Archive: January 2011 (141-150 of 414)

Jan 24 2011 07:00 AM ET

Toucan Sam and the Dough Boy go head-to-head; Mikey takes on the Where's the Beef Lady. It's Day 2 of the Big Shill's Sweet 16

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Big-Shill_510.jpg It’s almost the Super Bowl, PopWatchers, (R.I.P. Jets) and shill is in the air. As such, we continue to whittle down the number of contenders in our Big Shill bracket game with two match-ups that are likely to put much strain on the heart of your inner commercial-watching child. Can you take the heat? I certainly hope you can, because you have no choice. Well, technically you do. And here they are:

Toucan Sam vs. the Pillsbury Dough Boy
and
Mikey from Life Cereal vs. Wendy’s “Where’s the Beef” Lady

Check out the full bracket here. And look back at all our other match-ups here. READ FULL STORY »

Jan 24 2011 02:00 AM ET

'Hawaii Five-0' tsunami episode a false alarm: Forgivable?

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Filed under: About Last Night, Television, TV and tagged: , , ,

hawaii-five-0Image Credit: Mario Perez/CBS“This is one wave you don’t want to ride,” the promo told us. Yes, because it doesn’t exist. Last night’s very special tsunami episode of Hawaii Five-0 was a false alarm, so if you didn’t stick around to watch it after the Steelers beat the Jets, relax: You didn’t miss the opportunity to judge the special effects. Turns out the head of the Tsunami Warning Center was kidnapped so he could feed a hacker false data to create an evacuation, and a Coast Guard commander could steal $28 million from the police department’s evidence locker. The question is, was the payoff enough? McGarrett, Danno, and Kono had used $10 million of that drug money to save Chin from Hess, so they assumed they’d get busted after they saved the day and the governor, who had denied them the money, got word that only $18 million was actually in play. I thought for sure she was going to split up the team when she called McGarrett into her office, but I guess that was a little too NCIS. She just wanted to congratulate McGarrett on a job well done — the money was all there. Intrigued, or still pissed? PopWatch poll!

Jan 24 2011 12:56 AM ET

'Kim and Kourtney Take New York' premiere: Crazy Scott, poor Baby Mason, and no Krazy Khloe

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Filed under: Reality TV, TV and tagged: , , , , ,

Kourtney-and-Kim-take-New-YorkImage Credit: Timothy White/E! NetworksSorry, K&K. Turns out you really do need the third K to really round out the krazy. Without Khloe Kardashian (location: “Heaven”) around to say inappropriate things and act like a real human being, E!’s Kim and Kourtney Take New York feels boring and desperate, much like Kim herself. In last night’s premiere, Kim was single, horror show Scott was a maniacal horn dog looking to unleash his all of his pent-up sobriety energy on Kourtney, and Kourtney was instructed to order breakfast for Kim every morning or risk constant pillow thwacks to the head. Who would take care of Baby Mason if Kourtney had to go to the doll hospital? The responsible child care staff provided by E!? Shudder! READ FULL STORY »

Jan 22 2011 07:18 PM ET

'Onion News Network' skewers cable news. What did you think of last night's premiere?

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Filed under: Television and tagged:

Onion-Suzanne-SenaImage Credit: Karolina Wotjasik/IFC Perhaps you’ve heard that the world of cable network news received a little jolt last night. Nope, we’re not talking about the sudden departure of MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann — but rather the debut of IFC’s Onion News Network. ONN (whose sibling, the SportsCenter-tweaking Onion Sports Dome, premiered on Comedy Central earlier this month) takes aim at cable network news (especially Fox News Channel) with a slick copy of the format that just might fool a few channel-surfing viewers for a moment until they realize that they’ve stumbled into a lion’s den of ludicrousness. And a lion’s share of that credit goes to Fact Zone anchor Brooke Alvarez, who lords over the “news” proceedings with charming, soulless dexterity and carefully crafted condescension. (Alvarez is played to perfection by Suzanne Sena — pictured above — who happens to be a former Fox News Channel anchor.) READ FULL STORY »

Jan 22 2011 02:00 AM ET

'Spartacus: Gods of the Arena' premiere: Sex, blood, and (alas) no Spartacus

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Filed under: TV and tagged: ,

spartacus-gods-arenaImage Credit: Matt Klitscher/StarzSpartacus: Gods of the Arena shouldn’t work. The six-episode miniseries was designed as a stopgap solution when Spartacus star Andy Whitfield had to bow out of filming a second season to receive cancer treatment. (Unfortunately, Whitfield ultimately had to resign from the series, and the lead role has since been recast.) Making a Spartacus series that doesn’t actually feature Spartacus sounds like an exercise in futility, like writing a Hardy Boys mystery about the Hardys’ best buddy Chet, or making a Jason Bourne movie without Jason Bourne. To make things worse, the miniseries is a prequel, a narrative format that mainly lends itself to relentless wheel-spinning. So it was a pleasure to find out that the Gods of the Arena premiere was such a surprisingly enjoyable hour of television. READ FULL STORY »

Jan 21 2011 10:16 PM ET

Natalie Portman in 'The Professional': PopWatch Rewind takes aim at the 'Black Swan' star's debut

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Natalie Portman is everywhere right now. Just a week after winning a Golden Globe for her soul-baring, body-punishing, Mila Kunis-kissing performance in Black Swan, Portman is headlining the change-of-pace romantic comedy No Strings Attached. That’s just one of the five movies she’ll appear in this year. Portman’s also newly engaged and pregnant with her first child. What better time to look back at where it all began? Portman’s first movie was The Professional, in which an emotionally detached hitman meets a chain-smoking orphan who becomes his companion, his student, and his unrequited love. It’s a plotline that could seem icky — Lolita with a sniper rifle — but great performances by Jean Reno and Portman make The Professional (also known by its international title, Leon) into a uniquely tenderhearted thriller.

Keith Staskiewicz: Before he started producing all those English-language, Euro-financed, An American in Paris Shoots People movies, Luc Besson was quite the rising star. La Femme Nikita would spawn two TV shows and a remake, but it was The Professional that brought him into the mainstream. It’s a fascinating movie. It exists in this Bizarro-New York that doesn’t ever feel like real New York. Instead, it’s some strange fairy tale idealization of the city as it existed in the ’70s or ’80s.

Darren Franich: It reminded me a little bit of the snow-globe Manhattan of The Royal Tenenbaums, right down to Besson’s preference for Andersonian wide-angle lenses. I love how, in The Professional‘s New York, no one can ever hear anything through the walls of an apartment building. A bomb can go off in the apartment next door, and nobody notices. READ FULL STORY »

Jan 21 2011 09:05 PM ET

There are three WikiLeaks projects in the works. When did this become the hottest story in Hollywood?

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Filed under: Movies, News and tagged: , ,

Julian-Assange-WikileaksImage Credit: Fabrice Coffrini/Getty ImagesEverybody’s hungry for a piece of the WikiLeaks pie, apparently.

At the moment, there’s a biopic about the controversial site’s founder Julian Assange in the works, an HBO film in development, and Universal Pictures is funding a documentary. My question for you, PopWatchers, is: Are you really that interested in this story? READ FULL STORY »

Jan 21 2011 07:32 PM ET

'Top Model' alum Anchal still in the running to become Jim Carrey's next girlfriend.

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Filed under: Reality TV, Television, TV and tagged: , , , , ,

Anchal-Top-ModelImage Credit: The CWSo you want to be on top (of Jim Carrey), former America’s Next Top Model contestant Anchal Joseph? That’s right, fellow ANTM fans: The Cycle 7 beauty was spotted last night with Carrey leaving a production of Time Stands Still on Broadway. (And in Hollywood, being spotted together means you’re one step from marriage, of course. If these rules applied to real life, I’d be engaged to my cat.) Our Top Model girls: Celebrity daters, Oscar bait actresses, and wig models. They’ve come so far!

Since I only know Anchal in the context of Top Model — heck, do I know anything outside of the context of Top Model? — I choose to delve into their possible courtship by guessing which of these three pictures from the CW reality show most enticed Carrey. From left to right: READ FULL STORY »

Jan 21 2011 06:22 PM ET

Excess Hollywood: Mark Ruffalo to play sex addict in 'Thanks for Sharing'

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Filed under: Movies, Reality TV, Television, TV and tagged: , , , , ,
  • Mark Ruffalo will play a sex addict in The Kids Are All Right co-writer Stuart Blumberg’s directorial debut, Thanks for Sharing. The film will supposedly center on three addicts in recovery, which brings a whole new meaning to that title. [IndieWIRE]
  • Greg Kinnear and Jane Curtin have joined Sarah Jessica Parker in I Don’t Know How She Does It, a comedy about walking in glitter sand in heels a stressed-out working mom. Kinnear is set to play the Parker’s husband, while Curtin has been tapped for Kinnear’s mother. [Coming Soon]
  • TLC has announced that it has renewed Cake Boss: Next Great Baker, hosted by Cake Boss’ Buddy Valastro, for a second season, which will premiere late in 2011.
  • Something to celebrate aboot: CBS and ION have made a U.S. syndication deal with Canada’s Flashpoint. [Deadline]
Jan 21 2011 05:37 PM ET

Antoine Dodson snags a reality show. What other viral video stars should get a series?

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

Hide yo’ kids from the TV set, PopWatchers. The reports are true: An Antoine Dodson reality show is currently in the works. According to ”leading international entertainment content and distribution business” Entertainment One — which confirms to EW that it is developing a pilot starring Dodson — “The show tracks Antoine, the oldest of six siblings, using the money he is making from his hit song on iTunes and his best-selling Halloween costume to make a fresh start for the Dodson clan on the West Coast. With a potential new record deal in the works and money coming in from a variety of avenues, the show tracks how a news story sparked a new life for him and his family.”

Naturally, this news got me thinking about other viral video stars who I would watch on the small screen. And, for your ease, TV producers, I’ve even gone through the trouble of developing the plot and title for you. Let’s do this, Leroy!  READ FULL STORY »

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