Lori Acken, Author at StayTuned Magazine

“Dance Moms” recap: Ringers ’Round The Apples

July 11, 2012 Lori Acken

Now, there ya go! THAT was an episode! We had villains we love to hate, villains we hate to love, drama that made me clutch my head and holler “ahhhmahhh gahhhd, that’s so fake,” a tablecloth/poncho for a shirt, drinks with Kelly and Christi, and my Welcome to Ohio sign (John R. Kasich, Governor). Welcome back, my Dance Moms of yore! Welcome back! Now stay. Staaaaay. Let’s get the business end of things outta the way. • Miss the episode? Watch it here for free. This week, we will be traveling to the land of Kasich and Candy Apples, and, […]

HBO’s “Hard Times: Lost on Long Island” takes a sobering look at the job crisis

July 6, 2012 Lori Acken

In the opening moments of HBO’s disquieting new documentary Hard Times: Lost on Long Island, balding, bespectacled Alan Fromm — an unemployed corporate trainer — catalogs the catastrophes he survived prior to losing his job a year earlier: struck by lightning at 15; heart trouble at 21; in the World Trade Center during the 1993 bombing; on the Long Island Rail Road when Colin Ferguson gunned down 25 passengers nine months later; and in the north tower on 9/11. By comparison, he says, unemployment doesn’t seem so bad. But it’s getting there. Fromm often gathers with a rotating crew of […]

Channel Guide interviews Leif Garrett!

July 5, 2012 Lori Acken

In the interest of full disclosure, I was one of the approximately 40 bazillion teenage girls who plastered their bedroom walls with posters of Leif Garrett throughout the ’70s and ’80s. In fact, I had it so bad for the sleepy-eyed, flaxen-haired heartthrob that my best bud and I would spend hours throwing suction-tip darts at the images and smooching whichever one we hit. So when I finally scored an interview with Garrett, Channel Guide‘s copy chief, Jill, encouraged me not to share that particular story — or as she sagely put it, “Don’t lead with the crazy.” I […]

“Dance Moms” recap: Abby’s Rants-A-Thon

July 4, 2012 Lori Acken

Aw, c’mon, man! I thought I was getting one — just one — episode where we could all sit back and revel in the talent of our favorite little dancers before we wade back into the well-dressed sturm und drang of life at ALDC. I thought tonight’s Dance Moms Drinkie Word could be “Hooray!” But nooooo! We get an hour of Abby bitchin’ away with no moms to call her on it. Still, I must admit I thoroughly enjoyed the little trip down Memories-of-Abby’s-Hairbands Lane. And whether the high priestess of dance liked them or not, it was lovely to […]

Channel Guide interviews Mellie Stanley of “My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding: The Stanley Sisters”

June 30, 2012 Lori Acken

If you couldn’t get enough of Mellie Stanley and her sisters — the beautiful breakout stars of TLC’s My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding — you’ll love Sunday’s special episode devoted exclusively to the ladies themselves. My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding: The Stanley Sisters follows black-sheep Mellie and her sisters Nettie, the volatile mother hen, and quiet, calm and comical Laura plus their high-maintenance, fashion-obsessed cousin Kayla as they deal with two family crises that test the boundaries of their gypsy beliefs and iron-clad family bonds. • UPDATE: Mellie Stanley’s back in TLC’s new Gypsy Sisters! Further bucking the strict […]

“Dance Moms” recap: Secrets, Lies & Leslie

June 27, 2012 Lori Acken

Is it just me, Dance Moms Nation, or was this the feel-bad episode of the year? So much so that I changed my mind about what this blog should be called about 18 times in the first ten minutes alone. Abb-niss Eats The Children. Everyone’s Replaceable. Bully For You — whoops did that one already. Hush, Little Leslie, Don’t Say A Word. Go For The Silver (Anniversary). IT’S THE LARGEST COMPETITION IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD! And given the various horrors of last week’s trip to Michigan, I expected Abby to spend at least the whole time I decided what to call […]

“Dance Moms” recap: A Tale of [Those] Two [Other] Studios

June 20, 2012 Lori Acken

I’m troubled, Dance Moms Nation. No, not about the overall feeling of discord and dread that seems to have permeated Pittsburgh. No, not about the conspicuous lack of attention my beloved Ohio sign is getting thus far. Not even about how much sleep Maddie is getting, which I don’t think is enough. While all of those things do worry me, what is weighing so heavily on my mind is how fashionable everyone in the Pitt Crew has become. I mean, accessibly fashionable. So that even I can understand it. Fashion for TV Writer Dummies, if you will. Witness Kelly’s lovely […]

Channel Guide talks with Emily Morse of Bravo’s new “Miss Advised”

June 18, 2012 Lori Acken

“It really seems like a natural extension, because I was doing my radio show five days a week for a really long time, so I’m used to putting myself out there,” says San Francisco-based “Sex With Emily” radio show host Emily Morse of her costarring role in Miss Advised, Bravo’s new docuseries that profiles the roller-coaster love lives of Morse and two other comely young relationship gurus, New York matchmaker Amy Laurent and former Internet It-Girl Julia Allison. Still, Morse concedes, after enjoying the relative privacy that a radio studio affords, putting her own romantic adventures out there for all […]

“My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding” finale: JR and Nettie

June 16, 2012 Lori Acken

Having featured teen brides, virgin brides, non-gypsy brides, brawling brides, lesbian brides and more, TLC’s My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding ends its first season in Hagerstown, Md., with a bride who actually tied the knot 14 years back. Sweet-natured gypsy beauty Nettie, 30, and her handsome husband JR, 31, eloped as teens after JR convinced Nettie to climb out her bedroom window and run off with him. Still madly in love after many years and three children, Nettie and JR are finally in a financial position to throw themselves the wedding of their dreams. For Nettie, this entails a […]

Paula’s oldest boy, Jamie Deen, invites you “Home For Dinner” Saturdays on Food Network

June 15, 2012 Lori Acken

As the son of Southern cooking’s grande dame Paula Deen — and now her partner in the iconic Savannah eatery The Lady & Sons — Jamie Deen knows all about good food. So when it came time to ask for his now-wife Brooke’s hand in marriage, Deen went to his kitchen and whipped up … egg salad. “Egg salad is her favorite thing to eat on,” Deen — now dad to sons Matthew, 1, and Jack, 5 — laughs. “People know my family’s history — and I’ve been so fortunate to travel and eat everywhere — but I made egg […]