rihanna, chris brown set back domestic violence movement
um, what pr team let this happen. it's no secret that three years ago chris brown beat rihanna, sending her to the hospital and forcing both stars to pull out of the 2009 grammys. it's also no secret that rihanna publicly pled to never go back to brown, telling barbra walters it would set a bad example for her young fans. but now it looks like rihanna might be eating her words - a little bit. there's no confirmation that the duo is back together romantically (in fact, tmz has plenty of pics of brown and his new girlfriend frolicking on the beach) but they are together musically. in honor of rihanna's birthday, the duo each released remixes of their new singles, featuring the other. rihanna dropped a full-length version of "birthday cake," and brown premiered a new version of "turn up the music." my biggest problem here? both songs are so catchy that they'll get plenty of radio play -- and people will probably forget about what happened.
"birthday cake"
"turn up the music"
sometimes i wish i were famous...
so i could do stuff like this with my other famous friends, ya know? selena gomez, justin bieber, ashley tisdale and the boys of big time rush (amongst others) got together to create a viral video for their friend, canadian pop star carly rae jepsen's new single "call me maybe." the song is catchy, but the video's better.
this. is. phenomenal. former disney darling ashley tisdale takes on toddlers and tiaras' makenzie alongside leah remini in the latest funny or die sketch. try not to laugh.
last night, nbc aired the "women of snl" special. the show highlighted the great skits featuring female players over the show's nearly 40 year history. but it wasn't the retrospective that made the special great, but the 10-minute opening. the women of snl - from cheri o'teri to maya rudolph and kristen wiig - parodied bravo's real housewives franchise reunions, each taking on a different housewife. check out the skit (hosted by real real housewives host andy cohen) above. as far as i can tell, cheri is teresa from new jersey, rachel dratch is caroline, tina fey is kim zolciak from atlanta, ana gasteyer is ramon from new york, molly shannon is bethenny and kristen wiig and maya rudolph share some sort of split role of danielle.
sharpay sneak peak
it's finally here. over the summer, ashley tisdale filmed sharpay's fabulous adventure, a spin-off of the high school musical franchise. check out the video above, which gives you a sneak peak into the movie. it looks like the flick will pick up where hsm3 left off, with sharpay going straight from high school graduation to the great white way. obviously this won't be an oscar winner, but it does look like adventure carries the same spirit of its predecessors. the film should premiere on disney channel sometime early next year, with a dvd release to follow. this may be your last chance to get a new high school musical fix, as it looks like moving forward with the franchise's fourth installment have stalled.
it looks like glee is adding one more cast member next season. in addition to the previously announced new characters that are being cast through a national call, the creators of glee decided to add a foreign exchange student into the mix. but, instead of grabbing the girl from the national pool, some stunt casting has taken place. entertainment weekly is reporting that charice, the phillipines-born pop star and oprah discovery (she's huge across the world, somewhat unheard of in the u.s.), will be playing a foreign exchange student who gives rachel a run for her money in the singing department. that means ms. berry will have two singing rivals next season, as the already announced carrie underwood-like christian character has also been described as rachel's rival. it will be interesting to see if charice can act or if she'll just be a mess on screen. hopefully she makes the show (and new directions) better, not worse. check out charice's singing chops above on her song "pyramid."
sharpay returns
here's your first look of ashley tisdale as sharpay evans in the yet-again retitled high school musical spin off high stakes. looks like a lot of pink.
the cw's new series, hellcats, looks a lot like bring it on. aly michalka's character (that's the hard-edged blonde) seems like a xerox of the eliza dushku character in the movie; and ashley tisdale the kirsten dunst character. they just swapped hair colors, and moved to college. here's the full preview for the show i talked about a couple weeks ago when the cw announced it was adding the series to its fall schedule. though it does looks like regurgitated bring it on, that's a good thing.
and we've come to my last day of upfront posts. cbs and its sister network the cw released their new schedules over the past two days. these two networks had the least wiggle room for change and, not surprisingly, only have a few new shows.
cbs added just five new shows: 2 comedies and three dramas. the comedies look a lot better than the dramas, so i'll start there. the first comes from chuck lorre, the mind behind two and a half men and the big bang theory. it's called mike and molly and revolves around a couple who meets at overeaters anonymous. i'd say its cbs' best bet for a hit come fall. the cast is made up of people you'll recognize, but have no clue what the hell their names are. here's the preview.
the other new comedy from cbs is $#*! my dad says, based on this twitter account. it stars william shatner and mad tv vets nicole sullivan and will sasso. the pilot featured ryan devlin in the main son role, but he's been booted and they're looking to recast. i'd say that's a good decision, because devlin's performance in the preview is just so-so. you need a big personality to go head-to-head with shatner.
out of the three dramas cbs added to their schedule, the defenders looks the best. it stars traditionally comedic actors jim belushi and jerry o'connell as las vegas defense attorneys. when i first heard about the show, i didn't think it was going to work. jim belushi in a drama? say what? but it actually makes sense.
cbs' other new dramas are the hawaii-five-o reboot (the clip they posted online is just the opening credits, which screams "it's not ready yet" to me - are there no new ideas!? and couldn't they have just done ncis: hawaii?) and blue bloods, about a family of cops from the people behind the sopranos starring tom selleck (and his mustache) and bridget moynahan. it looks good, but i don't know how i feel about the shaky-cam look.
the biggest change coming to cbs is the line-up switch-er-oo they're doing. instead of trying to create comedy magic on wednesdays again, they're taking their hour-long comedy block to thursdays. the big bang theory and $#*! my dad says will go head to head with nbc's community and 30 rock come fall. csi:miami is off to sundays, with hawaii-five-o taking its monday night slot. blue bloods takes a friday slot, bumping medium and csi: new york up an hour each. and survivor is now on wednesdays. should be interesting how this plays out for the eye net.
the cw only has 2 new scripted shows. the first is nikita, a relaunch of the movie series and syndicated show la femme nikita. maggie q stars as the first non-caucasion nikita and this time the secret agent has gone rogue. it looks a lot like alias, which makes me excited. it's getting paired with the cw's vampire diaries, which means the net has big expectations for the show. tvd was the cw's biggest hit this last fall and whatever is paired with it is expected to do well.
the net's other new show is hellcats, which is bring it on meets 90210. back by smallville's tom welling, hellcats revolves around a southern university cheerleading squad. disney vets aly michalka and ashley tisdale star. hellcats is being paired with the cw's other big hitter, america's next top model (which will get a big of a makeover come fall, with the big prize being upped to the cover of italian vogue). you can tell the cw wants their new shows to succeed, not get lost in the clutter that is the tv landscape. the clip below doesn't reveal much about the show, but the tiz's involvement is enough to get a buzz going.
and that is what you have to look forward to in the fall. happy channel surfing.
it's been almost two years since high school musical 3 hit the big screen. those two years have come and gone without the much hyped fourth installment of the series ever coming to out tvs. now we can all rest easy. a fourth hsm movie is set to go into production this summer and - yay - it will not be the now scrapped west side story retelling. instead, the fourth flick in the franchise will be a spin-off vehicle for sharpay, the character ashley tisdale made famous. the tiz has signed on to star and produce broadway bound. bb will follow ashley's character as she leaves east high behind (i'm guessing she'll be graduating college and, therefore, her assistant director position at her high school?) for the big white way. so far no other names are attached to the project, but i'm sure disney will be able to throw one or two of their current disney channel darlings into the mix. broadway bound will premiere sometime in 2011. 2010 is shaping up to be a busy year for the tiz, with production on her (possible) new cw show, hellcats, going on right now. she recently dyed her hair brown for that role, so it will be interesting to see what color hair sharpay will be rocking come next year.
ashley tisdale has released the music video from her latest single, "crank it up," and i have no clue why. the single is fine - it's a catchy, dance-pop tune - but i don't understand why ashley tisdale is the one singing it. a graduate of camp disney, ashley is in that limbo of where one goes after their done with the mouse house. she's no longer the spunky teenager from the disney sitcom, but isn't a leading lady in hollywood either. i can't imagine radio disney is playing this music and i know our everyday, top-40 stations don't have the tiz in their cycle. so, where does this music get heard? are they making money off of this? it just doesn't add up to me. plus, the music vid for "crank it up" is one big mess. for some reason, someone slapped some black angel wings on ashley's back and told her to dance around in a dingy hotel room. what that has to do with listening to music and going to a club, i don't know. it seems like ashley may have cut her mickey mouse strings too soon. had she stuck with the disney channel, i'm sure she could have had her own tv show, movie series and so on. what any of these disney stars are thinking when they sign record contracts, i don't know. it's only the one in a million (hello, miley cyrus) who actually gets to reach more than just the tween audience. better take note, aspiring tween sensations.
j. lo out, lola in
it looks like jennifer lopez is reinventing herself once again. who does she think she is, madonna? not quite, more like beyonce. jennifer has decided to take on her own sasha fierce-esque persona in the form of "lola," her new alter ego. the reinvention campaign began this morning with the release of lola's first single, "fresh out the oven," which features pitbull. it's the kind of music you expect from j.lo and fits right in with her pre-existing music catalog. so why release it as lola and not as jennifer? i have no clue. it seems like this "lola" business is going to blow up into a pretty big thing though. in addition to the single, whoislola.com has been launched along with twitter.com/_whoislola. i'm guessing that, because jennifer has been removed from the music scene for such a long time, they want to drum up buzz with this crazy scheme. it could work, or it could turn into another garth brooks/chris gaines debacle. google it if you have no clue what i'm talking about. the who is lola? campaign is reportedly going to culminate in a jennifer lopez hosted snl featuring musical guest lola. hopefully we won't have to wait until then to get an explanation for lola.
i don't know what will. this new promo for fox's newest show, glee, shows a ton of clips from upcoming episodes, teasing story lines that look great. if you missed the show's special sneak preview last month, click here to watch the entire ep. glee, from the creator of nip/tuck (and the former wb show popular), will officially premiere this fall as part of fox's new line-up, wednesdays at 9/8c.
shedding the disney image
one fake presidential lapdance at a time. keep it classy, tiz.
with the buzz surrounding this show, i can only assume it's really really good. or at least promising. debra messing is set to star in a new single-camera comedy for nbc. abc allegedly lost out on the series after an intense bidding war amongst the two networks. this will be debra's third series for nbc/universal, starting with will and grace and the short-lived usa mini-series/series the starter wife. the new show, which is without a title and by the same team as wife, will follow deb as a recently laid off ceo who has never quite gotten the hand of being a wife and mother. we'll get to see her struggles as her husband becomes the main breadwinner for the family and she takes over the stay-at-home parenting duties. sounds good to me, though the whole one-camera thing scares me. i hope this isn't another office/parks and recreation...nbc needs to find a new schtick. the peacock net seems committed to pick up the show before the pilot is even shot as they have script commitment and an episode guarantee from messing. that bodes even better for the series. expect to see the show as the new cornerstone for one of nbc's nights - probably tuesday or wednesday. the network will have to spread its shows around more now that they're adopting the fox schedule of only 2 prime time hours; remember that the 10/9c hour will be occupied by jay leno's new-old show.
the tiz is back
ashley tisdale has said bye-bye to her disney days (minus her lucrative production deal with the network) and is taking a second shot at the music world. tisdale's second album on hollywood records (another disney entity) is a little more grown up and a little more edgy. i mean, obviously...she has brown hair now. nothing means serious pop-rocker more than brown hair. the song's called "it's alright, it's ok" and the video is mtv-worthy. too bad mtv doesn't have a show to feature music videos anymore. sadly, ash released the vid exclusively to myspace.com. yes, people still use myspace. the song is a good start for the tiz, but i don't know if she'll get radio play outside of radio disney. the video features 90210 star(ish) adam gregory and is all about ashley being an independent woman. yeah.
tv newseses
yes, i made up the word (?) newseses, but i wasn't very creative. here's a bunch of scooplets over some of your favorite shows. first up, the gossip girl spin-off/backdoor pilot has an air date (and a name). the episode will air may 11 and will be called valley girls - a much better name than the previously reported lily. the promo poster is to the left ... is paula abdul done with idol? after a recent larry king interview, that looks to be the truth. paula's contract is up after this season and the "straight up" singer addressed kara dio guardi's presence at the judging table as a way for the show to move on, not replace paula. hmm ... don't expect michelle trachtenberg back on gossip girl after her 4 episode arc this season. that is, of course, if her show doesn't get canceled. the 17 again actress is set to star in mercy for nbc, about a group of young nurses. sounds like nbc's attempt to fill er's shoes to me. i wonder how the peacock net is going to fit in all these new shows. i'll be interested to see which they lose and which they keep come may when they announce next fall's lineup ... and, finally, some news for pushing daisies fans. the gone before its time series will live on as a dc comic book series that will wrap up all lose ends and possible lead to a big screen adaption. yay!
with the second season set to start later this year (probably right after the hills finishes its 5 season), the producers/writers had to come up with some new dramz for whitney, right? right. whitney port has allegedly left her position at diane von furstenberg to return to work at people's revolution with kelly kutrone. basically, there was no reason for her to move to new york. why the career shuffle? it "appears" that whitney was quite offended when enemy/co-worker olivia palermo was offered a promotion as london publicist for the fashion house, especially after all the fakery seen last season in which olivia took credit for whitney's work. at least kelly kutrone should provide more entertainment to viewers than anyone at von furstenberg; she at least is bitchy outright, not in a behind-your-back sort of way. it'll be interesting to see what direction this takes the show. the whole premise was that whitney moved to new york to work for diane, not to keep her same job in a different city. but, oh well. with the return to people's revolution also brings more opportunities for cross-overs with the hills and with magazines. elle magazine is said to play a very important role in the new season, with at least 6 episodes featuring creative director joe zee. it'll also be interesting to see if whitney's relationship with actor robert buckley will be shown on screen or if she'll continue to "date" jay...
relationship blurbs
these are just snip-its all about hollywood's latest hook-ups and break-ups: mel gibson's wife of 28 years, robyn, filed for divorce from the movie star-turned-religious crazy person, citing irreconcilable differences ... contrary to popular belief, joe jonas and camilla belle have not split. the duo were spotted at a performance of avenue q this weekend in nyc ... sarah michelle geller and husband freddie prinze jr are expecting their first child together. let the baby bump watch begin! ... ashley tisdale has split from boyband beau jared murillo after 2 years together. but, don't think you can get a date with the disney star. the tiz has already moved on to music vid director scott speer, who directed the video for her latest single, "it's alright it's okay," which is set to be released tomorrow ... chris brown is recovering from his recent rihanna drama with erica jackson, an ex-girlfriend from his hometown in virginia. hopefully she knows some self defense ...
that's it for today. in other news, music producer phil spector was convicted of the murder of actress lana clarkson today, nearly 6 years after the crime was committed. morbid, i know, but, in some way, good news.
is it just me or are all the shape magazine covers the same?? now, i've never paid all that much attention to this particular mag, but with the surge in high profile stars on its cover, i've come to notice that almost all the covers look exactly the same. the star poses with her hip cocked to one side, corresponding arm resting on it, in a bikini, with a big ass grin on her face. the latest celeb to grace the cover is none other than the tiz herself, ashley tisdale. now, it's good that all these girls have the tight abs (they should - all they have is time to work out) and good retouchers, but can't someone at the mag get some creativity? maybe the creative directors and editors just really like the look, but it seems quite boring and, if i were to get the magazine, i wouldn't be able to differentiate between the different issues...
since it's the holidays, the celebs seem to be keeping it relatively tame, so no big news to comment on today.
the american music awards aired live from los angeles tonight. beginning with a preshow, hosted by easily distracted carrie ann inaba, that guy from the bachelor, and nicole scherzinger of the pussycat dolls, the awards was more like a giant concert. the winners of the night are barely memorable, with alicia keys nominated in almost every category and chris brown taking home three awards. the show had some of the biggest names in music performing, including the jobros, beyonce, taylor swift, miley cyrus (celebrating her sweet 16 today - closing the age gap between her and uber creep non-boytoy justin gaston), and natasha bedingfield. the tension backstage had to be high, with jobro exes swift and cyrus being within 100 feet of the brother act at all times. the biggest disappointment of the night was probably annie lennox's performance. receiving a lifetime achievement award from justin timberlake, the former eurythmics front woman sang a depressing, one note song rather than a big hit like "broken glass" or "sweet dreams." if you're receiving a lifetime achievement award, play something the audience recognizes and that is a little more upbeat, okay? coldplay's performance should probably have closed the show, with a rain of paper butterflies coming from the ceiling in a constant stream that made a trashtastic mess; a custodial crew kept peeking their heads out from behind the set to see if they could clean up...instead alicia keys closed the show in a black-girl-power number, alongside queen latifah and some rando opera singer. the awards show seemed to focus on keys, even though her latest hasn't even made that much of an impact. oh well, the ama's signals the beginning of the big awards shows, meaning more performances and crazy antics to come.
teen witch: the musical
it looks like ashley tisdale, aka the tiz, is working on her own starring vehicle in an update of 80s camp classic teen witch. breaking free (you see the pun there?) of her disney image, ashley will take the role of a teen witch (if that wasn't obvi by the title) in a musical adaptation of the coming of age story. this news coincides with zac efron's newly announced kenny ortega footloose production. the tiz is also at work on a disney channel pilot based on her lift in retail before hitting it big in the hollyhood. monique coleman is the only hsm alum to not commit to a new project. click here to take a listen to a song from the original version of the film.
abc does the grey's shuffle
in hopes to reboot their failing fall season, the alphabet net is retooling their lineup. with the cancelation of pushing daisies and dirty sexy money, abc is moving the former wednesday staple private practice after its founding show grey's anatomy. to reinvigorate interest in the franchise, the two shows will have yet another cross over later in the season. this will move new semi-hit life on mars over to wednesdays to finish out the season with the rest of the current lineup. the end of dancing with the stars's current season also means the introduction of yet another pointless season of the bachelor. when will abc learn that none of the relationships are working? the current bachelor is a former contestant from last season's deanna edition of the bachelorette; deanna recently announced her split from her choice for true love.
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