more "Glee" casting news

Late last night, I happened upon a blurb about someone having been cast in "Glee" next season. And she seemed familiar somehow, but it took me a while to figure it out.

Ohhhhhhhhh, I recognize her because I wrote about her about a year and a half ago!

There was APPARENTLY some kind of snafu regarding a premature announcement, but this is the blurb that I saw officially confirming her hiring.

Here's another article about her joining "Glee", and here's a third article.

It's interesting that she has kind of a different look in each of the pictures used in the different articles. I'm not sure which one is most recent, but I'm looking forward to seeing her work in "Glee".

don't stop believin'

I remember hearing something in passing about some new show. I didn't remember the name of the show. I vaguely had an idea of what it was about. I didn't catch my attention, so I didn't watch it when the pilot was aired.

But then, my friends started talking about it. And they really seemed to like it. And they said the pilot was available online. And they said I'd like it. So I gave it a try.

And that's how I was introduced to "Glee".

I've loved the show since I saw the pilot streaming online. And the weird part about me liking the show is that I normally don't like covers of songs. If it's not the original, I don't want to hear it. But for the most part, they've been very faithful in their covers of their songs, and on the occasions when they haven't been, I've liked the new arrangements. Of course, it helps that they're always so passionate when they sing the songs. It's also introducing me to new songs I didn't know and reintroducing me to songs I haven't heard or thought about in a long time, sometimes, in decades.

I like the various storylines that are going on, but really, the hook for me is the songs themselves.

Tonight was the finale of the first season. And wow, did they do an amazing job. I've liked some of the episodes more than others, but the finale was spectacular. I'd read a news blurb earlier in the day about Jonathan Groff having gotten hurt during a number, so whereas I hadn't gone to look at the CD to see what songs would be sung tonight, I did end up finding out one song they did.

And I'll admit I was a bit shocked. They were really going to take on something as iconic and classic as "Bohemian Rhapsody"? Lots of people attempt that, but trying to do justice to Freddie Mercury is no easy feat. I was curious to see what they did. And wow, it was more spectacular than I had expected. I thought Jonathan was good at singing the song. He didn't try to imitate Freddie, so I liked what he did with the vocals. The choreography was cool. But to intercut the performance with Quinn being taken to the hospital and be in the throes of labor was genius. Her motions and sounds and screaming fit right in with the song, and the cadence and rhythm of the song matched the frenzy of her struggling through labor and then finally giving birth. Much as I hate to use the word, it was the ultimate mash-up.

I loved that the series went full circle by starting with Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" and ending with a medley of Journey songs, including one of my favorites, "Faithfully". And what was even funnier was that I totally recognized the venue where the regionals were being held - it was the Saban Theatre, the new home of Paley Fest, where "Glee" had a panel this year!

Here's the "Faithfully" segment.




It was sweet that Shelby was the one to adopt Quinn and Puck's baby, appropriately named Beth. (How cute was Puck tearing up when his daughter was born?) And the last song was a truly great ensemble piece, and yes, it made me cry.


Here's a compilation video with some of the cast members about their journey (pun intended) through the first season of the show.




The show has already been picked up for a second and third (yep, you heard that right) seasons, so I'm looking forward to more "Glee"!

goodbye Jack

It started on November 6, 2001. Just shy of two months past the horrible events of September 11, 2001, a new show premiered, and it had the unfortunate luck of having the first 15 minutes of the first episode involve the hijacking of a plane which was then blown up. There was enough concern that there was a warning and disclaimer before the episode aired. Not a very good omen for a new show, one would think.

That's how "24" started. And I've been screaming at the TV on a regular basis through 8 seasons of the show, as twists and turns became commonplace, and I was riveted to the TV throughout. It was frustrating to get a couple new episodes at a time and then nothing, but because of the format of the show, 24 episodes depicting one consecutive hour at a time, in real time, more or less, they couldn't really show reruns. So it worked out really well when they decided to start the show late into the season, in January, and then just run the show continuously to the end. "24" was the first to do it, and that programming decision was then adopted by other shows, like "Lost" and "Heroes". I liked getting it all continuously, but it was also weird to only have "24" from January to May, and at the end of the season in May, it was a bit startling to realize that there would be no more new shows until the following January, a long 8 months away.

The show ran over the course of 9 years but only had 8 seasons because a strike by the Writers Guild of America resulted in the postponement of season 7 for a year.

And tonight, the final two hours of season 8, the final two hours of the show, aired. And it was an amazing ending. Everything that needed to happen, did happen, and not all of it good. The writing was incredible, and the performances even more amazing. Cherry Jones as President Allison Taylor and Necar Zadegan as Dalia Hassan were really incredible in the last two hours, though they've been good throughout the season. Mary Lynn Rajskub as Chloe O'Brian didn't join the show until the third season, but she's been a lifeline for Jack, and we've rooted for her. And then, of course, there's Kiefer Sutherland. There would be no Jack Bauer without him, and without Jack Bauer, there would be no "24".

But, those aren't the only people who've been memorable in "24". Anil Kapoor was fantastic as President Omar Hassan in the early parts of this season. Gregory Itzin was terrific in reprising the role of President Charles Logan. But there were many that came in seasons before: Carlos Bernard as Tony Almeida and Reiko Aylesworth as Michelle Dessler; Dennis Haysbert as President David Palmer and James Morrison as Bill Buchanan; Sarah Clarke as Nina Myers; Paul Schulze as Ryan Chappelle; Jean Smart as Martha Logan and Glenn Morshower as Aaron Pierce; Shohreh Aghdashloo as Dina Araz; Kim Raver as Audrey Raines; and who could forget Louis Lombardi as Edgar Stiles.


I've cried during episodes of prior seasons, and I cried a couple of times during the last two hours, and the show ended where it needed to be. There's no happy ending for Jack. That's not how it works for him. He's been stabbed, he's been shot, he was THISCLOSE to being killed, and now, he's on the run from 2 countries coming after him, with no resources. Yeah, those are generally the cards that are dealt to him.


Hit the road, Jack. Don't you come back no more.



Cast photo from the first season of "24".




Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Bauer from the final episode of "24".

first a tauntaun, now a wampa

OK, I've already documented the epic story of the tauntaun sleeping bag.

Well, now, the Star Wars shop has available...wait for it...a wampa rug! Yep, like a bear rug but made from a wampa instead.






I don't think it's anywhere near as cool as the tauntaun sleeping bag, but I do think it's funny. I'm just wondering why slave Leia from Jedi is laying on a rug of a wampa that appeared in Empire.







The space slug oven mitt amuses me too. That might turn a few heads at a barbeque.







And for good measure, since Howard from "The Big Bang Theory" likes to wear funky belt buckles that make me uncomfortably stare at his crotch to see what belt buckle he has from episode to episode, I think he totally needs one of these.

he only *plays* Jack Bauer

I'd heard some blurb on the TV a couple days ago about Kiefer Sutherland needing surgery for something and was it going to affect "24", which is still in production. Well, then I heard something about some kind of cyst that burst, and then I found this story.

I don't know what kind of cyst he has, but things bursting inside your body is never a good thing. Jack Bauer can be shot and stabbed and go through heroin withdrawal while having a really bad day at work, but hey, Kiefer is only human! I'm glad to hear that there won't be any disruption to the episodes. I'm enjoying this season with Renee being a whackjob, but I'm not as much enjoying Dana's story. Yeah, lady, your sleezy ex-con ex-boyfriend is going to just accept some money from you and then leave you alone. What, are you from another planet? ;)

Here's to Kiefer healing quickly!

"Undercover Boss" - new reality TV show

I'd heard about a new reality television show called "Undercover Boss" that was going to be showing after the Super Bowl, and lately, I've been hearing more commercials about it. The premise interests me, so I'm going to at least give it a try.

A CEO of a company is going to be working undercover with the "regular people" to see what it's like to be in the trenches, and presumably, the company will change weekly. I think this could be really interesting, but I could see how they could just make this a one-dimensional show. I hope they delve into it a bit more, given how much delving you can in the course of one of these shows. I expect we'll see the employees who talk big but don't really perform and the ones who bad-mouth upper management and what a horrible job they do without knowing what exactly they do. I hope there will also be the ones who do their jobs and also have potential get rewarded with a promotion or something when they show they can do more, and I really hope they show those who are doing their job and are really where they should be. There might be nothing spectacular about them that they should be moved up in the ranks, but they do a darn good job at what they do, and they enjoy it. I suspect the majority of people fall under that category, but it would still be nice for the heads of companies to recognize their worth. It's not just about the bad people and the great, unrecognized people, though those are probably the ones that grab the most headlines.

The show is being billed as running right after the Super Bowl, but I suspect that's more true on the east coast. At least in the Los Angeles area, the show is scheduled to air at 10pm on Super Bowl Sunday, February 7.

"24" - Jack Bauer's 8th really bad day is about to begin

I've been a fan of "24" since the very beginning, so I'm really looking forward to the start of season eight, which premieres this Sunday, January 17, with a 2-hour episode starting at 9pm, followed by another 2-hour episode the next day, Monday, January 18, at 8pm. Thereafter, the show will be on at its regular time slot of Monday at 9pm, one excrutiating hour at a time.


Here's the trailer for the new season, which I hadn't seen until I saw it on the official website today. There are some faces in the trailer that I'm surprised and happy to see. I also heard a blurb on the radio the other day about another familiar face/character that is supposed to return this season. I hadn't heard anything about it, but there was apparently a press release issued previously. If you don't want to know who it is, don't even hover over the link because the info is in the url. If you do want to know, here's the article.

40 years in Pine Valley

I started watching "All My Children" when I was a kid, because one of my sisters watched it. Even after she stopped watching (but she did eventually name her daughter after one of the characters on the show), I continued to watch it, on and off as I grew up. Since it's always been on Monday through Friday at noon in Los Angeles, I couldn't watch the show when I was in school, but during holidays and summer, I watched again. (This was back in the dark ages before DVRs and VCRs and internet and such.) I grew away from it as I got into high school, and when I was in college, I started catching snippets again. After I was out of college and working, there would be periods of time when I'd tape and watch for a while and then stop. I was usually lured back by a particular story or actor/actress.

So when I heard that the 40th anniversary episode was going to be shown the first week of January, with many appearances by familiar faces, I knew I had to watch.

I just got around to watching it tonight, and they really did a terrific job. The story device of Hayley coming back to do a documentary on Pine Valley was the perfect reason for the retrospective. Having return appearances by favorites like Brooke and Maria and Nina was really a treat.

It was nice to see Ray MacDonnell, who has been with the show from the very beginning, but with the show moving from its long-time home in New York to its new home in Los Angeles at the beginning of the year, he's retiring, and Joe and Ruth are retiring and moving to Florida. It was nice to see him again.

One of the really nice things is that a lot of the people who were on the show a long time ago are either still on the show or have since returned, so the flashbacks from years ago, with the same actors, was terrific.

The fairy tale weddings of Cliff and Nina, of Edmund and Maria, of Noah and Julia, not to mention the very basic wedding of Jesse and Angie - what wonderful memories to relive.

I laughed at the segment where they talked about how many times Adam Chandler and Erica Kane had each been married.

I loved Erica's story of the last time she saw Myrtle and her viewpoint that when Myrtle passed away, Erica's mother Mona just came by to pick her up. That's a lovely image of the two women together, having a great time.

I loved the set-up of Dixie's possible return. Oh, we already know that Cady McClain is coming back as Dixie. But in what incarnation? Poison pancake do-over?

And I loved the mention of losing Julia, with Mateo and Maria. They never really had a chance to address that at the time of Julia's death, since the family was already off-screen, so it was nice for them to have been given this moment, especially with Maria being unable to continue.

There are lots of pre-cursors of things to come - the returns of Jack and Brooke.

And the show ended perfectly, with creator Agnes Nixon reading the poem of All My Children over a montage.


I stopped watching the show on a daily basis again a little while ago, but I still follow the stories (both on-screen and off-screen) via Soap Opera Digest, through their magazine and their Twitter account. I've grown up right along with Pine Valley, sometimes living there, sometimes venturing away, but always returning home.


Happy 40th, All My Children.




The 40th anniversary episode has been posted on YouTube in four segments, which I'm including below.

more "Glee"

It's been announced that "Glee" has been renewed for a second season, not to be confused with the remainder of the first season that is still to come.

That's good news indeed, as I really like this show, and I'm hoping that the reveal of Quinn's real baby daddy and that Will isn't a baby daddy at all will wrap up those stories and see where it goes next. I was not fond of Terri's deception of Will, and Terri's character is drawn really poorly - she has no rooting value whatsoever, even as a villain. I hope they either flesh out her character or drop her altogether.

And of course, more cool songs to come!


But, I'm particularly interested in the tidbit that they're looking for new people for the show.

So, who's auditioning? :)

two stories for the price of one

First an update on this story about South Butt - South Butt is not going away and giving in, but rather, they're fighting the trademark lawsuit filed by The North Face. I had figured that The North Face's act of filing the lawsuit would bring more attention, and popularity, to South Butt, and yep, sales have increased. I think this is a David vs. Goliath thing, and people like to support the Davids of the world. It'll be interesting to see where this lawsuit goes.


The husband mentioned to me tonight that President Obama's state of the union address is supposed to conflict with the premiere of the last season of "Lost" on February 2nd. Well, a White House spokesperson has given assurances that such is not going to happen. I mean, yeah, he's President of the biggest power in the free world and all that, but he does *not* want to go up against rabid "Lost" fans. They might send the smoke monster after him...

2 celebrities - 1 sighting, 1 encounter

celebrity sighting

A little more than a month ago, the husband and I and a friend were wandering around Disneyland doing rides, and we got in line for Big Thunder Railroad. We had gotten to the front and were assigned 2 rows, so we waited for the next train to come in so we could board. I noticed across the track that a ride cast member (CM) was taking a girl to be measured to see if she was tall enough to go on the attraction. It occurred to me that the man with them looked a lot like Noah Wyle. And then I realized that it was in fact Noah Wyle. I was actually a little surprised that I still recognized him because I haven't seen anything he's been in for quite some time, but then, he didn't look any different from the last time that I *had* seen him. The girl (presumably his daughter) was tall enough to ride, so Noah and his daughter (and the plaid-dressed CM who was presumably their assigned escort) all ended up getting into the same train that we were riding. So, I pretty much spent the entire ride watching the backs of their heads. I saw Noah turn to his daughter a couple of times, and Noah was smiling, so I'm assuming his daughter was enjoying herself as well. After we got back into the station, we exited behind them, and I saw them join up with several other people. And yes, I managed not to follow him around the park for the rest of the evening.


celebrity encounter

My niece was on a JetBlu flight from New York to Burbank, and the row she was in was empty except for her, so she was enjoying that she could lay across the seats and be comfortable taking a nap. Shortly into the flight, she heard a woman ask if she could have the aisle seat in that row because her row was very crowded. My niece was not happy about having been awakened from her sleep and now having to share her empty space, but she begrudgingly agreed. She still took up the remaining two spaces but said she pretty much had her "feet and butt all up in her [woman's] face". She said she also had to get up to use the restroom a couple of times during the flight, so the woman would have had to let her in and out of her seat. She was half-asleep, and she'd taken her contacts off and didn't have her glasses on so really hadn't paid that much attention to the woman now sitting in her row. She said she was also a bit distracted because she'd noticed that Peter Facinelli (No, I had no idea who he was when she told me his name. She said he was married to Jennie Garth, so I looked him up on imdb.) was sitting in the row or two in front of her. She said she did notice at some point that the woman had a script with her, but it wasn't the couple pages of sides that you'd get if you were auditioning - they were full-size scripts, so my niece had a fleeting wonder about who this woman was. Hours later, as the plane was about to make its final descent into Burbank airport and the flight attendants were collecting all of the remaining drink cups and trash, my niece overhead one of the flight attendants approach the woman and say how much he liked her in "Leverage" and other projects. That's when my niece realized the woman she'd allowed to sit in her row was Jeri Ryan. She put her glasses on and looked, and yep, that's who it was. She was mortified at that point that she hadn't been nicer to her. I asked her if Jeri had seemed annoyed at all, and she said no, she was nice, and she even passed her beverage to her from the the flight attendant when they went around with drink service. My niece said she also thought about her hair being a mess and such, but since she'd had her feet and butt all up in her face already, it was pretty much too late by then. She said she did kind of stare at her once they landed and Jeri got her things to leave. My niece said Jeri was dressed simply in jeans and didn't have any makeup on and was very unassuming. I told her that she hadn't actually done anything wrong. She did give up the seat, and being on the aisle, you pretty much expect that you're going to have to get up if someone wants to use the restroom. I also figured that since she was flying fairly incognito (neither my niece nor I had expected that Jeri Ryan would be flying in a regular seat in JetBlu), she might have actually liked just being treated like a normal person, and it really wasn't like my niece was rude to her or anything. My niece said that she knew she had to tell me this story because she knew I was a Star Trek fan. So after she told me her story, I told her my Noah Wyle story, which she enjoyed.

"Family Guy" does "Star Wars" again

The second episode of the animated television show "Family Guy" to spoof the original "Star Wars" trilogy of films was released this week. The title of the episode/DVD is "Something, Something, Something, Dark Side". Yeah, really. However, unlike the first episode, which was shown on TV and then released on DVD, this episode is only available on DVD, at least for now. Not sure if they plan to show the episode on TV in the future.

Even though I'm a big Star Wars fan, and even though the husband watches "Family Guy", I've not seen the first episode. The husband was watching the new episode, and I was listening to it from the other room and watched bits of it. It really is pretty funny. I guess I should go back and watch the first one.

The disc has some nifty specials too, including a table read of the episode and a "pop-up facts" version which has some really cool things in it, including one bit that's particularly amusing to me. There's also a preview of the third episode. And no, I'm not going to spoil it by telling you what the title is. You'll have to buy the DVD. Or at least look at it. :)

The link I provided above also has a trailer for the episode.

closing the Dollhouse

I follow Eliza Dushku on Twitter and this morning, she tweeted that it was the last day of shooting on "Dollhouse". That made me sad.

Later in the day, she posted this picture of the wrap lunch. That was so cool that they had the wrap party actually inside the house. It's an absolutely gorgeous set. I'm so sad thinking about it being struck. That beautiful house, all turned to rubble.

I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the shows and seeing where Joss takes it.

soft kitty song

How about a nice happy song for today, and funny interspersed as well?

"Dollhouse" of cards comes tumbling down

Joss Whedon's new show about programmable people, "Dollhouse", was barely picked up for a second season, but before lunch today, I got Variety's alert that the show had been officially cancelled.

The news wasn't good when the show was pulled for November sweeps, but hope remained that the show would survive. However, the ratings haven't been great, DVR numbers notwithstanding, and the show will be allowed to complete its 13-episode run, and all the episodes are expected to be aired on television before the presumed DVD release of the second season.

I'm sad that the show will be done soon, but I am glad that they at least got the extra 13 episodes. Without that, we would never have seen the amazing Jonathan Frakes-directed episode showing how Priya/"Sierra" came to be in the dollhouse.

Joss has a little time to decide how he wants to wrap the series. We'll have the two seasons of episodes on DVD. And we'll always have "Epitath 1".

the music industry is full of "Glee"

A lot of the reason that I love "Glee" is because of the music, music I know and music I'm learning because of the show. Well, APPARENTLY, the music business is in love with "Glee" as well. They do a great job with the covers of songs on the show, and I'm glad they're doing well on iTunes, but I'm hoping they'll release them on a CD or something, so I can have them all together, rather than one song at a time.

"Glee" is becoming the TV equivalent of "Rock Band" as far as *THE* place you want your song to be!

"FlashForward" - semi-spoilerish review

I hadn't really been interested in "FlashForward", but the husband and a friend were interested in the show (for slightly different reasons), and I heard a bit more about the premise and thought it interesting enough to give it a try.

We hadn't had a chance to watch the show until tonight. I was surprised to see Brannon Braga's co-creator credit as I hadn't known that he was attached to this show. After watching a bit of it, this was definitely right up his alley, and I think he's found a great outlet for it. I did like his episodes from "Star Trek: The Next Generation", but they didn't always fit in with the feel of the show as a whole. And he could only really do so much on "24". But he might just have found his element here.

I liked the first show a lot - good story, nice setup, and they really put together a terrific cast. I've always liked Courtney B. Vance, and I think Joseph Fiennes is really good in this as well, though I do lament that they didn't let him keep his English accent. Maybe they thought it would appeal to more people if he just had an easy-to-understand generic American accent.

I had heard rumbles about a connection between this show and "Lost", but I hadn't really paid attention to details. It took me looking at imdb to figure out that the lead female/doctor was the same actress who played Penny on "Lost" (and a friend reminded me that she also played Charlie's wife on "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles", which I had seen in her imdb listing but couldn't place her character name), and the husband saw the billboard advertising Oceanic Airlines. I laughed at the tag line about them having the best safety record or something like that. And from the imdb listing on the show, it appears another "Lost" alumnus will soon be appearing on the show.

The ending of the first show was great. All the people crumpled over weren't creepy, but the lone person walking around nonchalantly was definitely so.

I liked the show enough that I wanted to watch the second episode right then, and it didn't disappoint. The little girl who plays the daughter reminds me a bit of Heather O'Rourke from "Poltergeist" - little blonde girls who know things they shouldn't know are creepy. But, I was annoyed that she got in trouble for pushing the boy, but it seems no one else got in trouble when the other kids were the ones taunting her, and the boy was the one taking her stuffed animal away and even damaged it. She didn't hit him, only pushed him, and that's because of what he did. But she's the one who gets in trouble? Not fair.

Wow, Alan Ruck looks different! I recognized him but couldn't think of his name until I saw it in the credits. Cameron sure looks different.

I like all the side stories developing, and I think my hunch is right about girlie tech who saw her ultrasound vision and John Cho's character having no vision at all. That's gotta be unnerving, especially when the woman cop had no vision either and then bang, she's dead. Of course, phone call from random lady (who I know won an Oscar for "House of Sand and Fog", but I know her really from "24") confirming the date of his death probably doesn't do much to cheer him up.

But I think Joseph Fiennes' character is a bit of an ass. His wife is admitting to him her vision of being with another man, so she's wracked with guilt about cheating on him. But he completely withholds from her that he might be giving her a reason to leave him since he was drinking again in his vision, so he's totally letting her take all the blame!

But that last scene was amazing, and the look on Joseph Fiennes' face was perfect. Your blood would be chilled hearing your little daughter say that name too!

I'm hooked!

The website I liked to above also has links to each of the episodes if you didn't see them. I highly recommend it.

Single Ladies - football style and then some

OK, I don't normally post two days in a row about the same thing, but I can't help myself.

What's better than Beyonce's "Single Ladies"? The song being danced to by the football team.







And then, there was the opening number of the show, also to "Single Ladies".







I loved this episode.

Single Ladies

After watching tonight's episode of "Glee", I'm totally in love with Beyonce's song "Single Ladies".

YouTube won't let me embed the video like I'd like to, but here's the link.

I love the dance versions on the show tonight, though. I'm so getting the DVD when it comes out.

"Dollhouse" - season two

I was really excited when it was announced that "Dollhouse" would be coming back for another season. It was iffy as to whether or not that would happen, so the news of the renewal was good news indeed. I'm looking forward to seeing what Joss Whedon has in store this year. There's been some exciting news about what might be happening this year as well as guest stars, not to mention that Summer Glau is coming on board in a recurring role. Hot Chick Friday Nights will just be combined into one show now rather than spread out over two. I'm especially looking forward to seeing how they bring November/Mellie back since Paul Ballard secured her release last year.

I'm following Eliza Dushku on Twitter, and she periodically tweets about the show, so I've enjoyed hearing bits and pieces. She obviously can't tweet about story or anything like that, so I don't have to worry about spoilers.

The new season starts on Friday, September 25, so only a few more weeks to go. Recently, I saw a billboard advertising the show. I particularly like the tagline.





One question I would like answered this year - let's see Foxtrot. We know Whiskey is a female, and we've gotten a glimpse of Tango, who was female. I think I expect Foxtrot to be female - it would sound weird as a man's name.