Common Sense

The plot just gets thicker

According to The Superficial, Isaac Hayes actually doesn't have a problem with the way Trey and Matt handled the Scientology episode. They even have a clip from of an interview that Hayes gave in December where he said he was okay with it.

It turns out that the Church of Scientology are the ones who wrote the press release over a week ago which said:

"There is a place in this world for satire, but there is a time when satire ends and intolerance and bigotry towards religious beliefs of others begins," the soul legend said. "Religious beliefs are sacred to people and at all times should be respected and honored. As a civil rights activist of the past 40 years, I cannot support a show that disrespects those beliefs and practices."

Turns out that it was Christina Kimball, a fashion editor for Craig Taylor and fellow Scientologist, who sent out the release, or so says Page Six and foxnews.com. According to them, Hayes, in fact, loves South Park and needs it for his new baby that's on the way. He only left the show after suffering a stroke (ouch).

West Wing fever!!

Lucky me, one of the TVs in the newsroom is tuned to tonight's episode of The West Wing. I think this is the night that Rob Lowe rejoins the cast. This is going to be so awesome.

Hey, Chef

It isn't over, not by a longshot. The character of Chef will continue on South Park even though Isaac Hayes quit in protest of their lampooning of Scientology.

Tonight's episode is titled "The Return of Chef!" and according to Comedy Central publicity material, it starts when the fictional town of South Park, Colo., is "jolted out of a case of the doldrums when Chef suddenly reappears. ... While Stan, Kyle, Kenny and Cartman are thrilled to have their old friend back, they notice that something about Chef seems different. When Chef's strange behavior starts getting him in trouble, the boys pull out all the stops to save him."

What's not known is who voices the Chef character. Did Stone and Parker use regurgitated outtakes from Hayes' voicings, or was another actor brought in?

There's also no word on whether Chef gets to kill Kenny.

Honey, fire up the DVR!

Hang on a tick!

I didn't even know Isaac Hayes was a Scientologist! And now he's quit South Park because Trey Parker and Matt Stone made fun of their goofy-ass religion. Where have I been?

Bridging the gap

The future of our cultures rests in her hands: Osama bin Laden's niece to star in reality TV show.

Wafah Dufour Bin Ladin, whose mother was married to the al Qaeda leader's half brother, was born in California but lived in Saudi Arabia from the age of three to 10.

"I understand that when people hear my last name, they have preconceived notions, but I was born an American and I love my country," Dufour said in a statement from ReganMedia announcing the deal to develop a reality TV series.

Dufour has dropped the "Bin Ladin" -- a different spelling of the Arabic name from that used by Osama bin Laden -- and now goes by the name Wafah Dufour.

It's on now, Santino

The season finale of Project Runway starts in about 10 minutes. Don't tell me what happens, I'm watching it when I get home.

My prediction, though, is that Daniel makes a fool of himself, Santino totally bombs with the 13th design and my girl Chloe wins.

Project Blog

Things got done that needed to be done, so I'm not sad I missed the Chris Bell press conference.

While I was laying around today, though, I've been watching Project Runway. How weird is that? The only thing I have to say about it is: Fuck you Santino! Chloe's my girl. I hope she wins.

It's strange because I've only been a fan of the show since 2 p.m. Yet, somehow I've become emotionally invested in the outcome. I want her to win so much, and not just because she is a hot asian chick from Texas. It's not even the show, it's the characters in it that make this so appealing. If it were a different cast, then I wouldn't care.

Santino is the guy everyone loves to hate. He could spoil it all because his designs for Fashion Week are really good. And Daniel. Daniel is the Golden Boy who could do no wrong. Well, his designs are a bit perplexing to say the least. He could have been the spoiler, but I just don't see that happening now.

Suffice it to say I will be DVRing the season finale on Wednesday.

The end of an era

I've put it off all day, but I can do it no longer: The West Wing has been cancelled.

The season finale on May 9 will also be the series finale, bringing an end to one of the best shows ever put on television. I think most people would agree that seasons 4 and 5 kind of lagged behind what the original, great concept was. But in the last year, there was a tremendous resurgence in creativity among the writing staff. The plots, the characters just everything reminded one of what made the West Wing so great.

This season, the show was moved to Sunday night, almost guaranteeing that ratings would plummet. IT wasn't given the chance it deserved with this new energy and almost entirely new cast. Now, with the death of John Spencer, it seems almost poetic that the show will end.

Now what will I watch?

Fucking Showtime

I've been watching Showtime's Masters of Horror series since the first week. It's been generally okay, nothing to write home about. At least I didn't stop DVRing it like I did with Commander in Chief.

Now, I may have to change that. They are censoring one of their filmakers, renowned Japanese horror director Takashi Miike.

It seems like such a stupid thing, too. There was an episode where Robert Englund was having sex with a reanimated corpse. Or the wildly popular episode where the zombies come back to vote the clueless Republican that sent them to war out of office. But Miike and his talk about abortion, that's too far? What the fuck?

So now, Miike's episode won't be aired. Instead, they will show a Clive Barker directed episode. When the hell will the people running cable channels grow up and get some balls? Meanwhile, Imprint will be available on DVD through Anchor Bay in the near future.

How will they ever finish the West Wing now?

I was shocked when I found out John Spencer died yesterday. Ironically, it was a heart attack, the same thing that almost killed his character Leo McGarry on The West Wing.

Spencer had an extensive career and I know many people will miss him.

The thought that he is the third in a recent string of celebrity deaths just suddenly struck me. First Richard Pryor, then Sen. George McCarthy. Now John Spencer. Why couldn't it be Paris Hilton of a coke overdose?

Anyway, that is eerie and sad.