Question: An open letter to Simon Cowell: All right, after watching your show, it may be debatable whether America's Got Talent, but I feel it's safe to say (to use one of your favorite superlatives) that you, Mr. Cowell, have absolutely no talent whatsoever at producing an intelligent, entertaining show. You have so far taken two excellent concepts (American Inventor and America's Got Talent) and managed to trivialize them, in addition to boring the pants off us with mundane music, endless repetition, uninteresting judges and irritating hosts. (Am I the only one in America who finds Regis Philbin as welcome as a cheese grater on raw knuckles?) The finale of America's Got Talent was not only excruciating, but embarrassing as well (e.g., Regis "singing" and Bianca Ryan in shock once she was named the winner). Simon, either stop underestimating the intelligence of the American audience or overestimating our tolerance for crap, or you will be voted off the island!
Answer: But what do you
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Little Richard is a big get for Simon's Celebrity Duets.
As reported earlier this week, Lucy Lawless, Cheech Marin, WWE champ Chris Jericho, Olympian Carly Patterson, Fresh Prince's Alfonso Ribeiro, Queer Eye's Jai Rodriguez, Hal Sparks and Back to the Future's
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If I ever hear that anyone in the sunny suburb of Agrestic is hiding a stranger in the basement, I'm done with Weeds (Mondays at 10 pm/ET on Showtime).
But somehow I doubt that will happen. While the higher-profile Desperate Housewives stumbled creatively, its thematic sibling on pay cable has become a sharper, darker, funnier satire in its sophomore go-round.
Weeds' greatest asset remains Mary-Louise Parker as the alluringly dazed-and-confused widow Nancy Botwin, who provides for her kids by distributing marijuana to seemingly upstanding townsfolk (including Kevin Nealon as a carefree CPA and city c
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So You Think You Can Dance's resilient Musa Cooper.
What makes So You Think You Can Dance's Nigel Lythgoe so mean? Why can't a break-dancer catch a break? TV Guide presents a step-by-step guide to American Idol's sister show.
Fox's So You Think You Can Dance (Wednesdays at 8 pm/ET and Thursdays at 9 pm/ET) started the day after American Idol ended. Why the rush? Producers wanted to capitalize on Idol's tidal wave of momentum to launch Dance's second season. A solid performer in Season 1, Dance's summer audience — eight million last season, 10 million now — still doesn't compare with the 30-plus million who regularly watched Idol.
Nigel Lythgoe, executive producer of b
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So You Think You Can Dance's resilient Musa Cooper.
What makes So You Think You Can Dance's Nigel Lythgoe so mean? Why can't a break-dancer catch a break? TV Guide presents a step-by-step guide to American Idol's sister show.
Fox's So You Think You Can Dance (Wednesdays at 8 pm/ET and Thursdays at 9 pm/ET) started the day after American Idol ended. Why the rush? Producers wanted to capitalize on Idol's tidal wave of momentum to launch Dance's second season. A solid performer in Season 1, Dance's summer audience — eight million last season, 10 million now — still doesn't compare with the 30-plus million who regularly watched Idol.
Nigel Lythgoe, executive producer of b
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Regis Philbin and Simon Cowell, America's Got Talent
Somewhere along the line, miraculous multitasker Kelly Ripa must have inspired cohost Regis Philbin to return to his own juggling act. Just as he did when he launched the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire phenomenon, Philbin will balance his morning Live with Regis & Kelly act with a prime-time reality show, America's Got Talent (premiering Wednesday at 9 pm/ET on Fox).
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Taylor Hicks, American Idol
It may have taken a full hour for Taylor Hicks to make his way from the Kodak Theatre stage where he had been christened the new American Idol to the press room, but the soulful singer made it worth the wait. Surrounded by network handlers, his very arrival led the press area to double in population, as reporters came from out of the woodwork (or at least their auditorium seats) to pepper the champ with questions.
And to think that kind words from none other than
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Elliott Yamin, American Idol
In the end, for American Idol wannabe Elliott Yamin, it came down to a trio of giant, video-projected percentages: 33.68, 33.26 and 33.06 — the last of which, separated from second place by just 10,000 votes, belonged to him. "I just knew.... I had that intuition that my name was going to be attached to the bottom number," he told TVGuide.com the morning after being sent packing. "And I was prepared for it, so it was easy to take and grasp." As for the oh-so-slim margin of loss to finalists Taylor Hicks and Katharine McPhee, he says, "It was really flattering to have been involved in such a close, tight-knit race."
Early on in the competition, the 27-year-old Virginian was handed some of the highest praise one could ever expect to hear from
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Peter Jones, American Inventor
Tonight at 9 pm/ET ABC presents the debut-season results show for American Inventor, in which one of four finalists will be deemed to have developed the best gadget. Who is likely to have earned America's vote? Who should win? And what changes are in store for the just-renewed competition's second round? TVGuide.com went to judge/cocreator/executive producer Peter Jones for answers.
TVGuide.com: As someone who gets an idea or two along the lines of "Someone should invent a...," I have to say this show has been interesting. I like it.
Peter Jones: Do you? It's quite interesting because some people say, "I really love the show," while
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Brad Garrett, 'Til Death
After attending the networks' upfront presentations all week, the Biz has this analysis of the coming season. (Click here for next fall's grid and new-show descriptions.)
CWYou've got to wonder what went wrong in CW's new-series development process if the network had to bring back 7th Heaven — even though the show lost a reported $16 million for WB this past season.
But the decision to have CW's inaugural schedule made up of established shows from WB and UPN may end up being a blessing. Many of the shows have small but rabid followings, and promoting new shows on a new network will be tough. The fans of shows like One Tree Hill and Veronica Mars will track them down on their own. Viewers in the 18-to-34-year-old demographic that CW targets don't watch networks, they watch shows. (According to recent survey, only one in four 1
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