Jeff Pfeiffer, Author at StayTuned Magazine

Preview: NGC’s “When Aliens Attack” and “Area 51 Declassified”

May 20, 2011 Jeff Pfeiffer

By Ryan Berenz You may escape the Rapture this weekend, but what about an alien invasion? The Martians have arrived, and they’re very, very angry in When Aliens Attack on National Geographic Channel May 22. This two-hour special dramatizes a timeline of hypothetical events before, during and after a planet-wide alien invasion, positing some ideas on how humanity’s battle against a technologically superior outer-space aggressor might be fought. Dr. Travis Taylor, a Defense Department engineer and co-author of An Introduction to Planetary Defense, is among those who don’t like our odds. “I war-gamed over 400 different scenarios to figure out […]

“Simpsons” fans can vote for the future of “Nedna”

May 19, 2011 Jeff Pfeiffer

This Sunday’s episode of The Simpsons, “The Ned-liest Catch” (FOX, 8pm ET/PT), is the season finale and kicks off a cliffhanger that will be resolved in the Season 23 premiere this fall — and which fans will have a direct influence in resolving. It may not be as big a cliffhanger as “Who shot Mr. Burns?” but it still has the opportunity to shake up Springfield. In the episode, Ned Flanders and Edna Krabappel find love, but Ned has reservations when he learns that Edna has been with many other men, including Homer and Aerosmith drummer Joey Kramer (guest-voicing himself).

VOD Spotlight: “The Rite”

May 17, 2011 Jeff Pfeiffer

In 2007, there were reports that the Vatican was planning an initiative to install an exorcist in every diocese in the world. Matt Baglio, a reporter living in Rome, was intrigued by this and met with Father Gary Thomas, a priest undergoing exorcism training. He shadowed Fr. Thomas through six months of training, “One of the reasons why I wrote the book the way that I did,” he explains, “is to say, ‘This is the reality of exorcism as the Church teaches it.’” The result was the book The Rite: The Making of a Modern Exorcist, on which the film […]

VOD Spotlight: “The Roommate”

May 17, 2011 Jeff Pfeiffer

College is a time to stretch your mind, and learn to live independently, which is what dorm life is all about. But for some, it’s also pretty dismal, especially if a roommate isn’t what you expected. In The Roommate, Sara (Minka Kelly), a design student from Iowa, is assigned a room with Rebecca (Leighton Meester), a wealthy girl from Pasadena who, as the film unfolds, develops an obsession with Sara. “Leighton was the first person we cast for this movie,” says director Christian E. Christiansen, whose previous film, Råzone, was about teen bullying. “And she is a fantastic actress. The […]

Getting Unlucky: TV’s Least Fortunate Characters

May 13, 2011 Jeff Pfeiffer

Happy Friday the 13th! Whether this day is lucky for you, unlucky or neutral, it provides a good backdrop for a look back at some TV characters over the years who have had a tough go of it through various rough luck of all sorts. Here are some of TV’s unluckiest characters: George Costanza (Jason Alexander), Seinfeld — Let’s face it. Although George often made (or unmade) his own luck through an astounding combination of laziness, poor attitude, lack of self-confidence, selfishness, arrogance, scheming, dishonesty and ineptitude, you did often have to marvel at his amazing run of bad fortune. […]

CMT to air disaster relief concert tonight

May 12, 2011 Jeff Pfeiffer

CMT and its pro-social initiative CMT One Country will air Music Builds: The CMT Disaster Relief Concert, a live, commercial-free 90-minute concert special to help raise awareness and funds for those affected by the recent devastating storms, flooding and tornadoes in the South. Airing live from Nashville on CMT tonight, May 12, at 9pm ET (with a replay on HLN this Sunday, May 15, at 9pm ET), the event is expected to include performances by such artists as Alabama, Alan Jackson, Gretchen Wilson, Keith Urban, Lady Antebellum, Little Big Town, Ronnie Dunn, Sara Evans, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Tim […]

Classic “Looney Tunes” Characters Are Back For A New Generation

May 8, 2011 Jeff Pfeiffer

Everything old is new again in this age of Hollywood “reimagining,” so it was probably only a matter of time before the likes of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and other legendary Warner Bros. cartoon characters got their own update. This takes place in The Looney Tunes Show, a new animated series premiering May 3 on Cartoon Network. In the show, Bugs and Daffy are living together in the suburbs, and end up in more wacky adventures with fellow characters such as Porky Pig, Speedy Gonzales, Yosemite Sam, Foghorn Leghorn, the Tasmanian Devil, Marvin the Martian, Tweety, Sylvester, Granny and Daffy’s […]

VOD Spotlight: “The Dilemma”

May 3, 2011 Jeff Pfeiffer

By Karl J. Paloucek Some situations are so uncomfortable and ugly, it’s hard to find any levity in them whatsoever. And sometimes, the best thing that can happen to such a circumstance is to exploit it for comedic value. That, in essence, is what Ron Howard has done in his film The Dilemma, starring Vince Vaughn, Kevin James and Winona Ryder. At the heart of the film is the longtime friendship of Ronny (Vaughn) and Nick (James), two entrepreneurs working on a dream of pitching their idea for an electric muscle car to the Chrysler Corporation. (Queen Latifah has a […]

VOD Spotlight: “The Green Hornet” offers another memorable Kato

May 3, 2011 Jeff Pfeiffer

“As an irresponsible idiot, I’m quite good,” says Seth Rogen, who stars as Britt Reid, the hard-partying playboy who turns to vigilante crime fighting in The Green Hornet. But as any fan of the Hornet knows, the actor playing Kato is a costar in every sense of the word. It’s actually hard to remember that Van Williams played Reid in the original TV series, but everyone with any interest in the history of superheroes remembers that Bruce Lee was Kato. So it’s particularly fitting that Asian pop superstar Jay Chou should play Kato in the new Green Hornet, as Chou […]

NGC presents week of bin Laden and 9/11 documentaries

May 2, 2011 Jeff Pfeiffer

In the wake of last night’s historic announcement by President Obama that Osama bin Laden had been killed in Pakistan by U.S. forces, National Geographic Channel, beginning tonight, will be scheduling a week of documentary programming related to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks plotted by bin Laden, and the near-decade-long hunt for the al-Qaeda leader. Programming includes: Monday, May 2 7pm ET/PT – Osama Bin Laden: Dead or Alive. A penetrating look at how bin Laden eluded would-be captors during the battle at Tora Bora in late 2001. 8pm ET/PT – CIA Confidential: Hunt for Bin Laden. Veteran intelligence […]