Video Beat EXTRA - American Idol Returns - Contender Asia Coming - Big Brother Housemate's Mother Passes Away - December 2007

James Loving - National Radio Text Service

FOX BUSINESS NETWORK'S NEW SHOW - NBA & NFL GAMES ON TV - Recommended TV Listings

Monday December 24, 2007

AMERICAN IDOL RETURNS

You can grit your teeth you can do whatever you want but get ready as American Idol with AI judge Simon Cowell and his sidekicks Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson return to the air for the 2008 season beginning January 16th on the Star World channel. The Contender Asia will also debut January 16th on AXN. It is billed as a Mauy Thai/martial arts show with no rules.

BIG BROTHER TRAGEDY

In a tragic turn of events the mother of Pinoy (Philippine) Big Brother housemate Yayo referred to as mommy Yayo passed away recently. In a previous column we noted that the show had lost the plot and was slipping into darkness and watching the show was like watching a wake.

Ironically that's just what happened as the program filmed and aired much of Yayo's grief after she voluntarily quit the show to visit her mother when she was sent to the hospital with cardiac arrest. When she arrived they were pulling the sheet over her mother as she had just passed away.

The events were reported on the BIG BRO website:

It was heart-breaking to see Yayo break down when she arrived in her mom’s hospital bed with a white sheet covering the dead body. Amidst her sobs, she asked her relatives if her mother felt bad for not hearing from her for so long and the fact that she failed to talk to her about her stint in PBB. But when she finally calmed down, she decided to return on Kuya’s home, thinking that her mom would want her to.

Much later, this was what she explained to Big Brother. PinoyBogBrotherHowever, the Big Brother advised that it’s more important for her to be at her mother’s side to oversee the funeral as a tribute to her. He further noted that bagging the million-peso prize from the show is nothing compared to the opportunity to show her worth as a daughter to her parent, "It is time to honor your mother.”

With that said, Yayo was enlightened as to the best option for her to pursue. This paved the way for another momentous voluntary exit in this edition’s history. But as PBB Host Toni Gonzaga clarified, the profits from the voting for this week’s canceled eviction would all go to Yayo as part of the program’s condolences for her family.

Yayo wanted to return to the show after she bought her mothers ashes. This created a great deal of consternation among the housemates who care a great deal for her but some felt it was unfair for her to return since she had been in the outside world. They agreed that the winners of the top four cash prizes would donate a portion of their winnings totaling 400,000 pesos to her and stated that it was a win, win situation to solve the outside world problem. Winners would shell out a part of their winnings—P150,000 from the Big Winner, P100,000 from the Third and Second Placer and P50,000 from the Fourth Placer with a total of P400,000. She refused preferring to return to the house and compete for the big prize.

Yayo received a cheque worth P57, 194.00, a donation from ABS-CBN Interactive. The money is from ABS-CBN's 20% share of the votes in the last nomination process in which Yayo was part of. Each P2.50/vote is divided between the telecommunications companies (70%), Endemol, ABS-CBN and ABS-CBN Interactive (30%).

Housemate Gaby who also left the house to pursue a race car driving class in the USA but was met by the Big BRO staff at the airport upon her return to the Philippines and asked to return to what became a dull show. She did and the issue of her outside world experience was brought up by housemate Jon when he nominated her for eviction for that reason. Yayo was also nominated that same show prior to her mother passing away a few days later.

The return of Yayo and Gaby who volunteered to depart the house so Yayo could return offered to do so with a condition that she could spend Christmas in the house with her TV show friends. That resulted with Big Bro giving the public the final decision in a 24-hour voting process. Gaby won registering 75.7% of the vote to Yayo's 24.3% of the votes.

When the 40-year-old Yayo departed the house there was no show with a big audience waiting as they have had in the past for all the other evictees. She was greeted only by host Toni Gonzaga who also presented the grieved housemate with a check for 400,000 pesos.

This show is a classic example of whatever could go wrong did go wrong. Five housemates quit the show, four for personal interests and three Gaby,Mariel and Ethel returned with Big Bro's blessing though Ethel and Mariel are deemed houseguests and not elegible for winning the contest. The finals are two weeks away. You do the logic…. Is something wrong with this picture?

REALITY TV THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE UGLY

Reality television is a mirror of human behavior at its best and worst revealing our strengths and weaknesses. The question is what is the redeeming value of some of these programs?.Man verses Beast on the AXN Network is the latest entry into the worst category. The show previously aired on the Star World channel.

CAMBODIA'S FRESHIE BOY & GIRL SHOW RETURNS

Cambodia's Freshie Boy & Girl show will return for the 2008 season when the shows producer Boonkerd Angamnuasiri changed his mind after saying at the end of last years 2007 final "James you have just seen the last Freshie show, I am tired."

That was the bad news. The good news is he changed his mind and THE SHOW WILL GO ON with some changes. The 2008 show will be televised on Cambodia's TV 5 after being carried on rival TV 3 since its inception. There will be a new co-host since Vanda Meas became a Mrs. and moved to Australia. Angamnuasiri has yet to make a decision who will host this season's program.

AMAZING RACE

The US version of the Amazing Race continues to hold interest. The most interesting team is the Asian father and daughter. The father has toned down his domineering verbal assaults towards his daughter and is now giving her more respect by talking to her in a more civilized manner. Through it all the daughter deals with it and continues to support her father while occasionally pointing out to him to be more considerate when speaking to her and respect her opinions.

Another interesting team is the grandfather and grandson. The grandson continues to dump the tough more challenging tasks on his 69-year-old grandfather who rises to the challenge. The grandson seems to be afraid to get his hands dirty. Thanks to the elderly part of the team they remain in the race.

NBA GAMES ON TV

NBA (National Basketball Association) games are televised in the Southeast Asia region on the Star Sports television Network on Friday and ESPN Saturday's. Start times vary depending on the start time in the region of the USA from where the games is televised. NFL (National Football League) from the USA is televised on a delayed basis Saturday at 12:30PM and Sunday at 6 PM on the CNBC channel

FOX Business Network Launches New Daily Program

FOX Business Network (FBN) launched a new one-hour morning program, Opening Bell, beginning Monday, December 17th at 9:00 AM/EST, announced Kevin Magee, Executive Vice President, FOX News prior to the launch. Anchored by Alexis Glick, the program focus is on the market openings, stock updates and major business headlines of the day. Money for Breakfast, co-anchored by Glick alongside Peter Barnes, is now presented from 6:00 AM – 9:00 AM/EST.

In making the announcement, Magee said, "Opening Bell will give people a one-hour daily snapshot of what’s expected to happen on Wall Street for the day, reaction to the markets opening and all the major news headlines to help make informed decisions about the business day ahead.” Opening Bell will also feature insight from FBN regulars Robert Gray, Liz MacDonald, Connell McShane, Charles Payne, Nicole Petallides, Adam Shapiro and London-based Ashley Webster, as well as market-savvy journalists and traders.

FOX Business Network (FBN) is a financial news channel delivering real-time information across all platforms that impact both Main Street and Wall Street. Headquartered in New York—the business capital of the world—FBN launched on October 15th and is available in more than 30 million homes in major markets across the United States. Owned by News Corp, the network has.

BUSINESS WIRE

TV SCHEDULE

Note: The shows listed are for the Cambodia - Thailand time zone. Check your local listings for time and date in your area.

TFC = The Filipino Channel on the ABS-CBN Network

MONDAY

5:00 PM - LARRY KING - CNN - Airs daily

8:00 PM - AMAZING RACE USA - AXN

12:00 PM - AMAZING RACE USA - AXN

TUESDAY

11:15 AM - ASAP - TFC (The Filipino Channel) - Please note that this and ALL TFC SHOWS ARE SUBJECT TO TIME SHIFTS.

5:00 PM - LARRY KING - CNN - Airs daily

700 PM - AMAZING RACE ASIA - AXN

WEDNESDAY

5:00 PM - LARRY KING - CNN - Airs daily

THURSDAY

5:00 PM - LARRY KING - CNN - Airs daily

7:00 - PAULA ABDUL REALITY SHOW - Star World

FRIDAY

8:00 AM - NBA GAME

11:00 AM - AMAZING RACE ASIA - AXN

5:00 PM - LARRY KING - CNN - Airs daily

9:00 PM - NBA GAME - Star Sports - Replay of earlier game)

SATURDAY

9:00 AM - AMAZING RACE USA - AXN

12:30 PM NFL (National Football League) game from the USA (delayed) - CNBC

5:00 PM - LARRY KING - CNN - Airs daily

7:00 PM - AMAZING RACE (USA) - AXN

7:30 PM - HI NET WORTH - (financial magazine show) - CNBC

9:00 PM - JAY LENO - CNBC

10:00 PM - AMAZING RACE ASIA - AXN

SUNDAY

10:00 AM - AMAZING RACE ASIA - AXN

12:00 PM - ASAP - TFC (The Filipino Channel) - Please note that this and ALL TFC SHOWS ARE SUBJECT TO TIME SHIFTS

5:00 PM - LARRY KING - CNN - Airs daily

6:00 PM - NFL (National Football League) game from the USA (delayed) - CNBC

7:00 PM - AMAZING RACE ASIA - AXN

9:00 PM - JAY LENO - CNBC

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