Saturday, February 18, 2012

Week in review: What happens when Nancy Grace and reality collide?


Every week there’s something entertaining going on in Hollywood.

There are new movies to consider. For example, seeing ‘This is War’ seems like a decent idea while seeing the new Nicholas Cage travesty ‘Ghost Rider’ does not. Why is he still being cast in movies again?

There’s television returns, departures and announcements – ‘Criminal Minds’ is saying goodbye to Paget Brewster, something that should have stuck last season – and ‘CSI’ is saying hello to Elizabeth Shue, making most fans wonder why they don’t just put that show out of its misery -- finally.

So, with that in mind, here are the top five most memorable entertainment stories of the week:

5. ‘Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1’: In what I can only describe as a fit of boredom, I ordered the latest ‘Twilight’ installment On Demand. At first, it was the same tripe the previous three movies have proven to be. You know, essentially wooden acting, lackluster storytelling, interesting cinematography and a decent soundtrack. Then something happened that turned the genre into an inadvertent comedy. There’s this scene where these cartoon looking wolves all meet in a lumberyard to discuss killing Bella and her baby. It doesn’t help that not one of these wolves looks realistic. It propels it to ludicrously laughable heights when the telepathic conversation has worse voice acting than a ‘Beavis and Butthead’ cartoon. When is this series over again? And, more importantly, will anyone survive the stigma of being attached to them?

4. Whitney Houston mania hits the Grammys: It’s always sad when a once huge star dies. We’ve seen it happen to Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, Amy Winehouse, etc. The timing of Houston’s death involved throwing together some hasty tribute at The Grammys (a move that gave the music awards show its highest ratings in years). It was a nice move – especially Jennifer Hudson singing “I Will Always Love You.” That being said, it’s time to stop weaving Whitney Houston into every entertainment show out there. Let’s put her to rest with her funeral shall we?


3. Nancy Grace tries to make herself the center of attention (again): HLN’s Nancy Grace isn’t exactly known for being subtle (or right). She’s one of those people that sees a conspiracy behind every door. I mean the woman singlehandedly launched Casey Anthonygate, so she does have some pull. Still, I don’t know what she was thinking when she tried to call Whitney Houston’s death a murder. Grace hasn’t been able to create the media sensation she saw herself in since the Anthony trial ended – perhaps she was just feeling ignored? Either way, when given the opportunity to back out gracefully in an interview, Grace instead pulled out the “you’ve never been in a morgue” line – prompting the entire country to roll their eyes. Grace and reality aren’t always on the same page, but this time they’re not in the same library.

2. The Colbert Report goes dark: This one was an enigma for almost a full day. There’s a certain sect of the population that went the conspiracy theory route. Both political sides blamed it on each other. In the end, though, apparently Stephen Colbert’s 91-year-old mother was ill -- forcing the show to go on hiatus for a week. Hopefully she will feel better soon – because Comedy Central just isn’t the same without the faux Republican and his Super Pac shtick with cohort Jon Stewart.




1. Charlie Sheen is winning again: After fooling everyone into thinking he was done drinking tiger’s blood and back on the mental health train, Sheen derailed his comeback this week. Essentially, he was set off by a cease and desist letter from his former bosses at ‘Two and a Half Men’ who told him he couldn’t use former images from the show to promote his new vehicle ‘Anger Management.’ Sheen responded by going on the offensive, saying he was tired of pretending that ‘Men’ didn’t “suck.” Sadly, Sheen had the high ground after Chuck Lorre continued to bash him over the past two months. Now, even though he’s right about the state of the show, people are back on the “Charlie Sheen is crazy’ bandwagon. Long live the king.

Honorable mentions go to:

One Tree Hill – After a perfect ending last season, the long running and often laughable CW show decided to come back for a half season this year for a “big finish.” Big mistake. The only storyline that is worth watching is the Brooke and Julian chronicles, because Nathan being kidnapped by evil basketball recruiters and Clay sleepwalking because of hidden trauma are big old stinkers.

The Walking Dead – Shane proves he’s gone over the edge and is bordering on sociopathic when he tries to talk a grieving Carol into believing that he was in the right regarding the barn massacre – even though he didn’t have the, um, courage to shoot a zombified Sophia. Rick regains leading man momentum when he has a gun battle with two thugs looking for women in the post apocalyptic world (Shades of ’28 Days Later’ anyone?). Hopefully, this will shut the comic book complainers up.

Ringer – Siobhan may be ultimate evil on the show, but stepdaughter Juliet takes the cake this week when we found out that she, a classmate and an unethical teacher concocted a fake rape storyline to help Juliet reclaim her inheritance. She looked slightly guilty at the end of the episode – but I doubt that she actually has a conscious at this point.

Hawaii 5-0 – The CBS show has floundered a bit this year – and last week’s ridiculous Danny shoots Stan scene was particularly bad. That being said, the show helped right itself this week with the ousting of the vapid Lori and the flat Laura German. Never bring her back.

What do you think? What were the biggest moments in entertainment this week?

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