Lori Acken, Author at StayTuned Magazine

Mellie Stanley’s back in a pair of “My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding” specials on TLC

June 15, 2012 Lori Acken

They’re the breakout stars of TLC’s My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding, which concludes its first season Sunday. Now West Virginia’s Stanley sisters — Nettie, Laura, Kayla and wild, wild gypsy girl Mellie — have scored an upcoming special of their own. • UPDATE: Mellie Stanley returns February 10 on TLC’s Gypsy Sisters In My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding: The Stanley Sisters, premiering July 1 at 9/8CT, we find the Stanley women caught up in multiple family dramas. • Read Channel Guide’s exclusive interview with Mellie Stanley! Mellie has found an even more brazen way to thumb her nose at […]

“Baggage” boy Kalon joins “Bachelor Pad” Season 3 cast

June 14, 2012 Lori Acken

Ah. So that’s where Emily’s hapless “Mr. Baggage,” Kalon McMahon, went to think about he said, mister. The Bachelor Pad. Seems like a pretty good spot for a Bachelorette contestant who went down in a blaze of ingloriousness — by referring to Emily’s treasured six-year-old daughter as “baggage” in their otherwise ideal prospective love match. Among the standouts joining McMahon in the Season 3 cast, which ABC announced this morning, are mega-good-guy Michael Stagliano — who won the cash on last season’s outing but lost his former fiancée Holly Durst to fellow contestant Blake Julian (the duo recently married) — […]

Exclusive “Dance Moms” party pics of Chloe, Christi, Clara, Nia, Holly and Paige!

June 14, 2012 Lori Acken

Dance Moms fans, lest you worry that it’s all work and stress and no play for our Pitt Crew ladies, big and small, we’ve got the adorable photos to prove otherwise! Courtesy of Dance Moms‘ own Christi Lukasiak, here are exclusive shots from Chloe’s and Nia’s joint birthday celebration last weekend, complete with Nia’s cuddly surprise gift, a peek at Kelly’s cute son Josh, precious pictures of Chloe’s little sister Clara — and a bonus Dance Moms Fashion Moment! The birthday girls: The birthday girls with Paige: “NIA GOT A DOG for her birthday! Big concession by Dr. […]

“Dance Moms” recap: You’re (Un)dead to Me!

June 13, 2012 Lori Acken

So, Dance Moms Nation, did everyone go out and buy themselves a bike-a-tard to futz with since we hung out last? No? Me either. I wanted to, but apparently bike-a-tards are not appropriate office attire, even when all you do is write about TV. Even if you dress it up with a jacket and some pumps. Um, if any of you try that, could you please take a picture and Tweet it to me? @ChannelGuideLLA On with the episode. Abby is clearly not over the general disaster that was last week’s trip to Cali because she gets on the girls […]

7 get-bikini-ready tips from “The Doctors” host Dr. Andrew Ordon!

June 12, 2012 Lori Acken

You’ve seen him on the Emmy® award-winning syndicated daytime talk show The Doctors and its companion web site, dispensing advice about the latest developments in plastic and reconstructive surgery, and even undergoing critical medical tests on-camera so that viewers can better understand why they need them and what to expect. Now acclaimed aesthetic surgeon Dr. Andrew Ordon has compiled some of his best skin-care, anti-aging, and health and wellness tips and practices into a new book, Better in 7: The Ultimate Seven-Day Guide to a Better You, available exclusively at TheBookNook.com.The book offers 21 surgery-free plans that target women’s “hot button” issues from cellulite and wrinkles to […]

First Look: Christopher Atkins in Lifetime’s “Blue Lagoon: The Awakening”

June 6, 2012 Lori Acken

Here it is, Christopher Atkins fans! Our first look at the original Blue Lagoon heartthrob as high-school teacher Mr. Christiansen in Blue Lagoon: The Awakening, Lifetime’s teen-centric modernization of the notorious, classic coming-of-age tale. In the new incarnation, Atkins’ character helps in the hunt for Emma and Dean, an overachieving high-school girl and underachieving boy (played by Home and Away‘s Indiana Evans and Brenton Thwaites) who end up on a deserted island after falling off a boat while on a class trip to Trinidad. The cast also includes Denise Richards (Anger Management) as Emma’s devastated and determined mom. Here’s a sneak peek […]

New “Liz & Dick” photos of Lindsay Lohan and Grant Bowler

June 6, 2012 Lori Acken

Lifetime has released new official photos of Lindsay Lohan as Elizabeth Taylor and Grant Bowler as Richard Burton in the network’s Original Movie, Liz & Dick, which will debut this fall on the network. Say what you will about Lohan’s casting — you have to admit hers is a stunner. Bowler’s ain’t so bad either. What do you think? Photo Credit: Richard McLaren/Lifetime

“Dance Moms” recap: The More They Stay The Same

June 6, 2012 Lori Acken

Everybody remember where we left off in April? Maddie stumbled. Chloe soared. Abby bent over, let us see her shake her tail feathers — then hightailed it outta Jersey in shame. Everybody good? Before we begin, quick moment of silence for Hubby Rik who got his priorities goofed and is working right now instead of patrolling the Pitt Crew for swears and apologies. I guess he will just have to read the little missus’s recap to find out what happens, now won’t he? Or maybe I’ll wait up for him and act the whole thing out. • Missed the episode? […]

“My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding” preview: Girl fight!

June 2, 2012 Lori Acken

Well, My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding fans, like the ads are promising, this is the episode we’ve been waiting for. At long last, we’ll get the story behind the infamous chick fight in the series’ opening credits. And — of course — it involves everybody’s favorite gypsy wild child Mellie Stanley. • UPDATE: Read Channel Guide’s exclusive interview with Mellie Stanley! This time around, it’s her 20-year-old nephew Heath — eldest son of Mellie’s sister Nettie — who is planning the wedding, an event with which everyone in the clan is delighted. At first. Then Nettie gets wind that her live-in […]

Baron Ambrosia finds a new kingdom on Cooking Channel

June 1, 2012 Lori Acken

He’s the Culinary Ambassador of the Bronx. The Quaffer of Culinary Consciousness. He’s Baron Ambrosia! He’s also Justin Fornal, a Connecticut-born, Bronx-based independent filmmaker who found a brilliant way to combine a lifelong love of food and film into one over-the-top and always hungry character. “I was with my filming partner Joe Bly in Washington Heights,” Fornal says of the first day that Baron Ambrosia drew a breath, “and we had this idea for a character who was very much like myself but at the same time had a different history and wasmuch older and had a dubious past that […]