It's Pants-olicious! - This Week on 'The Late Show with David Letterman' - Jan. 22-26

Last week I mentioned changes in the official website for the show. The Dave himself mentioned the changes during the week. If you're a Late Show fan, or even if you're just interested in some of the past guests, you should take a peek at the official site as there are tons of video clips in the archives and lots o' neat stuff. You could spend hours going through it all, so grab yourself a cup of joe and prepare to settle in.

My only complaint about the page is that it no longer lists the upcoming guests for the week. In a way that's okay as the website listings were notoriously obsolete for some time now. So, it's off to the listings for the show elsewhere...

• Monday, January 22: Actor Kevin Spacey, musician Alicia Keys, Nellie Kay and the Broadway Philharmonic perform. Oh, I always enjoy Kevin Spacey's appearances on the show. He's interesting and witty. What more could I want?
• Tuesday, January 23: Actors Forest Whitaker and Ricky Gervais with musical guests The Shins. Sounds good to me!
• Wednesday, January 24: Impressionist Frank Caliendo spoofs sports commentator John Madden, actress Mandy Moore and Rosanne Cash performs. Um, okay. For some reason Wednesday night shows aren't hitting with me so much lately. However, the monologue and other happenings keep me tuned in.
• Thursday, January 25: What? From the listings I see, this one is a repeat. Howard Stern (promoting himself and Sirius, as usual) and Gwen Stefani. The Stefani performance is excellent.
• Friday, January 26: Another repeat? Dave must have some wild plans for an extended weekend or something, eh? But, if you missed Clint Eastwood's appearance on the show in December, you'll want to check it out. Plus, actor Matthew Fox from Lost.

There you go. Pantsolicious, of course.

TV Newsy Bits - Saturday, January 20, 2006

Baby, it's cold outside. To me, this is the kind of weather that makes me want to stay inside... watching TV or DVDs, of course! Well, if my knee was better, skiing may be on the menu. But that's not the case.

There's no American Idol on this weekend, which could be a good thing. But there's a lot of other stuff! I've marked my own calendar to watch The Wire at 9 PM ET/PT on BET. I'm so glad I discovered the show there since I don't have HBO. And, what's even better is that time slot. None of my "have to see" shows are on at that time... until now with The Wire.

Here are the TV Newsy Bits I found while peeking around the Internet:

• TMZ broke the news that American Idol Hollywood choice Tommy Daniels has a criminal record. (He's the 'fro dude.) Meanwhile, Rosie has a new target.
• Heroes will return Monday night and the viewers will experience a TV 360 experience with interactive activity according to this Celebrity Spider article.
• Shhh... Milo Ventimiglia of Heroes reveals a few spoilers.
• Will Rob and Amber hit the "end of their shelf life" after the upcoming season of The Amazing Race? Entertainment Weekly seems to think so.
• CW has renewed Everybody Hates Chris for another season. I don't talk about the show so much, but the episodes I've seen, I've liked. Actor Todd Bridges, a survivor of Diff'rent Strokes, will be a guest star on Monday's episode.
• CBS has ordered/renewed Survivor through 2007-2008 - two more seasons in addition to the upcoming Survivor 14: Fiji.

What's on Television Tonight?

There's no American Idol to tie up the hours, but there are plenty of new episodes of other shows on tonight.

At 8 PM ET/PT on ABC, it's an all-new Ugly Betty while ABC has new episodes of My Name is Earl and The Office. Since CBS is showing a repeat in the slot, it's a great opportunity to check out the other shows. Oh... and Fox has new episodes of 'Til Death and The War at Home. CW has a new Smallville on.

A new C.S.I. starts at 9 PM ET/PT and we'll the new boss taking Grissom's place. Kemper. Kempler? Simon Templar? Whatever. NBC has new episodes of Scrubs and 30 Rock while ABC is showing a new Grey's Anatomy (check out the blog discussion post to talk about the show). FOX is showing a new episode of the dwindling down The O.C. CW has a new Supernatural and A&E has a new The First 48 (which is an interesting real action police investigation show). BET is showing The Wire (repeated late Saturday night).

At 10 PM ET/PT, NBC is showing an E.R. repeat while ABC has a new Men in Trees and CBS has a new Shark. Over on MTV, there's a new Real World.

'American Idol 6' - The Seattle Auditions

The smile on Simon's face that you see in the photo didn't stay around too long as the auditions hit Seattle. Not to worry, Minneapolis, Seattle brought about even a worse day of auditions according to Simon. In one day, Minneapolis put through 17 contestants to Hollywood. In two days in Seattle, only 14 made the cut.

A few things remained constant between both audition cities. The level of the talents, both the highs and the lows, are a bit disappointing for me this season. Why the heck are they keeping the left door of the double doors locked in place? It was another evening of "the other door." Not everyone is righthanded, American Idol. I was waiting for someone to run out in horror after a Simon scowl, hit the locked lefthand door, and slither down to the floor like in a cartoon.

There were no guest judges on the panel and Paula seemed to hang in through both days without really odd behaviors. The niceness that Simon seemed to exhibit last night was gone for the most part and Randy wasn't as harsh. Well, except for the ones who really didn't have a clue or were silly to even think of auditioning. I felt sorry for some of the contestants, as I did last night. But, when you think about it, they know the show. They chose to go on national television. They signed releases for the footage to be shown. Me? I'd never want to be a star that bad... and I know I can't sing. Or dance. I shouldn't even really hum.

Tonight's Most Notable of the Odd

Oh, how apt is this? A candidate for the Darwin Awards in relation to American Idol, we endured Darwin "Misha" Reedy accompanied by her Mom. Holding to the idea that she was bringing sexy back, I think her shirt was too sexy for her and not vice versa. And, it was a huge floppy shirt. Like mother, like daughter and she performed much like she portrays herself. She frightened me. Justin Timberlake may never sing his song again if he saw her mention of it.

I have no idea what's going on with this woman's skin color, but it can't be healthy. They asked her if it was a sunburn, but she didn't really say much. But, since she dressed the way she did, she knew it would be commented upon. She's Melissa "Carlene" Stavros and Simon basically said she sounded like a goat. What did goats ever do to Simon?

Her performance didn't really remind me of a goat. I thought more along the lines of a cacophony of sound and motion. If she had been on much longer, my head may have started to spin.


Nick Zitzmann (pictured on left) brought about thoughts of a young Kyle Secor gone bad. Now, I like Kyle Secor, but not when he's gone bad and thinks he can sing.

He tried to sing "Unchained Melody" which is a tough song even if you can sing. Oh, my. He may think he's a leader, be he ain't no singer. While Simon referred to him as possibly not human, I think he's wrong. This could be a zombie situation. You may want to alert the GhostBusters. Even Nick said watching the performance might scare himself.

Hopefully it will be a lasting friendship between Jonathan Jayne and Kenneth Briggs. Neither should have tried out for the show, Jonathan more so than Kenneth. I'm glad the judges weren't cruel to Jonathan and I'm also glad that Kenneth (for the most part) took Simon's comments in stride. And, he knows a bush baby is a kind of monkey! These two are the Odd Couple of Tonight's Most Notable of the Odd.

Why, oh why am I hearing "Dueling Banjos"? Like a character from Deliverance, Stephen Thoen likes to try "cro-akie." He likes to be called "Red." See, he's not representative of all redheads. My hair is a similar color (thankfully a different style and I have no beard) and I always hated to be called "Red."

He likened himself to Freddie Mercury and absolutely slayed "Bohemian Rhapsody." He also seemed just a tad dangerous. He was the last contestant of the day and I bet the judges had security escort them out.

There were other bad acts, but they didn't make my Most Notable list. Brandon Groves, the one who sang "I Shot the Sherriff" while dressed as a cop last year returned this season all decked out like the Apollo Creed guy in Minneapolis sans boxing gloves. David Mills had an epiphany and a wake-up call. There was a Taylor Hicks clone, Eric Chapman, who couldn't sing a lick.

Friends and relatives of AI wannabes, please don't let your loved ones think they have talent when they don't! Stop them before they sing again! I beseech you, I beg you... confine them to the shower. I beg you, tell them. Spare them the public humiliation. Friend don't let friends go without talent on American Idol.

There Were Some Good Ones

Tommy Daniels has tried twice before to make it on the show. He slept by trashcans awaiting his Seattle audition. He fluffed his 'fro and he put on a show. Blake Lewis, a champion beatboxer, showed off his "skillz" and proved he can sing, too. The Malakar siblings (brother and sister) both made it through shining. I liked how Sanjaya wouldn't admit that the judges said he has a better voice than his sister.

Rudy Cardenas took a chance with a Journey song (Randy was a band member) and was passed through to Hollywood by Randy and Paula, but not Simon. Anna Kearns, a lofty lady at 6'3" without heels, passed through although I wasn't too impressed with her singing. 16-year old Jordin Sparks whose father is NFL's Felipe Sparks, is going to Hollywood.

Me? I'm just waiting for the Memphis auditions we'll see next week.

TV Newsy Bits - Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Are you ready for another night of American Idol auditions? Tonight we'll see the Seattle auditions and I'll be posting an entry complete with screencaps of some of the events. In a newsy note, last night over 37 million folks watched the AI season premiere. Yet so many claim to never watch it, eh?

Due to my lengthy entries of today, well... two lengthy Amazing Race entries here and here in addition to my to-be-lengthy American Idol review/recap I'll be writing later tonight, I'm holding off on my final Survivor 14: Fiji cast entry. You can expect that in the next day or two. If you missed any of the first three parts, they'll be listed on the sidebar of the blog once I complete the final one.

In other TV Newsy Bits:

• The good folks over at Court TV let me know that a series I found very intriguing - Murder by the Book - is going to be renewed and this time will feature one of my favorite authors in the mystery genre. The series features an author looking into a case which has caught their own interest. The new shows will include authors David Baldacci, Sandra Brown, Lee Child, Harlan Coben, Linda Fairstein, and Kinky Friedman. Which one is one of my favorite authors? Well, the Kinkster, of course. That man can turn a phrase and I love the way he works his words. Plus, he's a character literally as well as figuratively. He stars in his own novels. As soon as I know the date, I'll be chatting this one up!
• The Court TV folks also dug up the real dirt behind the OJ failed novel. Was it a confession?
• Was Paula Abdul drunk, stoned or otherwise incapacitated on last night's show and various interviews? Celebrity Spider posted her side. Me? Something's way off with that gal, but I don't know what. She was definitely getting worse as the show went on.

Check back later tonight for the latest on American Idol!