Buzzing back into action is NBC’s The Singing Bee. Originally scheduled for September, the second season of this singalong series (like all that alliteration, do ya?) now premieres October 2 at 8pm ET and airs Tuesdays.
Toni Basil joins the ranks of former ’80s stars who just can’t leave well enough alone by showing up in the premiere episode, which is devoted to One Hit Wonders. Yamma, hamma … let’s hope she doesn’t try to put on that old cheerleader uniform. October 9, John Lennon’s birthday, features a tribute to the music of Lennon and Paul McCartney, and, unsurprisingly, Sir Paul happens to have another engagement and just can’t make the show. The Village People guest star on October 16 (no theme is listed for that date, but God only knows what it could be), while Barry Manilow hosts the October 23 special installment dedicated to unforgettable love songs. He did a few, didn’t he? I forget.
October 30 is slated to be a Halloween-inspired episode. And when it comes to experts in spooky theme songs, who ya gonna call? If it’s Ray Parker Jr., he’ll probably answer mid-first ring, having sat by the phone for months, his hand hovering just above the receiver. Anyway, Mr. “Ghostbusters” is indeed the guest on this episode, and perhaps he of all people can explain America’s fascination with listening to bad singers.
* Hey, you fans of The Real Housewives of Orange County! Are you ready for some more “real” looks at the “real” problems of some “real” women who are “really” out of touch with reality and are “really” bitchy on top of it all? Then Bravo has more of what you need. The network has greenlit production on the new “docu-drama” (don’t call it “reality”!) Manhattan Moms, which follows an “eclectic” (but likely all-white) group of New York socialites and their families. Apparently they have “overscheduled” lives filled with private schools, charity events and running businesses, not to mention the daunting tasks of keeping up their summer homes in the Hamptons. Speaking of which — I see you wearing white out there. You do know it’s after Labor Day, don’t you?
* Since I know Cubicle QB is too manly to tackle this sports topic, I’ll bring it up. Bravo and NBC Sports have teamed up to bring us “Football Foodies,” a blog that features recipes from Top Chef contestants catered specifically to each Sunday Night Football game airing on NBC. This seems to be a Hail Mary play designed perhaps to bring more women and “metrosexuals” into the NFL audience; I may be stereotyping, but football’s typical beer-guzzling crowd probably isn’t going to be leaving its fantasy football web sites to log on here. But, I don’t know, you tell me, after checking out some of the recipes in the lineup:
- October 7 (Bears at Packers): Renowned “cheese monger” Liam Maloney discusses his favorite cheeses and what’s in style in the world of cheese in celebration of this trip to Green Bay. Then maybe he can discuss this season’s fashionable new looks in foam cheeseheads.
- October 14 (Saints at Seahawks): A guy named Zachary Hug will be talking about coffee. Just doesn’t say “football” to me. (Sounds like a great pick-up name, though: “Hey, baby — you look like you need a Hug!”).
- October 21 (Steelers at Broncos): A so-called “Bravo-lebrity” from Project Runway goes to a local sports bar to watch the game and thoughtfully record his/or her impressions of the game and the bar, only to promptly get beaten up/hit on.
* E!’s Extreme Hollywood Week begins Monday. Each day from September 24-28 at 6pm ET/PT, the network will present a new special focusing on something very unimportant but oh-so-addictively interesting about the world of Tinseltown and its resident celebrities. Really, it isn’t too much more than what we’ve already seen on E! many times before, but it’s still strangely fascinating:
- September 24: Celebrity Hunters — Not someone who keeps a stuffed William Baldwin over his mantle, although that would be kind of cool. This special tags along with paparazzo Anthony Jordan as he annoys and/or endangers celebrities like Paris Hilton while he tries to photograph them, and allows us to meet an “autograph hound,” some loser who makes a living pursing stars and selling their signatures.
- September 25: Bling — $200 bottles of water, $20,000 toilet seats, $6,000 hamburgers. It isn’t just the Pentagon that pays prices like this. Check out folks like Lil’ Kim, Mariah Carey and others who truly live high on the hog.
- September 26: Divas — Legendary demanding ladies like Barbra Streisand and Madonna, as well as male “divos” like Elton John who also want a piece of the whining action.
- September 27: Star Treatment — Sometimes celebrities demand more than babies, and they often get it, whether it’s an island that rents for $30,000 a week or $628,000 custom cars.
- September 28: Tabloid Headlines — At only an hour in length, this special obviously has to weed through many headlines to pick out the truly unique celeb scandals that warrant coverage. The show even takes a rare glimpse inside the headquarters of National Enquirer and meets with some writers for legendary tabs like The New York Post (can I meet the guy who wrote the immortal lead: “Headless Man Found in Topless Bar”)?
* “Death Hire Significant in Digital Expansion Strategy” — I don’t know if this headline means too much to you and me in the way of news, but I simply liked the fact that a guy named Cameron Death was just named NBC Digital Entertainment’s new Vice President of Digital Content. (Wow, in one post we go from a great pickup name to one of the worst!). Of course you know on his first vacation day, all of the “Death takes a holiday” jokes are going to start. Microsoft was Death’s domain for 10 years before he came over to this position (Death, a graduate of the University of Kansas, in fact holds three patents for his work at Microsoft, though he may still be bitter that he did not come up with that “spinning beach ball of death”). No pictures of Death were available.