'Big Brother 8' - Julie Chen on 'The Late Show with David Letterman'

Now that Robin Williams took up the major portion of the show (after the regular tomfoolery), it's time for the Chenbot.

Er, that's after a dozen commercials. At least one was for Big Brother 8 with the new houseguests.

Or not... now Robin Williams is doing an Alan Kalter skit. Hey, Dave... ten minutes to go. I want Julie Chen! Well, not on a personal level, y'see. I want her to be on the show already!

More commercials. I't now 12:29. The show ends at 12:37 here. Argh.

Sheesh. This is going to be an almost bump by the time the commercials end. It's now 12:32.

Finally...! Paul is playing Stevie Wonder's "Big Brother." They're talking about seasickness. Why are they talking cruises? Doesn't she have a show to promote? The show now. "Mostly felons, right?" Dave asks. "Just that one year."

Brief talk about the house. Two twists. She's telling about the person designated America's Player. She suggested something like the viewers wanting so-and-so to start a showmance as an example. Feed talk now. A schedule mention and that's it. She didn't even mention the "enemies" twist.

If you missed it, don't feel bad. I knew Robin Williams would monopolize the time.

'So You Think You Can Dance' Results Show - East Coast Update - 6/28/07

Keep returning to this entry -- I'll be updating it throughout the show.

They opened with an African group dance. I couldn't help but notice Cedric was a bit out of step.

Lauren and Neil and Lacey and Kameron were brought to the stage first. Lacey and Kameron are safe; Lauren and Neil are in the bottom three couples and will have to dance for their lives.

Jaimee and Hok are safe. Sabra and Dominic and Jesus and Sara are awaiting their fates. Sabra and Dominic are safe. Jesus and Sara are in the bottom three.

Jessi has been cleared by the doctors and will automatically dance for her life. Jessi and Pasha are performing the cha-cha we missed out on last night. Nice! It turns out that she was very dehydrated and it threw her EKG results off. Pasha himself is safe!

Shauna and Cedric and Anya and Danny are on stage now. One of the couples will be in the bottom three.

Say what? Shauna and Cedric are safe. Anya and Danny are in the bottom three couples and must dance for their lives. "What an interesting night tonight. Five million people voted and five million got it wrong," says Nigel.

Lauren is dancing her solo. A strip act? (Covering my eyes.) Huh. I'm not overly impressed. Neil is doing ballet/acrobatics. A lot of energy, I'll say. Sara is up doing freestyle breaking. Jesus now dancing to The Romantics "What I like About You." A good job.

Jessi is up now - a robot/hip-hop mix. Well done! Now Danny is up making Neil's leaps look like an amateur. I think he's great! Anya is up, love the colors on her costume. I think she did well.

My guess right now, GUESS, would be Neil and Lauren leaving. But that's purely my personal guess as right now Fergie and Ludacris are singing "Glamorous."

The judges are up now. They aren't unanimous according to Nigel. He said none of them did well enough. Jessi is going home. Aw, she's really sweet on Pasha.

Now it's to the guys... Neil, Danny, and Jesus. The decision is unanimous according to Nigel. Neil was outstanding, so was Danny. Jesus has been outstanding all season, but because of the other two guys tonight... Jesus is going home.

Bye-bye Jesus and Jessi... and, boy, my guess was off, eh?

TV Newsy Bits - Thursday, June 28, 2007

There's no word on whether Jessi from So You Think You Can Dance will be able to perform tonight. If she's physically able, she'll have to dance for her life.

I'll be live-blogging the important results as the show airs here on the East Coast. It doesn't start until 9 PM ET, so please stop back to check for a post started around that time. That, but of course, would be 6 PM PT.

In other TV Newsy Bits:

• Tons of Big Brother 8 news is out and about today. For the lowdown, use this link to bring up all of my entries about the upcoming season.
• According to ET Online, Apolo Ohno will join the dancing tour for Dancing With the Stars. He'll only be on the tour for five performances.
• Celebrity Spider reports that Jack Osbourne is being sued by a Muncie woman for his "work" on Armed and Famous. Apparently her home was mistakenly raided. She must be after the bucks, eh? Otherwise, she should be suing the Muncie Police, not Osbourne.
• The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that America's Got Talent is a ratings winner for NBC.

'Big Brother 8' - CBS Press Release Tells Us More

You'll probably want to read the entire CBS press release, but this excerpt caught my attention...

On premiere night, Thursday, July 5 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT), Houseguests will learn that some of them will be sharing the house with an enemy, a rival or someone with whom they have unfinished business -- in short, someone from their past who they had hoped never to see again or someone with whom there is an extreme amount of tension.

In addition to the surprise twist of an unwelcome person from their past, the premiere episode will reveal a new interactive element that will give viewers the most control they've ever had over someone in the BIG BROTHER house. For the first time...America is in the house.

One participant has been selected to be "America's Player." At the conclusion of every episode, beginning Sunday, July 8 (8:00-9:00 ET/PT), a question will be asked of viewers where they will vote on an important assignment that "America's Player" must complete. It could be a strategic move or a personal action. They must attempt to do what viewers request, including voting out a specific Houseguest. And, they can never tell anyone in the house that they are working on behalf of the viewers. But, they need to be careful...just like their fellow Houseguests, they can be voted out at any time. If "America's Player" successfully accomplishes these assignments, they will be financially rewarded. Viewers will be able to vote on cbs.com or via text messaging on a mobile phone and will choose from multiple choice answers on each question. The prevailing vote must be completed by "America's Player" in order for him or her to be rewarded.

Oh! I like the idea of this America's Player!

'The Early Show' Exposes New 'Big Brother 8' Houseguests

Can you feel the tension building? Julie Chen, affectionately known as The Chenbot, introduced the houseguests this morning on The Early Show. Well, all but one, that is. For some odd reason not known to me, the houseguest listed as Carol, age 21, a student from Lawrence, Kansas, wasn't featured at all on today's show.

You can watch the video on today's Early Show segment here -- you'll need to play in either Windows Media Player or through your RealPlayer.

Here's what they look like, what they had to say about themselves on the show, and whatever else I could dig up about them as I write this:

Amber is a 27-year-old cocktail waitress at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. She says she can "weasel her way with anybody" but that she's charming and she'll weasel them without them knowing it.

At this time, I can't find a last name on her, nor any other information.

My first impression was that she briefly reminded me of a younger Jerri Manthey from Survivor: Australia.

Hey... 20 years old? The minimum age is supposed to be 21. So I can only guess that Daniele is in the show as part of the "enemies" twist.

She's a server at Hooters. 'Nuff said.

Daniele is from Huntington Beach, California. She's single.

Um... not sure what to say about her, so I'll move along to the next houseguest.

Dick, age 44, is from Los Angeles and is currently a bar manager. In his clip he said he's run both bars and nightclubs and that he might win because "manipulating girls is a way of life" for him.

Okay. Why am I thinking middle-aged dude reliving the glory days? He thinks he's a wild and crazy guy, for sure. He's the oldest one of the mostly-twenties cast. I think his persona could very well put a target on his back. But I could be wrong.

Dustin is a salesman from Chicago. He thinks he can sell himself to complete strangers and that's his plan to win.

In light of the "enemies/bullies" twist, we should note that both Dustin and Joe are only a year apart in age and both are from Chicago. Joe (scroll down) claimed gay in his clips while Dustin sets off my gaydar although he didn't mention his sexual orientation.

I don't have a last name on him at this time.

Eric is a talent management assistant from New York City, New York.

He thinks he has charisma which will have folks rallying around him... then he'll cut their throats. Eep, bad memories of Justin Sebik from BB2 shot through my mind! I don't think he's Justin-like, though. He seems to have a bit of a mind and didn't come across as a thug.

Yet again, I have no last name on him at this time. Next?

Jameka is the sole person of color in this year's cast. What's going to make it even tougher for her has to do with what she said about herself in her clip this morning.

"I've been around only black people for 99% of my life." Uh-oh, culture shock time, I guess!

She's a 28-year-old school counselor hailing from Temple Hills, Maryland.

Jen is the type of gal who wears a t-shirt with her name upon it. In her clip she said she's a bikini model and a computer nerd. She's single.

I found a last name on her -- she's Jen Johnson. She's a model and has lots of small TV parts listed in her resume.

But I can't help but think she better not wear her name on her chest all season. After a week or so, I'll remember their names. I don't need the reminder, thank you.

Jessica, from Haysville, Kansas, is a college student. In her clip she said she thinks she's smart and competitive. She's loyal unless she's backstabbed, then beware!

Just judging from her clip this morning, I think she's the one whose voice will pierce through my head forcing me to turn down the volume on the feeds in the middle of the night. Not quite as bad as Holly's voice, I think if she shrieks a lot, we're in trouble.

She's another houseguest without a last name right now.

Then there's Joe from Chicago. According to Allison Grodner (Executive Producer), he's 6'4" and "over the top."
"What's gay and has two thumbs?"

Well, gee... could it be Joe? In his clip, he had some concern about the bully angle. I think he may have bullied, but I don't know for sure. Remember, he's the one I'm tying in with Dustin (above). He's a receptionist and he's single.

Kail probably usually has her eyes open. But seeing what she's about to do... maybe it's best she goes in with them closed.

Kail Harbick is a conservative Republican from McKenzie Bridge, Oregon. She's the only married houseguest and is also a mother, a broker, and restaurant owner.

This could be interesting, eh?

Next up is Mike Dutz who just happens to have a MySpace page. While he claims to be a 26-year-old single painting contractor from Three Lakes, Wisconsin... this MeetUp page claims differently. He lives in Placentia, California and he's a model.

Oh, he mentions the painting contractor and Wisconsin bit on the MySpace page, but I think the model work is what he wants to do. He's appeared on the show Gay, Straight or Taken, amongst other ventures. In his clip this morning, he didn't say much other than "I'm a painting contractor."

Nick Starcevic was captured in a timeline of football pictures on this JokersUpdates post.

He thinks he's good-looking and will charm the ladies. He obviously likes to show his muscles.

He's single, 25, and comes to us from Kimball, Minnesota. Although preliminary information had him as a former pro football player, it seems that should be college level.

Zach is a bit quiet. In his clip he said he was an alumni of Florida State and gave a "Go Seminoles."

He's a 30-year-old single graphic designer from Burbank, California.

I guess he's a man of mystery.

For now, at least.

The real person of mystery is Carol, age 21, a single student from Lawrence, Kansas. They may have flashed some images of her in the segment this morning, but they didn't talk with (or about) her at all.