Hump Day Update

Hey peeps. Lots to write about and just when I think I don't have time to do it all, I remember my dear old friend Hump Day Update.

• Who Wants To Be A Millionaire got a serious makeover for its season premiere this week. There's a time limit on the questions, new crazy life lines, and help from celebrity experts. I use the term celebrity loosely as so far the only celebrity has been Bill Nye the Science Guy, though he is is 2 for 2. It speeds up the show and that time limit makes you second guess yourself on even the easiest questions. I know what you're all thinking, "How long is the time-limit for the million dollar question?" It's 45 seconds plus all of the time you bank during the other questions. So if you only use 5 seconds during a 30 second time period, 25 seconds goes to the bank. Neat huh?

• Ellen Degeneres is the new spokesperson for Cover Girl. I don't wear make-up but I appreciate the fact Cover Girl uses funny, vibrant, down-to-earth celebs like Queen Latifah and Ellen for their ad campaigns. Classy.
  

• Juliana Margulies obviously missed my mother's lesson on dressing your best for every situation...oh and the one on keeping your vagina to yourself.
  

• Michael Phelps is hosting SNL this week. Anyone see him totally bonk before he introduced Little Wayne at the VMAs? Hopefully he can hold it together on Saturday.
  

• Speaking of the VMAs, thoughts on Kanye's new song, "Love Lockdown"? I loved it live, but I'm not feeling this studio version.

Photo: The Remote Island

Hump Day Updates

• My least favorite "chef" on Hell's Kitchen sliced off the tip of his thumb in a cooking related fiasco. Gosh that guy is a tool.
  

• Did anyone else know Kristen Davis, Charlotte of Sex and the City fame, is a recovering alcoholic? She's been sober for years apparently so those Cosmos were probably just raspberry lemonades. Chances are, she quit cold turkey after this.
  

• Tonight's American Idol results are the first step to restoring the international community's faith in America.
  

• I saw an "exclusive engagement" (their words not mine) of the new Indiana Jones movie tonight. It was a great movie, full of fun, surprises and action. Too many corny special effects but I'm no movie blogger. The biggest surprise of the night was the excellent performance by Shia LaBeouf. He was genuine, witty and surprisingly realistic as a 1950s greaser. Who knew the happy-go-lucky kid from Even Stevens would end up side by side with Indiana Jones? I wonder what happened to Ren?

Hump Day Update

It's Wednesday. How are you celebrating?

• The Real World is shooting in Brooklyn for its 21st season. In case you're counting, this is the 3rd time they'll be in New York. I wrote a post about this for my other blog but let me just say this: Really? Three times in NYC? There's no other place in the worth checking out? In this entire country? Really?

• My favorite chef got voted off Top Chef tonight. I miss his wily antics already.
  

• In other chef show news, Hell's Kitchen saw its highest ratings ever last night thanks to a lead-in from the Idol final 3. They did a blind taste test last night to test out their palattes. This is a similar to a recent quickfire on Top Chef. The only difference? When the highly trained, near-expert chefs on Bravo were distinguishing between expensive and cheap olive oil, the cooks on Hells Kitchen were just trying to recognize chicken. Not free-range, nothing special. Here's a forkful of something, what is it? Chicken. The best part? The woman got it wrong. Thank heavens the show is entertaining because these people can't cook.
  

• And finally, this is a fantastic clip from Deal Or No Deal. No skills required on this show...it shows.
  
  

Hump Day Update

It's Wednesday and always there's too much to talk about. How was your hump day everybody?

• Top Chef finally got rid of my least favorite chef. I won't give it away, but let me just say: I'm glad he's gone mate.
  
  
• David Blaine broke the world record for holding your breath under water after breathing in pure oxygen for 25 minutes. Yes, the record is that specific. Apparently there are two types of records. One where you don't take in the pure oxygen and one where you do. Either way, you get the shakes, your heart goes funny and you look like a dumbass in a giant globe of water on the Oprah set. If SNL were new this week, they'd be having a field day.


• And in Idol chatter, one of my favorites, Brooke White, went home tonight. She wasn't going to win, but I did like her modesty, sincerity and every other week, her voice.
  


• Anyone else see Charlie Gibson fill in on Good Morning America this morning? His stint reminded me just how much I miss him at the desk. They played old clips of him all morning. My favorite was from a few years ago when Sam Champion was just filling in for Spencer Christian one day. The scene went something like this:

Robin: Thank you Sam. And yes America, Sam Champion is his real name.
Charlie: Really, that's your real name? Sam Third Place Finisher just doesn't have the same effect.

Charlie, feel free to come back to GMA anytime...seriously.

Hump Day Update

Why does so much good TV news happen just in time for the Hump Day update? The world may never know.

• Aging, (literally) slap-happy, supermodel Naomi Campbell is doing a guest appearance during the season finale of Ugly Betty. I don't know how they'll write in all of the cast's black eyes and broken arms into the episode. That's what makes them professionals people.
  

• In other diva-of-color news, Jennifer Lopez is working on a reality show with TLC. It's going to focus on how she juggles mommy-hood with all of her business ventures. It will be like Jon & Kate Plus 8, except more like Jen & Marc Plus a 100 person staff and millions of dollars.
  

• Orlando Brown, best-boy-friend to Raven on Disney's popular That's So Raven, went missing for just over a day. Apparently he left his manager's house yesterday morning to make a quick 7-11 run. When he didn't return, the search was on. Brown turned up today and said he just needed some time to himself. I think this is just a publicity stunt for his new album and Disney show. Too soon to say? Come on, no one else thought that? I bet half the people who read his name today thought Orlando Bloom went missing.
  

Hump Day Updates

Lots of little things to talk about today.

• These new Gossip Girl ads are steamy. People are getting this much ass in high school? I should've spent less time in forensics.
  

• I Tivo'ed Idol Gives Back tonight but I haven't had a chance to watch it yet. This is probably for the best seeing as it is probably the cheesiest 2.5 hours of television known to man...since this of course.

• It's official: I will watch Chris Hansen sting just about anybody.

• Dr. Oz is probably the only person in Oprah's posse who is intelligent and charismatic enough to get his own show. It's about time he steps out from under her cashmere wing. Maybe this one will actually be worth watching.
  
  
  

Hump Day Update

I love TV, but a few things drove me a little nuts today about my favorite medium.

• I'm watching Top Chef and while it's nothing new, those little "coming up on Top Chef" clips are starting to drive me nuts. Trust that I will stay to watch and just go to the commercials. I don't need any more Padma than absolutely necessary. I do love Andrew though. He dances on the border between funny and sociopathic.
  

• American Idol **Spoiler Alert** - I am sad that Chikezie got voted off. He wasn't a great singer but he seemed funny and I liked watching the few occasions when he shook things up.
  

• One of my favorite game shows, Family Feud, is making the move to primetime NBC. I think it deserves a 21st century update but I don't like that they're fussing with the family aspect a bit. The show could feature celebrity kin or casts of NBC shows (Think 30 Rock vs. Heroes). I miss Ray Combs.
  

Hump Day Update

There's no good on tonight so here's whats happening in TV news.

• Anderson Cooper had a cancerous mole removed from underneath his eye. Apparently the cancer hadn't spread anywhere else and he's doing just fine. I bet his hospital gown was Prada and gorgeous. That is one sharped dressed man.
  

• John Adams brought huge numbers for HBO. Apparently it's the best miniseries debut for the network since 2004. I watched the first and second segments and it really is fantastic, plus one of Adams' speeches to the Continental Congress felt very relevant for 2008.
  

• TV Land is re-branding itself as the network for 40-ish crowd. Their moving away from re-runs and running some originals targeted at this highly coveted demographic. None of them sound very good though.
  

Hump Day Updates

So much to talk about. Let's get right to it.

• Kid Nation ended tonight. It was kind of a sad episode. I am ashamed to admit it, but I shed a few tears. Not only when the kids saw their parents for the first time in 40 days, but at the end when I realized the show may not come back for a second season. So upsetting. We'll always have Jared.
  

• Though I am sad to leave Bonanza City, I already have a reality show replacement: Crowned. So awesomely bad. The show is about mother/daughter pairs competing for a pageant title and $100,000. I could've written 1000 words on tonight's pilot episode alone. This episode, each pair had to make up a team name. One team called themselves the Blonde Bombshells, others the Diamond Dolls. But one team decided to go with Silent But Deadly. Supposedly they didn't know that is also a laugh-inducing euphemism. Carson Kressley of Queer Eye fame is one of the judges and he provides some comic relief. It's like watching Cirque De Soleil; I am mesmerized by how awful it is.
  

• TV shows have trailers now. I don't like this trend, but that's a whole 'nother story. The trailer for season 4 of Lost made its way around the blogosphere today. Since I have until February, I might try to catch up on the second half of season 3 and give the show another chance. With the writer's strike going strong, I won't have much else to watch anyway.
  

• Regis Philbin is set to host a re-make of the series Password. Because 25 versions of the show just aren't enough.

• Chris March is back on Project Runway. All is right with the world.
  

Hump Day Updates

• There is just no excuse not to be watching Kid Nation. If these out of context quotations don't do anything for you then I'm out of ideas. Read some other blog.
  
• " Pelvis has left the building."
• " Those aren't igloos dude those are teepees."
  

• TLC is taking Pageant Place to the next level. On Miss America: Reality Check, all 52 Ms. America contestants are going to live in one house to see if their " smarts, attitudes and looks hold up in contemporary society." The ladies will participate in challenges and events leading up to the finale event. Even with Michael Urie (Ugly Betty) hosting, I think it's for the best this show is only four weeks long.
  

• Over the past two nights I've discovered I want to eventually find a guy whose personality is the combination of Yukon Cornelius and Dell from Private Practice. Yukon is obvious. Who else will slay abominable snowmen who get in my way? Dell is a recent discovery though. Tonight, he finally confessed his love for Naomi and it was so adorable. Too bad he confessed it to her ex-husband.
  
• " You know how many women think like that, and look like that, and laugh like that and care? One. So far I've met one. And yeah, she's out of my league in every possible way. But I don't care. She dazzles me. And I'm not stupid enough to hope that one day I'll meet someone like her when the time is right because I won't. I love her. Okay? And I guarantee you-I wouldn't make her cry."

Cue the swooning.

• An anti-whaling group named their boat Steve Irwin. Bindi Irwin had this to say before she was dragged to her next appearance.
  

Hump Day Updates

• Kathy Griffin has a new stand-up special on Bravo tomorrow. I saw her perform here in Nashville a few months ago and it was the best night I've had here. If her new show Straight to Hell,is half as good, then I will probably pee my pants from laughing...twice. Plus, she'll probably talk about Jesus-Gate!
  

• Diane Sawyer interviewed the Dilleys on Good Morning America today. Remember them? They're America's first surviving set of sextuplets or sixlets...not to be confused with the delicious chocolate candy. The Dilleys are 14 now and they have shaggy hair. My gaydar was totally off though. The little boy who loved Pocahontas, and ballroom dancing competitions is now a little more straight-laced so to speak. There's always college.
  

• The Sci-Fi Channel is putting a new spin on the Wizard of Oz with their mini-series Tin Man. It kind of plays on the dark and morbid aspects of the original, plus it's a bit futuristic. For example, OZ is an acronym now for Outer Zone. Trippy huh? If that isn't enough it stars Zooey Deschanel (Elf, All The Real Girls) and Alan Cumming, two of my favorites. Tin Man starts on Sunday.
  

Hump Day Updates!

The holiday has forced me into the kitchen for most of primetime this week. Luckily, I caught a few things that are worth mentioning:

• Never is Charlie Brown more adorable and cringe worthy as he is in A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. The boy makes a meal out of toast and popcorn. I also enjoyed the role reversal of Peppermint Patty and Marcy. That dinner almost turned into a scene from The L Word...not that there's anything wrong with that.
  

• Planes Trains & Automobiles is all over the TV. If you haven't seen this movie, or hell even if you have, I only have 8 words for you: I want a fucking car. Right fucking now. If that and the picture above don't inspire you, then I'm done.
  

• Grey's Anatomy is doing a special episode tomorrow night where the doctors face their scariest crisis ever: their ratings! I kid! I think an ambulance crashes into them or something.
  

• Project Runway was fun again! I've purchased clothes from Sarah Jessica Parker's line before and the tonight's winner doesn't have me running to the store. In fact, it makes me want to run into H&M. And I am kind of over the entire cast constantly saying, "Make it work!" Sweet P must have done it 15 times. That's a sentence I never thought I'd write.
  

Hump Day Updates!

• I finally watched The Salt-N-Pepa Show on VH1. Needless to say, I can finally confirm that I much prefer SWV.

• Lindsay Lohan is back in fashion...magazines that is. Rumor has it she's doing a three episode arc on Ugly Betty. I would be all over that. Before she was washed out and frail she was a pretty good actress. Plus, any scene with Vanessa Williams and Li-Lo would be a nice clash of the divas.
  

• The CMA Awards are on live and direct from Nashville. I tried to watch, but the second I flipped it on, a mustachioed man was singing about how, "God must be busy." I don't even want to know what he's talking about.
  

• The 8th and final season of Full House was released on DVD yesterday. Don't act like you're not sad. It's truly the end of an era.
  

Hump Day Updates

Not since they started selling popcorn for a quarter at my elementary school have I been this excited for a Wednesday. Blame it on lackluster summer shows or genuinely intriguing fall premieres, but I have an inkling fall hump days are going to be the ones to beat.

Here's what I'm watching tonight and more importantly, what I'm not:


Kid Nation (Left): I haven't been this amped to see children cry, sweat and put themselves in harms way since American Juniors. This show is living up to all of the hype and then some. However, it is kind of sad when you discover that children are just as calculating, if not more so than adults. Except this one. He's just plain cute.

Private Practice: I keep calling this show Private Parts, making for confusing conversations with my parents and colleagues. But seriously, Greys has sucked since season 2 and I'm ready to lend my loyalty to Addison and her band of wacky doctors. Plus Paul Adelstein (Prison Break) is in the cast and he has yet to let me down.

Dirty Sexy Money: The premise of this show reminds me of Arrested Development. We all saw how well that went. It's an hour long though, Peter Krause (Six Feet Under) stars, and knowing ABC, the show will have some sort of intrigue or dead narrator. I'm crossing my fingers for both.

Other things I plan to record or catch later:
Kitchen Nightmares
Top Chef
The War

Things I'm Avoiding Like The Plague:

Back To You: I like Patricia Heaton and Kelsey Grammer, but it's time to give the shows to someone else. Especially you Fraiser! You've been playing the same pompous asshole for 25 years.

The Bionic Woman: First, I refuse to give Isaiah Washington another chance so soon. Second, the pop-up ads for that show slowed down my internet beyond belief and kept me from searching IMDB. And since the image was so big, I couldn't avoid clicking it. Plus, this looks like it could be a better movie anyway.

There is a lot to sift out before I make my final Wednesday line-up though and nothing is firm yet...except Kitchen Nightmares.