Category: External TV (Page 212 of 419)

The Biggest Loser: sweet justice

February 4, 2009 /

lLast night on NBC’s “The Biggest Loser: Couples,” the teammates who had to endure 30 days at home had to weigh in to start the show. And they were told that the one with the highest percentage of weight loss would win immunity for one week for their team. Shannon went first and lost 15 pounds, and was visibly upset, thinking she would have lost twice that. Boo hoo. Then Laura lost 7, Cathy 8, Aubrey 2, Carla 20 (though her starting weight was 368, so a lower percentage than Shannon) and finally Sione lost 25 pounds, snatching victory from Shannon and causing his cousin and partner Felipe to hoot and howl like a monkey. Does anyone else find this guy annoying? I mean, dude, take it easy!

For the challenge, it was a true team event, where the contestants were tied to each other and had to unwind a large amount of rope from a giant spool, and then hope they took enough slack to make it to a finish line. The winning team would get a choice between $5,000 or a 2 pound advantage at the weigh in. Joelle made a comment to Carla that they could win $2500 each, showing just where her priorites are. But no matter, the yellow team of Mandi and Aubrey won.

At the last chance workout, they kept showing Joelle and her utter lack of focus Continue reading »

External TV, Reality TV, The Biggest Loser, TV

American Idol: Hollywood week showcases some fine talent

February 4, 2009 /

Hollywood week began on “American Idol” last night, and I believe they had promised us an extended Hollywood experience on TV this year, which is fine by me, especially when they continue to keep these episodes to a bearable 60 minutes.

There were 147 contestants plucked out of the tens of thousands who auditioned in the eight cities last summer. And in last night’s episode, they whittled it down to 104, meaning only 43 were sent packing. This season, there are makeup artists and vocal coaches to get these singers ready to perform in front of the four judges, and even Barry Manilow was a surprise coach and speaker.

The contestants were then put into groups of eight, and each group had to line up on stage at the Kodak Theatre, and sing a cappella in front of Randy, Paula, Simon and Kara. Then they were asked to either step back or step forward, and one line or the other was told they were through to the next round, and the other line was headed home. Immediate elimination Continue reading »

American Idol, External TV, Reality TV, test, TV

Kandyse McClure speaks about Dualla’s suicide

February 3, 2009 /

Of all the major events in the great run of “Battlestar Galactica,” Dualla’s death was one of the most shocking. She recently sat down with Sci-Fi Wire for an interview about her character’s suicide.

What was your reaction when you actually got the script and it said something along the lines of “Dualla puts gun to temple and pulls trigger”?

McClure: I was floored. I think I was just as floored reading it as I’m sure people [were] seeing it. It’s such a personal and violent and shocking way to go, not only for her, but for the implications for the people around her. Suicide is a difficult topic at the best of times. People see it as being an ultimate act of selfishness on one end, but certainly from the research that I did and the people that I spoke to, there are so many different reasons that people get to that point. But I think for Dee it was just the ultimate act of surrender and the final act of control over her own life. She really wanted to find some kind of peace.

As far as you know, will we learn any more about why she took her own life? In other words, will someone read out loud a will or a suicide note she left behind?

McClure: So far as I know, no. So far as I know, that was it. She couldn’t see any way of ever finding any happiness for herself. That’s no good. Her husband [Jamie Bamber] is still in love with someone else. He’s turned his back on one of the things that joined them together, being in the military and that sense of duty towards the military and his father [Adm. Adama, played by Edward James Olmos] in particular. But I think that was it. It’s her final peace. It’s a very human reaction to a situation like that. Of course, I imagine that Dualla was not the only one on the ship, and certainly not the first one during the course of the whole saga, to choose that way out. I considered it kind of a strange honor to hold that archetype, to say, “Yeah, this is a very human thing. This is what human beings may choose to do.”

I missed “Dee” almost instantly. In many ways, she represented the sweetness and innocence of the human spirit, and she was beaten down by all that the fleet had to go through since the Cylon attack on the colonies. It’s nice to hear McClure, the person closest to this character, explain why Dualla took her own life.

Actresses, Battlestar Galactica, External Entertainment, External TV, Interviews, News, TV, TV Action, TV Dramas, TV Sci-Fi

No post-Super Bowl Monday night surge for NBC

February 3, 2009 /

NBC’s Monday night dramas were front and center during the network’s coverage of the Super Bowl, but that failed to translate to huge ratings on Monday night, according to Variety.

Looking at Monday, NBC’s “Chuck” kicked things off with season highs (3.0 rating/7 share in adults 18-49, 8.3 million viewers overall), although this left it in fourth place in one of the week’s toughest hours. It was followed by “Heroes” (3.9/9 in 18-49, 8.5 million viewers overall), which placed third at 9 o’clock although it did defeat its drama competition, Fox’s “24,” in key demos. And closing out the night, the season premiere of “Medium” (2.9/7 in 18-49, 8.5 million viewers overall) ranked second or third in its timeslot in various categories, the net’s best series performance in the hour since the series premiere of “My Own Worst Enemy” in October.

While I haven’t watched “Chuck” or “Medium” yet this week, the return of “Heroes” was pretty strong. It will be interesting to watch that “Heroes”/”24” battle for the rest of the season.

24, External Entertainment, External TV, Heroes, News, TV, TV Action, TV Comedies, TV Dramas, TV Sci-Fi

Fiona Glenanne of “Burn Notice,” dissected

February 3, 2009 /

Look, I like Gabrielle Anwar’s character, the gun-toting Fionia Glenanne, as much as the next red-blooded American male, but I never thought someone (other than maybe a few of the “Burn Notice” writers) could put together 650+ words on what she represents in a post-feminist world. But Ginia Bellafante of the New York Times did just that.

Fiona is a character with no memorable precedent: a genius joke-take on girls with gun lust, the joke being that above all else she is every woman who needs to be sent a copy of “He’s Just Not That Into You,” next-day delivery. In the show’s back story Michael broke up with Fiona years ago, disappearing without explanation. (I imagine this to have been like Berger dumping Carrie with a Post-it note on “Sex and the City,” except it occurred three feet from a terrorist cell.)

Fiona has never been able to get over Michael despite his persistent and explicit reminders that he is not made of the ordinary stuff of human need. Still, she keeps pushing for the dream, dating other people solely to try to make Michael jealous, interrupting stakeouts and shooting sprees and manhunts to ask for a key to his apartment or to tell him that what she would really like for her birthday is a teddy.

While reading the piece, I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop — for Bellafante to criticize Anwar’s character for continuing to pine over her ex-boyfriend even after all these years. But that shoe never dropped. Bellafante genuinely admires Fiona and what she represents. Good stuff.

On a side note, anyone else remember the pilot episode where Fiona spoke with an Irish accent (which made sense because she used to be a member of the Irish Republican Army)? I thought they should have stuck with it, though the creators apparently thought otherwise.

External Entertainment, External TV, News, Reviews, TV, TV Action, TV Dramas

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