The folks at our sister site Cinematical are working hard to give you news and reviews of the best -- and worst -- the silver screen has to offer. Here are some of their musings on the latest blockbusters, indies, and everything in between:
The Internet's never ending "series of tubes" were circulating rumors that I thought had already been addressed years ago by TV Squad, The View and even the monster's own mouth.
Rumors started circulating earlier this morning that Sesame Street's Cookie Monster would drop the "Cookie" on his business card and replace it with "Veggie." It became the top Google search this morning and fueled rumors that the character would make the official change on the show's 40th Anniversary on Nov. 10th.
A show rep said Cookie Monster will remain as such, even if he considers cookies a "sometimes food." That's good ol' Cookie Monster, teaching kids the value of nutrition while sacrificing the value of good grammar.
My first thought whenever O'Reilly visits The View is Joy Behar. She always looks like she'd rather be anywhere else but sitting next to him. But I suppose she puts up with it -- and has no choice in the matter -- because O'Reilly and Barbara Walters have been friends for a long time, and Barbara, of course, has the final say on who gets on the show and who doesn't.
This is all speculation, of course. I have no idea what goes on behind the scenes. Just reading the body language, which I've learned a little about while watching Tonya Reiman on O'Reilly's Fox show, The O'Reilly Factor.
This week on The View, the ladies were talking about how to avoid getting the swine flu. The discussion began with ways to handle (or not handle, as the case may be) guests, to reduce the amount of germs passed from one human to another. Or something.
Anyway, during the course of the bit, Joy offered several options, including the elbow-bump, the knuckle-bump, and -- getting progressively worse -- the hand-shake, the body hug, an air kiss, and then a full-out kiss on the mouth. She proceeds to demonstrate this on Whoopi Goldberg.
My question is this: Why do the ladies of The View always end up kissing each other on the mouth? Ok, "always" is a pretty strong word, but there was the Meredith Vieira / Barbara Walters smooch, and I'm sure others in between that one and this one between Joy and Whoopi.
I feel sorry for the poor intern who had to put this thing together. I understand that Lifetime is a cable network and all, but they've become pretty high-profile lately. I would think that if they were going to send out press kits, then maybe they could spring for more than some confetti and crappy stickers printed out on the office ink jet.
Even Sit Down, Shut Up, which is last press kit I did, at least had a t-shirt. It was actually a super-comfy American Apparel shirt, and I still wear it around the house. The Rita Rocks/Sherri press kit, on the other hand, is a do-it-yourself lunchbox-type thing, filled with confetti, containing the DVDs, a bunch of crappy candy, and some un-inflated balloons. It's kind of the saddest thing I've ever seen.
You might think that after finally breaking through at the Daytime Emmys and winning the golden statuette in the category Outstanding Host(s), the folks at ABC's The View would be resting on their laurels. Not so. The View is shaking up their production effective immediately.
According to Bill Geddie, executive producer, they're going to try and make The View more interactive, which is code for using email and web cams and other newfangled Internet sort of things to reach out to the viewers.
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.
Those combative ladies on The View have another bee floating around in their Marge Simpson size bonnets. This story, however, caused perhaps the most egregious and heated debate/clusterf#*$ of noise in the show's history.
Cookie Monster has been in "cookie rehab" of sorts for about three years now. The View ladies finally caught wind of it and went off on a three minute tear about it using voices that are normally reserved for members of WTO protests or people who are on fire.
How bad did it get? Elisabeth Hasselbeck was the "good cop."
The daytime segment of cable's first day concluded with four Turner-related panels: Joy Behar on her new HLN talk show; a CNN panel with John King, Christiance Amanpour, and Soledad O'Brien; a panel with Jerry Bruckheimer and the cast and producers of TNT's Dark Blue; and George Lopez, who is starting a new late night talk show on TBS.
Behar and Lopez bookended the session, and they were an interesting contrast. Two comedians, both opinionated, both with things to say about current events. But while Behar's gentle jabs played to mostly silence among the cranky writers in attendance, Lopez got more than a few of us to laugh. I've never been the biggest Lopez fan, but I have to admit, he was ready for us: he made most of us stand up to talk to him, he jostled us on our reluctance to be enthusiastic, and he was able to make pretty quick comebacks with ease. Must be the years of dealing with hecklers.
Anyway, after the jump, some details of Turner's day in Pasadena, including audio of an interview with O'Brien that I started with the word "cankles."
Normally I don't look forward to doing posts on The View or Glenn Beck because it makes people think that I watch them on a regular basis.
Both, however, collided together to make a tasty train wreck sandwich when Beck appeared on a recent episode of The View.
Co-hosts Whoopi Goldberg and Barbara Walters took the crying giant to task for characterizations Beck made of them on his radio program. Beck's subsequent chair squirming was so great, it shifted the tectonic plates and almost created a second earthquake on the Northeastern seaboard.
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.
They have feuds. They have babies (at least one of them). They have daily debates. But the ladies of The View have no sway with the Daytime Emmys. Well, that's not entirely correct. The ladies themselves, Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Barbara Walters, Sherri Shepherd and Elisabeth Hasselbeck, received an Emmy nomination in the category of Outstanding Talk Show host(s), but their show was snubbed.
Whether it's deemed a Talk Show/Entertainment or Talk Show/Information, it's not deemed worthy. But The View's missing nomination is merely one of the many oddities of the 36th Annual Daytime Emmy nominations. Something is really bizarre in the batch of noms.
Television has had crossover events for years, but I never expected one involving such polar opposites. The View's Sherri Shepherd will be appearing on next week's WWE Smackdown in the corner of wrestler MVP.
I envision the following scenario: when she appears at the event, she will try to get between the wrestlers and get them to discuss their differences. When they stop fighting and reconcile their misunderstanding with each other, she will grab a steel chair from the side of the ring and clock MVP (or his opponent) upside the head.
Actually, that's more of an Oprah scenario, and Oprah doesn't need either the money or the ratings of a WWE appearance. Maybe Shepherd is a wrestling fan.
I cannot imagine two shows that are as different as WWE and The View. Totally different concepts. Totally different audiences. Do you think this news will get more women to watch WWE or more men to watch The View?
Well, we're not through to Hollywood just yet, as the American Idol auditions keep on keepin' on. Indeed, as promised by the show's producers, we're not seeing as many crazies as we have in years past. However, it's safe to say that the pool of eccentric Idol wannabes has been anything but left on the cutting room floor. That's not going to happen anytime soon.
In terms of memorable performances thus far, Von Smith has arguably been "the big breakout," at least among the contestants on American Idol's Kansas City stop (he sang "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" and wore a white fedora ... which, when you think about it, doesn't necessarily differentiate him from every other contestant).
(S03E07) Love was in the air in this episode of 30 Rock. It seems as though everyone had something going on in their personal life. Jack fell in love with his mother's nurse, Liz found a little person to fill the baby-shaped hole in her heart, Tracy and Angie reignited the spark in their marriage, and Frank, well, Frank got to watch Tracy and Angie do it on Kenneth's desk. So everyone was a winner!
Generally, I think 30 Rock does a great job with guest stars, but this season has been a little disappointing so far. With the exception of the Oprah episode, the constant stunt casting has made it feel a little bit like the last seasons of Will and Grace. However, this week's episode, despite having three guest stars, didn't feel like that at all. Maybe it's because there were three, but they fit into the episode, instead of feeling like the episode was written around them.
The folks at our sister site Cinematical are working hard to give you news and reviews of the best -- and worst -- the silver screen has to offer. Here are some of their musings on the latest blockbusters, indies, and everything in between:
The Internet's never ending "series of tubes" were circulating rumors that I thought had already been addressed years ago by TV Squad, 
It's always fun when Bill O'Reilly visits 
This week on 
Last week on 
Those combative ladies on The View have another bee floating around in their Marge Simpson size bonnets. This story, however, caused perhaps the most egregious and heated debate/clusterf#*$ of noise in the show's history. 
The daytime segment of cable's first day concluded with four Turner-related panels: Joy Behar on her new HLN talk show; a CNN panel with John King, Christiance Amanpour, and Soledad O'Brien; a panel with Jerry Bruckheimer and the cast and producers of TNT's Dark Blue; and George Lopez, who is starting a new late night talk show on TBS.
Normally I don't look forward to doing posts on The View or Glenn Beck because it makes people think that I watch them on a regular basis. 
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?
Television has had crossover events for years, but I never expected one involving such polar opposites. The View's Sherri Shepherd 
Well, we're not through to Hollywood just yet, as the 
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