If there was ever a person who personified the saying, “a train wreck waiting to happen” it would be Charlie Sheen. FX who has always been on the cutting edge of marketing their shows is using that expectation to their advantage in their latest trailer for Anger Management, Sheen’s upcoming comedy that will start by airing the first two episodes, June 28 at 9pm for the premiere and 9:30pm for episode 2. The following eight episodes will air on subsequent Thursdays at 9:30pm, with the previous week’s episode airing at 9pm. Check out this trailer for the show.

Anger Management is based on the film that starred Adam Sandler and Jack Nicholson. Sheen plays a former minor-league baseball player, named “Charlie,” whose career was shortened by his own anger issues and a career-ending injury. Charlie goes back to school and becomes therapist who specializes in non-traditional methods and treating some special patients such as prison inmates. For the most part, Charlie gets his life back on track, but all is not well because his family and friends make his coping an everyday struggle.

Joining Sheen are Selma Blair (Hellboy), Shawnee Smith (Becker), Michael Arden (Source Code), Daniela Bobadilla (Awake), and Noureen DeWulf (Hawthorne). Bruce Helford (The Drew Carrey Show) is the Executive Producer/ Showrunner and Joe Roth, Mark Burg, and Dave Caplan are Executive Producers.

Only in Hollywood can anyone get a “24th chance,” and while it seems that Sheen should have run out of chances, he has managed to pull it all together and land on his feet once again. Considering how Sheen’s last train wreck with substance abuse and clash with producer Chuck Lorre led to his abrupt departure on Two and a Half Men, this is a huge risk by FX. But if there are no incidents, Sheen has a good track record. The concept of Anger Management appears to play to Sheen’s strengths and the perfect show to get his acting career back in working order.

What do you think of the trailer and are you adding Anger Management to your summer TV calendar? Will you tune ...]]>

If there was ever a person who personified the saying, “a train wreck waiting to happen” it would be Charlie Sheen. FX who has always been on the cutting edge of marketing their shows is using that expectation to their advantage in their latest trailer for Anger Management, Sheen’s upcoming comedy that will start by airing the first two episodes, June 28 at 9pm for the premiere and 9:30pm for episode 2. The following eight episodes will air on subsequent Thursdays at 9:30pm, with the previous week’s episode airing at 9pm. Check out this trailer for the show.

Anger Management is based on the film that starred Adam Sandler and Jack Nicholson. Sheen plays a former minor-league baseball player, named “Charlie,” whose career was shortened by his own anger issues and a career-ending injury. Charlie goes back to school and becomes therapist who specializes in non-traditional methods and treating some special patients such as prison inmates. For the most part, Charlie gets his life back on track, but all is not well because his family and friends make his coping an everyday struggle.

Joining Sheen are Selma Blair (Hellboy), Shawnee Smith (Becker), Michael Arden (Source Code), Daniela Bobadilla (Awake), and Noureen DeWulf (Hawthorne). Bruce Helford (The Drew Carrey Show) is the Executive Producer/ Showrunner and Joe Roth, Mark Burg, and Dave Caplan are Executive Producers.

Only in Hollywood can anyone get a “24th chance,” and while it seems that Sheen should have run out of chances, he has managed to pull it all together and land on his feet once again. Considering how Sheen’s last train wreck with substance abuse and clash with producer Chuck Lorre led to his abrupt departure on Two and a Half Men, this is a huge risk by FX. But if there are no incidents, Sheen has a good track record. The concept of Anger Management appears to play to Sheen’s strengths and the perfect show to get his acting career back in working order.

What do you think of the trailer and are you adding Anger Management to your summer TV calendar? Will you tune in because you hope the show is good or because you’re hoping to see a train wreck? Share your thoughts below!

Thank god for Howard Stern.

He’s the real reason I found myself watching America’s Got Talent, and NBC loves to hear he can be a magnet of new viewers to the once stagnant show. But let me be clear, I was not a skeptic. I knew since the first announcement of Stern joining the judge’s table that he would be the reason to tune into a talent show that’s often lost in a vast sea of unscripted talent, and mercifully, he delivered. Stern was engaging during his performer interviews, though he quickly fell into his concerned father mode, worrying what kind of lives these starving artists would lead if they don’t win the million dollar prize. He played to the rabid crowd who traveled there to see him, and was determined to look at each act and quickly assess whether or not the public would pay to see them. Even Stern’s cynics had to admit he was a good judge.

“Could we [potentially] see death here?” Stern asked one act.

And I loved how quickly he hit the buzzer when the act needed to get off stage. He didn’t reinvent the reality show judge or copycat Simon Cowell, as so many other talent shows try to do (even Cupcake Wars has an arrogant French judge). He was honest, funny, concise, and at times, surprisingly compassionate as a ...]]> Once the actual talent began performing on America’s Got Talent, I remembered why I had avoided the show for so long. Bad talent is unbearable to watch. Aoni Jackson, a 34 year-old “stripper Magician” lured judge Howie Mandel on stage, (who exposed his well-documented germ-phobia in front of America) and wasted a lot of people’s time with a disappearing ring trick. The next act was even worse when Miss Les, a 55-year old music teacher sang a cabaret song with a dozen or so birds perched on her shoulders and neck (the birds’ only talent was not flying away) prompting an argument from the judges. More bad acts followed and there wasn’t a single act worth seeing until a full half hour into the two-hour block.

Thank god for Howard Stern.

He’s the real reason I found myself watching America’s Got Talent, and NBC loves to hear he can be a magnet of new viewers to the once stagnant show. But let me be clear, I was not a skeptic. I knew since the first announcement of Stern joining the judge’s table that he would be the reason to tune into a talent show that’s often lost in a vast sea of unscripted talent, and mercifully, he delivered. Stern was engaging during his performer interviews, though he quickly fell into his concerned father mode, worrying what kind of lives these starving artists would lead if they don’t win the million dollar prize. He played to the rabid crowd who traveled there to see him, and was determined to look at each act and quickly assess whether or not the public would pay to see them. Even Stern’s cynics had to admit he was a good judge.

“Could we [potentially] see death here?” Stern asked one act.

And I loved how quickly he hit the buzzer when the act needed to get off stage. He didn’t reinvent the reality show judge or copycat Simon Cowell, as so many other talent shows try to do (even Cupcake Wars has an arrogant French judge). He was honest, funny, concise, and at times, surprisingly compassionate as a judge. Those endless years of therapy have made a difference if only for his time on America’s Got Talent.

At one moment, Stern felt a situation quickly heading south and turned it on its head. When he asked a bad singer (who began pleading his case and wouldn’t leave) about his parents, the performer responded that they were dead. Silence fell on the crowd waiting for what the Sirius XM radio personality would say next. Any other judge on American Idol, The Voice, Dancing With The Stars, you name it, would have apologized and crumbled, but not Stern. He replied, “They died from embarrassment?” Whether you found the joke funny or not, he turned a train wreck into a watchable moment instead of letting it fall flat. So even though the first quarter of the show was bereft with talent, you waited to see what he’d say next, a quality that’s followed him throughout his career.

Now, I realize they wanted to show the first act, and the show’s star judge growing into the job, but this was a dreadful group to open a talent show with–a sign of poor editing. Finally, William Close, a sculptor and musical instrument inventor was next who created an instrument out of the auditorium, attaching strings to the upper levels and pulling them tight towards the stage, creating a giant guitar/harp. With the help of a percussionist, it was an amazing spectacle that fit the bill perfectly. Las Vegas needs more than the average singer or dancer. They need something that people can connect to and most of all be something truly unique.

Some of the other acts from the Los Angeles and St. Louis auditions that warranted a trip to the next round to Vegas included:

• Three different dance groups (Stern’s general assessment of dance acts was spot on by the way)
• A rapper who “assured” the judges he was freestyling
• A dangerous sharpshooting crossbow act, made especially funny by the judges
• A geeky and cool dance theater performance done in Tron style
• A ventriloquist act with a live dog with steel-trap jaw
• A one man sing and dance show who was about to get booted after murdering “The Girl From Ipanema” but saved himself by singing “God Bless America” and got Stern to join him on stage.
• And two separate, emotional (one very cute cover of Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros’ “Home”, the other a heart-felt rendition of Carole King and James Taylor’s “You Got a Friend”) father-daughter singing acts.

But Got Talent has its fair share of areas that need vast improvement–the most important being the editing. I wouldn’t have been surprised to hear about viewers tuning out in the first half hour. It was that bad. Some acts we saw from beginning to end (some very painfully) while others were severely short-changed in montages. We would hear and see the glowing responses and astonished reactions from the judges, but then only a tiny clip of an act would be shown, like a young girl who did aerial stunts with giant scarves (something you’d see in Cirque du Soleil) and a massive stunt team of extreme sport athletes. AGT’s theme song and other blaring pop songs drowned out the talent in these montages, and we never get to see the names of the acts featured in the montages labeled below. I understand that time is an issue, but if some of these acts are so great, like the young girl hanging in the air in drapes, then let’s see it play out in full. I don’t understand the inconsistency there, especially when we see host Nick Cannon saving a bad act for several minutes just because one his song was being used. Tighten it up NBC.

Even though the spotlight is supposed to be on the performers or ones masquerading as being talented, it’s hard not to talk about Stern because he is the start of every conversation point. The most memorable moment may have come during the judge’s entrance to the stage in St. Louis. All three were riding an old elevator with their security, (well, okay, Ronnie “the Limo Driver” Mund for Stern and Mandel’s 80-year old mother) when the death box jolted on three occasions. The most paranoid of the group was Stern who heightened the situation by telling Mandel that elevator accidents are an “epidemic” in New York. But when the elevator door opened Stern caught himself nearly shoving Sharon Osbourne and Mandel’s mother out of the way to escape the trauma. Mandel cackled at Stern’s lack of chivalry as they walked down a flight of stairs.

“She’s lived long enough,” Stern fired back. “If I die, I’m important to the show. Your mother is expendable.”

It was a bitingly funny bit that Mandel laughed at as well, probably because he saw the truth in what he said. Stern must be infinitely more fun to be around than that bore Piers Morgan. You could tell that both Osbourne and Mandel enjoyed Stern’s presence; he took away the pressure to deliver the one-liner and in conversations amongst the judges he explained his reasonings well. The increased energy in the crowds reflects the change in the judges’ dynamic.

Even though he was hired on to judge the talent, all eyes are locked in on Stern, because he is being judged too. His fans are looking for their radio hero to make them laugh (and justification for his sporadic on-air schedule), while his harshest critics are waiting to pounce on the first thing he says that will offend them. These same critics are usually the ones who often admit to never hearing his radio show. If only they could give a red “X” to the man they hear about being so evil. Too bad for them that they’ll be disappointed, because Howard Stern is going to win even more approval as a judge–deservedly so.

Catch more America’s Got Talent on NBC tonight at 8-10pm.

Max Payne 3 on Xbox 360

Max Payne 3 on PS3

Diablo 3 on PC/MAC

There are also a few other games to hit the market today, including Battleship the Game, adapted from the film (that was adapted from the game) starring Rihanna, Alexander Skarsgård, Brooklyn Decker, Taylor Kitsch and Liam Neeson.

Battleship on PS3, Xbox 360, DS, 3DS

HBO’s Game of Thrones gets a home gaming release, which is an RPG tale into the battle for the iron throne.

Game of Thrones on PS3, Xbox 360

Other gaming releases include::
Akai Katana Shin (Xbox 360)
Hitman: Sniper Challenge (Xbox 360, PS3)
Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II (Xbox 360, PS3)
Dragon’s Lair (Xbox 360, PS3)
Rock of Ages (PS3)

NBC FALL 2012-13 SCHEDULE
*New programs in UPPER CASE; all times are eastern standard time

MONDAY
8-10 p.m. – “The Voice”
10-11 p.m. – “REVOLUTION”

TUESDAY
8-9 p.m. -”The Voice”
9-9:30 p.m. – “GO ON”
9:30-10 p.m. – “THE NEW NORMAL”
10-11 p.m. – “Parenthood”

WEDNESDAY
8-8:30 p.m. – “ANIMAL PRACTICE”
8:30-9 p.m. – “GUYS WITH KIDS”
9-10 p.m. – “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”
10-11 p.m. – “CHICAGO FIRE”

THURSDAY
8-8:30 p.m. – “30 Rock”
8:30-9 p.m. – “Up All Night”
9-9:30 p.m. – “The Office”
9:30-10 p.m. – “Parks and Recreation”
10-11 p.m. – “Rock Center with Brian Williams”

FRIDAY
8-8:30 p.m. – “Whitney”
8:30-9 p.m. – “Community”
9-10 p.m. – “Grimm”
10-11 p.m. – “Dateline NBC”

SATURDAY
Encore programming

Monday remains the talent portion of the lineup where The Voice will open each week accompanied with a Tuesday night results show. Joining The Voice on Monday nights is J.J. Abram’s new sci-fi series, Revolution taking the 10pm time slot. Will this be THE ONE sci-fi show NBC to succeed where so many (The Event, V, Heroes) have failed?

Wednesday looks like it’s the big day for new series for NBC with Law & Order: SVU being the only returning show. New drama series Chicago Fire seems like a logical partner for SVU.

As for Thursday, NBC’s most successful night of programming, after much tinkering with the formula the network has decided to scrap the third hour of comedy and in fact take out any original scripted show and putting Rock Center with Brian Williams in the 10PM time slot.

Up All Night makes it into the Thursday night block too displacing Community to Friday nights. To me, this is a vote of confidence for the Christina Applegate-Will Arnett comedy to be sandwiched in between 30 Rock and The Office. That move is going to be a controversial one as Friday night is a typical seal of death for ...]]> NBC had plenty to share with its Upfronts presentation today, sharing trailers for their new shows and lineup, which has been shifted considerably. Let’s take a look at NBC’s official fall schedule and how it affects returning shows:

NBC FALL 2012-13 SCHEDULE
*New programs in UPPER CASE; all times are eastern standard time

MONDAY
8-10 p.m. – “The Voice”
10-11 p.m. – “REVOLUTION”

TUESDAY
8-9 p.m. -”The Voice”
9-9:30 p.m. – “GO ON”
9:30-10 p.m. – “THE NEW NORMAL”
10-11 p.m. – “Parenthood”

WEDNESDAY
8-8:30 p.m. – “ANIMAL PRACTICE”
8:30-9 p.m. – “GUYS WITH KIDS”
9-10 p.m. – “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”
10-11 p.m. – “CHICAGO FIRE”

THURSDAY
8-8:30 p.m. – “30 Rock”
8:30-9 p.m. – “Up All Night”
9-9:30 p.m. – “The Office”
9:30-10 p.m. – “Parks and Recreation”
10-11 p.m. – “Rock Center with Brian Williams”

FRIDAY
8-8:30 p.m. – “Whitney”
8:30-9 p.m. – “Community”
9-10 p.m. – “Grimm”
10-11 p.m. – “Dateline NBC”

SATURDAY
Encore programming

Monday remains the talent portion of the lineup where The Voice will open each week accompanied with a Tuesday night results show. Joining The Voice on Monday nights is J.J. Abram’s new sci-fi series, Revolution taking the 10pm time slot. Will this be THE ONE sci-fi show NBC to succeed where so many (The Event, V, Heroes) have failed?

Wednesday looks like it’s the big day for new series for NBC with Law & Order: SVU being the only returning show. New drama series Chicago Fire seems like a logical partner for SVU.

As for Thursday, NBC’s most successful night of programming, after much tinkering with the formula the network has decided to scrap the third hour of comedy and in fact take out any original scripted show and putting Rock Center with Brian Williams in the 10PM time slot.

Up All Night makes it into the Thursday night block too displacing Community to Friday nights. To me, this is a vote of confidence for the Christina Applegate-Will Arnett comedy to be sandwiched in between 30 Rock and The Office. That move is going to be a controversial one as Friday night is a typical seal of death for a television show but I can understand the thinking behind it. Community has never been able to beat CBS’s The Big Bang Theory, so move it out of there. It’s never really benefitted from 30 Rock or The Office either so if it’s going to have a loyal audience then it will move to Friday nights where all the cult shows seem to survive.

Photo taken by Lucky Bronson.

If Grimm survived, launching on Friday night, then Community has a chance to stand out too, on a night where it will go up against Fox’s Touch, which has also moved from Thursdays to Fridays, and likely the CW’s Nikita. ABC and CBS have not cemented their fall lineups yet. If Friday is the day of the week where the most devoted TV viewers stay in (like fans of Fox’s Fringe) then perhaps Community can grow its numbers to the size of what Grimm was able to pull (4.5-6 million) in its first season. If not, well, it’s on Friday, right?

Having Whitney as a lead-in is not helping Community’s cause, but maybe they can share some of Grimm’s friday night action, which held its own against CW’s Supernatural and Fox’s Fringe – two semi-popular genre shows with strong and loyal viewers. The final hurdle team Community needs to leap over is finding out if showrunner Dan Harmon will return for Season 4. Much has been made about his clash with cast member Chevy Chase but the question on whether he returns or not, may be related to matters that have not been made public. The show has survived many things, but I would find it hard to believe it could thrive if the show’s creator left.

So Community fans, do you fear Friday nights or the threat of creator Dan Harmon (or Chevy Chase) leaving?

Question: When is it good when a film drops -50.3% in gross and remains #1?
Answer: When the film is The Avengers, which officially completed the biggest opening two weeks in history. It remained #1 at the box office this past weekend and the weekend actuals totaled $103,052, 274 ($373,071,647 domestic total) leaving the competition far behind to have the best second weekend ever, destroying James Cameron’s Avatar’s previous record of $75.6 million. To discuss more gaudy numbers, it did not lose (or add) a single theater and it still made each location, on average, $23,696! It’s already #12 on the all time worldwide gross chart topping (in my best Dr. Evil voice) 1 BILLION dollars in just 10 days. 10 Days, people!

A week from now, it will squish The Hunger Games like a $387 million ant in all-time domestic box office. Last week from Monday through Thursday, The Avengers made $70 million. Before this upcoming weekend begins, it should climb into the top ten domestic box office runs and will make a run at Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope a week from today. The little-Marvel-film-that-could now holds box office records in 30 different charts at Box Office Mojo including Top-10 Day gross, second weekends, opening weekends, and fastest to $350 million.

Do you really want to know what came in after The Avengers? Of course you do. Poor Tim Burton and Johnny Depp. The frequent director-actor duo appears to be losing a great deal of its magic. Had Dark Shadows opened any other month if might have had a shot. $29 million is nothing to sneeze at, but when your production budget was $150 million, then it was a sad weekend indeed. For one, no theater was letting go or giving any 3D screens to Dark Shadows if it could help it–not that either one is a particularly thrilling 3D experience, but those are screens and money to add to the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. For Dark Shadows, they simply could not eat into The Avengers’ pace. ...]]>

Question: When is it good when a film drops -50.3% in gross and remains #1?
Answer: When the film is The Avengers, which officially completed the biggest opening two weeks in history. It remained #1 at the box office this past weekend and the weekend actuals totaled $103,052, 274 ($373,071,647 domestic total) leaving the competition far behind to have the best second weekend ever, destroying James Cameron’s Avatar’s previous record of $75.6 million. To discuss more gaudy numbers, it did not lose (or add) a single theater and it still made each location, on average, $23,696! It’s already #12 on the all time worldwide gross chart topping (in my best Dr. Evil voice) 1 BILLION dollars in just 10 days. 10 Days, people!

A week from now, it will squish The Hunger Games like a $387 million ant in all-time domestic box office. Last week from Monday through Thursday, The Avengers made $70 million. Before this upcoming weekend begins, it should climb into the top ten domestic box office runs and will make a run at Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope a week from today. The little-Marvel-film-that-could now holds box office records in 30 different charts at Box Office Mojo including Top-10 Day gross, second weekends, opening weekends, and fastest to $350 million.

Do you really want to know what came in after The Avengers? Of course you do. Poor Tim Burton and Johnny Depp. The frequent director-actor duo appears to be losing a great deal of its magic. Had Dark Shadows opened any other month if might have had a shot. $29 million is nothing to sneeze at, but when your production budget was $150 million, then it was a sad weekend indeed. For one, no theater was letting go or giving any 3D screens to Dark Shadows if it could help it–not that either one is a particularly thrilling 3D experience, but those are screens and money to add to the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. For Dark Shadows, they simply could not eat into The Avengers’ pace. There was another new release this past weekend and that was Girl in Progress which did not crack the top ten list, finishing 11th ($1.38 million).

Everyone else finished close to where they finished last week with the exception of two films. Aardman stop-motion animation film, The Pirates! Band of Misfits, which is going to wind up being saved by foreign box office, after dropping to seventh place ($3.1 million). The other noteworthy story at the box office is the senior British Open of films, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel which expanded to 178 theaters and still made each location over $15,000, moving up eight spots to eighth and is becoming the perfect alternative to The Avengers. Every time one of these massive films hits, there’s always at least one quality film that capitalizes on being everything the blockbuster is not.

It’s not bombastic or filled with green screen effects. It’s directed by John Madden (Shakespeare in Love), is set in India and stars Tom Wilkinson, Judi Dench, Penelope Wilton, Maggie Smith, Dev Patel and Bill Nighy. Once could make a case that it’s a superhero cast of actors 50 and up. In the press screening I attended, about a third smaller than my Avengers screening, had as much laughter, applause, and people staying through the credits (no there is no post-credits scene). It is customary to see viewers stay through the credits at art house films. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel plays to a completely different audience, but it pleases them just the same. Now Marigold will never come close to becoming #1, but it’s exciting that there can be two films at opposite ends of the spectrum satisfying their audiences.

But what film will knock The Avengers from the throne? Not since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 has there been a film that audiences are paying to see multiple times in the theater. It’s already shifted the release schedule of other films. The Dictator was supposed to come out this past weekend, but Paramount wisely held it back for five more days and will be released this Wednesday. Ask Tim Burton if he’d like a mulligan on this past weekend. Men in Black 3 poses the first serious threat and dabbles in the same arena of Sci-Fi Comedy. At the beginning of June, Snow White and the Huntsman comes out and the country might be full of The Avengers by then. If not, then Alien-prequel, Prometheus will certainly be a formidable opponent. Which one do you think can topple Earth’s Mightiest Heroes? Can any of them? Let us know your thoughts below.

Here is the list of the top 20 films in Weekend #12 of 2012 according to Box Office Mojo and their actual box office numbers.

1 Marvel’s The Avengers (Buena Vista/Disney) $200,300,000
2 Dark Shadows (Warner Bros.) $29,685,274
3 Think Like a Man (Screen Gems) $5,700,00
4 The Hunger Games (Lionsgate) $5,510,000
5 The Lucky One (Warner Bros) $5,400,000
6 The Five-Year Engagement (Universal) $3,314,010
7 The Pirates! Band of Misfits (Sony) $3,143,442
8 The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (Fox Searchlight) $2,672,140
9 Chimpanzee (Buena Vista/Disney) $1,755,507
10 Safe (Lions Gate) $1,447,174
11 Girl in Progress (Lions Gate) $1,384,078
12 The Raven (Relativity) $1,378,847
13 The Three Stooges (Fox) $1,078,339
14 The Cabin in the Woods (Lionsgate) $971,465
15 John Carter (Buena Vista/Disney) $766,217
16 21 Jump Street (Sony) $715,000
17 Mirror Mirror (Relativity) $645,109
18 American Reunion (Universal) $432,430
19 Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax (Universal) $432,245
20 Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (US Only) (MBox) $236,134

Like many Showtime series, The Borgias has hit its stride in Season 2. Instead of waiting through a lot of build up to war, we find ourselves knee deep in lies, heresy, poison and guerilla warfare. The body count continues to rise as the series finally distinguishes itself from Showtime’s last major historic drama, The Tudors. The writers have also done an excellent job of interweaving some of the darker aspects of the Church, including a subtle precursor to Opus Dei, the Catholic institution noted in The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown.

The first Season of The Borgias focused primarily on the internal war within the College of Cardinals. Rodrigo Borgia’s feud with Giuliano Della Rovere eventually led to a war with France. Now, Della Rovere may be out of the Church, but a new power has come to the forefront. Friar Savonarola has moved on from prophecy to take the mantle as the leading anti-Pope faction within the Church.

In “Day of Ashes,” we saw Savonarola commanding several followers to engage publically in the practice of “mortification of the flesh”, one of the secret practices the modern Opus Dei is said to adhere to. We witnessed several people whipping their own backs as penance. Why say a few Hail Marys and Our Fathers when you can beat yourself, right? Even though Della Rovere was able to bring the French army to Rome (to little success), it’s clear that Savonarola commands even more respect. To the public, Savonarola isn’t a cardinal who was accused of murder and more-or-less kicked out Rome. Instead, he’s a prophet of God who preaches on the end of days.

It’s a purer form of gloom-and-doom that attracts the most militant of followers and incites mob mentality. We saw that first hand when the commoners were stoning the sodomites. Then, one child accused Cesare of being a sodomite. Even though the boy had only a few other children for backup, fear was still written across Cesare’s face. He couldn’t hurt the child, and he knew that in a few moments the older members ...]]>

Like many Showtime series, The Borgias has hit its stride in Season 2. Instead of waiting through a lot of build up to war, we find ourselves knee deep in lies, heresy, poison and guerilla warfare. The body count continues to rise as the series finally distinguishes itself from Showtime’s last major historic drama, The Tudors. The writers have also done an excellent job of interweaving some of the darker aspects of the Church, including a subtle precursor to Opus Dei, the Catholic institution noted in The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown.

The first Season of The Borgias focused primarily on the internal war within the College of Cardinals. Rodrigo Borgia’s feud with Giuliano Della Rovere eventually led to a war with France. Now, Della Rovere may be out of the Church, but a new power has come to the forefront. Friar Savonarola has moved on from prophecy to take the mantle as the leading anti-Pope faction within the Church.

In “Day of Ashes,” we saw Savonarola commanding several followers to engage publically in the practice of “mortification of the flesh”, one of the secret practices the modern Opus Dei is said to adhere to. We witnessed several people whipping their own backs as penance. Why say a few Hail Marys and Our Fathers when you can beat yourself, right? Even though Della Rovere was able to bring the French army to Rome (to little success), it’s clear that Savonarola commands even more respect. To the public, Savonarola isn’t a cardinal who was accused of murder and more-or-less kicked out Rome. Instead, he’s a prophet of God who preaches on the end of days.

It’s a purer form of gloom-and-doom that attracts the most militant of followers and incites mob mentality. We saw that first hand when the commoners were stoning the sodomites. Then, one child accused Cesare of being a sodomite. Even though the boy had only a few other children for backup, fear was still written across Cesare’s face. He couldn’t hurt the child, and he knew that in a few moments the older members of the anti-sodomite mob would come running over for blood.

The mob scene had a second significance. In Episode 2.5, “The Choice,” we learned that Micheletto had a secret lover who was a man from his past. The mob scene was a way of foreshadowing Micheletto’s future should his secret be revealed. Although Micheletto didn’t speak during the mob scene, we saw a conflicted look on his face. Perhaps it was a moment of self-hate for rejecting his lover or a moment where Micheletto wanted to stand up for the men getting stoned. Based on “The Choice,” one would think it was the former.

As for Della Rovere, he has taken on an apprentice of sorts. The young friar, who volunteered to assist in destroying the Borgia pope, probably didn’t realize the full scope of what he was signing up for when he accepted Della Rovere’s request. The ousted cardinal had the young friar take multiple doses of the cantarella poison so that the young friar could build up his tolerance and eventually become the Pope’s food taster.

According to Della Rovere, “Both heaven and hell is in it.” Unfortunately, after the last dose, it looks like the friar discovered hell in cantarella.

Rodrigo is looking to God for some form of penance for his sins. He has been praying for someone to wash away his deeds and has taken on a Lenten diet of anchovies. Once he learned that Cesare killed Giovanni Sportza, the Borgia Pope has decided to look for a new alliance by marrying away Lucrezia once again. He has inlisted the help of Lucrezia’s mother to find an appropriate suitor.

Our anti-hero Cesare continues to covet a position at the head of the Papal armies. However, as Cardinal he’s been forced to lead more clandestine attacks. His guerilla team of cutthroats, lead by Micheletto went after the Medici gold. Cesare is still wearing his Zorro mask as he commits these covert attacks so that his identity isn’t “officially” revealed.

Notable Moments and Reflections:
- Any moment with Machiavelli is a treat. Cesare’s latest interaction with the Medici ambassador gave us some of the best dialogue of the episode.
- I continue to enjoy the new triumvirate of Lucrezia, Giulia Farnese and Vanozza Cattaneo. They’re game of political chess with the Cardinals has been great and I hope to see more backlash from the Cardinals in the future.
- You have to love Friar Savonarola for tossing the Cardinal hat and later saying that he would wipe his “ass” with the Pope’s requests.
- Cesare really feels like Zorro leading Robin Hood’s Merry Men. Nuff Said.

For a show that spent an entire season treading water – having Mary Margaret and David together, then not together, then together, then not together – Once Upon a Time wasted no time changing the story arc of the show in the opening minutes of the show. And forever changing the show at the very end and in a way I did not see coming.

That’s right. Within 6 minutes, Emma had picked up the book and completely believed. Then she kicked Regina’s ass and learned Mr. Gold is really Rumplestiltskin. She was even fighting a dragon by the half hour mark.

As someone who went into this finale afraid that either Emma still wouldn’t believe, or wouldn’t until the final minutes, it was a very, very pleasant surprise. Just as they learned while working on the show Lost, the creators/writers of Once Upon a Time decided to have big things happen in the finale, and more importantly, they paid off storylines from all season long.

For instance, the love potion turned out to be a way bigger deal than we thought. I had been so focused on the fact that Regina was all out of magic in our world, that I forgot that Rumplestiltskin had been working on his own.
Belle of course made her return. And it was a very touching moment to see Mr. Gold truly happy in our world for the first time.

Even little story moments got shout-outs. We caught but a glimpse of Snow White’s glass coffin at the end of the episode that was all about Jiminy Cricket, but we saw it again in the pit where Emma fought the dragon. (That must mean she was technically in Fairy Tale world, no?)

In addition, unless my eyes deceived me, I spotted Mary Margaret in our world wearing her ring from Charming on her right hand when she was reading to Henry in the hospital.

Other favorite moments:

• It was pretty much spoiled ahead of time, but the return of the Huntsman was still great, especially because it made perfect sense for him to help save Charming.

For a show that spent an entire season treading water – having Mary Margaret and David together, then not together, then together, then not together – Once Upon a Time wasted no time changing the story arc of the show in the opening minutes of the show. And forever changing the show at the very end and in a way I did not see coming.

That’s right. Within 6 minutes, Emma had picked up the book and completely believed. Then she kicked Regina’s ass and learned Mr. Gold is really Rumplestiltskin. She was even fighting a dragon by the half hour mark.

As someone who went into this finale afraid that either Emma still wouldn’t believe, or wouldn’t until the final minutes, it was a very, very pleasant surprise. Just as they learned while working on the show Lost, the creators/writers of Once Upon a Time decided to have big things happen in the finale, and more importantly, they paid off storylines from all season long.

For instance, the love potion turned out to be a way bigger deal than we thought. I had been so focused on the fact that Regina was all out of magic in our world, that I forgot that Rumplestiltskin had been working on his own.
Belle of course made her return. And it was a very touching moment to see Mr. Gold truly happy in our world for the first time.

Even little story moments got shout-outs. We caught but a glimpse of Snow White’s glass coffin at the end of the episode that was all about Jiminy Cricket, but we saw it again in the pit where Emma fought the dragon. (That must mean she was technically in Fairy Tale world, no?)

In addition, unless my eyes deceived me, I spotted Mary Margaret in our world wearing her ring from Charming on her right hand when she was reading to Henry in the hospital.

Other favorite moments:

• It was pretty much spoiled ahead of time, but the return of the Huntsman was still great, especially because it made perfect sense for him to help save Charming.
• I loved the symmetry of the two dragon fights, even if I wanted to laugh – not in a good way – at Emma trying to shoot a gun at it. Luckily the CGI wasn’t as terrible as it had been in other episodes.
• Even though I was pretty sure they wouldn’t kill of Henry, the way he was resurrected by Emma was a nice touch.

Two parts I didn’t like: Emma trusting Mr. Gold with the egg even though she knew he was Rumplestiltskin. And the fact that we saw everyone “waking up” except August—is he now a real man again? Or is he still Pinocchio?

Now, let’s talk about those final ten minutes or so. I was convinced that while it was likely Emma would know her true nature by the end of the episode, I certainly was not prepared for everyone to know. I figured that would take at least a few seasons, and that most of next season, Emma would spend time “waking people up.” Instead, now everyone knows.

The creators instead, went in a different direction that I definitely did not see coming. I also thought that once the townspeople woke up, they would spend at least a season or two trying to get home to Fairy Tale land. Now, it appears, however, that next season they will be dealing with the fact that magic has now come to our world.

While watching the show throughout this season, I often felt the Fairy Tale land plots were way more interesting than what was going on in our world. (Tonight and the pilot being the exception.) Next season, however, looks to make our world a lot more exciting now that magic is in play. For a show that I initially loved, and then just kind of liked, I now can’t wait for next season.

Alan Danzis is a lifelong TV watcher, especially of serialized dramas. In his top five list of all time, you’ll find The Shield, The Wire, Deadwood, Lost and Friday Night Lights. (He’s not sure where Mad Men and Breaking Bad go yet since they haven’t finished airing.) But his favorite thing to watch are the sci-fi shows, like Battlestar Galactica, anything British and sci-fi, and shows with vampires. He even put up with Terra Nova, because, well, it had dinosaurs and time travel–you had him at just one of those things. If you can stand his nerdy interests, you can follow him on Twitter at @adanzis.

Full Disclosure: Alan Danzis works at Ketchum Public Relations, which is his day job. His opinions here are his own and do not reflect the opinions of Ketchum, nor the clients Ketchum works with. His BuzzFocus.com writing is wholly unrelated.

If you have read my previous review of How I Met Your Mother, you should know that I have not been a true fan of the show in the last two to three years. There’s a handful of episodes over that time that I’ve liked and/or laughed at, but for the most part, I’m watching out of obligation for the first few brilliant seasons, and a hope, that my dedication will pay off in some of the long-standing storylines.

So going into Monday’s finale, which may be the last season finale before next year’s presumed series finale, I’m watching with trepidation. And hope. Here are the five things I’m hoping for.

1. That I’m happy with who Barney marries. It’d be pretty shocking if it wasn’t Robin or Quinn, and for the longest time, I’ve wanted it to be Robin. (And I still want that.) But I’d be happy with Quinn if it makes sense—either Barney gets over his unhappiness with her stripping or she quits. I don’t want a Friends-like situation where Barney actually goes through with marrying Quinn mere moments after telling Robin he loves her (or something equally lame.) I want the Barnacle just to be happy with whomever he chooses—and that will make me happy.

2. That there’s a mention or even an appearance by Marshall or Barney’s father. One of the few bright spots – if you could truly call it that – of last season was how it dealt with Marshall’s father’s death and Barney reconnecting with his Dad. The fact that Marshall is the first of the group to become dad is a big deal, and I feel like we’d be missing a moment if Barney didn’t at least think of his Dad (no appearance necessary) or Marshall didn’t fantasize his father was watching over him, proudly, as he held his child for the first time. They’ve used Marshall’s dad in fantasy sequences before and I wouldn’t want them to overuse that, but it would just feel right here.

3. That there’s no birthing scene. These scenes are almost universally the same on sitcoms—wife in a lot of pain, ...]]>

If you have read my previous review of How I Met Your Mother, you should know that I have not been a true fan of the show in the last two to three years. There’s a handful of episodes over that time that I’ve liked and/or laughed at, but for the most part, I’m watching out of obligation for the first few brilliant seasons, and a hope, that my dedication will pay off in some of the long-standing storylines.

So going into Monday’s finale, which may be the last season finale before next year’s presumed series finale, I’m watching with trepidation. And hope. Here are the five things I’m hoping for.

1. That I’m happy with who Barney marries. It’d be pretty shocking if it wasn’t Robin or Quinn, and for the longest time, I’ve wanted it to be Robin. (And I still want that.) But I’d be happy with Quinn if it makes sense—either Barney gets over his unhappiness with her stripping or she quits. I don’t want a Friends-like situation where Barney actually goes through with marrying Quinn mere moments after telling Robin he loves her (or something equally lame.) I want the Barnacle just to be happy with whomever he chooses—and that will make me happy.

2. That there’s a mention or even an appearance by Marshall or Barney’s father. One of the few bright spots – if you could truly call it that – of last season was how it dealt with Marshall’s father’s death and Barney reconnecting with his Dad. The fact that Marshall is the first of the group to become dad is a big deal, and I feel like we’d be missing a moment if Barney didn’t at least think of his Dad (no appearance necessary) or Marshall didn’t fantasize his father was watching over him, proudly, as he held his child for the first time. They’ve used Marshall’s dad in fantasy sequences before and I wouldn’t want them to overuse that, but it would just feel right here.

3. That there’s no birthing scene. These scenes are almost universally the same on sitcoms—wife in a lot of pain, screaming lame one-liners at the dad. I could do without this.

4. That the writers don’t plant more red herrings. “I’ll get to that later…” is a quote the Bob Saget-version of Ted tells his future kids a lot. For a long time, it was pretty funny and even amazing how the writers could successfully string all these different story strands along. But this year, it often seemed like the writers were planting red herrings solely to see how they could get out of it later. (I think I’ve read in interviews that they even admit to doing that.) But in the last episode, where we finally saw how Marshall and Barney wound up in Atlantic City with Barney wearing the ducky tie showed the writers are having trouble juggling all these balls. Barney had previously gotten rid of the ducky tie and brought it to Atlantic City to… what was the reason? Oh… to make Marshall happy. The ducky tie seemed to have once seemed like a great idea in the writer’s room and then they decided it was lame and got rid of it, but they were stuck with it in that flash forward and had to make it happen, even if it was completely random that Barney brought it with him. No more red herrings—let’s just stick with what we’ve already got on the table. Bringing us to…

5. That we meet the mother. I know I’m in the minority, but I think the show CAN continue with us meeting the mother. And I want to meet her at Barney’s wedding this season. Seeing her leg, the back of her head, etc. will not suffice. Let’s just meet her and make next season about how her and Ted fall in love. It’s time to push the momentum of the story forward and this season finale would be a perfect chance to do so.
So that’s what I’m hoping for come tomorrow night. What are you hoping for in the season finale of How I Met Your Mother?

*Photos courtesy of CBS

Alan Danzis is a lifelong TV watcher, especially of serialized dramas. In his top five list of all time, you’ll find The Shield, The Wire, Deadwood, Lost and Friday Night Lights. (He’s not sure where Mad Men and Breaking Bad go yet since they haven’t finished airing.) But his favorite thing to watch are the sci-fi shows, like Battlestar Galactica, anything British and sci-fi, and shows with vampires. He even put up with Terra Nova, because, well, it had dinosaurs and time travel–you had him at just one of those things. If you can stand his nerdy interests, you can follow him on Twitter at @adanzis.

Full Disclosure: Alan Danzis works at Ketchum Public Relations, which is his day job. His opinions here are his own and do not reflect the opinions of Ketchum, nor the clients Ketchum works with. His BuzzFocus.com writing is wholly unrelated.

Not letting us bite our nails much longer, we were quickly made aware of Astrid’s status after last week’s jaw dropping cliffhanger. Astrid is alive and well, as she should be. Season five would not be the same without her. One person we will do without next season is Jessica Holt. She may be gone but this is clearly not the end of Bell’s army. What a brilliant twist, finding out that Jessica worked for Bell the entire time. Did anyone have their suspicions? Sure fooled me. Jessica was brave enough to take the role that she did in Bell’s army but some soldiers fall and this was that time for her. Watching Olivia re-direct Jessica’s bullets right back into Jessica after the observer was shot was such an exhilarating moment. For every time that Olivia cannot control her powers, there is a time that she uses them at the moment she needs them the most. Great balance here. But are some of the things that she is able to do a result of her baby (like Piper on Charmed when she was pregnant), or is it all her and is she the sole energy source?

Bell attempting and failing to ...]]> The Fringe Season 4 Finale delivered goods that we have been waiting for all season long. This series is known for it’s phenomenal finales, so fans were hoping for the treat of the season. As it turns out, the finale tied things up quite smoothly (while still leaving a few bumps) had this indeed been a series finale. More on that in a bit. The title, “Brave New World” could not have been more fitting and the writers have left us with plenty to ponder until the fifth and final season begins. The glyph this week was “purge” so we know that the observers are indeed coming. Had we not seen so much of the future and the observers’ role in said future, perhaps this finale would have been more mind blowing. Still, the writers did a good job doing what they did, unsure of the show’s fate.

Not letting us bite our nails much longer, we were quickly made aware of Astrid’s status after last week’s jaw dropping cliffhanger. Astrid is alive and well, as she should be. Season five would not be the same without her. One person we will do without next season is Jessica Holt. She may be gone but this is clearly not the end of Bell’s army. What a brilliant twist, finding out that Jessica worked for Bell the entire time. Did anyone have their suspicions? Sure fooled me. Jessica was brave enough to take the role that she did in Bell’s army but some soldiers fall and this was that time for her. Watching Olivia re-direct Jessica’s bullets right back into Jessica after the observer was shot was such an exhilarating moment. For every time that Olivia cannot control her powers, there is a time that she uses them at the moment she needs them the most. Great balance here. But are some of the things that she is able to do a result of her baby (like Piper on Charmed when she was pregnant), or is it all her and is she the sole energy source?

Bell attempting and failing to use Olivia, the energy source needed to collapse the universes could put her child in danger next season if there is a way to hurt the baby without doing too much damage to Olivia. Bell needs Olivia after all. But Olivia’s loved ones Bell would not hesitate to sacrifice in order to get her to work with him. Peter, Walter, and the rest of her circle had better keep their guards up. Especially since the Observer came to Walter, warning him that “they are coming.” What a fantastic cliffhanger this is. Finding out that Olivia is pregnant and finding out that “they” are coming were definitely series finale moments. Not to mention, Walter calling Astrid…Astrid. Olivia and Peter get their happy ending (thrilling as that may be, it did seem to come together too quickly) and we get a cliffhanger that we do not have to be completely committed to since we already know what the future holds. Of course, now with another season, the writes can prepare to throw us curve balls but had this been the series finale, we would know. Thankfully, this was not the series finale, but had it been, “Brave New World, Part 2″ would have, overall, been a satisfying one. Though underneath the cookie cutter, heartwarming surface, there are still many questions that went unanswered, so thankfully we do have another season to explore the world of Fringe.

Back to Bell… his disappearance was expected because that’s what villains do when they lose. They have to regroup and edit their master plan. Before he disappeared though, there were plenty of wild words that spewed from this mouth. Disappointed with Olivia and Peter showing up just as Bell was about to find what he thought was success and true happiness, he admitted that he could not be too surprised with the two cutting him short since humans persevere and survive. Darn right they too. What a powerful line. This was one of the most gut-wrenching moments for Bell but one of the most triumphant for the rest of the worlds. Humans will fight to the death for their lives, loved ones, nation, for their world. Bell knew that the world was not going to go out without a fight but just how dedicated the Fringe division was to the cause he greatly underestimated. Never underestimate what people will do to preserve their world. Some people on the Fringe division may not even recycle… but they are not going to let someone collapse their world to create a new one and decide for them. This brings me to a running question throughout the season, the series, “What really is right?” and do you have the right to make that decision for someone else?

What is so disturbing is knowing that Bell truly believes he is doing the right thing. To build that belief up and escape denial for as long as possible, he grounds his dream on Walter’s actions years ago. By doing so, he has chosen to forget that Walter is paying, in his own way, for that decision of creating his own fate every single day. But Bell will soon find this out. He will pay. There’s fate and then there’s the free will we have to get to that fate or veer off on our own path. Bell is doing more than veering off. As he said, “God made us in his image. If we are capable of being gods, then it is in our destiny to do so.” Bell is attempting to create a new fate for everyone. That kind of power is wildly dangerous. He clearly is one who picks and chooses verses from the bible and interprets them in his own way rather than gets to the bottom of an entire chapter or book’s worth of explanation behind a certain verse. But that’s what happens when your goal is to only see what you want to see so that you can do whatever it is that you want to do. What a fantastic troubling look inside Bell’s mind. The writers have so much they can do with Bell from hereon out and there is only one season left to play, so I am very much anticipating what is next for Bell!

Finally, it also must be pointed out how open and active Nina has become. She put the pieces together after the universes began colliding, yes, but she was putting the pieces together and trying to help rather than sit at her desk all day looking mysterious. More Nina in Season five, who’s with me? What a great finale. Certainly not the best finale Fringe has delivered, but good. Every character in some way has to be brave for what is ahead, both in their individual lives and on the job, saving the world. We have been left with so much to smile about and hope for as well as much to question, debate and discuss, especially about Bell and the observers. So be sure to hit the comments below to share your interpretations and theories!

*Photo Credit: Liane Hentscher/FOX

What will be the ultimate fate of Bobby?

When Castiel vanished early on in the season, most fans agreed that Castiel would come back. After all, he’s an angel – despite being a fallen one. However, when Bobby died, there were only two things that could happen: Bobby would stay dead or through some supernatural story arc Bobby would return.

Sadly, Bobby returned as a ghost. Personally, I was hoping for a return similar to that of Sam when he returned from hell. At first, Bobby was just around to help Sam and Dean, while his spirit was bound to his old drinking flask. Now, Bobby is quickly becoming a vengeful spirit – seeking out Dick Roman’s death at all costs. He injured Charlie (Felicia Day) when going after Dick and now he’s causing Poltergeist-level chaos whenever the Winchesters don’t obey his orders.

Sam may be ready to put Bobby’s spirit to rest, but Dean is still hoping that Bobby can be saved. After all, Bobby is helping the Winchesters in their Leviathan hunt in his own angry-ghost sort of way. At the least, Dean doesn’t want to be the one to wipe Bobby from the WInchesters’ lives forever.

There’s going to be a major showdown in the Supernatural Season 7 finale, and potentially the Leviathans may finally be destroyed or sent back to some eternal prison. Of course, first Sam and Dean will have to get Crowley’s blood from Dick. Unfortunately, Dick has imprisoned Crowley. When Bobby does show up in the finale, he could be used as the diversion the Winchesters need to get Crowley’s blood. However, if they do manage to chop off the head of the Leviathans, they’ll then need to decide what to do with Bobby.

Remember, whenever Bobby gets closer to Dick his rage only increases. And, then he loses control. He’s already engaging in body possession, something I never imagined Bobby would do. The final showdown will no doubt push Bobby over ...]]> The Supernatural Season 7 finale is almost here, and their is one big question on everyone’s mind (especially mine).

What will be the ultimate fate of Bobby?

When Castiel vanished early on in the season, most fans agreed that Castiel would come back. After all, he’s an angel – despite being a fallen one. However, when Bobby died, there were only two things that could happen: Bobby would stay dead or through some supernatural story arc Bobby would return.

Sadly, Bobby returned as a ghost. Personally, I was hoping for a return similar to that of Sam when he returned from hell. At first, Bobby was just around to help Sam and Dean, while his spirit was bound to his old drinking flask. Now, Bobby is quickly becoming a vengeful spirit – seeking out Dick Roman’s death at all costs. He injured Charlie (Felicia Day) when going after Dick and now he’s causing Poltergeist-level chaos whenever the Winchesters don’t obey his orders.

Sam may be ready to put Bobby’s spirit to rest, but Dean is still hoping that Bobby can be saved. After all, Bobby is helping the Winchesters in their Leviathan hunt in his own angry-ghost sort of way. At the least, Dean doesn’t want to be the one to wipe Bobby from the WInchesters’ lives forever.

There’s going to be a major showdown in the Supernatural Season 7 finale, and potentially the Leviathans may finally be destroyed or sent back to some eternal prison. Of course, first Sam and Dean will have to get Crowley’s blood from Dick. Unfortunately, Dick has imprisoned Crowley. When Bobby does show up in the finale, he could be used as the diversion the Winchesters need to get Crowley’s blood. However, if they do manage to chop off the head of the Leviathans, they’ll then need to decide what to do with Bobby.

Remember, whenever Bobby gets closer to Dick his rage only increases. And, then he loses control. He’s already engaging in body possession, something I never imagined Bobby would do. The final showdown will no doubt push Bobby over the edge. Once the Leviathans are gone, it will be Sam and Dean vs Bobby. Sadly, the Winchesters won’t simply be able to burn Bobby’s flask since it’s now in the angry spirit’s possession.

Perhaps, this would be a good time for Castiel to step in and come up with a solution. Too bad, he’s turned into a hippie of sorts similar to the flash forward episode two seasons back of Sam dressed in white as a Lucifer who had won the war.

While the future may not be clear for the Winchesters or Bobby going into Supernatural Season 8, one thing is imminent. The Alpha will return.

In Episode 7.22, “There Will be Blood”, the Alpha says, “See you next season.” Dean replies, “Looking forward to it.” Needless to say, Dean may regret those words.

What do you hope will be the outcome of the Season 7 FInale? Let us know your thoughts.

Make note of how many 13-episode seasons were ordered. The thinking may be that the networks are learning that the cable model does work better, because it 1) allows more shows to be added to the lineup and 2) keeps the interest going through the fall instead of trying to carry the momentum through the holiday breaks. That doesn’t give fans many episodes to be excited about, but in the case of Community, any word of renewal, regardless of number was good news.

Networks could also be thinking the strategy behind 13-episode seasons could be to air during the fall and if ratings quickly justify an additional order of 9 or more episodes, then they have that option, or they could use the winter months to release mid-season replacements.

ABC
In one of its best moves of the day (and also long-awaited), ABC renewed Happy Endings for a third, 22-episode season. The fast paced comedy got the “ending” fans wanted and will join others already given the thumbs up including Modern Family, Suburgatory, Once Upon a Time, Revenge, Grey’s Anatomy, Castle, and The Middle. Don’t Trust The B–— in Apt. 23 and Scandal were renewed earlier today, as did bubble shows, Private Practice and Body of Proof, which each got 13 episode renewals. For Private Practice it is expected to be its last season, while Body of Proof proved to have international appeal–a key factor in many other renewals (Fox’s Touch being another one) around the other networks. Last Man Standing was the last to get its expected renewal at the end of Friday. Cougar Town is moving to TBS.

ABC Pilots ordered to series were 666 Park Ave. with Terry O’Quinn; Zero Hour with Anthony Edwards and Michael Nyqvist; crime series Red Widow (formerly Penoza) with Lee Tergesen and ...]]> Dozens of shows learned their fate this week so we’re going to run down the latest as they came in on Friday evening. The headline news included series such as Nikita, Happy Endings, Parks & Rec, Body of Proof, and yes, even Whitney being renewed while NBC’s Awake and Harry’s Law were not.

Make note of how many 13-episode seasons were ordered. The thinking may be that the networks are learning that the cable model does work better, because it 1) allows more shows to be added to the lineup and 2) keeps the interest going through the fall instead of trying to carry the momentum through the holiday breaks. That doesn’t give fans many episodes to be excited about, but in the case of Community, any word of renewal, regardless of number was good news.

Networks could also be thinking the strategy behind 13-episode seasons could be to air during the fall and if ratings quickly justify an additional order of 9 or more episodes, then they have that option, or they could use the winter months to release mid-season replacements.

ABC
In one of its best moves of the day (and also long-awaited), ABC renewed Happy Endings for a third, 22-episode season. The fast paced comedy got the “ending” fans wanted and will join others already given the thumbs up including Modern Family, Suburgatory, Once Upon a Time, Revenge, Grey’s Anatomy, Castle, and The Middle. Don’t Trust The B–— in Apt. 23 and Scandal were renewed earlier today, as did bubble shows, Private Practice and Body of Proof, which each got 13 episode renewals. For Private Practice it is expected to be its last season, while Body of Proof proved to have international appeal–a key factor in many other renewals (Fox’s Touch being another one) around the other networks. Last Man Standing was the last to get its expected renewal at the end of Friday. Cougar Town is moving to TBS.

ABC Pilots ordered to series were 666 Park Ave. with Terry O’Quinn; Zero Hour with Anthony Edwards and Michael Nyqvist; crime series Red Widow (formerly Penoza) with Lee Tergesen and Radha Mitchell; How to Live With Your Parents For the Rest of Your Life with Sarah Chalke, Elizabeth Perkins and Brad Garrett; Family Tools (formerly Red Man Van, White Van Man) with Leah Remini, Kyle Bornheimer, and J.K. Simmons; Last Resort with Andre Braugher, Dichen Lachmen, Autumn Reeser, and Scott Speedman; Neighbors with Jami Gertz; and Malibu Country with Reba McEntire and Lily Tomlin.

Those canceled were Ashley Judd’s Taken-like thriller The Missing, CGB, Pan Am, and The River.

NBC
The morning after its season finale, Parks & Rec was given a fifth season and a full order of 22 episodes. Hell froze over because Whitney was officially picked up. Up All Night like Community will be given 13 episodes. NBC has been giving its newer comedies and bubble shows 13 episodes to make room for ten (!) new shows that were picked up for series. Reality series Fashion Star also got a second season because of its immediate advertiser friendly format, especially for Macy’s, H&M, and Saks Fifth Avenue.  The Office was also given another season.

Those new series ordered to series include, 1600 Penn with Bill Pullman and Jenna Elfman; Animal Practice with Justin Kirk; Go On with Matthew Perry Laura Benanti and Khary Payton; Guys With Kids with Jesse Bradford and produced by Jimmy Fallon; Dane Cook alpha male comedy Next Caller; Save Me with Anne Heche, the fire-fighting action drama Chicago Fire; a Meagan Good high society soap Infamous; Do No Harm with Steven Pasquale and Phylicia Rashad, and J.J. Abrams’ Revolution starring Billy Burke and Giancarlo Esposito.

One of those unlucky at the Peacock was David E. Kelley’s Harry’s Law, which did not reach a third season. This was a surprise considering it was drawing in an average of 8.8 million viewers. Those are numbers that NBC could use and while it wasn’t a hit with the coveted younger 18-40 demographic, the lead actor, Kathy Bates is in her early 60s and the audience skewed to her fans.

Other cancellations included BFF, Are You There, Chelsea, Bent, and procedural mind-bender Awake, which many had hoped would be given another chance. Awake will be missed by its strongest advocates online, as it gave NBC a quality drama with subtle sci-fi elements allowing it to toe the line of genre and police procedural, but it could never generate the ratings needed to make the grade. It was one of the most anticipated series in NBC’s 2011-2012 rollout but lost steam when it was held over as a mid-season replacement. NBC keeps trying to make good dramas, but they just cut one.

CW
It was all love and drama at the CW as it gave Gossip Girl one last season. It might be an abbreviated season though as there’s been no word on how long the season will be. 13 more episodes may be all it gets. Rachel Bilson and Hart of Dixie were picked up for a second season and so was Maggie Q and Nikita. Both shows will get a full order of 22 episodes. Nikita is one of those shows that struggles on Friday nights, but the genre show has plenty of international appeal. These announcements come off the heels of the renewals of its strongest shows, The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural and 90210, which were given more life on Thursday. CW shows are getting additional viewings online and DVRs have been friendly to the network too.

New series pickups include a record five scripted series for the CW: Sex & The City prequel, The Carrie Diaries, mystery drama Cult, medical drama First Cut, the Beauty and the Beast reboot with Kristin Kreuk, and DC Comics’ property Green Arrow-based action series Arrow. With the Hunger Games’ Katniss Everdeen and The Avengers’ Hawkeye, archers are officially thriving in Hollywood.

Prior to the results being read, this week’s Ford music video, set to Jennifer Lopez’s “Feeling So Good” had a behind the scenes feature with director, Ethan Lader and the finalists on location in Downton LA. The behind the scenes footage was longer than the music video itself. It’s a shame because the music video was actually rather pleasant. All of that hard work and waiting around on set for 10 seconds of footage shown on the air. That’s the business for you. Viewers were also treated to two special guests performances, one from Idol‘s own, judge, Jennifer Lopez. She performed her new song, “Dance Again.”

It seemed as though the producers pre-recorded her live vocals for her to lip sync to come time for the show so that it would appear as though she were singing live. Clearly, there’s no one who can sing and dance at the same time as well as the one and only, Beyonce. They can all try, but it will never work. Also performing was Season Seven American Idol winner, David Cook. He performed his song, “The Last Song I’ll Write For You” which was really beautiful. What a joy it was to see him back on the Idol stage with such great music. If you don’t have the single already, get it on iTunes now.

Getting to the results… as predicted, the one contestant that would not be getting the grand welcome home visit that the final three are given, was Hollie Cavanagh. Everyone knew ...]]> With nearly 70 million votes cast this week, one young hopeful met the end of their Idol journey last night as the final four became the final three. Before the results were read, sticking with the theme of the week, the final four opened the show with a performance of “California Dreamin’.” While the vocals were good, the choreography was cheesy and the finalists made no point in pretending that it was anything but. Their movements were stiff and their exhaustion was read all over their face. Hang on final three, the competition is almost over!

Prior to the results being read, this week’s Ford music video, set to Jennifer Lopez’s “Feeling So Good” had a behind the scenes feature with director, Ethan Lader and the finalists on location in Downton LA. The behind the scenes footage was longer than the music video itself. It’s a shame because the music video was actually rather pleasant. All of that hard work and waiting around on set for 10 seconds of footage shown on the air. That’s the business for you. Viewers were also treated to two special guests performances, one from Idol‘s own, judge, Jennifer Lopez. She performed her new song, “Dance Again.”

It seemed as though the producers pre-recorded her live vocals for her to lip sync to come time for the show so that it would appear as though she were singing live. Clearly, there’s no one who can sing and dance at the same time as well as the one and only, Beyonce. They can all try, but it will never work. Also performing was Season Seven American Idol winner, David Cook. He performed his song, “The Last Song I’ll Write For You” which was really beautiful. What a joy it was to see him back on the Idol stage with such great music. If you don’t have the single already, get it on iTunes now.

Getting to the results… as predicted, the one contestant that would not be getting the grand welcome home visit that the final three are given, was Hollie Cavanagh. Everyone knew that 16 year old Jessica Sanchez was safe from elimination, so the concern really fell on the other three contestants. Even though Phil Phillips and Joshua Ledet were wonderful this week, anything can happen. But now that Cavanagh is gone, the stakes have been raised for these two and now it’s a matter of who will be in the final two with Sanchez. Because, let’s face it, if Jessica Sanchez is not in the final two, the finale ratings are not going to be as high as they could have been. Nor will the ratings for next season. But that’s another story.

Between Phillips and Ledet, it is looking like Ledet will take the spot next to Sanchez. I’d much prefer it be Phillips standing by Sanchez’s side but Ledet makes the crowd go wild every time. If that is any indication as to who the crowd is more excited for, Ledet does not have to worry. Now because the person we always want to win rarely ever wins, it would be safe to predict that Ledet could win this year. This would be wildly disappointing. So for once in a very long time, let’s get the person who should without question get the title, be crowned the winner. Jessica Sanchez for the win no matter who is with her in the final two. Who’s with me? Finally, if you’re in the San Diego, CA area, Westlake, LA area, or Leesburg, GA area, keep an eye out for the welcome back parades and concerts the final three will be having within the next few days in their respective hometowns.

Watch American Idol Wednesdays and Thursdays at 8/7c on Fox.

*Photo Credit: Michael Becker / FOX

While we can always speculate on what will happen in a series beforehand, nothing could quite prepare us for the level of chaos and bedlam that we witnessed. Choices were made. Characters died. And, hearts were broken. It was a well-articulated blend of smiles and cries. In one instant I was yelling, “Holy shit!” In the next, I was crying out, “Nooooo!” Thank you TVD showrunners.

Now that I have successfully let you know that I was as giddy as a schoolgirl during the finale, let’s talk about “The Departed”.

The finale began with a flashback to a simpler time, with Elena’s mom and Aunt Jenna. It was great to see Jenna back even if it was only a flashback. This was sophomore year of high school and Elena was still with Matt. Then, we learned the truth. Elena was lying in a hospital bed. Jeremy brought her to see Dr. Fell, who said that his sister had a minor concussion. Apparently, Elena was feeling the repercussions from losing so much blood to Klaus.

Although Jeremy did what normal people do when someone is injured, the Salvatore brothers rebuked him for taking his sister to the hospital. Why go to a hospital, when you have an army of vampire friends at your disposal?

Since the brothers were still on the way to the Atlantic to dispose of Klaus’ body, one of them had to go back to protect Elena.

“Our life is one big proverbial coin toss.” – Damon

I couldn’t have said it better myself. Once again, Damon grabbed the losing side of the toss and Stefan went back to protect Elena.

Back in Mystic Falls, Alaric had the council relieve Sheriff Forbes and the Mayor of their duties. He also reported Dr. Fell to the council for using vampire blood so that she could have her license revoked. Tyler and Caroline’s mothers told them ...]]> Now, that’s how you end a season. The Vampire Diaries Season 3 finale was everything that a fan could hope for. And, this fan in particular, was impressed at the brilliant storytelling and performances presented in “The Departed.”

While we can always speculate on what will happen in a series beforehand, nothing could quite prepare us for the level of chaos and bedlam that we witnessed. Choices were made. Characters died. And, hearts were broken. It was a well-articulated blend of smiles and cries. In one instant I was yelling, “Holy shit!” In the next, I was crying out, “Nooooo!” Thank you TVD showrunners.

Now that I have successfully let you know that I was as giddy as a schoolgirl during the finale, let’s talk about “The Departed”.

The finale began with a flashback to a simpler time, with Elena’s mom and Aunt Jenna. It was great to see Jenna back even if it was only a flashback. This was sophomore year of high school and Elena was still with Matt. Then, we learned the truth. Elena was lying in a hospital bed. Jeremy brought her to see Dr. Fell, who said that his sister had a minor concussion. Apparently, Elena was feeling the repercussions from losing so much blood to Klaus.

Although Jeremy did what normal people do when someone is injured, the Salvatore brothers rebuked him for taking his sister to the hospital. Why go to a hospital, when you have an army of vampire friends at your disposal?

Since the brothers were still on the way to the Atlantic to dispose of Klaus’ body, one of them had to go back to protect Elena.

“Our life is one big proverbial coin toss.” – Damon

I couldn’t have said it better myself. Once again, Damon grabbed the losing side of the toss and Stefan went back to protect Elena.

Back in Mystic Falls, Alaric had the council relieve Sheriff Forbes and the Mayor of their duties. He also reported Dr. Fell to the council for using vampire blood so that she could have her license revoked. Tyler and Caroline’s mothers told them both to run. The couple was ready to do just that, but first Caroline had to make sure that the Originals wouldn’t kill Elena to stop Alaric.

At the same time, Alaric was appeals to Jeremy’s human nature, urging the youngest Gilbert to help him destroy Klaus and the other Originals.

“Be on the right side of this.” – Alaric to Jeremy

While Alaric was brokering a deal with Jeremy, Elijah showed up to strike a deal with Elena to get Klaus’ body back. Of course, Damon was opposed while Stefan gave Elena the freedom to make her own choice. And she chose to help Elijah. It was an expected decision. Any choice left to Elena will somehow raise the stakes on chaos. Once again, Damon summed it all up.

“You know what else is her [Elena] call, everything bad, ever!” Damon to Bonnie

It’s the truth.

Jeremy tried to double cross Alaric by giving him false information regarding the location of Klaus. Of course, Alaric now has an entire police force at his disposal after taking over the council. So, he was able to track Damon and Klaus’ body down.

Damon had taken Klaus’ body to a storage unit, which he brought Bonnie to – unit 1020 to be exact. It was an eerie scene. Damon opened Klaus’ coffin to reveal one dead Original, who had a problem keeping his eyes closed. Although Klaus couldn’t speak, you could see the anger in his eyes.

We saw that Bonnie was conflicted about reviving Klaus as per the deal with Elijah. However, we didn’t get to see what decision she made.

Instead, we ventured back to Mystic Falls to see Elena and Stefan preparing for a showdown with Alaric. Stefan decided to give her one last kiss before leaving. But it didn’t seem as though Elena kissed him back.

Matt drugged Elena so that he could drive her out of town, giving us a few more flashbacks to pre-vampire life. The flashbacks had begun to give us some insight into Elena’s thinking process. She had a similar issue with letting Matt go because she was afraid of losing him. At the time, her mother was there to give her the advice she needed.

Alaric showed up at the storage unit to snap Damon’s neck, again. Rebekah was right behind, unaware that the Original hunter was on the scene. Luckily for her, Damon came back to life to pull her away before Alaric found her. But that didn’t stop Alaric from tracking them down and driving the mystical stake into Klaus’ heart.

As Klaus burst into flames, Rebekah cried out while Damon held her back. It was a tragic moment, especially since we learned that all of the Mystic Falls’ vampires were derived from Klaus – which meant that they would die next.

When Elena heard the news, Matt gave her a decision. He could drive her back to see Stefan or to see Damon. Elena chooses to call Damon and see Stefan and the rest of her friends.

“Stefan. It’s always gonna be, Stefan.” – Damon
“I care about you Damon. Which is why I have to let you go.” – Elena

It was a shocking choice, given the earlier kiss. Much like Stefan, I thought that Elena had made her decision to choose Damon in that moment.

Surprisingly, Elena’s decision to drive back to see Stefan didn’t matter. The Salvatores and Caroline did not die. So did Klaus lie? Regardless, one vampire or rather hybrid was definitely made from Klaus’ bloodline. Tyler. The hybrid turned in front of Caroline so that she would not see him die.

It was a tragic moment, but even more tragic was seeing Rebekah show up in the middle of the road that Matt was driving on. In order to avoid hitting her, Matt swerved and his truck went off the same bridge as Elena’s parents. The scene cut between Elena and Matt drowning and the flashback of Elena in the car when her parents were drowning. In both cases, Stefan showed up. However, in the flashback, Elena’s father told Stefan to save Elena. In the present, Elena told Stefan to save Matt. And, he did.

Back at the storage unit, Damon was also having a flashback as Alaric pummeled him with a barrage of punches. We learned that Damon actually met Elena before Stefan. In the flashback, he told Elena that she was looking for what everyone looks for in a relationship – a love that “consumes.”

The flashback gave Damon the burst of energy he needed to fight back against Alaric. But, the truth was that Alaric was dying. Then, Elena died and Alaric went with her. It was a tragic scene, with Elena dead under water. Then, it cut to ghost Alaric popping in on Jeremy. Apparently, Alaric will be Jeremy’s ghost protector going forward.

What was even more odd, however, was learning that Bonnie somehow put Klaus’ spirit inside Tyler. It was the only way to protect her friends, but it came at the loss of Tyler. Kind of. Since Klaus is still “alive” in a manner of speaking, Tyler is still alive. He’s just sharing a body with Klaus. It’s going to create some interesting dynamics in Vampire Diaries Season 4.

But the real curveball is the one that most fans were expecting at the end of TVD Season 2. Elena is a vampire now. So, you know what that means. Delena it is. With her emotions running wild, she’s going to want to be “consumed” by Damon. Elena will inevitably become more Kat-like.

Say goodbye to innocent, sweet Elena!

So, we’re left with an effective death count of “1″. Alaric is gone. Klaus is not really gone, nor is Tyler. And, Elena is now vampire Elena.

It was an epic finale filled with all the twists that we love so much about TVD.

What did you think of the finale? What are you looking forward to most when The Vampire Diaries returns?

Joyful Noise centers on a small-town choir. When the choir leader (Kris Kristofferson) and Dolly’s husband passes away, Latifah (as Vi Rose Hill) takes over the choir. It creates a small rift between her and Dolly (as G.G. Sparrow) since G.G. was hoping for the role. To make matters worse, G.G.’s grandson shows up in town and takes a liking to Vi’s daughter, Olivia (Palmer). The story focuses on the choir’s attempts to finally win the Gospel competition. However, there are several basic family conflicts that arise. Vi’s son has Asperger syndrome and her husband has reenlisted in the military. The situation has left Vi especially defensive and protective of her children. So when G.G.’s son enters the scene, he begins to create the classic wedge between mother and daughter.

While the story may not be memorable, it’s a joy to see Dolly and Latifah on camera together. The two both have larger than life personalities so it makes for a great pairing. They may not get along outside of Church, but when they sing, their voices are in perfect harmony. This is one film where the music really helps to push along the story. The songs alone will keep you watching, especially if you ...]]> It’s difficult to watch Joyful Noise without thinking that this movie is a remake of Sister Act 2, minus all the nuns. Familiar themes and plot threads are prevalent, such as the Gospel competition and the conflict between classic gospel songs and more contemporary music. Also, there are a few patches of questionable performances and Disney Channel acting sprinkled throughout the first hour of the film. However, like any musical, it’s hard to not be uplifted by the music. Queen Latifah and Dolly Parton do a superb job of blending their unique singing styles into various Gospel songs. Broadway performer Jeremy Jordan joins Keke Palmer for a handful of duets that are just as good. Although Joyful Noise is a far cry from the greatest movie you’ll watch, it’s feel-good story and toe-tapping music (especially from the children’s choir) will leave you with a bright smile.

Joyful Noise centers on a small-town choir. When the choir leader (Kris Kristofferson) and Dolly’s husband passes away, Latifah (as Vi Rose Hill) takes over the choir. It creates a small rift between her and Dolly (as G.G. Sparrow) since G.G. was hoping for the role. To make matters worse, G.G.’s grandson shows up in town and takes a liking to Vi’s daughter, Olivia (Palmer). The story focuses on the choir’s attempts to finally win the Gospel competition. However, there are several basic family conflicts that arise. Vi’s son has Asperger syndrome and her husband has reenlisted in the military. The situation has left Vi especially defensive and protective of her children. So when G.G.’s son enters the scene, he begins to create the classic wedge between mother and daughter.

While the story may not be memorable, it’s a joy to see Dolly and Latifah on camera together. The two both have larger than life personalities so it makes for a great pairing. They may not get along outside of Church, but when they sing, their voices are in perfect harmony. This is one film where the music really helps to push along the story. The songs alone will keep you watching, especially if you like Gospel music.

The Blu-ray release comes with a sprinkling of short 5-minute featurettes. These behind-the-scenes videos focus on Writer/Director Todd Graff’s inspiration for the movie as well as Dolly’s involvement in writing several songs. You will also get to see some footage of a promotional tour for the film, where Dolly and Latifah sing “He’s Everything” live.

Bonus Features:
- Spotlight on a Song: Dolly Parton’s “From Here to the Moon”
- Inspiration of Joyful Noise
- Make Some Noise
- Leading Ladies
- He’s Everything Live
- Extended Songs
- Deleted Scene

Buy Joyful Noise on Digital Download through iTunes

Joyful Noise [Blu-ray]

Starring: Queen Latifah, Dolly Parton, Keke Palmer, Jeremy Jordan
Writer/Director: Todd Graff
Studio: Warner Home Video
Release Date: May 1, 2012

Rating:
6.5 / 10

Community creator Dan Harmon can relax for at least the summer, his cast and crew are welcomed back for Season 4. TV Line is reporting that NBC has been picked up for a 13-episode fourth season, which means it’s likely going to return for just the fall of 2012 or winter 2013. We can’t imagine them splitting up 13 episodes over a whole network season.

Now we can see if Annie (Alison Brie) and Jeff (Joel McHale) get together, what major Troy chooses and will he choose Britta (Gillian Jacobs) or Abed (Danny Pudi)… both perhaps(?), and maybe, just maybe Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown) and Pierce (Chevy Chase) get that darn sandwich shop off the ground. And Señor Chang (Ken Jeong)? Well, let’s see what happens at the end of Season 3 first.

We would have loved to have seen a full season ordered but we won’t be greedy. If it is shown in the fall, that does open the possibility, if the audience grows that an additional nine or more episodes could be ordered. Perhaps this is the best way they can maintain momentum, by airing for 13 straight weeks, leaving no chance for viewers to fall off or walk away. Nielsen ratings were all over the place but the online support was evident and fans found a variety of ways to see the show whether it was live or on DVR. I don’t expect the campaigning to stop as fans are still going to be hoping for six seasons and a movie, but the most important thing to do is grow the audience and give these 13 episodes all the live support and attention.

Oh yeah, and you can start your support with tonight’s episode!

No word yet on the fate of The Office and Parks and Recreation but both are expected to return to join NBC’s 2012-2013 lineup that includes Community (Again-Yay!), 30 Rock, Parenthood, Smash, Grimm, and Law & Order: SVU.

Photo taken by Lucky Bronson.

Hollie Cavanagh was quite a hot mess when she auditioned for season 10 but everything has its time and place, so it has been great to see her journey, how far she has come since then. Cavanagh really needed that year to find herself and gain some confidence and isn’t she grateful now that everything played out the way that it did? Oh how far she has come since first being defeated in season 10. This week, Cavanagh’s best performance came when she took on Journey. Give her a Journey song on any given day and she could give any other competitor a run for their money. But her second number was emotionless, as usual and brought us back to the typical Hollie Cavanagh that we see ever week. While a fantastic technical singer, her stage presence weak and aside from Sanchez, this factor will prevent her from taking the win. Applause can be given for her growth thus far but she still really needs a lot more growing as a performer – she needs to get the boot to get more experience rather than be thrust into it by winning. Winning won’t help her grow the way that being eliminated will. So Cavanagh for elimination tonight, what do you think?

Also fighting for the title…Phil Phillips’s performance of “Have You Ever Seen the Rain?” was completely forgettable but his second number was beautiful. As judge, Steven Tyler pointed out, his ...]]> With the theme of “California Dreamin’” the final four of American Idol Season 11 set out for a two hour blow out of incredible performance of incredible performance leading up to one of them being blown away tonight. The finalists delivered three songs; one song about California or by an artist from California, one song the finalist wish they had written, and one group performance. In the end, Sanchez nailed three out of three of her performances while the guys nailed two out of the three, leaving Hollie Cavanagh with only one shining moment during the night. Could she be the one leaving us this week?

Hollie Cavanagh was quite a hot mess when she auditioned for season 10 but everything has its time and place, so it has been great to see her journey, how far she has come since then. Cavanagh really needed that year to find herself and gain some confidence and isn’t she grateful now that everything played out the way that it did? Oh how far she has come since first being defeated in season 10. This week, Cavanagh’s best performance came when she took on Journey. Give her a Journey song on any given day and she could give any other competitor a run for their money. But her second number was emotionless, as usual and brought us back to the typical Hollie Cavanagh that we see ever week. While a fantastic technical singer, her stage presence weak and aside from Sanchez, this factor will prevent her from taking the win. Applause can be given for her growth thus far but she still really needs a lot more growing as a performer – she needs to get the boot to get more experience rather than be thrust into it by winning. Winning won’t help her grow the way that being eliminated will. So Cavanagh for elimination tonight, what do you think?

Also fighting for the title…Phil Phillips’s performance of “Have You Ever Seen the Rain?” was completely forgettable but his second number was beautiful. As judge, Steven Tyler pointed out, his second performance was something we could play and hear in our headphones on repeat all day long. Damien Rice’s “Volcano was easily one of the best performances from Phil Phillips this season. Job well done. This performance alone was worth the unnecessary two hour broadcast. If Phil Phillips does not make it into the final three, there are going to be a an awful lot of disappointed viewers.

Then there’s Joshua Ledet. He drew the short straw this week getting “You Raise Me Up” which was wildly boring because Chris Mann’s rendition on The Voice not too long ago was fantastic. Good attempt Ledet but there’s only one room for the reigning vocalist across all music competition series when the same song is performed. He had much better luck singing the song that he wished he wrote, “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World.” Does anyone else always envision Dianna Agron singing this song on Glee every time this number comes on (whether on television, the radio, etc…)? If you answered yes, the distraction was not too bad because one thing Ledet knows how to do is captivate his audience. If there were any time to give Ledet a standing ovation, this would be an appropriate time.

Ledet and Phillips also took on Maroon 5′s “This Love” giving yet another tie to The Voice. Hmm. A “who did it better?” number I can understand but promoting the artist who is a coach on another (current) music competition series? What is going on? As for the actual performance, Phillips seemed to be pushing too much and Ledet actually looked more comfortable in the song which may have been surprising given the genre. Ledet may have finally proven that he can cross genres well without the choir-y feel. Plainly put, even with Phillips trying too hard, this was truly a great performance. The contrast in these two voices was really pleasant to hear on this song. Fabulous song choice! Whoever chose and arranged this song this week is brilliant.

The girls, Cavanagh and 16 year old Jessica Sanchez also performed a duet, one which Sanchez dominated shortly after she slayed an Etta James number. The swings during her performance were a big distraction as well as, as judge, Randy Jackson mentioned, the lack of balancing registers. The girls did reverse registers near the end but by then it may have been too little, too late. Cavanagh got that one “wow” note at the end, but what else did she really get out of the song? It was the Jessica Sanchez Show between the two of them. And then she got on stage again and slayed “And I Am Telling You.” Being heavily influenced from performances of this song that we have seen before and so familiar with, she still sang the song. I couldn’t imitate on that song if I tried my hardest. Props where props are due because even imitating the best version of this song is a challenge and 16 year old Sanchez rose to the challenge.

Other tidbits of the night include the yawn worthy group performance the final four gave and host, Ryan Seacrest having on screen proposal fun with his girlfriend, Julianne Hough. That was a cute moment. Hough is starring in the upcoming musical turned big screen Hollywood movie musical, Rock of Ages. Director, Adam Shankman gave the final four and viewers a look at the film. While a fan and supporter of both Shankman and Hough, I cannot get behind the Rock of Ages film. The musical is bananas and a must see but it’s not something that should have been translated to film. The film looks too much like a bad joke. The film does not seem to grasp what’s so fun and charming about the musical so if you’re able to see the Broadway musical, do yourself a favor and catch the show rather than the film. Back to Idol, stay tuned tonight for Jennifer Lopez who will perform her new song “Dance Again” and season seven American Idol winner, David Cook who is set to perform “The Last Song I’ll Write For You.”

Watch American Idol Wednesdays and Thursdays at 8/7c on Fox.

*Photo Credit: Michael Becker / FOX

It didn’t work with Christian Slater (poor guy can’t catch a break on TV), but Fox is hoping Kevin Bacon with Kevin Williamson (The Vampire Diaries) can draw viewers in this fall, announcing the order of five new shows for the 2012 fall lineup the same day they canceled four poor performers. Here’s a quick rundown of the new shows, which include three sitcoms:

The Following (formerly Mastermind)
Not to be confused with the early Christopher Nolan film, Williamson’s new serial killer drama features Bacon as a retired FBI profiler who is lured out of retirement when a psychopath played by crowd-pleaser, James Purefoy (HBO’s Rome, John Carter) whose character creates a cult of fellow murderers through modern technology. This will not be Bacon’s first recurring TV role, as he did a six-episode stint on Guiding Light many, many, many moons ago, but this is the first series that he will carry on his own. He can take notes from his wife, Kyra Sedgewick who enjoyed a six-year run on The Closer. Justified’s Natalie Zea also co-stars but it’s not clear on if she plays a victim or a recurring roll. Her role on Justified will evolve, playing the pregnant ex-wife of the lead character so she may have time to moonlight between the two series if she’s a regular cast member on The Following. Zea has also been known to bounce around during Justified’s off season, appearing in the Person of Interest pilot, Royal Pains, Franklin and Bash this past season. Maggie Grace (Lost, Taken) is also starring as the lone surviving victim of Purefoy’s murderer.

It’s Messy (formerly Mindy)
Also carrying a series for the first time is Mindy Kaling who many will know as Kelly Kapoor from The Office. Kaling will write, executive produce and star in It’s Messy as a young OB-GYN. Fox will see if America is ready to embrace Kaling like they did with Zoey Deschanel in New Girl. Her character will be balancing her personal and professional lives in a Bridget Jones-style presentation. Chris Messina, Ed Weeks, Zoe Jarmon, Anna ...]]>

It didn’t work with Christian Slater (poor guy can’t catch a break on TV), but Fox is hoping Kevin Bacon with Kevin Williamson (The Vampire Diaries) can draw viewers in this fall, announcing the order of five new shows for the 2012 fall lineup the same day they canceled four poor performers. Here’s a quick rundown of the new shows, which include three sitcoms:

The Following (formerly Mastermind)
Not to be confused with the early Christopher Nolan film, Williamson’s new serial killer drama features Bacon as a retired FBI profiler who is lured out of retirement when a psychopath played by crowd-pleaser, James Purefoy (HBO’s Rome, John Carter) whose character creates a cult of fellow murderers through modern technology. This will not be Bacon’s first recurring TV role, as he did a six-episode stint on Guiding Light many, many, many moons ago, but this is the first series that he will carry on his own. He can take notes from his wife, Kyra Sedgewick who enjoyed a six-year run on The Closer. Justified’s Natalie Zea also co-stars but it’s not clear on if she plays a victim or a recurring roll. Her role on Justified will evolve, playing the pregnant ex-wife of the lead character so she may have time to moonlight between the two series if she’s a regular cast member on The Following. Zea has also been known to bounce around during Justified’s off season, appearing in the Person of Interest pilot, Royal Pains, Franklin and Bash this past season. Maggie Grace (Lost, Taken) is also starring as the lone surviving victim of Purefoy’s murderer.

It’s Messy (formerly Mindy)
Also carrying a series for the first time is Mindy Kaling who many will know as Kelly Kapoor from The Office. Kaling will write, executive produce and star in It’s Messy as a young OB-GYN. Fox will see if America is ready to embrace Kaling like they did with Zoey Deschanel in New Girl. Her character will be balancing her personal and professional lives in a Bridget Jones-style presentation. Chris Messina, Ed Weeks, Zoe Jarmon, Anna Camp and Dana Delorenzo are also on board as series regulars and look for Bill Hader, Ed Helms and Richard Schiff to guest star in the pilot.

The Goodwin Games
How I Met Your Mother producers Carter Bays, Chris Harris, and Criag Thomas came up with this single-camera family comedy about three siblings played by Becki Newton (Ugly Betty), Scott Foley (Grey’s Anatomy) and Jake Lacy, who must repair burned bridges between them to inherit their deceased father’s endowment.

Ben & Kate (formerly Ned Fox Is My Manny)
The last of the new sitcoms is a single-camera comedy about an uptight mother, played by Dakota Johnson (21 Jump Street, The Social Network), who gets some much needed help from her brother, Ned played by Nat Faxon (The Cleveland Show), to help raise her daughter. Maggie Jones, Echo Kellum and Lucy Punch also co-star.

As a side note, Punch appeared in the yet-decided Powers pilot for Fox’s cable sibling FX. She has since moved on once it was decided the super-powered drama needed revisions and the cast contracts expired in the delays. If Powers is able to work (additional scripts have been ordered to be written and a recent meeting with FX and Sony has given the series new hope), they’ll first have to recast the co-lead role of Deena Pilgrim (Alcatraz’s Sarah Jones is now available) and find a way to re-shoot Punch’s scenes.

The Mob Doctor
The description says it all as Jordana Spiro (My Boys) stars as a doctor working for the Chicago mafia.

Do any of these shows interest you and are you penciling any of them into your fall TV schedule? Do you think Kevin Bacon can have a successful run on television? Do any of these sitcom sound funny? Wish Lucy Punch would still be available to do Powers? Share your thoughts below.

The Thundercats may have thought they were home free when they rescued the sword from the depths of Mount Plundarr, but the curse was still alive and kicking when the lizards showed up. Now, they’ve got to make it through an army in order to bring the deadly sword back to the Tower of Omens.

We’ve got two new clips from “Birth of the Blade”. The first clip is another flashback to the days of rule under Mumm-Ra. It features Lion-O’s ancestor.

The second clip takes place in the present day and focuses on the battle between the Thundercats and Mumm-ra’s generals:

Story
As Lion-O and Pumyra try to evade Mumm-Ra and his forces in the mines of Mount Plundarr in an effort to keep the Sword of Plundarr out his hands, we flash back in time and discover its origin … and its relationship with the Sword of Omens.

So goes another J.J. Abrams show and the Bones spinoff. While Fox spared Fringe fans grief by giving them a baker’s dozen for a fifth and final season, Fox was not so kind with the supernatural procedural, Alcatraz. It was an average, but not spectacular show that simply took too long to get to the interesting part of its story. Had it launched on cable, maybe it would have survived but there are no major organized online campaigns fighting for Alcatraz because it simply wasn’t special enough. Fox’s Finder too got the pink slip and viewers had to see that coming once they got the reassigned to Friday nights. It was a brutal year for Fox’s freshman dramas. Terra Nova was also axed in the winter despite reasonable ratings. They weren’t high enough though for the network to justify it’s costs. Fox already admitted to losing money on Fringe and likely didn’t want to tread in the same water with others in the similar genres. Does this mean Fox is done with launching sci-fi series? It sure seems that way, for the fall anyway.

Without much fan fare, Breaking In and I Hate My Teenage Daughter were also sent home packing as they were unceremoniously replaced by reruns of Raising Hope and New Girl on Tuesday nights. Breaking In was pulled completely out of May sweeps (never a good sign) after just airing five episodes. Both shows were completely mismanaged from the beginning; Fox never knew where to place them or how much support to give. Let’s not forget that Breaking In was averaging around 7 million viewers before Fox decided to pull its Season One finale and then air it on a completely different day. That’s about as dumb as it gets.

Season 2 was just as harsh as fans failed to recognize the show’s return midseason with an overhaul to the entire makeup of the show. Megan Mullally and Erin Richards were brought onto the show but Season One regulars Michael Rosenbaum and Odette Annable were taken off. That turned out to be a big mistake. The chemistry ...]]>

So goes another J.J. Abrams show and the Bones spinoff. While Fox spared Fringe fans grief by giving them a baker’s dozen for a fifth and final season, Fox was not so kind with the supernatural procedural, Alcatraz. It was an average, but not spectacular show that simply took too long to get to the interesting part of its story. Had it launched on cable, maybe it would have survived but there are no major organized online campaigns fighting for Alcatraz because it simply wasn’t special enough. Fox’s Finder too got the pink slip and viewers had to see that coming once they got the reassigned to Friday nights. It was a brutal year for Fox’s freshman dramas. Terra Nova was also axed in the winter despite reasonable ratings. They weren’t high enough though for the network to justify it’s costs. Fox already admitted to losing money on Fringe and likely didn’t want to tread in the same water with others in the similar genres. Does this mean Fox is done with launching sci-fi series? It sure seems that way, for the fall anyway.

Without much fan fare, Breaking In and I Hate My Teenage Daughter were also sent home packing as they were unceremoniously replaced by reruns of Raising Hope and New Girl on Tuesday nights. Breaking In was pulled completely out of May sweeps (never a good sign) after just airing five episodes. Both shows were completely mismanaged from the beginning; Fox never knew where to place them or how much support to give. Let’s not forget that Breaking In was averaging around 7 million viewers before Fox decided to pull its Season One finale and then air it on a completely different day. That’s about as dumb as it gets.

Season 2 was just as harsh as fans failed to recognize the show’s return midseason with an overhaul to the entire makeup of the show. Megan Mullally and Erin Richards were brought onto the show but Season One regulars Michael Rosenbaum and Odette Annable were taken off. That turned out to be a big mistake. The chemistry was completely thrown off and viewers were force-fed the new characters for the sake of what made the show work in the first place: Christian Slater acting geeky, while young attractive cast members acted even geekier. Why resurrect a show twice, only to give it minimal advertising and marketing support?

I Hate My Teenage Daughter had a similar fate, where a two-month break came between episode four and five and then was pulled after episode seven. It was rumored to return in the summer, then on Sundays, now it’s canceled.

Who knows if Fox will air the remaining episodes of either show? More than likely they won’t see the light until the summer when Fox needs to something new to air.

But not all is doom and gloom at the house that Bart Simpson built. Keifer Sutherland’s Touch got renewed, but that was probably due to how well the series is received internationally, airing in 40 other countries. Ratings have steadily dropped since its pilot, plummeting from 12 million viewers to just over half of that last week. The addition of Maria Bello as a recurring character could have helped too. So yes, we will get to hear Sutherland yell, “Jake” for at least another season. No word yet on if it will return in the fall for a full season or in the winter as a mid-season show.

And, with the film release comes a new Men in Black video game.

The EXCLSUIVE trailer below showcases some of the weapons found in Men In Black: Alien Crisis, including: the Cricket, plasma artillery and the Deatomizer.

Watch the Men in Black Weapons training video below:

Men In Black: Alien Crisis hits the Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii on May 22. Men in Black 3 opens up in theaters on May 25.

Assassin’s Creed 3 on Xbox 360

Assassin’s Creed 3 on PS3

Assassin’s Creed 3 on Nintendo Wii