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Trump Vodka—So Smooth.

Donald Trump As if Trump water were not a strange enough branding opportunity, Donald Trump has now turned to alcohol. Introducing Trump Vodka—now we wait and see how it will tie in to an upcoming challenge on The Apprentice. Before that happens though, the first case will be delivered to a red carpet affair at Kennedy Airport in New York, complete with porters in tuxedos. Ironically enough, Trump doesn’t drink alcohol… is it just me, or does Trump seem bored? Eh, nothing else to do, so why not slap my name on vodka? Patrick Kenny of Drinks America Holdings Limited (huh?) said “there’s nobody who markets better in the luxury category than Donald Trump.” What next? Luxury Trump Toilet Tissue? Ah, don’t you just love luxury products? The going price for a one-liter bottle of Trump Vodka is $30. Look for it in liquor stores everywhere.

Read More | Reality TV World

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The Odds of Winning Deal or No Deal

Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Games, Prime Time, NBC,

Deal or No DealUSA Today has a fun look at the chances of winning Deal or No Deal. If you’ve never seen the show, the contestant must select one briefcase from a total of 26 to remain front and center next to them. The player then must choose briefcase numbers—eliminating dollar amounts from 1 cent to 1 million dollars. The chance of having the winning $1 million briefcase is very slim—3.8%. Picking a case containing the $500,000 amount comes in at 11.5%, while the chance of getting a case with $5,000 or less is 57.7%. The USA Today article further breaks down each round and the chances of cashing out with the big prize. The biggest prize winner so far has been Michele Falco, winning $750,000 on September 22nd.

Read More | AOL News

Garbage Disposal Seen in a Bad Light on NBC’s Heroes

Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Drama, Prime Time, NBC, Internet, News,

HeroesWhen product placement goes wrong. That’s the issue that garbage disposal maker In-Sink-Erator has with NBC. In-Sink-Erator claims that an episode of Heroes did an injustice to their product. More specifically, in the pilot, the high school cheerleader (played by Hayden Panettiere) puts her hand into said In-Sink-Erator to mangle her fingers. While she has the ability to heal immediately following an injury, the disposal makers claims that the scene “casts the disposer in an unsavory light, irreparably tarnishing the product.” The scene showed a serious injury that resulted from someone putting their hand in the garbage disposal. The company also cried foul about the use of the In-Sink-Erator name, saying “It’s a trademark thing.” No comment yet from NBC, but the garbage disposal company is asking that any future broadcasts of that episode be barred. Currently, it can be seen on NBC’s website.

Read More | Zap2it

Amy Poehler, Tina Fey Hit the Big Screen

Tina Fey Amy PoehlerThe pairing of Amy Poehler and Tina Fey may be over at the Weekend Update desk at Saturday Night Live, but they will be starring in a comedy film together. The film Baby Mama is about a single woman who wants to have a child, but is too committed to her professional life to give it up for pregancy. She turns to a surrogate, and the laughs ensue. There are no specifics about which funny lady will play which role, but the film does come from the co-writer of the Austin Power sequels. Production will not begin until next summer, after Poehler is done with SNL and Fey with her new series, 30 Rock. Look for Poehler in the upcoming movies Spring Breakdown, Southland Tales, Tenacious D in ‘The Pick of Destiny’ and Blades of Glory.

Read More | Zap2it

Scrubs Star Suffers Injury

Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Comedy, Prime Time, NBC, Scrubs,

Judy Reyes Scrubs actress Judy Reyes, who plays Carla, recently suffered an injury at home and fractured her pelvis. According to People magazine, the injury occurred after she fell on September 20th. She didn’t believe her injury to be too serious and even came into work the following day. She did leave work that day, going straight to the hospital from the set. Spokesperson Monique Ward said, “She had surgery to repair it on Thursday. She didn’t realize it was as bad as it was and still went to work. Once there, she realized she needed medical treatment… she’s going to be fine.” Reyes will be released from the hospital on Monday and will spend six weeks on crutches. Scrubs will be rearranging their shooting schedule to accommodate the injury, but will continue to do some filming around her in the meantime.

Read More | Zap2it

First Casualities of the Fall Season?

Fox logoWhile not officially canceled, two shows have received the kiss of death—being put on hiatus. It seems pretty early in the season to pull the plug already, but Fox’s Happy Hour and Justice have already been put on “hiatus” status. Fox is saying that the comedy Happy Hour will return in November, citing the upcoming baseball playoffs and World Series as their reason for shelving the show, if only briefly. Until baseball takes over, Fox will be running a rerun of ‘Til Death during Happy Hour‘s Thursday time slot.

Justice will also take a break, with a repeat of House airing in its place on October 4th. The network will, however, be airing a repeat of Justice‘s pilot on Friday, September 29th at 8:00 p.m. This time will cut the finale of Celebrity Duets short by one hour.

Neither of these new shows really stood a chance against the competition (even though neither is officially canceled yet)—up against Survivor: Cook Island and The Office.

Read More | The Futon Critic

Madonna Concert Special—Pulling Crucifixion Stunt?

Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Music, Prime Time, Specials, NBC,

Madonna The upcoming Madonna concert special—Confessions—will air soon on NBC, however, the network is still undecided about whether or not it will include the crucifixion “stunt” that many protested. The mock crucifixion has Madonna hanging by wires on a cross while wearing a crown of thorns. Madonna—controversial? As you may have heard, the Roman Catholic Church and Russian Orthodox Church were not too happy with the scene, calling it blasphemy. With an endorsement like that, it would seem likely that NBC would edit out the stunt and air the concert blasphemy-free. Executives at NBC, however, are waiting to review the concert before making their decision about whether to air it or not. “We’re awaiting the delivery of it, and once we’ve seen it in its entirety, we’ll make a decision,” an NBC spokeswoman told Reuters. NBC Entertainment President Kevin Reilly was quoted in July as saying, “We’ve discussed what content will be in and what is out, and we’ve come to a healthy place that represents her show but is appropriate for television.” The Madonna concert special is set to air in November.

Read More | Reuters

Alicia Silverstone Returns to NBC for Mid-Season Comedy

Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Comedy, NBC,

Alicia SilverstonThis is familiar territory for Alicia Silverstone—a comedy on NBC. Unfortunately, the last time she tried that, with Miss Match in 2003, her series didn’t go the distance. Now NBC is ready to give Silverstone another chance, with The Singles Table, a mid-season comedy where she plays a doctor. She is replacing Pascale Hutton, who played the role in the pilot—she has now moved on to the drama Traveler.

Silverstone’s character has a booming career, but beyond that, has no life. The Singles Table will tell the story of five people who meet at a wedding reception—all seated at a table for the dateless invitees. I love Silverstone, so I’m looking forward to checking this out. In fact, any time Clueless is on TV, I have to watch it. Partly for her performance, and partly for Paul Rudd!

Read More | Zap2it

NBC Plans to Stream New Fall Shows, Offer Blogs

NBC logo In a press release from NBC today, they announced that NBC.com will stream episodes of their new fall shows for free—Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Kidnapped, 30 Rock, Friday Night Lights and Heroes—following the original airing of the episodes. NBC.com is also going to offer blogs written by a variety of shows’ creators, producers or cast members. The blogs will be online for every show on the air, with an additional live blog immediately after the premiere episode.

Jeff Gaspin, President, NBC Universal Cable Entertainment, Digital Content and Cross-Network Strategy said of the news, “When you launch a new season, it’s important that you get the shows in front of as many eyeballs as possible. We’ve created a variety of new, engaging digital offerings to generate excitement and drive viewership to the network.”

Upcoming premiere blogs include:

  • Deal or No Deal (9/18), The Banker’s Blog
  • Studio 60 (9/18), Aaron Sorkin, Creator and Executive Producer and Thomas Schlamme, Executive Producer and Director
  • Kidnapped (9/20), Jason Smilovic, Creator and Executive Producer
  • My Name Is Earl (9/21), Greg Garcia, Creator and Executive Producer
  • The Office (9/21), Greg Daniels, Executive Producer
  • 30 Rock (11/11), Tina Fey, Creator and Executive Producer

A number of other blogs will accompany the shows’ premieres, including Law & Order, ER, Heroes, Friday Night Lights and Twenty Good Years, among others.

Read More | Lost Remote

Meredith Vieira’s First Day on the Job

Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Daytime, Talk Shows, NBC, HDTV, Internet, News,

Meredith Vieira Meredith Vieira woke up a little earlier than usual this morning to start her new gig on the Today show. While I was only able to catch about a half hour of the program, I’d say she’s off to a great start; Internet reviews agree, saying that Vieira had a solid debut. She seemed at ease and comfortable in her surroundings. She’s by no means a newbie at this sort of thing, but she does have big high heels to fill following Katie Couric’s departure. Her rapport with the rest of the Today show gang, her ability to handle tough news, as well as interject levity and silliness when necessary, all bode well for Today and its ratings. She has pretty wide appeal and I’m sure saying things like she felt “like it’s the first day of school and I’m sitting next to the cutest guy” (referring to Matt Lauer) will make her a welcome morning addition.

Today also revealed its studio, all shiny and cool for their venture into high-def. Bright and modern, the colors and furniture are sure to “pop” for high-def viewers.

Read More | CNN

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