Posted by johnnysweeptheleg

If you’re anything like me, then you have a penchant for ’80s movies and still re-live the moment you were kicked in the face by a kid doing something called a crane kick. But it also means you are eagerly awaiting the fall television season.

Lucky for us, Hulu and NBC are giving us the Hulu Fall Lineup. Beginning today, and running over the next seven weeks, Hulu will air many of NBC’s season premieres a week early online. For those who have been waiting decades for another Knight Rider, your wait just got diminished by a week. Life and Lipstick Jungle also premiere a week earlier.

Perhaps the show to benefit the most from this, however, is Chuck. NBC has high hopes for its sophomore season, even ordering an additional nine episodes after the network saw its first six completed shows (raising its season order from 13 to 22 episodes). Chuck fans can watch the season premiere a week early online, with its Hulu premiere beginning Sept. 22.

Still no word on whether or not NBC and Hulu will power up the Flux Capacitor to bring us advanced airings of Saturday Night Live. I’m going out on a limb here, and leaning towards no.

Tags: Chuck, Comedy, NBC, Preview, Uncategorized by johnnysweeptheleg
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Posted by: haro1d

We’re now well into the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and we’re deep into the groove of events. Medals are being won and lost, international goodwill is being fostered and the announcers are as annoying as ever.

These Olympics have made their impression in numerous ways — some expected, some not. Take those undeniably awe-inspiring opening ceremonies. We knew that China was going to pull out all of the stops for this particular event, that it was going to be massive in scale and scope, and that we could expect a message from it, as the opportunity would be far too big for the Chinese government to miss.

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Tags: NBC, Olympics, Sports by haro1d
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Posted by SH

Speculation ran wild when a new “Knight Rider” movie aired on NBC earlier this year that it was actually a pilot for a new series. Well, that turned out to be true — the show premieres Sept. 24 — but the producers say to forget pretty much everything in that movie. There’s a new sheriff in town, executive producer Gary Scott Thompson, who knows his way around fast cars. He wrote the first two “Fast and the Furious” movies and wasted no time making this show his own. The lead, Mike Traceur (Jason Bruening), has a new but familiar name, Michael Knight, and Deanna Russo’s character is no longer a college professor (OK, she’s on sabbatical), focusing instead on wearing high heels and kicking butt.

KITT still sounds like Val Kilmer, but the super-intelligent car can now transform into “attack mode” and become a badass war machine. The crowd visibly oohed and awed at the sight. They also reacted with glee at the news that the creators are in serious talks with the Hoff for a recurring role.

I was a child of the ’80s, but honestly I never got too into “Knight Rider.” That probably means I could enjoy the new incarnation more than someone taking notes and forgoing anything enjoyable about it and instead just lamenting everything that’s different. That said, it doesn’t look to be as drastic a reimagining as, say, “Battlestar Galactica,” so fans of the original should find plenty to geek out over.

The most memorable part of the session had nothing to do with the preview, or the Q&A. Most of the cast was late because of — impending irony alert — they were stuck in traffic. Where’s KITT when you need him?

Tags: Comic-Con, Knight Rider, NBC by sharrison76
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Posted by Mike

Love is in the air on Nashville Star this week — and it’s not just because, after last week’s double elimination, only one act will be going home at episode’s end. The theme this week is love songs. A week after Pearl Heart was unjustly voted off the show, are we ready to love again? Well, since Ashlee Hewitt is up first, sure.

Ashlee is singing “Cowboy Take Me Away” by Dixie Chicks, and she’s singing it to her future cowboy who might be out there watching in TV land. At the moment she says that, about a million guys in the audience think she’s talking about them. Ashlee has improved dramatically as a performer throughout the competition, now rivaling Coffey in the stage presence department. Her vocals, as Jewel notes, are refreshingly understated — and she’s just so darned cute. Hopefully her strong performance tonight makes last week’s surprising appearance in the Bottom 2 a one-time deal. Our rating: 4 stars

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Tags: NBC, Nashville Star, Recap, Video by Mike
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Posted by Mike

It’s getting closer to crunch time on Nashville Star, which means it’s time to start separating the contenders from the pretenders. In that spirit, two acts will be going home this week, based on last week’s voting results. One of them won’t even get to perform this week. Immediately, Tommy Stanley and Melissa Lawson are asked to go to the front of the stage. One of them was the top vote-getter for this week and the other is going home. If you don’t know which is which, you haven’t been watching Nashville Star this season.

Tommy’s gone, leaving Melissa to knock yet another song our of the park — which she does with Anne Murray’s “Danny’s Song.” Both Jewel and John Rich say the song started out a little low before Melissa came out soaring, but it really just seems like they wanted to offer something constructive. Jewel also questions whether Melissa’s family can handle the stress of a country music career, to which Melissa responds that they’ve been waiting 19 years for the opportunity to find out. Man, those kids sure looked young for 19 last week … Our rating: 4 stars

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Tags: NBC, Nashville Star, Recap, Video by Mike
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Posted by Mike

This week’s Nashville Star begins with Billy Ray Cyrus’ non-Miley daughter Noah introducing her dad. It’s family night, which means we’ll be seeing the final nine contestants get surprise visits from family members during their rehearsals. It also means that those family members will are in attendance to witness this week’s performances, which will each be two songs long — or, more accurately, 1.5 songs, since the second songs are nothing more than 30-second snippets.

First up is Ashlee Hewitt, whose entire 19-member family arrives to lend support. If the crowd seems a little louder for Ashlee this week, you’ll know why. She’s singing “Don’t Stop Believin’” by Journey, and because she’s not Steve Perry, she has a little trouble with a couple of the big notes. We can hardly fault her for that. Otherwise, it was a solid way to start the show. We liked Ashlee’s switch from piano to guitar but, like the judges told her, she needs to make moves like that seem more natural. That aside, despite our initial indifference to her, she’s quickly becoming one of our favorite contestants. She finishes with a brief version of the Sammi Smith song “Help Me Make It Through the Night.” Our rating: 4 stars

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Tags: NBC, Nashville Star, Recap by Mike
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Posted by Mike

Pop goes country this week on Nashville Star, which means one thing — backup dancers! Just what every self-respecting country singer needs. Speaking of country singers, two of them are asked to step to the front of the stage at the very start of the show. One of them is safe this week, the other is in the Bottom 2. Since the producers don’t even want to try and trick us, those two singers are Tommy Stanley and Gabe Garcia. Gabe ain’t Bottom 2 material, so he’ll be the first to perform this week, right after a group version of Madonna’s “Like a Prayer.” During the song, Tommy cements his Bottom 2 status by letting out a wince-inducing sour note.

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Tags: NBC, Nashville Star, Recap, Video by Mike
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Posted by Mike

Unlike Charley Jenkins, who was voted off by the judges last week, we’re back for Week 2. At the end of tonight’s show, another act will be joining Charley in the also-ran pool. Will it be his partner from last week’s Bottom 2, Alyson Gilbert? We can only hope. But first we’ll see performances by all 11 artists (as well as Trace Adkins), who have been divided into three groups and been assigned a mentor for the remainder of the competition. Jewel will help the men, John Rich will take care of the women, and Jeffrey Steele will help out the groups.

The first act that is declared safe for this week is Laura & Sophie. Well, duh. Last week they delivered a knockout version of Tammy Wynette’s “Stand by Your Man.” This week, they contemporize … a little. Fast-forwarding from 1968 to 1986, they tackle The Judds’ “Rockin’ With the Rhythm of the Rain.” And they tackle it quite well. They seem more aware of the fact that there’s an audience in front of them, without losing any of the chemistry that so obviously exists between the two of them. And by the time they get to the present day musically, they’ll have completely won that audience over. While they’re not quite as good as last week, they’re clearly one of the favorites in this competition, even if they make Jeffrey Steele think he’s at a slumber party. Our rating: 4 stars

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Tags: NBC, Nashville Star, Recap by Mike
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Posted by Mike

Welcome to the new Nashville Star. What makes it new? Well, it’s on NBC now instead of USA Network, which means a lot more people will be watching. Also, Billy Ray Cyrus is the new host, with last season’s cohost Jewel moving to the judges table, where she’s joined by John Rich of Big & Rich and songwriter Jeffrey Steele. The minimum age for contestants has been lowered to 16, and duos and trios are now eligible, as well. Oh, and there’s a completely new set. Other than that, everything is the same. Tonight, we get snippets from auditions good, bad and ugly (and a performance by Taylor Swift).

Unlike American Idol, Nashville Star doesn’t spend the first couple of weeks mocking the last group. Instead, we dive right in and meet the Top 12. They’re introduced to us during a group rendition of “Life Is a Highway” by Tom Cochrane (or, as country fans know it, by Rascal Flatts). During the performance, Alyson Gilbert delivers the night’s first sour note, and we’re officially underway. [Read more →]

Tags: NBC, Nashville Star, Recap by Mike
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Posted by Mike, Ryan and johnnysweeptheleg

Today is Toby Flenderson’s last day. Obviously Michael has been looking forward to this for a long time — so much so, that he couldn’t sleep last night. The only order of business for the day is the planning of Toby’s going-away party, for which Angela has planned a buttercream cake and a slide show featuring two pictures of Toby. Not quite what Michael had in mind. He wants the kind of party you’d throw “if the devil were to explode and evil were gone forever” — like a beach blowout or toga party. Maybe even a New Orleans funeral. He’d settle for an anti-gravity machine. He’s even willing to spend his own money, which he has saved from the birthday checks his senile grandma has been sending him nine or 10 times a year lately. When Angela refuses to comply with his wishes, Phyllis usurps control of the party-planning committee.

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Tags: Comedy, NBC, Recap, The Office, Video by Mike
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