Well folks, another week has gone by and it’s time to round it up. A lot happened this week in the world of entertainment. Among the notable events were ABC’s premiere of The Deep End, Conan O’Brien’s departure from The Tonight Show, Rob Lowe announced he was leaving Brothers & Sisters, Sundance Film Festival kicked off, She & Him released the first single from their new album, and George Clooney offered Hope for Haiti Now.
ABC Plunges Into The Deep End
Earlier in the week you may have seen an article I wrote about The CW’s Life Unexpected. This time of year networks tend to debut their new shows some, like Life Unexpected, warrant their own post but others simply don’t. This past Thursday ABC began airing The Deep End; the show was received poorly by many a critic. For the most part it was considered Grey’s Anatomy goes to law school. I finally got a chance to watch the show last night and I wanted to quickly share my thoughts. The Deep End has a number of familiar faces in its Pilot episode. Matt Long of Jack & Bobby, Tina Majorino of Veronica Mars, Leah Pipes of Life is Wild. All of these faces plus a plethora of guest stars, including and Rachelle Lefevre of Twilight fame, help enhance what would otherwise be a milquetoast show. Long in particular plays the role with enough earnest that you believe he’s sinking in the show’s proverbial “deep end.” Overall, I see myself revisiting the show but I don’t know for how long.
Conan O’Brien Says Goodbye… For Now
After weeks of discussion between NBC and Conan O’Brien, the host finally said goodbye to The Tonight Show on Friday evening. I can’t say I’m a big fan of either Leno or O’Brien, but the way Conan was treated by NBC was pretty despicable. Yes, he walks away with a hefty severance package totaling somewhere around 32 million dollars but it’s the principle of the matter. O’Brien truly cared about The Tonight Show’s legacy, which is more than NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker can say. Conan could have phoned it in this week. Instead, he upped the ante and delivered a weeks worth of quality programming culminating with Friday’s finale. Tom Hanks and Neil Young stopped by before heading over to the Hope for Haiti Now taping, Steve Carell helped debrief O’Brien, and Will Ferrell sang “Free Bird” dressed as a red neck bum. But, the highlight of Conan’s final show was the heartfelt speech he delivered shortly before the show’s close. Said O’Brien, “Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen.” You stay classy Conan, and we’ll see you in September.
Rob Lowe to leave Brothers & Sisters
As first reported by Entertainment Weekly’s Michael Ausiello, actor Rob Lowe is leaving Brothers & Sisters come season’s end. Lowe volunteered to leave when ABC told showrunner David Marshall Grant that he needed to cut the show’s budget. Lowe felt underused on Brothers & Sisters and figured that he might be able to find more substantial work elsewhere. It turns out that elsewhere might be a new ABC show about doctors on an exotic island, more on that as it develops.
Sundance Heats Up Utah
Though I’m not personally in attendance, Sundance Film Festival began this week in Park City, Utah. The annual film festival is receiving extensive coverage from our friends over at /Film and Collider. Head over to either website for more information and reviews.
She & Him Venture “Into the Sun”
Alternative rock group She & Him released the first single from their forthcoming album, Volume 2, this week. Entitled “Into the Sun,” the song is pretty much what fans of the band have come to expect. It has fun instrumentation from M. Ward and delightfully airy vocals from Zooey Deschanel. Having said that, the song feels like it could have been included on their debut album, Volume 1. And, while I loved that album I was hoping they would try and expand their sound this time around. I’ve included the song below for you’re listening pleasure.
Clooney Offers Hope For Haiti Now
I mentioned earlier in the week that actor George Clooney was planning a benefit for the victims of Haiti’s recent earthquake. The benefit aired last night on all five broadcast networks, and multiple cable channels too. Portions of the benefit were filmed in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, London and Haiti. The final amount of money raised was a record setting $57 million, a befitting total given the cause and quality of last performances. Coldplay sang a touching acoustic version of their song “A Message.” Later Martin would return to stage to accompany Beyonce for a restrained take on her song “Halo.” Other standouts included John Legend, Christina Aguilera, Dave Matthews with Neil Young, and Keith Urban who was joined by Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow. But, the performance of the evening belonged to Justin Timberlake and Matt Morris who offered up a heartbreaking rendition of the Leonard Cohen classic “Hallelujah.” Below I’ve embedded the video of Timberlake and Morris. After listening to it, I’d encourage all of you to buy the Hope for Haiti Now Soundtrack available on iTunes for roughly 8 dollars.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxOWHu6Oyt8&feature=related
