"set the record straight"

Dina and Ali Lohan were on The View recently and they are just so insane!  If I hear the phrases "set the record straight" or "a normal family" from them one more time, I might explode.  Ali Lohan is seriously NOT 14 years old...  The record is straight: they're not a normal family.  But they're amazing.  Living Lohan premiered earlier tonight and I am curious to read some reviews about it...

That's all for now, folks.

Kierra Bell, my hero. etc.

Does news count as reality TV?  You betcha it does, especially when it's this fierce!  The president pro-tem  of the Detroit City Council recently called her superior a "Shrek" during a Councilmeeting, so a news agency in Detroit set up a panel of 8th-graders to talk to the woman about how she handled the situation.  One of the girls, Kierra Bell (who is in 8th grade!!!) totally took her to TOWN.  It is fierce--please watch.  Kids are so smart these days!!!

Both Living Lohan and Denise Richards: It's Complicated are getting bad reviews.  Surprised? I'm not.

That's it.  Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

Friday night news...

VH1 has released a five-minute preview for the upcoming show I Love Money. It looks like possibly the trashiest, most insane, stupidest, most amazing reality show yet. What's the premise? It's sort of like a Real World/Road Rules Challenge but it stars rejects from Rock Of Love, Flavor Of Love, and I Love New York. Brilliant!

DWTS alum Juliane Hough's album is for sale on Amazon.com for the outrageous price of $6.99. Must be a totally rockin' album.

Just like me, Fantasia Barrino has braces. Unlike me, Fantasia Barrino has a completely insane haircolor. Just like me, this picture from the AI finale will make you laugh (slash vom?).

You only need to be 18 to be on the next season of Survivor. Personally, I think that's a little young. I mean, I guess it makes more sense for teenagers to be allowed on that show than the Real World. Whatever.

It's Complicated, the Denise Richards reality show, debuting on E! next week, has been getting a lot of press lately. Are her kids going to be on the show? Is she trying to steal Charlie Sheen's sperm to have another one of his children? This is one of the best clips from The View I've ever seen--Whoppi totally GIVES IT to Denise.


Final Thought: FierceReality had over 100 viewers today--a new record! I'm pretty happy about that. :)

The Best American Idol Recap EVER!!!

The performance show on Tuesday wasn't too exciting, to be honest. The boxing theme ("The Battle of the Davids") did absolutely nothing for me; it was stupid and overplayed. I hated it. Each guy sang three times: Archuleta sang "Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me" (chosen by Clive Owen), "In This Moment" (The Idol Songwriter song), and "Imagine," his first big hit on the show; Cook sang "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" (chosen by Clive Owen), "Dream Big" (Songwriter song), and "The World I Know." Both were good but Simon stated that the first two round went to Archuleta and after the final round he scored a "knockout." Also in the show was a performance by Ruben Studdard. Lame.

With that out of the way, it's on to the season finale!!! What a show it was... Packed with awesome performances, winners of years' past, and all kinds of celebrities. Here's the set list:

The Top 12 performed together with the new cast from So You Think You Can Dance? to The Temptations' "Get Ready." What a great idea to combine these two casts and give a little promo for SYTYCD, which premiered on Thursday night.

The Davids paired up and did a great duet of the song "Hero." They genuinely sounded really good together.

Next up was Syesha and guest performer Seal. They sang Seal's new single "Waiting For You," and it was an awesome performance. She'll definitely get a record deal out of this.

Jason Castro came out and did a beautiful rendition of "Hallelujah," during which he didn't look completely stoned.

The top 6 girls hit the stage next, performing a medley of Donna Summer songs. Then, out of nowhere, Donna Summer (looking like a hot tranny mess) joined them onstage and she and Syesha went back and forth for a while which was pretty OK. Amanda Overmeyer proved that she really had no place in the competition, while Carly and Ramiele reminded us how America can make really bad decisions.

Giving Carly some more stage time, she did a duet with Michael Johns, singing "The Letter." They totally rocked.

Next came the top 6 guys singing a few hits from and with Bryan Adams. All of the guys looked so cute together on stage (especially David Hernandez--yum) in their tuxedos... They sounded fine.

David Cook hit the stage with ZZ Top, one of my dad's favorite bands. Those guys are great--their beards are insane and it was funny seeing super-trendy Cook rocking "Sharp Dressed Man" with them.

I'm a little surprised she got to sing, but Brooke White performed "Teach Your Children" with Graham Nash of CSNY. It was touching (I guess), but a little lackluster.

I still don't know why some people (Perez, etc.) are so obsessed with them... The Jonas Brothers were next singing their hit(?) "S.O.S." I prefer the Rihanna song of the same name.

David Archuleta teamed up with OneRepublic for an awesome version of "Apologize." The only thing that would have made it better would have been if Archuleta was on a piano, too.

Then it was time for past winners to hit the stage: Jordin Sparks was first, looking rather awkward in a hideous gold dress, singing "One Step At A Time." There's no doubt that the girl can sing.

Looking totally hot in a white jacket/dress thing, Carrie Underwood came on stage next to sing her hit "Last Name." It was totally fierce. In her intro, Seacrest mentioned that she won her second CMA last weekend--go Carrie!

The final planned performance of the night was the Top 12 together with George Michael. It was--how do I put it--different. I mean, yeah, he's a big star, and it was a good idea to have them all come together on stage one last time, but George Michael ended up singing by himself for a good five minutes (of pure torture). Maybe I'm being a little harsh, but I just feel like he got way too much stage time.

All in all, there wasn't a bad performance the entire night. Totally entertaining. After all of that, it was time to announce the winner... I can't believe there were 97.5 MILLION votes. That proves that Idol still has so much power in the world of pop culture; I don't see the show ending any time soon. It's also surprising to me that the split was 56% to 44%... So yeah, David Cook won. Before Seacrest announced it, I was totally thinking I'd be fine either way, but when it happened, I was a little shocked and, let's be honest, pissed. Oh well.

The finale show also gave some camera time to other celebs. In the audience were Blake Lewis, Teri Hatcher, Melinda Doolittle, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Ashley Tisdale, and many others. I wish I had been there!

What a season it has been... Definitely no lack of controversy (finalists with records, gay strippers, Danny Noriega, etc.), personalities, or performances. Can't wait 'till January when it all starts again!

Oh, here is EW.com's in-depth (but not quite comprehensive) recap of the season finale. And check out a photo recap here!

Wednesday Afternoon News

I agree with Perez: Ali Lohan is creepy!  There's something so strange and completely unnatural about her, don't you think?  Gives me the willies...

The second season of Tila Tequila's A Shot At Love is starting of with a bang!  It didn't take the trashy straight guys long before they started drinking too much, hitting one another, and getting thrown out of the house and off the show!  Tila should have chosen what's-her-name from last season and been done with it.

Kristi Yamaguchi won season four of Dancing with the Stars!  Yay!  She's totally fierce and was probably the favorite from the beginning.  Her partner ain't bad, either...  Mmmmm, Mark Ballas...

Check out these pics of Aubrey from Danity Kane after a hot night on the town with Jesse McCartney!  Work.  They are both SO fierce.  I totally thought Jesse McCartney was gone forever, but now that he's 21 and totally hot, he has managed to get back on the scene.

A few other tidbits...

I don't think I'll actually watch the show, but this preview looks amazing for Living Lohan, which does not star Lindsay.  Ali Lohan is so strange looking.  Ew.  And Dina (the mom) looks like she's had some work done VERY recently.

Here are some predictions for a few of the season finales that will be airing over the next week, courtesy of Reality TV Magazine.

LC just can't seem to keep her best friends!  Perez has some evidence that Lauren and Audrina may be the next Hills "friends" to part ways.

I love Mark Ballas.

EW.com put together a great resource for those of us who didn't really watch season 6 of Dancing With The Stars: The Best of Season 6!  They highlight the ten best dances including two from Kristi Yamaguchi and Mark Ballas, one from Maks and Mel B (my second-favorites from season 5), and a stunning performance from the 13-year old dancers Brittany and Brandon.  It's fierce.

Checking out these clips made me remember how much I love Mark Ballas.  So much so, in fact, that I completely stalked his MySpace page.  Did you know he's an aspiring musician?  He has a band with the equally adorable Derek Hough.  This is my favorite pic from Mark's profile...duh. Ughhh he's so hot.

Saturday Night tidbits...

Talk shows count as reality TV, right?  Right.  Check out this clip from Oprah's show today--"Oprah's Favorite Things...for Summer."  As expected, the audience goes NUTS.  It's amazing.  I wish SNL would put their clips on YouTube so I could also share the sketch they do about it...  

Apparently (hopefully?) Flavor of Love is FINALLY coming to an end.  The season finale is also being billed as a series finale, but who knows.  

I'm not really sure why, but VH1 has bought the exclusive rights to every season of The Bachelor, including the three or four seasons of The Bachelorette.  Why?  Don't they have enough dating shows?

It's official: Nina Garcia will definitely be a part of Project Runway's fifth season.  Her new position at Elle allows her to still hold her ties to Heidi and the gang.  Dank sei Gott!

Here is a great schedule of all the reality shows on TV this summer!  I haven't figured out what I'm gonna do yet because I really don't watch that much TV in the summer...  Ugh. Ghostwriters?  Guest bloggers?  IDK.

Lots of IDOL news!

OK, so I meant to post this a day or two ago, but whatever.  I'm sure everyone is well aware that it's going to be a Battle of the Davids for the American Idol crown!  I can't wait.  In talking with some friends last night, it seems like people really don't know who is going to win; some people think Archuleta has the major advantage because of all the 12-15 year old girls that vote for the show, but others think Cook has the edge because he has that rocker sexiness that is appealing to a broader demographic.  I truly have no idea.  My money is on Cook, though.  Literally.  $5 has my name on it when he wins.

Danny Noriega is pissed that she's not invited to the Idol finale.  I would be too if I were her!  I mean, yeah, he wasn't a finalist or anything, but he's certainly one of the most memorable characters from the season.  

Taylor Hicks will be the latest Idol alum to hit Broadway when he joins the cast of Grease. Interesting.  I definitely won't be seeing that show next time I'm in NYC.

Wednesday morning news...

Celebrity Rehab is coming back for another season, and so far Aaron Carter is the biggest "celeb" who has signed up!  According to Perez, he was offered a spot on the last season of Dancing With The Stars but turned it down--what an idiot!

New reality show alert: RuPaul's Drag Race.  Seriously.  How amazing is that???

Whitney became the first plus-size model to win America's Next Top Model!  Congrats, girl.  Of course, some people just can't let her enjoy it--there's a conspiracy theory out there that the show tried to keep her "fat" over the season or something like that.  (Oh, the article is also interesting because apparently Tyra made a shout-out to the sister restaurant of the place I work--Houston's!)

NBC nixed the idea of having OJ Simpson on the next season of Celebrity Apprentice.  Thank God.  

Never before have I wished I could be back in high school at this point in my life...  But now I do!  ABC has a show coming out this summer called High School Musical 3: Get In The Picture. Ahhhhhh!  One incredibly lucky person will be chosen to perform (in a music video) in (the end credits of) the movie with all of the stars (who will be filmed at separate times)!  I wish it could be me, but I don't think a 6'3" 23-year old with braces is exactly what they're looking for...  :(

AI Top 3 Recap

The format for the semi-final show was simple: there were three rounds.  In the first round, the judges picked a song for the singers.  The second round was the contestant's choice.  The final round was a song chosen by "the producers."  Interesting.

Paula chose "And So It Goes" for David Archuleta and it was absolutely beautiful.  The song itself has such a gorgeous melody and the arrangement was simple and allowed David's flawless, pure voice to shine through without a hint of pretention.  

Syesha was next and sang "If I An't Got You," chosen by Randy.  It was an obvious choice and I'm surprised she hasn't sung it in the competition thus far.  Anyway, it's a tough song to do something new and different with, but she sounded good and looked absolutely beautiful.  My only fear is that it's too late in the competition to just do a good job singing songs in the same style as the original artist...

Next up was David Cook who sang "First Time Ever I Saw Your Face," a Roberta Flack song that Simon picked for him.  The thing about David C. is this: he knows how to make him sound his best no matter what it is he's singing.  He's never afraid to slow something down or whatever and he's just so natural on stage.

During the second round, David A. sang "With You" by Chris Brown and it was a little silly...  I mean, I don't think he should ever use the word "boo."  Syesha sang "Fever" and I agree with Simon: it was a mediocre cabaret performance.  She was dancing and acting and all that and it just didn't really work for me.  David C. sang "Dare You To Move," an obvious choice for him, but he totally rocked it.  Some lady in the audience had a sign that read "Cougars 4 Cook."  Sick.

The final round completely screwed Syesha.  I can't believe the producers picked "Hit Me Up" for her!!!  It was so terrible and completely NOT what she should be singing at this point in the competition.  The song is clubby and poppy and fast and doesn't have a melody that allows a true singer to showcase her voice.  Ugh.  David A. sang "Longer" by Dan Fogelberg which was good, and David C. sang Aerosmith's "I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing," which was also good.  He's such a rockstar.

As Simon proclaimed at the end of the show, "David Cook wins the night."  Will he win the show?

Wooooow.

Dancing With The Stars has given Juliane Hough the push she needed--to become a country singer! I don't even know what to say about that.

This discovery prompted the question in my head: who else has a music video out there?

...Phil Stacey, an Idol finalist that you probably don't remember from last year (I think).

...then there's the always trampy Brooke Hogan's song "About Us." The 90's called and they want their choreography back.

Well, my search proved to be less fulfilling than I hoped, but I suppose that's a good thing.


Stay tuned for an American Idol recap from last night!

Updates!

The 20th season is just beginning to air, but The Real World's 21st season is set to begin filming this summer in Brooklyn.  Interesting...  Brooklyn is becoming such a cultural hotspot; I have a few friends (and ex-friends) living there, so maybe I'll have to go for a visit sometime.  Maybe.

I've never been a big fan of The Bachelor; it just doesn't do it for me.  This is interesting, though: the winner of this past season, Shayne, just posed for Girls Gone Wild magazine.  Yeah, I didn't know there was a magazine, either.  Classy, right?

So You Think You Can Dance? returns to FOX on May 22.  Yes!!!  I'll be able to watch like a month and a half of it before summer comes and I won't have cable.

FOX has another show coming soon called Secret Millionaire.  Looks interesting, even if it has already been a success in England.  I think a lot of networks are looking for reality shows that help people out: Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, 10 Years Younger, Oprah's Big Give, etc.

A few questions...

Have you noticed the striking resemblance between one of my best friends and my future boyfriend?  It's stunning.  :)

Did you catch Christian Siriano on Ugly Betty?  If not, check it out here.

Did you know that Hulk Hogan's son Nick is going to jail?

Will you watch VH1's new show, I Love Money?  Check out the premise and cast list--looks hard to miss!

In case you've been living under a rock (or on a cruise ship in Europe...)...

Quite a few reality shows are nearing the ends of their seasons, so I thought I'd take this opportunity to catch you up on what's going on!

Top Chef: Chicago

The most recent elimination challenge pitted the chefs against one another in two teams for a wedding reception.  One team cooked for the bride while the other team cooked for the groom. Richard won, Nikki packed her knives and went home.

To find out who else has been eliminated this season, check out the episode guide from Bravo.

America's Next Top Model

For their most recent challenge, the four models had to do a photo shoot with Nigel Barker. That hardly sounds like a challenge to me!  He's so hot.  Anyhow, they were posing with a male model and were dolled up like 50's-era Hollywood leading ladies running from the paparazzi. Earlier in the show, the girls each took a turn as the photographer and did a shoot with Paulina Porizkova, judge and former supermodel.

Who's left?  Anya, Fatima, and Whitney.

I Know My Kid's A Star

I only watched a few episodes of this show, but it was pretty ridiculous.  To be honest, none of the kids are all that talented...  Anyhow, the finale was tonight, and McKenzie won.  Lora says that she was the best one as well as the only kid who wasn't completely insane.

Project Runway

There isn't currently a season underway, but there has been lots of gossip about everyone's favorite fashion show lately...  After next season, the show is moving to Lifetime network!  A few weeks ago, it was announced that Nina Garcia was being fired from Elle magazine, jeopardizing her role on the show!  Luckily for us, Perez has figured it all out.  Hmm...

Dancing With The Stars

I haven't watched one single episode of this season which is especially strange because it was last season that inspired me to start my blog...  Remember my obsession with Sabrina Bryan? Anyhow, Tuesday night's was the 100th episode, and they pulled out all the stops, including having the judges rate the 10 best dances from all five seasons!  Here's a brief show recap, including the impressive list of guest appearances.

Here are a few of my favorite performances from their list:

1. Drew Lachey & Cheryl Burke's freestyle

2. Mel B & Maksim Chmerkovsky's paso doble

3. Joey Fatone & Kym Johnson's jive

4. Sabrina Bryan & Mark Ballas' paso doble

My personal favorite: Sabrina & Mark's jive, mostly because Mark Ballas is a ballroom GOD!

American Idol Final Four!

I've been on a hiatus.  It's called working too much, and it's not fun at all.  In fact, I haven't watched Idol on actual TV in like six weeks!  Ugh.  Anyhow, thank GOD for YouTube so I can watch the clips from Tuesday, provide some thoughts, and then announce the results!

The theme on Tuesday night was "Songs from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame."  Quite a mouthful, no?  Anyhow, here's the show list with some commentary.

1. David Cook: "Hungry Like The Wolf," Duran Duran

A great song choice for him!  It is in his range, allows him to be a rockstar, and it's one of those catchy songs that even if you don't know it that well, it sticks with you.  I could use a little more energy...

2. Syesya: "Proud Mary," Tina Turner

I was wondering when she would sing this song...  Her performance was one of the most choreographed in Idol history and I totally dig it.  The last few moments are a little out of control (and not in a good way), but overall a great performance.

3. Jason: "I Shot The Sheriff," Bob Marley

He's so awkward on stage; something about Jason just doesn't click for me.  I mean, the song is totally perfect for him but he just doesn't embody an Idol to me.  He should get a gig ligned up at my roommate's bar, The Wild Hare.

4. David Archuleta: "Stand By Me," Ben E. King

Again, an awesome song choice.  David's really stepping it up and taking himself seriously!  The kid can blow!  He's amazing.  I love the falsetto towards the end of his performance--it shows vocal maturity and musical understanding beyond his years.  Ugh he's amazing.

5. David Cook: "Baba O'Riley," The Who

Fierce!  Amazing!  David makes this iconic pop song his own, pulling out some great notes and total control the entire time.  He's great, and this is by far one of his best performances.  

6. Syesha: "A Change Is Gonna Come," Sam Cooke

She looks totally gorgeous and picked a song that most people probably don't know and totally does it justice.  This is truly an American Idol-worthy performance, full of big notes, fierce emotion, and wonderful stage presence.  

7. Jason: "Mr. Tambourine Man," Bob Dylan

He's so cheesy in his pre-song interview.  The performance itself is a little dry, especially when he forgets half of the words.  I mean, here's the thing (and I've said it before): he's a good singer and definitely has talent, but he's just not right for this show.

8. David Archuleta: "Love Me Tender," Elvis Presley

Ugh, I'll love him tender or however he wants to be loved.  His voice is so sincere and he delivers a totally updated version of this classic Elvis ballad.  My only criticism is that it was way too short.  He's so good.

Wednesday night's results show included a performance from Bo Bice, one of my favorite runners-up from years past.  The bottom two: Jason Castro and Syesya Mercado.  To find out who was eliminated, click here.  It was time for him to go (oops).