TV is My Life

"I Don't Wanna Be" Just Another TV Show

2012-04-07T22:50:00.000-04:00

As I watched the final seconds of the final episode of One Tree Hill I was reminded that Mark Schwann not only created the little show that could, he created characters that felt like actual people, that I wished were my friends and for one hour every week for 9 years actually did feel like friends (well I can't lay claim to all nine years since it took my sister to introduce me to the show in Season 4 before I got hooked). Together we watched each week as Haley and Nathan struggled to stay together, as Brooke grew from the girl who wasn't quite sure who she was to the strong independent person she became in the end.

Every year this show continued to hold it's faithful audience and the network continued to pick it up again. Every year the writers never had anything solid looking forward so it was never certain if the show would come back and that made each season better. And even though the show ended several seasons in ways that could have been the end, getting to the point of Jamie as a Raven was very satisfactory.

Gavin Degraw began the soundtrack to the last 9 years of our lives with a little platinum hit called "I Don't Wanna Be" and it was only fitting that he should end our journey with the same song. The music of One Tree Hill is forever one of the reasons I watched the show and many of the shows that started out on the WB network. The WB gave little known artists a place to shine in their shows and that's one of the many reasons I watched and continue to watch so many shows on this "tween" network - now called the CW. From "Buffy" to "Charmed" to "Gilmore Girls" to "One Tree Hill" the amount of GREAT music I discovered through these shows is remarkable. OTH is the biggest contributor actually launching the careers of several amazing artists including my hometown girl Kate Voegele, whom I was very sad to not see in the final season.

The show is about brothers, it's about fathers and sons, and it's about friendships. We may have lost some of the characters along the way, whether it be to moving on with their lives outside of Tree Hill or to tragic circumstances, but in the end we still remember the people this show started with and the people it ended with including all the new characters introduced along the way.

When the series jumped ahead 4 years after season 4 I didn't know if it would work, it was going to mean a drastic change in the way we knew our characters lives to be. It also meant the introduction of several new people to the show. People came and left and some came back and in the end every character was written so well that I loved them all - even Dan Scott.

Every good character has to redeem themselves at some point and no one had more to make up for than the man that I thought would never die, Dan Scott. For every unforgivable thing Dan Scott ever did it made for great television when he was on the show. And in the end I was sad to see him go but happy because he did redeem himself, even if it was only a little, this last season. He was probably one of the most complex characters I've ever seen written on TV. Sometimes you loved him and many more times you hated him but man I loved hating him. And in the end I cried when he finally met his fate, and I don't know if it had anything to do with the probably the most likeable character on the show - Keith Scott - making a brilliant return or if I actually did think he deserved a little bit of forgiveness and love but either way his character cannot be matched anywhere on television and probably never will be.

Am I sad Lucas left the show, absolutely. Did I think the show would survive without him, nope. Did the show survive and thrive even without him, you bet it did! As much as it pained me to see Chad Michael Murray and Hillary Scott leave the show for contract reasons and nothing to do with story lines, and as much as I thought the show would suffer with their absence, I was amazed at how the characters of Julian, Quinn, and Clay really picked up the slack. I was so excited in the off season to hear that CMM was returning to One Tree Hill for an episode in the final season, and then completely disappointed when I finally watched that episode. It was great to see him interact with Haley and Jamie but I wanted more and I feel like it was just an excuse to get people excited. The better episode for his return would have been the episode *SPOILER ALERT* that Dan dies. Sure they make mention that Haley tries to convince him to come back and he won't and you can completely understand why Lucas would not be as easily swayed to forgive him but it would have made that episode even better than it was - and that might have been the best episode of the final season.

It's funny how characters came and left and then returned. Stephen Colletti's Chase for example. He came to us in season 4 as a love interest for Brooke who was a member of the chastity club. He left us for a while and then returned to Tree Hill to manage Tric

As much as I rooted for Nathan and Hayley through every year I think the last few seasons pushed me to root for Quinn and Clay too. And in the end I think they had one of the best story arcs of the final season! Clay repressing the memory of a son he had with his first wife had to be one of the biggest plot twists I would have never seen coming. Logan might be an even cuter kid than Jamie Scott was and my heart melted with he called Quinn mom in the finale!

As this final season began and started to progress all I kept hearing was, this season is so dark, I don't like where it's heading, but in the end bad things had to happen because 13 episodes of everyone being happy isn't good television. Now obviously in real life the amount of things this one group of people experience is kind of inconceivable, so thank goodness it's a TV show. Drama makes people watch no matter how unrealistic the scenario, I mean people are still watching the same things play out over and over on Days of Our Lives so why wouldn't people tune in to see things that most definitely do happen to people but maybe not the same 10 people over an over again. In the end I was impressed with they way this final season played out.

In the end the stories told held our interest and the characters are what brought us back to One Tree Hill every week for 9 years. So what will the soundtrack to the next 9 years start and end with? Who knows but "I Don't Wanna Be" will always make me remember my friends in One Tree Hill. Thank God for DVDs!

Super 8 Movie Review

2011-06-07T23:56:00.001-04:00

I just returned from a pre-screening of the new summer blockbuster "Super 8". Let me preface this review by saying I don't normally see "scary" movies, I just don't like them. I got a free preview ticket to see this and it has been so hyped I had to go. I mean it's JJ Abrams and Steven Speildberg! I'm not going to write too much about the actual movie until after it hits the theaters for all to see but I want to post this to say that the movie lives up to the hype. This is going to be one of the big summer movies this year. I don't even want to tell you what the movie is about because part of the hype of the movie is that no one really knows what it is about so I'll leave that for you to find out when you watch. What I will say is this: It feels like a classic Speildberg movie! It combines action/scary/funny/friends movies all in to one. I'll give you a few movie titles that have a similar feel to parts of this movie: "Stand By Me", "Jurrasic Park", "ET", "Alien", and any movie where there are huge explosions....I also like that it didn't end the way I expected it to...things aren't always as they seem (which is classic JJ Abrams). Abrams wrote and directed an incredible film and I expect nothing less from him...and when was the last time Speildberg's name was attached to a disappointment? Basically go see this movie if you like comedy, action, suspense or a good story about a group of friends who stumble upon the unexpected.

The dialogue is so smart and funny...the language definitely feels like "Stand By Me" and the kid who plays Charles is like a clone of a young Chris O'Donnell...Joel Courtney does an amazing job in his acting debut as the lead of Joe Lamb...Elle Fanning does a great job here, she's got a great flick here to bring her out of the shadows of her older sister Dakota, could be her breakout movie...Kyle Chandler plays Joe's dad and the deputy sheriff in the fictional town of Lillian, Ohio (which is supposed to be near Dayton, Ohio) who goes digging into things that others don't want him looking in to.

There's a great little back story about 2 families that are connected by a tragedy which just adds a great touch to the main plot as well.

I highly recommend this movie and hope you all go see it and post comments below and let me know what you think. After the film has been out for a few weeks I'll include more of what I think of the plot but I don't want to give any of the surprises away to you.

Reege is Retiring!

2011-01-18T23:54:00.001-05:00

Ok first off let me say I know I haven't posted anything since like November and I'm such a slacker but I was traveling so much during the last 2 months I didn't have time to keep up with TV and movies and the media but I'm going to try to get better. I never did write a review of Promises, Promises...maybe someday soon I'll get to it but for now here's the entertainment news I got for you...

Can you believe it? After close to 30 years on the air with LIVE Regis Philbin is actually leaving the show! Tuesday live on the air Regis announced that sometime later this year he would be leaving the show. This makes me very sad because I love Live with Regis and Kelly. I'm sure the show will go on and they will find someone to step in as the new co-hose with Kelly but it will not be the same. Also this makes me very sad that the one time I was able to go see a taping of LIVE, Regis was not there :( Jeff Probst filled in as the co-host for the day and I must say he's a good choice to step in. Among some other choices would be the obvious Mark Consuelos (Ripa's husband) who fills in often and one of my favorite co-hosts, Anderson Cooper although I think he's kinda busy what with his show on CNN plush his new gig on Broadway's "How to Succeed in Business".

Anyway here is Tuesday's host chat when Regis announces his retirement. Just look at Kelly's face, she is so sad he is leaving, and you can tell when she talks she's fighting back tears. I love this show and will miss Regis dearly despite his allegiance to that crappy football team from northern Indiana...

Kristin Chenoweth kicks off the Holiday Season at L&T

2010-11-15T20:33:00.000-05:00

Ok So I know I still haven't posted my review of "Promises, Promises" yet and I've seen it twice now but I "promise" to get to it soon...but since it's been like 2 months since I posted anything I wanted to share with you today's Lord & Taylor Christmas Window unveiling celebration. At 14 min you will be able to see Kristin's mic check with the sound people who apparently don't know anything...the audio cuts in and out but be patient because it's really funny! and then at about 30 minutes in you can watch her performance with the Kids Choir and she sings beautifully as well as brings the humor! hehe

Key Quotes:
"I refuse to work with this mic"
"hit it sound guy....oh my, I just turned 45" (she's actually 42 but still looks like she's 22 hehe)
"You guys sound good (referring to the audience), not as good as us though"

Watch live streaming video from lordandtaylor at livestream.com

Promises, Promises with Ellen

2010-10-03T09:31:00.000-04:00

I know I said I would post about my trip to NYC to see Kristin Chenoweth and Sean Hayes in the revival of Promises, Promises...and I Promise I will sometime in the next 2 days I've just been sooo busy trying to get back into the swing of things I haven't had time to sit down and post anything. But Since I saw the Show on Sept 29 and then on Sept 30 on The Ellen DeGeneres Show Ellen showed some video clips of her guest stint as the nurse in the show back at the beginning of September I felt it only appropriate to share those clips with you.

The first one is a link because I could not find it somewhere to embed, the link is of Kristin teaching Ellen how to apply fake eyelashes.

Ellen on Broadway with Kristin Chenoweth - The Ellen DeGeneres Show

This video clip is of Ellen backstage with Kristin and Sean. Kristin shows Ellen how much she LOVES her dog Maddie by basically tounge kissing her dog (too funny). You have to watch the link video first though because during this clip she continues with the eyelash bit but if you didn't see the first clip you won't know why Ellen is blowing on her face.

Finally here is the clip of Ellen's guest performance on Promises, Promises as the nurse. Sean and Kristin can't help but crack up during the scene. Having seen what that particular scene looks like when the normal actress plays the nurse I can tell you this was definitely funny, I love when Sean says "you sound like a ghost".

Enjoy these clips and I will post a full review of Promises, Promises in the next day or so - as a little taste I will say that the show was SO GOOD, I'm going back to NYC to see it again in a month!

The Cheno Countdown Ends Today!

2010-09-28T08:18:00.000-04:00

Since I didn't get to make a final post yesterday I'll put some extra clips in this morning because this is the last day of the countdown!!! Tomorrow I'll be in NEW YORK CITY! Enjoying the sights and sound of the bustling metropolis (wishing I lived there) and then a little less than 36 hours from now I'll be watching the curtain go up on my first Broadway show! So enjoy the final day of the countdown with some clips of Kristin singing a few of my favorites: The Girl in 14G, Taylor the Latte Boy, and Popular! Enjoy

Cheno Countdown - Glitter and be Gay!

2010-09-26T23:02:00.000-04:00

Only 2 more days till I get to see the amazing Kristin Chenoweth perform in Promises, Promises! There was a great article in the NY Times about here today. But as I have been doing today will also include a Chenolicious clip for your enjoyment. What would a Cheno Countdown be without hearing her amazing opera voice! So please enjoy this clip from Lenoard Bernstein's "Candide", Kristin singing "Glitter and be Gay", and even if you don't think you like opera believe me you will like this because not only is her voice amazing but the character is really funny as well so it's a comedy but an opera!

SNL: Amy Poehler Kicks the Season Off Right!

2010-09-26T01:50:00.003-04:00

As an avid SNL watcher for many years I can say with truth that the show hasn't been that good the last few seasons. Tonight was the 36th season premiere with host, former cast member, Amy Poehler and musical guest Katy Perry. Tonight was really funny but can the season keep up the stamina without the genius comedy of former cast members as hosts? I guess we shall see next week when Bryan Cranston from Breaking Bad has his run at hosting.

Here's a little recap of the awesomeness that was tonight's SNL. Amy's opening monologue was pretty awesome, she did a little dream sequence bit which featured the one person who can show up on any episode and make it better, Justin Timberlake, former cast member Rachel Dratch and a great bit with Seth Meyers and Amy talking about weekend update but Seth says they aren't doing it tonight because "they're back" they being Tina Fey and Jimmy Fallon! too funny.

I think the best sketch of the night was the return of Bronx Beat which also brought another alum back in the form of Mya Rudolph! In case you don't remember the bit it's a talk show-esque bit and they chat at the beginning and bring on a guest, well the guest was played by none other than musical guest Katy Perry sporting a cleavage cut Elmo shirt! (In case you live in a cave this is hilarious because Katy Perry recently shot a segment on Sesame Street with Elmo that Sesame Street has now said they will not air because Katy was showing too much cleavage!) as Sheldon Cooper would say, Bazinga!

Amy got herself back behind the Weekend Update desk with Seth Meyer during the "Reallly, with Seth and Amy!" segment where they talked about Iran and then turned to DADT and really had some great pokes at the government for not repealing this ridiculous law! it's worth a watch. Also during the Weekend Update sketch we got our first peak at one of the new cast members who did a really spot on impersonation of Will Smith (I think this guy is gonna be a great new addition), he also does an impersonation of Chris Tucker in a later sketch that is also really good. And of course what's better than a bit with Governor Patterson, only this time they got the ACTUAL Governor to come on the show! And he poked fun of SNL a little but also joked about himself and was very comical.

Katy Perry's performances were just OK, she sounded a little off, especially singing acapella at the start of Teenage Dream. I feel that way about a lot of performers nowadays. Their voices are altered so much in the studio that when they sing live it just doesn't sound right (the biggest example of this is The Black Eyed Peas, they sound TERRIBLE live!).

It was obvious the cold open would have to be about the Republican candidate for Senate Christine O'Donnell, who recently stated on Bill Mahr that she "dabbled in witchcraft". You can't have that be in the headlines and not make fun of her on SNL! And there was a really funny little sketch towards the end with Andy Samburg and Justin Timberlake that was really short but really fun!

All in all I think Amy was an excellent host (but who thought otherwise? I mean she came from the all star casts of SNL, I expected nothing less from her. I just wish they could have brought back Horatio Sanz so they could do the Katlin/Rick sketch). The real test is going to be next week and the coming weeks to see if the show can live up to the awesomeness that was tonight's episode. I'm looking forward to Jane Lynch in a few weeks and can't wait to see who else will get a chance hosting this season!

Only 3 more Days till NYC - Cheno Countdown!

2010-09-25T10:17:00.001-04:00

Cheno countdown video clip of the day is from Newsweek's 7 Things back in 2009. Enjoy!

Rant: The Cost to See a Movie

2010-09-25T01:42:00.001-04:00

Remember when going to the movies was like $3 and you went to see a new movie like every other weekend? I sure do, but today a ticket to see a non-matinee movie costs $11, and that's in Dayton, Ohio, I can only imagine what a ticket costs in California or New York. And here was the thing that got me when I went to see the new movie "You Again" this evening, the student discount (which of course is not in effect on Friday and Saturday) is $10 - are you kidding me saving a buck isn't a discount! Within the last year alone the movie going experience has changed drastically.

When I first moved to Dayton a little over 2 years ago it still cost about $10 for a ticket but the student discount was at least $8 (so you saved 2 bucks!) and you could use the student discount on Friday and Saturday, AND the theater offered a frequent visitor program called star rewards where after you earned so many points at the ticket office and concession stands you would get a free popcorn or a free soda or even a free ticket! (although by far the best movie theater perk ever was at the theaters in Lafayette/West Lafayette Indiana where I used to live that offered a bucket for $10 and then anytime you came to the theater you could get popcorn in the bucket for free! and the bucket lasted 6 months before you had to get a new color and you didn't even have to see a movie to get the free popcorn, you could just go in to the theater with your bucket and they would fill it with popcorn and you could walk right out and go home and eat it - it was amazing) Then of course the theater chain got bought out by another company and everything changed but I digress...

In honor of seeing "You Again" let's go back to when I was in High School, not a particularly great time in my life but we've all been there. When I was in High School tickets to a movie were no more than $6 (granted I grew up in a tiny town just west of the Pennsylvania border up on the Lake in good ole Ohio - I wish I could say I no longer resided in this horrible state but I can't seem to get the heck out of here!) Obviously back then $6 probably seemed like a fortune to go see a movie but hey let's be honest wouldn't you be willing to go back to when movies were $6? Back then the cost of renting a movie was right around $2.50 (I think) and since then it's probably gone up about $1.50 so movie rental prices have risen by a $1.50 and tickets to see a movie in the theater have risen by $5, how is that equal inflation?

So being the loser than I am, I went to the movies on a Friday night, alone, to go see this new flick that just came out today (as I mentioned before I went to see "You Again" starring Kristen Bell, Jamie Lee Curtis, Sigourney Weaver, Betty White, Victor Garber, Kristen Chenoweth, the Rock made a cameo as did Patrick Duffy, I mean this movie is loaded full of talented actors!). I went to the last showing which started at 10:20pm but for it being a Friday night I thought there would be a lot of people out. I guess since High School Football has started up it's not the hopping night to be at a movie but still for a movie released today I expected to see more than 6 other people in the theater, besides myself! This lends me to believe that the rest of the country feels the way I do - that $11 is not worth it to see a movie that you can buy for $20 when it's released on DVD and watch it as many times as you want!

Sure some of you will argue that seeing a movie at home on your 32-inch TV doesn't have the same effect as seeing it on the big screen in the theater, and I will agree with you to some extent on that one. Big blockbuster movies like Iron Man or Transformers are movies I'm willing splurge on to see on the big screen with the theater audio but things like comedies and cartoons I'm more hesitant to fork over the dough. Luckily for me, here in Dayton we have a "dollar saver" theater that gets a majority of the movies after they stop making a certain amount of money at the main theaters and at this "dollar saver" theater tickets are only $3! And if you go on Tuesday nights it's only like $1.75! (catch is it's cash only) And to be fair the chain theaters offer a discount on Tuesday nights as well - $6 for a ticket and $6 will get you a small popcorn and soda as well (I'll come back to the cost of concessions later). If it's a movie I want to see I will usually try to wait till it makes its way to the dollar saver to go see it because although you might be out of the loop on the discussions around the water cooler at work, at least you didn't spend enough money to feed 2 people dinner at McDonald's for the cost of just your ticket!

Of course there is the rare occasions when I want to see a movie so bad I can't wait for it to make it's way to the dollar saver or I just REALLY want to see a movie and nothing worth seeing is playing at the dollar theater. Tonight was one of those occasions. I REALLY wanted to see this movie that has been running commercials during my favorite TV shows all week long and starring some of my favorite people - like Kristin Chenoweth! I just couldn't wait to go see it so I decided tonight I would break my rule and go see a movie opening night (which I also dislike doing on certain occasions because sometimes the theater is too crowded - exceptions to this rule also exist of course, I would put up with the crowd for Harry Potter movies and Star Wars and the occasional big name blockbuster but only when I was going to college because you knew the crowd was going to be all college kids and most of the time they all REALLY wanted to see this movie so they didn't cause a ruckus and make the experience suck). Back to the point - it cost me $16 for entertainment tonight! That's insane! After my $11 ticket I spent $5 for a small popcorn (Yes that's correct $5 for a SMALL popcorn), I always bring my own soda to theater with me (always a perk of having a purse to hide things in - one time in college I was able to get in food from Wendy's for 2 people in my purse!) Last night it cost me $13 and I went to a bar had 2 drinks and played to games of bowling! Let's just say I got more for my money last night!

The cost of concessions is almost worse than the cost of a ticket. Five bucks for a small popcorn - that's just plain crazy (but a movie is just not the same without popcorn). But let me break this down for you: $11 for a ticket, $5 for a small popcorn and probably around $4 for a small soda that's $20 and that's only for one person! Imagine if you are on a date it's gonna cost you close to $40 just to go to a freaking movie when you can rent one for $4, get a microwave popcorn tub and 2 20-ounce sodas for $4 and have an $8 evening at home! And I don't even want to think about a family going to see a movie, I mean sure kids tickets are slightly cheaper but they want candy and you have to get a bigger popcorn and more drinks and so you're probably looking at $50-$60 for a family of 4 to go see a movie! And I'm not even going to attempt to calculate the cost of seeing a 3-D movie (this new fad that seems to be the thing EVERY movie is doing, I personally am not a big fan of 3-D, "Avatar" was cool but seriously every movie doesn't have to be in 3-D).

I guess my main concern here is this, during this "great recession" how can we justify paying $20 to a see a movie? I saw a stat at the on the trivia screen before the movie started that said something along the lines of how many more tickets are sold each year to movies vs all sporting events combined and it just got me to thinking about the priorities of the American people. I understand that the people who make movies have to get paid, it's their career and I get that as someone who works for a TV station and wants so desperately to work on a TV show or Movie someday, but is it really fair to charge us that much money to watch the movie? I also understand that a majority of the ticket cost goes to the movie itself and NOT the theater so in order for the theater to make any money they have to get you to buy popcorn and soda at the concession stand but again do they really need to rip us off? I think more people would go to the movies and buy more stuff at the concession stands if they felt it was more reasonably priced.

Since i spent a lot of space on the rant I will end with a little review of the movie "You Again", which I saw this evening.

Over all the movie was good. There were parts that were REALLY funny and parts that fell short. Some things were predictable, but I expected that - it's a Disney movie for crying out loud. For the most part the acting was top notch - I mean I expected nothing less with the all star cast it had. I felt for Kristen Bell's character, Marni, because I was kind of an outcast in high school (not the extent she was), I was a band geek and didn't really have a lot of friends in high school but every experience helps to shape us into who we are going to become right? I thought the small role of Tim was one of the funniest characters in the movie. I absolutely adore Kristin Chenoweth who plays the role of the Georgia King the wedding extrodinator but I wanted her part to be bigger, especially because the majority of her screen time was out and about on the Internet before the movie even started so by the time I got to the theater there wasn't many new scenes for Kristin to be in and that makes me a sad panda. Betty White's new found resurgence has afforded her some wonderful roles lately and her part in this movie was super fun, especially towards the end of the movie. Newcomer Odette Yusman reminds me a lot of Megan Fox, she just has that face that is so similar to hers, not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing - I liked Megan Fox back when she was on Kelly Ripa's sitcom "Hope and Faith" before she hit the big time but since she's become this girl that guys drool over, I'm kinda over her. The biggest visual flaw of the movie had to be when Jamie Lee Curtis and Sigourney Weaver fall into the pool at the rehearsal dinner and they look as though they are trying to tread water to stay afloat when you can clearly see the water depth signs around the edge of the pool reading no more than 4.5 feet, there's no reason why they couldn't just stand up (unless of course they were the size of Kristin Chenoweth who might have a problem keeping her head above the water at her meek 4'11" stature). Overall the movie was enjoyable (I haven't fully decided if it was worth the $11 yet) but had room for improvement. I give it a B+ Oh, and I got to see a preview for a new movie coming out at Thanksgiving staring Cher, Christina Aguleira and Kristen Bell as well called Burlesque!

Cheno Countdown - 4 days till NYC!

2010-09-24T16:16:00.001-04:00

Today's Cheno Countdown clip(s) are from an interview on Letterman from July of this year. I chose this clip(s) because Kristin talks about her "twittering" and I absolutely love her tweets! If you don't already follow her on twitter you can find her at @KChenoweth she is absolutely hilarious! But on Letterman she talks about how she might have gotten a girl fired from Starbucks (her favorite place) from a tweet she posted of an employee who was rude to her. Another fun part of this interview is she accidentally has some language slip ups in trying to describe tweeting (which she calls "twittering"), hilarity ensues. Lot's of bleeping involved in this interview. She also talks about her summers in Oklahoma as a kid from church camp to an incident at cheerleading camp and then makes a big exit with Sean Hayes to the Broadway Theater where her show is playing (and where Wednesday night I will be sitting in the front row watching) since David Letterman's studio is right across the street. Hope you all enjoy this great interview!

My New Philosophy - Kristin's Tony winning role

2010-09-23T13:38:00.001-04:00

Here is your Kristin Chenoweth clip of the day! It's old school Kristin from her breakout role in the revival of "You're a Good Man Charlie Brown". Her Tony winning role as Sally Brown was Kristin's rise to fame. The clip below is her song "My New Philosophy" which was added to the revival. This video is over 10 years old but it's Kristin's voice is still as magnificent then as it is now!

Gleecap (Glee Recap) - "Audition"

2010-09-22T21:56:00.000-04:00

I am so unbelievably excited that GLEE has returned with new episodes (not that I don't love watching last season's over and over too). There's a lot of expectations on this show going into it's sophomore year. Will it live up to the hype? Will it be as good as last season? Well if last night's episode is just a teaser to the rest of the season then my answer is YES!

Last time we saw our glee clubbers they were deflated about their 3rd place finish at regionals. Quinn and Puck had a baby and allowed Shelby (Vocal Adrenaline's former coach and Rachel's birth mother) to adopt her. Finn and Rachel were officially back together. And by the looks of it the club was one big happy family.

One of the best things about this season premiere is that it not only was it signature GLEE with great songs and hilarious Sue Sylvester lines, it also took time to make comments on some of the show's critiques in fun little jabs - like when Jacob tells Kurt people say "they [the club] are nothing but a glorified karaoke club designed to make the inventors of Auto Tune millions of dollars." And of course Kurt gets a nice little jab in about how easy it is for people to sit at home and go on the Internet and criticize people but getting up and actually saying it to their face takes much more guts (so true of so many things people say on the Internet)!

But I think the thing I enjoyed most about the season 2 premiere was how much it mirrored the pilot! I literally thought that the scene in Figgins office with Sue and Will about budgets was mis-cut and they somehow put footage from the pilot in there instead until they cut away to the shot showing Coach Beiste. There were a few one liners also taken straight out of the pilot episode but I loved that about this episode - new school year but same old characters!

Glee's Big Gay Summer

Finn and Rachel have been dating all summer and it looks like Finn has shed a few pounds during those summer months (possibly in preparation for the Rocky Horror episode that in which he is rumored to be wearing a gold speedo).

Apparently some people actually read Jacob's blog about the Glee club and they want to know why Mr. Schu's song selection sounds like "they come from a drag queen's ipod". Also loved the line directed at Will, "when did you ink your sponsor ship with Land's End".

Puck confirms the rumor that he got a vasectomy over the summer. But will not talk about his feelings for Quinn.

Brittney said "people thought I went on vacation, but actually I spent the summer lost in the sewers". This girl has to be one of the BEST characters on TV because she always has the best lines!

Mike Chang and Tina are now a couple (poor Artie). They fell in love at "Asian Camp" where they were counselors who taught tech-savvy Asian kids about the arts. Sidebar - How about Mike Chang's Abs! Those things are awesome!

Santana got a boob job which is not cool with Coach Sylvester! Sue has a very strict "no plastic" policy. Sue makes a very good point when she asks Santana "What would possess someone your age to get a boob job? You don't even know what your body is going to look like yet" this is sooo true what possesses teenagers to get boob jobs AND the bigger question is who's parents allow them to get a boob job as a teenager?

Mirror Image/The New Faces in Town

Here is our first example of mirroring the pilot. Although Sue and Will have a new formed friendship she gives him the same advice she gave him last season about his club sign up and how he needs to hold auditions because not everyone should be champions. This leads directly into the almost perfectly similar scene from the pilot where Sue and Will discuss the budget with Figgins about cutting both of their budgets. If it wasn't for the cut away shot of the new female football coach named Coach Beiste, Ken Tenaka had a nervous breakdown, who will mach Sue in intensity but is very sensitive, I thought something got mixed up and they were airing the wrong scene. Sue even says "You can't cut my budget without written consent from the Federal Reserve, it's in my contract!" which is, if I'm not mistaken, the exact same line she said in the pilot when Figgins cut her budget so that Will could start up the Glee club!

This whole scene has some great lines: Figgins tells Sue she can live without 2 confetti cannons and Sue's reply is "Do you think your kids can live without their dad?"

Another great thing about Coach Beiste, she refers to herself as "The Panther"! She also confuses Sue with her zingers like "That's a steer with 6 teets and no oink".

Mirror image scene number two. While posting Glee club sign up sheets in the locker room Finn hears newcomer Sam (Chord Overstreet) singing "Every Rose has it's Thorn" in the shower Ala Will hearing Finn sing "Can't Fight This Feeling Anymore" in the Shower in the pilot episode, it has identical shot selections like the shot of the feet, Sam is singing into a bar of soap the same way Finn did. Such a great job mirroring these scenes with the pilot!

Empire State of Mind

In an effort to recruit new members to join Glee, the club performs a Jay-Z hit at lunch (but first let me make this note, the kids have lunch tables outside? No school in Ohio would have an outdoor lunch area because it's too damn cold for most of the school year! I went to high school in Ohio, I would know).

First of all, I love their shirts where can I get one? I really loved the stair dancing, loved the look they all had going (especially Kurt), I just think they should limit their rap numbers 'cause it's not really what the guys in this show are good at. We heard Artie doing a little rapping last season and I do think that of all of them Puck is probably the best rapper but let's face it, classic rock and show tunes work best for this group. HOWEVER, I still LOVED the song and the number so it gets and A in my book!

More New Faces - Sunshine

Another new face was Sunshine (international pop star, Charice) who we first "meet" in the girl's bathroom when Rachel introduces herself while posting fliers for glee club, and very awkwardly introduces herself and invites her to join Glee because they need chorus members to sway in the background and smile as Rachel sings solos - that is of course before she hears her sing.

After still self-absorbed Rachel realizes that this girl could steal her glee club thunder, she decides she can't let her join the club. Rachel and Sunshine singing "Telephone" was definitely a high point in the episode, Rachel getting up in Sunshine's face for the "diva-off" was awesome! And then Sue busted in and said "Shut up" - classic Sue but I wanted to hear them finish the song!

Not Enough Kurt and Mercedes!

This Episode was seriously lacking in the Kurt/Mercedes scenes. The only real time they get is when Rachel tries to convince them that Sunshine shouldn't join the club because it would take away from them getting solos.

We get a great little Mercedes/Kurt interaction prior to Rachel entering the room where Mercedes asks Kurt if he's wearing a Men's sweater and he replies "Fashion has no gender" - I love it! Which is why we clearly need more Kurt and Mercedes, as Sue said back in season 1 "Why do you two not have your own show on Bravo!"

Rachel reveals her genius plan to make sure Sunshine doesn't sign up - she has paid the football players $100 to slushie them in front of Sunshine's locker so she will not want to join. My question is she had to pay them? Wouldn't they have slushied them for free? Kurt and Mercedes however are not down with this idea and want Rachel to stop being so self-centered and think about how she can help the club beat Vocal Adrenaline

Sue and Schu Join Forces

Will and Sue decide they must work together to destroy Coach Beiste in order to restore their budgets. They pull high school pranks on her like ordering a bunch of pizzas and delivering them to the locker room where they wait outside and giggle about it like little kids.

Will and Sue continue their immature antics in "operation mean girl" where they won't allow Coach Beiste to sit at their table despite the open chairs. Sue says "these seats are currently being occupied by my ghost friends" - that is definitely a top Sue line in my books! And Will says he has a meeting with some science teachers so his seats are reserved for them (not as original Will you need to get better at this). After Beiste tells Will everyone told her that Sue was mean but he was cool, he starts to regret his decision to work with Sue. And when Sue gets Brittney to accuse coach Beiste of sexual assault (similar to when Rachel accuses Sandy the former Glee coach of assault -of course not on her on the male in the club so that he will get kicked out and replaced) Will finally decides to stop messing with Beiste and gets Brittney to confess the truth which does not sit well with Sue!

The final straw comes when Will, who is trying to apologize to Coach Beiste, tells Sue that he's not gonna do it anymore after Sue tries to get Beiste to eat "poop cookies".

Balance restored - Sue and Will are now enemies again. Sue goes on a rampage and says that the two of them (Will and Beiste) are "making a very serious mistake, the likes of which have not been seen since the Mexican Indians sold Manhattan to George Washington for an up skirt photo of Betsy Ross" that line is just so clever and wrong at the same time, so Sue Sylvester!

Artie has woes

Tina dumps Artie for being a bad boyfriend (he was playing a marathon round of Halo so couldn't pay attention to her) and starts dating Mike Chang instead because "he tries to be into what I'm into, like his abs". Artie wants to join the football team to impress her, his logic is if Kurt can do it so can I - haha too funny and Finn's response: "Being gay isn't a handicap". I love this line because I feel like some people think it is a handicap when it absolutely is not! Artie seems to think if Finn pushed him down the field in his wheelchair he'd be, to quote Finn, "a human cannon ball".

Sam Evans and His Big Mouth

Finn tries to recruit Sam to join the Glee Club so he has him come in and sing for the guys. As he is describing himself to the guys Puck is staring at him and says "Dude, your mouth is huge, how many tennis balls can you fit in there?" (not really sure why you would ask anyone that) and Sam has one of the best lines of the night - "I don't know, I've never had any balls in my mouth, have you?" and I love the slight little smile as Puck doesn't answer.

So Sam sings "Billionaire" with a little back-up from the rest of guys and apparently he also plays guitar. This kid isn't half bad and he's not too horrible to look at either. Should be interesting to see the dynamic between him, Puck, and Finn as 3 popular guys with strong voices.

Coach Beiste is a Softie

She seems tough on the outside but she's really quite sensitive. After Sue and Will go "operation mean girls" on her, we see her crying in the locker room while reapplying her bright red lipstick as Puck walks in with his offensive joke about Helen Keller not being able to drive because she was a woman instead of the obvious fact that she was blind. Puck seeming to show some concern asks her if she was crying and she says "yeah I saw your stats from last season and it really hurt my feelings" - nice zinger coach.

Coming off this humiliating situation, when Finn tries to tell her about Artie wanting to play and she thinks he's messing with her so Finn gets kicked off the football team! Oh no, without Finn as the starting QB does WMHS stand a chance? She goes off on him and he says "Dude" which makes her even more angry. Despite Will's attempts to convince her and Figgins that Finn was only trying to help Artie, Coach Beiste will have none of it and refuses to let Finn back on the team!

New Cheerios

Quinn wants back on the squad and wants her status as queen bee restored. Can order be restored to the school hierarchy? Last year at the beginning of the school year Quinn was captain of the Cheerios dating the football QB Finn and all was good, by the end of the year she was an outcast member of Glee who got pregnant by her boyfriend's best friend, got kicked off the Cheerios, and out of her house and it looked like she was destined to be like the rest of the glee club members. Finn got kicked off the football team can Quinn really get back on the Cheerios? The answer - Yes!

Even though at first Sue said no way, after Quinn says Churches would donate money for the confetti cannons that she lost in the budget if she let a girl on the team who got pregnant and now promotes abstinence education while wearing a Cheerios uniform onto the squad. First off what? Wasn't she all about abstinence BEFORE she got pregnant? I mean she was president of the celibacy club for crying out loud! But alas she gets in, AND because of Santana's boob job Quinn will be the head Cheerio (like before) and Santana is demoted to the bottom of the pyramid so that if the pyramid falls her "exploding sandbags will protect the squad from injury!" This leads to a massive girl fight in the hallway! Full on face slapping, bitch-fight between Quinn and Santana - it was amazing till Schu broke it up...Brittney watched from the side and said "Stop the Violence" haha love her!

However, the best thing about Cheerios tryouts was Finn's audition! After being kicked off the football team he needs something to make him cool so he thinks by becoming a Cheerio he will gain some points (not sure what makes him think being a guy cheerleader is going to help his popularity but hey).

Auditions

Sam never shows up to audition and Sunshine doesn't show up cause Rachel gave her directions to a crack house for the audition location! (but not an active one) Tina and Mike bring this to Mr. Schu's attention because apparently the Asian community is very tight knit so they heard about it.

Rachel convinces Sunshine to really come and audition and she sings an AMAZING rendition of "Listen" from Dream Girls. Too bad Sunshine won't be joining New Directions because she's been recruited by Dustin Goolsby (Cheyenne Jackson from 30 Rock), the new coach of Vocal Adrenaline, thanks to Sue (shoulda went along with the poop cookies)! They gave her and her mom a condo and a green card to get her to join! (what kind of glee club has that kind of money and how is that legal?)

Turns out Sam's reason for not showing up is because he's already the new kid and after Finn got kicked off the team and the way everyone on the team talks about the guys in Glee he didn't need anything to make him more of an outsider. Plus now that Finn is off the team, he's the new Quarterback!

Final Number

Touching moments between Finn and Rachel where Rachel admits to being a spotlight hog. Rachel tells Finn to go ahead and break up with her but Finn says he wouldn't do that and that she's the one who should break up with him because he's no longer popular. Isn't it cute, that the actually do really care about each other? But it looks like Finn has got a lot of work ahead of him trying to keep Rachel in line, he's going to have to mediate between her and the rest of the club.

Then we get a showstopper from Rachel who gives us "What I did for Love" from A Chorus Line as the final number of the episode. And not only is it a great song, it's classic Rachel!

So did you all enjoy the premiere as much as I did? Sound off in the comments. Next week - Brittney Spears! Unfortunately I will be on my way to New York City to see my first Broadway show - Kristin Chenoweth and Sean Hayes in Promises, Promises - so I won't be able to post a recap until the weekend but I'll get one up :)

Cheno Countdown Day 3

2010-09-22T08:49:00.001-04:00

I chose this clip for one reason only and this reason is that at the end of the interview Kristin says "Easy Pizzi" which is of course my last name (I love when people say that line...also the reason my softball jersey from summer league in Indiana rec league says "Easy" on the back - and to clarify that's the only reason it says Easy on the back). This is an interview with Kristin from January of this year on "The Strategy Room" to talk about her involvement in the Good Mood Mission through Oscar Mayer in an effort to raise money for Feeding America - a great organization. I love how philanthropic Kristin is and that she gets involved in such diverse charities from her personal charity "Maddie's Corner", named for her adorable Maltese Madeline Kahn Chenoweth, to the Dave Thomas Foundation for adoption, to working with Oscar Mayer to feed the hungry in America. She's one of the good ones out there that is so talented yet so humble and giving as well!

I will be posting a second blog today recapping last night's premiere of GLEE, look for it later on this afternoon/evening. But enjoy the Cheno Clip for this morning :)

Cheno Coutdown - Home

2010-09-21T10:32:00.002-04:00

In exactly 1 week I will be headed to Connecticut for the first night of my quick trip to New York City to see the wonderful Kristin Chenoweth in her current Broadway show - Promises, Promises - also starring Sean Hayes from Will and Grace. In honor of this I am posting an entry each day featuring Cheno!

Before I get into the clip I just spotted this little SPOILER on Kristin's return to Glee via E! online's Kristin Di Santos -

April Rhodes is on her way back to McKinley High and a little birdie we like to call Kristin Chenoweth tells us we're in for a nearly nude treat! "I'm going back in two weeks to do Glee. I did hear April will be stripping and it made me nervous—made me not want to eat." Just don't expect any smooth moves on the stripper pole. Says Kristin: "I'm not going to practice it either because I don't think April would know how!"

Read more: http://uk.eonline.com/uberblog/watch_with_kristin/b201407_spoiler_chat_get_premiere-week_scoop_on.html#ixzz10CQjxxEW

In honor of GLEE returning tonight our Cheno Countdown clip will be from her second appearance on Glee in the episode "Home" where her version of "Home" from The Wiz is utterly breathtaking. She looks stunning in the white gown and every time I hear her sing this song it is so moving that I have to fight back the tears. I could watch this episode of Glee over and over again, and in fact have seen it about 3 times in the past 3 weeks now. Some people criticized her appearance in this episode saying her character was just thrown into the episode in order to have Kristin on the show again but I disagree. And I can't wait for April Rhodes to come back this season! It will be interesting to see what she's been up too since we last saw her. She said she was heading to Broadway to "mount an all white production of The Wiz" with her millions she received in a settlement to keep quiet about her affair with a strip mall tycoon. Something tells me April will have some fun stories to tell when we see her again but what would be interesting is that Nationals is in New York so it would be great if she appeared in that episode (if she is still on Broadway when the the group gets there). I believe she is set to film her second season appearance in Glee in late October after a rescheduled concert with the Oklahoma City Pops. The Promises, Promises website says she will not be in the production for a week or so in late October so I assume she will be out in LA taping. So I hope everyone enjoys Kristin Chenoweth's version of "Home" and tune in and watch the season 2 premiere of Glee tonight at 8pm on FOX!

Kristin Chenoweth Countdown

2010-09-20T11:16:00.000-04:00

In honor of me heading to New York next week to see the wonderfully talented Kristin Chenoweth perform in Promises, Promises and my very first Broadway experience I decided I will take this week to share some awesome Cheno clips with everyone. And because in a prior trip to New York I was able to be in the audience for a taping of Live with Regis and Kelly (although Regis wasn't there that day) I thought I'd start the week off with a clip of Kristin co-hosting LIVE with Regis from June of this year! Also she will be making a guest appearance on the show this Wednesday Sept 22 I'm sure to promote her new movie "You Again" staring Kristin Bell, Jamie Lee Curtis, Sugorney Weaver, Betty White (how awesome is that cast?)! I hope you enjoy a little fun with Kristin and Regis and tomorrow I will find another wonderful Cheno clip to share with all of you and then of course I will make a post after my trip to see my very first Broadway show...I still can't believe my first show and I get to sit front row and watch this amazing woman sing live (of course I wish I would have gone to NY to see her perform in Wicked but alas I was late to the party on that one)! Check out the clip from June on LIVE

OTH and LUX Return along with Parenthood!

2010-09-15T16:53:00.000-04:00

Hello Fellow TV addicts. More shows have begun and that just makes me happy. Last night we were able to watch Season 8 of One Tree Hill (the little show that could) and Season 2 of Life Unexpected and Parenthood. OK, Say what you want about the CW but here's a BIG reason why I enjoy watching shows on this network - THE MUSIC! The WB started it with shows like Buffy and Charmed and One Tree Hill and Gilmore Girls and the CW has continued with this tradition, shows on this network always get great new bands to lend their music to the shows and that's a really awesome part of this network. I mean where would my life be had I not been introduced to my hometown (Cleveland) girl Kate Voegele on OTH two seasons back?

OK but on to the actual episode. Is this a dream or a nightmare? After the HUGE cliffhanger at the end of season 7 of OTH everyone was left to wonder if Clay and Quinn would survive and after last night's premiere I am now wondering HOW they have not died yet. I mean the were shot and no one has found them and it has been several hours...they have lost a LOT of blood by now so the question is how are they not dead?  The fact that both of them have been made full time cast members as seen in the return of the opening credits (thank you by the way for bringing back "I don't wanna be" can't wait to hear all the different artists renditions of it each week) so they are obviously NOT going to die unless they are going to spend the entire season in this "limbo" state and then die at the end of the season. I'm not sure how I feel about this whole situation. At the very beginning when they made it seem like it was all a dream that Clay had I was so mad because I couldn't believe that Mark would commit to it being a cop-out. But the further into the episode it got the more I got the feeling like they were in some sort of subconscious state - which they were - but I don't know logically how this is going to work out but I guess we shall see. Brooke and Julian are FINALLY back together, and one would think for good since they are engaged - let me just say I am so happy to see Brooke finally getting the guy she deserves. However new drama is afoot for Brooke and Clothes over Bros as it seems Victoria was lying to investors about the company's profits (how seriously close to the economy does this hit?).  Hayley and Nathan seem a little too perfect right now, Haley over her depression and pregnant, Nathan off to start another season with the Bobcats - 1 of the 2 of them has something wrong with them (both of them were at the doctor at one point in the episode) my guess is Nathan. Mia is back - LOVE Kate Voegele so happy to see her back on the show. Very Little Millie face time and non Mouth, and Alex is the girl you wanna hate and then there's Chase (who I guess is still not a regular after 2 turns on the show). I love Jamie but I'm not a huge fan of his haircut but I did enjoy the awkwardness of Nathan and Haley trying to explain where babies come from to him.

I have high hopes for this season. Mark Schwan has said the show is going to "go back to the way it was" so that makes me feel good. I love that the opening credits are back, like I said. I would love it if they could get Peyton and Lucas to make a guest appearance at some point. Here's to high hopes for the new season.

Life Unexpected started it's second season off in a good way.  I know some people were a little wishy-washy about it's debut season but it seems to me that this season is going to be much better. Ryan has a secret named Julia and a sister who has now slept with Baze. Kate lost her job and has to struggle with the decision to marry Ryan vs. if she loves Baze. L turned down an engagement from Bug causing him to leave town and falls for a new guy who happens to be a teacher at her school (wait didn't that story line happen on Pretty Little Liars already? oh well let's see how it plays out on this show). Oh yeah and it seems like Baze and his dad are getting along for once and the bar has been destroyed thanks to Ryan's sister Paige (who was formerly Dean's wife Lindsay on Gilmore Girls) spending the night with Baze and throwing a cigarette out in the bar after Baze warned her about smoking in there. All in all I think this season is going to be a good one.

Parenthood also started it's second season last night. A little time has passed since we last saw the Bravermans. Zeke and Camille have started marriage counseling. Haddie is learning how to drive. Crosby has been commuting to New York to spend time with Jasmine and Jabar...

Not much of Sarah's kids were seen in the first episode, other than giving her the idea for a show low-jack. I love Lauren Graham! We are introduced to Adam's boss - Billy Baldwin who we already know will start a fling with Sarah sometime this season. They will be seeing a lot of each other since Adam offered her a job in the design dept. to work on her show low-jack idea. Joel gets roped into helping Zeke fix his leaky roof.  And then there was the highlight of the episode Joel and Julia getting to explain sex to Sidney who can't be older than 5!  Oh what kids hear on the playground.

I really enjoy this family dramedy one of the few GREAT shows to come out of NBC in the last few years. No new shows for me tonight just catching up on Mad Men and Rubicon from this weekend along with watching the last 2 episodes EVER of My Boys - which has been officially canceled by TBS :(

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia comes back Thursday and next week brings in a whole slew of new seasons, most importantly GLEE and Modern Family!

Let the New Seasons Begin!

2010-09-14T11:21:00.001-04:00

Last night kicked off the first of many season premieres in my realm of television viewing for the fall, 90210(the remake) and Gossip Girl. The CW is the first to launch their shows - 1 week before the other networks. I think that's smart, you want to get people before they get involved in the other shows granted most of the shows premiering this week are in their 3rd season or higher you can still get new viewers hooked and make them want to go back and watch the previous seasons. I have started many a show several seasons in, went back and watched the DVDs or re-runs in syndication and then was totally wrapped up in the show as if I had been watching since day one. Here's a list of several shows I started watching part way through the series or even after it ended and then wished I had watched it when it was actually on - Gossip Girl, Gilmore Girls, Charmed, Mad Men, One Tree Hill, Pushing Daisies, Beverly Hills 90210, LOST...I have several other shows that are over that I want to go back and see such as The West Wing and 24 and I will get to them eventually I'm sure.

Right now I'm just excited to start watching some new shows and see some of my favorites kick off another season. I'm sad that the summer shows are ending but soon enough they will be back. So those of you that watch these CW shows like myself. What did you think of the season premieres?

90210 started off with some big drama. Teddy blowing out his knee, Adrianna in that car crash that killed Javier and then using songs she didn't write to get her music career going again. Annie is finally looking to settle things down after her being completely annoying last season. Dixon has some Ivy drama with her old friend Oscar moving in from Australia.  And of course there's the big Naomi rape issue from the finale...how do you think the season will play out?  We already know that Teddy is the guy on the show who will be switching to playing the gay character so that should be interesting to see progress and how it affects Silver. I see major drama for the Dixon/Ivy/Oscar love triangle about to form. Adriana is going to regret her decision to steal that music. Annie and Liam's sexual tension will be big this season and Naomi carrying out this rape charge could be interesting. The interesting thing about 90210 is that some of the stories are things that happened in the original series and others are brand new issues or issues played out in a completely different fashion. I mean Dixon did the whole Brandon gambling thing. Kelly was raped in the original series but they didn't go into it as much as they are with Naomi.

Obviously nothing will ever take the place of BH90210 but this reboot is pretty good for the new generation. Unlike the Melrose place reboot which I thought was terrible (and I didn't even see the original series) and I've seen the pilot of Nikita and I'm not into it (again didn't see the original). The "cool" thing to do these days is to remake popular shows from the past. This season we get reboots of Hawaii Five-O and The Defenders as well Nikita. Well we all saw how Knight Rider and Melrose Place went so far 90210 is the only remake that made it. I guess we shall see how this fall's remakes fair.

The other season premiere last night was Gossip Girl. Serena and Blair are at each other's throats again! When will Blair stop being jealous of Serena!  It's so high school and these are girls are almost sophomores in college (well in the show at least). Nate's sex rampage has turned against him, did he really think he could be Chuck?  Dan is so stupid to believe that Milo is actually his son. Georgina is totally playing him and I knew as soon as she got him to sign the birth certificate she was going to dump the kid with him and run. The thing that interests me the most is how Chuck is still alive and yet his body washed up in Paris?  I guess when Serena and Blair go to identify the body we will see who it really is, maybe he has a twin and it'll be like the crazy daytime soap operas haha!

Tonight we have some more premiers, One Tree Hill, Life Unexpected and Parenthood. I hope to be able to give a little insight into those tomorrow.

Emmys Red Carpet Reaction

2010-08-30T19:30:00.002-04:00

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

2010-08-26T11:26:00.001-04:00

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?

2010-08-10T10:31:00.001-04:00

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....

2010-08-07T23:48:00.001-04:00

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

2010-08-07T14:24:00.001-04:00

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

2010-08-04T11:25:00.002-04:00

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!

2010-07-02T13:00:00.000-04:00

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!