Archive for September, 2008

While there was a whole lot of girl-on-girl drama in this week’s episode of Gossip Girl, I am mostly concerned with Dan’s dive into the dark side. That’s right: he’s spending time with Chuck. Those two are great together and I actually like earnest, sorta nerdy, talks-too-much Dan more than sappy in-love-with-Serena Dan. And we’re learning so much about Chuck’s psyche! He puts up such a tough exterior, doesn’t he? His daddy issues run pretty deep, and he really wants someone to be his friend (Nate’s been falling down on the job). Basically, Chuck needs a hug.

I’m glad the Duke and Duchess and that icky Nate/Duchess drama is behind us, and in its place we now have a new character — the hilariously named socialite Poppy Lipton. Are you ready to chat about it all? Just

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“What kind of person are we? Does the hero, or the villain inside us, win the day?”

Ah, yes. The hero/villain question at the heart of Volume Three of Heroes. In this week’s episode we get more of the scoop on who Tracey is (or rather, who she’s not), Angela Petrelli insists that Sylar has simply been “misunderstood,” and the pairing up of HRG and his new partner turns out to be surprisingly awesome. And then there are the Claire, Parkman, Hiro and Peter storylines, so to chat about it

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All of the new DVD releases hit stores (and Netflix) on Tuesdays. So each week in What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday, I sort through the best of the batch and tell you what to add to your queue. In addition to the titles below, the Oscar-winning documentary Taxi to the Dark Side is also now available on DVD.

Iron Man
Hurray! It feels like just yesterday the Summer box office was electrified by this superhero hit. I really loved it (and saw it twice in the theaters), mostly due to a super cool performance by Robert Downey Jr. and the skillful storytelling abilities of director Jon Favreau. Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges, and Terrence Howard also do well in this fun action movie. It’s a good way to go back in time and shake off those dark, depressing blues you may have caught from your 10th viewing of The Dark Knight.

Special features include deleted and extended scenes, featurettes titled “I Am Iron Man: 7-Part Making-of Documentary,” “The Invincible Iron Man: 6-Part History of the Hero,” and “Wired: The Visual effects of Iron Man.” Something I’m really curious to see in the extras is a Robert Downey Jr. screen test and a featurette on his acting process. More time with RDJ is always good.

Two more spiffy choices, so

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I’m a huge fan of the Autumn months, so I’m excited that it’s almost October. Still, September is one of my favorite months, as it always seems to signify — even now, years after school has been over for me — new beginnings and new possibilities. I like that there’s a chill in the air, but it’s not so sharp that you need the big puffy coat. It’s almost holiday season, but it’s not yet time to enter into the stressful frenzy of shopping and preparing. So, to mark the ending of this first Fall month, I’ve put together a little September playlist. To enjoy,

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Private Practice had its ups and downs last year, but there was one consistent good thing about the show for me: Paul Adelstein as Oceanside Wellness’s pediatrician and unlucky-in-love bachelor, Cooper. When I spotted Adelstein after the Private Practice session at the TCA press tour in July, I convinced him to stop for a quick chat. In person, he was quite charming (and even laughed off my good-natured ribbing about his bright-white sneakers), and he gave me some hints about what’s coming up for Cooper, who’s still involved with the uptight Charlotte (KaDee Strickland) when season two begins. Here are highlights from our chat:

I hear from a lot of people that Cooper is their favorite part of the show. Does that surprise you?
Yeah, that surprises me. I think that one of the things with Shonda [Rhimes]‘s writing — being a longtime Grey’s fan — is that people identify with different characters differently, and I think that everybody has a favorite Grey’s character, and so on. But it’s nice to hear! I’m a little surprised — I don’t think I’m my favorite character.

What are some of the things you do like about Cooper?
As an actor, it’s a great gift to have to show up to work as loose as possible because that’s who your character is. It’s a challenge as an actor to try to be really loose and present, and when the character is loose and present, it’s easier to do that. It kind of demands that you come and have a good time, and so that’s a nice way to go to work every day.

Is the whole idea that he is the comic relief? And does that come from you, or is it kind of built in there?
I really try not to think about it that way because you never want to be the schticky guy. But I think Cooper is a funny guy. I think he uses humor as a defense. You try not to think about how it’s fitting into the show too much, ’cause I think you can drive yourself crazy and go down the wrong path, so I just try to do whatever he’s doing and hope that it translates. You know, last year, I think that we were all struggling a little bit with the tone of the show because [Rhimes's] writing is so good, you can play things very differently. I think that we’re better at figuring out where we all sit this year.

To hear about the real pediatricians he met while preparing to play Cooper and what might be coming down the pipeline romantically for his character, just

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According to Variety, composer Philip Glass is creating an opera about Walt Disney. The story “imagines the last months of Disney as seen through the eyes of a fictional Austrian cartoonist who worked for him.”

I seriously cannot wait to see what the heck this opera looks like.

What do you think of the opera in general? Do you ever go? Or are you not an opera person?

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Welcome to Buzz Brainteaser, the trivia feature on BuzzSugar! Every weekday I’ll test your knowledge about TV shows, music, and movies. If you enter in the correct answer, you win points!

In the Aaron Sorkin TV series Sports Night (which releases its 10th anniversary DVD set today), Sports Night is the name of the fictional sports news program where the show is set. What is the name of the fictional TV network that airs the show?

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• Fox is new with House and Fringe
• NBC is new with Biggest Loser: Families and Law & Order: SVU
• CBS is new with NCIS, The Mentalist, and Without a Trace
• ABC is new with Opportunity Knocks, Dancing With the Stars, and Half Their Size: The People Magazine Weight Loss Challenge
• The CW is new with 90210 and Privileged
• FX is new with The Shield
• MTV has the series premiere of Paris Hilton’s My New BFF
• VH1 has 100 Greatest Hip Hop Songs
• Bravo is new with The Rachel Zoe Project
• ABC Family is new with Lincoln Heights and Greek
• Comedy Central is new with The Daily Show With Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report
• Oxygen is new with Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency
• Late-night highlights include Anne Hathaway, Josette Sheeran, and the Virgins on Late Show With David Letterman on CBS; Ellen DeGeneres, Jerry O’Connell, and Jazmine Sullivan on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno on NBC; and Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Michael Cera on Late Night With Conan O’Brien on NBC