No Picture
Reality TV

The Bruce family is back in the black — barely — on a new season of “Downsized” on WE tv

By Lori Acken Follow @ChannelGuide They’re not broke anymore. But that doesn’t mean life has gotten easier for Todd and Laura Bruce, the once-wealthy Arizona couple whose inspiring battle against the effects of the economic downturn on their blended family of nine is the subject of WEtv reality series Downsized, which returns for a second season tonight at 9pm ET/PT.

No Picture
Reality TV

Tragedy hits “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills”

By Lori Acken Follow @ChannelGuide Russell Armstrong, 47, the estranged husband of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Taylor Armstrong (pictured), reportedly committed suicide Monday night at the home of a close friend. A spokesperson for Bravo issued the following statement: “All of us at Bravo are deeply saddened by this tragic news. Our sympathy and thoughts are with the Armstrong family at this difficult time.” No word from the network yet as to whether this will affect the September 5 Season 2 premiere of the series; a media conference call with Taylor Armstrong’s costars Camille Grammer, Adrienne Maloof and Kyle […]

No Picture
Reality TV

Bravo Takes Its “Housewives” On Tour!

By Lori Acken Follow @ChannelGuide You know you’re dying for a look at them close-up and personal — and here’s your chance! In October, Bravo Media will gather up some of their most popular Real Housewives from every franchise except D.C. on a single stage for a three-city tour. The ladies will dish about their lives, their seasons and cast mates and take questions from the audience. “Bravo viewers like to truly engage in the shows they are passionate about,” said Ellen Stone, senior vice president of marketing for Bravo.  “With ‘The Real Housewives Live Tour,’ we are able to […]

No Picture
Reality TV

“Dance Moms”: It’s up to you, New York guy, New York guy. Or not.

So here we are, five episodes into the adventures of Abby Lee Miller and her flunky bunch, and I finally feel completely safe putting this out there. No, not that I think that if any other adult authority figure — say the real live school teachers whose time and efforts Miller thinks so little of — would subject pre-adolescent children to the kind of verbal firepower and exhaustive scheduling that she does, social services or someone might come a’runnin’. Abby says she’s just trying to emancipate these little girls from their mothers’ lack of trust and belief in their talent, […]

No Picture
Interview

Chris Harrison answers our burning “Bachelor Pad 2” questions!

Wondering how The Bachelor and The Bachelorette — those earnestly fantasy-soaked searches for love in faraway lands and the underside of a month — begat Bachelor Pad, last summer’s most irresistible hothouse of hook-ups, connivery and a quarter million bucks in cash? Easy. Look in the mirror. “We had talked for years about how do we take advantage of these quote-unquote all-stars,” says Chris Harrison, the soothing voice of reason on all three Bachelor series, “Once we amassed enough all-stars, we finally figured out let’s just do a fun summer game show. … It’s the last six weeks of summer. […]

No Picture
Reality TV

Bachelorette Host Chris Harrison: Did Reality Kill the Soap Opera Star?

By Lori Acken On the eve of Ashley Hebert’s final rose ceremony — be there a proposal or not — we continue our recent conversation with Bachelorette host Chris Harrison about the ups and downs and way, waaaaaay out there’s of putting together America’s most beloved matchmaker TV, why the success of The Bachelor franchise may have signaled the end of the daytime drama and why he’s feel so game about a possible new project. CG: Since you have a front-row seat, can you give me your perspective on how the shows — and the contestants — have most changed […]

No Picture
Reality TV

Cathy gets too gutsy and Kelly doesn’t have spirit, no she doesn’t, tonight on Lifetime’s “Dance Moms”

By Lori Acken Follow @ChannelGuideLLA Fresh off of their hooch-ification of Lancaster, PA — in which Abby’s attempt at West Coast jazz/kiddie porn fusion resulted in one male judge taking photos, everyone else taking offense and the dance group taking home nothing but embarrassment — the Dance Moms and Abby Lee are more a-stew than ever. Well, maybe not so much crazy-eyed Kelly, who assessed her 9-year-old daughter in her inappropriate costume and cheerfully warbled, “Showin’ off that sexy little bod!”, thought the shocking “Electricity” dance number was just ginchy, and would happily glue rhinestones on the whole wide world […]

No Picture
Reality TV

Tonight on “Dance Moms”: Wildly Inappropriate prosti-tots!

By Lori Acken Follow @ChannelGuideLLA Hellooooooo, fellow members of Dance Mom Faithful For Better Or Worse. DaMoFFBoW, for short. If you’re wondering what we’re in for this week, suffice it to say two things, 1) The name of the episode is “Wildly Inappropriate.” And 2) Christi — she of the “as long as my $16K check is cashed and my kid learns to boogie, let’s drank!” mindset — pronounces Abby’s newest surefire idea for competitive victory “prosti-tots.”

No Picture
Awards Shows

Emmy analysis: why the Academy can never get it exactly right

By Lori Acken And so another round of Emmy nominations has been unveiled … and with it, the usual flurry of cheers and jeers and outright outrage that summarily blankets the blogosphere and other media outlets. I’m tasked with adding a few thought-flakes to the pile. This is pretty funny to me because out of the entire editorial staff, I am probably least likely to get myself worked up about who’s in and who’s out — except for the strange scheduling decisions that led to no Breaking Bad nor anyone in it being nominated for anything. That right there makes […]

No Picture
Reality TV

Look out tiara-tot mamas, here come Lifetime’s “Dance Moms”

By Lori Acken Follow @ChannelGuide The DVD screener for Lifetime’s Dance Moms, debuting July 13, is a curiosity. Not just what it contains, but what’s actually printed on the disc itself. To the top is militant but much sought after Pittsburgh dance teacher Abby Lee Miller and the quote, “If you want your daughter to be a star, you have to go through me.” To the bottom, three of the young girls Miller mentors (and often, in the opinion of this non-dance mom, bullies) in black wigs, bare midriffs and boas. So where are the Dance Moms? Oh they’re on here […]