Category Archives: TV

mary murphy contracts paula abdul syndrome.

so_you_think_you_can_dance

This time, Chris is late! HA!  But anyway, I love his diagnosis…it’s hilarious!

I’m not a doctor, but I’m going to stand by my diagnosis. Anyone that saw Wednesday night’s episode knows what I’m talking about here – and I, for one, am concerned. Reality TV judges are at risk. Specifically, the female judge sitting in the middle seat of any given seems to be vulnerable to Paula Abdul Syndrome or, as we in the medical blogging community call it, PAS.

The symptoms of PAS are clear: slurred speech; wild hand gestures; crying; etc… symptoms often prompt weird looks or agitated comments from judges sitting nearby on the panel.

[Please entertain a small digression. This is a plea to all judges sitting near a PAS victim. They can’t help it. And it should help you to know that even though we aren’t there with you, it is just as painful for all of us to watch at home. Try to show some compassion, and know that you’re not alone. /digression]

The cause of PAS is still unknown, but medical experts (I) have begun to narrow down the suspected causes. To do this, they (I) had to rely on photographic and video evidence, as an in-person study of someone infected with PAS may be unsafe – and the experts (I) don’t want to be responsible for causing a pandemic.

mary murphy2Simon Cowell and Paula Abdul on American Idol1_preview

So far, PAS seems to have attacked only women, although its too early to say for sure. The location of the infected judge’s seat seems to play a role as well. There just seems to be something about that middle seat. (An odd cause, you say? Maybe, but have you ever sat in the middle seat for a long flight? That’s what I thought – and I hope you will think twice before questioning the medical experts (me) again…) This brings us to the cups. Enough said there, I think. The wild hand gestures are an unresolved question for the experts studying PAS. So far its unclear whether or not they contribute to the cause of PAS, or if they are a symptom. These certainly are scary times.

Mary’s struggle with PAS was borderline distracting; but here are some of the best numbers from the night…

Philip and Jeanine:

Jason and Caitlin:

Voted off this week: Tony and Parris

[Posted by Chris, via Kathleen]

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steve carell goes jogging in public.

Today I learned what happens when I see a real live celebrity.

As you all know, I am a HUGE fan of The Office. Huge. This afternoon, as my friends Mouse and Katie and I were waiting at a crosswalk to walk into Central Park, Katie whispers “Steve Carell is on your left.” Being from Denver, I never see celebrities, and so I was a leetle disoriented by this comment. I looked to my left, and holy shit, there was Steve Carell! I stared, hyperventilated a little, and stared some more. It was most certainly him, and he was most certainly on a casual normal person jog. He would be. I nudged Mouse and told her to look at him. We whispered excitedly and stared blatantly. Obviously, none of us thought to say anything (I’d like to think he appreciated that), but he totally smirked and knew we were looking at him. Maybe he’ll blog about me tonight too!

Steeeeeeeve, I looooooove youuuuuuu:

steve-carell

[Posted by Mallory]

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what happens in vegas… SYTYCD style.

so_you_think_you_can_dance

Okay, okay.  So this was supposed to be posted last week.  EPIC FAIL on my part.  Chris met his deadline, I didn’t do my end of the deal (I was in a wedding…excuses, excuses.).  So let’s just consider it a refresher for last week in preparation for tonight!

I have decided that I have one year to get my dance moves up to par. I will be starring in Season 6. [Edit: Season 6 auditions have already started.] This week the Top 20 were named. I’m not saying that I anticipate making it that far when I make my SYTYCD debut. But I figure with a year of hard work I could score a ticket to Vegas. That’s good enough for me.

Wednesday night we were treated to two full hours of dancing mayhem – a sort of preview for the rest of the season. I’m crazy about Mia Michaels – and we got to see one of her routines. And in Thursday night’s episode saw the fangs come out. She had clearly been drinking out of Tyce’s “bitchy queen” water bottle. Her choreography, though, was – of course – great. I guess being a bitchy queen is one of the perks of being really super awesome at your job.

I really like this character Tony. His audition was pretty clever. Mia’s routine gave him such a difficult time that they made him try it again later in the day. This clip serves both the purpose of introducing you to Tony and showing off Mia’s stuff – cause I love her (even though I’m scared of her). A super efficient choice of YouTube clip, I know. You’re welcome.

My buddy Natalie was sent home – I think unfairly. And yes, I will be writing a letter (and you should too). We met her last season when it the top 20 came down to a head to head between her and her less cool roommate. Her roommate made it and she was sent home. Here’s here audition video from this season:

So we have our Top 20 for the summer. Now the fun begins with the good dancing and all that jazz. Congratulations SWTCTW, I hereby declare that summer has arrived!

[Posted by Chris, via Kathleen]

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is kelly choi the new padma?

You're holding a chicken?  Seriously?

You're holding a chicken? Seriously?

Last night I watched Bravo’s newest show, “Top Chef Masters”, fully expecting to see the always foxy Padma hosting.  But no.  There’s some new chick in town, and her name is Kelly Choi.  Like Padma, she’s way too thin to be a food critic.  EAT A FRIGGIN’ HAMBURGER… OR SEVEN.  Honestly.  There is such a disconnect between being rail thin and being a food critic.  How on earth do they do it?

Kelly Choi seems a little wacky, so I did my research.  She’s a model, duh.  She hosts a show in NYC called “Eat Out, NY”. (Keep your dirty jokes to yourself.)  SHE ALSO EATS RAW EGGS.  And if you want to know more about her and all the other crazy things she eats every day, click here.  She also drinks.  A lot.

She did alright last night, but I’m still on Team Padma.  What do you think of her?

[Posted by Kathleen]

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kendra wilkinson’s having a baby bunny!

kendra-wilkinsonYup, former Girl Next Door Kendra is having a baby!  She announced her pregnancy when she was asked why she didn’t participate in the champagne toast at her bridal shower.  (Apparently, according to Perez, her mother and grandmother are pissed because they found out at the same time as everyone else…)  Congratulations to Kendra and her hubby-to-be, Eagles wide receiver Hank Baskett!  Can you imagine?  A baby bunny at Hef’s mansion, just coming to hang out and play.  That would bring a whole new meaning to the phrase “playmate”, would it not?

[Posted by Kathleen]

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bret michaels gets clotheslined at tony’s.

So even though most of us (or maybe just people like me who don’t know much about ’80s hair bands) only know Bret Michaels from his addictingly bad reality show on VH1, apparently he really was, at some point, famous for being in a band. For reasons I haven’t quite figured out, he and his band, Poison, performed at the Tony’s last night, and at the end of the show, Mr. Michaels got clotheslined by his set. See for yourself:

My first I’m-clearly-going-to-hell asshole reaction was to laugh. A lot. Because who doesn’t love seeing people (especially people who are men who wear eyeliner and have ridiculous blonde hair and star in reality shows about falling in love in two weeks) fall? But apparently he might be hurt? Let’s hope he’s not, for the obvious reasons, but also because then we can laugh at this clip with less guilt.

[Posted by Mallory]

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nostalgic monday: i miss ’90s nickelodeon.

Kathleen must be given credit for finding this wonderful link to 25 of Nickelodeon’s Best Original Songs, but she didn’t post about it yet, so I win! Mwhaha.

I thoroughly enjoyed purusing these videos yesterday, because watching Nickelodeon took up about 50% of my childhood. The other 50% was spent eating some form of fast food almost every night. (My mom used to work late as a nurse and was horrified to discover, a decade later, that chicken fingers and french fries made up a substantial protion of her daughters’ diets. Thanks, Daddy!)

My sister and I love to try to remember all of the Nickelodeon shows that we were obsessed with, and this Top 25 Songs list helps with that. I mean, Doug is a given. But shows like My Brother and Me? Totally forgot about it! Clarissa Explains It All? Amazing. (Don’t pretend you didn’t have the biggest crush ever on Sam. It made me wish I lived on the second floor just so that my best guy friend could have a ladder and sneak into my room whenever he wanted.) And I’m not sure whether to be proud or embarrassed that I still know all the words to the Salute Your Shorts theme songs. I could have used a few references to Wild ‘n’ Crazy Kids or Guts, but I’ll take what I can get with this brilliant piece of You Tube-y nostaglia.

These days, I feel pretty bad for the kids who weren’t allowed to watch as much teevee as I was. What happens if “Nickelodeon Shows” is a Kings category? What if people start talking about how weird it was that Alex Mack turned into silver goo, and you don’t get the reference? How humiliating. (If you are one of those kids, please do yourself a favor and memorize the songs from the Top 25 list. Then you can probably fake your way through most of the references.)

So, to get all big picture for a second…it’s sort of strange to think that I spent so much time watching the teevee and eating horrific fast food, and ended up turning out okay. Of course, I played outside a ton, and I’m sure my mom snuck some vegetables in my diet when my dad wasn’t looking, but if a kid exposed to all that trash and poison managed to get through college and has turned out reasonably healthy and normal, do parents these days really need to be obsessing over Baby Einstein and organic milk and French lessons? I wrote a few speeches on this in college, and now I’m sort of obsessed with this topic. There’s certainly a lot to think about, there. (If you want to read a legitimate article about this, not just the ramblings of an unmarried, childless 20-something, check out this NY Times Magazine article.)

But since I’m (erm, hopefully!) many years away from worrying about this stuff fer real, let’s all just join together and appreciate the awesomeness that was Nickelodeon in the ’90s:

And speaking of le television, if you need a new show to get addicted to this summer, and you’re four years behind the times like I am, please start watching Weeds. You won’t regret it.

KILLER UPDATE: From a Gchat conversation with my friend Rachel, because I know you love getting inside looks at my deep, deep Gchat convos. (Background: Rachel and her friend Meghan are frm South Orange, NJ):

Rachel: here’s a tidbit u will enjoy
they filmed pete and pete in south orange
me: no way!
Rachel: and used meghan’s house for hair and makeup etc
me: NO FUCKING WAY!
Rachel: not the whole thing of the show just parts
me: THAT IS THE COOLEST THING IVE HEARD ALL DAY

It doesn’t take much to get me riled up on a Monday morning, I guess.

[Posted by Mallory]

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sesame street teaches us about marriage.

Here’s a cute clip that’s been going around the Interwebs lately.  What I love about it is how Sesame Street defines marriage as two people who hug and kiss, live together, love each other and are best friends. [Insert Bert and Ernie joke here. Ha!]  Does that scare you, NOM? The Sesame Street definition is simple, and probably the best one I’ve ever heard.  We are never too old to learn lessons from Sesame Street.  Thank you, Jesse and Grover!  (PS- How adorable is Jesse?!)

[Posted by Kathleen]

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kate gosselin shows off her stomach.

America’s obsession with the Gosselins is getting ridiculous.  Today, one of the top Googled searches is for Kate Gosselin in a bikini and these pictures are flying around the Interwebs like craaaaaaaaazy.  Normally, I’d be a little weirded out by that kind of Google search (because it’s usually done by pervy dudes who live in their parents’ basement).  But this one, I kind of get.  I mean, the lady has had eight kids.  Sick curiousity makes you want to look.  By the way, TMZ calls her haircut the reverse mullet.  Agreed.  I HATE IT.

Here is what she looked like preggo and before she became a teevee MOMster:

20080222_101_350x263

So here is what she looks like, five years later, in a bikini:

Kate Gosselin

Kate Gosselin

Ah the wonders of a tummy tuck and a personal trainer.  I’ll admit it, she is a pretty sassy mama of eight.  Minus the HIDEOUS hair and attitude.  Kate Gosselin, I give you the obligatory RAWR.

[Posted by Kathleen]

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what a morning for the news!

My little sister was in town this weekend, and we were both up early so that I could get off to work and she could get to the airport. We were ready ahead of schedule and had the fortune of watching some of “The Today Show” — and of being reminded why watching the news can be really depressing. Today’s headlines include:

  • George Tiller, a pretty infamous late-term abortion doctor from Kansas, was murdered yesterdayIN HIS CHURCH. Where his wife sang in the choir and he was an usher. As Barry said, abortion (particularly late-term) is an incredibly divisive issue and the two sides may not be reconcilable, but this takes it way too freaking far.
  • GM officially filed for bankruptcy. I won’t even pretend to be able to explain the real economic impact this might have, but all those people on the teevee say this is a really big deal.
  • An Air France flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris went missing. The plane, which had 228 people on board, went off the radar about three hours after taking off, and that’s not normal. Here’s hoping the plane was full of beautiful people and it will land on a remote island and everyone can live “Lost”-style until we find them and save them. UPDATE: The AP reports that debris presumed to be from the plane has been found in the Atlantic Ocean. So sad.

Celebrity news wasn’t quite as depressing, but there’s a lot going on there as well:

megan fox

  • We’ve got Susan Boyle losing in the finale of Britain’s Got Talent and then checking into a clinic due to exhaustion. Poor thing! Get this lady out of the spotlight.
  • “The Hills” finale was on last night, and LC is OUT. Maybe I’m just naive, but I think it’s remarkable that she seemed to stay so normal throughout the show, and I’m glad that she’s getting out before she totally ruins her life. Via BBM (and Cosmo), my sister informed me that Lauren apparently got angry that the producers were taking over her life a leetle too much. In a world where cute people like Susan Boyle and seemingly perfect families like the Gosselins are ruined by reality teevee, it’s nice to see someone say (albeit after a few years), “No thanks. I’m done.” Oh and also Kristin Cavallari showed up.
  • Shit got crazyat last night’s MTV Movie Awards! Call me lovestruck, but I think Andy Samberg did a pretty good job hosting. But that nonsense with Eminem getting smothered by Bruno and storming away…and Kristen Stewart seemingly being blazed out of her mind…and Megan Fox managing to make herself look ugly…and I didn’t even watch the whole show!

Let’s hope the week calms down a little after this…

[Posted by Mallory]

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