Filming of the locally-produced “T.R.A.C.K. Alive!’ continues this weekend. The crew of the potential television competition series, under the guidance of former Fresno High School track coach Julia Ann Dudley, will be at Woodward Park 7:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. Saturday. The public is invited to come out and watch athletes compete for prize money for their school or track club.
Dudley says generally the filming has gone well. There just have been a few problems along the way with injuries and finances.
“Track is not a glamorous sport so it has been hard to raise money for the show,” Dudley says after a filming session.
"Mad Men," an AMC series most of you aren't watching, was the big winner at the Television Critics Association 24th annual awards tonight. The series about the advertising game in the early '60s won Program of the Year, Outstanding New Program of the Year and Outstanding Achievement in Drama.
To take the hat trick, the first-year series bested the likes of "Pushing Daisies," "Lost," "The Wire" and "John Adams."
Don't shed any tears for "John Adams." The HBO mini-series about the second President picked up the TCA award as Outstanding Achievement in Movies, Mini-series and Specials. Paul Giamatti, who portrayed Adams, was given the Individual Achievement in Drama award. In accepting the award, Giammatti says that while the honor was for individual achievement making the mini-series was definitely a group effort.
Actors have been known to gain weight, lose weight, learn a new language, take dance lessons, get hair extensions, bind their feet or get surgery to play a role. It is all in the name of the character. Mary-Louise Parker, star of the Showtime series "Weeds," faced horrible pain for a scene that will air during this fourth season of "Weeds" on the cable channel.
If you don't pay for Showtime (and if you steal it, I don't want to know), Parker plays a suburban mom who sells pot to make a living. This year she's moved out of the suburbs but the drug dealing has not stopped.
Parker was in the middle of filming a scene where she was getting physical (wink, wink). And in the course of that moment, Parker broke her toe.
That begs the question, how does one break a toe while in the throws of passion?
The Television Critics Association tour is winding toward the end. Today, stars and executives from CBS took centerstage. The big discussion centered on the impending departure of William Petersen from "CSI." He will be in the first 10 episodes of this year before leaving the crime drama.
CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler says no one has been cast to replace Petersen. But she did say the character would be a doctor who has DNA that carries the same characteristics of serial killers. He will have to deal with that as he rises to the head of the Las Vegas CSI department.
It sounds a lot like "Dexter." Maybe Michael C. Hall will be the replacement.
Fans of the ABC series "Desperate Housewives" saw an interesting end to last year's season finale. The show wrapped up with the timeline leaping ahead five years. That wasn't just a cute way to end the season. When "Desperate Housewives" returns later this year, the show will continue to be set in this new future.
Marc Cherry, creator of "Desperate Housewives," got the idea for the time shift from "Lost." He told television critics who have gathered in Los Angeles he had been looking for a way to clean the slate. The time shift allows him to make some major changes with the characters.
There was one challenge of the time shift that was the most difficult.
ABC put together a panel of television series creators, whose work included such shows as "Desperate Housewives" and "Private Practice," to meet with the television critics who have gathered here in Los Angeles. Also on the panel was Silvio Horta, the man behind "Ugly Betty."
We now know Christopher Gorham is not returning to the ABC series. The Fresno native's role as Betty's love interest will not be back next year. Gorham has landed the lead in the CBS mid-season thriller "Harper's Island." Horta's appearance on the panel provided an opportunity to find out what was behind the decision to end the storyline.
Was it as simple as the character was never supposed to last more than one season? Or did it have something to do with the production moving to New York?
I want to make one thing perfectly clear. I don't dance. Can't. Won't. Shouldn't. In fact there is California legislation that prohibits me from attempting a waltz, tango, fox trot or ANY dance style. It is better known as The Herman Munster Law.
If you don't believe me, ask my understanding wife. She's either been super understanding or super kind. Either way, I don't dance.
The nominations for the "60th Primetime Emmy Awards" provided the usual mix of the obvious and the obscure. That was certainly the case in the brand new Outstanding Host for a Reality-Competition Program category.
Ryan Seacrest, the talking stick of "American Idol" was among the nominees. Really? Seacrest? This is a guy who does nothing more than fumble through introductions and snipe at the show's judges. He only got nominated because "American Idol" is such a television force.
The "Scrubs" secret is finally revealed (not really)
Last year, when it looked like "Scrubs" was coming to an end on NBC, executive producer Bill Lawrence made a promise. He swore that before the series came to an end he would reveal the name of the character played by Neil Flynn. Flynn has only been known as Janitor since the comedy series launched.
The reveal never happened. ABC stepped up and ordered at least one more season of "Scrubs." Those new episodes will begin airing in the fall. And so it looked like the Janitor's real name would remain a secret.
That changed Wednesday. Flynn and the "Scrubs" gang showed up at the Television Critics Association meeting to talk about the move to ABC. That's when Flynn revealed his character's real name.
It never ceases to amaze me. Every time I attend one of the Television Critics Association meetings, there is always a moment where an actor, producer or executive will spot my name tag. What follows is either "Hey, I lived in Fresno for a few years" or "I have relatives who live there."
You want to believe this is a big world but in the end it ends up being very small.
Such an incident happened Tuesday night. I had traveled to Burbank to watch a recording session of the Disney Channel series "Handy Manny." The series is aimed at preschoolers. Not only does it teach life lessons, it also offers some help learning Spanish. "That '70s Show" star Wilmer Valderrama provides the voice of Manny Garcia, a young man who helps people using a set of talking tools.
Many of you got upset when I talked about how Fresno native Christopher Gorham was not going to return to the ABC series "Ugly Betty." When last we left the show, Betty was torn between two lovers and one of them was Henry (Gorham). Even the suggestion Gorham would not be back made many of you mad enough to write.
Well, I was right. Gorham will not be back. But he has landed another series.
Gorham will co-star on the CBS' midseason drama "Harper's Island." Despite the fact the series is not scheduled to begin airing until January, it is getting a lot of attention. That's because it is a serialized horror story. A group travels to an island near Seattle. Many of the guests will meet gruesome ends as each episode unfolds. A wedding is to be held on the island. Gorham takes over the role as the groom-to-be, a role Ryan Merriman had been originally cast to play. As one person close to Gorham put it, as the groom his odds of surviving seem good.
Bonnie Hunt made a trip to Reedley before she started work on a script for the 2003 feature film 'Cheaper by the Dozen." Hunt plays the mom in the light comedy. The trek to the little community in Fresno's shadow was to meet with Ernestine Gilbreth Carey. She was the author of the book that had already spawned one film version.
"She was a lovely lady," Hunt says during an interview earlier today after a session of the Television Critics Association press tour to discuss her new talk show. That's right, Hunt is leaping into the television genre that has resulted in more failures than successes.
The trip to Reedley ended up being helpful but not helpful enough.
It took 16 years before Matt Groening and all of the talent behind "The Simpsons" decided it was time to do a big screen version of the yellow-hued family. Then it took four years of work to create the feature film that was released last year.
The film was a success. So when Matt Groening showed up at the Television Critics Association meeting, going on at this moment in Los Angeles, it was a good opportunity to ask him if there was a chance a second movie would be made.
Groening says "probably," but don't look for it anytime soon. You will just have to be content with the small screen version for now.
When a second film is made, Groening promises he won't follow the current trend with film animation.
There is always one television series that catches the attention of television critics when they come together in Los Angeles to preview an upcoming season. The Fox drama "Fringe" had the most buzz even before the Television Critics Association meetings started a few days ago.
Makes sense. J.J. Abrams, the man behind the mind-testing "Lost" and the even more mind-testing "Alias" is an executive producer of the series. If the new series, slated to air at 9 p.m. Tuesdays, is half as interesting as "Lost," then Fox will have another hit.
It usually takes a few days before a real verbal battle breaks out at the Television Critics Association tour. But sooner or later, a war of words will break out between the TV critics, including yours truly, who are in Los Angeles to preview the fall season and interview the talent.
Fox News nchor Chris Wallace threw the first punch. He took offense that Fox contributor Karl Rove had been the focus of numerous questions other than what is it like to work for the Fox Network. Call me silly, but if you ignore a subpoena from Congress, that's going to draw some attention.
Wallace had finally heard enough Tuesday and fired off "I think there is a double standard in the
questions that particularly Karl is being asked here. I don't understand. Maybe somebody can
explain to me why it is that if Congress and the White House are having a fight in executive power
that that should in any way constrain an independent news organization's decision as to who
it's going to have on its payroll and who it's going to talk to."
.Wallace always has shown a great grasp of the news. Could he really be stunned Rove was being grilled?
If you are reading this blog then you probably aren’t average. Of course that usually goes without saying. But now there are actual facts to support this. A.C. Nielsen Media Research, those guys who count TV viewers, have just revealed some interesting statistics.
They say the average American watched 127 1/4 hours of television in May. That was an increase from a year ago when average Americans watched 121 hours and 48 minutes in May.
It adds up to being more than four hours a day of TV watching. If you count eight hours for sleep, nine hours for work, an hour for meals, an hour for personal matters (and you know what I am talking about), that leaves only five hours in the day. So the average American has less than an hour for family, friends and reading blogs.
What as a society did we do to deserve such punishment? Sure we waste fuel. We are often so absorbed in a meaningless cell phone conversation we forget the rest of the world. Don’t get me started on the people at the checkout stand who spend 10 minutes finding that dollar they hid in their wallet just so they can pay their bill.
Those are all terrible things. But those things aren’t really bad enough to deserve the plague that is going to rain down on us starting Sunday. Bring in the farm animals. Store extra food and water in a safe place. Get your affairs in order. “Big Brother” is coming back.
Here’s a question to ponder. What is it that bloggers and organized crime killers have in common? They are both judged by the number of hits they can accumulate.
It is an interesting concept. If a person writes for a newspaper, they know how many papers are sold. But there is little way to tell if the person who read the newspaper ever stopped on that reporter’s story.
The Internet answers that question in the minds of many. The more people who read the blog, as measured by hits and comments, the better. But, can the number of blog hits be artificially manufactured?
After seeing “The Dark Knight” and “Hellboy II: The Golden Army” this weekend it seemed very clear that the stars of the upcoming movies would be perfect guests for Dr. Phil. It is not unusual for stars of movies to make the talk show rounds to promote their movie. So why not take advantage of Dr. Phil’s show?
Imagine Dr. Phil opening the show with the announcement, “Today’s guests have what I like to call old-fashioned problems. My first guest is that crimson-skinned star of ‘Hellboy II,’ It is Hellboy himself. Joining him is the trickster of Gotham City. The man with the fashion sense of Prince. Put you hands together for The Joker.”
The Walt Disney Studios dominated the world of animation during the decades following the 1937 release of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” Every other studio knew the best it could do was second place. Walt Disney’s ability to use the latest technologies to producing staggering pieces of film art was nothing short of genius.
Now it is John Lasseter and his team at Pixar showing true genius. Not since Walt Disney has there been such force in a film genre. Anyone else trying to do computer animation might as well settle for second place.
Pixar’s “WALL-E” is the latest example of the magic of Pixar.
Here he comes to save the day. There was a time when super heroes beat up bank robbers, stopped trains from crashing and even saved a few lives. This is the 21st Century. The help a super hero provides these days is a little more practical.
In connection with the release of the Will Smith super hero feature film “Hancock” on July 2, Columbia Pictures has launched a contest. The winner will get their home mortgage paid off faster than a speeding bullet. Hancock, a hero from a distant planet can bend steel deals in his bare hands.
Look. Up in the sky. It is a high mortgage rate. It is staggering closing costs. No. It is Hancock.
California Adventure has been the New Coke of theme Parks. Sure, you would buy New Coke if it was cheap. But how many people really preferred the knockoff to the real thing. Since California Adventure opened in 2001, it has been an anemic partner to Disneyland.
Except for Tower of Terror, California Screamin’ and Soarin’ Over California, the only great thing about the park was it was never as busy as Disneyland. Just pop in the park during Disneyland peak hours and you could always find an open attraction or place to eat.
John Wallace is no longer working at KGPE, Channel 47. His contract wasn’t renewed, says Tom Long, acting general manager of the station. Long added Wallace’s last day was today.
The station has not wasted anytime in an effort to make Wallace a distant memory. The photo and information about Wallace has already been deleted from the KGPE Web site.
Wallace began his broadcast career in Fresno in 1969 when he joined the news staff at KYNO radio. In 1975, Wallace became a television news anchor at KFSN, Channel 30. In 1987, he joined KJEO (now KGPE) to anchor the station’s evening news.
He left that job in 2001 to spend more time in community work and politics. Four years later Wallace was lured back to the station to co-host the KGPE morning show with Kathryn Herr. Wallace has continued to do community work. He currently is the Bulldogs Foundation Fund Drive president.
Mornings never seemed to be the right fit for the veteran news anchor. And his years of local work did not give the show a ratings spike. In fact, the morning show for the CBS station continues to struggle to find viewers.
As for the future of the KGPE morning show, Long says there will be a program Friday morning. He would not comment on who would be anchoring the program.
Before I write another word, I must make a deep, dark confession. This is just between us. That's because it is absolutely critical for a journalist to remain impartial. Each story must be approached with an open mind.
That isn't the case with reviews. Remain impartial in a review and every movie or TV show will get a C grade. Eventually that kind of middle-ground approach can lead to a new career.
The impartial approach is needed when writing features and news stories. It should not matter whether the writer hates or loves the person, place or thing that is the subject. Each story just has to be approached with a wide open mind.
That is tough in one particular case. Here’s my confession. And I hope you can forgive me.
"Grey’s Anatomy" star Katherine Heigl has always been a great interview. The first time I talked to her was for the series "Roswell." What makes her such an enjoyable interview is that she is smart, funny and goes out of the way to make you feel comfortable.
That's why the report on the L.A. Times blog Gold Derby that Heigl's name is not on the the list of Emmy contenders is both depressing and understandable. It is sad that she won't be able to defend last year's win. This wasn’t a great year for her, but there were at least enough episodes to make her worthy of consideration.
Since “The Sopranos” ended there have not been a lot of reasons to suggest paying the extra bucks to pay for HBO. It is certainly not the premium channel to chose if you want to watch uncut theatrical films. The network tends to lean more toward original series and programs.
But, while you still have time, call your cable provider and order HBO before Monday. Order the service. I’ll wait while you make the call.
Hmmm. Hmmmm.
Oh good, you are back. It was nice to see you agree to order HBO without knowing the reason why. Thanks for the trust. You will be glad you did.
And now we wait. Last night’s finale of ABC’s addictive “Lost” answered a few more questions. But, in what has become the norm, along with the answers came more questions.
The problem is the next new episodes of “Lost” will not air until early in 2009. Curse you ABC. You can keep rolling out garbage like “According to Jim” but viewers are made to wait for quality shows like “Lost.” Remember, we don’t have the ability to manipulate time like those on the island. We have to sit and wait.
Please stop reading now if you have not seen last night’s episode and don’t want me to spoil the surprises.
The second season of ABC's "Ugly Betty" ended with a cliffhanger. Betty (America Ferrera) faced the tough decision of choosing between two men. Henry (Christopher Gorham) asked Betty to marry him. Gio (Freddy Rodríguez) wanted to travel to Italy with Betty.
What's a girl to do?
If you are making bets, don't pick the marriage proposal. At this point, Gorham, a Fresno native, is not scheduled to be on season three. And Rodríguez is also not scheduled to return. These changes are part of a revamping of the series to swing the focus more back to the workplace. As part of the changes, the series moves from being shot in Los Angeles to New York.
The show can make all the changes it wants. The loss of Gorham is a mistake.
Gorham's goofy Henry gave the series a sweet element that was a nice balance to all the bitterness. Sure Betty is sweet. It just was nice she had some help from Gorham's character.
The announcement Harrison Ford would reprise his role as Indiana Jones was greeted with some doubts. Could the 65-year-old actor handle the physical demands of playing the adventurer? Would the action have to be less exciting so Indy would not break a hip?
If you were one of those asking the questions, go see “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.” It opens today. What you will see is Ford’s performance has not lost a step. And it has been 19 years since he played the character. Indy is just as wise cracking, fist throwing and chance taking as ever.
His return along with Sylvester Stallone’s recent decision to make new “Rocky” and “Rambo” movies suggests a trend of aging action actors reprising their famous roles just one more time.
NBC has announced it will add a new reality show called “Momma’s Boys” to its schedule in late August. The show will feature male contestants and their moms living in a house with potential wives. It is up to the moms to decide which of the harlots, oops make that hopefuls, are perfect for their sons.
This comes on the heels of the NBC reality show “My Dad is Better Than Your Dad.” This TV answer to child abuse pitted fathers and a child against other family pairings. It was painful to watch the way some of the dads treated their kids.
It appears, based on these two shows, NBC is looking at family related reality shows to fill a schedule that gets weaker with each passing moment. You have to think more is to come. Here are some ideas for future NBC reality shows.
Do you promise to tell the truth, the whole truth?
If the number of telephone calls and emails I continue to get is any measure of the continued interest in Heidi Watney, the former KMPH, Channel 26 sports reporter, then she is gone but not forgotten. So here's an update:
As part of Watney's new job as a sideline reporter at Boston Red Sox games for the New England Sports Network, she was interviewed for a story that can be seen at BostonHerald.com. The contents of that story drew attention from many sports bloggers in the Boston area.
That’s because Watney had some interesting things to say.
One part of the story focuses on The Fresno Bee's reporting in December of how Watney was suspended by KMPH management after cursing at a school administrator.
Here's what I wrote at that time:
KMPH, Channel 26, sports reporter Heidi Watney has been suspended this month because of an incident with a Hoover High School vice principal that occurred in November. Watney cursed at the school administrator.
This is the problem Clinton, Obama and McCain should address
Forget the high prices of gas. Forget the increase in student fees. Forget that the voting on “American Idol” is all wrong. There is a much bigger problem facing this country. Not since Roseanne Barr grabbed herself and spit while while singing the National Anthem has there been such a blight on this once proud landscape.
And this problem is growing. It has gone from a few small incidents to being almost universal. You can’t drive down the street without running into it.
The problem is a lack of common courtesy. There was a time when most people where civil to each other. Now it is all men and women for themselves. Who cares if the light has been red for five minutes? Go on through. Lines at the checkout counters are only suggestions. Go ahead and get in front of the crowd.
There is no place on this great green planet where there is so little lack of common courtesy than at the grocery store.
The nominations for the “35th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards” were announced today. Categories included most of the usual suspects from talk shows to children’s programming. We won’t know until June 20 who has won. Can’t you just feel the tension?
This year’s group on nominees include the usual battles such as in the talk show category where “The View,” “Rachael Ray” and “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” will fight for the top honor. And of course there were numerous categories for daytime dramas.
But the real battle is in the Game Show host category. This is where white collar vs. blue caller. Veteran vs. rookie. Stander vs. sitter. Yes, I am talking about “Cash Cab’s” Ben Bailey and “Jeopardy!’s” Alex Trebek going head-to-head for the Daytime Emmy.
There hasn’t been as much tension in this category since the old Peter Marshall and Bert Convy showdowns of the ‘70s. Just as it was with those titans, arguments can be made for both this year.
Yawn. That’s how exciting the competition on “Dancing With the Stars” has become. Watching the ABC reality show is like watching the Oscars and trying to predict who will come in second place. The action resumes tonight.
Unless Kristi Yamaguchi suddenly goes mad and beats up the judges, this is her year to take home the tackiest trophy in televison. Her dancing is so far superior to the others it is like a Broadway dancer taking on an 8th grade nerd.
There must be a way to make the competition interesting again. Here are some suggestions.
You can look at any television ratings book and see KFSN, Channel 30, is the most watched station when it comes to local news. And 99% of the time the local ABC station does the solid work that proves it deserves that attention.
That is why when the station loses its focus the results just seem completely out of place. Just such a moment happened Thursday night. Any of you who stayed up past “Lost” saw the story. If you didn’t see the report, you at least had to have seen one of the 34,267,528 promotions for it.
The story that stands out like a sore thumb is KFSN’s report on Fresno’s Bigfoot connection.
It is not unusual for politicians to pop up on television shows. Richard Nixon appeared on “Laugh-In.” Bill Clinton played the sax on “The Arsenio Hall Show.” But tonight the three leading contenders for the White House go where no Presidential hopeful has gone before. They are going to get down and dirty with professional wrestling.
On the eve of the Pennsylvania primary, Presidential candidates Sen. Hillary Clinton, Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain will be featured in taped messages on WWE’s “Monday Night RAW.” Those messages will air between 8-11 p.m. tonight on the USA Network.
This is one way to get a message to the five million viewers who tune in the professional wrestling program. It just makes a person wonder what kind of message will be presented. Here’s one possibility.
A 26-year-old Texan, Crystle Stewart, is the new Miss USA. I mention that because this week’s ratings reveal most of you didn’t watch the pageant. The telecast on NBC attracted only 5.7 million viewers. That’s 1.7 million less than last year. If you were to take away all of the relatives of the contestants that number would drop by another million.
So what’s the problem? Television viewers have shown in the past they like programs that feature pretty women in swimsuits. Do you actually want to argue that “Baywatch” drew viewers because of the plots? No. It was the swimsuits.
And there is no question reality television is big. That’s why most nights are a viewing wasteland for scripted television because of “Survivor,” “Hell’s Kitchen,” “American Idol” and “Big Brother.” OK. “Big Brother” is not a good example. Even less people watch that garbage than the pageant.
Here’s the big question. How can the “Miss USA Pageant” draw more viewers? Here are a few suggestions.
The following is a portion of a press release that recently came across my desk. It said:
“How does it feel to be part of history?” Don’t Tread on Me!” It’s the new battle cry of the next Jericho fan revolution. On March 22, CBS cancelled Jericho once again, and within minutes, the fan efforts to solve the problem had kicked back into action. “Jericho,” a CBS program that started September 20, 2006, had been cancelled once before, but was brought back when one of the characters, Jake Green (Skeet Ulrich) uttered the statement ‘Nuts!” while in the heat of revolution. This, in turn inspired a fan protest that involved 40,000 pounds of nuts being sent to CBS, enabling them to reconsider the decision which in turn spawned off a 7 episode Season 2. For more information, and information on how you can lend your efforts and voice into making history to get "Jericho" to a new home, log onto www.jerichonet2.com/board and check out the New Save Jericho Campaign Efforts for addresses, phone numbers and other information on efforts ongoing to give "Jericho" another chance.
I think Dr. Phil could summarize this best. Get over it!
The mystery of the Oceanic Six seems to be getting clearer on “Lost.” Or is it?
For those of you who don’t watch the ABC drama, survivors of a plane crash have been on a mysterious island for 100 days. Since the end of last season, there have been flash forwards to show that a group known as the Oceanic Six were rescued.
It is clear that the six include Jack (Matthew Fox), Kate (Evangeline Lilly), Hurley (Jorge Garcia), Sun (Yunjin Kim) and Sayid (Naveen Andrews). Here’s the big question. Has the sixth member of the group been revealed or not.
Please don’t continue to read if you are behind in watching the series. There will be spoilers.
Chris Carter reveals secrets of "X-Files" movie - (not really)
One of the biggest receptions at this year’s WonderCon in San Francisco over the weekend was for the cast and crew of the new “X-Files” movie. It has been five years since David Duchovny and Gilliam Anderson played the sexually-charged government agents who chased more supernatural creatures than the Scooby Squad.
Chris Carter, creator of the TV series, joined the film’s stars to talk before a packed house of rabid fans about the new movie that is scheduled to hit theaters in July. Well, when I say he “talked about” the movie, you have to remember that Carter sees more conspiracies than Agent Mulder. It is actually surprising that he would even admit the movie is being made.
After his time with the fans, Carter sat down to talk, in only the way Carter can talk, about the latest offering in the franchise.
There have been plenty of years when the Super Bowl commercials were far more interesting than the game. That was not the case with Super Bowl XLII. The game was exciting. The commercials were not.
Maybe too much was expected considering some of the great commercials in recent years. Even lower expectations wouldn’t have been met by what was overall a lackluster effort by advertisers.
Here’s a look at the good, the bad and the ugly of Sunday’s Super Bowl commercials.
The nominations for the 80th Academy Awards reveal one important thing. The Academy didn’t go with the obvious choices, especially with the best actress and best supporting actress category.
Obvious picks would have been Julia Roberts for “Charlie Wilson’s War” or Angelina Jolie for “A Mighty Heart.” Both turned in strong performances this year worthy of nods. The bigger issue is that both would have guaranteed immediate star power for the telecast. That’s assuming the writers strike gets settled and there is a telecast.
But the Academy’s picks in the best actress and best supporting actress category this year include numerous nominees that probably couldn’t be picked out of a police lineup.
There are a lot of things that can be forgiven at a concert. Late starts are a given. Crowds pushing to reach the the stage is just part of the spectacle. Even the guy singing out of tune next to you has become a part of the concert experiences.
The one thing that can’t be forgiven is when an artists has no passion for the performance. It is easy to tell from the first note that this is just another stop on a long tour for the performer.
That was not the case Wednesday night at the Table Mountain Casino. Pop icon and tabloid favorite Liza Minnelli performed before a full house. Say what you want about her marriages and abuse problems but Minnelli turned in a performance that came straight from her heart.
The writers strike has taken a toll on television programming. But it hasn’t been as bad as it could have been. The fact the networks had several original episodes of most of their dramas done and ready to show has made the situation not look so bleak.
If the talks next week between the writers and producers don’t reach a settlement, and don’t look for that to happen, then the strike will go on until at least mid-January. After that, bleak arrives.
Just to recap, the writers are on strike because they want a percentage of the profits made when a television program is aired on the Internet or through some other new way of delivery. The amount that is in dispute is small, less than 2%. But it is enough to bring the Hollywood machine to a stall.
How many times have you been sitting on the couch and thought that you could sing better than those people on reality television shows? If the answer is even "once" then you had better get off the couch and down to the Fresno Art Museum.
Auditions are being held on Halloween at the facility at 2233 N. First St. for the next season of the TeleFutura series "Objetivo Fama."
“Objetivo Fama” features young Hispanic singers in a competition in which the winner gets a recording contract with a Latin music company. Competitors from Fresno have been on the reality show the past two seasons.
I was wrong. But in my defense, many of you probably had the same thoughts.
When "The Littlest Groom" came on, it seemed like the reality show trend had reached the very bottom of the slimy pit of entertainment. You don't remember the show? Consider yourself lucky. It was about a vertically-challenged man who had women of his height and those of average size competing for his love.
Then there was a new low. That was the moment on "Flavor of Love" when one of the women trying to earn the love of Flavor Flav was so moved she had a bowel movement on the floor.
But those shows pale in comparison to the new CBS series "Kid Nation." It debuts at 8 p.m. tonight.
The "Lord of the Flies" idea behind this reality show has 40 children living on their own for 40 days in a New Mexico ghost town. In this case, living on their own means while surrounded by camera crews that document the efforts of the children to form a viable society.
Tom Forman, the Fagin, better known as executive producer, of the show says, "The kids woke up whenever they wanted and went to bed whenever they wanted, and that was part of our commitment when we came up with this idea and decided to do it. A large adult safety net was there to make sure that if anything happened we had a contingency plan in place."
The crew just sat back and watched while these children -- ages 8-15 -- cooked, cleaned and dealt with life without their parents. The show was shot in New Mexico where the filming laws were so lax the program was produced during a school year but there was no need to have a tutor on the set.
Forman goes on to say about his young cast that "They are, if nothing else, incredibly honest. They tell you what they think. They tell you how they feel. If they are sad, they cry. If they have a crush on someone, they talk about it. If they're jealous or angry, they fight. It's everything that's best about human beings and, at times, worst, because they really do -- they just don't censor themselves."
And cameras rolled as some children expressed an interest to go home. Any child was allowed to leave when they wanted. But the emotional moments were all filmed. Money will be made off the pain and suffering of children.
How is this not any different than slave labor? You want to make an adult eat a bug to win a prize, be my guest. Adults should at least have enough sense to say yes or no. But these kids were put in this position by their parents. Many of the parents are now saying they had no idea exactly what was going to happen. And they think that makes it better? It is every parents duty to know EXACTLY what they are allowing their child to do. Stupidity is not a defense.
This is a vile idea for a program even by reality show standards. The Federal Communications Commission gets all bent out of shape when a four-letter word is broadcast. How is that worse than allowing adults to profit off the sweat and tears of children?
Shame on the show's producers. Shame on CBS. Shame on any advertiser who buys commercial time. Shame on you if you watch.
The "59th Primetime Emmy Awards" are now in the books. This is the first time in my life I have ever advocated burning books. From a forgettable hosting stint by Ryan Seacrest to awards that made as much as scene as CBS executives thinking "Kid Nation" will be a hit, this was an Emmys to pretend never happened.
Maybe it was a dream. Please someone wake me up. "30 Rock" could not have been named best comedy. Alec Baldwin is the only funny part of the show and he did not win. The win by NBC's "30 Rock" makes the dream about being in front of a class, naked and without your homework seem rather tame.
If only that was the only bad moment.
Let's start with Seacrest. Simon Cowell needed to show up to tell the Emmy host that "There are parasites that are better hosts than you. Your attempts at comedy make tragedy look funny." Seacrest joked that the Shrine Auditorium was filled with 6,000 people who all passed on hosting. Wasn't there a homeless man outside the Los Angeles facility who could have taken the job? He would have been better.
Ray Romano has lost his mind in the two years he has been off the air. The "Everybody Loves Raymond" star offered such a foul joke during the early moments of the show, the audio vanished for a few moments. Sadly, it came back. Later Romano's former co-star Brad Garrett took the stage to make the joke that he would be and his "'Til Death" co-star Joely Fisher would star in "Bury My Head Between Your Knees." Then they traded jokes about her breasts. So much for paying respect to actors.
The only good thing about the show being held in a theater-in-the-round setting was that there was no place to hide a firing squad. Some of the comedy bits would have been killed to put viewers out of their misery.
All of the talk in the Fox pre-Emmy show, a program that was a technical nightmare, was that Britney Spears was to make an appearance. She was to apologize for her painfully bad performance at the "Video Music Awards." You know an awards show has reached an all-time low when an appearance by Spears would have raised the bar.
The games continue
-thumb-150x225.jpg)
