by Alexa Duplisea

The Voice

If it’s Monday or Tuesday night, check out The Voice on NBC. Most people are skeptical about reality shows, but The Voice is a highly rated show. Different from X Factor, American Idol and other talent\singing shows, the singers on this show get coached throughout the season on how to become great singers on stage.

Each celebrity judge at the beginning of the season chooses a group of auditioning singers to mentor. Throughout the show the celebrity running their group teaches them how to better their performances. Every singer is unique, and the artists always say for the singer to find themselves in the music and become more confident singing on stage.

The celebrity singers on this show – Adam Levine, Shakira, Usher, and Blake Shelton –  are all talented singers. Each artist has had a singing career for a while, and they have all had great singles like Usher with “Scream” and Shelton with “Honey Bee.” They know how to capture an audience and fans with their voice. Also since they have been in the business for at least 3 years each, they know what songs people are capable of singing, what works for each singer and how to really show your audience yourself in the music.

At the beginning of the show when Shakira and her team sang “Stand by You,” Shakira sounded amazing. This show chose the right celebrity singers. They are diverse, from country to pop, and from hometown boy Shelton to international sensation Shakira.

On this week’s elimination episode each celebrity singer performed with their teammates. Sasha Allen and Kris Thomas sang with Shakira, and they made it sound like they have sung together for years. It was absolutely my favorite performance of the night.

By the end of the show the Swon Brothers and Josiah Howley were eliminated.

This show is worth watching again. Overall I give it 4 stars and plan to keep on watching and staying up to date on who stays on the show and who gets eliminated.

Scandal

Secrets aren’t impossible to keep, but for how long can a person keep such a big secret, like an affair with the President of the United States or being part of a team that rigged the presidential election? If you are Olivia Pope, you have to keep both of these secrets. The hit show Scandal knows how to create drama and suspense.

Scandal, which plays on ABC on Thursday nights at 10pm, is a captivating show. It focuses on a group of people that call themselves “The Gladiators.” During the first show of the series, this team rigs the presidential elections to have President Fitzgerald Grant, or Fitz, put into office, but now they have to keep their secret. That certainly generated suspense in the show as viewers wondered when they were going to get caught and by whom. To keep their secret safe, they have to lock up and hide the device that holds all their secrets to rigging the election. Someone is after their secrets, and they have to keep “the mole” from getting the device.

The other big secret is the affair between Fitz and Olivia. Only Cyrus, Fitz’s close personal assistant, and Fitz’s wife, Mellie Grant, know about the affair. I was shocked when she didn’t tell everyone right away. Even though a man was investigating Mellie and trying to get her to reveal the name of Fitz’s mistress, she never once gave the name away.

About halfway through the show, Harrison Wright, Olivia’s coworker, reveals that he knows about Olivia’s affair. He will keep the secret if she stops the affair, so it will put the president and his love life out of the press. Olivia is handling this situation very well, and she acts like she has everything under control. She does lose control when she is telling Fitz that he has to keep his presidency or for the rest of her life she would feel like it was her fault.

Olivia and her team need to keep the president out of the newspapers because of his biggest secret, the rigged election. I wanted people to find out that they rigged the election because I wanted to see what might have happened in the show. Unfortunately, the show ended before that happened.

I loved the suspense, but with all the different problems going on at one time it made it hard to follow along. Who was the mole? Why was this person going to be killed? Who is following this man? It was hard even to put a name to all the faces because there were so many characters in this show. Scandal is definitely a show that you have to watch every episode in every season or you would be lost.

Every Monday and Sunday night I spend valuable time in front of my TV watching one of the many Real Housewives of… franchises. When the two hour finale of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills was on, I spent the full two hours glued to my television.

“Why are you watching this?” I asked myself. I began to think of all the things that kept me coming back week after week.

The money. While we are living in a recession, and many, including myself, are unable to spend outrageous amounts of money on lavish parties or second homes, it’s nice to see those who can. These are women of all different backgrounds, races, and professions, and they have all figured out a way to make a living for themselves. And trust me, it’s a good living. There is an odd enjoyment in watching those with privilege get what they want.

A main argument against reality television, and The Real Housewives in particular, is that these shows lack artistic expression, but nobody is watching Lisa Vanderpump spend millions of dollars on a dinner party for the art of it all. It’s simply an indulgence. It’s easy to watch wealthy women fight because it isn’t relatable  We, as an audience, do not need, or want, to think about our real life problems. It’s healthy to get away from the stress you experience every day.

Also we know it isn’t real. Keeping up with the Kardashians is probably scripted, as is Housewives, the next American Idol has probably already been chosen. Who cares? I don’t.

Mindless television serves a purpose. It doesn’t matter what show or format you prefer, whether it is the dating shows like The Bachelor, the high stakes competition shows like Survivor,  talent shows like The X Factor, or famous for being famous shows like The Real Housewives.  And I think the sooner people realize that, the sooner we can stop talking about television and start talking about real issues, like who will be the Next Top Model… kidding!

Dancing With the Stars

I am no professional dancer, but while watching Dancing with The Stars, I just want to get up and shake my hips (not a pretty sight). This is definitely going to be on my list of good shows to watch.

Tuesday night at 9 p.m. was the results show for Monday night’s performances. Even though I was not able to see all the dances, the show gave a summary of the dances that were performed the night before. This gave me the opportunity to see the highlights and mistakes of each couple’s dance.

The best dance chosen by the fans was the jive, performed by Disney Channel star Zendaya Colemen and her partner Val Chmerkovskiy. The dance is fast paced and involves more quick feet movement than most styles of dancing. I was wishing that I could be Zendaya out there dancing around in that gold flapper dress. The couple earned a 26 out of 30 from  judges Bruno Tonioli, Carrie Ann Inaba, and Len Goodman, for their almost perfect performance  As Bruno put it, “A star is born big time!” Zendaya will definitely be seen on next week’s episode.

In this results show, the viewers eliminated one of the 12 couples by the end of the night. To extend the show, they had performances by Icona Pop singing, “I Love It,” a personal favorite of mine, and singer Josh Groban performed also.

Three couples sweat it out in jeopardy, waiting to see who among them would be eliminated; Dorthy Hamill and her partner Tristan MacManus had to drop out of the competition due to Dorthy’s serious back problems. So all the couples that were in jeopardy were safe, until the following week.

As much as I enjoyed this show, I think it would have been more enjoyable if I had watched Monday night’s performances. I really wish I had gotten to see each dance because the summary of the dances made me wish I saw all of them.

For someone who enjoys shows with real people and awesome dances, then this show is perfect. But to enjoy this show, a person should watch on Monday and Tuesday nights. Overall, I give this show 5 out of 5 stars!

When MacFarlane stated that he would never return to host the Oscars, many began to consider who would take on the heavy task of hosting the award show.

When people began to speculate that SNL alumni Tina Fey and Amy Poehler would try to host the telecast, Fey said that she would be honored to be asked but had no real interest in being a hostess for Hollywood’s biggest night. Thank goodness! Fey and Poehler did well as Golden Globe awards hosts, but they lack the prestige that the Oscars demands. Both actresses have had lead roles in films, but nothing that has earned them any real traction in the world of cinema. Sometimes you are meant to stay on TV; the sooner Fey and Poehler learn this the better.

Somebody who has gained a lot of respect from her peers is the fabulous young starlet Emma Stone who has wowed audiences from films such as The Help, Easy A, or Super-bad. Stone could easily be the hostess with the mostess. A good companion for Stone would be another young starlet who has not only been praised by her peers but the the Academy herself.  Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence has shown her class, charm, and humor in various films such as The Silver Linings Playbook, Winters Bone, and The Hunger Games. They would be able to keep the youthful viewers MacFarlane was able to bring in while maintaining the class of the Oscars. I’ve got to say I totally ship this host pairing.

Secret Life of the American Teenager

How many people can be pregnant or have a kid in one show? Well, Secret Life of The American Teenager upstaged Teen Mom and 16 and Pregnant for being the show with the most pregnancies. So far on the show there have been at least six pregnancies. This show’s main focus is teen pregnancies, and it is really not something I want to watch every week.

At the end of every show, they have their own Public Service Announcement educating teens about pregnancies. So, why does it feel like in the show they are promoting pregnancy? They make the lives of these teen moms seem less difficult than they are in real life, and it can give teenage girls the wrong impression about teen pregnancies.

In this episode, Amy, played by Shailene Woodly, is getting married to the father of her child, and she has recently picked out a wedding dress. Unfortunately, it is ugly, and none of her friends and family like it. So yes, this episode is not focused on pregnancy, but too bad because it’s still not interesting.

All the family and friends of Amy and Ricky do not feel that the two teens should be getting married just because they have a child together, but none of them speak up about it to the couple. Throughout the show Amy shows the dress to everyone she knows and gets the same reaction: they hate it. The only thing that got my attention in the show was wanting to find out what the dress would look like after she fixed it up, but it wasn’t shown in this episode and I don’t care enough to continue watching the series.

This show has been on ABC Family for five seasons, and they are currently on their last season. Most of the girls on this show are in high school and at some point have been pregnant, which really makes me mad! Are they trying to promote girls in high school getting pregnant? I sure hope not, but that is what it seems like. Amy and Ricky are planning on getting married, and they already have a kid. Although they have their differences, they are a happy couple, which might give teens the impression that it is okay to get pregnant and get married in high school.

I have one confession. I used to watch this show when it first started, and I was obsessed. There was always some drama going on, but in the last few seasons all that happens is someone new gets pregnant. Who cares?! Nobody wants to watch a show where all the girls in one high school get pregnant, and all they talk about is sex! Not appropriate for a channel named ABC “FAMILY.” Not at all a family show. My rating for this show is 1 out of 5 stars.

Audience Age/Rating: Rated PG-13 for sexual humor, language and comic violence

Genre: Comedy

Director: Adam McKay

The movie is relatively old, coming out in 2003, but it is considered one of the greatest comedies ever in most people’s eyes, if not the greatest.

by Joe Frias

Will Ferrell stars as Ron Burgundy, San Diego’s top rated newsman of the 1970s. However, that’s all about to change when a new female employee (Christina Applegate) arrives in his office.

Will Ferrell is part of a comedic group of actors known as the Frat Pack. The Frat Pack also includes Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Owen Wilson, Luke Wilson, Vince Vaughn, and Steve Carell. This movie includes many of these comedy greats, such as Jack Black, Luke Wilson, Vince Vaughn, and Steve Carell.

This movie can make anyone laugh from the opening credits to the end of the film. In the very first scene, I died laughing when the narrator said, “This film is based off a true story. Only the people, places, and events have been changed.”  Scenes like this make the movie great because they are so outrageous. It seems as if every scene something out of the ordinary happens, and they all come together to not only make a really funny movie, but a great movie in general.  These are a few examples of the many, many events in this movie that will make you holler with laughter.

The comedy in this movie is very outrageous comedy. Every scene, the unexpected occurs. There was one scene when Ron Burgundy and the rest of his news team were walking to the suit store. They were stopped by their rival news team. Not long after there is an all out fight between five different news teams. It all happens so fast, and it catches people off guard. It makes for a very funny and very outrageous film.

However, there are a few minor mistakes in this movie. When Ron reads the teleprompter with the question mark on it, it is revealed that the words on the prompter don’t match the words that Ron said. This is clearly a mistake, since it is well-established that Ron will read anything that is put on the teleprompter. Also, directly following the “Panda Watch day #5″ report, as Ron Burgundy is reading his sign-off from the teleprompter, the words do not match, defeating the point that he can’t change the words from the teleprompter. It is not a huge mistake, but I noticed it, and I am sure other people have as well.

If you want to kick back and relax and watch a funny movie, this is the movie for you. A movie night with this movie is a recipe for success. The highly anticipated sequel will be coming out December 20.

A major daytime shake up happened earlier this month at The View when longtime cohost Joy Behar declared she would be leaving the daytime staple after sixteen years. And then rumors continued to spin out of control when reports that creator and cohost Barbara Walters would be retiring and cohost for almost a decade Elisabeth Hasselbeck would be kicked out of her chair because of her right wing ideology. Both of those reports turned out to be false.

But now all of the “who’s in, who’s out” drama has switched to the late night circuit. After Jimmy Kimmel Live! moved forward in its time slot to 11:30 p.m. on ABC, it is reported that NBC,who repeatedly garners low ratings, was becoming increasingly concerned about how Jay Leno, the host of The Tonight Show, would be able to hold up in the ratings war against Kimmel, who has a younger audience. Somebody who does have a younger audience and is reported to be replacing Leno in 2014 is the acclaimed SNL vet Jimmy Fallon, the host of his own show on NBC after Leno.

Could Leno be out, and could Fallon be in? Reports are unclear, and NBC executives are staying silent on the subject. Every day a new report comes out, and nobody is doing anything to put the rumors to rest.

Leno isn’t helping himself because he has been making a series of jokes about his bosses at NBC, which aren’t sitting well with the executives.

If the rumors are true, NBC could finally start becoming a contender in the late night circuit once more. Fallon is young and brings a more diverse audience. Placing him at an earlier time slot would only widen the number of viewers who tune in to see him host. Also Fallen is more irreverent than Leno, but he is also able to stay clean as far as his jokes are concerned. When Fallon takes Leno’s chair, Kimmel better watch out.

Degrassi

by Alexa Duplisea

Sometimes high school can be tough, but imagine if you went to Degrassi. Degrassi, which airs on Friday nights at 9 p.m. on Teennick, focuses on a group of teens that all go to Degrassi High. Everything that could possibly happen to teens in high school, happens in this show. There are pregnancies , people coming out, couples having to deal with bad relationships and hard breakups, students commiting suicide and much more. Since it is based around teens, a lot of kids can relate to it.

Each character has something in their life they are dealing with. Whenever something happens in the show, they make it a really big deal involving many of the characters.

Recently a boy named Campbell Saunders committed suicide at school. He could not handle the separation from his family and the pressure to be the best on his hockey team. Campbell played hockey for the Ice Hounds and attended Degrassi, but he had to live with another family because his real family lived too far from the school and ice rink.

Even though this show is fiction, it’s so relatable that it makes me cry, not lying. All the problems in the show that the students deal with are real tear jerkers. Like the problems that Eli is dealing with.

This event especially affected Eli Goldsworthy. Eli has had past troubles with bipolar illness, but after being the person to find Campbell’s dead body at the school, he has been having trouble concentrating and staying calm. To cope with his problems, he turns to drugs. Munro Chambers, the actor who plays Eli, does an amazing job showing his rough-edged, dark personality and the life that he has.

Each actor or actress in the show does an outstanding job playing their character. Sometimes, when I hear about the actors in real life, all I can picture is their character in this show.

Fun fact: Degrassi has been airing TV shows for 25 years! Besides maybe Spongebob Squarepants, I have never heard of a show that’s been on television for that long. Throughout the years this show has changed; characters have come and gone. The school has been through so much, but it is still focused around the lives of the kids that attend Degrassi. Only a great show can last that long and still be a favored by teens all over the U.S.

This show deserves nothing less than five stars. Degrassi may not be made for adults or young kids, but it is a great show for teenagers.

by Alexa Duplisea

Suburgatory

Before I watched the show, I was hesitant to believe what people say about liking it. First off, I do not get the title of the show. What does suburgatory mean? I do not understand the title except for the fact that it is based in the suburbs. What does “suburgatory” mean, and how does it tie to the show? Is it a mix of suburbia and purgatory, a place of suffering and hell in the suburbs? They should explain that, so people like me will understand it. If the title is unclear and not understandable would the show be too? That was a concern of mine.

But that is why people say not to be so quick to judge, and they are right. After watching the show I actually enjoyed it a lot. Even though the show’s idea about living in the suburbs wasn’t too funny, the characters in the show were. Suburgatory was just about regular people’s lives, specifically the main characters Tessa and George, and in their daily lives something new always happens and that’s what each show is about. Besides the fact that someone dies in the show, what is supposed to grab the viewer’s attention? I did not find much to be honest.

While watching, there was not one story going on but two, and it was frustrating to watch at points. This show switched back and forth between Tessa and George Altman’s lives, and throughout the whole episode they never came in contact with each other, which I found strange because they live together. Throughout the show Tessa narrates it even when George’s day is being shown. Maybe she narrates the show because it’s about her view on her life in the suburbs and her family.

There was, however, one part in the show that grabbed my attention. At the beginning of the show George and his friend Noah are at a country club in a sauna with a 90-year-old man named Marty. George gets to know him a little bit; then irony hits. Marty explains that he has never been outside of the suburbs of Chatswin and that he has plans to travel soon. “The best years of my life are ahead of me,” he says. Then he dies in the sauna from a stroke.

Not only is George having a rough day, but so is Tessa. She has recently found out that her boyfriend Ryan has been lying to her about what he has been up to. Wow, how original! A boyfriend lying. After freaking out on Ryan because she thought he was cheating on her, Tessa finds out that colleges are pursuing him. Her mind set instantly changes, and she is no longer mad at him but sad that he has been thinking about a future without her.

Throughout the show Tessa worries about the future she may or may not have with Ryan, but what she doesn’t know is that Ryan is worrying about the same thing. When Ryan confronts her about the situation, he tells Tessa he has a plan to stay with her and not go to college, and Tessa really starts to worry, “Ryan did you do something stupid?” Ryan responds, “I think we both know the answer to that.” The show portrays Ryan as a really dumb, but hot kid, and he thinks that too. Luckily Tessa fixes the issue and tells Ryan to go to college, and they will be fine. Even though Tessa and Ryan are okay, George is still having trouble with the death of Marty, even though he barely knew him.

George decides to go to Marty’s funeral along with eight other people from the club. At the end of the funeral, a country club employee gives George Marty’s ashes. This man tells George, “Of all people that didn’t know Marty, you didn’t know him the least.” It is sad but funny that nobody knew this man, and they gave his ashes to George who just met him. Luckily, George did find out that Marty wanted to travel outside Chatswin and decided to spread his ashes right beyond the border of that town.

My favorite characters in the show were Ryan and George’s friend, Noah. They were the funniest characters in the show, since Ryan is a complete dunce, thinking his hot body is a curse. Also when Noah, George’s best friend, was trying to give a speech at Marty’s funeral, he started describing events at the country club’s pool, and then he abruptly announced, “Speaking of strokes, Marty’s dead.”

This show deserves a three out of five stars. While watching the show I really enjoyed it, but when it ended I wasn’t like “OMG I have to watch this again!” This show will not be going on my regular television schedule.