0 Comments · Tuesday, May 21, 2013
The Arrested Development story is a TV nerd’s dream come true. A smart, quirky, new kind of comedy struggles to attract an audience. Despite being critically acclaimed, the series fails to draw in enough viewers (and playfully mocks its own demise) and gets canned after the third season. Enter the Netflix era.
0 Comments · Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Tom+Chee, the local gourmet grilled cheese and tomato soup restaurant, will be featured on this week’s episode of Shark Tank. Founders Trew Quackenbush and Corey Ward
will pitch their business proposition to a panel of
entrepreneur-investors (“The Sharks”) in hope of striking a deal and
expanding the franchise.
0 Comments · Wednesday, May 8, 2013
I was tricked into watching Small Town Security
(10 p.m. Thursdays, AMC) during its premiere last summer. The reality
workplace comedy following a Georgia private security company
immediately followed each episode of the first half of Breaking Bad’s
final season.
by Jac Kern
05.07.2013
15 days ago
Jac's roundup of pop culture news and Internet findings
Everyone’s talking
about the punk-themed Met Ball today, but I’m still in awe from last night’s RuPaul’s Drag Race season finale and
reunion, where America’s Next Drag Superstar was crowned in true pageant style.
It’s easy to confuse the two: both are over-the-top parades of outrageous
fashion, debut ‘dos and bodies squeezed into numerous pairs of Spanx, but only
one event has RuPaul, so I’m focusing on that one.
The spotlight was
on the final three dragsters, Roxxxy Andrews, Jinkx Monsoon and Alaska, but I
couldn’t take my eyes off Penny Tration, Cincinnati’s own queen supreme who was
voted onto this season by viewers — only to be eliminated in the first episode.via Homorazzi
Like any good
queen, Penny varies up her looks, but I’ve never seen her like this before! E!
put Penny on their worst dressed list,
but any press is good press, right? With a leotard made from the fabric of the
dress she wore when she was eliminated, manic makeup and a tiny tuft of hair on
her big bald head, homegurl looked like a pageant baby Treasure Troll on crack,
and by that I obviously mean she looked amazing.via Homorazzi
Detox, who I
originally pegged as the winner but only made it to the final four, also stole
the show with this incredible black-and-white look. No Photoshop!
And Season 4
winner, Sharon Needles, served up Pee Wee Herman realness in this hot little
number:
In the end, the
camptatstic Jinkx, “Seattle’s premier Jewish narcoleptic drag queen” took the
crown! #wateroffaduck'sback
The full trailer
for True Blood’s sixth season is
here. All hail Billith!
This shit is so
far beyond, but I don’t think any amount of supernatural caca could keep me
from indulging in this mess year after year. Season Six premieres June 16.
Ever since the
unveiling of that crazy Tupac hologram at 2012’s Coachella fest, there have
been rumors of similarly reviving other dead musicians and performers,
including TLC’s Lisa “Left Eye” Lopez. With a TLC reunion on the horizon, the
idea has come up again
but for now we can just settle for this peek at VH1’s upcoming TLC biopic. I am not familiar with two of the actresses, but Lil Mama plays Left Eye. I
just can’t right now.
RIP Marge Simpson!
Simpsons creator Matt Groening’s
mother, Margaret, the inspiration for the iconic blue-haired matriarch, has
passed away at age 94. Looking at her obituary,
I learned Groening tucked a bunch of autobiographical bits into The Simpsons. The real Marge was
actually married to a Homer, and had daughters named Maggie and Lisa. Her
maiden name, Wiggum, is used in the show as the resident police chief’s name.
Has anyone else
noticed that Shae from Game of Thrones
kind of looks like Megara, the goddess from Hercules?
Since Baz
Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet soundtrack
was basically the playlist of my childhood, I figured the music selections for
The Great Gatsby would be on-point. I was right. Stream the whole soundtrack,
featuring Beyoncé, Andre 3000, Fergie, Lana Del Rey and a heavy coat of flapper Jazz, via NPR.
Miss this week’s Mad Men? Here’s all you need to know:
0 Comments · Wednesday, May 1, 2013
America’s Best Bites (4:30 p.m. Saturday, The Cooking Channel), hosted by Natalie Forte, is in
its first season, and Abigail Street’s Chef Dan Wright and his wife Lana
will be featured on the third episode.
1 Comment · Tuesday, April 23, 2013
It’s often said that the vice president
of the United States is “one heartbeat away” from the role of commander
in chief. But if Veep (10 p.m., Sundays, HBO) is any indication, sometimes second-in-command is actually much further down the totem pole.
by Jac Kern
04.17.2013
35 days ago
Jac's roundup of pop culture news and Internet findings
Upon reading recent entertainment news, you may find yourself wondering,
“Are awards shows are still happening?” The answer is yes, but not anything
that really counts.
The MTV Movie Awards took place Monday night, hosted by the Australian
fireball that is Rebel Wilson. She’s stolen scenes in Bridesmaids, Pitch Perfect
and Workaholics, and while she made a
good host for the second-rate, teen-targeted show, it was kind of disappointing
that 90 percent of her jokes were about either her vagina or her weight. Other
low points included Taylor Lautner’s attempt at comedy
(Side Note: How will the MTV Movie Awards live on now that the Twilight series is over?), Selena
Gomez’s possibly offensive
Bollywood-inspired performance and the fact that the whole production was
essentially a giant lead-up to the premiere of the Hunger Games: Catching Fire trailer (Oh,
that’s how the show will continue…).
But there were some quality moments, namely during the Comedic Genius
award presentation.
Get More:
2013 MTV Movie
Awards, Latest Movie
News, Will
Ferrell
Peter Dinklage presented this prestigious prize to Will Ferrell (they worked
together in Elf) and you could tell
that The Dinks was thinking, “Don’t these people know I am Tyrion Lannister? I
am too good for this shit,” the whole damn time. Ferrell came out in a
money-printed suit, dropping classic WF hilarity (aka saying literally anything
in his Ron Burgundy voice) and sufficiently creating plenty of buzz for the
forthcoming Anchorman sequel. The
best part, however, was when a shwasted Aubrey Plaza stormed the stage during
Will’s acceptance speech. With glazed-over eyes, a plastic cup of booze and “#
The To Do List,” (her upcoming movie) written on her chest, the actress hopped
onstage, half-heartedly tried to grab the popcorn award from Will’s hands,
quickly realized how this looked to everyone else, then ran back to her seat.
Ferrell did not take this opportunity to embarrass her further, as she clearly
regretted the stunt immediately.
"What the shit was I
thinking?! I’m such an idio—Smile for the camera!"Plaza was escorted out of the show after the stunt, and you know you’re
at a new level of drunk when you must be removed from an MTV event. On Monday,
she gave us this morning-after tweet of shame:
Logo’s NewNowNext Awards followed on Monday night. With a fabulous mix
guests (Read: drag queens for DAYS) and campy categories, it was a fun event that didn’t
take itself too seriously. Which is good, because that shit was hella
low-budge. Check out the whole show here.
Now that Arrested Development’s
Netflix premiere date has been officially announced (May 26!), promotional
material
and fan-created goodies are
rolling out in full force. Designer Josh Cox created these awesome record
sleeves for each member of the Bluth clan.
My favorite:And speaking of Arrested
Development, Brandon Killham, the actor who played young Michael Bluth also played a young Dick Whitman on
this week’s Mad Men (and in previous
episodes). Oh, and he also played a young Brian Moser/Rudy Cooper
on Dexter. Mind = Blown.
Why am I obsessed with celebrity Coachella fashion? I don’t know, but if
you feel like getting sucked into a denim cutoff-crop top-hippie-hobo abyss,
browse photos here.
Holy shit, Glee finally did a school shooting episode — sort of. Sue
Sylvester’s right-hand woman, Becky, brought her father’s gun to school
because, as a student with Down syndrome, she was nervous to graduate and leave
the school’s safe haven. She wanted to keep it for protection. The gun went of
by accident when Becky was discussing the issue with Sue in her office, and no
one was hurt. To protect Becky, Sue took the blame for the gun and was fired.
It is not clear if or when Jane Lynch’s character will return, but it is
likely. Check out the controversial scene here.
Louis C.K.’s HBO special, Oh My God debuted last Saturday and, to
no one’s surprise, it was poignant, intelligent and laugh-out-loud hilarious.
For such a dark, crude comic, I found the larger themes of many jokes to have
something of a positive message.
OK, not every joke… Check out
the New York Times’ recent interview
with Louie here. And now, for a segment I’d like to
call “Hold Up, Y’all, Cincinnati’s on the TV!”
Trew Quackenbush and Corey Ward, the guys behind gourmet grilled cheese and tomato soup spot
Tom + Chee, announced Friday that they will be featured on ABC’s Shark Tank in
an episode airing at 9 p.m. May 17. Lauren
Brown, local chef at Igby’s who starred in the single greatest television show of all time,
will also appear on the small screen. Brown will be one of four chefs competing
on Chef Wanted with Anne Burrell
to be hired on as head chef at Nikki Beach in Miami, Fla. The episode airs at
10 p.m. April 25 on Food Network. The show also featured Jeff Ruby and The
Precinct on a recent episode (Spoiler Alert: The winning chef didn’t even end
up accepting the job offer).
0 Comments · Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Nathan Fielder goes beyond poking fun at these “expert takeover” series to reveal these little cultural phenomena, like what it takes to become a viral sensation or what some people are willing to do in order to be on television.
0 Comments · Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Did you think awards season was over? If you like your awards shows with little more camp, tune in to the over-the-top tribute to the year in pop culture, the NewNowNext Awards (10 p.m. Monday, Logo).
0 Comments · Wednesday, April 3, 2013
With this sixth and
penultimate season of Mad Men comes a new work space, an updated group
of partners and a fresh start for SCDP, the people who work there, and,
likely, the other “mad” characters that make this show so captivating.