Jeopardy's annual Celebrity Invitational has been spread out over the course of the season this year. Once a month, three celebrities battled to qualify for next week's big semifinal round. Plenty of formidable competitors have bitten the dust, including Anderson Cooper and big, big loser Wolf Blitzer. Now, Movieline sizes up the remaining nine combatants with projected percentages for success. You'll be unnerved to know that one of Alex Trebek's Sony Pictures Studios' coworkers has a major edge.
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CBS has been throwing buckets of tasty Conan O'Brien quotes overboard this week, hoping to bait a younger 60 Minutes audience and bring its median age down to 50. Yesterday, the network cleverly released a Jay-bashing soundbite from this Sunday's interview. And today's delicious excerpt slices through the very argument NBC used to boot him from his time slot.
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Louisiana State University professor Don Chance has a fascinating idea: Mr. Rogers ruined this generation with messages like "You're Special," because they make kids value personal "specialness" over achievement or merit. That's right, Fred Rogers rendered us all narcissists, people who enjoy closeups of fishbowls only because we can see ourselves in them. Right. Movieline's Louis Virtel and Julie Miller grew up watching PBS's Mister Rogers' Neighborhood and speculated about Don Chance's own world of make-believe.
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And now, Movieline's home-viewing guru Michael Atkinson introduces a new feature dedicated to this weekend's most recordable films on a movie channel near you.
I don't much trust the "cloud" -- what if a comet hit the Earth and took out all of those data-center servers? Then where'd your "copy" of Radiohead's full catalog be? I like to have copies I can hold, and I say, movie channels are rewarding sources of movies for when that comet hits. Then, all you'd need is a generator, a DVD player and your DVD-R rip of Children of Men to have a Saturday night.*
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If you'd like to see Saturday Night Live veterans Al Franken, Dan Aykroyd, Dana Carvey, and Kevin Nealon together again (and you live in the Los Angeles area), you're in luck. The foursome is appearing at the House of Blues this Saturday and for the low, low price of $2,400 (more expensive tickets are available) you can attend their show. Part of the proceeds will go towards Franken's 2014 Senate reelection campaign. [HuffPo]
I told you all to be sorry. Now, sixth-place Idol finisher Siobhan Magnus fielded a round of questions during a post-elimination conference call, and I can officially confirm: All you Michael Lynche zealots screwed a major pooch with your dumb votes. You schtupped a mastiff and we all saw. The five best quotes from Siobhan's conference call (which come complete with five new reasons to love this girl) render us weepy and breathy -- like a lovestruck glassblower noticing her reflection in a gleaming pool of silica.
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Starz's freshman suicide survivor series debuted last week and proved that, like Dead Like Me and Six Feet Under before it, balancing comedy, drama and death is tough. Even with bubbly Kristen Ritter, whose character designed an actual death by chocolate cake last week, the show still has far to go before it finds its footing.
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Though Regis Philbin is still battling Paul Shaffer and the New York skyline for most appearances on David Letterman's Late Show, Letterman made only his third appearance on Regis's morning hour today. "You can't see that on Maury!" Regis hollers. The old friends chatted about local issues like Jay Leno and screwing over Conan -- all while Kelly Ripa seemed further away the more she leaned in. That's Chekhov sh*t right there. Dave repeats his squawky Leno impersonation and after the jump, we'll see if he really added anything to the Tonight Show dialogue besides the word "knockwurst."
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Last week on the Real Housewives of New York City, Ramona's eyeballs actually jumped out of their sockets Mask-style, and Jill got a contact high off of LuAnn's condescension. But the tone of last night's episode, "Stay on Message," was far more serious. A tabloid leaked Bethenny's pregnancy and she spent the rest of the episode depressed in bed and full makeup. Bobby schvitzed through a cable-access interview. Kelly wore even shorter shorts than last week. And Sonja empowered viewers by telling them they are never too old for designer knee-high boots. In short, the episode was inspiring and educational. After the jump, Movieline sifts the through Tru Renewal plugs and scam psychics to find the truest and fakest moments.
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Jay Leno may have had a great 60th birthday -- complete with Chelsea Handler and Terry Bradshaw in a cake, but the day after his 60th birthday was not so hot. First, 60 Minutes leaked a few statements from this Sunday's Jay-bashing interview with Conan O'Brien. And then last night, Jay was called an "ee-diot" and a "senior citizen" by the Governor of California. That clip, as well as the other highlights you missed last night while retouching your bandleader resume, after the jump.
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I have been excited about the musical episode of Fringe, "Brown Betty," for weeks. For some reason, I expected a production of the proportions of Buffy's much-loved Once More with Feeling. But, despite some lovely, deeply saturated noir action and a few genuine, if not heavy-handed metaphors (Peter stole Walter's glass heart. Aw.), this episode's musical elements fell much too far on the side of gimmick to merit their inclusion. Read on for an analysis of the catalysts that tanked this once-so-promising episode.
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There has been a not-so-quiet bit of backlash surrounding 30 Rock this season, as its status as the funniest show ever has worn off. This is partially NBC's fault -- and really what isn't? -- since by putting 30 Rock fourth on a schedule of four comedies, they have created a situation where the audience is facing laughter fatigue by the time it airs. But the blame also rests at the feet of Tina Fey. Too often this year, the narrative plotting has been forgotten from episode to episode. Like, remember Jack's "have to make a decision!" love triangle from last week? Well good, because you were the only one, since the show made nary a mention of this big decision last night. But then Will Forte showed up in drag and all was forgiven.
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· Unite Chuck fans nation-wide! With less than a month until the NBC series' season finale, Chucksters are staging another epic display of support for their favorite on the bubble program. Only instead of storming Subways, they are planning flash mobs in Chicago, Seattle, San Diego and Philadelphia on Monday, May 3. (For information, including a super secret video with instructions for the event, contact Chucktv.net.) Fans are relatively certain that NBC will renew the show, but want to advertise the series in time for its May 24 closer. [THR]
A Sex and the City alum circles Warner Bros, The Simpsons welcome Flight of the Conchords, and more TV Bites after the jump.
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While we wait for Bill Carter to finish writing the The Late Shift sequel, producers Basil Iwanyk (Clash of the Titans) of Thunder Road and Kevin J. Cleary of Content House are developing a miniseries about the drama between the Tonight Show's first three hosts: Steve Allen, Jack Paar and Johnny Carson. The miniseries, called The King of Late Night, will be based on Robert Metz's 1980 book The Tonight Show and will explore the behind-the-scenes drama that plagued the show's hosts long before Jay Leno butted his chin in. [Deadline]
With each week of expert analysis from Movieline's Julie Miller, The Real Housewives of New York's mosaic of glitz and gaucheness separates into pure shards. Jill's the problem, Bethenny's a bit put on, and no one ends up looking like a saint. But perhaps the issue with RHONY's cast is their format: If they were characters in a piece of literature, would we be so cavalier to dismiss them? After piecing together bits from the Bravo blogs, it turns out we have the makings of a Victorian bildungsroman on our hands.
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