Whats Hot On TV

It seemed to me tonight while watching the Dancing With the Stars results show that they were trying to shove something down our throats. They showed a long montage of all the celebrities backstage supposedly getting along with each other. They can’t just insert that in to create that kind of atmosphere.

Those of us that have seen the other seasons of the show know what true camaderie is like on the show. Granted, it’s still early in the season, but if it’s to early to have those bonds with each other, then why throw these people together in a taped bit pretending like they have a deep connection with each other already?

In seasons past, when a couple would come off the stage to talk to Samantha Harris, the others would goof with them while they were on camera or all congratulate them after a particularly good routine. Instead, we had Lacey Schwimmer and Lance Bass poking their heads into the camera view goofing off, paying no attention to Samantha and who she was talking to. Usually when a couple is voted out, there are tears all around, but not the past few weeks. Continue Reading »

Tonight we’ll see who will be voted off Dancing With the Stars, and I just hope it’s not Cloris Leachman. We also have Biggest Loser: Families traveling to the Grand Canyon. Now that’ll be a hefty hike! We also have some great dramas on tonight, as well as opportunity knocking once again, thanks to JD Roth and Ashton Kutcher.

1. The Today Show. Sarah Ferguson, known previously as Fergie way before the other became well-known as part of the Black-Eyed Peas, and Kellie Pickler. I enjoyed Kellie on American Idol, and after hearing her CD and getting a chance to interview her, I found a whole new appreciation for her. 7:00 PM CT NBC

2. Oprah Winfrey. The day before Breast Cancer Awareness month starts, Christina Applegate is the guest, talking about her double mastectomy. She’s a great spokeswoman, as she’s so young, proving it could happen to anyone. Syndicated, check local listings.

3. The View. Bill Maher is on, and I think he has a neverending supply of material right now. Also on is Dr. Drew Pinsky, as Celebrity Rehab is starting up again on October 23. 10:00 AM CT ABC

4. Mrs. Doubtfire. “Helloooo!” It’s somewhat unbelievable at times that his family wouldn’t recognize him once he puts on a rubber face and a wig, but regardless, this movie is always a lot of fun. 10:30 AM CT HBO Family Continue Reading »

I’m all hopped up, ready for tonight’s Dancing With the Stars to start. And the reason? Cloris Leachman, of course. She just makes it tons more interesting, no matter what she’s doing or saying. We all know the old gal isn’t going to win, but she makes it so much more fun. Instead of just critiquing the dance style, she brings out the laughs.

Cloris is sure to bring a lot more tonight with the featured dance styles being the rumba and paso doble. Len Goodman thought the group having to learn two dances for last week was tough, but now to have a short week, having only four days to learn a new dance, he thinks that’s the toughest yet.

The first dancers up to show what they could do in this short time are Toni Braxton and Alec Mazo. She was glad to make it through last week, as Alec promised her that that they would reverse roles and he would sing for her if they made it through. As he sings her signature hit, Unbreak My Heart, it’s painful to say the least. She mentions that he sounds like Arnold Schwarzenegger. As they work on the rumba, Toni’s big worries are on beating Cloris. They dance tonight to I Can’t Make You Love Me and do really well. It’s not terribly exciting, but they do well, nonetheless.

After Tom Bergeron gives Alec a 2 for his singing, Len Goodman tells him he was surprised at how good the dancing actually was, yet it lacked a little fluidity. Bruno Tonioli tells Alec and Toni that they capture the sensuality and vulnerability of the mistress. She gives it not too much and pitched it right. Carrie Ann Inaba tells Toni she moves like she sings, with so much passion and so much groundness, but there were two lifts where her feet left the ground. Alec tells Samantha Harris he’s forming a band with William Hung, then he and Toni get the scores of 7, 8, and 8. Continue Reading »

Who would have thought Cloris Leachman at 82 years old would become water cooler talk? Nevertheless her outrageous antics on Dancing With the Stars have put her there. I don’t think she’ll be leaving the show anytime soon, as I’m sure many people are voting for her for just the plain entertainment value. I expect even more people will tune in to see her tonight, as some that would normally not watch the show will just turn it on to see her.

1. Early Show. Jewel and Bill Maher are the guests. I saw Maher in concert this summer, and you can bet he has a lot of thngs to say about the current political climate, and this was before we had even heard of Sarah Palin. 7:00 AM CT CBS

2. Today Show. Jenny McCarthy and Jennifer Hudson. McCarthy was on Oprah last week with boyfriend Jim Carrey, promoting a book on parenting her child with autism, and she is just an amazing person. She is much differnet than the girl we saw on MTV a decade ago, or at least she seems so. 7:00 AM CT NBC

3. The View. Jennifer Hudson is making another appearance here, as well as Disney’s Selena Gomez and one-time View cohost Lisa Ling. Ling is promoting a report on heroin in the midwest that will be on Nightline tonight. 10:00 AM CT ABC

4. Weekend at Bernie’s. I don’t know what it is about this movie. It’s incredibly silly, but I guess sometimes in life you just need “silly.” The dead guy’s head hitting the buoy over and over never fails to amuse me. 2:30 PM CT HBO Comedy Continue Reading »

I sat and watched the interview with Shawn Hornbeck tonight on 48 Hours Mystery, and I had all the same questions as everyone else. The one that gets to me the most, just as it gets to me about Elizabeth Smart, is how they can stand there after these crimes and just not be totally angry that this happened to them.

How can Shawn not be angry that he lost four and a half years of his childhood? He went from a 5th grader when he left to a time when he should have become a high schooler. In the year and a half since he’s been found, he somehow has gotten caught up to where he is now a junior in high school. Yet, look at all those changes you make in your life during that span. How can you not be angry about missing out on that?

Some people question why these abducted kids don’t try to escape, and confuse their lack of anger for somehow being comfortable in that situation. Shawn became friends with another boy that lived near where he was living with Michael Devlin, his abductor, and was eventually allowed to hang out with him to the point of having sleepovers and going places with this other family. They can’t figure out why he never told them the truth. At one point, seeing a news item about Shawn Hornbeck on TV, his friend’s family asked if that was him, and he denied it. Why not say yes and finally get to go home? Continue Reading »

Finally The Amazing Race is back on. It seems like we waited forever for this.  With the writer’s strike last year and networks scrambling, CBS had decided to add an additional season of Big Brother to the schedule, taking this show away from it’s normal winter/spring time slot. I won’t complain, though, as I’m just glad it’s back on.

1. We Are Marshall. A great football movie to get you in the mood for the Sunday afternoon action. Matthew McConaughay stars, and he’s pretty much a goober the whole time in this true story as a football coach who takes over a college team the season after the whole team had perished in an airplane crash. 8:15 AM CT Wmax

2. The Goonies. It’s more or less a Steven Spielberg  adventure move for the younger set, about kids on a treasure hunt. Twenty plus years after the fact, it’s fun to watch and find out who these young faces grew up to be. And one quote. “Rocky … Road?” 9:05 AM CT TBS

3. The Week With George Stephanopoulus. John McCain is on, and it’s interesting that he doesn’t seem too busy to make this show. The panelists will be Newt Gingrich George Will, Robert Reich, and Steven Pearlstein. 9:30 AM CT ABC

4. Meet the Press. Former President Bill Clinton is on, and we know he’s not too busy. 10:00 AM CT NBC Continue Reading »

And just what are they doing to us? After an amazing week of new programming on all the major networks every night, tonight is a bunch of repeats that we saw earlier in the week. There are a few new things on tonight, with college football, America’s Most Wanted, and 48 Hours Mystery. I think maybe somebody is telling me I really should go out tonight.

1. American Idol Rewind. Finally they’re moving onto a different season. They have a habit with Rewind of repeating the same episodes over and over and really stretching out what originally is a five month season. The good news is this year they plan to do season three and season four. This is the New York auditions of season three which includes the unique Scat Girl, along with John Stevens, the teenage crooner. Syndicated, check local listings.

2. A League of Their Own. I didn’t even realize until the end of the movie that it was based on a true story. It’s one of those that makes you laugh and cry. Having one and only one sister, the ending with the two sisters rips me to pieces every time. 2:30 PM CT Oxygen.

3. Knocked Up. This is just a great comedy no matter how you look at it with Seth Rogen and Katherine Heigl. It’s the worst thing that could come of a one night stand when she gets pregnant and they have absolutely nothing in common. 4:45 PM CT Cinemax East Continue Reading »

According to the LA Times , tonight’s presidential debate between John McCain and Barack Obama is on.

McCain feels like enough progress has been made in the talks over what to do about the dire financial crisis that he can now take the time to attend tonight’s debate. Obama had maintained that the future President of the United States should be capable of doing two things at once, working on the crisis, as well as debating him.

My take on it is that all of it is political moves on both their parts. I think McCain wanted voters to see how important he is, and wanted us to think he has his hands on the pulse of America, and now wants us to see that he has worked so hard this week, but can now take time away. I think Obama just wants to diminish any work that McCain has done for this to make him seem like he isn’t that useful anyway.

 I hope it all comes up in the debate tonight.

At this point, who knows what will be on TV tonight. The presidential debate is supposed to be on, but that’s still up in the air as of this posting. Considering four networks are basing their whole schedules around that tonight, that could screw things up a lot.

1. Oprah Winfrey. Along with her usual Friday Live with Gale King, Mark Consuelos, and AliWentworth, Spike Lee is a guest as well for the first time in 12 years, promoting his film Miracle at St. Anna. Syndicated, check local listings.

2. Rachel Ray. A visit to the Ugly Betty set with America Fererra, Vanessa Williams, and Mark Consuelos. Interesting that he’s making his second appearance of the day. He’s set to guest star on Ugly Betty once this season and possibly more. Syndicated, check local listings.

3. The Bonnie Hunt Show. Allison Janney will guest, and I just wonder if she’ll be as much fun with Bonnie as she is with Ellen deGeneres. Syndicated, check local listings.

4. Back to the Future. You know what’s interesting about this movie is that the older it gets, the more the clothes and references to 1985 are like the references to 1955. 1955 seemed to so long ago and 1985 so modern, but now in 2008, it’s beginning to seem far away as well. 1:30 PM CT Thriller Max Continue Reading »

Why does there always seem to be one tribe on Survivor that just can’t seem to get their act together? No matter where they are, and no matter if they pick their own teams, they’re pre-determined, it’s men against women, fans against favorites, whatever, there’s always a team that just doesn’t get it. The seventeenth season of Survivor doesn’t appear to be any different.

Even from when they we picking their teams it didn’t make any sense. Granted, looking at Crystal, she definitely looked to be the strongest of the females, but when you’re an older woman that will have a hard time pulling your own weight on the team, you need to pick a big strong guy, for appearances even more than actual team dynamics. And who did Crystal in turn pick? Susie, a heavier 47 year old woman, with the excuse the moms had to stick together.

So now you have two people on your team who probably aren’t strong and probably aren’t fast, out of three. The team was kind of doomed from that point. Don’t get me wrong, I was always on the short end of the stick myself in the gym class you-pick-the-teams game, always being picked last, and while I hated it, I knew why I was there. By the end, no only do they have the oldest female, but they also have two people in their 40s. Continue Reading »