MSN TV Blog - Reality TV

Embarrass yourself soon!

By Corey Levitan Oct 25, 2011 8:42AM
E!

Kim Kardashian and her sisters, Khloe and Kourtney, will adorn your bedroom for the right price.


According to this TMZ report, their mugs will soon adorn linens, sheets, pillowcases and other expensive housewares -- including actual mugs. No rollout date for "Kardashian Kollection Home" has been announced, but we're happy the third word didn't also begin with a "K."


Unfortunately for the haters out there, there will be no Kardashian toilet paper. However, the K-clan is coming one step closer with bathroom products including bath mats and hand towels.


TMZ quotes a family insider describing the towels as "super soft."


Among the other products to be adorned by the sisters -- who earned $65 million last year, according to The Hollywood Reporter: picture frames, flatware, kitchen knives, golf and football towels, candlesticks, and window blinds, which you will want to draw closed so your neighbors can't see that you bought any of this nonsense.


"Keeping Up with the Kardashians" airs Sundays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on E!

 

ricki and j.r. tie with almost-perfect quicksteps

By Kate Mulcrone Oct 24, 2011 8:17PM

'Dancing With the Stars'/ABC

Broadway Week was a bit of a rollercoaster ride! Both Ricki and J.R. danced killer quicksteps to tie at the top of the leaderboard, and Nancy Grace kicked it into high gear with a happy-go-lucky foxtrot that landed her in third place. At the other end of the scale, Chaz's lackluster tango earned him a mere 19 points from the judges, and Hope's brave but flawed rumba got her no love from anyone but Maks, who ended up yelling at the judges after their critique.

 

Last Night on TV: Watch recaps | Photos: Check out the hopefuls


Our stars also did their first group dance of the season, an unscored, free-for-all to two Broadway hits. Carson Kressley was back to help coach, and it was fun to see all of the stars dance together. Each couple had a short solo, in most cases full of usually-forbidden lifts and other strictly non-ballroom touches.

 

Bing: More about 'Dancing With the Stars' | Video: Watch full episodes and clips


Here's how each of our stars did tonight:


Rob Kardashian

Rob's cha-cha was lighthearted and limber. His timing was spot-on and his footwork was excellent, but he was definitely playing second fiddle to Cheryl. Len called the routine "clean and precise," but thought Rob lacked fluidity. Along the same lines, Bruno wanted to see Rob take charge and own the dance.


Score: 22/30


Nancy Grace

Nancy's cheery foxtrot was the surprise of the week! Tristan definitely upped the difficulty level this week, and Nancy was up to the challenge. The judges were thrilled by her. This was easily Nancy's best performance to date, and will hopefully inspire her to even greater heights in the next round.


Score: 24/30


David Arquette

After last week's amazing tango, David was probably feeling the pressure. Happily, he didn't crack. The quickstep is one of the hardest dances in the roster, but David pulled it off in style. His "Grease"-inspired routine had great energy, but David was having a little trouble staying in sync with Kym. Len called it "rough around the edges," which seemed fair for once: David's energy saved what would have otherwise been a sloppy, indifferent routine.


Score: 23/30


Ricki Lake

Ricki's stunning quickstep was fresh and fun. She and Derek danced beautifully together – they're really learning how to play off each other out on the floor. Ricki's timing and footwork were both excellent and her presence onstage was the best it's ever been. Bruno praised her musicality and Carrie Ann called the routine "poetry in motion."


Score: 29/30


Chaz Bono

Chaz's tango missed the mark. The tango just doesn't seem to be his dance – he seemed stiff, uncomfortable, and totally out of his element. Although the "Phantom of the Opera"-themed routine was playful, the choreography wasn't difficult enough to inspire praise – or many points! – from the judges. All three judges agreed that Chaz needs to take it up a notch. Let's hope he gets the chance to prove himself next week.


Score: 19/30


Hope Solo

Hope's rumba wasn't her best performance, but it had its moments. She tried to show her vulnerable side, but the routine ended up seeming self-conscious rather than intimate. The problem wasn't the technique so much as the flow of Hope's movements. Len called the routine Hope's worst dance of the season – which prompted Maks to jump in and defend her. Things aren't looking good for Hope at this point.


Score: 20/30


J.R. Martinez

Last week's samba was downright incredible, but this week's quickstep left it in the dust. J.R. is truly an amazing dancer. He and Karina danced a quickstep that went up, down, and everywhere. J.R. kept up with Karina through every kick, jump, and spin during a routine that Karina called her most difficult ever. Even Len was beside himself. Bruno jumped up and down and called the routine "a hit" and Carrie Ann wished she had a Tony Award to hand out. J.R. seems just about unstoppable at this point.


Score: 29/30


Who won the judges over: Ricki and J.R.

Who dazzled the audience: Ricki and J.R.

Who needs to step it up: Chaz and Hope

"Dancing With the Stars" airs Mondays at 8 p.m. and Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.

 

Former 'RHONJ' star sets record straight

By Corey Levitan Oct 24, 2011 9:58AM
Getty Images

The cashmere-lined gloves are off as Dina Manzo bashes her former TV show, "The Real Housewives of New Jersey."

 

"It's a shame this TV show used to be about our lives and now some lives are just about a TV show," Manzo blogs on her website.  "That's not how it should be."

 

The 39-year-old -- who remained a hot-button topic on the reunion show  -- left the Bravo series after a blowout with Danielle Staub in the second season.

 

"I really wanted to walk away from all of the toxic behavior," Manzo writes. "I was not into ganging up on anyone and I was no longer obligated to talk about Danielle so the best thing for me to do was stay away."

 

In the most intriguing part of the blog, Manzo appears to side with Teresa Giudice in her feud with Manzo's own sister. (Caroline Manzo feels totally maligned by Guidice's new cookbook, "Fabulicious," which jokes that Caroline "is as Italian as the Olive Garden.")

 

"If this is all about a joke in a book (and [Teresa] assured me it was) that's not enough for me to hate the mother of my God daughter and a friend of 15 years," Dina writes. "Was it necessary to write that stuff in her book? Probably not but I don't think it was written with malice either."

 

Dina doesn't go into detail about what happened between her and "certain family members." However, Caroline believes it's because she didn't show enough support for Dina's new HGTV party-planning show, "Dina's Party."

 

Dina adds: "I feel bad that my relationship with my sister and her family is strained, but I can assure you that one day it will be back to the way it was."

Dina wishes the housewives could all "lift each other up instead of trying to tear one another down" and "showcase what women are capable of."

 

She adds: " Unfortunately, not sure what the ratings on that would be … so I doubt that will happen."

 

 

Budget problems plague teams as they set forth from Phuket

By MSN TV Oct 24, 2011 7:45AM

'The Amazing Race'/CBS

By Diane Vadino

Special to MSN TV

 

We're in Thailand as this leg of the race kicks off, and Andy and Tommy are the first to leave last week's Pitstop.

 

Photos: See the teams | Video: Watch clips and more

 

We discover a new side of the professional snowboarders tonight: "We love Jesus," Tommy says. Andy continues: "We want to run this race and just have a lot of joy." Both guy show off the Biblical verses they've written on their gear as they head for the challenge: to travel by "local transportation" (elephants!) up a river. We’re left to puzzle over the religion non-sequiturs while being charmed by the baby elephants playing in the water. Baby elephants! They solve everything. Andy and Tommy are no less amazed by the animals: "If I win 'The Amazing Race' I'm buying an elephant -- they can do some serious four wheeling," Tommy says. Justin and Jennifer are next to leave the Pitstop (about an hour later), followed by Jeremy and Sandy and Laurence and Zac. There's all kinds of foreshadowing here with the sailors: "Being the father, Zac will heed what I say," Laurence says, in a way that makes us sure that Zac will not heed him at al. Ernie and Cindy are next to leave. 

 

Bing: More about "The Amazing Race"

 

Andy and Tommy have sprinted ahead to the Roadblock: “Who wants to hear some music?” Racers follow the music of a traditional Thai flute player to a natural pool, where they have to retrieve a clue packet from the water. This does not look particularly hard, and everyone speeds through it. Inside the packet is the next clue: travel to a local shop to disassemble a spirit house and take it to a nearby temple ... where they’ll be asked to do something, perhaps or perhaps not to do with assembling. Andy and Tommy head there, while Amani and Marcus and Bill and Cathi leave the Pitstop -- followed, finally by Liz and Marie, at 1:35 p.m. -- more than three hours after Andy and Tommy. 

 

Andy and Tommy do not intuit that they will have to reassemble their house after delivering, so Tommy actually has to travel back to the shop to reexamine the setup -- but it still looks like they move through the challenge pretty quickly. Not as quickly as Jennifer and Justin, who seem to pick up a bit of time after the siblings use their driver's cameraphone to make some visual notes. Teams are fairly evenly divided between those who do and who don't think to take notes of the house's interior details, forcing a few to follow Tommy's footsteps back to the shop. Without too much fuss, everyone proceeds to the Phuket bus station, where they'll be boarding overnight buses to Bangkok. Liz and Marie, meanwhile, take on their Speedbump: Wash elephants. Everyone seems to enjoy this task, and then they're off -- they power through the spirit house challenge, moving forward with good attitudes and very little money.

 

The team that seems to have the most trouble with the spirit house task is Ernie and Cindy, who failed to take notes on the set-up: "We should have just written it down earlier," Cindy says. Ernie says: "If I don't get it, I think Cindy's going to kill me." Once Ernie finally does finish it, they have an ugly confrontation with their driver at the Phuket bus station -- they owe 4500 baht (about $145), but they have $100 -- in American money. A Thai interloper comes out to translate (and basically shame them for being so disagreeable) and they pony up the extra $50. It's interesting that they seemed to think they were being shaken down -- but they really got a fairly good value for money. That behavior is not acceptable ... in our lives," Cindy says, to her credit. I’d love to see how she’d handle it if someone tried to pay her in baht in the U.S. for her work.

 

There's an incredible amount of jockeying as the teams move on to Bangkok, with Zac and Laurence mysteriously disembarking from their first-class bus and returning to the bus station for a second-class bus. (We find out later that this meant a three-mile run._ Ultimately, it's Ernie and Cindy who arrive in the capital first, traveling by cab to Bangkok Noi Canal, where they're required to feed some really totally amazing fish. This is super quick -- and then it's off to the Pitstop, the M.R. Kukrit Heritage Home, where Amani and Marcus arrive. In first place, remarkably. Bill and Cathi arrive just about simultaneously, and there are huge hugs all around. "We sputtered a little bit earlier, but I think we're a team to watch when it comes to playoff time," Marcus says.

 

At more or less the same time, Liz and Marie begin their epic trek across Bangkok -- interrupted only when they give up and beg a cab driver to drive them to the canal -- which he does. "No mon-o, no fun-o," one of them says. They feed the fish, and beg another trip through the city, this time to the Pitstop. You can’t say they gave up, anyway.

 

Justin and Jennifer, Ernie and Cindy, Andy and Tommy, and Zac and Laurence check in at the Pitstop. At Phil's behest, we get a bit more explanation of what happened with the sailors and their bus meltdown: Apparently they (incorrectly) thought the no-first-class rule (for air travel) included bus travel as well. It’s amazing how these guys make serious, and almost game-ending errors, based almost entirely on over-thinking. (Let’s not forget the navigational challenge, where some teams just pointed to where they needed to go, and these two were ready to whip out the compasses.

 

This means it's going to come down to Jeremy and Sandy, who seem to have had a terrible time navigating, and Liz and Marie, who were doomed from the start. And so it is at the Pitstop: The twins are out.

"The Amazing Race" airs Sundays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.

 

Pee-wee Herman wants to contend on 'Dancing With the Stars'

By Corey Levitan Oct 21, 2011 9:25AM

APIt would be Pee-wee's biggest adventure since … well, since that thing that happened in 1991 that he would prefer I not mention.


Paul Reubens, the 59-year-old man behind the fictional man-child, wants to do the next "Dancing With the Stars." He's been a fixture in this season's audience -- ostensibly to support his friend and fellow occasional trainwreck  David Arquette. But now his hidden agenda is revealed.


"My dance skills are pretty awesome," he told Hollywoodlife.com. "I'm cultivating them even further so if I am on next year then I’ll be ready."


Imagine the Tequila dance as a duet!

 

The publicity would help promote the upcoming third Pee-wee movie, which starts production early next year with producer Judd Apatow.


It would also help people forget that thing that happened in 1991 that he would prefer I not mention.


Personally, I love the idea. Do you? Then like this Facebook page someone created to drum up support. 


Also publicly throwing their hats into the ring are Ryan O'Neal and "Deadliest Catch" star Sig Hansen. Each has pronounced an intense, bordering on embarrassing, desire to compete next season.


However, the last time I checked, it's still the "DWTS" producers who get to decide who stars in their show.


If reached for comment on the matter, I'm pretty sure Pee-Wee would reply: "I know you are but what am I?"


Dancing with the Stars airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.  

Michelle says Barack doesn't like their kids keeping up, sisters reportedly feel 'blindsided'

By Corey Levitan Oct 20, 2011 9:19AM

President Barack Obama doesn't like his young daughters, Malia and Sasha, keeping up with the Kardashians.


Here's what Michelle Obama told iVillage: "Barack really thinks some of the Kardashians -- when they watch that stuff -- he doesn't like that as much."


It's being speculated that the Obamas' opposition to E!'s "Keeping Up With the Kardasians" may stem from Republican Bruce Jenner's outspoken opposition to the current administration.


The First Lady softened her blow by continuing: "But I sort of feel like if we’re talking about it, and I’m more concerned with how they take it in. What did you learn when you watched that? And if they’re learning the right lessons -- like, that was crazy -- then I’m like, OK.”


Us Weekly quotes a source close to the Kardashians saying they are flattered just to be watched in the White House. However, another source told TMZ they feel "blindsided" since the Prez personally told Khloe he thought it was a "great show" when they met last year.


We like the TMZ source better.

So far there has been no official Kardashian response. However, Kourtney did tweet that she "had a chai latte and a banana" this morning.


"Do bananas ever make anyone else nauseous?" she asked.


More on this breaking story as it develops.

 

No hugs from Coach for this week's dismissed castaway

By Sona Charaipotra Oct 19, 2011 12:45PM
Photo courtesy CBS
No hugs from Coach for "Survivor: South Pacific" castaway Stacey Powell, who was booted from Redemption Island last week after losing a duel to her pal and former Upolu tribe mate Christine.

"Can you believe the nerve of him," Powell says, her voice incredulous. "Trying to make nice after all that went down. Well, Benjamin, Stacey doesn't need your false sympathies. That is bullshit."

We caught up with the straight-shooting mortician from Grand Praire, Texas, to talk strategy, sympathy and whom she's rooting for now. (Or not.)

Were you surprised to be the one sent packing, given that feat you pulled off during your final challenge? Was it an age thing?

You know, Dawn and I both held our own for a long time, despite our age. We're strong women and we showed that. I mean, 140 lbs. of weight for a woman like me? I showed them that I was strong, that I was capable, that I could pull my weight for my team. And then I get sent to Redemption Island. That is just ridiculous. That just shows you how this game is played. It's down and dirty, that's the way they're playing it. They're not thinking about how to make their tribe stronger, everyone's out for themselves.

Was it tough going up against your pal Christine?

Oh, I hated being there. That's the one moment I really didn't want to face. Christine was my number one friend there, so it was a bittersweet moment. I was happy to see her, but I didn't want to face off with her in a challenge. She's a worthy opponent. But we had fun on Redemption Island by ourselves, like a girls' night out, chatting over coconuts. 

When you left the game, you were pretty fed up with Coach. Was that because of the way things wend down at tribal, or had it been brewing for a while?

His name's not Coach, it's Benjamin. I'm not about to give him the satisfaction. He's Benjamin to me. That's the name he was born to, that's the name I'm going to call him. I didn't dislike him from the start. I didn't watch the show much before this, so I didn't know about his history. But over the course of the time we were there, he just got lazy. He wanted to be the leader, but he didn't want to do any of the work. He wanted everyone else to do it for him. He was too busy meditating, too busy ordering everyone else around. Well, you ain't my Coach. To me, he's just Benjamin. Lazy-ass Benjamin.

So is there someone on the show you're rooting for now?

Oh, you, they can all suffer, because everyone's out for themselves, no one's thinking about the team. I can't wait to get to the finale and December and see how it all plays out. 

Want more "Survivor: South Pacific"? Catch an all-new episode tonight at 8 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.
 

Biggest names are Aiken, Jillette, Lampanelli, Giudice

By Corey Levitan Oct 19, 2011 10:19AM

'Celebrity Apprentice'/NBCWhat apparently is the full cast list for Season 5 of "Celebrity Apprentice" has been leaked in Internet reports -- although the official NBC announcement is forthcoming.

As usual, no one will become Donald Trump's actual apprentice, and very few are actual celebrities (at least not anymore). Still, it should be fun watching the contestants duke it out for their favorite charities.

We've arranged them below, in order of their current chances of landing a table at Boa Steakhouse in Hollywood ...


Clay Aiken, "American Idol" star

Penn Jillette, magician

Lisa Lampanelli, comedian

Teresa Giudice, "Real Housewives of New Jersey" star

Victoria Gotti, "Growing Up Gotti" star

Aubrey O'Day, former Danity Kane singer

George Takei, former "Star Trek" star and gay activist

Cheryl Tiegs, former model

Marco Andretti, race car driver

Tia Carrere, actress

Adam Carolla, former TV and radio host

Paul Teutul, Sr., "American Chopper" star

Dee Snider, Twisted Sister singer

Lou Ferrigno, former "Hulk"

Debbie Gibson, singer

Arsenio Hall, former talk show host

Dayana Mendoza, Miss Universe 2008

Patricia Velasquez, model

Expect Aiken to be self-absorbed, Guidice and Gotti to brawl, and no one to know who Mendoza or Velasquez are.


Actually, the biggest star in this show will be someone who is not appearing: Howard Stern. Four contestants are in the satellite radio shock jock's inner circle. Takei has been able to somewhat resurrect his star via occasional stints as Stern's announcer, while Snider is one of Stern's real-life best friends and Carolla and Lampanelli are regular guests. (Jillette was also a regular years ago.)

 

"Celebrity Apprentice" returns this winter on NBC.

 

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Deanna Barnert

Deanna Barnert | Los Angeles, Calif.

Entertainment journalist Deanna "TVDeeva" Barnert visits sets, interviews industry players and critiques the final product. Buzz's daytime TV queen covers it all for MSN TV, but loves her sitcoms, soaps and any juicy drama that doesn't call itself Reality TV.

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