The news of the week in the entertainment world is over this announcement that the WB and UPN networks are shutting down and joining forces to form the CW Network. That was my “where in the world did this come from” moment of the week. WB and UPN have been fighting over the same viewers for years now and are neck and neck at the moment so it makes sense to have them combine into one big network. The obvious question is what shows are sticking around and will make the move? The press release mentions these shows by name so it seems natural that they would be keeping these shows which include Gilmore Girls, Smallville, Reba, Veronica Mars, Everybody Hates Chris, Girlfriends, Top Model, and also mentions WWE’s Friday Night Smackdown. I am seeing Gilmore and Veronica Mars on that list so that makes me feel a bit better. They did actually kind of tease putting Gilmore and Veronica Mars in a 2 hour block so I think that could be a cool combination. The wrestling world is also buzzing over this wondering what this means for Smackdown. Variety is reporting that UPN and WWE have already worked out a quiet deal to keep Smackdown around for another 2 seasons and that it will remain on Friday nights. This makes me wonder about a lot of these shows that are kind of just sliding by right now and what it means for them. My obvious question is what does this mean for all the affiliates around the country? Who is going to get this new network of the WB and UPN affiliates? There is already an article in the newspaper today which said that our local affiliates will know the news in the next month.
The other big news of the week centered around this story that got out about a Friends reunion. It was reported on some big news sites but the major entertainment sites never picked it up which led me to question its authenticity. The story was that the Friends cast would reunite for 4 one hour specials on NBC. There was also talk of the guys of the show doing their own spinoff of Friends. It was amazing who all picked up the story and how quickly it spread. It does look like it isn’t true. It was nice to dream though!! With the shape that NBC is in right now, I think they might want to look into making that happen. NBC is going to talk in March about what to do with Joey. The show still has 12 episodes to air. I don’t see what all the negative is about that show as I really enjoy it. I think people just need to get to reality and realize that this isn’t Friends despite it having one of the characters. It’s not going to do Friends ratings numbers. The writers are the same of course from Friends and I enjoy the show a lot.
Here are some of my thoughts on the very early season of American Idol. Am I the only person that really feels bad for some of these people that audition? I know a lot of people love the audition shows more than the rest of the season but I am the other way. I like when they get to the Hollywood episodes and go from there. I just feel bad for some of these people. The judges are harsher this time around from what it seems. I do get tired of people always talking about Simon being the mean one. Randy dishes it just as much but doesn’t really get criticized for it. I like Simon and tend to agree with him more than I do Randy. I constantly disagree with Randy it seems. One of the funnier moments I’ve seen this season was Simon’s reaction to finding out that an influence of this one guy’s bad audition was Randy and Paula’s learn to sing DVD. Simon told the guy that it made his day knowing that info. He also got this info on his birthday which he said was now the greatest birthday ever. Last night got heated as Simon walked off toward the end of the audition day and went back to his hotel. Randy and Paula had been picking at him all day and it looked like he finally had enough. As far as performers, I think the ones that have stood out to me so far are Paris Bennett and Kellie Pickler. Kellie is definitely the feel good story so far with the hard life she has had. She had a really good audition too and the judges loved her. There are so many of these performers where you hear of the rough story that they have about themselves and I just hope that they are going to be good when they do audition. Kellie was one of those as I was just really hoping that she would do well and she is on her way to Hollywood. I also want to add that the girl at the end of Tuesday’s show scared me greatly. I’m talking about the one that bad mouthed everyone on her way out. All I could think was that I’m scared. The Tuesday show did really good in the ratings again and opened with a 17.9 in the first hour and jumped to 21.3 in the second hour.
Production on My Name Is Earl has been shut down for a while due to star Jason Lee developing a case of the chicken pox. My Name Is Earl has already been picked up for a second season along with The Office. I was listening to some wrestling audio a couple of days ago and they started talking about My Name Is Earl. Has anyone heard that when the one woman starts yelling in Spanish on the show that she isn’t actually yelling bad things? She apparently is yelling a bunch of thank you comments to the Spanish speaking audience that watch the show. I thought that was a clever idea.
Kristen from E Online talked to Amy Acker last week. Amy said that she had just had dinner with Joss Whedon the night before and that Joss is still talking about doing a Spike movie. When Kristen asked if Amy wanted to be a part of it, Amy said, “If it’s Joss, of course I’ll do whatever. I’ll, like, be the costume designer! I don’t care!”
More on Reunion. The WB is not going to pick up the show so it looks like the Reunion is officially over. Here is what Kristen had to say about the rest of the show. She talked to someone close to the show. The original plan was that the killer was going to be Samantha’s daughter Amy but there was talk of changing the killer to Craig’s father. A producer and actor on the show told her the info that it likely was going to be changed to Craig’s father. If it was Amy that was the killer, it was likely going to be an accident. The story of Craig in the wheelchair goes like this. Later on in the story, Craig is hitting on Jenna and the two end up in a car accident. He wasn’t supposed to be able to walk but made a big recovery. Craig’s father told him to stay in the wheelchair as it would get a sympathy vote which would lead to Craig winning the congressional vote.
As an American Dreams fan, I have sort of a smirk on my face after the news of NBC canceling the West Wing. What does this have to do with American Dreams? West Wing was moved to Sundays this season which was the old time slot for American Dreams where the show struggled in ratings. West Wing was doing fine with ratings until it was moved to Sundays. See NBC, it wasn’t the show but it was the lousy time slot!!
Smallville is set to kill off a major character on the show tonight. It is said to be someone in the opening credits. I don’t watch the show but I wanted to pass the info along in case any of you are watching it. I would like to start watching it though as I hear good things about it.
Are more seasons of American Dreams coming to DVD? I haven’t heard any official announcement but Brittany Snow was asked about the show in the latest USA Weekend. She said that the extended series finale would be shown on the season 3 DVD. That sounds like a positive that more seasons are on their way on DVD and that all of us fans could finally see the extended finale.
Disney is buying Pixar for 7.4 billion dollars. That has been an up and down story to follow for a while now.
The new season of Survivor kicks off next week on CBS.
Did anyone see that Kobe Bryant scored 81 points against Toronto this week??!! I have got to see that game. NBA TV is going to air a replay of the game tomorrow so I’m looking forward to watching that scoring exhibition.
Heather Graham’s show “Emily’s Reasons Why Not” was hyped up big time and then canceled after one show. The head of ABC said that it wasn’t a good show to bottom line it. I have yet to figure out what is going on with Jake In Progress. It was also pulled after the first episode of the new season. Every day is different news on whether it is coming back or not. I feel bad for John Stamos who had to give up an ER role to do the next season of the show cause he was committed to it. The question was on whether ABC was really committed to it and if they still are committed to it.
ABC says it will not likely get Arrested Development should it be canceled.
Will and Grace is ending in May. The finale will air on May 18th. NBC isn’t leaving themselves with much programming.
Lots of news this week for sure. Have a great weekend.
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