The auditions for American Idol continued this week with auditions airing from Los Angeles and Dallas. Not much of interest happening on Tuesday’s show but the obvious talk was about the clash between Kara and guest judge, Katy Perry. The two were not seeing eye to eye on anything. Avril Lavigne was the other guest judge for the day one auditions. Wednesday’s episode with the Dallas auditions was much better and left us some more people that we will remember. Guest judges on this episode included Neil Patrick Harris for day one and then Joe Jonas for day two. Both were good. I thought Jonas was a nice sigh of relief with seeing a singer get up there and be respectful with judging after the night before. The names that got my attention in this episode were Erica Rhodes and Todrick Hall. Really liked both of them. Erica’s story was that she had been a star on Barney and Friends when she was little. She was looking to blast out of that image including her bringing a whip for her performance. I found her to be likable and had a good voice. She sang a very unique auditon song which was En Vogue’s Free Your Mind. I can’t remember many, if any, using that one to audition with. One of my favorites so far. Todrick stepped up and sang an original song of his that was about American Idol and included the judges in it. Really fun audition and the judges liked it as well. Christian Spear was another definite feel good story of the season as she is a cancer survivor which she battled when she was little. 16 years old and a good performance. Besides the judges clashing, my memories of this week’s episodes are going to focus on Erica and Todrick. Really liked both of them.
Carrie Underwood will sing the national anthem at Super Bowl XLIV.
The time is almost here for all of us Lost fans. The final season premieres this Tuesday night on ABC at 7pm central time. The first hour will be a recap and the final two hours will be new episodes. Yeah, I’m hoping to watch season five again before the premiere next week because I’m bound to forget something that happened last season. Look for Lost to be on the cover of the new issue of Entertainment Weekly.
Lionel Richie is going to bring back We Are The World on its 25th anniversary as a way to raise money for Haiti relief. It will be fun to see who gets picked to perform on this remake of a classic.
The series finale of Dollhouse airs tomorrow night on Fox. Hopefully, all of us Dollhouse fans will get an ending that will be a nice closure for us.
Smallville returns tomorrow night on The CW with new episodes after being gone for two months.
ABC announced this week that Ugly Betty will be ending this season. Yet another show that you could argue was a casualty of being moved to Friday nights. The show has recently been moved to Wednesdays but it’s amazing to me that this show is ending after only four seasons cause this show was hot when it began. I’ve never seen it but have heard great things about it.
One week away from the new season of Survivor. Survivor: Heroes vs. Villians premieres on Thursday, February 4 on CBS.
Life Unexpected had its second episode air this week on The CW. Another soild episode which gave us background on Lux’s friends that she had grown up with and the jealousy that they had in seeing her get such a good home. Plus, they didn’t want to lose her either as one of their own. Cate and Baze also had to battle to get custody of her which had Cate ready to roll but Baze not so much. He is still trying to battle his party atmosphere lifestyle while his friend ended up snapping him out of it realizing that he needed to step it up to help his daughter. Ultimately, Cate got to keep her with the decision being made that Baze was not proven to be able to handle it and denied access to having her stay at his place. Nice scene with Lux and Ryan where he gave her a little more information on the dedication that Cate has when she is ready to make something work. Very cool moment with Cate and Ryan showing Lux her new room upstairs that had been secretly worked on. I did laugh at the Spin Doctors line about why Cate picked that album to put up on her wall remembering the story of Lux’s conception being to one of their songs.
Fun episode of Chuck this week with guest stars, Stone Cold Steve Austin and Kristin Kreuk. There was another guest star in there though in the name of Josie Davis. When I saw her in the episode, I just thought is this all she is going to do and be a flight attendant? No, she had a bigger role in the task that Chuck had been assigned to in mid flight. Yes, a solo mission too. He ended up getting help though from his crew. Shaw, the new leader of Team Chuck, put Chuck on the mission and all of us Chuck and Sarah fans are now concerned. We learned more about Shaw’s background including how his partner and wife had been killed which leaves him with that in common with Sarah cause of Bryce. I think we’re all going to dislike this character of Shaw. LOL.
Movie box office numbers for last weekend. 1. Avatar - $34.9 million. 2. Legion - $17.5 million. 3. The Book Of Eli - $15.7 million. 4. Tooth Fairy - $14 million. 5. The Lovely Bones - $8.4 million. 6. Sherlock Holmes - $6.6 million. 7. Alvin and the Chipmunks - $6.4 million. 8. Extraordinary Measures - $6 million. 9. It’s Complicated - $5.8 million. 10. The Spy Next Door - $4.5 million.
I watched the movie, Post Grad, last week. I thought it was ok, but again, I didn’t like it as much as I thought I would. It just seems like no movies are blowing me away lately on how great they are. The story follows Alexis Bledel’s character of Ryden graduating high school and having her whole post high school life figured out with what she is going to do. The job, everything. Well, nothing goes as planned and she ends up back home. So, she has to reset and figure out what she wants for her life. The cast is solid in this one and the movie is all right. I guess I just wanted more from it than I got.
TV on DVD releases for Tuesday, February 2. Beverly Hills 90210 (Season Nine), Dynasty (Season Four – Volume Two), G.I. Joe (Season 1.3), Head Case (Season One – Volume Two), The Mary Tyler Moore Show (Season Six), Mister Ed (Season Two), Murder, She Wrote (Season Eleven).
TV Line Of The Week: From American Idol "What is your big dream here? I know what mine is." - Simon to Erica after her performance of Free Your Mind that included a whip.
Twitter Update Of The Week: Neil Patrick Harris @ActuallyNPH: “As much as I LOVE me my iPhone, it’s unbelivadiculous how crazy often my calls get dropped. Curse you, AT&T and your exclusivity.”
You Tube Video Of The Week: A real life Back To The Future Delorean. Love this!!!!!
Jay Leno appeared on Oprah’s show this week with his first interview about all the late night mess. Interesting interview. Jay said that an NBC executive came to him five years ago and asked him to leave The Tonight Show because Conan was getting offers form other networks. NBC didn’t want Conan to leave and Jay said he was heartbroken to be pushed out especially when he was number one. He said that if he wasn’t number one anymore, that would be a different story. He admitted that it was a white lie that he told about retiring completely cause he knew he’d get another job or go to another network. Leno talked of how NBC ended the show seven months earlier than his contract was set to expire keeping him from going anywhere else. He was pitched the idea of the primetime show by NBC in fall of 2008. Leno asked about whether he could keep his staff and all adding that they were family to him and NBC said yes. So, Leno said “ok, let’s try it”. He did admit that he felt insulted by the network to basically be fired when he was number one and that The Tonight Show was “paradise” for him cause it was so fun and easy. Oprah asked if Leno thought Conan had what it took to be the host and Leno said yes adding how great of a team that they had been over the years. Each had been number one and it was amazing to him that both of them ended up falling from number one. Leno took full responsibility for the primetime show failing saying that it just didn’t work out. He did discuss how other networks would boycott his show not allowing their actors to come on his show because of how the competition was. Leno said that definitely hurt his show but he wasn’t using that as an excuse and also how he was given enough time to build an audience and it just didn’t happen. Oprah asked him the question of how many criticized him for taking up five hours of TV a week which put a lot of people out of work cause there was five hours of programming taken off of NBC during the week. Leno answered that he had honestly not even thought about that until they were on the air and understood their point. When the cancellation happened, he said it was the second time he had been fired but this one made sense cause his numbers weren’t good. He asked if he could be released from his contract and they said no because he was still a valuable asset. NBC then told of their plan to move Conan back thirty minutes and place Leno back at his old time slot. Leno said that he would do it and asked the NBC executive if Conan would react well to it. The executive told him “oh yeah” in a simple kind of tone and Leno told the executive to let him know how it worked out. The next day was when Conan’s reaction was released to the media. He talked of the other comedians ripping on him. He said that he could have edited the Kimmel segment where he took shots but he said that he didn’t feel that it should be edited. Oprah asked about the shot that he took at Letterman over infidelity and defended it. He said that Letterman fired one personal shot at him and he fired one back and then moved on. When asked if NBC could have handled this all better, Leno joked that they all could have come in and shot people and it would have been handled better than how they did it. Leno said that he knew this was a numbers problem with ratings and the affiliates were the ones calling for the show to go. He said he personally called the president of the affiliates to apologize. Leno said that he did feel bad for Conan and hoped that Conan got another job so they could all compete against one another. Then, let the best man win. He has not talked to Conan but would like to in the future but just feels right now isn’t appropriate. Leno does realize that there is a lot of work to do with The Tonight Show and damage control to be done. Oprah did say that she was surprised at the reaction to Leno saying that she didn’t think people understand the TV business. They both said that it would have been different if Leno had owned the show but that it was a network show. She asked about him just walking away instead of returning and he felt it would be an “ego decision” to just walk away. He said that anyone would want that job. It was an interesting interview to get his point of view on it. He seemed very open and honest. She did invite Conan to sit down with her as well but had been turned down for now saying it just wasn’t the right time.
The Michael Jackson “This Is It” documentary concert DVD was released this past Tuesday. I am going to review the movie portion and also the DVD portion. First, this was my review that I typed up for the Wrap Up back in October when I saw it in the theatres. “I went to the movies today to see the new Michael Jackson documentary, “This Is It”. Wow is really all that can be said after seeing this. When the rehearsal footage was released back in June, I hoped that the producers would do something with it and release it. I said that whatever it was, I was in to watch it. So, I was thrilled to hear about this movie. “This Is It” features the rehearsal footage of Michael Jackson’s upcoming tour that was recorded in Los Angeles just before he passed away. This was going to be one incredible concert. Just seeing the rehearsal footage showed that and how great it was going to be. Several classic songs were getting some updated look to them. Footage was shot to be included on the video screen for Thriller and Smooth Criminal. Smooth Criminal went to a black and white style gangster looking type movie which was mixed in with the performance. It looked incredible and brought back many memories of the original video stuff for the song. I’ll tell you that Earth Song blew me away. They shot some incredible footage to tie in with that performance. I applauded after that song concluded. That was always one of my favorite songs of his that doesn’t get talked about as much as some of his other hits. The movie does a great job of mixing the performance footage with the behind the scenes stuff. The dancers and musicians are featured as well quite a bit with us hearing interviews with them of how excited that they are with working with Michael. You’ll see many times with how they are having fun just watching him perform on stage as they watch from the floor. One of these was when he performed Billie Jean. WOW!! Incredible is all that can be said. He looks so strong on stage and just has that incredible stage presence that he has always had. We also see him interacting with Kenny Ortega and giving input on things. Lots of funny moments in it as well including him going up on the lift with Kenny putting out a plea to Michael to hold on to the rail for safety reasons. Michael is very playful at times throughout this movie and just seems to really be enjoying the preparation for the tour. You also see him making changes to things along with the way and giving input on what he wants to have happen at various points. Just observing him doing that is amazing. I wondered what the movie would conclude with music wise and the last performance shown was of Man In The Mirror. Fittingly enough was what I think and that was also the song that concluded his memorial service back several months ago at the Staples Center. The new single, This Is It, is played and does a great job of piecing together the tribute. I tend to think that we’re going to see some new stuff on the DVD when it gets released. Heal The World was played during the credits in what sounded like a live version so I wonder if it may be an extra. I’m just speculating of course and don’t know anything. What I loved watching was how the people in the theatre with me were staying and watching the credits with MJ’s music along with it. It really was this feeling of that we were staying until the very end. I know that was what I was thinking. This was my last stuff of Michael that I was going to see and I was not getting up until the lights came up and it was over. I did some crowd watching too just to see what everyone was reacting to whether it was being able to tell what the favorite songs were of people watching and also just the range of ages. I noticed people of all ages there to watch the movie. It just goes to show how Michael ranged to all ages. If you are a Michael fan, I can’t recommend this movie enough." Now on to the DVD portion. The DVD has a bunch of extras on it with one being a documentary on the behind the scenes of the tour. This is really well put together and the time flies while you are watching it. You really get an even better feel of how things were going to go with the concert and how the ideas come about. There is also footage included of them just setting a camera up and talking with Michael in brainstorming sessions. The featurette has interviews with many involved in the behind the scenes of the tour. This tour was being produced to be the biggest in history and they all wanted it to be. The 3D screen production was just incredible with how they were going to bring the audience closer to the show. The concert was going to close big with Man In The Mirror and a MJ airplane arriving on the stage via that 3D screen. They had designed the screen to open up like a door which would line up perfectly with the airplane door on the screen. The dancers followed by Michael would walk up the staircase into the plane and then the plane would take off and seemingly fly off over the crowd’s head. Just incredible with how this was all going to look. Other featurettes include a behind the scenes of the production of the new Smooth Criminal movie seen in the concert. Just hearing them talk about all the work that went into getting Michael and those classic movie shots to line up stressed me out. They did incredible work on it and also with the 3D version of Thriller. The DVD presentation of it looks really good.
The news on the earthquake story in Haiti just gets worse and worse. However, a ton of money has been raised in relief efforts which is great to see. Another fundraiser is on the horizon. Tomorrow night, the Hope For Haiti telethon will air on many networks including CBS, ABC, NBC, Fox, CNN, The CW, HBO, VH-1, MTV, and CMT. It will be two hours and commercial free. Stars set to participate include Bruce Springsteen, Taylor Swift, Alicia Keys, Bono and The Edge, Justin Timberlake, Keith Urban, Jay-Z, Rihanna, Sting, Christina Aguilera, Stevie Wonder, Kid Rock, John Legend, Dave Matthews, Mary J. Blige, Shakira, and more. The stars that perform on the show will also have their live performance available for download on iTunes for 99 cents with the money going to relief funds for Haiti.
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!!
I knew I was going to like this show and did. Life Unexpected premiered this week on The CW. Really, really liked this show. The show stars Shiri Appleby, Kristoffer Polaha, Kerr Smith, and Britt Robertson. I've said this previously but the story and the cast really drew me to this show. I grew up watching The WB so seeing Shiri and Kerr both back on a show together was a plus for me especially one that is very WB like with its content. Yep, I've still got a little crush on Shiri Appleby. LOL. She plays Cate who is a radio talk show personality along with her boyfriend, Ryan, played by Kerr Smith. Britt Robertson's character, Lux, fits into the equation of the show as a fifteen year old girl who has been in foster care all of her life including seven different families. She decides that she has had enough and goes to be emancipated. To be emancipated, she needs the signatures of her birth parents. So, she tracks down her father, Baze, who is played by Kristoffer Polaha. Baze owns a bar and basically has the story of that he peaked in high school as far as life goes. Who is the mother? That would be Cate as they had a hook up in high school which resulted in her giving up the baby cause she was sixteen at the time. Baze had no idea that he had a kid and calls Cate when Lux shows up at his doorstep needing a signature. That gets us to Cate finding out about this over the air and realizing that they are in the parking lot of the radio station. Cate ends up realizing just how bad of a life that her daughter has had and how basically no one has wanted her for her whole life. Cate is ready to step up and help out and ends up with major regret over her decision of giving her up to begin with. We also learn that one reason that Lux had trouble being taken in as a baby was a heart issue that she was born with. That didn't help her cause any. Other things we see over the course of the premiere is Ryan proposing to Cate and them agreeing to get married. Lux's emancipation hearing goes nowhere as the judge won't allow it cause she is so young and has no income. Cate and Baze show up at the hearing and later end up working together to make this all work. Cate takes Lux to live with her. We had yet another hook up between Cate and Baze which Ryan knows nothing about. I really like the roommates of Baze's as well. Good comedy added to the show especially when Lux showed up. Funny moment with one of them eating popcorn as this played out just watching this story unfold before him. Oh yeah, Baze also has a girlfriend that he had to explain this information all to when a teenage girl was suddenly in their place. I really like this show a lot and am pulling for it to do well. The show airs on Monday nights on The CW at 8pm central time. You can check out the episodes online and more information at: http://cwtv.com/shows/life-unexpected
I obviously want to start off by sending my thoughts and prayers to the people in Haiti with the major earthquake that hit earlier this week. Just awful news. People are looking for ways to help and the most common thing that I’ve seen is donating money to the Red Cross from your cell phone. To donate $10 to the Red Cross relief efforts, text “HAITI” to 90999. Keep everyone there in your prayers cause this is just a horrible situation there.
The news of the entertainment week has been the late night drama at NBC. What a mess!! This is just a bad situation all around for everyone. I want to point out that I love both Leno and Conan. I thought it was a gamble putting Leno on in primetime and then having Conan on The Tonight Show. I actually thought it was worth a shot and expected it to do better than it has. Now, we’re in a spot where Leno is struggling with viewers, The Tonight Show audience is down, and something has to be done. NBC’s decision on what they want to do is move Leno back to 10:35 central time, have Conan moved back to 11:05, and then move Jimmy Fallon back to 12:05. This made me feel bad for the others involved including Conan and Fallon. Conan waited to get that spot to be earlier in the night and now he would be only thirty minutes from where he was. Fallon would be on at an even worse time. One thing that I find curious is that no one is even talking about Carson Daly who would be on at 1:05 on this current time scheme. What do you do here? Conan was promised The Tonight Show and he got it. Now, the network wants to do something to keep Leno. NBC was already in a tough spot anyway as Leno stepped aside to give the baton to Conan. Leno was not ready to give up The Tonight Show but understood the situation with having Conan waiting in the wings. Conan had waited for a long time and NBC didn’t want him to get away. Now, we’re right back where we started. Conan put out a statement earlier this week saying that he was not going to do the new TV schedule citing how The Tonight Show had always been seen at its current time and he didn’t want that to change. He also added that he didn’t want to hurt the show that he left with Late Night and have Fallon on at even a rougher time slot. I thought Conan was really classy in his statement especially with how mad he has every right to be. He has not been shy at taking shots at NBC on The Tonight Show and is now taking jabs at Leno as of last night. It has also provided the other late night hosts plenty of material. You just know that Letterman is loving this as he was in a similar situation when he left NBC years ago. He has been firing at NBC as well. Jimmy Kimmel even did a parody of Leno the other night on his show. What do you do if you’re NBC? I have no idea!! There is no way that you’re going to make everybody happy and you have to be careful as to not upset everyone involved. It does seem to look like Conan will end up leaving so I guess that Leno would get The Tonight Show back? What is the viewership going to be like at that point with how people feel over NBC’s handling of the situation? I see this from all points of view. Leno wasn’t ready to quit late night TV and was ready to move. NBC tried to keep him happy. Conan wanted to move up and they moved him to Leno’s spot and he was kept happy. Now, no one is happy. Just unbelievable but late night sure has gotten even more interesting to watch because of it. Jimmy Fallon had a good line last night on his show where he said that it was like getting into a marriage and realizing that your in-laws were crazy. LOL. Conan is building a LOT of support through this and the backlash is going to be big against NBC and already is. Conan is already playing “classic Tonight Show moments” of his run there including going “way back to August of 2009”. NBC just looks bad in this whole situation especially after just giving Conan the job. What is happening from here? Leno’s show has indeed been pulled from the midseason schedule so that show is done. There are reports today that Leno is about to take over The Tonight Show with Conan leaving NBC next Friday. Neither NBC or the others involved have confirmed the story. We’ll just have to wait and see what the official word is but I think Conan’s tone on The Tonight Show is telling it all. I can’t blame him at all for being mad. He had his dream job and now it is being taken from him just like that.
Chuck is back and had a lot of buzz going on Sunday night with its season premiere. The show was a top trending topic on Twitter during its premiere. The ratings were the highest that it has been since last season's 3D episode and much higher than the overall season two average. Over seven million viewers tuned in to Sunday night's episodes. Great, great, great news!! I'm so excited to see this show getting a rebound in viewers. Add in that this doesn't count DVR and online viewers so this is good news for us Chuck fans. I've enjoyed the first three episodes. Lots of good action. We continue to get teased on Chuck and Sarah which is what we love. Awesome is even getting into the action this season. The upgrade storyline is fun to follow with us seeing that Chuck can pretty much do whatever he wants as long as he keeps his emotions in check. With NBC in the shape that it is in right now, I think we can relax about Chuck’s status for the time being.
ABC has picked up three of its new shows for renewal for next season. These shows are Cougar Town, The Middle, and Modern Family.
The CW announced its return dates for midseason. Smallville will return on January 22. One Tree Hill returns on January 18. Vampire Diaries and Supernatural will both return on January 21. However, 90210 and Melrose Place have a long hiatus still ahead as both aren't being brought back until March 9. America's Next Top Model will return on March 3.
Could Smallville be getting a renewal for season ten? Dawn Ostroff sure made it sound that way when questioned on the show at the TCA press tour. She said that she is happy with the show creatively and the ratings that it is doing on Friday nights for the network. She did admit that she didn't think the show would be around for a tenth season when this season began. I just don't understand the lack of respect that the show has gotten since moving to The CW. The show is hardly ever promoted and gets overlooked all the time and then gets exiled to Friday nights. The ratings are down for the show since moving to Fridays but what do you expect? The show has been very good this season and has a ton of potential going into the second half. Great to hear the news of the chances of renewal. I just wish the network would appreciate it more.
E Online did a poll letting fans vote on their favorite leading lady on TV. The winner was Yvonne Strahovski who plays Sarah on Chuck. Who did she beat out for it? Allison Mack, who plays Chloe on Smallville. Close vote with Yvonne winning 52% to 48%. There were 128 women in the running for it. Yeah, those are two of my favorites too. Allison is going to get the nod from me though between the two to the shock of no one. LOL.
Box office movie numbers for last weekend. 1. Avatar - $48.5 million. 2. Sherlock Holmes - $16.6 million. 3. Alvin and the Chipmunks - $16.3 million. 4. Daybreakers - $15 million. 5. It’s Complicated - $11 million. 6. Leap Year - $9.1 million. 7. The Blind Side - $7.7 million. 8. Up In The Air - $7.1 million. 9. Youth In Revolt - $7 million. 10. The Princess and the Frog - $4.7 million.
Now, you know that the Kristen Bell fan in me is going to have to check out the new movie, When In Rome.
I finished up season five of One Tree Hill and will give more thoughts on it later. I enjoyed the flash forward and it was fun to see what happened to the characters in that four years. I’ve just started season six so I’m looking forward to getting more into it.
TV on DVD releases for Tuesday, January 19. 21 Jump Street (Season One), Dallas (Season Twelve), Damages (Season Two), Fraggle Rock (Full Series), The Game (Season Two), Girlfriends (Season Eight), Hunter (Season One), Jonathan Creek (Season Four), Law & Order (Year 7), Pawn Stars (Season One), Renegade (Season One), thirtysomething (Season Two), Weeds (Season Five).
Twitter Update Of The Week: Rachel Reinert of Gloriana: @RachReinert “guy next door is now blaring infomercials. i'd set an alarm for 2morrow am but i'm sure i'll be waking up to him singing Boyz II Men again”
TV Line Of The Week: From The Tonight Show with Conan talking about what NBC is doing to prepare for The Winter Olympics. “Replace the flags on the giant slalom course with breached NBC contracts. Reserve the right to cancel ski jumps mid-jump. Move the Bronze up to Gold’s place, Silver stays where it is, and add a new medal for fourth place called the “NBC”. “
One of the big entertainment stories of the week is that Simon Cowell is leaving American Idol. When it was announced that Paula was leaving last year, I knew that was a tough shot for the show but I said that Simon leaving would be a much bigger hit. Well, here is the bigger hurt coming cause, for me, Simon is the heart of that show. He is an important part of the show and I tend to agree with him more than any of the judges. Is he way too harsh on people? Of course. He has a fun personality on that show when he just has fun and I laugh at him quite a bit. I just don't know what this show is going to be like next year without him so all of us Idol fans probably better just settle in and enjoy this season. Cowell is leaving the show to take over his other show that is coming to Fox, The X Factor.
With that news, American Idol returned this week with season nine and drew 30 million viewers holding steady with its premiere last year so the loss of Paula is not showing so far. Highlight of the week. Come on, it has to be “pants on the ground”. LOL. Funny story is that I got home from church and got on Twitter as I started watching Idol. On the trending topics, I see “pants on the ground” and I’m thinking why in the world is that a trending topic???!! I watched Idol and then my answers were given to me. LOL. If you missed it, 62 year old veteran, General Larry Platt sang this song which was an original of his and the judges were loving it. It has become an internet sensation already and it was a lot of fun. Best line was from Simon saying that he had a feeling that this song was going to be a hit and he would be correct. If you didn’t see the clip, I’ll have it later in the Wrap Up in the Video of the Week. It was fantastic. I did my usual tally of how many good and bad auditions that they showed and I’ve got it at even for the most part. So, that was refreshing. My one complaint right off the bat is why do the producers have to be so cruel with their editing? They take things way too far sometimes and the reenactment last night with the guy who talked of having three near death experiences was over the line. Anyway, let’s get right into the episodes. Boston was the starting ground for the auditions with Victoria Beckham as the guest judge. The thing I noticed with this episode was that the 16 year olds were bringing it including Katie Stevens and Maddy Curtis. Other contestants made noise in Boston as well including Ashley Rodriquez with her breaking out Alicia Keys for her audition song with Kara giving her the nod for best performance so far in the auditions. The judges did battle on several with the women loving some of the contestants and the men feeling completely opposite. Overall, 31 moved on to Hollywood from Boston. Atlanta was the site for the next round of auditions and had a lot of strong auditions with guest judge, Mary J. Blige. I liked Jermaine Sellers who was the guy who performed Joan Osbourne’s “One Of Us”. Vanessa Wolfe had personality and a voice to her. When she was singing, my thought was if this could be the next Kellie Pickler that fans might push? I would like to point out that Vanessa was wearing pink just like Kellie did in her audition. Holly Harden, I have to give her credit for showing guts. She went in there with the guitar girl thing planned and surprised the judges. Most of the time when people walk in wearing a costume, it is bad news. She was not bad news and was put through to the next round. Skii Bo Ski, another big personality. His voice surprised as well with the judges telling him to just bring the vocals next time. Simon hated him and wasn’t shy about saying it. LOL. Bryan Walker, a police officer, went in and wowed the judges as well. Some solid performers in this round of auditions this week but no one really jumped out at me big. I do have to comment on the way that they are doing the cameras on the audition room itself. Very unique with how they are showing the full wide shot and including the computer in there as well including the entire production of it. Really shows off just how much it takes to produce this thing.
The TCA press tour hosted the Lost panel this week with the cast and crew on hand for it. Taking part in the panel were Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof giving answers on the writing side of the show. The cast on hand was Josh Holloway, Evangeline Lilly, Terry O’Quinn, Jorge Garcia, Michael Emerson, Emilie de Ravin, and Daniel Dae Kim. Some interesting notes in it. The writers are still keeping it very quiet on what will be happening this season and whether the end of the finale changed anything history wise. Josh Holloway and Emile de Ravin both hyped up the premiere saying that there were a lot of big things happening on it. Emilie commented saying that she had to actually read the script three times to even understand it. Wow. What about the ending of the show? I liked this quote from Lindelof saying "the worst ending we could provide is the safe ending". Cuse also added that we won't get all of our questions answered this season so expect that. One good question asked was whether we have seen the ending in any of the flash stuff and the answer was no. This is definitely spoilerish but they did break some casting news adding that Libby and Michael would be back for the final season. That really is nothing new as there are a lot of cast members coming back and rumored to be coming back. We don't have answers on how, why, or when time wise that we will be seeing them. They were asked about the news last week on almost being bumped for the state of the union address and Lindelof answered saying that he was a life long democrat but was furious when February 2 was being discussed as the date for it. If you missed it, the show is not going to be effected and another date is being set for it. I also liked that Lost was even mentioned by The White House saying that fans would not have to worry about the show getting moved back. Lindelof responded to the news on Twitter saying” OBAMA BACKED DOWN!! Groundhog Day is OURS!!!”. I thought that was hilarious. So, it looks like the show won’t be effected with the premiere. Look at the calendar. We are not far off from it and I can’t wait!!
This week's How I Met Your Mother was the 100th episode for the sitcom. Really fun episode that featured a musical number, Rachel Bilson and Stacy Keibler as guest stars, and getting one roommate away from finding out who the mother is going to be. First, let's get to the mother storyline. I loved how the show teased me with happiness and then anger in a span of ten seconds. Ted ends up in the apartment of his date and we get the dialogue of seeing the mother's toy bus for the first time. I snap to and think Rachel Bilson is going to play the mother and it's revealed!! Then, a few seconds later, I hit my hand on the table when we get the line of "that is my roommate's". Ugh!!!! LOL. I was hoping that she was the role of the mother. So, we got the tease of the roommate and just how much he noticed that he had in common with her based on things in the room. I felt bad for Cindy though cause she talked of how she is always overshadowed by guys falling in love with her roommate and not her. The musical number. Wait for it....awesome. Gotta love having Neil Patrick Harris breaking out into a musical again which has been long awaited since Dr. Horrible. Really fun finish to the show talking about the decision of girls vs. suits. The basic story of that was Stacy Keibler played a bartender that Barney was interested in. Only problem was that she hated Wall Street guys cause she had been burned by them. Barney is never without a suit and there was the problem. Fun storyline. Really good 100th episode. If you missed the incredible musical number, here it is:
Tonight is the night for the season three premiere of Chuck!! After a hard fought fan campaign online, the show was brought back for another season. Thank you to everyone who fought so hard to keep this show going and I know all of us are very excited to have it back. Season three premieres tonight with a two hour premiere beginning at 8pm central time on NBC. We last left off with Chuck getting his upgrade which meant one thing on the season two finale. Kung-fu. Yep, Chuck isn't going to be a push over anymore. What else will be included in the upgrade? I'm really excited to see where they go with this storyline. One of the best shows on TV and if you're missing it, you're missing out. Tune in tonight on NBC for the premiere of Chuck.
Hey everyone. Hope everyone is having a great 2010 so far. Let's get right into this week's Wrap Up.
Will the State of the Union address interrupt what we’ve all been waiting for? The Lost premiere. The talk is that the White House is looking at January 26 and February 2 as target dates for when the speech would take place. If the date of February 2 is picked, that will be the night that Lost is set for its final season premiere on ABC. Yeah, Lost fans are fired up over this one. Will that mean that all of us have to wait an extra week? Maybe. We’ll see what the decision is. Speaking of Lost, a new photo has been released that will definitely get fans speculating and talking. They are doing a play off of “The Last Supper”. Lots of possible clues placed in it and its interesting to see which character is placed where. If you want to see the photo, here is the link. Speculate away everyone. http://www.fancast.com/blogs/tv-news/lost-supper-gives-fans-something-to-chew-on/
Season three of Chuck is finally here! Sunday night will be the two hour season premiere of the show on NBC. Chuck runs from 8-10pm central time on that night and then will fall into its normal 7pm on Mondays time slot after that. Can’t wait for this!! Again, big kudos to all the fans that fought so hard to get this show brought back. I can’t recommend this show enough as it is so good. Such a fun show. Really excited to see where they go with the story after the great twist on the season two finale. Come on, we also have to wonder what Jeffster is going to perform this year and when. If you missed the Chuck panel at Comic-Con, it was the greatest entrance for a panel that I’ve ever seen. After I saw it, I thought that everyone now has to follow that one!! LOL. Chuck and Sarah has become one of my favorite romances on TV and you just really cheer for them. I’ll be interested to see how Chuck does on Sunday night compared to Monday. Bring on season three!!
The new cast of Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains has been announced. Some interesting picks for sure. Don’t forget that this is another all stars season to play off of the show’s twentieth season. For the villains, we have: Jerri Manthey (Australia), Sandra Diaz-Twine (Pearl Islands), Randy Bailey (Gabon), Tyson Apostol (Tocantins), Russell Hantz (Samoa), Danielle DiLorenzo (Panama), Parvati (Cook Islands and All Stars), Ben Wade (Tocantins), Rob Mariano (Marqeusas and All Stars), and Courtney Yates (China). For the heroes: Rupert Boneham (Pearl Islands and All Stars), Candice Woodcock (Cook Islands), Stephenie LaGrossa (Palau and Guatemala), Colby Donaldson (Australia and All Stars), Cirie Fields (Panama and Fans vs. Favorites), James Clement (China and Fans vs. Favorites), Amanda Kimmel (China and Fans vs. Favorites), Tom Westman (Palau), and James “JT” Thomas (Tocantins). A preview of the new season was shown during The People’s Choice Awards this week and it just showed them arriving in the game. As far as my thoughts, there are some very good names on this list. We’re got some previous winners and some very popular cast members that will make viewers very happy. We’ve got some good villains. With Russell, I’m thinking that he must not do very well in this season. I don’t know when it was taped but I’m assuming that it was before the recent live finale. His anger there makes me wonder if he must have not done well on this new season. I’ve got several of my favorites on this season including Rupert and Stephenie. Wow, I’m just pausing to look over the list of names again and I’m really looking forward to this. Lots of clashing and fun personalities.
Carrie Underwood is set to guest star on How I Met Your Mother in the near future. She will be taping her appearance on the show later in the month. What role will she play? Well, if you guessed love interest for Ted, you would be correct. She will play a pharmaceutical sales rep. The episode will air in March. I’m really looking forward to seeing her in this role. She really has a good comedic side and this will be a good chance for her to show it.
Speaking of How I Met Your Mother, the show celebrates its 100th episode this Monday night on CBS with special guest star, Stacy Keibler.
Under a week away from American Idol. The new season premieres on Tuesday night, January 12.
Charles Barkley is set to host Saturday Night Live this week on NBC. Yeah, I will have to check this out. Alicia Keys will also be the musical guest.
I’m new to this story but is Jay Leno getting ready to move back to late night? That seems to be the talk. Leno’s show has not done very well and The Tonight Show with Conan has not done as well either. Is NBC about to make changes? Well, The New York Times sure has a report on it tonight that suggests that changes are about to be made. Here is the link: http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/07/update-nbc-plans-leno-at-1130-conan-at-12/?src=tptw
The People’s Choice Awards were held last night and here are some of the winners. Remember that these are fan voted. Great to see some of my favorites getting getting awards last night!! In TV: Drama: House Comedy: The Big Bang Theory Sci-Fi Fantasy Show: Supernatural Competition Show: American Idol TV Drama Actor: Hugh Laurie TV Drama Actress: Katherine Heigl TV Comedy Actor: Steve Carell TV Comedy Actress: Alyson Hannigan New TV Drama: The Vampire Diaries New TV Comedy: Glee In Music: Male Artist: Keith Urban Female Artist: Taylor Swift Country Artist: Carrie Underwood R&B Artist: Mariah Carey Pop Artist: Lady Gaga Rock Band: Paramore In Movies: Actor: Johnny Depp Actress: Sandra Bullock Action Star: Hugh Jackman Comedic Star: Jim Carrey Breakout Movie Actress: Miley Cyrus Breakout Movie Actor: Taylor Lautner On-Screen Team : The Twilight Saga Movie: Twilight Family Movie: Up Actor of the Decade: Johnny Depp
I’ve mentioned this many times before but the live trivia phone call on Live With Regis and Kelly is comedy gold. I love it every morning. Regis gets so upset and his venting is just hilarious. Then, Kelly steps right in and fixes things. This morning things didn’t go so well though and the phone wouldn’t work at all.
I had no idea about this until last week but a new DVD has been released of the movie, 10 Things I Hate About You. It is a ten year anniversary DVD with some new extras. This is one of my favorite movies of all time so I will get this. Just a matter of when. It definitely has some extras on it that are intriguing over my original DVD that I got back about ten years ago. There is a documentary looking back on the movie while also having audio commentary with cast and crew including writers Kristen Smith and Karen McCullah Lutz and cast members Larisa Oleynik, Andrew Keegan, David Krumholtz, and Susan May Pratt. The DVD is also available in Blu-ray. Also, you may remember that the movie was recently turned into a TV series on ABC Family. The box set of it is released next week. I got curious about it and I’ve seen a couple of episodes of the TV series. I found it to be all right. You never know how things will go when movies are turned into TV shows.
I’ve been working my way through One Tree Hill. I got so far behind on this show. Seasons in fact. I watched season four last week and absolutely loved it. The show picked up with the second half of senior year. There were a lot of good storylines to follow and I thought it was nicely paced. There were some things that I had been spoiled on so I did know that Dan was in jail. I got messed with on that though. I assumed that he turned himself in about Keith but then I got teased with him taking the fall for Nathan when the point shaving scandal went crazy and came to a climax. Of course, the original thought ended up being true. One thing that I loved about watching this season was just seeing the graphic at the beginning of an episode and no theme song. Why? That means big episode and big happenings. The episode with the state championship game was incredible and then the happenings involving Haley and Lucas at the end. I just knew something big was going to happen. When Haley got hit and then Lucas started looking odd, my thought was uh oh, there he goes. Two characters down with a lot of drama to come. This season was almost the feeling of how many life threatening characters can we put the characters in. Could you imagine being these characters? Geez. I did call the whole Peyton and her brother storyline. I had a feeling that that guy wasn’t her brother but didn’t expect where they went with it. I knew we were going to get that storyline revisited but wasn’t expecting it at prom. I will just say that this is a fun show to try and guess things on what is going to happen. I kept saying that is not going to be Lucas behind that door ready to take her to prom. My guess was that her dad would be back. WRONG!!! LOL. What an intense episode that was and they did some amazing work on how to shoot it. I was happy to see that the friends did get their prom after all after visiting Honey Grove, Texas. Ok, if you have the DVD, you really need to watch the extra where they show the behind the scenes of this episode. Fans were sending in videos to try and get One Tree Hill to come and shoot an episode in their town. Honey Grove won and it was such a nice small town that looked great in the episode. You’ll see the cast and crew hanging out with the contest winners and the locals. This is one thing that I love about this show is just how much that they care about the fans and include them. One example of that is some of the cast and crew going to a One Tree Hill viewing party after being invited by some of the students. This was a great feature and I gained even more respect for just how much this show cares about its fans. I’ve really grown to like Skillz. Such a fun character and has a lot of great lines. One example was Haley snapping on Rachel at that party. That in itself was just awesome to see Haley just go nuts and have all she can take. Skillz tells Nathan about it and Nathan questions her on slapping Rachel. Skills adds, yeah, that was after she threw water in her face. LOL. Great timing. I liked the twist of Mouth and his romance attempts through the season. I felt bad for him though cause he just kept getting dumped left and right. The pregnancy of Haley was a fun story and seeing how much Haley and Nathan grew together as a couple this season was fun to follow. I have to say that I’m a Haley guy as far as the girls go. I’ve always liked that character. I liked the story of watching Lucas learn more and more information about what actually happened to Keith. The season concluded big with graduation and also a birth with Nathan and Haley’s son being born. One of my favorite episodes of the season definitely is the class assignment episode where they were assigned to learn more about another person in the class in an hour. Lots of fun and the episode tied up great being set to the song “Teenage Wasteland”. That is one great thing about this show and a major strong point of it. The ties to music and the show. They add so much music to it that adds so much more power to a scene. Anyway, season five flash forwards four years into the future and I’m nearing halfway of being through it. Enjoying it too so far. As far as season four, I really enjoyed it. With watching it, I’ve realized just how much that I’ve missed this show. Fun stories and characters.
The new Transformers DVD set is released this Tuesday which will be Season Two – Volume Two. The new box sets being released are getting much more favorable reviews than the ones that Rhino released many years ago. So, if you’re an old school fan like myself, you’ll love seeing these box sets. I’m just waiting for the release of the post movie stuff cause I seem to enjoy those episodes more.
Movie box office numbers for last weekend. 1. Avatar - $68.4 million. 2. Sherlock Holmes - $36.6 million. 3. Alvin and the Chipmunks - $35.1 million. 4. It’s Complicated - $18.8 million. 5. The Blind Side - $11.9 million. 6. Up In The Air - $10.7 million. 7. The Princess and The Frog - $9.8 million. 8. Did You Hear About The Morgans? - $4.9 million. 9. Invictus - $3.9 million. 10. Nine - $3.9 million.
TV on DVD releases for Tuesday, January 12. 10 Things I Hate About You (Volume One), Becker (Season Three), ER (Season Twelve), Fame (Season Two), House Of Payne (Volume Five), Jon & Kate Plus Ei8ht (Season Five), Robin Hood (Season Three), Route 66 (Season Three), The Simpsons (Season Twenty), Transformers (Season Two – Volume Two).
Video Of The Week: Jeff Probst gives his thoughts on the new Survivor cast.
TV Line Of The Week: From Live With Regis and Kelly. “If you were one of my kids, I would be sending you to your room. “ Kelly to Regis after his mocking over the phone not working on this morning’s show. I laughed a lot at this segment.
Twitter Update Of The Week: Yeah, I laughed at this one when I read it from the Darth Vader Twitter account. @darthvader “Alderaan was celebrating New Years when Tarkin blew them to bits. Gave a whole new meaning to "watching the ball drop."
The auditions for American Idol continued this week with auditions airing from Los Angeles and Dallas. Not much of interest happening on Tuesday’s show but the obvious talk was about the clash between Kara and guest judge, Katy Perry. The two were not seeing eye to eye on anything. Avril Lavigne was the other guest judge for the day one auditions. Wednesday’s episode with the Dallas auditions was much better and left us some more people that we will remember. Guest judges on this episode included Neil Patrick Harris for day one and then Joe Jonas for day two. Both were good. I thought Jonas was a nice sigh of relief with seeing a singer get up there and be respectful with judging after the night before. The names that got my attention in this episode were Erica Rhodes and Todrick Hall. Really liked both of them. Erica’s story was that she had been a star on Barney and Friends when she was little. She was looking to blast out of that image including her bringing a whip for her performance. I found her to be likable and had a good voice. She sang a very unique auditon song which was En Vogue’s Free Your Mind. I can’t remember many, if any, using that one to audition with. One of my favorites so far. Todrick stepped up and sang an original song of his that was about American Idol and included the judges in it. Really fun audition and the judges liked it as well. Christian Spear was another definite feel good story of the season as she is a cancer survivor which she battled when she was little. 16 years old and a good performance. Besides the judges clashing, my memories of this week’s episodes are going to focus on Erica and Todrick. Really liked both of them.
