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First Look: Valentine

BuzzSugar — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 07:30:36 -0700

The CW's new Sunday night programming block starts in early October, and of the four new shows, I'm most curious to check out Valentine, which is about a family of Greek gods who now live among us in a world where Mount Olympus is just off the freeway from LA's Laurel Canyon.

My reasons for being excited for the show are twofold: I've seen the whole "historical figures from such-and-such a time try to navigate modern society" concept work before (anyone else ever watch Clone High?), and I'm glad to see another alum of The OC - Autumn Reeser, in this case - get a job. There's also the whole thing of having Aphrodite, Eros, and Hercules shacking up together, which has the potential to be amusing, especially while they're living out their mission of helping everyday folks find love.

Of course, it also has the potential to be quite cheesy, and from the first promo, I can't tell for sure which way the show is leaning. There are some funny bits (Eros has foregone arrows in favor of a love gun), but there's also an over-the-top feeling about it all. It's enough to make me want to check out an episode, though. How about you? To watch the promo, just read more.

Photo courtesy of The CW

Buzz News Roundup, 7/16

BuzzSugar — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:33:58 -0700

Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio may star together in Quentin Tarantino's movie Inglorious Bastards, according to Variety.
ComingSoon reports that Diablo Cody will develop a comedic movie script based on an idea that Steven Spielberg came up with, though no further plot details are available to us at the moment.
Tween alert! The Desperate Housewives kids have officially been recast, writes the Hollywood Reporter.
Autumn Reeser is one of three additions to the cast of Valentine, Inc., a show about Greek gods living among us that will air on the CW this Fall, writes Zap2it.
According to Variety, Danny DeVito will direct The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, with Morgan Freeman, Pierce Brosnan and Saoirse Ronan starring.
The Hollywood Reporter has the scoop on The World's Greatest Dad, an indie comedy in which Robin Williams will star as that great dad.
The Letters from a Nut books, in which a guy writes angry letters to various corporations, are being developed into a TV series for Fox, Reuters reports.
Actor Justin Theroux may be writing the script for Iron Man 2, writes Zap2It.
William Petersen is leaving CSI, The Associated Press reports.

Source

"The OC" Recap: Episode 14, "The Shake Up"

BuzzSugar — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 12:34:10 -0800

In this week's episode of "The OC", Ryan worries that his relationship with Taylor is suddenly moving into "mach 5," and thankfully, that's precisely what the writers seem to be doing with the show. We begin as Taylor is discussing plans for her first-ever birthday party with Summer, and she confesses that the ideal present would be Ryan asking her to go to Berkeley with him. Oh, and an "I love you" wouldn't hurt either. Next we're treated to some very heavy-handed foreshadowing, so if you don't mind some spoilers, read more

Seeing an earthquake story in the LA Times, the girls point out that, no matter how many times the experts predict "the big one," it never happens. Subtle, right? Almost as subtle as Taylor's "hints" to Ryan that he should say "I love you." Her best moment is probably when she and Ryan are watching a movie, and she observes how tragic it is that the two characters can't express their love for one another. Ryan says the chances of it working are pretty slim: "She’s a beautiful woman. He’s a hunchback working in a bell tower."

Kaitlin is annoyed at how much Frank is staying over, and Frank confronts her about it. The problem isn't that he went to prison, Kaitlin says, but that Frank is boring. Kaitlin then attempts to solve the problem by planting clown porn in Frank's duffel bag; Julie realizes what's going on and is, understandably, troubled that her 15-year-old managed to get her hands on clown porn.

Meanwhile, Kirsten sees a darker side of Newport, and it's called prenatal yoga, where the bitchy young moms invite her to join the "six-pack pack." She asks Sandy: How can she raise a baby in such a shallow place? To renew her hope, he invites her out to dinner with a "normal" couple, Spitz and his wife. Bad idea, seeing as how the wife is about 20 years younger and unbelievably obnoxious, shouting across the restaurant at a nanny to shut that thing up. Turns out it's her nanny, and the "thing" is her kid. Lovely.

Summer, meanwhile, is dragging Seth to an art opening sponsored by GEORGE. When Seth ridicules an experimental film, Summer challenges him to make his own, so he films an inflatable whale floating in a pool for six hours. Summer is not amused, but I thought it was pretty funny. In an attempt to redeem himself, he spends the rest of the episode filming documentary footage of Ryan, Summer, and the gang.

Trying to loosen Ryan up, Taylor invites him over for dinner and wine. She gets sloshed instead and admits that she just wants to hear that he loves her. When she seems to pass out on the bed, Ryan asks: "Taylor, are you just pretending to be unconscious so I’ll tell you that I love you?" A drunken Taylor replies: "Maybe..."

Eventually, he says he loves her back but then panics when he realizes Taylor is planning to go to Berkeley. Taylor decides she'll say "I love you" when she opens Ryan's romantic birthday gift, a bound book of French love poems. But when she opens the gift, she realizes Ryan has gift-wrapped a dictionary instead. I think the French call that "sabotage."

Speaking of sabotage, Julie finds Kaitlin with more clown porn and confronts her; Kaitlin says she doesn't mind Frank, she just doesn't want another "instant family." Why can't she and her mom just be family for a while?

Taylor asks Ryan: Would you have said you loved me if you knew I'd gotten into Berkeley? Ryan's relative silence comes across as a "no," and Taylor can't muster the enthusiasm to blow out her birthday candles.

Later, Ryan finds her and gives her his real gift, while also expressing his utter devotion and love. Then, guess what? There is an earthquake! A really, really long earthquake with lots of graphic footage of horrible things tumbling everywhere. Did someone die? Has Newport been destroyed? We'll have to wait until next week to find out.

Photos courtesy of Fox

"The OC" Recap: Episode 11, "The Dream Lover"

BuzzSugar — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 10:56:41 -0800

I'm really hoping the "The OC" will pull out all the stops now that the show is going off the air, and last night's over-the-top episode, "The Dream Lover," was a promising start. We've got two interlopers in Newport, including Che, who is getting weird Seth vibes, and Henri-Michel, who wants to rent a house in California and invites Taylor to move in.

Henri, after all, is willing to do anything to win his Peaches back. Taylor doesn't seem crazy about this idea but gives him credit for "really taking an emotional risk, unlike some people.” Meanwhile, Summer reassures Seth that "I still really love you. I hope we marry some day.” Soon, Seth sets off on a spiritual journey/camping trip with Che, while the rest of Newport's denizens embark on their own strange trips, so read more

Kaitlin's personal journey involves going without lip gloss and venturing into the band room, after spending a few evenings "studying" with Will. "I guess you can learn chemistry from just making out," she says. Their budding relationship, however, draws the ire of the band geeks, who think Kaitlin doesn't appreciate what's so great about Will.

Meanwhile, Julie is trying to make amends with Kirsten, but she's not having it: "You turn our business into a male prostitution ring, you get hung up on. Company policy." She doesn't hang up, however, when she gets a call from Spencer, who says that one of the call boys has chlamydia and every woman he slept with needs to be notified. Enraged, Kirsten calls Julie, who reminds Kirsten that it's her company, so she's liable too. Julie offers to notify the women if Kirsten will ferry her around, and Kirsten reluctantly agrees.

Meanwhile, Ryan goes to the Cooper house to talk to Taylor, but instead, he runs into Kaitlin, who says that if he wants to win her back, he'd better bring a gift. "I can’t believe I’m getting advice from a 15-year-old," he says, but he takes it. When he arrives at Henri's hotel room, Ryan is holding a tiny teddy bear, complete with a tiny bouquet of balloons. "What is in his mug?" Henri asks, dripping with smart-ass-ness. Gummi bears, Ryan says, and Henri-Michele offers to deliver the cannibalistic bear to Taylor. After all, if she choose Henri over Ryan, Henri will know that she truly loves him.

Ryan tries to tell Taylor how he really feels, but he fumbles big time, failing to say those three little words that matter so much. "That stuffed animal you bought me is more expressive," she says dismissively. Henri-Michele, on the other hand, has written a long love poem that he'll be reading publicly later.

Meanwhile, Seth and Che are hiking through the forest, and we can tell Seth hates it because his hair is mussed. Che tells him that Seth's "spirit animal" is trapped, and they must spend the night in the forest to find the little critter. Che fashions a tent filled with heated, steaming rocks, and in a vision, Seth confronts his spirit animal, which turns out to be an otter. Che seems to find this revelation somewhat vexing.

Meanwhile, Kirsten learns that Julie made up the whole chlamydia story just so she could hang out with Kirsten all day. Seriously, does this woman have any shame? Kirsten considers Julie's desperation and realizes that while she can't be her business partner anymore, she can still be Julie's friend, male-prostitution carnage and all. Aww!

Kaitlin, however, is realizing that she and Will probably can't be friends, or anything else. "We’re not a good fit," she tells him. "We’re like oil and that other thing."

After Ryan reads his own love poem for Taylor, Henri-Michele leaves them alone, explaining that while he loves Taylor, he "loves love more." When the two reunite, Taylor explains that she was seduced by the fact that Henri said he loved her and needs to hear it from Ryan. Knowing he's not ready, however, she says she needs to learn to be on her own before she can realy be with anyone - which is pretty much exactly what Summer said last week.

But the biggest "relationship" shocker comes when Che and Seth return from their forest jaunt. Seth tells summer about his sea otter self, which Summer finds adorable, and Julie asks Che what's vexing him. Seems Che has a vision of his spirit animal, too: It is a toad, who found his spirit mate in ... an otter! As the show comes to a close, we see Che staring longingly at a photo of Seth.

Photos courtesy of Fox

"The O.C." Recap, Episode 10: "The French Connection"

BuzzSugar — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 11:24:59 -0800

Thursday night's episode of "The OC" focused mostly on Taylor and her French ex-husband, Henri-Michel, who makes Ryan feel threatened despite being a pretentious weenie. The episode starts as Taylor realizes that the hottest new erotic novel on the market, A Season for Peaches, is a thinly veiled account of their affair written by Herni. (Apparently, page 47 is where it gets really hot.) She begs Ryan not to read it, and he agrees - until he runs into the ex-hubby signing copies at a bookstore and breaks down.

Speaking of breakdowns, over at NewMatch, Julie is having a hard time hiding the male prostitution ring from Kirsten, who is getting suspicious. It certainly doesn't help when Kirsten overhears Julie promising a client that "this one will have his back waxed," which prompts Kirsten to steal Julie's cell phone to snoop.

Meanwhile, Seth is jetting up to Seattle to ask Dr. Roberts for Summer's hand in marriage, while Kaitlin Cooper has a romance of her own brewing, so read more

While Seth does his best to bumble his meeting with Dr. Roberts, Summer reconnects with Holly, a newlywed from high school who hangs with a group called "the newpsieweds." Soon, Summer slips into the persona we saw in the alternate-universe of the Chrismukk-huh? episode, punctuating her sentences with "totally, bitches!" and licking champagne off her glass over lunch. In a rather absurd development, Summer is soon visited by visions of Che, who is presumably acting as her conscience.

Kaitlin finds herself falling for her study partner, Will (Chris Brown), despite thinking he's a major dork. When she invites him over to watch TV, Julie kids her relentlessly: "You want his big dorky arms wrapped around you!" Kaitlin blows it, though, when she asks Will if he wants to smoke weed, and he realizes her bratty act at school isn't an act. (Later, she redeems herself, so expect more Will and Kaitlin action to come.)

Then there's the ridiculous Taylor-Henri plotline: Ryan agrees to have dinner with the ex but feels inferior when they start talking about Anais Nin. Plus, a highbrow French talk show has come to Newport with the hopes of landing Taylor as a guest. (The French equivalent of Charlie Rose just decides to transport its set to SoCal to film a single episode? Yeah, that seems totally plausible.) Ryan shows up to watch the filming, while a bystander relates the main talking points: Henri's novel, existentialism, and Johnny Depp.

When Ryan finds out that Taylor lied to Henri to make him look good - saying Ryan had penned a number of scholarly articles on skepticism - he goes home to mope over his Ryan and Taylor scrapbook. (That's right: They've been dating for approximately four episodes, and Ryan already has an entire schmoopy scrapbook devoted to her.) He begins to worry that they're just too different, as Taylor seems to be succumbing to Henri's charms on the TV set. At the end of the episode, we still don't know whether Taylor and Ryan are going to call the whole thing off or try to make it work.

As for the other storylines, Kirsten uses Julie's cell phone to find out about an upcoming appointment and shows up herself, confirming her suspicions. Rather than turn Julie into the police or get Sandy Cohen involved, she simply fires her and says good riddance.

Dr. Roberts, not surprisingly, rejects Seth's offer, telling Seth to come back when he's finished college. Seth tells Summer he thinks they should just stay engaged, but Summer has learned a lesson from her Che hallucinations. She has no idea who she really is, so how can she be with someone else? With every romance potentially on the rocks, here's hoping next week's episode will be a bit more exciting.

Sneak Peek: Tonight's Episode of "The O.C."

BuzzSugar — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 07:00:48 -0800

Maybe it's just because "The OC" is going off the air soon, but I'm more excited than usual about the upcoming shows. On tonight's episode, called "The French Connection," we'll get the full scoop on the marriage between Taylor (Autumn Reeser) and her French husband. Fox has posted a clip from the episode, where Taylor realizes her ex has written a novel based on their affair. Click here to watch the special sneak peek, then tell me what you think.