from the couch of Renzie Baluyut

With our old favorite TV shows coming back for new seasons, we can definitely expect a lot of great viewing these next few months. There will be surprise hits and flops, drama on- and off-cam, and of course, new chicks on TV!

So far, I have my eye on three great-looking women: Anna Torv of the J.J. Abrams FOX drama Fringe, Dania Ramirez, the deadly Maya from the hit NBC show Heroes, and then we have Mädchen Amick, who plays Nate Archibald's new cougar love interest on Gossip Girl on The CW.

Lets get to know them a little better, shall we?

Anna Torv of Fringe

As special agent Olivia Dunham, Anna Torv kicks ass every week on Fringe. And just like any other FBI field operative, she's chasing down criminals on foot, or vaulting over cars, or even across buildings.

What makes Dunham's character so bad-ass is the kind of crooks she hunts down: you'd think they're regular serial killers or terrorists, but these miscreants are actually part of some much larger, much more elaborate conspiracy she's still trying to figure out.

Anna Torv's character is forced to confront the systematic spread of weird, paranormal occurences (called 'The Pattern' on the show), and I have to say that Anna is doing great playing Olivia Dunham.

Anna is an Australian actress, with a few movies and TV shows to her credit, but this is the biggest role she has thus far, and I say good luck on this endeavor. She's doing a great job, and I can't wait to watch the next episode to see how The Pattern unfolds.

J.J. Abrams' Fringe is this season's new sci-fi action/thriller. I'd describe it as the new X-Files, though there are people who also see a little bit of Dark Angel, Twilight Zone and Lost in it.

Dania Ramirez of Heroes

We've actually seen Dania Ramirez's character, Maya, last season on the NBC hit drama. Remember that Mexican chick who'd always be crying black tears and then everyone in a hundred-foot-radius would suddenly drop dead?

Well, Maya is back this season, and while we didn't see much character development the last time she was on Heroes, she promises fans this time, "I cry a lot less this season and make out a lot more."

We can all appreciate that. Thank you, Dania.

Dania Ramirez actually came from the Dominican Republic, and has had a recurring role in The Sopranos' final season. You also may have caught her on the last X-Men movie (X-Men: The Last Stand in 2006) and on a music video here and there.

As for Dania's character on Heroes, well, we've seen some more of that "making out" the other night. That, plus more revealing clothes. Still no idea how her powers work though. Is it psionic in nature? Does she exude some kind of airborne nerve toxin? A fast-acting disease perhaps?

I suppose we'll have to find out in the next several episodes of Heroes. And I wouldn't mind seeing more Dania Ramirez in the process.


Mädchen Amick of Gossip Girl

Her name Mädchen means "girl" in German, and is pronounced mayd-shyen- remember that. You probably remember her as Shelly Johnson from the old TV drama Twin Peaks, or that chick in the Stephen King movie Sleepwalkers (1992).

OK, so she also had recurring roles on a lot of other shows including Gilmore Girls, E.R., Jake In Progress and Joey- that plus a number of movie roles and other gigs. So you get the idea: she has been around for quite some time, and now Mädchen is back, for the appreciation of a totally new audience on Gossip Girl.

Mädchen Amick plays the role of Catherine Mason, one of this season's new characters. She has a summer fling with Chace Crawford's character of Nate Archibald, which of course goes on to extend for several episodes just for fun.

We also find out later on that Catherine Mason is stepmom to Blair Waldorf's (Leighton Meester) love interest, Marcus. With all the characters running around, up to their usual Upper East-side scheming and shenanigans, you know that this makes for great Gossip Girl drama, and it can only be a good thing for viewers, right?

There will definitely be more Mädchen Amick and Catherine Mason this season. You know you love her.

Hey, you can check out our featured actresses on their own respective profiles on the Internet Movie Database: check out Anna Torv's here, Dania Ramirez's here, and Mädchen Amick's here.

As long as TV keeps coming up with delicious eye-candy, this blog's feature on "Favorite TV Chicks" will be on hand to get to know more about our fine female performers who make our TV shows a little bit more interesting. Only on "Too Much TV | Renzie on TV!"

Cheers, everyone!

by Renzie Baluyut

You've probably been waiting for it all year- the third volume of Heroes finally made its premiere last night. I caught it myself, and liked it. I'm sure a lot of my friends did too. But in the business of television, buzz is good, but ratings ultimately matter. The question is: was the NBC drama able to hold up well enough against the fierce Monday night competition?

Not quite heroically enough, according to a report on TV.com. In fact, according to figures from The Hollywood Reporter, viewership of Heroes: Villains is rather disappointing- down 25% this season, based on ratings of the third season premiere last night, pulling in only 9.9 million sets of eyeballs.

Which meant one in four who saw the second season premiere last year was probably watching something else, leaving it up to the DVR to record the show, or just busy doing other stuff. Heroes overload, perhaps?

We had three hours' worth of Heroes last night: a 1-hour clip show at 8pm, which pretty much just brings us up to speed with what went down the past couple seasons, then you had Episodes 1 and 2 of the "Villains" volume: "The Second Coming" at 9pm and "The Butterfly Effect" at 10pm.

Understand, however, that in my case, I also want to catch my other favorite Monday night shows- specifically: Gossip Girl (on The CW, at 8pm), How I Met Your Mother (on CBS, at 8:30pm), The Sarah Connor Chronicles (on FOX, at 9pm). So thank Bob for DVR's.

Now that's just MY demographic. What about the rest of Monday night primetime-viewing America? It seemed that ABC's Dancing with the Stars pulled in 21.1 million viewers- more than twice the number of Heroes' viewers- at 9pm, and then CBS kicks NBC's ass at 10pm with David Caruso's screaming hot shades with CSI: Miami's 16.9 million viewers.

The biggest draw for Monday night however, seemed to have come from Monday Night Football, with the return of Bret Favre, so all around, even the other Monday night shows got hit: The Sarah Connor Chronicles only had 5.8 million viewers, Prison Break (also on FOX) also took a slight dive, and so did Gossip Girl, which saw 20% less viewers compared to last week.

Possibly impressive: comedy newcomer Worst Week garnered more than 11 million viewers last night- still at least a million more viewers than the Heroes season 3 premiere.

I'm still hoping that our heroes (and villains) would rally by next week. Sure looks like the Petrellis have some hustling to do.

Cheers, everyone!

Ladies and Gentlemen, the new shows for the Fall Season are upon us. Yes, your favorite shows- at least most of 'em, anyway- are back to entertain you once again. So get your eyeballs ready- there's lots of great stuff coming out of primetime TV these next few months!

Week of Sept 01 to 07

• Gossip Girl comes back with its second season on The CW, Monday, September 01.
• An all-new Prison Break returns to FOX, with a 2-hour fourth season premiere on Monday, September 01.
• The brand new 90210 premieres on The CW on Tuesday, Sept 02
  

• Yet another cycle of America's Next Top Model- we're on season 11, btw- comes back on The CW on Wednesday, Sept 03
• A brand new HBO original series, True Blood, premieres on Sunday, Sept 07.
• Entourage on HBO returns with season 5; new episodes begin on Sunday, Sept 07.

• Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, returns with all-new episodes on FOX, the second season premieres on Monday, Sept 08
• Fringe, the new J.J. Abrams drama comes out on FOX with a special 2-hour episode on Sept 09

• House, now on its fifth season, comes back on Tuesday, Sept 16.
• Smallville is back with new episodes for season 8 on The CW; Thursday, Sept 18.
• An all-new Supernatural returns to The CW with its fourth season on Thursday, Sept 18.
• Everybody Hates Chris season 4 comes back with all=new episodes starting Friday, Sept 19.

• Heroes on NBC. With a 60-minute clip show preceeding the third season premiere. Sept 22.
• How I Met Your Mother returns with its fourth season on CBS; Monday, Sept 22.
• The new Knight Rider premieres on Wednesday, Sept 24 on NBC.
  

• Season 5 of CSI: New York comes back on CBS on Wednesday, Sept 24.
• The third season of Ugly Betty premieres on ABC on Thursday, Sept 25.
• My Name is Earl is back for its fourth season; new episodes start on Thursday, Sept 25 on NBC.
  

• It's a special 2-hour premiere for season 5 of Grey's Anatomy; comes back on ABC on Sept 25.
• The Office returns with new episodes on Thursday, Sept 25, with a special one-hour episode premiering on NBC.
• The Simpsons is now on its 20th Season- with all new episodes starting Sunday, Sept 28 on FOX.
  

• The Amazing Race is back on CBS for its 13th season; it's another race around the world on Sunday, Sept 28.
• It's the fifth season of Desperate Housewives; brand new episodes on ABC on Sunday, Sept 28.
• Showtime's Dexter is back for season 3; premieres on Sunday, Sept 28.
  

• ABC's Brothers and Sisters is on its third season, returning on ABC on Sunday, Sept 28.
• Little Britain also comes back on HBO, on Sunday, Sept 28.

• The second season of Chuck comes back on NBC on Sept 29.
• Life, also on its second season, comes back on NBC on Sept 29, but moves to Fridays on Oct 10.
• Pushing Daisies is also on its second season on ABC; premieres on Wednesday, Oct 01.
  

• The Grey's Anatomy spinoff, Private Practice, is back for another run. Second season premieres on Wednesday, Oct 01 on ABC.
• A new Sci Fi original series, Sanctuary, premieres on Friday, Oct 03.

• CSI: Las Vegas is back on CBS; season 9 premieres on Thursday, Oct 9.
• NBC's 30 Rock returns with all-new episodes for its third season; airs Thursday, Oct 30.

Summer is right on top of us- with the last season's shows already wrapping up, and networks announcing their primetime lineups for the coming fall. Welcome to Renzie Reviews the 2008 Fall Lineup- in this post we cover The FOX Network.

Returning Favorites on FOX

Alright! More Summer Glau in "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles". The very first season of only nine episodes just wasn't enough.

You know "American Idol" is definitely coming back for another run, and so are "24", "Family Guy", "House", "Prison Break" and "The Simpsons".

Also renewed are "America's Most Wanted", "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?", "Bones", "COPS", "Don't Forget the Lyrics", "Hell's Kitchen", "King of the Hill", "Kitchen Nightmares", "MadTV", "The Moment of Truth", "So You Think You Can Dance", "TALKSHOW with Spike Feresten" and "'Til Death".

Cancelled Shows

Gone from the FOX lineup this fall are "Back To You", "Canterbury's Law", "Nashville", "New Amsterdam", "The Next Great American Band", "The Return of Jezebel James" and "Unhitched".

New Shows

This is where that new Joss Whedon project comes in: "Dollhouse" starring Elisha Dushku (from "Tru Calling").

Also we have a spinoff from "The Family Guy"- "The Cleveland Show", as well as another animated comedy, "Sit Down, Shut Up".

Also added to the lineup: comedies "Starting Under" and "Do Not Disturb", dramas "The Fringe" and "The Oaks" and the reality show "Secret Millionaire".

We've covered all the major networks so far on our 5-part coverage of the upcoming seasons on TV: Renzie Reviews the 2008 Fall Lineup- feel free to check out the earlier networks in our earlier posts.

Cheers, everyone!

You can always count on the Japanese to come up with some incredibly crazy- and funny stuff. You probably remember seeing this clip from last year: a rather innovative game show called "The Human Tetris"- at least that's what the clip says on YouTube.

If you haven't seen it yet, check this one out- it's extremely funny!

I know the American Idol juggernaut just about got everybody hooked this season- now that it's down to David Archuleta versus David Cook for the finale.

My money's on Cook, but Archuleta does have a whole shitload of fans.

Alright, so I know enough about what's generally going down, but the truth is, I can't help but notice that, for the past several episodes, my enthusiasm for the show has noticeably waned.

I was trying to figure it out: was it possibly the lack of eye-candy for me? Hardly any chicks this season- at least not as compelling as when Katherine McPhee was around (sorry, just needed a reason to put her pic up on this blog :p). In fairness, Carly Smithson was the most fun to watch for this batch, so I know I really stopped watching the actual broadcasts after Broadway night and just relied on the internet for updates.

Was it because the weekly themes were sorta skewed towards a more mature audience? Alright, I dig Lennon/McCartney. Even the Andrew Lloyd Webber night was rather entertaining. But Dolly Parton night? Neil Diamond? I can only take so much Dolly or Diamond in one hour of TV viewing. Oh I didn't even bother watching Neil Diamond night. Where's the element of 'staying contemporary' Simon Cowell has been constantly crowing about?

While the show has inadvertently managed to keep itself interesting somehow- what with the Paula Abdul blunder a couple of weeks back (you can even catch a clip on YouTube if you missed it), or that debacle with Archuleta's dad on being such a stage parent (which you can read about here, here and here)- it doesn't seem to completely accomplish what the show set out to do: get my eyeballs locked on FOX two nights a week.

Luck of the draw, I suppose. Here's to hoping they get a more interesting set of contestants next year.

Cheers, everyone.

Too bad a lot of our shows had their number of episodes cut this season. Nevertheless, get ready as your favorite shows leave you hanging at the edge of your seats, answer some questions, or leave you with even more questions.

Let's check in on our most-watched shows as they wrap up in time for summer!

30 Rock (NBC). Jack lands himself a new job, Liz gets a pregnancy scare, and Tracy's porn-video game masterpiece is just about complete. We need more 30 Rock! Season 2 just ended last Thursday, May 8.

America's Next Top Model (The CW). Haven't we had enough top models already? Cycle 10 ends on Wednesday, May 14.

American Idol (FOX). The two Davids battle it out, but for some reason, I'm just not too excited about it this season. Season finale on Wednesday, May 21.

Battlestar Galactica (SciFi). We hit the episode 10 mark on Friday, June 13. No official word on when it's coming out, but the second installment of 10 episodes wraps up not just Season 4, but the entire series.

But hey, word is, we'll be getting the spin-off Caprica soon, and there might even be a BSG movie coming up!

CSI (CBS). Warrick finds himself in hot water in CSI's eighth season finale. This Thursday, May 15.

CSI: Miami (CBS). The entire Miami team is in danger, but Horatio is around to save the day. Find out what happens on the sixth season finale on (Monday) May 19.

CSI: New York (CBS). A bank heist goes terribly wrong- but you know the New York team is going to pull through as always. Could be fun! Season 4 wraps up on Wednesday, May 21.

Gossip Girl (The CW). The promos are hot, and as far as we can tell with the past few episodes, the first season finale is sure not to disappoint. Catch it Monday next week, May 19.

Grey's Anatomy (ABC). It's gonna be a 2-hour season finale, and you know there's gonna be lots of Seattle Grace drama going on. Fourth season wraps up on (Thursday) May 22.

The Hills (MTV). If you're a fan of Heidi, Spencer and Lauren, then you definitely wouldn't want to miss The Hills' third season finale! Airs on Monday, May 12.

House (FOX) is on its 4th season, and the two-hour finale airs this Monday, May 12.

How I Met Your Mother (CBS). We're almost at the end of Season 3, and we still don't know exactly how he did. Are we finally going to get some answers on (Monday) May 19?

Lost (ABC). Brace yourself for a two-hour season finale. More answers this time? Or just more questions? Check it out on (Thursday) May 29.

My Name is Earl (NBC). Earl must make a choice: his wife, or the list. The one-hour season finale airs this (Thursday) May 15.

The Office (NBC). Toby says goodbye and heads off to Costa Rica, and in comes his HR replacement. How does Michael Scott deal this time? Find out on Thursday, May 14.

One Tree Hill (The CW). I haven't watched a single episode, but I know a lot of my friends who do. The fifth season draws to a close on (Monday) May 19.

Reaper (The CW). It's Sam versus an entire army of demons as we wrap up the first season. Question is, will Reaper be back for Season 2? Airs on Tuesday, May 20.

Scrubs (NBC). Word is, they're moving to ABC next season. But not before the entire Sacred Heart staff winds up in a twisted fairy tale conjured up by Dr. Cox. Season 7 just ended last Thursday, May 8.

Smallville (The CW). What has Braniac been up to this time? Also- Clark faces off with Lex, Lana wakes up from her coma, and so much more going on as Season 7 of Smallville wraps up on (Thursday) May 15.

Supernatural (The CW). Dean has just 30 hours left until his pact with the demon Lilith expires. Can he, Sam and Bobby pull through? Season finale airs on Thursday, May 15.

Top Chef (Bravo). Just needed an excuse to put host Padma Lakshmi's picture up here. Season 4 has been really fun, and we may have some six episodes still on the way- which means we'll be seeing our top 2 chefs slug it out on (Wednesday) June 18.

Ugly Betty (ABC). Sorry, I don't watch this show, but my friends do. Season finale happens on (Thursday) May 22.

So there you have it- make sure you don't miss your shows! Stick around as we cover the fall line-ups soon. We'll get official word from the networks in a few days.

Cheers, everyone!

Welcome to my continuing coverage of the songs featured on American Idol Season 7. No blow-by-blow reportage, no thoughts about the show (at least not at this point), just the songs performed by our Top 20 contestants.

We're doing the 70's this week, and we just covered the dudes' songs earlier on. Now we have the songlist for the chicks' performances.


List of Songs Sung By The Contestants
The Chicks of the Top 20 Sing the 70's!
American Idol Season 7

Carly Smithson - Heart "Crazy On You"
Syesha Mercado - Billy Paul "Me and Mrs. Jones"
Brooke White - Carly Simon "You're So Vain"
Ramiele Malubay - Thelma Houston "Don't Leave Me This Way"
Kristy Lee Cook - Linda Ronstadt "You're No Good"

Amanda Overmyer - Kansas "Carry On Wayward Son"
Alaina Whitaker - Olivia Newton-John "Hopelessly Devoted To You"
Alexandrea Lushington - Chicago "If You Leave Me Now"
Kady Malloy - Heart "Magic Man"
Asia'h Epperson - Eric Carmen "All By Myself"


Don't forget to watch the results show- we see ours in the Philippines on Star World. Go right ahead and check out the official FOX website here, for exclusive vids, photos, blogs and a chance to interact with fellow AI fans!

4 more episodes 'til we get our Top 12- come back next week for the list of songs performed then!

Cheers, everyone!

This is my continuing coverage on the featured music on American Idol season 7. Just to make it clear, I'm not doing a blow-by-blow or an episode guide: that's the reason why we all watch it live :). However, I aim to do a public service by helping out fellow fans with the song titles and artists featured, as performed by our contestants.

That being said, we're now down to our Top 20. Our theme for this week: the 70's. And here are the songs from our remaining 10 dudes, on American Idol episode aired 26 February 2008.

List of Songs Sung By The Contestants
The Dudes of the Top 20 Sing the 70's!
American Idol Season 7

Michael Johns - Fleetwood Mac "Go Your Own Way"
Jason Castro - Andy Gibb "I Just Want To Be Your Everything"
Luke Menard - Queen "Killer Queen"
Robbie Carrico - Foreigner "Hot Blooded"
Danny Noriega - The Carpenters "Superstar"

David Hernandez - The Temptations "Papa Was a Rolling Stone"
Jason Yeager - The Doobie Brothers "Long Train Runnin'"
Chikezie Eze - Donny Hathaway "I Believe To My Soul"
David Cook - Free "All Right Now"
David Archuleta - John Lennon "Imagine"


The chicks' song choices coming up next. More American Idol Music comin' your way as Season 7 continues. Go right ahead and check out the official FOX website here, for exclusive vids, photos, blogs and a chance to interact with fellow AI fans! Here's looking forward to some interesting performances next week.

Cheers, everyone!

This is my continuing coverage of the music featured on American Idol Season 7. This week, we see our Top 24 in action belting out some jams from the '60's.

We already featured the dudes' song choices earlier on, so now we cover the chicks' musical performances.

So here's the playlist from American Idol Season 7, episode aired 20 February 2008!


List of Songs Sung By The Contestants
The Chicks of the Top 24 Sing!
American Idol Season 7

Kristy Lee Cook - Fontella Bass "Rescue Me"
Joanne Borgella - Burt Bacharach "Say A Little Prayer For You"
Alaina Whittaker - Spiral Starecase "More Today Than Yesterday"

Amanda Overmyer - Van Morrison "Baby Please Don't Go"
Amy Davis - Connie Francis "Where The Boys Are"
Brooke White - The Turtles "Happy Together"

Alexandrea Lushington - Blood, Sweat & Tears "Spinning Wheel"
Kady Malloy - The Mindbenders "A Groovy Kind Of Love"
Asia'h Epperson - Janis Joplin "Piece Of My Heart"

Ramiele Malubay - Dusty Springfield "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me"
Syesha Mercado - The Nashville Teens "Tobacco Road"
Carly Smithson - Tony Bennett "The Shadow of Your Smile"


More American Idol Music comin' your way as Season 7 continues. Go right ahead and check out the official FOX website here, for exclusive vids, photos, blogs and a chance to interact with fellow AI fans! Here's looking forward to some interesting performances next week.

Cheers, everyone!

Hello everyone.

I decided to provide you all a list of all the songs sung on the Tuesday & Wednesday shows (Wednesday and Thursday in the Philippines). To be honest I don't have a favorite just yet. And even if I did, it would usually be a chick :).

So, here's the tune-age from the episode of American Idol Season 7 that aired last 19 February 2008. The week's theme: the sixties!

List of Songs Sung By The Contestants:
The Dudes of the Top 24 Sing!
American Idol Season 7

David Hernandez - Wilson Pickett "In the Midnight Hour"
Chikezie Ezie - Spiral Staircase "More Today Than Yesterday"
David Cook - The Turtles "Happy Together"

Jason Yeager - Andy Williams "Moon River"
Robbie Carrico - Three Dog Night "One"
David Archuleta - The Miracles "Shop Around"

Danny Noriega - Elvis Presley "Jailhouse Rock"
Luke Menard - Nilsson "Everybody's Talkin'"
Colton Berry - Elvis Presley - "Suspicious Minds"

Garrett Haley - Neil Sedaka - "Breakin' up is Hard to Do"
Jason Castro - Lovin' Spoonful - "Daydream"
Michael Johns - The Doors - "Light My Fire"


More American Idol Music comin' your way as Season 7 continues. The chicks' 60's songs coming up. Go right ahead and check out the official FOX website here, for exclusive vids, photos, blogs and a chance to interact with fellow AI fans!

Cheers, everyone!

Finally, Jericho fans will be getting what they paid for in truckloads of nuts! A new episode comes out on Feb 12. So if you feel like doing some homework just before the new season premiere, you still have time to do some surfing or even watching the last few episodes all over again- which is what I'll probably be doing.

While we do have some shows to tide us over for now- The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Project Runway, The Apprentice and Lost, I'd sure like to get some resolution done for the whole lot of shows left midway through their respective seasons.

So here I am, still keeping tabs on the shows I usually watch. There are actually a lot of people asking me if a certain show has new episodes out, or if I know when a new show is coming back- so I thought I'd do everyone a service by posting a quick update on some of our favorite shows right here.

• 30 Rock last aired Episode 10 of Season 2 last Jan 10. It's been weeks since we got anything new.
  
• Bionic Woman aired Episode 8 "Do Not Disturb" last Nov 28- still no news on when we're getting more Jamie Sommers.
  
• Battlestar Galactica comes back with a fresh new season on April 4. Time to watch the earlier 1970s series?
• Chuck has already come back from Christmas break, airing two new episodes on January 24, but hasn't come up with new ones since then. We have 13 Chuck episodes so far.
  
• Gossip Girl came back on January 2, but hasn't aired another episode since January 9. We're also at 13 episodes for Gossip Girl for now.
  

• Grey's Anatomy came back with "Lay Your Hands On Me" last January 10- but that was it. Nothing new from the guys since then.
• No word from Heroes yet. Their last episode was last Dec 3, "Powerless".
• Nothing new from the guys of "How I Met Your Mother" since the last December 10 show, "The Platinum Rule".
• Earl and the gang of My Name Is Earl came back last January 10 with "Bad Earl"; we have yet to hear from them after that.
• We have word from the boys of Reaper- they'll be out with a brand new episode on March 6.

• Scrubs last went on with "My #1 Doctor" last December 6. No word yet when the guys will be out with a new episode.
• Smallville already came back with 3 new episodes since the break: "Persona" last Jan 31, "Siren" last Feb 7 and "Fracture" out this week.
• So far so good for Supernatural- they've come back from the holiday hiatus, with last week's "Dream a Little Dream of Me", and "Mystery Spot" out this week for Valentines' Day.
• I miss the guys from The Office- the last episode we saw from them was last November's "The Deposition".

Frack. It's all I can say for now.

I was able to see the first 5 minutes of the brand new FOX action-suspense/sci-fi series, "The Sarah Connor Chronicles". And it was completely, totally awesome.

For those of you who have been living under a rock these past few months, "The Sarah Connor Chronicles" is the highly-anticipated TV tie-in of the "Terminator" series of motion pictures (yes, the one with Arnold Schwarzenneger in them).


How's that for a mean-looking cast, huh? We get this blurb from one of my favorite TV websites, www.TV.com:

The Terminator franchise arrives on TV with this serial drama. The series picks up a year after the events of Terminator 2: Judgment Day with John and Sarah Connor (Thomas Dekker and Lena Headey) hiding from the government. After two years in one place Sarah decides they need a change of scenery and in doing so they expose themselves to FBI Agent James Ellison (Richard T. Jones) and Skynet's army of Terminators including Cameron Phillips (Summer Glau) a reprogrammed Terminator sent to protect John. She informs them that Judgment Day was not stopped and will take place in 2011. John convinces Sarah to stop hiding and fight so Cameron takes them to a time machine the resistance has set up to take them to the year Skynet was created 2007.

I was able to catch the 2-hour season premiere of American Idol on Star World, even after I came home from a dinner date. For the most part, I'm really just curious what this season has to offer. It's really more of a guilty pleasure, I suppose. There were already a couple of times when I swore off American Idol, only to get hooked on it again.

As you might probably expect, you'll have yourself a few good singers, some human interest story-pieces that tug at your heart-strings, but also some very interesting characters.

Sometimes you get all three- easily one of my favorites for American Idol season 7 is Kristy Lee Cook.

Did you catch her bio? She wrestles and trains for cage-fighting- which means she can literally kick my ass (or anybody else's for that matter). She lives in a log cabin surrounded by pine trees and raises horses in here spare time. She's darned cute. And she sings well. Well enough, at the very least, to move to the Hollywood round.

A quick Google search has brought me to an old website that was promoting her CD back in 2005. Interesting. It would be nice to hear (and see!) some more of her.

Here's something we got from that old website, CDBaby.com...

Kristy's music idols are Martina, Faith and Shania (do we really need last names). She also loves the music of Garth Brooks and Gary Allen. Kristy has her own unique sound and style, which will be easily recognizable.

At 5'8", Kristy Lee looks like a blonde, blue-eyed Brook Shields, has an incredible voice and is the wholesome, All-American 'girl next door'. The entertainment world is in for a treat! Here's the REAL American Idol!!!