Much to my embarrassment, chagrin and ever-increasing shame (which runs inversely to my wife’s cackling glee) I seem to enjoy the dancing. To be specific, So You Think You Can Dance, which airs its finale tonight (August 7, 8/7c).

While I could give a rat’s ass about dancing as a subject in any other form or function, there is an undeniable attraction to this competition. It lacks the tackiness of other reality shows, and has none of the spite, competition or burning resentment that sours other competitions.

Now that the show is in the final episodes and gotten past the American Idol-style embarrassing audition phase, exploiting the poor underclass of American idiots who want to be on television, the actual talent and devotion to the craft emerges. Whether you “like” dance or not, one cannot deny the sheer talent these kids have, dancing their freakin’ pants off, and having a ball. The more you watch, the more compelling it becomes. Also, for the first time, we have two breakers in the finale; in of itself quite the victory.

After thousands of contestants were vetted down to a mere twenty, it all comes down to the last four: Courtney G., Katee, Joshua and Twitch. Last night was the voting show, tonight is the result show, and one of them walks away very happy.


So who will win? In terms of pure dancing talent, Katee could probably mop the floor with her competition, but the smart money is on Twitch in my book. This is nothing but a popularity contest, after all… and the dude be stylin’.

Of course, if Joshua wins, my wife has promised to hurl her bra at the television and scream uncontrollably… so, either way, I win there.

I pretty much loathe reality television, but I admit: I like the dancing. We’ll be back tonight with the results.

Or so we’re told by a Hans Van Eeghen via email.

Lost is the rare television show that keeps running even after the episodes dry up during the summer. Devoted fans got to participate in The Lost Experience, an intertextual cross marketing affair that involves easter egg hunts, viral marketing, obscure Web sites and fragments of clues dropped like breadcrumbs. It all amounts to very little in the way of understanding the show, but hey, it’s not like you had anything else to do this summer. Admit it.

Fans at last year’s Comic Con got an advanced taste of The Orchid orientation video, which as we all know, played heavily into the finale of Season Four. This year at Comic Con, a mysterious presence known as Octagon Global Recruiting were recruiting convention-goers to take a strange aptitude test. High scorers would presumably be invited to participate in a mysterious project that may or may not have the word Dharma in it.

Didn’t make it to California? Don’t fret. Starting today, www.dharmawantsyou.com will be hosting a series of tests for participants to judge their worthiness, and no doubt will unveil a host of interesting tidbits and secrets. The site is blank at the moment, but I’ll be checking it all day.

Yeah, so, I don’t have anything else to do this summer either. Wanna make something of it?

You want video? Oh, we got video. Two embedded videos after the jump.

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A surprise announcement to those who enjoy their cinematic criticism from their television: Richard Roeper has given the finger to his television day job.

Richard Roeper has given two thumbs down—and two weeks’ notice—to a contract offer for his stalwart movie review show.

After being unable to agree to terms to renew his contract with show producers, the Chicago Sun-Times columnist announced plans to leave At the Movies With Ebert & Roeper after eight seasons cohosting with Roger Ebert.

Roeper’s last flick of the thumb will come the weekend of Aug. 16-17. The following week, At the Movies will be in the unprecedented predicament of being without either of its titular critics.

“Several months ago, Disney offered to extend my contract, which expires at the conclusion of the 2007-08 season,” Roeper said. “I opted to wait. Much transpired after that behind the scenes, but an agreement was never reached, and we are all moving on.”

Should be interesting to see what happens to the long-running show now. With Roeper gone, and Ebert probably not coming back due to ongoing health concerns/lack of jaw, the show might be pooched.

At the very least, they’d have to change the title. “At The Movies With Whoever We Can Find” lacks the same ring, you know?

(via E!Online)

The 60th Emmy nominations have been released in full, with some surprises, some obvious selections, and some just plain craziness. For your viewing pleasure, here is a nice summation of the big categories (care of Popwatch) and their respective nominations:

Best Drama:
Boston Legal; Damages; Dexter; House; Lost; Mad Men.

Best Actor in a Drama:
Gabriel Byrne, In Treatment; Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad; Michael C. Hall, Dexter; Jon Hamm, Mad Men; Hugh Laurie, House; James Spader, Boston Legal.

Best Actress in a Drama:
Glenn Close, Damages; Sally Field, Brothers and Sisters; Mariska Hargitay, Law and Order: SVU; Holly Hunter, Saving Grace; Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer.

Best Supporting Actor in a Drama:
Ted Danson, Damages; Michael Emerson, Lost; Zeljko Ivanek, Damages; William Shatner, Boston Legal; John Slattery, Mad Men.

Best Supporting Actress in a Drama:
Candice Bergen, Boston Legal; Rachel Griffiths, Brothers and Sisters; Sandra Oh, Grey’s Anatomy; Dianne Wiest, In Treatment; Chandra Wilson, Grey’s Anatomy.

Best Comedy:
Curb Your Enthusiasm; Entourage; The Office; 30 Rock; Two and a Half Men.

Best Actor in a Comedy:
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock; Steve Carell, The Office; Lee Pace, Pushing Daisies; Tony Shalhoub, Monk; Charlie Sheen, Two and a Half Men.

Best Actress in a Comedy:
Christina Applegate, Samantha Who?; America Ferrera, Ugly Betty; Tina Fey, 30 Rock; Julia Louis-Dreyfus, New Adventures of Old Christine; Mary Louise Parker, Weeds.

Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy:
Jon Cryer, Two and a Half Men; Kevin Dillon, Entourage; Neil Patrick Harris, How I Met Your Mother; Jeremy Piven, Entourage; Rainn Wilson, The Office.

Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy:
Kristin Chenoweth, Pushing Daisies; Amy Poehler, Saturday Night Live; Jean Smart, Samantha Who?; Holland Taylor, Two and a Half Men; Vanessa Williams, Ugly Betty.

Some early observations from this humble critic:

Once again, The Wire fails to impress the Emmys, landing a paltry nomination for writing. For Boston Legal to make the best-series shortlist, and The Wire to get shafted is insane.

Mad Men and Damages make history as the first basic cable series to get best series nods. Good for them.

30 Rock cleans up with a frightening 17 nominations.

Ben Linus scored a nice nomination. Sweet!

Ted Danson got nominated for an Emmy. What year is this again?

To the Academy: Please stop nominating Two and a Half Men for Emmys. In fact, please stop making Two and a Half Men, period.

A complete list of Emmy nominations can be found at the Emmys website.

Share your thoughts in the comments below? Are you surprised by the nomination results? Outraged? Pleased? Do you even care about the Emmys? Let us know!

To be fair, calling this a review is false advertising at best. Like creators Ed Burns and David Simon’s previous venture The Wire, trying to get a sense of where Generation Kill is going or what it is all about after a mere episode is pointless at best. The meandering dialogue, the aimlessness, the complex interweaving of plot points suggest something adventurous and powerful, like the tip of an iceberg poking out menacingly from the water.

For some, sticking with this show will be something of a faith exercise. Everyone who stuck with The Wire after its first few episodes were rewarded with the strongest, most powerful drama on television, but many viewers abandoned it quickly. Similarly, if I had to judge Generation Kill based solely on the merits of its debut episode, it would be challenging. You want to like it, but quantifying exactly what you have just seen is difficult.

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With The Wire recently wrapping up its final season on HBO, David Simon and Ed Burns have moved onto their newest project, substituting the rough-and-tumble streets of Baltimore with the rough-and-tumble streets of Baghdad. Not sure which place is more dangerous these days.

The first installment of Generation Kill, a seven-part mini-series airs Sunday on HBO, adapted from Rolling Stones journalist Evan Wright’s account of traveling with the First Recon Battalion (probably the best book I didn’t finish reading this year. Library fines suck.)

Generation Kill follows the highly trained Marines of First Recon Battalion through the first 40 days of the Iraq war. The seven-part mini-series portrays the true story of the young Marines’ experience at the tip pf the spear of the American invsasion, as they contend with equipment shortages, incompetent commanding officers, ever-evolving Rules of Engagement and an unclear strategy.

Check out the trailer below, and a recent New York Times review. Looks like a guaranteed winner! I’ll be back on Monday with a review.

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Michel Gondry, the schizophrenic French music video visionary/director (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) sits down with EW and goes over what he considers his top 25 classic music videos.

Obviously, his own numerous videos are excluded from the cut, which short-changes the list somewhat (anyone else’s list would no doubt include at least one of his bizarre offerings) but fans of his work will no doubt appreciate the trip inside his though process. He is nothing if not a child of the ’80s.

(Via EW)

In case you missed them the first time around over the last two decades or so, HBO2 will marathon through all the George Carlin HBO specials today and tomorrow. The man did a lot of specials for that network, so it’s great to see them showing the love.

For everyone who only gets HBO proper, fear not: they will be showing ‘George Carlin: IT’S BAD FOR YA’ on Friday, June 27th @ 9 p.m. Beats the alternative of no George Carlin specials at all!

HBO2 schedule:

Wednesday, June 25th
8PM George Carlin at USC (1977)
9PM George Carlin Again! (1978)
11PM Carlin at Carnegie (1983)
12AM Carlin on Campus (1984)
1AM Playin’ with Your Head (1986)

Thursday, June 26
8PM What Am I Doing In New Jersey? (1988)
9PM Doin’ It Again (1990)
10PM Jammin’ in New York (1992)
11PM Back in Town (1996)
12AM You Are All Diseased (1999)
1AM IT’S BAD FOR YA (2008)

Everyone get those TiVos ready.

(via HBO)

Comparing a show that hasn’t even aired yet to sci-fi heavyweights like The X-Files and The Twilight Zone is a gutsy maneuver (and one that usually reeks of desperation and quick cancellation) but in the case of Fox’s upcoming show Fringe, it might be justified.

Co-created by J.J. Abrams (Lost, Cloverfield) and two guys who apparently had something to do with the Transformers movie (not sure why that’s a selling point), here’s a summation care of Variety:

Net has made a series commitment to the Warner Bros.-Bad Robot production, which will start off with a two-hour pilot budgeted at more than $10 million. Abrams, Kurtzman and Orci — the brain trust behind Par’s new “Star Trek” feature — wrote the project on spec and shopped it to nets this week.

Trio will exec produce “Fringe” along with Bryan Burk (”Lost”). A search has begun for a pilot helmer as well as a series showrunner.

Deal also marks Fox’s acceptance of a new digital template hammered out by Warners and ABC last month (Daily Variety, Sept. 6). Pact gives Fox broad streaming rights to Warners shows in their first season and lets Warners start monetizing skeins via digital platforms by season two.
More than one option

“Fringe” mixes elements of “The X-Files” and Paddy Chayefsky’s “Altered States” with what Abrams calls “a slight ‘Twilight Zone’ vibe.” It will focus on brilliant but possibly crazy research scientist Walter Bishop, his estranged son and a female FBI agent who brings them together.

Episodes will explore self-contained mysteries of the paranormal, as well as the relationships between the three leads.

You remain unconvinced, you say? Well, check out the trailer below.

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Okay. As a Canadian, I am alarmed by the following news.

TORONTO (Hollywood Reporter) - The Fox network will help to develop “The Animated Adventures of Bob & Doug McKenzie,” a Canadian primetime cartoon that reunites Second City TV alumni Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas.

Thomas said Monday that Fox became involved in the pilot episode of a cartoon based on the SCTV characters Bob & Doug McKenzie, to be voiced by himself and Moranis.

The animated sitcom is based on the beer-addled Bob & Doug characters, who began as a two-minute SCTV skit in 1980 on the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.

The “hoser” characters, played by Thomas and Moranis, grew a cult following as they went on to star in TV commercials and the 1983 dumb-buddy feature film “Strange Brew.”

SCTV is all right in my book, and Strange Brew had its charms (and was filmed primarily down the street from my house) but… exactly who at Fox said to themselves, “Hey, you know what would make a great cartoon for kids? An adaptation of characters from 20 years before they were born centering around substance abuse!”

This is a very important question to be answered. Whoever this was at Fox, please send us an email. We need to talk to you about possibly freelancing some articles.