(S35E05) I had to talk myself through being allowed to criticize Taylor Swift. Ever since Kanye West VMA outburst turned everyone in America into Swift's over-protective mom, she's been shown even more as an innocent country-inspired sweetheart. Every time she messed up in this episode, I felt the need to hold back any not-super-great remarks because, well, she's a teeny-bopper! Teeny-boppers are just kids goofin' around!
And then I have to pause and remind myself that she's almost 20-years-old, around the same age as Shia LaBeouf and Ellen Page when they first hosted and Abby Elliiott when she initially joined the featured players. Screw it, there's no need to hold back. Swift is a musician, so we can't expect her acting skills to be super-good, but the fact I keep thinking she's only 14 shouldn't affect anything else.
Practical jokes are funny, to a certain extent. Until someone loses an eye or something.
This clip is from an episode of Ellen last week. Taylor Swift was the guest so Ellen decided to sneak up on her as she went into her dressing room's bathroom. It doesn't look like a set-up, as Swift looks truly shocked, so my question is this: what if Swift had broken her ankle or slipped and hit her head on the toilet? She comes really close. What an embarrassing way to die that would have been. Yeah, really funny Ellen, you killed America's sweetheart in the toilet!
(S09E13) Tonight on Dancing with the Stars there was some actual content tonight: the dance-off. Unfortunately, that meant that there was no encore performance. Instead we go right into Taylor Swift.
Musical Performance - Taylor Swift - "Jump then Fall" - Anyone notice that the stage Norah Jones had last week was just audience chairs? Taylor Swift is a horrible live singer (squeaking every time she sang the word "jump"), but luckily we had some professionals who reminded me of Ryan & Ashleigh from So You Think You Can Dance. Their lift near the end was the best part.
(S01E01) A lot is riding on this little NBC pet project. Like one-third of their primetime lineup. But despite all their promises and promotions that this was a comedy show, vastly different than Jay Leno's work on The Tonight Show, I saw virtually the same exact show on a different set. That's not necessarily a bad thing if you're NBC. Leno was incredibly successful for a long time on that show. Just call it what it is.
The promise that it would stay topical was brought to fruition. In the opening monologue, just like those Tonight Show monologues of yore, he drops a joke right away about the situation last night at the Video Music Awards involving Kanye West and Taylor Swift. Conveniently, Kanye was a booked guest tonight, as well, so with a little shuffling, he wound up on the chair next to Leno to talk about it.
I think the last time I actually cared about MTV was around 1991, so I'm not really invested in the latest Kanye West drama/hype that happened at last night VMAs. But I do think this picture was bizarre enough to post. It pretty much confirms that this is a world I have nothing in common with anymore. Thankfully.
By now you've probably heard about the giant Kanye West brouhaha that happened at the VMA awards last night. I actually heard about it when I got on Twitter right after it happened, and it felt as though the very Internet was going to melt from the inside out, leaving us all twitching in a puddle of rage directed at people whom we will never meet.
I tried to piece together what had happened, and from the responses I was reading, it seemed as though Taylor Swift went up to get her VMA, then Kanye West set her dress on fire, ripped off his clothes, and showed everyone his "Beyonce 4 EVA" tattoo located in a very family-unfriendly place. Then, I'm pretty sure he peed on like, a statue of Jesus or something.
So once I saw the video of what actually happened, imagine my surprise when it turned out all he did was make an ass out of himself on live television. Because, you know, the fact that Kanye West would do that is the BIGGEST SHOCKER OF ALL TIME.
The commercial is a mixed bag. Taylor Swift proves that she has the real goods as a singer, doing the toughest part of the "Tonight" quintet. Ne-Yo's dance turn is more of a salute to Michael Jackson than an homage to composers Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim. And Katy Perry's rooftop bit reinforces the fact that she's funny and playful.
(S34E12) It's just as we thought, everyone: Neil Patrick Harris is awesome. Why did it take SNL so long to bring in NPH? It seems cruel, almost, to make us wait like this. Even though the sketches this week were not particularly spectacular or groundbreaking, NPH's delivery and enthusiasm made the ride really fun. Unless his backstage demands and antics were too crazy for the SNL gang to handle, there's no reason to hold back on multiple returns.
The 2008 Best New Female Vocalist of the Year, Taylor Swift, is set to perform on Nashville Star as part of the show's two-hour season premiere. Touted as the first country music star of the MySpace generation, Swift (18) is also the first female country artist to write or co-write every song on her debut platinum-selling album. One of country music's youngest songwriters, her single "Our Song" spent six weeks atop Billboard's country chart.
The show's premiere will also feature highlights from the auditions and reveal the Top 12 Finalists who will be crooning their way into your hearts this summer. I know Nashville Star sounds like the country music version of American Idol but judge John Rich begs to differ. Read what he said about the show, any comparisons to Idol, and Paula Abdul back the NBC / Universal summer press event held in May.
Nashville Star premieres on Monday June 9th, 9-11 p.m. ET, on NBC. Will you be watching?
By now you've probably heard about the giant Kanye West brouhaha that happened at the VMA awards last night. I actually heard about it when I got on Twitter right after it happened, and it felt as though the very Internet was going to melt from the inside out, leaving us all twitching in a puddle of rage directed at people whom we will never meet.
How do you pump up the viewership for a music award show on a network that used to be all about music but lately has been all about reality TV and nasty scandals? Well, apparently MTV has decided to go retro and keep it funny. To promote the upcoming 
The 2008 Best New Female Vocalist of the Year, 
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