Archive: September 2009 (41-50 of 437)

Sep 28 2009 12:30 PM ET

'The Beautiful Life' axed: Why don't we like actors pretending to be models?

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Filed under: News, Television and tagged: , , ,

beautiful-life_lWe know from years of careful America’s Next Top Model viewing that people who are pretty for a living are ripe for eminently watchable drama. (And don’t even get us started on the genius that was MTV’s all-too-short-lived reality show 8th & Ocean. Identical twins competing for jobs! Models for Christ!) But scripted dramas about models never seem to catch on with the masses (R.I.P. Models Inc.), and the latest noble effort in this subgenre, The CW’s The Beautiful Life, has now earned the ugly First Cancellation of the Fall distinction. READ FULL STORY »

Sep 28 2009 12:00 PM ET

The new fall TV season: Good news, for a change

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Filed under: Community and tagged: , ,

modern-family_lTV ratings may not be what they used to be, thanks to DVRs, cable, and the Internet, but there suddenly seem to be signs of hope for good, old-fashioned broadcast prime time, the likes of which we haven’t seen in several seasons: After a few years of general major-network doom and gloom (and an Emmy broadcast riddled with jokes about the declining industry), CBS and Fox are actually up for the first week of the new season, Hollywood Wiretap reports (7 percent and 35 percent respectively). ABC’s down only a scant 4 percent, and that doesn’t include the premieres of Sunday hits Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters. ABC, in fact, notched a few possible early breakouts with Modern Family (pictured) and FlashForward, which both translated solid reviews into better-than-solid numbers. (The CW and NBC have both suffered slides, though neither comes as a huge surprise: The CW has struggled uphill since becoming a merged version of The WB and UPN, and because of its young audience, falls victim to online viewing more than others. And NBC has gone from distressing to dismal in the last few years, a situation apparently not helped by the recent decision to air Jay Leno in prime time five nights a week.)

As both a TV fan and a ratings geek, I personally have felt a surprising (if cautious) thrill this past week, seeing shows whose pilots I loved (Community, Modern Family, FlashForward) catch on with the masses, at least initially. And those shows, in particular, have infused me with an optimism about network television that I haven’t felt since that magical Desperate Housewives/Lost/Grey’s Anatomy season five (!) years ago. How are you feeling, PopWatchers? How has the new season been for you so far? Do you still have faith in network television?

Photo Credit: Ron Tom/ABC

Sep 28 2009 11:42 AM ET

Emerging 'Mad Men' character of the Week: Allison the secretary

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Filed under: Mad Men and tagged: , ,

mad_men_allison_secretaryI don’t want to spoil anything before you watch the episode yourself and head over to Karen Valby’s TV Watch for your in-depth Mad Men analysis needs…but I don’t think it gives anything away to call your attention to my new obsession: Don Draper’s secretary, Allison. Look at the immaculate “Bitch, please” face she threw him after he all-importantly asked her to hold his calls while he met with Connie Hilton. YES. He needs a steno pool minion with some sass! More faces please.

Does Allison’s “Bitch, please” face rival ice queen Betty’s? Whoa.

Let us know your favorite moments from Mad Men and the rest of Sunday night shows in the comments or on Twitter, and they could be used in this Friday’s Sound Bites video.

Sep 28 2009 11:20 AM ET

'How I Met Your Mother' blooper reel: Cute overload

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Good Lord, I love a good blooper reel, and HIMYM‘s season 4 round-up (from the DVD set that comes out tomorrow) hits all the sweet spots: giggles, running gags, and the obvious natural chemistry among the cast.

The biggest blooper of them all, PopWatchers? Jason Segel’s truly atrocious haircut. Whoops!

Sep 28 2009 10:40 AM ET

'Brothers & Sisters' premiere: Tears and fears

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Filed under: Television and tagged: , , ,

brother-and-sisters_lIt’s a strange thing about Brothers & Sisters: At the end of every episode, I’m always more eager to talk about the next episode than I am to write about the one I just watched. Is that a good or a bad thing? It means I’ll keep tuning in each week, but it makes the show feel like a rabbit chasing a carrot that it’ll never quite catch. It needs the big WOW. Could it be on the horizon with Kitty’s health scare? I’d bet my first born that I will sob next week when Nora is on that park bench telling Saul that it should be her going through it, not Kitty. If Sally Field musters half the emotion she had in that graveyard scene in Steel Magnolias…

But back to the premiere: As usual, we got an episode full of comedy, drama, and squabbling. Let’s start with the lighter side to cheer ourselves up. Marion Ross returned as Nora and Saul’s mother, Ida, who visited for Justin and Rebecca’s engagement party. She looked absolutely fabulous and delivered some of the night’s best quips, whether she was telling Holly about the “bottle-blond tramp” mistress William had kept (she didn’t know Holly was said mistress until Holly blurted it out after the party went to hell), or complimenting Kitty and Robert on photos of adorable Evan (“Say what you want, but they do make cute babies”), or trying to understand how Kevin and Scotty could possibly become fathers (“Which one of you gets to sleep with the egg lady?”). READ FULL STORY »

Sep 27 2009 06:31 PM ET

'Cloudy with a Chance of...' adult entertainment

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Box office prognosticators will likely spend all week marveling at the remarkable box office hold for the second weekend of the animated kid flick Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. A drop of just 19 percent is unheard of with wide releases. Even Pixar films usually fall around 30 percent. Sure there is little kid fare in the theaters and the rest of the new releases don’t seem all that appealing, but I think the there’s another reason for its remarkable staying power: Meatballs is a truly charming movie.

As a parent, I’m forced to sit through an unbearable number of crappy kid fare. (G-Force anyone?) And there’s nothing we appreciate more than a movie that aims to entertain more then just the under-10 set. Such is the case with Cloudy. My husband and I spent more time cracking up than our kids did. In fact, I’m pretty sure we were bigger fans of the cornucopia of flying food than they were. The screenwriting efforts from Phil Lord and Chris Miller (How I Met Your Mother) were rather inspired. Little moments, like the young boy who falls into a food coma or the weather girl who refers to the previous storm as an ‘amuse bouche’ compared with what’s coming next. This is one kid’s movie that even non-breeders would chuckle through should they choose to attend.

What do you think? Would you see the movie if you weren’t taking someone who couldn’t drive themselves? Did you find the food-flavored humor amusing?

Sep 27 2009 04:23 PM ET

Randy Jackson on 'America's Best Dance Crew,' Ellen DeGeneres, and his rampant use of 'for me, for you'

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Filed under: American Idol and tagged: , ,

Randy-Jackson_lTonight marks the fourth-season finale of Randy Jackson Presents America’s Best Dance Crew (MTV, 9:00 p.m. EDT), and to mark the occasion, the titular producer and American Idol judge got on the phone with EW.com to discuss the AfroBorike-vs.-We Are Heroes ABDC finale, the addition of Ellen DeGeneres to Idol‘s judges panel, and critics who are tired of him using the word “Dawg” in every episode of the nation’s No. 1 television program.

There’s been a wide-range of responses to Ellen DeGeneres joining the Idol judges’ panel. What would you say to people who argue Ellen doesn’t have the musical background or the toughness to be a good judge?
Between myself, Simon and Kara, we’re so well-versed in the music industry, I don’t know if there needs to be any more insider information talking about the music and everything. [Music] is clearly what we all do every day as our real life’s work — even though we have other TV shows and other things going on — and Ellen, she can represent the voice of the people. It’s almost like having someone from the public on the panel. Ellen is very smart, very talented, and is a huge, huge, giant music fan, along with being a friend of mine, a friend of Ryan’s, a friend of Simon’s. We’ve all known her for a while and we love her, and I think she’ll be really good. I think she’ll offer that insight of the person sitting at home.

I often think, though, that folks sitting on their couches at home sound more like Simon Cowell. The public is actually really critical, no? READ FULL STORY »

Sep 27 2009 12:17 PM ET

'Fame': Why aren't Naturi Naughton and Collins Pennie already stars?

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Filed under: Movies and tagged: , ,

Yesterday, I hopped to my local movie theater, purchased a ticket for the Fame reboot, and began preparing myself for the exciting performances that would soon appear on-screen. After all, these musical numbers would come courtesy of an awesomely talented, young, breakout cast, right? Well…kinda. Though the cast might have been hindered by their own material — the film paled in comparison to the gritty 1980 version, thanks to a clear effort to make the film more accessible to the High School Musical set — I left the theater only remembering two names: Naturi Naughton and Collins Pennie.

Irene Cara was the breakout of 1980′s Fame. So it’s only fitting that Naughton, the actress reprising Coco Hernandez’s musical numbers, would be the obvious standout of the 2009 version. As Denise Dupree, Naughton blew me over on numbers like “Out Here On My Own,” and made the rest of the cast look like amateurs (though, admittedly, as performing arts students, that was what they were supposed to be). Except, of course, for Collins Pennie, the actor who played the tortured Malik Washburn with such intensity, I wondered why he doesn’t have a more expansive resume.

Because, honestly, when it came down to it, Denise and Malik were the only two characters in the film with clear talent. Yes, Asher Book’s Marco had a nice voice, but his lovesick dorkiness throughout the film distracted from his vocal gifts. (And surely, the best singer at a performing arts school would at least come close to comparing to the Adam Lamberts of the world, right?) SYTYCD‘s Kherington Payne, as Alice, wasn’t nearly as technically proficient as other ballet dancers featured in the film. And as for Kay Panabaker’s Jenny…well, does anyone understand why the wannabe actress who could neither sing nor act was accepted into the school in the first place?

Am I being too hard on the cast? And do you, like me, think Naughton and Pennie were sublime in their roles? (That is, if you even saw the film — from preliminary box office figures, it looks like many of you skipped.) Let’s make these two bona fide stars, yeah?

Sep 26 2009 03:56 PM ET

Mitch Hurwitz: Get back to 'Arrested Development,' please!

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Lately, whenever Mitch Hurwitz — creator of Arrested Development – is asked about the status of the highly-anticipated Arrested Development movie, his response has been that he’s too busy creating television shows for the upcoming fall season to focus on writing AD. One of his projects is the comedy Brothers, which debuted last night on Fox. Hurwitz is only executive producer on the show, so he can’t be held responsible for the entire thing (Don Reo is the creator). But after watching two episodes last night, I beg Mr. Hurwitz, please get back to your script!

Brothers — which stars ex-NFL star Michael Strahan, playing an ex-NFL star, along with Daryl Mitchell, Carl Weathers, and, in a rare comedy turn, CCH Pounder — isn’t a terrible show. But it’s not even close to Arrested Development-caliber. The laugh track is so loud it almost drowns out the mediocre jokes themselves. I do give the show credit for dealing with Mitchell’s paralysis in a funny manner (in real life, the actor lost the use of his legs after a 2001 motorcycle accident). Pounder, playing his mother, is constantly stabbing her television son in the legs with a fork, hoping he’ll say ouch. Still, the main thing that seems to be holding back the Arrested Development movie is Hurwitz and his script. It seems a shame the talented writer is focusing any of his valuable attention on something other then AD.

What do you think Pop Watchers? Did you see Brothers last night? Was it as bad as I thought? Are Hurwitz’s talents better served on AD?

Sep 26 2009 12:30 PM ET

Did you celebrate One-Hit Wonder Day? What tune was stuck in your head?

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You’ve been there before: You’re walking down the street, and suddenly, a song from your past creeps into your head and refuses to get out. The most frustrating part? You can’t remember what song it is, or who sang it, because you’re fairly certain he went out of style with twin sets. You return home, log onto your computer, Google the lyrics, and discover you’ve got Tal Bachman on the brain. And now you’re wondering, what the heck ever happened to the guy?

Yesterday, as you must know, was the obscure national holiday known as One-Hit Wonder Day. So we’re assuming you spent the day in silent appreciation of the “She’s So High” singer, as well as folks like A-Ha, Nena and Dee-Lite. Now that the sacred holiday passed and you can return to our ordinary lives, let’s hear it: What is your favorite one-hit wonder?

I’ll go on record saying nothing compares 2 OMC’s “How Bizarre,” for sheer badness’ sake. Then again, I have a strange obsession with Shawn Mullins’ “Lullaby” and 5ive’s “When the Lights Go Out,” so maybe you shouldn’t trust my musical judgment. (P.S. Based on its spelling, shouldn’t “5ive” be pronounced “Five-ive”?) So come on, commenters! Relax, let the dogs out and tell me your favorites! Toora Loora Toora Loo-Rye Aye!

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