Bravo is starting a new season of The It Factor, a 13-week "reality" series I enjoyed last year when it followed a group of aspiring New York actors around on auditions. The new outing, which does the same thing but in Los Angeles, is just starting. (It's already started, actually; the first two have aired but Bravo will run them several more times this week.) This review in the L.A. Weekly is about as negative as any review ever written, but I still intend to see for myself. Also, Penn & Teller: Bullshit! has finally turned up on my TiVo listings, where it's charmingly redubbed Penn & Teller: Bulls…! By any name, the first one airs 1/24.
Jimmy Kimmel Live! debuts two days later, on January 26 with a one-time-only Sunday episode following the Super Bowl. ABC has set up a page for it on their website where they proudly proclaim it's "the first live nightly talk show in over 40 years!" And I suppose that's true if we forget about the show Joan Rivers did for Fox. Which is not a bad idea.
The movie of Chicago went through many screenplays by many writers before it hit the screen. One of those who tackled it was the brilliant Larry Gelbart. Here, Broadway commentator Ken Mandelbaum discusses how Gelbart's approach differed from what is now playing.
I've received a half-dozen e-mails from folks who claim they've seen (or even purchased) Mad Art in stores. They're obviously lying since Amazon is still saying it won't be out 'til December 31, 1969. And do you think I've milked this for about all it's worth? Yeah, me too.