Uri Geller, Phenomenon
Last Wednesday night, NBC premiered Phenomenon, a series touted as a "live search for the next great mentalist." Based on a similar Israeli show featuring controversial mentalist Uri Geller, Phenomenon returns tonight with a two-hour Halloween special (8 pm/ET). TVGuide.com recently spoke with Geller, who is a judge in the American version, along with magician/illusionist Criss Angel and a rotating slate of celebrity guests. Considering he still attests to having supernatural powers, we were also more than a little curious about how he’s survived years of being lambasted by critics.
TVGuide.com: For people who don’t know, can you explain exactly what it means to be a mentalist?Uri Geller: My definition of a mentalist is someone who can play around with your mind psychologically. It’s different t
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Lee Pace in Pushing Daisies by Scott Garfield/ABC
I now have a new favorite TV character this season, and it’s of the four-legged variety. Of course I’m talking about Digby, the stalwart and silent and absolutely gorgeous canine companion of Pushing Daisies’ life-affirming hero, Ned. This golden retriever was the first dead object (run down on a highway) to be revived by Ned as a child, and their attachment was one of the first and most persistent nitpicky complaints I fielded from the show’s naysayers. "How could Ned and Digby not have touched at least once over the years?" they wondered. A little boy and a faithful dog, how is it possible they restrained themselves from the heavy petting that comes so naturally in youth? My answer (beyond the obvious explanation that Pushing Daisies is a fantasy and we should just sit back and respect the rules we’ve been presented): Digby understands what’s going on. He knows that to be touched by Ned is to be sent to doggie heaven. He doesn’t need to be told. ...
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The Singing Bee's Joey Fatone with The Honey Bees by Trae Patton/NBC Photo
He dropped names as diverse as Norman Lear, Uri Geller, Isaiah Washington and Jerry Seinfeld. He teased an all-celebrity version of The Apprentice (with a half-joking promise to extend an invitation to Rosie O’Donnell). In describing his vision for NBC's immediate and long-term future, the network’s boyish new co-chair Ben Silverman showed his affinity for both packaging and programming TV in an enthusiastic debut performance in front of the nation’s TV critics on Monday morning.Though he took the stage alongside the relatively subdued co-chair Marc Graboff, whose expertise is on the business side, this was Silverman’s show all the way, and he wasted no time in announcing some surprising programming deals and a few aggressive scheduling changes, including turning Monday into an all-fantasy night and shifting Friday Night Lights an hour earlier on Fridays, so it’s now cozily hammocked between the strong franchises of a relocated Deal or No Deal and Las Vegas,...
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Jerry Seinfeld by Chris Haston/NBC Photo
A flurry of announcements from the Peacock regarding the upcoming season of television (in addition to Isaiah going Bionic, that is):• TV icon Norman Lear is producing an hourlong dramedy about a widowed mother who reenters the workforce and is thus pitted against her late husband's Wall Street adversaries.• Jerry Seinfeld will play himself on the Oct. 4 second-season opener of 30 Rock. Quips Tina Fey, "Finally, my parents have an excuse to watch the show." Love. Her.• My Name Is Earl and The Office will launch their new seasons on Sept. 27 with hourlong episodes.• The new series Chuck has been relocated to Mondays at 8, while Friday Night Lights has been moved up an hour to Fridays at 9. Leading out of FNL is Las Vegas, which returns Sept. 28 with a two-hour episode.• The Apprentice is returning with a "celebrity version" in which famous(ish) faces vie for the Donald's favor and in turn raise bucks for charity. Trump says this incarnation "will bring our wo...
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Criss Angel
David Blaine is a total hack, especially compared to Criss Angel. Although the three-time Magician of the Year winner has never romanced Fiona Apple, he's seduced celebrities such as Mandy Moore, Rob Zombie and Korn's Jonathan Davis — not to mention Goth-guy-loving gals — with his fantastical illusions, feats of endurance, adorable "Noo Yawk" accent and sexy Marilyn Manson-style wardrobe (thankfully accessorized by a much hotter face and body than the shock rocker). Last year marked the debut of his riveting A&E reality show
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