BLOGS
August 2009 Archives
So the all-new-all-different Project Runway Season Six premiered last night in its new home on Lifetime, and aside from the new setting in Los Angeles, it really wasn't that different. Which would have been fine, it's still an entertaining show, except it was sandwiched between an additional two and a half hours of Runway -- a two-hour All-Star Challenge and a half-hour spin-off, Models of the Runway. I know we've all been missing the show, and under normal circumstances I would have been happy to get three hours of it, but when it feels like you're watching the same episode over and over again, it gets a little old.
Every year we start to get excited this time in mid-August because the crisp smell of fall TV is in the air. And while not all that many of the fall shows actually look promising, it's got to be better than most of the dreck that we've been stuck watching since June. This summer in particular seems to have had a lot of duds and disappointments (and very few highlights), so we're extra excited for it to be over. Here's why.
Despite my undying love of Shaq('s Twitter), I missed Tuesday's premiere of Shaq Vs., because I was out (on the town!), so apologies if this post doesn't seem timely. But really, Shaq is timeless. He was forged by Greek gods, according to the show's voiceover! He is not ruled by time and space. Or something. Anyway, the first 45 minutes of this show were actually quite enjoyable, by summer standards. It was certainly better than that Superstars crap we endured last month.
It's all about the casting news this week, as three of our favorite actors joined shows this week, a couple of scary dudes were give their own shows, and a couple of very high-profile celebrities signed on to appear on two of our favorite reality shows. You want names? We got names after the jump.
TV show names often aim for simplicity over complexity: For every Buffy the Vampire Slayer or How I Met Your Mother, there are a dozen Houses, Fringes and Heroeses. But is it just us, or do this season's new shows come off as a little... generic? We're all for brevity, but can we at least get a hint of meaning? Or mystery? Or, dare we say it, excitement? Just because The Office is entering its sixth season doesn't mean that a show named after a common noun is going to win you an Emmy. Here are a bunch of new programs that we feel could use a little something extra in the name department.
The idea of adapting St. Elmo's Fire into an hour-long dramedy series makes us think two things: 1. Thank God it wasn't another Joel Schumacher film, like 8mm or Batman Forever. (Although a Lost Boys TV series would be amazing). 2. As good as it is, could there be a more generic movie to turn into a TV show? Half a dozen friends hanging out in a bar/restaurant? We can think of three shows like that off the top of our heads... although it's probably not a bad thing to want to re-capture the magic of a Friends or a How I Met Your Mother. Because you know every TV executive in Hollywood is doing the same thing, we dug deep and came up with eight other "Brat Pack" films (meaning films containing cast members of either Saint Elmo's Fire or The Breakfast Club) that are undoubtedly being considered for the small-screen treatment.
Steve Harvey becomes a news reporter, Cartoon Network wants to stop showing cartoons, and ABC decided it would be a good idea to subject everyone to another on-screen version of The Time Traveler's Wife. Never mind all the other stuff -- I just want to know who thought it'd be funny to put crack in everyone's OJ this morning.
So it's not a big secret that my biggest guilty pleasure is Rock of Love. It's not just the insanely over the top drunken antics and really slutty girls that make this show so addictive, but it is also Bret himself. There's something oddly intriguing about the way he makes every girl, no matter if she's just puked her brains out or has spent the evening curled up with speed bump, feel like she's special. He's sort of a sweetheart underneath the fake hair, the gross bandanna and the rocker image. I was hoping that Antonio Sabato Jr.'s new show My Antonio would be similar to Rock of Love and fill that disease ridden void in my TV diet, but alas, it doesn't measure up. I worked up this little side-by-side comparison to prove my point.
Paula still doesn't have a job, some DWTS celebs are revealed, a reality show contestant allegedly gets kicked off, Jay Leno is back, and yet another comic is turning to television. It's a Monday.
I can't say that I'm a fan of 60 Minutes in general, but by and large I can ignore it, except when it cuts into The Amazing Race because some sort of sporting event ran long and threw off CBS' entire Sunday night lineup. Last night Big Brother was the bumped show because announcers apparently spent a good long time in shock that Tiger Woods lost or something. So I lamely watched the end of the news magazine shocked by how completely irrelevant Andy Rooney is now.