AE-related stories
Posted Nov 7th 2009 5:02PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Celebrities, Celebreality
Reportedly, before
Michael Jackson died suddenly in June, his brothers – and other family members – were putting together a reality show for A&E. After all, celebrity reality shows have a certain appeal, especially train wrecks like
Being Bobby Brown or
Hey, Paula. Not that the Jacksons were thinking that way. I'm sure they envision something classy and edifying.
Since Michael's death, the interest in this miniseries has escalated, much like the interest in all things Jackson. Will the brothers talk about Michael? How much? Will Michael's children be included in the show? All that and more will be answered when
The Jacksons: A Family Dynasty debuts on A&E December 13, at 9 p.m. The plan is for two hour-long episodes to kick off the series.
Continue reading The Jackson Family reality show debuts in December
Posted Nov 3rd 2009 8:32PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Celebrities, Pickups and Renewals
A&E, the cable network that is slowly becoming no arts nor entertainment, has signed on another tabloid favorite celebrity to bare her life for the camera.
Kirstie Alley will join the network's neverending list of celebrity reality shows. This one will focus on her neverending battle with weight loss as she raises her kids. The network has ordered 10 episodes of the new series.
In other words, it's every other family-related reality show you've ever seen except this one will star Kirstie Alley.
Posted Oct 29th 2009 1:31PM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Programming, OpEd, Video
I've never been big on scary ghost stories -- perhaps I'm still traumatized from my older siblings scaring the crap out of me in my early years. But for some reason, I've found myself watching
some of the ghost hunter-type shows on the air right now. I'm actually looking forward to the Oct. 30 live broadcast of
Ghost Adventures from the
Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum. Asylums are darn scary even in broad daylight.
Maybe I'm just getting in a Halloween mood. Maybe I need something to jolt my psyche into fast-forward. Whatever the reason, I'm currently into ghosts -- even though I have to believe they're just sitting around laughing with glee over all the people who are out looking for them. I probably won't see
Paranormal Activity, though, because I DO want to sleep again, after all. But
Extreme Paranormal on A&E will suffice just fine.
Continue reading What's Hot on SlashControl: Extreme Paranormal
Posted Oct 21st 2009 1:03PM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: OpEd, Video, Celebrities
I'm kind of mesmerized by
Criss Angel. He's definitely one freaky guy -- or is that mindfreaky? -- and every time I surf by him, I have to back up and watch whatever unbelievable, death-defying stunt he's performing. For one thing, he looks like a vampire. But a very polite vampire. I can see how all the female stars fall in love with him.
I got involved in a
Criss Angel Mindfreak marathon not too long ago, and am still stumped as to how he does those levitations, his signature magic trick. I'm not kidding, he took an entire room of people and levitated them, some in bizarre positions that could never be done, even if the person was wide awake and as flexible as an Olympic gymnast.
We're talking backward bends, leaning to the point of toppling over and, of course, 20 feet off the ground. Someone tell me how he does that?!! I'm such a sucker for magic tricks.
Continue reading What's Hot on SlashControl: Criss Angel Mindfreak - Halloween Special
Posted Sep 26th 2009 3:40PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, OpEd, Cancellations, Reality-Free
While a lot of shows seem to be thriving in cable, in the last couple of days, two series have bitten the dust.
TBS dumped The Bill Engvall Show after three seasons, and now
A&E Network has canceled The Cleaner, opting not to give the drama series another year. Hmm... does that mean Benjamin Bratt is available to return to
Law and Order?
Probably not. Been there, done that, you know. But the TV pro is now unemployed although I doubt that'll be for long.
The Cleaner just never really clicked for A&E. It was as intense as the network's hit reality show, Intervention, but it wasn't nearly as compelling.
Continue reading A&E cancels The Cleaner
Posted Sep 10th 2009 1:29PM by Jonathan Toomey
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Video
The world has officially been turned upside down for me.
Apparently when he's not making bad-ass movies like Under Siege, Exit Wounds, or my personal favorite, Today You Die, Steven Seagal is a Deputy Sheriff in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana and he's been doing it for 20 years.
Can it get better? Yes. Starting in December, A&E is sending cameras along with him.
Continue reading Steven Seagal has been a cop for 20 years?!?
Posted Aug 27th 2009 6:00PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Industry, Cable/Satellite, Reality-Free
A long-awaited merger between two cable channels has been finalized...uh, finally.
A&E Networks aquired Lifetime as part of a deal between Hearst, Disney and NBC Universal. The deal makes Lifetime a sub-company in the A&E empire.
The deal puts Disney and Hearst in the front row seats of both networks with NBC in a distant third. This means that
NBC can sell its holdings in Lifetime to the other two parties within the next 15 years.
There doesn't seem to be any serious announcement or confirmations of a name or brand change under their new owners. Lifetime will still be called Lifetime.
Continue reading A&E buys Lifetime
Posted Aug 21st 2009 5:08PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, OpEd, Celebreality
I've been following the progress of this for a little while.
A&E has been working with Tony Danza to follow him as he spends a year teaching 10th grade English. Originally set up in Yonkers, New York, the show was shut down after the pilot was shot when the New York school board pulled out of the project. Adrift and without a home for awhile, the team stuck at it until Philadelphia came on board this past Wednesday and agreed to host the show.
This isn't a spoiled celebrity getting up to antics, though; Danza is serious about being a good educator to these kids. Before he got into acting, he procured a degree in education. In other words, this is a real-life documentary about a first-year teacher. He just happens to be Tony Danza.
The teaching profession is one of the most underpaid and under-appreciated professions in this country, so I applaud Danza for stepping into that arena so sincerely. I'm already more interested in his struggles in this arena than I will ever be about the pampered whining rich brats of [insert so many show names here].
Posted Jun 4th 2009 3:01PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Interviews, Celebrities
I am the worst person anyone could ever choose to conduct an interview with MC Hammer. A Transylvanian hermit who only knows how to operate an 8-track player would be a step up from me.
I didn't listen to his music growing up as a child of the 80s, except for the occasional sound waves that wafted passed my ears as my cooler classmates blared it from the stereos in their rooms. I've never even interviewed anyone in the hip-hop community.
I've done the research. I studied the first two episodes of his new A&E reality series
Hammertime, premiering next Sunday at 10 PM Eastern. I've read up on his days as a batboy with the Oakland A's where Reggie Jackson first gave him the nickname "Hammer' after "Hammerin'" Hank Aaron. I found out from my old man who hates it when I call him my old man that Hammer was even in the Navy. Holy crap. My Dad, the whitest man I know, knows more about MC Hammer than I do.
Continue reading MC Hammer: The TV Squad Interview
Posted Jun 4th 2009 2:05PM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Cancellations, Reality-Free
Though it probably comes as no big surprise, sources are saying that the
Patrick Swayze drama about a rogue FBI agent,
The Beast, won't be returning for a second season.
While A&E has told Variety that no official decision has been made, word is that episode 13, which aired at the end of April, will be the series' last.
I've been watching
I'm a Celebrity: Get Me Out of Here!, which is a terrible revelation to make about myself, but in the three hours of my life that show has taken from me, I've come to a few conclusions: 1. My life needs more meaning, and 2.
Lou Diamond Phillips is kind of a bad-ass.
I bring this up because apparently, there had been talks of
The Beast continuing with someone other than Patrick Swayze in the lead in case Swayze's poor health prevented him from continuing on the show. Phillips recently guest-starred on the series, and I would love to see him on television (in a situation in which he wasn't getting eaten by rats).
Continue reading A&E cancels The Beast
Posted May 12th 2009 3:43PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Celebrities, Reality-Free
While
Kevin Costner is executive producing a new A&E Western mini-series event, he's not as sure if he'll be directing any of it or even if he'll be appearing in it. It all depends on the script. So he's not sure if it'll be good enough to bother with beyond his current EP duties?
Come on, Kevin. This is A&E. Remember their first, and only so far, mini-series
The Andromeda Strain? Yeah,
I actually watched it and it was horrible! Which means this one simply has to be better. Right? It can't be much worse. Truly. It can't.
Continue reading Kevin Costner may direct/star in a new Western mini-series...or may not
Posted Apr 8th 2009 11:03AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Programming, OpEd, Pickups and Renewals
There are a few forms of reality television I enjoy, the most predominate of which is the documentary (which has been around for as long as television itself). Even the editorial opinion documentary such as any of Michael Moore's movies have their place.
It looks like A&E is trying to
blend the two genres with their new series The Fugitive Chronicles, which will dramatize, documentary-style, "some of the most compelling fugitive captures in the past 20 years". It will include re-enactments and interviews with the hunters and the fugitives (although the fugitives for the most part won't be represented live because they're currently in prison).
This seems like a pretty good idea given the popularity of crime dramas and reality television. It may also give a good lesson on the things one has to do to escape from the law in case anybody watching is planning to break the law in the future. That's info-tainment!
Posted Feb 18th 2009 9:29AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Programming, Celebrities, Pickups and Renewals
Joining the long list of former celebrities who have gotten a second life as a result of television reality programming, M.C. Hammer
will be getting his own series on the A&E Network. It will be called, what else,
Hammertime and will chronicle his life with his wife and five children.
Honestly, is there a 1970's or 80's celebrity who hasn't been the star of his or her own reality television show? We've had Hulk Hogan, Scott Baio and a myriad of others in various reality shows that contain the word "celebrity" such as
Celebrity Boxing and
Celebrity Apprentice. Okay,
Dancing With The Stars doesn't have the word "celebrity", but it has "star" which is close enough.
I think what gets me the most is that this same concept was used in
The Osbournes (depending on the show's use of profanity). I envisage a network exec saying "Think
The Osbournes, but it's a rap star with more kids". If it's good enough for Ozzy...
Posted Feb 6th 2009 5:02PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, OpEd, Reality-Free
I love Patrick Swayze as much as the next guy... assuming that the next guy is generally aware of Patrick Swayze, has seen him in a few movies and usually enjoyed his performances and finds his battle with cancer as inspirational as anyone else's battle with cancer. I'll even go so far as to say I'm really enjoying Patrick Swayze's performance in A&E's new series
The Beast. But ... man, aside from that this show is getting all kinds of dull! In the beginning we got this promise of Swayze's character getting this new partner, but what he didn't know was this his new partner was recruited to be a double agent put in to spy on him.
We're four episodes into a thirteen episode run and that hasn't happened yet. Instead, we get these tag scenes at the end of each episode that cra-a-a-awls that storyline along. Other than that it's another generic FBI procedural. Only one that's terribly acted, and almost as badly written. Except for Swayze. 99% of the time he's on the screen he's rocking it and owning it. The other 1% ... well he's giving an odd smile that makes it look like his face is breaking.
Continue reading I'm getting bored with The Beast
Posted Jan 16th 2009 10:35AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S01E01) "The beast eats away at you, and if you're not careful, the beast will eat it all and you have nothing. And you are nothing." -- Charles BarkerThe beast that Patrick Swayze's Barker is referring to is the undercover work that he and his new partner Ellis Dove do for the FBI. But there may be more to the show title than just this simple explanation. Barker may be as much the beast as the job. In the spirit of Vic Mackey and
The Shield, A&E's new original series is taking us back to a very dark place in law enforcement. But this time, we're not inside the head of the main player in the series. And therefore, we don't know his true motivations or even what he's up to all the time.
That leads us to the reveal at the end of the episode, which may not be a spoiler in that it's been dropped all over the Internet before the episode even aired. Still, I liked the way the episode progressed and how we got to that point. Barker is hard-core and his treatment of Dove throughout the episode is that of a "tough love" mentor. In the end, it seems to be working. Then Dove has the rug pulled out.
Continue reading The Beast: Pilot (series premiere)
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