Archive for June, 2010
KATHY GRIFFIN DOORSTEPS THE PALINS
Jun 30th
In case you missed it, here’s Kathy Griffin on last night’s My Life On The D List, dropping in on Sarah Palin‘s Wasilla home for a little chat…
Unfortunately Sarah wasn’t home when the cameras were around – such a shame – can you imagine how the conversation would have gone! (check out Kathy versus Elizabeth Hasselbeck a couple of weeks ago for a preview!)
So instead Kathy was stuck with Levi Johnson, on / off boyfriend of Sarah’s daughter Bristol… Levi seems a sweet guy but he’s virtually monosyllabic and clearly dumber than a box of rocks. Sad for him – if he had a big personality TV networks would be banging down his door to offer him gigs. And I’m sorry – but decorating a home with dead animals is just plain wrong… it’s like something out of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre…
Still with Kathy around all Levi has to do is smile and nod his head a few times, and try to keep up with the conversation!
Here’s Kathy and her lovebird Levi in action…
COMING SOON: HAVEN
Jun 30th
When Does It Start: Friday July 9th at 10 / 9c on Syfy
In a nutshell: An FBI agent arrives at a small town in Maine for a routine case only to discover it’s a refuge for people suffering from supernatural afflictions. Mysterious events ensue…
What’s It About: Based on the Stephen King novella, The Colorado Kid, Haven finds Audrey Parker (Emily Rose) a shrewd and confident FBI agent with a mysterious past, digging up a whole heap of trouble in the small town of Haven.
Along for the ride are Eric Balfour as local rogue Duke Crocker and Lucas Bryant as Haven cop Nathan Wuornos. Duke and Nathan don’t get along… so expect a love triangle with Audrey in 3, 2, 1…
THE COLBERT REPORT: JOHN WATERS
Jun 29th
In a perfect world John Waters would be a permanent guest on every talk show out there!
Here’s the iconic film director on The Colbert Report, publicizing his latest book, ‘Role Models’.
How great is John – he completely gets the Colbert style of humor and delivers some great zingers – my favorite ‘would you rather your kid was a drug addict – or a drug dealer?‘
Like most people my favorite John Waters films are the more mainstream offerings – Hairspray, Cry Baby and Serial Mom – but thank goodness we have someone like Waters out there to shake people up and push the envelope… how amazing would a John Waters / Lady Gaga collaboration be for example…
Anyway here’s the interview… enjoy!
“I NEED AN IPHONE 4″
Jun 29th
There’s been a fair few Iphone 4 videos doing the ranks over the last few days – but these are undoubtedly two of the best.
They really shouldn’t work – but they absolutely do – as two cute little bears and cows (?) debate the merits of the hallowed new Iphone. Both get funnier and funnier as they go along!
Now I’m not a tech-head, unlike my partner, so some of this stuff goes over my head… but it’s always fun seeing cute animals saying rude things!
Enjoy! (more…)
BIG BUSINESS
Jun 28th
TV Goes Plus Sized – But Is It A Good Thing?
It seems like everywhere you look these days big is in!
Dance Your Ass Off is a smash on Oxygen while The Biggest Loser continues to rank as NBC’s most valuable franchise. Over on TLC there’s One Big Happy Family – a docu-soap about an overweight North Carolina family while Style’s Ruby follows an obese woman’s weight loss journey.
On the drama front there’s Drop Dead Diva on Lifetime, following a skinny blonde girl resurrected as a plus size lawyer and now there’s Huge on ABC Family, a series set at a camp for overweight teens. Come the Fall we’ll be seeing Mike and Molly, a CBS comedy about a couple who meet at an Overeaters Anonymous meeting. Sure you probably won’t be seeing too many fuller figures on The CW, but elsewhere the message is clear – America’s body shape is changing – in real life, and now on the not-so-small screen.
For many this is a good thing. I recently read an article in Entertainment Weekly in which the National Association For Fat Acceptance applauded the increase of plus size figures on our TV’s. But personally, I’m not so sure it More >
QUICK TAKE: TRUE BLOOD ‘IT HURTS ME TOO’
Jun 28th
Uh-oh, three episodes into the new season of True Blood and I don’t know about you but I’m not sure the show has completely found its feet yet.
Don’t get me wrong, HBO’s vampire epic is still hugely entertaining and undoubtedly must-see-TV, but I’m finding the increasingly disparate storylines strange and strained, and have pretty much checked out of a couple of the plots already… you know what I’m talking about!
Really do I care about Jason’s efforts to join the Bon Temps police force? This hastily scrabbled together storyline may well have a great payoff down the line (yes all you purists I’m sure it’s in the books) but at the moment it’s really, really dragging and feels wildly implausible. Jason’s decision to join the force came out of nowhere, following last week’s ride-along with Andy, and so did last night’s sudden resignation of Sheriff Bud Dearborne. In the same way, Jason’s constant bullet hole hallucinations are also not going anywhere fast. It’s become a mundane storyline in a show that’s anything but mundane.
Ditto Arlene’s pregnancy, which has dragged on for 3 weeks now, and feels straight out of a daytime soap opera. So Terry isn’t the father, but thinks he More >
ENTOURAGE RETURNS
Jun 27th
For me Sunday nights are all about True Blood, but I know there’s many of you out there who are huge Entourage fans and super excited about tonight’s Season 7 premiere.
Unfortunately I can’t say I’m a huge Entourage fan. I’ve watched it several times over the years and really tried to like it – but for me I just can’t get past the inherent douchebag-iness of the characters or the general tone of the show.
Sure, Jeremy Piven’s Ari Gold is a great comic creation – but the guy is just so hateful – and sadly so true to life – that I just don’t want to spend time with him on a weekly basis. Plus I can’t buy into Adrian Grenier as a movie star – I mean seriously, in what universe would this guy be a movie star? And to top it all off it’s produced by Mark Wahlberg – who like many gay men, I have a bit of an aversion to…
Still for those of you who are fans of the show – here’s the official season 7 preview!
EXECUTIVE INDECISION
Jun 27th
How Movie Studios and Networks Get It So Wrong…
So last night I went to see Knight and Day, the Tom Cruise / Cameron Diaz movie that’s been endlessly publicized on TV over the last few weeks in ever more bizarre ways.
Unfortunately it’s really not a great movie. It should be a fun filled romp but the characterizations are zero, the action scenes are deadening and the plot is wafer thin. It’s basically just Cameron Diaz and Tom Cruise playing themselves – i.e. movie stars. But above all else it felt very, very old fashioned. This movie could have been made in 2000 or 1990 (in fact it kind of was actually – remember the Goldie Hawn / Mel Gibson movie Bird On A Wire).
Now in case you haven’t been keeping score, this summer is rapidly turning into a washout for the movie studios. There are still hits. Toy Story 3 is making tones of cash. The Karate Kid remake is the summer’s big sleeper. Iron Man 3 and Shrek 2 have done well. And Adam Sandler’s latest fart gag epic, Grown Ups is on its way to an easy $100 million.
But this year the string of box office blowouts is longer than More >
TOM CRUISE GETS COOKING
Jun 26th
So the Tom Cruise Knight and Day promotional juggernaut continues (even though the film is already a bit of an under-performer for Cruise and co-star Cameron Diaz)
Here’s Tom on last night’s Jimmy Kimmel live – taking part in a cooking segment – with a twist…
Yep, Tom demands fresh eggs for the segment – so takes Kimmel – himself no stranger to TV stunts – on a journey to find them… the good stuff is really in the second video! (more…)
INSIDE THE INDUSTRY: Q&A WITH RENE SYLER
Jun 26th
Here’s a new feature we’re going to be running here on Remote Patrolled called Inside The Industry.
Each week I’ll be chatting to someone inside the TV world – be they celebrities, hosts, reality stars, producers, show-runners or network executives – for their take on the TV world, how they got those crucial first breaks – and what they’ve learned along the way – the good and the bad!
To kick off our first chat – I’m delighted to welcome Rene Syler who’s enjoyed a long and successful career in the TV world – first as a news anchor and now as an author, advocate, speaker and host.
Rene is familiar to many as an anchor on CBS’s Early Show – a role she held up until late 2006. Since then she’s been a regular guest on CNN and the Joy Behar Show, hosted BET’s Presidential Inauguration Coverage and last year shot two daytime pilots, including a parenting version of The View called Mom Logic alongside Paula Deen and Kate Gosselin.
Rene is also the author of the book Good Enough Mother – an alternative parenting guide, filled with the sassy and smart advice for which Rene is known!
I’m also proud to say Rene is a good More >
