In a relatively quiet week on TV, one critically acclaimed broadcast show – CBS’s “The Good Wife” – ends its year relatively early on Sunday.

In it, the law firm is on the verge of bankruptcy while Alicia faces mixed feelings about Peter.  In the following week, the program’s 9 p.m. time slot will be used to add a second hour of “The Amazing Race.”

And two polarizing reality show stars get their own shows: Kim Zolciak of “Real Housewives of Atlanta” gets a Bravo spinoff  focused on her wedding on Thursday at 9 p.m. for a six-episode test run. Cocky Russell Hantz of “Survivor’ fame attempts to flip homes with his brother on A&E Saturday night. The fact A&E stuck this on Saturday night does not inspire confidence.

MONDAY

“Antiques Roadshow” 8 p.m. GPB — Second of three episodes shot in Atlanta.
“Bones” 8 p.m. Fox — Booth’s son Parker comes home from England.
“Dancing With the Stars” 8 p.m. ABC — Gavin DeGraw, ousted last week, was pleasant but ultimately …

Continue reading TV best bets with season finale of ‘The Good Wife’ »

Kelly Clarkson is dominating the Atlanta radio scene for a third week.

Her single “Stronger” remains a top song on four stations: B98.5 (34 spins), Star 94 (69), Wild 105.7 (83) and Q100 (97).

Katy Perry, who has had several No. 1 hits in Atlanta already, is now No. 2, with comparable spins as Clarkson on B98.5, Star and Q100, but only 39 spins on Wild.

The fastest rising single was Adele’s “Rumour Has It,” which was originally a hit on adult alternative radio, including Dave FM. Now it’s a top 40 hit, with spins on Star and B98.5. Two other fast-rising songs: Flo Rida’s “Wild Ones” and Maroon 5’s new single “Payphone.”

Top 10 most played songs of the week in Atlanta

1. Kelly Clarkson “Stronger” 283 (+2)
2. Katy Perry “Part of Me” 218 (+41)
3. The Wanted “Glad You Came” 199 (+17)
4. Jessie J “Domino” 185 (-38)
5. Fun. “We are Young” 175 (+23)
6. Usher “Climax” 175 (+13)
7. Flo Rida “Wild Ones’ 165 (+46)
8. Adele “Set Fire to the Rain” 155 (-13)
9. Adele “Rumour Has It” 148 …

Continue reading Kelly Clarkson’s ‘Stronger’ tops Atlanta radio for four weeks »

This part two of the “Real Housewives of Atlanta” reunion was pretty somnolent until hot mess and would-be “Housewife” Marlo Hampton stepped in to rile things up one more time.

Possibly resentful she didn’t get promoted to be a full-time cast member, Marlo freely cast aspersions on Kim Zolciak after hearing Kim’s earlier comment that Marlo used her “hole” to get places.

“I feel you and I are cut from the same cloth,” Marlo said. Then she wrinkled her nose and added, “You know what? I take that back. You’re a whore.”

“You ruined a happy home. I’ve never dated a married man. Next time you talk about the hole between my legs, measure yours,” Marlo added.

“First of all, I didn’t ruin a happy home,” Kim said. “That’s a lie No. 1. No. 2 I’m not a whore. No. 3. I’ m not an escort. You are. Big difference.”

“You don’t know me to call me a whore,” Marlo responded.

“You know me to call me that?” Kim retorted.

Marlo then insulted Kim’s hubby Kroy Biermann by saying he couldn’t afford …

Continue reading ‘Real Housewives of Atlanta’ recap: season four, reunion show, part 2 »

Muhammad Ali with Hayden Weiss, Bert's son. CREDIT: Bert Weiss

Q100’s Bert Weiss allowed his nine-year-old son Hayden to wear brown makeup to portray boxing legend Muhammad Ali as part of a school assignment.

Weiss himself said he “flinched” when Hayden told him what he wanted to do.

When Weiss first posed this topic in February to the radio audience, the conversation became heated. Some listeners felt this was a bad idea, that the repercussions would be quite negative given the history of “black face” and minstrel shows in American culture, especially in the 19th century. The practice was to stereotype and mock black people to entertain white people at the time.

But others felt like it was okay because Hayden’s intent was “pure,” that he merely wanted to honor the legacy of Ali, who fought for equal rights in the 1960s and 1970s. “He was a great American because he stood up for what he believed in,” Weiss noted. “He believed he was treated poorly because of the color of his …

Continue reading Bert Weiss allows nine-year-old son to wear brown makeup to portray Muhammad Ali »

Colton Dixon had rough night and paid for it. CREDIT: Michael Becker/FOX

 Loading …

Two weeks, two surprise results. But this time, there was no save.

Colton Dixon paid for two subpar performances Wednesday night with his “Idol” life.

Dixon, who had a really strong night eight days ago, was someone I thought could end up in the finals. I was wrong. He had never been in the bottom three (like Jessica Sanchez last week) so this was not expected.

Dixon, who didn’t even want to audition with his sister, apologized for his arrogant attitude last night when he said he didn’t care what the  judges thought after he botched both “Bad Romance” and especially “September.”

I thought he was going to land in the bottom three but predicted Elise Testone would go home. Wrong again! Hollie Cavanagh was also in the bottom three but fortunately survived. At least I did predict the …

Continue reading ‘American Idol’ top 7 results: who is out with no save? »

No more save and honestly, it’s a tough call who will go home. Elise and Hollie are the likeliest candidates right now and I think it’ll be Elise – finally. But given how spread out support is, we could have a shock tonight, though unlike last week, we aren’t getting TMZ-like leaks of such a shock. So I’ll stick with Elise right now. Kris Allen and LMFAO perform and the show producers are putting together a dedication to Dick Clark. Anyway, live blog below with me from 8 to 9 p.m. or slow blog comments as usual. Either way, I’ll have a recap up soon after 9 p.m. EST.

‘American Idol’ live blogging top 7 results

Join my Facebook fan page and Twitter.

Tweet

By Rodney Ho, Radio & TV Talk

Continue reading ‘American Idol’ top 7 (part 2) live blogging »

Steve Harvey in his Buckhead radio studio. CREDIT: Vino Wong/vwong@ajc.com

Steve Harvey is a restless sort. During his four-hour morning show at a spacious Buckhead studio, he’ll leave periodically for fresh air, a bathroom break, to talk to staff.

But sometimes, he just wants to dance. When production engineer Lance Crayton spun Beyonce’s buoyant pop song “Love on Top” one recent morning, Crayton purposely raised the volume to almost club-level decibels. Why? It’s Harvey’s favorite new song, and it never hurts to make the boss happy.

Harvey shimmied in his seat, then stood up and moved his hips, singing along while the live mikes were off.

Once the song wrapped, he returned live, still pumped. “That’s the jam of the year!” he exclaimed to his audience of about 6 million listeners in more than 60 markets, including Atlanta’s Majic 107.5/97.5. “She is singing her tail off! When she’s modulating, that’s church modulating!”

The Atlanta comedian, at …

Continue reading Profile: Atlanta comedian Steve Harvey keeps building his empire »

 Loading …

For the past two weeks, rumors have been floating all over the Web about Sheree Whitfield losing her gig on “Real Housewives of Atlanta” after four seasons.

She was one of three original remaining members of the show.

Whitfield spun it the best way she could by telling Wetpaint Entertainment in an exclusive interview that she chose to leave voluntarily.

“The direction the show is going in is no longer a fit for my lifestyle,” she said. “I’m tired of the fighting and the cattiness.”

Then again, she was frequently the source of said fighting and cattiness.

Bravo confirmed her departure on Wednesday in a statement but did not say whether it was the network’s decision or her decision.

[UPDATE, Wednesday, 7:06 p.m. : Kandi Burruss implied that this was a Bravo decision via a Tweet expressing sympathy to Sheree: "I hate that they made that decision.”]

Whitfield, who didn’t …

Continue reading The rumors were true: Sheree Whitfield leaving ‘Real Housewives of Atlanta’ »

Jessica Sanchez performed Alicia Keys and Otis Redding tonight. CREDIT: Michael Becker/FOX

 Loading …

With 14 songs over two hours, “American Idol’ shortened the versions by at least 15%. That restricted some of the singers, who felt a need to go from 0 to 60 in two seconds instead of 30. There was a lot of yelling and growling and not always a lot of subtlety at times.

The first half – recent songs – was more successful than the second half classic soul section. That was surprising but perhaps the contestants felt pressured to up their game when faced with legends.  And it’s always tougher to sing two songs in a given week.

Hollie Cavanagh upper her game. Phillip Philips rebounded smartly from two less-than-inspiring weeks. Colton Dixon gambled big and lost big. Elise Testone did well with Alicia Keys, not so much with …

Continue reading ‘American Idol’ top 7, part 2, performance recap: where’s the soul? »

Here’s the spot to live blog “Idol” tonight. Else, feel free to post comments below. The seven singers will sing two songs each so it’s going to be a little tighter than normal when they tend to run six songs per hour. The them is now and then. This means songs from the past 12 years and a classic soul song. Some of the “leaked” songs include artists such as Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, Earth, Wind & Fire, Dusty Springfield and Marvin Gaye in the past to Lady Gaga (twice), Adele, Alicia Keys (twice), Fantasia and the lone current male, Usher.

‘American Idol’ live blogging top 7 performance (again)

Continue reading ‘American Idol’ live blogging top 7 performance (part deux) »