Everyone got fired from ‘The X Factor’

So in case you’re wondering how well a crappier version of American Idol went over with the general population in the states, look no further than the rash of axings going on over at The X Factor, as not one, not two, but three people were all given the boot. First, host Steve Jones was sent packing, despite being the only watchable part of the show, promptly followed by Nicole Scherzinger‘s incompetent ass, and now Paula Abdul has left the show to spend more time with her kids. And by kids, I mean Ambien. Delicious Ambien. Mmm … yes, that was a joke, get over it! The Huffington Post reports:

Earlier on Monday, Jones’ now-former boss Simon Cowell was quoted in London’s Daily Mirror saying: “I don’t think he did a bad job but, like America’s Got Talent, there is a Brit limit on the show.” A few hours later, Jones’ tweet made it official.

“[Nicole Scherzinger] wants to focus on her music career,” their source said. “She’s spoken to Simon [Cowell] and he’s given her his blessing … X Factor took a lot more of her time than she ever expected. She didn’t have any time really to work on her music. She was doing X Factor six days a week.”

Sources confirmed to E! Online that judge Paula Abdul will also not be returning to The X Factor, leaving Simon Cowell and L.A. Reid as the only original members of the judging panel for season two. “She found out today,” a show source told E! Online.

So basically, Jones, Scherzinger and Abdul were let go from the show for being British, useless and crazy respectively. I can see the last two, but is it really too much for American viewers to realize that there is more than one British person in America? “Waitaminute … why is that feller talkin’ all fancy-like? Woman! Git me my shotgun, the movin’ picture box is actin’ all queer again! THIS IS AMURIKAH!”

The X Factor

Grey’s Anatomy: Why Teddy won’t be Izzie 2.0!

[SPOILER ALERT: The below article contains spoilers from the current season of Grey’s Anatomy. Do not continue reading if you are not caught up with the show and don’t wish to know what happens.]

Grey's Anatomy

In Italy, her actions could be considered a crime of passion. On The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, she would be dubbed “morally corrupt.” But no matter how you see it, there’s no denying that when Dr. Izzie Stevens (Katherine Heigl) cut her terminally ill fiancée’s LVAD wire to bump him to the top of the heart transplant recipient list, she would never be the same again.

In fact, you’ll be hard pressed to find a fan of ABC’s primetime medical drama Grey’s Anatomy who doesn’t consider Denny’s (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) death in the show’s second season finale to be one of the series’ most iconic and heartbreaking moments.

Grey's Anatomy - Izzie and Denny

And while the episode itself was more of a tearjerker than Nicholas Sparks could ever dream of concocting in the estrogen-soaked lab he shares with Jodi Picoult, the sting felt by its aftermath was just as harsh.

It was after Denny’s death that Izzie became a hollow shell of the person she used to be. Who could forget the season three premiere when she lay on her bathroom floor, unable to move or accept the help she was being offered? Even when she found love again in Alex Karev (Justin Chambers) seasons later, she was still (and quite literally in the case of season five) haunted by the memory of Denny.

Now in its eighth season, Grey’s Anatomy remains one of ABC’s highest rated shows. And while Izzie may be long gone (Heigl ended her contract to pursue a career as a film “star”), a situation similar to hers is currently shaking the grounds of Seattle Grace/Mercy West Hospital: the death of Henry Burton.

For those of you who hate good television and therefore don’t know, Henry Burton (the unfairly handsome Scott Foley) was married to Dr. Teddy Altman (Kim Raver). Like Denny, he too began his journey down the road of Grey’s romantic drama as a patient. But despite what many critics and fans are currently hypothesizing, Henry’s death will not turn Teddy into Izzie 2.0.

For starters, Teddy is a tough cookie. This is not to say that she isn’t incredibly impacted by Henry’s unfortunate fate or that Izzie is weak – but rather to point out that Teddy has a thick coat of armor from the tragedy she’s already had to endure. She is, after all, a woman who lost her best friend in 9/11 and later served as a doctor to our troops in Iraq. And whereas you got the impression that Izzie spent her whole life planning a fairytale wedding and ripping out pages of Cosmo, Teddy has never been the girl who wears her heart on her sleeve.

Therefore, the main dividing line at which the comparisons between Denny and Henry’s deaths are drawn is at the coping mechanisms of their significant others.

Following Denny’s death, Izzie immediately wanted to quit her internship program and leave the medical field. Her entire world stopped and she lost sight of her purpose in it. Without Denny, Izzie temporarily lost her entire sense of identity.

But in the episode that followed Teddy’s discovery of Henry’s death (which aired this past Thursday), she was back in the OR, dry-eyed and characteristically bossy as she continued to save the lives of others.

And where Izzie largely blamed herself for Denny’s death, Teddy comes to the realization that Henry’s death was inevitable. In the most recent episode, there’s a devastating reoccurring scene in which Teddy asks Cristina to tell her from beginning to end the measures she took to try and save Henry’s life while operating on him. Difficult as it is, Cristina does this over and over again as she knows that this is something she must do to help her friend begin to heal.

Yet despite Cristina’s inability to save Henry, Teddy points no fingers. At the end of the episode, there’s a particularly poignant scene in which Cristina is once again recounting the events of Henry’s surgery and Teddy chimes in to finish the story with her. The details have all sunk in. She understands how and why Henry died. She knows that nothing could have been done differently to save him. Once again, Teddy comes to terms with the fact that she has lost the most important person in her life.

From what we’ve seen so far, it’s safe to say that Teddy will prove the naysayers wrong and will externalize her pain in a very different way than Izzie did. She refuses to let her loss serve as a catalyst for her personal demise and there’s no doubt that she’ll force herself to soldier on. Now it’s just the question of how.

“I can’t even imagine how she’s going to trust to open up her heart again,” Raver told The Hollywood Reporter. “When she did lose her best friend in 9/11 and went to Iraq, her PTSD wasn’t really apparent; she was very positive. I think that is one of her amazing qualities: she finds the positive, life-affirming thing. But I think there is a depth of sadness underneath all of that. I can’t imagine how she will bounce back from the loss of Henry because I feel for her that was her first and major true love. She imagined the rest of her life with him so I don’t know how she will open up to that again. But that will be an interesting journey.”

Grey's Anatomy - Teddy and Henry

Grey’s Anatomy airs on ABC on Thursdays at 9:00. Below, watch the trailer for this week’s new episode:

‘Smash’ is bound to be huge hit!

Earlier this week I had the opportunity to attend an advance screening of NBC‘s highly-anticipated new ‘musical’ show Smash. I’m sure by now you’ve seen the promos which have been running rampant gearing up for the premiere taking place on February 6th (after the season premiere of The Voice), I’m happy to report the show did not disappoint at all. In fact, I was actually blown away by the drama (blood, sweat and tears!) of bringing a new Broadway show to life based on Marilyn Monroe. The show stars Katharine McPhee and Megan Hilty who are both vying to play Ms. Monroe, the cast also includes Debra Messing and Christian Borle as the show’s creators, Angelica Huston as the producer and sexy Jack Davenport (who apparently is now dating Messing in real life) as the director. Below you’ll an extended seven-minute sneak peek at the show (which has Steven Spielberg on board as one of the executive producers), I can’t wait to see how the rest of the first season pans out, I know Smash is going to be a huge hit!

There’s nothing more exciting than the opening night of a hit Broadway musical, except maybe what happens getting there. While Wicked and The Lion King pack audiences in on the Great White Way, Julia and Tom, a successful songwriting team played by Debra Messing and Christian Borle, begin work on a new musical based on the life of Marilyn Monroe. When a tenacious producer (Anjelica Houston) jumps aboard, so begins the difficult task of casting the silver screen icon.

Ivy Lynn, a tough Broadway veteran, seems like the obvious choice. But enter Karen Cartwright (Katharine McPhee), a young girl from Iowa with a dream of making it on Broadway who walks in and blows everyone away. So who will get the part and begin a journey that will change their lives? It’s an age-old story, but a star just might be born once again.

While everyone is consumed with putting the show together, real life has a tendency of getting in the way. Julia and her husband are in the middle of a complicated adoption; the producer’s husband begins divorce proceedings which could threaten the finances of the show; and the brilliant but womanizing director could derail everything if he puts the young star in a compromising position. This will be a rollercoaster ride that culminates on opening night when the audience gets to determine whether or not the show is a smash!

In the era of The Voice and Glee, executive producers Steven Spielberg and Craig Zadan and Neil Meron (producers of Chicago and Hairspray), and songwriters Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman (Hairspray), bring you the blood, sweat, and tears of the making of a Broadway musical.

Smash

Now Playing: Season two of ‘Shameless’

One of my favorite shows returns tonight, Showtime‘s incredibly fun hit series Shameless (based on the popular UK series of the same name)! It’s another season featuring the crazy antics of the lovable yet super messy Gallagher clan headed up by William H. Macy and Emmy Rossum. A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of talking to Bill Macy at Showtime’s holiday soiree (along with his wife Felicity Huffman, who was beyond lovely) and he promises that this season is even more outlandish than the last, which I can definitely agree with after seeing the first four episodes thanks to a screener! Below you can watch the entire premiere episode, I can’t even tell you how much I love this show. The first season is now available on DVD, so make sure to catch up and get hooked on one of the best series on television today!

The smashed hit returns. It’s summertime and the Gallaghers of Chicago are cooking up fresh ways to bring home the bacon. Their ventures may not be moral — or even legal — but they certainly are outrageous. Between beating the heat and keeping their cool, the Gallaghers are in for one crazy summer. William H. Macy and Emmy Rossum star in the hilarious and heartfelt Showtime Original Series, Shameless.

Shameless - Season Two

‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ … the most brilliant comedy on TV … ever!

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

If you’ve never seen it, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia follows the absurd and morally devoid adventures of a gang of five friends (played by Rob McElhenney, Glenn Howerton, Kaitlin Olson, Charlie Day and Prince Charming himself, Danny Devito) who own and work at a bar called Paddy’s Pub in Philly. And if you’ve never seen it, you should probably increase your therapy visits so you can figure out why you hate yourself so damn much.

Now in its seventh glorious season, Sunny is without a doubt the smartest and funniest show on television. And I don’t just mean out of shows currently on. Sunny is honestly the most well-written and brilliant show to ever grace sitcom history. Think that’s a bold claim? I challenge you to watch any two episodes. You’ll be struggling to find reasons to disagree.

With every episode of the show, the characters push the boundaries of their personalities to new extremes. Frank is always becoming increasingly more disgusting. Dennis becomes a little more obsessed with himself. Mac gets more desperate to prove his masculinity. Charlie transforms more into white trash and Dee tries harder to … well, matter.

On last night’s episode, High School Reunion, the gang revisits their high school days, each with a different personal mission to accomplish. For instance, Charlie’s is (surprise surprise!) to win over the waitress. Then there’s Frank, decades older than the rest of them, who just wants to get into the reunion so he can have friends to hang out with.

The MVP Award of the episode, however, belongs to Dee. Free of the back brace that was once the catalyst of her relentless torture, Dee shows up to the reunion determined to seek vengeance on the “popular” kids. All of the jerks who made her teenage years a living hell by calling her “the aluminum monster.”

To do so, she decides to pull a Lindsay Lohan in Mean Girls and pretend to make friends with them. She plans to gain their trust and seize the perfect moment to inflict the same degree of cruelty onto them that they bestowed onto her years earlier. But when she’s finally not rejected by (another) band of immature assholes, can she have the strength to forfeit being accepted for momentary payback?

While we’ll have to wait until part two of the episode (next week’s season finale) to find out the result, we witness in the meantime what happens when Dee gets to sit on the throne. “As far as I remember, all you really gotta do to get in with that crowd is be really cruel to people,” she says to Charlie. And cruel she becomes.

To gain cred with the “cool kids,” Dee begins throwing the rest of the gang under the bus. With the (epic) reveal of Mac’s full name being Ronald McDonald, Dee has a field day teasing him for his days as “Ronnie the Rat,” a nickname he acquired when he snitched on all the other drug dealers in the school.

In case that was too much information to sink in at once, let me spell it out again slowly. Mac’s real name is Ronald McDonald. In high school, he was a drug dealer who gained the nickname “Ronnie The Rat” after being a tattle-tail. Do you see what I mean about the show always managing to push itself to the next level?

Dee quickly realizes that amongst her new “friends,” homophobic jokes are particularly effective. “That’s what these gay guys do,” she laughs to her new buds Adriano and Brad when they find Mac and Frank standing above Charlie’s passed out body (from inhaling too much of his ammonia/bleach concoction) in the bathroom. “They just knock each other out with poppers and then find some kind of rabies infested rodent to tickle each other’s taints with.” The three of them then give Mac, Frank and Charlie wedgies. Naturally.

And then there’s Dennis. Anyone who watches Sunny can tell that Dennis is that type of douche who peaked in high school; so last night’s episode was a hilarious confirmation of what audience members have been thinking for seven seasons.

In the beginning of the episode, Dennis talks about revisiting the mid-90s when he was a “golden god.” He sits alone at a table expecting for people to flock to him. Or as he calls it, “to kiss my ring.” Yet when nobody approaches him except for the waitress (who has again fallen off the wagon), his ex-wife, Maureen Ponderosa (or as she is fondly referred to by the gang, “Dead Tooth”) and Frank (who managed to sneak past the security guard and steal the waitress’ nametag), he realizes that his stock has plummeted and becomes desperate for attention.

These cameos from Dennis’ past are part of what makes High School Reunion such a fantastic episode. Particularly the appearance of Rickety Cricket, who we’ve watched give up his priesthood to be with Dee (who was faking interest to get him to do the gang a favor) and ultimately evolve into a homeless, ringworm covered crack head that Mac and Dennis teabag on a regular basis. In last night’s episode, he fakes joining the clergy again so he can “bless” everyone at the reunion by shaking their hands, only to really be pick-pocketing them.

Speaking of reoccurring characters, the inclusion of the waitress in this episode is another example of comedy gold struck by writers Howerton and McElehenny. As it was with Mac, the waitress’ real name had never been revealed on the show prior to last night. Mandated to wear nametags at the reunion, the waitress goes looking for hers only to discover that hers is missing (god damn it Frank!). This leads her to believe that she was so irrelevant in high school that people forgot she existed. Genius.

The chaos that ensues in High School Reunion is just another example of how It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia explores territory and makes fun of things that no other shows have the nerve to even consider touching.

So like I do every week, I just want to extend a big “thank you” to the cast and crew of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia for making a show actually worth my cable bill.

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia airs on FX on Thursday at 10 PM (EST).

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

Ryan Murphy sounds like a nice boss!

For those of you wondering, the set of Glee is a magical land of sugar fudge candy love, where everyone gets along with everyone and- oh no wait, according to insiders leaking info to Us Weekly, series creator Ryan Murphy has allegedly gone completely bonkers, allegedly making his cast work long hours, allegedly threatening to fire other actors if someone doesn’t cooperate, and allegedly stiffing the cast on residuals from their iTunes sale. Which is all information we heard from a reputable news source and we are simply reporting on allegedly. Gotta cover all our bases here.

“Things are really bad on set,” a show source says. “The cast talks about how much they love Ryan, but they have grown to hate him.” Explains another, “He has bad mood swings and can be really mean.” Harry Shum Jr., 29, who plays Mike Chang, recently admitted to Us that “the 16-hour days are a bit rough.” The brutal work schedule has gotten so bad that a source says Lea Michele, 25, is taking action. Confronting Murphy can have its repercussions, as Michele learned when she told Murphy she didn’t want to go on the cast’s 2011 multi-city summer tour (for which they had only four days to rehearse). “He asked her which of her friends she wanted him to fire,” says an insider (a claim Michele’s rep denies). His implied target: powerhouse vocalist Amber Riley, 25, “because she’s one of Lea’s closet friends.” That’s not the only point of contention. Despite Glee‘s massive success, the cast doesn’t see a dime from the shows iTunes sales and were all denied raises for the current season.

So in all fairness, this could all be completely unfounded, although you kind of have to remember that this is the same guy who made Connie Britton eat raw brains on American Horror Story. And he decided to make Dianna Agron act like an insane person for the entire first half of the season, so clearly, he is a monster. Like Super Wolfman.

The cast of Glee and Ryan Murphy

Chewbacca is guest starring on ‘Glee’!

I’ve long since theorized that Ryan Murphy has long since given up on having Glee make sense and has at this point just settled with making the show interesting. So now Chewbacca, as in the actual Chewbacca himself, from Star Wars, is going to be making a guest appearance on next week’s Christmas special. And your brain just imploded in on itself. You’re welcome. Us Weekly reports:

Matthew Morrison confirmed the news on Jimmy Kimmel Live. “We called up George Lucas and he gave us Chewbacca. There is only one guy who can officially be Chewbacca, and he lives in Northern California and they flew him in,” the 33-year-old actor, who also directed the episode, explained. “We had Chewbacca for the day, and it was just great, and we were all taking pictures with him.” According to the actor, the holiday show will be an episode-within-an episode. “We’re doing a Christmas special within the episode of Glee,” Morrison explained. “It’s a throwback and a tribute to the Star Wars holiday special and the Judy Garland Christmas special.”

Holy crap, that’s so awesome. You have to realize, at this point the entire show has just gone straight off the rails, so the only real way to watch the show is with an empty jar labeled “fucks I give”. It’s the same way you watch American Horror Story: it is, objectively, a terrible show. But as campy insanity, it is one of the most entertaining things I have ever seen. I think Ryan Murphy accidentally became John Waters, and he hasn’t even realized it yet!

Chewbacca

Ricky Martin might guest star on ‘Glee’

Remember how back before the third season of Glee started, it was announced that they would start going easier on the amount of guest stars on the show? About that … Ricky Martin is in talks to make a guest appearance as a Spanish teacher, which would probably be for the best because Mr. Shue is just the worst. Replace him with Ricky. The show can only go up from here. The Huffington Post reports:

According to TVLine, star singer Ricky Martin is in talks to join Glee in a guest role as a Spanish teacher. The episode, the site reports, will feature musical numbers and air in late January. Martin, of course, is well known for his massive pop hits, but he has done a bit of acting in his past. Believe it or not, he appeared in an episode of The Love Boat in 1985, and in addition to starring in a number of Spanish-language shows, he also appeared on soap opera General Hospital in 1994-95.

No, seriously, what the hell happened to the show? Has anyone else noticed that everyone on the show is basically just THE WORST now? Finn’s a patronizing asshole, Rachel’s a single-minded narcissist, Quinn is going full-blown Single White Female, and everyone else has just sort of stopped being an actual character. Even Puck’s mohawk looks completely off! Have you noticed that so far, all of Tina’s solos have ended with her crying, and then being taken over by someone else? Every time Ryan Murphy puts a pen to paper, an English major puts their head in the oven. Save this show, Ricky!

Ricky Martin

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