Pop-Corn: Ultra Mega Super Tidbits Post to Make Up for Yesterday

Hey, guys! First, my SINCEREST apologies for being MIA yesterday. That will teach me to rely on hotel wireless. But today is a new day! And it's the season for giving! I’m sitting here rocking out to Lady GaGa’s The Fame Monster (Deluxe Edition, of course) getting ready to let you have all of the juicy bits of news that have transpired over the last 24 hours. Enjoy!

To kick things off, how about some news of my prayers being answered? Lie to Me writer Shawn Ryan announced via Twitter yesterday that Fox finally picked up the back nine episodes, bringing the show up to a full season order of 22 episodes. Fox had already tacked on three additional scripts to the original 13-episode order. But with all this Dollhouse and Eastwick cancellation nonsense, I was starting to worry that my greatest fear—Fox pulling the plug on Lie to Me—was about to come to pass. Thankfully, Fox obviously sees the value of this intense, powerful, quirky drama led by Tim Roth and Kelli Williams. If they would just secure Fringe for six seasons or so, then all would be right with the world But, on a serious note, I know I have said this countless times before, but Lie to Me is honestly a truly amazing show. I don't hear enough people talking about it. I know it's got the crime-of-the-week scenario many other crime shows have, but it's actually not as close to that traditional model as many people believe. They explore a variety of issues (industry and political corruption, ethics, consumerism, family dynamics, terrorism and so much more) through extraordinarily varied cases that come across their desks each week. It's more of a case-of-the-week model, but the way the issues are presented and how the characters deal with them and their investigations, not to mention their personal lives, well, that's what sets this show apart and why I love it so much. The winter hiatus is coming, so rent or buy season 1 now and start catching up!

Speaking of Fringe and the winter hiatus, unfortunate but true, the show will be going on hiatus for a full seven weeks possibly starting February 11, 2010. Sad face!!! Fox published their midseason schedule yesterday, and it appears they are going through with their original plan to pull Fringe for awhile in order to air Past Life. When Fox picked up Past Life last May, they had ordered the standard 13 episodes, but a couple weeks ago they announced a decrease in the order to 7 episodes. You see the connections here? I thought so. More on Fox’s midseason plans for Fringe and other shows to come in this week’s Week in WTF.

But congratulations are in order for Fox because The Hollywood Reporter is projecting that Fox will win November sweeps for the first time in television history. Since Fox has become my favorite of the Big Four networks over the last two or three years, a huge sense of pride fills my heart and I would like to take a moment to hug Fox with my mind. There. Congratulations! Pick up Fringe.

The pick-ups continue with USA announcing yesterday that they have renewed their hit action dramedy series Burn Notice for a fourth season. This news comes right after USA’s renewal of crimedy (crime comedy…I just made that up right now, that’s right!) Psych for a fifth season, which they announced Monday night and I attempted to report yesterday but you know the story. I ADORE both Burn Notice and Psych to no end, so I couldn’t be happier. USA and TNT really know what quality TV is all about. It’s become so apparent over the last five years that the cable networks are really pulling to build a different model for television that gives shows a chance to gain an audience and establish themselves before any big decisions are made. And now with USA retiring its first original series, Monk, in just days, there is room for the USA family to grow.



And now some drops! But not TV drops, don’t worry. Apparently, male R&B group Day 26, the product of Diddy and MTV’s Making the Band 4, have parted ways with the Diddy-helmed Bad Boy Records label. They are now on Atlantic Records and have plans to head into the studio at the start of the new year to work on their third album. This news comes at an interesting time since I just developed a renewed interest in Day 26’s music and have added them back into my rotation (I go through cycles). According to the guys, there is no drama behind the label move. It sounds more like Diddy allowed or advised (or whatever verb is appropriate) them to move because he is turning his attention to his own latest music endeavors—the invention of “train music,” his new group Dirty Money (comprised of himself, Danity Kane’s Dawn Richard and “newcomer Kaleena”) and the recording of his/their album Last Train to Paris. Don’t ask because I don’t know!

Here’s a nice tidbit for the holiday season. The Producers Guild of America (oh, yeah, they’ve got guilds for everything!) announced Monday that they will be honoring science fiction/fantasy media genius Joss Whedon with their prestigious Vanguard Award at their 2010 ceremony (to be held January 24, 2010). According to Nikki Finke’s Deadline Hollywood Daily, “The PGA’s Vanguard Award recognizes achievements in new media and technology.” I’m sure that Joss’s work on his Emmy-winning web series Dr. Horrible and comic book continuations of his many sci-fi programs contributed to the decision to name him as the 2010 Vanguard winner. Congratulations to Joss and many thanks to the PGA for recognizing the brilliance that Fox and others seem to have trouble “getting.”

This one is totally random and perhaps not exactly a SWTS-type tidbit, but it’s too cool not to talk about. UK newspaper the Telegraph published an article yesterday detailing Oxford University's Magdalen College’s plans to rename its Junior common room “Gryffindor” after one of the dormitories or houses at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry from JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series. There are apparently also plans to rename common rooms at three other Oxford colleges after the other Hogwarts houses—Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. I would just like to say one word: JEALOUS! Followed by three other words: That’s fucking cool!



Gossip Girl star/soon-to-be-a-mega-pop-star Leighton Meester performed her debut single “Somebody to Love” for the first time (her musical television debut, if you will) on MTV’s It’s On with Alexa Chung yesterday. Unfortunately, no Robin Thicke appearances, but Leighton rocked it!

Also, you must know that my Britney Spears: The Singles Collection Ultimate Fan Box Set arrived yesterday and it is perfect, gorgeous, exciting and wonderful. They used Britney's signature heart design everywhere and it is sleek and black and very professional-looking (read: worth every penny). My only complaint, obviously, is that the DVD containing "all" of Britney's videos was pressed before the "3" video was released, so in reality there is still no such thing as a DVD containing Britney's complete videography, but this is as close as we've come so far. I'm so excited to have all of these Circus-era remixes and videos and the artwork is just breathtaking. I love it! (I would take pictures to share, but I don't have the ability to download pics off of my digital camera at the moment. Apologies!)

And now for some INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT and yet ultimately for your entertainment videos:

The Muppets Performing Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”



Funny or Die’s 25 Years of Oprah Screaming People’s Names:



WOO! Okay, that's all for now. I hope that you got some good tidbits out of this and that this makes up for yesterday. Please know that I was fretting the entire time and almost had a complete breakdown after the whole cell phone post evaporated into internet oblivion. Back to our regularly scheduled blogging and it feels so good! Big hugs to all!