Poor Marie Osmond. Apparently, her upcoming daytime talk show has been pulled already due to poor ad sales, despite being cleared on stations reaching 80% of the TV audience. It was going to be broadcast from Las Vegas where she and her brother Donny are performing nightly at the Flamingo Hotel as a result of selling their souls.
I guess that Dancing With The Stars career boost didn't really pay off. Or perhaps it was just unfortunate circumstances given how the economy is tanking. However, things are getting better and it's entirely possible that she'll be back in the talk show market in a few years.
I recognize that the Donny and Marie talk show lasted two seasons, but isn't that the franchise that most people recognize nowadays when then think of her (if they're of a certain age)? Her previous solo variety show in 1980 only lasted a year. Does she think that this talk show would last longer?
There seems to be an epidemic of blabbermouthing going around these days. First, Vice President Joe Biden's wife Jill lets it slip on Oprah that Joe had his choice of VP or Secretary of State (snap Hillary!), then Steve Martin reveals that he and Tina Fey will be presenting together at the Oscars (so much for secret presenters), now Donny's let the cat out of the bag.
Oops! See, it wasn't Donny's job to make the announcement. He was supposed to let ABC decide the right time to reveal the lineup of celebrity dancers, although whether they can dance before the show begins is debatable.
There's no doubt a run on Dancing with the Stars is a boost to careers. Just consider Marie Osmond; was anybody knocking on her door for work before she fainted in between the waltzes and sambas? Well, according to Cybill Shepherd, the producers of Dancing with the Stars want her to take part in the competition. Whether they want her or she's saying they want her to get some press, Cybill goes on to say that she could consider being a contestant on the uber-popular reality show, but only if she can find the time to devote to rehearsing.
Cybill has been busy acting of late. She's going to appear on PSYCH in July when the show comes back with new episodes, playing Shawn's mother. There's also a feature called Barry Munday. Seemingly, she could make room in her work schedule for Dancing, and she claims she's really good at it and has fielded offers from them, "I love ballroom dancing. I've been offered Dancing with the Stars and I'd love to do it. I'm sure I could do it. It's just a really hard training period and I just haven't had time to devote to that."
Marissa J, who's currently spinning, twirling and trying to look graceful on Dancing With the Stars, will be developing a syndicated yakker (industry talk for talk show) for Sony Pictures Television. The fact that another company is also doing the same thing for Marie Osmond means one thing: producers think that if you can dance, you can talk. That's a show business axiom, isn't it? Her show, if it flies, will be for fall 2009.
Sony has dipped in syndication before with the Wayne Brady Show, which failed to click but did win the star a Daytime Emmy. Marissa is already an award winner, grabbing the 2003 Tony as Best Actress in a musical for playing Tracy in the Broadway version of Hairspray opposite Harvey Fierstein.
Move over, Rachael Ray! Another Food Network bird is straying for the nest to try her wings in syndication. Southern diva Paula Deen is readying a daytime cooking show for syndication in 2009. She also following Rachael's lead by not giving up her secure and lucrative connection to Food Network. Her Paula's Home Cooking and Paula's Party programs will remain Food Network staples.
The challenge for Paula will be coming up with a show that's not simply an echo of her other two shows. Unlike Rachael, who does a full-fledged talk show with a cooking segment, Paula's new effort is being called a "cooking" show. That could be limiting.
About two months ago, we learned that Donny and Marie Osmond were being considered for their own daytime talk show. One of the Osmonds will indeed host a talk show in the somewhat near future. Earlier this week, Marie, who recently appeared on Dancing with the Stars, announced that she will host her very own syndicated daytime talk show set to premiere in the fall of 2009.
This will not be Marie's first time as a host. If you recall, from 1998 to 2000, she co-hosted Donny & Marie with her brother, Donny Osmond.
Well, one of my Festivus wishes may be coming true after all. As we reported last week there are rumors that Donny & Marie (it is never Donny and Marie, always Donny & Marie) may be returning to television in perhaps a daytime talk show format or a reality program. My hope is that they shelve all of that and give us another variety show. And, if they can get it up in time, then we can have an Osmond Family Christmas.
Just like the one in this video, which seems to be from the latter (or last) season of the ABC variety show Donny & Marie. I probably remember these episodes the most because they featured every single Osmond that was still alive. In this example we see the Osmond Family band, including Jimmy on trumpet, Merrill on banjo, and Dad (may he rest in peace) on the bass guitar. We even get to see Marie play a little xylophone during the set.
Marie came in third place in the latest season of DWTS and Donny made appearances on the show as well as working for Entertainment Tonight as a special DWTS correspondent.
AOL TV listed the Top 5 TV Clips of the year today. Users went in and voted from the five categories and now the winners of these categories will compete for Top TV Moment of the 2007. You can even see how the votes were distributed over at AOL TV.
And the finalists are: In Crybabies: Ellen DeGeneres's doggie drama In Feuds: Rosie vs. Elisabeth on The View In Shockers: Sabrina of the The Cheetah Girls being voted off Dancing with the Stars In Spills: Marie Osmond fainting on Dancing with the Stars In Trainwrecks: Britney on the VMAs
What did you think of these finalists? Here's my two cents. As for Ellen, Marie Osmond, and Miss Spears, I'm not surprised. As for the feud between Rosie and Elisabeth--I just don't get this one. I really don't see why anyone cares about what happens on The View. And the Cheetah Girl on DWTS--I didn't even know what a Cheetah Girl was until I saw her on the show so I wasn't too upset when she got the boot. Furthermore, I am appalled that The Sopranos finale didn't get any votes. That was a great TV moment and it got snubbed for Dancing with the Stars. Come on!
AOL TV will release the winner on December 19th. Make sure you go in and vote so your opinion counts. I hope Britney wins!
And there you were, thinking that the Emmys were the biggest and best awards any television starlet could hope for. Think again, because all those moments that should get awards are being honored at AOL TV. Some are actually important moments in television history (i.e. The Soprano's finale) but others are just mishaps or fights that the nominees hope audiences will soon forget.
AOL TV is calling it their Top 5 Awards. They provide five nominations but you decide who the winner will be. You can watch the video clips and vote for your favorites. AOL TV will release the winners on December 13th.
Check out the nominations and my predictions after the jump.
(S05E09)Tom opened the show talking about a night where controversy rocked the ballroom. I wouldn't call it so much rocking, as I would annoying, but that's just me. It does appear that some of that will be put to rest now. Len made a point of praising the pros for their excellent work, but warned them that he didn't want to see any more lifts. From here on out, they will incur a penalty from the judges.
They went right to the recap after that. Mark was really happy to be called the little engine that could. Floyd talked about his new experience, calling ballroom dancing better than hip-hop. Mel took the truck driver comment in good stride, asking for the truck driver vote. Jane was left trying to defend the lift again. Jenny ignored that lift nonsense and said she looks forward to continuing to improve. Cameron was excited about his three nines. As you would expect, Sabrina was thrilled to have the first perfect score of the competition.
(S05E08) I have to say, considering that we are only to week four, I'm really impressed with the level of the dancing this season. As the show kicked off, Tom announced that last week was the highest scored week three in the history of the show, and week four kept the ball rolling. We even saw our first perfect 30 of the season. If that wasn't enough, Samantha Harris is back from maternity leave, and didn't miss a beat.
Things weren't all rosy though. Carrie Ann made it her personal crusade to annoy the crap out of everyone in her new role as the lift police. If you have watched the show over the last couple seasons, it's something that has come up before. And every time, it leaves me wondering just why they have that rule. It's not a competition sanctioned by anyone other than ABC, so that can't be it. To protect the dancers? They let Monique jump 12 feet, backwards, off of the stage. It makes debating whether or not a heel was half an inch off of the stage seem a little silly. I'm actually all for doing away with the rule and getting on with the dancing. Anyway, a rundown of all the performances after the jump.
(S05E05) Tom opened the show by referring to performance night as the ultimate face off, as all eleven couples took the stage together for the first time. That's a bit of hyperbole, to be sure, but he moved on quickly to the more important point. That being the fact that two of the stars have separated themselves from the pack and taken the lead.
As we sit now, Helio and Sabrina are way out in front, but it's way too early to call the competition. That pesky little detail called the fan base has a way of wreaking havoc on the best laid plans. Would it rear it's head in week two? So early in the competition? Quite possibly, but we can't be spoiling all of that before the jump. Click the link for all the details from the week two results show.
(S05E04) The stars are back for week two, and it's what I usually find to be one of my favorite weeks. The nerves and the pressure of the unknown are so hard to overcome in that first appearance, that week two is where much ground can be gained based on nothing more than a little confidence. As we would see tonight, that, as much as anything, is what is still holding a few of our stars back. Tom opened the show with a quick recap of last week, reminding everyone that Josie is no longer in the competition. But with eleven couples to dance, there was no time to dawdle, so on with the show.