Results tagged “television”

Oprah Winfrey’s production company is proposing a new daytime talk show featuring Chicago interior designer and decorator Nate Berkus, which means he’s poised to join Dr. Phil, Rachael Ray, and Dr. Oz as the newest member of the ‘I was a regular Oprah guest and now I have my own show’ clique. The as-yet-titled show is slated for 2010 and would be the second collaboration between Harpo Productions and its distributor, Sony Pictures Television. Their first collaboration, "The Dr. Oz Show" premiered earlier this year and had the best first-run talk show debut in seven years, according to Broadcasting & Cable.

The Sun-Times is reporting that the next stop in Rod Blagojevich's Tour of No Shame is an appearance on "Celebrity Apprentice." That's right. The orbit of the disgraced governor who allegedly tried sell a Senate seat to the highest bidder and dared the FBI to tape him doing so will intersect with that of the businessman who never found a product he couldn't tarnish by attaching his name to it. Dali couldn't have painted something so surreal.

Much speculation has been made about Homaro Cantu's Disruptive Food countdown and the big reveal he's supposed to announce on November 13. Privately we've been asking ourselves and others, "Wouldn't it be a big letdown if it just turned out to be another Food Network show?" Our suspicions were further piqued by the Chicago Bites team of Tammy Green and Bridget Houlihan. They had dinner over the weekend with Ted Allen in moto's private downstairs dining room and said the room will "apparently will soon be transformed into to a TV studio for a new cooking show."

If you ever wondered what a reality show looked like where contestants were civil to each other, there was no backstabbing and maneuvering to save one's own ass and had a host that made Padma Lakshmi look hyperactive, "Top Chef Masters" was that show. That's not to say the show didn't have its moments: Ludo Lefebvre acted so above it all that Stolpman nicknamed him "LeDouche;" Tim Love showed signs of a drinking problem when faced with making a meal in a dorm room; the crestfallen look on Art Smith's face when told he was cooking a vegan and gluten-free dish for Zooey Deschanel and her party.

After garnering national attention for his recent perfect game, the White Sox's Mark Buehrle was invited to participate in David Letterman's famous "Top Ten" list on Monday's show. Taped from the Metrodome in Minneapolis, the Sox ace was assisted by teammates Josh Fields and Dewayne Wise -- just like during Thursday's gem. For those who missed his appearance on late night TV, check out the video below and the full list after the jump.

Onward, Top Chef Soldiers. This boring season is our cross to bear. Good gravy, let's see if we'll get a spicy meatball this episode or what. Chefs include: Michael Chiarello, Rick Moonen, Nils Noren, and Lachlan M. Patterson. We learn that Rick has ADD and cooks seafood. Tom tells us about Nils Noren and we experience a sharp inhalation. He's...from Sweden.

Maybe this week a chef will stick a toilet brush in some pasta and everyone will declare it a brilliant new method of stirring. Let's see who is battling it out today: Graham Elliot Bowles from Chicago (we accidentally typed bowels at first - whoops).We dig his Chicago pin on his hat. Suzanne Tracht from Los Angeles enters the kitchen next. Oooo, it's Wylie Dufresne! How is anyone going to beat him when he has +20 hit points and +15 magic potion? Annie Lennox walks in! Oh, no, wait, that's Elizabeth Falkner. She sounds impressive with her James Beard award.

Despite months and months of TV commercials, repeated ad nauseum, warning about the imminent switch to all-digital television broadcasting, it appears that there are still some folks who don't quite get it. As reported in today's Trib, last week the FCC tested the new broadcasting system in 125 markets to gauge audience readiness. The test resulted in over 55,000 calls to a help line, and of those calls about 1,300 came from the Chicago metro area -- more than any other market. 4,849 calls came from Illinois.

Along with Norm van Lier and Johnny "Red" Kerr, longtime ABC7 restaurant critic James Ward passed away yesterday after a long illness. The flamboyant Ward was noted for his very theatrical and enthusiastic reviews; long before former talk show host Sally Jessy Raphael adopted the same look, Ward's sartorial trademark was a pair of red-rimmed glasses. Prior to his television work, Ward was a restaurant critic for the Sun-Times and Chicago Daily News; edited restaurant and travel guides for R.R. Donnelly & Sons; and worked at Restaurants & Institutions, a food-industry trade publication. [ABC7 Chicago]

In case you haven't heard (and as we mentioned in our inaugural podcast earlier today), the long-awaited Chicago episode of "No Reservations" airs 9 p.m. tonight on Travel Channel. This means that, in addition to seeing the already obnoxious lines at Hot Doug's grow even longer by lunchtime tomorrow, the BOURDAIN Midas touch could also convince some folk to get off their duffs and actually head out south for a mother-in-law at Fat Johnnie's, smoked chub at Calumet Fisheries, or the best chili in the city at Ramova Grill (the full rundown of what made the cut during filming is here).

No one has been anxiously awaiting the Obama Inauguration more than his number one fan Oprah Winfrey, and this week she kicked it into high gear with a second round of Obamarama to celebrate the swearing in of our new president. We found ourselves a little confused on Monday when we were greeted with a rerun of a Martin Luther King Jr. tribute at 9:00 a.m., but Oprah was prepping for her star-studded pre-inauguration blowout we Chicagoans were finally graced with at 11:00 that night.

Fans of "Check, Please!" know that WTTW often runs repeats of previous episodes, helping to propagate the "'Check, Please! Effect'" and make household names, for a brief time, of folks named Fred Solomon and Manase Latu.

Um, yeah.

In regards to Stephen Colbert's iTunes challenge, Kanye West had this to say:

Apparently former Evanstonian Stephen Colbert is a tad annoyed that Chicago musician Kanye West's 808s & Heartbreak sits at the iTunes #1 spot while his own A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift Of All languishes at #14.

When it comes to watching sports, are you the ultimate couch potato? Really? If so, ESPNZone is giving you a chance to prove it. On January 1, four contestants will have the opportunity to prove that they can outsit anyone and win the title of Ultimate Couch Potato.

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]

Suze Orman again?? Who are we kidding. We can’t get enough of the Suze. This Monday there she was wearing the same gold earrings as always, but this time she was doing her “Can You Afford It?” thing from her show. Show me the money! Can a speech therapist mother-of-two afford to stay at home? No. Can a hip, young college grad afford an extravagant lifestyle? Hells no. Can a sales manager with a healthy 401K and stock options afford to retire? FUCK no. Man, these are troubled times we’re living in.

It was all squeals right off the bat this Monday when Oprah brought out Nate “Dreamy Dreamhouse Maker” Berkus and announced someone in the audience would be taking him home for a free home makeover. Oprah followed this act of benevolence by doing the meanest thing ever: dragging an unsuspecting mother of 5 out of bed and throwing her on national television via Skype. Oprah had good reason, though, as Mom won a free home makeover too. Yippee! The show took a more sentimental turn with the return of Fannie Eugene, a guest Oprah once crowned “Princess for a Day” and showered with gifts back in 2003. Now a post-Katrina victim stuck in a FEMA trailer for the last 18 months, Fannie once again received the much-deserved royal treatment from Dreamboat Berkus. With a new house and new hope, tiara-sporting Princess Fannie’s spirit was renewed, as was ours. This is why we watch Oprah.

Bust out your puffy shirts, Jon Voight pencils, and garbage eclairs- the Seinfeld Campus Tour is coming to the University of Illinois next Thursday, September 18. Throughout the fall, a 60-foot, Seinfeld mini-museum bus is driving over 10,000 miles, stopping in 26 cities, and handing out 1,000 pounds of black-and-white cookies and candy. In an attempt to reach out to the 70 million people that make up the "millennial generation" the bus will have TV screens playing classic show moments, a "Kramer's Yogurt Bar" serving non-fat frozen yogurt, Seinfeld photos, laptops with Seinfeld MySpace and Facebook pages, games and prizes.

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Were you going to watch the new from 7–9pm like I thought they were going to, they're airing the Cubs game. The teen drama is scheduled to air from 10:30pm–12:30am instead. You know. When teenagers are up. Grrrr.

We've written about the onetime powerhouse lineup of the Loop, AM 1000 in a previous flashback. It's almost sad to see that, twenty years later, Jonathan Brandmeier never outgrew his "Wait'll Otis sees us" Delta House on-air persona (though for some it still works), Kevin Matthews became a right-wing nut and Garry Meier just imploded.

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

Even though it's been gone for forty-one years, folks who still went to Riverview Amusement Park speak of it with the romanticism afforded looking back at the past with rose-colored glasses. This documentary from 1984, courtesy of Fuzzy Memories, is no exception. Part two can be viewed here.

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.

The Trib gave AT&T's service a six-week testdrive, and found "Comcast edges out AT&T in breadth of TV programming, but AT&T is much easier to use and has cleaner, modern on-screen graphics."