FX has given sardonic animated spy comedy “Archer” a second season.

The show, which airs at 10 p.m. Thursdays, has averaged 1.2 million viewers in first-run numbers but its ratings fell precipitously from 1.8 million Jan. 14 in its opening frame to as low as 622,000 Feb. 5. Nonetheless, FX said the show has done well among younger men and repeats well, which is common among animated shows.

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As the creators noted, it really is a nice blend of “Arrested Development” and James Bond.

Adam Reed, an Atlanta-based creator with Matt Thompson, wrote me:

Well, we’re just incredibly stoked about getting another season of Archer. And I think FX has really shown a lot of faith in the show by giving it a chance to grow its audience. The show is doing well on iTunes, and very well on Hulu, so I think you’re right that it’s been in a competitive …

Continue reading FX’s ‘Archer,’ created by two Atlantans, gets second season »

At a Georgia State University speech Monday, “Project Runway” guru Tim Gunn dished about his show, not bothering to defend the fiasco that was season six anymore.

“Oh, that dreaded season six will never leave us alone!” he said, when asked by a student. “At first, I defended the show’s qualities. Then I realized I was swimming against the tide… You barely see [regular judges] Michael Kors and Nina Garcia. I also say I do believe there’s something about the slower pace of Los Angeles. The very different fashion scene and sensibility and that impacted the designers. We’re in many ways a gauge of our environment. I noticed immediately when we taped season seven [the current season,] there was more energy, more vitality.”

Lifetime’s original plan, he said, was to alternate between New York and Los Angeles. After season six, he thinks the plan is to stay in New York.

Who would he like to do a makeover? Meryl Streep. At one awards show, “she looked like she was going to a picnic,” …

Continue reading Interview with ‘Project Runway’ guru Tim Gunn at Georgia State »

The Winter Olympics in Vancouver, which has drawn solid ratings for NBC and sister stations, concludes Sunday. The most popular sport, female figure skating, will be in the spotlight this week.

Otherwise, a few shows end their seasons (TNT’s “Men of a Certain Age” tonight, Discovery’s “Dirty Jobs” on Tuesday, ABC’s “The Deep End” Thursday and Animal Planet’s big new hit “Pit Boss” on Saturday.)

The most interesting new show is Jerry Seinfeld’s new NBC show “The Marriage Ref,” which is airing after the end of the Winter Olympics Sunday. Seinfeld describes it as a melding of reality TV and a talk show, with comedy thrown in. Guests such as Alec Baldwin and Kelly Ripa crack wise to help couples with sticky marriage disputes.

MONDAY
“The Bachelor” 8 p.m. ABC — The rejected women get their say as we hear from Rozlyn about why she was ousted.
“24” 9 p.m. Fox — CTU, which has more lives than a cat, faces more scrutiny yet again for screwing up.
“Cake Boss” 9 p.m. …

Continue reading TV best bets with the Olympics, Jerry Seinfeld’s ‘The Marriage Ref,’ season finale of ‘Men of a Certain Age’ »

Of the three metro Atlanta crews on MTV’s “America’s Best Dance Crew,” Stone Mountain’s Jungle Boogie was the best. Swagger Crew was the weakest and landed in the botom three, forcing them to go into the final faceoff.

Sadly, Swagger Crew was the first team eliminated Thursday night and their banner fell.

Here’s how each Atlanta crew did.

Swagger Crew (to Rihanna) – While clean, their routine was rather rudimentary. No interesting tricks or choreography to distinguish them. Two judges were a bit harsh. J.C. Chasez was more sympathetic.

Lil Mama: “You’re losing the swag. You don’t want to do that… overall, your energy was great but the performance threw you off… I”m shocked.”

Omarion: “The choreography-it didn’t look like you spent a lot of time on it. I’ve seen you guys do better.”

JC Chasez: “You’re expressing yourself through art to fight through your pain. I respect that… It’s smart.” He liked the song choice related to the house fire. He liked that they put the one woman …

Continue reading How did the three Atlanta crews do on ‘America’s Next Dance Crew’ on night one? »

So do you have out-of-control kids who kick, bite and yelp incessantly? They won’t go to sleep? They won’t eat foods you want them to eat? They won’t listen to you or respect you as a parent? Are you utterly exhausted and on the verge of divorce? And most importantly: are you willing to show off your poor parenting skills to 7 million viewers in exchange for a possible solution?

Then ABC’s “Supernanny” is for you. Since arriving stateside in 2005, Britain’s Jo Frost has already helped other families in metro Atlanta and dozens more all over the country. She appears to be quite effective in her firm, yet kind, methodology.

Casting is open to families with children (toddlers to teens). If you’ve seen the show, you can quickly figure out what the show is looking for.

The casting company will be vetting families live tomorrow in two locations:

Sparkles Skating Rink NOON-2PM

666 Smyrnahill Drive

Smyrna Ga. 30080

AND

Monkey Joe’s 3pm-5pm

700 Holcomb Bridge Road

Roswell, GA …

Continue reading Need Jo Frost’s help? “Supernanny” casting calls in metro Atlanta Feb. 20 »

Recently, rumors began floating around that “American Idol” was considering Sirius XM radio host Howard Stern as a possible replacement for irascible judge Simon Cowell, who is leaving TV’s No. 1 show at the end of this season.

This generated a raft of media stories and Stern on his radio show seemed to relish the attention, gabbing about it for hours, throwing patented (and sometimes profane) insults at host Ryan Seacrest and new judge Ellen DeGeneres. This might all be just idle talk but it’s the most attention Stern has gotten in years.

And that says a lot about Sirius XM. Satellite radio was the darling technological innovation of 2002. Bullish Wall Street analysts predicted the services would have 40 million subscribers by 2010 and significantly eat into AM/FM radio listening and revenue.

Continue reading Sirius XM on a modest comeback but does it matter? »

This is no surprise: Fox has officially axed drama “Past Life” after three dismally-rated episodes. The show was down to a relatively microscopic 3.5 million viewers last night.

It was up against the Olympics, for sure, but this show was DOA after losing two-thirds of the “Idol” audience Feb. 9 (8.3 million) and dropping to 5.3 million on Feb. 11.

Fox had shot the pilot in Baltimore and six more episodes in Atlanta. The three remaining episodes will likely be buried sometime this summer, probably on a Friday night. Former Cumming resident and lead actress Kelli Giddish (top left) has to be especially disappointed since she enjoyed coming back home.

The premise: solving crimes related to murders of people in past lives who now embody current ones. It’s mildly intriguing but a bit confusing. The “Medium” meets “Cold Case” didn’t quite meld.

By giving it the post “Idol” slot and plenty of advance promotion, “Past Life” was certainly give a shot. But reviews were dismal and …

Continue reading No surprise: Fox’s ‘Past Life,’ shot mostly in Atlanta, put to death after three episodes »

A mini-me model is awed by her statuesque counterpart.

Kids always start the same: Cute, sweet, chubby cheeks and scared to talk.

They usually end the same way, too: Loud.

This week’s challenge was to keep busy little bodies from tap-dancing on designers’ last nerve. Just long enough to design a fashionable child outfit and a related “mommy” look.

During fittings, the cute little darlings were so excited and hyper that they turned the workroom into the “Romper Room – on crack.”

Hey, I think children are adorable and it’s hard not to admire anyone who can out-talk Atlanta resident Anthony. But why do such itty bitty little things have to make so much noise?

Another challenge before designers hit the runway – how long can Anthony keep quiet? Do I hear 7 minutes? 27? 5? He helped himself with a white face mask while the other designers playfully helped with cherry red lips drawn with lipstick. It lasted for a full – 14 min and 56 sec. Not bad.

Some models look …

Continue reading Project Runway: Season 7, Episode 6: Seen and heard »

A few weeks back, the first candidate for “Real Housewives of Atlanta” cast member No. 6 leaked out: actress Victoria Rowell. That didn’t appear to pan out.

Next, we heard entertainment attorney Phaedra Parks was in the running.

Yesterday, I was told model Cynthia Bailey was also a candidate.

Now, publicist and photographer Ben Evans tell me his client, event planner Sybrinia Dean Stupart (top left) has auditioned, too. “She too is awaiting Bravo’s decision,” he wrote in an email. Here is what he told me about her:

Sybrina is the CEO/Owner of Atlanta based S.L.A.M. Events Planning Inc, an Atlanta based Events Planning and Consulting Firm.” Sybrina is no stranger to the entertainment industry. She has put on several events for a number of celebrities, high profile clients, Fortune 500 companies and she previously served as the Personal Assistant to Grammy Award-Winning Singer Monica.

I did a quick Google search and didn’t find much on her.

Join my Facebook fan page and

Continue reading Yet another ‘Real Housewives of Atlanta’ candidate comes out of the woodwork: Sybrinia Dean Stupart »

Lisa Wu Hartwell of “Real Housewives of Atlanta” fame tweeted this afternoon that she will be on “Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns” on TBS next Wednesday at 10 p.m. EST.

I called her publicist April Love, who gave me some more details. Hartwell, who knows Tyler Perry, auditioned and got a role as a fitness instructor named Jenny.  Hartwell describes herself as a trained actress. She taped her “Meet the Browns” bit last year. The Comcast DVR description of the show notes, “Brown and Derek join an exercise class.”

Love also said Bravo is considering several different potential people for the sixth housewife, not just entertainment attorney Phaedra Parks. A decision will likely be forthcoming within the next couple of weeks  since production is set to start next month.

The latest name she heard who could be joining the popular Bravo show  is someone she has worked with in the past: veteran model Cynthia Bailey (below) She is co-owner of the Uptown Restaurant & Lounge in …

Continue reading Lisa Wu Hartwell appearing on ‘Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns’ Feb. 24; model Cynthia Bailey a possible sixth housewife »