TeleChimp | TV Journalism

In the aftermath of J.T.’s boot and Parvati playing like 27 immunity idols, the Heroes are depressed and Li’l Russell is angry that there was an immunity idol in the game that he didn’t have control over. While Rupert hopes to lure Sandra onto the Heroes’ side, Li’l Russell tries to win Candice over to the Villains. Candice is so happy to have something resembling an intelligent conversation that she seriously considers it. Colby, Amanda, and Danielle win a reward of a night at Robert Louis Stevenson’s house, sharing a bed and a bowl of popcorn while watching the classic film Treasure Island.

Amanda and Danielle end up wrestling over the latest hidden immunity idol clue until Colby, who has clearly checked out and just wants to watch the movie, tells Amanda to give it to Danielle. So she does, without so much as reading the damn thing first or making any kind of plan to follow the Villains to try to get the idol instead of one of them. Sigh. Danielle shares the clue with her alliance, and naturally, Li’l Russell winds up with his 3,532,673rd idol and no one else is the wiser. Until three seconds later, when he tells Candice to win her vote. Sandra, meanwhile, hates Li’l Russell and wants him gone, and so tries to mount a campaign with the Heroes. Which Candice then tells Li’l Russell all about because after being silent for the past 26 days, she can’t keep her mouth
shut. Li’l Russell confronts Sandra, the entire plan is blown to hell, and Sandra decides that the Heroes should vote for Parvarti just in case Li’l Russell has the idol. The Villains, on the other hand, want to vote Amanda out. It all comes down to whose side Candice is on, and in the end she apparently had enough of the Heroes and their utter refusal to play this game or even pretend they like her, and so she sides with the Villains. Li’l Russell plays the idol unnecessarily (he’ll just get another one next week, though, so who cares?), and Amanda’s torch is snuffed for the first time.

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Perennial troublemaker Naomi is finally made to pay for her most recent sin with a sentence of community service and a public apology, but will anyone be paying attention? These kids have other things on their minds: Silver is meeting Teddy’s movie-star father (Ryan O’Neal) for the first time; Liam and his daddy (Scott Patterson) are trying to bond; and Dixon is digging himself into gambling debt. Things are cooking for the adults, too: Debbie and Harry’s marital problems come to the fore after Debbie makes a confession.

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Collection Kevin Eubanks made it official during today’s taping of The Tonight Show by announcing he will leave the late night talk show in six weeks. Back in February, NBC confirmed that Eubanks was ready to step aside after serving 18 years as Jay Leno’s music director.

After doing his “Headlines” segment, Leno called Eubanks to the couch and announced how “we have one more headline to get to and it involves our very own Kevin Eubanks.”

“After 18 years, I just need a change of pace and see what else is going on,” Eubanks said. ” But it’s a really difficult decision because this has become my second home, as it has been for the band, and I love the audience and the American people really love the show and it’s been a wonderful experience to be here.”

“It has been a pleasure,” Leno said.  “You’ve been a great friend and really supportive.  When those jokes die, I gotta look to you man.”

“I thought about this and it wasn’t that difficult,” replied Eubanks. ” After 18 years of playing America in to commercials, I’m gonna go somewhere where I can finish a song.”

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I’m officially getting old. I know this because Holly Marie Combs has just been cast as the mother of a teenager!

Sources confirm to me exclusively that the ex-Charmed one is joining ABC Family’s upcoming drama, Pretty Little Liars, as the mother of Lucy Hale’s Aria.

Liars, based on the popular series of young adult novels from Alloy (which is producing the series), follows four teen girls — Aria (Hale), Emily (Shay Mitchell), Hanna (Ashley Benson), and Spencer (Troian Bellisario) — who have been hiding a deep, dark secret since the sixth grade.

Chad Lowe was recently tapped to play Aria’s father (and Combs’ TV hubby). The cast also includes Laura Leighton and Bianca Lawson.

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Cable TV is larded with food, cooking, and eating shows. They can range from Food Network’s Ten Dollar Dinners With Melissa d’Arabian to Travel Channel’s Man v. Food, productions that center on cheap shopping or cheap gastronomic thrills. The class act in the televised food genre was thought to be Bravo’s Top Chef, but in recent seasons, it’s become a showcase for expletive-spewing tattoo victims more familiar with truculence than truffles.

These are all reasons to welcome back Top Chef Masters, now in its second season. It inverts the usual reality-TV competition show. Instead of desperate amateurs or semipros trying to establish themselves as fascinating television personalities, these are well-established professionals who tend not to be needy for camera fame. Instead, they want to beat the molasses out of their peers. What I’m saying is, Top Chef Masters is that rarity: It’s mature reality TV.

But mature doesn’t mean not fun. In the very first episode of the second season, one of my favorite Quickfire Challenges asks the chefs to make a good meal from food purchased solely from a gas-station quickie mart. I got to feel superior to the chef team that didn’t know the difference between a bag of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos and regular Cheetos (hey, I take my small victories where I can find them), and took pleasure in the fact that the judges that first week were the rock band the Bravery — which was nicely random. (Their qualification? Their touring schedule compels them to spend a lot of time at gas stations.)

The series isn’t perfect, of course. Host Kelly Choi is both cheesy and grating: a cheese grater who seems even less interested in eating the food set before her than Top Chef‘s Padma Lakshmi, the queen of tiny bites. Of course, Choi can’t help but come off as wan when placed beside cooking television’s most amusing bunch of judges, including Jay Rayner, who possesses that effortless British glibness; James Oseland, who smiles broadly but doesn’t mind making cutting comments; and the divine Gael Greene, who’s never met a meal over which she couldn’t sprinkle some amusing babble

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Below are a couple of sneak preview clips from Monday's upcoming episode of Gossip Girl, "The Sixteen Year Old Virgin." The first one deals with the title character and subject. Jenny confides in Serena that tonight is gonna be the night she becomes a woman ... or something like that. She says Damien is the right guy, and S reluctantly supports her. Not sure if Serena is the best confidant for J on this issue, but she did at least try to stress the importance of making sure she's ready. Nate's reaction is pretty priceless too ...

The Power of Three is making a comeback. Zenescope Entertainment revealed this week that they've obtained the comic book rights for "Charmed," a supernatural-themed TV series that aired on the WB Network for eight seasons. Created in 1998 by Constance M. Burge, the series followed three sisters — Piper (Holly Marie Combs), Phoebe (Alyssa Milano) and Paige (Rose McGowan) — who were descended from a long line of good witches and tasked to face the forces of evil. Zenescope's "Charmed" comic book series will pick up with an original story that takes place after the series' eighth season. Paul Ruditis and Raven Gregory ("The Gift") are co-writing the title with artist Dave Hoover ("Captain America"). Ruditis has written several books based on TV series — including "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Roswell" — in addition to two "Charmed" novels. "The key to this series success is to strike a nice balance in creating a brand new, intriguing storyline for fans of the television show while also not alienating Zenescope and comic book readers who haven't really followed it before but might want to now that it's a comic," said Zenescope Editor-in-Chief Ralph Tedesco. "The great thing is that Paul and Raven have done just that with this story arc," continued Tedesco. "Anybody will be able to pick up this series and follow it whether or not they ever watched the show before. Moreover, fans of the show are going to be thrilled when they see where this story goes." Given the newfound freedoms of the comic book medium, it may even be possible for characters like Prue (one of the original Halliwell sisters portrayed by Shannen Doherty) and Cole Turner (Julian McMahon) to return in some form. Both characters were written out of the "Charmed" TV series when their respective actors left the show. "Charmed # 0" will be released in June and the first issue will debut at the San Diego Comic-Con International in July.

As I adjourn to the headlines ruling the world of golf today I am frustrated to find the Great One, a man that has yet to swing a club in a competitive round this season, continues to rule the roost. "Tiger has not announced his plans for Bay Hill"... I am tired of our top headlines noting Tiger's lack of action. At least the headlines around his most recent "actions" were (to a jaded outsider like me) humorous and humbling. "Stricker thinks Tiger should play before The Masters"... wonderful. If any golfer of prominence not named Tiger chooses to speak on Tiger, that puts Tiger back on the front page of the game. We are done with it. He's playing The Masters... so let's turn our focus to golf headlines you should be enjoying. 

Although there wasn’t any official mention of Game of Thrones at today’s TCA event, we did get an update via Matt Roush of TV Guide Magazine. Here is what he tweeted from tonight’s event:

HBO programming chief tells me they’ll see full pilot of Game of Thrones in 2 wks. Dailies look good; more scripts written. Fingers crossed.

Good stuff. As I suspected, Benioff and Weiss sound like they’ve been busy writing scripts. Sorta surprised they will be screening the pilot in only two weeks. Initial reports had mentioned Modern VideoFilm would be working on the pilot in Feb, so either that was moved up or they are no longer involved. Either way, I’ve been told not to expect an announcement until March. But still, in two weeks a few lucky individuals will get to watch the pilot episode to Game of Thrones!

The Hollywood Reporter’s James Hibberd checks in with a great article from HBO’s TCA event that contains some exciting info. Check it out!

HBO programming chief Michael Lombardo says the dailies for highly anticipated fantasy series “Game of Thrones” look “fantastic” and the project looks very strong for a series pickup.

“Everything looks fantastic,” said Lombardo, who’s become a fan of the George R.R. Martin books upon which the project is based. “The director got great performances. Unlike a lot of projects like this, everything was shot on location. It has such a rich texture that it looks more expensive than it actually was.”

The network spent $5 million-$10 million on the pilot to bring castle Winterfell to life. Lombardo says executives are “sitting on pins and needles” waiting for a rough cut in two weeks.

“The fantasy is so incidental, it has a very adult tone,” Lombardo said. “You forget it’s fantasy while you’re watching it, and that’s what I love about it.”

The pilot will employ some CGI, for backgrounds, the story’s “direwolves” (a mixture of real animals and CGI) and dragon eggs.

Also, like in the books, each family in the story will have its own color pallet for clothing and armor.

If all goes well, Lombardo said, “Game of Thrones” will be on HBO in spring 2011 — “March or April.”

“I would be surprised if it doesn’t [get greenlit],” Lombardo said. “It has everything going for it.”

So excited right now! The head of programming at HBO is a fan of the books! Sounds like we are this close to a series pick up. Don’t know when it will be forthcoming, but it seems like just a formality at this point. I mean, they are already talking premiere dates!

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