Skeet Ulrich in Jericho by Cliff Lipson/CBS
Just a thought: If the strike lasts much longer, do you think CBS' Big Brother house has room for all of us? I joke, of course, but I also fear that if things don't get resolved soon, it's going to be a long, cold winter indeed for fans of good old everyday regular non-reality TV.In the last few days, we’ve seen cliff-hanger episodes of Desperate Housewives and Heroes that felt like season finales, and for all we know, that’s what they might be, if production doesn’t resume early in the new year for the back half of their seasons. For the first month of the writers’ strike, viewers didn’t feel much pain (except for fans of late-night comedy, the first casualty) because we were in a sweeps month chock-full of original episodes. Life went on as usual. That’s about to end. There are scattered episodes of many series yet to air in December, and a few leftovers for early 2008. But come the new year, the TV landscape’s going to start looking mighty diffe...
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Question: I enjoyed both Extreme Makeover and The Swan. Why are they no longer on the air?
Answer: The trend in reality moved away from these sorts of physical makeover shows, although ABC has ordered four special editions of Makeover to air in the future. (When Extreme Makeover: Home Edition exploded in the ratings, ABC went with the numbers.) As for The Swan — and I don't mean to be insulting — but even the bottom-feeders in Fox's reality division must have realized they couldn't milk this ghastly freak show more than twice. (Second time around, the curiosity factor had ebbed, thankfully.)
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(Warning: Do not read if you haven't watched the Shield finale and intend to do so.)
Easily the most shattering episode of this TV week came from a show that has delivered the goods for the last 11 hours of what has been arguably The Shield's best season yet.
I'm talking about the cliff-hanger finale of The Shield's split season (10 more episodes are scheduled to air early next year), which really seems to me more like a season finale. The producers have yet to declare the back half of this fifth season The Shield's series finale, but given the enormity of what transpired in this latest episode, my gut tells me that the best creative decision would be for them to wrap the show in these next 10 episodes and go out on a dramatic high.
The dramatic stakes have rarely been more intense as poor Lem (the excellent Kenneth Johnson
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Question: With all this talk about Fox's schedule and how there isn't enough room for The Simple Life to return and how Prison Break won't return until May, don't you think it's time Fox got with the program and became the real fourth network, after 18 years (truly an appropriate age to finally grow up and be an adult). Shouldn't the network move the local 10 pm/ET news to 11 to make way for original programming?
Answer: This question has come up a lot lately, especially in the wake of the Prison Break situation, so this is a good time to remind everyone once again of the "business" side of the TV equation. In Fox's early days, it programmed a limited number of hours for regulatory reasons (most of which no longer exist). But even if Fox desired to program a 22-hour weekly schedule, which many months of the year (when American Idol is absent, say) would seem to be more than this network of The Swan, Stacked and Killer Instinct could handle, it's a fact that Fox's local affiliates ...
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If you can't stand reality shows then this one is probably akin to one of Dante's circles of Hell. But for unscripted-TV fans this is the equivalent of giving a junkie crack. The show combines reality "stars" from nearly every show, like Joe Schmo, The Amazing Race, Survivor and even The Swan. While it's missing the charm of the original '70s series — less hair flipping makes a big difference — it still includes all the silly games like the dunk tank and the obstacle course. Just good old-fashioned fun. And I think that the cast members of the Real World/Road Rules Challenge, like Mike the Miz and Coral, have an advantage because they've been doing contests like this for years on MTV. But the real problem with this show is the fact that teams have to vote to evict one of their players each week. Because fan favorites like Charla and Chip's wife, Kim, are nice compared to the brute force of so
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Question: I cannot believe what NBC did during the premiere of The Law Firm! I have never witnessed something so egregious in reality television. They actually aired a preview for the next episode, which showed who was eliminated in the premiere before the episode was over and the people were eliminated! I just do not understand how that could happen. Sorry, just had to rant and would love to hear your opinion on this ridiculous TV low. Now NBC is compromising its own show for advertising?
Answer: Jeez, I was hoping this letter was a slam against the show itself, not the promos. I watched an advance tape of this one, so I didn't see the actual broadcast or the promos, and this is the only complaint I heard about it. I suppose I would care more if I gave a shrug about the show itself, but if this is true, that is beyond sloppy and you have every right to be upset. But really, more egregious than The Swan? Or Who's Your Daddy? I guess the point here is that the only thing more shameles ...
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TV Guide: Greatest Moments of 2004Full disclosure: I had nothing to do with the choices for this special, which were chosen by "the experts at TV Guide." (Hmmm. Wonder if I should be insulted?) Anyway, my favorite moment made the list at No. 9: the shooting death of Adriana on The Sopranos. The clip has lost none of its power: the long, winding drive into the woods, the pain and despair in Adriana's eyes as she looked out the car window, the flash of terror as she realized she was about to die. I'm not sure what got to me more, Adriana's begging and pleading as she crawled on the ground like an animal or the sound of the shotgun blast. Still gives me the chills. Nice touch: immediately showing the clip of Drea de Matteo's Emmy acceptance speech. Definitely well deserved.
QVC: Affinity DiamondsHave I ever mentioned my weird interest in QVC? No, it's not what you think — I rarely buy anything. I'm mostly fascinated by the p
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The Swan helped these former "ugly ducklings" spread their wings. Here, find out how they've taken off since getting their dramatic makeovers on the Fox reality series (whose second season begins Oct. 25 at 8 pm/ET).
Former Ugly Duckling: Kelly AlemiSurgeries included: Breast augmentation, liposuction, lip enhancement
Gone are the years of self-loathing that brought 28-year-old former flight attendant Kelly Alemi to The Swan's doorstep. (She was a Wild Card recipient who made it to the semifinals.) These days, the new and improved Maryland native — who endured nine-and-a-half hours of extensive surgical procedures — is relishing her recent engagement to longtime boyfriend Bob and looking forward to recapping each new episode of The Swan 2 for her local Fox affiliate.
Three words that best describe me now are... "Confident, funny and self-respect, which I didn't have before."
The wors
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This time last year, Rachel Love-Fraser was a dumpy newlywed working at a Washington construction company. And today? She's The Swan, the ultraglamorous winner of Fox's formerly plain Jane beauty pageant. Has success — and a buxom bod that underwent more plastic surgery than an entire Hooters waitstaff — gone to her pretty red head? To find out, TV Guide Online rang up the hot chick before she took flight for home.
TV Guide Online: So, how sorry is your husband now that he was so unsupportive of you during your extreme makeover?Rachel Love-Fraser: Oh, he really wasn't that unsupportive. It was just hard for him to have me gone for so long. I mean, four months... you can imagine! You get kind of edgy. We did have some difficulties a couple of times [during the program], but he was definitely supportive. It's just unfortunate that only that one side of his personality got shown. We're having a blast now, though!
TVGO: I'
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Last week, the makeover artists of The Swan crushed contestant Kelly B.'s dream of competing in their plastic-surgery pageant. But instead of letting bitter tears stain her brand-new cheeks with mascara, the 25-year-old Milwaukee resident decided to pursue another heartfelt goal — to become a cheerleader. Here, straight up, she tells TV Guide Online all about it.
TV Guide Online: Would you have been perfectly happy to leave The Swan with just a nose job?Kelly B.: Yeah. My nose is something that I was teased about ever since third or fourth grade. I always ripped up any pictures of me and my side profile. Even as I got older, people would say, "Did you get hit?" or "Did you break your nose?" It's just a big deal for me.
TVGO: No pun intended, I'm sure. So is your boyfriend as big a jerk as he appeared to be on air? He was awfully unsupportive.Kelly B.: It was a little creative editing, I think. My boyfriend was supportive of
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