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USTownhall RoundTable: The Spring 2019 sessions
Written by Scott Katz   

We're back once again to size up the latest season of AMERICAN IDOL!  Join Scott, Brenda, and Kerry as we judge the performers -- and judge the judges! -- of the 17th season of the long-running reality show competition.

 

in addtion, we're going to be bringing you a special podcast or two on other notable events in the pop culture landscape!

 

Click on the triangular "Play" button to listen to the podcast.  After a few minutes, the file should be fully scannable backwards & forwards.
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AMERICAN IDOL SEASON 17 PODCAST
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(1) April 23, 2019: Top 10 becomes Top 8: Uché & Dimitrius Graham eliminated

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(2) April 30, 2019: Top 8 becomes Top 6: Walker Burroughs & Alyssa Raghu eliminated

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(3) May 6, 2019: Top 6 becomes Top 5: Jeremiah Lloyd Harmon eliminated; Judges' Save used on Laci Kaye Booth

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(4) May 14, 2019: Top 5 becomes Top 3: Wade Cota & Laci Kaye Booth eliminated

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(5) May 21, 2019: LAINE HARDY WINS AMERICAN IDOL 17: Alejandro Aranda 2nd, Madison VanDenburg 3rd

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SPECIAL PODCAST

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The Panel discusses the recent documentary THE SHOW MUST GO ON: THE QUEEN + ADAM LAMBERT STORY

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USTownhall RoundTable: The Fall 2018 sessions
Written by Scott Katz   

It's that time again!  The Fall television season is upon us and with it comes a new season of everyone's favorite reality shows including Dancing with the Stars -- now in its 27th cycle!  Join Scott, Kerry, and Brenda as we discuss and dissect the best and worst of the current offerings.  Who wowed with the Waltz?  Who flopped with the Foxtrot?  Listen and see if you agree!

 

Click on the triangular "Play" button to listen to the podcast.  After a few minutes, the file should be fully scannable backwards & forwards.
You can pause and resume at any time as long as this page is not refreshed.

 

DANCING WITH THE STARS SEASON 27 PODCAST

(1) Week 1 (Sep 24-25): First Dances, Nikki Glaser eliminated

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(5) Week 6 (Oct 29): Halloween Night, Mary Lou Retton eliminated

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(2) Week 2 (Oct 1-2): New York/Las Vegas Nights, Danelle Umstead eliminated

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(6) Week 7 (Nov 5): Country Night, John Schneider & DeMarcus Ware eliminated

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(3) Weeks 3-4 (Oct 8, 15): Most Memorable Year/Trio Dance Nights, Nancy McKeon & Tinashe eliminated

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(7) Week 8 (Nov 12): Semifinals, Juan Pablo Di Pace & Joe Amabile eliminated

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(4) Week 5 (Oct 22): Disney Night, no elimination

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(8) Week 9 (Nov 19): THE FINALS!, Bobby Bones WINS! (Milo Manheim, 2nd; Evanna Lynch, 3rd; Alexis Ren, 4th)

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USTownhall RoundTable: The Spring 2018 sessions
Written by Scott Katz   

Join Scott, Brenda, and Kerry once again as we praise and critique the best and worst of the current seasons of American Idol and Dancing with the Stars!

 

 

AMERICAN IDOL SEASON 16 PODCAST     DANCING WITH THE STARS SEASON 26 PODCAST

(1) April 27, 2018: Top 14 becomes Top 10

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(2) May 4, 2018: Top 10 becomes Top 7

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(1) May 4, 2018: First Dances, Jamie Anderson & Johnny Damon eliminated

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(3) May 11, 2018: Top 7 becomes Top 5

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(2) May 11, 2018: Week 2, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar & Arike Ogunbowale eliminated

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(4) May 18, 2018: Top 5 becomes Top 3

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(3) May 18, 2018: Week 3, Jennie Finch Daigle, Chris Mazdzer, Mirai Nagasu eliminated

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(5) May 25, 2018: Maddie Poppe wins Season 16!

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(4) May 25, 2018: Week 4, Adam Rippon wins Season 26!

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Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert interview series
Written by Scott Katz   
Wednesday, 21 February 2018 09:22

NUP_182001_0002Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert is an ambitious live television event set to air on NBC Easter Sunday, April 1, 2018.  This classic rock opera, created by theater legends Andrew Lloyd Webber (music) and Tim Rice (lyrics), hit Broadway in 1971 and became an immediate hit whose popularity has endured over the decades. 

 

The cast for NBC's production includes stars from the worlds of music, theater, television, and film:

• John Legend as Jesus Christ
• Sara Bareilles as Mary Magdalene
• Brandon Victor Dixon as Judas Iscariot
• Alice Cooper as King Herod
• Norm Lewis as Caiaphas
• Ben Daniels as Pontius Pilate
• Jason Tam as Peter
• Jin Ha as Annas
• Erik Gronwall as Simon Zealotes

 

 

 

 

USTownhall.com speaks with Executive Producers NEIL MERON and MARC PLATT:

USTH: Neil and Mark, you've spoken previously about how Alice Cooper was the right choice for the role of King Herod because he would bring that rock authenticity and outrageous persona to the production.  Also in the cast we have John Legend as Jesus and Sarah Bareilles as Mary Magdalene among others.  Can you just walk us through what they bring to their roles and why you feel each is such a right fit?

 

Marc Platt:  John Legend is not only one of the great pop stars and personalities of our time now but he has the voice that is distinctive and singular. And we all know it and we're all familiar with it. And so to have the role of Jesus sung by that masterful vocalist and of course, he appeared in La La Land among other things. [John Legend] will be a great joy and will do justice to the challenge of that score and that particular role.

And the same thing can be said of course of Sara [Bareilles] who we all know both from her vocal career, her pop star career, her now Broadway career both as a writer and appearing on stage. So to hear her voice sing those gorgeous melodies that we're all so familiar with and have lasted through time it's joyous and it's exciting and you really lean into it. And Neil why don't you go through some of the others?

Neil Meron:  Sure. And regarding Brandon Victor Dixon we spent an inordinately long time auditing many, many actors to play Judas. And Brandon came in very, very early and he was always the one to beat. But we did a lot of due diligence because there were a lot of people that want to play that role. And Brandon just has this incredible quality not only vocally, but he's also a Tony nominated actor. He's coming off of Hamilton and so it just seemed to make sense for this particular project. And regarding Ben Daniels he's one of the finest actors in the English-speaking world mostly stage and more well-known in the UK than here. But we wanted a really complex actor, somebody that can take on the role of Pilate because it is such a conflicted role. So we reached out to Ben and he did a vocal audition for all of us.

And all of these people had to be approved by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. So, when we presented them our choices we had to make sure that we as the creative team really endorsed and knew that we were not going to be turned down because we loved all these actors that we've chosen.

 

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John Legend stars as Jesus Christ  [Photo Credit: NBC]     Sara Bareilles as Mary Magdalene  [Photo Credit: NBC}
Alice Cooper as King Herod  [Photo Credit: NBC]

 

 

 

USTH: You've been involved in these live television productions before for NBC. Does it ever get any easier? What are the particular challenges that you've been facing with this venue in Brooklyn, New York — the Marcy Avenue Armory — and how has it been going?


Neil Meron:  Well,  that can be a question for both Marc and myself because we — me and Craig Zadan and Marc — we're the only producers that do these live musicals, which is kind of a very small club to be in. And Marc actually shot a film at this venue that we're shooting at in Brooklyn which is the Marcy [Avenue] Amory. So he knew the rawness of the space, which is what we were looking for just in terms of the presentation of Jesus Christ Superstar.

We wanted to bring it back. We wanted to strip it of a lot of theatricality and go to the essence of [it] and have some theatrical staging mixed in and just the rawness of that space and the idea that we can create this environment there just made sense to all of us.

USTH:  And Marc, what are your thoughts?


Marc Platt: It's a live event. We want to deliver both the story of Jesus Christ Superstar but also the immersive experience of being at a concert so that you the viewer at home watching on his or her TV or his or her screen feels like they are immersed in this live event concert.

So to find a space that has a very urban kind of raw feel that we can build a set that's like a stage but is also a set and surround it with a live audience so that you feel like you're almost in a stadium as it were is what we're going for. And that excitement and that fervor that you feel when you've been in a concert is what we're trying to deliver here in during the telecast.

 

USTH:  Regarding the music, are all the songs from the original stage production going to be in your production or are there going to be any new songs or songs removed?

Neil Meron:  Right now — and we expect it to stay this way — everything is intact from the way that Andrew [Lloyd Webber] and Tim [Rice] wrote it.

USTH:  Finally, with these productions, some of them have had exterior scenes and interior scenes. Is this production all interior or will there be exterior also?

Marc Platt:  This is all on the concert stage as it were. You know, the set that we design that becomes our concert stage. So it is like in a concert in one venue. And it will feel like you're at a concert.

 

 

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John Legend in rehearsal  [Photo Credit: NBC}

 

Thanks to Executive Producers Neil Meron and Marc Platt for speaking with us.  Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert airs on Sunday, April 1 on NBC.

 

 

 
USTownhall RoundTable: The Fall 2017 sessions
Written by Scott Katz   

We're back!  Just when you thought it was safe to watch your favorite shows without us trashing them, Scott, Kerry, and Brenda are back to shine a big ol' spotlight on what we liked -- and what we didn't -- abouit some of the hottest reality shows on television!

 

For now, we'll be discussing the current season of Dancing with the Stars as it returns for a 25th cycle.

Click on the triangular "Play" button to listen to the podcast.  After a few minutes, the file should be fully scannable backwards & forwards.
You can pause and resume at any time as long as this page is not refreshed.

 

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(1) Sep 23, 2017: First Dances, no elimination

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(6) Oct 26, 2017: Movie Night, Nick Lachey eliminated

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(2) Sep 28, 2017: Ballroom night, Barbara Corcoran eliminated; Latin Night, Debbie Gibson eliminated

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(7) Nov 2, 2017: Halloween Night, Vanessa Lachey and Nikki Bella eliminated

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(3) Oct 5, 2017: Guilty Pleasures Night, no elimination

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(8) Nov 10, 2017: Quarterfinals Night, Terrell Owens eliminated

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(4) Oct 12, 2017: Most Memorable Year Night, Derek Fisher eliminated

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(9) Nov 17, 2017: Semifinals Night, Victoria Arlen eliminated

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(5) Oct 19, 2017: Disney Night, Sasha Pieterse eliminated

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(10) Nov 24, 2017: Finals Night, Jordan Fisher wins!

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MORE INTERVIEWS...

  

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cast of The Apprentice 10

BATMAN film producer MICHAEL USLAN

Sherri Shepherd

Vanessa Minnillo

All My Children creator AGNES NIXON

Bronx Opera's BEN SPIERMAN

cast of Big Brother 12 BOBBY FLAY & STEVE ELLS of America's Next Great Restaurant Cast of the play Bridgeboy
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Library of American Comics' BRUCE CANWELL RYAN McPARTLIN & SARAH LANCASTER

CRYSTAL CHAPPELL

part 1: Guiding Light

part 2: Days of Our Lives

soapcentral.com founder DAN KROLL DAN PARENT of Archie Comics DAVID LYONS of The Cape DEBBIE GIBSON & TIFFANY Author DEDE EMERSON of A Different Kind of Streetwalker
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BOB DOWLING of the 3D Entertainment Summit Indie filmmaker ELIANA UJUETA of Beneath the Rock comic book artist JAMAL IGLE Genesis Repertory's JAY MICHAELS, MARY MiCARI, & actors Oscar-winning actor JEREMY IRONS

Animation historian JERRY BECK

1st interview

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singer-songwriter JOSH GROBAN

web series producer KAI SOREMEKUN of Chick

1st interview

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Oscar-winning actress KATHY BATES of Harry's Law Television producer KENNETH JOHNSON of V, Bionic Woman, Incredible Hulk KYLE BORNHEIMER & HAYES MacARTHUR of Perfect Couples

Terrence Howard, René Balcer

Dick Wolf, Alfred Molina, Alana de la Garza

publisher DAN HERMAN of Hermes Press COUNTESS LuANN de LESSEPS of The Real Housewives of New York City author MAX ALLAN COLLINS of Road to Perdition WWE Champion Mike "The MIz" Mizanin
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JEFF HAYNE of Mill Creek Entertainment

1st interview

2nd interview

singer-actor NICK LACHEY supermodel NIKI TAYLOR talks The Celebrity Apprentice actor PAUL REISER of The Paul Reiser Show actor-producer RICKY GERVAIS of The Office actress-television host ROSIE O'DONNELL comic book writer STEVE NILES

Ian Anthony Dale, Nick Wauters

Jason Ritter, Sarah Roemer, Blair Underwood, Željko Ivanek

thore-jo-thumb tom-brokaw-thumb tom-pelphrey-thumb apothecary-theatre-thumb tori-spelling-thumb
THORE SCHÖLERMANN & JO WEIL of Verbotene Liebe Peabody & Emmy award winning journalist TOM BROKAW Emmy award winning actor TOM PELPHREY of Guiding Light actors from The Apothecary Theatre Company TORI SPELLING & DEAN McDERMOTT of sTORIbook Weddings

 

 

MORE FEATURES... 

 

Reviews & Previews:

Summer 2011 Movie Preview

Fall 2010 Television season

Fra Diavolo

Die Drei Pintos

Romeo and Juliet in Brooklyn

MPI Home Video

Timless Media Group

Boris Karloff's Thriller

Hunter: The Complete Series

Polly and Her Pals

Icons: The DC Comics and Wildstorm Art of Jim Lee

Adrianne Palicki as Wonder Woman

Ryan Reynolds as Green Lantern

Spider-Man musical delayed again

Frozen

Dead Space: Aftermath

Altitude

 

 

    

Events:

New York Comic Con

Apprentice 10 kickoff

Farewell to Guiding Light

Farewell to As the World Turns

The Broadway Directory

 

Award Show winners:

Academy Awards

Emmy Awards

Grammy Awards

Tony Awards

American Music Awards

Golden Globe Awards

Screen Actors Guild Awards

American Country Awards

 

    

Television blogs:

American Idol 10

American Idol 9

American Idol 8

Big Brother 12

Big Brother 11

ABC Cancels Both All My Children and One Life to Live

Guiding Light: A Look Back

 

Editorials & Issues:

Scam Alert: Have You Received This E-Mail Job Offer?

Meet the 112th Congress

Brooklyn politicians Kevin Peter Carroll vs. Ralph Perfetto

Before Rosa Parks There Was Lizzie Jennings

Understanding New York State Government

USTownhall RoundTable podcast: The Worlds of Entertainment and Current Events