Well, I watched Momma’s Boys on NBC Friday night. Actually I taped it and watched in Saturday morning. And I’m intrigued.
Momma’s Boys is the latest reality dating show TV’s offering up and features 32 single women living in a house with the mothers of four (I think) eligible batchelors. Yeah, you just know this one’s gonna have some great cat fights!
It’s produced by that adorable little elf Ryan Secrest, but fear not, he’s nowhere to be seen on the show!


On the first episode, there was too much swapping back-and-forth between the mothers and the female contestants and it got a little confusing. But it was all just a build-up to the big confrontation between the single ladies of color and JoJo’s mother of all mothers. Yes, one of the guys is actually named JoJo!
It seems JoJo’s mom doesn’t want any blacks, Hispanics, Chinese, Jews -- basically anything other than caucasian -- anywhere near her beloved son. And she’s not afraid to let everyone know it!
Although, based on the season’s previews, JoJo’s gonna experience it all whether Momma approves or not!

The show came to an abrupt conclusion after one of the girls (sorry, don’t remember any names yet) got all up in Momma JoJo’s face by the pool and was to be continued ….
And here’s the best part, it’s continued tonight starting at 9 p.m. and it must be a doozy, because NBC has given the show a 2-hour time slot this week.
I’ll definitely be tuning in!

Joel & cohost Lou

Elsewhere on TV tonight, Joel McHale and his motley crue of misfits offer up The Year in Soup over on E! at 10 p.m. That outta be great! I’ll definitely have to tape it.

And the season that wouldn’t end is actually ending tonight on MTV. Yes folks, it’s time to say good-bye to that awful show that I can’t stop watching – The Hills!! Why do I care about what happens to these people?? I’m totally dumbfounded, but have to find out! As of this writing Speidi is still unlegally wed, Whitney is moving to New York City for her own show (didn’t think they could get more uninteresting than The Hills, just wait for The City), Audrina’s already moved out – whatever will Lauren do?

At least now that The Hills is over MTV has awarded its time slot to a show that I'm really looking forward too -- Bromance! What, you haven't heard of this one yet? Well the only thing you really need to know it that it stars The Hills' resident Himbo Brody Jenner! Oh yeah, I'll take my Brody any way I can get him. Anyway, the description goes that the ultimate hottie puts nine dudes to the test to see if they're best-bud material. Sounds a lot like MTV's Paris Hilton BFF show.
Bromance makes it's debut next Monday night.

Hello Brody!

Oh, and I caught up on last week’s episode of The Mentalist. I’ll reserve my opinion till after another episode. I loved Simon Baker (but I did before this show). It was OK, wouldn’t call it great. But, hey, every series has an off episode. In fact, most of the final season of The Sopranos was "off."

I watched my Worst Christmas Movie Ever, look for my review shortly. Also, I’ve completed Top 5 Movies of 2008 for The Mercury’s Scene & Heard blog. Once it’s posted there, I’ll put it up here. Stay tuned …

Sorry folks, but I just can't ignore the really big TV news from last night ....

SPEIDI ELOPED!

Yes, that cute, lovable couple Heidi Montag and her always charming (gag!) boyfriend Spencer Pratt tied the knot last Thursday at a resort near Cabo San Lucas. (Please, keep your vomit to yourself.) It was officially announced during MTV's popular Hills aftershow last night, airing, ironically, right after this week's new episode of The Hills.

The couple's much on- and off-again relationship was documented during The Hills last season. So far, there has been no comment from Heidi's former BFF Lauren Conrad, who started feuding with Montag shortly after she began dating Pratt. The relationship between the threesome has been the main focus of the popular show.

The former BFFs

And apparently, it was all a secret to the couple's families, with Montag's father, Bill, telling People mag, "I would be upset if she got married and didn't invite me."

According to celeb blogger Perez Hilton, the limelight-loving duo were married on the beach and decided to exchange vows on a whim in a 15-minute ceremony. OK, anyone believing this wasn't planned?

The duo are scheduled to appear in January on CBS' popular sitcom How I Met Your Mother, and first met while filming The Hills in 2006. They got engaged and split in December of '07 and were re-engaged last May. And I'm sure they'll live happily ever after ... probably on their own MTV show.



AI SPOILERS:

American Idol has just finished taping its first "Hollywood week," and according to the NY Post, the approved candidates include an Osmond nephew, the reigning Miss New York USA and Jason Castro's little brother. The "Idol Boot Camp" roughly included 200 contestants chosen from eight audition cities and were shrunk down to half that number.

Among them was David Osmond, Donny and Marie's nephew and son of Alan Osmond, one of the original Osmond Family Singers. He is also the lead singer of the New Osmonds group. And according to mjsbigblog.com, he's also battled West Nile Virus, which left him with a form of muscular dystrophy.

Also there was Michael Castro, younger bro of last year's dreadlocked finalist Jason Castro (who could forget that guy?).

Anna Kaelin, daughter of David Archuleta's vocal coach, is also said to be a Boot Camp survivor.

Among the other noteworthy contestants are Miss New York USA 2008 Danielle Roundtree; Jackie Tohn, an actress who has been working since age 9 and has appeared in TV, i.e. The Nanny and The Sopranos; and for the first time, a husband and wife, Tom and Jennifer Korbee, have made it to the Hollywood round. Season 8 kicks off on Fox Tuesday, Jan. 13.



Tonight at 10 p.m. FX bids farewell to the show that put this station on the map - The Shield.
Never your usual cop show, The Shield made its mark on its first episode which featured star Michael Chiklis' Vic Mackey murdering an undercover federal agent (March 12, 2002). The Shield went on to redefine network cop shows, for better or worse, as to what was permissible on advertiser-supported TV.
A NY Post critic calls tonight's finale "the finest series finale since The Sopranos." I don't really know if that's a glowing review. I really detested the finale of The Sopranos ... one can only hope The Shield doesn't end with Chiklis sitting in a diner and playing Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" on the jukebox!


Atlanta's wives
My evening will be occupied by real housewives on Bravo. Starting with the Real Housewives of Atlanta Reunion show at 9 p.m. and followed by the return of the "original" real housewives - The Real Housewives of Orange County at 10 p.m. Yes they're tacky and mostly classless, but it's a guilty pleasure I just can't deny!
Tonight's reunion show looks like things get real heated and I'm not surprised. When we last left the ladies (last week), Kim, Sheree and NeNe refused to make-up, and according to the promos, there's going to be lots of yelling, maybe some hair-pulling too! Nothing like a bunch of seemingly refined (who am I kidding), well-dressed, perfectly manicured "ladies" going at it.
The wives of Orange County are a much more refined group, choosing to politely insult each other over expensive champagne and canapés. But they still have their crass moments, to go along with their fake tans and boobs!
Personally, I have to say that the Real Housewives of New York are my favorite, maybe because I live in the northeast. I find them almost relatable.
And Bravo already has filmed a version of The Real Housewives of New Jersey (that outta be great!). Maybe Bravo should just change their name to the Real Housewives channel.

Elsewhere on TV tonight: Just in time for the holiday, ABC will present a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving at 8 p.m., followed by, what else, the Dancing with the Stars results show. Fox offers up another new episode of its hit(?) Fringe. I have to admit, I'm so over this show. I haven't been able to watch the last 2 eps., and I really liked it at the beginning. I guess it just lacks the character interest I have in Lost (JJ Abrahms other hit show). And it doesn't have Fox Mulder (X-Files' David Duchovny) to hold my interest either. Anyone else have an opinion on this one?

Star Wars Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith takes hold of Spike TV at 7 p.m., and the third flick in the popular trilogy of Jason Bourne, The Bourne Ultimatum re-airs on HBO at 8 p.m. I give both films high regards.



DVD This Week: Will Smith's summer hit Hancock hits the rental and retail shelves today. It's a dark story about a boozy superhero who despises the people he's bound to protect. Jason Bateman costars as the guy who tries to give the hero a makeover to improve his public image.



And last year's Christmas hit, Fred Claus is also available today, just in time for the big holidays. It features the hilarious Vince Vaughn as Santa's black-sheep brother, who's bailed out of his latest jam by his saintly sibling (Paul Giamitti) and forced to work off his debt at the North Pole, where he learns to re-evaluate his conniving ways as a heartless efficiency expert (Kevin Spacey) plots to put St. Nick out of a job. A story I think we can all relate too, considering the nation's economy. But, hopefully, this one will make you laugh ...

TV on DVD: Just 24 hours after it's network broadcast, 24: Redemption hits DVD. Which is how I'm going to watch the second hour, since Sunday night I committed a cardinal sin of videotaping - I taped the wrong channel! So, after turning off 24 to catch the dull season finale of HBO's True Blood (yes, Sookie and Bill got back together, and the real killer was exposed and killed by Sookie), I completely missed how Jack fought off the African terrorists and saved those poor kids!

A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All comes to DVD also days after premiering on TV. Stephen Colbert gets his own holiday show featuring him riding out a snowstorm in his cabon. Colbert celebrates the holiday with songs and silliness featuring Elvis Costello, Willie Nelson, Toby Keith, John Legend, Feist and, of course, buddy Jon Stewart.


Freaks and Geeks: Yearbook Edition. Big-screen comedy kings Seth Rogen and Judd Apatow, along with James Franco, Jason Segel and Linda Cardellini, scored an early critical success with this short-lived series about a gang of high school kids in 1980. I personally loved this show, but it never found it's niche on network TV. If you love Rogen and Apatow's later collaborations - Anchorman, The 40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Superbad - you're sure to enjoy this one.

That should keep you busy tonight!

OK, so I'm guilty! Yes, I spent another LOST Monday with the Sci-Fi channel's 4-episode marathon of my favorite psychological thriller. I won't go into any details, just to say that if you ever wanted to get in on those LOST conspiracy conversations at work, Monday nights provide the perfect chance for you to get caught up for Season 5, debuting in January.

Back on over at ABC last night, Dancin' with the Stars made its season debut. I would say it was a loooong two hours, but I taped it and watched at 11 p.m. And although I said yesterday I could get thru it in about 20 minutes just watching the dancing and critiquing, it actually took about 35 minutes. Which is still way better than 2 hours of mostly filler and commercials!
All the contestants danced last night and one will go home during tonight's broadcast, another 2 hours, from 9-11 p.m. And the fun continues Wednesday night, with a 1-hr. results show at 8 p.m. during which another contestant will be voted off.

Anyway, here's my thoughts ... judge Bruno Tonioli was on fire last night -- where does he come up with those wacky euphemisms? He compared comedian Jeffrey Ross (who I think will be going home tonight) to the horrendous atrocity of Cloverfield in 3D. Cloverfield, for those of you who don't know, featured a gigantic monster lumbering its way thru New York City, knocking down everything in its path. And I think it was a correct comparison. Poor Ross, he seemed to be really trying, but some people just don't have it on the dance floor.
The Cloverfield Monster

I can't say much more for celebrity chef (is this guy still famous?) Rocco DiSpirito. He faired a little better than Ross, but not much.

82-year-old Cloris Leachman stole the show, not with her dancing, but with her antics at the judges stand. She slung her bare leg up and on the table right in front of a flabbergasted Bruno (the first person ever to leave him speechless), got on her knees and prayed in front of Len Goodman and practically sat in Kari Ann's lap!
I'll also put Susan Lucci in my bottom three. Don't get me wrong, she looked great! But she also looked incredibly uncomfortable performing her segment. I'm only hoping her strong fan base keeps her around for a while ... her partner, Tony Dovolani is delicious!

My faves from last night were the adorable Cody Linley (of Hannah Montana fame). He lucked out by getting 2-time champ Julianne Hough as a partner. She makes everybody look good.
Also, after admitting he was the "worst dancer in N'Sync, Lance Bass proved he can work it on the dance floor. I'm looking forward to his improvement in future episodes. His partner is newcomer Lacey Schwimmer.

Derek Hough
And the top vote getter from the judges was model/TV spokesperson Brooke Burke, who was lucky enough to land Julianne's bro, the super cute Derek Hough, as her dance partner.
My gut tells me that Maurice Greene is also one to watch this season. He was the last dancer of the evening and he has the other 2-time champ, Cheryl Burke, to guide him straight to the top. His dancing style was reminiscent of Season 3 winer and fave Emmett Smith!

My primary reason for watching, though, was the return of my fave pro -- Maksim Chmerkovsky! He's the hottest thing to hit the dance floor since Tony Manero in Saturday Night Fever! Unfortunately, his partner is Olympian Misty May-Treanor, and he's really got his work cut out for him. The girl doesn't have any dancing experience, but she's an athlete, and athletes have a dedication that has been unmatched by other contestants so far (remember Apollo Ohno and last season's winner Kristi Yamaguchi?). Maybe he'll be able to turn it around to their advantage! We'll have to wait and see.
Overall, the show's contestants were not as impressive as previous seasons, with some even earning 4's from the judges. "I forgot we had a 4," quipped host Tom Bergeron of the low score. Overall scores ranges from 23-12 (Burke and Ross, respectively).
For more info visit the official website at http://abc.go.com/primetime/dancingwiththestars/index?pn=index

On TV Tonight: Australia's handsome Simon Baker returns to network TV on CBS at 9 p.m. as The Mentalist. He stars as the roguish mentalist, whoonce made his living fooling people into believing he was a psychic.

Though he cannot really read minds, he developed a keen intuition about people, leading him to his current occupation as a consultant for the California Bureau of Investigation on murder cases. For information and full episodes visit http://www.cbs.com/primetime/the_mentalist/

Over on NBC, the competition continues on The Biggest Loser: Families, with a special guest appearance. Fresh from his debut (and possibly last night) on Dancin' with the Stars, Rocco DiSpirito teaches the contestants to shop for and make healthy and affordable meals.

I'll be reluctantly tuning in to 90210 on the CW at 8 p.m. Only because E! News reported over the weekend that Luke Perry IS in talks to reprise his role as Dylan MacKay!! YAY! As I reported last week, Brenda revealed in a conversation with Kelly that Dylan is indeed the father of Kelly's son Sammy (my only reason to keep watching).

And, Fox is offering up another vexxing episode of it's new JJ Abrahms thriller Fringe! I'm really getting into this show. It's not too late to check it out. Tonight's episode will center on another occurance in "The Pattern" featuring a bus full of frozen commuters. For more information visit http://www.fox.com/fringe/
]
FX is rerunning last week's episode of Sons of Anarchy tonight at 11 p.m. It's not too late to get in on this fine show. Think of it as the Sopranos on Harleys.

So, against my better judgment, I actually watched The Hills last night, after completely missing last week's episode. It just happened to be re-airing at 11 p.m. last night, just when my LOST marathon was ending. And for something completely different, Lauren Conrad was MIA for most of the episode ... she was on some trip and only arrived back home at the very end and guess what? The show wasn't really better/worse without her. All these "characters" (I mean we all KNOW its scripted, right?) are so interchangeable that it really doesn't matter who's onscreen.
Unfortunately, next week's ep actually looks interesting with Heidi's mom coming to visit. And guess what? She's going to give Heidi a hard time about her fiance Spencer (does anybody LIKE this guy???)

TV on DVD: Well, not exactly, but it was one of HBO's most successful series. Sex and the City: The Movie bows on DVD today. And, yes, being a huge fan of the show, I ran right to the theater to see it last June. Although critics complained that it was like a 2-hr. episode, I loved it! I mean, that's what we the fans wanted wasn't it?

Anyway, if you're a fan of the show, I highly recommend the movie. If you've never seen the show, it doesn't make much sense to watch the movie. Enough said.

Just for fun, I couldn't resist sharing this popular youtube video with you. It's from last Friday, somewhere in Texas where news junkie Geraldo Rivera was covering Hurricane Ike. Although he's off camera when the wave hits, watch him role thru the shot, a total wipe out!! Enjoy!

Well last night I took my own advice and decided around 7:30 p.m. to click on over to the Sci-Fi Channel and check out the pilot episode of Lost. Within minutes I was totally absorbed in one of my favorite shows and, since Sci-Fi was airing four episodes back-to-back until 11 p.m., I got totally lost in Lost and missed everything else on TV last night.

It looks like regular Monday evening programming may be off my schedule until further notice ... I mean, I even missed The Hills (horror of horrors!). It never even crossed my mind until this morning. Good thing MTV will continue to air the episode only about 1,000 more times this week. (Of course, I'm kidding, The Hills has really been going down hill, pardon the pun, this season, I'm sure I didn't miss a thing.)
I did manage to pry myself off the couch close to 9 p.m. to make sure I taped Prison Break on Fox. This is one of those shows that I used to love, but like many relationships, has been going on too long. If I didn't like the characters so much, I wouldn't still watch.

Prison Break had a great premise in the first season. Like it's name, the whole show centered around Michael Scofield getting himself sentenced to the same high security prison where his brother, Lincoln Burrows, was serving on death row, awaiting his final sentence for "murdering" the vice president's brother. I write "murdering" because the guy was alive all along.

Once inside, Michael hatched an elaborate scheme to break his brother out, over the course of the season. Along the way we met various shady characters, none more ominous than Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell, who could hold his own with Hannibal Lecter any day.

Season One ended with the big break-out. Season Two followed the escapees as they ran from the feds. Season Three had most of them imprisoned in a sleazy fortress in Panama, and guess what, they broke out in the finale. So far, Season Four has the group of escapees forced back together by the government to find "Scylla" some kind of electronic black book that details the inner functions of "The Company." Oh, and Sarah (who was beheaded last season) is back, alive and well. Like I said, this show has gone on long enough, give these guys a happy ending already.

TV on DVD Tuesday: Hurray, Torchwood Season 2 comes out on DVD today. If you haven't seen Torchwood, you don't know what you're missing. I LOVE this show!! Torchwood, which I discovered on BBC America (America's fastest growing new network), is a spin-off of another popular BBC show Doctor Who. In fact, the word Torchwood is an anagram of Doctor Who (go ahead, figure it out). The show centers on Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman), who heads up the super secret government agency that finds and controls aliens coming thru a rift in time in Cardiff, UK. Darker and not nearly as whacky as Doctor Who, I always describe Torchwood as sort of X-Files meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer. For more information check out their BBC America website at http://www.bbcamerica.com/content/262/index.jsp

And speaking of Doctor Who, Dark Horizons says that British actor David Tennant held out for a Doctor Who movie deal when signing for a 5th season of the popular show. Can't wait for that! Also, I'm glad to see Tennant coming back as the Time Lord, when previous reports had The Doctor "changing" again with Robert Carlisle taking the lead.

House is back for its fifth season tonight at 8 p.m. on Fox, followed at 9 by Fringe, JJ Abrams new thriller about disastrous happenings in our world. I highly recommend this show. If you're a fan of Lost, Heroes or even Alias, you might want to check it out.

Big Brother 10 crowns a winner tonight at 9 p.m. on CBS -- as if anyone still cares. This was definitely the dumbest season with the dumbest contestants yet. What can I say, it's impossible to top last summer's scheming Evil Dick, his slutty daughter Danielle, and masochistic Jen.

DVR Alert: Tomorrow Ellen Degeneres gets a rare sitdown with Twilight Saga author Stephenie Meyer. They'll be discussing her latest book and final in the Twilight series "Breaking Dawn." Also, on her website, Ellen promises to try her best to get Stephenie to finish writing "Midnight Sun", the anticipated retelling of "Twilight" from Edward's point of view (all the books are written from Bella's POV). An unfinished manuscript of the book was leaked on the Internet a few weeks ago, and a devastated Stephenie has put the book on hold indefniitely. Also, hopefully, they might show a clip from the upcoming "Twilight" movie.

And for all you Nip/Tuck fans, the doctors are in. Julian McMahon and Dylan Walsh returned to the set yesterday to begin filming Season 9 of the popular F/X series. Nineteen episodes have been ordered for 2010/2011.But don't fret, there are still 8 or more unaired episodes from Season 8 that will debut sometime in January. Bad-boy Dr. Christian Troy, hey that rhymes, is one of my all-time hotties -- till we meet again ...