Tonight network TV will be yet another Presidential Debate. This time the candidates will be arguing from Hofstra University on Long Island. I always look forward to these debates, not because I plan on watching ... but because it frees up my viewing because from 9-11 pm there won't be any regular programming on the major networks.
So I don't have to figure out how to juggle Lipstick Jungle, Dirty Sexy Money, South Park or Sons of Anarchy tonight. The first two shows won't be on ...


Tim & Heidi

So since I'm so over the debates, there's really only one thing that matters on TV tonight and that's the Season Finale of Project Runaway over on Bravo!! Yes kiddies, it's finally here ... who will be the winner and who will be out?
Taped about a month ago at New York City Fashion Week, it all comes down to this runway show at Bryant Park. And remember, guest judge Jennifer Lopez was a no-show, allowing our fave style guru Tim Gunn to step in to judge. He'll be joined, of course, by show hostess and supermodel Heidi Klum, former Elle fashion editor Nina Garcia and designer Michael Kors.
So, who do you think it'll be - Kenley Collins, Leanne Marshall or Korto Momolu (sorry, couldn't find photo of Korto)? Click on over to PR's blog
http://www.bravotv.com/Project_Runway/season/5/index.php and check out the competition. Personally, I'm betting on Leanne, although I do wish once she wins, she spiffs up her own wardrobe!

Leanne


Kenley
Kenley, clearly not the fan favorite, broke down in tears last week during an appearance on Live with Regis and Kelly regarding her portrayal on the show. In actuality, Kenley, perceived as quite bitchy during the later part of this season, has never approached the same level of evil that other Runway villains have managed. Remember the witchy-like Wendy Pepper or deliciously wicked Santino Rice?

Wicked Santino

Witchy Wendy
Tonight also marks a bittersweet end to Bravo's most successful show. Project Runway will continue with a sixth season, probably on Lifetime Network, which signed a $150 million deal with the Weinstein Co., which owns the show.However, NBC has sued and a restraining order has been issued, keeping the showing from airing. If NBC, which owns Bravo, wins, rumor has it Project Runway might end up on the peacock network.

Philadelphia's own Parking Wars returns for a second season tonight on A&E at 10 p.m. with four back-to-back episodes. The show is filmed exclusively among the Philadelphia Parking Authority's rank and file, and promises a season of hissy fits and hard-luck stories. For info visit http://www.aetv.com/parking-wars/

Prior to Parking Wars, A&E will feature a special "Halloween" episode of Dog the Bounty Hunter. Tonight Dog and Beth have to find Robert, a tattoo artist, who apparently collects weapons. Isn't every episode Halloween for this wild team? Visit http://www.aetv.com/dog_the_bounty_hunter/index.jsp

Dog & Beth, Halloween or everyday clothes?

I'll be tuning into Comedy Central's South Park at 10 p.m. where Cartman and Wendy throw down in an all new episode titled "Breast Cancer Show Ever." Wendy gets in trouble when she threatens to beat up Cartman after school. No matter how fired up Wendy is, all bets are on Cartman. Everybody knows a girl can't fight a boy and win ...For info visit
http://www.southparkstudios.com/

Immediately following at 10:30 p.m. is the debut of David Alan Grier's Chocolate News. A show that promises to fill the gap left after the cancellation of Fox's In Living Color and CC's Chappelle Show. It also dares to go where no PC show would dare to go. For info visit http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/chocolate_news/index.jhtml

I'll catch the repeat of tonight's new episode of FX's Sons of Anarchy at 11 p.m. I never miss this fine new show, which was just picked up for a second season last week. For info visit
http://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/originals/soa/#Nav/Homepage

Halloween Horror Watch: Check out Starz tonight at 8 p.m. for the best recent vampire flick to date. John Carpenter's 30 Days of Night is an all-out gorefest featuring vamps on the hunt in Alaska. Yeah, Alaska, where the sun sets and doesn't rise again for another 30 days or more ... and you know how vamps don't like the sun. You can just imagine the carnage!

And speaking of carnage, celebrity chef Rocco DiSpirito was the odd man out on Dancing with the Stars last night. He would've gone home last week, but got a reprieve when Misty May-Treanor had to quite due to an injury.
I'm sure we'll be seeing him soon enough as a guest judge on that fine Bravo show - Top Chef, premiering its new season Nov. 12.

Top Chef Hostess Padma and Rocco
(Elfman, I picked this photo just for you!)


Last night on the season finale of the Rachel Zoe Project, it was all about the Oscars! And I loved it. Just watching how Jennifer Garner's and Cameron Diaz' Academy Award red carpet looks came together was fascinating. Not to mention the huge tension between assistants Taylor and Brad. It's been no secret that Taylor doesn't approve of newbee Brad and hasn't done much to help him learn his new job. Last night, during the most stressful week of their careers, Taylor lost it all over the poor boy and he quit (and cried A LOT)!
Luckily, not wanting to start all over again with a new assistant, Rachel convinced Taylor to apologize and get him back. By the end all was as well as it gets in the Zoe world.
Oh, and Zoe's hubby Roger gave her a 1956 Porsche Roadster for their 10-yr. Anniversary - just like the one Dylan McKay drove in the original Beverly Hills 90210 - now that's what I call LOVE!

Only her's, like Dylan's, was black

Till tomorrow ...

So, I watched M. Night Shyamalan's latest The Happening on DVD last night. I'll save my review for the end of this entry, since it will contain SPOILERS!


Chef Rocco
Due to the debates, there wasn't much else on last night, but I will give you the requisite Dancing with the Stars update if you, like me, can't bring yourself to waste the time watching it, but still want to know ... celebrity chef Rocco DiSpirito came in last place. However, due to the medical-related dismissal of Misty May-Treanor, he was allowed to stay on until at least next week. The Olympic champion went on to have surgery yesterday to repair the Achilles tendon she ruptured last Friday while rehearsing for the show. http://abc.go.com/primetime/dancingwiththestars/index?pn=index

So, on to tonight: Over on Bravo at 9 p.m. it's the first part of a 2-part season finale for Project Runway. As those of you who have followed this show in prior season's we all know that tonight's episode will feature fashion guru Tim Gunn visiting the remaining contestants at their homes/studios and critiquing their clothing lines so far ... don't expect anyone to be eliminated tonight. For more info visit http://www.bravotv.com/Project_Runway/season/5/index.php

The Critical Gunn

I'm looking forward to tonight's season premiere of that wicked little cartoon South Park over on Comedy Central at 10 p.m. Can't wait to see who Trey Parker and Matt Stone will be victimizing in this episode! You can be sure Kenny, Stan, Kyle and Cartman will be out in full force lampooning some cultural phenomenon! For more on South Park or to watch previous episodes visit http://www.southparkstudios.com/


And on ABC, Dirty Sexy Money will continue to intrigue and disgust viewers with the second installment of Season 2 at 10 p.m. Unfortunately, I missed last week's season premiere and was later told by coworkers that it was a doozy! Starting out with a birthday party for Darling family attorney Nick George and ending with the arrest of the Darling's matriarch for the murder of Nick's father, Dutch George! And a whole lotta mess in between ... remember, this is the show I compared to Dynasty and Dallas last week.
So if you're a fan of over-the-top evening soaps, you don't want to miss this. For more info or to watch last week's ep or read a recap, visit http://abc.go.com/primetime/dirtysexymoney/index?pn=index

The Darling clan

Of course, I'll be watching my Sons of Anarchy over on FX at 10 p.m. (Dirty Sexy Money will have to wait). I'm really beginning to look forward to this Sopranos-style show about a motorcycle gang in Charming, California. I won't go on, because I have every week. If you're not already watching, you might want to give it a shot. Tonight's ep re-airs immediately after at 11 p.m. For info visit http://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/originals/soa/#Nav/Homepage

Tomorrow morning Leonardo DiCaprio makes a rare appearance on live TV on NBC's Today Show (7-11 a.m.). Lucky Leo, not too comfortable with the whole interview process, will be promoting his new flick with Russell Crowe (who's been on every talk show this week) - Body of Lies. Early reviews are really good for this Ridley Scott-directed flick. Check for Leo early, usually between 7-9 a.m. I know I'll be taping ...

Leo

And I thought I watched a lot of movies: Suresh Joachim of Toronto, and Claudia Wavra of Germany, claim to have broken the world record for continuous movie watching, after seeing 57 films in 123 hours in a plastic-glass house in New York's Times Square.
A Guinness World Records spokesman said it appears the non-dynamic duo have broken the record, but said it will take two weeks to officially verify.
According to the rules, each movie had to be viewed until the last credit rolled, and competitors couldn't divert their eyes from the screen. They were allowed 10-minute breaks between movies. I can honestly say that I'd never make it!


King of All Media
Belated congratulations to the King of All Media Howard Stern on his wedding (yes, I said Wedding) to long-time girlfriend Beth Ostrosky last Friday. Odd enough that Stern, a man known for pressing the sexual envelope on his highly-rated radio show, is married again, but wait till you hear the guest list: Donald Trump, Billy Joel, Chevy Chase, Tommy Mottola, Joan Rivers and Barbara Walters (Yes Barbara Walters!) were all on hand at New York's trendy Le Cirque restaurant to see the nuptials. Barbara Walters - really?? Did she attend on purpose or just happen to have reservations that night ...

And speaking of Walters - it seems that Rosie O'Donnell is ready to come to TV. Rosie, who hasn't done a TV show since leaving Walters' The View suddenly over 18 months ago, will present Rosie's Variety Show live from New York on Nov. 26 on NBC.USA Today speculates the NBC special is a taste of a new show to start early next year.


The Happening Review: SPOILER ALERT! If you haven't seen and are planning to watch, don't read any further ...


So I watched The Happening. And the best thing I can say is that it's only 91 minutes long. Don't get me wrong, I'm a usually big fan of M. Night Shyamalan's movies. I LOVED The Sixth Sense, was perplexed by Unbreakable, and really impressed by Signs. However, The Village was ruined for me when I figured out the "twist" in the first 3 minutes. Lady in the Water I waited until DVD to watch. It was OK. Towards the end, I really started to like the story, but not interested enough to see it again.
Which brings me to The Happening. I already stated previously that I wasn't interested enough to go to the theater to see it. And I'm glad I didn't. The film starts out eerily enough, with people all over NY's Central Park suddenly being overcome with desire to kill themselves ... the panic spreads to Philadelphia, then throughout the Northeast. At first, everyone's fearing the worst -- terrorism. But we all already know from his track record, there's more to this Shyamalan tale.
Like most of Night's films, the central story tends to revolve around human relationships, rather than the supernatural. And in my opinion he's done this much better in prior films (Sixth Sense and Signs, particularly). Mark Wahlberg does fine with the material given, but what happened to John Leguizamo? He's a much better actor than portrayed in this flick. Night, as usual, makes a cameo, this time as the voice of Joey, who keeps calling Wahlberg's wife, played by the very blue-eyed Zoey Deschanel. Betty Buckley turns in an absolutely frightening performance, but that's based more on her looks (which I hope can be attributed to the hair/make-up department), rather than on her performance.
Anyway, it all boils down to what I thought was a completely ridiculous premise - here comes the SPOILER:
Plants. Yes, plants. It seems that plants feel that we humans have done enough damage to the planet and are taking out their anger on us by releasing toxins into the air. The toxins just happen to make humans extremely suicidal. So wherever there's a large gathering of humans, the plants react this way. And, in the end, "the happening" in The Happening ends as suddenly as it began and Mark, his wife and his best friends child are all spared their suicidal fate. However, it's just beginning in Paris ...

As predicted, comedian Jeffrey Ross was sent packing during Dancing with the Stars second night of celebrity hoofing. The sound you have heard around 9:50 p.m. last night was millions of men turning off their TVs in response. That's because Ross' partner was the gorgeous, scantily-clothed Edyta Slawinska, a male fan favorite!

Alas, that's the down side of America's favorite dance show, even if you don't like the "celebrity," the pros have developed their own strong fan-bases, and there are more men (claiming to be forced to watch by their wives) watching the hot young female dancers than you think!
Tonight at 8 p.m. on ABC, the Dancing marathon continues for another hour and yet another celebrity will trade their dancing shoes for walking shoes.

In other Dancing news: Celebrity chef Rocco DiSpirito, who improved greatly in last night's peformance, has an upcoming serieso n A&E. Rocco Gets Real will premiere Oct. 4.

By the way, Monday's season premiere of DWTS averaged 21.3 million viewers to help ABC deliver its most-watched season-opening Monday since 1999.

Last night Fox offered up another intriguing episode of their new hit Fringe. The pattern and Massive Dynamics involvement have furthered the conspiracy. And I'm happy to pass on to you that last week's season premiere of Fox's proven hit House was just what the doctor ordered ... improving Fringe's (which follows House) ratings by over 4 million. According to TV Guide Fringe's primere garnered 9.1 million viewers and was up last week to 13.3, retaining 90 percent of House's audience. This is good news indeed.

And speaking of Fringe, don't you just love the way Fox let's you know, prior to every commercial break, how many seconds till Fringe returns! That really does come in handy. Kudos to Fox.

Haven't caught up on 90210 from last night yet ... although I can report that according to the NY Post, the CW has given a full-season order for the show. Whether they return for next season is anyone's guess at this point.

I have to tell you, Monday night while I was watching the LOST marathon, the Sci-Fi channel spent a lot of commercial time promoting a new series starting Friday, Oct. 3, at 9 p.m. Described in TV Guide as "A forensice psychiatrist follows the trail of an unusual boy who fled from a crime scene, and encounters a doctor with a unique proposition," Sanctuary looks pretty cool. You might want to save a space in your Friday night viewing ... http://www.scifi.com/sanctuary

And speaking of TV Guide, there's a pretty great article on Desperate Housewives new season in the Sept. 29-Oct. 5 edition, out now. There are lots of spoilers, but what I found most interesting was a sidebar on the show's creator Marc Cherry. In it, Cherry admits the inspiration for this season's 5-year jump forward came from the Season 3 finale of .... ready -- LOST!

For those of you who don't watch, during the last 5 minutes of the Season 3 finale, the audience found out that all the "flashbacks" we saw for those past 2 hours, were actually "flashforwards" and Jack and Kate were actually off the island!
According to Cherry, "Everyone on my staff was talking about it (LOST). The critics were rapturous. The fans were apparently ecstatic. This left me jealous and intrigued. I wasn't sure exactly what they'd done (I don't watch LOST, mostly because don't have the time, a little bit because I know it's so good, I'd just resent it), but I got the brilliance of it all. And I decided I had to make a bold move with my show."

On TV tonight: Well, I have a bit of a dilemma, there are 3 shows all on at the same tonight that I want to see. All at 10 p.m. What will I do?
I'll, of course, by starting with Project Runway on Bravo at 9 p.m. According to http://bloggingprojectrunway.blogspot.com/ on tonight's episode, Tim Gunn promises us "the most unique show Project Runway has ever seen" as our five remaining designers battle it out in Rock N' Runway for a chance at the S5 crown. With an expected major model shake-up in the cards, the drama quotient should be high.
And we'll all be keeping an eye on the runway's newest bitch, Kenley, who over the last 2 weeks has gone from fan-favorite to villian! Who will she belittle tonight?

And following Runway at 10 p.m. I have to stay tuned for Top Design. While a tried to watch this show last season (its debut), I couldn't stand respected designer and show host Todd Oldham. Yes, I'm a fan of his designs, but his hosting abilities left something to be desired ...

Anyway, tonight's guest judge is none other than our favorite obsessive-compulsive house flipper, Flipping Out's Jeff Lewis! I absolutely can't wait. The promos for tonight's ep have Jeff saying "I thought the show was called Top Design, not over-the-top-design!"
For more information on Top Design, visit http://www.bravotv.com/Top_Design/season/2/index.php
For information on Flippin Out and Jeff Lewis visit http://www.bravotv.com/Flipping_Out/season/2/index.php

Also at 10 p.m. NBC's premiering Season 2 of Lipstick Jungle. I like this show, primarily because it was created by Candace Bushnell, creator of one of my all time faves, Sex and the City. While I wouldn't go as far as to say it's as good, it's held my interest. Tonight's premiere finds star Brooke Shields' character a high-powered film studio exec, dealing with a visit from her mother, played Mary Tyler Moore (might be worth watching just for that). For more info, click here http://www.nbc.com/Lipstick_Jungle/

And, of course, the show I'll actually watch at 10 p.m. (while taping the other two) will be FX's Sons of Anarchy. I'm liking this one more each week! For info visit
http://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/originals/soa/#Nav/Homepage

That's all for now, but coming tomorrow -- Survivor Gabon preview!