Entries from LAist tagged with 'mtv'
May 12, 2008
It's official, for better or worse, Jimmy Fallon will host NBC's "Late Night" show after Conan O'Brien shifts to "The Tonight Show" next year. Despite being a fan of SNL alumni, I wish I felt more positive about this appointment. While it's true that Conan O'Brien was a relative unknown before taking the reins, he was a prolific writer for SNL and "The Simpsons" for years -- the point being that hosting one of these......
Continue Reading "TV Junkie: Monday - Hills vs. Gladiators"April 16, 2008
MTV's "The Real World" returns for its 20th season which is scary because I remember the premiere of this show back in 1992. My roommates and I, and our significant others (or not) would get together and watch the show which seemed scarily innovative at the time - _anything_ could happen! From being an innovator in reality programming to just another in a field of crowded participants, another season of "The Real World" seems like......
Continue Reading "TV Junkie: Wednesday"April 2, 2008
Spike has a new, totally original show that is essentially 'Cops' for the Drug Enforcement Agency and it has the totally original name 'DEA'. “Television viewers will get the same unprecedented access to the inner workings of the DEA as our camera crews – the raids, the risk and the danger,” said Al Roker, executive producer (Al Roker??!! He's so effing hardcore). “When you watch ‘DEA,’ you will feel like you have gone undercover.” This......
Continue Reading "TV Junkie: Wednesday"March 25, 2008
Is HBO really in trouble? (Speaking of HBO, check out this great movie from 1983 about the creation of the HBO Theater opening sequence). Business Week asks if the premium channel is in trouble now that "The Sopranos" are gone (also "The Wire", "deadwood", "Rome", etc.) with nothing on the horizon to step up. The fact is that Showtime, FX, and even AMC are coming up with more compelling shows as of this last year......
Continue Reading "TV Junkie: Tuesday"March 24, 2008
Here on the 5th anniversary of the Iraq War with over 4,000 American dead and tens of thousands of Americans wounded PBS' Frontline launches its two-part special "Bush's War". Of course conservative pundits will accuse PBS of being the citadel of the liberal media but Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity, or any of their ilk could never come up with a documented timeline of evidence that illustrate what a completely disgusting mess we're in. The......
Continue Reading "TV Junkie: Monday - Bush's War"March 18, 2008
It looks like a lot is on tonight but as a commentor said yesterday, "TV really blows these days" - I agree. Lifetime has launched an online series hosted by Daily Show co-creator Lizz Winstead called "Gift Intervention", it's kind of like an Antiques Roadshow for really bad gifts combined with an outing of the bad-giftor. 7:00pm What's New Pussycat TCM - (1965) Shaga-slapa-delic classic with Peter Sellers, Peter O'Toole, Woody Allen, Ursula Andress, Capucine.......
Continue Reading "TV Junkie: Tuesday"March 17, 2008
New mural of Madonna and Britney Spears making out, found in Los Angeles I Photo by Osmany Rodriguez for LAist> Remember that one time Madonna and Britney Spears made out in front of millions of people, and more importantly Brit's ex Justin Timberlake. Before the new Tila Tequila MTV where girl-on-girl kissing is encouraged, preferably in front of parents.......
Continue Reading "Blonde Ambition"March 11, 2008
Human Giant unleashed itself upon an unsuspecting public last year via MTV and the bell just rang for Round 2 - are you ready? There's sketch comedy, there's underground sketch comedy, there's in your face on-the-streets sketch comedy, and then there's Human Giant, a team that presents, in each episode, collections of bits that are more like experimental movies than the sketch comedy we've been seeing for the last 15 years. There's plenty of parody......
Continue Reading "LAist Interview: 'Human Giant' - Season 2 Premieres Tonight @ 11pm on MTV"February 12, 2008
The Metropolitan Water Board is set to approve a controversial new "drought plan" for Southern California. More updates on the tragic Oxnard shooting that has left one student seriously injured and possibly dead. Twelve top Defamer posts from outgoing editor Mark Lisanti, via...some guy's Tumblr account. Teh internets! Are you a lazy asshole? But a romantic lazy asshole? Well, check out last minute V-Day flower bargains from the Daily News' Bargain Hunter Blog. File......
Continue Reading "Extra Extra: The Hott February Edition! "February 7, 2008
Through the presidential election in November, MTV has “Choose or Lose” citizen journalists in twenty-three states to cover the campaign. Here is the Colorado street team member interviewing Academy Award winner Forest Whitaker on the campaign trail for Barack Obama in Boulder, CO on Monday.......
Continue Reading "Midnight Thirty Movie: Forest Whitaker on the Obama Trail"February 1, 2008
Before MC Hammer's "Too Legit To Quit," there was a rap called "Legit" by Caldwell's Most Wanted - a little known group from a small town in Texas. Rather than emulating Hammer's mainstream, soft rap approach, CMW took inspiration from West Coast artists like N.W.A and Ice-T. Comprised of six high school students, the group longed to emulate the hard, thug lifestyle of South Central glamourized on Yo! MTV Raps despite their rural backgrounds.......
Continue Reading "'Legit' by Caldwell's Most Wanted"January 26, 2008
Torchwood is a guilty pleasure and its new season starts tonight on the BBCA. If you've ever been in a foreign land and seen a slightly dated American TV program come on and felt that queasy embarrassment then you know what watching Torchwood is like. It's cheesy and over-the-top science fiction with British accents and the odd dashing American thrown in. Everyone is hyper-sexed and they don't seem to discriminate between whichever sex they are......
Continue Reading "TV Junkie: Weekend Edition"January 19, 2008
COMIC BOOK ART The gallery named for the year that brought us Hypercolor T-Shirts, Yo! MTV Raps, and Salt N Pepa's single "Push It" (that's 1988 for those who didn't immediately connect) is currently featuring "Under the Influence: A Tribute to Stan Lee" in a show that runs until February 1. Preview some of the artwork online and then activate your Spidey webs and crawl over to Melrose Ave. 11 a.m. - 6 p.m. //......
Continue Reading "Pencil This In: Saturday"January 17, 2008
Held at Paramount Studios, last night's Cloverfield Premiere drew out all kinds of celebrities from big names like Lindsay Lohan to MTV-reality-scum Heidi Montag & Spencer Pratt. Due to some confusion, I was confirmed for video media coverage and NOT still photographs. Instead of challenging the Paramount Studios Staff to a duel, or flipping out on them because, "How am i supposed to shoot video with this Nikon SLR?" I chose to put the Nikon......
Continue Reading "Cloverfield Premiere Red-Carpet Photo-Essay"January 14, 2008
The Golden Globe winners have been announced, and unbelievably, Viggo Mortensen did NOT win "Best Actor" for Eastern Promises. True, he did not really emote; he didn't scream and he didn't cry. He did not play a person with a disability. Yes, he had to learn a foreign accent - with some success. But what really made Viggo award-worthy was that steamroom fight. I wish they had a "best fight scene" category like they......
Continue Reading "Viggo was Robbed! The Best Fight Scene Ever! Naked! "January 8, 2008
So The Colber(t) Repor(t) and The Daily Show are back and while Colbert, Stewart, Kimmel, and Conan are all nimble on their feet, and very funny and engaging, it's amazing how the success of all these shows really comes down to the writing. It's great to have them all back on the air and it does provide us all with some late night alternatives, but I hope NBC, ABC, and Viacom come to their senses......
Continue Reading "TV Junkie: Tuesday"January 5, 2008
In media, saturation is key. This weekend in Los Angeles, there are two storms wrecking their havoc on our city; one of them involves buckets of rain, and the other involves Britney Spears. Both of them are causing different kinds of deluges. Rainfall totals aside, Britney's most recent series of very high profile breakdown-ing, meltdown-ing, custody losing, and hospital admitting actions has caused a media frenzy, which probably doesn't come as much surprise to most.......
Continue Reading "Britney Overload: How Much is Too Much?"December 28, 2007
MTV Networks announced yesterday that it delivered more than "1.2 billion video streams from MTV.com, VH1.com and CMT.com in 2007, up 30% from 2006." And nearly half of those streams? Music videos. You know, the things tagged onto the end of shows and in between commercials and reruns of The Real World: Who Cares What City Because It's All the Same show. Here are the top 10 videos from 2007 that were most-streamed across......
Continue Reading "Music Videos Popular on MTV Online (Go Figure) "December 12, 2007
About the above picture: The Rawking Refuses To Stop!, a blog of all things Los Angeles pop culture and MP3, shares with us their best concert photos of 2007. Above, they sneak out of LA to New York to see Les Savy Fav at the Bowery Ballroom (we'll just say they did the same thing when they came here). Don't forget -- you still have today and tomorrow to enter our Rufus Wainwright/Belinda Carlisle......
Continue Reading "Extra, Extra: Les Savy Fav Wants You to Rock Your Pants Off"December 11, 2007
Jennifer Lopez's twins will receive the royal treatment- the mommy to be was seen picking up onesies that read "Prince" and "Princess" - NY Daily News A new feud perhaps? Jessica Simpson reportedly "went nuts" after hearing that her faux BFF Eva Longoria was haning out with ex John Mayer - Page Six Paris Hilton an Oompa Loompa hero? The heiress gave comfort and protection to a dismayed and injured performer dressed as an......
Continue Reading "Tuesday Gossip Roundup"December 10, 2007
MTV's The Hills Season Finale pre-show, live after party took place tonight at AREA Nightclub in West Hollywood, which seemed to be the perfect spot for a soiree such as this. Walking the Red Carpet (or shall I say Blue Carpet) were Lauren, Brody, Audrina, LOD, Frankie, Katie and Heidi. And apparently the personal trainer. Surprise, suprise, Heidi Montag showed up on the carpet briefly, alone and without a wedding ring. it seems that......
Continue Reading "LAist Night Out with The Hills"December 4, 2007
Remember back in the mid 90s or so, when MTV used to play videos? Think hard. Okay, and then there was this period where, right before they cut to a commercial, there was a clip of a Sinatra wannabe singing the song you just saw a video for? Like a snazzy rendition of "Kharma Police" or something of the sort. (Okay, that would've been late 90s. Whatever.) Well, that dude is "Rudy Casoni", a character......
Continue Reading "Rudy Casoni Variety Show "November 27, 2007
You wont see this on MTV, but you can see it here.......
Continue Reading "Every Strike Needs A Hip-Hop Anthem"November 21, 2007
Say what you will about Larry King (he's old, he gets married too much, he's not flashy, he's not hip) but the old fart sure has kept himself in the news lately. Last week, if you recall, he "ambushed" Marie Osmond by revealing to his tv audience that her son was in rehab (which led to much drama and Osmond-family-signs-of-support), and yesterday Larry had the infamous plastic surgeon Dr. Jan Adams walk off his......
Continue Reading "Jan Adams Walks Off Larry King Live After They Flew Him Out to LA to Be on The Show"November 5, 2007
There was a time when one would cringe to make a trip "behind the Orange Curtain". Those times are still with us. Perhaps now more than ever. But fortunately MTV, VH-1, Bravo, and A&E have decided to fight our (culture) war for us. Instead of castigating our neighbors through witty editorials, or knowingly pointed fingers, the networks simply shone a spotlight into the vacuous, empty, and shallow world south of the 91 (roughly). Thanks......
Continue Reading "Real Housewives of Orange County Return Tonight"November 3, 2007
Destiny's Child vs The Cardigans - "My Favorite Name" About a year and a half ago we introduced you to Indie's mashup DJ Paul V. as he was celebrating the one-year anniversary of Bootie LA, the monthly dance party fueled by the current day's mashups. Since then Bootie LA has moved from the Echo to Safari Sam's but the party hasn't missed a step. Matter of fact, tonight Bootie LA is welcoming French mashup......
Continue Reading " Loo & Placido Mixes it Up Tonight @ Safari Sam's"November 1, 2007
I have an interesting story involving Battles, New York's new experimental tech-rock sensations. It was March of this year, and I had traveled to Europe to film a project that I had been working on. My travel cohort and I made a stop in Amsterdam, where I decided that it would be a great idea to combine various hallucinogens that the city had to legally offer. I'm a relatively tranquil individual, so I naturally......
Continue Reading "Battles @ The Henry Fonda, 10/30/07"October 31, 2007
Very much like in the picture above, Don Vito, Bam Margera's rotund and lovable lazy-eyed uncle, was accused of feeling up three girls in Colorado last year, and today he was found guilty of fondling two of them. When the verdict was read, the 51-year-old Vincent Margera fell to the floor and cursed "just kill me now." He was acquitted of a third count of sex assault on a child. He faces a sentence......
Continue Reading "Don Vito Guilty of Groping Girls Cries "Just Kill Me Now""October 25, 2007
Baseball was fun last night since there wasn't much else on. Tonight we have more choices, except for late night which only offers us Kimmel. If you have the Sundance Channel you really ought to check out the series Iconoclasts, which pairs up incongruous individuals from sometimes completely disciplines to see what kinds of discussions result. Weird and fascinating. 5:00pm World Series: Game Deux FOX - For all you non-Francophiles or non-Naked Gun fans, Deux......
Continue Reading "TV Junkie: Thursday"October 22, 2007
A lotta hungover people in Boston today, no doubt - and with that drama, who the eff was watching the GOP debate? I don't really care about that much this week other than the Damages finale tomorrow night, but first things first. Late night's a bust with almost 100% repeats tonight. Did you catch last night's Curb Your Enthusiasm? Hilarious that Larry David's fictional wife is also leaving him - brilliant too. 8:00pm Chuck NBC......
Continue Reading "TV Junkie: Monday"