Tag Archives: American Idol

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FOX 2013 Upfronts

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FOX had a lot of problems this past year (Idol’s continuous downfall, The disaster that was Season 2 of X-Factor, their mediocre Tuesday comedy block ratings) but they also had some success in their new show, The Following. The network which has less programming hours  than all the other networks picked up 12 new series: Sleepy Hollow, Dads, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Almost Human, Junior Masterchef, Enlisted, Gang Related, Murder Police, Surviving Jack, Us & Them, Rake, Gang Related, Wayward Pines. They are also bringing back a blast from the past, 24: Live Another Day with Keifer Sutherland for a 12 episode limited series run. You know your network is in trouble if you are bringing back a hit show that has been off the air for 3 years. Check out the full schedule below.

FOX FALL 2013-2014 SCHEDULE

(New programs in Bold; all times ET/PT)

MONDAY
8-9 PM Bones (fall) / ALMOST HUMAN (late fall)
9-10 PM SLEEPY HOLLOW (fall) / The Following (midseason)

TUESDAY
8-8:30 PM DADS
8:30-9 PM BROOKLYN NINE-NINE
9-9:30 PM New Girl
9:30-10 PM The Mindy Project

WEDNESDAY
8-10 PM The X Factor (fall) / American Idol (midseason)

THURSDAY
8-9 PM The X Factor Results (fall) / American Idol Results (midseason)
9-10 PM Glee (fall) / RAKE (midseason)

FRIDAY
8-9 PM JUNIOR MASTERCHEF (fall)
9-10 PM SLEEPY HOLLOW encores (fall)

Late Fall:
8-9 PM Bones
9-9:30 PM Raising Hope (late fall)
9:30-10 PM ENLISTED (new; late fall)

SATURDAY
7-10:30 PM Fox Sports Saturday
11 PM-12:30 AM ANIMATION DOMINATION HIGH-DEF

SUNDAY
7-7:30 PM NFL Game (fall)
7:30-8 PM The OT (fall)
8-8:30 PM The Simpsons
8:30-9:00 PM Bob’s Burgers
9:00-9:30 PM Family Guy
9:30-10 PM American Dad

Not on the schedule yet: GANG RELATED, SURVIVING JACK, US & THEM, MURDER POLICE

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Battle of The Singing Shows

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Well not exactly. There is lots of news coming out recently for all the singing competition shows. Some judges have finally been picked on one show and on another some have been replaced.

Over on American Idol, the judges have been finalized. And the judges for season 12 are: the already announced Mariah Carey, the downgraded then upgraded Randy Jackson, the crazy insane Nicki Minaj, and the country crooner Keith Urban. 

Continue reading Battle of The Singing Shows →

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Sparkle Review

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Sparkle is a remake of the 1976 film of the same name. The film is set in the 1960’s about three sisters that form a girl group and on their rise to fame, things become challenging  as the close-knit family begins to fall apart. Sparks plays Sparkle, the quiet, good girl who writes the songs for the group, Tiki Sumpter(Gossip Girl, The Game) plays the sister who has other plans and only joins the group to help her sisters and make some money to go to medical school and the beautiful Carmen Ejogo (Sally Hemings: An American Scandal; Lackawanna Blues) plays Sister, the Diana Ross like lead singer of the group. Whitney Houston, in her last role, plays the overbearing single mother who is a recovering addict and doesn’t want will do everything in her power for her girls to not to end up down the path she went.

Many people will say this is a Dreamgirls rip-off. Not quite. The original Sparkle was released before the original Dreamgirls and kind of served as a blueprint on what to do and not do when they made another movie loosely based on the Supremes. It’s not a Dreamgirls copy but since that was the last girl group biopic that came out, it’s going to get the comparisons. It’s not as good as Dreamgirls, but it is a solid movie. Jordin Sparks, in her first acting role, is perfectly fit as Sparkle. Sparks natural innocence and good girl nature are pretty much perfect for this part. I don’t know why she isn’t bigger than she is because her voice is soooo great. Houston is not in the film as much as they made you believe but her parts were pretty well acted. Whitney has always been a better than ok actress so it was kind of nice to see that even after all the years of craziness that she had been through, she still had it in her to give a good slightly melodramatic performance. Carmen Ejogo is so stunning and a great actress. She plays Sister so well.

Sparkle is not perfect but its pretty good and worth seeing at least to watch Whitney tear up a rendition of “His Eyes on A Sparrow.” It just gets to you. So powerful.

Sparkle is in theaters today.

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Mariah Carey Signs On For “American Idol”

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It’s official. Fox has named Mariah Carey as one of the new American Idol judges for Season 12. She was one of the many rumored names being tossed around to become a judge. She will be getting somewhere between $12 to $17 million for the gig. Carey said today in a phone call to FOX president, Kevin Reilly,

I am so excited to be joining Idol. I wanted to be there today and I wish I could have been there myself to tell you. I can’t wait to get started in a couple months.”

No one else has been named to join her on the judges table but I’m sure that name is will be here before auditions start this fall. American Idol season 12 will premiere January 2013.

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Entertainment News

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Some entertainment headlines from the past week.

Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler both announced this week that they will be leaving the American Idol judging panel. There has been speculation for weeks about Lopez’s exit but Tyler’s came a little as a surprise. But not that surprising as there were rumors of major shake ups on Idol coming (Budget cuts, lots of firings). There are even some talks about Randy Jackson moving towards being a mentor towards contestants and not being a judge. Now that these two have left, who is going to take their place? Some of the names being tossed around as replacements are Adam Lambert (season 8 Idol runner-up), Celine Dion, Charlie Sheen, Mary J. Blige and Mariah Carey. I love Mariah and I think she would be great. It still wouldn’t get me to watch the show though. I don’t think anything could.  All these big names they want are expensive though and I don’t see any of them except Lambert taking less than $15 million for the gig. Just to put it into perspective Lopez made $20 million per year as a judge. That isn’t going to save them any money at all. I’m sure that in the coming weeks there will be more speculation and a ton more names thrown out there as replacements. It’s always funny watching the process unfold.

Get ready ladies. Another round of Magic Mike is on the way. Channing Tatum said “Yes, yes and yes!” during a Twitter interview with Glamour U.K when asked about a sequel to the his hit movie. “We’re working on the concept now. We want to flip the script and make it bigger.” Hmmm I don’t know about a sequel to this movie. Granted I liked it and all but there is no need for a sequel. The movie was resolved. If there were to do a sequel Tatum’s character wouldn’t be in it because at the end of the first one **SPOILER** he quits stripping. I mean there is plenty of eye candy there to continue I guess but story-wise it just needs to end.

R&B singer and songwriter, Frank Ocean’s new album, Channel Orange was released a week early this past Monday on Itunes. And while that might not seem like a problem for most people, apparently Target took offense and has decided not to stock the physical album that will be released this coming Tuesday, July 17th. Ocean’s manager, Christian Clancy was not happy about this and tweeted, “Target has refused to carry Frank’s album because of iTunes exclusive. Interesting since they also donate to non-equal rights organizations.” This in reference to Target having made donations to anti-gay political organizations. Ocean essentially came out revealed the week before on his tumblr page and that seems to be the reason Clancy is bringing that up. Target has come out and said their reasoning for not carrying the album is because Ocean’s management team released the album online first and not for any other reason. I would believe Target except Jay-Z and Kanye West did the same thing when they released their joint album, Watch The Throne, last August and Target still carried their album. It doesn’t matter to me though.  I was always going to get the album and it was always going to come from Best Buy who will surely reap all the benefits from carrying the album. Channel Orange is now available on iTunes and in stores this Tuesday. Check out his performance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

There is a new Walking Dead trailer for season 3 that came from Comic Con this week. It shows the survivors working together to clear the undead from that ominous prison glimpsed at the end of the last season. The footage also shows a katana-wielding new character Michonne (Danai Gurira) slicing through zombies and teaming up with Andrea (Laurie Holden). The trailer ends with a shot of Michael Rooker’s scumbag character Merle, who escaped from a pair of handcuffs by slicing off his appendage back in the first season. In the third season footage, Merle sports a knife for a right arm.   This looks crazy as hell. Can’t wait for it to start. The Walking Dead season 3 premieres October 14 on AMC.

Yay more Hunger Games news. Lionsgate has announced that they are going to be splitting up the third installment of the series, Mockingjay into 2 parts. They will start with Catching Fire hitting theaters on November 22, 2013, Mockingjay, Part 1on November 21, 2014, and Mockingjay, Part 2 on Nov. 20, 2015. This way, like the Harry Potter and Twilight franchises, every Thanksgiving families can head out to the theaters and see kids kill each other. Entertainment Weekly has a nice article on the possible places where they could split it up. There are many spoilers so if you haven’t read the book don’t even click on the link.

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Network Upfronts 2012

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I know I’m over 3 weeks late here but…. better late than never right? So upfronts happened and brought about the final nail to the coffins of many shows as well as plenty of renewals for the networks. We also get a preview of what the fall 2012 has in store for us.

Lets’s start with ABC. Their cancelled shows for the 11-12 season were Charlie’s Angels, Desperate Housewives, GCB, Man Up!, Missing, Pan Am, The River and Work It. Renewed shows are Castle, Modern Family, Body of Proof, Cougar Town, Dancing With the Stars, Grey’s Anatomy, Happy Endings, Last Man Standing, Once Upon A Time, Private Practice, Revenge, Suburgatory, The Bachelor, and The Middle.

I’m not really sad about any of the shows that were cancelled here. The only one that I feel they should have given more time to was GCB. Maybe let it run a little more in the summer to catch more of an audience. Their ratings weren’t terrible either so I didn’t really understand that one. As for everything that got renewed YES, YES, YES especially Cougar Town. TBS came in with a last minute save on the show because ABC was definitely going to ax it. So come this fall Cougar Town will no longer air on ABC but on TBS. Continue reading Network Upfronts 2012 →

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Postmortem On This Week’s Finales **Spoilers**

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Revenge – Holy crap. Did all that happen? I had said that this finale better be worth all the stops and breaks that this show put me through this season. Well it definitely was. They really answered a lot of questions but then brought up a lot more that set up where next season is going. We finally kind of got some closure on the white-haired man. When Emanda met up with him, she kicked his ass good. Oh my gosh I was dying. I wanted white-haired man killed but I can see that it would have just taken all of her humanity away and then she wouldn’t be able to be with Jack.

Except now she really can’t because Fauxmanda has returned and claims she is pregnant with Jack’s baby. It’s possible but I’m calling b.s on this one and where the hell has she been. Where did the Japanese man take her? Maybe it’s his baby lol. Glad Emanda got rid of Daniel he is sooooo ridiculous. I like the character but sometimes I’m just like for stupid are you? Ughh now he and Ashley are going to get together. Gross. That girl will do anything to try to get into the Grayson family. Hell if Conrad wasn’t with Lydia, I’m sure she would have tried to get with him.

Speaking of Lydia hope she’s gone. She became such a useless character that it took 3 episodes before I noticed she hadn’t been there. She is supposed to have met her demise with Victoria on the plane that was taking them to testify against Conrad in D.C. I believe that Lydia is dead but Victoria isn’t (Madeline Stowe who plays Victoria is still signed on for season 2). There is no way they could ever kill Victoria. Her character is definitely one of the things that makes this show successful. Charlotte can go too. Talk about a useless little brat. Ughh. I’ve said she needs to go kill herself for most of the season and I’m glad she took my advice and finally did it.  Hopefully it sticks for next season. That would be wonderful. Oh and Amanda’s mom that we’ve been told all season died is actually alive. WTH? Overall great season, good finale and I look forward to more craziness from the crazies in the Hamptons in September.

Modern Family – OMG Haley is so stupid lol. Sarah Hyland plays her so well. OMG Phil teaching Alex how to dance is hilarious. “Arms down here says, ‘I’m white and I’m sorry!’ But up here says, ‘You don’t know what I am!’” I couldn’t stop laughing at this part for some reason it was just too funny. And then it only got funnier when Alex’s “bad boy” date showed up and turned out to be a boy who is clearly gay and just doesn’t know it yet. Alex delivers a great line “Yes, my bad boy prom date is gay – he just doesn’t know it yet. I’m basically his beard. Pre-beard. His stubble.”  OMG Dylan has to be one of my fave recurring characters on this show. This is what he said to Claire and Phil when they got upset about Hayley moving in with him. “Look I know that you’re concerned, but I’m designing t-shirts now. They’re gonna be huge. Also medium and small.” Hahahah. Sad that Cameron and Mitchell didn’t get the baby. Glad they didn’t though. I think it would have been too cliché. The whole scene at the hospital that played out like a telenovela reminded me of an SNL sketch that Christina Aguilera did when she hosted that made fun of just how over dramatic all of those telenovelas actually are. It was cute Jay dancing with Lily. Is it terrible that I just don’t care for talking Lily? When she was a baby and not talking, I could take her even though she had absolutely no personality, but now with this new Lily talking she’s just such a spoiled brat. And right when Jay says he can’t do another kid, Gloria announces she’s pregnant. That’s gonna go really well next season with her old man husband but it doesn’t open up for some great moments with Claire and Mitchell because you just know they are going to act crazy when they find out they are gonna have another sibling.

Don’t Trust The B—- in Apt 23 – OMG June is such a mess. Just so entirely awkward and kind of sad and that makes her so hilarious. OMG James Van Der Beek is so hilarious in this exaggerated role of himself. I have come to like the dynamic of June and Chloe. They are complete opposites but they work together. The finale was just ok with some really funny awkward bits in it but I have come to like the show. It was renewed for a second season by ABC and hopefully it gets funnier.

American Idol – Hahaha opening performance Joshua Ledet fell during the performance.  Soooo funny. Not a bad performance. Boring performance with John Fogarty. Holy hell Fantasia. This performance with Joshua Ledet and Fantasia was a hot mess in more ways than one. They are both good singers and have that screaming voice. Can we talk about this catsuit? WTF? Seriously? WHY? She just had a baby. Why is she trying to wear this catsuit? It’s so bad. Just see for yourself.

I just can’t. Then the very next performance is another catsuit culprit, Chaka Khan. No no no. I know she has lost 60 lbs recently but she didn’t need to do that. The performance itself was a pretty good one. The top 12 girls actually sang pretty well.

These Ford commercials within the show are just so awkward and bad. I know they are their sponsor but no. Oh my girl Rihanna is on. Ooo and she’s singing live. Her performance game has definitely come up from where she started from and I can always applaud improvement. Performance with Reba McEntire was great. Steven Tyler is sooo not good-looking. Why did he look like that sloth he was carrying? Jessica Sanchez did a great job with that Whitney Houston song. Boring top 12 boys performance with Neil Diamond. It was probably good but I’m not really that much of a fan of his. Phonebook bit was ehh. Some of those people have some good voices though.

Oh JLo trying to take us back to her Jenny from the block look. The dancing is good on this performance but why are her and Flo-Rida lip syncing? That proposal between Ace Young and Diana Degarmo was so contrived, the only thing that made me think otherwise was that Diana was shaking so much as he put the ring on. Jordin Sparks nice performance. I like her. She looks great. More boring performances. Jennifer Holiday is making the craziest faces and yelling like crazy. She didn’t even give Jessica a chance on their parts together. She pretty much just made herself louder and louder to overpower her. Same thing she did to Jennifer Hudson when they sang that song together. Aerosmith is so classic that I’ll take all of Steven Tyler’s crazy antics for them to keep performing. Joe Perry is such a beast on that guitar. Boring Jessica and Philip performance and 2 hours later the winner is who cares. Everyone knows that the losers always fare better than the winners for the most part.

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Season Finale Wednesday 5/23/12

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The Middle – ABC 8/7c – Season 3 finale. Mike’s brother, Rusty (Norm Macdonald), invites the Hecks to his wedding, but lists their address as the location of the ceremony; Brick isn’t allowed to go to a party that falls on the same day of the wedding.

American Idol – FOX 8/7c – Season 11 finale. A season of amazing talent boiled down to this night. Who will be the next American Idol? Will it be the musical artist, Philip Phillips or the big voice, Jessica Sanchez? Last season’s winner, Scotty McCreery and Rihanna perform. This might also be judge Jennifer Lopez’s last episode as she is trying to decide if she wants to stay on any longer. I’m sure she will because they’ll throw a ton more buckets of money at her to keep her on the show.

Modern Family – ABC 9/8c – Season 3 finale. While Gloria helps Cam and Mitch pursue an adoption opportunity, Jay and Manny baby-sit Lily; Alex attends her first prom; Haley makes a shocking announcement about her plans for the future. This season has been a mixed bag of nuts. There have been some great episodes and then some lackluster ones but regardless of all that it’s still one of the best comedies on tv.

Don’t Trust The B- In Apartment 23 – ABC 9:30/8:30c – Season 1 finale. June tries to keep up with Chloe and her party lifestyle; James loses it when he finds out that Dean Cain has a bigger dressing room than he has. I like this show. It did get better than the pilot. It’s still not better than Happy Endings but I’m ok with that.

Revenge – ABC 10/9c – Season 1 finale. With the end in sight, Emily fearlessly pushes forward, closing in on the final phases of her plan for revenge, while the Graysons continue their downward spiral into the rabbit hole of self-destruction. But a big, explosive event leaves much hanging in the balance, courses are altered and even more is left in question. For all the stops and breaks that this show took, this finale better be the best one EVER. No matter what, I’ll still be back for next season.

Law And Order: SVU – NBC 10/9c – Season 13 finale. The team must go with caution when an underage escort is found dead at a wild bachelor party with high-profile people in attendance; Brian Cassidy (Dean Winters), a former SVU detective who is working under, helps Benson and Amaro investigate. I haven’t watched this show at all this season since Stabler (Christopher Meloni) left. I heard its been pretty good though.
 

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Smash

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Smash is an NBC show that premiered last month about the drama that happens on and off the stage during the making of a Broadway musical based on the life of Marilyn Monroe. The show has a cast of some familiar faces as well as some newcomers. American Idol’s Katherine McPhee and Megan Hilty star as Karen and Ivy, the two ladies who battle it out to play Marilyn. Debra Messing and Anjelica Huston also star in the  show.

Seven episodes in and I really like it. I loved the pilot. It showed a lot of potential.  I think it has gotten a little soap opera-y but I like soap operas so I have no problems with that. I have read somethings where they call it the grownup version of Glee but I have to disagree. Glee especially now is just so haphazard and makes no sense. They also just sing for singing sake, it has nothing to do with developing the plot or the characters whereas on Smash there is a purpose for every song.

Lets talk about the singing. It’s pretty great. Katherine McPhee to me was ok on Idol but her voice has gotten better over the years and Megan Hilty, who I had no clue about before this show, is clearly from Broadway. She plays her role so well and her singing is great too (There was one song on a recent episode that didn’t sound that great but it was still better than half the singing on Glee).

The ratings have been so-so for other channels but for NBC, it has definitely boosted its Monday night viewership. Thank goodness because they just renewed the show for a 2nd season. YAY!!! If you haven’t checked it out you should.

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Premieres and Returns For Wednesday 1/18/12

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Premieres Premieres Premieres!!!

8/7c

American Idol (FOX) – Season Premiere. Ryan Seacrest, Jennifer Lopez, Steven Tyler, and Randy Jackson are back tonight with the 11th season of American Idol. This is the best part of this show because all the terrible auditions are shown. After the first two weeks I turn this show off. After all the horrible singers are gone, who cares. It gets so boring. At least Simon use to make it interesting. Now the three judges left are just ehh and really have nothing at all interesting to say.

9/8c

Criminal Minds (CBS) – Winter return. The team is  traveling to San Francisco under suspicion that the Zodiac Killer is once again on a murderous warpath. Meanwhile, Reid will ponder his own capabilities as he accompanies Prentiss to a seminar on violent crime hosted by the crime novelist Patricia Cornwell.

10/9c

CSI (CBS) – Winter return. When a professional hit takes place at a law firm that Catherine recommended to a friend, she helps the FBI investigate. This is the episode before Marg Helgenburg’s exit. I might have to watch these last two episodes since Catherine Willows was my fave on this show. I have only watched off and on since William Peterson’s Gill Grissom left about 3 seasons ago.

Mistresses (BBC) – Season Premiere. Finally BBC is airing the final season of this show. I liked it very much and I’m sad that it didn’t continue. The name should tell you a lot about this show. It’s soapy and quite delicious and there are some really good stories as well as some good acting.

Royal Pains (USA) – Winter Premiere. Eric Kassabian’s life hangs in the balance after a prescription error and  Hank blames Dr. Van Dyke instead of Divya. Meanwhile, Paige tosses convention aside and makes Evan an offer he can’t refuse.