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'Grey's Anatomy' Season 8 Finale Recap: Who Died in the Plane Crash?

Natyn — Fri, 18 May 2012 02:58:07 GMT

Thursday, May 17, 2012

John Kubicek
Senior Writer, BuddyTV

There are two kinds of Grey's Anatomy season finales. There was that one good episode where everything was happy and shiny (season 4 when Derek and Meredith got together in the House Made of Candles). And then there are all the others where creator Shonda Rhimes dumps so much tragedy onto her characters that it makes Job consider himself lucky.

This is the latter. A plane crash puts Cristina, Meredith, Derek, Mark, Lexie and Arizona into a tragic, Lost-like scenario where not all of them survive. Meanwhile, everyone else is busy dealing with their own personal and professional drama at Seattle Grace, but no one seems to notice that those doctors on the plane never got back.

Grey's Anatomy Gets Lost

The finale begins with an obvious homage top Lost. Meredith is staring up at the sky, flashing back to the pilot when the interns first came to Seattle Grace.

She's brought back to reality by Cristina and Mark. All three of them are pretty healthy, considering they were just in a freaking plane crash. Sure, Meredith has a metal shard in her leg and Cristina's shoulder is popped out of place, but it could be worse.

Like Arizona, who can see her bone. Or the pilot, who is paralyzed. Or Derek, who is all alone and trapped under shrapnel.

Or Lexie...

RIP Lexie Grey

The doctors find Lexie trapped and Cristina takes one look at her and knows that this is the end. Mark Sloan refuses to accept it and demands Cristina help her. Then we get an impossibly sad moment when Sloan admits he loves Lexie and she has to stay alive so they can get married and have kids and be happy because they were meant to be.

And that's the last thing Lexie hears, because she dies within the first 15 minutes of the episode. Sloan sobs while holding her hand and when Meredith shows up, she wails over the tragic loss of her sister. I was not expecting that to happen so quickly, but wow. I'm sure gonna miss Chyler Leigh.

Finding Derek

With Lexie dead, Sloan falls into a useless, catatonic state and Cristina's PTSD makes her hilarious insightful. She complains about how everything bad always happens to them, the bombs, the gunmen, the bus accidents, and she wants out of Seattle Grace Mercy Death. It's about damn time someone realized this hospital is a magnet for tragedy.

While walking and trying to keep it together, Meredith and Cristina find Derek, who crushed his own hand to wiggle free from his shrapnel trap. He passes out and Meredith and Cristina have to fix him up, praying that he passes out so he won't feel the pain. Derek gets sewed up and things are looking good for a moment, but that means it's time for another tragic anvil to fall.

Sloan in Trouble

It turns out Sloan isn't catatonic, he's passed out because of severe internal injuries. Meredith, Cristina and Derek have to perform a surgery on him, and in a brilliant scene we get to watch the docs in the woods trying their best to do the same operation Teddy and Owen are performing with relative ease back in the hospital.

Sloan gets better, but that night he starts to drift off, telling Arizona that Lexie is waiting for him, so he's going to let himself die. Luckily Arizona gets to give a big speech about how he needs to stay alive for his daughter and Callie and her, which works. If I'm ever feeling bad, I hope I have an Arizona to give me a pep talk.

Lost in the Woods

A helicopter comes by the wreckage, but the flare gun doesn't work. And it turns out the transponder was probably damaged in the crash, so basically no one knows where they are and they could be stuck for days. So the pilot, Arizona, Sloan, Derek, Meredith and Cristina bundle up for a long, cold night in the woods without fire because the last match is gone. And that's how it all ends. I told you this was one of those depressing, tragic episodes.

Back at Seattle Grace

It's kind of hard to care about Webber's residency dinner or the other non-life and death matters at Seattle Grace, but here it goes.

-Webber is throwing a big dinner for all the residents before they go away, but no one wants to go. April is still bummed about not having a job, Jackson is angry that Webber boned his mom and Alex is upset that Arizona is being so mean to him just because he got an amazing job offer at Johns Hopkins.

-Callie then gives them a wonderfully ironic speech about how their problems aren't really that big. She tells them about how her husband cheated on her and then died (April didn't even know she was married to a man, which is so funny it hurts). So Callie says to cheer up because everything changes on a dime. Sometimes things are looking bad, then they can suddenly become good. And vice versa. The fact that she has no idea her wife is horribly injured in a plane crash at that moment makes it even worse.

-Teddy has turned down a prestigious military job offer because she needs to stay to help her friend Owen deal with his recent marital woes. But he doesn't like that, so he fires her so she is forced to take that job.

-Bailey gives Ben one of her big speeches about how they're a couple now and have to make decisions like him possibly being a surgical intern together. But they're still getting married.

So basically, at the end of the day, here's where everyone stands. Lexie is dead and the rest of the plane crash victims are stuck in the woods. April is jobless, Jackson is going to Tulane, Alex is going to Hopkins and Teddy is leaving for a new military job.

I can't wait to see how the show is going to wrap all of this up next season, because right now I feel like Meredith and Cristina, lost in the woods, surrounding by plane debris and death. Thanks, Grey's Anatomy, for another wonderfully tragic ending. You have to admire a show that's not afraid to be this damn depressing.

(Image courtesy of ABC)

http://www.buddytv.com/articles/grey...ale-45735.aspx

After firing Top Model�s judges, The CW moves it to Fridays

Natyn — Fri, 18 May 2012 02:47:10 GMT

http://www.realityblurred.com/realit...y_17_new-night

Season finale review: 'Community'

Natyn — Fri, 18 May 2012 02:42:59 GMT

- 'Digital Estate Planning/The First Chang Dynasty/Introduction to Finality': Cruel cruel cruel

The study group enters a video game, pulls off a caper and achieves emotional closure in a three-episode night

By Alan Sepinwall
Thursday, May 17, 2012 10:00 PM

Evil Abed (Danny Pudi) made his return in the "Community" season finale.
Credit: NBC

The truth is � the pathetically, stupidly, inconveniently obvious truth is � helping only ourselves is bad, and helping each other is good." -Jeff Winger

The darkest timeline is not real.

Within the world of "Community," we discover at the end of the season finale that it was all in Abed's head.(*) And in the real world, the darkest timeline has been averted for at least another 13 episodes, thanks to NBC's decision to order a fourth season. This maybe won't be the best of all possible timelines, as the show is going to be airing on Friday nights, and as there's a chance that Dan Harmon won't be returning as showrunner (his contract with Sony is up, and negotiations are ongoing), but it'll be a timeline where we get more adventures of Troy and Abed, Jeff and Shirley, Britta and Annie, Pierce and the Dean, and maybe even Chang (though more on him in a bit).

(*) Does this mean that the bulk of "Remedial Chaos Theory" was in Abed's imagination as well, or just the darkest timeline and its aftermath?

At the time these three episodes were made, though, Harmon had no way of knowing if NBC would grant his cult curiosity another season, while he did know that his contract was coming up and that anything could happen come negotiating time. So it's easy to imagine that he went into the end of this season fearing that, one way or another, these would be the last episodes of "Community" he would be making and planned accordingly.

Like last week's "Parks and Recreation" finale, "Introduction to Finality" seems like it was constructed as a just-in-case series-ender, from the title to the emotional place it leaves several of the characters, but especially Jeff Winger. In previous seasons, Jeff has accepted that the study group is a part of his life, but this felt like the first time where he also recognized that the study group, and Greendale, had made that life better. He was more successful when he was a lawyer, but was he this happy? Jeff finally embraces that whatever happens to his legal career (especially now that the Drew Carey character has been eaten by a shark), he has these friends, and that his time at Greendale hasn't just been a means to an end.

That's a big development for Jeff, and several other characters also come to important emotional milestones in "Finality." We realize in the final scene that Evil Abed has been our Abed all along, once again getting lost inside his own imagination, and he for the first time acknowledges that he also needs help being a better person, and in turn gives Britta a major self-esteem boost by declaring her the best one to provide that help. (And he's definitely not cured, since even though he consents to dismantle the Dreamatorium, he keeps a couple of its panels for secret future trips into the unknown.)

Troy embraces his mechanical gifts and his role as the messiah of the AC repair school � or, in other words, Troy embraces adulthood. He gets to keep hanging out with the study group, but he's already moving out of the blanket fort with Abed (the idea, I'm told, is that he'll be sleeping in the former Dreamatorium space). The Troy we see inside the sun chamber, holding another man's life and future in his hands, getting justice for Vice Dean Laybourne and calmly, confidently repairing that AC unit in a couple of seconds... that's not a goofy boy; that's a man. (Albeit one who will probably break down sobbing from time to time, because that's just too funny to lose.)

Shirley and Pierce, meanwhile, get to achieve their shared dream of starting up their own business, even if it's just a sandwich shop in the Greendale cafeteria, and Shirley and Jeff's selflessness in turn makes Pierce stop being crazy and paranoid (but not necessarily impotent) long enough to recognize that they should be equals in this venture (Shirley's idea, Pierce's money) and leave their good friend Jeff Winger as the name on the contract.

The only study group member who doesn't get major closure in "Finality" (or in any of the night's other two episodes) is Annie, but she took a major leap forward at the end of the Dreamatorium episode by getting over her crush on Jeff and also deciding on a major and a career path in hospital administration.

If "Introduction to Finality" had wound up as the last episode the show ever did, it wouldn't have been "Community" going out on its funniest note, but one that serviced as many of its large cast of characters as it could. And though Harmon had no way of knowing that NBC would wind up airing these three episodes all in the same night, combined they serve as a sampler of three of the many, many flavors this show has had to offer under his watch.

"Introduction to Finality" was the "normal" one (or as normal as you can get when one of your main characters appears to be replaced by his evil counterpart from an alternate timeline) dealing with the study group's hopes and fears as they went through various bits of college life. "Digital Estate Planning" was the esoteric high-concept one, in which the study group were transported inside a classic 8-bit video game, while "The First Chang Dynasty" was the inevitable pop culture homage, with the study group going all "Ocean's Eleven" to liberate Dean Pelton and overthrow Chang.

I wouldn't call either the best example of their type, though each had their charms. "Digital Estate Planning" wasn't incredibly laugh-out-loud, either, aside from a couple of scenes (Annie and Shirley massacring the blacksmith's family, Britta complaining about the game's racism right before the Jive Turkeys attacked), but it was cleverly done, and � like "Pillows and Blankets" earlier this spring � it took a smart right turn into more emotional territory right at the moment where the gimmick might have started to run out of steam. It helped that the episode had a great actor like Giancarlo Esposito playing the role of Pierce's secret half-brother Gilbert � as Esposito demonstrated frequently as Gus Fring on "Breaking Bad," he can demonstrate a lot of emotion with a minimal amount of movement or change in expression � and also that it mostly took Pierce seriously. (Aside from his incompetence at the game itself.) Whatever issues Chevy Chase may have with Harmon or anyone else who works on the show(**), he can do good dramatic work when called upon, and Pierce can be among the show's most moving characters when he's not just being treated as a buffoon.

(**) And if Harmon does leave, it does not mean that Sony chose Chevy over him. There are a lot of factors at play here, as I understand it. The Chevy beef was relatively minor in the scheme of things, but very public.

"The First Chang Dynasty" was the most night's most successful outing in terms of pure humor value, and it had a good command of the various tropes of caper films (including the thieves pretending to be foiled as part of their master plan) and the way they look and sound. On the other hand, it's still part of the larger framework of Chang's rise to the dictatorship of Greendale, which isn't a story arc � or an iteration of Chang as a character � that's been terribly successful. And in the end, it took him to such an extreme place � keeping Dean Pelton as his prisoner for two months and attempting to burn down the school (not realizing that fire can burn through doors, even though it's not a ghost) � that it's hard to imagine him continuing on the show anymore. (Even an attempt to do some kind of Phantom of the Greendale gag would feel redundant, since he's lived in the vents in the past.)

If this really is the close of the Harmon era, then ideally this triple-feature would have been stronger on the whole. But the world we live in isn't any more perfect than the one that's home to Abed and friends. Hopefully, Harmon and Sony come to an agreement, but if they can't, Harmon got to say goodbye with a night suggesting the breadth of what he did on the show, if not always the depth. And if he leaves, we'll still have gotten three seasons of his inspired lunacy: of Human Beings and Annie's Boobs, of John McClane vs. Chow Yun-Fat, of Britta and Pierce both being B's, of foosball and spaghetti Westerns, of "Cougar Town" monologues and White Michael Jackson, and all the rest. And then we'll see what kind of timeline we've wound up in when the show returns in its scary new timeslot.

Some other thoughts:

* "Introduction to Finality" was always intended as the season finale, but "Digital Estate Planning" was produced last because the animation required extra time to be completed. But it still felt slightly out of order, since last week ended with the study group determined to oust Chang and rescue the Dean, and there was no mention of that again until "The First Chang Dynasty."

* Call it, friendos: Doppledeaner, Deanleganger or Deanlechanger?

* This is twice now (the "Pulp Fiction"/"My Dinner with Andre" episode was the other) where Yvette Nicole Brown has had to wear an awful lot of facial hair. More convincing: Shirley as a male caterer, or Annie as one of the 12-year-old boys in Chang's Army?

* I really liked the farewell to Troy scene at the end of "The First Chang Dynasty," particularly the riff on the "Lost in Translation" trope about the unheard parting dialogue.

* Another Jim Belushi put-down, this time during Evil Abed's emotional destruction of Britta.

* Star-Burns lives! I guess Dino didn't mind acting that much, if he was willing to leave a window open to returning.

* I enjoy Leonard's food reviews, but given how finale-y the rest of that episode was, it seems an odd note to close the season (and potentially the series) on. Also, have we seen his roommate (or whoever the other guy in the kitchen was) before?

What did everybody else think?

http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/whats-al...el-cruel-cruel

Toddlers & Tiaras Recap: The Show With a Heart?

Natyn — Fri, 18 May 2012 02:28:37 GMT

TLC, what did you do with our trainwreck?

Oh, Toddlers & Tiaras, why you gotta bust out a heart all of a sudden? I�m supposed to roll my eyes, jab pencils into my ears, scream at the TV then log on and fill your computer screen with snark about crazy pageant moms.

But this week�s episode of T&T might just be the calmest, sweetest episode ever. Even the moms were normal! OK, mostly normal. So I might as well just stop writing now because y�all don�t want fluff. Do you? It�s OK? Just this time?

OK. Then I�ll go on.

This week, we�re heading back up north (gah! Strike one!) to Connecticut (they have pageants there?) for the All Around the World Pageant. So yeah, no crazy moms from the South this week. But I do have my suspicions that the pageant director might be a transplant from North Carolina or West Virginia maybe. That�s all I�ll say about that. Before we go any further let�s meet the three featured divas this week:

Name: Lacey-Mae (you sure we aren�t in the South?)
Age: 8
Rank: The Underdog
Mom: Kerry Ann
About Lacey-Mae: She�s a little person, which I think is the first time Toddlers & Tiaras has featured a little person. And she�s adorable. And smart. And fun. And sweet. Crown her now. She�s not a little monster like about 85 percent of this other mini crazies. Loved her.

Name: Damitri�Ana
Age: 8
Rank: The Pro
Mom: Quiana (And Aunt Marquita deserves a mention)
About Damitri�Ana: Her mom and aunt may or may not be former members of Salt N Pepa. OK, they�re not. But they�re cool enough to be. I think they might be the best thing to happen to this show since Honey Boo Boo Child last season. LOVE.

(Sorry Mackenzie, no photo available. TLC�s press site blows)

Name: Mackenzie (no, not that one. I know, I was bummed too)
Age: 4
Rank: The newbie
Mom: Crystal
About Mackenzie: This is her first time in a glitz pageant. She usually does natural beauty pageants.

When we first drop in on Damitri�Ana, she�s pop locking and dropping like the best of them. And then, bam! A split in a headstand. And her �father figure� is not having that. �Splits on a headstand? I seen that in a Ludacris video,� he said.

�That�s not good.� Don�t worry pops, it�s OK in child beauty pageants. EVERYTHING is OK in child beauty pageants.

Over at Lacey-Mae�s house we get to bask in her cuteness. And she might be little, but she�s big on confidence. And just like any child in the right state of mind, she wants to win that pageant money.

We stop by Mackenzie�s house just as her new flipper arrived. For you T&T newbies, a flipper is a set of mini pearly whites that cover your kids� pre-orthodontics mess of a smile. Embrace the flipper. PLEASE. The bad news is, her flipper doesn�t fit. And unlike about 95 percent of the moms featured on this show, Crystal doesn�t care. She�s chill.

See what I mean!? Nothing bad is going to happen in this episode! It�s all really sweet, really normal or just really fabulous (I�m talking about you Quiana and Marquita). So let�s get to the pageant.

Mackenzie is glitzed out for the first time and she looks pretty tame compared to some of our girls. And her mom promises that even though they say �once you go glitz, you never go back� she will go back. And they�ll just get a little glitz on the side.

Damitri�Ana is getting her face on and as Marquita is paintin her up, she utters the best quote of the night: �You�re gonna look like a Real Housewife of Atlanta when we�re done.� Snap. I told you I love them. Anyone who tries to make their little niece look more like Nene Leakes is definitely my new best friend.

At crowning, all three beauties bumped for higher supreme titles. Lacey-Mae won Outfit of Choice. Mackenzie was the World Wear winner and Damitri�Ana won seven and up Grand Supreme.

http://www.realitynation.com/tv-show...a-heart-66842/

Around the World in 80 Plates Recap: Madness

Natyn — Fri, 18 May 2012 02:17:04 GMT

This week's scorecard

This week on Around the World in 80 Plates, the cheftestants headed to Lyon, France and even though there may have been a little cooking involved (I really can�t be sure), the episode was filled with nothing but petty bickering and confusion.

Maybe it�s because there�s still too many people and we haven�t had a chance to get to know them, but I don�t know what I�m watching half the time. Right now it looks like a bunch of people with cocky and bad attitudes running around Europe, tasting food, fighting, cooking for five seconds then it�s over. Since this is a show that�s nearly impossible to properly recap and I�m pretty sure this won�t be getting a season 2 (unless Bravo is crazy), we�ll follow a scorecard format.

Around the World in 80 Plates Scorecard

The Black Team: Chaz, Cheven, Avery, Gary and Nookie.
The Red Team: Nick, Sai, John, Liz, Jenna and Nicole.
The Course: Identify cheese, wines, herd sheep (no really), etc.
The Course and Exceptional Ingredient Winner: Black Team
The Exceptional Ingredient: A master class with a French chef Joseph Viola from Daniel et Denise.
Product Placement of the Week: Infinity Automobile
Quote of the Week: �I�ve been to France many, many times. Worked as a French interpreter. And I know how to French kiss.� � Gary
The Takeover Challenge Winner: Black Team
Most Valuable Chef: Avery
Losing Team: Red Team
Eliminated Chef: Sai
Next Stop: Barcelona, Spain

http://www.realitynation.com/tv-show...madness-20027/

Law & Order: SVU � Recap & Review � Strange Beauty

Natyn — Fri, 18 May 2012 02:11:43 GMT

photo: nbc

Original Air Date: May 16, 2012
Caitlin � Staff Writer
caitlin@thetwocentscorp.com

Every so often, the SVU writers decide that rapists and serial killers are too run-of-the-mill. When that happens, we get storylines like this one, based around severed limbs. Don�t say I didn�t warn you.

Amanda is playing pool at a bar with Fin and Nick. The men head off just as her old captain shows up. After he flirts with her, she takes a moment to go outside and sees a cab speed by with a screaming girl trapped inside.

The detectives talk to the girl, Nina�s, mom, and track down a guy who knew her. Eventually, they find video of the abduction. And then Dr. Warner has something to show them- Nina�s severed leg, cut off while she was still alive (though sedated). The fisherman who found the leg also found one 11 years ago. Its owner is still alive, and informs us that she was paid to have her leg removed. Nina, however, is later found dead in the trunk of a car.

She died from the drugs in her system, which may mean it was an accident. She�s also had her body modified in a variety of ways, including having her ears cut and shaped into �elf ears�. Her tattoo artist isn�t into that extreme stuff, but points them toward Seth, an ex-employee of his, who has a container of nitrous oxide in his apartment. Gene, the dentist it was stolen from, knows and dislikes Seth, an ex of his secretary, Jess. Jess herself flees at the site of police.

The reason for her running off become clear when Seth maintains that she was the one who would perform body modifications. He tells Amanda and Fin where to find her- at a sort of circus that requires a password for entrance.

Amanda sees a girl with elf ears and gets her to confirm that they were done by Jess. We track Jess down just as she�s about to start performing a surgery, and as she steps into the light, her own wooden leg is revealed.

Jess doesn�t deny cutting ears, but she�s outraged at the idea of cutting off limbs, saying she lost her own leg to bone cancer. The detectives are mixed as to whether they believe this or not, but there�s still the matter of the nitrous oxide, which appears to have been ordered by Gene�s brother, Hal. Hal�s a psychiatrist, so he certainly doesn�t have any use for such substances. He does admit to taking his script pad to the home he shares with Gene.

Reinterviewing Gene reveals that he had a date up at the house in the form of another man and that he, like nearly every other guest star of the episode, cringes at amputation- especially since his and Hal�s mother lost her leg to an amputation. That seem like a pretty big coincidence to you, too? As it turns out, Jess used to see Hal for depression right about the time she had to have her own leg removed. Later, he saw her treating Nina�s ears.

The detectives go after Hal again, at first keeping up an act of actually suspecting Gene. They get him to describe the possibility that a sensual awareness was awakened in Gene by connecting Jess to his mother losing her leg when he was hitting puberty. Then they point out that Gene was A. gay, and B. only 9 at that time. Hal was the one hitting puberty.

Finally, he takes us to his office, where he talks about wanting to make girls accept their modified selves as his mother couldn�t. He started with willing participants and then moved on to Nina, feeling sure she�d have seen her real beauty after the procedure if he�d been able to wake her up afterward.

Um. Yeah. You really should watch this episode if you haven�t, because this recap doesn�t nearly do justice to how creepy Hal�s last scene is. I�m going to distract myself by commenting on other things, like why we saw Amanda�s old captain show up for exactly one scene at the start of the episode. It could certainly just be a quick hint for something more to come later, but there�s only the season finale left, and from the promo, that episode looks busy enough already.

Next Week: Rhodium Nights

http://thetwocentscorp.wordpress.com...trange-beauty/

'American Idol' Results: Who's Going to the Finale?

Natyn — Fri, 18 May 2012 02:03:01 GMT

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Carla Patton
Writer, BuddyTV

No more drama! The American Idol Top 2 are revealed tonight. Who will join Phillip in the finale? Have we all pretty much resigned ourselves to the fact that he will win? You can just tell by the sound of female screams and panties dropping in the audience, and all the girls pressed up against that chain link fence for a sniff of that grey shirt! This week, the contestants went home, Jimmy Iovine sent them the latest product he's pimping out, and then he chose the best songs for them. The contestants, without a doubt, chose the worst songs of the night for themselves. They need help. But who needs the most help? Who NEEDS Idol? That's the person who should win.

American Idol alum and runner-up Adam Lambert performs tonight, along with Lisa Marie Presley. It's a celebration of pompadours.

Starting out, we get a group number. Our last terrible group number until the finale, which is sure to be chock full of them. Jessica looks cute in that little dress with the cutouts. Phillip is really into the music, Jessica and Joshua are just phoning it in. Do they know they're bound to lose this thing? The group number ends, and that was the best thing that could have happened for it.

But the torture's not over. We have to watch this Ford Music Video in which the contestants play silent movie characters. Well, Joshua and Jessica played silent movie characters. Phillip was, once again, excused. I guess he got a doctor's note.

The Top 3 contestants say that they've already won, and they're excited for whoever wins. They're very nice to each other. Joshua Ledet is up first to hear what Jimmy thought of him. Jimmy said it was not Joshua's best night, but it was a good night and the judges over-praised "I'd Rather Be Blind." He over-compensated on "Imagine," which didn't work. He called it overblown and over-emotional. I agree, and I think I also over-praised that first performance in the rankings. Jimmy thought there was something missing last night and criticized himself for giving Joshua a song with not enough melody.

Oh my god, then Jennifer Lopez, whose devil-owned soul is being sold for $1 a minute, had to take part in a product placement for whatever Ice Age movie is happening now. She was a voice in it, so I guess there's a joke there somewhere. Then the Top 4, which Phillip was NOT excused from, had to "check out" some songs from Ice Age - Continental Drift. Then they had to sing the most boring part of this stupid song about being family before the dawn of man. Wow, that was no fun at all! Thanks for giving us that little glimpse into the exciting life of American Idol contestants, Ryan.

Then Lisa Marie Presley performed, inspired by Lana Del Rey. I hope the Idol set designers don't get too many ideas from this set, or from Ice Age - Continental Drift. They already have too much stuff up there. This performance was recorded RIGHT before Dracula came to collect his bride.

Up next, Jessica Sanchez will hear what Jimmy thought of her "triple play." Jimmy thought everyone needed a "shock and awe" moment at this point, and "My All" didn't come together enough for him. He also thought it didn't all come together for "Don't Wanna Miss a Thing." And what did he think of his own choice? He is doubting himself again, because Michael and Jermaine both sang that song so how could one person possibly? He said she was good enough to sing in the Grammys, though.

The producers are making the signal for Ryan to stretch the show out, so he asks Jimmy and the women sitting next to him what they think of Donna Summer's passing. And with that somewhat awkward introduction, it's Adam Lambert singing "Never Close Our Eyes." Adam has really developed the type of artist he wants to be, which I think he knew from the beginning, so his glitter rock modern throwback is working. He couldn't give less of a rat's ass about returning to the Idol stage, I'm sure, but it was nice of him to throw Nigel a bone and come back. Overall, with this plus Lisa Marie Presley's performance, it's turning into a somewhat creepy show. He sounded just like Freddie Mercury, and I think it was a great showing for him.

Now let's hear about Phillip Phillips. If we can hear over the screaming. Jimmy thinks "Beggin" was very good and proved once again that Phillip is original. Jimmy likes that Phillip is "willing to risk everything" to take a risk, but thought "Disease" was a snoozefest. And "We've Got Tonight"? Jimmy congratulates himself with Phillip's win of the night. Jimmy called it his best performance, flawless, and thought he dug deep down into the emotion of the song. Alright, Jimmy.

Jessica and Joshua hit the stage to join Phillip. It's about to happen ... any moment now! Randy wishes them all luck. I just hope Joshua Ledet doesn't have to go out of this competition in that shirt. Jennifer talks a lot, then Steven talks a lot. Anybody else have anything they want to say? (The producer is still making the "stretch" gesture).

And now it's time to find out for reals! The lights are dimmed! The first person going into the finale is Jessica Sanchez! WHAT! I did not see that coming. And the other contestant in the finale will be, of course, Phillip Phillips.

So Joshua Ledet leaves, with one final standing ovation. Sigh, there's little justice. I imagine this will be an even easier win for Phillip now. But hey, maybe Jessica will blow it out of the water for the finale. For his final performance, he performs "This is a Man's Man's Man's World" one last time. I'm sad, I loved him! I hope he gets a record deal singing old soul hits somehow, somewhere.

(images courtesy of FOX)

http://www.buddytv.com/articles/amer...goi-45728.aspx

'America's Next Top Model': Rob Evans and Johnny Wujek join the cast,

Natyn — Thu, 17 May 2012 22:11:29 GMT

plus viewers can now vote

By Andrea Reiher
May 17, 2012 9:22 AM ET
Follow @andrealeigh203 on Twitter | Google

"America's Next Top Model" is going to look drastically different in the fall of 2012. The show is moving to Friday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT and is leaving Jay Manuel, Miss J. and Nigel Barker behind.

Tyra Banks (obviously) returns as the main judge and host, in addition to fashion PR guru Kelly Cutrone, who has been on the Cycle 18 judges' panel. Banks has added international male model Rob Evans (pictured above, right) as the permanent third judge and Johnny Wujek (pictured above, left), stylist to the likes of Katy Perry and Shakira, will be the new creative consultant, who guides the models through their photoshoots.

Cycle 19 has been announced as the college edition, which is inspired by Tyra's recent foray into higher education at Harvard Business School. It will include contestants across all forms of higher education, from four-year colleges to beauty schools.

And finally, the viewers will get to have a hand in voting for who is eliminated. Beginning on May 24, fans will have two opportunities a week to vote online at www.cwtv.com based on the photos taken during production. The scores will be factored in each week when Tyra and the judges eliminate someone. Viewers can also have their comments and video messages featured on the show when it airs in the fall.

What do you think of all the changes, "ANTM" fans?

Photo/Video credit: Getty Images, Client Magazine

http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethe...-now-vote.html

RIP Donna Summer

Steve3 — Thu, 17 May 2012 18:04:25 GMT

I will always remember my party years in LA, and what a big part of it was Donna. My favorite songs were Spring Affair, Could It Be Magic, and my all time favorite Last Dance. In the beginning, Donna used to go to clubs and dance. I saw her once, and she was having a blast. She was much shorter than I thought she was. Anyway, here is Could It Be Magic.

My Dad

Reese — Thu, 17 May 2012 16:22:45 GMT

Hi Friends,

I am here to ask for your prayers. My Dad was diagnosed with cancer about 3 weeks ago; cancer of the pancreas. He was told that his cancer is inoperable and incurable. He has decided not to undergo chemo because he's already too weak and too tired. So we have him at home, trying to keep him comfortable and happy. We also have him under hospice care so he gets nurse visits at home and other comforting services for him and us. My sister and I are with him as much as we can. So please keep him and us in your thoughts.

Wednesday Night Ratings

Steve3 — Thu, 17 May 2012 16:18:53 GMT

Time	Net	Show	18-49 Rating/Sh	Viewers (millions)
8:00	FOX	American Idol (8-10PM)	4.8/14	17.29
	ABC	The Middle	1.9/6	6.49
	NBC	Betty's White's Off Their Rockers	1.4/5	5.11
	CBS	Mike & Molly - R	1.1/4	4.46
	CW	America's Next Top Model - R	0.4/1	0.80

8:30	ABC	Suburgatory (season finale)	1.8/6	5.42
	NBC	Betty's White's Off Their Rockers	1.5/5	5.40
	CBS	Rules of Engagement - R	1.1/3	4.02

9:00	ABC	Modern Family	3.9/11	9.30
	CBS	Criminal Minds (9-11PM) (season finale)	3.5/10	13.47
	NBC	Law & Order: SVU - R	0.8/2	2.84
	CW	America's Next Top Model	0.5/1	1.10

9:30	ABC	Don�t Trust The B in Apartment 23	2.0/5	4.84

10:00	ABC	Revenge	2.0/5	6.85
	NBC	Law & Order: SVU	1.7/5	5.50

http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/201...t-lows/134586/

'Go-Go' performer Chuck Brown dies

Natyn — Thu, 17 May 2012 14:58:38 GMT

By Phil Gast, CNN
updated 9:45 AM EDT, Thu May 17, 2012

Chuck Brown: Godfather of Go-Go

(CNN) -- Funk fans started each Chuck Brown concert with a chant, "Wind me up, Chuck."

From there they would be treated to guitar riffs, driving percussion and other rhythm instruments that left them dancing to the beat.

Brown, who died Wednesday at 75, was the "Godfather of Go-Go," a genre blending funk, jazz and soul and other musical forms.

"Go-Go," 40 years after its founding, remains especially popular in its hometown of Washington, D.C.

Fans gather to remember Chuck Brown

"The groove and vibe he created was unparalleled," said manager Tom Goldfogle. "All of his performances were a journey with the audience."

Brown engaged in a call-and-response dialogue with fans, ensuring their interaction with each set.

He last performed in early March and had been hospitalized for about four weeks.

Brown died of multiple-organ failure from sepsis at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Goldfogle said.

With the Soul Searchers, Brown had a big hit in the 1970s with "Bustin' Loose."

The guitarist and singer was a familiar figure on stage with his brim hat and sunglasses, creating "the beat" for dancers.

"Go-Go" referred to a sound continuing from one song to the next.

"Chuck would describe it as nonstop percussive bass music with its roots in Latin, African and funk," said Goldfogle. "He added his blues and jazz elements."

While Brown performed worldwide, his most loyal fan base was in Washington.

District of Columbia Mayor Vincent Gray, in a tweet, paid tribute to the gravel-voiced Brown. "What a loss," his message concluded.

Fans gathered Wednesday evening at the recently restored Howard Theatre in Washington to celebrate Brown's life. A local radio station played music while people danced in the street.

Brown competed with disco and later had an influence on local hip-hop artists, Goldfogle told CNN.

"They would do hip-hop songs with a 'Go-Go' feel," he said.

In 2010, Brown received his first Grammy nomination, in collaboration with Jill Scott and Marcus Miller, for "Love." A 2007 album, "We're About the Business," included the singles "Block Party" and Chuck Baby."

Brown, according to his manager, played to several generations.

"His music is loved as much by the grandmother, as the mother, or the daughter," Goldfogle said.

According to CNN affiliate WJLA, Brown had recently postponed numerous shows due to failing health.

Funeral arrangements were pending.

"His family continues to be grateful for the outpouring of love and support and requests respect for their privacy during this difficult time," Goldfogle said in a statement.

Survivors include Brown's wife, Jocelyn, sons Nekos, Wiley and Bill, and daughter Takesa.

CNN's Jane Caffrey and Skip Nocciolo contributed to this report.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/16/showbi...html?hpt=hp_t2

Horse rescued after swimming 2 miles into ocean

Natyn — Thu, 17 May 2012 14:50:44 GMT

By the CNN Wire Staff
updated 3:24 AM EDT, Thu May 17, 2012

Santa Barbara Harbor Patrol rescued a horse found swimming in the ocean more than two miles offshore on Tuesday.

(CNN) -- It was a sea rescue made for Hollywood: A horse in a photo shoot on a Southern California beach gets spooked and runs into the water, only to be rescued after swimming more than two miles offshore.

That's what happened to a 7-year-old white Arabian named William, said Santa Barbara Harbor Patrol Officer Ryan Kelly.

The drama unfolded Tuesday about 6:30 p.m. when the horse bolted from the beach in Summerland, just south of Santa Barbara, and ran into the ocean.

"The initial call came in as a missing horse," Kelly said.

Several more calls followed about a horse swimming out to sea.

Rescue personnel from the nearby Carpenteria Fire Department, along with state lifeguards, took to the water to search for the horse, and a helicopter was launched by Santa Barbara County's search and rescue team.

William was spotted more than two miles offshore in the Santa Barbara Channel, swimming toward oil rigs, according to an incident report.

"Firefighters were able to hook the animal's reins with a boat hook and bring it alongside a paddleboat," the report said. Floats were put under its neck to help keep its head above water.

Photos and video taken of the rescue show Kelly and others placing a tow line under the horse's saddle and securing it to the boat. Harbor patrol personnel and lifeguards appeared to take turns holding the horse's head up.

"It took about two-and-a-half hours to escort the horse back to dry land and into the hands of a vet," Kelly said.

The horse was taken to an animal clinic in the area and released back to the owner.

CNN's Irving Last contributed to this report.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/17/us/cal...html?hpt=hp_t2

Calif. woman apparently burned by rocks in pocket

Natyn — Thu, 17 May 2012 14:35:11 GMT

The Associated Press.
10 hours ago

SAN CLEMENTE, Calif. � A woman suffered third-degree burns after what appeared to be the spontaneous combustion of rocks that had been scooped up from a Southern California beach, a fire official said.

The 43-year-old woman's children collected the rocks Saturday at San Clemente Beach, and she tucked them into the pocket of her shorts, according to the Orange County Register ( http://bit.ly/JuVv9L).

While the woman was standing in her kitchen Saturday after returning from the beach, the rocks somehow caught fire, burning the woman's right thigh and knee, said Capt. Marc Stone of the Orange County Fire Authority.

The woman tried to stop, drop and roll but couldn't extinguish the flames, Stone said.

The rocks are small, smooth, and orange and green in color. They eventually fell from the shorts onto the wooden floor where they continued to burn and fill the house with smoke, Stone said.

The woman's husband also suffered second-degree burns to his hand trying to put out the flames.

Authorities didn't provide any details about what would have caused the rocks to ignite, saying they're undergoing testing to see what happens.

"There is phosphorous that naturally occurs on the sand at the beach, but no one has ever heard of pants catching fire," Stone told the Register.

Stone said it could take weeks to complete the investigation.

http://xfinity.comcast.net/articles/...cid=hero_media

Season finale review - 'Suburgatory': 'The Motherload': Find 100 ways

Natyn — Thu, 17 May 2012 14:26:58 GMT

Mother's Day in Chatswin raises complicated emotions for Tessa and Lisa

By Alan Sepinwall
Thursday, May 17, 2012 9:25 AM

Dalls (Cheryl Hines) goes for a "Suburgatory" run.
Credit: ABC

A review of the "Suburgatory" season finale coming up just as soon as I club a stuffed seal...

"The Motherload" featured a bunch of things about the show that have frustrated me throughout the season, but it also featured some of the things that made "Suburgatory" one of the TV's best new shows. It wasn't a perfect finale, but it was an excellent summation of what this show has done this year.

I've never enjoyed the cartoonish excesses of Chatswin nearly as much as Emily Kapnek does, unfortunately. It's worked with Dallas, who manages to be simultaneously oblivious and empathetic, but Noah and Jill, and to a lesser extent the adult Shays, tend to come across as sociopaths. So when you add that horror-show nursery to all the over-the-top Mother's Day celebrations(*), then throw the grating Eden into the mix, you've got an episode where I was cringing much more than I should have.

(*) Though the reveal about why Sheila is such a big James Ingram fan was funny.

And yet Jane Levy and Allie Grant were so excellent in their various emotional moments � Tessa getting rejected by the Village Voice, Lisa figuring out that Ryan is the adopted one, and then Tessa finally dealing with her mother's absence from her life (and contemplating the idea that her mother might also be her ticket out of this stupid town) � that the good ultimately outweighed the bad with this one. "Suburgatory" at its best finds a way to blend honest emotion with smart comedy. "The Motherload" didn't do a whole lot of that, as most of the jokes were in the far more problematic adult half of the show, but it demonstrated once again how well the show has drawn these kids.

Hopefully, the show returns in the fall with enough of a time jump that Eden will have returned to Montana, and I wouldn't exactly object to Noah and Jill joining her on that bus out of town. At a minimum, if the show wants to make a creative leap from season one to season two, it has to figure out how to make its adult characters as human as the high schoolers.

http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/whats-al...-find-100-ways