Sorry this is so late, but I was having server issues earlier today.

Anyway, last night over three hours of ABC Prime Time programming, the network dished out the names of the contenders for Season 8 of Dancing with the Stars.

In no particular order:

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak (WTH???) -- this guy has nothing better to do?

Pop singer Jewel and her hubby, rodeo champion Ty Murray.

Country singer Chuck Wicks (sorry, don't know this guy at all), but apparently he's DWTS veteran Julianne Hough's boyfriend. And yes guys, Julianne has graciously agreed to do one more season as long as she gets to dance with her BF.

Olympic gold-medal gymnast Shawn Johnson. She could a ringer, remember Kristy Yamaguchi (or however the hell you spell it)?

Former NY Giant and Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor. Or as I call it, gratuitous football player/dancing contestant. Don't they have one of these on every season ...

Go-Go's lead singer Belinda Carlisle, stepping into the "older woman" role. Seriously folks, Carlisle isn't that old ...

Rapper Lil' Kim. Sorry, but every time I think of her, I think of the time when Diana Ross "fondled" her pasty-covered boob at the MTV Awards ...

Comedy Central's Chocolate News' Anchor and former In Living Color star David Alan Grier.

Access Hollywood hostess Nancy O'Dell. Actually looking forward to her. She's a classy broad.

Classless broad: Denise Richards. Never thought too much of her until she did that disastrous reality show on E! Now I think even less ...

Jackass' alum Steve O -- now this guy could be very interesting to watch. My bet is he'll be the worst of this group, unless he decides to lay on the floor and shoot Roman candles out his butt.

And, this one really pushes the "celebrity" envelope, Gilles Marini (who????). Now wait ladies, as soon as I give you his celebrity credit, I guarantee you'll know exactly who he is ....
This is the guy who played the very sexy and randy neighbor to Kim Cattrall's Samantha in the Sex and the City movie last year. Yeah baby!

Still, I wouldn't exactly call him a celebrity. How'd he get on this show?

Unfortunately, we won't be seeing these two dancing on TV anytime soon ...

Now that would have guaranteed ratings!

Anyway, that's it and don't forget to join judges Len Goodman, Bruno Tonioli and Carrie Ann Inaba (no one says her name like you Elfman!) on ABC for the season premiere March 9!

Dancin' with the Stars supreme stud Maksim Chmerkovsky is engaged!! Oh no he didn't!

Actually, yes he did. And the lucky lady is ... co-star and fellow pro-dancer Karina Smirnoff.



Maksim, 28, popped the question on New Year's Eve, according to E! News. The two have been working together on the DWTS tour. Not long ago, Karina, 30, was dating her star partner from 2006, Mario Lopez. But the couple broke up last summer after a two-year fling.

No date has been set yet for the nuptials -- so I still have time!

Hats off to South Park creators Trey Park and Matt Stone for one heck of an episode last night on Comedy Central. "About Last Night ..." featured the residents of South Park joining the rest of the country in celebrating the election of the U.S. President, who moved a new administration into the White House ahead of schedule.
In another of South Park's over-the-top satires, unsurprisingly, Barack Obama won, only to retire to his hotel room and meet up with his partner in "crime" John McCain. Seems their whole candidacies were a clever ruse to get one of them into the Oval Office to access a secret passage that would lead straight to the Hope diamond ... a la Ocean's 11, 12 or 13, whichever. It really didn't matter, Obama and McCain were the head of the best thief club in the world, with Sarah Palin posing as a British espionage expert! The whole scam was to fool the American public, get the big pay-off and fake their own deaths to retire to Tahiti ... well done!
The episode will repeat at 10 p.m. tonight and over the weekend or you can just watch it here http://www.southparkstudios.com/
By the way, I actually did find a photo of the guineasaurus rex from last week's episode! Cool huh? (sorry photo's so big)


Perennial Emmy-loser Susan Lucci (yes, I know she eventually won) was the unlucky contestant over on Dancing with the Stars last night.

She and her handsome partner Tony Dovolani bid adieu in a show that featured a performance by Lionel Ritchie - Lionel Ritchie? Where's he been? And how 'bout those tight pants - where were the ABC censors? However, the most memorable moment for me was the pros feature dance, featuring a newly shorn Maksim Chmerikovsky! WTH? Yes, he's still gorgeous, but he could've warned us ...For more info visit
http://abc.go.com/primetime/dancingwiththestars/index?pn=index


Maksim, what have you done?

On to tonight: I guess you should all know by now that Thursday night means another castaway will be voted off Survivor: Gabon! Of course, I'll have a full recap tomorrow.
That's not the only interesting thing on CBS tonight. At 9 p.m. the super-sexy Lady Heather returns to tempt Gil Grissom on the original CSI. Actually, he'll be going to visit her while investigating a case that involves sexual domination. Yes, kiddies Lady Heather's a pro! Hey Elfman, what do you think of her?

Dominatrix Lady Heather heats up CSI

Over on ABC, same time, it's time to bid farewell to Dr. Erica Hahn and her relationship with Callie. As I stated yesterday, Grey's Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes decided not to continue with the lesbian storyline and is ending it tonight. Following at 10 p.m. the new hit Life on Mars features a guest appearance by Whoopi Goldberg tonight. And, sit down, she plays a man - Brother Love Butter, a soulful underground New York radio personality, circa 1973.

The CW offers up another episode of Supernatural at 9 p.m. In "Wishful Thinking" hunky bros Sam and Dean Winchester visit a town where a wishing well brings chaos.


And speaking of chaos, chef Gordon Ramsay will be stirring up trouble at Jack's Waterfront in Michigan on Fox's Kitchen Nightmares at 9 also.

Dr. Drew's back on VH1 at 10 p.m. with another episode of Celebrity Rehab. I gotta say, after a great first episode, last week's 2nd was quite disappointing and a little unbearable to watch. Don't know if I'll be checking in this week ...

And if you can't get enough of the E! True Hollywood Story, tonight's your night. Three back-to-back episodes will be shown tonight starting at 8 p.m. with The Kardashians (yawn), followed at 9 by Heidi Klum (could be interesting) and at 10 with Star Jones (I've heard this one was good).

Also, don't forget HBO offers up a mini-thon of the last three episodes of its vampire drama True Blood from 8-11 p.m. tonight also. Check in and get acquainted with the residents (alive and undead) of Bon Temps, Louisiana - only 3 more new episodes to go. For info visit
http://www.hbo.com/trueblood/

Twilight's Edward vs. True Blood's Bill: Who Would You Rather Die For?

Twilight/DVR alert: Edward Cullen aka Robert Pattinson stops by MTV's TRL from 3:30-4:30 this afternoon to chat up Twilight. (Yeah, just another chance to mention Twilight in my post labels, always generates more hits!)
http://www.twilightthemovie.com/

And finally, the numbers are in from Tuesday night's elections - no not those numbers - the Nielsen ratings. Nearly 72 million people watched the returns, up more than 24 percent from the 2004 election. The numbers reflect those watching election returns on 14 different networks from 8-11 p.m., when most networks called the race for Barack Obama, according to Nielsen.
In comparison, 58 million watched the 2004 election returns on about 10 networks, and about 62 million watched the 2000 returns. I wonder if they're counting the ratings for BBC America, which was where I was watching. Very interesting watching our election returns from another country's perspective.

The Reign Delay continues ... but, with any hope, it'll be over tonight! World Series Game 5 is set to resume on Fox around 8:37 p.m., starting in the bottom of the sixth with the Phillies at bat, score 2-2. Let's end this thing!!!


Cloris with partner Corky Ballas
In other news, fan fave Cloris Leachman was the unlucky contestant on Dancing with the Stars last night. Well, I guess she wasn't fan favorite afterall, not getting enoug votes to keep her there. Cloris added some much needed comedy to the show and will be missed. But don't cry for her just yet.

It seems that prior to her Dancing gig, old pal Mel Brooks thought that at 81, Cloris was too old to reprise her role in the Broadway production of his Young Frankenstein. The NY Post is reporting today that Brooks has since changed his mind after watching the octagenarian shuffle on the dance floor and thinks she may just still have the stamina for the production. For now, Cloris is fielding many offers, including one from director Quentin Tarantino for a part in Inglorious Bastards, and will hold court as Grand Marshall of the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, Calif., on New Year's Day.
Pro-dancer Julianne Hough, who I blogged yesterday was havig her appendix removed, has come clean on her real condition - endometriosis, with a ruptured cyst on her ovary. According to her personal blog, her appendix is still being removed.

"They want to clean out the cysts and take out my appendix, too, because later on it can be affected by the cysts. They're doin it laproscopically through my belly button so I won't have a scar. They say it's three of four days of recovery. I'm thinking more like a week."

Wishing a speedy recovery to her. In the meantime her partner, the oh-so-cute Cody Linley will dance with Edyta Sliwinska.

Celebrities remaining in competition include Brooke Burke, Lance Bass, Warren Sapp, Maurice Greene and Susan Lucci.

For more Dancing with the Stars info visit http://abc.go.com/primetime/dancingwiththestars/index?pn=index


Other than the big game tonight, Comedy Central will present another new episode of South Park at 10 p.m. In Pandemic 2 - The Startling, the boys are lost in the Andes Mountains where they discover the startling secret behind the attack of the giant guinea pigs. They now have the power to rescue their town and the rest of the world from the onslaught, btu the head of Homeland Security stands firmly in their way.

Meanwhile, Randy bravely documents the destruction (a la Cloverfield) while trying to save his family! For more info visit http://www.southparkstudios.com/


If you were lucky enough to make it thru the season finale of Greek last night over on ABC Family, you got to see two sort of new scenes from the upcoming vampire flick Twilight. The first one aired around 8:35 and featured the cafeteria scene with the apple-catch, an homage to the book's cover, and the "theories" exchange between Edward and Bella.

The second was the same clip that aired during last week's Scream Awards on Spike. It was yet another rehash of the ballet studio/vampire fight scene between Edward, Bella and James that serves as the film's climax. The clips can be viewed here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMjyytZzT44 and here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2Te_5iQdow

Enjoy!


Halloween Horror Watch: It's all on AMC tonight, starting at 6 pm with Jeepers Creepers. I've menioned this flick before. It's a pretty good horror flick, with the Creeper being sufficiently creepy.

At 8 pm it's back to Camp Crystal Lake for Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday. I'm not sure exactly which one this is, seeing how they all look alike. But you can expect more of the same.

At 10 pm the 2003 remake of Willard airs. Starring Crispen Glover as an outsider who befriends a huge pack of rats that do his evil bidding, it features a lot of CG (computer-generated) rats, that unfortunately, don't look to real. For a real fright, make it a point to watch the original from 1971. Now that was creepy!

Willard now, and then

And ending up the evening at midnight is another showing of Stephen King's demon car classic Christine. For info on AMC's horrorfest lineup visit ...


Blast From The Past: Remember when you "wanted your MTV" and got it with lots of music videos? Well, the world's premiere "music" channel has launched a new website that promises to host the biggest collection of music videos in one place on the 'net.Although it's still in the testing stage, you can visit www.mtvmusic.com and check it out.

Being October and this close to Halloween, it's only appropriate that Spike TV is honoring the best in horror, sci-fi and fantasy genres tonight at 9 p.m. with the Scream Awards 2008.
Nominees were chosen by storytellers including Wes Craven, Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, Frank Miller, Eli Roth, Guillermo Del Toro, Heroes creator Tim Kring and vampire novelist Stephenie Meyer (Twilight).
Leading the pack, by no surprise, is The Dark Knight with 21 nominations. Iron Man, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Cloverfield, The Incredible Hulk and Wanted also garnered multiple noms. Fans voted online to determine the winners.

Some of the oddball categories include "Holy S-t Scene of the Year" and "Most Memorable Mulitlation." Spotted on the red carpet were attendees Liv Tyler, Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie, Billy Corgan, Wes Craven, Stan Lee and Ron Perlman, to name a few.
Presented from the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, this 2-hour shockstravaganza will also feature the requisite never-before-seen clips from upcoming genre films Watchmen, Friday The 13th, and, the reason I'll be watching, Twilight.
For more info visit http://www.spike.com/event/scream

Over on ABC tonight, we get an extra hour (just what we need) of Dancing With the Stars. The recap show takes over the 8 p.m. time slot, followed by the results show at 9 p.m. For those of you who can't get enough ... http://abc.go.com/primetime/dancingwiththestars/index?pn=index

And at 10 p.m. Eli Stone gets enticed by a sexy singing visit from Mrs. Cruise herself, Katie Holmes. I hope she checked with the Scientologists to get permission before her sizzling performance! What would Suri say?


Fox presents another new and confusing episode of Fringe at 9 p.m. I totally missed last week's and haven't had a chance to look it up online yet. Here we go, it's only October and I'm already way behind ... http://www.fox.com/fringe/


Atlanta's Wives
And in case you wanted to catch up ... Bravo is delivering all 3 episodes of the Real Housewives of Atlanta beginning at 8 p.m. tonight. The new ep bows at 10 p.m. and is titled "Who's Your Poppa?" Perhaps a reference to self-proclaimed black-girl-in-a-white-girl's-body Kim's benefactor Big Poppa, who so far refuses to appear on air. Afterall, she just spent $18,000 of his hard-earned cash on her daughter's birthday party last week (that ep airs at 9 p.m.). Visit http://www.bravotv.com/Real_Housewives_Of_Atlanta/season/1/index.php

Finally, if you could just kick yourself for missing the premiere of NBC's Crusoe last Friday night, you get a reprieve ... it re-airs at 11 p.m. on USA.


The Strangers
Halloween Horror Watch: Hopefully before the Scream Awards I'll get a chance to indulge my horror vice. I'm expecting The Strangers (out on DVD today) to be waiting in my mailbox when I get home tonight (love ya Netflix). I meant to see this one in the theaters, but you know, sometimes life gets in the way.
It features Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman as a couple pondering their relationship while visiting an isolated vacation home. Overnight, they are terrorized by three "strangers."
Horror flicks like this are always my faves! There's nothing worse than being out in the middle of nowhere (a la Texas Chainsaw Massacre) and having some freaks show up on your doorstep! I'll let you know if this one makes the cut (pun intended) ...But in case you can't wait till tomorrow, follow this link to the trailer http://www.thestrangers.net/

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 ...

Fey as Palin
The funniest thing by far that I saw on TV this weekend had to be Saturday Night Live's opening sketch. Once again, it featured former SNL writer and regular Tina Fey as VP hopeful Sarah Palin. And, of course, it was a send-up of the recent VP debate (which I didn't watch). Queen Latifah was on hand to portray the debate moderator PBS's Gwen Ifill and SNL cast member Jason Sudeikis was dead-on as Democratic VP nom Joe Biden.This was the third appearance by Fey as Palin in the last four weeks and her guest shots have garnered higher ratings for the NBC show and increased traffic on its Web site. So those of you who couldn't stay up or just missed it (because, let's face it, SNL hasn't been too great the last couple of seasons) can visit and watch what everyone else is talking about! Check it out here http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/

A major Jeer to TNT!!! Saturday night's interruption of the final half hour of TITANIC was bad enough, but then they did it again yesterday!! I don't know if someone fell asleep in the control room, but about 30 minutes before the ending (you know, right about when the ship was breaking apart and crashing into the people floating below) the film was abruptly pre-empted by the MLB game that was already airing on sister-station TBS! And it went on for about 10 minutes. I guess that's why I should just get the DVD out from now on ...

And if my Sunday viewing schedule wasn't already tight enough, the football game had to run about half an hour late over on CBS ... thus preempting 60 minutes, which ran half an hour into the Amazing Race, and so on, and so on ... http://www.cbs.com/primetime/amazing_race/
So that meant a major decision was to be made regarding whether to finish the race or tape Desparate Housewives http://abc.go.com/primetime/desperate/index?pn=index ... the Race won, so I missed the first half of DH (no big loss, not into this season so far). Because, of course, I was over on HBO catching up with the bloodsuckers on True Blood.

Kimora Lee Simmons
I thought I had gotten a little ahead last week when I discovered that Showtime on Demand had the second episode of Californication already up to preview. So I didn't need to watch that last night. However, over on E! I found out just in time that the second season was premiering for Kimora Lee Simmons: Life in the Fab Lane. (Just what I need, another Sunday night show.) Sorry, file this in my I-just-can't-turn-it-off file. I mean, really, so you're fabulous, separated from mega-music mogul Russell Simmons, dating Djimon Hounsou, have your own clothing line (Baby Phat) and oodles, and oodles of money to spend ... you can catch an encore of last night's show at 9 p.m. tonight or visit http://www.eonline.com/on/shows/kimora/index.jsp

Dexter's just going to have to wait. This is where my cable's On Demand services work against me. See, Dexter and True Blood are on at the same time, but both are also On Demand ... after last week's TB I decided to make that my main 9 p.m. Sunday show and I would catch up on Dexter later in the week ... bad news for Dexter: I'm still trying to make time to catch up on Season 2 of Showtime's wildly popular The Tudors (season 2 ended last April). Anyone else feeling the On Demand or DVR guilt?

And I've decided to give up on AMC's Mad Men. Anyone else? I devoured the first season of this formerly great show over the summer on DVD. What the hell happened? Good thing they won the Emmy this year ... see season 2 for yourself at http://www.amctv.com/originals/madmen/

So many shows, so little time ...

And no, I didn't actually "watch" Cartoon Network's Star Wars: Clone Wars or Sci-Fi's new show Sanctuary either from Friday night. Both are saved for my future viewing ... and after looking at this week's schedule, I can see I'm gonna have a hard time penciling in time for that.

But at least I don't have to waste time watching Dancing with the Stars anymore. According to Access Hollywood, Olympic medalist Misty May-Treanor suffered a show-stopping injury Friday and is out for the rest of the season. Not that I'm a big Misty fan, I am, however, a HUGE fan of her hot, hot, hot partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy (both turned up on E!'s Soup this week)! Damn, that means he's out too ... and if we didn't need any more bad news it seems that producers will bring their first Dancing sex-tape star Kim Kardashian back to take Misty's place in the line-up (until, hopefully she gets voted out again this week). For info visit
http://abc.go.com/primetime/dancingwiththestars/index?pn=index

Maksim

Well, for tonight at least I can turn on over to AMC at 8 p.m. for a rebroadcast of 2004's ultra beef-cake flick Troy - Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom, Sean Bean - do I have to go on?It's like Baywatch for women!

Men of Troy: Bean, Bana, Bloom and Pitt

And then there's always the LOST marathon continuing over on the Sci-Fi channel from 7-11 p.m. Tonight's episodes include "Hearts and Minds," "Special," "Homecoming" and "Outlaws." We're still in season one.

For more beef-cake: Our favorite Gladiator Russell Crowe chats up David Letterman tonight about his new flick with Leo DiCaprio, Body of Lies. While over on Jay Leno's couch will be the equally beefy Gerard Butler, who's plugging Guy Ritchie's latest film RocknRolla - but to me he will always be King Leonidas, leader of the 300 Spartans, who were so strong that all they needed were their red capes, shields and tiny loin cloths ... hmmm

King Leonidas (center) "Tonight We Dine in Hell!"

Well, I got to Thursday and I'm still somewhat sane with my full TV schedule. This morning everyone was talking about last night's Project Runway. In case you missed it, our blue-highlighted boy Suede got the boot.

But everybody wishes it would have been newly-ordained Diva Kenley! She continued dissing everyone on the show, while making an absolutely ridiculous Hip-Hop ensemble. (It even has one of my coworker's wondering if they're just keeping her around for good TV. I wouldn't be surprised.)

Last night's challenge involved the contestants designing garments in various styles relating to music genres. And, after shaking up their designated models, the designers were told that they, themselves, would be modeling their rivals' creations.
As mentioned before, Kenley got to design a Hip-Hop outfit, and failed miserably. Even after being strongly warned by style guru Tim Gunn. Then she had the audacity to argue with Gunn in front of everyone else! And everybody who knows anything about Project Runway knows that you NEVER sass Tim! The fans just won't stand for it. I wonder what they're blogging about Kenley all over the 'net today?
Well, I wonder, even if Kenley does make it to the final, will Tim be as unbiased in his judging as he said he would be? Hmmmm... For more info visit http://www.bravotv.com/Project_Runway/season/5/index.php
By the way, you can catch Tim tonight on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.

Over on yet another installment of Dancing with the Stars, Ted McGinley was dismissed from the lineup. I have to say that I'm really disappointed that it wasn't Kim Kardashian. I mean, really, she was bad, bad, bad both nights! But, afterall, it's not REALLY about the dancing is it? Like American Idol, it's all about who's popular and gets the most votes.
For more information or to watch the dancers visit http://abc.go.com/primetime/dancingwiththestars/index?pn=index

OK, on to bigger things ... like What's On tonight and my serious viewing dilemma!

First up, there's nothing more important to me than catching the season premiere of Survivor: Gabon. The 17th season of the granddaddy of reality show's starts at 8 p.m. and in an unusual move, is 2 hours! While I'm pretty happy about that, it still means that I'll be mising the first hour of Grey's Anatomy, which debuts tonight and airs for 2 hours from 9-11 p.m.

Survivor first: Tonight's show kicks off with 18 all new contestants journeying to Gabon, Africa, where they'll presumably break into two tribes and battle each other to "Outwit, Outplay & Outlast" and become the soul survivor, sometime before Christmas, to win $1 million!
This season boasts an Oympic gold medalist, a 22-year-old video-game champ, a middle-aged physics teacher and an actress who appeared on Gilmore Girls (loved that show)! (Of course, I'll miss Survivor's dumbest player ever, last season's Erik, whose occupation was "Ice Cream Scooper" -- need I say more.)

Can't wait to see who we'll hate first! I hope there's plenty of cheating, catfights and manupilating, 'cause that's what we really want to see. We all know that our favorite Survivor moments always involve someone doing someone else wrong! Remember Johnny Fairplay and his "dead" grandmother?

Survivor airs tonight on CBS from 8-10 p.m. For more information and bios on the contestants, visit http://www.cbs.com/primetime/survivor/

Over on ABC the randy doctors of Seattle Grace will be dealing with trauma when a sudden ice storm hits! It's never a dull day over there is it?
Anyway, according to NY Post critic Linda Stasi, who gives the Grey's Anatomy premiere 3 stars, the episode will feature "one of the sexiest non-sex scenes on TV in years." Looking forward to that.
And a new hot doc makes his first appearance tonight (we can never have enough of those). Scottish actor Kevin McKidd, last seen starring in last season's short-lived drama Journeyman, and before that, in HBO's Rome, makes his debut as Major Owen Hunt, who we're told will be a love interest for Sandra Oh's character. And apparently the aforementioned scene involves the two of them.

Anyway, even though show creatr Shonda Rimes swears that McDreamy and Meredith are together now for keeps, we can still expect problems in their relationship. Rumor has it that the nurse he dated briefly last season may end up pregnant.
And Rimes also assures us that she's planning on keeping Katherine Heigl for the season, despite rumors to the contrary. I just hope she comes up with a better storyline for Izzy this season.
For more info on this show visit http://abc.go.com/primetime/greysanatomy/index?pn=index

And for those of you who couldn't care less about either Survivor or Grey's (who are you people?) , there is still plenty to watch tonight:

If all your coworkers are still taking about AMC's Mad Men and you want to get in on the action, the channel is having a Mad Men Season 2 marathon from 7-midnight. You can catch up on all th happenings at the Sterling Cooper advertising agency with handsome Don Draper and his cohorts.
Or if you just don't have the time, you can find an episode guide here http://www.amctv.com/originals/madmen/

HBO is also getting in on the marathon, airing three episodes of their new vampire series True Blood (only 3 have aired so far), beginning at 8 pm. http://www.hbo.com/trueblood/

Fox is showing two episodes of chef Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. Gordon will be revamping two restaurants tonight with all his usual belittling brilliance. Shows begin at 8 p.m.
http://www.fox.com/kitchennightmares/

Supernatural will continue to battle demons over at the CW at 9 p.m. http://www.cwtv.com/shows/supernatural

But the guilty pleasure I'll be tuning into at 11 p.m. will be a replay of the 10 p.m. episode of Tabatha's Salon Takeover over on Bravo! What a Bitch! It's basically the same show as Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, but switch him with, as The Soup's Joel McHale dubbed her, a middle-aged, Australian forrest pixie and substitute failing hair salons for failing restaurants.
Anyway, once you've met Tabatha, you'll never be the same. And just hope and pray that no one turns your salon into Bravo for this show!
For more, check out http://www.bravotv.com/Tabathas_Salon_Takeover/season/1/index.php

So I guess my evening's set, till tomorrow ...