Well, you have to give her points for persistence.
Missy Chase Lapine, author of the cookbook 'The Sneaky Chef,' is suing Jerry Seinfeld for remarks he made about her on 'The Late Show with David Letterman' a couple of years ago. I watched that episode, as Seinfeld made a few jokes about her, including calling her a 'wacko' and hinting that she might be a stalker and crazy because she goes by three names. As I mentioned a while back, it was obvious that was going to cause some trouble.
Lapine already sued the Seinfelds and their publishing company for supposedly stealing ideas from her book for Jessica Seinfeld's book 'Deceptively Delicious' (both books had similar angles to them). That suit was dismissed.
I'm sure Seinfeld would like any promotion for 'The Marriage Ref,' but I'm equally sure he just wants this to go away as quickly as possible.
Wednesday will be bringing us the season premiere of 'South Park,' and the topic of the episode has already been revealed. Trey Parker and Matt Stone will be raking Tiger Woods over the coals along with the concept of sex addiction in America.
The season premieres of 'South Park' tend to be a little more thoughtful than the rest of the season, usually because Trey and Matt have had some break time to think about things. The last season premiere brought us the Jonas Brothers and "Mister Mouse," which was a highlight of the season along with 'Margaritaville.'
On a related note, the show is only five episodes away from its 200th, which will be broadcast next month. Their 100th episode dealt with the mood of the country after 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq and ended with a sing-off between a rock singer (Stan's father) and a country singer. Hopefully, the 200th will be equally as entertaining and insightful. Set your schedule accordingly.
(E01) Just as Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks collaborated with HBO in 2001 to bring us the European World War II epic 'Band of Brothers,' they've joined forces again to take us to the other side of the war with 'The Pacific.' Another ten-part series, like 'Brothers,' 'Pacific' is based on true military figures and events depicted with some dramatic license, but with attempts to be as accurate as possible.
One of the first things the production team did was establish just how different the Pacific front was from the European one. The image that dominates most dramatic presentations about the fight against the Nazi forces of Germany is the military arrival on the beaches of Normandy; a veritable trip into hell.
In contrast, the 1st Marine Regiment's arrival on the beaches of Guadalcanal is a temporary reprieve from the hell of the naval warfare going on just offshore. Everything about this first episode established the atmosphere, tension, anxiety, beauty and horrors of fighting in a tropical paradise.
(S21E14) I bet the newspaper industry was thrilled with this episode. While we're living in an era where the daily print newspaper is on the decline, we learned that in the future, people will get six daily editions of the newspaper -- and yet the fashions of the 1950s and early 1960s will still be all the rage, including dutiful wives and chain-smoking.
The opening and closing segments of this episode, which only tangentially had anything to do with the real plot of the episode, reminded me a lot of the old Warner Bros. shorts where they would take a look into a speculative future based on 1940s ideals and values. This interlude was every bit as fun as those, and I found myself disappointed when it ended as a video shown in Mrs. Krabappel's class that even she didn't understand.
Once we got into the meat of the episode, it actually touched on an issue that's pretty serious for most parents: what happens when the two of you disagree on how to deal with a child disciplinary issue.
(S06E17) "I know that you have a secret." - Gaby to Angie
'Desperate Housewives' titles are always found in lyrics of songs written by Stephen Sondheim. This week's unusual title is no different. 'Chromolume #7' is a song in the musical 'Sunday in the Park with George.' More precisely, the Chromolume #7 is a color and light machine featured in an act of the musical.
The title fits with Mary Alice's commentary at the end of the episode saying that it's not always easy to see people's true colors and that people hide their true nature from us every day. This week, we got confirmation on Angie's secret, we learned who Sam really is, we discovered how Gaby acted when she was a high profile model, and we met Preston's girlfriend and mustache!
(S16E05) Brave soldiers marching as to war ... or maybe it's just a team from 'The Amazing Race' hoping to make the pit stop without interference from the Red Baron. The episode started off on a new and different note. After arriving at the last pit stop, the teams were taken to an undisclosed location. They didn't know; we didn't know. Mais oui, we all figured it out. It turned out that the lack of whereabouts knowledge wasn't what affected this leg. It was all about over confidence. That can end up biting you in the butt.
He was team leader Jim Phelps on 'Mission: Impossible' in the '60s and also had a memorable role as the pilot Captain Oveur in the first two 'Airplane' movies in the '80s. He was also the host of A&E's 'Biography' for ten years and appeared in several commercials ("I'm Peter Graves..."). You might even know him from voice work he did on 'American Dad.' He had a recurring role on '7th Heaven' and guest roles on 'Cold Case,' 'House,' 'Diagnosis: Murder,' 'The Love Boat,' 'Fantasy Island,' and other shows.
Graves wasn't happy about Phelps being the bad guy in the big-screen 'Mission: Impossible' movie but was actually going to film a cameo in the fourth film in the franchise.
Graves was the brother of another TV icon, 'Gunsmoke's' James Arness. After the jump, the opening to 'Mission: Impossible.'
Saturday night's 'Glee' panel at the PaleyFest 2010 festival scored an all-time attendance record as a fire marshal's nightmare throng of screaming fans flooded into the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills.
Other panels during this 2010 session served up enthusiastic crowds -- especially 'Lost' and Seth MacFarlane's appearance -- but the 'Glee' crowd had the feel of a rock concert gathering, producing more applause and squeals per creator and cast member than any event this year's PaleyFest provided.
Hey, 'Supernatural' fans. Well, I'm into season three now, after a short break last week to recover from season two. I was sort of bummed out the way it ended and needed some time to get my wits together. I was majorly sad about Dean's deal with the Crossroads demon to save Sam. It was a tough spot, to be sure. He had to save his brother; on the other hand, how will Sam feel when Dean's gone in a year? Clearly, I've got too much invested in these characters.
'You're in the Picture' was one of those rare TV shows that only last one episode. It was a CBS game show hosted by Jackie Gleason where celebrities would stick their heads through carnival cardboard cutouts and panelists had guess what the scene was. The following week, instead of the next episode, Gleason came out in a chair and just talked to the audience, apologizing for the show. The following week he turned it into a talk show.
More people on TV should apologize like this. And I think more people should smoke on TV again too.
(S05E16) "Don't come back. You'll be dead too." - Cassidy from the mirror
Last week's 100th episode was a tough act to follow. We couldn't expect an episode as action packed as 'Implosion' was this week but we were given spooky episode that, even if somewhat a "filler episode" because we didn't learn a lot of new tidbits about the Shadows, helped push the issue about the Shadows and them wanting children a bit further.
'Old Sins Cast Long Shadows' was yet another rather dark episode of the series this season. Madame Greta looked so spooky and scary that I'm glad I forgot to record the episode on Friday so I couldn't watch it on my return around 11 p.m. and had to watch the episode online during the day (which is why my review is late as I had to wait for it to be online). Yes, I scare that easy.
Were you watching Eric McCormack and Sherry Stringfield in the Lifetime original movie 'Who Is Clark Rockefeller?' on Saturday night? If so, did you see the whole movie? Apparently, an awful lot of people didn't. Both Comcast and DirecTV viewers have reported that the Lifetime signal cut out after the first 57 minutes of the broadcast. When the movie returned some time later, the sound was missing.
(S35E17) Congratulations, Jude Law. That was a solid episode all around and a fine return to the 'Saturday Night Live' stage. And despite the fact that Pearl Jam was virtually unrecognizable to any ears that haven't heard them since the early-'90s, at least Law's musical guest didn't have any reason to do an awkward hoedown during a career-crippling blunder.
Cold Open: Of course they had to talk about this. Of course. Now, if you haven't read up on the incredibly weird Eric Massa story, it probably would have seemed like 'SNL' was just making up most of it. Unfortunately, they weren't. Maybe that's why they felt that ridiculously long intro was necessary? Anyway, the treatment of this topic was all right, though the absolute best part was Bobby Moynihan as Massa, attempting stealth snorkeling on Andy Samberg (the weak distraction was especially nice). And no, sorry, you can't unsee it.
At 7, ABC has a new 'America's Funniest Home Videos,' followed by new episodes of 'Extreme Makeover,' 'Desperate Housewives,' and 'Brothers & Sisters.'
CBS has a new '60 Minutes' at 7, then new episodes of 'The Amazing Race,' 'Undercover Boss,' and 'Cold Case.'
NBC has the series premiere of 'Minute To Win It' at 7 (two episodes), followed by the season premiere of 'Celebrity Apprentice.'
FOX has two new episodes of 'Til Death' at 7, then a new episode of 'The Simpsons.'
At 7:30, Disney has a new 'Hannah Montana,' followed by new episodes of 'Sonny with a Chance' and 'Jonas.'
At 8, Food Network has a new 'Challenge,' then the series premiere of 'Ultimate Recipe Showdown.'
GSN has a new 'High Stakes Poker' at 8.
Style has a new 'Ruby' at 8.
At 9, FOX has a new 'Family Guy,' followed by the series premiere of 'Sons of Tucson.'
HBO has the series premiere of 'The Pacific' at 9, then a new 'How To Make It In America.'
ESPN has a new '30 For 30' at 9.
History Channel has a new 'Ax Men' at 10.
At 12:30AM, Cartoon Network has a new 'Tim and Eric's Awesome Show, Great Job.'
NBC is determined to get a piece of the delicious pie that's known and cooking television. While Food Network would seem to be the destination of choice for all things culinary, Bravo's had successes with 'Top Chef' and 'Top Chef Masters,' so NBC is enlisting those producers to cook up something foodie for its network that'll actually succeed. NBC has hired chef Bobby Flay to top line 'America's Next Great Restaurant,' a new food competition show to air next season.
Bobby Flay's already one of the most prolific stars at Food Network. He's on 'Iron Chef' as one of America's iron chefs, he's a judge on 'The Next Food Network Star,' and hosts (or has hosted) 'Throwdown,' 'Boy Meets Grill' and 'Grill It.' You would think he's busy enough with FN -- as well as four restaurants of his own -- but the lure of NBC has clearly gotten to him. This new show, formerly called 'United Plates of America' will likely get a major promotion by NBC.
It seems unusual to do any sort of review for a Broadway musical on a television site, but 'The Addams Family' has had four television incarnations thus far, two filmed and two animated. Plus, both the leads in the Broadway version (most notably Bebe Neuwirth) have had some history with television acting. Finally, we've mentioned the play here on TV Squad before so it's really just a continuation of a previous idea.
As one of the lucky few who caught the Broadway show within it's first week, I have to say that the characters have notable differences from the more familiar television or movie versions. For one thing, their mansion is located in Central Park in Manhattan rather than in the suburbs. For another, Thing and Cousin It only make the briefest of cameos with the rest of the family taking much more of the spotlight.
This is not going to sit well with a lot of 'Parks and Recreation' fans, but here goes: Paul Schneider is leaving the show.
Co-creator Mike Schur confirms to the LA Times that Schneider is indeed leaving the show. Seems it's a combination of things. The fact that Schneider's character wasn't supposed to be on the show in the same position (he was supposed to be a character that came and went, switching between various government and private sector jobs) and the fact that Schneider's film career is taking off. He's going to be missed. He was always sort of the Jim Halpert of the group.
There is a bit of good news in this bad news. Both Rob Lowe and Adam Scott are joining the show. That could make things interesting and even make the cast a little meatier. Of course, there's a bit of a bad-news-inside-this-good-news-inside-this-bad news: Adam Scott is also on 'Party Down,' a really good show on STARZ. I hope he can do both.
There's a rumor buzzing around the Internet that Delta Burke will guest on 'Modern Family' as Cameron's mother. TV Guide had something in the print edition, and it was also repeated here, but the real culprit behind the tale is actor Eric Stonestreet who plays Cam. He said he would love Delta Burke to play his mama ... and it's a great idea.
Listen to how Eric described his character's background in a November interview: "Cameron is from a rural area in Missouri, he grew up on a farm. We don't know quite how he came out of the closet yet. You're going to find out little tidbits in the next few episodes about how my parents knew I was gay, but I think the thing is my parents are very supportive, very passionate and funny people. I can't wait for America to meet Cameron's mom -- I think Cameron's mom probably has a lot to do with his vivaciousness."
'American Idol' producer Nigel Lythgoe has hinted that a good replacement for the departing Simon Cowell would be none other than Sir Elton John himself. The question is, can Sir Elton be as entertaining as Cowell?
Cowell had an acerbic wit that entertained and spoke what the viewers were thinking. If John didn't repeat that methodology, he'd be called boring. If he did, he'd be called nasty. Is Elton John known for being snide and sarcastic? He's more well-known, other than his music, for being ostentatious and wearing strange glasses.
On the other hand, Elton John has been a big name in the music industry for a long time and would certainly be credible as a judge. IT depends on who his fellow judges are and whether they have good chemistry together.
Would Elton John's presence be an indicator that the show has done that thing that shows that stay too long do?
Well, you have to give her points for persistence.
Wednesday will be bringing us the season premiere of 
(S21E14) I bet the newspaper industry was thrilled with this episode. While we're living in an era where the daily print newspaper is on the decline, we learned that in the future, people will get six daily editions of the newspaper -- and yet the fashions of the 1950s and early 1960s will still be all the rage, including dutiful wives and chain-smoking.
Here's tonight's TV lineup (all times Eastern).
NBC is determined to get a piece of the delicious pie that's known and cooking television. While Food Network would seem to be the destination of choice for all things culinary, Bravo's had successes with 
It seems unusual to do any sort of review for a Broadway musical on a television site, but 
This is not going to sit well with a lot of 
There's a rumor buzzing around the Internet that Delta Burke will guest on 
Here's tonight's TV lineup (all times Eastern).
