The final two is set for next week’s American Idol finale and the closeness of the voting was INCREDIBLE!! The percentages were this close. They didn’t say which one had the highest votes but the top 2 saw one get 33.68% of the vote. 2nd place got 33.26%. 3rd place and going home was Elliott Yamin with 33.06% of the vote. WOW!!! That is unreal with how close it was. The final two are Katharine McPhee and Taylor Hicks. All three brought their A game this week and Tuesday’s performance show was a lot of fun. The contestants sang three songs each. One was a song picked by Clive Davis. One was judge’s choice. The last was contestant’s choice. I am happy with a Katharine/Taylor showdown as it will be a lot of fun. Taylor might have had his best night on Tuesday night as he was very good. Every song for him seemed to be perfect for song choice. When he started “Dancing In The Dark” by Bruce Springsteen, I thought this is going to be a good one for him and it was. Wow, those judges are harsh on Katharine every week. She had a great line this week though when she mentioned that they had been rough on her lately. Randy and Paula said that it was more due to song choice. Katharine said “I didn’t pick it”. The song was picked by Clive Davis for her to sing talking about “I Believe I Can Fly”. Simon then said that it wasn’t nice of them to pick on Clive on the show. ha ha. Last night’s results show was a lot of fun to watch. It looked like the most fun that the remaining contestants have had in a while as it was good to just see everyone have fun with their performances without being judged on them. The trips back home are always fun to watch to see them get the star treatment from their hometowns.
What a backlash last week with Chris being eliminated. It was being talked about everywhere. I forgot to mention this last week but the Dial Idol poll that I have talked about in the past apparently had rightly predicted that Chris was going home last week. This is the poll where they go by how easy it is to get through to vote or if you get a busy signal. They have been up and down from what I’ve seen with past predictions but they nailed that one. Chris Daughtry has been offered a lead singing role with the band Fuel. Chris is trying to decide on whether to go solo or look into the band’s offer. Members of the band were on Tuesday night’s Idol Tonight on TV Guide Channel. They said that they have talked to Chris about the lead singer opening and that he is considering it. They also have heard that he is trying to decide on what to do. They said that they have an album set to come out and that they do have another lead singer waiting in the wings if Chris decides not to do join the band. When asked about how they noticed Chris, they said it was when he sang their song “Hemorrhage” on the show and some people said that they ought to take a look at this guy. Chris is still weighing his options as he has said that he doesn’t want to just jump into something without thinking about it more.
All right. Now, the news I’ve been waiting several weeks for and that was the announcements of the TV networks for their fall schedules. NBC was the first to kick off the up front presentations this week. NBC finished in 4th place among networks for the first time ever so NBC is in a serious rebuilding mode. They basically said the same thing at this year’s up fronts that they did last year with the rebuilding with the only hits coming out of last season being My Name Is Earl and Deal Or No Deal. ER will share its timeslot with another show as there will be no repeats of ER next season, only new episodes. Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip was picked up by NBC and will star Matthew Perry. The idea of the show is that it is a behind the scenes of a sketch comedy show. NBC is going to have to make some major moves to get back in the game. Shows gone on NBC are as follows: Book of Daniel, Conviction, E-Ring, Fear Factor, Four Kings, Heist, Inconceivable, Joey, Surface, Teachers, Three Wishes, The West Wing, and Will and Grace.
ABC debuted their fall schedule and they are adding several new shows while moving others. They will be adding 12 new shows to the schedule. I guess the biggest news as far as moves on ABC goes is that Grey’s Anatomy will be moving to Thursday nights at 8pm going head to head with CSI on CBS. Here is a list of the shows that are either ending or being canceled on ABC and the list is long: Alias, Commander In Chief, Crumbs, Emily’s Reasons Why Not, The Evidence, Freddie, Hope and Faith, In Justice, Invasion, Jake In Progress, Less Than Perfect, Miracle Workers, and Sons and Daughters. Hope and Faith was canceled which was a show that I liked to watch. I thought it was better during the first season as they kind of changed up the show going into the second season. I still enjoyed the show but just not as much as the first season as I said. I’m not really surprised to see it being canceled but will miss it. What About Brian was renewed and it was definitely on that borderline of being renewed or canceled. Yeah, I still haven’t had time to watch the episodes of that show yet.
CBS who is sitting on top of the network world is only adding four new shows to its schedule in the fall. The big change is that CBS has done away with the Sunday movie. Without A Trace is moving from Thursday to Sunday. The Amazing Race is going to be moved yet again moving to Sunday nights at 7pm. CBS renewed New Adventures Of Old Christine. There was talk of whether CBS would renew King Of Queens as apparently the actors are wanting more money to do the show. CBS did renew the show but it is only for 13 episodes. It will return at midseason. Gone from CBS are: Courting Alex, Love Monkey, Out Of Practice, Still Standing, Threshold, and Yes, Dear.
The up front presentation that I and many others were waiting for is what the CW Network would deliver on. Which shows from the WB and UPN would make it to the new network? 7th Heaven is coming back!!! The show just will not back down. Great news there. It was really shocking news when word got out earlier this week that it was being brought back. 7th Heaven remains the highest rated show on the WB followed by Gilmore Girls. The cast had all said that they would really love to come back so after a big farewell, the show will continue on for an 11th season on the new CW Network. Some more shows that were renewed from the WB are One Tree Hill and Supernatural. I have to say that I am surprised that both of those got renewed. I thought that One Tree Hill was likely a goner. Great news is that Veronica Mars has gotten renewed from the UPN side. Word is that One Tree Hill, Supernatural, and Veronica Mars were picked up for a full 22 episodes but there is an option of lowering it to 13 episodes if the ratings are low on them. In a shocking move, it was announced that Reba will be coming back with a 13 episode order. The talk all week was that this show had no chance of being brought back and it was saved at the very last moment. As far as schedules, all the hit shows are basically staying where they were time wise. Gilmore will team with Veronica Mars which was something that has been kind of a dream pairing for a while now. 7th Heaven will remain on Monday. One Tree Hill will stay in its time slot and will follow America’s Top Model on Wednesday night as it will have a strong lead in. The UPN comedies are going to Sunday nights. WWE Friday Night Smackdown is coming back which has been known for several months now and will stay in its time slot. Smallville and Supernatural will continue to be paired on Thursday night. Everwood is gone which was the one that had to go as there was only so much room on the schedule. Runaway and The Game are new shows. Coming in midseason will be Palm Springs which is written by Kevin Williamson who was the creator of Dawson’s Creek. Here is the lineup for the CW every night.
Monday: 7th Heaven, Runaway
Tuesday: Gilmore Girls, Veronica Mars
Wednesday: America’s Top Model, One Tree Hill
Thursday: Smallville, Supernatural
Friday: WWE Friday Night Smackdown
Sunday: Everybody Hates Chris, All Of Us, Girlfriends, The Game
Again, Everwood is gone along with What I Like About You, Bedford Diaries, Blue Collar TV, Living With Fran, Modern Men, Pepper Dennis, Related, Survival Of The Fittest, and Twins. Those are all WB shows. From UPN, gone are Cuts, Eve, Get This Party Started, Half & Half, Love Inc., One On One, and South Beach.
Here is the news out of Fox. Fox is adding three new dramas and two new comedies. I’ve learned my lesson from Fox after what they did with Reunion. I got into a new show on there and then they just left fans hanging not even airing the episodes that were done. I have no desire to watch a new show on that network. What is the point really if they are just going to treat viewers like that? Yeah, I’m still bitter over that. Fox said that they still plan on launching series before the baseball playoffs and “establish” them. This was what killed the Reunion ratings last season. The show did well ratings wise until the one month baseball hiatus and the show returned but the viewers didn’t. I’m not big on that gamble of expecting fans to come back to a brand new show while in that month possibly finding something else to watch. Not much of a shakeup schedule wise with Fox shows as they look to be about the same. Shows gone from Fox are: Arrested Development, Bernie Mac Show, Free Ride, Head Cases, Killer Instinct, Malcolm In The Middle, Nanny 911, Reunion, and That 70’s Show.
All this means that for the first time in several years, I did not lose a favorite show of mine. Is the jinx over or is it because I didn’t name a favorite show anymore due to my fear of a jinx of it getting canceled every year? Remember that last year I declared my favorite show to be American Dreams and a couple of days later saw the news get out that it was in trouble of being canceled which it did. Year before that saw Angel and Friends go bye bye. To be fair, Friends ended but Angel was definitely canceled. Year before that saw Buffy and Dawson’s Creek go bye bye. Year before that saw Roswell go bye bye. Yep, lots of bye byes. Am I safe to declare a favorite show now? I’m kind of afraid to. ha ha. I didn’t go much into detail on the new shows that are upcoming on the networks cause otherwise this will be way longer than it already is. I just tried to hit the big points.
The Survivor Exile Island season finale aired this past Sunday and I thought it was good. We got to see the battle between long time rivals, Terry and Aras. They have been one of the best rivalries ever on the show as both are so tough. Both of them struggled on the balancing challenge while Danielle was solid as could be on it. Danielle won immunity and Aras basically jumped off a little bit later due to him and Danielle having a deal to take each other to the final two. The problem was that Danielle also had that deal with Terry. This was what I was saying last week that I couldn’t figure out what Danielle’s strategy was to win the game. She had angered many of the jury and I knew that she was going to the final two cause Aras and Terry weren’t going to pick each other. I said last week that Danielle had no way of winning this thing and she didn’t. Danielle took Aras to the final two with Aras winning. Interesting to note that when the jury was asked during the reunion show on who they would have voted for if Danielle had taken Terry, the jury showed the same result with Terry winning. I thought the jury questioning was going to be a lot rougher than it was. Overall, I thought it was an all right season. The second half of it was a TON better than the first half. Shane was good TV. He is going to be one of the most memorable cast members ever and made for a lot of good TV this season. Terry will go down as one of the toughest players ever not to win. I was really impressed with how Cirie turned things around. I thought she was gone week one and she made it to the final four and also got a car out of the show which was voted on by fans. Good for her on how well she did. Survivor returns in September with the new season.
The first promo aired for Big Brother All Stars during the Survivor season finale. There will be a show on June 21st to determine the people that could go into the house. Can’t wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Amazing Race finale was last night and was a great episode with the rivalry between BJ & Tyler and Eric & Jeremy going right to the end. I was very happy with the ending with BJ & Tyler winning the Amazing Race. They have been my favorite throughout the race. What was with Eric & Jeremy calling them out to Phil about doing dirty tactics to win with playing mind games? Yeah, go cancel some more cabs for people Eric & Jeremy!! I loved the time in Tokyo last night and it was an amazing view of the city. BJ & Tyler had an advantage due to knowing how to speak Japanese which the other teams couldn’t do. Ray & Yolanda had a terrible time understanding the language which really hurt them and kept them from being in the race at the end. Eric & Jeremy finish 2nd with Ray & Yolanda, 3rd.
Tonight is the That 70’s Show series finale in case any of you that are fans of the show somehow forgot. Also, the Will and Grace series finale is tonight too.
All right. I think I covered everything. ha ha. So much news and finales.
About the Author
