America's Got Talent is always good for a disturbing image or two, particularly if Piers Morgan's naked body is involved. (Haha. Don't click that.) Last night's second audition show was no different, as it acquainted us with the neon styling of "Fighting Gravity," a Blue Man Group-esque mime act with an industrial-rock undercurrent. If the Pac Man-visits-a-Fun House theatrics become too much for you, calm yourself by realizing it's just a group of frat boys who like wearing monochrome sweatsuits together.
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After overdosing on sentimentality last night, I've decided to check into a Gleehabilitation clinic for the summer. The offshoot of the Promises program provides a safe environment devoid of primary colors, where Schoenberg's atonal compositions ring out across the campus all day and night, and all inspiring messages about the value of our differences have to be checked at the door (along with any shoestrings or Hall & Oates albums). It will be hard, but I was driven to this by last night's season finale schmaltz binge, "Journey." Let's relive the highs and shiver through the lows, and for the last time this season, there will be a pop quiz.
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Just because Conan O'Brien has found a new television home does not mean that everyone has forgotten his Tonight Show plight. Take Chris Rock, who last night made his first few minutes with Jay Leno uncomfortable by calling him out for his crimes and insinuating that he may have had something to do with Kevin Eubanks' mysterious departure. Click through for that segment, as well as the other highlights you missed last night while remembering Kathy Griffin's days on the D-List.
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Wednesday's edition of Page Six reports that the ratings for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon are down 20 percent from May of 2009 and that NBC executives are "on edge" over the fall. Gasp! Says Mediaweek's Marc Berman -- who actually goes by the late, great Milton Berle's old nickname "Mr. Television" -- "When they took out Jay and put in Conan, they lost a lot of the viewers who would usually have stayed on to watch Fallon. The lead-in is pivotal . . . When you mess around with viewers, sometimes it's hard to get them back. TV is a very fickle business . . . If there is a lesson to be learned from this debacle, it is that if it's not broken, don't fix it." Good point, Mr. TV! And good thing Fallon isn't broken.
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· You may be surprised at the diverse line-up of television series that networks will bring down to Comic-Con come July 22. CBS will present its Hawaii Five-O remake, ABC will set up a panel for its crime series Castle and FX will tout its biker drama Sons of Anarchy. The event, typically reserved for television fare like Battlestar Gallactica and Lost, has also approved the inclusion of Steven Spielberg's dinosaur drama Terra Nova, ABC's superhero drama series No Ordinary Family and the CW's action series Nikita. Comic-Con organizers typically turn down shows if they are "too off-brand." [THR]
ABC inbreeds its Bachelor talent , a Lohan aims to get fired, and more TV Bites after the jump.
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Browsing clips from Kathy Griffin's newest Bravo stand-up special Kathy Griffin Does the Bible Belt, I kept having to remind myself the material was new. The anecdotes about an erratically behaved Sharon Stone? The clip about cable-TV indulgence Hoarders? It all felt like gags from five years ago, when Griffin could get away with insider-as-outsider observations without it feeling like an obligatory part of her self-appointed D-List stature. Now, on the eve of her new special and sixth season of My Life on the D-List, it becomes painfully clear what we've lost since Griffin's star -- and original appeal -- exploded into a cycle of dishonest repetition.
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Though this is probably part of a carefully staged master plan that will lead to at least two nervous breakdowns inside of Movieline HQ, we are duty-bound to inform you that Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt have legally separated. Why is this of cultural significance? Because Us Weekly says it is. Now, who wants to guess what Speidi's next trick will be? A televised marriage renewal ceremony with Extra correspondents Mario Lopez and Terri Seymour as best man and maid of honor, perhaps? [TMZ]
Still scratching your head over Lost despite our attempt to tie up almost 100 of the show's loose ends? You're in luck, as the previously announced DVD epilogue is going to have a lot more to it then just showing what happened on the island after Hurley and Ben were in charge. In fact, it sounds like this extra bit of bonus content is actually a subtle mea culpa for executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse and a way to provide some of the answers that the actual show never gave.
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Are you prepared to leave Glee for the summer? Tonight's season finale sees some big cameos, the big showdown of the year, and more scheming from that tracksuited dame with the bullhorn. I'd prefer the soundtrack include every obvious song choice: "The End," "Last Dance," etc. I think Mercedes has some mad Jim Morrison and Donna Summer poses in her.
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Uncle Jesse, DMD? In tonight's Glee finale, Emma Pillsbury (Jayma Mays) will reveal that she has been spending her long hours outside of McKinley High with a dreamy dentist -- a dreamy dentist that John Stamos is reportedly in negotiations to play next season. Now, who's ready for an autotuned Beach Boys hit to make the cut for season two's premiere? [EW]
During last night's episode of The Bachelorette, several gentlemen stepped up and revealed themselves to be real competitors for Ali's manufactured affection. Still, just five of them can rank in Movieline's Bachelorette Studfinder, so get out your gel pens and spiral pads, because it's time to pass notes about the dreamiest contestants in Ali's periphery.
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Last week on The Real Housewives of New Jersey, Danielle hired a few ex-cons to protect her at a cancer benefit. The night was supposed to be about a sick baby, but with Danielle and her shifty-eyed parolees present, the event turned into a circus freak show that bore conspiracy theories and insults -- the most controversial of which, an offensive term for gay men, was addressed in last night's episode "It's Not Me, It's You." Click through to see which moments hit the Real/Fake Jackpot this week.
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When THR got a bunch of dramatic actors together last month for an Emmy roundtable, the trade noted that "humor dominated the hourlong discussion." That's a stark contrast to the comedy roundtable THR just put up, where TV funnymen like Jim Parsons, Neil Patrick Harris, and Ed Helms worry and excoriate themselves and get all "Tears of a Clown"-y. None self-flagellate harder, though, than Ted Danson.
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Like every other twenty-something, Stephanie Pratt has fought to overcome her own insecurities. Only unlike the masses, she did so as part of MTV's cultural phenomenon The Hills. Her journey was especially sophisticated for a reality show that specializes in glamorous simplification -- picture-perfect young cast members, glistening shots of the L.A. cityscape and conversations that rarely delve into complex designer names, let alone emotions. But as The Hills winds down its final season, Stephanie -- who became a lead cast member this year -- has emerged as of one of the show's most integral and reliable characters.
Last week, Stephanie phoned Movieline to discuss the career detour that took her to The Hills , the one cast member she trusts for advice and her strained relationship with her brother.
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Hoping August's Emmy Awards are a bit more awkward than usual this year? So is TBS. In an act that can only be described as full-on taunting, the network has taken out a series of "For Your Consideration" ads for The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien with the hopes of landing O'Brien an Emmy nomination and placement on the NBC telecast. "Conan's great work in 2009 and 2010 deserves Emmy consideration. We're very excited to have him join TBS later this year," said Turner Entertainment Networks president Steve Koonin, presumably with a massive, sh*t-eating grin. The ads make no mention of NBC -- or Jay Leno -- but they do make jokes about Coco's skin and Twitter following. So there's that. Take a look after the jump.
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