TV Guide Author: ben.katner

Next Top Model Teen Graduates from School of Hard Knocks

We have disagreed with the judges on America's Next Top Model (Wednesdays at 8 pm/ET, on the CW) before, and we are sure to again, but dang! We have rarely disagreed with them more strongly than we did when they eliminated Brooke Miller last week — on her high-school graduation day, for pity's sake! Admittedly, the 18-year-old Texan didn't exactly set off fireworks posing for a mock romance-novel cover with Fabio. But if you ask us, her Tyra Banks-shot monster pic could have ushered in a new era of zombie chic. What the heck is going on over there? To find out, we rang up the would-be CoverGirl, who continued to impress with her attitude and insights. TVGuide.com: Were you surprised by your elimination?Broo

Wed, Nov 1, 2006

Next Top Model Teen Graduates from School of Hard Knocks

America's Next Top Model's A.J.: Janice Didn't Scare Me

From the minute she started rolling her eyes at the judges' pronouncements of what does and doesn't make a pretty girl a likely candidate to become America's Next Top Model (Wednesdays at 8 pm/ET, on CW), you just knew that A.J. Stewart wasn't long for the show. Sure, the 20-year-old took one slammin' picture after another — and, contrary to the panel's take, nailed her last shoot, in which she was asked to channel not only J.Lo but Marc Anthony, as well — but if a would-be poser doesn't tow the line Tyra and Co. draw for her, it doesn't matter that she naturally walks straight or looks smokin' as a sideshow cannibal, 'cause she's outta there. Is it fair? Is it right? Talk amongst yourselves. In the meantime, TVGuide.com is gonna talk to A.J. herself. TVGuide.com: What happened to you during the interview challenge? Was it just the horror of standing face to face-l

Wed, Oct 25, 2006

America's Next Top Model's A.J.: Janice Didn't Scare Me

Did America's Next Top Model Rock 'n' Roll Megg's World?

Did anybody really think Megg Morales was gonna go the distance on the CW's America's Next Top Model (Wednesdays at 8 pm/ET)? I mean, she's cute in a Mayim Bialik kinda way, and she's got personality to spare. But come on, the raspy-voiced Angeleno was always more Janis Joplin than Janice Dickinson. Before another wannabe CoverGirl puts her tear-proof mascara to the test, TVGuide.com rang up the 18-year-old in hopes that her parting words would rock our (and, by extension, your) world. TVGuide.com: First things first. Will you say it

Wed, Oct 18, 2006

Did America's Next Top Model Rock 'n' Roll Megg's World?

Top Model 7: These Are the Beauties to Beat!

If you ask me — and if you didn't, I wish you would — the best thing about the fall TV season isn't placing wagers on which freshman series will be canceled first, it's laying odds on which of the new batch of America's Next Top Model wannabes will get eliminated last. And this year, thanks to a screener of the two-hour premiere (airing tonight at 8 pm/ET on the CW), I am for the first time able to handicap the contestants for you. Just bear in mind when voting in your office pools that my educated guesses are based on all but the last five minutes of the opener; I didn't want to spoil all the fun. Herewith, my picks for the cream of Cycle 7's crop. MoniqueFor her: Right from the start, she gets Miss Tyra in her back pocket by tearfully revealing that as a youngster, because she is darker-skinned than her sisters, they called her Blacula. Against her: Her fellow

Wed, Sep 20, 2006

Top Model 7: These Are the Beauties to Beat!

Top Model Champ Survives Gap-baiting

Also be sure to check out the Insider Q&As with Top Model runners-up Joanie and Jade. How do I love America's Next Top Model winner Danielle Evans? Let me count the ways. For starters, the 20-year-old was never at a loss for words. (If your attention span is so short that you don't remember how wonderfully witty she is, read on — this interview will remind you.) She fought as long and hard as anyone could've against Tyra Banks' head-scratch

Wed, May 24, 2006

And Last But Not Least, Jade!

Also be sure to check out the Insider Q&As with Top Model champ Danielle and runner-up Joanie. Boy, oh boy. What can you say about America's Next Top Model contestant Jade Cole that hasn't already been said? If it's nasty, her rivals have probably expressed it. And if it's nice, she most certainly declared it herself. (One thing about Jade is certainly beyond debate: The self-proclaimed "undiscovered supermodel" boasts enough confidence for six.) But who is the real Jade? Is she, at 26, an egomaniac desperately insecure because she's getting

Wed, May 24, 2006

Also: A Last Look at Model's Joanie...

Also be sure to check out the Insider Q&As with Top Model champ Danielle and runner-up Jade. Perhaps no contestant on this season's America's Next Top Model suffered more for her art than Joanie Dodds, the snaggle-toothed 24-year-old who spent a day — literally, a day! — in the dentist's chair getting her smile straightened out. But although the results were stunning, she still finished second. Is she bitter? Angry? Ready to bare her fangs? Hardly. She remains the easygoing Grace Kelly look-alike who charmed the judges with her good humor and dazzling presence. TVGuide.com: In your first meeting

Wed, May 24, 2006

Even After Loss, Top Model's Sara Smiles

Among the characters — and they are characters — that America's Next Top Model has introduced to us this season are all of our old, familiar favorites: the bumpkin (Kathy), the dimwit (Gina), the sexpot (Kari), the girl next door (Mollie Sue) and the psycho (no comment). But the one we'd most likely invite to our backyard barbecue would have to be last week's eliminee — call her "the sweetheart" — Sara Albert. After being asked

Wed, May 17, 2006

Even After Loss, Top Model's Sara Smiles

Furonda Loses Top Model, Then Her Cool

Although America's Next Top Model judge Nigel Barker rightly noted that she resembled E.T. in a wig, Furonda Brasfield made it nine — count 'em, nine — weeks into the CoverGirl competition. How on earth did she outlast witty knockouts like Leslie and Mollie Sue? As her TVGuide.com interview reveals, it certainly wasn't because she exhibited any

Wed, May 10, 2006

Friend of Idol Faces Uphill Battle

Baby-faced singer-songwriter Gabe Lopez has been most widely known as an American Idol's best friend: He produced Season 1 contestant Jim Verraros' unrelentingly catchy Rollercoaster CD (as well as its infectious club hit, "You Turn It On"), and now he's working with former Idol wannabe and Coca-Cola vocalist Angela Peel on her rock debut. "When I'm producing other artists like Jim or Angela, I'm always happy when I see that look on their face that says, 'That's it! That's what I want!

Tue, May 9, 2006

Top Model Bursts Nnenna's Balloon

She looks regal. She acts snobbish. She seems insensitive. She is weird. All of these things have been said about America's Next Top Model's Nnenna Agba. But which of them are true — well, aside from the regal part, that is? (Pictures don't lie.) To find out, TVGuide.com rang up the 24-year-old from Texas (by way of Nigeria) and asked her a series of subversively revealing questions. So, as you count down the minutes to tonight's episode (8 pm/ET on UPN), you can draw your own conclusions about the runway also-ran. TVGuide.com: After you'd won so many competitions — including one in your final Top Model episode — I was stunned that you were sent home. Were you?Nnenna Agba: Not really, considering the picture of the week was trying to transform me into a mermaid. I don't think I came close to th

Wed, May 3, 2006

Model's Crybaby Brooke Dries Up

There's one every season, and this go-'round, Brooke Staricha was America's Next Top Model's resident weeping willow. She got nervous, and she cried. She got mad, and she cried. She nearly got eliminated, and she cried. She settled in for what was supposed to be a tear-stained photo session, and... nothing. That's right, nothing. How on earth did the 22-year-old Texan's go-to coping mechanism fail her when she needed it most? To find out, TVGuide.com rang her up while eagerly anticipating tonight's episode (airing at 8 pm/ET on UPN). TVGuide.com.com: What was it like being up there in the final two when Tyra was ripping into Jade and calling her fake. Did you think, "Oh, my god, I'm going to get to sta

Wed, Apr 26, 2006

Dancing Model Takes a Fatal Misstep

No two ways about it — America's Next Top Model castoff Leslie Mancia is smokin' in a four-alarm-fire kinda way. And, unlike fellow ravishing reject Mollie Sue Steenis, there was no debate among the judges about whether the 18-year-old had enough personality to pull off a CoverGirl gig. (She is, after all, the quick wit who, after admitting that her grandparents would flip if she brought home an African-American guy, said Miss J would be welcomed with open arms because "they don't have a problem with black women.") Moreover — and you can take my word for this — of all the Top Model wannabes I've ever interviewed, she's the only one

Wed, Apr 19, 2006

Top Model Surprise: Mollie Sue Got Married

Pixieish America's Next Top Model castoff Mollie Sue Steenis just can't catch a break. First, she got eliminated by Tyra Banks over such "winners" as "geriatric" egomaniac Jade and cry-baby Brooke. (And let's be real — with that adorable Mia Farrow 'do and those piercing blue eyes, the 25-year-old Tampa native shoulda been a contender.) Then, when she was given the sweetest consolation prize ever by her boyfriend — a wedding! — she didn't even get to strut down the aisle like Miss J. In fact, there was no walk down the aisle at all "because we did it at a courthouse," she tells TVGuide.com. Did she at least get to don a designer gown? "Actually, I was wearing sandals and a tank top," she admits. "Then we went to take a nap in the park." We're assuming (and hoping) this

Wed, Apr 12, 2006

Top Model Surprise: Mollie Sue Got Married

Insecure Model Loses More Than Her Nerve

If a girl walks like a model and talks like a model, it stands to reason that she's a model, right? But what if a girl does neither? In that case, she's probably Gina Choe, the rightfully insecure, utterly inept catwalker run off America's Next Top Model last week. Everything from bitches to bugs wigged out the 21-year-old Floridian, so I can only assume that during her TVGuide.com Q&A preceding tonight's elimination (8 ET on UPN), there will be some histrionics. At least I hope so. TVGuide.com: So, Gina, on a scale of 1 to 10 — 1 being a broken nail and 10 being a root canal — how much did you hate being in the House of Top Model?Gina Choe: I'm not going to lie. I went into [the competition] being really naive compared to the other girls. They seemed so much more prepared than I was. I thought it wa

Wed, Apr 5, 2006

Insecure Model Loses More Than Her Nerve

AMERICA'S NEXT TOP CONVICT

How good a morning is Tyra Banks having? Yesterday her longtime rival, Naomi Campbell, was busted by the NYPD after her hospitalized maid told them that the model was the one who put her there. "We believe this is a case of retaliation, because Naomi had fired her housekeeper earlier this morning," said a statement from the catty catwalker's flacks. "I believe this is a case of karma," I can imagine Miss Tyra replying. Campbell has been booked with second-degree assault for pulling a Russell Crowe and clocking her servant with a phone (this time, of the cell variety).

Sun, Apr 2, 2006

AMERICA'S NEXT TOP CONVICT

How good a morning is Tyra Banks having? Yesterday her longtime rival, Naomi Campbell, was busted by the NYPD after her hospitalized maid told them that the model was the one who put her there. "We believe this is a case of retaliation, because Naomi had fired her housekeeper earlier this morning," said a statement from the catty catwalker's flacks. "I believe this is a case of karma," I can imagine Miss Tyra replying. Campbell has been booked with second-degree assault for pulling a Russell Crowe and clocking her servant with a phone (this time, of the cell variety).

Sat, Apr 1, 2006

AMERICA'S NEXT TOP CONVICT

How good a morning is Tyra Banks having? Yesterday her longtime rival, Naomi Campbell, was busted by the NYPD after her hospitalized maid told them that the model was the one who put her there. "We believe this is a case of retaliation, because Naomi had fired her housekeeper earlier this morning," said a statement from the catty catwalker's flacks. "I believe this is a case of karma," I can imagine Miss Tyra replying. Campbell has been booked with second-degree assault for pulling a Russell Crowe and clocking her servant with a phone (this time, of the cell variety).

Fri, Mar 31, 2006

IDOLS NO LONGER IDLE

Take heart, Lisa Tucker: Provided that no one's given you a nickname as embarrassing as Chicken Little, your elimination from American Idol last night is not necessarily a one-way ticket to the Surreal Life house on your way back to obscurity. Look at Latin heartthrob Mario Vazquez, last season's standout who quit the competition while still a judges' darling. This week he's releasing his first single, "Gallery," on J Records — and in two languages, no less. Not to be outdone, Idol 1's third-place finisher, rebellious rocker Nikki McKibbin, is also back with a vengeance. She's now accepting preorders through her website, nikkimckibbin.com, not only for her Chenoa Records debut single, the ya-gotta-hear-it-to-believe-it epic "The Lie," but also for a two-disc package that includes the video, a behind-the-scenes making-of DVD and her unplugged rendition of the Mr. Big hit "To Be with You." Both Vazquez's and McKibbin's full-length releases

Thu, Mar 30, 2006

SOME FRIENDS

"I'll be there for you...." "And so will I." "Me, too." "Count me in." "I'm game." "Eh, I dunno about this." That's pretty much the scenario that's being reported by Newsday regarding a Friends reunion. Five of the sextet were into the idea — and Kathleen Turner even claimed to have been approached about reprising the role of Chandler's father — but, Lisa Kudrow is being quoted as saying, "One member has said no. It's one of the guys. I'm gutted." C'mon, after Joey, would anybody really miss Matt LeBlanc if the show went on without him? I hear Ugly Naked Guy is available to fill in.

Tue, Mar 28, 2006

MARCH MADNESS

I don't know if he'll ever give a more laughable performance than the one he unintentionally delivered in Deep Blue Sea, but Samuel L. Jackson has signed on to send up Morgan Freeman's narration of March of the Penguins in the spoof Farce of the Penguins, Reuters reports. The mockumentary, which is aiming for a racy R rating, was written and directed by onetime Olsen wrangler Bob Saget, a punch line in and of himself.

Mon, Mar 27, 2006

BLOGGED DOWN

Award, a war... it's just another week in the life of Academy Award winner George Clooney. According to the Associated Press, the Syriana star is hoppin' mad that Arianna Huffington posted a Democrat-criticizing blog on her website Monday that led folks to believe he was its author. He acknowledges that he gave the syndicated columnist the OK to use excerpts from interviews he's done regarding the Iraq conflict, but this... this, he maintains, he had nothing to do with. "It's not a misunderstanding, it's misrepresentation," the actor's flack fumed. Huffington may want to think twice about getting into a public war of words with Clooney: He's good people. In fact, he's donated his Oscar goody bag to the United Way so that it can be auctioned off to benefit the charity's Hurricane Response and Relief Fund.

Thu, Mar 16, 2006