Guess Who’s On Dancing With the Stars This Season?
Posted on August 29, 2011 at 9:43 pm
And the competitors include….talk show diva Ricki Lake, Cher’s son Chaz Bono, TV host Nancy Grace, basketball player Ron Artest, Kristin Cavallari of “Laguna Beach,” Chynna Phillips of Wilson Phillips (and daughter of Michelle and John Phillips of The Mamas and Papas), “Scream” star David Arquette, and “Queer Eye on the Straight Guy” style maven Carson Kressley. There’s also a Kardashian brother and an Iraqi war veteran turned motivational speaker.
Any predictions on who will be the breakout dance star? The athletes have done very well in past seasons, but my money’s on Ricki Lake!
Family Movie Night: Encore Presentation of ‘A Walk in My Shoes’
Posted on August 22, 2011 at 3:59 pm
Family Movie Night has an encore presentation of A Walk in My Shoes on Friday, August 27, at 8/7 central on NBC. This is a terrific movie for the whole family about a teacher who gets a new point of view when she finds herself seeing the world through the eyes of the mother of one of her students.
Time Magazine has a great list of the best music videos in the first three decades of MTV. It’s hard to believe now that MTV’s arrival was controversial because some people thought it would take away from the purity of audio-only enjoyment of music. It was more appropriately controversial because, incredibly, MTV overlooked black performers in its early days. But videos from the “King of Pop,” Michael Jackson, became among the most popular ever and its “Yo! MTV Raps” program was influential in the genre’s early days.
I’ve been watching MTV long enough to remember when their “we’ll try anything” attitude had them playing Madonna’s “True Blue” for 24 hours straight (as the VJ noted, it could have been worse — it could have been “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida“). That means I remember the days when it really was “music television” with music videos back-to-back.
Music videos have turned out to be as creative and boundary-shattering as the music that inspires them. Time has some of my favorites, including “A-Ha’s” great “Take On Me,” Peter Gabriel’s amazing “Sledgehammer,” Jamiroquai’s mind-bending “Virtual Insanity,” Fatboy Slim’s “Weapon of Choice” featuring a sensational dance performance from Christopher Walken, OK Go’s treadmill dance number in “Here It Goes Again,” and, of course, Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” and Beyonce’s “Single Ladies,” probably the two most famous videos of all time.
The latest in the Family Movie Night series on NBC is Who Is Simon Miller? this Saturday, August 6, at 8/7 central. It is the story of a family discovery that the husband and father they thought they knew had another life — maybe many other lives. Stars include Loren Dean (“Say Anything” and “Mumford”) and Christine Baranski (“Mamma Mia”). It is an exciting spy story and a warm-hearted family drama. And it raises some good questions for family discussion about when it can be difficult to find the time and the right words to tell our families the things they should know — and about how getting away from our daily concerns can strengthen family bonds, even in a high-stress environment.
For more information, check out their Facebook page. And don’t forget to hit “like” to let NBC and sponsors Wal-Mart and Proctor & Gamble know how much we appreciate good movies the entire family can enjoy.
