Year: 2006 (Page 211 of 228)

American Idol Greensboro

So American Idol took its show on the road to Greensboro, North Carolina tonight. They said at the beginning of the show that the Southeast has brought us AI alum such as Clay Aiken, Fantasia, and Bo Bice. But for the two days in Greensboro, not that many made it to Hollywood.

Let’s start with the talent that did make it to Hollywood….Kellie, a 19 year old cute blonde whose mom left her when she was 2 and whose dad is in prison, turned out to be very pleasant and have a monster voice. Hallicia was told by Simon that she was a “natural” and even got to plant a wet one on Simon….right on the lips! Ewwwww. Sgt. Steven had the hots for Paula and even slow danced with her to the delight of Randy and Simon. But the best part is we found out he had a wife who was waiting outside the door. He then said to his wife, “It’s okay, it’s Paula Abdul, she can join in too.” I bet Randy and Simon would pay to watch that. Chase, a large feminine dude who resembled Big Gay Al from “Southpark” amazingly got through to the next round. Paris, a singer with a famous grandmother, gave judges and my wife the chills….I didn’t get chills but predict she is a top 12 finalist. And then we found out Simon had a heart when, as the deciding vote on Jordan, the dude dressed as a firefigher, gave him the green light to Hollywood.

The bad ones tonight were worse than usual….a couple of them claimed that they thought they had good voices because they could sing in the shower or when no one was listening. Uh, not good to put yourself into this situation then right off the bat. Shawn, the dude dressed like a waiter, was awful when he tried to sing standards, but the funniest part was his little brother was mouthing off to the camera about how everyone would be sorry. No doubt Shawn has found his agent. Chonna, who was dressed like a stripper and said that her mom used to be a stripper, was awful as well. Other lowlights were Jimmy Crabtree, who Simon said had the “personality of a hippo”……Sammy, the limp-wristed fat dude who sang Paula Abdul’s “Straight Up” while shaking his mighty large ass….Ronda, who had a cute speaking voice but looked ridiculous in her pink cowboy hat and then said she wants this “more than a bag of gummy bears”…..Richard, whose ventriloquist dummy had more talent than he did…..Marcus, who said he learned how to sing watching his Randy Jackson/Paula Abdul instructional DVD, then after getting rejected promptly destroyed the DVD right there on national TV….and finally, Ronetta, who was dressed like a hooker and sang like, I don’t know, a hooker? She certainly didn’t sing like a singer, and she took it out on Paula.

The show ended with a “Fame” montage, and everything about that was painful to watch. Again, did this show really have to be two hours long? Tomorrow night they are in San Francisco, and I can only imagine what kinds of characters will be on display. Good night all….

WB, UPN end Mexican standoff

Each tired of waiting for the other to surrender, UPN and the WB have agreed to join forces. Take one half-baked network struggling to find an audience for anything that doesn’t star Tyra Banks or a large man in tights, mix it with an only slightly more baked network struggling to broaden its audience beyond its core fan base of teens and young adults…and what do you get? The CW, a new joint venture between CBS Corp. and Warner Bros. Entertainment that is poised (both companies hope) to rise like a phoenix from the ashes of its parent networks.

The new network will schedule 13 hours of primetime programming each week, which means that less successful shows on both UPN and the WB can be sent packing. Who will go, and who gets to stay? No word yet, but smart money says Veronica Mars and Superman needn’t worry about packing up their trailers…but Fran Drescher might want to dust off her resume and practice charming casting directors with that godawful laugh of hers.

Hiding in plain sight

The second that I heard Resident White House Weasel Walt Cummings say to Resident Terrorist Weasel, “It’s okay, I have someone on the inside,” Buffybot and I instantly thought, “Naaaaaah, it can’t be Spenser For Hire.” (Curiously enough, he even spells his name the same way, thus making the nickname perfect.) That’s too easy, we thought. And the producers of “24” were clearly banking on that, because almost instantly, Spenser For Hire turned out to be the bad guy. Or so we thought.

Actually, I have to give the producers props; it was a clever way to make Spenser For Hire a bad guy without actually making him a bad guy, since he thought he was working for Internal Affairs and didn’t know he was actually aiding and abetting a terrorist cell. But now that we’re talking about that terrorist cell…

…does it seem like the endgame has absolutely nothing to do with hurting the US? There was that line about Mother Russia being sorry they ever did such and such. Are they really just using the US as a middleman to traffic in nerve gas? Oh, the irony. Pretty frightening thought, if you choose to think about it. But it’s only Hour Five, so there is still lots and lots of time for this story to twist and crawl, twist and crawl, twist and crawl-awl-awl-awl-awl-awl-awl-awl-awl-awl-awl Bang! (All six of the English Beat fans out there just laughed their asses off, and the rest of you just felt sorry for me, admit it.)

The most maddening part so far is that Mike Novick, who normally knows treachery when he sees it, clearly thinks Walt is on the up and up, because he continues to involve Walt in every confidential discussion he has with the President. Maybe he has to; I’m not that up on my Oval Office chain-of-command stuff. But if “The West Wing” has taught me anything, it’s that every White House staff member eventually has their time to talk to the president in private. The way that Walt seems to be at all places at all times is just a little too convenient. Novick would have to know about Walt’s blackmailing of Evelyn somehow, someway. And, as one rather astute new watcher of “24” had noticed, is Walt really taking calls from some terrorist organization on his cell phone? Wouldn’t those calls be monitored? I’m going to assume so, which is why I am going to give Walt the benefit of the doubt, and presume that he has a Good cell phone and an Evil cell phone, and they both look exactly the same. We’ll see if there soon comes a point where he has to answer both of them at the same time.

But never mind that: Jack Bauer is still alive. Won’t the Chinese be calling for his head any second now? After all, the President told them Bauer was dead. How long is it before President Buck Buck Brawwwwwwck puts his legacy ahead of national security, especially when his wife is “nuts,” and hands Bauer over on a platter with the Wisconsin meats and cheeses I mentioned a couple weeks ago? After all, that would feed into Walt’s plans perfectly, yes? I would venture to say that he’s banking on his Commander in Chief to do just that.

After questioning Spenser For Hire for about 30 seconds, Jack almost instantly caught on that Walt was the mole, which means that there are at least two or three twists along the way. And that, selfishly, lends credence to my far-fetched Wayne Palmer theory. I’m telling you, that boy is up to no good. I don’t care if he was a good guy on “Buffy”; he has ulterior motives now. IMDb has the cast listings for the entire season online now, but I won’t look at them out of sequence, and anyone who posts a spoiler will be deleted. Well, except for the spoilers that I’ve already posted, that is.

DVD shuffle: 01/24/05

Out on DVD this week:

1) Flightplan – RENT: For how well this film did at the box office, I have to say that I was expecting a whole lot more. Still, it’s theatrical success is hardly worth contesting, so I’ll leave it up to you to decide.

2) The Fog – PASS: Never got a chance to see this remake of the classic 70’s horror film, and quite frankly, I never will. The casting of YA Superman doesn’t help the case either, but fans of Maggie Grace jonesing for some wet T-shirt action may very well be compelled to pick this one up.

3) The Aristocrats – RENT: A documentary about the dirtiest joke ever told, “The Aristocrats” is more of a secret handshake between comics than a film for the Average Joe. Still, despite it’s utter lack of comedy, it would be difficult to suggest never seeing this movie. It’s certainly worth seeing once, but that’s it.

Also out this week is a reissue of the sci-fi cult film “Repo Man,” as well as the gen-Y drama “Thumbsucker.”

Oscars put “Syriana” screenplay in wrong category

When he’s not busy making twelve-year-old girls cry, George Clooney may well be fuming over the Academy’s classification of his film “Syriana” as an original screenplay rather than an adaptation. The move may jeopardize “Syriana”’s chances for a screenplay nomination, since Warner Brothers touted the film as an adaptation in its “For Your Consideration” campaign, and ballots inadvertently cast in the wrong category cannot be corrected in the film’s favor.

Could this be a right-wing conspiracy led by the hard-line geezers who still control much of the Academy’s activity? Is this a political commentary, or a true oversight? If “Syriana” is missing from the screenplay nominees to be announced January 31, controversy will surely rage.

But of course, all this assumes that anyone wants to nominate “Syriana” for an Oscar in either screenplay category…which may be wishful thinking.

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