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TV Review: AMERICAN IDOL – Season 11 – “Hollywood Round, Part 3”

By PETER BROWN 02/16/2012

AMERICAN IDOL Season 11 Hollywood Round Part 3 | © 2012 Fox

Cast: Ryan Seacrest, Steven Tyler, Jennifer Lopez, Randy Jackson Network: Fox, airs Wednesdays and Thursdays @ 8 p.m. Original Telecast: Feb. 15, 2012 Seacrest last week said that this final round of “Hollywood Week” on the world’s greatest karaoke competition, AMERICAN IDOL, would be the “most drama ever” – yes, taking a page out of THE BACHELOR’s book o’ promotions. Well, it was dramarific for sure with the culmination of the dreaded group night where every year singers crash and burn under the pressure, the rehearsal and having to work with others. And to no one’s surprise it was full […]Read On »

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TV Review: SMASH – Season 1 – “The Callback”

By CARL CORTEZ 02/14/2012

Megan Hilty in SMASH - Season 1 - "The Callback" | ©2012 NBC/Patrick Harbron

Stars: Debra Messing, Christian Borle, Megan Hilty, Katharine McPhee, Jack Davenport, Angelica Houston Writers: Theresa Rebeck Director: Michael Mayer Network: NBC, airs Mondays Original Telecast: February 6, 2012 After an amazing premiere episode, SMASH settles into its second episode “The Callback” with the same great writing and directing and adds some more drama to the mix. Above all, the series knows who these characters are and the actors fit them like a glove already (and we’re only two episodes in). That’s rare in network television, but that speaks volumes for the work that went into creating SMASH. As the title […]Read On »

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TV Review: AMERICAN IDOL – Season 11 – “Hollywood Round, Part 2”

By PETER BROWN 02/10/2012

Contestants wait for the judges decision during the Hollywood round on AMERICAN IDOL Season 11 - "Hollywood Round - Part 2" | ©2012 Fox/Michael Becker

Cast: Ryan Seacrest, Steven Tyler, Jennifer Lopez, Randy Jackson Network: Fox, airs Wednesdays and Thursdays @ 8 p.m. Original Telecast: Feb. 9, 2012 Was the first episode of Hollywood Round a new low for the world’s greatest karaoke competition, AMERICAN IDOL? I was reading a slew of reports about showing Symone Black falling from the stage and ending the show that way didn’t do the shows credibility any favors because it showed it wasn’t really interested or caring toward the individuals of the show. Credibility? Really? We are talking about a show that basically tells a bunch of amateur singers […]Read On »

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TV Review: AMERICAN IDOL – Season 11 – “Hollywood Round, Part 1”

By PETER BROWN 02/09/2012

A contestant prepares to perform in front of the judges on AMERICAN IDOL - Season 11 - "Hollywood Round Part " | © 2012 Fox/Michael Becker

Cast: Ryan Seacrest, Steven Tyler, Jennifer Lopez, Randy Jackson Network: Fox, airs Wednesdays and Thursdays @ 9 p.m. Original Telecast: Feb. 8, 2012 So after literally a month of craptacular auditions we are finally to the meat of the world’s greatest karaoke competition, AMERICAN IDOL. The audition rounds are so eight season ago. They really need to truncate it and get right to the competition because it is no longer holds the interest that it once did. Luckily, we are past that part now. Last year they finally gave us an extended look at the Hollywood Round, where the judges […]Read On »

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TV Review: SMASH – Season 1 – “Pilot” – Series Premiere

By CARL CORTEZ 02/07/2012

Katharine McPhee and Megan Hilty in SMASH - Season 1 | ©2012 NBC/Mark Seliger

Stars: Debra Messing, Christian Borle, Megan Hilty, Katharine McPhee, Jack Davenport, Angelica Houston Writers: Theresa Rebeck Director: Michael Mayer Network: NBC, airs Mondays Original Telecast: February 6, 2012 Of all the new TV series, SMASH seemed to be the least appealing to me. My initial perception, like many, that it was a more adult version of GLEE set in the world of Broadway. It looked like it had limited appeal across the board. Then something magnificent happened. I actually watched the pilot episode and was blown away. Granted, I am reviewing the “Pilot” episode, but since the second episode was […]Read On »

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Exclusive Interview: SMASH producers Justin Falvey and Darryl Frank bring Broadway to NBC

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN 02/06/2012

Brian d'Arcy, Frank Houston, Jaime Cepero, Anjelica Huston, Jack Davenport, Katharine McPhee, Megan Hilty, Debra Messing, Christian Borle, Raza Jaffrey in SMASH - Season 1 | ©2011 NBC/Mark Seliger

Getting an original musical onto Broadway is an epic undertaking. Getting a scripted network TV series depicting the travails of getting an original musical onto Broadway magnifies that epic undertaking into what some might consider realms of sanity-challenging difficulty. However, NBC and executive producer Steven Spielberg are bringing forth SMASH, which premieres tonight, Monday, at 10 PM. SMASH is about the creation of a new musical about the life of Marilyn Monroe. Debra Messing and Christian Borle play the songwriting duo who launch the project. Anjelica Huston plays their hard-nosed producer and Jack Davenport plays the temperamental director. Megan Hilty and […]Read On »

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TV Review: AMERICAN IDOL – Season 11 – “Auditions No. 7: St. Louis”

By PETER BROWN 02/03/2012

Lauren Gray auditions in St. Louis, MO on AMERICAN IDOL - Season 11 | ©2012 Fox/Michael Becker

Cast: Ryan Seacrest, Jennifer Lopez, Steven Tyler, Randy Jackson Network: Fox, airs on Wednesdays and Thursdays @ 8 p.m. Original Telecast: Feb. 2, 2012 Luckily for us, this is the last of the auditions on the world’s greatest karaoke competition, AMERICAN IDOL. The real show begins next week with Hollywood Week and hopefully we will get a similar treatment as we did last year where we get expanded coverage of the process as it is the most interesting part of the show – maybe even better than the individual performances when it gets to the Top 12. Not to beat […]Read On »

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TV Review: AMERICAN IDOL – Season 11 – “Auditions No. 4: Aspen”

By PETER BROWN 01/26/2012

Magic Cyclops in AMERICAN IDOL - Season 11 - "Auditions 4 - Aspen" | ©2012 Fox/Michael Becker

Cast: Ryan Seacrest, Jennifer Lopez, Randy Jackson, Steven Tyler Network: Fox, Airs @ 8 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays Original Telecast: Jan. 25, 2012 So here we are again for yet another round of the same ole, same ole on the world’s greatest karaoke competition, AMERICAN IDOL, coming from lovely Aspen, for what I believe the first time in the show’s history. First the good news, IDOL was only one hour tonight instead of the usual two. The bad news is that there was literally nothing different from the other three audition episodes other than the people singing (and for the […]Read On »

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TV Review: AMERICAN IDOL – Season 11 – “Auditions No. 1 – Savannah” – Season Premiere

By PETER BROWN 01/19/2012

Steven Tyler, Jennifer Lopez and Randy Jackson on AMERICAN IDOL - Season 11 - Savannah Auditions | ©2012 Fox/Michael Becker

Cast: Randy Jackson, Steven Tyler, Jennifer Lopez, Ryan Seacrest Network: Fox, airs on Wednesdays and Thursdays @ 8 p.m. Original Telecast: Jan. 18, 2012 I found the premiere episode of the 11th season of the world’s greatest karaoke competition, AMERICAN IDOL, extremely amusing. No, not because of the lack of talent that was displayed traditionally, but because they focused on how many talents have come through the show in that span. I’m amused because it has been 10 years of going through these painfully bad auditions – again, not talking about the lack of talent, but the very fact that they […]Read On »

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TCA News: Fox wants to keep Ryan Seacrest on AMERICAN IDOL

By A.C. FERRANTE 01/08/2012

Ryan Seacrest in AMERICAN IDOL - Season 10 | ©2011 Fox/Tony Duran

After watching THE X FACTOR host Steve Jones struggle throughout the first season, it became quite clear that Ryan Seacrest is a natural when it comes to handling contestants, overruns and political correctness on AMERICAN IDOL. This was not lost on Fox Entertainment President Kevin Reilly who says that job “is much harder than meets the idea.” “Everyone has come to value the idea of a Ryan Seacrest,” says Reilly. “It’s a very hard job to do.” The question is, how much is he worth? If Fox has it’s way, they definitely want to keep him in the IDOL fold, […]Read On »