Can You Duet

Friday Nights at 8/7c

The producers of American Idol are teaming up with CMT to find the next great country music duo in the most original singing competition ever, Can You Duet.

Each contestant will compete as part of a duo, and viewers will witness first hand all the on and off-stage drama in creating a dynamic musical duo. In addition to critiquing each performance and deciding who will advance to the next round, the judges will serve as mentors to guide, groom and develop the duets along the way.

For more information, go to: http://www.cmt.com/shows/series/can_you_duet/series.jhtml

From PR News Wire:

"I Know My Kid's A Star" premiering on VH1, Thursday, March 20 at 10pm challenges Danny Bonaduce to seek out one great, aspiring, triple-threat stage-hungry kid, identify them as a star, and train their driven stage mom or dad to be a supportive and fit parent who won't end up driving their kid into rehab.

Over the course of 8 hour-long episodes, "I Know My Kid's a Star" will feature ten Hollywood crazed parent/child teams living in a house in Los Angeles, willing to do whatever it takes so their child will become the next big star. The kids will need to have talent and the parents will need to have the smarts to navigate showbiz without ruining their child's career or life. The realities of the business become clearer, as each week Danny will eliminate one parent/child team that just won't make it in the cutthroat world of Hollywood.
 

By MICHAEL SCHNEIDER

Morreale

E! ENTERTAINMENT TELEVISION ROCKS AND ROLLS FROM THE RED CARPET AT THE 50TH ANNUAL GRAMMY AWARDS

Live Countdown Show Grammy Awards Opens Coverage from 5:00pm-6:00pm ET/PT With Giuliana Rancic, The Daily 10's Debbie Matenopoulos and Sal Masekela and E! Radio's Michael Yo, With Fashion Expert Jay Manuel

Live From the Red Carpet Grammy Awards 6:00pm-8:00pm ET/PT
With Giuliana Rancic, Debbie Matenopoulos and Michael Yo

E! Presents Live from the Red Carpet Special for the 14th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards® with a Spanish-Language SAP Simulcast

One-Hour Fashion Police Special to Highlight the Wardrobe Hits & Misses On Monday, February 12 at 8:00pm ET/PT

LOS ANGELES, CA. February 5, 2008 – E! Entertainment Television, the red carpet authority, parties with music royalty at The 50th Annual Grammy® Awards LIVE from the Staples Center in Los Angeles.  Join E!'s elite awards show team, along with your favorite artists from the worlds of pop, rap and country, as they meet, mingle and applaud the best and brightest talents in the business.  From the early red carpet arrivals to all the celebrity couples and every fashion moment in between, you won't want to miss one minute of E!'s 3 hour LIVE Grammy red carpet.
In addition, for the first time, E! will present our annual Live from the Red Carpet with a Spanish-language SAP simulcast.  E!'s highly anticipated Red Carpet coverage from the 2008 Grammy Awards starts Sunday, February 10 at 5:00pm ET/PT.

Join Giuliana Rancic and the rest of the E! team as they catch up with some of this year's outstanding performers like Record of the Year nominees Beyonce, Foo Fighters, Rihanna, Justin Timberlake and many more.  Watch for Fergi, Christina Aguilera, John Mayer, Seal and Maroon 5 to cruise up to the E! Grammy platform and kick it with our red carpet experts.

Everyone will be there and viewers can watch newcomers Feist and Daughtry mix and mingle with the likes of the Bon Jovi, Beastie Boys and music legends like Bette Midler and Tony Bennett on music's most influential night. Throughout our coverage, E! is the place for up-to-the-minute accounts of all the day's festivities and the most comprehensive insider information covering the worlds of music, fashion and entertainment.
E! Online is all over the Grammy Awards, with a printable scorecard and predictions in all the big categories. Who rocks your world? Tell us your favorite music star in one of our many fan polls. During Live from the Red Carpet, you can rate the A-list couture with an up-close look on our Glam Cam. Plus, you'll get arrivals pics, backstage peeks, Fashion Police and all the highs and "whoas" from the big night. It's a can't-miss Web experience!

The following night, join Debbie Matenopoulos, Jay Manuel and sharp-tongued hair-stylist-to-the-stars Peter Ishkhans for Fashion Police: The 2008 Grammy Awards premiering Monday, February 11 at 8:00pm ET/PT.  Watch as these three fashion icons review the night's fashion hits and misses, summarizing which celebrity rocked the carpet and who missed the mark.
Live Countdown Show Grammy Awards Opens Coverage from 5:00pm-6:00pm ET/PT With Giuliana Rancic, The Daily 10's Debbie Matenopoulos and Sal Masekela and E! Radio's Michael Yo, With Fashion Expert Jay Manuel.

Live From the Red Carpet Grammy Awards 6:00pm-8:00pm ET/PT With Giuliana Rancic, Debbie Matenopoulos and Michael Yo.

BD Freeman

BD Freeman is on a groundbreaking mission: to be the first African American host of a late night talk show. Already making waves as a stand up comic, he now feels the timing is right to pursue his long time dream. We talked with BD about comedy, hosting, and his goals for the future.

The Star Scoop:

What are you working on? Fill us in on what you're up to.

BD Freeman:

Okay, well, I just got signed by Marki Costello. I'm really excited because Marki Costello is a fantastic manager of hosts, and the thing that I've wanted since my earliest memories of wanting anything is to do a late night show, which is why I gravitated towards stand up comedy. My whole time out here in L.A. has been all towards that.

The last project I worked on was a show called What I learned From The Movies and it's fun to do those kinds of shows, as well as hosting In the Cutz, which is fantastic experience. Being signed with Marki is a huge thing, because that puts me in the arena where it is that I want to be to have that opportunity to be in that arena of late night.

The Star Scoop:

You mentioned that you do a lot of stand up comedy. How would you describe the kind of act that you put on?

Freeman:

My comedy is really about whatever it is that I'm going through, whatever it is that's happening to me at that moment. It's funny because, as you go on and you get older, especially as you move through this Hollywood experience of celebrity and whatnot, you start to really broaden out. So my comedy, it really still has that flavor of what's happened to me through the day and what's going on with me everyday, but it's gone from being just experience to what it means socially. I traveled here, I went there, I saw this, I saw that, but not only what it means to me but what it means socially to everybody. My stand up has really opened up a lot.

My stand up has gone from doing it in the clubs to doing it on camera as a host, which a lot of times is really off the cuff, where I'm just sort of out there and, yeah, there's written work, stuff that I want to talk about and everything, but a lot of it is also coming from just that moment, which I'm finding is a really great benefit and also kind of a wonderful experience that's happening in front of the cameras.

The Star Scoop:

What is the difference there, of being in front of a camera versus doing a live show?

Freeman:

That's a really good question. There are so many differences. First off, when you're in front of an audience, everything is very, very instantaneous. You know if something is funny or not, or some things are funny but they creep up on the crowd, and then you're able to use that and maybe call back to it later on or use it to build something. Or something might happen in an audience: somebody drops a glass, somebody sneezes really loud, something happens that makes you react to that and in that moment. TV is different because when you're being funny on television, you not only have to get your crowd, but you have to get through the camera and into the living room of the people that are watching, and you're always kind of aware of that.

The fun thing about working on a show without an audience for me, is that I really concentrate on breaking up the crew. They're not supposed to break up, your camera men and your sound guys, you gaffers, all these different people there. So I will a lot of times kind of play to them as well, and just try to break them up the best I can, and it makes it so interesting to watch a show where I'll say, Wait a minute, listen, listen, and then right at that moment, if you listen hard enough, you can hear the guys in the back laughing. They're not supposed to be laughing, so it's fun.

The Star Scoop:

Is there something in particular that has attracted you to hosting?

Freeman:

It started with stand up comedy. I was sick one night, and I mean, really, really, sick, maybe ten, eleven years old, and it was just a miserable time for me. My father had just passed away; I was getting sick all the time, and like I said, I was really sick on this particular night. So I'm watching TV, and on HBO, they had a show, I think it was George Carlin. I sat there watching that show, and I'm telling you right now, and I'll tell this to anybody until the day I die, I laughed myself better. By the time that show was over with, I laughed so hard, I wasn't sick anymore. And I was really sick!

After that, even being that young, and not having the analytical mind or anything, having developed that kind of thinking, just the basic idea that a guy, just one guy, standing on stage made all those people laugh so hard and made me laugh so hard and I was actually better afterwards, it seemed to be that comedy was the most important thing in the world, more important than anything. It was really, really amazing to me, so I said, that's what I want to do; I want to be a comedian.

But I had also been watching a lot of Johnny Carson, and then Jay Leno. It seemed to me that they could do anything. Everything that I wanted to do. They told jokes, they did improv sketches, they interviewed guests and while they interviewed the guests, they were funny doing it, so that you found out about your favorite celebrities, and it was funny while they did it. All this information but at the same time you were so entertained. It's everything that I want to do. It's acting, it's comedy, it's interviewing people.

When I saw that, I just started putting that together that those guys did everything that I wanted to do. I think it was '89, was when Jay Leno got the word that he was gonna be doing The Tonight Show. I was probably the only kid in America who, I mean, everybody else was cutting out pictures of chicks and putting them on their wall. I was cutting out Jay Leno and putting him on my wall.

The Star Scoop:

Some people try their hand at comedy, and they're just not very funny. What does it take to be successful as a comedian?

Freeman:

Well first, to be successful as a comic, I believe that you either have it or you don't. You have to really want to do it. I mean, to be funny, you really gotta want to be funny, because you're not gonna be funny every night, on every show and every time. Sometimes you are just gonna suck and in the beginning, oh man. My first show I ever did as an amateur, and not getting paid, I got laughs. That was the worst thing that could have happened to me, to anybody, is to get laughs, because I thought every night was going to be like that [laughs]. It was an early mistake, and that began the long, long road. I attended the University of Montana, and they didn't have any comedy clubs there. What they did have, because [it's] kind of a hippy town, they had these open mikes where you'd have poets come, and folk singers, and different people like that.

So you'd have somebody go up there and they would sing a folk song about equal rights for women, and they'd have someone else go up and they would do poetry about the evils and the horrors of war, and after these people, the MC would get up and say, And now, time for a funny guy! [laughs]. I was the only one trying to go up and do comedy, so it was hard, but it was great for me, because they say that God looks out for children and idiots, and I think that God set me up in that place because he knew that if I had went to a regular club, I was and am still a very sensitive person, and I probably would have quit. The heartbreak, it would have been too hard to actually be in a comedy club and not get laughs. But to be in this more or less folk poetry open mike kind of thing where I was the only comedian, it made me special. That memory and that feeling is still in my heart. It still stays with me to this day.

The Star Scoop:

Where do you get your ideas from, when you want to write something? What is your process?

Freeman:

My process right now is like, I just really try to, and it's really hard to do, I really just try to stay in the moment and let things happen. I'm definitely a control freak. If you're trying to control everything, you can't let things happen. I pay a lot of attention. I'm sitting there and I'm watching everybody. I look at everything. I just try to see what's there, try to take a look at the obvious as well as the obscure and take it all in like a sponge. Your conscious mind can't do it, but your unconscious mind is taking in so much more. So, when you sit down to write, you're going to regurgitate things that you don't even know that you can do. You start to work above yourself.

The Star Scoop:

To those who are reading this right now, what do you want to say specifically to them?

Freeman:

First off, I just want to thank everybody for supporting my career. I'm out to do something that's very, very hard, and honestly, quite historic, and that's to be the first Black late night host on network television. People say, Wait a minute, what about Arsenio Hall, well, Arsenio Hall was syndicated on Fox. I love Arsenio, don't get me wrong, he opened the door in a beautiful, beautiful way, and I watched his show every night, and loved it more than I could every say in this interview. But there's never been a black late night host on network television, and that's my goal.

 

Film: Damage Done
Review by Eric Campos

Goddamn. If for some wacky reason you ever need a reminder that life sucks, this movie’s for you.

Driving down the desert highway one day, Elliot notices a hitchhiking damsel in distress on the side of the road. Apparently, her previous ride had a problem with keeping his wiener in his pants and so a fight ensued as is normal in situations such as these. Elliot pulls over to intervene and he and the distressed damsel chase the weenie wagging pervert off. Becoming her new ride, Elliot gets to know the damsel as Andrea and the two begin a sometimes charming, sometimes uncomfortable road trip together to Los Angeles. Uncomfortable because from the get go it’s clearly obvious that they are both very damaged people and with their combined forces, the train is set to wreck at any second. We quickly learn that Andrea’s major damage is her little heroin problem. But despite this glaring danger sign, Elliot beds her anyway and then takes her home to his shabby apartment in LA to live with him. It’s an up and down rollercoaster ride with the two, mixed with dope and booze, but they manage to support one another. However, the longer they exist together, the more they learn about each other’s dark past, including Elliot’s own major damage. Problems arise.

The look of this feature compliments its bleak subject matter perfectly. It’s grainy, washed out and just overall fuckin’ dirty looking. Everything looks like it feels sweaty and uncomfortable and it does a lot to pull the viewer into this grueling journey. Set design and props look out of date and depressing, too. For instance, at the beginning of the feature, Elliot has a video camera – a giant shoulder crushing VHS camcorder or whatever it is…it looks like it could crush the skull of a moose. Tunes in his living room are also played off a cassette deck. In short, everything seems dead and rotting, much like the lives of these characters.

It’s a lot of misery to take in, a whole 106 minutes of it, but it never, ever becomes so much that you feel it pointless to watch any further, nor does it ever become boring or monotonous. This has everything to do with the tremendous performances from Zach Selwyn as Elliot and Bonnie Warner as Andrea. Many a nerd will recognize Zach from G4’s Attack of the Show. And many a nerd will be surprised to see him turn out such a strong dramatic role. He’s really great here. Watch for a scene with him and actress Lucia Sullivan where they recreate a drug trip scene so accurately that my palms started to sweat and my stomach knotted while watching it. And as Andrea, Bonnie Warner is absolutely on fucking fire. You fear and love her all at once and you can’t take your eyes off her. No matter how much trouble she is this actress makes you understand Elliot’s need for her. And that’s the key to this feature’s success – the performances attract you to the characters, even though they’re not the most stand-up citizens in the world.

“Damage Done” is like a kick in the groin, a kick in the groin by someone you admire or even love. That way, it hurts so much more. An unforgettable movie.

 

HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 1/14/08

"E!'s Kennedy stepping into ABC's 'Dance'"
by Nellie Andreeva

E! News Correspondent Jason Kennedy has been tapped to host ABC's upcoming reality series "Dance Machine." 
The Network has ordered five episodes of the RDF USA produced dance competition featuring nonprofessionals competing for a cash prize.
"Jason is the perfect hose for our dance party. His energy is infectious, and he's not afraid to bust a move," said RDF USA executive vp development and current Greg Goldman, who created the show.
Goldman, RDF USA's Chris Coelen and Brian A. Veskosky of Metro Entertainment serve as executive producers.
UTA-repped Kennedy has been at E! News since 2005.

10 Years Younger takes one person and invites them to step inside the "big box" — a soundproof display case placed along some of the busiest streets in one of the most appearance-driven cities in the world — Los Angeles. As complete strangers critique our participant's looks and guess their age along with host Mark Montano, our glam squad of hairstylist Jenn MacDonald and make-up artist Damone Roberts are standing by in the studio with a plan to take a decade off the person's look in just 10 days. 

The glam squad is teamed with Hollywood's finest doctors and dentists schooled in the latest non-surgical dermatological and dental innovations. Finally, our participant returns to the big box to see if a new set of complete strangers pegs them at an age that is 10 Years Younger.