Video Runway

Okay Ladies and Gents, it’s down to the final four on “Dancing with the Stars.”  Last night the happy hoofers, Warren Sapp, Brooke Burke, Lance Bass and Cody Linley mambo-ed and jived their way to what they hope will be a spot in next week’s final three.

I’m rooting for Warren Sapp because he’s just so infectious and seems to be having such a good time when he dances.  He and Kym Johnson ripped up the floor with their mambo and played to the crowd with their jive.  Brooke Burke is a fine dancer, but she comes across as too mechanical for me.  Lance Bass is getting better from week to week and his two dances last night proved that he could go all the way.  Finally, Cody Linley just need to go home.  That pasa doble was just strange and should ensure he gets a one way ticket off the dance floor.

We’ll all find out tonight who stays and who goes on the two hour…you heard me, two hour results show.  One great thing that will help pass the time is a performance by Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin.  Other performers on what is being billed by ABC as “the biggest music night in the history of ‘Dancing with the Stars,’” include John Legend, Leona Lewis and a return visit by last season’s winner Kristi Yamaguchi.

My predication?  Cody Linley is out.

I love the TV show “House.”  It has all the elements of an excellent medical show with the added bonus of the fabulous Hugh Laurie in the title role of the unpleasant, yet brilliant, impossible, yet tortured Dr. Gregory House.

Every week there’s a medical mystery to be solved:  an artist who doesn’t see what he thinks he’s seeing, a product tester who can’t remember hours at a time, and a pregnant woman who has to choose between her life and the life of her baby.

But even more engrossing than the medical problems on the show are the emotional and psychological problems of the good doctor himself.  A crippling leg injury and the resulting constant pain, keeps him a slave to Vicodin, but he doesn’t let that stop him from trying to control and manipulate those things he can.  Like his subordinates and his co-workers.

This season has been first class with the ramifications of last season’s finale causing all kinds of relationship trouble between House and his best friend Wilson.  Add to that the House’s burgeoning flirtation with his boss Cuddy, and House has a lot going on.

House can check my pulse anytime.

“House” airs on Fox, Tuesdays at 8 PM.

This election season, “Saturday Night Live’s” been raking in the laughs and raking in the ratings with their political parodies poking fun at the candidates.

So in honor of Election Day, here are some SNL videos from this very exciting election season.

• There’s the Obama/McCain campaign montage, featuring Fred Armison as Barack Obama and Darrell Hammond as John McCain.

• One of my personal favorites, a look back at the vice presidential debate starring Tina Fey as Sarah Palin and Jason Sudeikis as Joe Biden, don’tcha know.

• Last night’s video message from the real Sarah Palin.

• Then there’s new Mom Amy Poehler’s hysterical Sarah Palin rap.

• Or how about John McCain selling McCain fine gold on QVC?

So before you watch the returns tonight, take a moment to have a few laughs.

According to the New York Post, the Emmys are about to add a new category for Best Reality Show Judge.

Whose bright idea was that?  The last thing we need on Emmy night is another category, much less a category that honors reality show judges.

First of all, they might as well call this the Simon Cowell award, because we all know this award was created just for him.  Who’s going to vote against his patented, chew ‘em up and spit ‘em out “American Idol” style of judging?  Sure they might nominate Paula just for kicks, but the likelihood of her winning is pretty nonexistent.   Randy Jackson can just forget about it altogether.

Since this all seems inevitable I guess I should handicap a couple of other shows.  Let’s see, “Dancing with the Stars?”  Carrie Ann Inaba’s got no chance, too bland.  Len Goodman might sneak in there because the Academy membership is a bit more, ahem…mature, shall we say, but our best bet is Bruno Tonioli.   If you think he’s over the top now—”Clorrrrris, you’re just oooooooozzzing senssssuality!”—just wait ’til he thinks there might be an Emmy statuette on the line.  The man will jump out of his skin.

As far as say, “Project Runway,” Nina Garcia’s snippy enough to get a nod, but Michael Kors is a shoe-in because he’ll add the kind of fashion glamour the Emmy voters love.

Ultimately though, it’s still a pretty dumb idea.

If you love good costume dramas, check out “The Duchess” starring Keira Knightley.

It’s the story of the Duchess of Kensington, Georgiana Spencer, an ancestor of the last Princess of Wales, Diana Spencer and her miserable marriage to the Duke.  Betrothed to him as a fresh faced 17 year old, the new Duchess discovers the only two things that interest her husband are having a male heir and his dogs.

Oh, and his women of course.  But even they are nothing more than what he feels is his due:  sexual gratification with as many and as varied women as he chooses.

Georgiana takes solace in card games and fashion and becomes the toast of London and a popular fixture among the masses.

The film has beautiful sets, magnificent costumes, and easily captures the grandeur of the upper classes of 19th century England.

Keira Knightley is great in the role of Georgiana and Ralph Fiennes as her slug of a husband adds a layer of humanity to what would be an otherwise one note character.

If you’re looking for a good movie this weekend, “The Duchess” would be a good choice.

The fall TV season is well under way and what do you think so far?

Some of my own favorite shows have returned after their summer off, refreshed and rarin’ to go, so I thought it was a good time to point out some highlights and some lowlights.

Highlights

• “Dancing with the Stars:”  Even if you’ve never watched this show, you have to tune in just to watch 82 year old Cloris Leachman totter across the dance floor.  She’s a hoot and a half.

• “True Blood:”  This HBO series is based on the books by Charlaine Harris and if you like a good vampire yarn, this show is for you.  It’s set way down in Louisiana and stars Anna Paquin as a telepathic waitress who has a thing for the local vamp.

• “Grey’s Anatomy:” is back and I couldn’t be happier.  The two hour premiere was chock full of all the things “Grey’s” does well:  romantic trials, medical mishaps and life and death decisions.  Based on those two hours alone, I’d say “Grey’s” is back.

• “Somebodies” is a comedy on BET…yeah you heard me, BET…and it’s the network’s first originally scripted show.  Starring Hadjii as a professional college student who can’t get his act together, this sitcom, though done on the cheap, has some decent laughs and a solid supporting cast.   And in spite of BET’s proven lack of respect for black women—don’t get me started—the show actually has a couple of decent black women characters.

So far I have only one substantial lowlight, that is if you don’t count the Emmy Awards.  That’s “Ugly Betty.”

I’ve been a big “Betty” fan, but last week’s premiere was a huge disappointment.  In spite of the wonderful New York backdrops (the show now shoots on location in New York), there was very little humor, the characters were flat and except for Wilhemina and Mark, there was little entertainment to be had.  Hopefully things will pick up this week.

Feel free to add to this list.

Based on the ratings, odds are you weren’t watching the Emmy Awards Sunday night.  The ratings were lousy and so was the show.

But there were a couple of high points, so to make sure you have a little something to talk to your co-workers about around the water cooler, I’m here to fill you in on some of the good things about the show you missed.

1. Ricky Gervais.  He was the funniest thing about the show and I’m starting a petition to have him host the Emmys next year.
2. Don Rickles.  Yeah, if you’re under thirty, you may not know who he is, but he’s a comic legend and got off a couple of good zingers.
3. Kathy Griffin yelling at the audience to “Get up!!” when she brought him on stage was a high point as well.
4. Christina Applegate looking healthy and fabulous after her recent double mastectomy for breast cancer.
5. The hotness that is Jon Hamm of “Mad Men.”  Yummmmmm.
6. Jimmy Kimmel having the five reality host nominees wait around on stage while they went to commercial break before announcing the winner.  It was Jeff Probst, by the way.
7. Zeljko Ivanek winning Best Supporting Actor in a Drama for “Damages.”  He looked genuinely touched and since “Damages” was one of my favorite shows last season, I was very happy.
8. Ditto Glenn Close winning Best Actress for “Damages.”  She didn’t look quite as touched, but I was just as happy.
9. Bryan Cranston’s almost bitter acceptance speech after winning for Best Drama Actor.  He’d been nominated quite a few times for “Malcolm In The Middle” and never won, so I guess he hasn’t forgotten that.
10. All the presenters later in the show like Kathryn Joosten who were pissed because their “bits” were cut due to the truly deadly and long opening by the five reality show hosts.

I know this list is pretty thin, but then again, so was the show.

You can read a complete list of all the Emmy winners here.

The movie, “The Women” literally has no men, boys or testosterone of any kind in it.  Except…well, I won’t tell you that because it would be a spoiler.

But it was very cool to see that in every scene there wasn’t a man to be found.  Scenes on the street: every extra in the background was a woman.  Scenes in department stores: every shopper in the background was a woman.

Enough of that, how was the movie?  Well…it was just okay.  I didn’t run screaming from the theatre in agony, but I didn’t run out and recommend it to everyone I saw either.

The story in a nutshell is about a woman (Annette Bening) who finds out from her manicurist that her friend’s husband is cheating on her.  The friend is played by Meg Ryan, and Jada Pinkett Smith and Deborah Messing play the other two friends in this girl group quartet.

The movie is a remake of the 1939 version of the Clare Booth Luce play and my friend Kay says the 1939 version starring Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford and Rosalind Russell is much better.

In this current version, Annette Bening does the best acting job, but the main problem with the movie is the chemistry between the women is contrived, and it’s simply not funny enough.

It’s fun seeing the world of the wealthy Mary Haines (Ryan) and that of fashion magazine powerhouse Sylvie Fowler (Bening) but ultimately, that’s not worth recommending a $10 box office investment.

This season’s contestants on “Project Runway” are the most thick headed ever.   It’s one thing if you get auf’d because you did a design the judges didn’t like, but quite another if you get auf’d because you didn’t do what the challenge asked you to do. If you do that, you deserve to have your butt kicked out.

That was evident once again last night when Joe got bumped off because he thought a recent college graduate who aspires to be a graphic designer wanted to go around wearing a dowdy, black pin striped skirt, and ugly, badly fitting, black jacket and blouse.

Just like Keith, Daniel, Kelli and Jennifer, he didn’t do what was asked of him:  create an outfit that was professional but which also represented the job that his young client aspired to.  Suede was extremely lucky not to get his butt kicked out with that hideous jacket he made for his photographer.

I swear this group of designers have such bad cases of tunnel vision, it’s a wonder they can get through life without preaching to whoever will listen about their “design aesthetic” and “their vision.”  If you’re asked to create sportswear, you create sportswear.  If you’re asked to create an over the top outfit for a drag queen, you create an over the top outfit for a drag queen.  It doesn’t matter that most of the time you design panty waist dresses.  You do what the challenge requires.

And if Kenley doesn’t get tossed out next week, I’m going to end up going through the TV set to rip up one of those ghastly print dresses she keeps making.

When I was a kid, I was never drawn to movies like “Peter Pan” or “Huckleberry Finn,” because as far as I was concerned they were “boy stories.”  I didn’t have anything against them, but I wanted to see more “girl stories.”

That’s why when I found this list of the “Ten Movies Every Girl Should See,” at Film.com, I felt the need to share it.  Erin Nolan who wrote the article suggests the list as iconic movies every girl should see in her lifetime.

Of the ten movies, I’ve seen and agree with six of the ten.  None of them are the greatest movies ever made, but “Shrek,” “Pride and Prejudice,” “Kill Bill,” and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” are superior films and examples of spectacular filmmaking.  “13 Going On 30″ is good, clean fun, and “Million Dollar Baby” is distinguished by the magnificent acting.

I do however have a few movies I would add to that list (in no particular order):

• The Little Princess
• Akeelah and the Bee
• Terms Of Endearment
• When Harry Met Sally
• Thelma and Louise
• The Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants
• Mamma Mia
• A League Of Their Own
• The Color Purple
• My Brilliant Career
• A Raisin In The Sun
• All About Eve

Feel free to add your own to this list.