Last week on The View, Sherri Shepherd showed off her new body, clad in a bathing suit, and now it seems there was more to her remake than just good health and looking better. Shepherd's Lifetime sitcom, Sherri, will premiere on October 5, and you just know it's her intention to score a big time success. Lifetime has had this in the works for months. This is the network's first fully-owned sitcom, so you gotta believe the net has a lot of faith in Sherri.
The show is based on Shepherd's stand-up, which is the same formula that worked for Roseanne, Ray Romano (Everybody Loves Raymond), Tim Allen (Home Improvement) and a half-dozen other comics, and the exposure Sherri gets from The View won't hurt at all.
The same demographic that watches The View tunes in to Lifetime shows like Drop Dead Diva and Army Wives. Oh, and don't forget the Lifetime movies. Ladies love Lifetime.
In preparation for its big August 20th season premiere on Lifetime (and, evidently, to interrupt me when I'm trying to watch a few episodes of Frasier and Will & Grace), Project Runway has been running endless ads, loud and proud. I'm sorry, did I say "loud and proud"? I meant "weirdly sentimental and full of slow-mo."
The commercials featuring individual designers from the upcoming season were almost touching enough to confuse me. I mean, I'm used to the super-catty "I didn't come here to make friends, I came here to be the snarky queen bee" sort of ads. Are these just to reel in the average Lifetime viewer, or is this an early indication of Project Runway's slightly new voice?
So the new season of Project Runway premieres on August 20, on Lifetime after a legal battle with Bravo and a long wait (filming ended nine months ago). But there isn't just one Project Runway this season, there's two, if you include the spinoff Models of the Runway, which will show the models they use on the show talking about what went on behind the scenes.
Coming next season: Gaffers of the Runway, where the crew that works on the electricity/lighting on the set will talk about the models, and then Project Craft Services, where the people who supply the food to the cast and crew will talk about what the models eat (or don't eat) and which of the designers eats the most.
I've been so busy feeling mildly annoyed and super-confused about Bravo's The Fashion Show, the "real" Project Runway has almost completely slipped my mind. Coverage has been shaky, and every time I try to find out something new, Isaac Mizrahi's hair obstructs my view and I give up.
What I know is that the next season of the show will air on Lifetime and, thank whatever supernatural entity is responsible for reason and rhyme in fashion, Tim Gunn will be there. Oh, and Heidi Klum too.
Is Lifetime still "Television For Women?" I know that's not the official slogan anymore, but are the programs more geared towards people with female body parts than male body parts?
The network has grabbed the rights to CBS' The New Adventures of Old Christine. They'll show all of the older episodes of the show as well as new episodes after they air on CBS. The show will start airing on the network starting in the fall of 2010.
Certain shows seem to be perfect for certain television networks. That's the point of programming, no doubt, and Lifetime has done a good job filling their female-centric niche with TV movies and series like Army Wives. That said, I think there will soon be a new favorite on Lifetime and it's called Drop Dead Diva. It's chick-flick, rom-com for weekly TV viewers, and while men might enjoy the whimsical plot and attractive characters, this is a show that ladies will adore.
If you were talking high concept like a Hollywood pitchman, you could describe Drop Dead Diva as Ally McBeal for the Lane Bryant set. Or maybe it's Sara Lee meets Heaven Can Wait. However, you put it, Drop Dead Diva is a switcheroo story about a vapid, but lovable, gorgeous size 2 model who dies at the exact same time as a brilliant, generous size 16 workaholic attorney, and in one of those wonderful Hollywood comedy devices, shallow Deb's spirit winds up in good Jane's body.
My wife was watching a Lifetime movie that I've already forgotten the title of the other day. What I can't forget, however, is that during every single commercial break of this two-hour movie there were at least two different commercials for various feminine hygiene products. I understand that the Lifetime demographic is the right audience for these ads but at the same time don't you think there's a limit to how often a woman wants to think about her most intimate area's cleanliness while watching a movie?
The women I know actually have quite a wide variety of interests beyond yeast infections and Vagisil. In fact, those things almost never come up in conversation. I don't even think Lifetime should stop airing the commercials, because I'm told it's important stuff, but let's throw some variety in there, too. If Spike TV was airing condom commercials twice a break in the middle of the day I'd think they were obsessing a little bit too. You care. That's sweet. We get it, now how about reminding me of what really matters. McDonald's has "Hugo" size drinks for a dollar!
Sigourney Weaver is earning strong Emmy buzz for her lead performance in Lifetime's Prayers for Bobby. In her first TV movie, the three-time Oscar nominee plays a religiously conservative mother who refuses to accept her gay son.
The film, based on a true story, examines Mary Griffith's (Weaver) transformation from intolerant mother to gay-rights crusader after her son Bobby commits suicide. Weaver says she was drawn to Prayers for Bobby because, like the book of the same name, it has the potential to start important conversations about tolerance and acceptance in homes everywhere.
As TV fans, I think we all have our views of what each network is all about. CBS is all about police shows, NBC will try anything, FOX depends mostly on American Idol, etc. And now SideReel.com has made some very funny new network logos that are a bit more honest than the real ones.
They don't have one for The CW, though they do hint that the network might be too unimportant for one. But I'm sure we can come up with one, right?
Breaking News: Bravo is changing their slogan. For the past several years the tag line has been "Watch What Happens," but the network is giving an overhaul to its brand and now the new slogan will be "By Bravo." That's going to take some getting used to, if you're the type of person who watches Bravo and has to get used to things.
Here are some other slogan ideas Bravo could have used.
I know it's only May and hardly the time to start thinking of egg nog and holly and Ebenezer Scrooge or any of the other Christmas standbys, but forgive me if I let out a whoop of happiness about the news that Kristin Chenoweth will star in The Twelve Men of Christmas TV movie. The romantic comedy is slated to be part of the Fa La La La La Lifetime lineup (try saying that three times fast!), and while another holiday film doesn't usually make me gleeful, this one does.
Kristin Chenoweth is a gem. I'm still bereft that we'll probably never see her Olive Snook again because Pushing Daisies is gone unless there's a movie, and I was tiffed that the David E. Kelly NBC pilot Legally Mad was not picked up only because La Chenoweth was in it.
It was inevitable. Ever since Rosie O'Donnell grew a second head and spit venom at Elisabeth Hasselbeck, The View has been on the radar. Even without current host Rosie O'Donnell, there's been buzz with new co-host Whoopi Goldberg. Hasselbeck keeps causing trouble on the set with her lone conservative voice, Whoopi is outspoken in her own right, Joy Behar is a lunatic and even Barbara Walters has been known to snag a headline or two. Of course Lifetime wants a piece of that buzz. And to get it they're grabbing ... uh ... Sherri Shepherd?
Doesn't Sherri Shepherd think she'll fall off the edge of the earth if she goes too far? I thought she was still there because they didn't want to have to rebuild the table with one fewer chair. Huh, I guess I was wrong. Lifetime picked up Sherri Shepherd's sitcomSherri for 12-episodes.
No more waiting for the next season of Project Runway. After all of the legal disputes, NBC Universal, The Weinstein Company, and Lifetime have finally resolved their disputes. Part of the deal involves having five years of Project Runway on Lifetime. That could mean between five and ten seasons (two seasons a year? That may be much), depending on how much Lifetime wants to milk their new ratings cow.
Lifetime has released a statement saying that the show will debut in the summer. If we follow the trend of last season, I'm assuming that I will start sometime in July and end in October.
There are two significant things to take from the news that Army Wives will return for a fourth season. One, the predominantly female viewership of Lifetime has embraced the series about the lives of Army personnel and their families on the Fort Marshall post in Charleston, South Carolina; and two, scripted dramas are on the rise all across the cable networks. It also means that this finely acted, well-written and well produced show is going to be around for the next couple of years at least.
Kelly told you recently about NBC's legal attempt to block Project Runway from going to their Bravo channel over to Lifetime (Lifetime paid $150 million to air the show for the next five years). Now it looks like NBC is looking for contestants for a show that sounds very similar to Project Runway...and they're using Craigslist to find people to be on the show.
The new Bravo show is going to be called Fashion House. The ad says that the winner will win "a large cash prize" and that the winner can use the show to "serve as the launching pad to catapult your fashion career into high gear."
Catapult your fashion career into high gear? What a horrible sentence.
Last week on The View, Sherri Shepherd showed off her new body, clad in a bathing suit, and now it seems there was more to her remake than just good health and looking better. Shepherd's Lifetime sitcom, Sherri, will premiere on October 5, and you just know it's her intention to score a big time success. Lifetime has had this in the works for months. This is the network's first fully-owned sitcom, so you gotta believe the net has a lot of faith in Sherri.
In preparation for its big August 20th season premiere on Lifetime (and, evidently, to interrupt me when I'm trying to watch a few episodes of Frasier and Will & Grace), 
I've been so busy feeling mildly annoyed and super-confused about Bravo's The Fashion Show, the "real" Project Runway has almost completely slipped my mind. Coverage has been shaky, and every time I try to find out something new, Isaac Mizrahi's hair obstructs my view and I give up. 
Is 
Certain shows seem to be perfect for certain television networks. That's the point of programming, no doubt, and Lifetime has done a good job filling their female-centric niche with TV movies and series like 
My wife was watching a Lifetime movie that I've already forgotten the title of the other day. What I can't forget, however, is that during every single commercial break of this two-hour movie there were at least two different commercials for various feminine hygiene products. I understand that the Lifetime demographic is the right audience for these ads but at the same time don't you think there's a limit to how often a woman wants to think about her most intimate area's cleanliness while watching a movie?
As TV fans, I think we all have our views of what each network is all about. CBS is all about police shows, NBC will try anything, FOX depends mostly on American Idol, etc. And now SideReel.com has made some very funny 
Breaking News: Bravo is changing their slogan. For the past several years the tag line has been "Watch What Happens," but 
I know it's only May and hardly the time to start thinking of egg nog and holly and Ebenezer Scrooge or any of the other Christmas standbys, but forgive me if I let out a whoop of happiness about the news that 
It was inevitable. Ever since Rosie O'Donnell grew a second head and spit venom at Elisabeth Hasselbeck, The View has been on the radar. Even without current host Rosie O'Donnell, there's been buzz with new co-host Whoopi Goldberg. Hasselbeck keeps causing trouble on the set with her lone conservative voice, Whoopi is outspoken in her own right, Joy Behar is a lunatic and even Barbara Walters has been known to snag a headline or two. Of course Lifetime wants a piece of that buzz. And to get it they're grabbing ... uh ... Sherri Shepherd?
No more waiting for the next season of Project Runway. After all of the legal disputes, NBC Universal, The Weinstein Company, and Lifetime have finally 
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