Barry Manilow, Songs from the Seventies
When he burst onto the music scene with "Mandy" in '74, Barry Manilow invented the power ballad and in the process changed prom songs forever. The rest of the Me Decade would prove the singer unstoppable (even by critics) as he produced a string of hits and created a loyal following of fans who found in his lush music an escape from the hard rock of the times. These days the Brooklyn boy is still making good, with a new CD for the holidays, In the Swing of Christmas (available at Hallmark stores), and a TV special, Barry Manilow: Songs from the Seventies (premiering Dec. 3 on PBS, check TV Guide listings), proving that much like the power ballad, Manilow will never go out of style.
TVGuide.com: It seem like you're busier than ever.Barry Manilow: Just when I think I'm done it explodes again, I'm just amazed. I g
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So long Sabrina. Sabrina Bryan, Mark Ballas by Carol Kaelson/ABC
by guest blogger Katie BottnerEpisode Recap: "Elimination Number Six"I am speechless! I think I can still hear the boos resonating from the TV as we just learned Sabrina Bryan is going home. She was pegged to be one of the final two in this competition. What happened? I didn't think her latest dance was enough reason for her to go home this week. The rest of the dancers better stay on their game. Sidenote: after reading your comments about a possible romance between her and dance partner Mark, I have to say I agree. Did you catch the "baby" and "I love you"? Hmm...I was also shocked — shocked — that Jane Seymour was announced safe second. Now, we did not get to see Jane tonight as she was absent due to a bout with food poisoning. I'll bet she is feeling better now!Did everyone catch Marie mouth, "I am going to faint" when the judges made her wait through a commercial break to find out her fate? It was a surprise that she was not in the bottom two, but that Cameron fo...
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Will Jane be in the bottom two again? Jane Seymour, Tony Dovolani by Carol Kaelson/ABC
by Katie BottnerWill the women knock another man out of the competition tonight or will Helio Castroneves and Cameron Mathison hold their own? I think it is safe to say one of the women will be saying goodbye. But who? Will Marie Osmond get more sympathy votes? Will Jane Seymour find herself in the bottom two again this week? In just a few minutes, Mr. I Write the Songs that Make the Whole World Sing, Barry Manilow will be on stage to sing to the remaining six, and we also get a sneak preview into Carrie Ann and Bruno’s new show Dance War. Who do you think will be in the bottom two? Leave your comments and don’t forget to check back after the show for the full recap.
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Barry Manilow by Theo Wargo/WireImage.com
Maybe Barry Manilow should retitle his old hit "I Rewrite the Songs." Despite Barry's blog brag about "bowing out" of his Tuesday visit to The View when the chat show refused to bar conservative Elisabeth Hasselbeck from his segment, a source close to the show says that executive producer Bill Geddie canceled the crooner rather than accede to his out-of-left-field demand.Manilow's booking had been firm since July, we're told, making his sudden objection to what he told TMZ were Hasselbeck's "dangerous views" somewhat inexplicable. We also remember Manilow's two happy singalongs in 2006, in which the cast, including Hasselbeck, were in on the fun. "This came as a complete shock to Elisabeth, who's a consummate professional," says the insider. On her Monday-night Sirius radio show, View creator Barbara Walters deemed Manilow's decision "too bad." Why'd the aging popster do it? "He's a huge friend of Rosie's, so make of that what you will," sums up our source. — Reporting by Ilean...
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Barry Manilow courtesy Arista, Elisabeth Hasselbeck by Donna Svennevik/ABC
If you were planning to catch the "Mandy" singer on The View today, your plans have just changed. In a message posted on his website yesterday, he announced that he'd canceled his appearance. "I had made a request," he writes, "that I be interviewed by Joy [Behar], Barbara [Walters] or Whoopi [Goldberg] but not Elisabeth," whom TMZ has quoted him as calling "dangerous" and "offensive." "Unfortunately," he continues on his blog, "the show was not willing to accommodate this simple request, so I bowed out." Score another one for Team Rosie.
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Michael Chiklis, The Shield
American IdolFifties night was far kinder to the wannabes than Stevie Wonder night was last week. And the evening clearly belonged to Mandisa. Wow... just wow. A note to Paula Abdul: No woman wants to be compared to a horse. Paris thrived vocally on "Fever," but she's so young that the "vamp" thing didn't work so well for her. To quote the cinema classic and '50s-themed flick Grease, "she's too pure to be pink."
For a minute I was so excited to see Live on stage doing "I Alone." But then I realized it was Chris, stopping once again in the '90s for inspiration instead of heading to the '50s like everyone else. He's always great, but I'm waiting for Simon to coax Chris out
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Barry Manilow
Barry Manilow has landed at the top of the Billboard 200 chart for the first time in 29 years, with his just-released album, The Greatest Songs of the Fifties. Asked to comment, a clubgoer named Lola growled, "Hey, it's great and all, but he's not my type." Oops, that was the Kinks' Lola. Em-bar-ras-sing.
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The Pittsburgh Steelers
Dancing with the StarsYou gotta love a show that decides its demographic is so broad that it can have the Pussycat Dolls perform on it one week and (the man, the myth, the legend) Barry Manilow the next. I'd like to picture teenagers and their grandmas watching together in harmony, reminiscing about Lola and her wild times at the Copacabana. And somewhere in between, there are folks like me, who tune in to see such unscripted gems as: Drew threatening to wear a rubber band and a peanut shell next week, and then Tom so quickly saying, "Most guys wouldn't admit a peanut shell would do the job." Also, during the first round of "who is safe from elimination," a sharp-eyed cameraman cut away to Ed
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Isaiah Washington, Grey's Anatomy
Dancing with the StarsFinally! By the looks of all those montages and Tom's weird sit-down interview, the producers were very ready to say goodbye to Master P and Ashly. I seriously doubt they had all that prepared for any other couples. And with their departure, this will actually be a tough competition from now on. (Oh, and P? I think I'd rather watch you dance than have to endure that lame Scarface accent ever again.) Even with the new all-live format, the result show felt like so much filler. Regardless of what you think of Spice Girls 2.0, the Pussycat Dolls, wasn't it a little out of place to have them sing their hit without a ballroom dancer in sight? Also, why was that other guy singing about the cha-cha (was that the
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Mercifully, Sean Hayes and Debra Messing don't sing on Will & Grace: Let the Music Out!, the NBC sitcom's soundtrack, on sale Sept. 14. They wisely left that task to Elton John, Cher, J. Lo and their more musically inclined costars. Megan Mullally sings a duet with Carly Simon and Eric McCormack croons a bittersweet ballad, "Living with Grace," with Barry Manilow on piano. Here, Manilow answers TV Guide Online's questions about the CD — and pretty much anything else we could think of to keep him on the phone. If you need an incentive to read on, here's three words: Olivia Newton-John!
TV Guide Online: How did you choose your contribution to the Will & Grace CD?Barry Manilow: I had the idea to sing "Be a Clown" along with the show's entire cast. I thought it was a home run and they hated it. [Laughs] Then, Eric e-mailed me some beautiful lyrics he'd written.
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