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“Dancing With the Stars,” with a record 16 celebrities, has had to pare things down quickly at times. Tonight, it was a double elimination.

Melissa Joan Hart couldn’t weave magic another week and was the first one of the night cut. Before public votes, she was tied with snowboarder Louie Vito with the second lowest collective score.

The actress, best known as “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” in the 1990s, actually had the highest score Week 4 with a 28 (which included a 10). She’s mostly been in the middle of the pack. Overall, Hart wasn’t a bad dancer, just didn’t always have the confidence or elegance of Joanna Krupa or Mya.

The other two, Vito and NFL Hall of Famer Michael Irvin, had to dance for their life in 30 second routines.

Irvin was sharper, looked …

Continue reading Who were the two celebrities cut from ‘Dancing With the Stars’ this week? »

Atlanta-based CNN is still heavily reliant on actual news and during a relatively quiet month like October, the network lost steam during primetime against its three primary competitors which rely more on personality.

In fact, for the first time, the network will come in fourth among 25-54 year olds in primetime. Bill Carter of the New York Times broke the news. It was behind the leader Fox News, MSNBC and even its own sister station HLN.

That 25-54 demo is considered highly crucial to advertisers seeking that news-hungry audience.

Sure, CNN still draws more total viewers than HLN and MSNBC overall an entire day and is ahead among older viewers, too. Fox, of course, is ahead on virtually all counts.

It’s an old story that Fox is now the big leader in cable news/talk. Carter is pointing out that the originator of cable news is even falling behind MSNBC and HLN. For instance, a repeat of MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann’s 8 p.m. show at 10 p.m. even beat a new CNN Anderson Cooper show …

Continue reading CNN finishing fourth in October in 25-54 demo in primetime among news networks »

The Zac Brown Band, who is holding a big benefit concert this Friday at the Fox Theatre for the burned Georgia Theatre in Athens, celebrated its second No. 1 single this week with “Toes, ” according to Mediabase 24/7.

The sun-kissed song about taking a break from Georgia and going on a trip to the Caribbean has a Kenny Chesney/Jimmy Buffett feel, a perfect summer song to go No. 1 in October. The north Georgia band’s first single “Chicken Fried” went No. 1 about a year ago and the second single “Whatever It Is’ hit No. 2 on the country chart.

Effectively, the band has outperformed the first three singles from another huge Georgia group Sugarland.

“Toes” managed to get around the fact that it uses the word “ass” several times and references pot in which the subject wants to “roll a big fat one.” Some radio stations used censored versions of the song to get around those references. Some ran only the original version at night. Others who didn’t care, such as 94.9/The Bull, …

Continue reading Zac Brown Band has second No. 1 radio hit with ‘Toes’ »

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This Thursday and next Thursday, “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” will rehash the hair pulling, petty arguments and misunderstandings over two hours of reunion shows. Last year’s was quite a blockbuster when Lisa Wu Hartwell threatened physical violence on Kim Zolciak and Kim and NeNe Leakes exchanged nasty comments about their sexual predilections. We’re expecting more shenanigans this time around. Heck, we’ll be disappointed if there wasn’t a fair share of insults and name hurling.

Now the big question. Who should stay and who should go for season three? I expect the producers will want to sub out at least one lady just to change the dynamics again. I mean, there are only so many ways Kim and NeNe can go at it, eh?

Here are my odds on who will stay and who …

Continue reading Which ‘Real Housewives of Atlanta’ should stay or go? »

A Conan O’Brien sidekick and a “Desperate Housewives” actress blitzed CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer in “Celebrity Jeopardy” last month. He ended up with an embarrassing negative $4,600 while Andy Richter pulled in $68,000. Dana Delaney came in second with $9,300, according to a snarky piece in The New York Post.

According to an archive that tracked the game, Blitzer fell behind early, with $1,400 after the first round, though at least he got three questions right and none wrong. But things fell apart in the second round.

He missed three $400 questions. He said “Who is Julia Childs,” not “Child” for ” ‘If you can read, you can cook,’ she wrote in the introduction to her classic ‘Mastering the Art of French Cooking.’ ” He said Bethlehem instead of Jerusalem for “King David & Jesus both hailed from this town.” And he said 1950s instead of ’40s for the first decade Baby Boomers were born. He said “defendant” instead of ‘defense” for a question involving three “e’s.” (Tough break …

Continue reading CNN stars Wolf Blitzer and Soledad O’Brien get beaten on ‘Celebrity Jeopardy’ »

In the fast-moving world of R&B, three years feels like 20 – kind of like dog years.

Monica, the Atlanta-based singer whose star shined brightest in the late 1990s, has stayed under the radar the past four years raising her two kids. So what better way to get back on the scene than a reality show?

“Monica: Still Standing” debuts tonight on BET at 10 p.m. after the BET Hip Hop Awards.

“I think it gives people an in-depth look how hard it is to stay relevant in the music business and balancing family life,” she said in a phone interview last week. “A lot of people aren’t comfortable baring their souls. I am. I’m a work in progress. I’m going through things every day just like everybody else.”’

Monica has ridden a roller coaster of a life, packed with highs and lows. Highs include breaking it big with a quintuple platinum debut album at the age of 15 and taking home a Grammy three years later.

But life took a left turn in 2000 when she saw her boyfriend commit …

Continue reading R&B star Monica interview to promote her new BET show ‘Still Standing’ »

Ludacris performs at the Civic Center for the BET hip-hop awards. CREDIT: Hyosub Shin/ajc.com

The ‘BET Hip Hop Awards,’ taped in Atlanta earlier this month, will finally air on Tuesday at 8 p.m. on BET. Expect plenty of Atlantans on the show, including Ludacris, Gucci Mane and Soulja Boy.

BET, which has numerous shows shot here in Atlanta, adds another one after the awards show: “Monica,” which focuses on the R&B singer’s life as she tries to get her career going again. (I interviewed her last week and will post a blog entry later today about it.)

Otherwise, you have shows like “Cake Boss” coming back on TLC because really, American’s can’t get enough of cake. And DirectTV has brought back the critically acclaimed series “Friday Night Lights” for a fourth season. (You Comcast subscribers will have to wait until early 2010 to see the show on NBC.)

Plus, FX debuts another comedy that it hopes can be the next “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” called “The League” on Thursday. …

Continue reading TV best bets with ‘BET Hip Hop Awards,’ ‘Cake Boss,’ ‘Friday Night Lights’ »

Robert Townsend, the actor/director/producer known for films such as “Hollywood Shuffle” and “The Five Heartbeats,” recently created a set of mini-plays in Atlanta based on particular gospel songs called “Musical Theater of Hope,” which you can see at 8 p.m. Sunday on the Gospel Music Channel.

“I grew up in theater as a kid,” he said in an interview last week while at Gospel Music Channel headquarters near Hartsfield airport. “I love gospel music. When I listen to it, I see pictures and imagery. When I did a sketch show called ‘Townsend Television,’ even though it was variety, I threw in a few dramatic sketches.”

He has written close to 30 vignettes based on songs. In the episode airing Sunday, one sketch involves a man who announces he’s going to soon die of cancer but is ready to go. Another is forgiveness among sisters who were estranged until their mom’s death. And a third focuses on a woman who is about to be sentenced for killing a man molesting her daughter.

Tameka …

Continue reading Robert Townsend interview for ‘Musical Theater of Hope’ special on Gospel Music Channel October 25 »

Good evening! And once again, we are short a designer on “Project Runway.” This week it’s Nicolas.

I have said already that I am puzzled by this season’s judging. One “PR” fan has pointed out that this close to the end, maybe your history doesn’t matter so much; maybe you’re living week to week.

I respectfully disagree. I think that as the model Katie said during “Models of the Runway” (which I’m now watching, and sort of enjoying, although it doesn’t add much to the actual “PR experience), if Christopher’s been on the bottom three consecutive times, then maybe you’re overdue to go home. Hit the road, jack!

What was it with ski-style pants this week? Logan, Nicolas and Irina all had them, and only Irina had a ski-related challenge.

On to the challenge: a design inspired by Michael Kors’ favorite locales.

Nicolas (Greece): Super-slim pants and a bandage-style top. Judges auf’d him.

Irina (Aspen): Super-slim pants, cowl-neck sweater with …

Continue reading Project Runway: Global charming »

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So who do you believe? NeNe Leakes or Kim Zolciak?

Too bad Bravo missed taping the choking incident between NeNe and Kim at Atlantic Station we reported a few weeks back. Kim filed a police report but never followed up and pursued charges. They argued over NeNe not being on the song “Tardy for the Party.”

NeNe claims Kim wagged her finger in NeNe’s face and then slapped her with her hand. Kim says NeNe responded by choking her. NeNe admitted she may have gotten physical (”I went bananas!”) but never used the word “choking.” “When she hit me, my instinct was to protect myself,” NeNe added.

“You don’t hit NeNe Leakes,” said NeNe, in third person. “When people betray me, I instantly go off. I think betrayal is wrong. Just tell me what the deal is.” (Somehow, NeNe defines the fact she’s not on this silly little song as …

Continue reading ‘Real Housewives of Atlanta’ season two finale recap: all choked up »