If you rolled your eyes yesterday at Tony Shalhoub's sixth consecutive Emmy nomination for best actor in a comedy series, I'm thinking that maybe you just haven't seen Monk. It returns tonight (USA, 9 p.m. ET) for a seventh season. Check out an old clip after the jump, featuring the late Stanley Kamel. (Monk's new shrink will be played by Hector Elizondo.) If you still don't get it, I give you permission to sound off in the comments section.
Psych, perhapsTV's most underappreciated detective show (see: the 'Psycho' headline I found this morning), also returns tonight with new episodes (USA, 10 p.m. ET). If our classic PopWatch Duel between stars James Roday and Dulé Hill didn't make you want to give it a shot, the clip after the jump might finally do the trick. (Or, this parody of American Idol? The show is riddled with pop culture references.)
Happy Father’s Day from Paul Thomas Anderson! The Blu-Ray edition of There Will Be Blood has just arrived in stores, and I’d like to think that its perfect-for-dads-and-grads timing isn’t coincidental — that its release now really is intended to give the paterfamilias in your household a timely refresher course in how not to be a parent. Sure, that connection is a bit of a stretch on my part. (The delay between the standard DVD two months ago and this high-def edition really has to do with Paramount needing time to shift gears to Blu-Ray after the competing format they’d backed, HD-DVD, went kaput.) But the timing is fitting, since there’s no one who makes “family” films quite like P.T. Anderson. Yes, I’ll explain.
First, let’s correct one of the most common misperceptions about a movie that invites all kinds of misunderstandings. Think of Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” for a moment and sing this refrain: The kid is not my son. Probably a majority of reviews and blogs about the film mistakenly referred to the boy in the story, H.W, as being the “son” of the drama’s central figure, Daniel Plainview. He’s not, although you have to be paying attention during the movie’s mostly silent opening reel to realize that H.W.’s real father dies in an oil drilling accident about 13 minutes in, at which point the antihero, played by Daniel Day-Lewis, takes over the orphan’s raising. (Warning: There will be spoilers.) H.W. is a fake son, just as it turns out later that Daniel’s would-be brother, Henry, is a phony sibling, too. Why is all this so significant? Because if Anderson’s disparate films — from Boogie Nights to this one — tend to all be about anything, it’s lonely people who have either no kin or horrible kin going to great lengths to create all-new, makeshift families for themselves. And if you view Daniel Plainview himself as a sort of overgrown orphan boy whose growing monstrousness masks a longing to have some “blood” of his own, then he becomes an almost sympathetic character, instead of just the ultimate Bad Dad.
It's true, y'all. At least according to Evite, which claims more invitations will have been sent through the site for pre- or post- Sex and the Cityscreening parties than for watching last February's Oscars, usually its biggest entertainment-related draw of the year. Evite says it's helped plan around 14,000 SATC parties and that the average guest list is about 20 people. (They also have some party tips — like repurposing the nine upscale variations on pigs in a blanket they suggested for your Super Bowl soirée into a culinary tribute to the show's fifth lady, New York, which is famous for her hot dogs. Ha!)
So, have you made any unabashedly cliché special plans surrounding the movie? We won't judge them. And neither will your fellow P-Dubs. (Wink.)
It's not too late to tune in to tomorrow's Pangea Day, an international film event on which short films contributed by people around the world will be broadcast live simultaneously. Pangea, a term you may remember from fifth grade geography (as Pangaea), was the name of the original recipe continent before the land mass split into extra tasty crispy America and Everywhere Else. The four-hour program begins at 2 p.m. EST. Watch it online or on TV, or on your high-tech video phoneor mosey on over a hosted event in your area. One of many trailers is below.
It's the Friday afternoon on an awards show weekend, and you know what that means: a post plugging our coverage!
• Annie Barrett and I will be live-blogging Sunday's Oscars, which officially kick off at 8 p.m. ET on ABC with some arrivals coverage. We'll skip E!'s six-hour Countdown to the Red Carpet, but pick up with Ryan Seacrest and Giuliana Rancic at 6 p.m. ET, when there's the chance of someone actually being there.
• Adam B. Vary will be filing items throughout the night from backstage at the Kodak Theatre.
• Gary Susman will be taking notes for his morning-after gallery of the evening's best and worst moments.
While you ponder whether George Clooney will help you win your Oscar pool, feel free to bone up on our Oscars hub, where you'll find Dave Karger's video interviews with nominees including Clooney, Javier Bardem, Viggo Mortensen, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Marion Cotillard, and Laura Linney, as well as stars from Juno and Atonement. Rooting for any of them?
The Grammys (Sunday, 8 p.m. CBS) are finally here, and so is the post detailing our coverage! We'll have Whitney Pastorek on the scene, Annie Barrett and Leah Greenblatt live-blogging the telecast, and, courtesy of Clark Collis and Simon Vozick-Levinson, your morning-after gallery grading the night's big performances.
Speaking of performances, there are tons of 'em planned. The latest lineup: Kanye West, Amy Winehouse, John Mayer, BeBe Winans, and pasting from the press release Beyoncé and Tina Turner, Andrea Bocelli and Josh Groban, Eldar, Feist,
Fergie and John Legend, John Fogerty with Jerry Lee Lewis and Little
Richard, Foo Fighters (with special guest conductor John Paul Jones),
Herbie Hancock and Lang Lang (conducted by famed maestro John Mauceri),
Alicia Keys, Kid Rock, Dave Koz, Brad Paisley, Keely Smith, Carrie
Underwood, 2008 MusiCares® Person of the Year Aretha Franklin, the
Clark Sisters, Israel and New Breed, and Trin-I-Tee 5:7 in a special
gospel segment, the casts of The Beatles LOVE by Cirque du Soleil and Across the Universe in a special Beatles segment, and Rihanna with a
reunited The Time in a special 50th anniversary segment.
With the Harold and Kumar sequel coming in April and Seth Rogen's sure-to-be-classic Pineapple Express due out in August, it's going to be a big year for stoner movies. But with little fanfare and not a red carpet in sight, perhaps the dopiest flick to hit theaters is this weekend's release Trailer Park Boys: The Movie (link contains some NSFW language) which had its U.S. premiere Wednesday night in Los Angeles. Haven't heard of the Canadian comedy crew? Neither has most of Hollywood, judging by the turnout (granted, it was a cold and rainy LA night), but the diehards (yours truly among them) still showed up in force to cheer on the three funniest dudes to ever come out of Nova Scotia.
And cheer, hoot and holler they did, as soon as the opening credits rolled, perhaps because most of the audience members were suffering from serious TPB withdrawal. The movie comes after seven super successful seasons on Canadian television, where the hijinks of petty thieves and lifelong Sunnyvale Trailer Park residents Ricky, Julian, and Bubbles are chronicled in faux reality fashion. Think: Reno: 911! but on the other side of the law. Although when it comes to daily ineptitude, any of these guys would give Lt. Dangle a serious run for his money. The story in a nutshell: No money, little brains, and lots of dope and liquor, plus a cast of wacky characters to make life's poor-boy simplicities all the more absurd.
My excitement level for the Golden Globes increased exponentially just now when I read that Kathy Griffin will be providing commentary on NBC's Matt Lauer-hosted Dateline special, Going for the Gold, Sunday (7 p.m. ET). I imagine Michael Slezak's and Annie Barrett's anticipation is peaking, too, if they've heard that NBC's "Football
Night in America" team will be on hand to predict the winners. Why would that delight our duo? They'll be live-blogging the two-hour "pre-show," as well as the press conference that announces the actual trophy takers at 9 p.m. ET.
Here's what else EW.com's got cookin': • In addition to PopWatch's running commentary, our Hollywood Insider blog will have Lynette Rice on the scene to report on any picketing anything interesting. • During the press conference, we'll post a running tally of the winners. • Monday morning, we'll have Slezak's Fantasy Globes, a gallery of moments that only happened in his mind. (Naturally, he's already requested a photo of Vanessa Williams.) • And because we do take this entertainment business seriously, sometimes, we'll have real morning-after analysis by EW's Ken Tucker and Dave Karger.
So enjoy the Globes, as much as you can. And let us know who you're pullin' for below.
So NBC and CBS will simulcast the Patriots-Giants game Saturday night at 8 p.m. ET, using the NFL Network's production team (that means Bryant Gumbel and Cris Collinsworth in the booth on all three networks). Apparently, this rare synergy (it's the first NFL game to air on more than one network since the first Super Bowl almost 41 years ago) is huge news for pro football fans. Had it only been broadcast on the NFL Network as originally scheduled, most football fans across the country wouldn't have been able to see the "potentially historic game," in which Tom Brady (pictured) and the Pats try to become the first team to go unbeaten and untied in the regular season since the '72 Dolphins.
Of course, now the question becomes: Which network will you choose? Luckily, I won't have to make that call: I'll be at sports bar in State College, PA., watching Penn State beat Texas A&M in the Alamo Bowl on ESPN. But if I had to, I'd go NBC. You?
For your benefit as much as ours, I'm sure, Slezak and I aren't going to keep doing that thing where we try and fail every Friday to come up with a coherent theme for the Weekend To-Do List post. EW's new weekly e-mail newsletter makes everything easier for all of us, all of the time! This week, the first person to sign up for it gets to have high tea with Slezak and Fantasia... in his or her dreams, of course. But you will get sweet tips on how to spend your weekend. That sounds so cool. I'm clicking on that link right now. Come with.
Perplexed about your entertainment options for the long weekend ahead? Worried you'll spend your Friday-Monday respite glued to the couch watching HGTV and gorging on leftover Christmas cookies from Aunt Frida? Fret not! Just click here and sign up for EW's spanking -- wait for it…no, we're not gonna take you over our knee -- new weekly e-mail newsletter, including Ken Tucker's 10 favorite graphic novels of 2006. Sure as David Caruso will put on his shades on the next episode of CSI: Miami, you'll be glad you did!
There's a very simple reason to love the holiday season (other than all the delicious food and goodwill, of course): television marathons!! If you're not planning on catching the Sci-Fi Channel's annual Twilight Zone marathon (45 hours of one the best shows that has ever aired, starting at 9 a.m. New Year's Eve), try some of these other TV-athons instead.
-TBS is doing its 24-hour A Christmas Story bonanza yet again, from 8 p.m. Christmas Eve to 8 p.m. Christmas Day. Now, yes, we've all seen this movie approximately 14 times and can mockingly chant "You'll shoot your eye out! You'll shoot your eye out!" with the best of them. But this movie HOLDS UP, people. Writer/narrator Jean Shepherd's wonderful Garrison Keillor-esque voice. Darren McGavin (who sadly passed away this year) as the gruff, yet affectionate father. That Santa who kicks Ralphie (Peter Billingsley, pictured) in the face. I love it! So should you. Watch it twice more.
-G4 is having a 24-hour long Arrested Development marathon, all day Dec. 25. You already know how we at EW feel about this show. You'll lose our respect if you don't watch every single episode.
-And, one more TV-related item. On ABC.com, you'll now be able to catch up with all of this season's episodes of Ugly Betty, Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, and a couple of other shows. With all this yummy TV, you won't have time to actually eat.
Want to give the remote a holiday for a while? Here are some other options this weekend...
By now, you probably know Dreamgirls (which gets a B+ in this week's EW) opened in selected cities today. And since it's PopWatch's most anticipated movie of 2006, we have no choice but to build this week's Weekend To-Do List around the film's breakout star (and Golden Globe nominee) Jennifer Hudson. After all, our own Gary Susman lobbied for J.Hud to nab the role of Effie way back in the day. And also, Brothers & Sisters is a repeat this week.
- Let's begin our Jennifer Hudson studies with five can't-miss YouTube clips: Her Idol audition (pictured), plus her two brightest, shiniest moments from the show's Season 3 finals -- covers of Elton John's "Cirrrrrrrcllle of Liiiiiiiife" and Barry Manilow's "Weekend in New England." FYI, there's a 93 percent chance you'll get chills when J.Hud begins some fierce holleration on the line "AND TE-EH-EH-EH-LL ME-EE-EE-EE" on the latter track. Work it out, girl! Also a must-see, her performances of "One Night Only" and "I Am Changing" on Thursday's Today. Grab a Kleenex. Dab. Repeat.
Well, in New York it is, anyway. I'd say this is the first weekend of the fall that'll be so egregiously cold that staying in and devouring some good small-screen entertainment -- along with one of those "grids" of Nestle Tollhouse cookie dough, and I know you know what I'm talking about -- is totally excusable. No one can expect you to leave the house in these harsh conditions -- and if they do, why... would you look at that? The conditions have suddenly given you a cold. Grab your ratty fleece blanket and check out these recommendations from EW.
DVD -- Get your Christmas on with a special edition of Miracle on 34th Street. -- If it's time for a "watch the same show until the season's over or I fall asleep" kind of day (which it usually is), get caught up on season 5 of 24 before it premieres again Jan. 14. -- All five seasons of Alias are now out, FYI. -- So is the excellent first season of St. Elsewhere. Heads up, House fans: Here's your chance to see David Morse in a medical drama as someone other than the guy everyone else hates.
This week, Danny DeVito went out to dinner with George Clooney, and this happened. On Monday's Today, Clooney will talk to Matt Lauer about the incident. We just received the transcript, and it's pretty cringe-y; among other things, the Cloon admits to pouring some of his limoncello shots into a nearby plant. Poor plant. Poor limoncello. Plant! Limoncello!
In that spirit, not that we are promoting binge drinking, especially not to minors, here's what to do this weekend if you're...
SOBER:
Remember reading? Check out Dave Nadelberg's adolescent-angsty story collection, Mortified, which was on EW's Must List.
Hugh Jackman's new time-traveling movie The Fountain is a little muddled, so you probably shouldn't be if you see it. Lisa Schwarzbaum gave it a B+.
Did you know Noah Wyle stars in what is now a series of Indiana Jones-inspired TV movies as The Librarian? You do now. Return to King Solomon's Mines airs Sunday night at 8 p.m. on TNT.
Get up. You're sober. Go shopping, courtesy of EW's holiday gift guide.
Music's always better when you're a little lit. Clipse's Hell Hath No Fury and Tom Waits' Orphans both got A's from EW.
Shop for gifts some more. Everything's online, anyway. Don't go crazy.
DEVITO:
Borat? Eh, you've already seen it. So sit in the back (closer to the pissers) and act obnoxious.
The AKC/Eukanuba National Championship -- two nights of live dog-show coverage -- requires little in the way of attention span. (Animal Planet, Saturday and Sunday from 8-11 p.m.)
Yes, J.D. and Turk are singing on purpose (about their mutual "guy love") in this advance clip from the forthcoming musical episode of Scrubs.
Over the river and through the woods -- for some, that's a loooong journey, and one that will require some pop-cultural distractions along the way. I mean, how much chat about Aunt Frida's goiter can a person handle, right? In that spirit, I present the following version of the (Long) Weekend To-Do List:
- Scientists have proven the polar opposite of discussing Aunt Frida's goiter is watching Madonna: The Confessions Tour -- Live From London (Wednesday, NBC, 8 p.m.). Would I make up something like that? (Alas, Madge and NBC have nixed the disco crucifixion, but she still writhes on a chair, as shown. Will that do?)
- Some twisted sadist at ABC decided to extend Grey's Anatomy (Thursday, ABC, 9 p.m.) to 70 minutes this week. Set your DVR now, before you go into a turkey coma. You'll thank me on Monday.
- Catch The Edge -- no, I'm not going all Xtreme Sports on you, I'm talking about the dude from U2 -- in Bono and The Edge: Off the Record, a sneak preview of erstwhile Eurythmic Dave Stewart's new HBO late-night music/interview series. (Friday, HBO, 11:00 p.m.)
- The Beatles' latest, a remix album called LOVE, gets an A from EW's Chris Willman, and its good vibes might make the weekend's traffic jams slightly less rage-inducing.
- Thomas Pynchon's tome Against the Day also gets an A, from Ken Tucker, in the pages of EW; it could come in handy on Friday, in the event you are rendered inert from the previous day's food-fest.
- And finally, if you're at a loss for what to bring to this weekend's festivities, you cannot go wrong with Chicken in a Biskit. If I have to explain, then it's clear you haven't indulged in a box in quite some time, if ever.
As you can probably tell from the below post, we can get a little punchy on Friday afternoons -- a trend made most evident by the strange, often senseless themes applied to the dreaded Weekend To-Do List. In that spirit: It's time to play Six Degrees of Sally Field!
We'll start with Dame Judi Dench (1), who stars in the latest, near-greatest Bond film, Casino Royale, which opened today.
Dench's Ladies in Lavender co-star Maggie Smith (2) resumes her role as Professor Minerva McGonagall in 2007's Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, a sneak preview of which you'll catch if you go see Happy Feet in theaters this weekend. (Insta-sneak peak: the scary Potter poster is here.)
Robin Williams (3) provides two of the voices in Happy Feet, and along with Whoopi Goldberg (4) and Billy Crystal, Williams will host the jokers-for-Katrina benefit Comic Relief, a three-hour live event (starting at 9 p.m. Saturday) simulcast on both HBO and TBS. (Does that mean HBO's version will be "very very funny"?)
I guess I shouldn't have mentioned Whoopi, because that's an obvious connection to Sally Field and we're only at number 5. Oh, well. Less work for me. Whoopi was always reviving Sally's flagging spirits in Soapdish, and Sally could use any help she can get to keep making Brothers & Sisters the fall show everyone refuses to give up on. (ABC, Sunday, 10 p.m.)
Besides, it's clear people don't really appreciate Six Degrees anyway. Maybe I too can come back in January with killer new episodes of the to-do list! Probably not.
This just in from the Office of "How Do I Get a Fat Grant For Studying Something Ridonk?": A story in today's Independent notes that a British psychologist "scanned 179 facial features of 20 comedians" and concluded that the ultimate look for a comedian includes "a round face, small forehead, wide nose, big lips, large eyes and high cheekbones." In other words, he looks like Ricky Gervais (pictured, right).
Um, yeah, whatever. Only 20 comedians studied? And what about comediennes? I'm sure Mo'Nique has something to say about all this. Of course, since I'm at a loss for a Weekend To-Do List theme, I'm gonna overlook the general jankiness of this study and use it as a springboard to shouting out these funny folk. And the nominees include:
- Anne Heche: Let me say it again, Celestia is funny on ABC's soon-to-explodeMen In Trees (ABC, Friday, 9 p.m.); come to think of it, she does kind of have a small forehead and large eyes!
- Sacha Baron Cohen (center): You've heard of the whole Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan thing? You like? EW's Owen Gleiberman did; he gives it an A-. Oh, and not to worry that Cohen's face doesn't fit the above study; its author, Dr. Anthony Little, tells the Independent that "Cohen's atypical comedy face may be the reason why his routine depends on disguise and alter-egos." Alrighty then.
- Alec Baldwin (left): Dude hosts Saturday Night Live (NBC, Saturday, 11:30 pm) for the umpteenth time, and he's usually quite funny, despite his lack of BIG EYES.
Don't shoot! Or shoot, whatever. On Sunday night's Desperate Housewives (ABC, 9 p.m.), Laurie Metcalf will hold Felicity Huffman hostage (pictured) until she agrees to loan her one funny line per episode from now on. And did you hear? SOMEONE. WILL. DIE.
On tonight's Law & Order (NBC, 10 p.m.), Chevy Chase guest stars as
a celebrity who gets pulled over for drunk driving while wearing
blood-soaked clothes and then makes anti-Semitic remarks after his
arrest. Who could he be imitating? The premise sounds familiar, but I
can't place it. Hmmm... whoever it is sounds scary, so it fits.
Happy Saturday night: Roseanne Barr discusses body moisture! Agghhhhhh! But in a good way: EW's Henry Goldblatt gave her HBO stand-up special "Blonde and Bitchin'" a B+ (10 p.m.)
The Simpsons' annual Treehouse of Horror episode is on Sunday, too (Fox, 8 p.m.). This year, Richard Lewis guests as the Golem of Prague with Fran Drescher as his bride, and Homer snacks on homeless people at the request of Mayor Quimby.
As Kazakh journalist Borat, Sacha Baron Cohen makes Halloween last all year. If you haven't heard of his movie by now, a) I don't believe you and b) you will be execute! EW's Owen Gleiberman gave it an A-.
Or maybe your eyes are tired. Screw 'em shut, and check out new albums from Willie Nelson, Nellie McKay, and Chavez -- all three earned an A- from EW.
Ha, that didn't last long. Now you'll want to grab A-list DVDs SNL: The Best of Saturday TV Funhouse, which you know all about and the British series I'm Alan Patridge, which EW's Michael Endelman calls "bleakly hilarious."
Slezak and I thought it was only appropriate to begin this spooky Halloween weekend list with a terrifying yet captivating game called Cockroach Dreams. Now, I didn't bother turning iTunes down for my first round. "Milk" by Garbage was playing, so I got to imagine that the digitized cadaver (with impressive 18-pack abs) was actually the one singing "I'm waiting, I'm waiting... for you" to the cockroaches. Dreamy, indeed. Warning: This game will cause shortness of breath. Tip: I was way better at it after drinking an enormous latte.
Bill O'Reilly and David Letterman (pictured) will duke it out on tonight's Late Show (CBS, 11:35 p.m.). Like the cockroaches, this'll also be really uncomfortable, and entirely worth watching, according to Page Six's scoop from this week's taping. O'Reilly's quoted as saying "We're a bad country. Bush is an evil liar." Out of context? Well, that is the man's specialty. Watch and see.
Just to wrap up with something extra-freaky: The awesome geeks at Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories (it would be so cool if this was an office park right off the highway) constructed a Robotic Dalek Pumpkin. Nothing will ever measure up to that for the rest of time, but they did also make a Cylon Jack-O'-Lantern.
Slezak (4:03:26 PM): Hey, Annie, did you see that AMAZING video of the shrimp on a treadmill that Scott Brown sent around? I can't stop watching it! Barrett (4:05:01 PM): I know! It's absolutely breathtaking. The legs look like Luigi from Super Mario 2 -- remember? His legs had the power to flutter/spin like that. Slezak (4:06:35 PM): It fills me with delight. Barrett (4:06:45 PM): Yep. Slezak (4:07:37 PM): Okay, would it be insane if I built the Weekend To-Do list around it? Maybe it can be a small-fry edition. I mean, my weekend is pretty much built around my nephew Anthony's 4th birthday party. What else qualifies as small but worthy in pop culture this weekend? Barrett (4:08:45 PM): Hmmm. Slezak (4:10:57 PM): Well, Monster House is out on DVD, and got a good review in EW...and it's certainly for the wee ones. Barrett (4:11:19 PM): How about four lil' EPs from cool women? (Awesome transition Annie.) There's Lily Allen's Smile, Cat Power's eMusic Session EP, Stephanie McKay's creatively titled Stephanie McKay, and Revenge of the Killer Slits by The Slits; all of 'em got at least a B from EW's own Leah Greenblatt. Slezak (4:11:52 PM): Perf! And you know what else is smaller in music? Ruben Studdard! Barrett (4:12:19 PM): Hey now! Slezak (4:12:33 PM): No, seriously. The Velvet Teddybear has slimmed down, and word on the street is his new CD's not half bad. EW's Jody Rosen gives it a B.
This weekend's all about the letters ''De-'' being the first two in a word or title. This prefix ranked #1 in a very important, nationally recognized poll I seem to have lost the link to. Whoops!
Deliver Us From Evil, a documentary about sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, received a rare A from Owen Gleiberman. It opens tonight. If you want something more lighthearted but that still has to do with the concept of de-ity (see, this is totally working), try Jesus Camp. It's a hoot and a hallelujah.
The Departed opened last Friday and continues to dominate the box office, which means you've probably seen it. If not, go. And speaking of departures, I want to toss in a shameless plug for my favorite new guilty pleasure, Mile High. It's about hot, British flight attendants. That's really all you need to know. (BBC America, Sundays at 10:30)
Desperate Housewives is something I should probably mention if I really wanna continue with this theme. (ABC, Sunday, 9 p.m.)
So is Showtime's promising new series Dexter (Sunday, 10 p.m.). Michael C. Hall works with the de-ceased. Again.
Deee-Lite deserves a bullet point, just on principle.
May I de-rect you to this video of a dude setting the world record for the number of T-shirts worn? ('Cause it's getting cold outside, and you need to wear layers.) Same guy pulled off a similar stunt last night for Mr. D. Letterman on The Late Show.
Out this week on D-VD: Robert Altman's A Prairie Home Companion, which EW's Tanner Stransky calls a ''tour-de-force.''
This just in: According to an amusing tidbit from the number-crunchers at Forbes (and conveyed to us by the good folks at Gawker), Paris Hilton is the world's most overexposed celebrity, with a 66 percent Overexposure Index from E-Poll Market Research. While I'm not exactly sure what that means, I'd say the company's top 10 -- Hilton, Britney Spears (62 percent), Anna Nicole Smith (57 percent), Kevin Federline (48 percent), Pam Anderson (48 percent), Lindsay Lohan (47 percent), Tom Cruise (47 percent), Nicole Richie (46 percent), Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen (45 percent), Michael Jackson (44 percent), Donald Trump (42 percent), and Jessica Simpson (41 percent) -- sounds pretty on-point. To help lil' Jessica slip from that top 10 slot, I'd suggest following my lead and avoiding her new movie, Employee of the Month (pictured) this weekend. If you're perplexed by what leisure-time activities might help you avoid this ''comedy,'' might I suggest the following:
- Tune in to tonight's season premiere of Battlestar Galactica (SciFi, 9 p.m.) because, I kid you not, it's the most exciting show on TV. (Well, at least when Idol's not in season.) Even if you didn't heed my advice to get caught up on it last weekend, you still have to watch it. - On Saturday morning, you'll want to log on to EW.com's TV Watch hub to read Marc Bernardin's Battlestar Galactica recap. Yes, folks, we do listen to your pleas. - Your Battlestar duties, however, do not free you from an obligation to Tivo/DVR/or tape Anne Heche's Men In Trees (ABC, 9 p.m.); Celestia needs you, after all. - Kill a good hour of your time watching this YouTube clip of the tragically underexposed JJ Fad's ''Supersonic.'' And you better listen good to what they have to say, 'cause when it comes to JJ Fad you can't get no play. - Just because you're OD-ing on new fall shows doesn't mean you should let your DVD player atrophy in the corner. New to the queue this weekend are X-Men: The Last Stand (starring Huge Ackman) and Thank You For Smoking (with a very funny turn by William H. Macy, who publicly spanked overexposed Bobby co-star Lindsay Lohan in a recent interview). - And finally, chew on this: While EW's Melissa Rose Bernardo gives Richard Bausch's 10th novel, Thanksgiving Night, an A-, most Americans are probably more familiar with the oeuvre of Kevin ''48 percent'' Federline. Shouldn't we all try to do something to change that? Just a thought.
If you’re not yet addicted to SciFi’s brilliant, beautiful Battlestar Galactica, then I’m assuming it’s because you haven’t yet seen an episode. This weekend is your big chance to remedy that (before the Oct. 6 season premiere) by renting (or buying) the show’s first 2.5 seasons on DVD, reading EW's recent cover story, or catching sister channel Bravo's catch-up specials (tonight at 7 p.m., and Saturday at 11 a.m.). One thing that’s always puzzled me about the show, though: How come all the female cylons are played by smokin hotties -- like Lucy Lawless, Grace ''Who me? Sexy?'' Park (pictured), and Tricia Helfer -- while the male cylons are all kinda pasty? Just asking.
And just in case you think I’m being all hipper-than-thou with my Battlestar demands, I’ve got some catching up of my own to do between now and Monday morning.
- Both The Namesake (opening in March 2007) and Running With Scissors (Oct. 27) rank in my top 10 most anticipated films of the next few months, and yet, lamely enough, I haven’t read the books by Jhumpa Lahiri and Augusten Burroughs that said movies are based on. Seeing as Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies is one of my favorite short-story collections like ever, I’m tackling The Namesake tonight. Maybe I can get to the latter by next Friday?
- Also, my DVR is chock-full of back episodes of Prison Break. (Four from last season, and all of this season’s.) Either I make a dent this weekend, or lovely Wentworth & Co. are gettin’ deleted.
- And in theaters, I don’t want Hollywoodland to come and go before I get a chance to see it, so that, too, is on my list. I just hope I don’t get distracted by: the season premiere of SNL, with Seth Meyers joining Amy Poehler at the Weekend Update desk (NBC, Saturday, 11:30 p.m.); Showtime’s premiere of Dexter (Sunday at 10 p.m.), starring Six Feet Under’s Michael C. Hall as a forensics expert with a murderous streak; and, of course, with Yom Kippur starting Sunday night, Stephen Colbert's atonement line (1-888-OOPS-JEW). Yep, dude went there.
There’s my list, PopWatchers. Now let your fellow readers know what you need to catch up on during the final weekend of September.
Third time's the charm? Desperate Housewives starts up again on Sunday (ABC, 9 p.m.), and you know you're gonna watch it. Nobody believes you when you say you're over this show. Yes, there's still the unsettling subplot in which Felicity Huffman's Lynette (picutred) has to deal with her husband Tom's love child, who's like 30 with a really annoying voice. Ew. On the other hand, the Applewhites are gone, Mike Delfino's in a coma, and according to real life, Bree will eventually have to become pregnant. Sold! You're in.
Brothers & Sisters is on right after DH, and it'll probably be worth your while if only to see Calista Flockhart on TV again. She's playing a conservative radio talk-show host. It'll be weird.
Speaking of big comebacks, EW's Marc Weingarten called Shawn Colvin's new album, These Four Walls, her finest since 1996's A Few Small Repairs. Or check out Basement Jaxx's excellent Crazy Itch Radio -- what all the cool kids have been silently bopping to this week via their iPods. (You can just tell.)
The International Federation of Film Critics awarded Pedro Almodóvar's movie Volver ''Best Film of the Year.'' It won't be released until Nov. 3 (watch the trailer here), but Sony Pictures Classics is rereleasing eight Almodóvar classics on DVD, including All About My Mother and Bad Education. Do your homework!
EW's Lisa Schwarzbaum gave a rare A to Old Joy, a film opeining today in limited release, about two guy friends camping in Oregon's Cascade Mountains. (What, no one gets rammed by a yak or straps themselves to a rocket?)
We know, we know -- Lost is not back yet. But you can watch this awesome promo for the Oct. 4 season premiere all Saturday long.
Because we're geeks, the biggest pop cultural events on our radar this weekend are Sunday's farewell to the WB, which will mark its own extinction with a marathon of pilots from your favorite WB series (Felicity, Angel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Dawson's Creek, starting at 5 p.m.), and the appearance on Saturday in syndication of the original Star Trek episodes, which have just turned 40 and been given a digital facelift.
Speaking of TV, TV on the Radio's much-anticipated Return to Cookie Mountain is EW's Music Pick of the Week. Yes, we know, we're all supposed to be listening to Justin's and John Mayer's latest CDs, but critical snobs that we are, we're geeking to TVOTR and Yo La Tengo's similarly eclectic freakout I Am Not Afraid of You And I Will Beat Your Ass.
You can still experience tube nostalgia at the multiplex with improvised British three-weddings-and-a-sweepstakes comedy Confetti (starring Martin Freeman of the BBC version of The Office) and The U.S. vs. John Lennon, featuring archival footage of John and Yoko's political protests and media pranks.
There are not one but two memoirs out this week from former Jeopardy! champs. Record-smasher Ken Jennings' Brainiac is getting most of the attention, but don't ignore Bob Harris' cleverly titled Prisoner of Trebekistan. (Also, give PopWatch credit for resisting the temptation to phrase this item in the form of a question.)
Finally, if you're nostalgic for the pre-Oprah's-couch Tom Cruise, and you like Bollywood musicals, you'll love this hilarious re-edited movie trailer.
This weekend's to-do-list is brought to you by the letter B.
Let's start with Beyoncé's new B'Day CD, which earned a B+ from EW's Jody Rosen. If you haven't heard it yet, check out this remix of her new track ''Ring the Alarm,'' featuring Foxy Brown, which we found at the Beauty N the Beat blog. Also earning a B+ (from EW's Gilbert Cruz) is Nightcrawler, the fine new CD from rock troubadour Pete Yorn.
-B is for Brazil, as Terry Gilliam's dystopian epic gets a beautiful new transfer to DVD. The Lost: The Complete Second Season DVD set also gets a B, from Brian Raftery. Earning A's this week are the timely United 93 and Kurosawa's action classic The Seven Samurai.
-B really is for B-List in the case of Ben Affleck, trying to redeem himself in Hollywoodland by playing an actor trying to redeem himself. (EW's Lisa Schwarzbaum gives it a B+.) Even better is the beleaguered Maggie Gyllenhaal in Sherrybaby, playing a recovering addict/ex-con/single mom.
-B is for Baltimore, home of The Wire, which we'll try to stop talking about if you'll just watch Sunday's season 4 premiere (HBO, 10 p.m.) Sunday also marks the premieres of season 18 (!) of The Simpsons (Fox, 8 p.m.) and of Russell Simmons' Def Comedy Jam (HBO, 11 p.m.) Finally, B is for ''The Bitch is Back,'' as Elton John hosts Fashion Rocks (CBS, Friday, 9 p.m.). The bespectacled rocker played a pre-Fashion Rocks concert in New York a couple days ago; you can catch it via webcast here on Sunday at 7 p.m. ET.
The autumn chill is already in the air, so why not just stay indoors this weekend? What else are you going to do, go out to the movies to see The Wicker Man? (Ooh, scary! Unless Christopher Lee's in this version, I'm staying home.) Have an outdoor BBQ with your family? Why bother, given all the worthwhile DVDs released this week?
-EW's reviewers especially liked the 20th anniversary Pretty in Pink: Everything's Ducky Edition, even if it is missing the fabled original ending in which Molly Ringwald dances with Jon Cryer at the prom instead of that dweeb Andrew McCarthy.
-Arrested Development fans can finally pick up the third and final (sniff!) season, while everyone else can check it out to see what you missed.
-Desperate Housewives Season 2 isn't so hot, but the dish from other famous TV housewives (like The Waltons' Michael Learned) is priceless.
-Jennifer Aniston sees how the simple folk live in indie dramedy Friends With Money.
-Finally available on disc is the classic 1964 Italian comedy of sexual manners Seduced and Abandoned.
-Also out is Season One of the HBO's terrific Argentine import Epitafios, an elaborate serial killer thriller.
-So is the first season of hilarious animated superhero spoof The Tick.
-Gregory Hines and Mikhail Baryshnikov's Cold War dance thriller White Nights is better than you remember.
-Finally, a must-see is Double Indemnity, the classic Billy Wilder/Raymond Chandler/James M. Cain noir that was the prototype for virtually all the let's-kill-my-husband-for-the-insurance-money thrillers that have followed. Any movie that can make future My Three Sons dad Fred MacMurray seem edgy and dangerous deserves your respect.
The Emmy Awards are Sunday night (NBC, 8 p.m.) -- perhaps you've heard. And because Mike Slezak is not one to toot his own horn (oh wait, he totally is), you may not know that he'll be live-blogging the whole extravaganza, including Ryan Seacrest's red-carpet pre-show on E! (In fact, all of Team EW.com will be on duty Sunday, documenting the whole evening, from Joan Rivers' first blooper to the last winner's post-show victory lap backstage at the Shrine Auditorium.)
In the meantime, you probably have a lot of cramming to do to prepare for TV's biggest night. You can follow the ever-changing odds and buzz at TheEnvelope.com. Emmycast producer Ken Ehrlich gave me the rundown of the show's expected highlights, while E! Online tells you where to find the drama in a show that'll be scripted down to the minute.
As far as the outrages that many argue have robbed the Emmys of credibility and made them the K. Fed. of awards shows -- specifically, the ''re-Emmying'' of reflexive repeat winners like Allison Janney, pictured (''re-Emmying'' is my favorite coinage of the week), you can either work yourself into an angry froth, or you can do something constructive, like petition the TV Academy to adopt these five reforms. Or you can do something fun and frivolous, like follow The Office's Jenna Fischer on her quest for something glamorous and un-Pam-like to wear on the red carpet.
You can also prepare for the Emmys by catching up with some of last year's best TV, now that the second seasons of House and Veronica Mars are out on DVD.
Oh yeah, although we're certain you'll be watching NBC on Sunday, you'll want to record the season finales of The 4400 (USA, 9 p.m.) and the entire HBO Sunday night lineup (Deadwood at 9, Entourage at 10, and Lucky Louie at 10:30).
Oh, all right, there are a few non-Emmy options for entertainment this weekend. You could listen to the new releases by Kelis and Primal Scream. You could read Hello Americans, the second volume of Simon Callow's Orson Welles-sized biography of Orson Welles. Or you could actually get off the couch, go to the movies, and see something inspriational, like Idlewild, Invincible, or Beerfest, which I watched with fellow PopWatcher Scott Brown, both of us laughing helplessly. (Yes, we were sober.)
This weekend, one of America's favorite stars plays the tailor-made leading role in the year's campiest movie. I'm speaking, of course, of The Fantasia Barrino Story: Life Is Not a Fairy Tale (Lifetime, Saturday, 9 p.m.), which EW's Whitney Pastorek calls ''the most ludicrous movie you'll see all year.''
For sheer silliness, however, the American Idol winner's autobiopic will compete with the deliberately self-parodying 200th episode of Stargate SG-1 (Sci-Fi, Friday, 9 p.m.), which EW's Paul Katz swears is the ''must watch of the week.''
It'll also compete with Comedy Central's Roast of William Shatner (Sunday, 10 p.m.), which we'll be watching just to see if it's really the Andy Dick nuclear meltdown it's rumored to be.
At the multiplex, aiming for the same target demo as a certain Samuel L. Jackson movie will be the campus comedy Accepted, which PopWatch's own Scott Brown says displays a ''winning dumbness.''
If you're one of those who thought the new Miami Vice movie had neither enough Miami nor enough vice, llisten to this week's chart-topping CD, Rick Ross' Port of Miami, an album all about the drug trade in the rapper's hometown. EW's Michael Endelman finds the disc hypnotic and enthralling.
Plenty of drugs and debauchery as well in The Bedroom Secrets of Master Chefs. The latest from Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh, it's about a hedonist who manages to get someone else to experience his hangovers for him.
Also lots of vice in Mystic River author Dennis Lehane's new short story collection, Coronado.
Some classic movies out in new DVD packages loaded with extras: Eric Rohmer's Six Moral Tales (including such Rohmer fan-faves as My Night at Maud's and Chloe in the Afternoon), and Apocalypse Now: The Complete Dossier, which includes Francis Coppola's ''Redux'' director's cut and 17 minutes of Marlon Brando (pictured) reading T.S. Eliot's ''The Hollow Men.'' The horror, the horror...
Hot town, summer in the city, this weekend's choices are dirty and gritty:
-DVD gets brutal this week with the releases of gangsta-rapper Natalie Portman's V for Vendetta, Spike Lee's crackerjack caper Inside Man, teen film noir Brick, the first seasons of Rome and Prison Break and the third season of The Wire.
-At the movies, Ryan Gosling (at right, with costar Shareeka Epps) is on fire in Half Nelson as a New York City high school teacher who's also a crack addict. Edward Norton is similarly intense as a Viennese magician in The Illusionist.
-On TV, in the tough-minded New York City schoolteacher to watch (one who's not a crack addict) is Matthew Perry, of all people, in TNT's biopic The Ron Clark Story (Sunday, 8 p.m.), which EW's Alynda Wheat calls the Must Watch of the Week. More Brit than grit is outrageous import The Kumars at No. 42 (BBC America, Friday, 9 p.m.), about an Anglo-Indian family that hosts a talk show in their London home. David Hasselhoff gets grilled in tonight's season premiere.
-Boxing insider F.X. Toole, the late author behind Million Dollar Baby, gets a few more punches in with posthumously published ringside novel Pound for Pound.
-Grungy pub rockers Heartless Bastards and their distorted guitar noises are back with All This Time. More loud guitar crunch, leavened with smart and shameless vocal harmonies, comes courtesy of pop-punk power trio Pink Spiders with their major label debut, Teenage Graffiti.
-Attention, cats: Is your kitty litter too gritty? Then follow the example of this obsessive-compulsive feline flusher. Finally, if all this grit has you riled, use this clever Web widget to make like Stephen Colbert and put everyone who irritates you ''on notice.''
PopWatch was all set to buy tickets for Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby until we learned that, despite the title, it's not a musical. Still, there are plenty of song-and-dance-oriented entertainment options this weekend:
-Can't make it to Chicago for Lollapalooza this weekend? Catch it via webcast here.
-Read all about the world of competitive air guitarists -- including air groupies -- in To Air Is Human, by Björn Töroque (how great a stage name is that?), a.k.a. Dan Crane.
-Sunday night sees two season premieres on VH1: Flavor Flav (pictured) is back in Flavor of Love (10 p.m.), and Celebrity Fit Club 4 (9 p.m.) features such musical heavyweights as Carnie Wilson, Tina Yothers, Angie Stone, and Bone Crusher. As for dance on TV, we admit it: we can't get enough of Pants Off Dance Off (Fuse, 11:30 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday).
-The Numa Numa guy's got nothing on these online dance machines. Watch comedian Judson Laipply trace the evolution of dance in six minutes. Or you can make these guys dance to your choreography: electronic-suited Pjotro and Mr. Pipe Cleaner Man.
-Finally, our favorite musical downloads of the weekend include these four free tracks from EW.com's Download This, an epic concert that Sleater-Kinney performed last night on their farewell tour, and this video of Norwegian band Hurra Torpedo performing an explosively percussive version of ''Total Eclipse of the Heart'' using various battle-scarred kitchen appliances.
For more benign weekend fare involving the animal kingdom's revenge upon humanity, take your kids to the multiplex to see the clever Ant Bully.
Or check out the exploits of a fondly remembered pair of megalomaniacal mice as Pinky and the Brain extend their bid for world domination to DVD.
Party animals The New York Dolls (or at least their two surviving members) strike again with reunion CD One Day It Will Please Us to Remember Even This, which could have been the great lost glam-rock album of 1976 had the proto-punks stayed together that long.
French glitterati are on the prowl in Kate Muir's satirical novel Left Bank. (Speaking of prowling French glitterati, Stereogum reminds us of this video clip, in which smut-pop pioneer Serge Gainsbourg makes a profane pass at the young Whitney Houston. Hell to the non!)
Finally, check out Us magazine's collection of celebrity spawn who age 20 years before your eyes. No one is attacked by animals in this Web time-waster, but it's pretty scary nonetheless.
Lots you can do this weekend to counter the 100-degree heat. Most of it involves staying indoors and watching TV.
In anticipation of next week's theatrical release of the Miami Vice movie, NBC is running the original series pilot (Saturday, 8 p.m.).
Project Runway fans will want to watch Sunday's Miss Universe pageant (NBC, 9 p.m.) to see Miss USA wearing this week's winning evening gown.
On a not-so-light note, Iraq Uploaded features the viral videos filmed by deployed soldiers; it's on MTV of all places (Friday, 8 p.m.).
How cool would it be to take a time machine back 100 years? That's the effect of Electric Edwardians, a DVD consisting of nothing but archival footage of everyday life from the early 20th century.
Get the shivers from Scott Smith's bone-chilling new novel of horror on a Mexican vacation, The Ruins.
You'll get more than just an hour and a half of multiplex air conditioning if you see Monster House (pictured). The horror 'toon is a fright and a delight for kids and grown-ups alike, says EW critic Lisa Schwarzbaum.
Blot out the sun with Golden Smog. The alt-country supergroup returns for the first time in eight years with the solidly crafted Another Fine Day.
Finally, your weekend will not be compete without a visit to Fabio's Kitchen of Love. (It seems to adjoin Siegfried and Roy's Living Room of Love, judging by the white tiger with the wagging tail lounging in front of the fireplace.) The hunky spokesmodel will read you poetry and offer recipes, hoping to get you to associate margarine with romance, but without jumping to icky thoughts of You, Me and Dupree or Last Tango in Paris.
-- There's a movie opening this weekend about a tiny, sex-obsessed guy who finds unlikely fulfillment with a yuppie matron. No, not that Wayans brothers thing -- I'm talking about The Oh in Ohio, with Danny DeVito and Parker Posey. I'll let you decide which one's an art film and which isn't.
-- Friday marks the debut of Squirrel Boy, about a lad and his rodent. (Cartoon Network, 7 p.m.)
-- Another adorable kid is Yang-Yang, the 8-year-old boy who shows his relatives a side of themselves they've never seen by photographing the backs of their heads, in Edward Yang's rich and rewarding family saga Yi Yi (pictured), out now in a special edition DVD.
-- Indie-pop man-child Sufjan Stevens empties out his attic, releasing an Avalanche, while Radiohead's Thom Yorke unleashes his lonely falsetto all by his lonesome in his solo debut The Eraser.
-- Finally, the little man of the week in books is Winkie, the terror-suspect teddy bear of Clifford Chase's weird, ambitious, exciting new novel.
Sunday is the World Cup finale -- like you care. (If you do, it airs at 1:30 p.m on ABC.)
In lieu of football/soccer, how about:
-New movie Once in a Lifetime recalls those days back in the disco '70s when they almost made us care about soccer, importing Pelé himself to play for the New York Cosmos. This rousing documentary scores an A- with EW film critic Lisa Schwarzbaum.
-If you are watching TV on Sunday, you'll surely be tuning in to the debut of Chappelle's Show: The Lost Episodes (9 p.m., Comedy Central). If you can't wait, check out a preview sketch at the Chappelle's Showwebsite.
-The other big matchup on TV is the rematch of Big Night costars Stanley Tucci and Tony Shalhoub (pictured) on the season premiere of Monk (USA, Friday, 9 p.m.), in which Method actor Tucci follows the jittery sleuth around in order to pick up his character traits to play him in a movie.
-Think Monk is paranoid? Check out the characters in surveillance-age thriller Caché (Hidden), one of last year's most acclaimed films, now on DVD.
-For more general trippiness, thumb through Dan Nadel's Art Out of Time: Unknown Comic Visionaries 1900-1969, an anthology of forgotten but artful comic-strip fantasists. EW comics maven Ken Tucker gives it an A.
-If all the World Cup chatter still has you thinking globally, listen to Iceland's most famous import (no, not Rock Star: Supernova contestant Magni), Björk, whose aptly titled retrospective Surrounded contains surround-sound remixes of her entire solo-career output.
-For more offbeat international sounds, listen to Steve Lima's Motown-meets-Marley mash-ups here.
-Finally, for some sick fun (that's for a good cause), you can take Internet interactivity to a sadistic new level at ShockTheMan.com. Though we dare you to tell anyone this is how you're spending your weekend.
Traditionally, we celebrate July 4 by going outside, grilling animal flesh, and watching things explode, but if you've had enough of the crazy-hot, crazy-wet weather that's plagued much of the country over the past couple weeks, we've found plenty of ways to celebrate the holiday... indoors.
A lot of specials on TV, of course:
-Sunday brings a live Prairie Home Companion special (PBS, 9 p.m.) that includes fictional big-screen PHC-er Meryl Streep (but alas, no Lindsay Lohan).
-On Tuesday, you can celebrate A Capital Fourth, in which such cuddly Americans as Jason Alexander, Stevie Wonder, and Elmo (pictured) watch fireworks in Washington, D.C. (PBS, 8 p.m.)
-Macy's 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular, featuring similarly cuddly Nick Lachey, Lionel Richie, Liza Minnelli, and Bo Bice performing in New York (NBC, 9 p.m.)
-An American Celebration at Ford's Theatre, a pre-taped variety show at the site of Lincoln's assassination, featuring Tom Selleck, Kevin Nealon, Bush impersonator Steve Bridges, and Lonestar (ABC, 10 p.m.)
-The Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular, in which cannons fired over Boston during the ''1812 Overture'' will fail to dislodge emcee Dr. Phil (CBS, 10 p.m.).
Nothing is more all-American than high school and second chances, so it's your patriotic duty to support Amy Sedaris at the multiplex and see Strangers With Candy.
Correction: Nothing is more all-American than Johnny Cash's American Recordings series. American V: A Hundred Highways, featuring some of the last songs he ever wrote or recorded, gets an A- from EW's Gilbert Cruz.
Two fine non-fiction DVDs explore the American experience. The reissue of Chuck Berry: Hail! Hail! Rock 'N' Roll, Taylor Hackford's 1987 film about a tribute concert to the rock pioneer, now comes with seven hours of extras, including interviews with such colorful Berry contemporaries as Jerry Lee Lewis and the late Roy Orbison.
Why We Fight, by Eugene Jarecki (Capturing the Friedmans) looks at why the United States is often quick to rush into war.
Read Chad Millman's The Detonators to learn the full scoop about one of the worst acts of foreign terrorism ever committed on U.S. soil, an explosive event that shattered windows on Wall Street and sent shockwaves across the country; Millman is writing, of course, about the bombing of the Black Tom munitions plant in New Jersey by German saboteurs in 1916.
For a lighter read, check out Robert Sullivan's Cross Country, a chronicle of the author's America-spanning road trip with his family.
Finally, if you're too lazy even to leave your computer this weekend, you can still watch a live concert by the Who, to be webcast on Saturday from London at around 2:45 p.m. EDT. It costs 99 cents to watch the show at thewholive.tv, but the proceeds go to charity.
And if you can't make it to Prescott, Ariz., or Mackinac Island, Mich., this holiday weekend, you can still keep up online with the progress of the World's Oldest Rodeo and the annual Stone-Skipping Tournament, respectively.
-So I finally got a chance today to check out Nobody's Watching, a very funny, partially improvised sitcom pilot from Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence that got passed over by the WB, but has recently found new life on YouTube -- with its audience having hit six-figures by mid-week, according to Variety. (Thanks TV Barn for the heads up...and click here, here, and here for Parts 1, 2, and 3 respectively). It's a unique premise: Two friends from Ohio get a chance to live in a Hollywood studio and create a sitcom, while a sneaky network exec (Prison Break's Paul Adelstein) mines the footage for a reality series. Trust me, with the lead characters using ''Yes, Dear'' as a polite term for excrement, a self-depreciating cameo by Alan Thicke as a randy, attention-hungry version of himself, and an awesome parody of product placement (''I'm Jeff Tucker, and I drink Snapple!''), this is worth a half-hour of your time. It's also a good reminder that often, you can find buried treasure when everyone else is looking in the opposite direction... an idea that inspired this Weekend To-Do List.
Home
If you rolled your eyes yesterday at Tony Shalhoub's sixth consecutive Emmy nomination for best actor in a comedy series, I'm thinking that maybe you just haven't seen Monk. It returns tonight (USA, 9 p.m. ET) for a seventh season. Check out an old clip after the jump, featuring the late Stanley Kamel. (Monk's new shrink will be played by Hector Elizondo.) If you still don't get it, I give you permission to sound off in the comments section.
Happy Father’s Day from Paul Thomas Anderson! The Blu-Ray edition of There Will Be Blood has just arrived in stores, and I’d like to think that its perfect-for-dads-and-grads timing isn’t coincidental — that its release now really is intended to give the paterfamilias in your household a timely refresher course in how not to be a parent. Sure, that connection is a bit of a stretch on my part. (The delay between the standard DVD two months ago and this high-def edition really has to do with Paramount needing time to shift gears to Blu-Ray after the competing format they’d backed, HD-DVD, went kaput.) But the timing is fitting, since there’s no one who makes “family” films quite like P.T. Anderson. Yes, I’ll explain.
It's true, y'all. At least according to 
It's the Friday afternoon on an awards show weekend, and you know what that means: a post plugging our coverage! 
With the Harold and Kumar sequel coming in April and Seth Rogen's sure-to-be-classic Pineapple Express due out in August, it's going to be a big year for stoner movies. But with little fanfare and not a red carpet in sight, perhaps the dopiest flick to hit theaters is this weekend's release 
My excitement level for the Golden Globes increased exponentially just now when I read that Kathy Griffin will be providing commentary on NBC's Matt Lauer-hosted Dateline special, Going for the Gold, Sunday (7 p.m. ET). I imagine Michael Slezak's and Annie Barrett's anticipation is peaking, too, if they've heard that NBC's "Football
Night in America" team will be on hand to predict the winners. Why would that delight our duo? They'll be live-blogging the two-hour "pre-show," as well as the press conference that announces the actual trophy takers at 9 p.m. ET.
So NBC and CBS will simulcast the Patriots-Giants game Saturday night at 8 p.m. ET, using the NFL Network's production team (that means Bryant Gumbel and Cris Collinsworth in the booth on all three networks). Apparently, this rare synergy (it's the first NFL game to air on more than one network since the first Super Bowl almost 41 years ago) is 
There's a very simple reason to love the holiday season (other than all the delicious food and goodwill, of course): television marathons!! If you're not planning on catching the Sci-Fi Channel's annual 
By now, you probably know Dreamgirls (which gets 
Over the river and through the woods -- for some, that's a loooong journey, and one that will require some pop-cultural distractions along the way. I mean, how much chat about Aunt Frida's goiter can a person handle, right? In that spirit, I present the following version of the (Long) Weekend To-Do List:
Don't shoot! Or shoot, whatever. On Sunday night's Desperate Housewives (ABC, 9 p.m.), Laurie Metcalf will hold Felicity Huffman hostage (pictured) until she agrees to loan her one funny line per episode from now on. And did you hear? SOMEONE. WILL. DIE.
Slezak and I thought it was only appropriate to begin this spooky Halloween weekend list with a terrifying yet captivating game called 
This just in: According to an amusing tidbit from the number-crunchers at 
If you’re not yet addicted to SciFi’s brilliant, beautiful Battlestar Galactica, then I’m assuming it’s because you haven’t yet seen an episode. This weekend is your big chance to remedy that (before the Oct. 6 season premiere) by renting (or buying) the show’s first 2.5 seasons on DVD, reading 
Third time's the charm? 
Because we're geeks, the biggest pop cultural events on our radar this weekend are Sunday's farewell to 
This weekend's to-do-list is brought to you by the letter B.
The autumn chill is already in the air, so why not just stay indoors this weekend? What else are you going to do, go out to the movies to see The Wicker Man? (Ooh, scary! Unless Christopher Lee's in this version, I'm staying home.) Have an outdoor BBQ with your family? Why bother, given all the worthwhile DVDs released this week?
The Emmy Awards are Sunday night (NBC, 8 p.m.) -- perhaps you've heard. And because Mike Slezak is not one to 
This weekend, one of America's favorite stars plays the tailor-made leading role in the year's campiest movie. I'm speaking, of course, of 
Hot town, summer in the city, this weekend's choices are dirty and gritty:
PopWatch was all set to buy tickets for 
Ba-dum, ba-dum, ba-dum... It's 
Lots you can do this weekend to counter the 100-degree heat. Most of it involves staying indoors and watching TV.
-- There's a movie opening this weekend about a tiny, sex-obsessed guy who finds unlikely fulfillment with a yuppie matron. No, not that Wayans brothers thing -- I'm talking about 
Sunday is the World Cup finale -- like you care. (If you do, it airs at 1:30 p.m on ABC.)
Traditionally, we celebrate July 4 by going outside, grilling animal flesh, and watching things explode, but if you've had enough of the crazy-hot, crazy-wet weather that's plagued much of the country over the past couple weeks, we've found plenty of ways to celebrate the holiday... indoors.
