Category: TV (Page 448 of 595)

One of the great character actors has died

April 11, 2007 /

Roscoe Lee Browne – whose appearance in a Season 1 episode of “The Streets of San Francisco” I wrote of mere days ago – has died at the age of 81 after a long battle with cancer.

As with all character actors, you may not know him by name, so here’s his face:

I can think of very few appearances Browne made, whether sitcom (“Maude,” “A Different World,” “Soap,” “The Cosby Show”) or drama (“ER,” “Law & Order,” “The Shield,” “Magnum P.I.”), where he didn’t add a touch of class to the proceedings. He worked with Hitchcock on “Topaz” and also appeared in the Blaxploitation classic “Superfly TNT,” but his best-remembered work in theaters will probably be from his narration. After all, it was Browne’s voice you heard as the narrator in “Babe.” In fact, the greatest shame is that the last item on the resume of this fine actor will be for serving as the narrator for “Epic Movie.”

I mean, seriously, that sucks almost as much as the fact that he’s died…but it doesn’t mean he won’t still be missed.

Actors, External Entertainment, External Movies, External TV, Movies, News, TV

Nothing says thank you quite like… a nuclear bomb?

April 11, 2007 /

That’s right. It seems the producers of “24” were so enamored with a spoof of their FOX drama on a recent episode of “South Park” (titled “The Snuke”) that they sent Trey Parker and Matt Stone their very own suitcase nuke.

It’s a fake, of course, but still pretty cool nonetheless. At least someone’s doing something right over there at “24.”

Click here for pictures.

External Entertainment, External TV, South Park, TV

You Ain’t the First

April 10, 2007 /

It didn’t take very long for Kavanaugh to buckle under pressure. Or better yet, the guilt of framing an innocent man. After getting a warrant to search Vic’s apartment – which conveniently led Dutch to a variety of perfect evidence – an APB is put out on the Strike Team leader for further question. It should have been a dead giveaway that Kavanaugh was up to no good when Billings himself stated the obvious (“Vic wouldn’t off his own guy”) – not to mention Shane’s remark about a possible set up– but apparently Dutch and Claudette aren’t as smart as we all thought.

Then again, both proved us wrong later on. First, Dutch tricked Kavanaugh into giving himself away when he interrogated Emolia without his knowing, and then Claudette pulled the old good cop shtick on Emolia that led to Kavanaugh finally confessing. He must have felt pretty darn guilty for forcing all this on the single mother, and as a result, he was arrested and sent to lockup. It was nice to see that he had the courage to confess, but it would have been so much better if Dutch actually caught him in the act. Goodbye, Jon Kavanaugh. We despised thee well.

Meanwhile, the Strike Team continues to search for Guardo, but after they hear about Vic’s warrant over the radio, Shane and Ronnie are sent packing. Vic heads across the border to stir up the pot with some Biz Lat banger named Salsetta, but after taking the guy hostage (in his own territory and surrounded by twenty other Mexicans, no less), he doesn’t get what he needs. Instead, Vic decides that kidnapping Guardo’s girlfriend is the quick and easy route to settling things with the presumed cop killer, despite extreme hesitation from Shane. We all know why, of course, but Vic has yet to find out. The previews for next sure point toward the possibility that Shane will come clean, but I think that it’s still too early for that bomb to drop. Plus, does anyone really think that Shawn Ryan and Co. are ballsy enough to kill another character so soon?

Unfortunately, because most of this week’s episode was dedicated to the sudden implosion of Kavanaugh and his career, not much else happened. Shane has certainly been trying to drop subtle hints that he’s responsible for Lem’s death, but neither Vic nor Ronnie seem to want to listen. We also discovered that Danni passed her Sergeant’s exam, but with one caveat: she has to accept the job. Now. Also, Aceveda stopped by to let it be known that – yes – he’s still on the show, but his pointless discussion with Claudette was nothing but filler material. Maybe he’ll play a bigger role in the case against Vic now that Kavanaugh’s out of the picture. He is, after all, the man that started it all.

External TV, The Shield, TV

American Idol Tries To Go Latino

April 10, 2007 /

Tonight’s “American Idol” Elite 8 show featured Jennifer Lopez and the contestants all singing Latino songs. Not surprisingly, most of this very un-Latin bunch chose songs by pop artists Gloria Estefan and Carlos Santana. Also not surprisingly, the level of performances was not very good. It was almost like the best performance was a 7 out of 10 and everything else filtered down from there. Here we go with the recap:

THE GOOD

Did you notice there was no “VERY GOOD” category this week? That’s because there were no very good performances, not even from the always flawless Melinda Doolittle. Tonight Melinda came crashing down to earth, but still she was far from horrible. She sang “Sway” and Randy said it wasn’t her best but was solid. Paula said Melinda was sultry and subtle, and Simon said he didn’t like it and that it lacked personality. He added that he had been waiting to offer some criticism to Melinda for weeks and he didn’t want to waste the opportunity.

Chris Richardson sang the Santana hit “Smooth” which was originally sang by another white pop singer, Rob Thomas. Chris actually did well with this, but if you think about it, it really was a good song choice for him. Randy said it was very cool, Paula said it was a “hot” performance and that Chris was sexy (uh-oh, Paula’s got the googly eyes again), and Simon said it was the best vocal of the night to that point (Chris went third). Let’s also give props to that guitar player from the band. I mean, holy crap….what mad skills.

Jordin Sparks sang “The Rhythm Is Gonna Get You” and while there were some karaoke moments, it was really pretty good overall. Randy said the performance was great and had the “yo” factor, Paula said it was authentic and that Jordin looked adorable, and Simon said it was just “okay” and that the performances were not getting better as the evening progressed.

Blake Lewis sang Marc Anthony’s “I Need To Know,” and I’m not sure if he did it to impress Anthony’s wife or not. But it was definitely a good song choice for Blake. What wasn’t a good choice was that hat he came out wearing. Blake could easily have been performing at a South Florida retirement community wearing that hat (Del Boca Vista?). Anyway, he sang really well and he’s in no danger of being eliminated. Randy said it was the best song choice of the night, Paula said Blake captured the essence of the song, and Simon said it was the best song choice AND best performance of the night.

THE IN-BETWEEN

Lakisha Jones sang “Conga” and it was pretty much disjointed from the start. There were too many syllables and too much movement in the song for Lakisha to keep up with it. Still, it wasn’t awful. Randy said she was having fun and that it was “hot,” Paula disagreed and thought it was a safe performance, and Simon agreed with Paula. He added that Lakisha appeared to have fun but he’s not sure the rest of America had fun watching it. Well said, Cowell.

Phil Stacey sang another Santana song, “Maria Maria.” I thought it was decent but there were a few moments when Phil’s voice cracked and that might spell doom for him. Randy said it wasn’t Phil’s best and he didn’t connect with the song, Paula said she thought it was a real good vocal, and Simon said Phil is a nice guy who chose a good song but it lacked originality.

Sanjaya is not even in the bottom group tonight, because he really had one of his better performances. I mean, dude is the only contestant who could pass for a Latino and he chose a good song, “Besame Mucho,” as well. Randy said it was really good, Paula said Sanjaya was on pitch and smooth, and Simon, though he admitted he couldn’t understand a word and that Sanjaya sang like a 14-year-old, said that the performance “wasn’t horrible.” We already knew we’d see more of Sanjaya and I think he just guaranteed himself another week.

THE BAD

Haley has been hanging by a thread for weeks, and she didn’t help her cause tonight. Well, with her outfit, she did try. Once again those legs were putting on a show of their own, and once again Haley’s voice didn’t match them. She sang “Turn The Beat Around” and it was all-around pretty freaking weird.
Randy said it was “really karaoke,” Paula said Haley looked like she had fun, and Simon said that Haley keeps wearing little clothing every week to hide her vocal skills, which aren’t as good as the other remaining women. Yeah, what he said. I mean, if Haley doesn’t go home this week I’ll be extremely surprised.

So your bottom 3 America……Haley, Phil and Lakisha. Sanjaya will once again rise above to safety. And if it’s not Haley, it will definitely be Phil. But either way both of them are next to go.

Tomorrow we have an hour long show, and it’ll be worth watching just to see how they fill up that much time for a results show. Me? I’ll be drinking beer at a hockey game. That’s what TiVo is for.
Until then, Adios Amigos. Oh, and Dirty Sanchez too.

American Idol, TV

« Older posts Newer posts »

© 2026 Premium Hollywood

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑