BuzzSugar

Rewind: This Week's Buzz

BuzzSugar — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 07:00:00 -0800

Fingers crossed people! - this strike looks like it could be resolved any minute now. This week I talked to a member of the Writers Guild of America to learn about life on strike while other striking writers hilariously penned some endings to a few of my favorite shows, like Gossip Girl (cartooned above).
The Super Bowl came and went and so did all the hype around the commercials. I told you the ads I loved and the ones I loathed, and asked what you thought of the Doritos singer and Paula's performance.
I discussed Lipstick Jungle with Brooke Shields and Candace Bushnell in the run-up to the premiere. So far, most of you prefer Cashmere Mafia over Ms. Shields' gang.
Kate Hudson is set to star in the drama Big Eyes. After reading Molly's review of Fool's Gold, I wonder if you guys still think she ought to stick to comedy?
Speaking of Fool's Gold, I need your help figuring out what in the world Matthew could be drawing-up for Kate in this week's Caption It challenge!
Oscar season is here which means it's time to fill out your Oscar Ballot! As part of my coverage leading up to the big ceremony, I'm helping you out by highlighting some films that might be harder to catch in the theater.
Rilo Kiley made one of my Valentine's Day playlists just as news broke that Jenny Lewis is going solo again! Along the lines of love, what do you think are the most romantic movies of all time?
The Buzz Book Club is off to a fabulous start! I'm still enjoying reading through all of your comments about the first assignment. If you haven't started reading yet, there's still lots of time to catch up, and there'll be lots more to discuss next week.

Love It or Leave It: Paula Abdul's Pre-Game Performance

BuzzSugar — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 16:30:09 -0800

In case you missed it, Paula Abdul performed her new single "Dance Like There's No Tomorrow" before the Super Bowl. The performance came on the heels of Abdul's announcement that she plans to have a new, full album to release by Summer.

The performance isn't nearly as devastating as, say, Britney's VMA disaster, but it's not necessarily impressive, either - especially what with all the lip-syncing.

Check out the video and tell me: What do you think of Paula's performance?

Source

2008 Super Bowl Commercials: Five of the Worst

BuzzSugar — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 13:33:55 -0800

This year's mixed bag of Super Bowl commercials included some cute, funny ones and others that were baffling, bad or downright offensive. Seriously, how did the SalesGenie panda spot make it on TV at all? It's just wrong. To see what else made my "worst of 2008 Super Bowl commercials" list, read more.

Pandas thing, SalesGenie:

More and more viewings of this commercial only manage to confuse me further. Why do some of the pandas have this outrageously offensive accent but the all-knowing guru panda (who wears a turban and pink lipstick?) does not? Why are there baby pandas at the end? Was their panda marriage re-ignited by SalesGenie? How is it possible that this commercial made it on the air? So very puzzling.

Planters: "Perfume"

So, girls who aren't pretty can only get the boys if they rub cashews on their skin. Gross. Weird. Not funny. Also, the Dell ad for Product Red had basically the same premise, but that guy wasn't offensively ugly - just vaguely nerdy and normal-looking. I love me some double standards.

Bud Light Carlos Mencia: "Picking Up Chicks":

What did I learn from this ad? That chicks love foreigners? That white boys should fake accents so they can stare at women's boobs? That women don't like it when people make derogatory comments about their thighs? And that's all supposed to make me want beer?

Bridgestone: Richard Simmons "Headlights":

Richard Simmons generally gives me the creepy feelings in the tummy, but when there's a seemingly evil person speeding a car toward him - also, get out of the road, Richard Simmons! What are you doing? - it's downright crazy-making.

Garmin: "Napoleon"

This one wasn't bad so much as baffling and obscure. The reason Napoleon always kept his hand in his jacket was because that's where he kept his GPS device? Um, OK. But if you're a mapping company, is Napoleon really the leader you want promoting your product? Sure, go ahead and follow him; not my fault if you end up dead at Waterloo.

Buzz News Roundup, 2/4

BuzzSugar — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 12:32:30 -0800

Yesterday's Patriots-Giants game was the most-watched Super Bowl ever with 97.5 million viewers, the Associated Press reports.
Speaking of the Super Bowl, the Arcade Fire apparently didn't give permission for their song to be used in an ad for NFL on Fox, Pitchfork reports.
A Jim Henson biopic titled Henson is now in the works, though casting hasn't yet begun, writes ComingSoon.
E! Online has news that the Spice Girls will wrap their world tour later this month, canceling dates in China, Australia, South Africa and Argentina.
Variety reports that Robert Englund, mostly known as the man who played Freddie Krueger in A Nightmare on Elm Street, will direct The Vij, "a dark gothic fantasy in which Christopher Lee is attached to star."
People has more on that Sarah Silverman/Matt Damon video for Jimmy Kimmel Live.
Sylvester Stallone has signed on to direct and star in two more action flicks with the same producing team he worked with on Rambo, writes Hollywood Reporter.
The Wall Street Journal has more on what a strike settlement could mean for getting TV shows back this season., while Broadcasting & Cable reports on a WGA memo saying a deal isn't done yet.
According to ComingSoon, Rob Lowe will join Ricky Gervais and Jennifer Garner in the comedy This Side of the Truth.
Sarah Michelle Gellar hasn't signed on yet for the Buffy reunion at the Paley Festival, the LA Times reports (update! She will be attending after all); the festival will also include panels for Friday Night Lights, Damages, and Chuck, among others.

Source

2008 Super Bowl Commercials: My Five Favorites

BuzzSugar — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 11:29:51 -0800

The commercials that aired during this year's Super Bowl were pretty hit-or-miss, but the ones that "hit" really made me laugh or, in the case of the Wall-E spot, made me grow a little misty-eyed. After the jump, check out my five favorite Super Bowl spots - from talking stains to talking babies - and tell me which ones you liked as well. To check them out, read more.

Bud Light: Ability to Breathe Fire

I have rarely been a fan of Bud Light commercials in the past, but some of their Super Bowl spots this year were pretty funny. I laughed out loud when I first saw this guy sneeze fire, which is just a hilarious concept.

Etrade: Bobo the Clown

Yeah, talking babies, when done poorly, are creepy and just wrong. Something about this little guy's adultish nuances and average Joe chatter just cracks me up, though. And this Bobo the Clown spot is infinitely funnier than the other E-Trade baby one in which he ends up puking. That's just gross.

Coca-Cola: Coke Floats

Get it? "Coke floats"? I love these silly, whimsical Coca-Cola ads. Not only is this a funny concept, but it's beautifully made. Also, Charlie Brown wins! It's so satisfying.

Tide: Talking Stain

Not only does a shirt stain talk in this Tide commercial, it shrieks in another language. Awesome. Also, the stain babble could be your new ringtone, which is just wonderfully absurd.

Wall-E Trailer

OK, first off, this trailer has Toy Story's Woody and Buzz Lightyear debating the virtues of Wall-E ("I hear he even goes to infinity." "But not beyond.") while tucking into a gigantic bowl of popcorn. Then there's Wall-E himself, making friends with a vacuum cleaner, accidentally sucking up a cricket, and then making a mess trying to save his little buddy. What's that? Crying? Me? No, no, it's just onions. Onions. Right.

Kina Grannis for Doritos: Love It or Leave It?

BuzzSugar — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 08:30:00 -0800

This year, the Doritos Crash the Super Bowl contest gave one musician the chance to have a single turned into a music video (and Doritos commercial) for Sunday's Super Bowl. The winner: Kina Grannis, a 22-year-old singer-songwriter from California, whose "Message From Your Heart" aired early in Sunday's game. The song is also now available from iTunes, and Doritos and Grannis also teamed to make a full music video for the song.

I was a little surprised that such a folky song would be the winner - wouldn't people watching the Super Bowl be ready to rock? Still, the snippet in the ad was sweet and catchy, if a little generic, and it scored Grannis a record deal with Interscope Records. What did you think of it? Check out the ad and then let me know if you liked Grannis and her Doritos tune.

Source

Did This Year's Super Bowl Commercials Live Up to the Hype?

BuzzSugar — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 05:30:00 -0800

Super Bowl Sunday is the one time of the year I don’t get up to stick more leftovers in the microwave or throw my clothes in the dryer during the commercial break. Last year I thought that overall the ads were pretty underwhelming. This year, it seemed hit-or-miss. Some spots, like the talking E-Trade baby, were great, while others (SalesGenie's panda bears with the terrible accents, say) were really unfunny.

What did you think? Did this year’s ads live up to your expectations?

Source

What Did You Think of Tom Petty's Halftime Show?

BuzzSugar — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 17:45:49 -0800

Tom Petty took the field at the Super Bowl today, performing a set of his best-known songs including "American Girl" and "Free Fallin'" for the cheering crowd. Do you think he rocked? Or were Petty and his Heartbreakers showing their age?

Source

Halftime Shows Aplenty - Even If You Don't Like Tom Petty

BuzzSugar — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 11:00:00 -0800

The Super Bowl is playing it relatively safe with its halftime entertainment this year, lining up a show by Tom Petty, who is - how shall I put this? - not exactly known for doing suggestive things with his guitar. If you're bored by the idea of "Free Fallin'," cable networks are dialing up their own halftime programming. As the head of the dude-focused Spike TV told the Hollywood Reporter:

"We see an opportunity at halftime because young viewers may not be into watching a musical performance suited to older guys. To get the competitive juices flowing, we have a better idea."

That idea? A competitive eating contest in two stages: an appetizer of scarfing hard-boiled eggs, followed by a headliner of devouring ham.

Some others:

Animal Planet's Puppy Bowl will air its own halftime show, the Kitten Bowl.
Oxygen is putting the premiere of Deion and Pilar: Prime Time Love, a reality show starring former NFL player Deion Sanders, online for two hours, starting roughly around halftime. It will also cut away from programming to show it on TV during the halftime show itself.

So, what'll it be? Kitties? Eggs? Or is Tom Petty sounding better and better?

Source

Interview: Mira Sorvino on Getting "Frozen" on House

BuzzSugar — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 16:30:46 -0800

House scored the prime post-Super Bowl time slot this year, and to go along with it, the show also scored a big-name guest star: Oscar-winner Mira Sorvino. In "Frozen," Sorvino plays Cate, a psychiatry fellow at Princeton Plainsboro who starts developing symptoms of a mysterious illness while aiding a team exploring the South Pole. Connected to House only via webcam, she and the doctor struggle to save her life.

Sorvino chatted with reporters recently about starring on her favorite TV show, the sparks between Cate and House, and House's underlying good guy. Some excerpts:

On how she came to do House: "Well, I’m a crazy House fan. It’s my favorite show on TV, and it’s funny because once I got pregnant with my first child, I ended up watching a lot more TV than I had for years and I just became absolutely addicted to House and just thought it was so intelligent and thought Hugh is so fantastic . . . So when I met Hugh at the Golden Globe three years ago, and I was five months pregnant and nominated for Human Trafficking and he was nominated for House and we were all seated at the same table, I just started gushing about how much I loved the show. And I think I might have frightened him. But then a few years later they called and said, 'We know Mira loves the show. We think we have one of the best female characters we’ve ever written on it. Would she like to come and do an episode?' I was really excited to do it, entering the world of my favorite show."
On being a TV fan in general: "When you’re a film actor, you kind of reserve TV as the last bastion of suspension of disbelief. You get used to the characters and you don’t really think about the way that it’s made. When I watch movies, I’m a lot more critical about the stunts, the edits, the performances. But on TV that’s my little place where, OK, I’m just watching. I’m like everybody else; I’m just a spectator enjoying this."

I've got lots more from Sorvino - including the possibility of a Cate/House romance - so just read more.

On her character psychoanalyzing House: "She has one line where he says, 'Oh, now you’re going to fix me,' because she’s telling him about some of his issues. And he says, 'And now, I suppose you’re going to tell me I need to be fixed.' She says, 'I never said you needed to be fixed.' So she kind of likes him the way he is with all of his issues, which I think is cool. And everybody else is always trying to change him and they’re always moralizing. I feel like Wilson is always missing the fact that House is actually a good guy - even though he’s a jerk, he’s a good guy anyway."
On the chemistry between her character and House: "At first I think it’s more founded on a little bit of skepticism on both sides. He doesn’t really believe in psychiatry at all and sort of mocks her for that, doesn’t think of her as a real doctor. She is the only medical professional on site to help the whole Antarctic exploring team down there, so she doesn’t want to use up any of the medical supplies on theoretical diagnoses. . . . So it starts out that way, and then as they start communicating, for some reason, I think he feels sympathy for her when she’s really all alone and has to diagnosis herself constantly and things go from bad to worse. They understand each other. I feel that she gets him in a way that none of the actual people in his world get him. They’re similar in that they’re both loners and strong-willed and there’s this nice little subplot, chemistry, sexual tension. . . . You definitely feel that if they were not separated by thousands of miles and glaciers that maybe something would happen."
On whether her character might return: "There’s talk of it, but because of the writers' strike, no one knows what’s going to happen. No one knows the plot lines because the writers have been unable to work since then, and they’re obviously the ones who will decide what happens to this character and to House. But I would love it."

Photo courtesy of Fox