Television's Weblog

Mike Dutz the third houseguest evicted from CBS’ ‘Big Brother 8′

suntravel — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 12:59:41 +0000

During the Power of Veto competition that followed Dick’s nominations, he found himself trying to outlast Jen in order to keep his original eviction nominations in place. The other houseguests — who have mostly taken to disliking Jen — decided to help Dick and try to break Jen’s concentration. Dick told Jen she was not his target, and guaranteed her that Kail was the one he wanted to see evicted. However when Mike — an original member of Kail’s “Mrs. Robinson Alliance” — heard Dick’s comments, Mike (spurred on by Kail, who had been the first houseguest eliminated from the POV competition) decided to heckle Dick.

“So you wanna go on the (eviction) block right now?” Dick asked Mike as Mike continued attempting to break Dick’s concentration.

“All the threats in the world won’t get to me, it’s just a game. It doesn’t affect me,” Mike answered.

Upset by Mike’s flippant response, Dick quit the challenge — making Jen the week’s Power of Veto winner. “You know what? You’re on the block,” Dick told Mike.

Once Jen (unsurprisingly) used the Power of Veto to save herself, Dick followed through and put Mike up in her place.

“Mike is an idiot… he was safe,” Dick later commented in the Diary Room. “The was the stupidest move [he] beat Marcellas. Marcellas [Reynolds] had the stupidest move in the history of the history of this game [but] now [Mike] tops the list.”

(Back in Big Brother 3, Marcellas, who had managed to win the Golden Power of Veto after being nominated for eviction, decided not to take himself off the chopping block. He was voted out of the house immediately after announcing his shocking decision, costing himself a guaranteed spot in Big Brother 3′s Final 4.)

Cheryl Kosewicz found dead in home

suntravel — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 12:58:07 +0000

Kosewicz, a 35-year-old deputy district attorney that had recently relocated to Sparks, NV, had been the fourth contestant eliminated from the recently canceled CBS reality series. Prior to moving to the Washoe County District Attorney’s Office in Reno, NV, Kosewicz had spent six and a half years working in the Clark County District Attorney’s Office in Las Vegas. According to her CBS biographical information, she had specialized in the prosecution of sexual abuse cases.

Kosewicz’s death, which is still under investigation, occurred less than two months after her boyfriend, Ryan O’Neil, also took his own life, Reno’s KOLO-TV ABC affiliate reported Sunday.

‘The Simple Life’ star Nicole Richie

suntravel — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 12:57:31 +0000

The Simple Life star pleaded guilty on Friday in a Glendale, CA courthouse to charges stemming from a December arrest for driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol, and as a result, she was sentenced to four days in jail, People reported. In addition, Richie — who according to several unconfirmed recent tabloid reports, is three months pregnant — also agreed to serve a three-year probation term, enroll in an alcohol education program and pay a $2,048 fine.

“Someone could’ve gotten killed,” Los Angeles County Commissioner Steven Lubell told Richie during the brief hearing, People reported. “You need to understand that driving under the influence is extremely dangerous.”

Who previously produced ABC’s controversial

suntravel — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 12:56:42 +0000

“You see romantic comedies in the movies and in scripted TV but not in reality,” Marsh told Variety. “We wanted to do a competition that would feel more fun and light and stay away from the backstabbing elements that have crept into so many shows. There’s so much real comedy and insight and often poignancy when you really examine male-female relationships.”

Here Come the Newlyweds will reportedly feature seven recently wed couples with different backgrounds, including high school sweethearts; an arranged marriage; and a pair of divorcees who are each starting their fourth marriage. Each episode of the show will feature a series of challenges in which all the couples compete together or in teams of two, according to Variety, with the goal being to boost the show’s final cash prize for the winner.

“All the competitions are designed to elicit the comic moments you have in every marriage,” Blumenfield told Variety.

While the challenges may mimic humorous moments from married life, Variety reported they’re also designed to test each couples’ relationship, with one husband and wife eliminated each week.

“I wouldn’t call it completely ‘feel good,’” Blumenfield told Variety. “There’s tension in a marriage, and there’s a lot of humor that’s been mined over the years in the mundane arguments between a husband and a wife. But you won’t get that dirty feeling you sometimes get in reality TV.”

‘The Next Food Network Star’

suntravel — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 12:56:04 +0000

“Thank you. Thank you very much,” said Finley after it was revealed she was the winner by Food Network star Emeril Lagasse and The Next Food Network Star judge Bobby Flay. “I’m going to enjoy being your gourmet next door!”Finley defeated Rory Schepisi, a 30-year-old restaurant owner from Vega, TX, to take home The Next Food Network Star 3 title, a victory awarded to her by home viewer votes cast after last Sunday night’s pre-taped penultimate episode.

Finley ended up being crowned The Next Food Network Star’s third-season champion despite not having originally been one of competition’s final two finalists. When the show had originally finished production earlier this year, The Next Food Network Star’s judges had decided that Schepisi and Josh “Jag” Garcia deserved to be the season’s last two finalists.

TV.As was the case for The Bachelor

suntravel — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 12:55:17 +0000

However unlike last spring’s edition that ran 90-minute episodes all season long, The Bachelor’s eleventh edition episodes will cut down to an hour after three weeks. Beginning October 15, Samantha Who? — a new half-hour Christina Applegate sitcom that had originally been announced as Sam I Am back in May — will air in the half-hour period between Dancing with the Stars’ 90-minute performance episodes and The Bachelor, which will deflate back into the reality franchise’s previously standard one-hour format and slide back into the Mondays at 10PM ET/PT time period.

ABC had previously announced Dancing with the Stars and The Bachelor’s renewals as part of a March early renewal announcement in which the network disclosed that it had given early 2007-2008 season pick-ups to 14 television series, including Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. In mid-May, the network announced new installments of Dancing with the Stars, The Bachelor and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition would air as part of its Fall 2007 primetime programming schedule.

‘Last Comic Standing’.Top 10 fifth season finalists

suntravel — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 12:53:58 +0000

After watching the competition’s second group of 16 semifinalists perform, Last Comic Standing 5′s semifinals judging panel — regular “talent scouts” Alonzo Bodden, Ant and Kathleen Madigan and special guest judge Tom Arnold — selected Gerry Dee (Toronto, ON), Matt Kirshen (Muswell Hill, London), Jon Reep (Los Angeles, CA), and Amy Schumer (Brooklyn, NY) as fifth-season finalists. Lavell Crawford, a Sherman Oaks, CA resident, was also voted into the finals as the Last Comic Standing studio audience’s favorite.

During last week’s July 18 broadcast of the first semifinalists group’s performances, Last Comic Standing had already revealed Doug Benson (Los Angeles, CA), Gina Yashere (Woodford Green, London), Ralph Harris (Valley Village, CA), Debra DiGiovanni (Toronto, ON), and studio audience pick Dante (Canyon Country, CA) as the first five members of the fifth season’s Top 10 finalists.

MTV’s ‘Newport Harbor’ ‘Laguna Beach’ successor to debut

suntravel — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 12:52:44 +0000

Pretty and popular, Chrissy is a senior who grew up in Newport Beach and is lifelong friends with Sasha and Grant. An only child to doting parents, Chrissy has recently blossomed into a head-turning high school senior. As smart as she is beautiful, Chrissy has three colleges to pick from as she prepares to leave the family nest. While everything seems to be going her way, Chrissy longs for the one thing that has eluded her: a boyfriend.

Now that the hottest guy in school a junior named Clay who also happens to be her neighbor has taken an interest in her, Chrissy appears headed for a storybook romance. Along the way she’ll need to navigate roadblocks including an overprotective dad and rivals for Clay’s affection.
Clay is a junior and although shy with girls, he is regarded as Newport Harbor’s hottest guy. Born and raised in Newport, he takes full advantage of his oceanfront playground. Whether he’s fishing from his own speed boat off Balboa Island or surfing at one of Newport’s famous breaks, Clay catches girls’ glances wherever he goes. Clay’s humble attitude belies his looks and he often turns to Grant, his gregarious friend, for a boost of confidence. While it seems Clay could have any girl he wants, his shyness has kept him from having a relationship. But when Clay develops real feelings for Chrissy and she responds accordingly- it could be his chance to break out.

The latest buzz is digital TV

suntravel — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 12:48:59 +0000

Also known as DTV or HDTV (high-definition TV). DTV uses MPEG-2 encoding just like the satellite systems do, but digital TV allows a variety of new, larger screen formats.
A digital TV decodes the MPEG-2 signal and displays it just like a computer monitor does, giving it incredible resolution and stability. There is also a wide range of set-top boxes that can decode the digital signal and convert it to analog to display it on a normal TV

Television is one of the most influential forces

suntravel — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 12:38:29 +0000

Through the device called a television set or TV, you are able to receive news, sports, entertainment, information and commercials. The average American spends between two and five hours a day glued to “the tube”!Have you ever wondered about the technology that makes television possible? How is it that dozens or hundreds of channels of full-motion video arrive at your house, in many cases for free?

How does your television decode the signals to produce the picture? How will the new digital television signals change things? If you have ever wondered about your television (or, for that matter, about your computer monitor), then read on! In this article, we’ll answer all of these questions and more.