Last night’s NBC sitcom “30 Rock” featured a town called Stone Mountain, Georgia. But nobody would mistake it for the actual Stone Mountain. Nonetheless, mayor Gary Peet wasn’t perturbed a bit.

“It was kind of harmless,” Peet, mayor for the past eight years. “It was so disconnected from reality, it doesn’t really matter.”

The show’s writers used the name Stone Mountain (hometown of a former “30 Rock” writers Donald Glover) simply because it sounded like a hick town that Kenneth the page (played by former Conyers resident Jack McBrayer) might have come from.

The plotline: Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) is seeking talent for the sketch show from a place that isn’t elitist such as San Francisco or New York. So he and Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) fly down to Kenneth’s hometown. (You can watch the episode here on hulu.)

While Jack espouses Stone Mountain as “real America,” Liz argues that no one area of America represents America.

“You’re wrong,” Jack says. “Small towns are where you see …

Continue reading ‘30 Rock’ turns Stone Mountain into hicktown USA »

Possibly the entertaining moment of tonight’s show was seeing Irina exasperated and annoyed in the green room after Althea won. Irina just can’t hide her contempt, or her superiority. I sort of love to hate her, but it’s clear that she’s the frontrunner to win. Her clothes are pretty awesome, I have to admit. She doesn’t ever seem to have an off day, even if she is a bit mean.

Althea wowed the judges with a pair of “impeccable” pants with a paper-bag waist. She paired it with a giant loop of sweater, which Heidi and her colleagues loved.

Logan, former workroom heartthrob, went home because of his ’80s redux of zippers, collar and safety pins.

And the rest:

Carol Hannah – A sweet but not exciting black dress with a poufy skirt. Off topic — I’m not wild about her model. Her haircut is unflattering and she never looks comfortable walking, though the designer herself seems pretty happy.

Christopher – Skated by (again) with a wildly ambitious dress with too many layers. The top fit …

Continue reading Project Runway: Copycat cutters? »

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So Lisa Wu Hartwell is not pregnant. Sheree Whitfield admitted she’s full of herself and unapologetic about anything. Kandi Burruss teared up over her A.J.NeNe Leakes has a new hairstyle. Kim Zolciak has broken up with Big Poppa – but is still kissing him during a commercial break!

Oh, and Kim and Nene kissed and made up despite the choking incident. Not that anyone believes it, but it sure is convenient to maintain relations for the show’s sake.

Host Andy Cohen annoyed Kim a couple of times by harping on said choking incident and Big Poppa. Good job, Andy!

Among other notable moments:

Sheree is wearing Dolce & Gabbana, not She By Sheree. At least Lisa is wearing a dress from her own line Closet Freak. She rolls her eyes over Lisa’s reference to her own line.

Kandi reveals she broke up with A.J. back in June about a month after that Mother’s Day luncheon in which her mom reconciled …

Continue reading ‘Real Housewives of Atlanta’ reunion recap, part one: kissing and making up? »

Continue reading ‘Real Housewives of Atlanta’ reunion live blog »

NBC’s “30 Rock,” the Emmy-winning comedy, features a former Conyers resident Jack McBrayer, who plays innocent NBC page Kenneth.

Kenneth’s fictional hometown? Stone Mountain.

So in tonight’s episode, according to the NBC tease, Liz (Tina Fey) and Jack (Alec Baldwin) venture to Stone Mountain to seek new talent.

It’s fairly clear that the show writers are not going to portray the real Stone Mountain, which is a suburban area packed with Krogers, gas stations and fast-food joints. Rather, it will probably be an updated version of Mayberry.

We are going to get Gary Peet, the mayor of the real Stone Mountain, to watch the show tonight and critique it. He is aware of the show, he said, but is not a regular viewer. I’ll post his thoughts tomorrow.

Donald Glover, a Stone Mountain native, used to write for “30 Rock” and was the source of the name. His bosses like that name because it sounded hick and Kenneth is kind of hick. What’s funny is McBrayer’s actual former residence of …

Continue reading NBC’s ‘30 Rock’ visits ‘Stone Mountain’ tonight »

V-103 morning host Frank Ski has gotten his contract extension and will be on the station for at least another year.

I don’t know any details of the contract because Ski and his agent are contract-bound to say nothing about it. So did he get a raise? Is he staying one year, two years, three years or longer? Only a handful of people know that. Although Ski isn’t universally loved by any means (based on comments on this blog), his ratings have been nothing short of extraordinary lately. He’s No. 1 virtually across the board and pulled in an unbelievable 20 percent of the 18-34 demo in September with his co-host Wanda Smith.

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V-103 as a whole is pulling in some of the best numbers of any station in the top 10 markets.

The timing of the ratings jump certainly helped him get the contract extension, even in a lousy economy and afternoon host (and …

Continue reading V-103’s Frank Ski gets his contract extension »

While CBS’s ‘NCIS’ continues to dominate the national ratings, hitting 21 million viewers, it merely ranked No. 6 here in Atlanta, where “Dancing With the Stars” was the top show.

Reliable “Desperate Housewives” and “Grey’s” remained mainstays near the top as well.

Otherwise, there were no big surprises. Bravo’s “Real Housewives of Atlanta” landed in the top 30 among primetime shows in Atlanta for the first time since broadcast TV debuted its lineup. The finale finished at 214,000 viewers in Atlanta, 3 million viewers nationally, slightly more than average. It was the only non-sports cable network to make the top 30.

MTV’s “My Super Psycho Sweet 16,” a film shot in Atlanta and directed and produced by locals, opened last Friday at 848,000, much higher than a typical Friday audience. MTV said it’s the best 12-34 ratings in that time slot in 18 months.

Clearly, MTV is happy with it because it’s repeating the movie several more times this week. A sequel seems to be in the …

Continue reading ABC shows top Atlanta TV ratings; Gucci Mane, Kings of Leon busy on Atlanta radio songs »

In a move that should save WGCL-TV a few bucks, the station is handing over all sports duties to 790/The Zone.

Veteran sports anchors Gil Tyree and Mark Harmon will be let go at some point early in the new year but will continue with their regular duties for the next few weeks.

“I have great respect for Gil and Mark,” said news director Steve Schwaid. “Btt we are now aligning ourselves with an organization that does sports 24/7 365 days a year. This will give us even more sports content over the next few years. I think this give us more flexibility in the world of sports. The analogy I use is how ABC News uses ESPN for its sports coverage.”

Many news stations in smaller markets have scaled back or cut sports segments completely out of their newscasts, especially at 11 p.m. Both General Manager Kirk Black , who created a similar alliance when he worked in Kansas City, and Schwaid said this outsourcing was a way to continue the same amount of sports coverage but free up cash …

Continue reading 790/The Zone takes over sports for WGCL-TV »

After a strike-ridden year with just one bonafide hit (CBS’s “The Mentalist”) and a couple of decent freshman shows (notably Fox’s “Fringe”), the broadcast networks came back with a more robust lineup of newbies.

As expected, it’s a mixed bag when it comes to performance. Let’s go over the new shows network by network:

CBS: This network had the fewest holes to fill and has held up okay, though a few of its aging shows have lost significant steam – especially “Cold Case.” “NCIS: Los Angeles,” averaging 17-million plus viewers, has held a bulk of the crowd that watches “NCIS,” now TV’s most popular show at 20 million. The excellent drama “The Good Wife” on Tuesdays after “NCIS: Los Angeles” has held a consistent 13 million viewers. Jenna Elfman’s “Accidentally on Purpose” is a mediocre offering on Monday nights but is doing adequately sandwiched between “How I Met Your Mother” and “Two and a Half Men.” The maudlin “Three Rivers” is doing poorly on Sunday nights after “Amazing …

Continue reading What are your favorite new shows so far? »

Taped mostly at the Atlanta Civic Center three weeks ago, the BET Hip Hop Awards was more about concert performances than awards. And plenty of dry ice.

Jay-Z, Young Jeezy, Snoop Dogg, Ludacris, Soulja Boy and Gucci Mane were among those who hit the stage. Ice Cube and Missy Elliott got lifetime achievement awards. Eminem popped up in a taped rap-off. Mike Epps hosted. He joked about Kanye West, who didn’t show up.

What did you think now that you’ve seen it?

Continue reading What did you think of the BET Hip-Hop Awards 2009? »