Archive: September 2011 (71-80 of 316)

Sep 26 2011 12:59 PM ET

'Sister Wives' season premiere: Am I the only one more interested in the family drama than the polygamy at this point?

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Categories: About Last Night, Made Us Think, Television, This Could Be Interesting..., Why Wasn't This a Huge Hit?
Sister-Wives

Image Credit: Joe Pugliese/TLC

For the past year or so, I’ve been watching Sister Wives very consistently — to the point where it has become appointment TV. At first, my roommate and I watched purely because we had all the typical questions about the so-called plural lifestyle. Why do they live this way? Where does everyone live? Where does the husband sleep? How can they afford a family that large? And so on.

Now that the show is starting its third season, which kicked off last night, I feel like all the major questions I once had about this lifestyle have been answered. And while new questions develop all the time, I find myself tuning in not because of my curiosity but because I’m interested in this family’s everyday struggles. READ FULL STORY »

Sep 26 2011 10:55 AM ET

'Millionaire Matchmaker' Patti Stanger gives controversial, uh, 'advice' during 'Watch What Happens' visit

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Categories: Bitchery, Hell to the No!, Ouch! That Was My Ear!, Skarsgard Your Loins, Television, The Millionaire Matchmaker, Wait Are People Robots?
Patti-Stanger

Image Credit: FilmMagic.com

If you tuned in for the season 5 premiere of Watch What Happens Live Sunday night, you watched horrified host Andy Cohen listen to Millionaire Matchmaker‘s Patti Stanger giving advice making judgments and sweeping generalizations about the gay community.

While visiting the Bravo talk show, Stanger took calls from fans, including one man who asked what her feelings were on open, long-distance relationships. After giving a vague, not-entirely-helpful answer (“Long distance relationships are great because they go faster and are quicker to close to a serious [relationship], almost marriage”), Stanger then asked the caller if he was gay. Not that that should matter, right PopWatchers? If a straight person called with the same question Stanger would give the same response, right? Wrong! We are so very wrong. READ FULL STORY »

Sep 26 2011 10:05 AM ET

'Abduction': Hilariously bad movie makes for fun moviegoing experience. It's the new 'Swimfan'!

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Categories: 100% Pure Cheese, Dude, THAT's Your Plot?, Everyone's a Critic, Fall Movies, Guilty Pleasure, Have You Seen This?, HeadScratcher, Hell to the No!, Hindsight Hilarity, Horrifying But Hypnotic, I Saw It, So You Don't Have To!, My Head Hurts, Ooops!, Ridiculata, Taylor Lautner Bicep Watch, Things That Are Awesome!, Those Crazy Kids!, Total Trash, Unfortunate Developments
abduction_3

Image Credit: Bruce Talamon

There’s so much about Abduction, the new Taylor Lautner thriller, that’s appalling, fascinating, and unintentionally hilarious. Abduction is a pretty bad movie, but after my showing — set in a theater about half full (I’m being optimistic!) — pretty much everyone left in a good mood. In fact, I’d even recommend the film to most of my friends. It was bad in such a blatant way that it didn’t feel insulting, and it certainly wasn’t boring. After half an hour, I stopped paying close attention the plot, because it made no sense whatsoever and was riddled with holes, but the many jaw-droppingly awkward moments drew delighted ridicule from the audience. For all the wrong reasons, Abduction is sparkling entertainment. I’ll throw up a SPOILER ALERT here, but honestly, it doesn’t matter if I give anything away any major twists — you’ll be surprised by plenty regardless. READ FULL STORY »

Sep 26 2011 09:40 AM ET

Man breaks his own leg to survive in canyon where '127 Hours' is set. Should some movies tell us to 'not try this at home'?

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Categories: EWWWWWWWWWW.com, Have You Seen This?, Hell to the No!, Movies, News You Can Use, This Really Only Needs One Sentence, Those Crazy Kids!, Wolves? Where?
127-Hours

Image Credit: Chuck Zlotnick

There’s a reason I’ll never work on a swordfishing boat, hike the Alaskan wilderness without food or supplies, or trudge up Mount Doom with a greedy little mutant hobbit in tow. It’s because film — and, in two of these cases, real life — has told me that these are very dangerous feats. Yet, it seems Hollywood still hasn’t convinced some people — one man in particular recently found himself mimicking one film’s petrifying premise. The Associated Press reports that 64-year-old Amos Wayne Richards survived four days alone in the Utah desert after breaking a leg and dislocating his shoulder on a hike — in the exact same canyon in which 127 Hours took place. READ FULL STORY »

Sep 26 2011 07:30 AM ET

Premiere of Fox's Animation Domination lineup: Amazing or meh?

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Categories: Animation, Fall TV, Family Guy, The Simpsons
Family-Guy

Image Credit: FOX

Fox’s Animation Domination lineup debuted last night with four season premieres. The Simpsons, The Cleveland Show, Family Guy, and American Dad all unleashed cartoon chaos. But were they any good? Let’s go show by show…

The Simpsons’ “The Falcon and the D’ohman”

After 22 seasons of The Simpsons, you’d think that even the most dedicated fans would be tired of Bart and Co. Not I, my friends. Tonight’s episode gave me plenty of reasons to watch the show’s 23rd season. In the season premiere, Wayne, a former U.S. secret agent turned detached security guard at Homer’s nuclear power plant (voiced by former 24 star Kiefer Sutherland), is charmed into a friendship with his dimwitted coworker and later has to save Homer from an old Ukrainian enemy who kidnapped him.

Funniest moment nominee: “How are you going to find him?” Marge asks Wayne. “Homer is implanted with several highly powerful tracking chips,” he responds. Marge wonders, “How did that happen?” “I put them out in a bowl and he ate them,” he replies. Ha! Fat jokes!

Verdict: This is why I still love The Simpsons. Tonight’s episode featured goofy bar humor and a Kim Jong-il musical. What a combo, right? And I laughed at both.

The Cleveland Show’s “BFFs”

Season four of the Family Guy spinoff finds Cleveland in a sad place after he discovers his old friend Peter Griffin came to visit his Stoolbend, Va., neighborhood for four days and didn’t even try to see him. Cleveland takes an emotional drive back to Quahog, R.I., to find out why his buddy dissed him.

Funniest moment nominee: When Cleveland rings the Griffins’ doorbell, Stewie asks Brian, “Has he been canceled already? He doesn’t get to just come back!”

Bonus funny moment: When Peter finally speaks to Cleveland, he explains, “My phone died… of AIDS.” With his arms folded, Cleveland retorts, “AIDS is no longer a death sentence.”

After Peter tells him that they were never really friends, Cleveland decides that he and his crew should attend Ric “The Nature Boy” Flair’s friendship camp. Wooo! Canoes! Cleveland and friends are then kidnapped by a gang of back-country woodsmen. But Peter saves them from hillbilly rape (“Let go of my Negro,” he yells), later saying that a psychiatrist revealed his fear of rejection and that he dumped Cleveland before he could be dumped himself.

Verdict: I geeked when I first found out Cleveland was getting a spin-off years ago and I’m equally elated I can laught at him and his family now. I’ll definitely tune in this season.

READ FULL STORY »

Sep 26 2011 01:00 AM ET

'Desperate Housewives' season premiere: Which Wisteria Lane lady will spill their big secret first?

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Categories: About Last Night, Desperate Housewives, Fall TV, Have You Seen This?, Mini TV Watch, Television, TV Recap
Housewives-Eva-Marcia

Image Credit: Ron Tom/ABC

It’s inevitable: One of the four ladies of Wisteria Lane will eventually slip up—or, alternatively, crack under pressure—and reveal the secret we saw them hide last night on the season premiere of Desperate Housewives. It’s too juicy a landmine to not have the repercussions play out deliciously on this, the show’s last season. “There’s no task more unpleasant than getting rid of an unwanted guest,” the always-wise and ever-dead Mary Alice intoned knowingly, as the ladies collectively buried Gaby’s skeevy step-father Alejandro in the woods, with the help of the man who killed him, Carlos. Fat chance of no one spilling the beans on this one.

So who is most likely to crack? Right now, it seems like Susan is cruising fastest toward a reveal, but let’s take a look at each of the housewives’ odds, based on what happened in last night’s season premiere.

LYNETTE
Some Potential for Cracking
Lynette seems more preoccupied with the chaos surrounding her family right now rather than worrying too much about the secret she’s partially harboring. So if it is her who buckles, it won’t be until she resolves the current situation with her separation. But, Lynette did have a perplexing nightmare, which sent her running back into Tom’s delightful arms, and signals that—maybe, just maybe—she’s not as steely as the facade she’s putting out there. In short: She could be a ticking time bomb.

READ FULL STORY »

Sep 25 2011 10:58 AM ET

'Saturday Night Live' recap: The return of the king (a.k.a. Alec Baldwin)

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Categories: About Last Night, Alec Baldwin, Saturday Night Live, Television

Well, summer is officially over, PopWatchers. There’s no way of sugarcoating it, either. It totally stinks. But hey, at least with the fall comes a new season…of television! (See what I did there?) Now, if you were wondering how the writers of Saturday Night Live, which kicked off its 37th season last night, spent their summer vacations, the answer was right in front of you: penning that 10-minute opening sketch.

So how exactly did they make a 10-minute long skit bearable? Well besides there being no Fred Armisen as President Obama in sight (yeah, I said it!), they did what they often do best: riff on the current political climate. Kicking things off with “either the seventh or eighth” GOP debate, moderator Shepard Smith (played my personal pick for SNL MVP, Bill Hader) announced that he comes from a town “full of secrets,” then introduced Mitt Romney (I’d say “Welcome back, Jason Sudeikis!”, but we know what you did this summer) and Rick Perry (host Alec Baldwin). Then he introduced “six other people who will never be President, but showed up anyway,” including Jon Huntsman (Taran Killam), Ron Paul (Paul Brittain), Herman Cain (Kenan Thompson), Rick Santorum (Andy Samberg), Michelle Bachmann (Kristen Wiig) and Newt Gingrich (Bobby Moynahan). READ FULL STORY »

Sep 24 2011 06:00 PM ET

'SNL': Alec Baldwin and Radiohead kick off the 37th season premiere. Talk about it here!

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Categories: Alec Baldwin, Late Night, Music + Comedy = Good Thing?, Saturday Night Live, Television, This Could Be Interesting...
alec-balwin-snl

Image Credit: Dana Edelson/NBC

Justin Timberlake is no easy act to follow. The singer/actor is so popular as a Saturday Night Live host — thanks to instantly classic skits (“Omeletteville,” “Single Ladies” ) and viral Digital Shorts (“Motherlover“) — he might as well be named a cast member already. Timberlake worked his magic once again when he hosted the finale of the 36th season of SNL back in May, ending a shaky season on a high note (and by high note, we of course mean this), which earned him yet another Emmy nomination for his work on the series.

Then again, when it comes to hosting SNL, there’s perhaps no one better suited for the task than Alec Baldwin. Luckily, he’ll be fulfilling those duties for a record-breaking 16th time for tonight’s season premiere. Baldwin, alongside musical guests Radiohead (who should get a nice warm-up for their upcoming stints on The Colbert Report and at NYC’s Roseland Ballroom), will open the 37th season of the late night TV institution. The big question isn’t so much “Will you be watching SNL?” as, “Will both Baldwin and Radiohead replay their greatest hits or will they try out some new material?” READ FULL STORY »

Sep 24 2011 05:01 AM ET

'Supernatural' season 7 premiere: Was this the scariest episode ever?

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Categories: About Last Night, Mini TV Watch, Supernatural, Television, The Bad Man Scares Me!
supernatural

Image Credit: Frank Ockenfels 3/The CW

Monsters are nothing special on Supernatural. Over six seasons, we’ve encountered the ugliest uglies, the baddest baddies and, let’s face it, some really disgusting things. But last night’s premiere chilled me to the bone like no episode ever has. [Spoilers from here on. Beware.] READ FULL STORY »

Sep 23 2011 07:30 PM ET

PopWatch Confessional: Have you ever inexplicably enjoyed something you should hate?

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Categories: About Last Night, PopWatch Confessional, Television, Why Am I Crying?
Whitney-show-premiere_320.jpg

Image Credit: Jordin Althaus/NBC

I can’t tell you how much I wanted to dislike Whitney. Despise, even. Between the cornball teasers for the series and the infuriating posters that assaulted my eyes at every turn in New York City (they might as well have just read: “Women: Aren’t those shrews the worst?!”), I figured I was poised to hate the premiere. Based on the marketing, it seemed like the series would be dated, desperate, and insulting to every fiber of my female being.

And what do you know? It was dated, desperate, and insulting to every fiber of my female being. As my colleague Stephan Lee noted, there was a joke about Kegels, which would have been risqué if it was 1998 and the show was called Will & Grace; a long, extended scene in which Cummings wore nothing but a naughty nurse outfit seemingly in an effort to scream at viewers, funny can be sexy! Right? Right?!; and the notion that there are women out there who are actually like wedding-obsessed lucky-in-love Lily (Zoe Lister-Jones) and sad, bitter, lonely, hates-lipstick-more-than-men Roxanne (Rhea Sheehorn). And yet… I laughed. READ FULL STORY »

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