AdamShankman-related stories
Posted Mar 3rd 2010 9:00AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Celebrities, Awards, Reality-Free
This week they started revealing some of the stars who'll be presenting at Sunday night's Oscar broadcast on ABC, and at the top of the list were
three former Oscar winning actresses, Barbra Streisand, Charlize Theron and Kathy Bates. Also on the roster will be Queen Latifah, Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr., Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta.
Nikki Finke's Deadline.com column has a
major spoiler about the opening of the show. If you don't want to know, avoid the last paragraph below.
There's an interesting angle on
Barbra Streisand's appearance on the show. Speculation is that Streisand will be presenting Best Director, which insiders say is a lock for Kathryn Bigelow.
Continue reading Barbra Streisand, Charlize Theron and Kathy Bates Added to Oscar Roster
Posted Feb 26th 2010 8:02PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Awards, Reality-Free
The Oscar shows have long had a problem attracting the younger crowd, or at least the part that doesn't spend every waking moment organizing the AV club's equipment cabinet. So this year they have tried to "hip it up."
The Academy has hired
DJ Joel Madden to serve as the ceremony's "house DJ" for the broadcast.
Producer Adam Shankman said he wanted the show to have more of a party atmosphere. Does that mean there will be a birthday clown and a "Pin the Tail on the Fellini" game too?
[via
TV Tattle]
Posted Feb 19th 2010 3:03PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Celebrities, Awards, Reality-Free
The history of the
Academy Awards telecast has been generally a pretty traditional show. You've had historic moments of bad taste like Rob Lowe dancing with Snow White, bizarre musical opening numbers from the likes of Lucie Arnaz and Liza Minnelli -- not together -- and, of course, great highs like most of the Billy Crystal musical medleys of the Best Oscar nominees.
This year if Billy were there, his medley would be about 20 minutes long to include all ten nominated movies! They'd have needed an oxygen tank in the wings to revive him after that.
But here's a wickedly wild idea that might have set the Oscars into to fierce wilderness of 'oh-my-God' TV.
The Oscar producers were toying with the idea of having Sacha Baron Cohen host the show. Yep, believe it. Producers
Adam Shankman and Bill Mechanic were on NPR's 'Fresh Air' with Teri Gross, and they said when they contemplated shaking up the broadcast, they thought of 'Borat.'
Continue reading Sacha Baron Cohen Was Considered as Oscar Host
Posted Feb 16th 2010 10:40PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Music and Variety, Celebrities, Awards, Reality-Free
In recent years, the songs nominated at the Oscars have not been particularly memorable or worth the time during the broadcast to waste on music that nobody remembers after walking out of the multiplex. This year, ironically, there is at least one very good song that was going to be an Oscar highlight, assuming the producers convinced Jeff Bridges to sing 'The Weary Kind' from 'Crazy Heart' during the March 7th broadcast. That's not going to happen now.
New Oscar producers
Adam Shankman and Bill Mechanic have decided to drop the Best Song performances, according Entertainment Weekly. Instead of singers -- either from the movie or good enough to sing the songs from the movies -- we're going to see a montage of images from the picture with the soundtrack recording.
Continue reading Changes Coming For Oscar's Best Song Nominees
Posted Feb 11th 2010 9:15PM by Michael Pascua
Filed under: Awards, So You Think You Can Dance
Having connections pays off for
'So You Think You Can Dance' contestant Jonathan "Legacy" Perez.
Zap2it has confirmed that Legacy will be a part of the Academy Awards, dancing with The Legion of Extraordinary Dancers. He received the position after he helped 'SYTYCD' judge Adam Shankman with the audition process. Shankman is producing the Oscars with Bill Mechanic.
Unlike the Emmys, which have an Outstanding Choreography category, having dancers on the Oscars feels out of place. The five songs nominated for Best Original Song don't have any place for breakdancers, so my only guess is that the show will open with a flashy performance. Legacy hasn't provided any solid details to how he will be involved.
Continue reading 'So You Think You Can Dance' Star To Appear on Oscars
Posted Dec 16th 2009 1:35AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: OpEd, Episode Reviews, So You Think You Can Dance
(S06E23) For the first time in the history of
So You Think You Can Dance, we have six dancers in the final performance show, which makes it even more unpredictable. It was a great night of dancing, but I'm not even going to venture a guess as to who might win, as a strong case could be made for at least five of them.
I would have liked to see tonight's episode be a two-hour showcase rather than tomorrow's finale. We could then have seen each of the dancers perform in solos, or perhaps some of the more diverse couplings and group numbers we've gotten on other finales.
Instead, we got nine dances, pairing each guy with each girl through the night. It was wall-to-wall dancing to pack it into an hour, which was a refreshing change, and we did get to see married couple Ryan and Ashleigh perform together ... and
not in a ballroom routine.
Continue reading Review: So You Think You Can Dance - Top 6 Perform
Posted Dec 3rd 2009 2:06AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: OpEd, Episode Reviews, So You Think You Can Dance
(S06E20) I go into these elimination shows expecting a lot of pad and filler. But when it's a dance show, I want to see dancing; which is why I'm always a little perplexed when musical guests who don't dance show up. This week's musical guest was Snoop Dogg, and I really enjoyed it. And yes, I know that Snoop does little more than bounce and swagger.
It was that either he or the producers were smart about how to put together his stage show. Hip-hop videos are known for dancing, so why not bring that dancing to the live show? Joining Snoop on stage was Quest, a former winner of
America's Best Dance Crew, as well as the dance home for three former
SYTYCD contestants: Ryan, Dominic and Hok.
What about the results, though? I was surprised that even though we've switched to voting for individual dancers, it was still two couples from last night's performance show that wound up in the bottom.
Continue reading Review: So You Think You Can Dance - Top 8 Revealed
Posted Dec 2nd 2009 1:57AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: OpEd, Episode Reviews, So You Think You Can Dance
(S06E19) What an amazing and jam-packed night of dance. With ten couple dances and ten solos, it was wall-to-wall performances. Amazingly, almost every single one of the performances was excellent.
Honestly, I am so impressed with this entire Top 10, I can't say enough good things about them. Sonya Tayeh finally blew me away as a choreographer. Working with Ellenore is a match made in heaven for both of them, really.
We've got a lot to cover, so why are you still here? Jump into the article and get to reading about all of it already!
Continue reading Review: So You Think You Can Dance - Top 10 Perform
Posted Nov 25th 2009 2:35AM by Michael Pascua
Filed under: OpEd, Episode Reviews, So You Think You Can Dance
(
S06E17) This week determines the top ten of
So You Think You Can Dance. We welcome the top twelve dancers and judging by the audience, Legacy and Jakob are the most loved. With
Dancing with the Stars ending this week, I'm happy that I can devote more time to this show because the dancing is a higher caliber and it isn't just a celebrity popularity contest.
Tonight we got to see the first Can Can and the return of the Lindy Hop. I am happy that the show continues to break the boundaries of dance and shine a light on new choreographers.
Continue reading Review: So You Think You Can Dance - Top 12 Perform
Posted Nov 19th 2009 3:33AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: OpEd, Episode Reviews, So You Think You Can Dance
(S06E16) If things keep going the way they've been going, I'm going to start thinking America's really learning something about dance after all these shows they've been watching the past several years. I understood and agreed with every single one of America's choices, which is more than I can say for Nigel and the judges.
We did get to see Nakul Dev Majahan, joined on stage by MDN Bollywood Productions, in a Bollywood routine he choreographed. While I loved the earlier Bollywood piece we got this season, this one didn't grab me quite as strongly. A lot of that probably has to do with how foreign it still is to our Western senses; we don't really understand what we're seeing or why we're seeing it all the time.
Still, I guess I'm glad it's part of the show, as it continues to showcase the diversity in dance around the world. I even applaud their ill-fated attempt to try Russian folk. I say keep trying
SYTYCD, just be very wary of what you put on these dancers.
Continue reading Review: So You Think You Can Dance - Top 12 Revealed
Posted Nov 18th 2009 1:44AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: OpEd, Episode Reviews, So You Think You Can Dance
(S06E15) After last week's lackluster performances, I was starting to wonder about the vaunted strength of this season's Top 20. But the 14 remaining dancers came back very strong this week, with improvements across the board. There was only one dance that completely disappointed me, but throughout the night, I cannot easily see the Top Ten dancers we're working toward.
One thing that's a little frustrating when we get down to a smaller number of dancers like this, and they're only performing once ... we get a
ton of filler. The judges went on and on about each contestant. Maybe FOX should consider shortening the episodes to an hour-and-a-half during these weeks and give us more episodes of some of their great sitcoms like
'Til Death or
Brothers.
Hmmm -- maybe I can handle the rambling judges after all.
Continue reading Review: So You Think You Can Dance - Top 14 Perform
Posted Nov 11th 2009 2:27AM by Michael Pascua
Filed under: OpEd, Episode Reviews, So You Think You Can Dance
(S06E13)
So You Think You Can Dance finally lets America vote. Sadly, I only liked four of the eight dances this week and I wouldn't mind if any of them were eliminated. One thing I did like was the introductory sequence, they finally figured out a way to make the stage a little less huge. The choreographers are doing better to let the dances fill the huge stage.
With only eight performances, the show felt like the critiques were longer than the actual dancing. If they inserted one large group dance, the show could have cut off some of Mary's more annoying comments.
Continue reading Review: So You Think You Can Dance - Top 16 Perform
Posted Nov 4th 2009 4:12PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, So You Think You Can Dance
(S06E12) Yet again, because of the ongoing World Series on FOX, there was no elimination this week, which means we barely had time to process the dancing before two contestants were being eliminated. Luckily for me, it became clear pretty quickly which two performances were the weakest of the night.
There were two that were absolutely amazing as well, one that may go down as one of the top
SYTYCD dances of all time. But the most important question of the night was: Did the judges agree with me as to who should have gone home?
Thankfully, by next week all these distractions will be sorted out and you and I will be able to vote for ourselves who we want to keep around.
Continue reading Review: So You Think You Can Dance - Top 18 Perform
Posted Oct 30th 2009 6:02PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Celebrities, Awards, Reality-Free
So
Ricky Gervais has signed to host the Golden Globes, which means the pressure is on the Oscars to come up with a host or hosts equally as stellar. Or interesting. Or compelling.
One star who has removed himself from the running is last year's host,
Hugh Jackman. He will not return as Oscar host when the show airs on ABC, March 7.
He's currently on Broadway in a play -- with 007 Daniel Craig -- and he "quietly turned down the job" according to sources. It's not because he was a bomb emceeing the proceedings either. He didn't do the "Oprah, Uma, Uma, Oprah" joke nor did he trip on his shoelaces in the opening number. Quite the contrary, in fact.
Hugh Jackman was a perfectly fine host.
But he doesn't want to do it in 2010. Maybe he doesn't want to push his luck? Maybe he just doesn't want to work that hard.
Continue reading Hugh Jackman says 'no thanks' to Oscar repeat
Posted Oct 28th 2009 12:55AM by Michael Pascua
Filed under: OpEd, Episode Reviews, So You Think You Can Dance
(
S06E11) We finally get to the actual competition on
So You Think You Can Dance. On tonight's episode, the judges cut one guy and one girl without America's help. It's okay, I don't trust America. Cat welcomes us in a stunning Chinese-inspired dress. I'm still amazed by Cat's ability to look good in anything.
As we watch the dancers open the show, we start with the newest addition to the Top 20: Brandon. Even after meeting these contestants yesterday, I still don't know them. To make it worse, the sound people kept using the live mic on the tappers, and at first I thought my ears were going.
Continue reading Review: So You Think You Can Dance - Top 20 Perform
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