The Star Online: Entertainment: TV & Radio
The Star Online: Entertainment: TV & Radio |
- Khloe K, Mario Lopez to host 'The X Factor'
- Lawsuit against TV station of racial bias dismissed
- Sub plot
| Khloe K, Mario Lopez to host 'The X Factor' Posted: 16 Oct 2012 08:54 PM PDT LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Reality star Khloe Kardashian will co-host The X Factor, broadcaster Fox said on Tuesday, putting one of the popular celebrities on U.S. television at the forefront of the revamped singing contest. Kardashian, who with her California socialite sisters Kim and Kourtney rose to fame in Keeping Up With The Kardashians, will appear on the U.S. version of the show from November. She will share duties with Mario Lopez, host of syndicated entertainment news magazine show Extra, Fox said in a statement. X Factor creator Simon Cowell said in September that Kardashian, 28, was his top choice to co-host the singing contest following his firing in January of little-known British TV personality Steve Jones, who had the job as host for the show's first season in 2011. "The worst kept secret in Hollywood is out," Cowell said in a statement on Tuesday. "Mario and Khloe are our hosts. They will debut on our first live show in November and I couldn't be happier." Kardashian married basketball player Lamar Odom in 2009, and the pair got their own spinoff show last year. She has more than 7 million followers on Twitter and has been in the news recently over the couple's efforts to have a baby. Lopez, 39, is less well known but the former actor hosts Extra as well as a radio show On With Mario Lopez. He is also an author of several fitness books. Kardashian and Lopez complete the celebrity overhaul of The X Factor after a disappointing first season. Britney Spears and former Disney Channel star Demi Lovato made their debut as judges in September, replacing Paula Abdul and singer Nicole Scherzinger, who were also fired in January. |
| Lawsuit against TV station of racial bias dismissed Posted: 16 Oct 2012 08:45 PM PDT NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Reuters) - A federal judge has dismissed a civil rights lawsuit filed by two black men who said they were rejected for the starring role of The Bachelor on the popular ABC reality television show because of their race. The discrimination suit filed by Nathaniel Claybrooks and Christopher Johnson in Nashville federal court argued that ABC had never cast a person of color - African-American, Hispanic or Asian - in the show's central role as a matter of policy. The men's goals were "laudable," but the rights of the show's producers to control their creative content are protected by the First Amendment, U.S. District Judge Aleta Trauger ruled on Monday in dismissing the case. Claybrooks and Johnson had sued ABC, which is owned by Walt Disney Co, Warner Horizon Television Inc, which produces the show, Next Entertainment Inc, NZK Productions Inc and executive producer Michael Fleiss in April. "We felt from the outset this case was completely without merit and we are pleased the court has found in our favor," WB Entertainment spokesman Paul McGuire said on Tuesday. Warner Bros. is a unit of Time Warner Inc. An attorney representing Claybrooks and Johnson could not be reached for comment on Tuesday. The two reality shows in question, The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, follow a man or woman's search for a mate that is chronicled through dates with a couple of dozen contenders until a selection is made on the season-ending episodes. Claybrooks, a former college football player and an entrepreneur, and Johnson, a teacher and football coach, said when they filed their lawsuit that their auditions for the show were perfunctory compared with those for the potential white bachelors. Claybrooks and Johnson "seek to support social acceptance of interracial relationships, to eradicate outdated racial taboos, and to encourage television networks not to perpetuate outdated racial stereotypes," Trauger wrote. "Nevertheless, the First Amendment prevents the plaintiffs from effectuating these goals by forcing the defendants to employ race-neutral criteria in their casting decisions in order to 'showcase' a more progressive message." The Bachelor debuted on ABC in 2002 and The Bachelorette started the next year. As of the filing of the lawsuit in April, neither show had featured a person of color in the leading role and the vast majority of contestants had been white. |
| Posted: 17 Oct 2012 04:19 AM PDT Trouble follows submarine crew on the run from the Navy. A submarine drama on TV is an ambitious project for sure. Already on paper it sounds like something that might be difficult to execute. Last Resort is the navy series that attempts to break new ground and watching the first 20 minutes of the pilot episode proves to be a nail-biting experience. As soon as viewers are introduced to the command structure on the ship – the USS Colorado – the pace picks up and a tense situation presents itself. What starts out as a routine day in the navy quickly takes a horrible turn when they are ordered to fire a nuclear missile on Pakistan. Understandably, the people in charge of the sub are curious as to why the order is coming from a lesser used network. But questioning the order, or rather, in this case, where the instruction is originating from, places them in hot water. They are fired upon by their own people and are soon high-tailing it to the nearest safe haven – an island in the middle of nowhere. Captain Marcus Chaplin (played by Andre Braugher) does his best to keep the US forces at bay for the sake of his crew by threatening to retaliate with nuclear missiles. Unfortunately, to the outside world that's watching, his bold posturing comes across as "the captain has gone mad and is hiding with a powerful nuclear sub". Not only is there conflict with the navy and White House as the crew have been declared enemies of the state, there are also differences of opinion within the ranks, never mind that it's not exactly the best time to turn on each other. Then again, can you blame them? None of the crew members asked to be put in this position and would love more than anything to be on home soil, not stranded on some island no matter how exotic it may be. The most vocal of the lot is Master Chief Joseph Prosser (Robert Patrick) who manages to convince a few of the men to be loyal to him instead of the captain. Braugher's stoic, commanding presence as the captain makes him a believable leader. He may be tough but he also has his fair share of human failings. His executive officer, Sam Kendal (Scott Speedman), trusts him implicitly due to their friendship. Speedman has come a long way from his days on teen drama Felicity as the boy whom girls always had a crush on. He is still eye candy of course, but his character's loyalty to his commanding officer and wife Christine (Jessy Schram) back home makes Sam very endearing and one of the few good men to root for. Australians Daisy Betts and Daniel Lissing hold their own as well as Lieutenant Grace Shepard and Navy Seal James King respectively. Grace is one of the first female officers to serve on a US sub but her fellow crewmen can't help but wonder if she got there on her own merit or with her Admiral father's assistance. Meanwhile, James prefers to operate on his own after his Seal commander died and refuses to take orders from Chaplin. As you might have deduced by now, the action in Last Resort is not confined to the interior of a submarine. The sub crew also has to deal with the island's local population. Before the USS Colorado arrived, Julian Serrat (Sahr Ngaujah) unofficially ruled the place with his illegal operations. Chaplin and his crew discover the hard way that Julian can be a formidable and lethal opponent when they try to retrieve their kidnapped friends. Tani Tumrenjak (Dichen Lachman), on the other hand, is a distraction for James who prefers to run around the fictional island of Sainte Marina with the pretty barkeep than blindly follow Chaplin. Also sucked into the crisis is Sophie Girard (Camille de Pazzis), a scientist who works for NATO. She chooses to stay on the island instead of fleeing because she feels that she can help with the situation by using her knowledge of the place and her connections. Viewers also have an idea of what's happening on the mainland through the eyes of rich girl Kylie Sinclair (Autumn Reeser), who is eager to find the USS Colorado and get her prototype technology – which essentially makes a sub invisible by masking sound and disrupting its magnetic signature – back. There's plenty going on and at the moment, the situation seems dire with a lot of questions waiting to be answered. Chief among them: Who betrayed the USS Colorado and why? How will Chaplin and his crew clear their name and get back home? Series creators Shawn Ryan (The Shield, The Chicago Code) and Karl Gajdusek do a decent job of setting up the main story. After the pilot, however, the pacing has been a little uneven (the most exciting parts of the show thus far have been the scenes involving the state-of-the-art submarine) since there are so many characters to keep up with in so many places. But hopefully, they will find their stride sooner rather than later and reward viewers with some answers early on. Last Resort has the potential to be a great show if they can set it on the right course and keep her steady. Last Resort airs every Tuesday at 10pm on AXN (Astro Ch 701) and AXN HD (Astro Ch 721). |
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