Category: TV

American Idol Down to 11

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Tonight the American Idol 12 will become 11.

Before I say who I think will be going home, let me compliment Chris Sligh. Not only can the young man sing, but he did exactly what the judges have been encouraging the contestants to do… and then got slammed for doing it.
 
Week in and week out, we hear the judges say, “make the song your own… don’t be an imitator… show your personality.” It was Diana Ross week and Chris took took “Endless Love” and modernized it. Was it as catchy as the original version? No, but then again we’ve heard the original for over 20 years. It’s engrained in our memory banks so no new version will initially sound as good. Still, Chris took the judges’ advice to heart and made the song his own and he sounded really good in doing it. So it ticked me off to hear the judges slam him when it was their suggestions that led him down that path.
 
Sanjaya Malakar should be the next contestant to leave [and Brandon Rogers needs to kick it up a few notches or he’ll soon be on the bubble], but my guess is it will be Haley Scarnato. Haley forgot her words and appeared to be really nervous. Still, I felt it was one of her better performances and hope that she gets another chance to prove herself. Unfortunately I think that Sanjaya has a teeny-bopper fan base that will keep him around for another week.

Once More with Feeling

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American Idol makes the ZONE yet again.

I’m really surprised to say that Antonella Barba has avoided the boot once again. I was pretty sure if the “racy picture” scandal didn’t catch up with her tonight, her singing would. There’s no doubt that she’s a pretty girl, but I didn’t think her performance was good enough to save her. And some folks say ya can’t get by on looks.

If you watched American Idol tonight you know that Alaina Alexander, Leslie Hunt, AJ Tabaldo and Nicholas Pedro were voted off. I can’t really argue with those choices [unless it would be to keep Leslie and say goodbye to Antonella]. I’m not ready to pick a winner yet, but I will say that I’ll be surprised if it’s not one of the ladies.

One final comment about tonight’s show… I believe that Alaina was the first contestant in the show’s history to be so emotional [after being told that she was leaving] that she wasn’t able to immediately sing her last song. It was touching to see all of the girls come out to comfort her… and did you notice that Sundance was tearing up as well?

Making Like Neo

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Last Thursday, Antonella Barba dodged a bullet when she missed being eliminated from American Idol. As reported on Friday, “racy photos” of Ms. Barba began appearing on the net. Because some of the photos were very “racy,” I thought that Ms. Barba would probably be asked to leave the show. Things may have changed though.

Today Barba’s best friend, Amanda Coluccio was quoted in The Star-Ledger of Newark as saying, “The really bad ones aren’t her. I’ve studied them. It’s not her nose. She’s never had (acrylic nail) tips (like the woman in the photo) in her life. She’s the least slutty person I know.”

If that is the case, Ms. Barba has probably dodged another bullet.

American Idol: Picture That

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Antonella Barba is one of the contestants on American Idol. Although she is a pretty young lady and can sing [well enough to make the show anyway], I thought that she would probably get the boot in the first round of eliminations. I was surprised when she made it to the second round.
If you’ve read this far then you’ve probably heard the news that “racy photos” of Ms. Barba have been popping up all over the internet since Friday. The first photos were of Ms. Barba posing with friends on the beach [topless but covering themselves with their hands] and of her in sexy outfits / poses. Then another round of photos came to light and they reportedly were of Ms. Barba engaged in a sex act. Still more photos of Ms. Barba are making their way to the net. My guess is that Antonella Barba will be asked to leave the show before the second round of eliminations begin… which is what I thought should have happened in the first place.

The Invaders

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I’m not sure how many ZONErs will remember or be aware of the tv series, “The Invaders.” It ran for only 43 episodes in 1967 – 1968. I was 8 years old when the series premiered and since I haven’t seen an episode since it went off the air, I don’t really know how well it would hold up. If it was any where as good as this intro or this promo, I think I’d still enjoy watching it!

Which Bot is Best?

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I took the photo above at MegaCon on Sunday. There was a company there that had life-size recreations of famous robots.For my money, these three are probably the MOST famous robots in the world. There’s 3CPO from Star Wars, the robot from Lost in Space, and Robbie the Robot.

Given my pick, I’d take the Lost in Space robot. Of course, I grew up watching Lost in Space. If I was a child of the 70’s, I’d probably want 3CPO and someone a bit older than me would want Robbie.

Would a child of the 80’s want KITT?

Til Death Gets New Life

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Are any of you watching Til Death? If the ratings are any indication, probably not, but I’m suggesting that you give it a try.

Brad Garrett from Everybody Loves Raymond stars along with Joely Fisher as a long-married couple who, once newlyweds move in next door, realize how much things change over time. The show is funny and a great way to pass thirty minutes, but it has yet to find a big audience. I think that part of the reason is it airs on Thursday nights and faces some stiff competition. Fox must feel the same. Starting on March 14th, Til Death will move to Wednesday nights and follow American Idol.
With American Idol as it’s lead-in Til Death should find it’s audience. If not, the title could be prophetic.

4 Hours Down 20 to Go

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If you haven’t watched the first four hours of 24, you may want to skip this post since there will be spoilers. Just in case though I’ll “hide” them using invisotext. [If you want to know what’s said simply scroll over the areas where the text is hidden.]

24 is back and with a vengeance. The show has always been fast moving, but these first four hours of the new season have flown by! Terrorist attacks have been going on for weeks, we have a new president, the US government has worked out a deal for Jack’s release from a Chinese prison where he was badly tortured, the terrorist leader behind the attacks on our country has been identified and misidentified, a family has been held hostage, Jack has been brought back into the service Each season seems to kick up the stakes a bit… in past years we’ve had Air Force One knocked out of the sky, a past US President assassinated, poisonous gas released on an unsuspecting public… the list goes on and on. Still it’s going to be hard to top the nuclear bomb that was detonated in the final seconds of the last episode. Strange as it may sound, it really ticked me off more that Jack killed Curtis.

Sammy Terry Anyone?

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One of the things that I love about YouTube.com is that you can find video of almost anything. I was surprised when I found a classic pro wrestling match between “Pretty Boy” Bobby Heenan [accompanied to the ring by Blackjacks Mulligan and Lanza] and “Cowboy” Bob Ellis.

I was even more surprised when I discovered video of Sammy Terry! I first told you about Sammy way back here. As host of “Nightmare Theater,” Sammy was on the air from the early 60’s through the 80’s. Although this clip is from 1987 [near the end of Sammy’s run] it will give you a taste of why I loved staying up until 11:30 on the weekend to catch Sammy hosting a horror movie double feature.

I’m really surprised that some network doesn’t have a weekend horror movie double feature hosted by someone like Sammy. My guess is that if kids didn’t tune in, there’d still be a good-size audience of folks like me!

Jericho

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Any one [besides me] watching Jericho on CBS?To be honest, the preview doesn’t really do the show justice. [Although it did do it’s job well enough to get me to tune in.] The show picked up steam and really hit it’s stride in episode 3 and with the major plot twist in episode 4, I’m sure to stay on board for a while.

If you haven’t been watching, but would like to catch up, you check out the official Jericho site.

A Day Late is Right on Time

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Chris Mills points out that yesterday was Ed Wood Jr.‘s birthday. Wood was the director of such infamous movies as “Plan 9 from Outer Space” and “Bride of the Monster” [both of which, can be seen in the early morning hours this Saturday on Turner Movie Classics].

There’s something that’s just right about celebrating Ed Wood Jr.‘s birthday a day late. So with that in mind, here’s a fan tribute him.