Category Archives: Primetime
Mariah Carey Joins American Idol
Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez vacated their judging positions only last week, but one seat on the American Idol judging panel has already been filled by Mariah Carey. Meanwhile, executive producer Nigel Lythgoe said at a Television Critics Association meeting that since Lopez told Ryan Seacrest that she was only “99 percent sure” she was leaving, there is a 1 percent chance she will return. Then, Lythgoe went on to contradict himself. He also expressed a desire to keep the show fresh with new judges each season.
Over at The Hollywood Reporter, there are some interesting American Idol related charts, such the following one.
Do you think Mariah Carey will make a good judge? Does American Idol even matter anymore? Tell us what you think in the comments.
The Anticlimactic Finale of Food Network Star
From left to right: Yvan Lemoine, Justin Warner, Michele Ragussis
As this is a review of the finale, naturally, it contains the winner. If you have not seen the finale and want it to remain a surprise, please stop reading now.
The finale of Food Network Star brought all of the season 8 contestants, their mentors, and the judges together for one last time. In what amounted to a glorified talk show clip show, the contestants shared their thoughts and behind-the-scenes footage and flashbacks aired between the conversations.
Most of the show consisted of high school superlatives and gossip. Viewers found out that Team Alton liked being called the nerds, Giada didn’t mind that her team was called the cheerleaders, and Bobby felt that “the jocks” was an accurate term for his “take no prisoners” team. Then the show went into how annoying Michele and Nikki found retro-rad Emily because she would wake up the house with a shrill good morning, which was followed by Malcolm being voted cockiest and Nikki being voted the most competitive.
Sullivan & Son: Crass, but Pretty Funny
The promos for TBS’s new sitcom, Sullivan & Son seemed crass, stereotypical, and at times cringe worthy. There was very little context, so I really wasn’t sure if I was going to like this or be offended by it. There is a lot of shock value in the show. It is crass, stereotypical, and cringe worthy. It just also happens to be pretty funny. The series opened with two episodes last night that both showed potential.
Steve Sullivan is the son. He is a workaholic corporate attorney on Wall Street who is visiting his family in Pittsburgh for his father’s birthday party. The party is being held at Sullivan & Son, a bar that the Sullivan family has owned for generations. Steve is bringing his girlfriend of 8 months to the party. It is his first time back home since they started dating and she is obviously more serious than he is about the relationship. This type of dynamic seems to really establish Sullivan’s character from the get-go. Steve is portrayed by showrunner and comic Steve Byrne. He is a man who is simply going through the motions of life. He has a “big and important” job (which he has to describe several times throughout the show) and a girlfriend who assumes they are going to move in together. He is following a safe and conventional path, but that isn’t what he wants. In this sense, Steve’s character seems very real as he struggles to grow.
The 2012 Emmy Nominees
Earlier today, The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced the 2012 Emmy Awards nominees. HBO (81 nominations) and CBS (60 nominations) lead the networks in nominations. Mad Men and American Horror Story (tied with 17 nominations) were shows nominated for the most awards.
Here is list of shows nominated in the major categories:
Best Comedy
The Big Bang Theory
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Girls
Modern Family
30 Rock
Veep
Best Drama
Boardwalk Empire
Breaking Bad
Downton Abbey
Game of Thrones
Homeland
Mad Men
AGT Results Recap: July 18th
Ashleigh and Pudsey
A poor night of performances has become the norm on this season’s America’s Got Talent, so the result shows are not really exciting. It’s hard to root for anybody to advance. AGT makes it seem like sending four acts to the next round makes the decision tough because two-thirds of the acts get sent home. However, the real challenge is not deciding which acts have to go home, but rather which average acts will get an undeserving chance at winning the competition. In a season like this, a semifinal of 24 acts seems too big. America is forced to choose the best of the worse.
The first result grouped Mike Price, Jacob Williams, and Cristin Sandu. This was an easy decision for America, but it wasn’t a rewarding one. This group was made up of a juggler who dropped his props, a balancing act that failed, and a promising comedian whose skills are still raw. Williams was the only performer out of these three whose act went as planned. Of course, that gave him an advantage. I’m happy for Williams. While he may have deserved to advance, he also got pretty lucky.
AGT’s Third Quarterfinal Performance Night
All Beef Patty
This season, I have come to expect disappointment from America’s Got Talent. Most of the acts that made it this far do not deserve to be performing on a national stage in front of millions. They are just not good enough. Some have promise, but are very unpolished. Some are just outright horrible to the point that I feel sorry that they were given so much false hope. Some are good, but they serve as only a mildly pleasant surprise. The competition is far easier for them than it should be. The performances this season have repeatedly come up short. Tuesday night’s show was no exception.
Trust Us With Your Life or Not
ABC‘s Trust Us with Your Life is easy to forget about because it’s on Tuesday nights, which are dominated by America’s Got Talent. I thought this was the debut of Trust Us with Your Life, it was actually the second week and the third and fourth episodes of the series aired.
Trust Us with Your Life is essentially a rehash of Whose Line is it Anyway? meets a really bad talk show. The show’s not terrible, but I could have lived without it. The guests add nothing, except tell wacky stories that are acted out by the cast. The entire cast is talented, but are limited in trying to be somewhat faithful to the celebrities memory. The two shows also pretty much share the same cast, which I am convinced has nothing better to do than to make poor imitations of their most successful show. Only this time they did it sans Drew Carey and added Jonathan Magnum and Fred Willard.
Despite the surprise absence of Drew Carey, not having anything to do with him was the best decision the producers could have made. It is the best attempt to recreate Whose Line is it Anyway? so far, but that’s not saying much. Past attempts at recreating the magic in Whose Line? revolved around Carey, so much so that his name was in the title of the two previous improv shows with the same cast: Drew Carey’s Green Screen Show and Drew Carey’s Improv-A-Ganza. Both shows were terrible and didn’t even make it past a season, which is a fate Trust Us will probably share. When done well, these type of shows work best in America after 11pm. However, the only improv show that has worked so far is Whose Line is it Anyway?. Will someone please make Whose Line 2.0, so the fans no longer have to sit through poor imitations?
Episodes Laughs At Death
Episodes premiered its third show of the season last night. The show continues to provide laughs, even in the most uncomfortable way. The father of network president Merc Lapidus has died and the episode dealt with the awkward ways the Pucks! staff would provide condolences. It was clear how completely inappropriate everyone’s behavior was, which is exaclty what makes it hilarious. There were parts of the show where viewers should not laugh, but they laugh anyway because Episodes runs on cringe comedy. It is a challenge to find humor in the fact that no one cares about someone’s death, yet the show makes it work.
When Lapidus’ father died, everyone’s main concern was appeasing the president of a network and not Lapidus as a person. Everyone in the show is acting selfish and morally questionable. Even so, it never fails to be funny. Their biggest concern is not to make sure Lapidus is happy, but what would be an appropriate thing to send as a condolence. An ongoing joke centers around Matt insisting that a muffin basket is not a big enough gift. He insists on a huge catered dinner, which Sean rejects. Still, there’s a stubbornness to appease Lapidus, or rather conform to “funeral” behavior.
Food Network Star: Promo Time
This season of Food Network Star has been underwhelming because many of the contestants were boring and the format did not work. Other than the handful of finalists, I do not remember anyone’s name because most of the constants were instantly forgettable. As for the format, it managed to make Giada DeLaurentiis, Bobby Flay, and Alton Brown unlikable because they had just as much at stake as the contestants: they would produce the pilot of the winner, if the winner is on their team.
Last night’s episode of Food Network Star seemed rushed. It could have easily been extended to 90 minutes or split over 2 weeks because it contained to distinct situations. Each situation could have made a complete episode, but for some reason neither one got the time it deserved and both were compressed down to a half hour. The first 30 minutes saw the remaining 6 contestants shoot 30 second promos for their potential Food Network show.
Spoiler Alert
Wait! What's A Dial? 