SYTYCD Finale Tonight, NBC Preview Special, Paula is Leaving 'Idol'

Before I begin tonight, just a little update on the new site. I'm still working out the kinks with Wordpress. It is far more complicated than I imagined, but then I think in the end it will be worth it.

'So You Think You Can Dance' is on tonight and the final four take the stage. Actually , I'm watching it now as I type! Very cool. Can't believe it's August already. I know I'm about to get really busy with this blog when the fall TV season starts this year! Can't believe how quickly the summer goes by.

Speaking of the end of summer and the beginning of the fall season, keep an eye out for NBC's special that previews the upcoming Fall Season that will, of course, highlight the new shows like 'Trauma' and 'Community' and will give us a peek at returning shows like 'Southland' , 'The Biggest Loser' and many more.

Speaking of 'Southland'.. please be sure to watch it. If you want to catch up NBC is airing the shows from its short first season in it's fall Friday night time slight. It's a great show that wasn't getting the ratings they had hoped for and it got pushed to Friday nights from Thursday (it originally took the ER slot left open after the series finale). As you remember from my blog about Friday nights.. it could spell death. To lose another great show like this would ..well suck!

Paula Abdul has decided to not continue on Idol. Apparently she turned down a 30% raise. WHAT!!! Is she smoking something? Paula..dear... before American Idol you had disappeared into obscurity. You are now once again on the radar and in American households BECAUSE of American Idol. You're offered a 30% raise in a ..well poopy economy.. one in which many would actually be happy to be employed.. never mind the raise.. and you turn it down!! Oh man.. it could be career suicide . Shame I did like Paula. I do like DioGuardi though. I felt she is much better judge than Paula. With Paula, though, the fun was wondering what weird thing she'd say next. She did always look like she was drunk. BTW DioGuardi is returning.

So, everyone .. brace yourselves for the new season. I'm curious as to what shows will last and which will not! I'll, of course, share my opinions right here on my blog as well as keep you informed with how each is being received by the public in ratings. We all know, no matter how good a show is, if it's not getting the ratings the network is looking for then the show is doomed.

Ah.. FYI.. despite reminding my readers to set their DVR on my last blog for the premier of 'Defying Gravity' I forgot to do it for myself. I'm now kicking myself. In my defense I've been very busy as of late with new projects (hey..I do do other things besides watch TV.. I swear!). When I realized today, after looking at my blog, that I completely spaced on it I went to look at the ratings. Folks, it's not good. It averaged only a 3.84M viewers! EEK!! Whether it is deserving of such low ratings in my eyes remains to be seen, as I have not watched the Pilot and first episode (both aired the opening night) however, I am going to watch it online at ABC's website. Once I do, I'll add my two cents!

Oh.. and one more thing. I've become an affiliate of WB of sorts and recieved my first free DVD to screen and blog about. I am late on doing that though, as they sent it to me while I was on vacation and have not had the chance to watch, but I will and will also let you and them know my thoughts. This stuff is pretty fun. I wonder how long it will take before I actually get to watch pilots before everyone else!! NOW THAT would be cool!

A Run Down of All the Blogging Material I've Missed and Defying Gravity Premieres This Sunday

Well folks, I've finally gotten Wordpress loaded onto my domain. However, using it is not as easy as I imagined, so the launch of my new and improved blog site is not going to happen as quickly as I had hoped, planned or expected. I wasn't going to blog until I could do it on my new site, but since I can export these blogs and comments into my new blog, I figured I had nothing to lose. That is once I figure out how to do it. In addition I had also been on vacation and spent the last few days catching up. Not even catching up on TV watching but just other things and other projects I participate in . (Did you think all I did was watch TV..LOL. It would seem that way wouldn't it?).

So Wow, what have I missed blogging about the past few weeks. Well, if you are not already aware Eli Stone had it's last and final episode . I missed it of course, because I had it recorded the night before I left but it deleted itself due to overcrowded DVR before I could return to watch it. My mom forgot to record the last episode, so we couldn't watch it at her house (where I was on vacation). No worries though, you can catch the episode on their website. Dirty , Sexy Money has taken it's place, however. Both were not watched by many. Actually probably the lowest rated of the season.

Samantha Who also aired it's final episode. What a shame. Christina Applegate and cast were so hilarious in that show I just don't understand. It came to some sort of conclusion, at least. Funny thing is Applegate is nominated for an Emmy for the show. Ah.. I want her to win just to stick it to .. well I don't know. It is highly unlikely she will, but I can certainly cheer for her now can't I?

Kings also ended. Such an awesome awesome show. It left us up in the air somewhat although it did close up other loose ends. I will miss it.

Dating in the Dark premiered. It did pretty okay in it's first outing (it followed the Bacholorette the Men Tell All) and had 6.84M viewers. I would imagine that curiosity is what drew people to it (it did me). I don't really seeing it getting phenomenal ratings in the coming weeks. It held out okay in it's second night on the 27th.. so so far so good. I think it will get boring after awhile. It is definitely an interesting concept.

We had Hell's Kitchen premier and it did very well at it's opening. The 'More to Love Show' is not obviously more to love, as it opened slightly disappointing for the network. Honestly, I wasn't really interested in watching it. By the way, did you notice that the cooks on Hell's Kitchen are a little better looking this time around?

Drea DeMeteo is joining the cast of Desperate Housewives. USA picks up 'Burn Notice' and 'Royal Pains' for another season (not a surprise, USA has been leading TNT in the ratings). 'Dark Blue' premiered well with 3.54M viewers (good show, like it!).

Okay.. I think I've run down a list of some of the things that have happened in the TV world in the past two weeks. I'm sure there is more. To think ..this is the "slow season" for TV viewing.



DVR ALERT FOLKS: Don't forget to set your DVR for Sunday's Premiere on ABC at 10pm of 'Defying Gravity' from the producers of 'Grey's Anatomy'. Can't wait to see that show AND find out how the rest of America responded.

The Emmy Nomination Blog & Jeanine & Jason's SYTYCD Routine Last night

Well folks, the Emmy nominations are in today. Looks like The Family Guy is the first animated series nominated for an Emmy for best comedy series since the Flinstones in1961 (surprising that the Simpsons were never nominated in that category). It goes up against Entourage, Flight of the Concords, How I Met Your Mother, 30 Rock and Weeds. You know what the funny part is? None of those on the list are shows that I watch.. LOL.

Best dramatic series is Big Love, Breaking Bad, Damages, Dexter, House, Lost and Mad Men. I watch Dexter, House and Lost. I'm really rooting for all three of those. I did catch Big Love but haven't caught up to the new seasons. I'm surprised True Blood wasn't on there and Grey's Anatomy .

Outstanding supporting actress nominees are Cherry Jones (President Allison Taylor) 24, Sandra Oh (Grey's), Chandra Wilson (Bailey, Grey's), Diane Wiest (Gina, In Treatment) and Hope Davis (Mia , In Treatment). Well, the first three I watch and I have never gotten into in Treatment.

Man.. it's hard to do a blog about the nominees when you haven't even seen all the shows. I thought I watched a lot of TV ( I do) but when I see how much I don't watch , well it makes me feel inadequate in the world of TV. Perhaps I need a third DVR (hubby would not go for that).

It's nice to see that the outstanding choreography category is dominated by 'So You Think You Can Dance' with a nomination for Mia Michaels "Mercy" , Tabitha & Napoleon's "Bleeding Love" , Tyce Diorio's "Adam & Eve/Silence" and Dimitry Chapin's "A Los Amigos". Of course there is a choreographer in there for Dancing with the Stars (Derek & Juliane Hugh) and the Musicals are Back number from the 81st Annual Academy Awards (Rob Ashford).

In the Outstanding Lead Actor Category Simon Baker (Mentalist) , Michael C. Hall ( Dexter) Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad), Hugh Laurie (House) , Gabriel Byrne (In Treatment) are all nominated. Now see, I would say that Simon Baker or Michael C Hall and Hugh Laurie are so very deserving however I have no way to know just how good those others are. Isn't there one category where only the shows I watch are nominated? It would be much easier for me to give my picks on winners.

In the lead actress in a comedy series category Toni Collette is nominated for the 'United States of Tara'. Now, I haven't seen all the series in that category , but hands down I think Collette should win it. She's amazing and she doesn't only play one role, but all the alters. She's up against Christina Applegate (for the cancelled Samantha Who), Mary Louise-Parker (Weeds) and of course Tina Fey (30 Rock).

Lead actress in a drama series has many of my favorites including Holly Hunter (Saving Grace) , Kyra Sedgewick (The Closer) , Sally Field (Brother's & Sisters) along with Glenn Close (Damages) , Elizabeth Moss (Mad Men) and Mariska Hargitay (L&O: Special Victims Unit). I'm rooting for Holly Hunter!

Well, you could blog all day about the Emmy's, but I pretty much covered the categories that have me excited. It looks like 30 Rock is dominating again this year with the most nominations. The full list of nominations and categories are here .

On another note, if you caught So You Think You Can Dance last night were you not blown away by Travis's choreographed routine. AMAZING! In case you missed it, here is a clip of their dance from last night below. Enjoy.

Okay..NOW I'm into Big Brother 11.. And here is My Blog on BB for Today

It took awhile, as it does every season, to really sink my teeth into the new Big Brother season. At first it's really hard to keep track of who is who (note to CBS, you should caption your show with the names of the people in the house as you have them on screen at least for the first week). Then, when trying to read those joker updates it can really get confusing. One thing I did know for sure from the onset was that I do not like Jessie (but that's because we all know him from previous season). Yeah, he's nice to look out but the minute that boy opens his mouth he turns ugly.

That brings me to Russel. I do not like him either. Him and Jessie are like one and the same. They think they rule the roost, but I don't believe they really have the brains to. And, speaking of brains, that "dork" guy Ronnie made a really lame brain move. I mean come on dude, only you and three other people besides Russel and Jessie who knew of the entire backdoor Braden thing and they were ; Lydia (the one that was going to be saved) and Natalie ( a loyal Athlete team member) so as soon as Russel found out that Braden was clued into the plan who did you think they were going to blame? It was extremely obvious and extremely stupid for him to expose himself. It's not as if the information getting to Braden was going to change anything.. He only revealed his hand and exposed his double agent status for no good reason. Not so brainy if you ask me.

I like Lydia and Jeff. Jeff is a hotty on the athletes team but totally not a testosterone jerk like Russel and Jessie. Jeff, by the way, is much better looking than Russel and Jessie combined. Russel and Jessie, however, are already ganging up on Jeff for no good reason other than he doesn't sit around and talk smack like a meathead and is rather playing what I think is a smart game. He is nice to the others in the house and isn't coming off as the bully meathead like the other two on his team. By the way, Russel, the problem was not that Jeff didn't know how to spell "technotronics" but rather he couldn't find an "h". You want to pick on someone for misspelling a word you should look to your boy Jessie who mixed up the o and the u in continuously and while he had all the letters, he spelled it wrong. (insert eye roll). Like I said.. Meathead.

As for the girls, the brainy neuro scientist chick seems pretty nice (Michelle) but maybe too nice. She could easily end up a floater. Again I like Lydia, especially since she managed to get Jessie and Russel to do what she wanted (her off the block and deflected to Braden who is now on the block) . She's a clever girl. Chima is a whiner so I'm not much liking her. Laura I'm not much of a fan of. By the way Laura, your comment " I can't help it if I have big boobs" was a little ..no a lot.. stupid. Those things are more fake than a $5 Gucci Bag from China Town honey, so you did have a lot to do with the enormous size of your knockers, which you now seem to think is the reason you feel no one likes you. I don't like chicks who say they are pretty and that's why no one likes them. I know it can be true in some cases, but give me a break. It may have a lot more to do with your attitude than what you look like or the size of your knockers.

As far as Casey , Jordon and Kevin are concerned I haven't quite yet formed an opinion. They haven't been very dominate or have made any moves, so to speak, in the game to really judge them just yet. Braden, for some reason, just rubs me the wrong way. Not how he talks or anything, but there is something about him and the way he looks that just irks me. I know it's wrong to judge someone on that basis, but it's just the first impression. I wonder if we'll get a chance to know him any better, as it was looking like yesterday he will be the first house guest sent packing.

Now that I've got every one straight in my head, the fun is really going to begin. Feel free to chime in and add your opinions of the house guests!

Maura Tierney speaks out on health

Maura Tierney speaks out on health

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I had written earlier about the production of 'Parenthood' being pushed to September because of Tierny's health. I suppose the ominous wording led us all to believe the worst (I did) and so she had released a statement about what issue she was having.

And.. I must say, when I heard she was undergoing some sort of medical evaluation my mind did go to breast cancer. She I almost even said that in my blog, but didn't want to even utter the words because it really could have been anything. She doesn't know if she has it, but she has discovered a lump that she says requires surgery.

I hope that she is well and that it turns out not to be cancer.

'Parenthood' pushed Back, Grey's Anatomy of Space Aug 2nd, Summer of the Diasaster Mini Series

A few months back I blogged about 'Parenthood', the new NBC drama based on the 1989 movie. Production had to be pushed back to start in September because of an illness Maura Tierney (Amy Lockhart, ER) is undergoing evaluation for. 'Mercy', the medical drama about first responders ,originally scheduled for a mid season premiere, is being pushed up and will begin where 'Parenthood' was set to premiere. By the way, both series looked awesome and I am eagerly waiting in anticipation. This "medical evaluation" she is undergoing sounds pretty serious. Of course they would not elaborate further (nor should they have to, it's her business). Let's hope that she is okay. Let's also hope that this show isn't cursed somehow. Apparently production on the pilot was shut down when the VP of drama at NBC died on the set. EEK!

Okay, so I mentioned a few weeks back about the Grey's Anatomy of space coming to ABC.

'Defying Gravity' is set to premiere on August 2nd with a two hour slot with it's regular slot set for Sunday's at 10pm. It has an international ensemble cast led by Ron Livingston. Premise of the show is a story about 8 astronauts from 5 different countries on a 6 year mission through the solar system. While the series takes place in the near future, there will be flashbacks to the astronauts grueling training in the series past. ABC picked up 13 episodes. I'm eagerly anticipating this series and I sure do hope it fairs better than many of the other new shows that started this summer (Philanthropist, The Listener, etc.). I've put the commercial promo on the sidebar, so watch and enjoy. I'm sure most of you are catching it on the tube now.

Did anyone else notice that there are an onslaught of disaster mini-series or movies on TV this summer? First we had 'Impact' , this past weekend 'Meteor' premiered and coming soon is 'The Storm'. I do believe there was also one about an earthquake on this summer too. What is up with that? Okay, it's fiction, but do we not have enough real disaster with the economy? Perhaps the network thought we might focus on fictional cataclysmic life ending disasters to help us appreciate the fact that while the economy stinks (on a global scale) at least it's not as bad as possible extinction. Just a thought.

I am on a vacation visiting my mother. Normally on such a trip I would coordinate what shows I watch and she watches so that I don't fill up my DVRs with shows I'll watch with my mom. I was both lazy and busy (more busy than lazy I promise) to actually sit down and do that. I certainly hope that I don't miss anything. It's so hard to keep all the shows on and coming straight (I am interested in checking out Dating in the Dark on the 20th). I recorded 'Kings' and 'Eli Stone' on Saturday that I didn't get to watch before I left. I hope that they don't get deleted as space is needed (note to self.. and heck to all of you too.. make sure that you mark the series or the recorded episode as manually delete, rather than as space is needed). I'm regretting not organizing my DVR before I left.

I am trying to get into Big Brother 11, and the start of the season is always hard because you don't know the houseguests yet (I can't keep all the names straight). I'm a little lost because if you watch it on After Dark, they are far behind where the show actually started. I was so very confused when I turned on the first installment of After Dark after the premier episode because so much had happened between then and what I was watching on After Dark it was confusing. I think the best way to keep up with Big Bro and the televised episodes is to read the Jokers Update. I will say one thing though, the houseguests waisted no time in game playing. Right out the gate the alliance making and whispering began. Once I get that all squared away in my brain, I'll be sure to blog and have an opinion on the show. That's a promise.