DavidBlaine-related stories
Posted Jun 27th 2009 10:02AM by Nick Zaino
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, OpEd, Music and Variety
The variety show format seems like a no-brainer for success - get someone with star power and surround them with a bunch of ringers and some weird people spinning plates or bending themselves into curious shapes, and voila! Instant hit, right? But there have been some spectacular failures in recent TV history. Maybe it's the fact that there are so many talent/reality shows now that a show with no "winner" or competition doesn't seem as interesting.
Somehow, despite all of that, Ellen DeGeneres has managed some success with the format, and is now on her third -
Ellen's Bigger, Longer & Wider Show, on TBS Saturday at 9PM.
Perhaps it's the fact that it's on TBS, which means the stakes are slightly lower than on the main networks. Or the fact that DeGeneres brings a loyal fanbase from her
Ellen DeGeneres Show and her stand-up. Those would be the reasons you would look for if you were an industry executive or a media critic.
Continue reading Ellen's Bigger, Longer & Wider Show
Posted Jun 17th 2009 2:32PM by Nick Zaino
Filed under: Interviews, Celebrities, Talk Show, Reality-Free
There are some big names on the bill for
Ellen DeGeneres's variety show,
Ellen's Bigger, Longer & Wider Show, which airs June 27 on TBS. Kanye West will be a big part of it, and magician David Blaine and comedian Nick Cannon will also appear.
Even the Chicago Cubs will make an appearance, as DeGeneres tapes a segment at Wrigley Field, singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during the seventh-inning stretch June 16 (the rest of the show will be taped June 17 at the Chicago Theatre).
But the thing DeGeneres seems most excited about is comedian Joe Wong, whom we first wrote about in April when he made his
network television debut on
The Late Show with David Letterman. She'd love to see more comedians like Wong on television.
Continue reading Ellen's Bigger, Longer & Wider Show features acts big and small
Posted May 9th 2006 10:30AM by Adam Finley
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, ABC, Celebrities
When the main emphasis of your ABC special is trying to hold your breath for longer than eight minutes and fifty-eight seconds, the special itself probably doesn't need to be longer than a half an hour. You can try to stretch it to an hour, but you'd have to add a lot of filler. If you go for two hours, then the special becomes both an endurance test for the magician and the home audience.
Well, as you probably know by now, David Blaine did not break the record for holding one's breath underwater the longest. Granted, if he actually did spend seven days underwater and his body had taken the punishment it supposedly had, lasting for seven minutes and eight seconds was a feat in and of itself. Of course, to get to that point we had to sit through a lot of shots featuring Blaine sitting underwater among sharks and stingrays, or falling into water, or talking about water. Also, we get to hear about his "journey" to his "human aquarium" at Lincoln Center, including all the crazy stunts he had done up to that point.
Continue reading David Blaine: Drowned Alive
Posted May 8th 2006 4:43PM by Adam Finley
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, NBC, Celebrities
I've been hard on David Blaine in the past for the same reason a lot of other people give him flak: he has a tendency to call himself a magician and then do bits of public performance art that really have nothing to do with magic. When he starved himself over the River Thames, I became indifference personified, but I have to admit his recent stunt has me more intrigued than I'm willing to admit. Has he really been in that watery globe for a week? If we're to believe reports, he has, and it's been taking a toll on his system. Several news outlets have been reporting that health experts who have been watching Blaine are concerned for his health. One expert says the finale of this stunt, which will
air tonight on ABC, may not be possible, as Blaine could very well blackout once he's pulled from the globe. In case you haven't heard, Blaine plans on emerging from the globe, having himself wrapped in chains, and then submerged again to try and beat the record of holding one's breath underwater, which currently stands at eight minutes and fifty-eight seconds. My guess is that the "concerns from medical experts" is all just part of the publicity machine. That, of course, is only my non-expert opinion, but to paraphrase magician Penn Jillette, magic is essentially just another word for lying.
Posted May 8th 2006 4:30PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Programming
Will David Blaine drown? Check out live at 8pm on ABC. It's followed by a new What About Brian? Unless Blaine drowns, and then it will probably be followed by ABC news live coverage of his death.
- CBS has new eps of King of Queens, How I Met Your Mother, Two and a Half Men, Old Christine, and CSI: Miami.
- NBC has a new Deal Or No Deal at 8, followed by new eps of The Apprentice and Medium (with Kelsey Grammer).
- Over on FOX, new episodes of Prison Break and 24.
- The WB has the series (season?) finale of 7th Heaven at 8, followed by a new Everwood.
- UPN has new eps of One On One, All Of Us, and a new one hour Girlfriends.
- TLC has Jamie's School Lunch Project, where chef Jamie Oliver teaches kids how to cook. It's on at 8.
- TV Land has four eps of Leave It To Beaver, starting at 8.
- Also at 8: TNT has two NBA playoff games.
- At 9, USA has a new WWE Monday Night RAW.
- Also at 9: the Travel Channel has a new Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations.
- At 10, MTV has a new Punk'd.
Posted May 5th 2006 8:18AM by Annie Wu
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Cable, Late Night, OpEd, The Daily Show, Comedy Central
Mexico's Vincent Fox is planning for the
legalization of several drugs in small amounts for personal use. Yup, this will include cocaine, heroine, and marijuana (craziest Spring Break ever). Jon was kind enough to warn us to drink only the
bottled bong water in Mexico. He also showed us that the legalization will serve very well with our immigration issue: Mexicans will keep flocking to America for jobs, Americans will flock to Mexico to get hammered and fall into the Gulf. Excellent.
Continue reading The Daily Show: May 3, 2006
Posted Apr 16th 2006 12:03PM by Adam Finley
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, ABC, Celebrities
David Blaine, the street magician turned superstar who proved that
even the most amazing stunts can bore people to tears, will be attempting to yet again raise the interest of an
increasingly uninterested public, this time by immersing himself in a "human aquarium" for seven days
and nights. The stunt will conclude with Blaine trying to hold his breath underwater for longer than eight minutes and
fifty-eight seconds, which is apparently the current record. Well, sure, it's the current
human record, but
what about sperm whales? Or heck, even crocodiles? In fact, maybe they should toss a crocodile into the tank and see
which one can hold their breath the longest. Anyway, the finale of Blaine's newest attempt will air on ABC on May 8. At
least this sounds somewhat more exciting than when he didn't eat anything for several days and called it
"magic." That's not magic, that's called being a fashion model.
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