Emmys Red Carpet Reaction

So I DVRed (yes i made that a verb) both E! and NBCs Red carpet coverage and first off I have to say that E! had much better coverage.  Not only did theirs start an hour before NBCs so we got to see more but the quality was so much better as well (this does not bode well since NBC is on the decline - even though I work for an NBC affiliate so I hope things pick up soon - fingers crossed for The Event -which I have seen the pilot and am going to post something about it soon).

You get Ryan Seacrest on E! (not a huge fan but he knows his way around the red carpet) and Billy Bush on NBC (not particularly impressed with him) not to mention the NBC side crew including Nate Burkus (who by the way is getting his own show this fall) and let me just say that Nate's questions about everyone's bathroom floor and what they looked like was getting old after the 1st person.  Not a big fan of that question, I don't care what someone's bathroom looks like I mean you can ask them how many dresses they tried on before they decided on this one but geez that's about all I care to know.

NBC also had horrible graphics.  That little wipe screen of their horribly designed Emmy Red carpet logo between Billy and Nate just way too plain, someone could have and should have designed something with some animation, better colors and the logo itself was just horrendous.  (I hate that I'm bashing my own affiliate but this red carpet show could have been much better and also as for the E! had a whole extra hour of coverage on them, I could have handled not having to do the 6pm news yesterday for more red carpet coverage!).  And someone could have let Billy know that there were still 30 seconds left when he threw to the Emmy's the audience could see the clock why couldn't someone tell him in his earpiece to stretch?

As for the stars and the fashion I have these as my best and worst dressed (I love that no matter what they thought of their fashion Billy or Ryan or Nate or anyone always says how great they look because they have to - hehe)

January Jones is definitely a WORST dressed in my opinion.  That dress was horrendous especially considering how great she looked last year.  And her hair had that bed head look which E! commented on as well at the end of their red carpet coverage.  Judge for yourself

As for the Best Dressed I have a few favorites Glee's Lea Michelle looked great in the Oscar De La Renta Navy strapless gown.  Clare Danes looked stunning as did Modern Family's Sophia Vergara

What did everyone else think of the Red Carpet?  Who had the best coverage of the red carpet?  (I didn't get to see TV Guide Channel's coverage cause I don't get that channel but if anyone saw that coverage and thought it was awesome please share) Sound off in the comments - Jimmy Fallon did an excellent job as the host, especially his opening number and tribute to shows that are no longer with us.  Overall the Emmys were pretty fun!

Summer Recap

Hello out there to all my blog readers (I know I'm kidding myself to think that more than 3 people actually read this thing).  It's been a while since I posted something and my posts have been scarce this summer but I have been watching a lot of summer shows but I've just been trying to enjoy the weather while I can and therefore haven't taken the time to sit down and post anything.

I started watching a few new shows this summer and several shows that were on last summer so I don't have a lack of shows to talk about but let's talk about some of the new hit shows I've been watching and then talk about some of the returning ones (despite the fact that most of the shows are ending for the summer by now and it's about time to gear up for the new fall season!)

Pretty Little Liars (ABC Family) was a great new show this summer based on yet another book series (ala Gossip girl) it mixes that high school drama with a little murder mystery and who doesn't love a mystery.  I know I'm 27 years old and probably should still want to watch these high school shows but I'm drawn to them for reason maybe it's because my high school experience really was nothing like these shows and I kinda wish it was...anyways...Pretty Little Liars has had its summer finale already but I think it's run this summer was great and worth picking up if you like the high school shows and like a good mystery.  It kind of has a little "Twin Peaks" feel to it because the premise of TP was who killed Laura Palmer (although they rushed right through and answered it fairly early in TP) but this show has yet to give us an answer to who killed Allison DiLaurentis (the uber popular girl who had a lot of secrets)?  Not only does it give us a high school murder mystery but we get to see Holly Marie Combs back on the little screen!

ABC Family also began airing a new showed called HUGE this summer about a group of kids at a camp to lose weight.  Of course "Hairspray" star Niki Blonsky was a big reason I started to watch but the show has a lot of heart and is pretty funny in parts.  The kids are relateable because they have real problems, unlike the kids on Gossip Girl or similar shows (don't get me wrong I still love Gossip Girl and those types of shows) but there are a lot of kids out there who are self conscious of their weight and this show deals with not only their weight but other teenage issues.  Next week is the finale and it will be interesting to see how this show plays out beyond this season because it may be weird to have a show on in the winter about kids at a summer camp so ABC Family may have to stick to this being only on in the summer unlike their other programming.

Finally ABC Family has just started a new half hour comedy called Melissa & Joey.   It's kind of a revamped "Who's the Boss".  We get 2 90s child stars getting a crack at their own show here although the feel is that this show could have been made in the 90s so it draws me in because in my opinion the 90s were the peak of television in my era.  Melissa is a successful woman in government who is taking care of her niece and nephew and needs to hire someone to help out around the house - enter Joey the new Tony Danza aka male nanny.  The show hasn't hit a stride but I'm going to give it a chance.  I really just want to watch Clarrissa Explains it All instead haha.  I love the house which has a very 90s sitcom feel with the two sets of stairs (no house has two sets of stairs leading to the second floor in it does it?) and parts of it are funny but I could do without the "live studio audience" laugh track and the kids in the show haven't impressed me yet.

Moving on to USA network which already has one hit summer show that I love in Royal Pains (but we'll come back to that) and it can now add another hit show - which has been picked up for a second season already - Covert Affairs starring Piper Perabo and the hottie Christopher Gorham as well as Sendhil Ramamurthy (Heroes) Kari Matchette and Peter Gallagher is about a girl who joins the CIA after her boyfriend skips town (who also happens to be a spy but she doesn't realize it).  The CIA calls her up out of training relatively early to work in the field.  Piper Perabo plays Annie Walker the young CIA agent who works with Gorham the hottie blind tech guy as a spy but what she doesn't know is that the heads of the CIA are using her to get to her ex-bf spy.  All in all an entertaining hour of television and getting to look at Christopher Gorham isn't half bad either!

TNT debuted it's new cop drama Memphis Beat this summer staring Jason Lee (My Name is Earl)  I have been watching it all summer and I can say it is fun to watch.  It's not my favorite new show and I can't tell if it's a show that will get picked up again but I enjoy Jason Lee and the southern cop he plays not to mention he sings at the end of every episode and I really love when shows incorporate good music.  That is one of the reasons the WB/CW shows are so great because they introduce new bands in or have a lot of opportunities for musical guests (I'll try to take a blog entry some time soon to talk about how music influences my choice in programming).  Still the show is good but not great however worth continuing to DVR.

Of course I did post an article earlier this summer about NBCs miniseries Persons Unknown.  I have been watching it but it has been struggling on air.  NBC moved it from Mondays to Saturdays which is a death toll in itself but I think the show started off really well but it's been kind of dragging a little.  Last Saturday NBC aired an episode and then on Sunday released the next episode online only (it's never good when episodes get released online only).  Next week is the last 2 episodes of the show and then it's done.  I don't know if NBC had planned from the beginning for this to be a 1 summer show or if it had the potential to be renewed, I personally was under the impression that it wouldn't be coming back again from the beginning but I could be wrong however I don't think it will be coming back again if it had the option to or not.  As long as we get an answer as to why these people were taken, where they are and what the "program" is, I'll be happy.

AMC began it's new series Rubicon a few weeks back.  It's basically a conspiracy thriller and so far it's really intriguing.  I'm really behind in watching it, I've only watched the first 3 episodes but so far I like it.  AMC hasn't done too bad for itself with Mad Men and Breaking Bad (I wish I had watched that show from the start but I haven't seen an episode so I doubt I can get into it now) now it has Rubicon and this fall it will premier a new show called The Walking Dead (kind of a zombie show).  But if you like movies about conspiracy plots you'll love this show.  It's only about 6 episodes in so you can still start watching if you find the episodes online and catch up, or maybe they'll run a marathon.  But it airs at 9pm on Sunday's before Mad Men.

Since this entry is rather long I'm going to save my other summer viewing habits entry for another day but stay tuned in the coming days for that plus a fall preview I have already seen the pilot episodes of The Event and Nikita and will be seeing Outsourced tomorrow (I love that my job in news television is finally giving me some entertainment television perks).  I'll try to get you a little insight into these new shows without telling you what happens.

Anyone who reads this tell your friends to read :) also feel free to comment on what you like or don't like about these new summer shows or any other summer shows you watched that maybe I didn't catch on to.  I'm always listening for great things on TV!

OTH & Life Unexpected planning crossover episode?

According to Michael Ausiello of Entertainment Weekly, the CW is planning a crossover between fan favorited One Tree Hill and the sophomore show Life Unexpected.  Now that the two shows will be sharing Tuesday nights on the CW, the promotional staff is hoping that OTH fans will tune in to watch Life Unexpected when Haley (Bethany Joy Galleoti) and Mia (Kate Voegele) make a trip to Portland, Oregon (the setting of Life Unexpected) to perform at a concert sponsored by Life Unexpected's Cate's (Shiri Applby) radio station. 

As a fan of both shows, I'm interested to see how this works out.  I'm obviously more invested in the cliff hanger ending from last season of OTH but I am hopeful for more Mia this season and Life Unexpected was highly enjoyable during it's brief run in the winter of last season.  If you haven't seen it, it was promoted at Gilmore Girls meets Juno.  Basically Cate got pregnant in high school by the football star Baze and gave the child up for adoption, now 16 years later Cate is trying to start a life with her radio co-host Ryan when Lux (the daughter she put up for adoption) shows back up in her life trying to become emancipated form the foster system because she never got adopted.  The court denies her request but places her in the joint custody of Cate and Baze which of course leads to mixed feelings between the two and messes with Cate and Ryan's relationship.  As the season goes on Baze realizes he's in love with Cate who is set to wed Ryan. 

What do you think?  Will this crossover work out?  OTH fans will you tune in to watch Haley and Mia perform on the show?  Sound off in the comments...

The Man in Black has a Name and it's....

According to slashfilm.com, due to the upcoming auction of LOST props, we may have finally learned the name of the Man in Black.  Apparently his real name was featured in the casting call for "The Incident" but in the credits he was listed as Man #2.  However, with the auctioning of the actor's chair backs, it seems as though Titus Welliver (the actor who played the MIB) had a character name other than MIB on his chair...so what is his character's name?

Can you stand it anymore?

Are you sure you want to know what it is?

Are you ready...

Ok, his name is....




"Samuel"

picture courtesy of DocArzt

So it's Jacob and Samuel.  I'm going to take some days to do some research on the significance of this name and why they felt they shouldn't come out and just tell us his name. 

So LOST fans, what do you think of this amazing revelation?  What do you think it all means?  The Complete 6th Season of LOST and LOST the Complete Series will be released on August 24th.  Be sure to get your copy so you can see all the extras including and Epilogue showing Hurly and Ben's reign over the island, and hopefully some other mysteries will be answered as well...

Ryan Murphy Developing Comedy for Kristin Chenoweth

According to Entertainment Weekly, Glee creator Ryan Murphy is developing a half-hour musical comedy series to star his friend Kristin Chenoweth.  Known best for her performances as the orignial Glinda in Wicked and as Fran Kubelik in the Broadway revival of Promises, Promises as well as guest appearing as April Rhodes in Glee, Chenoweth is no newcomer to television.  She had parts in the short-lived ABC series Pushing Dasies and also played on The West Wing from 2004-2006.  This also won't be her first crack at her own show.  Back in 2001 she was the star of Kristin, however it only lasted 11 episodes.  Ryan Murphy said it will not be a spin-off of Glee, but a brand new show to showcase Kristin's unique talents.

I've been wondering how many musical shows are going to be created in the coming years due to the success of Glee.  I hope this is a great show because I really like Chenoweth, she has an amazing voice and is funny to boot!

So what do you think?  Will this show be amazing or a flop?  Sound off in the comments....

Carol Burnett headed to Glee

Ok I know it's been a really long time since I posted anything but there's the big scoop.  Carol Burnett has been cast to play none other that Sue Sylvester's nazi-hunting mother on Glee this fall!  Tell me this isn't the most genius casting.  No word on an exact episode for her appearance but supposedly it will be in October or November.  Sue's father, however, will not be making an appearance (at least not at this time). 

So what do you think Gleeks...is this a perfect casting or what?  sound off in the comments

Boycott ABC!

I'm fed up with ABC and their continual cancellation and lies.  ABC has been at the hand of some great shows getting canceled.  Let's begin about 2 years ago with Eli Stone...a great show about a lawyer who gets "visions" that help him take cases...he goes from being an overpaid hot shot helping big companies who don't care about anyone but themselves to helping the little guy fight the big companies.  Anyway it was a great show that did however make it to a second season.  But, in season 2 ABC pulled it off the air only to air it's remaining episodes during the summer.  The exact same thing happened to another great show, this time a half-hour sitcom called Samantha Who staring Christina Applegate, about a girl who is recovering from a coma and has Amnesia and is re-learning about her life and realizes she used to be a horrible person and wants to change.  This show was also pulled off the air in season 2 to have it's remaining episodes aired during the summer.  The only problem with ABC airing these 2 shows final episodes during the summer is that they don't advertise it well and if you don't watch their channel regularly or have your DVR set to record the show and it picks it up, you would miss it!

Now on to another ABC show called Life on Mars.  This show was a remake of a show that had 2 seasons in London (here's the deal though, in other countries shows are picked up and given a certain number of seasons - ala LOST when they negotiated an end date).  Anyway the show was very good about a cop who gets in an accident and wakes up in the 70's where he must learn to be a cop in a different era, leading the audience through the wonder of is he dreaming or dead or what?  Well luckily enough for those of us who watched it ABC allowed them to "end" the series after 1 season which means they canceled the show but they gave the show enough notice that they could give the show an end that tied things up.  It did not end the same way the British version did and the ending was a little odd although cool. 

Now this year ABC went through a big killing.  This past fall ABC aired some new shows like Eastwick and FlashForward.  They kept pulling Eastwick and bringing it back...they vowed to air it's final filmed episodes and then when it came back they skipped an episode and then just didn't air the episodes they said they would.  Now they say they are going to burn off the final two episodes of Eastwick in the summer (july 10 to be exact) however my DVR now shows that they have replaced those episodes with their new summer series "The Gates" and "Scoundrels".  Why do they continue to lie to us!  The also say that another of their fall shows The Forgotten will air it's final episodes on Sat July 3...we shall see if that actually happens!

Flash Forward was a show that ABC really promoted.  And it felt like this show could take over for LOST when it went of the air in May.  However, ABC then pulled the show in November and gave it a 3+ month hiatus before bringing it back to air the rest of the season (which I'm sure helped them gain ratings).  Then the canceled the show leaving us with a season ending cliff hanger!  This is one of my biggest pet peeves about shows, and why I think the U.S. needs to start pitching shows for a certain number of seasons and signing shows to air for a set number of episodes this way the story can be told to those devout fans who watch every week.  Now there is a big campaign out there to save Flash Forward and we shall see what comes of this.

ABC started a sitcom last fall called Better Off Ted and it was hilarious, but they were so wishy washy with a day of the week that the show kept moving days and times, it was so hard to track down, the first season aired episodes in the summer and then this fall they brought it back for a season 2 and the same thing happened, kept pulling it and moving it and they said they would air it's last two episodes if there was no game 7 of the NBA finals...that's stupid so the fate of a show is decided by a basketball game! NO...this is not how you run a network.  So we shall see if Better Off Ted gets it's final 2 episodes aired at all...the show has also been canceled.

This brings me to the latest installment of ABC and their lies and horrible scheduling.  During the final season of LOST ABC began promoting a new show called Happy Town.  The promos made the show feel very much like another early cancellation show that the network forced to reveal mysteries before the creators had planned called Twin Peaks.  (A great show despite the fact that they were not supposed to reveal Laura Palmer's killer at the finale of season 1 but ABC insisted they would lose viewers if they didn't).  Happy Town was another mystery show about a town called Haplin in Minnesota where 7 people had disappeared several year's ago and the mystery was never solved.  The town calls the person who took them "the magic man" because the people all disappeared in a crowd of people never to be seen again.  The show starts with a murder and leads everyone to think the magic man is back and then a bunch of strange things start happening...anyway the show was very much like Twin Peaks in the fact that it was a mystery with magical type strange things happening.  Well ABC promoted it a lot and then it aired and then after 3 weeks it got pulled for some reason for about 2 weeks, then it came back and aired 3 more episodes and it was supposed to take a week off and air the last 2 episodes of it's 8 episode first season.  ABC then cancels the show and decides not to air it on Wednesdays at 10 anymore, they replaced it with repeats of Castle.  So leaving 2 episodes left to air (see a pattern with this) they cancel it and then decide they will release the final 2 episodes of the season online only!  So I watch the final 2 episodes and it leaves you with so many mysteries left to be solved!  It would be like if LOST had gotten pulled at the end of Season 3.

So I officially am boycotting ABC.  I will not watch any new shows on this network this fall.  I currently only watch 2 shows on the network and they are Modern Family and Cougar Town which I may now settle for watching online so they don't get my viewership at all!  I encourage everyone to boycott this network so that they see that they are pissing off their viewers with every cancellation and pulled episode! 

Freshmen Shows get Syndication

Big News for fans of Glee and Modern Family.  It seems like these freshmen series have already landed themselves syndication for the fall!  According to deadline.com"...Twentieth Television is finalizing separate deals for the cable rights to both hit shows made by 20th Century Fox TV with NBC Universal’s Oxygen and USA Network."

Oxygen, which will be the syndication network for Glee in 2013, is also planning a 2011 reality show to find the next Glee star!  So if you want to be on Glee look into this upcoming reality show.  It is reported that Oxygen will pay mid-six figures per episode of Glee to air in syndication.  It is rumored that this deal will also feature additional Glee-related programming! (not sure what this means but I love Glee so more programming could be great!)

As for Modern Family, it will be syndicated on USA network (not sure when this starts).  The network, which has mainly focused on hour-long programs is planning to expand into the half-hour market.  They recently ordered their first half-hour script and are looking for off-network series to support it's upcoming original half-hour series.  Prior to landing Modern Family the network pursued Two and a Half Men which landed on TBS.

Both Oxygen and USA are owned by NBCU soon to be owned by Comcast.

So are you all excited to watch re-runs of these shows on cable?  Sound off in the comments

And You Thought the KFC Double Down was a Strange Idea

Introducing the new Grilled Cheese Burger Melt at Friendly's.  Here's it's nutritional info:
1500 Calories
870 Fat Calories
79g Total Fat
38g Saturated Fat
180g Cholesterol
2090mg Sodium
101g Carbs
9g Dietary Fiber

4g Sugar

54g Protein

Although this is not an entirely new invention; in the South there has been a sandwich called "Fatty Melts" and "Chubby Melts".  Here's a picture of the early creation -->

Although yes it is unhealthy and very greasy it is in no way disgusting.  It contains all the same ingredients as a normal cheeseburger with 2 extra slices of bread and hey a Big Mac has a 3rd piece of bread so just 1 more slice of bread than a Big Mac.  It's actually kind of ingenious if you ask me.  It looks tasty but very greasy.  And as strange as this sounds, KFC's Double Down is actually...better for you than this burger creation!

Here is a link comparing this sandwich to alleged rapist Ben Roethlisberger...it's too funny not to glance at.

So folks what do you think of this burger creation?  Sound off in the comments below

HIMYM: Robin Sparkles Variety Show is Coming!

According to TVGuide.com, the previously mentioned variety show staring teen pop singer Robin Sparkles and Alan Thicke is going to be seen this coming season on How I Met Your Mother!

"It's going to happen. I don't know when, but it looks like it's finally coming," Cobie Smulders tells TVGuide.com. "I talked to [creators and executive producers Carter Bays and Craig Thomas]: 'Are we doing a variety show?' We are. Don't you worry!"

As for other news on the Robin front, Cobie Smulders had this to say about her character's love life

"Maybe she'll turn out to be a lesbian! That's her doppelgänger. That'd be interesting for me to play — straight Robin, lesbian Robin, Robin Sparkles. Love, Loss will prepare me for it!" Smulders laughs. "I don't know in what form Robin will find love, but hopefully it'll be the right one. I don't know if it'll be Ted, Barney, Marshall or Lily — it can be anyone in our cast at this point because I make out with every single person! Listen, Robin is a slut! She gets around. Season 6, hopefully she closes her legs a little bit!"

So HIMYM fans what do you think Robin's variety show will look like?  Sound off in the comments!