It's Hollywood Week on American Idol, and a few things are happening. First, the 181 finalists will be trimmed down to 12 guys and 12 girls. Second, new judge Ellen DeGeneres is finally making her debut.

In the Kodak Theater, the contestants cheer Ellen when she hits the stage to talk to them. She tells them that she knows what it's like to get on stage try to please an audience full of people.

Round 1, the contestants come out in groups of eight and sing individually, either a capella or with instruments. It's sudden death, so they're either in or out after a few bars.

Katie Stevens (with the grandma with Alzheimer's) sings "For Once in My Life," and Randy Jackson calls her a natural talent.

Antonio "Skiiboski" Wheeler sings, and walks, and Ellen says he was stalking around the stage like a leopard in a cage. "Don't scare your audience," she reminds him.

Katie (and some others) makes it, and Skiiboski (and some others) get cut. He wants more information, and Simon Cowell just tells him he's not a great singer.

Andrew Garcia takes a risk by singing a stripped-down, acoustic-guitar version of Paula Abdul's "Straight Up." It's a good move -- he's excellent. Kara DioGuardi says that was genius and that Paula would be screaming and clapping for him. She says he owned it. (Interestingly, I believe Andrew has a decent YouTube following, but it looks like he had to take down his own videos because his channel currently only has his Idol audition.)

Continue reading "'American Idol': Ellen DeGeneres makes her debut" »

Posted by Sarah Kickler Kelber at 9:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: American Idol
        

Here's John-John, catching us up on last week's Biggest Loser:

The Biggest Loser has been a little "extra" in the past couple of weeks. Extra drama. Extra attitude. Extra everything. Sure, it makes for interesting water-cooler conversation. But after a while the antics have left me wondering when Jerry Springer is going to make an appearance.

Speaking of drama, enter Miggy. The episode essentially started with her lamenting about her daughter getting the boot the week before. (Didn’t both of them campaign so that Migdalia could go home? Whatever.) We also learn that Miggy has had an emergency appendectomy and been pumped with several pounds of salt water during the surgery. (Is this foreshadowing her demise and exit from the show?)

We get a surprise early in the episode. After a month away from the show, first-week castaways the blue team (Cherita and Victoria) and yellow team (O'Neal and Sunshine), come back to face off against each other for the opportunity to get back into the game.

The other contestants look shocked -- and rightfully so. The two returning teams have the opportunity to rejoin the show and get immunity in the process. All the spoils go to the team that loses the greatest percentage of weight. In addition, the winning team gets the deciding vote on which player is sent home this week.

After a grueling last-chance workout with Bob and Jillian, the two teams weigh in. Cherita and Victoria are first. They put up huge numbers. Victoria loses 39 pounds. Host Allison Sweeney informs her that the average amount of weight by the contestants who remained on campus for the month is 45 pounds. Cherita is also pleased with her loss.

Jillian says she is so proud of the blue team.

Things aren't looking that good for the yellow team, who has to lose a combined 65 pounds to re-enter the game.

Continue reading "Surprise return in 'The Biggest Loser'" »

Posted by John-John Williams IV at 12:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: The Biggest Loser
        

Here's Kathryn on The Bachelor ... 

First, for those of you from the Baltimore/Washington region, I hope you survived Big Snow Part 1; brace yourselves for Part 2 this week.  Now on to the recap!

This week we had the hometown visits.  With very few exceptions, the visits were all the same.  Jake arrives, the woman takes Jake around town, Jake eats food with the family, the family grills Jake, Jake tells the family that *insert name* is just the greatest thing since sliced bread, family tells *insert name* that Jake is great and they can tell that he's really into her.  Jake and Gia neck on a stoop, Jake and Ali neck in Ali's yard, Jake and Tenley neck on Tenley's driveway, and Jake and Vienna neck in a bedroom.  I realize that necking is an antiquated euphemism for making out but I've always thought it was hysterical so I'm going with it.

Continue reading "'The Bachelor': On the wings of DRAMA" »

Posted by Sarah Kickler Kelber at 11:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)
Categories: Bachelor/Bachelorette
        

With all the snow that got dumped on us this weekend -- plus the however much that could be happening on Tuesday into Wednesday -- we wondered: Would Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino be able to get to town for his appearance on Thursday?

I just talked to John Durkin, owner of Mad River, and he says: As of now, the event is on. The Situation is scheduled to arrive Thursday morning, and his guest bartending gig, from 9 p.m. to close, is still slated to happen as scheduled.

We'll keep you posted if SnOMG II changes the plans, but for now, it's on.

Let the fist-pumping begin!

(Handout photo)

Posted by Sarah Kickler Kelber at 3:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Jersey Shore, Local appearances
        

It's the thing that everyone will be talking about tomorrow! No, not the New Orleans Saints Super Bowl win. Not Hellstorm/SnOMG/Snowmaggedon/Snowpocalypse/Snowhatever.

I'm talking about the premiere of Undercover Boss, which started after the Super Bowl tonight. Kind of a weird choice for the post-Super Bowl slot, but it was strangely endearing.

In this week's episode, the COO of Waste Management, Larry O'Donnell, went undercover and tried out several positions in various locations at his company. (The cover for the camera crew was that they were filming a documentary about a guy trying out entry-level positions. That part was a little vague.)

Continue reading "'Undercover Boss': Who else watched?" »

Posted by Sarah Kickler Kelber at 11:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
        

Happy Snomageddon, Project Runway peeps! As always, I'm Kevin Van Valkenburg, sports writer by day, Project Runway recapper in sunshine and in snow. Apologies for missing last week's show, where our beloved Ping was auf-ed. I was knocked out by some bad muscles and spent several days ralphing, which I contend was still a more productive use of my time than watching Models of the Runway.

A brief diatribe before we get to this week's episode. I'm looking at my copy of The Baltimore Sun today and there is a picture of a woman waiting in line to pay for her milk and toilet paper in preparation for this weekend's snowmageddon. Snow panic, as a Montana man, sort of baffles me. But it also baffles my wife, a native Marylander and a huge fan of all things snow. She made a point to me this morning that really hit home: Why stock up on toilet paper, people? Seriously, are so frightened of the snow that you feel your bowels will be extra active? Are you terrified the snow will block the exits of your home, and there will be nothing left to eat but dried prunes and Metamucil?

Our episode this week begins with Jesus talking about how it's time for him to really show what he can do. He's blow-drying his hair so he can continue to look like a Latino Robert Pattinson.

Jesse tell us he's relieved to have survived the Ping Dynasty. Is it just me, or is he trying to hard to pull off this Ethan Hawke in Reality Bites thing? I would appreciate it more if he tried to pull of a different Ethan Hawke-era look each week. Like next week, he could be all clean cut and earnest like Dead Poet's Society, and then the following week, he could be the rookie cop from Training Day.

Heidi-Bot 3000 shows up to explain this week's challenge wearing an outfit that has flesh-tone stripes and looks like it was clawed by a tiger in an action-adventure movie where she's the heroine. Don't look now, but I think I just wrote a treatment for the next Weinstein Bros. picture.

She explains that this week's challenge is part of Campbell Soup's Dress Your Heart campaign. The designers have to make an evening gown for a woman whose life has been affected by heart disease. The color red must be prominent. The Campbell's logo must be featured as part of the design. It must also be made entire out of vegetables and smell like chicken stock.

There is a chance I made that last part up.

PHOTO: Lifetime

Continue reading "Project Runway: From the Heart" »

Posted by Kevin Van Valkenburg at 10:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Project Runway
        

Same night, same guest blogger: Lindsay Diokno recaps another episode of "The Real World D.C."

Last night's episode was good for many reasons -- Callie and Mike got camera time with some interesting story lines; Andrew was infinitely more tolerable because he was paired with Ashley; and there was no Emily-Ty drama. Sadly, too much of the episode was dominated by Ashley and Andrew, and too little was shown of the two roommates who actually have internships and leave the house.

It's been established that Callie has an interest in photography, and she decides to pursue that interest further by applying for a photography internship at the Washington Blade (pour one out to the memory of the Blade, which closed late last year). Why start with Callie's story line even though the episode opens with Andrew and Ashley? Because even right now, I'm stunned that the afternoon of her interview:

- her portfolio is done
- her resume is not completed
- she is not dressed and has to leave in five minutes
- she has not looked up directions to the Washington Blade

And in the interview, we find out that Callie has not done any research on the Washington Blade. Now, I've lived in DC my entire life, so maybe it's typical in some parts of the country for a 21-year-old to never have had an internship. Therefore, maybe it's not that unusual to not know how to prep for a "real" interview. But how has she never made a resume?

Continue reading "'Real World D.C.': Picture of success? Not quite" »

Posted by Carla Correa at 12:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Maryland reality contestants, The Real World
        

Tonight is the last set of auditions before Hollywood Week on American Idol. Whew! I'm ready for that, aren't you? This hasn't been the most interesting set of auditions I've ever seen. That might be because they've "saved the best for last," so tonight is a grab-bag from all the cities, apparently.

In fact, Ryan Seacrest narrates, the most striking moment from the season so far is "Pants on the Ground."

Jessica Furney, who tried out last year with a Joplin song, but this year she picks a song that Simon Cowell co-wrote.  She says she didn't pick it to suck up but because it's a good song. She sounds lovely. Victoria Beckham starts questioning Simon about why he hasn't written any other songs because that one is great. She gets four votes and is headed to Hollywood.

Amanda Shectman shows off her Britney Spears impression in the holding room, and it's pretty good, as long as it's not her regular singing voice. Thankfully, it's not, and she is great. Simon is even smiling. Victoria tells her she needs to work on her expression, and Kara says she needs to connect. She says because she does theater, she is working on breaking down the wall and connecting with the audience more. They start giving her constructive criticism, and she goes into this dramatic freakout of trying to prove to them that she really wants it and they can get it. But they're clearly going to vote yes, they're just waiting for her to shut up. She finally does and gets that ticket. Cue the tears.

Continue reading "'American Idol' recap: Last auditions before Hollywood week" »

Posted by Sarah Kickler Kelber at 10:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: American Idol
        

In Denver, guest judge Victoria Beckham rejoins the judges for another American Idol audition round.

The first auditioner of the days is Mark Labriola, who says that everyone always tells him he looks like Jack Black. Simon asks Mark to tell them something interesting about himself, and he first tells them that he likes cheese. He follows that up with a long story about how his mom stole him from his father and that they lived as fugitive for six years until his dad got him back when he was 10. Anyway, when he sings Squeeze's "Tempted," it turns out he is good. He gets a golden ticket to Hollywood.

Montage of nervousness.

Mario Galvan has a really nervous laugh that he can't stop. The judges openly mock this, then he sings "Jailhouse Rock" and gets rejected. That was weird.

Continue reading "'American Idol' recap: Auditions in Denver" »

Posted by Sarah Kickler Kelber at 9:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: American Idol
        

Here's Kathryn on tonight's Bachelor: On the Wings of Love ...

The women and Jake arrive in San Francisco.  I went to SF once.  I was visiting a friend who was attending Berkeley at the time and he took me into the city for a day trip.  Insert fun factoid: In the fabulous movie The Graduate, the Golden Gate Bridge had to be shut down to film the scene with Ben driving across the bridge.  I can't remember why, I think it was something to do with the direction in which he was traveling was impossible with the way the traffic flowed across the bridge.  Jason, if you ever read this and I'm wrong, please chime in with a correction.

This week there's 3 one-on-one dates and 1 two-on-one date; no roses are available on any of the dates.

Continue reading "'The Bachelor': Final four revealed" »

Posted by Sarah Kickler Kelber at 12:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Bachelor/Bachelorette