Real TV Critics

Disco Officially Died with the Passing of Donna Summer, The Queen of the Genre

tommy — Fri, 18 May 2012 15:04:30 +0000

For some of us there’s never been the demise of the disco era. When we are wheeling around in our chairs, at the old folks home, gumming down our crushed peaches, playing checkers, speaking too loud because we can’t hear and overcompensate by yelling, we will know part of the reason for our condition.

It was disco. Plain and pure disco.

Click here to view the embedded video.

It was a time like no other. I can remember being a producer of talk radio shows in Philadelphia working the nighttime shift, getting done at midnight. If it was a Wednesday, Thursday or Friday work night, getting off at midnight was not a time to go home. It was a time to head to what they termed the “fabulous Second Story Night Club” in Center City Philly. Or to the Library on City Avenue. Or to Club Elan in the Warwick Hotel downtown.

It was time to dance, dance, dance. To the sound of disco.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The genre got a bad rap after a while. They tried to re-term the 140 beats per minute music as purely dance music, not disco. Disco became a four letter word. What the hell, who cared. It for a lot of us will always be known as disco.

So let’s get back to the physical conditioning at the beginning of this story. Loud music. Reason for hearing loss. Even now. Wheeling around in a chair? Too much bouncing around on the dance floor. Osteoporosis is setting in which affects the bones. Playing checkers…the only thing we can remember to do with the amount of illegal substances place in the body during those party years. Gumming of the peaches…well back to those illegal substance.

And it was a party. Non-stop.

Click here to view the embedded video.

For those of you that thought you killed off disco a few years after it birth in to the music world, well you didn’t. Disco officially died yesterday with the passing of the great Donna Summer. The original “bad girl” has left this earth at 63 years of age taking a significant amount of memories with her.

I was in my car when a business associate told me that Donna Summer died. And it was shocking because she was so young and this passing was not expected. But I guess it was more shocking because what was a short period of time for the era of disco. Yet a big part of many of the important years of lives of many of us growing up is still with most of us today. And Donna Summer, the disco legend, the Queen of Disco…well just check out the videos in this story. Remember the music. Yeah, disco is like a cat. It had many lives. But now officially the woman known as Donna Summer who created and paved the way for a plethora of music talent, has left us with her passing from cancer.

What a great era, the era of disco!

Rick Thomas

My Damn Dogs Couldn’t Do Tricks Like ‘Ashleigh and Pudsey’ from ‘Britain’s Got Talent’

tommy — Fri, 18 May 2012 05:01:32 +0000

OK so I grew up with a lot of dogs. A lot of them in what we called Mitch and Pearline’s ‘House of Horrors’ in West Philly. We call it that because this was a home where there was this thing called discipline in the physical way when parents back then made sure their kids grew up straight. When parents made sure their kids got out and got some exercise by playing Fox in the Den, Dodge Ball or Box Ball.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Not like these little fat fuckers today who terrorize neighborhoods in packs of gangs rummaging through the local CVS and taking the phrase “flash mob” and turning it in to a felony.

Nor, as stated, like these fat bastards who sit at home pricking their fingers up and down on cell phones, eating Oreo Cookies and Lay Potato Chips working their way to the cover of Diabetes Weekly or the Obesity Journal.

So things were different and dogs were different.

Our family dogs were really stupid back then. Not like Pudsey seen on Britain’s Got Talent, the UK version of America’s Got Talent. The dogs we had couldn’t even be house trained. A few pissed all over the house, a couple humped every human person that came for a visit to the home and most were so fucking dumb that chewing the electrical cord of a plugged in light was a weekly occurrence.

Some dogs got lit up pretty good on the chew.

None of these dogs could do what Pudsey did with Ashleigh on Britain’s Got Talent. Damn Pudsey, making all of that money and I still have to by lottery tickets.

Watch this dog. Damn dog.

Rick Thomas

“I feel like bustin’ loose, bustin’ loose!” As Funkmaster Chuck Brown of the Soul Searchers Passes

tommy — Thu, 17 May 2012 04:00:06 +0000

What a dance song! I can remember playing this song under one of my many names as a mobile deejay. Was it Mobile One Disc Jockeys? Or when I was called Magic Music Deejays and received a cease and desist from the attorneys for Greater Media’s WMGK. Seems at 20 something years of age I was clearly unaware of infringement issues so that’s when I changed the name to the Mobile One Deejay thing.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers hit song Bustin’ Loose was one of those dance tunes, a 12 inch record that you could just put on and easily get those at any party to get up no the floor and shake your ass.

Today the name of Chuck Brown will only be heard as a member of the past. At 75 years of age, the man who we can’t call a legend on a worldwide basis but we can term Chuck Brown that in the Washington DC black neighborhoods, has passed away.

“His songs connected the city,” said Chris Richards writer for the Washington Post. Chuck Brown termed his music “go-go” because if you listen to Chuck Brown’s Bustin’ Loose, that’s all the song did when you played it. It just kept going and going.

After listening to Chuck Brown’s Bustin’ Loose, I can easily say I really feel like busting loose.

RIP Chuck Brown.

Rick Thomas

Here Comes Howard Stern, Making a Cool Mess, As Howard Stern Does on ‘America’s Got Talent’

tommy — Wed, 16 May 2012 03:47:37 +0000

His entrance was what we all expected from the King of All Media, Howard Stern. He comments like he would on his radio show except for the profanity and references to the body parts of strippers on that morning show on Sirius/XM Radio. A show that has helped in a lot of ways to get that satellite radio company in better shape than it was before he joined the network.

America's Got Talent - Season 7 - Howard Stern

But Howard Stern is back. Howard Stern is back big time. His new seat at the judge’s table on NBC’s America’s Got Talent went off with a bang. Only one reference to the “rather small package” he mentioned to a male stripper but Howard Stern seems in his groove as one of America’s either most love or hated celebrity in the world.

Then there was the contestant with “man boobs” whom Howard Stern referenced his own issues with what becomes part of some men over 50 years of age saying “don’t feel bad…I’m in the same boat my friend.

AMERICA'S GOT TALENT - Season 7 - Nick Cannon, Sharon Osbourne, Howard Stern and Howie Mandel

So Howard Stern is back in the national spotlight. And quite frankly with America’s Got Talent and NBC in need of a little boost…OK a big boost and a big boost real soon and fast, it was a brilliant move bringing the radio shock jock to be names as judge on the reality show.

No matter what anyone thinks about the reasons for bringing in Howard Stern, no matter what they are paying him to be the new judge on America’s Got Talent, no matter how you feel about Howard Stern, he still is a great asset to any television show.

But you can bet there’s a lot more to come from Howard Stern on America’s Got Talent.

Let’s Hope NBC’s New TV Season Gets Better Than These Show Trailers (Videos)

tommy — Sun, 13 May 2012 22:46:39 +0000

You have to say a Mother’s Day prayer for NBC. The network that has more problems than an evangelical Christian has with Mitt Romney. But sometimes you get a network that even with new owners in Comcast still just have issues releasing great content to watch during many of the past seasons.

NBC has some programming problems to address and this set of trailers from their new set of shows set to launch in the fall will not alleviate the issues this network has with their programming. But anyway I would say enjoy the following trailers but you may have a smell you don’t like once you get to what they call in the movie business “The End” after viewing what you see below.

This is pretty bad. Not good at all.

Click here to view the embedded video.

What!! CBS Cancels ‘CSI: Miami’ as Patrick Wilson Trashes Net for Dumping ‘A Gifted Man’

tommy — Sun, 13 May 2012 22:00:14 +0000

OK so the acting was mediocre in the CBS cop drama CSI: Miami. Alright the acting stunk. It was really bad. But isn’t that why you watched CSI: Miami? And another reason. Eye candy. Let’s be real nobody on that show would win any awards for best acting in anything having to do with CSI: Miami. You watched for guns, girls and guys.

No more.

David Caruso as 'Horatio' in 'CSI: Miami' on CBS

The cop show that quite frankly ran out of a lot of story-lines that made sense is now being shelved by CBS. No more Calliegh Duquesne (Emily Proctor) running around in a Marc Jacobs skirt catching criminals. No more Natalia Boa Vista (Eva La Rue) chasing down criminals and catching them in a pair of Steve Madden pumps.

Them days be over.

Patrick Wilson, 'Dr. Michael Holt' on 'A Gifted Man'

CBS takes the long running series off their Sunday schedule along with Unforgettable that showed a bit of promise. Rob Schnieder’s stereotypical Rob also got canceled thank the Lord Jesus and Patrick Wilson’s A Gifted Man which was about the highest quality show on television and severely under-promoted also got the boot.

Wilson was a little pissed that he did not get notification of the cancellation from CBS but found out via an e-mail. ” I could be happier,” said Patrick Wilson in a Tweet. “It was not what I signed on for,” he continued.

The network did annouce that it was keeping CSI: New York on their schedule.

Conspiracy Theory from Bristol Palin, Sasha, Malia to Blame for Obama’s Gay Marriage Stance

tommy — Fri, 11 May 2012 14:10:23 +0000

I knew it. I knew it. Always, always blame the children for being behind the scenes and forcing the most powerful man on the planet for his new stance on gay marriage. Yes the world still is burning up over President Obama’s recent acceptance of men marrying men and women marrying women. And yes this is coming once again from a President who runs the United States.

Bristol Palin

Reality television person Bristol Palin has found the people behind the conspiracy. No, it’s not Barney Frank the gay congressman from Boston. Nor is it any of the members of the cast of Glee on FOX. Is it those two gay dudes on ABC’s Modern Family? Nope.

Bristol Palin has uncovered the conspiracy.

It’s those two manipulative little bitches living in the White House! Sasha and Malia Obama, the daughters of President Obama who are responsible for this President’s announcement that same sex marriage is now OK.

Bristol Palin says “While it’s great to listen to your kid’s ideas, there’s also times when dads simple need to be dads,” in response to the conspiracy.

Seems Bristol’s dad did a great job bringing her up, allowing her to spend a significant amount of time getting knocked up, becoming a single mom and living a life worth an episode of Jerry Springer. Oh yeah, people really care what Bristol Palin thinks, right?

Right!!! They do. Bristol Palin’s comments are trending huge on the internet this morning. Big time.

“Sometimes dads should lead should lead their family in the right way of thinking,” said Bristol Palin as she continued her rant against those two derisive, deceiving, manipulative little bitches that live, once gain, in the White House.

And you just thought that kids living in the White House would get a break. And when and where would a single mother whose baby daddy is nowhere to be found in his kid’s life but we know is running around every trailer park in Alaska looking for more women he can convince that he has a future to marry him or give him more babies get the balls to insult two children…living in the White House.

These comments confirm one thing. Damn I’m glad Sarah Palin and this family never got a chance to live in the White House. Just imagine….just imagine.

Ever Watch ‘Alcatraz’ or ‘The Finder’ on FOX? Quick clue…nope! But Kiefer’s ‘Touch’ Returning

tommy — Thu, 10 May 2012 04:11:22 +0000

So FOX don’t play as they say in the hood. When it comes to taking a first year show that is pretty much being watch by about 45 people, well let’s say 4 for Alcatraz and 5 for The Finder which gets you to that 45, well the canceled bin is where TV shows can head real quickly on tht network.

Kiefer Sutherland and David Mazouz in the FOX Series 'Touch'

Yes Alcatraz, which I watched a full not one episode of that show got canned by FOX. And The Finder, which I can easily say that I watched about 15 minutes of that show is gone as well. There will not be a season duece for either show which if I haven’t watch at least one episode of Kiefer Sutherland’s Touch.

Not good news for FOX.

And they take off COPS for these two crappy shows??? I’m still not over FOX taking off COPS on Saturday nights only to be replaced buy a simply failing reality show and special episodes of America’s Most Wanted.

Anyway Touch gets renews and the other two shows get scrapped. Only in the TV world and only at FOX.

Rick Thomas

OutKast’s Andre 3000 Turns to Legendary, Once in a Lifetime Rocker Jimi Hendrix

tommy — Wed, 09 May 2012 18:05:13 +0000

Well now Andre Benjamin is about to blow up. Let’s hope so. He’s about to take on his most important role and many of you asking just who the hell is Andre Benjamin, right?

Outkast's Andre 3000

That’s the name his mama gave him when he drop in to the arms of her emergency room doctor on the day Andre 3000 was officially named Benjamin. The Outkast guy with the very distinctive voice on the Grammy winning group’s past fantastic recordings will be taking on the role of the legendary, party rocker Jimi Hendrix.

: Andre 3000 from the movie ‘Idlewild’

All Is By My Side is the name of the project that is currently in pre-production featuring the Outkast leader. And after roles in the Outkast movie Idlewild and The Shield along with three other movies, this casting will prove to be his biggest contribution to any screen beyond his music videos.

Actual shooting for All Is By My Side is expected to begin in about three weeks and the period of time Andre’s role is set will be in 1966 when Jimi Hendrix released the album Are You Experienced.

‘Two and a Half Men’s Ashton Kutcher Ticks Off the Masses Again with Racist Content

tommy — Fri, 04 May 2012 05:08:26 +0000

Leave it up to Ashton Kutcher. He seems to always creep to the line and then cross it which does nothing more than give him more exposure for Two and a Half Men and his other ventures.

Which means what?

It means that Ashton Kutcher is relatively brilliant. He always does or says something that will never get him fired from the CBS show Two and a Half Men nor get him in hot water with his fans who tend to keep on keeping on with Ashton Kutcher.

This time it’s all about this video. It was for a brand of snacks called Popchips which quite frankly sounds like something that should be title Popshits.

Click here to view the embedded video.

That’s kinda what most feel about any ad that gets media juice with a racist twist as the ad, now pulled by Popshits, is still aring all over the web.

I say welcome to the party pal. Back in the day African Americans, Asians and Latinos were the target of such racist advertising content. And the continuing lack of minorites in the advertising business lead to brands like Popchips or Popshits to creat such marketing strategies.

Sad thing is I’ve never heard of Popchips. Never. Now that I’m on a non-crap eating diet maybe I don’t look for the product on the shelve at Ralph’s or Vons. But to be honest I never at any time in my life heard of or know of a fucking brand with a dumb ass name as Popchips.

I’m just sayin’.

Rick Thomas