pop cultured

pop culture: a contraction of popular culture; that which is most strongly represented by what is perceived to be popular among society; a commercial culture mass-produced for mass-consumption.

I don’t usually get into politics in this blog and I don’t intend to start now, but how can I not at least mention the upcoming presidential election, and most notably, the most recent addition to the Republican ticket?

Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska was born in 1964. By some books she’s on the tail end of the baby boomers. In others, she’s practically a Generation Xer.  Either way, she’s young enough to have watched “The Brady Bunch” as a kid. She may have owned a Velvet or a Crissy doll, and she may have had David Cassidy or Leif Garrett posters in her room. She most certainly knew what an Afterschool Special was, or at least watched Saturday morning cartoons,  and she likely waited all year for those Rankin-Bass Christmas specials to come on (back then they only came on once a year).

1964 was a pivotal year in pop culture and in the world. The Beatles broke out on the Ed Sullivan Show. Bewitched debuted on ABC. Jeopardy debuted on NBC.  And, ever so possibly, 1964 may be the year that America’s first female Vice president was born.

Last night on Big Brother 10 we were treated to a live double eviction. Michelle was sent home in the first half hour of the show. No surprise there.  And Jerry survived another eviction.

Next was a rush Head of Household competition. It was a series of questions and Jerry and Keesha were in a dead heat until Keesha broke the tiebreaker and won it. She had to immediately nominate 2 houseguests for eviction, so she put up Jerry (again) and Ollie.

The Veto competition was next and Dan won it easily (something about Veto’s in a haystack). Of course Dan did not use the Veto to save anybody.

So the second live eviction vote was next and all 3 remaining voters- Dan, Renny and Memphis- voted Ollie out.  Jerry survived again!

So now Ollie will reunite with his gal pal April in the jury house. If Jerry doesn’t win the next HOH he will surely be voted out next week. And then it will be time for the remaining hamsters to turn on each other.

The next episode of Big Brother airs on Sunday night at 8:00 ET/PT on CBS.

Last year’s edition of ABC’s The Bachelor was..….well, disappointing.  Bachelor Brad Womack didn’t choose either of the final two ladies on the season finale. Remember that? It was mind boggling that he couldn’t just choose one of them to continue dating– it didn’t have to be a marriage proposal! Fans were outraged at the time.

That should all change with the upcoming installment of The Bachelor 13. This time the Bachelor will be Jason Mesnick, the happy go lucky single father who melted the hearts of millions of women on last season’s The Bachelorette. At the end of that show, Brad Womack’s jilted ex, DeAnna Pappas, chose snowboarder Jessie Csincsak over Jason Mesnick. Now Jason is really looking for the woman of his dreams.

The Bachelor 13 can be seen on ABC beginning in January, 2009.

Okay, so I’ve been complaining all season about how lame the Power of Veto is and how no one ever uses it. Well last night’s episode changed all of that.

After a competition so goofy I won’t even describe it, Memphis won the coveted POV title. Which was great for him, since he was up on the block. It was a no-brainer that he’d use the Veto to save himself. The big question was, who would Dan (the HOH) put up in Memphis’ place?

Dan made a deal with Ollie last week that granted Ollie the bulk of the HOH power. The deal was, Dan would put up whomever Ollie wanted if the POV was used. So Ollie wanted Keesha up on the block. Problem is, Dan decided to think on his own. So in a shocking POV twist, Dan played a little game at the POV ceremony, a game designed to take the heat off of him. He asked each houseguest to say who they want to see up on the block. I’m not sure what the point of this was, other than to cerate a diversion.

In the end, Dan broke his deal with Ollie. He put Michelle up on the block.

Now the game is really on!

Looks like Paula Abdul will have a chance to do some female bonding. In a  surprise move for season 8, the producers of the FOX megahit, American Idol, have decided to add a fourth member to the panel of judges.

Kara DioGuardi, a Grammy nominated songwriter, will join the panel of judges, along side Randy Jackson, Simon Cowell and Paula Abdul.

37 year old DioGuardi  knows a lot about music. She’s already had a prolific career and has written songs for Celine Dion, Christina Aguilera, Carrie Underwood ,The Jonas Brothers and  Hannah Montana.

Producers are hoping that a fourth judge will add a fresh dimension to the show. Oh by the way– she’s gorgeous, too.

The 8^th season of American Idol starts in January, 2009.

Photo Credit: NY Daily News

In one of the strangest moves ever in Big Brother history, Dan won last Thursday’s Head of Household  competition after making a deal with Ollie- but he’s paying the price now.

In exchange for the HOH title, Dan gave Ollie almost complete control of the Head of Household duties- meaning Ollie got to choose one nominee and also has complete control over the Power of Veto, should anyone decide to use it. This forced Dan to nominate Ollie’s pick and the only person in Dan’s alliance– Memphis.

Now Memphis is furious. And Ollie is sitting pretty because even though he’s puppeteering this week’s nominations, he still has a chance to be Head of Household next week. Dan, on the other hand, will likely lose his only ally and won’t be eligible for HOH next week.  If Dan makes it past next week then I will truly be surprised.

Sonny Bono and his wife Cher started their husband/wife singing act in the 1960’s, when they toured small clubs as the duo “Ceasar and Cleo”. They were popular on the club circuit and after making appearances on some national   television shows, they nabbed their own TV deal.

“The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour” debuted in 1971 and ran until 1974. It was formula variety show at its best. The show was known for its opening segment (singing and chitchatting—Cher often poked fun at Sonny, which the audience loved) and the sketch comedy it featured.  Some of the supporting cast featured Freeman King and Teri Garr. Just about every popular celebrity of the time appeared on  “The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour”, including Merv Griffin, Joe Namath, The Jackson 5, Jerry Lewis, Carol Burnett and  Burt Reynolds .

The ending segment  always featured the couple singing their hit song “I Got You Babe” and they would sometimes bring  their adorable daughter, Chastity (just a toddler at the time),  out on the stage at the end of the show.

After the couple divorced in 1974(Cher married rocker Greg Allman), the duo reunited for “The Sonny and Cher Show” in 1976. But sadly, it just wasn’t the same.

Photo Credit: Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour/CBS

The year was 1994 and the show only lasted 19 episodes, but they were 19 profound episodes. “My So Called Life” starred Claire Danes as 15 year old Angela Chase. Angela’s best friends were Rickie Vasquez (played by Wilson Cruz) and Rayanne Graff (played by AJ Langer) and she loved a bad boy named Jordan Catalano (Jared Leto).

Far from being a typical teen drama, the show chronicled Angela’s life, her parent’s lives (Tom Irwin and Bess Armstrong), the lives of her friends, the boy next door (Devon Gummersall).  It was done in such a sensitive and tactful way, showing the intricate relationships between all of these people. Angela hating her father, butting heads with her mother, ditching her longtime best friend (Sharon, played by Devon Odessa) for the wild child Rayanne, and then having a MAJOR falling out with Rayanne.

The show was unceremoniously canceled after just 19 episodes, but it lived on in infamy when MTV picked it up and reran those 19 episodes. After MTV’s run,  The N Network had the show on its early morning schedule for several years.

While it’s currently not airing, “My So Called Life” is definitely worth picking up on DVD. It’s that good. I just wish we knew how it all would have ended!

Photo Credit: ABC

Note: This article contains SPOILERS. If you do not know who won Thursday nights Head of Household competition, stop reading now. The HOH competition will air on CBS on Sunday night.

 First of all, who comes up with these HOH competitions? The houseguests had to hang from swinging vines and were then pummeled into a wall. They were really getting smacked around. I felt bad for Jerry, who’s 75 years old. Even though he isn’t the most well-liked player, I think he was at a great disadvantage in this competition. Shame on the producers of this show for not making the comps a little more fair!

So- and here’s the SPOILER-  Jerry of course fell off first. Then one by one the others fell, leaving Ollie and Dan at the end. After some alleged deal-making, the final winner was Dan. I’m sure most of America is cheering at this news.

Tune in to CBS on Sunday night to see who Dan nominates for eviction.

Last year, Britney Spears’ disastrous “comeback” performance at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards was the talk of the town. An out of shape and seemingly unrehearsed Spears performed poorly at the show and sadly, the troubled pop star further damaged her career that night.

What a difference a year makes. After cutting some of the bad influences out of her life (and sadly, losing custody of her kids in the process), and working hard to clean up her act, Spears is getting back in shape and is primed and ready for this year’s VMA’s.

Does this mean that Spears will perform at this years show? Rumors are swirling about that, and also the possibility that Spears will co-host the event. While these are just rumors at this point, Spears has already taped some promo spots with this year’s host, Russell Brand.

The smart money says that Spears will be making some sort of appearance at this year’s show. It’s do or die for her, and it could be her chance to make up for last year’s embarrassment.

The Video Music Awards will air on MTV on September 7.

Photo Credit: Kevin Mazur/Wireimage