Have you ever wondered what it's really like to be a "Dancing With The Stars" contestant? You know, beyond the beautifully packaged clips of rehearsals the talented producers of the ABC hit show us every week? What does it really take?
Well, Los Angeles Times entertainment reporter Dawn Chmielewski couldn't turn her back on an ABC executive's dare and recently agreed to put herself through the rigors of learning a salsa routine with professional partner Jonathan Roberts.
Chmielewski did everything the contestants do each week -- rehearsals, spray tan, hair extensions, and a live performance filmed in front of the studio audience assembled for a recent taping of the actual show. She was even judged by Bruno, Len and Carrie Ann, and teased by host Tom Bergeron.
You won't see Dawn's salsa on TV, but that's what the Internet is for. Watch her perform in our video and read her personal account here.
Oprah Winfrey didn't mention her new gig on her talk show today when she told viewers that she is indeed ending her unprecedented run as talk show queen on Sept. 9, 2011.
But her new basic cable network, OWN, (Oprah Winfrey Network) released a statement this morning announcing that her legacy will live on in her 24-hour Discovery Communications venture, which premieres in Jan. 2011 and is based in Burbank. OWN will debut on what is currently the Discovery Health Channel.
"Oprah has been nourishing people through her television show for nearly 25 years, a legacy that has touched millions the world over,” said Christina Norman, CEO of OWN, in a statement. “She is the life force behind OWN and will be guiding the effort for this completely new 24-hour television experience premiering in January 2011."
Discovery Communications President and CEO David Zaslav also piped in
today with a statement: "There is no bigger brand in media than Oprah
Winfrey. She has changed the broadcast landscape and how people consume
television. Along the way, she impacted our culture and touched us all.
We congratulate her and our friends at Harpo for their many
achievements, and their years of creating truly ground-breaking
television."
But enough about the future. Today, Winfrey focused on the last 20-plus years in remarks she made at the end of today's shows, according to the Chicago Tribune.
After much prayer, and months of careful thought, I've decided that next season -- Season 25 -- will be the last season of "The Oprah Winfrey Show. And over the next couple of days, you may hear a lot of speculation in the press about why I am making this decision now, and that will mostly be conjecture. So I wanted you to hear this directly from me.
Twenty-four years ago, on Sept. 8, 1986, I went live from Chicago to launch the first national "Oprah Winfrey Show." I was beyond excited and as you all might expect, a little nervous. I knew then what a miraculous opportunity I had been given, but I certainly never could have imagined the yellow brick road of blessings that have led me to this moment with you. [Her voice grows thick with emotion] These years with you, our viewers, have enriched my life beyond all measure, and you all have graciously invited me into your living rooms, into your kitchens and into your lives.
And for some of you longtime Oprah viewers, you have literally grown up with me. We've grown together. You've had your families and you've raised your children and you left a spot for me in your morning or your afternoon, depending on when the Oprah show airs in your town. So I just wanted to say that whether you've been here with me from the beginning or you came on board last week, I want you all to know that my relationship with you is one that I hold very dear, and your trust in me -- the sharing of your precious time with me every day -- has brought me the greatest joy I have ever known.
So here we are, halfway through Season 24 and it still means as much to me to spend an hour with you as it did back in 1986. So why walk away and make next season the last? Here is the real reason. I love this show. This show has been my life. And I love it enough to know when it's time to say goodbye. Twenty-five years feels right in my bones and feels right in my spirit. It's the perfect number. The exact right time....
So I hope that you will take this 18-month ride with me, right through to the final show.
In Los Angeles, you can watch Winfrey tell the audience at 3 p.m. on KABC.
--Maria Elena Fernandez
Photo: Winfrey announces she's leaving her talk show after 25 years Friday. Credit: Harpo Productions
The final season of ABC's "Lost" -- boo hoo, did we really say final? -- will premiere Tuesday, Feb. 2, with a two-hour event at 9 p.m., ABC announced today. (Yes, that's a new night for the island mystery).
That means we are 75 days away from learning if the hydrogen bomb Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell) hit with a rock before she presumably died in the fifth season finale erases the past and changes the future, like Jack (Matthew Fox) wanted?
We don't know how we feel about this. If the past is erased, does that mean all of the hours we've logged with the castaways didn't happen either? What have we been doing all these years?
Answers, soon, Losties. Answers, in our destiny, soon. In the meantime, watch the promotional video and see if you can help getting a little choked up.
By now it's been established: Levi Johnston likes to talk.
Who is Levi Johnston? If you don't know, you have permission to stop reading because this is not information that will improve or enhance your life in any way.
If you do know who the latest Playgirl model is, we'd like to officially refute some claims Johnston made to our sister site, Zap2it, Wednesday night at the Chateau Marmont.
The setting was GQ's Man of the Year bash at the Chateau Marmont. And Johnston was accompanied by his manager, who happens also to be his bodyguard -- no, we are not making this up -- Tank Jones. (Name also is real.)
Johnston, the former fiance of Sarah Palin's daughter Bristol and father of her baby, and Jones claimed that he's been invited to compete on both ABC's "Dancing With The Stars" and CBS' "Survivor."
We made a few calls and learned that Johnston was not telling the truth. We know this is hard to believe, but our sources are reliable. This is what they said: "Officially, we never comment about casting," said an ABC representative.
Unofficially, we say, ''Ha! Ha! Ha!'"
A CBS spokeswoman did her own checking and replied, "This is completely false. Completely."
Michael Jackson's "This Is It" documentary is coming soon to a TV near you -- if you have basic cable.
But you're going to have wait a little while. MTV has acquired the rights to air the film in 2011, a deal that includes all of the domestic channels under MTV Networks, including VH1, VH1 Classic and Palladia. The arrangement also extends to Viacom's BET Networks, according to a press release issued by MTV today.
"This Is It" premiered on movie screens around the country on Oct. 28, showcasing Jackson's talent and songbook while offering a rare, behind-the-scenes look at the performer as he developed and rehearsed for the sold-out comeback tour that was to open just a week after Jackson died.
Distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing, the film has reached $222.6 million in box office receipts worldwide.
Photo: Director Kenny Ortega, co-producer Frank DiLeo, and producer Randy Phillips arrive at the premiere of "This Is It" at Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles; Credit: Los Angeles Times/Barbara Davidson
Amanda Woodward walks into the WPK office she owns on "Melrose Place" tonight and immediately tears into her employees, proving she's always been and always will be the boss. It doesn't matter how many years she spent on that island with Peter.
"This office is pathetic," she announces with nary a hello -- and we love it. Amanda Woodward is back, and so is her 'tude. It's like the last 10 years never happened.
For Heather Locklear, walking in Amanda's shoes again has been a little challenging. For one thing, the renovated "Melrose Place" courtyard has stone floors that are very slippery.
"Have you seen what Ella (Katie Cassidy) wears? The shoes are insane," Locklear said. "That's what I've been wearing. And they're very high and you should be on your back wearing them. Or on your hands and knees, whatever you want to do. You can't walk in them. They wet down the floor a lot and you're in these high, high shoes and there's a lot of slippage going on and tilting over. In one of my first scenes, I had to walk and talk there and address the cast all at the same time, and you can imagine. It was all 'You don't know me, which is nerve-racking to begin with, and now I'm going to walk here and act like I have confidence.'"
You know that video that's going viral today -- trending on Google and Twitter, thanks in to large part to celebrity blogger Perez Hilton -- of Carrie Prejean calling Larry King "inappropriate" on his talk show last night and threatening to leave?
We'd like to call it "inappropriate" too. And maybe even throw a "misleading" for good measure. In the entertaining three-minute clip, Prejean becomes agitated when King repeatedly asks her why she dropped her claims of libel, slander, and religious discrimination against the Miss USA pageant. TMZ has reported that Prejean decided to strike a deal only after the lawyer for the pageant revealed a homemade sex tape of a 17-year-old Prejean.
King wasn't asking about the particulars of the settlement, just why she settled, mind you. But Prejean repeatedly called him "inappropriate," took off her microphone, and appeared to want to leave. She never really owned that moment, we should add. She fumbled, looked around the room, and stayed sitting in the chair, even though she had removed her mike.
And then after the commercial break -- which you don't see on the clip that hit cyberspace last night -- Prejean is still in her seat. She didn't go anywhere. There was still her new book, "Still Standing" to promote. So she forgave King for his other violation -- Prejean's publicist had set some rules: no phone calls and King had turned to his phone lines when she refused to answer his "inappropriate" questions.
Well, at least, this time Joss Whedon fans can't retaliate against Fox.
"Dollhouse" has been canceled. Please don't yell at me, members of the Whedon cult. I am only the messenger.
Take heart in the fact that the network really did give the low-rated series, starring Eliza Dushku, a chance. All 13 episodes will air, and the advance notice has given Whedon a chance to give the series a satisfying ending, according to a Fox spokesperson. The remaining episodes will begin airing Dec. 4.
And if that doesn't make you feel any better, consider that now Whedon is free to direct even more episodes of "Glee" if he wants to.
And if you're still not consoled, buy hundreds of thousands of DVDs. It worked for "Firefly" and "Serenity."
[Updated 1:30 p.m.: The remaining episodes of "Dollhouse" will air this way: Two episodes will air each night on Dec. 4, Dec. 11 and Dec. 18 from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. The last three episodes will air Jan. 8, Jan. 15 and Jan. 22 at 9 p.m.]
[Updated 2:13 p.m.: Whedon has posted a statement on whedonesque.com, where he says, in part, "For now there's a lot of work still to be done, and disappointment to bear." Read it in its entirety here.]
-- Maria Elena Fernandez
Photo: Dushku in an episode of "Dollhouse." Credit: Fox
If you are one of those TV viewers who think “Glee” is just about funny lines and amazing music — and there’s nothing wrong with that — you’re in for a surprising ride tonight when the hit Fox show returns after its three-week hiatus.
In previous episodes, “Glee” has hinted at its big heart: Remember Kurt (Chris Colfer) coming out to his father and Finn (Cory Monteith) learning that his girlfriend is pregnant and crying on his teacher’s shoulders? Weepy stuff. But tonight’s episode is a game-changer for the off-beat series about an underdog glee club, guaranteed to make you laugh, cry and probably dance a little, all the while answering burning questions about Artie (Kevin McHale) Sue (Jane Lynch) and Tina (Jenna Ushkowitz) and showing off the vocal talents of Rachel (Lea Michele) and Kurt in a Diva-Off.
Overcoming emotional and physical disabilities is the central theme of tonight’s episode, titled “Wheels,” which showcases McHale, who plays the wheelchair-bound Artie, and reveals in a fresh way the daunting challenges some people face in their everyday lives. Filmed last spring and directed by Emmy winner Paris Barclay, the emotional episode kept the actors and crew in tears throughout its entire production and, according to creator Ryan Murphy, had long-term effects on its three writers.
“This episode is the turning point for the show,” he said during a recent telephone interview. “Certainly, after this, it remains a comedy, and it’s fun. But writing this made me feel the responsibility of showing the truth of the pain that outcasts go through. It’s not all razzle-dazzle show business. It’s tough, and it’s painful, and it was for me growing up, and it is for most people. So I think this made me realize that amid the fun and the glamour, it’s really great now and again to show the underbelly of what people who are different feel.”
Things kick off with Artie’s first solo, a confident, wheelchair-bound bop to the Nouvelle Vague version of Billy Idol’s “Dancing With Myself.” The number is a response to a prior scene in which his fellow glee clubbers dismiss the idea of paying extra for a special wheel-chair accessible bus so that Artie can ride with them to sectionals. They assume he won’t mind riding with his dad – only he does.
“ ’Dancing With Myself’ is where Artie gets to break away from being misunderstood by everyone,” McHale said. “It’s where he gets to express himself. He's actually a very secure guy – you know, he does rap! – and he doesn’t usually care what anyone else thinks. But here’s an instance where his friends have taken for granted the fact that he’s in a wheelchair. So this performance is all about him saying, ‘Look, this is who I am, and this is who I want to be.’ ”
McHale, formerly of the boy band Not Like Them, said it didn’t take him long to adjust acting (and singing and dancing) in a wheelchair – “I do have to concentrate on keeping my legs still and laid to one side,” he said -- but that the role has made him more aware of the challenges other people face.
“It’s a completely different side of life,” he said.
Admit it, when you watch this promo, your temperature rises, your heart skips a beat, and you find yourself relishing the '90s.
It's true that decade gave us hideous jeans and not-so-great music. But it also gave us Amanda Woodward, the "Melrose Place" ice queen/diva/bombshell (Heather Locklear) we all wanted to know and be.
The last time we saw Amanda, she had faked her own death, married Peter (Jack Wagner) and ran away to an island where she wondered: "Do you think we'll get bored?"
Apparently, the answer is a resounding yes. On Nov. 17, Amanda returns to "Melrose Place" where we are sure she will wreak havoc.
If you're too young to have watched the original "Melrose," this could be something to be excited about. We know the new version hasn't set the world on fire, but the first one didn't either until Amanda moved in.
-- Maria Elena Fernandez (Follow me on Twitter @writerchica)
