Category: TV (Page 289 of 595)

Guy Fieri’s Ultimate Recipe Showdown 2 Set to Start January 4

December 18, 2008 /

The Food Network has struck gold with Guy Fieri, who has four different shows and is about as ubiquitous on the network as misteltoe and egg nog this time of year. The guy is a workhorse and execs at the Food Network clearly love everything Fieri works on. And for good reason–he’s entertaining, knowledgeable and can grab the reins of any show and make it more interesting.

Fieri’s back again with Season 2 of “The Ultimate Recipe Showdown,” which begins airing January 4 at 9pm ET/8pm central. This season began with 12,000 recipes, which a panel of judges narrow down to 24, in categories of Comfort Food, Burgers, Hot and Spicy, Desserts, Cakes, and Hometown Favorites. Each week the winner takes home $25K and a chance to have their recipe featured on a T.G.I. Friday’s menu. Co-host Mark Summer is not helping Fieri this time, and while he claims to be bummed out about that, Fieri is ready for the challenge of hosting it alone. He’s also very excited and ready to rock.

“This second year is remarkable,” Fieri said yesterday during a conference call. “There is a real in-depth view of the contestants. It’s not just about the food on the plate and how it’s presented. Producer Art Edwards really got more of a compelling background piece on the show contestant’s giving the show much more depth.” He then adds, “The folks this year were a fantastic group and many of them had that one signature piece that just blew the judges away.”

Fieri, who was taking a break from filming his “Chefography” for the network at the time of the call, has possibly taken more air time away from his buddy and network darling Bobby Flay. Whether or not it’s too early to tell if that’s the case, the Food Network is definitely keeping Fieri busy. They shot the full season of “The Ultimate Recipe Showdown” in less than two weeks. “We shot a show a day along with bumps (ins and outs) but each show took about 10 hours to shoot,” said Fieri. “Each episode was shot back-to-back. It was a 12 day schedule for this year’s season.”

And while the show has already been taped, you’ll have to tune in each week to see who wins.

Reality TV, The Next Food Network Star, TV

The Biggest Loser: Families: Karma is a Powerful Thing

December 17, 2008 /

Folks, you can’t ignore karma, because it is more powerful than all of us. Last week, as NBC’s “The Biggest Loser: Families” was barreling toward its live season finale, there was a cliffhanger of sorts. Michelle and Vicky had reached the finals, but the third finalist would be determined by America voting between Ed and his wife Heba. They tried some sneaky gameplay thing, where Ed gained two pounds and then implored America to vote Heba into the finale. I voted for Ed and urged all of you to do the same, and it turns out we weren’t the only ones who wanted to stick it to Heba. They had them both come out on stage (both of them look phenomenal by the way), and it was announced that Ed was going to be the third finalist, with (get this) 84% of the vote. That’s not just karma, it’s a sure sign that America is tired of the gameplay and more about the true spirit of the show. Good for you all. But there is more to this story, and I’ll get to that later.

They had a look back at the season, and host Alison Sweeney, who at this point is very pregnant, was stumbling all over her words, which was pretty funny. Then they started bringing out the eliminated contestants in groups of four, and would show a video recap of each one and then have them weight in. The contestant with the highest percentage of weight loss among the eliminated players would take home $100K.

First was Adam and his wife Stacy, and Tom and his son LT. Adam lost 80 pounds, or 23.53%. Stacy lost 65 pounds, or 29.41%. LT lost 87 pounds and Tom 78 pounds, but both were in the 24% range and so Stacy was the current leader. Then they brought out Jerry and his daughter Coleen, and Shellay and her daughter Amy. Let me tell you, this was the highlight of the show Continue reading »

External TV, Reality TV, The Biggest Loser, TV

Greetings to the New Show: “Momma’s Boys”

December 16, 2008 /

“Who is really the most important woman in any man’s life?” That’s ostensibly the question being posed by NBC’s latest reality show, “Momma’s Boys.” In the end, however, it appears that what’s really being asked is, “How awful and overbearing can a mother be to her son on national television?” Brought to you by the one and only Ryan Seacrest, you will find this to be an absolute car-wreck of trashy reality TV that will almost certainly find its way onto “The Soup” on a weekly basis.

So…let’s meet the gentlemen of the series, shall we?

Mamma's Boys

Michael is a firefighter, and his mother, Lorraine, does his laundry, makes his bed, and even handles his accounting needs, but she comes off as pretty cool and, at the very least, she’s a lot of fun. Rob’s mother, Esther, is…oh, let’s just say it: she’s a Jewish stereotype. Don’t mistake this for an anti-Semitic comment. I’m just saying that you won’t be able to see or hear her without thinking of Linda Richman and “Coffee Talk.” I mean, she calls her son a mensch at one point! Jojo’s mom is downright creepy with her appreciation of his looks and physique, but even worse, however, is her declaration of the kinds of girls she doesn’t approve of for her son: no Jewish girls and no Muslim girls, no black girls or Asian girls (she eventually says outright that any woman who’s going to marry her son has gotta be white), no-one from a divorced family, no-one who wears a lot of make-up, no-one who’s outspoken, no-one who’s after Jojo for his dough…oh, it goes on and on.

Cara is a complete idiot, Donna is proud to admit that she’s done time in prison but wants to underline that she’s a non-violent offender, and Natalie doesn’t even seem to know what the hell show she’s on, since she’s underlining how important it is for a guy to have a big ol’ set of balls. I’m partial to Brittany, not just because she’s from Virginia but because she’s just so darned cute; I’m also a fan of the voluptuous Jamie as well as Rochelle, who has an exotic look about her.

Predictably, though, I’m most drawn to Megan Albertus, a 26-year-old animal caretaker who has a bit of a bookworm / librarian look about her. Of course, a seasoned television veteran such as myself knows that you should always be prepared for these types to take off their glasses, let down their hair, and become the most gorgeous thing you’ve ever seen. As of the first episode, however, she appears to be sweet and legitimately geeky (she refers to her glasses as her “nerd goggles”), so maybe she’ll be the exception to that rule…but probably not.

NBC is ridiculously hopeful about this series, it would seem, given that they’ve made a point of including a mention in the show that they’re already casting for Season 2 of the show. As far as I’m concerned, however, the only real reason to watch is to see just how ignorant Jojo’s mom can possibly sound…and since I cringe every time she opens her mouth, I can’t really recommend the show on that basis. I can merely hope that Joel McHale embraces the series, so I can see the lowlights every week without actually watching.

External Entertainment, External TV, Reality TV, Reviews, TV

Comedy Central Roast of Bob Saget

December 16, 2008 /

This should have been explosive. Bob Saget, who made nine figures pimping some of the blandest television ever created, is in fact one of the filthiest comics on the planet. Comedy Central lines up nothing but comedians – and Cloris Leachman, who steals the show – to roast him, which means there are theoretically no dead spots in the lineup, right? Wrong. The comedians on the dais are the weakest batch that Comedy Central has ever assembled for a roast, to the point where Carrot Top’s bit during Flavor Flav’s roast looks better and better in retrospect. Jon Lovitz tanked, Brian Posehn just isn’t wired to roast, and Norm McDonald, arguably the funniest guy on the dais, deliberately tanked his routine, going old-school clean to counter Saget’s inherent foulness. Lastly, the grand roastmaster Lisa Lampanelli is not present, and she is sorely missed. John Stamos actually does a great job as host, and Saget’s rebuttal is second only to Leachman (to Brian Posehn: “Man, look at you. Did any lesbians survive the fire?”). Still, this had the potential to be much funnier than it is. Pity.

Click here to buy “Comedy Central Roast of Bob Saget”

External TV, Humor, Stand-Up Comics, TV, TV Comedies, TV DVD Quicktakes

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles 2.13 – In this world, we’ve got to find the time for the (death) of Riley

December 16, 2008 /

So this is how the second season of “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” was supposed to end.

It’s the 13th episode, which is all they were originally supposed to make when the season began. And this is how they were going to end it…with three episodes that practically stood still. The episode fades to black with Sarah passing out from a gunshot wound, but then they follow it with scenes from the show’s second half (it relaunches in February), and we see that Sarah is very much alive. Exactly how she’s alive, I’m not sure, since she went into that warehouse by herself and didn’t tell anyone where she was. It reminds me of something someone said to my wife when she was trying to carry a bunch of luggage through the London tube station by herself: “You are either very brave, or very foolish.” Sarah’s tough, but this was just dumb.

We finally get Riley’s back story, and man, what a disappointment that was. She goes from feral street rat in the future, to undercover mark assigned to seduce John Connor, in what seems like a matter of weeks. I can see why Jesse would choose someone that doesn’t fight for the resistance (thus making it less likely any fellow Resistance members would recognize her), but surely there was someone more appropriate for the job, right? And would Riley really go from having doubts about the assignment to committing suicide in John’s bathroom? Really? We all knew that Riley was going to die sooner or later, but suicide? That’s just lazy. I would rather have seen Riley try to confess everything to John, only to have Jesse kill her before Riley could rat her out. It’s cliche, but that would have been much more tragic. As it is, John’s only take-away from this is, “Man, that Riley was a crazy bitch.” Methinks the Future John is now even more into Cameron than he was when Jesse and Riley traveled back in time in the first place.

“Hi, I’m a slightly unstable, combat-ready paranoid who sees these three dots everywhere. Oh, and I’m going to get you killed before all is said and done.”

Sarah, meanwhile, is hanging out with a cross-dressing Man Who Knows Too Much, in a blind pursuit of the three dots. She finishes her quest, of course, but not before getting both the cross-dresser and the hypno-therapist she recruits to open his mind killed in the process. Wouldn’t you have thought, after the first attempt on their lives at his/her storage facility, that Sarah would have realized that taking Abraham into the city was not a good idea? Nope. Instead, she brings him back for an “emergency” session with the clearly busy therapist. Who does that? “Excuse me, I need you to fix my car.” “Well, we’re very busy, so you’ll have to make an appointment.” “Nope. It’s an emergency.” “You heard the man, get these cars out of here and get to work on his problem.” Uh, sure.

Ellison and Cromartie/John Henry finally return, and while it has the makings of an interesting dynamic, I’ll stop short of saying that thie will actually lead to something interesting. This show has been nothing but missed opportunities, so there is no guarantee they will follow through on this one. Still, they did hint in the previews that John Henry eventually figures out that Catherine is a machine, which means that Ellison’s concern that John Henry will grow far too powerful to be controlled may will indeed come to fruition. Speaking of Catherine, she had the episode’s best line: “Cows are more powerful than humans, but I’d still rather be the farmer with the rifle.” Curious choice of phrasing, since you could argue that in her mind, we’re the cows, and she’s the farmer with the rifle. However, if the show doesn’t get its ass in gear in February, “Terminator” will be the cow, and Fox will be the farmer with the rifle.

Reports indicate that when Fox brings back “Terminator” in February, it will be moved to the Kevorkian death slot of Friday night. If that is indeed the case, this will likely serve as my last blog on the show. Thanks to everyone who read my rants (quickest way to hate a show: start blogging about it), and here’s hoping that the producers of the show finally get it right in the new year.

Actors, Actresses, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, TV, TV Action

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