Results tagged “tv”

It's the appearance that got people talking. The Rogue and the Daytime Queen. And it's almost time to see what has been wrought upon- Okay, we'll stop. Chances are, it'll be a pretty paint-by-numbers appearance. But, still, we'll be checking out former Alaska Governor and rogue patriot Sarah Palin's appearance on Oprah (taped yesterday, airing Monday). And a clip is already out and about for your enjoyment perusal. [via]

Nikki Finke is reporting Oprah Winfrey is moving her show to the Oprah Winfrey Network by 2011, and will be moving production from Chicago to L.A.

• Sen. Burris continues to be in the health care debate spotlight thanks to his stance on a public option. Well, sort of.
• The Sun-Times discovers commuting by bike.
• Clean-up continues of a major freight train derailment in the Glenview area.

FOX 32 must have finally realized that after one hour of a pretty mediocre newscast, the people weren't exactly clamoring for another 35 minutes on top of that. In September they're dropping The Ten, their 10 p.m. extension of their 9 p.m. news program. Hopefully they'll move The Simpsons back to their rightful place so we have something to watch when The Daily Show is a rerun. [CBR]

She led a long, full life. Yet, like every icon's passing, her death still came as a shock. Bea Arthur's passing has inspired remembrances from far and wide (and did you know her final act was penning a letter protesting foie gras?)

That isn't us in front of you at the convenience store, holding up the line while muttering specific numeric combinations to the harried counter attendant like a druid who has the economic downturn all figured out. Straight/box, 4-way combos, Pick 3, Pick 4, and any number of those garish quick-play pieces -- it's wishful thinking in our opinion, and we'd rather spend that cash on a personal stimulus package in the form of Hostess Zingers.

Lewis Lazare reports today that Jonathon Brandmeier has not yet signed a new contract with WLUP-FM.

Gorilla Tango Theatre, Weds. Feb. 11th and 18th, 8 p.m., Purcahse tickets here.

The Spot, 4437 N. Broadway, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 8 p.m., $10.

Tomorrow at high noon in Springfield, Governor Rod Blagojevich's impeachment trial will get underway but the Governor will be nowhere near the State Capitol. Instead, he'll be making the media rounds, hitting up talk shows, a move that cost him the services of superstar defense attorney Ed Genson. At least one local network (ABC 7) has said they'll stream the events in Springfield live tomorrow and suspect more will join. But what of the interviews? If you're close to a TV and what some unintentional comedy to get your week started, you can catch Blago on the following programs:

Movies! Aside from preparing for and then recovering from your T-Day food coma, what else ya gonna do?

Local television stations will be participating in small, five minute test sessions tomorrow in order to help viewers prepare for the nationwide switch to digital broadcasting on Febrary 17, 2009. WGN Channel 9 viewers who are equipped to handle the digital signal will receive an on-screen confirmation, while those with outdated eqipment will see Bozo the Clown appear on their screens, saying, “It’s me, your ol’ pal Bozo, a big part of WGN’s glorious past, with an important message for you about the future of WGN. If you can see me right now, that means you’re NOT ready for America’s conversion to DTV, digital television.” All local TV stations perform test sessions tomorrow at 6:53 a.m. and 5:23 p.m.

Lately Oprah’s Monday shows have been pretty heavy, so we were relieved to have something easy and fun to indulge in during this week's chilly start. Oprah and her O Magazine glam squad helped frumpy schlumpdinkas “get their sexy back.” (Are people still using that phrase? Well, Oprah is.) O always brings out the big guns when it comes to makeovers, but these were almost at the level of The Swan. (Without all the gruesome plastic surgery, of course.) The big reveal song choices were the best. The ladies stepped out to such tunes as Tom Jones’ “You Sexy Thing” and the Isley Brothers’ “Who’s That Lady?” while the sometimes tactless Oprah quipped, “Is that even you? I don’t even recognize you!” Interestingly the O team flipped it on us by bringing the Real Housewives of Orange County to the show, who notoriously dress pretty whore-ifficly, and gave them a makeunder. The California girls looked much more sophisticated and classy, but made it clear they wouldn’t wear the heavy fabrics and turtlenecks back in the O.C. Infidels!

Did anyone else watch The Rachel Zoe Project on Bravo? It followed the oh-so-theatrical daily life of the celebrity stylist and her two oil-and-water assistants as they weathered the storm of dressing stars for Hollywood red carpet moments. Sounds pretty shallow, right? Well, it was. And we were grotesquely enamored with it. It wasn’t so much Rachel’s glamorama lifestyle of rubbing elbows with celebs that kept us glued. It was her 1) her turns of phrase wrought with end-of-the world drama. (Examples: “You are my life. I die. Killing it on a whole 'nother level. Shut it down.”) And 2) her over-the-top boho style that we actually kind of dug.

Stephen Colbert moves from Rush's prog-rock to Wiclo's prog-Americana (admit it, that's an apt description at this point) as he welcomes the Chicago superstars to his program Thursday night. No word yet on whether the band will be outfitted in Nudie Suits or not, but we're hoping Colbert will be sporting those stylish threads. [Pitchfork]

Blackhawks Drop Opener To Rangers

O.K., it's not Chicago related, but we know the New Zealand duo Flight of the Conchords have lots of Chicago fans, right? Well, we're sad to say that their next season will also be their last. While we're pleased to see that they're going out on a high note before the series has a chance to devolve, we're upset we'll only have one more season to see that hair helmet or see someone get hit in the face with a sandwich.

If you like television celebrities, nonfiction authors, mathematics, illegal drug consumption, or any combination of the above: tonight is your night!

Richard Roeper and critic-we-actually-like Michael Phillips will be on the upcoming season of , which returns Sept 7. [Deadline Hollywood]

Weigel Broadcasting, the local company behind The U, MeTV and MeToo, has announced that this fall it'll be partnering with MGM to produce a new, nationwide digital TV channel to be called This TV. When stations go all-digital in February, there will be many broadcasters that won't be able to fill the new subchannels, due to lack of funds and/or programming. This TV aims to fill the gap, available for lease to broadcasters who can broadcast the schedule as is (it'll be on the air 24/7) or customize it with local content. The new station will draw from more than 10,000 hours of TV shows and thousands of films that are part of the MGM library. And it'll be run and programmed right here in Chicago, overseen by Weigel's Executive VP Neal Sabin.

Bravo’s fashion designer throwdown show Project Runway is in its fifth season, and we have a hometown hero among the pack representing Midwest style. Woot woot! 39-year-old Terri Stevens hails from Chicago and is a Columbia College alum. Looking like a bit of a headbanger herself, Stevens describes her style as “if Aerosmith met Lauryn Hill met Michael Jackson.” So how did that Frankenrocker aesthetic parlay into the first challenge?

Maybe it’s too much hullabaloo. Maybe the circus freaks were unionizing. Maybe the man’s just getting old and all the colors are making him dizzy. Whatever the reason, The Jerry Springer Show, now coming of age in its 18th season, will be taking a more focused approach to its programming this year.

The towing business has a bit of a bad rap, a perception seemingly validated by new county legislation meant to put a damper on towing shenanigans. But Wrecked, SpeedTV’s new reality show premiering this month, features local legits O'Hare Towing Service. Business owners Bill and Marci Gratzianna hope the show will help to return some respect to the towing industry, as well as highlight its importance and incredible difficulty:

It's sad moment for fans of Twin Peaks and Stargate SG-1. We've just learned that character actor Don Davis passed away on June 29. The cause of death was a massive heart attack. Davis appeared in dozens of movies and TV shows over years (including The X-Files), but we'll remember him best as buttoned-down, extraterrestrial-hunting Major Briggs on Twin Peaks. He had one of the best lines of dialog in the whole series, delivered in his usual warm and burnished baritone, "To have his path made clear is the aspiration of every human being in our beclouded and tempestuous existence." The role of Major Briggs lead directly to being cast as a very similar character on Stargate SG-1. He played Maj. Gen. George Hammond in over 80 episodes (!)

We've made no secret of the fact that we love watching MeTV. You can keep your crappy network reality TV, thank you very much. When it's time to wind down the evening we'll stick with Twilight Zone at 10pm, followed by The Dick Van Dyke Show (which apparently Michelle Obama loves). Especially now that there are two MeTV channels, there's rarely a moment when there isn't a vintage goodie airing that isn't worth watching.

Mike Kelley's new show Swingtown was supposed to premiere last winter, but the writer's strike shut down production. Instead the hour-long drama debuted on CBS last Thursday, and Kelley actually sees the delay as a blessing in disguise. The show is set in the summer of 1976, and as he astutely points out, it parallels this summer in the sense that tides seem to be shifting. Politics are reorganizing, minds are changing, and our ideals are in a state of metamorphosis. For that reason, Swingtown, though set in the past, works well alongside today's pop culture.

An update on the Red Line stoppage: a man was struck and killed by a Red Line train just south of the Chinatown stop at about 4:30 p.m., his body still pinned under the train. Red Line trains are once again running on their designated tracks between Howard and Roosevelt, where they then run on the Green Line tracks to the 35th-Bronzeville Green Line station. [Trib, S-T, CTA]

This year Gay Pride Month in Chicago, a.k.a. June, kicks off with a brand new documentary premiering tonight on WTTW. Out & Proud in Chicago highlights almost 150 years of the city’s LGBT history – from the Civil War era through present day. The documentary serves to illuminate the path to liberation for Chicago’s LBGT community, coupling historical milestones with personal vignettes and individual reflection. From the WTTW pressroom:

High school students who ride horses in the streets of Philadelphia. An Iraqi who takes to the streets of Savannah to talk to Americans about the war. The life story of people named John Smith. These are some of the stories that will unfold in second season of the TV version of This American Life when it premieres on Showtime Sunday night.

Back in the VHS era we taped a fair amount of movies off TV. Most of the time we were sitting there and editing out the commercials, but now and then we'd use the timer to record something. Those captured commercials, once minor annoyances to fast-forward through, are now fascinating artifacts. Bit by bit we've been digitizing them and posting them on YouTube. A simple search proves that we're not alone: there are scads of vintage Madison Avenue spots for perusal. "Mikey likes it." "The best part of waking up..." Watching them now is hard proof that a silly bit of commercial propaganda, when seen repeatedly at a tender young age, can lodge itself in your brain forever.