Pop Culture Checklist

Latest Pop Culture News

-NBC has picked up Community, Parks and Recreation and Mercy for full seasons.

-Desperate Housewives creator, Marc Cherry, signed a new deal that will keep the show on the air through 2013.

-The debut trailer for the new season of “24″ is now online. The show, and Kiefer, looks awesome!

-TVGuide.com lists TV shows on the bubble and which ones have been picked up for full seasons. Surprisingly, “Gossip Girl” is on the bubble…my friend Amy is now having a heart attack!

-Angelina Jolie has signed on to star in a thriller called “The Tourist.” Production begins in February.

-Jessica Biel will star in “F***ing Engaged,” a raunchy comedy about a couple who make a deal to have sex every day leading to their wedding so they don’t turn into their crusty old parents.  

-Benjamin Bratt will make a special return appearance in an upcoming episode of “Law & Order.”

-Great news: Soap legend Eric Braeden is returning to Young & The Restless after he recently quit over ugly contract negotiations. He signed a 3-year deal. Now I can keep watching!

-Ricky Gervais will host the Golden Globes next year. The awards show will air Jan. 17.

-TNT has given the okay for “Delta Blues,” a drama pilot being produced by George Clooney. It’s about an unusual Memphis cop who moonlights as an Elvis impersonator and lives with his mother.

-Now that Oasis has split up, Liam Gallagher announced he will start a new band early next year.

-HBO renewed “In Treatment.” The third season will air in late 2010.

-Carnie Wilson will try to lose weight on a new reality show called “Carnie Wilson: Unstapled” to air on GSN.

-Katee Sackhoff, the former Kara “Starbuck” Thrace on Battlestar Galactica, will make a guest appearance on the Nov. 23 episode of The Big Bang Theory on CBS. She will play herself in a cameo.

-NBC signed Adam Carolla for a comedy show. It will feature the comedian as a contractor and father whose life is turned upside down when his wife leaves him.

-Sub Pop will re-issue Nirvana’s 1989 debut of “Bleach” on Tuesday. The 20th anniversary deluxe edition will be available on CD and 180 gram white vinyl and include a complete live recording of a 1990 show at Portland’s Pine Street Theater.

-Comedy Central picked up repeats of canceled ABC cartoon “The Goode Family” by Mike Judge. All 13 episodes will air in January.

TV PREMIERES

Tonight – The League (FX)

Monday – I Want to Work for Diddy (VH1)

Tuesday – V (ABC); Tabatha’s Salon Takeover (Bravo)

TV FINALES

Tonight – Ace of Cakes (Food)

Friday – Bang for your Buck (HGTV); The Othersiders (Cartoon)

Saturday – The Locator (WE)

MOVIES to be released this weekend

-Michael Jackson’s “This Is It” (conventional and Digital IMAX theaters)

DVDs arriving Tuesday, Nov. 3

-The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3

-G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

-I Love You, Beth Cooper

-Aliens in the Attic

-Night Watcher

-Will Ferrell: You’re Welcome America – A Final Night with George W. Bush

-All About My Mother

-The Dead

-Food, Inc.

-Matador

-Law of Desire

-Hardwired

-The Narrows

-Gravestoned

-Mutants

-Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Live

-Fraggle Rock: The Final Season

-Fraggle Rock: A Merry Fraggle Holiday

-The Shield: Complete Series

-Mission Impossible – 7 The Final Season

-Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut

-Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

-Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Complete Season One

-Terminator Salvation: The Machinima Series

-Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Complete Season 7 Set

-Six Feet Under: The Complete Series

ALBUMS arriving on Tuesday, Nov. 3

-Nirvana, “Bleach” (20th anniversary re-issue)

-Weezer, “Raditude”

-Carrie Underwood, “Play On”

-Foo Fighters, “Greatest Hits” (CD/DVD)

-Soundtrack, “Glee: The Music, Volume 1″

-Slayer, “World Painted Blood” (CD/DVD)

-The Rolling Stones, “Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out! The Rolling Stones In Concert” (4 CD Box Set)

-Frank Sinatra, “New York” (4 CD/1 DVD Box Set)

-Soundtrack, “A Christmas Story”

-Soundtrack, “Fantastic Mr. Fox”

-Andrea Bocelli, “My Christmas”

-Vera Lynn, “We’ll Meet Again: Very Best of Vera Lynn”

The other day I blogged about Hulu will start charging for all its content in 2010. But now reports are saying that they will NOT charge a fee. Yeah!!

Read more about it here.

Check out the first nine minutes of ABC’s upcoming new series “V.”

It premieres at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 3. I can’t wait!!

Paste Magazine has posted its top 20 list of worst movie sequels to good movies. Unfortunately, I’ve seen a lot of these.

Check the list out for yourself.

No more free shows on Hulu.

Hulu is going to start charging people to watch shows online. There is no specific date when it will begin, but it sounds like sometime next year.

Paranormal Activity seems to be the new horror flick king.

It easily topped Saw VI for the No. 1 spot at the box office by earning $22 million.

Saw VI, in its debut, settled for second with $14.8 million.

Where the Wilds Things Are  dropped significantly in its second week with $14.4 million. Still, it has banked $53.9 million since opening. The biggest dud was Astro Boy with $7 million in its opening weekend.

TOP 10 BOX OFFICE

1. Paranormal Activity, $22 million

2. Saw VI, $14.8 million

3. Where the Wild Things Are, $14.4 million

4. Law Abiding Citizen, $12.7 million

5. Couples Retreat, $11.1 million

6. Astro Boy, $7 million

7. The Stepfather, $6.5 million

8. Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant, $6.3 million

9. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, $5.6 million

10. Zombieland, $4.3 million

Latest Pop Culture News

-Good news, Nathan Fillion fans: ABC has picked up “Castle” for a full season.

-Comedy Central will begin airing re-runs of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” next summer. Currently, FX is airing new episodes of the Comedy’s fifth season on Thursdays. FX already ordered sixth and seventh seasons of the show to air through 2011. If you haven’t seen the show, start now. It’s hilarious!

-Spoiler Alert for Desperate Housewives: A plane crash on Wisteria Lane will kill off several characters on the show. But which ones will die?

-Bravo has renewed “Top Chef Masters” for another season. Expect new episodes in 2010.

-ABC is developing a new comedy called “I’m With Stupid” starring Judy Greer. It’s based on Elaine Szewcyk’s novel “Stupid.”

-The CW picked u a full season of “Vampire Diaries” and “Melrose Place.”

-Vote now for the People’s Choice Awards.

-Will Ferrell will star in “Everything Must Go,” an independent film that costs under $10 million. Ferrell will play a guy who loses his job and gets kicked out of the house by his wife. She puts all his belongings in the front yard and spends the next four days trying to sell his possessions.

-Lady Gaga’s “The Monster Ball” tour will make a stop Jan. 12 at the Fox Theatre in Detroit. Get your tickets now!

-The Beatles can’t even help the economy. “The Beatles: Rock Band,” released Sept. 9, has sold about 595,000 copies last month. Analysts expected the game to sell at least 1 million copies. The top seller was “Halo 3: ODST” for Xbox 360 with more than 1.5 million copies.

-Kelly Ripa and hubby Mark Consuelos will go back to “All My Children” for thw show’s 40th anniversary episode. The speical episodes will air Jan. 4 and Jan. 5.

-The Flaming Lips is planning an album redo of Pink Floyd’s 1973 classic “Dark Side of the Moon.” The Lips version is a collaboration with the band Stardeath and White Dwarfs and features guest spots from Henry Rollins and Peaches.

-Seinfeld fans should check out this video. It’s a montage of every Kramer entrance on Seinfeld.

TV PREMIERES

Tonight – American Chopper (TLC); The Jeff Dunham Show (Comedy); It Only Hurts When I Laugh (TruTV); Ultimate Parkour Challenge (MTV)

Friday – Supernanny (ABC); White Collar (USA)

Saturday – The Academy (FRC); 24/7 (HBO)

Sunday – Nature (PBS)

Monday – Cake Boss (TLC)

Tuesday – The Little Couple (TLC); Monica (BET)

Wednesday – Friday Night Lights (DirecTV)    

TV FINALES

Tonight – Rob Drydek’s Fantasy Factory (MTV); Real Housewives of Atlanta (Bravo)

Sunday – My Antonio (VH1); P. Diddy’s Starmaker (MTV)

Monday – Real Chance of Love (VH1); Forensics: You Decide (ID)

Tuesday – Rising Icons (BET)

Wednesday – Art in the Twenty-First Century (PBS)

MOVIES arriving Friday, Oct. 23

-Saw VI

-Amelia

-Astro Boy

-Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant

-Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D (re-release)

*Oct. 28 release: Michael Jackson’s This Is It (conventional and Digital IMAX theathers)

DVDs arriving Tuesday, Oct. 27

-Pandemic

-Orphan

-Whatever Works

-Stan Helsing

-Z

-Afterwards

-The Maiden Heist

-The Asphyx

-Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs

-Battlestar Galactica: The Plan

-Monty Python: Almost the Truth (The Lawyer’s Cut)

-Night of Death

-Night of the Creeps (Director’s Cut)

-National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (Ultimate Collector’s Edition)

-The Sam Fuller Film  Collection

-Stargate (Ultimate Edition)

-The Fugitive: Season Three, Volume One

-The Guardian: First Season

-The Mannix: Third Season

ALBUMS arriving Tuesday, Oct. 27

-Michael Jackson, “This Is It”

-Creed, “Full Circle”

-Rod Stewart, “The Great American Soulbook”

-Train, “Save Me San Francisco”

-Brian McKnight, “Evolution of a Man”

-B. B. King, “The Four Kings of Blues Guitar”

-Sting, “If On A Winter’s Night…”

-Sean Lennon, “Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Undead”

-Trans-Siberian Orchestra, “Night Castle”

-Stephen Stills, “Live At Shepherd’s Bush (CD/DVD)

-R.E.M., “Live At The Olympia (2 CDs)

-Soundtrack, “Twelfth Night”

-Soundtrack, “Cold Souls”

The creators of “The Simpsons” are asking fans to create their own Simpsons character in a new contest.

The one selected will appear on the Jan. 31, 2010 episode. And keep in mind that Coldplay’s Chris Martin will appear in that episode.

Enter online. If you win, you’ll be flown to Los Angeles to meet with a Simpsons artist and bring your character to life.

The contest is part of the show’s 20th anniversary. The winner will be announced in mid-November.

Good luck!!

This month has been awesome with a bunch of horror-themed shows, specials and movies.

There is still plenty to watch this month and TV Tango has compiled a really cool calendar of Halloween-themed programming from now until the end of the month.

And take note that “It’s the Great Pumpkin” will air twice this month. It will air Oct. 27 and Oct. 28 on ABC.

Also, ABC’s “Castle” will air a Halloween episode on Oct. 26 and CBS’s “Medium” is planning a Night of the Living Dead-themed episode.