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AMAs Live Blog Tonight at 8 Eastern!

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The American Music Awards: Tonight at 8 p.m. Eastern on ABC

Good afternoon everyone! I’m Mike Tyminski and it’s awards show night again, which means that I’m here with you to liveblog tonight’s American Music Awards ceremony on ABC! The show is set to have a bevy of performances tonight including Katy Perry handling the opener while Miley Cyrus is set to close out the show. The whole show is hosted by Pitbull, who will also be performing his newest hit “Timber” with Kesha.

On that note, I’ll be back at 8 eastern to begin live coverage.

7:55 PM: I’m back, and in five minutes Katy Perry will hit the stage to start off music’s equivalent to the Golden Globes. Unlike the Golden Globes however, the AMA’s are literally a popularity contest, as the awards are determined by a poll of the music buying populace.

In addition to Perry and Cyrus, among the numerous performers hitting the stage tonight are Justin Timberlake, Rihanna, Imagine Dragons, and Lady Gaga.

I’ll be running commercial break to commercial break, so update in between every segment for more news!

8:00 PM: We open with Katy Perry, as promised, singing her latest hit “Unconditionally” to a full blown Japanese motif. It felt truly hit and miss to me, as it seemed like there were some sound issues initially and a strobe light segment involving Perry and her umbrella came off on TV very unspectactularly. However, the full performance built itself pretty well, with strong visuals elsewhere, including a cool effect of raining cherry blossoms.

After the usual introduction, our host Pitbull entered, in true Pitbullian fashion, said a bunch of jibberish and repeating the same word over and over again. He welcomes to the show, sounding thankful to the American Dream, before bringing out four female dancers to shake their booty.

Following the short monologue, Taylor Swift emerges to give the award for best Pop/Rock male artist:

The Nominees are: Bruno Mars, Robin Thicke, and Justin Timberlake

The Winner Is: Justin Timberlake

(In a change from prior liveblogs, I’m skipping talking about speeches unless something notable happens since the producers have had a very quick trigger as of late).

8:26 PM: Our second segment leads off with yet another performance, this time by teen idols One Direction. This time around we get a fairly low key performance in which 1D is playing “Story of my Life” in front of a mob of wooden statues that are arranged to look like a million arms of a million fans. While this performance didn’t seem to elevate to the same level as the Perry performance at the start of the show, it still seemed considerably better than most of the performances we got out of this years Grammys.

The voice over announcer then kicks it over to Ariana Grande, who busts out a few bars of “The Way” before starting a new single, a pop ballad named “Tattooed Heart”. This seemed like a potentially star making performance for Grande, who belted out the song with a booming voice that those only familiar with “The Way” will not recognize. The music was the clear star of the performance as it was blocked out simply, with Grande performing in a sparkling red dress with the only visible backing being a small doo-wop ensemble deep in the background.

8:38 PM: Marc Anthony and Zoey Saldana are out to present the award for best Soul and R&B female. Anthony seemed almost comically wooden trying to read off the teleprompter, overforcing every remark.

The Nominees are: Ciara, Alicia Keys, Rihanna

And the winner is: Rihanna

From there the VO guy brings us to Imagine Dragons, who start with “Demons” on a cool dark set with a ton of smoke. Vocally this sounds way different from the album, being brought down in tone quite a bit from the album. We then a ton a large percussion break once the song slips into Radioactive, with every band member participating in the drum breakdown. Imagine Dragons acquitted themselves well on the spectacle and instruments, but vocally this performance was kind of a mess.

From there we get Kristin Bell and Chris Daughtry, out to present Best Country Album.

The Nominees Are: Luke Bryan, Crash My Party, Florida Georgia Line, Here’s To The Good Times, Taylor Swift, Red.

(Is it me or is one of these things not like the others?)

And the winner is: Taylor Swift, Red. 

8:50 PM: In what screams odd couple pairing, Michael Bolton and A-Kon are here to present the award for favorite Rap/Hip-Hop album

The Nominees Are: Jay-Z Magna Carta Holy Grail, Kendrick Lamar Good Kid, M.A.A.D City, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis The Heist.

And the winner is: The Heist

From here they kicked it to Macklemore in Miami, who brings up MLK and the Trayvon Martin case, before asking people to fight against racism.

Naya Rivera and Maya Mitchell now come out to introduce Ke$ha and Pitbull, who are performing my fall earworm, Timber. In front of a clearly disco infused scene we get a surprisingly non-trashy Ke$ha, before Pitbull emerges from our disco ball. The sound issues continue from the opening performance (I feel like Ke$ha got cut off from one of her choruses), but are exacerbated by the backing track awkwardly flipping between having backing vocals and letting the performers cut loose. The camera angles themselves are pretty standard issue except for a cool shot through one of the lower dance pods out there. Overall not too shabby and still better than your average awards show in terms of performances.

9:07 PM: Dave Grohl and Joan Jett are out to present the award to the favorite alternative rock artist.

The Nominees Are: Imagine Dragons, The Lumineers, and Mumford and Sons

And the winner is: Imagine Dragons!

We then kick back to Pitbull who rushes and stumbles over the teleprompted lines before presenting the award for favorite Latin Music Artist.

The Nominees are: Marc Anthony, Prince Royce, Romeo Santos

And the winner is: Marc Anthony!

After Anthony’s quick speech, Heidi Klum emerges to introduce Justin Timberlake

Timberlake is here to perform a cool new arena rock sounding track titled “Drink You Away”, with a full backing group with horns, multiple guitars, and a backing choir intimately crowded together in the front of the stage. As is usual on these sorts of shows, Timberlake is a complete revelation, as the performance meshes together the catchy sing along song (with the catchy sing along stage presence) with a strong visual sense. Performance of the night so far, and tough to top.

9:21 PM: Kelly Osboune and Nicole Richie are out to present the award for best Pop/Rock album taking a second to bring up the history of the award.

And the nominees are: One Direction, Take me Home, Taylor Swift Red, Justin Timberlake The 20/20 Experience. 

The winners are: One Direction, Take Me Home

The Ceremonies are out to introduce Florida Georgia Line and Nelly to perform their song “Cruise”.

Florida Georgia Line get the relative no-frills treatment, merely getting a video wall as opposed to the smoke, falling cherry blossoms and everything else we’ve seen so far tonight. “Cruise” eventually merges into Nelly’s “Ride”. Continuing a string of strong performances both Nelly and Florida-Georgia Line looked like they were having a blast in each other’s sandbox, with Nelly rocking some serious twang and the country duo enjoying playing backup on “Ride”.

Daisy Fuentes and new Bachelor Juan Pablo Galavis here to announce the winner for best new artist of the year

The nominees are: Phillip Phillips, Imagine Dragons, Ariana Grande, Florida Georgia Line and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis.

The Winner is: Ariana Grande

Grande gives the first notable speech having to rush through her speech, ultimately pulling a list out of her dress before thanking herparentsdanschneidernickelodeonthelabelandsixotherthingsinineseconds.

9:38 pm: Bill Maher is here to present Rihanna with the Icon Award. Maher brings up her particular relevance in the digital age, before a video package bringing up career highlights appears on the screen. The video package leads way to Rihanna’s performance which involves her walking onstage from a distance opening into “Diamond”. While Rihanna did an amazing job singing the song, the production elements felt off, as the entire performance started in complete darkness, but never progressed into the light show, instead giving off a more Adele-style vibe. This felt like a shame, as the Icon Award makes it seem like it’s her night but the production never kicked into high gear, instead forcing an understated vibe on the whole matter.

Rihanna walks over to Maher, before flipping it to Jay-Z, who gives a prerecorded statement. In a heartfelt moment, Rihanna’s mother, Donna Fenti emerges to present the Icon Award to Rihanna. Rihanna accepts graciously, giving an equally heartfelt speech, joking about her childhood voice and her eagerness to move from Barbados to the US and start her career. Rihanna was great here, it’s just a shame that the whole production felt off, from Bill Maher hosting the segment (because when I want heartwarming and reverential I want the guy who hosted Politically Incorrect and hasn’t moved from that tack in 20 years), to the understated production.

9:51 PM: Ciara and Paulina Gretzky are here to present the award for best Soul and R+B artist.

The nominees are: Miguel, Robin Thicke, and Justin Timberlake

And the winner is: (Sarcastic spoiler space)

JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE!!!!!

Timberlake goes into standup mode, discussing how cute Rihanna’s mom is and the same confusion about how one can win awards for best Pop/Rock and best Soul/R+B artist in the same year with the same album.

Pitbull’s here, and he cuts it to live via satellite in Miami for Macklemore and Ryan Lewis performing “Can’t Hold Us”. Since it’s clearly looped in from their tour, i’m not gonna worry about the production value since that’s clearly out of the producer’s hands (unless the feed breaks). It is nice to see they got feature artist Ray Dalton out to sing the chorus live, since his rendition there is easily the catchiest thing about that song. It’s also very cool that Macklemore and Ryan Lewis use a full backing band, I think that’s something that more hip-hop artist should have more often. The final highlight of this rendition is Macklemore opting to crowd surf during the breakdown which like most of this performance, seemed super cool.

Voice-over guy is back to bring out Fall Out Boy, who are out to nominate the favorite Country Female Artist.

The nominees are: Taylor Swift, Amanda Lambert, Taylor Swift

The winner is: Taylor Swift!  (It’s actually starting to bug me that they’re just nominating random top 40 people for genre awards — country, like rock these days is a niche and it’s kind of a backhanded slap in the face to the people who have to go through mid sized venues night after night to be the best in their genre only to end up getting passed over by something that’s in heavy rotation on Z-100, but that’s me).

10:06 PM: After showing a quick video on the “Queen of Cuba” Celia Cruz, we head over to Jennifer Lopez, who is here to perform a tribute to the Latin legend.  The whole performance has a ballroom feel to it, but had the sort of big performance progression you tend to expect from awards shows, with multiple costume changes from a more classical dress to a colorful flowing carnival affair ending in a fairly skimpy sparkly piece that left little to the imagination. This is closer to what I expected from Rihanna’s centerpiece performance than the drab affair we ended up receiving.

Alicia Silverstone and Nathan Fillion are here to present the award for Single of the Year.

and the nominees are: Florida Georgia Line ft. Nelly “Cruise”, Robin Thicke ft. Pharell and T.I. “Blurred Lines”, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis ft. Wanz “Thrift Shop”.

And the winner is: “Cruise”

Sarah Silverman appears to present the award for best Soul and R+B album of the year,  and takes a comical swipe at the notion of Timberlake and Thicke getting a ton of Soul and R+B nomintions.

The nominees are: Rihanna Like a Diamond, Robin Thicke Blurred Lines, and Justin Timberlake The 20/20 Experience.  

And the winner is: Justin Timberlake, The 20/20 Experience.

Justin’s second award speech begins with him dropping what will likely be the line of the night: “Growing up in Memphis, Tennessee this is the first time I can say I’ve been racially profiled by a white woman”.

10:23 PM: We return to Jennifer Hudson introducing A Great Big World and Christina Aguilera performing “Say Something”. We get a similar layout and production to the Rihanna performance, however this time around the darkness laden, orchestra-heavy layout makes more sense, with “Say Something” being the sort of moderately depressing ballad that tends to thrive with the haunting performances those intimate visuals ultimately provide.

We then get a quick intro from voice-over guy who introduces Kendrick Lamar in short order. He’s performing “Swimming Pools” surrounded by laser lights and some colorful backing video. It was the sort of loose performance that made for a great come down from the ultra-depressing “Say Something”

Austin Mahone and Kendall Jenner are here to present the award for favorite Electronic/Dance music artist

And the Nominees are: Avicii, Daft Punk, Calvin Harris, and Zedd

And the winner is: Avicii!

The winner is: Avicii

10:34 PM: Jeremy Renner is here to introduce Lady Gaga who is performing her new single “Do What You Want” with R. Kelly. This performance doesn’t hesitate with the schmaltz, opening with a phone call to President R. Kelly that sounds straight out of “Trapped in the Closet”, before Gaga walks over to the office to burst into the song. As opposed to Lady Gaga’s opener at the VMA’s, this performance had the levity that Gaga had circa before Born this Way when she was running around in Meat Dresses for no good reason….and as I say that, the fun part screeches away when Gaga randomly veers into the dramatic in the last 15 seconds while negative headlines of her are displayed on the video screens.

Andrew McCutchen and Jaimie Alexander are out to announce the nominees for Country artist of the year. It’s moderately amazing to watch presenters stumble over heartfelt congratulations the way Jaimie did over congratulating McCutchen on his NL MVP award.

The nominees are: Luke Bryan, Blake Shelton, and Hunter Hayes

And the winner is: Luke Bryan

10:48 PM: The cast of Shark Tank is out to announce the winner of favorite rock/pop group.

The nominees are: Imagine Dragons, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, and One Direction

The winner is: One Direction

Lady Antebellum, winners of favorite country group are out to nominate Luke Bryan. Bryan is performing “That’s My Kind of Night”. He gets the similar laser treatment we saw from Lamar, but flips between red and white, which is an awesome effect until the camera closes in on the drummer and you realize the camera can’t see through the light. As has become an awards show tradition, we get the obligatory Taylor Swift rocking out shot. I’m not a country music fan in the least, but Bryan seemed to be on his performance a-game and the energy was certainly appreciated to what’s been an up and down third hour.

Voice over guy then sends it to TLC, whom is performing “Waterfalls” with Li’l Mama in place of the late Lisa “Left Eye” Lopez. It’s interesting because they have a look that seemed closer to the late 90’s “No Scrubs” era but stuck to their first hit. Li’l Mama nails the rapping middle section for what is a nice throwback performance that hit all the right nostalgia notes. Visually it stuck mostly to some water oriented visuals, but it filled a nice void as the penultimate performance.

11:00 PM: 2 Chainz and Jaden Smith are here to introduce Miley Cyrus’ performance of Wrecking Ball. The opening is suitably weird with Cyrus rocking a two piece bathing suit looking dealie in front of a video screen with lip-synching cat floating through space progressing into explosions through the chorus.

Pitbull is back to announce the award for artist of the year

The nominees are: Bruno Mars, Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Justin Timberlake, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis

And the winner is: Taylor Swift (for the third time!)

Following a brief awards speech, a wide angle of Pitbull is shown where he says the awards show equivalent of “Show’s over, go home!”

I’ll be back in a few minutes with some final thoughts.

Final Thoughts: The American Music Awards are to the Grammys what the Golden Globes are to the Oscars, but instead of getting the boozy dinner party where someone will eventually say something stupid, we got a fairly unmemorable show full of good, but not great performances. Luckily, they roped in Justin Timberlake by tossing him two awards and he provided the sort of jolt that only a star who knows he’s too big for this show can provide. Pitbull was kind of a mess as a host, as his style seemed to be the antithesis of everything you want in a host, something notable in the way that a faceless voice-over got the honor and privilege of playing the show’s traffic cop. Toss in some nonsensical category distinctions and the fact that the people think that Taylor Swift had three years of being the best and biggest pop star on earth and you can see why this show tends to fall behind the Grammys (for prestige) and the VMA’s (for big moments and train wreck potential) in the public consciousness.

I believe the next time I’ll be liveblogging an awards ceremony like this will be next year as award season kicks into gear with the Golden Globes. In the meantime I’ll have some reviews through the next couple of weeks followed by some opinion pieces as the entertainment machine slows down into it’s holiday dormancy.

Have a great week, a happy Thanksgiving, and I look forward to the next time we get to do this!

Almost Human Will Grow On You

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Karl Urban and Michael Ealy (Source: Fox)
Karl Urban and Michael Ealy (Source: Fox)

Almost Human: Mondays at 8 Eastern on FOX

When I was growing up throughout the 1990’s, one of the more prevalent themes seen throughout pop culture was a generally futuristic vibe, whether it was cyberpunk (The Matrix), 21st century what-ifs (the much mocked MLB “Turn ahead the clock” promotion), or a pretty large amount of sci-fi on your TV screens (Star Trek: TNG, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, Seaquest). However, as the new millennium progressed, many of these things dropped like flies from pop culture consciousness. Fox is banking on the notion that what’s old pretending to be new will be new again by dipping back into that well with it’s newest big show which debuted Sunday and Monday night.

Almost Human takes a look forward into the alarmingly crime-riddled future of 2048. In this world, police work has gotten so incredibly dangerous that the police force is forced to use robotic partners in order to perform their duties. So when John Kennex (Karl Urban) is brought back onto the force two years after getting ambushed by a shadowy crime syndicate, he is forced to adjust and deal with the robots he has learned to loathe after their rationality killed his partner. After killing his first robot partner, he gets paired up with a Dorian model (played by Michael Ealy) who was deemed too human for police work, and the two go off to fight crime in the city.

Courtesy of FOX turning this premiere into a two-night event, I’m taking the opportunity to catch both episodes before putting out this review. More stock will be put into Monday’s episode if only because second episodes tend to be more representative of what the series will resemble episodically as opposed to pilots which tend to devote time to exposition and origin stories.

Almost Human has some bright spots Michael Ealy shines as Dorian, a difficult task considering he has to come off more human than the bland MX units that were later assigned to the cops and still just uncanny enough that it’s clear you’re aware he’s a robot. Continuing a subtle trend this year of comedic actors occupying the science labs of our new crime shows Mackenzie Crook (The Office UK) gets the privilege of being a perfect fit as the very socially-awkward Rudy, the resident’s lab technician. Unfortunately, many of the other peripheral characters seem to get short shrift in terms of story and could use some further development.

I also appreciated that in a TV landscape full of cop and detective shows, Almost Human sets itself apart by being closer to Die Hard and Lethal Weapon as opposed to functioning like yet another Law and Order or CSI clone. The action sequences themselves are pretty cool looking, using tight camera angles and wide open palate to maximum effect.

Where the second episode truly seems to benefit over the pilot is that the show added moments of levity to counterbalance the grimness that pervades much of the series. The show definitely borrows a lot from the Blade Runner universe, with it’s seedy city underbellies, pervasive crime, and generally dystopian balance of power.. The pilot did it’s job unloading the ton of exposition that is essential for world-building fantasy worlds, but got a little dull at points and definitely would have lost my attention had the same ultra-serious tone remained for the full series.

The Final Verdict: Once you get past the wall of exposition and stereotypical hero origin-story pilot, Almost Human turns the corner into a refreshing different take on the cop drama with it’s shoot first- ask questions later mentality. While there are some obvious tweaks the show could use (most notably in developing it’s side characters and making Kennex a little less one-dimensional), there’s enough good in the first two episodes to justify Fox’s hype. It’s definitely worth checking out if you’re looking for an action fix on Mondays, a night where only Fox really has cop dramas on the broadcast dial.

The Drama Queen is Surprisingly Low-Key

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Marki Costello (Source: E!)
Marki Costello (Source: E!)

The Drama Queen: Sunday Nights at 11 Eastern on E!

In the recent past, we’ve seen the reality genre do everything possible to remove the wires behind their machinations (and how well the producers manage to do so has become one of the key areas in which I tend to grade reality TV). We rarely, as a result, see the kingmakers, the people behind the people whom guide their clients to success. E!’s newest reality show, however, is banking on the notion that people are interested in the business of star-making by shining the spotlight on the process with it’s newest reality show.

The Drama Queen follows the life of celebrity manager Marki Costello (granddaughter of Lou Costello of “Who’s on First?” fame) as she tries to bring her celebrity clientele to new heights of fame. This means not only elevating her clients careers, but also to help develop the brands that will give them the boost they need in a busy Hollywood climate. We also get to meet her family, including her boyfriend Tommy and her two kids whom she tries to make time for in between her heavy work-related demands.

Since I brought it up, the first thing I noticed with the show is that it hides it’s machinery extremely well. Marki seems to have a very heavy amount of agency in the major plot drivers of the show, to the extent that any producer meddling seems fairly seamless. Furthermore, the genuineness of everyone’s reactions seems to also indicate a lighter hand behind the camera than what I’ve been accustomed to seeing lately, including some very adept plot juggling that touches on both two main plots as well as setting up some smaller side-stories.

The Drama Queen also benefits from Marki being the near perfect centerpiece for a show like this. While the show opens and reinforces the brash super-agent stereotype (her reactions to the open talent search are priceless), there also seems to be enough humanity in her that even at her most tyrannical she remains likeable. This striking contrast becomes even clearer when set against the backdrop of her incredibly (and annoyingly) catty support staff at CMEG.

While The Drama Queen is a fairly strong reality show, it also has some clear flaws. The first half hour has a tendency to feel a little repetitive at times (there are limits to the number of times that one can bang home variants on the term “head b***h in charge”), which is hopefully just an issue that occurred as a function of trying to establish Marki’s personality. However, what feels horrendously off is the lighting in the talking head segments which seems to age everyone who happens to step in front of that camera a solid ten years.

The Final Verdict: The Drama Queen feels mildly ill-fitting as this show’s title as in lieu of hysterics we get a surprisingly well grounded workplace show about star making and star marketing. While I could see E! trying to make this show splashier (i’m guessing that’s what all the intra-office awkward sex banter is for), I kinda hope it sticks to it’s main premise of one woman vs. Hollywood. Check this one out, particularly if show business piques your interest.

Ground Floor Has the Pieces to Rise Above Mediocrity

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Source: TBS
Source: TBS

Ground Floor: Thursdays at 10 Eastern on TBS

In the last few years, it’s been amazing how common the notion of the super-showrunner has been on network TV. Half of CBS’s comedies are of Chuck Lorre’s (Two and a Half Men, Mike and Molly, Mom, Big Bang Theory, and 2 Broke Girls). On Fox, we have seen the repercussions of Seth McFarlane’s reign of terror as The Cleveland Show got four seasons while live-action Dads got an inexplicable back order. This tends to be less common on cable, but I feel like TBS is slowly going down this road with Bill Lawrence (Spin City, Scrubs, Cougar Town) who not only was able to shift Cougar Town to the network but has a new show to accompany it.

Ground Floor, debuting Thursday, is at its’ core about high powered banker Brody (Skylar Austin) who discovers after a one night stand with Jennifer (Briga Heelan) that she actually works in his building on the ground floor in the maintenance staff. Brody eventually falls in love, forcing the two to navigate their complicated feelings. Along the way we meet their respective co-workers as the two try to bridge their very different worlds.

I think the first thing that needs to be said is that first impressions in comedies are often deceiving, and Ground Floor fits this adage perfectly. After a particularly forced and stifling first five minutes (pretty much everything up until the first commercial break), it slowly settles into the sort of rhythm that is familiar to fans of Bill Lawrence’s other shows and becomes a considerably stronger show. I think much of this has to do with the high amount of unpacking this pilot needs to provide in order to set up the show’s central romantic tensions (the Brody/Jen/Rory love triangle) as well as the slobs vs. snobs tensions that exist between the trust fund and the people who work in the maintenance room.

In terms of the show’s cast, John McGinley stands out in playing bank boss Mansfield, playing the chop-busting boss, while altering the character just enough that you can tell that the character isn’t just a hard expy for Percy Cox on Scrubs. Briga Heelan also comes off particularly strong as the flighty Jennifer. Skyler Astin is passable as the lead Brody, but he comes off a little uneven at points (particularly in the show’s opening) and this is unfortunate, as the other core characters in the show feel considerably more lived-in by comparison.

The real difference between Ground Floor and other Lawrence shows comes from the change from single camera to multi-camera. While for the most part it’s a fairly seemless transition, there seemed to be some hiccups as the rhythm at times is lost to the laugh track.

The Final Verdict: Ground Floor has the pieces to become a solid sitcom much like Lawrence’s other works, however, much like his other shows, there’s definitely a need for some early season tinkering. In spite of that, it’s still better than a lot of what debuted on the major networks this September and is in a time slot that’s generally pretty devoid of comedy (the 10 pm hour in general is light on comedy options now that It’s Always Sunny and The League are on Wednesdays). I would ultimately wait and see on it, but I could also see it being one of cable’s better comedies if it gets a second or third season.

 

 

 

Shaky Premise Weighs Down Thicker Than Water

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Source: Bravo
Source: Bravo

Thicker Than Water: Sunday at 9 Eastern on Bravo

Over the last quarter of a century, there has been a particular and increasing fascination in the lives of the extremely wealthy. This can initially be traced back to Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, Robin Leach’s original ode to people with way more money to burn than most people will see in a lifetime. From there, MTV unleashed Cribs, it’s own ode to celebrity housing. Few networks, however, have truly used this formula like Bravo, with it’s multiple Real Housewives shows and it’s newest show, Thicker Than Water, which debuted Sunday night.

Thicker Than Water follows the Tankard family as they go through their daily life. The family tree starts with patriarch Ben and matriarch Jewel, whom made their money through Ben’s gospel jazz empire, Jewel’s evangelism, and both of their numerous side gigs. Together with their four kids (leading to the Tankards referring to themselves as the “black Brady Bunch”), they work to not only better their own lives (they make no secret that their good life was somehow god’s plan) but the lives of others. However, tensions can flare as the whole family (including Brooklyn’s daughter and Benji’s wife) live under one roof and the Ben’s tight rule.

As advertised, Bravo tried to market Thicker Than Water using the family flaunting their wealth as a primary hook. The show itself opens this way, and quite frankly it does more harm than good, as the family justifying buying themselves a new jet and new high-end luxury vehicles ends off coming off both super conceited and cartoonish. Furthermore, it strikes a weird chord as Benji’s justification of the new Benz harkens back awkwardly to prior televangelism scandals (notably Jim Bakker’s).

However, when the show stops being about rich people and starts being about a family dealing with family issues, the show begins to shine. This is especially notable as the show remained surprisingly tear-free for a show that appears on Bravo’s Sunday lineup, instead focusing on the little things: Cyrene’s prom, Brooklyn’s minithon, and Ben’s heavy-handedness. It’s when things become mundane that everyone feels less stilted (except for wife Jewel, who has a relentless devotion to the show’s main premise) and this breathing room makes for a surprisingly light reality show.

From the technical perspective, Thicker Than Water vindicates itself especially well in the way it’s put together. The show definitely takes a lighter hand on the cut-ins, often using them to illuminate what the various family members must be muttering to themselves after conversations with each other. An added bonus is that it makes much of the show’s exposition come off so much more seamlessly, as Brooklyn’s sordid past comes out during a date where her blind date mentions his interest in bad girls.

The Final Verdict: On a network that prefers its’ reality soapy and wine-soaked, Thicker Than Water is a light, breezy, and refreshing change of pace. Weirdly enough, however, it also seems to be the sort of show that will become much better the more it becomes a show about nothing, as the show always stumbles the second it starts laying the prosperity-theology on thick. I’d wait and see on this: if Thicker Than Water ends up being a story about a family who happens to have an obscene amount of money, it could be onto something, but if it ends up turning into a show about the flaunting of wealth the show will have squandered any promise it has.

 

Dina Manzo Confirms Return to Sixth Season of ‘The Real Housewives of New Jersey’

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Credit: bravotv.com
Credit: bravotv.com

 

Dina Manzo is proving she is as thick as thieves with Bravo after announcing her comeback to the sixth season of the network’s hit reality series, The Real Housewives of New Jersey.

“Well, I guess the (hairless) cat’s out of the bag,” Manzo tweeted, on  Tuesday, Oct. 29. (Manzo has a hairless cat.) “Yes, I’m back. Unlike the past, this time it felt ‘right.’ See you on Bravo, my friends. xo.”

Speculation has escalated each season, that Manzo, who appeared on the first two seasons of the show, would return.  However, the speculation rapidly increased amid rumors that Manzo’s estranged sister, Caroline Manzo, would not be returning next season, as it appears that Dina does not wish to be on the show with her sister. Caroline confirmed the rumors that she will not be back after five seasons on the series:

“Over the past few years my outlook on the show has changed from something I couldn’t wait to show my future grandchildren to something I hope my future grandchildren never see,” she wrote on her bravotv.com blog.
Although she is saying farewell to her Housewives cast-mates, Caroline will not be parting ways with the Bravo Network. Manzo and her family are taping a spinoff, Manzo’d with Children, a show focusing only on her family: Caroline, her husband Al, their three children and Caroline’s sister Frannie.

Along with the addition of Dina, it is also rumored that three new women, twin sisters Nicole and Teresa Napolitano and their friend Amber Marchese, will be joining the show. The network has yet to confirm the new cast members.

 

Camille Grammer Granted Restraining Order Against Boyfriend, Alleges Physical Abuse

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Credit: Tiffany Rose/WireImage.com
Credit: Tiffany Rose/WireImage.com

 

Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star, Camille Grammer, was granted a temporary restraining order on October 29, against her boyfriend of two years, Dimitri Charalambopoulos, amid claims of physical abuse.

Grammer’s complaint alleges that while staying in a hotel in Houston, Texas, on October 16, Charalambopoulos and Grammer began to argue. Grammer, 45 alleges that Charalambopoulos slammed her head into the headboard of the bed, pulled out clumps of her hair and smashed her iPhone. The complaint further alleges that Charalambopoulos squeezed Grammer’s nose between his finger and pushed upward forcefully, covering her mouth in an attempt to silence her to prevent her from breathing.

The same day Grammer acknowledged the situation on Twitter, posting:

“Info will come out today that is jaw dropping. And women can’t be silenced after being physically abused! Getting my strength back now that I am at home and wasn’t able to deal with talking about it after my cancer surgery or what had happen[ed]. Yes, it was horrible what had happened to me two days out of the hospital,” she added in response to questions from her followers. “I was in fear for my life.”

Charalambopoulos has been ordered to stay 100 yards away from Grammer and her two children.

Grammer was previously married to actor, Kelsey Grammer, before filing for divorce in July 2010, citing “irreconcilable differences.” The divorce was finalized in February 2011. Grammer underwent a “radical hysterectomy” on October 11, after being diagnosed with early stage endometrial cancer.

The Governor’s Wife is A Bland Mess

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Source: A&E
Source: A&E

The Governor’s Wife: Sunday at 10 Eastern on A&E

I spend a lot (probably too much) time discussing the notion that many reality TV shows often feel over-scripted, and much of that is the result of many cable reality shows looking to scripted TV as a source of inspiration: The Real Housewives cashed in on the unexpected success of Desperate Housewives, for example. However, there are many times where the borrowing from scripted series’ instead comes in a much subtler form– often by working off of classic tropes or cliches that often fuel a wave of similar shows (such as the dysfunctional family comedies that ruled the roost in the 90’s, or the failed man-pocalypse that led to a number of failed comedies two years ago).

The Governor’s Wife takes the dysfunctional family trope to the extreme. In this, our patriarch and rock of the family is 85 year-old former governor of Louisiana Edwin Edwards (who served a little over 8 years in prison for charges related to political corruption). While in prison, he met his current wife, Trina, a 35 year old blonde bombshell. If the difference in age of our central couple seems wide, it’s even further exaggerated when you meet their respective children as Edwin’s two daughters are in their sixties while Trina’s kids are high school aged. Toss in accusations of gold digging, the desire for another child and the Southern society they are a part of and you have a recipe for some drama.

This show feels painfully scripted (with some very bad line reading during the voice-overs to go with it). While it’s pretty clear that this is the current state of affairs in reality TV, almost everything about The Governor’s Wife seems to be deprived of even the spontaneity that typically comes from one’s reaction to a situation. Trina is particularly plastic in this regard, awkwardly breaking out into tears at the notion of her 85 year old husband eventually dying (one would assume either no tears, or the tears occurring at the initial thought, not saying it with a straight face and then breaking a sentence later).

Unfortunately, the producers’ heavy hand on the show doesn’t actually help the show flow better. There is an overabundance of cut-away shots and voice-overs that almost come off as if you were watching a director’s commentary of a reality show instead of the show itself. Much of this issue derives from a sick obsession with pushing it’s one liners on the audience, as many exchanges on the show follow a flow where the cutaways and voice work is there to either sell or deliver a tepid punch line.

While the show is clearly built to be viewed through Trina’s lens, the generally myopic focus on her makes for an incredibly boring show. Aside from not being the most eloquent person, the truth is Trina’s presence in every storyline often reduces everyone else to a one note caricature. Nowhere is this worse than with Edwin’s younger daughter Victoria, whom with a pale face and strikingly dark makeup resembles the witch that the show makes her out to be (her main argument against Edwin and Trina having a baby involves her inheritance and a seemingly irrational hatred of Trina that’s never explained).

The Final Verdict: I’ve reviewed shows that have made me feel more viscerally bad than The Governor’s Wife. However, the show instead grinds at you with a different sort of badness that comes with being a monotonously boring affair built around the notion that people want a glimpse into the low-conflict life of a minor celebrity’s spouse. Skip this one, you’ll do better by watching basically any other reality show about rich people running around being rich.

Olivia Wilde and Jason Sudeikis Expecting First Child

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Olivia Wilde and Jason Sudeikis are expecting their first child together according to People Magazine. “They are incredibly happy,” a source close to both says. “They’re very excited to welcome a new member into their family.” Reps for both Wilde and Sudeikis confirmed the baby news to People.

The actress, 29, and the actor, 38, who met on the season finale of Saturday Night Live in 2011, began dating in November 2011.  The pair got engaged in January.

Wilde was previously married to Italian filmmaker and musician, Tao Ruspoli, in June 2007, at the age of 19, but filed for divorce in March 2011 citing “irreconcilable differences.” The divorce was finalized in September 2011.

“I can’t wait for children,” Wilde told Marie Claire back in April. “I’m open-minded about how many, but three, which I love, is like a little party. [Jason] is so good with kids,” she added. “I’ve never before experienced looking at someone and thinking,’ That’s who I want to raise a child with.’”

In the October issue of Allure, on stands now, Wilde gushes about how much she adores Sudeikis and that she cannot wait to have a family with him. “Jason is fantastic with children,” she says.

It appears Wilde will have to wait no longer.