Looking as glam as ever, eh? CREDIT: Bravo

 Loading …

They’re baaaack.

For the first time, Bravo’s  “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” has not changed its cast from the previous year. The same six women are featured: the three originals Sheree Whitfield, NeNe Leakes and Kim Zolciak, season two addition Kandi Burruss and season three adds Cynthia Bailey and Phaedra Parks.

There have been reports that Zolciak will use this season to get a spin off with her squeeze Kroy Biermann and the baby, but nothing is official.  For now, it’s more of the same.

Ratings hit a peak last year of 3.1 million, up from season two. It was the biggest season of any “Real Housewives” franchise. Will the show …

Continue reading ‘Real Housewives of Atlanta’ preview, season 4 »

Hugh Acheson will be a rotating judge on "Top Chef Texas" starting Wednesday on Bravo. CREDIT: Bravo

Earlier this year, as a competitor on “Top Chef Masters,” Athens restauranteur Hugh Acheson jumped off the TV screen with his self-described unibrow, his smooth confidence and arch commentary.

The TV network Bravo quickly invited him to become a rotating judge on the next season of “Top Chef,” which debuts Wednesday night at 10 p.m. Coincidentally, he has a new cookbook out as well called “A New Turn in the South: Southern Flavors Reinvented For Your Kitchen” (Clarkson Potter). He’ll be signing his book at Barnes & Noble Friday in Buckhead at 7 p.m.

On “Top Chef,” which will be centered in Texas this year, Acheson will be on about half the episodes. The show added a semi-final round this year which pares 29 chefs down to 16. Two are from Georgia: Janine Falvo, executive chef at Briza Restaurant in Midtown Atlanta and Whitney Otawka, who used to work for Acheson and …

Continue reading A talk with Hugh Acheson, new judge on ‘Top Chef Texas’ and local restaurateur »

Mount Vernon Presbyterian School in Atlanta sent out thank-you letters earlier this month for the Bert Show campaign.

Four years ago, Q100’s Bert Show listeners wrote 375,000 hand-written letters, one for every military personnel overseas for Thanksgiving.

The show this year did it again with a goal of 400,000. A week ago, the show said it had received only 40,000 letters. “We were all in a panic,” host Bert Weiss said in a phone interview Tuesday.

But a flood came in this past week and they pulled in 405,925 letters, the show announced Monday morning.

They had 200 volunteers, solicited through Facebook and Twitter, counting letters over the weekend on the fourth floor of their building.

Six weeks ago, he had seen a story about veterans coming home and feeling disconnected from civilians.  “It felt like the right thing to do at the right time again. The military wasn’t on the front page anymore,” Weiss said.

The process was more stressful than 2007, he added, because the …

Continue reading Q100’s Bert Show gets goal of 400,000 letters for military »

Emily Deschanel's real pregnancy is being worked into her character on "Bones." CREDIT: Fox

One of Fox’s steadiest performers, “Bones,” comes back Thursday for a seventh season with Brennan pregnant, which shocked many fans when the news broke during the finale in May.

In a less shocking return, “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” comes back Sunday night for a fourth season with the last year’s cast intact and Kim Zolciak pregnant as well.

On Wednesday, “Top Chef” goes to Texas for its ninth season with a new judge: Athens’ Hugh Acheson, plus two Georgia representatives.

And if you’re a fan of Will Ferrell, check out Georgia Public Broadcasting tonight at 10 p.m, where he’ll be feted with a Mark Twain prize.

MONDAY
“Dancing With the Stars” 8 p.m. ABC — Chaz Bono is finally gone yet the Kardashian is still around.
“How I Met Your Mother” 8 p.m. CBS — Katie Holmes guests.
“Terra Nova” 8 p.m. Fox — Jim and Taylor investigate the first murder in the colony.
“2 …

Continue reading TV best bets with returns of ‘Bones,’ ‘Real Housewives of Atlanta,’ ‘Top Chef’ »

K.D. Bowe takes the afternoon slot at Praise 102.5 Monday, Oct. 31

Praise 102.5 has found a replacement for Rhodell Lewis, who was let got last month: local radio host K.D. Bowe.

Bowe chose to leave his syndicated morning show through the Sheridan Gospel Network, his last show airing Oct. 21. According to his Twitter page, he had 35 stations. Praise is the biggest gospel station in the nation, with an average of 650,000 to 700,000 listeners a week.

In a Facebook email, he said he had nothing but admiration for Radio One, which runs Praise like any major market station:

I could only be as effective as the local stations would be willing to work to make me. Most Gospel stations (primarily AM) that I was aired on took the feed from my previous company for budget reasons. In many cases the Gospel property was the step child and didn’t get the resources or the time that the urban properties in the cluster received. Though I’ve had moderately good success, I wanted the opportunity …

Continue reading Gospel station Praise 102.5 finds replacement for ousted Rhodell Lewis: K.D. Bowe »

Jonah Hill talked to press after a recent screening at Georgia Tech of his new Fox animated series "Allen Gregory." CREDIT: Rodney Ho/ajc.com

Jonah Hill is a serious actor. He talks like a serious actor. He is building a resume that is a template for a serious actor, including his recent dramatic stint in “Moneyball.”

But he also wants to be behind the scenes and create programming as well. Thus, his first stint as executive producer is for a new animated series that debuts after Fox’s “The Simpsons” this Sunday called “Allen Gregory.” He also voices the lead character, a coddled, home-schooled seven-year-old with pretentious tastes who is forced to go to public school and falls in love with the rather aged principal.

Hill, who is in Atlanta to shoot a comedy film with Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller called “Neighborhood Watch,” screened the first episode and a trailer to his upcoming comedy “The Sitter” (which he also executive produces) before an enthusiastic crowd of Georgia …

Continue reading Jonah Hill promotes new Fox show ‘Allen Gregory’ at Georgia Tech »

Among the 50 or so Occupy Atlanta protesters who were arrested Wednesday at Woodruff Park in downtown Atlanta, 1380/WAOK-AM afternoon host Derrick Boazman was unfazed.

“I’m a veteran of protests. This is my 14th or 15th arrest,” he said in an interview before today’s 4 p.m. show.  He had spent 15 sleepless hours in jail from 12:30 a.m. Wednesday until about 3 p.m. yesterday. He has since caught up on sleep. “It’s nothing new. I went to jail three times when Fulton and DeKalb counties wouldn’t fund Grady Hospital. That was five years ago.”

Boazman was an Atlanta City Councilman from 1997 to 2004 but has no desire to go back into politics. He enjoys using the radio to disseminate his voice into the black community at WAOK, where he has been a full-time talk-show host for three years.

His focus has always been on social justice and “how can we make the American Dream come true for everybody.”

He said he visited the Occupy Atlanta protesters on the second day earlier this month. …

Continue reading WAOK-AM host Derrick Boazman among those arrested at Occupy Atlanta »

UPDATE: Sorry. I had a brain fart when I first posted this and said this was at Cobb Energy Centre. It’s at the Fox Theatre!

Christian Jacobs, co-creator of “Yo Gabba Gabba,” is 39 years old but admits, “I stopped being a kid – maybe never.”

He spent his earlier adult years keeping adulthood at bay as lead singer of a modestly successful rock band called the Aquabats whose members dressed in superhero costumes.

“I’m still chasing my dreams of being impractical,” Jacobs said.

Impracticality doesn’t preclude success.  He turned what looks on the surface like any other toddler TV show into something cool enough for the adults to enjoy. He mined his musical connections and created a cool DJ Lance Rock, recruited Mr. “Just a Friend” Biz Markie to teach beat boxing and drew celebrities from Tony Hawk to Sarah Silverman to do special dancey dances. Bands from the Shins to Atlanta’s Sugarland have performed.

When “Yo Gabba Gabba” arrive in towns to do  live shows, like the two at …

Continue reading Yo Gabba Gabba coming to Fox Theatre October 30 »

Here’s my weekly video. This week, I talk about Diana DeGarmo, Jonah Hill and “The X Factor.”

Continue reading Video: Talking ‘X Factor,’ Diana DeGarmo, Jonah Hill »

Singer Jennifer Hudson performs at the pre-Grammy gala & salute to industry icons with Clive Davis honoring David Geffen, Saturday, Feb. 12, 2011, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

They’ve done it before and they’ll do it again: Kelly Clarkson and Jennifer Hudson are part of the upcoming VH1 Divas charity concert.

They will be joined by Jill Scott, Florence + the Machine, Mary J. Blige and Jesse J. (Jesse J? Really? Does anybody know who she is?)

Taped at New York City’s Hammerstein Ballroom, VH1 Divas Celebrates Soul will air Monday, December 19 at 9 p.m.  on VH1.

Given Adele’s vocal problems, my guess is she wasn’t available though she certainly would fit the bill.

Each diva (and diva is a compliment here, folks) will pay tribute through their own soul-inspired songs as well as the greatest classics that have shaped a genre.  For someone like Kelly Clarkson, this will certainly be going back to her “Idol” roots. Some of her most memorable performances …

Continue reading Kelly Clarkson, Jennifer Hudson join VH1 Divas again; Steven Tyler takes a tumble »