinks when she says it. Really funny especially when she learned of it and got revenge on all of the college kids including Ted who took part in it. Funny episode.
The new Amazing Race cast has been named and the rumors of a certain Big Brother couple taking part in it are true. Jeff and Jordan from Big Brother 11 are part of the cast. Who is joining them? Here are the rest.
Caite (20 years old) and Brent (28 years old) - dating models
Louis (47) and Michael (45) - undercover detectives
Steve (57) and Allie (23) - father and daughter team
Monique (39) and Shawne (39) - moms and both are attorneys
Jet (30) and Cord (29) - cowboy brothers
Adrian (40) and Dana (39) - married couple
Jody (71) and Shannon (22) - grandmother and granddaughter team
Carol (47) and Brandy (40) - dating couple
Daniel (24) and Jordan (22) - brother team
Joe (42) and Heidi (37) married couple
I've finished season five of One Tree Hill and am now working my way through season six. Just thought I'd give some random thoughts on season five. I enjoyed it overall. I think I enjoyed season four better but the fast forward thing has been really good. The show very well could have gotten stalled in the college years like many shows have so this flash forward avoided it. I thought the show did a good job of jumping us right into present day with the characters while giving us flashbacks of the happenings of the years after high school. One great addition to the cast has been the character of James Lucas Scott. Could they have gotten a cuter kid to play that part? I want to get his name in here to give him credit and it is Jackson Brundage. He plays so well off of the rest of the cast that it is amazing. I think he has added so much to the show. Nanny Carrie. Oh boy. Never would have guessed that we'd get as far down the path as we did with that character. I figured that she'd have an affair with Nathan, mess up he and Haley's marriage, and she'd roam off. Then, she goes completely off the deep end including kidnapping Jamie. Was there ever a better pairing of Carrie against Dan? Wow, that was a dream match there with those two going at it. Well, that has carried over into season six as well and went even further. I wasn't sure about the "Q" character at first but the way they wrote the character was interesting. He was basically like another version of Nathan early on in high school and I like that they made that so obvious. He ended up bringing out more in the rest of the characters. Lucas and Skillz coaching Tree Hill was a nice touch. I liked the story with Mouth on where he ended up in life and still keeps bouncing around with jobs. Brooke and her mom battling over the clothing line was fun to watch which included Peyton as well. Peyton returned to win back Lucas. Lucas had become a successful writer after his book on Tree Hill was released where he met his fiancee, Lindsay. I never was really crazy about Lindsay which was funny cause all the characters just loved her and weren't afraid to tell Peyton that especially after Peyton broke Lucas's heart. I enjoyed seeing the random characters from year's past returning and seeing what happened with them including Bevin and Rachel. Wow, Rachel has had a rough time for sure. Dan gets released from jail after receiving his parole despite Lucas and Nathan trying to fight against it. He tries to make good but we also learn of his heart problems being a major deal needing a transplant. The wedding episode was really good. I just laughed cause I knew there would be big happenings and we had all the characters in place, Peyton, Dan, and Carrie. Lucas got left by Lindsay leaving the opening for he and Peyton to get back together. Fun season but only 18 episodes due to the writers strike that year.
Rob Estes and Jennie Garth appear to be on their way out at 90210. Well, one is definitely out while Jennie Garth was quoted as saying to Access Hollywood that she's "not really doing 90210 anymore". Estes plays the role of Harry Wilson, father of Annie and Dixon and also principal of West Beverly, on the show. In a released statement, Estes said: "This is my final season on 90210 and I wish the show, cast and crew nothing but the best. I am looking forward to spending time with my kids and exploring other opportunities." It does appear that the show will explain his exit on a future episode. Really a bummer to see these people getting pushed out. I just don't see the problem in having the show include both the young stars and the original stars such as Garth and the ones that returned for season one. Why not go for both audiences?
Annette O’Toole and Michael McKean are returning to Smallville and will be on the same episode. O'Toole, of course, plays the role of Martha Kent while McKean will reprise his role of Perry White. It has been quite some time since we've seen the Perry White character and this will be his first encounter with Lois Lane. Here is the link for more info on the story: http://ausiellofiles.ew.com/2010/01/20/exclusive-michael-mckean-perry-white-returns/#more-5546
Speaking of Smallville, the show returns next week with new episodes on January 29 on The CW. The Dollhouse series finale is also going to be on that night as well on Fox.
I'm really looking forward to Monday's episode of Chuck with guest stars Stone Cold Steve Austin and Kristin Kreuk.
Sad news from the Survivor world this week. Jennifer Lyon, who was in the cast of Survivor Palau, passed away this week. Not long after her season of Survivor had ended, she found out that she had breast cancer. She has said that she knew something wasn’t right with what she was feeling but didn’t get it checked out. The cancer spread and unfortunately she passed away at the age of 37. Just way too young and just so sad. I was thinking of her a few weeks ago and remembered her battle with cancer. I had wondered how she was doing with it and was really sad to read that news. Jennifer made it to the final five on Survivor but was number one to her family and friends who are missing her right now. She was definitely being pro-active in getting it out there to get tested early. If you feel something wrong, get tested.
Whedonverse alum, J. August Richards, is headed to Grey’s Anatomy for a guest starring appearance which will apparently air in February.
Movie box office numbers for last weekend. 1. Avatar - $42.7 million. 2. The Book of Eli - $32.7 million. 3. The Lovely Bones - $17 million. 4. Alvin and the Chipmunks - $11.6 million. 5. Sherlock Holmes - $9.8 million. 6. The Spy Next Door - $9.7 million. 7. It's Complicated - $8.1 million. 8. Leap Year - $5.9 million. 9. The Blind Side - $5.5 million. 10. Up In The Air - $5.4 million.
500 Days Of Summer. I watched this movie on DVD last week and enjoyed it. The story is unique, the way it is shot is unique, and the timeline of how it is told is unique. Basically, the story revolves around a relationship between Tom and Summer. He begins dating her despite her saying that she doesn't want and isn't interested in having a boyfriend. He ends up losing her and the basic story is that he keeps flashing back trying to figure out what went wrong in their relationship while also showing what day number that it is. I loved how the story jumped back and forth and they made it really easy to follow. You see Tom trying to get advice from his friends and family on what went wrong. One cast member that may be underrated but I really enjoyed was the little sister. She called things like she saw them and had some really funny lines. It made me wonder that we may need to get perspective from younger people sometimes cause they see things easier and sometimes smarter than us older people do. LOL. This is going to be spoilerish here so do not read if you don't want to the ending of the movie. I just had to comment on it cause I loved it. He goes through all this mess and then gets the closure with Summer on their relationship. Then, he talks about how fate will set you up for the next thing. That is how I've always felt with God with the ending of that movie. Things will all make sense when God puts you in that next spot of happenings in your life. There he is with the girl that he has been waiting for and they are put there at the same time together. Just that feeling of God saying, ok, it's time. And so began the days of Autumn for him.
TV on DVD releases for Tuesday, January 26. Charlie Brown/Peanuts (You're A Good Man Charlie Brown), Dirty Jobs (Collection Five), MI-5 (Volume Seven), Parker Lewis Can't Lose (Season Two), Southland (Season One), The Universe (Season Four).
TV Line Of The Week: From How I Met Your Mother
"But....ummmm". - Robin's line from her talk show that she says over and over.
Twitter Update Of The Week: Nice tribute to Jennifer Lyon from Survivor host, Jeff Probst.
@Jeff_Probst: "Survivor Fans. You may have heard that we lost a Survivor family member last night when Jenn Lyon from S: Palau passed away. Jenn's beautiful spirit lives on in those of us who are open to it."
Video Of The Week: Conan vs. Jay vs. Zucker in animated form from China.
Wishing all of you a great weekend!! Take care and God bless!!
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