Lori Acken, Author at StayTuned Magazine

Merry early Christmas, lambs! E! premieres “Mariah’s World” in December

August 3, 2016 Lori Acken

If it’s your sweet, sweet fantasy to see pop megastar Mariah Carey get her own show, you’re in luck, lambs. E! will premiere the singer’s new docuseries (her words) Mariah’s World on Sunday, Dec. 4 at 9/8CT. The 8-part event series — produced in part by reality vets Bunim/Murray Productions — will follow the bazillion-record-selling artist as she simultaneously kicks off her “Sweet Sweet Fantasy” tour of the U.K., Europe and Africa and plans her wedding to Aussie business mogul James Packer. The announcement was made today at the Television Critics Association summer press tour at a panel preceded by bottles of Veuve Clicquot […]

TCA: USA’s Falling Water had unusual inception

August 3, 2016 Lori Acken

How did Brotherhood creator Blake Masters and the late Homeland writer-producer Henry Bromell come up with the concept of USA Network’s upcoming spinetingler Falling Water, about the power — and danger — of dreams? They got schnockered. At the show’s Television Critics Association summer tour panel, Masters teared up remembering how he and Bromell got drunk at a bachelor dinner in 2006 and came up with the idea of three strangers who come to the realization that they’re all dreaming parts of the same dream.In other words — what would happen if someone could wander out of their own dream and into […]

TCA: Harry Connick Jr. on new talker Harry: “This feels most like me”

August 3, 2016 Lori Acken

Harry Connick Jr. appeared at the Television Critics Association press tour today to preview his new syndicated weekday talk show Harry which premieres Sept. 12. Flanked by his co-executive producers, brothers Justin and Eric Stangel and Jason Kurtz, Connick Jr. said that having done music, sitcoms, feature films and Broadway, the new venture “seems to be most in line with who I am.” “I’m obsessed with entertainment,” he told reporters. “I felt that this will be an opportunity to do all the things I love to do — all under one roof.” Justin Stangel said the format of Harry is shaped by how the […]

Lady Mary, She’s Not. Check Out Downton’s Michelle Dockery In Her Bold New Role

August 2, 2016 Lori Acken

Brace yourselves, Downton Abbey fans — the walking, talking raw wound that is Michelle Dockery’s Letty Dobesh in the upcoming TNT sizzler Good Behavior is about as far from Downton Abbey’s Lady Mary as the actress could get. And she’s every bit as awesome. Dockery is a force as Letty, a troubled but talented con who can’t get herself straight, despite an empathetic parole officer (Kinney) and the longing to be a worthy parent to her son, now raised by Letty’s bitter mom (Strus). When she crosses paths — and matches wits — with charismatic hit man Javier (your next TV crush, Juan […]

TCA: ID Announces James Patterson Series, JonBenét Special, more

August 1, 2016 Lori Acken

ID Addicts, get ready to feed your obsession. At the Television Critics Association Press Tour, Discovery Networks honcho Henry Schleiff announced a slew of intriguing projects that will debut throughout the rest of 2016 and into 2017 on Investigation Discovery. Top of the list? A scripted series from wildly popular novelist James Patterson, culled from his new book imprint BookShots — bite-sized thrillers from Patterson and a stable of other authors. Also on the docket — a fresh look at the JonBenét Ramsay case, a searing examination of the cases of four wrongfully convicted women in San Antonio and an exploration of the current state […]

TCA: Your The Night Of Questions Answered

July 30, 2016 Lori Acken

On Saturday, Richard Price and Steven Zaillian, who helm HBO’s The Night Of, and their stars Riz Ahmed, John Turturro and Michael Kenneth Williams took questions from Television Critics Association reporters about the addictive new summer series. The Night Of stars Ahmed as Nasir Kahn, a doe-eyed college kid who winds up accused of murder when a night of partying goes wrong and — plied with booze and drugs before he hopped into a beautiful stranger’s bed — the inexperienced Naz has no clue if he committed the crime or not. Turturro plays the opportunistic, eczema-bedeviled New York lawyer who right-place-right-times himself […]

Mega Grand Supreme! Toddlers and Tiaras will return to TLC

July 20, 2016 Lori Acken

Toddlers and Tiaras — a.k.a. the show that brought us Honey Boo Boo, child — is coming back to TLC next month. In an all-new, 13-episode season, the reality train wreck about tots in cupcake dresses and more makeup than I wear in a year and their fame-seeking mothers will introduce audiences to more pampered princess-wannabes and show how the pageant circuit has evolved in recent years. If you’re wondering what exactly that might entail, the press release reveals that the spray tans and teeth-perfecting flippers of yore have given way to “luxurious beauty treatments and private jets” plus “relaxation exercises and acting classes” […]

We Mine the Mind of Simon Cowell as America’s Got Talent Narrows the Field

July 19, 2016 Lori Acken

Let’s just get this out of the way right now: Yes, Simon Cowell genuinely is the kindhearted, quick-to-grin guy you see on the current season of NBC’s America’s Got Talent, which launches its live shows on Tuesday, July 26. We’ll swear to it. Credit the joy of being dad to adorable toddler Eric. And being freed from the laser focus on bolstering his record label via the global Idol and X-Factor franchises Cowell also helped create. But mostly, says the charming Brit, watching an endless parade of good people do entertaining things makes him feel like a kid at the carnival […]

The A Word: Autism’s the Word, But Family’s the Thing in Superb SundanceTV Drama

July 12, 2016 Lori Acken

The A Word airs Wednesdays beginning July 13 at 10/9CT on SundanceTV. Joe Hughes’ family is struggling. The music-obsessed little boy is likely on the autism spectrum. His Aunt Nicola, training to be a doctor, is sure of that and wants to help, but the clan is too bruised by her past affair to listen. Joe’s doting mum and dad, Alison and Paul, desperately hope that — despite his differences and increasing alienation by his peers — their son will outgrow the worst of his quirks. His half-sister Rebecca adores her brother but puzzles quietly over how to gain her parents’ notice as […]

Shooter: Ryan Phillippe Has Swagger In USA Thriller

July 1, 2016 Lori Acken

UPDATE: Out of respect for the victims of the Dallas shootings and their families, USA Network has pushed the Shooter premiere date back by one week to July 26 at 10/9CT. Yes, USA Network’s Shooter is inspired by the 2007 Mark Wahlberg thriller culled from Stephen Hunter’s 1993 novel Point of Impact. Yes, Wahlberg’s back — this time as an executive producer with Ryan Phillippe (Secrets and Lies) taking over the role of retired star Marine sniper Bob Lee Swagger, who is lured into a mission to save the president that goes horribly awry. From there, Swagger’s story gets a 2016, […]