Learning to Be Real (Just Like Pinnochio)

This week, when the TV Guide came, I sat down with it (like I always do) to see if anything seemed interesting enough to read. Practically screaming out to me from page 18 was the following headline: "Want to Be the Next Heidi and Spencer?" The sub-heading? "A new reality-TV school teaches the tricks of the trade."

What tricks of the trade? Isn't mindless self-promotion one of those skills you're just kind of born with, like singing or the ability to moon walk? Robert Galinsky, the creator of the New York Reality TV School, doesn't think so.

At the school, "students learn how to audition, create an on-air persona and parlay 15 minutes of fame into a career."

Has it come to this? Have we finally stopped pretending that reality shows are reality and not simply an excuse for networks to save the money they would otherwise spend on good actors and smart writers? I love my reality indulgences just as much as the next girl (cough**Rock of Love**cough), but if we live in a world where someone's goal is to become the next Speidi, maybe it's time to call the whole thing off.

More Twilight

This marks my 100th post on The Hollywood Minutiae, so it's fitting that the topic is something I'm a bit of a fangirl about these days. The second teaser trailer for Twilight went up today on Yahoo (and still a teaser for Harry Potter is nowhere to be found).



I think Film School Rejects made a fair point this week that up to this point the movie has not been marketed that well to those unfamiliar with the Twilight novels. Readers get to see the chemistry between Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, and know enough about the rest of the plot to fill in the gaps left by the trailer. Non-readers are sort of left scratching their heads.

This trailer gives non-readers a little more to go on, but only time will tell if it's enough.

The Emmy Noms are In

While Kathy Griffin's beloved Shmemmys may be a little more exciting than the primetime telecast, the nominations for that show don't receive quite as much attention as the real deal.

The noms for the big-dog categories are out today, and they're not too bad. You can see the full list over at EW.com. For me, the glaring exception is that John Krasinski has once again been overlooked in the category of Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy. I'm not sure how this outrage has continued for so long, but perhaps his time will come next year.

Our big Emmy nom lesson this year is that your best Emmy bet as a guest star is to appear on 30 Rock. Seven of the eleven Guest on a Comedy Series nominations were mined from Tina Fey's brainchild, which took the award for Best Comedy last year.

Overall, this year's nominations seem mostly fair, but a little boring. Perhaps it's because the TV season was hacked up by the strike, but something's just not the same.

More Potter Pics

It's the day of many tidbits here on the Minutiae. Our second tidbit of the day is a gallery of sixteen pics from Half Blood Prince over on Yahoo Movies. The batch from the MTV Movies Blog that I posted last week are in there, so if you missed them the first time, be sure to check these out.

Dunder Mifflin Downsized?

Doesn't look like that Office spinoff is happening any time soon. I can't say I'm disappointed, since I was worried from the get-go. No reason to go all Private Practice on one of the best comedies currently on television.

The new plan, a show by Office executive producer Greg Daniels that's built around Amy Poehler, could be great. Poehler is one funny lady, and without the pressure of protecting the Office brand with his new show, Daniels could build some totally new funny. If the show happens, maybe they can even get Poehlers hi-larious husband Will Arnett to make an appearance.

Confessions of a PCB

Yesterday, Amy Wilkinson wrote a fun PopWatch post about being a Pop Culture Bully (PCB). I've made an effort on this blog to poke fun at my own pop culture indulgences that may rate high on the lameness scale. Some of the most entertaining pop culture is of the so-bad-its-good variety, and there's not really any point in pretending we don't like it.

That being said, since my sister is one of the half-dozen or so readers of this blog, I can't, without consequences, say that my inner PCB doesn't emerge from time to time. She can give prime examples of me as both The Manhandler and The Insulter.

The Manhandler is clearly the more forgivable of the two PCB personae, and can truly be used for good. I try not to foist my every pop culture discovery onto others, only those that are actually fantastic and seem to fit that specific person. This is how I was turned on to Arrested Development (thanks, Kimberly!), Vampire Weekend (thanks, Jenny!), and many other lovely things that I can't recall right now. Since others passed those gems on to me, I see Manhandling as my pop culture duty, as long as I perform that duty responsibly (just how Spider-Man would expect me to).

The Insulter, however, is the persona I try very hard to contain. The Insulter is my inner Mr. Hyde, lurking, waiting to attack my poor friends and family when they try to rent a Larry the Cable Guy movie. I stand by my loathing of all things Larry, but perhaps I shouldn't be so mean to my dad about it.

Let's remember that the PCB is not always a menacing figure, as long as the PCB is thoughtful, not mean. I'll be a thoughtful PCB right now, and send you over to Act One of Joss Whedon's fantastical treat, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. And click quickly, friends. The Sing-Along will only hang around the web until Saturday. After that you'll have to track down the DVD.

New Trailer: OMG! It's HSM3!

The latest installment of Disney's hyper-lucrative High School Musical Franchise is set for an October 24th release, and the trailer has officially landed online. This one is a little scary. The first movie was cute. The second was fine. The fact that they decided to transport the cheese-tastic series to the big screen just seems like overkill.

I'll admit that I have seen both previous HSM movies. I'll also admit that I have three of the songs on my iPod. But even I will not shell out $10 to see this. The basketball scene, when Gabriella and Troy sing to one another across the gym, left me feeling a little nauseated.

If this really will be the Harry Potter of the rowdy tween set, like Jeff Jensen at PopWatch is guessing, I think I (unlike him) may be avoiding movie theaters altogether the weekend of October 24th.

Holy Bazooka, Batman!

MTV Movies Blog posted this exclusive clip from The Dark Knight yesterday:



Nice to see the bazooka that provided such an awesome image in the trailer put into some sort of context. July 18th can't come soon enough.

New Potter pics released as we wait for a trailer

We muggles get a treat from the wizarding world this week. New photos (the good, high quality kind) from Half Blood Prince have been released, and they're kind of awesome.

The great thing about these pics is that they're conveying some of the major, important moods that the sixth book deals with. I'm excluding the picture of Luna Lovegood, of course. She's just quirky fun.

HBP should be fantastic, equal parts dark and fun, and the news that Ron finally gets to show off his mad Quidditch skills (not to mention the sight of Rupert Grint in that funny helmet) is enough to convince me to be patient until the first trailer is out. No news yet on when that will be, but I've got my fingers crossed for a July 18th premier, ahead of The Dark Knight. I'll keep you posted.

Build Your Own Radio Station

I must credit my sister, Jennifer, for introducing me to this one. After her frequent recommendations, I have finally wandered over to Pandora to check out what all the fuss was about.

It was about something pretty cool. Type the name of a song or band that you really like and Pandora will build you a radio station. Based on the site's database, other songs and bands that match the qualities of that first pick will stream on your computer.

You can listen without signing up for a while, but I would recommend registering. It's free, and any station you create will be saved. Any time you access the site from the same computer one of your stations will play automatically.

Nooooooo!

After the torment that was the writer's strike, the news that an actor's strike may be unavoidable is pretty depressing. I've been avoiding reading any articles that would share such news, so I'm not quite up-to-speed on all the details.

From what I have gathered, things don't sound good. The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) can't agree on their goals for negotiating with the AMPTP. The divide only benefits the AMPTP, giving them the upper hand in negotiations.

The unions will be voting soon on whether or not to strike. If things don't work out, fall TV could consist of mostly reality shows and reruns, and the 2009 movie calendar could get pretty slim. Let's hope things don't come to that, and the 72% of actors who make less than $5,000 a year don't suffer in the process.

A New Hire at The Office

Amy Ryan will appear in at least five episodes of The Office in the show's upcoming fifth season. The actress appeared in the season finale of the show this year as Holly, the replacement for Michael's HR nemesis, Toby.

Can't wait to see where Amy Ryan's character goes. Holly's potential to drag Michael into a normal relationship was a completely unexpected element of the season finale. She actually found some of his antics charming, and inspired him to shelve some of his less-successful courtship rituals (with help from Jim, of course). While Jan (Melora Hardin) is always a kick, watching Michael try to reign himself in could be make for some pretty funny material. And, as the show gets older, new story lines will be a must.

No word on what's going to happen to Paul Lieberstein, who plays Toby. The actor also works as a writer on the show, so even if he's strictly behind-the-scenes for a while, he'll be around.