Lori Acken, Author at StayTuned Magazine

“Dance Moms: Miami” episode 6 recap: Welcome to the Circus!

May 16, 2012 Lori Acken

Good Lord, people, if you are not following the individual Dance Moms on Twitter, you totally should. Despite their longwinded brouhahas in the Mom Room, those women can throw down in 140 characters or less. I’m not even sure when they are pretending just to get us to tune in anymore. It’s as good a show as the show, sometimes. Speaking of which, let’s get to recapping, shall we? • Missed the episode? Watch it online now for free! Victor could not be happier with the way last week’s Access Broadway performances went. Angel could. Angel! Really? What?! Everybody won. […]

Christopher Atkins will appear in Lifetime’s “Blue Lagoon” update June 16

May 15, 2012 Lori Acken

My fellow lovers of The Blue Lagoon, if you’ve never quite recovered from the sight of Christopher Atkins in a loincloth — even after 30-plus years — Lifetime has a boatload of good news. On June 16, the network will premiere its original movie, Blue Lagoon: The Awakening — a modern-day take on the infamous coming-of-age-on-an-island story — and our still-handsome boy is a part of it! According to a release issued by Lifetime, Atkins will play Mr. Christiansen, a teacher who helps in the hunt for Emma and Dean. No, not Emmeline and Richard — Emma and Dean, an overachieving high-school girl and underachieving boy […]

The Young Turks’ Cenk Uygur on “fake neutrality” in TV news

May 11, 2012 Lori Acken

Though the official general election season is still months away, your television is likely overrun with incendiary ads and partisan discourse that drive you nuts. But before you turn on that “news” program that makes you feel so much better, Cenk Uygur [say it Jenk YOU-gur], host of Current TV’s gleefully unvarnished nightly news staple The Young Turks, wants you to consider whether it’s really giving you challenging, fact-based analysis — or just snuggling your conviction that the other guy’s a dolt. “I don’t like the partisanship where people on different cable news outlets play on Team Republican or Team […]

“My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding” preview: It’s a Man’s World

May 11, 2012 Lori Acken

Gypsy wedding fans, prepare yourself for some days of Amber and roses (and another quick but delightful glimpse at Pat Baby) when My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding airs its third episode — “It’s a Man’s World” — Sunday night on TLC. The ep spotlights the strict division of freedoms, duties and expectations between the genders — and the challenges women from outside the gypsy culture sometimes face when they fall in love with gypsy men. At the center of the hour is 23-year-old Romany Tommy, a traveling paver and construction worker, who is headed home to West Virginia celebrate his traditional […]

Kim Kardashian on “Drop Dead Diva”: first pics!

May 10, 2012 Lori Acken

We’ve got a first peek at Kim Kardashian’s guest-starring role on the fourth season of Lifetime’s hit dramedy, Drop Dead Diva. Kardashian will play famed relationship guru Nikki LePree whom Stacy (April Bowlby) visits for love advice after Fred (Ben Feldman, Mad Men) finds out she kissed Grayson (Jackson Hurst) and dumps her. Eventually, the two beauties decide to go into business together. According to Lifetime sources, the scripts for the multi-episode arc allow Kardashian to have some fun with her “famous for being famous” rep and her short-lived marriage to NBA star Kris Humphries. The Season 4 premiere of Drop […]

“Dance Moms” diva Abby Lee Miller to guest on “Drop Dead Diva”

May 9, 2012 Lori Acken

Wonder what Abby Lee Miller does with her downtime when she’s not filming Dance Moms or terrorizing kiddies at her Pittsburgh dance studio? She’s prepping to get her thespian on in another Lifetime show! The network is reporting that Miller will make her official acting debut in an officially scripted series — well sort of — when she plays herself in an episode of its popular dramedy Drop Dead Diva. * UPDATE: Abby Lee will appear on Drop Dead Diva August 12! Miller has been tapped to serve as an expert witness in a case in which attorney Jane Bingum (Brooke […]

“Dance Moms: Miami” episode 5 recap: Tone Loco

May 9, 2012 Lori Acken

So did everyone recover from the excitement of last week’s inferno? And speaking of excitement, I’d like to give a big ol’ Dance Moms Obsessive shout out to readers Kris and Becky who pointed out peeks at the Pitt Crew that I completely missed, despite having my eyelids dang near taped open in hopes of getting a glimpse. Shore ’nuff — there the little Ab-beleagured critters were, like pigtailed manna from Dance Moms heaven. • RELATED: Dance Moms diva Abby Lee Miller will play herself on Drop Dead Diva. But we’re here to talk about the epic adventures of the […]

CGM interviews “My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding” designer Sondra Celli!

May 8, 2012 Lori Acken

Boston clothing designer Sondra Celli is catching her breath between prepping 30-plus blinged-out bikinis and an army of matching accessories for an upcoming gypsy luau and waiting for the UPS guy to arrive. “Thursdays are a little suicidal,” she chuckles. But it’s now 4pm and most of her loyal contingent of Traveller customers is in church, so I’m the only person calling. At least for the moment. As the longtime couturier of choice for America’s widespread gypsy and Traveller communities — and the unflappable star of TLC’s new Sunday night hit, My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding — Celli finds […]

“Mad Men” cast appears on Bravo’s “Inside The Actors Studio” May 14

May 7, 2012 Lori Acken

Mad Men fans, here’s your chance to hear insights, secrets — and, of course, the oh-so-revealing answers to those famous Pivot questions — straight from the mouths of the cast and creator of your favorite show. Jon Hamm, January Jones, Vincent Kartheiser, Jared Harris, Christina Hendricks, John Slattery, Kiernan Shipka and creator Matt Weiner will join host James Lipton onstage at the famous Actors Studio Monday, May 14 at 7pm ET/PT. Jon Hamm discusses his troubled youth and the arduous interview process for the role that made him famous. January Jones reveals the origin of her unique name. Kiernan Shipka […]

“My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding” preview — Rockin’ Pat Baby!

May 4, 2012 Lori Acken

As a proud devotee of all things Gypsy Wedding, I’ve been hoping against hope that My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding — now airing Sunday nights on TLC — would offer me up a U.S. version of my most beloved Irish Traveller, Paddy Doherty. • RELATED: Channel Guide’s exclusive interview with Sondra Celli On Sunday’s upcoming episode, “14 and Looking for Mr. Right,” I found him: Douglasville, Ga., resident and Romanichal gypsy Pat Baby. Proud paver, party-thrower and papa to his utterly stunning 14-year-old daughter Priscilla. Because 32-year-old Pat Baby and his 33-year-old wife LouAnn have raised their daughter in strict adherence […]