The TV Addict 

The Good: From Weathersby Posner & Klein’s original and inspiring mission statement to “serve the public good and honor the public trust” that was scribbled on a napkin thirty years prior (Bartlett for America anyone?), to the master class in acting put forth by Victor “Where’s My Emmy?” Garber, “good” doesn’t even begin to describe my feelings when it comes to last night’s installment of ELI STONE. Especially now that we know that Eli’s future includes making it all the way to the Supreme Court alongside friend and mentor Jordan Weathersby. (And yes, in case you’re wondering, this TV Addict’s jaw is still partially on the floor following last night’s shocking final scene involving Maggie Decker siding with the evil that is Posner & Klein.)

The Bad: 90210. Whose committee of showrunners don’t seem to “get” that fans are not in the business of caring about couples they’ve manufactured out of thin air. Ethan and Annie’s will-they-or-won’t-they relationship is absolutely pointless when the two characters have been given zero redeeming qualities for fans to latch on to and root for. And don’t even get me started on Navid and Adrianna — I mean have those two even shared a scene together prior to last night’s episode? Memo to Gabe Sachs and Jeff Judah. Your viewers are not morons and if you expect us to remain invested in this show outside of the occasional Brenda/Kelly cameo you probably should go back to the drawing board and remember that the likes of Brenda & Dylan, Ross & Rachel and Pam & Jim don’t just happen. It takes seasons of build up and hard work. So get to it.

Read the rest of this entry »

By: The REEL Addict and his niece

In the world of movies, it is extremely rare for a sequel to be better or as good as the original, let alone for the third film in a series to be the best of the lot.

My niece, Ainsleigh, and I were both lucky enough to discover that HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 3: SENIOR YEAR is one of those rare treasures. We both came out of the theatre thinking that HSM 3 is without a doubt the best of the series. What’s more, we both agreed on the exact two reasons why.

The first and most prominent reason is that the movie has the best musical numbers (i.e. music, lyrics, and dance choreography) to date. The filmmakers obviously took the bump to theatrical seriously as the music is better produced, the lyrics are a little less corny, and the dance numbers are much more sophisticated. HSM 3 even expanded its inspirational pallet there, including numbers that are obviously influenced by everything from Bob Fosse, the Rockette’s and Gene Kelly’s “Gotta Dance” number from SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN (in “I Want It All”), to ballet (“Can I Have This Dance”), to Stomp and GREASE (“The Boys Are Back”). It’s increased scope and ambition goes along way to make the film special. Most importantly though, the musical numbers do exactly what they should: sweep you up in their emotions and choreography. You became enamored, and just like for the characters, the world stops for a moment and makes way for musical celebration and expression.

Read the rest of this entry »

With HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 3 making the jump to the big screen today, this morning’s question of the day should come as no surprise. Simply put, will you be braving the hordes of screaming tweens to watch Zac, Vanessa, Ashley and Corbin graduate in style? Or will you sheepishly wait until the movie is released on DVD as to not have to face the humiliation and awkward looks of being the only twenty-something male in a movie theater comprised of eight year old girls? Ummm… not that this TV Addict was planning on seeing HSM 3 today. Because really, I’m so stoked for SAW V! I swear… I don’t know how I accidently walked into this theater…

How did you come to be a part of the faculty?
Tiana Brown: Well the executive producers and the producers of the show put out a call and they called agents and they had a variety of people come in and talk to them and tell them about our experience and how we felt about working with children. We all fit the roles they were looking for.

What was some of the most surprising things that you discovered while you were out searching for talent for HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL: GET IN THE PICTURE?
It was definitely the variety of how people really performed.  Everybody is different, each style is different.  In the Midwest, it’s a little bit more reserved as well as the other people, and then you get to up north and you have the brothers there and they’re supporting, and you got a different vibe.

What is some of the best advice that you’ve been given that you were able to pass along to the kids?
Oh my goodness.  There was so many different times when we really got to talk to the kids.  I wanted to relay to them that they only thing permanent in this world is that everything is temporary.  Because a lot of these kids, it’s a major process to go through and some kids feelings would get hurt or they would do a little bit much and for reasons I don’t know or for reasons they don’t’ even understand, I always tried to remind them, you know, nothing’s permanent.  Don’t dwell too hard in what happens today, just learn, and keep pushing through.  I think that they got that concept, I think that they were understanding.  I definitely wanted them to find their own characters; not just through dancing, but really define who they are.  At that age,  you’re trying to blend in, you’re trying to fit a clique, and they already came in as individuals, but because we were getting deeper and deeper and deeper with them, they definitely grew to find out who they were.

Read the rest of this entry »

By: Amrie Cunningham

ABC’s new show HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL: GET IN THE PICTURE starts tonight and I had the chance to speak with one of the “Faculty Members”, Montre Burton, about his role as mentor, and how you can live life to the fullest just by being you.

Tell me about HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL: GET IN THE PICTURE!?Montre Burton: So I am a faculty member and what I do is mentor, encourage, challenge, nurture the students and what happens is I went across the country. There were six of us cohosts and I am one of the cohosts. We actually went across the country discovering new talent and ultimately looking for the next star. I would go to the southeast region, so went to Virginia, which is great because that’s where I’m from, North Carolina, Tennessee, Orlando, I went to Wisconsin, so I go to all these little different small obscure towns where it’s literally population 1, and it’s like Montre, and that’s it. I would go to these small towns and go to the high schools and see them perform, or go to their dance recitals or go to open mike night and find the talent and send them to the semifinals in Orlando. Then from there we have the open calls, where we saw literally thousands of kids. Plus we also saw the people I discovered in small towns. From the best of the best, the people we saw at the open calls and the people we found on the road, we sent them to Utah, which is where we are right now. And then literally, every day, acting singing, dancing, all trying to be the next star.

I didn’t realize that you were searching for the talent; I didn’t realize that it wasn’t just the open call, so it seems like there is a better possibility for an undiscovered talent.?
Oh yeah, we have been all over this country! The six of us, they took 3 for the west and 3 for the east and they split the three of us across the entire region. We went to about 9-10 different states a piece.

Read the rest of this entry »

By The REEL Addict

If you in any way closely related to a tween, you not only know about HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 3, you probably have already promised yourself to take them to see it in theatres. If you’re anything like me, you actually won’t mind taking them because it provides a great excuse for you to see it without any embarrassment. Even if the HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL series is a bit silly and obviously aimed at a demographic more than a decade younger than myself, the musical fan in me can’t help but appreciate how infectiously fun the films are and how they signal a moderate return of the musical into popular culture. Needless to say, come October 24th I’ll be there opening night with niece, probably with a stupid grin of anticipation in my face. Till then, feel free to check out my review of the first two films over at MONDOmagazine.

By: TheREELAddict

What’s with the High School Musical kids and jumping? Seriously, nobody is that happy. Also jumping when “happy” is really overrated, in my opinion. I much prefer a manly slap on the back, a high five, or just a good old fashioned beer. Anyway, I’d like to say I’m posting this for my niece, but – at the risk of losing you as a reader of this blog – I won’t lie, the musical fan in me dug the HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL bringing the genre back for a new generation. Don’t believe I liked it? Check out this review I wrote for MONDOmagazine.

… For some incredibly important TV news. Okay so ‘important’ is a bit of a stretch. But it’s TV news nonetheless.

Live in Canada, miss THE OC? As I type this, MUCH MUSIC is in the midst of airing an OC marathon and Marissa’s alive! Re-live your favorite Newport memories from the beginning and ‘Welcome to THE OC B*tch…’

What time is it? Time for Disney to start celebrating. According to preliminary fast national ratings, last night’s premiere of HIGH SCHOOL MUSCIAL 2 ranks as the most-watched basic cable telecast EVER! Drawing an estimated 17.2 million viewers! Which, we should mention, also means it’s time for Disney to pony-up and give Zac Efron and Co. a big fat raise for HSM3.

Last night, the unthinkable happened. My PVR didn’t record the end of HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 2. Who won the talent show? Was there a happy ending? Did Troy and Gabrielle finally kiss? So many questions left unanswered. With the most important question being — how could Canada’s so-called FAMILY CHANNEL do this to us?

Now I know what you’re thinking [aside from the TV Addict is way too old to be watching the Family Channel!]. Shouldn’t a seasoned TV Addict such as myself always set the PVR to record a few minutes later — just in case the network pulls the inevitable ‘AMERICAN IDOL,’ extending the show six minutes long? Well, yes and no. When it comes to the major networks, I’m used to tinkering slightly with the start and end times of my PVR recordings to ensure that I don’t miss those pivotal final moments of LOST. Unfortunately, it never occurred to me that THE FAMILY CHANNEL would stoop to such levels. Surely the channel with ‘family’ in the title must have known that parents wanted to record HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 2 [in its entirety] so that their kids could watch it over and over and over and over again.

Which leads me to the inevitable question. Was toying with the end time simply a brilliant move to ensure viewers tuned into the continuous encore presentations of the movie? If so, the plan worked. If you find yourself in the same boat as the TV Addict, you can catch an encore presentation of HSM2 tomorrow [Sunday August 19] at 12 noon. Just remember — if you actually want to see how the movie ends, be sure to set your PVR, DVR or VCR for at least fifteen minutes later than the stated end time.

At this moment, millions of phone conversations across the country are taking place. Odds are, more than a few of them sound like this:

GUY #1: Dude, Waz Up! [Yes, people still say that!] We checking out SUPERBAD tonight? It’s getting really great reviews. Michael Cera is DA BOMB! I can’t believe FOX was so dumb to cancel ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT… and FIREFLY and WONDERFALLS [okay, so that last part I just made up]

GUY #2: I totally want to see SUPERBAD! Love Michael Cera. But I’ve already got plans tonight.

GUY #1: Are you frakkin’ kidding me? Dude, we’ve been talking about this movie for weeks.

Cue background music: “We’re all in this together….”

GUY #2: Sorry man, I know. But I’ve got plans… umm… it’s a family thing.

More background music: “Na na na yeah.. You Are the Music In Me…”

GUY #1: Dude… is that HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL playing in the background?

GUY #2: Umm… errr… wait a second? How do you know this is HIGH SCHOOL MUSCIAL?

GUY #1: Umm… Okay fine… I’ll be over at 8PM

GUY #1: Make it 6, we’re watching HSM 1 first.

There’s no point in hiding folks, let’s face it, everybody’s doing it! Young, old, guy, girl — you know where you’ll be tonight. In front of your TV, popcorn in hand, lyrics in the other. Disney’s Phenomenon HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 2 finally premieres, and if you’re anything like this TV Addict, you already know half the words. Tonight at 8PM on the Disney Channel in the US, Family Channel in Canada — we’re all in this together.