Results tagged “television”

We've been biting our tongue all season so far and not running to the keyboard to spew forth our behemoth recaps of The CW's re-tooled 90210, now in its second year on the air. But we're still watching--and encouraging you to watch, too, like our TV Junkie did yesterday--and last night's episode had just enough on-location action to get our tongues, and fingers wagging.

Here in Los Angeles there is a valued relationship between the food on our plates and the ground from which it comes. From weekly stops at favorite farmers' markets to digging in at a local community garden, the bounty of the land and its role in our eating lives has a profound meaning for many Angelenos, and Americans. Local Chefs are eager to share how they use the market to influence their menu, like Grace and BLD's Neal Fraser and Ford Filling Station's Ben Ford, while some, like Border Grill and Ciudad's Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger have partnered with the LAUSD to help reinforce the importance of garden-based learning and to be conscious of what we eat. The politics of eating has become a local focal point, thanks to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's championing a Food Policy Task Force this summer as we celebrated 30 years of farmers' markets in L.A.

The Twilight Zone, Rod Serling’s sci-fi TV anthology series celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. The original series first launched on Oct. 2, 1959, and it led viewers into another dimension of space and time, full of time travelers, apocalyptic scenarios and other worldly cultures (that often-times weren’t as friendly as E.T.) 

Controversial topics like race relations, prejudice and questioning cultural norms were often addressed in episodes, with “the stranger,” aliens or demons standing in for oppressed groups. After five years and 156 episodes, the series ended. There were two attempts to revive the series, but they never really came close to Serling’s imagination.

Yesterday morning, authorities in Larimer County, Colorado, revealed that they are pursuing a criminal investigation of Thursday's "Balloon Boy" incident, when the Heene family allegedly led the Sheriff's Department, the media, and stunned viewers all over the world, to believe their 6-year-old son Falcon was drifting over the countryside in a home-made weather balloon. While no charges have been filed yet, patriarch Richard Heene could face a hefty laundry list of accusations, including several felonies.

Although there were some gains in features and commercial shoots, overall film-production dropped in the third quarter of 2009 compared to 2008, according to statistics released yesterday. In all, there were 9,680 permitted production days from July to September compared to 11,300 recorded in the same time period last year--that's a 14.3 percent drop.

       

Welcome to Emmys day! Amid the high heat, red carpet arrivals are underway right now at the Nokia Theatre at L.A. Live in downtown. Grab a drink (preferably the official drink of the day) and enjoy the live arrivals coverage on KTLA right now with Carrie Ann Inaba & Chris Harrison, who we interviewed yesterday.

The best seat in the house for a Hollywood stroking session like tonight's Emmy Awards is probably in front of your television set (though LAist's intrepid TV Junkie, Tom Lewis, may argue he's got the best spot since he's on the Red Carpet). If you're playing the home version of tonight's TV big event, there are two things you don't want to forget: Your booze and your ballot, so you can keep lubricated and score at the same time.

For the first time since their capture in North Korea, sentencing to a hard labor camp, and return to the US following a diplomatic intervention by former President Bill Clinton, Current TV, the San Francisco-based cable network part-owned by former Vice President Al Gore, has come forward with details of the incident involving their reporters Laura Ling and Euna Lee.

Donovan Leitch’s musical The Dark Root of the Dream is a mix of glam rock, literature and theatre, and it take to Largo’s stage tonight at 8 pm. Written by Leitch and guitarist Larry Cordola, the songs center around the character Mr. E, the fictional son of poet Virginia Woolf. “After his mother commits suicide early in the boy’s life, E is raised by gypsies, going on to become an egotistical, disillusioned rock star. Subsequently, Mr. E struggles to fill the void left by his mother’s death - with drugs, music and love. Once all these fail, he is forced to confront his darkest dreams in order to survive.” Tickets are $20.

Local television news, so quick to cut into programming for car chases, and often repetitive non-stop coverage of celebrity-involved incidents (i.e. the death of Michael Jackson) has been eerily quiet this weekend as the Station Fire--one of three current blazes raging in Southern California--has prompted the evacuation of more than 6,600 homes, threatens 12,000 structures, and has blazed through 35,000 acres and is growing with 5% containment.

              

Anyone pretty much the world over can turn on their television on Sunday September 20th and watch the 61st Annual Primetime Emmy Awards. And even though Los Angeles is a company town, not everyone has a ticket to the show, which means once the show is over, only those on the guest list will get to head over to the Governor's Ball. The Emmy folks (that's the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, to be precise) have been busy planning this massive affair, and gave members of the media a sneak peak at the design and food and drink that will be enjoyed by the ball's attendees come Emmy night in L.A.

...however, this clip from The Donald's appearance on last night's Letterman may give you insight into how Trump and Letterman feel about the issue of same-sex marriage. In discussing the beauty pageants run by the Trump empire, the name Carrie Prejean--the ousted Miss California USA who took heat for her response to Perez Hilton's question about marriage--inevitably came up (1:15 in the clip). Explains Defamer of the awkward moment:

Trump offered his admirable but weak defense of her for being a dolt, prompting Letterman to jump in with an "anybody who wants to get married ought to be able to get married" comment. The studio audience then went nuts while Trump sat silent, all alone in the world for a few seconds with only a banana-yellow tie and a big, garish head as his friends.

It began with the remains of a woman found stuffed into a suitcase left in a Buena Park dumpster on Saturday. Two days later, authorities made the connection between the corpse and the case of a missing model who had moved here recently from Las Vegas, Jasmine Fiore, a former stripper and current Playboy representative.

If you’re old enough to remember the TV show thirtysomething, then you might be intrested in checking out the reunion for the angst-filled show tonight at 7 pm at the Paley Center. During its four seasons, the show broke new ground for the portrayal for the babyboomers forced to grow up. To commemorate the show and the release of the season 1 DVD, the Paley Center hosts the series’ cast and creative team, including creators Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick and actors Peter Horton and Timothy Busfield, with additional panelists to be announced. Tickets are $20 ($15 for Paley Center members).

In what seems to be yet another case of famous-by-proxy (see: Jewel's husband), the rumor mill is whirring over the latest buzz that puts "shock jock" Howard Stern's blonde bride of less than a year, Beth Ostrosky, as a contender for the coveted Dancing With the Stars prize. The pair hooked up soon after Stern's divorce from his first wife of 20 years, and became engaged on Valentine's Day in 2007.

Before you get too excited, let's get a couple of things right out in the open. First, while the "new" 90210 will indeed be back this fall on the CW, your weekly "Morning After Report" by yours truly will not, so you'll have to look elsewhere for the same level of snark, devotion, and attention to detail we gave you in the first season. That said, if you have no idea what I'm talking about, first plan your tomorrow around getting your hands on the complete first season of 90210 on DVD, watch all the episodes, review the LAist archives, and congratulate yourself mightily for your fortitude.

It's a dream come true for the woman known as OctoMom: A European production company has hired the 14 children of the OC's Nadya Suleman and papers have been signed and filed guaranteeing each kid a $250 a day salary for their upcoming work in a reality TV show, reports the LA Times. The Suleman brood, including the octuplets born amid a flurry of flashbulbs and headlines earlier this year, will begin work September 1st.

Following his well-received gig as host of the Tony Awards in New York earlier this year, actor Neil Patrick Harris has been booked as the host of the upcoming 61st Primetime Emmy Awards. The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences made the official announcement today, confirming speculation that the onetime Doogie Howser, MD wunderkind and current How I Met Your Mother star, will be the telecast's emcee. Viewers and attendees can expect the unexpected from the versatile performer. Said Harris of the impending hosting duties: "I'm looking forward to the challenge of the show — adding my own voice to it, while honoring the nominees and the entire year in television. But which voice to choose? I'm torn between gangsta, foppish Brit, and robot. Really proud of my robot. We'll see what happens on the night." Emmy noms will be announced Thursday; the show is September 20th at the Nokia Theatre.

Known for his exuberant television pitches for household products like OxiClean and Orange Glow, Billy Mays, 50, has died, according to the LA Times. Police in his home city of Tampa say Mays "was pronounced dead this morning after being found by his wife at home. There were no signs of a break-in, and investigators do not suspect foul play. The coroner's office expects to have an autopsy done by Monday afternoon." The Pennsylvania-born pitchman provided his high-energy endorsement to dozens of products over the years on television after a successful career as a salesman on the boardwalk in Atlantic City, then traveling to places like state fairs and auto shows. Mays' wife Deborah is not expected to make any public comment, and has asked for privacy following the sudden death of her husband.

Dodgers Skipper Joe Torre, not yet done promoting his Yankee tell-almost-all, stopped by Universal City on Monday to visit another New York City transplant. As Conan mentions at the top of the video, the Dodgers have the best record in baseball right now. Hopefully we'll all get to say that in October.

It's Sophomore Prom night, and we've had an unlikely write-in Queen scorn her crown and her King (Silver, Dixon), a confession of "liking" (Liam to Naomi), a rumble (Navid and Adrianna's baby-daddy Ty), a "my water just broke" announcement (Adrianna), and a secret divorcee on a date with a teacher who still has the hots for the school counselor (Jen, Semi Hot, Kelly Taylor). You follow? It's been a big night--big enough for a two parter--and now it's time to wrap things up, dangle some storylines off a cliff or two, and say goodbye to 90210's inaugural season (and to LAist's Morning After Report--sniff!).

KCRW’s “Martini Shot” is TV writer/producer Rob Long's weekly peek into showbiz. Told from his experiences, Long's four-minute commentaries explore Hollywood's inherently humorous dualities, and eccentricities.

Principal Dad has a message for the Sophomore Class of West Beverly Hills High School: ZERO TOLERANCE. In a cheesy video he obviously roped his "actress" daughter into co-starring in with him, he informs the school--well, actually, just the Sophs, that if they get caught at an After Prom Party with alcohol they will be suspended, and if they're suspended, they'll have to go to summer school. Basically "One party can ruin your whole summer." They had a T-shirt made. Also, next week's Season Finale is called "One Party Can Ruin Your Whole Summer," (thanks, DVR!) which leads me to believe that this will indeed happen to one of "our" kids. Uh oh. I can't wait to see how a behavioral infarction is disciplined academically...isn't summer school, like, courses you take? WBHHS, you perplex me. Also: SOPHOMORES? WTF?

La Palma's Chelsea Krueger is getting ready for her Quinceanera, and like any young lady gearing up to party with her friends and family, she's looking forward to her dream day of gathering to celebrate with her friends and family.

The gang's all gathered in the WBHHS cafeteria to rock some dubious hairstyles and drink some delicious Dr Pepper (I guess they opted not to ban soda in schools like most SoCal school districts, but hey, whatev) and to listen to Adrianna and Navid spill some dubious beans. It's not news to us, so we don't need to do a Dr Pepper spit-take like Dixon when the couple announce Ade's keeping her baby and she and Navid are getting hitched.

Last week Hollywood lost the legendary Bea Arthur, when the funny lady of television and Broadway passed away at 86. The fab foursome of Arthur's hit series The Golden Girls is often compared with the totally different kind of fab foursome seen on Sex and the City, this TV Land video shows the late, great Arthur (along with television's other golden ladies Katherine Helmond, Charlotte Rae, and Sally Struthers) lampooning the HBO series, and reminding us she'll always have the last laugh.

So, uh... Yawn. Yeah. While none of the eps of the new 90210 are prize-worthy, this week's was kind of a bad fit. You know, like something your Mom sewed for you and then made you wear to school. Awkward!

Palos Verdes' Natalie Pack suffers from an acute case of foot-in-mouth syndrome, as evidenced by her airtime on this season of America's Next Top Model. The 20-year-old contestant let fly with some gems that had locals--and anyone who doesn't have a stomach for snobbish observations--wincing. "'I'm sorry I live in a nice community and you don't,' Pack told a girl who called her a snob for not washing post-Thanksgiving dishes," references the Daily Breeze, pointing to another PV Peninsula shout-out: "I'm from Palos Verdes. It's a really wealthy community. ... I feel like these [other contestants] are just whack."

The AP has an interesting story today on local newscasters trimming their staff despite reports stating that local news is becoming a ratings leader compared to national news broadcasts. Having technology that allows only 1 or 2 people to go to a location shoot should mean more coverage, because that's what people want, not the same amount of coverage with less people.

Actress Bea Arthur, known best for her iconic television turns as The Golden Girls' Dorothy Zbornak and the titular Maude, has died, the Associated Press is reporting. She was 86. "Arthur died peacefully at her Los Angeles home with her family at her side, family spokesman Dan Watt said. She had cancer, Watt said, declining to give further details."