Pick of the Week: "Believe It Or Not It's Just Me"

“Believe it or not I’m walking on air. I never thought I could feel so free…”

My Pick of the Week is the Syfy marathon of “The Greatest American Hero.”

Holiday weekends usually mean marathons and this one is the best as Syfy gives us 20 hours of the classic 80s show about Ralph Hinkley (William Katt), a schoolteacher who becomes an unwitting superhero when he receives a costume from aliens. A pre-“Hotel” Connie Selleca was Ralph’s girlfriend, Pam, and the late Robert Culp was his FBI partner, Bill Maxwell.

What set this hero apart was that he had no idea how to use the powers that came from the suit because he lost the instruction manual. But somehow he still managed to save the day.

“Flying away on a wing and a prayer. Who could it be? Believe it or not it’s just me…”

The 20-hour marathon of “The Greatest American Hero” begins Sunday, July 4th at 9 a.m. on Syfy…

Photo Credit: Mill Creek Entertainment

Pick of the Week: Goodbye to A Daytime Icon

Usually when a veteran soap star dies, the show takes one day to bring everyone back for a funeral. And it never seems to be enough.

So when a soap goes the extra mile, it deserves to be rewarded. And it definitely deserves my Pick…

My Pick of the Week is “Days of Our Lives.”

All this month, “Days” has been bringing back former cast members to say goodbye to both Alice Horton and her portrayer, Frances Reid, who died February 3rd at the age of 95. Wednesday (June 23rd), friends and family learn that Alice has passed away. And Thursday (June 24th), everyone begins gathering to say goodbye.

You can see a small preview here.



Carrie (Christie Clark), Mike (Roark Critchlow) and Kimberly (Patsy Pease) also return this week. And as a special bonus, we’ll get a long-awaited Kim-Shane (Charles Shaughnessy) reunion on Friday (June 25th).

Please remember these dates can change, so to be safe, you should just tape/DVR the whole week. If you’re a longtime fan, I think it will be worth your time. You can also watch episodes online at NBC.com.

In an interview with “Soap Opera Digest,” Head Writer Dena Higley said, “I didn’t want to bring people back who took too much story away from what we were doing, but could impact the story we were doing and help it move forward.” In other words, no Marlena and John. And some other characters (Jack, Steve) are absent due to actor unavailability. But as much as we’d like to see everyone, you have to give “Days” credit for giving us as much as they are…

“Days of Our Lives” airs weekdays at 1 p.m. on NBC…

"Hot In Cleveland" Review: Enjoyable Enough

I fully expected to hate “Hot In Cleveland.” After all, the incessant promos have practically ruined my TV Land viewing for weeks. And more often than not when you get a group of known comedy stars together, it turns out to be a disaster.

So imagine my surprise when I heard myself laughing while watching the pilot…

“Cleveland” is the story of three friends: Novelist Melanie (Valerie Bertinelli), makeup artist Joy (Jane Leeves) and actress Victoria (Wendie Malick). The trio decide to take a trip to Paris to add some spice to their lives. But something goes wrong with the plane and they end up making an emergency landing in Cleveland. And when Melanie catches the eye of an attractive man (guest start John Schneider), she decides to move her life to Cleveland. That includes renting a house with a rather eccentric caretaker (Betty White).

The chemistry between the three leads is strong and each are extremely appealing. It’s Leeves that gets most of the zingers and she does them well. And White is always fun to watch, but I hope the show finds more for her to do. In the premiere, it seemed like they were trying a little too hard to fit her in.

“Cleveland” is not the funniest show ever made, but it is an enjoyable enough half-hour.

Now if they would just stop those insufferable promos…

Photo Credit: TV Land

Bravo Confirms the Rumors

Today, Bravo finally confirmed the rumors and announced that the White House party crashers will be a part of its newest “Housewives” franchise.

Michaele Salahi will be part of the cast of “The Real Housewives of D.C.” (Salahi is on the far right in the cast photo.). According to the official press release, model and founder of D.C.'s America's Polo Cup, Salahi, will be joined by “Mary Schmidt Amons, the true Washingtonian and granddaughter of radio and TV personality Arthur Godfrey; the mother hen and owner of D.C.'s top modeling agency, Lynda Erkiletian; feisty Brit Catherine Ommanney, married to a White House photographer; and Harvard grad, active political fund raiser, and philanthropist Stacie Scott Turner."

This should be interesting...

“The Real Housewives of D.C.” will premiere Thursday, August 5th at 9 p.m. on Bravo…

Photo Credit: Bravo

Pick of the Week: Let the Flames Begin Again!

This week, two of my faves return. So I’m making one of them my Pick and one of them a Bravo Bonus.

My Pick of the Week is the premiere of “Top Chef D.C.”

17 chefs gather in Washington, D.C., which means challenges related to our nation’s capital and later in the season, cameos from Washington insiders. Based on the first elimination challenge, the chefs appear very talented—although there is one chef that creeps me out so badly, at times it’s hard to watch (You’ll know which one as soon as you see him.).

I love “Top Chef,” so I am thrilled to have it back. But if I’m being honest, I was a little disappointed that both the Quickfire and Elimination challenges were kind of repeats from the “Las Vegas” premiere. And the high stakes Quickfires were a nice change of pace last season, but without the Vegas setting, I’m not really sure they work this season.

But it’s “Top Chef,” AND Toby Young is gone, so I’m going to give it the benefit of the doubt…

“Top Chef D.C.” premieres Wednesday, June 16th at 9 p.m. on Bravo…

And for my Bravo Bonus, my guiltiest pleasure also returns this week—“Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List.”

This season, Kathy has got some A-List gigs like hosting the Schmemmys and guesting on “Law & Order: SVU.” But thankfully for us she can never stay too far away from the D-List by judging a kiddie pageant and “dating” Levi Johnston…

“Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List” premieres Tuesday, June 15th at 9 p.m. on Bravo…

Photo Credits: Justin Stephens/Bravo & Matt Hage/Bravo

"Days of Our Lives" Says Goodbye to Alice

You’ll be able to read more about this in Thursday’s “Stay Tuned” column in the H-D, but I wanted to share a little with you right now…

“Days of Our Lives” is pulling out all the stops to say goodbye to Alice Horton and her portrayer, Frances Reid. If you were watching today, you know that Jennifer (Melissa Reeves) is already back in town and she will be joined by several others throughout the month.

Here’s the schedule, according to "Soap Opera Digest" (remembering that dates are subject to change):

June 11th—Marie Horton (Maree Cheatham)
June 15th—Laura Horton (Jaime Lyn Bauer)
June 15th—Bill Horton (John Martin)
June 18th—Kayla Brady Johnson (Mary Beth Evans)
June 18th—Melissa Horton (Lisa Trusel)
June 19th—Lucas Roberts (Bryan R. Dattilo)
June 23rd—Carrie Brady Reed (Christie Clark)
June 23rd—Mike Horton (Roark Critchlow)
June 24th—Kimberly Brady (Patsy Pease)

Shane Donovan (Charles Shaughnessy) has already returned and will share a long-awaited on-screen reunion with Kimberly. All of the guests will gather for Alice’s on-screen funeral on June 24th.

You can see episodes of “Days” here the day after it airs.

Photo Credit: NBC

My Picks for the Best Summer Cable Viewing

In today's "Stay Tuned" column in the "Entertainment Tri-State" section of the H-D, you can see my picks for the Top 10 cable shows to catch this summer. You can read it here.

And just for the record, I actually liked "Hot in Cleveland." I'll have more about that later...

Your Cable Summer Schedule

There are A LOT of cable shows premiering this summer.

Here’s a quick look at some of what the major cable nets have to offer:

HBO
True Blood—June 13th at 9 p.m.
Entourage—June 27th at 10 p.m.

TBS
My Boys—July 25th at 10 p.m.

AMC
Mad Men—July 25th at 10 p.m.
Rubicon—August 1st at 8 p.m.

A&E
The Glades—July 13th at 10 p.m.

USA
White Collar—July 13th at 9 p.m.
Covert Affairs—July 13th at 10 p.m.
Psych—July 14th at 10 p.m.

ABC Family
Huge—June 28th at 9 p.m.

TNT
Leverage—June 20th at 9 p.m.
Memphis Beat—June 22nd at 10 p.m.
Hawthorne—June 22nd at 9 p.m.
The Closer—July 12th at 9 p.m.
Rizzoli & Isles—July 12th at 10 p.m.
Dark Blue—August 4th at 9 p.m.

Syfy
Warehouse 13—July 6th at 9 p.m.
Eureka—July 9th at 9 p.m.

FX
Louie—June 29th at 11 p.m.
Rescue Me—June 29th at 10 p.m.

VH1
Ochocinco: The Ultimate Catch—July 11th at 9 p.m.

TV Land
Hot in Cleveland—June 16th at 10 p.m.

Bravo
Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List—June 15th at 9 p.m.
Double Exposure—June 15th at 10 p.m.
Top Chef D.C.—June 16th at 9 p.m.

Stay Tuned for previews and reviews of these shows and others coming your way this summer…

Photo Credit: Darren Michaels/TNT

"Bethenny Getting Married?" Review: Where's the Drama?

The New York housewives have never been my favorites. I’ve always been more partial to the Atlanta and New Jersey ones. But if I had to choose my favorite New York housewife, it would definitely be Bethenny Frankel. She’s never afraid to give her opinion about anything, which usually always gets her into trouble.

So she would seem a natural fit for her own show and now she has it. “Bethenny Getting Married?” follows her as she runs her businesses while preparing for a baby and planning her wedding.

Maybe I’ve been spoiled by all the drama of the New Jersey housewives, but I found “Bethenny” to be a little boring. About the only drama in the premiere is her fiancé Jason asking her not to hire a straight assistant. Even Jason not showing up to his own housewarming party comes off boring.

It’s possible that the reason the whole thing comes off boring is that we already know how it all comes out. So any drama related to the wedding doesn’t come off as much since we know it’s going to get solved. Or it could be that watching Bethenny navigate her life without the other housewives just isn’t that interesting…

“Bethenny Getting Married?” premieres Wednesday, June 10th at 10 p.m. on Bravo…

"Real Housewives of NJ": What Has Bravo Brought Upon Us?

I knew “New Jersey” housewife Danielle was crazy, but…

I hadn’t watched an episode of “The Real Housewives of New Jersey” all season, but when I couldn’t find anything else to watch Sunday night, I tuned into a couple of episodes of a marathon.

Not knowing anything about what had transpired previously, I have to admit I was actually on Danielle’s side. She was invited to a charity event at the Brownstone, which is owned and operated by her enemies, the Manzos. Caroline (the Manzo matriarch) was angry about her coming, which I thought was ridiculous since this was about a young child with cancer. And the child’s family had invited Danielle. But Caroline’s husband said she had every right to be there.

But then Danielle showed up to the event with her convicted felon friend, Danny. And Danny decided they needed extra protection (Apparently he thought that the Manzos would create a scene at a charity fundraiser.). So he brings a group of Hells Angels. When Danielle goes in and sees that there is not enough room for her entourage. She creates a scene and storms out saying that this was the Manzos getting back at her. Even though the place did bring in a table for her and her people. The child’s family was completely embarrassed and may have actually asked for her to be removed.

It was one of the craziest things I’ve seen on TV in months. I couldn’t stop yelling at the screen. And Monday, I tuned into the next new episode where once again I found myself yelling at the TV as Danielle invited Danny to back her up at a dinner with Dina.

In the name of all that is good and holy, what has Bravo brought upon us?

And more importantly how can I possibly stop watching now?

“The Real Housewives of New Jersey” airs Mondays at 10 p.m. on Bravo…

Photo Credit: Virginia Sherwood/Bravo

"Work of Art" Review: Could This Be the One?

It seems like every few months I’m writing about Bravo’s latest attempt at replacing “Project Runway.”

First there was “The Fashion Show.” Then there was “Launch My Line.” They both started out okay, but quickly ran off the rails. And neither came anywhere close to being the next “Project Runway.”

But now I think it’s quite possible that Bravo has finally found its replacement—in the art world…

Sarah Jessica Parker and the Magical Elves have teamed up to bring us “Work of Art: The Next Great Artist.” The show follows the “Runway” formula almost exactly. There’s an attractive host/judge (China Chow), sharp tongued judges (Jerry Saltz of “New York Magazine” is especially blunt.) and a mentor for the contestants (auctioneer Simon de Pury).

But even copying the successful formula doesn’t mean a successful show without great contestants. So thankfully it appears that “Work” has found some pretty good ones. They’re all extremely talented in painting, screenprinting, photography and sculpting. But more importantly, some of them are extremely opinionated and are not afraid to share their opinions with anyone who will listen—whether they want to hear it or not.

In the premiere, the most opinionated contestant gets slammed by the judges so she snarkily tells them that she is not responsible for their experience of her work. Me-OW! It’s the kind of comment that made me want to stand up and cheer.

Could this be the one that makes everyone forget “Project Runway”? I’ve got my fingers crossed…

“Work of Art: The Next Great Artist” premieres Wednesday, June 9th at 11 p.m. on Bravo, following the season finale of “Top Chef Masters.”