Posted on January 31st, 2009 by Princess Kitty in Movies
I am really enjoying the run of success movies starring grown-ups have been having at the box office. Super Bowl weekend is not typically a good one for movies (unless you’re Miley Cyrus) so that makes it even more impressive that the Liam Neeson thriller “Taken” is poised to be the second highest grossing release ever on this weekend. Miley’s 3D concert movie will stay number one. “Taken” is estimated to have grossed $9.5 million on Friday - more than double its closest competitor “The Uninvited” with $4.3 million. “Taken” was predicted to be number one but it wasn’t expected to earn that kind of money because of the competition for the male audience on Super Bowl weekend. On the other hand, I’m not so sure that this is really a “guy” movie in the traditional sense. Sure the action storyline will appeal to males, but the idea of watching a sexy, grown man like Liam Neeson doing battle with the bad guys to save his beloved daughter definitely has plenty of appeal for women. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if we find out that women were a substantial part of the audience.
Posted on January 30th, 2009 by Princess Kitty in Movies
This movie looks like it could be fun. It’s produced by Tom Hanks’ Playtone and stars his son, Colin Hanks, along with John Malkovich, Emily Blunt, Steve Zahn and Matthew Gray Gubler. Tom appears in the movie as the father of Colin’s character. There also seem to be cameos by every major talk show host out there including Jon Stewart, Conan O’Brien, Regis Philbin and Martha Stewart. The movie is set for a limited release on March 20th.
Here’s the synopsis: Once upon a time, Buck Howard spent his days in the limelight. His mind-boggling feats as a mentalist extraordinaire – not to be confused with those of a mere magician – earned him a marquee act in Vegas and 61 appearances on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show. In his own humble opinion, his talents go far beyond simple sleight of hand – he can read minds and hypnotize not just a single soul but an entire room of people! But nowadays, it’s clear to everyone but Buck that his act has lost its luster; he performs in faded community centers and hasn’t sold out a theater in years. Yet, with a hearty handshake and a trademark “I love this town!” Buck Howard perseveres, confident in his own celebrity, convinced his comeback is imminent. He just needs a new road manager and personal assistant. As it turns out, recent law school drop-out and unemployed, would-be writer Troy Gable needs a job and a purpose. Working for the pompous, has-been mentalist fills the former requirement, but how it satisfies the latter is questionable, especially to his father, who still assumes Troy is in law school. Nonetheless, with the aid of a fiery publicist and a bold stroke of fate, Buck surprisingly lands back into the American consciousness, taking Troy along for the ride of his life. As the coveted spotlight again shines on the great Buck Howard, Buck becomes the unlikeliest of teachers as Troy learns a few tricks he couldn’t possibly have picked up in law school.
Posted on January 29th, 2009 by Princess Kitty in Biggest Loser
Aired 1-27-09
We opened with a graphic saying, “At elimination, Jillian’s team promised they would vote for Joelle …. they didn’t.” And yes, Bob’s team was furious. Everyone knew it was done for strategic reasons but, as Purple Team Kristin pointed out in an interview segment, they didn’t have to lie about it. The results would have been the same. Because they lied, Joelle now has to stay knowing that everyone on her team wanted her gone. Black Team Blaine actually had the audacity to tell Blue Team Filipe and Pink Team Helen that he was sorry about it. Filipe just sat there without saying anything back to him which kind of disappointed me. It does seem, however, that a fire was lit under Bob’s team by the incident.
We ventured outside the ranch for more glimpses into the lives of the at-home group who were just 6 days and 1 weigh in away from returning to the ranch. Yellow Team Aubrey was struggling with finding time for herself with four kids fighting for her attention. Orange Team Dan again told us that his friend and teammate David was up to the challenge of doing it at home as we watched video of David smoking and eating unhealthy foods.
Trainer Bob Harper was shocked when he walked into the gym and found that Damien was gone and Joelle was still there. He worked at getting the others to let go of what happened and not let it distract from their real goals. It did seem that a switch had been flipped in Joelle. Bob noticed that she seemed more aggressive in the workouts.
Temptation (sorta)
It was Super Bowl week at the ranch! The group met with host Alison Sweeney at a setup that looked like a tailgate party. Before the event began, Ali announced that Blaine’s wife was about to have their baby and the show was sending him home to be with her. He’d miss both this and the week’s challenge but he would be back for the weigh in and it would count. Alison then introduced celebrity chef Curtis Stone. This whole setup wasn’t the show’s traditional temptation. It was basically one of two challenges for the week. Ali said that she would start by quizzing the group about some favorite Super Bowl snacks. The first 3 players to answer correctly would get to work with Curtis on making healthier versions of those snacks. There would then be another quiz and the winner would get to have Curtis visit their at-home partner and teach them how to make healthy meals PLUS they would get a 2 pound pass for that teammate to use when they return to the ranch.
For the first question, Ali revealed a large plate of chicken wings with a side of ranch dressing and asked the group to write down the calorie count – without going over. The correct answer was 991. Brown Team Ron wrote 999 but, since that was over by 8 calories, Dan won with his guess of 800. The second round was chili and sour cream in a bread bowl. That calorie count was 1,165. Almost everyone guessed over that amount so Kristin won with her guess of 834. The final snack was a big (and I mean big) bowl of 7 layer dip. The calorie count was 1,755 and Helen won with her guess of 1,500.
Curtis then showed the winners how to make Rosemary Skewered Chicken with Orange Glaze as a substitute for Buffalo Wings. You can find that recipe plus others from Curtis at NBC’s website here: http://www.nbc.com/The_Biggest_Loser/exclusives/nutrition/curtis-stone-recipes/rosemary-chicken.shtml After the cooking lesson, Ali returned with her final question – how many calories were in one skewer of the chicken. The answer was 230 so Dan won with a guess of 220. It would appear that the kid has learned how to count calories. I’m glad he won because we have definitely been led to believe that David is in desperate need of help with his food choices.
We immediately followed as Curtis headed to David’s home in Raleigh, NC. David had no clue who Curtis Stone was (and, frankly, neither did I before this episode) but he was thrilled about the reward Dan had won for him. To David’s credit, he was honest about his struggle with staying on the diet. Curtis took David shopping at:
Product Placement Alert One: Wal-Mart. Yuck. I’m firmly in the anti-Walmart camp. However, apart from the fact that this all began in Satan’s Store, it was actually a pretty good segment. Curtis was smart enough to realize that David craves intense flavors so he taught him how to use the spices that he liked with healthier proteins and veggies. Here’s hoping the lesson sticks.
We then followed Blaine home for the birth of his fourth child. Let me just say this, Blaine’s wife is a saint. She’s been home alone with three little kids while 9 months pregnant and now will be doing it alone with a newborn. Plus, she allowed herself to be seen on national television right before and after giving birth! This ought to be all Blaine ever needs to know about how much his wife wants him to be healthy.
Challenge
The challenge took place on a football field. Ali introduced the group to Kurt Warner. I know all of this was filmed months ago so the fact that they managed to book someone who would end up being one of the Quarterbacks in the Super Bowl – airing on their network – was amazing. Especially since no one would have guessed that the Arizona Cardinals would have pulled that off. Someone at NBC/BL hit the lottery with this one.
The reward for the challenge was immunity at the next weigh in. Winning would also guarantee that their partner would be returning to the ranch. The contestants had to run to the 20 yard line, turn and run back, and then run out to the 40 yard line and pick up a football. They would then run back to the starting line and put the football into someone’s bin. Once someone had 5 footballs in their bin they were eliminated. The last person standing would win. The first people targeted were, of course, the strongest. Filipe was knocked out first followed by Green Team Tara and Black Team Dane. Kristin was next with Yellow Team Mandi eliminated immediately after. The best part of the whole event was watching Tara, Mandi and Dane running back and forth with Dan to encourage him. He really does have everyone on his side. Unfortunately, he was the next one eliminated so it was down to just Helen, Joelle and Brown Team Mike. The girls put out Mike next and raced it out to the end. Helen came in just ahead of Joelle and won the challenge. I’m not really crazy about these types of challenges because the strongest players are always knocked out first but, I suppose, that’s the point. The show doesn’t want the same people winning all the time.
Product Placement Alert Two: Fiber One Cereal. Bob used it to show his team an alternative to oatmeal for breakfast.
During the last chance workout, trainer Jillian Michaels shared her concerns about Dan. She said, “Dan is a great kid but he doesn’t push himself. He doesn’t get out of his comfort zone. He talks a really big game but doesn’t follow through.” She pushed him to run on the treadmill for 5 minutes thinking it would be an accomplishment he could build on. In an interview, Dan said that, when he’s working out, there’s a voice in his head telling him all the things that could go wrong. He called them stupid excuses that make him want to run away. He confessed to Jill that he has trouble believing he can be something other than fat because it’s all he’s ever known. With Jill pushing him, Dan did manage to run for 5 minutes. Her hope was that this would help him realize that the image he has created for himself was not true.
Weigh In
At the beginning of the weigh in, Alison asked Joelle what she did different to move past last week’s disappointing weigh in. She said that she kept her light blazing all week and said she was finally glad to be there having that kind of feeling with her team. Bob and Filipe agreed that Joelle had dialed up the effort.
The next announcement from Alison was to welcome back the at-home players. After many hugs and kisses, she gave them the reality check that all the returnees would be weighed in the next morning and the results would definitely matter.
For this weigh in, however, Black and Brown would weigh in as a couple while the others would weigh individually. The two teams with the lowest percentage of weight lost would fall below the yellow line and be up for elimination. The others would decide who would go home. Since Helen won immunity, she went first. She lost 6 pounds.
Brown: Mike lost 9 pounds and Ron lost 7 for a total of 2.21%. Both were pessimistic about that amount holding up and each felt they’d failed the other.
Black: Blaine lost 11 pounds and Dane lost 15 for a total of 3.81%. Together they have lost 120 pounds in 4 weeks!
Blue: Filipe lost 13 pounds for a total of 4.01%. Sione is back.
Product Placement Alert Three: Jillian’s trainer tip was to fight afternoon cravings by chewing Extra Sugar Free Gum. She likes peppermint.
Green: Tara lost 12 pounds for a total of 4.55%. Laura is back.
Purple: Kristin lost 12 pounds for a total of 3.70%.
Yellow: Mandi lost 10 pounds for a total of 4.22%. Aubrey is back.
Orange: Dan lost 12 pounds for a total of 2.96%. That meant Kristin was safe from elimination and her mom, Cathy, would be back at the ranch.
Silver: Joelle lost 10 pounds for a total of 3.45%. It was enough to get Carla back. As she walked up to the scale, Joelle said she knew it would be a defining moment for her. In tears, she thanked everyone for giving her the chance to try again.
Orange and Brown (pictured above) were below the yellow line. Mike said it was the worst case scenario because he and Dan were both very young and very big.
Back at the house, Ron made a tearful plea for the group to let his son stay. They both wanted and needed to be there and he was sorry he had failed Mike. Dan said the bottom-line was that both teams deserved and needed to be there. David followed up by basically giving the group an out. He said that it was hard for him to be at the ranch and the past 30 days had proven to him that it can be done at home.
In the elimination room, the group gathering was particularly somber. Pink voted to eliminate Dan & David. Yellow voted for Ron & Mike. Purple voted for Dan & David and Black voted for Ron & Mike. Green also voted for Ron & Mike but Tara lashed out at David for saying that he didn’t want to be there. She said that Mike & Ron have changed and have each other for support but David doesn’t get it and Tara wanted to make him get it by keeping him on the ranch. It was a passionate, heartfelt and accurate statement. David replied by saying that his commitment was at the ranch but his heart wasn’t. He felt trapped there. Silver followed by voting for Dan & David making it a tie. The deciding vote went to Blue. Filipe also was very emotional as he spoke to David. He said that he misses his wife and kids everyday and also feels trapped BUT he knows that it will be worth it because he’ll end up having more years on earth with them. They voted for Dan & David. While there was a lot of emotion, the vote ended up following team lines.
Dan & David left the ranch sounding confident about their future. In the Where They Are Now segment we learned that Dan has been taken off his oral diabetes medication. So far David has lost 46 pounds and says that he has quit smoking. Dan has lost 101 pounds and plans on breaking the BL record for most weight lost. Frankly, I’m worried about David. Dan seems to have made a change but I’m not sure David has really made a commitment.
Next Week: The returnees weigh in during the first 10 minutes and Bob and Jillian don’t seem pleased.
Posted on January 27th, 2009 by Princess Kitty in Television
About halfway through last night’s premiere of TNT’s new drama, “Trust Me”, I finally figured out what it reminded me of – “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip”. Watching Tom Cavanagh’s copywriter and Eric McCormack’s creative director banter through scenes was reminiscent of Matthew Perry’s head writer and Bradley Whitford’s executive producer. I was one of the few who consistently watched “Studio 60″ and I wonder if the same may end up being true of “Trust Me”. It lost almost half of the lead-in from “The Closer” and was down significantly from the series premieres of “Leverage” and “Raising the Bar”.
In “Trust Me”, Mason (McCormack) and Connor (Cavanagh) are an advertising creative team working for a volatile boss (Jason O’Mara). When the boss drops dead after a hissy fit, Mason is promoted into his position much to the chagrin of Connor. The premiere episode revolved around that conflict and, as is typical with pilot episodes, things were taken to an extreme in order to quickly establish the characters. Unfortunately, going to the extreme resulted in my wanting to slap two of television’s most intrinsically likable actors. Connor came across as a particularly immature Peter Pan and Mason seriously needed a stiff drink. Thankfully it looked like this conflict was resolved by the end of the episode so I’m hoping the guys will be getting along better as the series continues. As a whole, the show was well written and acted but its success is going to depend on the audience enjoying the friendship of the leads.
TNT’s been on a good run with their original dramas. I’m a huge fan of “The Closer” and “Saving Grace” and I have been thoroughly enjoying the adventures of the quirky “Leverage” crew. “Raising the Bar” started its run with some problems but improved as the season went on. I’m hoping the same will be true of “Trust Me”.
You can watch bonus clips and interviews with the cast at TNT’s website here:
Posted on January 26th, 2009 by Princess Kitty in Amazing Race
This is shaping up to be a really interesting season of “The Amazing Race” if you go by the cast list. There are two 4′9″ brothers who are Hollywood stuntmen – job experience that can come in very handy on the race. A 22 year old who has been deaf since birth and is racing with his mom. There’s also a Hollywood screenwriter (you know his work – he wrote ”Nacho Libre” and “School of Rock”) and his father, a gay pastor. There are also the mandatory cheerleaders and dating couples. Here is the complete list with my thanks to E! for putting it together:
LaKisha Hoffman, 28, program coordinator; Jennifer Hoffman, 24, marketing assistant (sisters and former University of Louisville athletes)
Linda Cole, 52, customer service supervisor; Steve Cole, 43, carpenter (married)
Margie Adams, 50, clinical research associate; Luke Adams, 22, college graduate (mother and son; he has been deaf since birth)
Mark Munoz, 48, stuntman/jockey; Michael Munoz, 51, stuntman/actor (brothers and colleagues)
Tammy Jih, 26, lawyer; Victor Jih, 35, lawyer (siblings; both graduated from Stanford University and Harvard Law School)
Mel White, 68, writer/clergyman/gay rights activist; Mike White, 38, actor/screenwriter known for School of Rock and Nacho Libre (father and son)
The racers will be visiting Switzerland, India, Siberia and Romania (among others) and will partake in the world’s second-tallest bungee jump – which is just craziness. You can get even more info on the new teams in preparation for the season premiere on February 15th at CBS’ website here:
Posted on January 26th, 2009 by Princess Kitty in Biggest Loser
My favorite Life Coach was back on “The Today Show” this morning with advice about how to hold on to your New Year’s resolutions. Check it out below and get motivated!
Posted on January 23rd, 2009 by Princess Kitty in Television
On the heels of a very pessimistic article in TV Guide about the future of daytime soaps is an even more depressing article from MSNBC. Of course, anything associated with NBC would be pessimistic about this subject since they are the ones that just fired their ultimate Daytime Diva – Deidre Hall. This particular article centered on the killing off of Y&R’s Brad Carlton (Don Diamont). The highest rated soap is killing off a character that has been around for 24 years (and still looks awesome, by the way) for budgetary reasons.
There are now only 8 soaps on daytime and the latest ratings ranked them this way:
The Young and the Restless
The Bold and the Beautiful
Days of Our Lives
General Hospital
As the World Turns
All My Children
One Life to Live
Guiding Light
As the one in last place, the MSNBC article is reporting that “Guiding Light” is pretty much toast. Seeing “General Hospital” in 4th place makes me nervous. That’s my soap. I’ve drifted in and out of watching it but they’ve been on a nostalgia kick the past couple of years (bringing back Rick Springfield, Tristan Rogers, Finola Hughes and even Emma Samms) and that got me back into the habit. I am now officially on the bandwagon for the show’s current supercouple, Robin & Patrick (Kimberly McCullough and Jason Thompson, pictured above).
The problem for the soaps seems to come down to the fact that their audience is shrinking and aging – a deadly combination in television. The median age for Y&R’s viewers is 60. Plus, daytime talk shows are a lot cheaper to produce.
I know that TV is a business but losing this genre of it will make me sad. The whole story reminds me of a joke Jay Leno made after his new show was announced:
“We’re going to be doing a new show in the fall. We’ll start at 10 p.m. right after the last hour of the Today show.”
Posted on January 22nd, 2009 by Princess Kitty in Television
It looks to be official. Numerous sources are reporting that George Clooney and Julianna Margulies – “ER” supercouple Doug & Carol – are filming scenes for “ER” today and tomorrow. They are joining original cast members Anthony Edwards, Eriq La Salle and Noah Wyle in paying respect to the show that made them famous.
I’m thrilled to be seeing Doug Ross again but…….does he really have to bring Carol Hathaway with him? Couldn’t she have stayed in Seattle with the twins, Tess and Kate? Carol was never one of my favorites and, frankly, Julianna Margulies has put me off in recent years with the way she has talked about ”ER”. Unlike George, who always speaks fondly of the show and appreciative for what it did for his career, Julianna frequently seems annoyed in interviews when “ER” is brought up. Oh well. I guess this is just the price I’ll have to pay to see my lovely George again.
Posted on January 22nd, 2009 by Princess Kitty in Biggest Loser
Newly ousted “Biggest Loser” contestant, Damien Gurganious, spoke with “Entertainment Tonight” to give an update on the progress he and fiance, Nicole Brewer, have made with their weight loss goals. He and Nicole are currently working out for 90 minutes every morning AND every night. Damien is hoping to go from his starting weight of 381 to 180 by the finale in order to win the $100,000 at-home prize to pay for an extended honeymoon. I’m pulling for him because he and Nicole are just about as cute a pair as I’ve ever seen on this show.
As for his surprising elimination, Damien had this to say, “You know it is a show about competition. So you don’t put anything past anyone, but I felt I was going to stay because I was up against a person who didn’t want to be there in the first place. Then I thought, ‘This is an opportunity to get rid of some competition.’ You are hoping it would go your way, but in my case, it didn’t.”
You can check out the full interview at the link below:
