by Karl J. Paloucek

Explorer, environmentalist and television host Jeff Corwin switches tacks in his new series, Extreme Cuisine With Jeff Corwin, premiering Sept. 17 on Food Network (HD): Instead of protecting wildlife species, he’s eating them. Traveling around the globe, from Morocco to Peru, Thailand to New England, Corwin connects with the people in each locale on one of the universal points that we all have in common — food. “We look at food differently in Western culture, sometimes — specifically in American culture,” Corwin explains. “We often eat fast, we often eat in large quantities, and we sort of get stuck on our own little radar screens. And basically, I want the viewer to just jump in the fry pan, take a chance and see what people eat around the world.”

For Corwin, the series marks a refreshing change from his usual explorations of habitat, both in terms of the finished program and in the process of its making. Even just entering a country can be a different experience. “Sometimes you’re filming things and there are these [Read more →]

Categories: Fall Preview 2009, Lifestyle by kpaloucek
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Tags: Extreme Cuisine With Jeff Corwin, Food Network, travel

By Stacey Harrison

Ray is lecturing some detention students on making wrong choices in life (“detention now leads to jail later”) when in walks Damon looking extra goth and with a friend looking the same. Ray asks him out in the hall to see what’s going on and learns that Damon didn’t actually do anything to deserve detention. He just wanted to hang out with his friend, Powell. Ray is unnerved, wondering what’s going on with the Dame-ster, when the kid pops off and asks his dad if he’s homophobic. That pretty much ends the discussion. Later, Damon and Darby are climbing a rock wall (Jessica’s latest attempt to bond, for which she gave up Pilates) and Darby asks him if he’s had sex with the guy yet. He says no. Not yet.

Ray mentions it to Tanya, saying he thinks Damon might be “a gay.” She tells him to lighten up, that he might just be experimenting, like she did this one time in college. That’s a little too much information for Ray, who tries to steer their meeting back to business, and as Tanya is telling Ray they might have to lower their price a bit to accommodate the bad economy, she gets a call from Pierce. He’s in Cuba, apparently. Tells her not to worry. It’s a long story, and he’ll tell her all about it when he gets back in a few days. He’s gotta run, see. He’s running out of minutes on his phone. The fact that she still refers to him as her boyfriend after this call says a lot about poor Tanya. Ray shoots down the idea of lowering his price, saying he still needs lots of cash to fix his house and get his kids back. [Read more →]

Categories: Comedy by sharrison76
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Tags: Fifty Bucks, HBO, Hung, Rebecca Creskoff, Recap, Stacey Harrison, This Is America, Thomas Jane

By Mike

Nobody wants to find themselves in a disaster, but if you found yourself in such a situation, you would want Cade Courtley — or at least his advice – to be right there with you. A Navy SEAL, Courtley will teach viewers how to survive a nuclear attack, an avalanche, a home invasion, a hurricane, an earthquake and other such catastrophes in Spike’s 10-episode series Surviving Disaster, which he describes as “a hybrid of drama, documentary and a little bit of reality.”

He puts everyday people through simulated disasters, much like the ones he experienced in military training. “They would put us through the very worst so that when we were out there in actual situations, we were familiar with it and it was easier to deal with. And that, in a large part, is what we’re doing on this show.”

Viewers might recognize Courtley from his participation in the USA Network series Combat Missions a few years ago. He has done some other film and TV work as well, including a bit part in the Vin Diesel film The Pacifier, on which Courtley served as a technical advisor. Courtley thought that chapter of his life was over before an old friend reached out to him.

[Read more →]

Categories: Fall Preview 2009 by RabbitEars
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Tags: Cade Courtley, Spike, Surviving Disaster

Aug. 28
The Pianist (2002)
Director Roman Polanski revisits the Warsaw of his childhood in this compelling story of pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman (Adrien Brody) and his struggle to survive the destruction all around him. The film earned three Academy Awards, including Best Actor and Best Director. Harrowing and brilliant. IFC, 8:30pm

Aug. 29
Constantine (2005)
In this supernatural thriller based on a DC Comics character, John Constantine skulks through the darkened streets of Los Angeles, chain-smoking and casting out the half-human/half-demon beings that he has been able to see since childhood. Yes, it’s a perfect role for Keanu Reeves. AMC, 10:30pm [Read more →]

Categories: Movies by Elaine
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Tags: Bufy teh Vampire Slayer, Casablanca, Constantine, Say Anything..., The Pianist

by Ruth Anne Boulet

This season of Project Runway just can’t escape that dated 2008 feeling. Last week it was the Emmy red carpet. This week’s challenge is to make a pregnancy outfit for Rebecca Romijn. Her twins have since been born … in 2008. It’s bizarre that the producers are hanging their challenges on events & occurrences that have very specific dates. I know in the minds of producers, this season was going to start airing in January 2009, but legal matters don’t always wrap up when one expects them to. I’m surprised they haven’t tried any of the timeless challenges like making s*** out of candy. Dates be damned! I want to see Mychael Knight make something out of coffee filters! [Read more →]

Categories: Reality TV by windupdoll
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Tags: Heidi Klum, Michael Kors, Monique Lhuillier, Nina Garcia, Project Runway, Rebecca Romijn, Tim Gunn, WindUpDoll

This Saturday, August 29, would have been Michael Jackson’s 51st birthday. If you haven’t gotten your fill of MJ programming since his passing on June 25, several premiere and encore specials will air over the next few days to commemorate the life of one of the greatest pop-culture figures ever.

Michael Jackson: Life of a Superstar (new) — BET, Aug. 27 at 10pm; Aug. 29 at 1pm, 6pm, 9pm; Aug. 30 at 4pm, 7pm ET/PT. This one-hour documentary focuses on Jackson’s music career at a young age and looks at his solo years, in addition to how his collaboration with Quincy Jones yielded one of the bestselling albums of all time. Interviews include Janet Jackson, Brooke Shields, Liz Taylor, Quincy Jones and Jermaine Jackson.

Michael Jackson History: The King of Pop (new) — BET, Aug. 28 at 8pm; Aug. 29 at 7pm; Aug. 30 at 5pm, 9pm ET/PT. A two-hour documentary featuring rare footage from an interview not seen for 25 years, and including interviews with Jermaine Jackson, La Toya Jackson and Quincy Jones. The special also offers thoughts from Nelson Mandela, and the late Princess Diana.

[Read more →]

Categories: TV News & Program Updates by RabbitEars
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Tags: BET, birthday, E!, E! News, Ebony, Janet Jackson, Jeff Pfeiffer, Jermaine Jackson, King of Pop, La Toya Jackson, Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, Remember the Time, True Hollywood Story

CBS has announced today the 20 castaways who will compete in the 19th installment of Survivor, which takes place amid Samoa’s white sand beaches, lush green valleys and towering waterfalls. Despite the picturesque landscape, the competitors will face exposure to the elements and wildlife living in the mysterious rainforests that cover rugged volcanic mountain peaks.

From the start of the game, Survivor embraces the culture of the native Samoans by incorporating an ancient tradition of electing an individual leader of the village. Without speaking, both tribes must immediately choose one member of their group to become their sole decision maker — their chief.

[Read more →]

Categories: Fall Preview 2009, Reality TV, TV News & Program Updates by RabbitEars
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Tags: Ashley Trainer, Ben Browning, Betsy Bolan, Brett Clouser, CBS, Dave Ball, Elizabeth Kim, Erik Cardona, Jaison Robinson, John Fincher, Kelly Sharbaugh, Laura Morett, Marisa Calihan, Mick Trimming, Mike Borassi, Monica Padilla, Natalie White, Russell Hantz, Russell Swan, Shannon Waters, Survivor, Survivor 19, Survivor Samoa

By Emily Mitchell

When Seinfeld ended in 1998, it was a gateway for executive producer and cowriter Larry David to venture out onto his own project: the sagacious Curb Your Enthusiasm. The show documents his fictionalized life post-Seinfeld. It’s a loosely scripted half-hour comedy about his awkward social and cultural interactions with his friends and neighbors.

The show begins its seventh season September 20 after a two-year hiatus, and promises to be possibly its best with a story arc that centers around a Seinfeld reunion. Despite saying in the past that a Seinfeld reunion would never happen, David had the idea himself to incorporate the reunion on Curb.

“I’ve been asked about a Seinfeld reunion, as has Jerry and the other cast members. I would always say, ‘No, there’s no reunion. There’s not going to be a reunion show. We would never do that. It’s a lame idea.’ And then I thought, ‘But it might be very funny to do that on Curb.’ I started to think of different scenarios and how we could pull this off, and I called Jerry. And Jerry was game. And I said, ‘Well, I’ll call the others,’ and I did. And we did it.”

Audiences are eager to see the Seinfeld cast [Jerry Seinfeld (as himself), Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Elaine Benes), Jason Alexander (George Costanza), and, of course, Michael Richards (Cosmo Kramer)] back together. But they shouldn’t expect to see full episodes of Seinfeld being played out on Curb. Instead, David will show viewers more of the behind-the-scenes action that goes into filming an episode of the sitcom.

[Read more →]

Categories: Comedy, Fall Preview 2009, TV News & Program Updates by RabbitEars
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Tags: Cosmo Kramer, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Elaine Benes, George Costanza, Jason Alexander, Jerry Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Larry David, Michael Richards, Season 7, Seinfeld, Seinfeld reunion

This Friday, August 28 — following the premiere of the original movie Wizards of Waverly Place The Movie – Disney Channel will present the world premiere of Selena Gomez and The Scene’s first music video, “Falling Down,” from their upcoming debut album Kiss & Tell, which releases September 29.

The video was directed by Chris Dooley, who also directed “Stand” for Jewel, and “Land of a Thousand Words” for Scissor Sisters.

___________________

© 2009 Disney Enterprises, Inc. Credit: Bob D’Amico

Categories: Music, TV News & Program Updates by RabbitEars
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Tags: Chris Dooley, Disney Channel, Falling Down, Kiss & Tell, music video, Selena Gomez, Selena Gomez and The Scene, The Scene

by Dizzy Miss Lizzy

Lassiter asks Shawn and Gus to investigate a series of strange occurrences at Old Sonora, an Old West tourist attraction located well out of his jurisdiction. Sheriff Hank Mendel (James Brolin) explains some of the mysterious things that have been happening — stolen wood, poisoned water and a stench in the air that reminds Gus of cat urine. If the vandalism doesn’t stop, the old mining town will have to shut down. Lassiter is determined not to let that happen to the beloved place he visited every weekend as a child. The Psych guys spend the night to try and catch the vandal in the act.

[Read more →]

Categories: Comedy by Athena
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Tags: Dule Hill, James Brolin, James Roday, Psych