Seriously? OMG! WTF?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPZ8UyqEXdA
Last week, Henry Winkler, William Shatner, Jeff Dye, George Foreman and Terry Bradshaw all traveled to Tokyo with Better Late Than Never and tonight at 10p on NBC they go to Kyoto, Japan and Hong Kong. Looks like some of them might’ve had a little too much Sake and that doesn’t sucke for us.
Kyoto also didn’t sucke for Dye because he told us at a recent press day, it was his favorite city out of the six that they went to while there were there for a month. He explained why, “Because I think, in my brain, when I travel, I want it to be different than anything I know. So any city that reminds me of something I already know, I kind of go, oh, this just reminds me of New York, or this just so I was quick to not dismiss, but to be, like, Tokyo is beautiful, but it feels like something I know.” Then he added, “And Kyoto felt like nothing I’ve ever known before. It was like a very I don’t know, like, it was a small city, and it was rich with tradition. Everyone was so excited to share with us things that I’ve never even heard of. It was just very cool.”
For Winkler what was cool, was the kids. He happily shared, “We met families, we met children everywhere that we went, and there was no language between us…George would sit down, and all of a sudden it was like these children, who had no idea who this gigantic human being was, didn’t understand him, they could have been his grandchildren. They found games to play, and punching, and sitting and jumping. It was truly emotional.”
As The Fonz said, they didn’t know who George Foreman was, but he wasn’t the only one they didn’t know. Even though the four older men on this journey are legends here in the United States, Shatner said it was a different story over there. He revealed that, “They didn’t know who we were, because the shows, certainly the shows I’ve been in, weren’t playing in Asia. And it was interesting. The only people that recognized most of us were American tourists, which we found plenty of, going place to place.” The natives might not have known who there were, but they were all still very friendly to them.
Believe it or not, before the show the octogenarian Captain Kirk had never been to Japan. Why? He joked the tickets were too expensive and no one else bought them for him. Then he got serious as he disclosed what an actor’s life on the road is like, “You know, actors go like, fly someplace, and they go to a hotel, and they do the job, and then you think, the lumpy mattresses and bad food; I want to get home. And you don’t see the location. We go on locations all the time, but never see the location. What you see is where you’re filming and the hotel you’re in, and you go there at 6 o’clock in the morning, and you get out of there at 8 o’clock at night. And I want to get home. My dogs. My dogs.”
My dogs, is how he might refer to his four new friends that he will have for the rest of his life. Dye had to this say about his now old buddies, “I learned something from each of these guys, which is my favorite thing. And maybe that’s just good casting by these guys, or whatever. But everyone had something so much different that I really enjoyed.” The comedian enjoyed learning that Shatner was the bravest and Bradshaw was afraid of everything.
Thankfully, Sake was not one of the things that Bradshaw was scared of because that makes tonight’s episode even more endearing.
Better Late Than Never has proven to be a wonderful show that takes us on heartwarming journey with five men who all got to experience many new things in several new places and came out stronger from it. We get to go along for the ride and laugh with them as we all get to learn things we never knew before about these six cities we have never been to before but will consider in the future. Plus, we get to learn more about some of our favorite actors, athletes and Jeff Dye as they discover each other in a continent of discovery.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHKnF9aWE_0
Over the last few years, NBC has done three wonderful live Broadway musical performances from a soundstage in NYC. Then Fox got into the game with a live show and changed things up. Grease did its production from Los Angeles and took things outside of the studio.
Yesterday, NBC announced at the NBCUniversal Summer 2016 TCA Press Tour, on December 7th, Hairspray Live is going to be dancing its way over to the Universal Studios Hollywood and they will be using part of the lot to make it look like they are in Baltimore.
Alex Rudzinski, Live Television Director, who also directed Grease Live, talked about working on this lot as compared to Warner Bros. He said, “I’m hugely excited to be able to use the Universal backlot as a space. In fact, what I can tell you is that Hairspray’s going to be using a much bigger area of the backlot than we ever did on Grease, so it’s very ambitious in terms of what we’re doing. Then he added, “But I think that’s a reflection on the excitement of the narrative and the story of Hairspray brings us. And what a fantastic cast we have in order to be able to use that space and use the dynamics of really being out on the backlot on this fantastically huge street that we’re recreating suburban Baltimore. And I think that’s going to be just an energy of scale that’s really going to make the show immersive for the viewers and make it really fun to watch.”
Something that is fun about watching a live event that is filmed outdoors is how the elements will affect the performance. When Grease went live earlier this year, we had a rare rainstorm that brought so much wind; several trees fell over in Burbank. How is Rudzinski planning for that? He revealed, “In any live broadcast, part of us as a team of producers and directors doing our due diligence is planning for the worst-case scenario in every area, not just weather. It’s in every technical part and every casting part. So you set up practices. You rehearse elements that can be under cover if it’s raining, but you hope you never risk the quality of the broadcast in any way.” Reminding us that, “And I think in Grease it rained for part of the outside scenes. I don’t think it detracted from the performance. Again, as part of the enjoyment of a live broadcast, it’s accepting the real-timeness of the event. So as long as we, as a team, embrace it and go with it, then it’s still going to be a superb night.”
Another change is that Director Kenny Leon told me there will be an audience for the scenes that call for one. For example when they are doing scenes from The Corny Collins Show. I think that factor will help to give the NBC productions more warmth.
I never was able to put my finger on what was missing from The Sound of Music, Peter Man and The Wiz until a Television Director, who worked on some live TV shows, pointed out to me there was no audience to laugh and applaud at the appropriate times. Without those sounds, it comes off as a little cold and vacant. Human interaction and live feedback is what stage actors feed off of and it also helps you feel like you are part of something.
Basically, what I am saying, is all of these changes have made me really excited for Hairspray Live! So get the hairspray ready for Hairspray!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTwCrgSpLFs
Home Free is back on Fox tonight at 9p and there have been a lot of changes to the show. Even though there have been a lot of changes, the one thing that hasn’t changed is all the heart!
Mike Holmes is back and this time Tim Tebow is helping him out. Another change is that the contestants are not working as couples, but by themselves. Instead of building their Dream House, they are building it for their hero. Each contestant has a different hero, like one man’s whose mother-in-law helped him through cancer or another person who wants to give the house to the person who gave their parent a kidney.
But before they can give them a house, they have to compete. It starts out the same, where the winner of the first challenge gets to pick their team. But how they figure out who goes to the elimination challenge is different. On tonight’s season premiere one contestant will do something that will have everyone turn against them. It will be interesting to see what happens next week to him.
But before we get to that, we see what happen when someone is eliminated. That is where the heart comes in and because of that I am so happy the show is back!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=er6z82Eyq1o
Over on NBC at 9p, Aquarius is back and this season starts out on August 9, 1969. A day that not only lived in infamy for Charles Manson (Gethin Anthony), but also for the whole world. That is day his followers killed Sharon Tate and 3 of her friends.
As that date plays out, we go back to 1967 and some of Manson’s followers have befriended Dennis Wilson from the Beach Boys. They will eventually move in with him and that will change things for Manson. We will see him start to evolve more into the man we know.
Then there’s Hodiak (David Duchovny) who has no idea that someday he will be investigating the man that shocked the world.
Now that Aquarius is tackling the Tate-LaBianca Murders, it is so much more interesting to watch. While it was interesting to see him become the cult figure in the first season, we also want to get to that climax moment. Now both of those moments have been merged together for this season.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfUiKg28r_M
We are still 3 months away from the start of the Fall TV season, but that isn’t stopping NBC from announcing today when their new and old shows will be premiering. Blindspot is getting the lead spot on September 14th and Chicago Fire will have a lot of fires to put on when it finally debuts on October 11th. The Good Place is the first new show to get an air date and the Ted Danson/Kristen Bell comedy will debut after The Voice on September 19th and then it will move to it regularly scheduled slot on the 22nd. This is Us, the heartwarming story of 4 people who all share same the birthday will also get some help from The Voice on the 20th before settling in its timeslot on October 11th. The last new show to debut is the fast paced Sci-Fi drama Timeless on October 3rd.
Missing from the Fall lineup is Grimm and I am not happy about it. Sorry Nick Cannon, I would rather watch Grimm.

Wednesday Sept. 14
10-11: Blindspot

Monday, Sept. 19
8-10: The Voice
10-11: The Good Place (preview)

Tuesday, Sept. 20
8-10: The Voice
10-11: This Is Us

Wednesday, Sept. 21
8-9: Blindspot (time period premiere)
9-10: Law & Order: SVU
10-11: Chicago P.D.

Thursday, Sept. 22
8-8:30: Superstore
8:30-9: The Good Place (time period premiere)
9-10: Chicago Med
10-11: The Blacklist

Friday, Sept. 23
8-9: Caught on Camera With Nick Cannon
9-11: Dateline NBC

Monday, Oct. 3
10-11: Timeless

Tuesday Oct. 11
9-10: This Is Us (time period premiere)
10-11: Chicago Fire

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8J4iWDr6V4
Last year when NBC announced that they were sending Henry Winkler, William Shatner, George Foreman, Terry Bradshaw and Jeff Dye to Asia for a docusries called Better Late Than Never, I have been anxiously waiting for this show to debut. Just like the title, Better Late Than Never, almost a year after they filmed their trip, it finally has a premiere date. It will debut on August 23rd and it looks like it will be the best comedy to grace our televisions in a real long time. Yet, only one comedian and two actors are part of it and it’s unscripted.
Not only should you be prepared to laugh until your cry, you will also learn a lot about The Orient as they try not cause an International incident. Which looks like they might’ve according to that trailer.

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