Lori Acken | Channel Guide Magazine

Dance Moms Season 3 Tell All recap: Children and Violence

May 7, 2013 | By Lori Acken
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Did everyone enjoy “The Mother of All Specials” that preceded tonight’s Dance Moms: Tell-All Reunion Part One, Dance Moms fans? Did it give you a better understanding of why Abby Lee is the way Abby Lee is — or make you more confused, since Mother Miller is calm and kind and often appears as puzzled by her daughter as we are? Did it make you nostalgic for when Dance Moms was more funny and fun, and less cutthroat and stressful —and we got to have Dance Moms fashion moments? Did it make you want to pop Abby’s dad in the [...]

Dance Moms Season 3 Episode 16 recap: Queens For A Day

April 16, 2013 | By Lori Acken
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Abby’s got her cranky pants on again as we launch this week’s Dance Moms — in large part because the Dance About Democracy finished No. this in last week’s competition: And that don’t mean peace, boys and girls. Plus, not only are we getting beat by Cathy’s scab-a-rific imported Apples, we’re getting beat by, like, nobodies now. And this has got to change. Pyramid time. Mackie is bottom of the bottom because she didn’t dance. Then Paige. Abby — with a completely straight face — says Paige did a disservice to her country by holding the flag upside down in [...]

Dance Moms Season 3 Episode 14 recap: Cathy Major, Asia Minor

April 2, 2013 | By Lori Acken
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Quick prayer to launch this week’s recap, Dance Moms nation, because I feel it is required. At least for me. Dear sweet Jesus and the gods of dance, please let this Asia thing I know is coming be a one-or-two-episode Asia thing I know is coming, because I cannot handle any more than that of Kristie Ray. I just cannot. Otherwise, grant unto me some Asia/Kristie fans who can nicely explain why I should become one. And the part where the kid is 7 doesn’t count. The part where Yvette Walts is not here to turn Kristie into Pokey McChestbump [...]

Dog and Beth Chapman address family troubles in upcoming CMT special

March 27, 2013 | By Lori Acken
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A week before their new CMT series Dog and Beth: On the Hunt premieres on CMT, Duane “Dog” Chapman and his wife Beth will address the issue that has weighed heaviest on their fans’ minds: What has happened with the Chapman clan since the family publicly imploded as Dog the Bounty Hunter headed toward its unexpected series finale. Dog and Beth: The Preview Special premieres Sunday, April 14 at 8pm ET/PT on CMT and will re-air throughout the week leading up to their new bounty-hunting bonanza. Fans can also stream the special online at CMT.com. According to the network’s press release, Dog and [...]

Dance Moms Season 3 episode 13 recap: Rak and Roll!

March 26, 2013 | By Lori Acken
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I would like to begin today’s Dance Moms recap by saying this: I have an officially licensed Dance Moms Abby Lee Miller “Bobblehips Figure” and you don’t. OK, maybe you do, since they are for sale right here for a mere $24.95. But the point is, I have one and it’s my new prized possession — at least for today — so there. Which puts me in a very good mood. Here she is making friends with Finger Zombie, who is my other prized possession. You’d think that after last week’s run of winning performances and victories over Cathy (and [...]

Dance Moms Season 3 episode 12 recap: Everything’s Coming Up Rosa

March 19, 2013 | By Lori Acken
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And it’s another two-hour marathon, Dance Moms nation. Everybody strapped in for the ride? We’re goin’ on the bus! As we begin, Abby says she’s trying to figure out what they need to do to regain their former first-place mojo. Easy, Abby. Stop cosponsoring the competitions. Then she takes a swipe at Maddie for not finishing first, as well, and goes right on into the pyramid. [EDITOR’S NOTE: For those of you new to these recaps, I kinda do these pyramids backward and report them the way Abby uncovers the photos. So we’re basically climbing the ladder, so to speak.] [...]

VH1 airs “Miss U Much” sneak peek this Sunday

November 30, 2012 | By Lori Acken
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If you were young and pop-culture obsessed in the ’90s, Catherine Reitman has your dream job. The 31-year-old actress and comic was tapped by VH1 to go on excellent adventures with some of the era’s most well-known stars, and give viewers a revealing look at what their youthful icons are up to now, in the network’s upcoming series Miss U Much, which debuts with a sneak peek this Sunday, Dec. 2 at 10pm ET. From paddleboarding with Baywatch stud David Chokachi (while not-so-happily wearing the famous red swimsuit) to singing karaoke with Saved by the Bell’s Mr. Belding, Dennis Haskins [...]

“Abby’s Ultimate Dance Competition” recap: Face The Music

November 13, 2012 | By Lori Acken
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The first thing we get to launch this week’s Abby’s Ultimate Dance Competition is a spankin’ fresh Yvetteism to wash away the negativity of last week’s almost-rumble in the Los Angeles Theatre jungle. Which is, “You’re either in, or in the way!” So let’s find out who’s who. We start by dropping in on a few mother/daughter pairs in their luxury hotel rooms to listen in on their pep talks. Yvette wants Hadley to hold her high after last week’s epic dance-assigning disaster that nearly cost Yvette her teeth — or at the very least any affection she may have had for Los [...]

Yvette Walts talks “Abby’s Ultimate Dance Competition,” her hopes for Hadley — and THAT situation with Kristie Ray

November 13, 2012 | By Lori Acken
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Suffice it to say that no one is more surprised than Yvette Walts to discover that the primary villainess of Abby’s Ultimate Dance Competition is not the notoriously starchy star of the show, Dance Mom’s Abby Lee Miller — but rather the bubbly blond Walts herself. The Evansville, Indiana, native and 28-year dance industry vet says she thought her 12-year-old daughter Hadley was vying for a spot on a new reality show called “My Kid Can Dance” and had no idea Miller would be even be involved when they hopped a plane for Los Angeles. But Abby Lee was only one [...]

TLC’s “Jersey Brides” say @#$! yes to the dress

November 12, 2012 | By Lori Acken
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If TLC’s Bride Day Friday’s are just a tad too tame for you, maybe you should say yes to the network’s new Jersey Brides, instead. Set at Bijou Bridal‘s Paramus, New Jersey, location and starring the store’s owners, adorable sisters Joyce and Julie Jou (that’s them below) — plus their good-natured consultant and dress designer Leigh Price — Jersey Brides spotlights the lively dress pursuits of ladies whose primary goal is Jersey’s special brand of pizazz. Or as the Jou sisters put it: “Bling. Boobs. And booty.” In the first half-hour, viewers will meet Jessie, a lifelong Jersey girl who says that she [...]