Image Credit: Will Hart/NBC
The wait is almost over. You can print out our full list of midseason TV debut dates and highlight the ones you want to remember to record. But which is your must-see of early 2012? Let’s take it to a vote. Note: We’ve only included select new and returning shows with confirmed season premiere dates through February (sorry, Mad Men, Game of Thrones, and Cougar Town fans, but it does level the playing field a bit). READ FULL STORY »
A new season (?!?!) of Finding Bigfoot premieres Sunday, Jan. 1, at 10 p.m. ET on Animal Planet, and I just might tune in to witness the stunning ineptitude of the “expert team of true believers” in person.
Frankly I cannot fathom why it’s taken them so long to find me, considering I moved to the West Coast SIX MONTHS AGO and have been dying to get discovered! Sometimes I even leave my giant sneakers outside the door in my Melrose Waste of Space apartment complex. How have the true believers not picked up on their stench and size? Yoo-hoo! Experts! I am RIGHT HERE.
Vote in the important poll below…. if you can find it.
That last one is coming soon to EW.com whether you like it or not!
Image Credit: Fox
I try not to think about The X Factor, but this became difficult following the night 15-year-old rapper Astro nearly refused to perform his “save me” song after learning he’d landed in the Bottom 2. The backing track kicked in for “Never Can Say Goodbye,” and the little brat was just listlessly wandering onstage, asking L.A. Reid, “My mentor, do you think I should perform?” UM, YES. YOU’RE A REALITY SHOW CONTESTANT. Get over yourself.
It took Simon Cowell’s suggestion that Astro was disrespecting his mother to get him to finally uncross his arms. So since then — and this truly makes me want to die inside — I’ve been using “Stop disrespecting your mom” as a catch-all way to confuse people or win arguments. You think I could lose an accessory or three? Maybe you should uncross those arms and show your mother some respect. You don’t want to order another beer? Stop disrespecting your mom! It’s time to go? Well, stop disrespecting your mom already and let’s get out of here.
The point is, Astro’s rude indifference — combined with the achingly over-orchestrated vibe of the show and the supreme awkwardness of host Steve Jones (who jauntily assured the boy, “I’m very happy you performed, sir!”) — made for a truly bizarre moment on The X Factor.
My other suggestions for 2011′s Most Bizarre Reality-TV Moment: READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: AP
UPDATE: This morning, we reported that Verizon will add a $2 “convenience” fee to pay your bills online. But after much media and consumer backlash, the company is backing off.
“At Verizon, we take great care to listen to our customers. Based on their input, we believe the best path forward is to encourage customers to take advantage of the best and most efficient options, eliminating the need to institute the fee at this time,” Verizon CEO Dan Mead said in a statement.
An online petition – signed by over 50,000 people — was launched fighting the convenience fee. And, according to reports, the FCC planned to get involved as well: “On behalf of American consumers, we’re concerned about Verizon’s actions and are looking into the matter.”
Are you still mad at Verizon or glad that they listened to their customer base?
Giuliana Rancic announced her breast cancer diagnosis on Today — and her decision to move forward with a double mastectomy — so it’s no surprise that she returned on NBC’s morning program to talk about her progress alongside husband Bill Rancic. And while the E! anchor looks beautiful two weeks after her surgery, Giuliana mainly discussed the ugly side of breast cancer. “I feel great considering it has only been about two and a half weeks, but I still have a ways to go,” she said about her recovery process.
On Today, Giuliana spoke about being in good spirits prior to the surgery, but focused on the harsh aftermath of the procedure. The newswoman, who still cannot perform simple tasks like buckling her seat belt and raising her hands above her head, said that the surgery and morphine made her ill. “I knew this was going to be a tough surgery,” she told Matt Lauer. “Up until a week and a half ago, it was hell.”
Still, Giuliana tried to remain positive, even breaking a record for the most laps walked around the hospital ward following the surgery. And sharing her story has helped many fans — Bill told Lauer that several people have told them they’ve decided to get tested for breast cancer after hearing Giuliana’s story. “If you can save one life through this proess, you’re turning this negative into an incredible positive.” Bill said. Video after the jump. READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: Everett Collection
I was 7 years old when my mother first made me watch Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds. The second I saw Suzanne Pleshette’s eyes gouged out by a murderous bird on Bodega Bay, I became petrified of even the most harmless hummingbirds. I only became more frightened learning that the film was inspired by real-life events, when birds on Monterey Bay began mysteriously flying into buildings in the early 1960s. And then I became even more terrified a few days later when a bird flew into my window and died. READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: Mario Perez/ABC
“The next Lost.” For the past seven years, it’s been a TV industry grail quest, and, for the past 18 months since Lost left the air, a felt need for those who not only miss the Oceanic 815 castaways and the Island but the sense of community that the show spawned. From the moment ABC’s saga about redemption-needy souls trapped in a mystical, tropical purgatory became an instant phenom in September of 2004, the leading purveyors of small-screen entertainment have been trying to replicate the success of a cult pop property tailored to our Comic-Con culture that somehow managed to connect with a whole host of non-geeks, too. Key ingredients: Mystery. Monsters. Morally ambiguous heroes and misunderstood villains who belong to a world gone strange, fighting or surviving supernatural beings, strange science and/or secret history, debating things faith and reason, fate and happenstance as they go. Toss in some quips, sex appeal, and a smattering of literary and philosophical hyperlinks, and DUDE! you got yourself another Lost. Right?
Among the wannabes that launched during the span of Lost’s six-year run, Heroes came closest to achieving Lost-like glory, though its critical and popular regard quickly waned after its first season. Fringe — developed by Lost co-creator J.J. Abrams and launched late in Lost’s run — is a critical favorite that remains on the air, but has never cracked the code for mainstream acceptance. Since Lost self-terminated in 2010, cable hits like The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, and American Horror Story have engendered the kind of intense following that Lost engendered and received the Cool Thing! anointing that Lost received, yet they will most likely will never produce the kind of weekly viewership numbers that Lost produced. This past fall, ABC introduced Once Upon a Time, a fantasy from two of Lost’s key producers that has aggressively courted old Lost watchers, with promos that touted the Lost pedigree and episodes sprinkled with Lost Easter eggs like Apollo candy bars and McCutcheon whisky. The family-hour fairy tale ranks among the season’s top-rated rookies, yet many media folks — often allergic to earnestness and partial to Buffyesque grim — haven’t been able to wholly embrace it. Here at EW, we’re constantly getting e-mails from readers that go something like: “I love [Insert show here] – but it’s not the same as Lost.” READ FULL STORY »
Is Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann trying to ride Meryl Streep’s coattails to the White House?
“I think the United States needs an Iron Lady, and that’s what I want to be—America’s Iron Lady,” the Minnesota congresswoman said today during a campaign stop in Iowa, where the first GOP caucus will be held on Jan. 3. Streep, of course, is playing the original Iron Lady, Margaret Thatcher, in the Weinstein Company’s biopic of the same name.
The film doesn’t open until Dec. 30, and even then in select cities, but it’s already generating a ton of buzz. The New York Film Critics Circle recently named Streep best actress for her portrayal of the ultra-conservative former British Prime Minister, and this week Newsweek put the star on its cover in full Maggie make-up. Kudos for Bachmann for being so up-to-date on independent film releases, but still. If we were going to choose an historical analogy for Michele Bachman, we’d have to reach much further back than the 1980s. Joan of Arc seems more like it to us.
But what do you think, PopWatchers? Who would be a better Iron Lady—Meryl Steep or Michele Bachmann?
Image Credit: Scott Green/IFC
Making fun of hipsters (and especially hipsters making fun of hipsters) is a favorite pastime of so many, particularly on the Web. Who can resist classics like the Hipster Olympics or the recent Ryan Gosling NPR Tumblr? So it’s no surprise that the IFC show Portlandia, starring hipsterdom royalty — SNL’s Fred Armisen and ex-Sleater-Kinney frontwoman Carrie Brownstein — is a hit with beard-donning bike riders in Brooklyn’s Fort Greene and coffee nerds in L.A.’s Silver Lake. But how has it started to reach watercooler status everywhere else? READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: MTV
From stints in prison to an alleged suicide attempt, MTV’s Teen Mom star Amber Portwood has gained plenty of notoriety since signing up for the docu-drama in 2009. Now, it seems she may be ready to walk away from the — often glaring — spotlight.
According to the Indiana-based The Herald Bulletin, Amber, who spent the holidays behind bars for violating the terms of her probation (which includes a lengthy list of offenses such as failing to submit to drug tests and and not completing anger management courses), told a judge during her court hearing last week that she wanted to part ways with the reality series. “I want to quit, and I will,” she reportedly said, testifying that she felt exploited through her work with the network. READ FULL STORY »
