There’s a slew of shows airing new episodes tonight, but the priority on my DVR belongs to one show: Supernatural. The Winchester boys are finally back with a new episode in which they get themselves committed in order to investigate a case at a mental hospital. The setup sounds a bit like Buffy‘s “Normal Again,” one of my favorite episodes of the series, which only makes me more excited. Check out a scene from the episode below.
It’s been a hellish — no pun intended — two-month wait for new Supernatural, during which I came to a realization. If I missed the show this much during a hiatus, imagine how much I’ll miss it when it ends for good. READ FULL STORY »
Spike Jonze’s 30-minute short “I’m Here” debuted at Sundance yesterday and will be widely released in March. Here’s the trailer for the “robot love story,” (and, uh, vodka ad):
It’s as if Wall-E and All The Real Girls had a baby, and I mean that in the best possible way.
Are you feeling the robot’s pain, PopWatchers, or do you know his love is just part of his programming?
I’m trying to figure out why Burn Notice returning tonight (USA, 10 p.m. ET, following an all-day marathon) makes me this happy. It could be because the only person who likes a mojito more than me Slezak or Annie is Bruce Campbell’s Sam. Or because I want to start eating yogurt as a snack instead of whatever I find in Annie’s candy dish and Michael (Jeffrey Donovan) and Fiona (Gabrielle Anwar) make it look so appetizing. Or, because, as a friend once told me, “That show gives me a false sense that I could get out of a hostage situation. Fantastic.” I think it’s that last one.
Burn Notice is the perfect combination of everything I want in a TV show: Smart characters, sexual tension, wisecracks, a grown man who can handle any situation but his mother (the fabulous Sharon Gless), and firepower. There’s an ongoing mystery — who burned spy Michael, and what does he have to do to get his job back — but a new “client” that he, Sam, and Fi help in every episode. It’s so much fun that it feels like it should be a guilty pleasure, but when you’re “learning” tricks of the spy trade through Michael’s voiceovers, it can’t possibly be one. Right?
Who else is psyched for Burn Notice‘s return? Reminder: Head over to Ken Tucker’s TV blog tomorrow where he’ll weigh in on tonight’s episode, which reunites Gless with her Cagney & Lacey costar Tyne Daly.
Jon Hamm and Ashton Kutcher are returning to Studio 8H to host Saturday Night Live in the coming weeks. Hamm, who hosted for the first time in 2008, returns Jan. 30 with musical guest Michael Buble, and Kutcher, who hosted in 2003, 2005, and 2008, comes back Feb. 6, with musical guest Them Crooked Vultures.
Hamm was fantastic on his episode, and Kutcher was totally passable on his. (The guy documents most of his life — he’s pretty natural on camera.) They both do well playing silly, dude-centric humor, which seems to be SNL‘s strong suit right now. Count me in.
Other than shave, what do you hope Hamm does for SNL, PopWatchers? And other than tweet the living crap out of it, what do we want Kutcher to do?
Image Credit: Kutcher: Dennis Van Tine/Retna; Hamm: Kirkland/RD/Retna
Sporty, Ginger, Posh, Scary, Baby and…Musical? It’s true: A Spice Girls musical is in the works from Mamma Mia! producer Julie Craymer and Simon Fuller. Tentatively titled Viva Forever, the musical “will be a mix of fact and fiction, a story of women and friendship,” Craymer told Variety. Zig-a-zig-aaamazing!
While no band could ever take ABBA’s place in my heart, the Spice Girls make complete sense as the next pop musical — talk about a consistent sound and style. I’m hopeful that Viva Forever will be schmaltzy and vaguely idiotic — and totally silly and fun. It will go great with white wine spritzers, and I will love the crap out of it, because what am I, made of stone? Girl power!!!!!
Okay, PopWatchers, will you let Viva Forever spice up your life?
I find myself unable to function properly unless I’m watching an hour-long drama in the 10:00 slot (either live or on DVR) – a comedy doesn’t work then for me, nor does a talk show (duh) or reality TV. Maybe I need something heavy to think about to help me wind down. Last night, in fact, I personally time-shifted NBC’s 9 p.m. rerun of SVU and watched at 10. It was the fantastic episode, “Sugar” (teaser below), starring Eric McCormack as the owner of a sleazy Internet company. And all those twists and (spoiler alert) the very blood-gushing ending reminded me why I love this show so much. And ol’ original Law & Order has been great lately, too (love the combo of Jeremy Sisto, Anthony Anderson, and S. Epatha Merkerson).
Who else is excited for more L&O? And is there anyone else that can only watch a drama at 10 p.m.?
A week after its prime-time debut, “Pants on the Ground” has become part of the nation’s lexicon, not to mention a rallying cry for proponents of proper belt usage everywhere. But as we sail toward a third week of American Idolaudition episodes — anyone ready for Hollywood Week yet? — I started wondering: What are the best “bad” auditions in the show’s history? And by “bad,” of course, I mean both tryouts by cluelessly tuneless types that go disastrously wrong, as well as those featuring folks who know before they enter the room that they’re not getting a Golden Ticket, but manage to amuse us nonetheless (see Platt, ‘Gen.’ Larry). Off the top of my head, I’d have to go with “iPod/guyPod” Joel Contreras, from the season 8 Puerto Rico auditions, whose general and aggressive idiocy made me laugh in spite of myself. (His shtick is embedded below, and starts at the :20 mark.) But surely there are more and better choices! Weigh in down below in the comments section, and be as specific as possible. We’ll take the best responses and roll them into an EW.com gallery during the last week of season 9 auditions. (Oh, and to get an immediate alert when said slide-show goes live, follow me on Twitter @EWMichaelSlezak!)
On last night’s Cougar Town, everyone had a bunch of sex and most of them shared a bunch of feelings and it was all so touching that I now have this weird bite mark on my knee. Ellie threw “Mr. McNeedy” a bone, Travis took time out from hanging with his country music superstar guy friends to camp out with his twiggy girlfriend Kylie, Laurie slept with Grayson again (“It was raining! And REO Speedwagon rocks so hard!”), and Jules “used Bobby like a sexual get well card” to get over Scott Foley. In the process, nearly all of the characters poked their heads out from their protective curtains of quippy sarcasm to be honest about their feelings. Travis told Kylie how glad he was that his first time was with her, and that HE LOVED HER OMG. Ellie offered Andy a rare nugget of appreciation by telling him she relaxes when he walks in the door — and yet he still apologized for his nonexistent “tude” and guessed incorrectly that her long boring speech would end with sex. As for Jules and Bobby — who’s really grown on me as a viable character, by the way, and could maybe fill in as the heart of the show should something ever happen to Busy Philipps’ rack — Jules loves Bobby but not in that way anymore. “We’re just not gonna end up back together again.” Oh, god! Did you guys see his face as he hopefully suggested she take some time to reconsider? This marks two episodes in a row in which Jules has turned down what could have been a stable relationship with someone who’s really into her. Is she really destined to be with Grayson, her “someday guy”? Even if he continues to be, according to Laurie, the only man who gets less sexy when he plays guitar? Discuss in the comments; meanwhile, my 10 favorite moments…. READ FULL STORY »
The Orlando auditions on last night’s American Idol (see full recap here) were a dream come true for a few budding musicians. We watched 11 hopefuls take home a Golden Ticket — even though a grand total of 31 singers were granted one — and some of those 11 left us wanting more. (Ahem, Jermaine Purifory.) So we took to the Web to find more of the successful auditioners’ music:
Jermaine Purifory: His rendition of “Smile” made us all, well, smile. But you can find Purifory all over YouTube, performing solo — like on the track embedded below, written by the musician — or with Lee University’s Voices of Lee, an a cappella choir that was featured on NBC’s The Sing Off. (Purifory was not featured on the program, sadly).
Janell Wheeler: Wheeler — who already has competitive chops, based on the fact that she won a competition called Orlando’s Got Talent late last year — is juggling plenty of music genres: On her MySpace page, the singer says her style is “Country, Pop, Soul, Glam, Fun…pretty much just me.” But she seems destined for country, based on the tracks on her page. Fun fact: Wheeler was once romantically linked to college football star Tim Tebow.
Brittany Starr James: This Golden Ticket holder claims on her MySpace page that she sounds like “Aaliyah or Alicia Keys.” A bold claim, but her existing music seems to fit in well with the R&B scene. (She’s also got several videos up on YouTube.) The singer is also a multitasker: She’s developed her own recording company, JB Starr Entertainment.
Seth Rollins: Expect the dad to break out the guitar during Hollywood Week — this YouTube video proves he is a proficient strummer.
Jay Stone: The “beat-box extraordinaire” performs a beat-boxing medley that includes songs by the likes of Donna Summer and Salt-N-Pepa in this video. But he takes on other classic hits as well: Check out this medley, which includes a track from a little band called Queen.
Now back to Jermaine:
Do you think any of these Orlando hopefuls could make it all the way?
Of course when she said that to me in Samoa right before filming on Heroes Vs. Villains, Candice Woodcock was pretty sure she was going to be on the Villains tribe. And with good reason: Candice is most famous for mutinying off her own tribe in the Cook Islands. Probst’s defense for making Candice a hero (which can be seen in the video below) is that Candice’s mutiny maneuver was a heroic move to get back on a team with the people she loved. Okay, but that runs completely contrary to the way Cook Islands was edited and presented, when Yul, Ozzy, Becky, and Sundra were the abandoned underdogs who had to overcome tremendous odds after being left for dead by Candice and Jonathan Penner. In fact, Cook Islands was an underwhelming season until we finally had people to root for and against, and make no mistake, back then Candice was being presented squarely in the “against” camp. But here she is a hero? Doesn’t make sense, but there you have it. [Good news and bad news for Candice, and exclusive on location video after the jump.]READ FULL STORY »