salt lake city-related stories
Posted Oct 7th 2009 1:02AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: OpEd, Episode Reviews, So You Think You Can Dance
(S06E06) Oh no! Screwball Mia Michaels was the third judge in Salt Lake City for this final stop in the audition rounds. Adam Shankman can't take his permanent spot fast enough for me. Michaels needs to stick to amazing choreography.
That said, she actually didn't bother me at all tonight as a judge. So I've been unfair to Mia Michaels. Oh, who am I kidding, she's usually horrible.
What wasn't horrible was the caliber of talent in Utah. Granted, the competitors come from all over the country to these destination cities, but I feel confident in saying that we saw the widest array of the most impressive talent right here tonight. No wonder they saved it for last.
Continue reading So You Think You Can Dance: Salt Lake City Auditions
Posted Jan 29th 2009 12:16AM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: OpEd, American Idol, Judges, Reviewcaps, Contestants, Host
American Idol was in Salt Lake City tonight, home of David Archuleta and The Osmond Brothers (more on that later). It's definitely one of the happier places the judges have been, and even (most of) the contestants who bombed out were amazingly polite and good-natured. Still, with a huge crowd of adoring fans flocking around Simon Cowell as he entered the building, you've gotta wonder what's going on out there in Salt Lake City.
Anyway, let's get to it ...
David Osmond, 28, "Something Within Me"
This cutie is the son of Alan Osmond, the oldest member of the performing Osmonds. Alan had to quit the business because of his multiple sclerosis, and he's utterly emotional as he says how proud he is of David, who also has MS. While David was in a wheelchair for a while, he's on his feet now and says the disease has ups and downs. But being a member of the famous clan doesn't stop the judges from critiquing him. Kara doesn't like his runs, and Paula wishes he would have picked a song from a solo artist instead of a group. Still, David gets that Golden Ticket to Hollywood.
Continue reading American Idol: Salt Lake City Auditions
Posted Jun 26th 2008 1:52PM by Kristin Sample
Filed under: OpEd, American Idol, Contestants, Casting
The eighth season of
American Idol will begin auditions on Thursday July 17th in San Francisco. Other cities that will be holding try-outs for the hit singing competition show are Louisville, Kentucky; Phoenix, Arizona; Salt Lake City, Utah; Kansas City, Missouri; Jacksonville, Florida; East Rutherford, New Jersey; and San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Any TV Squad readers going to sing for Paula, Randy and Simon? If I were to audition (and I won't), I think I'd sing something by Stevie Wonder (cause no one
ever sings anything by him), or Mariah Carey (cause her songs are super easy), or maybe I'd just do my own composition and dedicate it to Simon (he likes that stuff).
More audition information is after the jump.
Continue reading American Idol auditions announced
Posted Mar 17th 2006 7:59AM by Anna Johns
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, HBO, Premium Cable, Big Love
Are you kidding me? Cingular is charging customers $1.99 for
Big Love wallpaper
for cell phones. You know what I'm talking about, right? Teeny, tiny, little cell phone wallpaper pictures. For $1.99.
For
Big Love? It's a brand new show, on late at night, on premium cable. If HBO wants to promote
Big
Love, it should be giving away those wallpaper photos for free. Puh-lease.
Cingular also has
Muppets
wallpaper. Ok, I might consider paying for that one. If I didn't already know how to make my own.
Posted Feb 25th 2006 1:57PM by Anna Johns
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, HBO, Programming
I can't say I'm surprised about
this news. HBO is launching a new
original series after
The Sopranos on March 12 called
Big Love. It stars Bill Paxton as a wealthy
businessman from Salt Lake City who just happens to be a polygamist. He tries to balance the needs of his three wives,
played by Chloe Sevigny, Jeanne Tripplehorn, and Ginnifer Goodwin (hey, that's some good casting!), by popping a little
Viagra every now and then. HBO expects the funny to erupt as Paxton tries to juggle his three families, while keeping
his lifestyle secret.
Continue reading Why can't polygamy be funny?
Posted Feb 15th 2006 12:14PM by Anna Johns
Filed under: Sports, NBC, Programming
One of the athletes to watch tonight is not an American. It's
Croatian Alpine Skier Janica Kostelic, who won four gold medals in her sport in Salt Lake City. Her brother, Ivica, won
the silver medal in the slalom last night. Americans Julie Mancuso and Lindsey Kildow, who was injured during a training
run earlier this week, are also in medal contention.
There are some Americans to watch, too. Apolo Anton Ohno
races in the 1000m speed skate and hopefully he'll be able to stay on his feet for this one. Also, gorgeous Jeremy Bloom
(seriously, girls,
look at him) competes in the
moguls.
Here's tonight's line-up on all of NBC's stations:
Continue reading The Olympics: Day 6
Posted Feb 13th 2006 9:48AM by Anna Johns
Filed under: Sports, NBC, Celebrities
My
favorite athlete from the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City was Sarah Hughes. She wasn't expected to win a medal, but she
piqued peaked at exactly the right time. She skated a flawless final program and, thanks to some
bobbles and falls by her teammates, she ended up on the top of the medals podium. But, where is Sarah today? She was
only 16 when she won gold so she's not too old to skate. Heck, Michelle Kwan has been a part of the Olympics since
Lillehammer in 1994 (sadly, she
had
to withdraw from the games yesterday due to injury).
I did a little nosing around the internet and
found Sarah. She's a student at
Yale, where studies come first, boys come second, and figure skating is somewhere after that (although she has been
hosting some skating events for charity). Sarah will be in Italy for the games, however. She'll be doing some sideline
reporting for MSNBC and she'll be cheering on her little sister, Emily, the
alternate skater who will take Michelle
Kwan's place.
Posted Feb 12th 2006 11:20AM by Anna Johns
Filed under: Sports, NBC, Programming
Some big names in competition today. On the slopes, Americans
Bode Miller and
Daron Rahlves hope they can hold back Austrian hot
shot Alpine Skier
Hermann Maier, who is on a
mission to win since he missed the Salt Lake City games due to a motorcycle accident. Seattle native
Apolo Anton Ohno (and his soul patch) go for the
gold in the same race that caused controversy in SLC when he won after a South Korean speed skater was disqualified for
interfering with Ohno during the race. But, the real spectacle of the night will hopefully be top-rated, red-haired,
American snowboarder
Shaun White, a.k.a. The
Flying Tomato, as he goes for the gold on the half-pipe.
Here's today's Olympic schedule:
Continue reading The Olympics: Day 3
Posted Feb 10th 2006 8:03AM by Anna Johns
Filed under: Sports, NBC, OpEd, The Five
The winter Olympics begin
this evening with the opening ceremonies on NBC. That means, for the next two weeks, you'll hear a lot of people
chanting, "USA! USA!"
Personally, I love the Olympics. I let myself get caught up in the drama and
the action, even though I'm definitely not a sports fan any other time of the year. The most popular sport during the
winter Olympics by far is
figure skating,
specifically women's or pairs skating. Here, I'm listing the other sports that I will definitely be watching:
Continue reading The Five: Olympic sports worth watching
Posted Jan 11th 2006 8:26AM by Anna Johns
Filed under: Sports, NBC, Cable, Programming
That's 17.3 days of Olympics coverage, people. And most of it is going to be focused on figure skating. The Olympics
run for 17 days (from February 10-26), but NBC will not be playing the events around-the-clock. Instead, it will spread
its coverage out during daytime, primetime, and late night viewing hours on six stations: NBC, USA, MSNBC, CNBC, NBC HD,
and Universal HD. In comparison, NBC had 375.5 hours of coverage during the Salt Lake City winter games four years
ago.
Bob Costas will return as primetime host for the winter games, his seventh year with NBC Sports. And,
to feed the needs of all those ice skating fans, Dick Buttons will host
Olympic Ice, a daily report on the
games' most popular sport. NBC is also prominently featuring David Pelletier and Jamie Sale in their coverage. The
Canadian couple, who just got married, were a crowd favorite in 2002 when they ended up tying for gold with the Russian
pairs skaters.
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