No Picture
Comedy

The music of “Glee”: The Rhodes Not Taken

Last week the pickings were slim. This week reminds us of the season premiere of Saturday Night Live — musical performances are everywhere. And in this case it’s not because the show has nothing to offer aside from an accidental f-bomb and Megan Fox’s looks. (Seriously, U2. Three songs?) “The Rhodes Not Taken” offers up no less than four musical numbers, plus guest star Kristin Chenoweth (Pushing Daisies). The first song of the episode is a joint performance by Rachel (Lea Michele) and April (Chenoweth) of “Maybe This Time” by Liza Minnelli from the 1972 film Cabaret. Given Chenoweth’s Broadway background, […]

© Fox Broadcasting Co. Credit: Liane Hentscher/FOX
Drama

“Fringe” recap: Night of Desirable Objects

In Pennsylvania, a construction worker is drawn toward a strange object in a cornfield. It’s a pile of blue liquid, and as he bends down to inspect it, it reaches up and grabs him, pulling him underneath the earth, giving this episode one of the better BOO! moments of the series. He later wakes up in a tunnel and finds his leg all messed up, and a strange, Gollum-like creature coming at him, about to finish what it started. Olivia is released from the hospital just in time to benefit from Peter’s newfound clout with the Fringe Division. He’s taken […]

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Comedy

The music of “Glee”: Preggers

The fourth episode of Glee — which, by the way, has been picked up for a full season by FOX — didn’t provide much in the way of performances. We got a dance number, a snippet of a Celine Dion song (that is actually a Platinum Weird song) and an admittedly sharp version of a West Side Story number. But still we go on. We’ll start with Rachel’s take on “Taking Chances,” a song originally done by American Idol judge Kara DioGuardi and Eurythmics guitarist Dave Stewart in the band Platinum Weird, then done more successfully by Celine Dion.

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Drama

“Fringe” recap: A New Day in the Old Town

Greetings, fellow Fringe fans. Judging from the heavily increased hype accompanying the start of Season 2, it looks like we have more company than we did at times last year. Well, welcome aboard the bandwagon, all. You’ve come along at a great time. That pesky first-season setup is past and the characters are settling into themselves, and the extreme science — and accompanying mind-boggling exposition — has never been better. When we last left Olivia, she was meeting with Massive Dynamic CEO William Bell. I’m just tempted to always refer to him as Leonard Nimoy, but I’ll do my best […]

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Drama

Joshua Jackson talks “Fringe”

In the lead-up to last year’s fall season, Fringe was one of the most hyped shows on the schedule. Having come from the mind of TV (and now movie, thanks to Star Trek) big-shot J.J. Abrams, the trippy sci-fi show was seen as an heir apparent to The X-Files and a possible successor to Lost. Going into its second season, not much has changed. Fringe is enjoying another boost of hype, but this time it feels much more earned. While the ratings were never bad, they weren’t the out-of-this-world numbers many had expected, and buzz was minimal. Long breaks between […]

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Comedy

The music of “Glee”: Acafellas

Last night’s episode of Glee brought three new musical performances and we’re going to examine each one to see what worked and what didn’t. (If you don’t want to take our word for it, all three performances can be seen in the full episode video that appears at the end of this post.) We start with the original lineup of Acafellas doing “Poison” by Bell Biv Devoe (aka BBD, as in “Boyz II Men, ABC, BBD: East Coast Family”). First of all, who doesn’t love this song, at least ironically? That said, the performance — outside of the boy-band swagger […]

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Sports

Your Week 1 NFL TV schedule

By Ryan The NFL is playing a game tonight, and it actually counts for something! The Tennessee Titans take on the Super Bowl XLIII champion Pittsburgh Steelers in Heinz Field. It’s the first regular-season game for NBC’s new broadcast team of Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth, following the retirement of John Madden. Other national TV games of note is the Sunday night matchup at Lambeau Field with Jay Cutler playing in his first regular-season game as a Chicago Bear, taking on the Green Bay Packers. And on Monday night, ESPN has a doubleheader with Terrell Owens making his Buffalo Bills […]

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Music

FOX and MySpace launch “Glee” karaoke contest

Starting today (September 9) at 6pm ET, fans 14 years of age and older are invited to record their interpretations of songs featured in the hot new FOX series Glee (which debuts new episodes tonight) and posting their videos online at karaoke.myspace.com to be evaluated by judges in the Glee MySpace Karaoke Contest. The contest ends September 23, and a grand prize winner will be announced on or about October 21. The grand prize winner will receive a trip to Hollywood to visit the set of Glee. Winners will be selected on the basis of singing ability, entertainment value and […]

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Reality TV

“Idol” guest judges confirmed

Peter Rice, chairman of entertainment at FOX, confirmed today at TCA that Victoria Beckham and Katy Perry would be guest judges on the next season of American Idol. Rice also addressed the departure of judge Paula Abdul: “It’s very saddening to us. She was the only member whose contract was up … we very much wanted her to return. We made an offer we feel was very fair; it was a substantial raise. Between now and January we will come up with a replacement for Paula. We’re very sad that she’s not coming back.” Although there will be a search […]

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Comedy

“Glee” launches Hot Topic store tour

The cast of FOX’s new fall series Glee are hitting the road this summer in search of “Gleeks.” Cast members Cory Monteith, Lea Michele, Amber Riley, Chris Colfer, Jenna Ushkowitz, Kevin McHale, Dianna Agron and Mark Salling will make appearances at Hot Topic stores in select cities to sign autographs, hold Q&A sessions and give fans a sneak peek at the new show (which already had a sneak preview of the pilot episode in May and is still riding a wave of massive buzz). The series premieres Sept. 9, with an extended director’s cut of the pilot airing Sept. 2, […]