'Dance Moms'-When Stars Collide, S1 E5

"When Stars Collide"
What Happened During Season 1 Episode 5?

Yet again, what in the world is wrong with Christi? Okay, I agree that she was right when she said that Maddie dancing without a lollipop (while all the other girls were holding one) did draw attention to her. But it also made sense that if they were one short she would be the one to dance without it, because she was in the center. It would have looked very odd if one of the girls on the end was missing a lollipop.

And sure, the talent scout seemed more interested in Maddie than in Christi's daughter Chloe. BUT Maddie is a better dancer than Chloe, and she has more of that cutesy child star look. The harsh truth is that Maddie does appear more talented than Chloe. It's nice (in a way) that Christi thinks so highly of her daughter that she constantly wants to blame other people and make excuses when they surpass her, but the truth of the matter is that Chloe just isn't as good. Maybe her mother should help her build other talents, or help her be happy with what she is capable of, instead of constantly making her feel bad by comparing her to Maddie. Personally I think that Chloe will grow up to be beautiful and poised, and Maddie is seeing her main success as a child star. But Chloe won't be happy if her mother keeps comparing her to another child!

Of course, once again Melissa (Maddie's mother) is not in the clear. She thinks too much of both her children, and while I understood her frustration when her youngest daughter (Mackenzie) refused to sing for the talent scout, I also couldn't help but think back to one of the earliest interviews where Mackenzie admits that she doesn't want to be on Broadway. Why force your child to do something that they don't want to do? Maybe because it's your own dream? And that is sadly clear when Melissa (somewhat jokingly) mentions that maybe the talent scout will like her on stage as well, and cast her with Maddie in something.

Does anyone else think that Christi is being ridiculous? Do you think that Maddie is more talented, or is she receiving attention unfairly? And how do you feel about Melissa pushing her children towards fame?

Ellen & Portia come to Boston

Ellen Degeneres and Porti de Rossi Visit Boston. August 10, 2011.

Today, Ellen Degeneres and her wife, actress Portia de Rossi, visited Boston. First they went on a duck tour (see image below) of the city. Then they ended up at Quincy Market in the heart of the city for a quick photo-op with Boston's Mayor, Tom Menino. Crowds of people had gathered in the historic area, including one family who admitted that they had been waiting since "about 9 am".

Ellen and Portia finally pulled up (in the duck boat!) at about 1:30 pm. Unfortunately the podium mic was poor quality, but Ellen said that Boston was her favorite city and that she hoped everyone would still be able to watch her when she moves to her new 4 pm time slot (she even joked that loyal viewers would need to quit their jobs!). Her speech was sadly brief, but she did apologize for this stating that she had to go and do interviews/tape promos. Oh, and she danced a little.

After she briefly disappeared inside Faneuil Hall the majority of the crowd dispersed. I milled around with a few stragglers, and was glad I did! I happened to be standing right next to the door where Portia and Ellen exited to head back to their convoy. I snapped a brief photo of Portia (see above), but my phone's camera didn't recover quickly enough to get one of Ellen too. Of course, this was the one day when I left my real camera at home.

I spent the next 15 minutes being interviewed by ABC5 News, and explaining to an older member of the paparrazi which photos he had were ones of Portia (seriously, it might be good to know what the people your living depends on look like!).

Jacqueline Bisset plays Isles mother on 'Rizzoli & Isles'

We're going to be introduced to a new character on 'Rizzoli & Isles' next week. And that new character is Maura Isles' mother, played by no other than Jacqueline Bisset.

Jacqueline Bisset is no stranger to television. Although she was originally a film star in the '60s, she has gone on to be relatively successful on the smaller screen as well.

Most recently she has had a guest starring, 7 episode role on the popular series 'Nip/Tuck'.

We'll just have to see how many episodes of 'Rizzoli & Isles' she turns up in.

Tune in next Monday at 10 pm on TNT to catch her first appearance!

rizzoli & isles--don't hate the player. season 2 episode 5.

"Don't Hate the Player"
-Rizzoli & Isles Quips & Quotes

Boston does love its Red Sox, and that fact was fully supported in tonight's 'Rizzoli & Isles' episode. Sure, they called the team The Pilgrims, but we all knew what they were talking about.

Top "Wait a minute, is this 'Bones'?"
Rizzoli's bad boy brother is back in town (and out on parole). Hmm, remind anyone of Russ on 'Bones'? Shocking that 'Rizzoli & Isles' and 'Bones' have yet another parallel.
----
Isles cuts open a heart and examines it
"What is it?"-Rizzoli
"I'd be guessing"-Isles
"God it's torture sometimes"-whispers Rizzoli
pause
"Have you. Seen this. Before"-Rizzoli
"Yes. In propylene glycol poisoning."-Isles
"Anti-freeze"-Rizzoli

Top Islesism
"What does your gut say?"-Rizzoli
"I don't listen to my intestines"-Isles
---
After discovering a dead body in the Pilgrim's (baseball team) showers:
"The murder object is a heavy cylindrical object"-Isles
"Hmm, what could it be"-Rizzoli

Top Gay Moment
"Unzip me"-Isles
"Huh?"-Rizzoli
"Because you can't go like that...We'll trade clothes"-Isles
Rizzoli puts on Isles' dress. Isles glances at Rizzoli's shoes.
"Oh. Those shoes are fashion homicide"-Isles
"Those shoes are foot homicide"-Rizzoli
Rizzoli poses in Isles dress and shoes
"OH. You look sexy"-Isles
"You look, like you're wearing...my clothes"-Rizzoli
----
"His balls? Don't they inspect them before they pitch?"-Isles
"Umm, different balls Dr. Isles"-Frost
Rizzoli grins

Top Straight Moment
Sexy baseball players asks Rizzoli out. She accepts.

Top "You're like my girlfriend!"
Rizzoli and Isles watch baseball together.

Top "Huh, this show's basically 'Bones'...lets have a cute convo between our two lead actors"
"I'm off to do my..."gum shoe thing""-Rizzoli
"I shouldn't have used that term"-Isles
"No you shouldn't"-Rizzoli
"Because it actually refers to galoshes, which you aren't wearing"-Isles

The TCA (Television Critics Association) is mainly men

What is The TCA?
(and who cares if they met?)

The Television Critics Association, often referred to as The TCA, just held their bi-annual meetings, and for once they weren't as secretive as normal. For the first year ever social networking was allowed within the meetings, which meant that dozens of people slouched in chairs throughout the conference rooms tweeting their reactions to the networks' presentations of their newest shows.

If you're curious about what happened in these usually secretive meetings you can just Google 'TCA twitter'.

During the yearly TCA meeting television critics from all over the country gather to hear spiels from networks who are hoping to win them over. The networks are all praying that the snippets they display of their new shows gain popularity amongst the critics, and get favorable reviews both in print and online (which will ultimately translate to a higher initial number of viewers). Essentially, they're hoping for free publicity. And if they don't get it their show could easily crash and burn. Presence on the internet (and particularity good press) is more important than ever.

But who are these TV critics who hold the potential to sway the American public to such a large degree? For one thing, they're largely men. If you go to The TCA website you can see a list of several critics who are members (click on them to see which publications they write for). Of the 77 television critics listed only 24 of them are women. For those of you who prefer percentages, that means that only 31% of the television industry's most recognized TV critics are female. Which really begs the question, how does that influence which shows gain popularity? Sure, gender isn't everything, but it does play some role in our reactions to what we see onscreen. If it didn't the whole concept of chick flicks would be a moot point.

How to you feel about the fact that published television critics are predominantly men? And do you think that plays a role in how different TV shows are received by the American public?

'Bones' has a new actor!

'Bones' Season Seven Welcomes a New Cast Member

Is anyone else missing 'Bones' horribly? I can't believe we have to wait until Thursday, November 3rd to see the first episode of the new (7th) season. More info HERE.

Still, at least they're still dropping occasional tidbits about the new season. Note: If you don't want to know anything, don't read the rest of this!

Anyway, as those of you who saw the end of the 6th season know, Vincent Nigel-Murray tragically left the show. That means that there's an opening for a new squintern. And Luke Kleintank is filling that role. He's (in real life) a young actor. Major credits to his name include the roles of Elliot on 'Gossip Girl', Chris on 'No Ordinary Family', and Noah on 'The Young and the Restless'. He also has kind of floppy hair, which I hope gets cut for his role on 'Bones', mainly because I find it irritating.


He'll appear in the second episode of the new season, playing a new squintern who has a problematic past that includes a stint in juvie.

We'll just have to wait to see how it all turns out. Unfortunately, that wait is a solid 5 months.

Rizzoli and Isles has been renewed for a 3rd season

Yay!

Okay, so we do have to wait until the summer of 2012.
And there are only 15 episodes.
But at least we know that we have something to wait for.

Dance Moms, Christi vs. Melissa

"Dance Moms"--Stealing the Show

Does anyone else have a massive problem with Christi? For one thing, who in the world thinks it's appropriate to yell at lots of other people in front of a group of your children and theirs. Apparently Christi thinks it is perfectly fine, and that really worries me. I am concerned about the impact it has not only on her child, but on all the other children as well. And it certainly did have an impact, almost every girl who was in the room when Christi started to scream burst into tears.

Christi also has unreasonable requests. She wanted Melissa's daughter Maddie to only dance one solo (and not two) because all of the other girls in the troupe were only dancing one solo. However, as both Abby and Melissa explained, Maddie has an extra private tap lesson once a week, and the second solo she was dancing was choreographed by that teacher within the confines of that class. Christi claimed that Maddie should only dance one solo because it gave her an "unfair advantage" in terms of increasing her chances to win. But these dance competitions aren't based on quantity. Christi may not want to believe this, but even if her daughter (Chloe) had danced three separate solos I don't think she would have beat Maddie. Maddie, this week at least, was a more technically perfect dancer. You just have to see how Chloe fumbled during her dance to see that. So, who in the world cares about the number of dances each child does?? It truly does not increase their chances. In fact, I would say that the more dances a child has the more likely it is that she will lose, because she is having to remember double the material accurately.

However, that is not to say that I have no problems with Melissa. After Maddie and Chloe had gone on stage to receive awards, and Maddie had won, Melissa provoked Christi by turning to her and saying, "Still undefeated! Aren't you happy?". When she knew how upset Christi was about Maddie's two solos (regardless of whether that was justified or not) I don't see why she felt the need to continue to antagonize another mother.

Now onto Kelly and her daughter, Paige. They did repeatedly ask Maddie's mom (Melissa) for Paige's dance music. And she didn't get it until 8 pm on the night before the competition. Regardless of how hard the music was to get, that is completely unreasonable. She is a nine-year-old child, and she is supposed to dance successfully based only on counts? Please. Kelly certainly has a point that someone dropped a ball, and we all saw how badly that turned out. Paige froze on stage. And Abby, rather typically, blamed Paige! She was not as well prepared as the other girls, because she did not have her music in time, and that showed.

Finally, I agree with all of the mothers that doing a six hour Acro class the night before a competition is lunancy. However, I also agreed with Abby (this is truly shocking!) that if the children didn't know it at that point they wouldn't know it. Still, I think it would have been far better to run each child through her dance once, and then to send her home to rest before the competition. The mothers are wrong that their children need endless practice in their routines before competition, but Abby is wrong that they need endless practice in something new. Don't make them practice! Let them actually get some sleep.

"Rizzoli & Isles"--Brown Eyed Girl

"She was asphyxiated by the application of a slow constant pressure to her trachea"-Isles

This week's episode of 'Rizzoli & Isles' was a lot less lighthearted than usual. It involved the kidnapped daughter of Jane's old partner. There were even open references to Jaycee Dugard and Elizabeth Smart. Compared to last week's episode full of punch lines this one was very, very dark. Plus, Isles talking to a dead girl as she lies on her slab? Just a little creepy.

In other words, there were lots of quotes, but not a lot of quips.

Serious problems I had with this episode:

1. Why would you not have the little brother who saw the kidnappers sit down with a sketch artist?

2. Also, Jane showing the kid a single photo of the suspected kidnapper and asking him if he recognized her was totally bogus police work. At the very least she should have shown him a collection of different photos and let him pick one.

3. Finally, Jane works in the Boston Homicide department. Yes, the discovery of Sophie's body should have come to them, and yes they should have been working that case. But only after her body was discovered. Not while it was a kidnapping.