July 2007 News Archive (Page 3)

Check your publicist at the boardroom door â€" NBC is inviting celebrities to try to wow Donald Trump in the next version of The Apprentice.

And while it would make for a marquee matchup, don't expect Rosie O'Donnell to be among them.

"It will never happen in this lifetime or beyond," said Cindi Berger, O'Donnell's spokeswoman.

The network announced Monday that the reality show will be back in the middle of next season with the celebrity twist, the winner donating proceeds to charity instead of going to work for The Donald.

NBC had canceled The Apprentice due to low ratings when it announced its next season schedule in May. But the network hired Ben Silverman as its new entertainment chief shortly thereafter, and he called on Trump and executive producer Mark Burnett to revive the show.

No contestants were named in NBC's announcement. The network said it was looking for people with entreprenurial abilities in the areas of sports, entertainment and fashion.

Which, of course, raised the question of O'Donnell, Trump's nemesis, maybe getting involved.

"It would be great to have Rosie on The Apprentice," Silverman said at a morning Television Critics Association news conference. "Donald personally told me to extend an invitation to her."

VoteForTheWorst.com which sprang to fame by supporting some of the more vocally challenged singers on American Idol has now set its sites on America's Got Talent.

Just like American Idol 6 viewers, America's Got Talent 2 viewers are scratching their heads in utter confusion and disbelief over some of the talent that the judges have put through to the viewer voting rounds.

One of the acts generating the most controversy is Boy Shakira, a male impersonator of Shakira. For his act, Boy Shakira doesn't sing but merely dances around the stage rather badly. When Sharon Osbourne and Piers Morgan decided to put Boy Shakira through to the next round during the Chicago auditions, David Hasselhoff was so agitated that he walked off the set.

What at first appeared to be a rather amusing joke on the Hoff has now progressed much further than that. During the America's Got Talent 2 Las Vegas callbacks, the judges actually put Boy Shakira through to the top twenty. From David Hasselhoff's facial expression, it appeared that this was once again the decision of Osbourne and Morgan and not him.

Many viewers posted their outrage on both Reality TV Magazine and on NBC's official America's Got Talent message board over the judges keeping both Boy Shakira and also Bollywood dancer Kashif over other contestants that viewers believed were more talented. Given the sheer volume of negative comments posted to Boy Shakira's video on the NBC website, it's hard to believe that Osbourne and Morgan were serious in putting him through to the top twenty.

Many viewers are expressing the opinion that this was a blatant ploy by the judges and the producers to create a Sanjaya-like phenomenon for America's Got Talent.

Sanjaya's run on American Idol helped to hold the media's attention in an American Idol season that was a letdown from the previous season. If not for Sanjaya, American Idol 6 would likely have taken a much larger dip in the ratings. Did America's Got Talent judges and producers purposefully conspire to put through some untalented contestants in hopes of making Sanjaya ratings magic?

If they did, then it seems to be going according to plan with VoteForTheWorst.com taking up the cause. One can only wonder when the hunger strikes will begin.

The cast of Hairspray, including young stud Zac Efron, made an appearance on So You Think You Can Dance last night.

Here's the clip:

How to look good naked? Holly Madison doesn't need that advice.

But has Lifetime announced it's ordered How to Look Good Naked, a new reality series that will feature soon-to-be-former Queer Eye for the Straight Guy Fab Five member Carson Kressley educating women of all shapes and sizes on how to flatter their figure without extreme dieting or cosmetic surgery.

The eight-episode series, which Reality TV World says is an American adaptation of the U.K.'s Channel 4 show with the same name, is scheduled to premiere in January 2008 on Lifetime.

How to Look Good Naked is described by Lifetime as both an "internal and external makeover show."

Over the course of five days, different women will be taught on how to embrace themselves despite what they may consider to be their physical shortcomings.

After Kressley guides the participants through various activities that cause minor changes that will cumulatively help the women improve their image in a big way, each How to Look Good Naked episode will end with the women participating in a "glamorous Hollywood-style" photo shoot that will help them accept who they are both inside and out.

"So many women today struggle with their self image and I'm thrilled to now have a show on Lifetime that encourages them to accept, embrace and even flaunt their bodies," said Susanne Daniels, president of entertainment for Lifetime. "With his many years in the fashion industry and his hilarious sense of humor, Carson Kressley is truly the ideal host for this feel good show."

All we know is this: Jessica Alba nude proves that some women DO know how to look quite good naked.

It's not as though Holly and Molly - the Olly Girls from Sunset Tan - ever wear a lot of clothing.

But this is a new low (or high, depending on who you are).

The pair sprayed on their Tuesday best (yes, they're only wearing paint!) and streaked their way into the The Sports Dream Celebrity Poker Tournament at the Playboy Mansion this week, a benefit for two childrens' charities. We bet they raised more than a few bucks that night.

Fox has announced the premiere of Nashville, a new Laguna Beach-like docu-reality series that will follow a group of young people trying to make their mark in Nashville's music industry.

Nashville is scheduled to debut on Friday, September 14 at 9PM ET/PT.  However, The Search for the Next Great American Band - a new American Idol-like reality competition series that Fox previously announced will serve as Nashville's Fridays at 8PM ET/PT lead-in - won't proceed Nashville's September 14 premiere.

Instead, Fox has announced that it will delay American Band's debut until after the network's October coverage of Major League Baseball's 2007 concludes.

While Friday nights have traditionally proven to be a ratings graveyard for younger-skewing programming like reality shows, newly-promoted Fox Entertainment chairman Peter Liguori was enthusiastic about attempting to buck that trend with Nashville and The Search for the Next Great American Band when the network unveiled its Fall 2007 primetime programming schedule back in May.

"Why Fridays?  It's kind of appropriate," Liguori told reporters during a conference call following the announcement in mid-May.  "You know, there's kind of a lot of older female shows on Friday nights, and we feel that there's a big opportunity to go a bit younger, provide some alternative choices, and do it with some real heart.  And I think both these show have some real heart."

We just hope this show produces another Kristin Cavallari. Yum.

There was a scare on America's Got Talent last night.

Ivan the Urban Action Figure, who had dazzled the judges with his acrobatics during the auditions, took a terrible tumble that left him motionless on the floor.

As part of his grand entrance, attempted to use a small trampoline to propel himself over several chairs. However, the trampoline appeared to slide out from under him, and he wound up flipping head first into the chairs. When the man landed, he laid motionless on the floor. At first the crowd and judges seemed to think it was part of the act, but then part of the production staff rushed out to the floor and closed the curtains.

Host Jerry Springer explained: "This was not supposed to happen apparently. The question is whether or not he landed on his head. At first everyone thought ‘oh, that's part of the act.' It's not part of the act. He's lying still. I don't see any movement at this point. This is a horrible moment."

Ivan the Urban Action Figure was unconscious for a couple minutes, but he finally came around and appeared to be ok. As a precaution, emergency personnel fitted him with a neck brace and carried him away by ambulance to the hospital for tests.

After the performer was whisked away, Springer told the audience "We have thankfully good news. Ivan the Urban Action Figure took a fall, but now he's up and he seems ok. We're going to take him and make sure that everything is physically ok, but he's talking, he's lucid."

Before The Singing Bee premieres tonight, host Joey Fatone talked to TV Guide about the new gig...

TVGuide.com: First off, a friend of mine wants me to tell you that she was "devastated" that she didn't get to see you when the Dancing with the Stars tour came to Bridgeport last week. [Fatone was called away to tape Singing Bee.]
Joey Fatone: Awww....

TVGuide.com: She really wanted to see you and [pro partner] Kym [Johnson] do "Star Wars."
Fatone: We actually didn't do "Star Wars," but we did do the jive and we did our freestyle.

TVGuide.com: How has the tour been going for you?
Fatone: It's a lot of fun, actually. You think, "I'm never going to see these people again," and here I am with Cheryl Burke and all of them. It's amazing because it's not as much work as the show, where we were rehearsing for five or six hours.

TVGuide.com: It's probably like a summer-camp version of DWTS.
Fatone: Oh, yeah. And people love it. It's fun.

TVGuide.com: Is The Singing Bee the sort of opportunity you wished or hoped you would get after DWTS? We've seen a lot of the show's alumni line up these kinds of gigs pretty quickly.
Fatone: I guess there is a demand for Dancing with the Stars celebs. [Laughs] It was nice for me, it was an open book. Whatever path, I was open to it. I wasn't really trying to do a hosting gig, but they approached me about it, and it's geared toward music and it's a lot of fun. It's an in-your-face way for people to get out there and sing. But if you sing with one word added in â€" a "the," "a" or "well" â€" it's wrong. The great thing about The Singing Bee is that it's not that hard. In the games we taped this past week, five to six people won the [top prize of] $50,000. It's practically giving the money away.

TVGuide.com: Ask anybody I work with: I am usually walking around the office singing a song I more than likely don't know the right words to. Will The Singing Bee offer people like me some comfort, in that "You're not alone" kind of way?
Fatone: Oh, yeah, you're definitely not alone. There are a lot of people who think they know the words to songs but they only know the chorus and not the verses. In one game [of The Singing Bee], you have to sing the whole chorus; another one is like a karaoke where you have to fill in the blanks; and then in the third game, they'll sing a verse and you have to finish it. It's pretty amazing to watch people cringe when they hear the year, then the artist and then the song. We had one guy stand there and when the music stopped he was like, "Ahhhhhhhhhh!" He just screamed.

TVGuide.com: Have there been any instances where someone thought the words were something that made you bust out laughing?
Fatone: Yeah. Sometimes they just put in words that don't even make any sense, or they mumble.... One guy was singing "Sweet Home Alabama" and he sang, "Well, Lord, I'm coming home to you." He thought he got it right but they checked and it's just "Lord, I'm coming home to you." You've got to get it on. The judges listen to it three or four times sometimes. One time, some girl said a word that sounded like the right word, because the phrasing of the word was stretched, but the minute she ended the phrase it was the wrong word. They're pretty tough!

TVGuide.com: How many episodes do we go until someone is tested on an 'N Sync song?
Fatone: I believe that was the first show out of the gate. Of course they had to do that to me!

TVGuide.com: And did the person get it right?
Fatone: I think they got it wrong! [Laughs]

Reality TV Magazine recently caught up with the one and only Rob Mariano, host of the upcoming show Tontine. Here are excerpts from the interview:

Reality TV Magazine:  What exactly will you be doing in your role as host?  Will you be more like Phil Keoghan or Jeff Probst?
Boston Rob: A similar role, I play a similar role to that.  I will travel with the contestants.  They're going to all seven continents for over a hundred days.  I pretty much try to keep some order to the chaos, you know how these things get.  I think the cool thing about me being a host is because I've competed before, I kind of know the ins and the outs and the tricks that the contestants try to play on the host, you know, trying to get away with every little thing, and they're not going to get much past me, that's for sure.

Reality TV Magazine:  Are you going to be kind of like Jeff Probst is at times in pointing out stuff that happened and maybe even altering the outcome of the game?
Boston Rob: You know, there's definitely, without giving away too much, there is going to be physical and mental challenges.  There's going to be obviously a travel element.  And without a doubt, there's going to be a strategic element.  So you know, we try not to interfere too much, and even Jeff doesn't, but there are some questions that are probing that you have to ask, and when the times right for that, I'll do my job, and I'll do it well.

Reality TV Magazine:  Do you see the hosting as being something with a potential career path for you?  Would you host Survivor or Amazing Race down the road?
Boston Rob:  It's been truly amazing, just everything that I've gotten to do and what this has turned into.  If you look at the history of reality television contestants, I don't think any of them have been as successful as Amber and I in terms of turning this into something.

I could have never planned seven years ago when I went on Survivor for the first time that I would still be working in TV.  Obviously, being asked to host a job on a new TV show on a major network is a pretty big deal, so I hope it does lead to big things.

Reality TV Magazine:  So should Jeff Probst be looking over his shoulder?
Boston Rob:  No, Jeff's a good friend of mine.  I don't think he has anything to worry about.

Reality TV Magazine:  What type of contestants are you looking to cast on Tontine?
Boston Rob:  First and foremost, I think that the people that come out need to be themselves.  And I've said this in other interviews, it's just a well-known fact in reality TV, you may be able to fake who you are for an interview or even for a couple interviews, but over the course of the game, over a hundred days, your true self is going to come out, so being who you are is the most important thing.

Obviously, we're looking for Type A personality, outgoing, you know, big personality type people, people who have a sense of adventure, and the ability to think outside the box, and probably most importantly that realize that this is a game, and that will do whatever it takes to win.  You know, we're looking for the best of the best for this show.

Reality TV Magazine:  On a lot of recent reality shows, the casts have consisted predominantly of twenty something actors/waiters and actresses/waitresses.  One thing, I was kind of impressed with is that y'all are hitting cities all over the U.S.  Can we expect to have a lot of diversity in the cast?
Boston Rob:  We're going to eight cities in eight weeks.  Everywhere from like Dallas and New York and Boston and LA, the big cities, but we're also hitting St. Louis, Nashville, Minneapolis, so we are looking for a cross section of America.  The more competitive people, that's what's going to win out, the competitive people.

Tontine is a show that is essentially derived out of combining everything that people love about their favorite reality shows.  There's a Survivor element.  There's an Amazing Race element.  You know, all the big ones, we've brought them together and created a sort of super reality show.  The most important thing I haven't mentioned is first prize for this show is ten million dollars.  It's the largest single prize ever offered in the history of television, and I'm not talking about one person might win ten million dollars or has the opportunity.  One person is going to win ten million dollars.

To read the entire article, click here.

It was a busy night of reality TV.

First, the two crews on Pirate Master got on board for the sixth time this season. Who ended up walking the plank and who is still around the claim the ultimate booty?

Check out our episode guide now and see for yourself.

Then, Big Brother 8 premiered. A show known for its twists and its turns did not disappoint. But why did one of the contestants end the evening in tears?

There's just one way to know for sure. Read through the Big Brother 8 recap now.