Question: I realize that Pirate Master was not the greatest show in the world, but I liked it, and, according to the message boards, so did other people. Personalities were coming out, twists were being added, and there were only five episodes left when CBS decided to pull it. Are they really generating more money by airing repeats of 48 Hours? They already invested the time and money in filming, editing, etc, so why pull it? The announcement included a line about the final shows being streamed on the website at 3 in the morning. Oh gee, thanks, CBS, I'm so freakin' grateful. The networks wonder why people are turning to cable channels: Well, one answer is the cablers' loyalty to their viewers. CBS doesn't have that much to offer as it is, so maybe it should quit ticking off its viewers.
Answer: In another summer, I'd probably agree. But this summer, things are so competitive and so crowded on network and cable that I'm not really surprised when a network pulls a flop off the air, even
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Question: My wife and I are both fans of Bon Jovi and the Bee Gees, so we were really disappointed by the lousy versions of the songs that the band played for the contestants on American Idol. Is there any way they could hire a decent house band? Have there been any complaints from the contestants about how bad the band is? Week in and week out, we constantly complain. We very much enjoyed both seasons of Rock Star and are really big fans of that show's house band. The AI band can't seem to keep up with any of the contestants. Even Sanjaya was better than the band behind him!
Answer: It probably wouldn't be politic for the Idol contestants to complain openly about the musicians they work with every week, but this season, it seems at least a few contestants (especially Blake) have become more proactive in working out their own arrangements. (You can't really blame the band for how badly Blake mangled those poorly chosen Bee Gees songs.) To me, the whole package is in keeping with the
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Question: Being one of the seven people who watched Rock Star: INXS on CBS last summer, I was excited to see a mention in your column a few weeks ago that there would be a second season. I haven't been able to find out anything else about it. So what do you know? Will INXS kill off that jackass JD and try again? Or will it be a new band with a dead lead singer? Will it be worth watching without Marty and Jordis? I and the other six people who watched last summer wanna know!
Answer: I only know CBS is gearing up for a second season, but as far as I'm aware, they've revealed nothing yet about the format or the end prize for the winner. They're probably saving that info for closer to the launch of the summer season ...
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With an overindulgent run of nearly two and a half months, it's surprising this series didn't OD like so many rock stars before it. Lord knows that recapping it for two, sometimes three, consecutive nights each week brought me closer to joining Jim Morrison in that bathtub in Paris than I've ever cared to be. And I didn't make it easy on myself tonight. On the finale, of all nights, I set the VCR and headed out to catch a wicked live set by lap-steel wiz Slo-Mo and Philly's underdog roots-rockers Marah. So it's very late, and I'm watching Brooke Burke introduce all the past contestants. Who are some of these people? Wil? Tara? Maybe it's the Rolling Rock still on my breath, but I don't remember them. And apparently INXS didn't remember how solid their fellow countryman MiG has been throughout the competition, 'cause they showed his Aussie ass the stage door.
Which leaves us with the final two: Marty and J.D.
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I loved Dancing with the Stars, watched every episode, voted and had a great time. I was kind of against this rematch to begin with because it seemed like just a ratings ploy. An announcement that they'd be giving some money to charity made me a little more hopeful. But then the show went and annoyed me from the get-go as it threw my TiVo for a loop by starting at 8:30 and running until 10:01. (Hello, Biggest Loser. I'm sorry; I'll try to catch you later.) And by the time I got to watch it at 10:01, after watching the Big Brother finale, I'd pretty much already missed any voting opportunity, as they allowed you only 15 minutes after the show. So I was a bit disgruntled, but John O'Hurley and Kelly Monaco did a great job dancing. Kelly will probably win because of her big fan base and her little red outfit and all her flips and dips. John and Charlotte looked amazing and graceful, but if they didn't win doing that last t
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I used to hate Oasis. I mean I hated those Beatles wannabes. Then I saw them perform "Champagne Supernova" on the Video Music Awards — back when the VMAs were worth watching — and that was that. I was hooked. Liam Gallagher slurred his way through the lyrics, spit dramatically on the stage and gave everyone in the audience (and in his own band) the hairy eyeball. It was so very rock and roll. And J.D., while thankfully not spitting on his fans, had the same effect on me this week with his performances, especially "Pretty Vegas." From the series' start, I just didn't like the guy. But damned if he didn't win me over with his I-am-who-I-am 'tude and versatile voice. Did you catch his falsetto runs in the acoustic "Vegas"? Simply sublime. Yet J.D. still ended up in the bottom three, with sultry Suzie and Broadway MiG, who I thought would be bounced back to the boards. But I was wrong; Suzie was sent home, an
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I used to live on the same block in Hollywood as the famed Seventh Veil gentlemen's club, and my bank account may or may not be a little lighter for it. (Damn you, proximity!) But I gotta say I've never seen an ensemble quite like the one Brooke Burke wore Tuesday night. Dave Navarro called her "an adult superhero." If so, I'm sure there were a lot of guys watching who wanted to be her villain. But Brooke's outfit, or lack thereof, isn't why we're here. It's the music, dammit. So let's get to it.Suzie: INXS would not be making a bad decision if they took the risk (yes, it's a risk) and selected a female front person. Simply put, Suzie is incredible, both in voice and in stage presence. Was there a better song for her to sing than 4 Non Blondes' "What's Up?" I'd almost swear Linda Perry wrote that just for her. Suzie's take on "Interstate Love Song" rocked, too, especially with Navarro shredding behind her.J.D.: Note the date, 'cau
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I had a pretty random INXS moment yesterday afternoon when I was driving back from picking up the new Stones CD. Stopped at a light in front of me was a car with the following vanity plate: INXS-1. That is some serious devotion, isn't it? I wondered what they thought of the show and who was their favorite rocker. And I wondered if they were reading these recaps. I contemplated pulling up alongside them and yelling the Watercooler web address into their window, but realized that probably wouldn't be the best way to foster a writer-reader relationship.
Anyway, wasn't it wild finally to see INXS take the stage? Yes, they jammed a bit in the first episode, but this was a full-on performance of a new song called "Us." They even called up Dave Navarro to play with them. Sure, we all knew Dave would sit in, but it was still fun. Like when Alice Cooper used to lop off his head in a guillotine on stage. You knew it was preplanned, but it made you smi
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I'm still awed by Marty's show-closing set. He damn near knocked me over with his light-as-a-feather interpretation of "Everlong" — a song title that could just as easily describe the series itself. But as we enter the final three weeks of this magical mystery tour, it's becoming clearer who will be among the last rockers standing. Here's how my new front-runner, Marty, and the remaining fab four played out last night as they each performed a two-song set.J.D.: "Come as You Are" has been played to death on modern-rock radio, and I don't think I'd even want to hear Kurt Cobain himself come back and sing it again. But J.D.'s reworking made it sound nearly new. That lounge-lizard arrangement fit him like a sharkskin suit, too. As did his own composition, "Pretty Vegas." Overall, though, his set seemed as contrived as that cake fight back at the mansion.Suzie: It's hard to believe this is the same woman who flubbed the lyrics to "Remedy" months ago
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