Whats Hot On TV

Another year come and gone. 2008 has been a whacky one for TV, especially with most of the series that debuted just a few months ago already dead, except for Knight Rider mentioned below. How did that one survive but not the others? We have a few bowl games on today before the big ones tomorrow, and have New Year’s Eve celebrations on NBC, ABC, and Fox. Pick your poison! Watch the champagne. Those little glasses have a way of sneaking up on ya!

1. Elf. It’s the last time to see this one for the year. Will Ferrell stars in this film as an adult man who was raised among Santa’s elves, but with his size, obviously doesn’t fit in in more ways than one, so he goes in search of his birth father in NYC. 9:00 AM CT USA

2. Terms of Endearment. I could use a good cry before the new year hits, and this will definitely get it all out of my system Debra Winger and Shirley MacLaine star as a mother and daughter pair, with the story following from childhood through adulthood for the daughter. Jack Nicholson has the best role as “the astronaut.” 9:00 AM CT Cinemax West

3. Armed Forces Bowl: Air Force vs. Houston. From Forth Worth, Texas, the last time Houston won a Bowl game, none of the current players were born yet. Air Force has already beaten Houston once this year. 11:00 AM CT ESPN Continue Reading »

Every year we see a little star power brought about by Caroline Kennedy, as the last surviving member of Jack and Jackie’s family, with the Kennedy Center Honors. Some of the best are honored each year, and tonight is no different We also have some children’s New Year’s specials, and Eli Stone trying to get the last of its new episodes aired before the show ends and is stuck on the shelf, most likely forever.

1. Jumanji. A great fantasy film with some even better special effects about a game that when played brings about all sorts of interesting things, starring Robin Williams, Bonnie Hunt, and Kirsten Dunst. 9:00 AM CT TBS

2. Charlotte’s Web. There are some great celebrity voices in this retelling of the classic tale about a pig, a spider, and their friends. Dakota Fanning stars, with the animals being voiced by Julia Roberts, Steve Buscemi, John Cleese, and Oprah Winfrey. 12:45 PM CT Showtime West

3. Biloxi Blues. I think of this movie every time it’s really hot outside. Matthew Broderick’s character landing in Biloxi for boot camp walks through and notes how hot it is. He says it isn’t New Jersey hot; it’s Africa hot. With so little, it’s just so descriptive. 4;30 PM CT Encore 3 Continue Reading »

You’re not going to get a lot tonight if you’re looking for comedy or drama in the way of regular primetime programming that isn’t a repeat. But if you’re open to watching some movies, you’ll find plenty. Other than that, we have a few reality TV shows and game shows. An interesting movie you might want to catch is Resurrecting the Champ. I caught it at the theater, and it didn’t do to well, but I thought Samuel L. Jackson should have at least been nominated for an Oscar for this.

1. Alice In Wonderland. For a nice change, Disney is reaching beyond the animated films of the last twenty years and opting instead to air this 1951 classic. 9:30 AM CT Disney

2. Back to the Future. Oddly, despite, or perhaps because of, the fact this movie deals with time travel, it withstands the test of time. “Where we’re going, we don’t need roads.” 1:15 PM CT Encore East

3. Resurrecting the Champ. A sportswriter looking for his big break develops a feature around a homeless man who claims he was once a famous champion in the ring, only to have the article change his life in ways he wasn’t planning on. Stars Samuel L. Jackson and Josh Hartnett. 3:55 PM CT Starz 1 West

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Mark Ballas of Dancing With the Stars seems to be a little late to the party. Most of the other professionals, and celebrities as well, went through it during the season, but Mark waited until after the season was over to get hurt.

Dancing With the Stars had its share of injuries and illness this year. Jeff Ross was kicked in the eye by Edyta Slawinska before even stepping on the stage for the first time, and it was just the beginning. That was followed by numerous twisting of ankles to many of the dancers, with Misty May-Treanor’s injury so bad she had to leave the competition. Derek Hough blacked out during a practice, and his sister Julianne left the show for a few weeks to recover from endometriosis surgery.

Now, a month after the show has ended, pro Mark Ballas has suffered a groin injury which will require him to take a few weeks off of the Dancing With the Stars tour. He still danced a few dances on Saturday night, just to not let down the fans too much, as he did a routine with his winning ex-partner Kristi Yamaguchi, as well as a hip hop routine with Derek Hough and Lacey Schwimmer.

It may all be coming at a good time for him, though, as Julianne isn’t the only one pursuing a musical career. Mark and Derek have formed the Ballas Hough Band and just finished recording their first album which is due to be released in March. They were doing double duty recording as well as practicing for the tour, so a few weeks off will probably do Mark good.

Interestingly enough, Julianne used to be in a band along with Mark and Derek, but then split out on her own. It’ll be interesting to see who meets with more success, or who gets injured again first.

Follow me on Twitter, and for more information on Dancing With the Stars, see SirLinksalot: Dancing With the Stars.

Football is the big TV story today with more than a few teams fighting to claim their sport in the playoffs. My beloved Chicago Bears are fighting for a spot, so count on the pressure in the larger Metropolitan area here dropping once they make it. If they don’t it won’t be a good day here. The most interesting game, though, will be the Broncos at Chargers. Whoever wins that game takes the division. So much is riding on it. With no Monday night game this week, it’ll all be wrapped up after this game.

1. Backdraft. It’s an exciting movie about brothers who are both firemen, but it’s the stars that really make the film with Kurt Russell, William Baldwin, and Robert DeNiro. 11:30 AM Encore 2

2. NFL Football: Bears at Texans. This game has many implications for Chicago, and not really many for Houston. Houston’s out of the playoff picture, but the Bears could make it with a win and with some help from other teams. If they win and Minnesota loses, they win the NFC. If they win and Minnesota does as well, they could still make the wild card round if Dallas and Tampa Bay lose. 12:00 PM CT Fox

3. Jerry Maguire. Here’s even more football for the day as Jerry Maguire stars as a sports agent that gets fired and works to sign a few new recruits of his own that demand to see the money. 2:30 PM CT Showtime 2 East

4. NFL Football: Dolphins at Jets. Here’s the AFC side of the playoff picture. If Miami wins, they take the division title, and if they lose, and New England and Baltimore do as well, they could make it as a wild card, and the Jets wold make it into the playoffs as well. 3:15 PM CT CBS

5. 60 Minutes. Barack Obama’s rise through politics to the White House is chronicled throughout the hour. 6:00 PM CT CBS

6. Sound of Music. Julie Andrews stars in this classic musical based on a true story of a nun that leaves the order to become a nanny to a motherless family and turns the children into a musical act as they escape Austria. Do Re Mi will now be stuck in my head throughout the day. 6:00 PM CT ABC

7. Million Dollar Password. Betty White makes a return to Million Dollar Password, and Adam Carrolla is on as well. White is just the best at this game, having played it so many times earlier when her husband Allen Ludden hosted. 7:00 PM CT CBS

8. Cast Away. Tom Hanks stars in this movie as an airfreight delivery guy who crashes his plane and is stranded for four years with only Wilson the volleyball to keep him company, making him just a little nutty. 7:00 PM CT TNT

9. Sunday Night Football: Broncos at Chargers. It’s another game with huge playoff complications. Whoever wins takes the division after Denver squandered a chance to win the division last week. 7:15 PM CT NBC

Photo courtesy of dexigner.com

I’m just as puzzled as you are, but for some reason NBC is thinking we’d like to see a reprise of the opening ceremony to the Olympics. I know there are people out there that missed it and were wishing to see it, but that was back in the summer, not now with sub-zero temperatures, wind chills, and falling snow. ABC then seems to be perpetuating it by airing the film Miracle about the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team. At least that’s from a winter Olympics.

1. Spiderman 3. I’m not normally one of those that gets into super hero movies, but I really liked this one. Of course, Topher Grace and Thomas Hayden Church seemed to add a lot as new villains for Superman to fight. 11:00 PM CT Starz 1

2. My Best Friend’s Wedding. This is the movie that forced me to start liking Julia Roberts and realize she was a great actress. I still prefer her, though, in romantic comedies like this over dramas. This is also a great soundtrack.1:00 PM CT TNT

3. College Basketball: West Virginia at Ohio State. 3:00 PM CT CBS Continue Reading »

Being from the States, I had never even heard of Boxing Day until I met friends living in Canada in the last five years or so. Because it’s new to me, though, it’s always really interesting. So Happy Boxing Day to any of you that are celebrating. You can just keep on celebriting most of the day, as there really isn’t that much on the tube. It’s pretty much slim pickins’ today. We have mostly movies, and one, count it, one, regular primetime show that isn’t a repeat, 20/20. Might as well get out there and take advantage of all those After Christmas Sales.

1. Black Snake Moan. I watched this again this week, after having not watched it since it originally came out, and I like it just as much. It’s a great story on how violence, love, and sex get mixed in some people’s minds, starring Christina Ricci, Samuel L. Jackson (who we find out here is a great singer!), and Justin Timberlake. 6:00 PM CT Showtime East

2. Con Air. We have two lines we repeat over and over from this movie. One is “My birthday is on July 14th. My daddy’s coming home on July 14th.” My daughter’s birthday is that day, but to my knowledge, my husband has never been in prison. The other is “Define irony: A bunch of idiots dancing on a plane to a song made famous by a band that died in a plane crash” while Sweet Home Alabama plays in the background. 7:00 PM CT TNT

3. Police Academy. It’s the original, and once again, one that is leagues better than the sequels, the hundreds they’ve had since, or at least that’s what it seems like. This is the original with Steve Guttenberg, Kim Cattrall, and that guy that makes wonderful sound effects with his mouth. 8:00 PM CT Country Music Television

4. Definitely Maybe. This really cute romantic comedy stars Abigail Breslin and Ryan Reynolds as father and daughter. With her parents separated, the daughter wants to know how they met, and her father tells her stories of the three loves of his life, asking her to figure out which one is her mom. 8:00 PM CT MoMax East

5. 20/20. A review of the winning and losing “caught on tape” events of 2008, including Michael Phelps and the economy, as well as breakout stars of 2008 and a report on celebrity baby pictures being big money makers. 9:00 PM CT ABC

6. Doc Hollywood. Reading Michael J. Fox’s autobiography, he said it was during the filming of this movie that he first started realizing symptoms of his Parkinson’s appearing in his hands, but it was long after that that it was diagnosed. He stars as a doctor that gets stuck in a small South Carolina town using his medical knowledge to perform community service. 9:00 PM CT TVLand

Photo courtesy of tv.yahoo.com

I am trusting that all those celebrating are having a great holiday. I hope you all understand me taking the day off from offering up the What’s Hot On TV List. I had the programming of new iPods to oversee as well as a sick daughter on my hands today, preempting not just my daily programming list, but our Christmas plans as well. It just wouldn’t have been right to expose her possible illness to everyone at the Christmas gathering today, and it also wouldn’t have been right to leave her not feeling well while I sat researching and writing up my list for a few hours.

After a day of watching iCarly on a tiny little iPod screen today, then watching too many hours of The Christmas Story marathon (and when I say too many, I mean I normally like this movie, but five hours of it was just too much), I switched it up to Rocky when the marathon was finally over. What a refreshing change of pace this is, both from the marathon, as well as something a little different after watching a lot of holiday programming this month.

Fret not, I’m already hard at work on tomorrow’s list of What’s Hot On TV, which probably won’t have too many original things on there since it’s Friday and the day after Christmas. We should all be hitting the great sales tomorrow anyway. I think I’ll be spending part of my day at the pediatrician’s office, though.

Until then, I hope everyone is having a warm and safe holiday!

Photo courtesy of imagedownloads.blogspot.com

Got all your stuff done? Yeah, me either. I have some last minute shopping, printing (don’t ask), and cooking to do. Have to do my pilates so that I won’t feel guilty about eating the next two days as well. And we have a snowstorm with I think the most huge snowflakes I have ever seen in my life going on outside. It’s not beginning to look a lot like Christmas, it is Christmas, a White Christmas.

1. Bah Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas. Have some last minute wrapping to do? Set this kids down to watch Daffy Duck as Scrooge, and Granny, Tweety, Yosemite Sam, and Taz as the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future. 11:00 AM Cartoon Network

2. Rudolph and Frosty: Christmas In July. I think Rudolph and Frosty have the right idea. With the weather the way it has been, July would be very welcome at this point. 12:00 PM CT ABC Family

3. Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium. This is another of those flicks I missed at the theater and have been waiting to see. I’ll have to keep waiting, though, as this is on HBO Comedy, not one of the channels I get. Dustin Hoffman, Jason Bateman, and Natalie Portman star in this movie about the owner of a magical toy store that wants someone else to take over the business. 1:40 PM CT Comedy.

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After all that shopping is done and that show is shoveled, you can settle down tonight and watch some movies and specials, along with one new show, while you wrap presents. We have a special raising awareness for adoption on CBS, and one on ABC looking back on the big moments in entertainment and pop culture over the past year. And even though it’s two days before Christmas, we have a new show hosted by Donny and Marie Osmond. It’s a guess, but I’m thinking in the past thirty years he’s grown out of that whole purple socks thing.

1. Wedding Singer. Of the Adam Sandler movies out there, this is definitely one of the better ones, and in fact I might rank it right after Reign Over Me. As far as Drew Barrymore movies go, it’s right up there as well. It’s also a great soundtrack for all you 80s music fans. 4:00 PM CT VH1

2. Home Alone. The first one is just such a classic. Before I was a parent I thought it was funny, and now that I am a parent I find it stunningly realistic, because I can actually almost see it happening. 5:00 PM CT FX

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