TV

DWTS: Does the dancing matter

Mon, 12 May 2008 20:35:09 -0600

One point separated each of the top three competitors after Monday night's round on Dancing with the Stars, with Kristi Yamaguchi reclaiming the top spot with a 57 and Jason Taylor coming in third with 55. Marissa Winokur Jaret, whose tenure has surpassed her dancing abilities, came in last. She's most likely to be eliminated, but when Cristian de la Fuente can score one of the high scores of the night, anything is possible.

NBC - Jay + Conan = Jimmy

Mon, 12 May 2008 13:05:51 -0600

MSNBC broadcast a live news conference with Jimmy Fallon and the ubiquitous Lorne Michaels (the older he gets, the more he's looking like the Emperor in Star Wars) on Monday. Clips of it haven't been posted on YouTube yet, but it didn't exactly fan the flames of anticipation. Jimmy's looking a little older, different enough that it makes you wonder "geez, just when was the last time I saw you, oh yeah, it was like three years ago." He was always cute and funny on SNL, but as Patty and Selma observed on The Simpsons, "the older they get, the cuter they ain't." And let's not forget, there may be a reason why Jimmy kind of disappeared. His movie, Taxi, with Queen Latifah, was a trainwreck. His album was not all that funny. He had those Pepsi commercials that were kind of fun. But a little of Jimmy Fallon goes a long way. Five nights a week may be a few too many. His hiring may end up being the best thing that ever happened to Craig Ferguson.

Jennie Garth returning for '90210' spinoff

Mon, 12 May 2008 11:30:49 -0600

From Associated Press:

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The wild kids of television's West Beverly High will have a guidance counselor familiar with the posh ZIP code's dating, drugs and drama.
Jennie Garth will reprise her role as Kelly Taylor and join the cast of a planned "Beverly Hills, 90210" spinoff on CW.

She won't be a regular but will play a guidance counselor at her alma mater, the Hollywood Reporter said in a story published online Saturday.

Garth, 36, departed the CBS comedy pilot "My Best Friend's Girl" last month.

'Survivor': Another blindside

Mon, 12 May 2008 10:38:30 -0600

A season of blindside votes ended with another surprise last night -- Parvati Shallow, who refined her flirtation strategy in her second Survivor stint, won the million-dollar top prize over the athletic ex-beauty queen Amanda Kimmel in Survivor: Micronesia -- Fans vs. Favorites.

"Parv" looked as shocked as anyone that she beat Amanda, who made it to a top 3 spot in the previous China Survivor. At least the women wised up this time and employed a girl power strategy.

Next stop: Gabon in Africa, for its 17th season. We can only hope that "Earth's Last Eden" won't be as grim as the last time the Survivor bunch went to Africa (very dry Kenya).

LOST: 'Cabin Fever'

Fri, 09 May 2008 16:54:06 -0600

Last night's Lost, "Cabin Fever," proved to be an intriguing episode, made-to-order for mythology-obsessed Losties. We got some answers, and as usual, we got even more questions.

American Idol: Jason Castro chatter

Fri, 09 May 2008 11:42:54 -0600

Lots going on as North Texas recovers from Jason Castro getting the boot on American Idol this week. The rumor that he was making a Rockwall appearance last night wasn't true -- he's saying it might be weeks till he's back in Texas.

Here are links to Castro happenings:
, After chatting with reporters, including Darla Atlas, on Thursday Jason appeared on the Tonight Show With Jay Leno

Here's a blog post at neighborsgo.com on the Leno appearance:

The city of Rockwall didn't get to hold its big party, but still plans to honor Castro at some point. Check the Web site rockwalllovesjason.comfor details.

Tonight on LOST: 'Cabin Fever'

Thu, 08 May 2008 08:01:42 -0600

Tonight's episode of Lost features Locke-centric flashbacks, and we mean waaay-back flashbacks, to John at ages 5 and 16. ABC's official ep summary says:

Locke discovers the location of Jacob's cabin, and life aboard the freighter becomes increasingly perilous.

For some spoilerish stuff, go to the jump...

Idol: Castro cast off

Wed, 07 May 2008 20:40:41 -0600

It was time, wasn't it? Even for those of us who adored him on the show have to admit it. Besides, if he'd squeaked by Syesha this week, it could have caused some sort of violent uprising amongst angry viewers. And nobody wants that.
"I think it's just getting tough for me," he said of the competition. "I think my inexperience is coming in."
Well, the good news is this: He now has a lot more experience to fall back on in the future.

Idol: Bottom Two

Wed, 07 May 2008 20:22:18 -0600

Syesha and Jason await their fate, while Davids A. and C. are safe. Ryan noted earlier that the top three came within a million votes of each other (out of a total of almost 51 million), so to me that means Jason will be departing. (One person clearly came in dead last, in other words. Jason made many mistakes.)
Of course, I'm writing this without knowing the future, so I reserve the right to say, "Oops!" in an upcoming post.

American Idol: Suspense

Wed, 07 May 2008 19:47:26 -0600

Way back in Season One, Nikki McKibbin (local singer who was regularly panned by the judges -- sound familar?) grabbed a top-three spot from the clutches of the beloved Tamyra Gray -- who was seemingly a shoo-in. People expected to see a Tamyra/Kelly showdown in the end, remember?
This year, people expect a David/David showdown. History tells us it may not happen.

Jason looks ready to go home, who is next?

Wed, 07 May 2008 12:17:06 -0600

Really, at this point I think it would make Jason sad NOT to go home. He is SO ready. He has already had a tremendous ride. If he does go as expected, I think Syesha will be next (even though I LOVE her voice and think she would be terrific on Broadway). I think this will be a battle of the Davids for the top slot. And if so, which David do you think will win it?

Dancing With The Stars: Au revoir-io mario

Tue, 06 May 2008 22:05:31 -0600

Here's hoping that Dancing with the Stars isn't a microcosm of the upcoming presidential election, because if it is, a lot of viewer-voters are going to be feeling disenchanted. R&B star Mario was eliminated despite his best-dance performance last night, while one-armed Cristian and scrappy Marissa both were spared. Shocked viewers may have had flashbacks to last season's unaccountably early departure of Sabrina Bryan, another young pop performer whose great dancing couldn't counter a lack of DWTS-watching fans.

Idol: Jason's second attempt

Tue, 06 May 2008 19:58:18 -0600

During Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man," he forgot the words. Maybe he was serious when he told the Entertainment Weekly reporter he was ready to come home.
Sigh.

Idol: Jason

Tue, 06 May 2008 19:28:38 -0600

Good Lord. Not sure if the nerves got to our hometown guy or if -- as Simon said -- he just shouldn't have attempted Bob Marley. All I know is that his rendition of "I Shot the Sheriff" was pretty painful. He seemed to be trying to infuse the song with extra energy or pizzazz; did you notice all of the extra body movements tonight? But the thing is, Jason is endearing because he hasn't had to try that hard. We like his lack of pizzazz.
His second song better be awesome. Stupendously, magically awesome.

American Idol: Hall of Fame Week

Tue, 06 May 2008 19:15:57 -0600

Tonight, the final four got to choose songs from performers who've been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In other words, they have MANY CHOICES. David Cook's first ditty was "Hungry Like the Wolf," which he casually mentioned came out THE YEAR HE WAS BORN. Ouch. Dude is quite young.