Lori Acken, Author at StayTuned Magazine

The Affair season 2 episode 10 recap: Daddy issues

December 6, 2015 Lori Acken

With just two episodes of The Affair Season 2 to go, the past and the present are converging, with Scotty Lockhart’s death still squarely in the middle. We open episode 10 in the now, as Noah, Alison and Gottlief pull up to the courthouse for Noah’s trial to find a media circus looming. Helen walks by with Dr. Vic (really, Helen? He’s hot, but ew!). Gottlief tells Noah and Alison to follow him and not talk to anyone. Then it’s time for Noah’s perspective on a day a year after last week’s events, when we left him stranded in the hurricane the night […]

NBC’s Telenovela preview airs Dec. 7. We talk with Eva Longoria!

December 4, 2015 Lori Acken

NBC’s new Eva Longoria comedy Telenovela premieres Jan. 4 at 8:30/7:30CT, but the network is offering viewers a two-episode sneak peek this Monday, Dec. 7 at 10/9CT. Longoria, who created and stars in the sidesplitting series, said the idea came from her love of the ’70s sitcom Soap and the 1991 Kevin Kline/Sally Field film Soapdish — coupled with tales told to her by pals in the telenovela business. “They would tell me stories about crazy things that would happen to them on set,” Longoria says, “and I would be floored by the amount of drama that happened that was bigger […]

CBS supports the “I Have A Dream” Foundation with a holiday-themed initiative

December 3, 2015 Lori Acken

Just in time for the holiday season, CBS Cares — the network’s public service announcement initiative launched in 2000 — has given the gift of star power and a sizable television audience to the non-profit “I Have A Dream” Foundation (IHDF), which works to ensure that all children have the opportunity, support and resources to pursue higher education. The foundation was launched in 1986 by businessman Eugene M. Lang, who had returned to speak at his East Harlem elementary school after 50 years and learned that three-quarters of the school’s students would struggle to finish high school. On the spot, Lang decided to offer college […]

Dolly Parton’s Coat Of Many Colors: The country legend brings her most personal song to TV

November 30, 2015 Lori Acken

I was a little kid growing up in a home filled with country music when Dolly Parton’s “Coat of Many Colors” became a radio hit in 1971. I already loved the story of the original coat thanks to Sunday school, and since I was a small-town girl with a loving mama, too, I fell hard for that song. I still get goosebumps when I hear it. This month, NBC brings the tender tune of a family’s love and resilience in the face of tragedy — personified by a little patchwork jacket — to television as part of a deal with the […]

The Affair Season 2 episode 9 recap: Reckoning — or when it rains, it pours

November 30, 2015 Lori Acken

On this week’s The Affair, we spend a 24-hour (or thereabouts) stretch with all four of our main characters as a hurricane bears down on New York, lending extra drama to the myriad bad decisions that abound. The Lockhart case doesn’t really factor in at all. It’s just four people and the choices they make … and what it might say about them. 1 p.m. After a quick look at Alison cleaning her fridge, we begin with Helen, who is in a wine bar, waiting for a Tinder date. Deciding he isn’t about to show, she gets her check and does […]

Matthew Morrison, Kristin Chenoweth headline TLC’s Broadway at the White House

November 25, 2015 Lori Acken

Though it’s best known for a myriad of oddly addictive reality shows and specials, TLC gets artsy this Thanksgiving eve with its star-studded hourlong special Broadway at the White House. Hosts Matthew Morrison (currently starring in Finding Neverland) and longtime Broadway favorite Kristin Chenoweth join First Lady Michelle Obama as they welcome a group of specially chosen high-school students for a once-in-a-lifetime, all-day symposium at the White House focusing on careers in theater. • MORE: See First Lady Michelle Obama address the Broadway at the White House audience here With the help of current Broadway performers, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue transforms into a space for students to nurture […]

Andrea Bocelli sings songs from the cinema on Great Performances

November 25, 2015 Lori Acken

Andrea Bocelli: Cinema premieres Friday, November 27 at 9 p.m. on PBS If you need a boost after Black Friday shopping — or are just a fan of the sounds of the cinema — the PBS arts series Great Performances invites you to celebrate some of filmdom’s best-loved songs with Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli in a soaring special filmed Sept. 18 at Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre. Andrea Bocelli: Cinema reunites Bocelli with legendary music producer David Foster, who arranged the concert, and features actors John Travolta, Ryan O’Neal, Ali MacGraw, and Andy Garcia joining Bocelli onstage to speak about the films from which the songs are culled. Bocelli will […]

Latifah and Ne-Yo And Grier, oh my! Newcomer Shanice Williams stars in NBC’s star-studded The Wiz Live!

November 24, 2015 Lori Acken

The Wiz Live! premieres Thursday, Dec. 3 at 8/7CT on NBC. Get a special preview of the star-studded production on The Making of The Wiz Live! Wednesday, Nov. 25 at 8/7CT. Somewhere over the Rainbow Room marquee that marks the eatery’s shared entrance with NBC Studios at New York City’s legendary 30 Rockefeller Plaza, a brand-new Dorothy prepares to make the “Wizard of Oz” story her own. During an intense, nationwide audition process this past June, 19-year-old, apple-cheeked charmer Shanice Williams — a local-theater standout from Rahway, N.J. — warbled her way into the lead role in NBC’s The Wiz Live!, […]

RFD-TV honors Joey Feek with special Thanksgiving Day programming

November 24, 2015 Lori Acken

Country and gospel music fans were stunned by the news that Joey Feek, half of the husband and wife bluegrass duo Joey + Rory was diagnosed with cervical cancer shortly after the birth of the couple’s youngest daughter 16 months ago. At the end of October, the couple announced that the beautiful singer’s disease had progressed beyond the point of effective medical intervention and she began hospice care soon after. On Thanksgiving Day, RFD-TV and Rural Radio (SiriusXM Channel 147) will honor the Feeks with a special day of programming called “To Joey + Rory with Love.” Beginning at 9am ET, the network […]

Recap: The Affair Season 2 episode 8 — From the mouths of babes

November 22, 2015 Lori Acken

This far into Season 2 of Showtime’s The Affair, I have to admit, I’m a little done with episodes that attempt to pass off wildly different versions of the same events as the mysterious workings of two separate minds. While this episode was intriguing — bringing Noah and Helen together for the most substantial amount of time since he bolted for the writers cabin — I gave up on figuring out how to meld the two versions into a probable truth. We learned some not-so-surprising stuff about Whitney in the front end of Helen’s parcel. After that: There was a book signing. Helen was there. Noah […]