The TV Chick

During the summer there isn’t generally a great deal of new TV to watch. So how do I survive? Well, there are some awesome shows that have the main parts of their season in the summer, and ABC Family is one network that is full of great seasonal programming.

Here are the dates for ABC Family shows that are returning, and some new ones that are premiering:

• Secret Life of the American Teenager: Season 3 premieres Monday, June 7th at 8 pm. The 2nd season ended on a big cliffhanger so be sure to tune in!
• Pretty Little Liars: I am beyond excited for this show! It is based on a book series by Sara Shepard, and all along, I have hoped it would be turned into a TV series. The series premiere is Tuesday, June 8th at 8 pm. I will have much more coverage leading up to the premiere so be on the look out!
• Make It Or Break It: Season 2 premieres Monday, June 28th at 10 pm. I can’t wait! I adore this show.
• Huge: Series premiere is Monday June 28th at 9 pm. This show which just signed Nikki Blonsky to star seems like it has a lot of potential.

Less than two weeks left! Are you excited? I know I am! I have been counting down the days since what seems like forever. Also, it was just announced this morning that Glee is the recipient of a Peabody Award. It is a very high honor, and very well deserved! As we get closer and closer to the premiere, I will have much more coverage including a 2 part interview with Jessalyn Gilsig (Terri Schuester) and other very exciting things! So be sure to come back to the site often for lots of Glee!

New Glee promo featuring an awesome one-liner from Brittany:

Some amazing episode stills from “Hello”

More Photos & Rolling Stone cover after the jump

What is a CW drama without a requisite stuck in the storm with people you don’t like but eventually bond with and come to terms with episode? Last night’s Life Unexpected “Storm Weathered” was just that. It set up some amazing storylines for the next few episodes (only 2 left in the season), and each character was stuck with someone or some people you wouldn’t necessarily expect.

The episode begins with Ryan and Cate in bed (whew) listening to themselves on the radio (pre-recorded Best of Cate and Ryan special) while the storm brewed outside. Cate brings Ryan “breakfast in bed” which is really her engagement ring and she asks him to marry her. He accepts, of course and she puts back on the ring. A few minutes later, Cate is in wedding mode (kind of quick but I get it) and looking at a wedding checklist. They are going over details, and on the checklist it says to choose the maid of honor. Cate asks Ryan if he thinks Lux would say yes. Cate asks Lux and she is thrilled and honored. Of course, she says yes. Abby calls for Cate, furious that she didn’t tell her the news and assumes that she is the maid of honor.

Back in Baze world, Math discovers that Baze is wearing a kaballah bracelet. Baze seems into Abby, but it appears more for show than anything else. Baze goes to the yoga class Abby teaches, and of course Cate is there, too. This leads to a rather hilarious exclamation on Cate’s part…after she sees that Abby is wearing Baze’s tee shirt, she yells quite loudly and the entire class turns around to look at her.

Meanwhile, Lux is at Jones’ party. The group is playing suck and blow (which I fondly remember from Clueless). This time, instead of Elton (ha!) it’s Jones. He kisses Lux, and she gets mad. He tells her she is hard to walk away from, even though she’s made it perfectly clear she doesn’t want him.
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After getting over the shock of not seeing Mo-Mo on Nurse Jackie anymore, I realized how excited I was that the show was back. Showtime recently announced that both Nurse Jackie and United States of Tara will be returning for a 3rd season, and I’m thrilled. In the 2nd episode of the season, titled “Twitter,” Jackie is dealing with Grace’s anxiety issues again. Apparently, she unplugs all of the appliances at night because she’s worried the house will burn down. When she gets to the hospital, she has more chaos to attend to and treats a boy who might have Cystic Fibrosis. Amidst the hospital hub-bub, Coop won’t stop twittering. He literally twitters about his patients and nurses, and claims it’s okay because he doesn’t reveal anyone’s names. Twittering drives Jackie crazy (naturally). I doubt Jackie would enjoy spending 10 minutes with me and my iPhone, but I digress.

Dr. O’Hara shows up to the hospital on ecstacy after a night of clubbing. Her mother just passed away and she comforted herself by getting completely wasted and high. Jackie, being the saint she is (I do tend to agree with Zoey and what she said to Jackie at the end of the first episode of season 1), covers for her and gets her an IV. New Nurse Sam strikes up a conversation with her and apparently is an anglophile (and slightly into her perhaps?) We learn much more about Dr. O’Hara in the upcoming episodes and I cannot wait to talk about them! I just love the Dr. O’Hara and Jackie relationship. They know that they each have vices and flaws but they love and laugh at each other nonetheless.

Meanwhile, Eddie continues to come into the bar to get closer to Kevin…unbeknownst to Jackie of course. He pretends to know nothing about Kevin’s family and appears to be trying to infiltrate a different section of her life because she won’t return his calls. While this behavior is clearly crazy, again this show does a phenomenal job of making you root for the bad guy. I kind of like Eddie, I feel bad for him. Jackie really played him and used him and in a weird way, I want him to get the girl. I don’t want Jackie’s family to be broken up but I feel like maybe Eddie deserves a shot.

I went this long without even mentioning Zoey! Zoey walks out of a cab with her scrubs on, leading Dr. O’Hara to ask Jackie if she is taking a walk of shame. This is only subtly elaborated on, and I cannot wait to hear about Zoey’s possible love life. Later in the episode, Dr. Cooper confronts Jackie about a diagnosis and she has to deliver tough news to a family. I think the 2nd episode is just as strong as the first. Each storyline is setting itself up quite nicely to develop as the rest of the season continues. There are so many places each character can go, and I like every possibility. Even Akolitus is amusing me!

Be sure to tune in tonight at 10 pm to Showtime for an all new episode of Nurse Jackie. And in case you missed the season premiere, it is available to watch online for free.

When last we left our polar opposite sisters, Kat and Bianca (Lindsay Shaw and Meghan Jette Martin respectively), they both were up to some sort of trouble. Kat was standing up for her and Patrick’s (Ethan Peck) rights and ditches school on his motorcycle. Bianca was making out with Joey (Chastity’s ex), and Cameron saw them. What will happen now? Well, of course there are consequences for their actions.The season premiere is aptly titled “Da Reprecussions.” Bianca is still dating Joey, and Chastity apparently only saw that he was making out with a blonde and is determined to find out which one. Patrick and Kat are on a beach after being told they would be suspended. He wants to make out, she wants to bask in her rebellion. That is until she realizes her dad will kill her. And Cameron, poor Cameron. He considers apologizing to Bianca but realizes that he didn’t do anything wrong. Things are still awkward between them. When Bianca concocts a plan to erase the security tapes of her and Joey making out, they involve Joey stealing the keys from Cameron to the AV closet. I don’t want to spoil too much and tell you what happens in her crazy plan, but I can tell you that the end result is a really sweet. Later, Kat sneaks into school (yeah you heard that right) for a pretty ridiculous reason. Kat’s dad finds out and has to meet with the principal, but it’s clear how much he loves and admires his daughters.

Towards the end of last season, the show really got into a groove. It found it’s own voice– instead of focusing on the movie of the same name — and became a funny and quirky high school centric show. Everyone can relate to high school drama, unrequited love and being rejected. Why not watch actors relive it for you? I adored Meghan Jette Martin in Camp Rock (Camp Rock 2 will be released this summer), and I think it takes a really good actress to play a character like Bianca. Check out my interview with her from last season here. I also hear she will be singing in an upcoming episode with Dana Davis (Chastity) and I’m pretty excited about that. Lindsay Shaw also plays the serious but slightly rebellious/against the grain teenager role well. It’s a very fun show. I’m glad that it was able to find its voice and focus on the relationships, and not just boxing the characters in to their specific cliques.

The show is worth checking out if you enjoy ABC Family shows (you know I do!). The (mid) season premiere is tonight at 8 pm on ABC Family. And if you missed any of last season, there is a marathon starting at 3 pm today.

Everyone knows how much I love The Biggest Loser. Every season, I get absolutely hooked. Whenever the opportunity arises to speak with contestants, I jump at the chance to learn about their experience on the ranch. I recently chatted with Lance Morgan, who was just voted off last week. He talked about the infamous cupcake challenge, the difficulties of being far away from a gym, and going back to work. He even addressed his and Melissa’s relationship with the trainers and the accusations that they were playing the game. Next week’s episode is supposed to be huge (no pun intended). A guy who lost over 400 pounds on his own, after being inspired by the show, is brought to the ranch. And there may even be former contestants returning.

Do you think that eating the cupcakes contributed to you being sent home? And do you regret that decision to eat so many?
No I don’t really regret eating so many. I regret eating (for the right person) but no, I don’t have any regrets with anything that I did on the ranch really.

And how are you able to incorporate your fitness at home? I know you live about an hour from a gym so how do you get in your daily workouts?
It’s tough. We do some workouts at home and then in turn we also drive about an hour to a gym in Abilene. So our days home we usually spend doing we’ve got a little bit of equipment in the house that my wife usually gets on the treadmill and I usually do some light weights and we ride our bicycles quite a bit.

So it’s safe to say that people who don’t belong to a gym, they can still do it?
Yeah. It’s harder. I mean believe me it’s much harder to do it at home because you have so many distractions. There is always a load of laundry or dishes or something to do. But yeah, it can be done. It’s just you have got to get your mind set hey, I’ve got to do this and you’ve just got to stick with your plan.

Prior to starting The Biggest Loser your wife Melissa said that in addition to getting healthy both of you were working on your marriage, which has been strained. How are things now and also how has losing the weight helped?
Things now are wonderful. A lot of our problems with our marriage – my being overweight was a big problem in our marriage because I couldn’t work any more. So you throw the financial stress in there, I mean that’s probably the number one cause of problems in relationships now. And obviously I haven’t gotten to go back to work yet but I will be going back to work soon. And it’s just kind of like one more thought off your mind. So it’s helped a lot being on the ranch and our communication is much better than it was before, much better. And what was the second part of the question? I’m sorry.

And my second question is there was a lot made in the beginning of the show about possible game play by the red team. And watching the episodes now can you understand how Bob and Jillian construed things that way? And how is your relationship with the trainers now?
I could see their points at the time before I even watched the show. I mean I could see their point. It’s been done before and I understand their point. But I mean you just have to know Melissa and I to know that if we’re going to game play we’re going to say hey, we’re game playing. So our relationship with Bob and Jillian at this point, I still like Bob. I mean after Bob realized quick listen, this is an issue that we have got to get past because you still have a goal in mind. We have still got to accomplish this goal. So let’s just – he didn’t really – he sort of did admit that he believed Melissa but obviously when Melissa fell below the red line both our jaws dropped and I think they realized at that point oh my god, she really wasn’t playing the game. It just kind of saddened me that it took (the hoopla of) Melissa on the stage that first week to realize it.

And how much weight have you lost to date?
To date I have lost 100 – I’m trying to count because I haven’t weighed in a few days. I have lost 105, 106 now – somewhere in there.

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The day is finally here! The Vampire Diaries is returning, and my Thursday nights will no longer be Damon-less. When asked on twitter to tease the episode, Executive Producer Julie Plec said: Tomorrow night: missing mothers, angry Alaric and dirrrty Damon on The Vampire Diaries. The episode is titled “A Few Good Men,” and here is the description:

“Melinda Clarke (“The O.C.”) guest stars as Matt’s long-lost mother — Matt (Zach Roerig) and Caroline (Candice Accola) are surprised by the sudden reappearance of Matt’s mother Kelly (guest star Clarke).  Stefan (Paul Wesley) and Elena (Nina Dobrev) are worried about Damon’s (Ian Somerhalder) new attitude.  Damon is asked by Sheriff Forbes (guest star Marguerite MacIntyre) to take part in a fund-raising bachelor auction. Alaric (Matt Davis) discovers shocking secrets from his own past.  With help from Jenna (Sara Canning) and Stefan, Elena is determined to find out everything she can about her birth mother, but the truth may be more than she can handle.”

Sounds fantastic!

Check out these photos from the episode for a sneak peak:

Photo: Quantrell Colbert / The CW ©2010

Photo: Quantrell Colbert/ The CW ©2010

Photo: Quantrell Colbert / The CW ©2010

Photo: Quantrell Colbert / The CW ©2010

Photo: Quantrell Colbert / The CW©2010

And here’s the trailer for the episode (I am so excited!):

And just for fun, check out a clip as well:

Be sure to tune in tonight to the CW at 8 pm! I know I can’t wait for some amazing vampire action!

There’s a little bit of a lull in news lately, but I’m excited that my favorite shows will be back on TV soon. However, it got me thinking: one of my favorite shows in particular has not been renewed yet, and there are quite a few more that are at risk for another season. Here are the ones I am thinking about, and feel free to weigh in with any shows which you are eagerly awaiting pickup orders for.

• Life Unexpected: If you read this site at all, you know how much I adore this show. I truly believe it represents a new age in CW television — returning to its quality roots from the days of Gilmore Girls and Dawson’s Creek. Each week, it continues to get better and delve deeper into some truly amazing, real, refreshing and genuine characters. I will be so sad if it only gets one season. Given the fact that it seems to be consistently beating several other CW shows that have already been guaranteed another season, I see no reason why the CW shouldn’t pick this up. Although I can never get into Dawn Ostroff’s head (I would love to, though) so I really have no idea.
• Parenthood: While only four episodes of this new NBC drama have aired, I can already say I am hooked. The show has a wonderful cast, with a powerhouse creative team behind them. Lauren Graham is one of my favorite actresses and it is such a joy to see her back on television. I’d love to see more from this show, so I hope that NBC does the right thing and picks it up.
• V: Only four episodes of this show have aired, and more are to come next week. I think it was a weird move on ABC’s part to have such a huge hiatus, but it did make me waiting and eager to see more. Even though V was essentially done before, I think this show is innovative and the acting is great. I want to know more about the Vs, and I don’t know if everything can be resolved in one season. I think there’s a pretty decent chance this show will get renewed though.
• Southland: There was a huge campaign to save Southland once it was dropped from NBC. TNT came to the rescue and has been running a fantastic promotional campaign. They are currently airing the 6 already filmed episodes from season 2, but the ratings aren’t that great. I think it’s a really good, and gritty show that deserves another chance. TNT tends to get behind good shows so I hope that they will look past the ratings and pick it up, but I feel like it could go either way.
• Chuck: This show probably isn’t as much on the bubble as others, but it took a big Subway sandwich campaign at the end of last season for Chuck to return for some more kick-ass spy action. It has a cult following, all of whom (myself included) would be very disappointed if this show wasn’t given a 4th season. There’s so much great writing and hilariousness that it really deserves more episodes.
• Flash Forward: The pilot of this show was one of my favorites last fall. However, it quickly went down hill from there. I gave it a few episodes and then it just kept piling up on my DVR, and I would let it get deleted. I feel like there were too many characters, too much going on, and not enough direction. Lost is a show that has probably just as much crazyness going on but I care about all the characters and their fate, whereas in Flash Forward, I don’t really. The show came back last week and many watched but I can’t really get behind it. Even the original showrunner left, and during a first season of a show, this is not a very good sign. For me, I could take or leave this show but for those enjoying it, if it improves with the new staff, perhaps ABC will give it a chance.

What do you think should/should not get renewed? Are there any that I missed that you want to see come back? Weigh in!

Is it April yet? Seriously, my Wednesday nights (and entire week let’s be honest) are totally lacking. Thankfully, there are some great new videos released yesterday that I thought I’d share. I cannot wait for new episodes. I have to admit, I watched this promo many times and hearing Lea sing Like A Prayer just floored me.

A new Sue’s Corner video titled “Sneaky Gays” (so hilarious!):

New Promo:

Glee is back so soon! I couldn’t be more excited!

After a major DVR fail last night, I woke up early to watch LUX. It really is the highlight of my Monday nights. Last night’s episode, appropriately titled “Family Therapized,” centered around trying to become a family. Lux, Cate and Baze are gearing up for an evaluation with the social worker. The radio show topic is about sleeping together — actually sleeping together — and we see montages of Baze and Abby and Lux and Bug in bed together. Cate and Ryan talk about her cold feet and it’s clear that Ryan still dreams about her and has feelings for her. Lux had snuck out to be with Bug and thought no one would notice because Baze was with Abby. Bug is still trying to change for Lux and tells her he needs to get a legitimate job to be able to afford rent. He has a gig that night handing out fliers outside a night club and Lux offers to help.

That night, Baze and Lux discuss her dating life. He doesn’t like Bug and doesn’t think he’s good for her. She asks him not to date Abby. He agrees if she won’t see Bug anymore. Her acceptance of this is more of a “whatever,” but Baze takes that as a yes. Of course, she proceeds to sneak out to help Bug distribute fliers. In the middle of the night, Cate gets a call from the social worker. Apparently, Lux broke her curfew. Baze and Cate explain they had no idea what was going on, but the social worker decides to move up their meeting by a week. The clan returns home to try and figure out what to do. Cate and Baze tell Lux she has to change but she aptly retorts, why is she the only one who has to change, they should change too.

Lux admits to Bug that she is really nervous about the evaluation and she does want to stay with Cate and Baze. Cate shows up at Bug’s (where Lux is) and basically offers him a job at the radio station…he just has to interview first. The interview with Alice doesn’t go so well, seeing as he doesn’t have a high school diploma or any work experience. After the interview, Cate tries to plead with Alice but Bug can’t get hired without a diploma. Lux is understandably pissed off at Cate, but Bug tries to be noble about it. They leave Cate feeling worse. She tried to save the day, but couldn’t.

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